kadalai kasakkuthayya...

Enna ithu vara vara post title ellaam tamil layae vekkireengalaennu neraya peru kekkaraanga. Padathukku tamil la per vecha incentive tharra maathiri blog postukkum tamil per vechaa tax incentive tharuvaangalonnu oru chinna nappasa thaan. What actually happened was i came to like the titles used in Sara's blog (the only part of his posts that i can really understand), but I was really finding it difficult to think of titles like those. Then i stumbled upon usha's blog and got inspired to name my posts in tamil. Tamil vaazhga!!!

I reckon this is going to be the most informative post i have ever written. Before we begin...

Important Disclaimer
By kadalai, the author hereby refers to the widely prevalent practice of conversing with the opposite gender for humanly impossible long hours, with absolutely no transfer of knowledge, whatsoever. The title of this post and its content thereof is by no means a guarantee that the author intends to reduce the intensity or completely stop the concerned practice in the foreseeable future. The author wishes to thank one and all for providing him with such a deep understanding of the above-mentioned process.

Kadalai is more of an art, that too a very delicate and the hardest-to-master one at that.

A sack of peanuts and frying pan is sufficient, but certainly not enough. More often than not, guys (not gender specific) tend to overdo it. Sometimes, you fry it so shallow that it is disappointingly tasteless; sometimes, it gets fried deeper than it ought to be and then leaves a very bad, bitter taste that lingers so long in your mouth that you need even more fresh peanuts to flush it down.To get it perfectly fried, you need not only an expert chef's culinary knowledge and skills but also the perseverance and detachment of a Tibetan monk.

Kadalai has much in common with meditation than anything else. Both have the same goal: losing oneself. Or realizing oneself, whichever way you want to put it. This need sits right up there - on the top of the top of the pyramid of needs proposed by Abraham Maslow. I am sure i don't have to submit proof for this; many of you would already have lost yourselves several times in such manner or if you are at the lower rungs of the needs pyramid and not so much interested in self-realization, you would have at least witnessed many of your friends deep in such team meditation.

Unlike your acads, which sharpen your concentration, kadalai increases your awareness. It is very important to understand the basic difference between concentration and awareness. Concentration is inherently one-dimensional. It focuses all your energy on a single thing at a given time, leaving you at a disadvantage. On the other hand, awareness is multi-dimensional or no-dimensional, as you want to see it. It acknowledges and embraces the existence in its totality. Awareness conserves your energy and applies it only when it is really necessary. Thus, kadalai helps you stay alert, energetic and make the most of your miserable lives by increasing your awareness levels.

Come to think of it, kadalai is more efficient than meditation on many counts. While meditation consciously sweats towards reaching the realization goal, with kadalai, the process just happens in a jiffy and so effortlessly.

Well, i know it is not as easy as i make it out to be. A lot depends on the IQ (the lower, the better; as you very well know two wise people can't be friends), GQ (Absolutely needs to be high on this scale, need i emphasize more?) and EQ (better be low to keep you both together and sail through the hardships of the kadalai process) of the partner(s) you have. But, the heartening fact is that with kadalai, you have more than enough operational freedom: if one conks out, you have the ample freedom to resume with another asap. And the best part is, with the ownership and commitment being so low, it doesn't leave you feeling any worse.

And the goodies just doesn't end there. Exactly as it happens as you go deeper and deeper into meditation, with kadalai too, you realize the meaninglessness/ meaningfulness of life. It might be a bit confusing here. How can the same thing lead to totally opposite ends i.e. meaninglessness/ meaningfulness of life? Let us try to understand it. It might help to draw a parallel here with something we have assumed to have known all along. Shaiva and vaishnava philosophies. While a shaivaite goes on denying existence (why do you think then he wears ash on his forehead and his deity Shiva is depicted to be living in the burial ground?), a vaishnavaite revels in festivities (think of all the beauty you see at Vishnu temples and the tasty dishes that you get there) all through his life. It is similar to the cliched half empty/half full, optimistic/pessimistic views. Despite the popular theory that the negative, pessimistic view is inferior to the positive, optimistic view, both are right. When you say it is half full, you essentially imply that it is half empty. Only difference is the focus or the point of reference. Just like that, both shaivaite and vaishnavaite reach the same ends but take different approaches. In a similar vein, with kadalai, no matter what, whichever conclusion you get to at the end, you are absolutely right.

Fine. Enough for today. Time to meditate!!!

Note
IQ: Intelligence Quotient; GQ: Glamour Quotient; EQ: Emotional Quotient