Spiritual Drifts from The River of Karma

Oh well....just for fun.

In the last 4 weeks or so, for anyone who noticed that my I didn’t update after Michael Jacksons death, I’ve received emails and words of encouragement on my email riverofkarma@gmail.com from many people the world over.

This post is essentially to say a big “Thank You” to all.

Just receiving your emails alone was so comforting. I’m going to keep what you said private between us. It really helped. I know I’m doing much better since then.

His death just came as too much of a surprise, and when you a fan from young, you never really stop being a fan. You just reduce your outward appearance, but never disappear.

Again, all the same, thank you all so much.

It’s going to take time this thing, but you’ve all helped me get closer.



PS to all: MJ will be missed

HTML - I'm going to leave it to the pro's next time.

Immediately after my previous post, I initiated the blog theme transfer. That being Friday night. It worked pretty well at first. Only into the weekend, coding compatibilities began to crop up. One by one. Major piss off after major piss off. Which is why perhaps if any of you surfed the past weekend, you would have noticed this blog switching themes back and forth.

So in the end, I decided to stick it back to the one you're seeing right now. Why? Because of coding problems.

Which is the reason I initiated the damn theme transfer in the first place. Sheesh.

Alright folks, everything's back to the way it is until I can get some HTML dude to come figure this stuff.

Like I said, I'm going to leave to the pro's next time.



PS to all : HTML looks weird

I just realised that, again, I missed the birthday of this blog. It's 2nd April.

This time, I'm putting out a post. For all my readers - This blog is in part what it is because of your support. Your feedback, and even just reading, is inspiration for me to want to blog more. You don't know how grateful I am for that.

To my bloggie - Sorry for the late wishes. Happy Birthday.

RoK



PS to all - Posting resumes soon.

It has come to my attention, quite recently in fact, that apparently now Aum is not part of any religion.

And who is saying this – Yoga Instructors.

You would know them – Most of them are the now famous well being purveyors who supposedly got in the system for the spiritual side, but since seeing the moolah, has sold out the religion that provided them with it. Ah, what money can’t buy!

Can the Hindu religion get ransacked anymore than it is right now, I wonder?

Perhaps yes because at the rate these pirates are going, they’re one step short of actually claiming that the Hindu scriptures aren’t religious, the Hindu way isn’t religious and to clinch it, the Hindu way isn’t Hindu at all. Meaning therefore the philosophies are up for grabs to line their pockets full for the mullahs.

Like I asked, can the Hindu religion get ransacked anymore?

This sudden realization came during one of my yoga classes when a non-Hindu instructor (not that it matters her religion really) openly stated that Aum is the peaceful vibration of the Universe and is not religion?

IS NOT RELIGION?

Who the heck is she kidding?

Yeah, Aum is peaceful vibration of the Universe – As defined in Hindu scriptures. How that does not entail part of religion eludes me.

Keeping in mind, Hinduism is the religion to first introduce Aum. Again, her point goes out the door.

For some reason, its always Hinduism who’s getting ransacked, not any other religions. Stupid cop-outs are used like “Its Vedic” or “Indian texts” or “Brahmanical system” or worse, “Eastern philosophy”. Anything will suffice as long as it doesn’t show any relationship to the religion!

Do you think these clowns would dare say the Hadith is not Islamic, but is Arabic? Or the Genesis is not Biblic but Abrahamanic? Yeah, I’d reckon they get a face full of it.

More than this, my instructor is only a reflection of a bigger problem – Hindu’s are letting this happen.

People won’t take something they’re not allowed to take. Who’s giving the greenlight here? Well no points for guessing right, it’s too obvious.

Anyone who knows me knows how I always say that “Hindu’s need to start getting up and defending their religion!” Being tolerant is one thing, but this “Aum not religion” bit is a far reaching crime of distortion that requires anything but tolerance.

I left that class now having a better idea of the mindset I’m up against. The good thing about knowledge is, lies falter at the sight of it.

Until then……

HINDUS – GROW A BACKBONE. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OUR RELIGION, GROW A DAMN BACKBONE.

- Jiddu Krishnamurti


In the Oxford dictionary (2000), the word solution is defined as the “means of solving a problem or dealing with different situation”. By itself in the English language, the word solution is categorized as a Noun.

In the study of Mathematics, solution also considered the same; the answer to a problem.

While Maths and English may differ in the actual usage of “what” and “where” a solution is, the interpretation of the word remains nearly identical – The immediate, short term, and long term end to a problem. Meaning to say in different sense, the complete neutralization of a state that shows something is missing.

It’s inherent in a way. For every problem, there exists a neutralizing answer. In simpler word, for every problem there is an answer. Some days I look at, it seems almost a must – For every problem there will be a solution.

Of course, we face problems everywhere – From the choice of food we choose to consume for lunch, to color of shoes to match a specified outfit, a need of society to which businesses cater for, even dealings with family relatives right up to the need for software updates. No one in anyway would be exempt. A very usual situation is that romantic girlfriend/boyfriend phase. They’re usually loaded with problem landmines waiting to go off.

Perhaps, in a very uniquely positioned point of view, if you were look at it from an angle, it almost says the “problem” is only half of a whole; the “Answer” being the other half. Both combined to form……something. Say a lesson perhaps? Maybe.

Afterall, we do learn when we find the answer don’t we? On top of that, we also become a better person for it. I’m digressing; that’s not the point of this post.

Now, say for a minute one was to throw a monkey wrench into this scenario. I’m being figurative here when I ask this question - what if the “solution” that was supposed to get rid of the problem didn’t exactly do it? What if, say after X amount time of implementing the solution, the problem reappears? Would that by technical definition still fall under “Solution”?

I think I can hear many of my readers going “Not really!” Well, in a way of language, I agree with you. The reason here is, if the problem rears its head again, then it wasn’t solved.

Which means what was applied to it wasn’t a solution so much as it was just another way of looking the problem. A different perspective; different view on looking at the scenario.

Therefore then, we haven’t in actual terms, “solved” anything. And it is this very fact that gets me.

Every time a system or a Religion, any religion, comes about claiming and promising to be solution to all of people’s woes and misdeeds, then go on to conveniently blame the same people for being bad at implementing it when the problem re-appears, only in some ways just show that they misconstrued the concept of solving a problem.

Theft, murder, rape, gays, lesbians, what ever it is that supposedly to be an ailment to mankind. If a problem is solved, then its gone. Its’ done, its over, it neutralized, its finished, its ended, bye bye, hasta la vista, bon voyage. But if it hasn’t disappeared, then one cannot make the claim to be the answer to anything.

Why? Because if nothing has changed, then nothing was solved.

If it’s a solution, once you apply it – in this case the religion – to the context, it should eventually disappear. Be it people you know or don’t; it just shouldn’t exist. But that’s not happening. The promised utopia on Earth has not come to pass.

More interestingly, we find people from within a system or religion going out to perform the very same evils that very system or religion has promised to eradicate. Now what?


To add, we find believers are more incline to believe the problem is “out there” with other people, and go so far as to condemn them to an eternity of punishment in a fiery hell or with threats to ones life to forcefully follow that particular system. Which of the two is the worst of the lot? I don’t know.

We have missed the point I think.

I’m going to end this post this way. Why? Simply because there is no real answer or solution I can give to this. Neither am I claiming this post will provide one. But perhaps if we all took a great big look, someone might come up with one. Maybe. Then for sure, we wouldn’t have this problem anymore.




PS to E-Sanctuary peeps: Nice to see you too!

It's the perennial questions isn't it? The elusive one that many writers of any medium want to grasp and understand.

So long as you place words in strings of sentences on anything to convey a message, the whole concept of "Value in content" is the Holiest of Grail. Get it, and you’re sure to get anyone's attention.

What more if you have a blog? The same rules still apply – You’re a writer. You write. It’s an electronic medium. People read.

But ask anyone, and no one really can tell you what it is. Everyone has an idea "of it", but no one can quite come to stand on it. And so we find ourselves in the same circle we started with; only no answer.

I know, I've been there.

So this topic has been a lot of hard work thinking, OBSERVING, putting pieces together in and out. I think I may have finally figured it out and as it turns out, its actually quite simple.

Value in Content
Now for the most part, we know that "Value in content" stand to mean that the content of what is written has some value in it. Good, because this post as such isn’t to define what the words mean in English.

So the question is not what is Value in content, but how does one – Writer or Blogger - approach it so their writing always has "Value" in it? So that my readers always feel they're benefiting from it?

In other words, how do I create value in what I write for my readers?

The Answer to this my fellow writer friends, I have found at last, can be summarized in just one line:

"Tell me something I don't know!"

Stop. Go back and re-read that line.

It's going to take a bit before it sinks in, but believe me when it hits, its going to open you up to a whole new paradigm.

How it works
Quite simple.
Since this is a brief guide, I'll keep it just that, brief.

Tell me something I don't know -> Teaches me something new -> Value there because now I've gained from it.

It sounds so unbelievably simply; I sometimes wonder why it was apparent in the first place.

And this concept applies to anything you can talk about from mineral water right up to Quark Particles of Quantum Physiques.

Why?

Because it is “Concept oriented” and not necessarily “Subject Dependant”, you can talk on any subject anytime and still come off a genius. All you have to do is to just tell me something I don't know.

The Caveat here being of course that you, as the Writer, must know what you’re talking about. You can’t blab about something you don’t know because while that’s lying, more importantly, the readers will see right through it and just never come back.

The readers will know value when they see it. That’s what they’re looking for.

(For my Malaysian readers) This is why we're so dependant on sites like Raja Petra's Malaysia Today. He knows the rumblings of the country’s political underbelly that we don't and he tells it to us. Hence the value.

(For my International readers) This is also the reason why SEO sites, How to make Money Blogs and even for that matter, Gossip Blogs are so popular.

Rules Exception
Now, there is a slight exception to this concept I've come to notice. If you're paying attention to what was said above, you'll get the impression that one can only write/blog of new perspectives and not stuff like "What I had for breakfast this morning!".

It iss your blog and if you want to list your breakfast palate, go ahead. Just don't expect me to read it.

But what if you want to write on a hot topic, say Britneys latest adventure that's already been covered by every other writer/blogger out there while…….having some value in it?

Simple. The difference is – "Tell it to me in a way I didn't think of!"

Meaning, cover the same topic from an entirely different angle. Make the reader go "You know what, I didn't think of it that way! Good point!"

This is why newpaper Columns are interesting. They, the writer, give an interpretation of a point differently painted with facts, figures and life long experience.

The whole Point
This is going to sound unique. I'm didn't rush this straight to post; I've gone on test drives on other blogs and the pattern(s) are all similar. (Which in a way counts for why I haven't updated for while)
The whole point is, as it appears, Is to teach people. Writing on any medium be it paper, books or internet is supposed to convey knowledge and wisdom. Which is exactly what we aim to do everytime we write. We teach.

By blogging about something people don't know, you as the writer is essentially playing the role of teacher. You're educating people on a topic they didn't know about. And that's key because 1) To teach, you first have to learn it and 2) If everybody thinks this way, then every blog on the internet can become a tool for learning. For Education and for Wisdom.

Which is also what this article is doing – Teaching you. And now that you know, you go on teach other people while you write about what you like.
I don’t know if you get it, but it just seems like in order to get value in content, you must want to be willing to give knowledge away. To all and sundry. It’s a little funny I know.

Figuring out the Reader
This is the part now many might be wondering.
The challenge here is, how do you know what the readers want to read about? Well, all honesty here, until I can figure it out, its another Grail search quest.
All I can say is this – Stay true to what you write and let that find the readers. My blog is about spirituality so therefore, I’m catering to all who are spiritual. I know it’s futile to reach everyone. So I’m being good at what I do instead.

You might ask – Why does Raja Petra get so many readers? Well, its because we’re all interested in finding out about our Country! So we read. For those who don’t care about politics at all, they probably won’t read it. They don’t care.

You’re better focusing on a certain topic than wiping yourself dry to thinly trying to figure out how to please everyone.

My Last request..
…..is that you choose to use this knowledge to help your fellow man.

Don't lie, cheat, steal or plagiarise in anyway. Help yourself by helping others learn and better themselves. Consider it Good Karma points if you want.

For all else, certainly there's value in that.




PS to Deb and Patricia : Thanks for the shoutout