A TRIBUTE TO A DAKINI ON MOTHER’S DAY

She was ill from the beginning, unable to eat like other days,

Unable to sleep in comfort, turning and rolling all night,

Legs swell and ache in standing and walking, yet chores had to be done,

To dig and weed and wash and cook everyday to warm the house,

Often dizzy and dazed, hungrier and thirstier from day to day,

‘Is it boy or is it girls? Is he normal or is she not abnormal?’

‘Can I survive the final day to see my child come to light?’

Week after week into nine months everyday these thoughts haunts,

Amidst hidden smiles, between joy of hope and worry of misfortune,

She begins to change from a youthful girl into a woman,

Changed in skin tone and physical shape, weakened in strength and health,

And in a state of pain and fear, hope and haze at its zenith,

A child is born to mark the beginning of another chapter of adventure-

Laced in joy none can know how it feels to be Mother,

Laced with sweet worry none can know how it feels to be woman,

To care and feed and wash and nurse through years of nights and days,

Another sleepless years, another painful recovery from blood and tears,

The wasted days like a dream, the waited days like a memory,

Only a mother can can know, only she can understand what it means to be,

To become mother, to cherish the victory, to honour the gift,

Only mothers will know the magical feelings of love and bondage,

Upon a child she carried and birthed.

A woman is never a mother, a mother never a woman,

And a man never stronger and celestial than a woman can be,

A man will never know what it feels like to be a mother,

Perhaps, a man can only boast what it must feel like to become mother,

Can make words of motherly pain and worry, hope and joy,

Can only believe his hug and words and help is equal her motherhood

To give birth and become this divine being who has the sacred gift.

O’ Men, O’ Children

Know thus, that mother is a divine lotus, 

A human beyond men,

A dakini, a deity, a divine being,

A symbol of strength and vigor, 

An epitome of Love and Beauty,

Of compassion and care,

Of tenderness and tranquility,

Of happiness and hope.

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LEADERSHIP FACTOR: Do I have this?

What differentiates between one leader to another performing is that performing leader has what I call factor X. This factor X is an abstract leadership quality unique to an individual, often something beyond words.

I see this factor in other great leaders, and I try to find ways to imbibe theses subtle factor X everyday. What I know is this factor is important to every individual.

This factor is essential in restructuring the cultural psyche of an organisation, and that psyche is engrained within the attitudes, beliefs and character of every high performing leader. This is viable in individuals within the organisation too, and if alive, an organisation is a synergy of positivity. It take that factor X in every individual to make a team that functions for each other for the vision of their organisation.

The cultural psyche is described as a mixture of verbal, visual, emotive creations and reactions to messages within a given social context. It is how people from outside receive an impression of an organisation, it’s people and leadership from various information. 

How the  contents of organisation thrives depends on the big factor X of its leader and smaller factor x of others within. When the marriage between X and x happen like a romantic adventure towards one vision through unity in diversity of efforts, understanding and harmony, cultural psyche of the organisation is a vibrant synergy of optimism and hope. In such atmosphere there is no underlying fear of reprisals from a leader, no stain of reluctance in the subordinate. They have total psychological safety to communicate without harboring doubts and dangers of reactions.

The factor X is the key that unlocks the rusted rigidity of work culture, people character and public opinion. This X is a product of nurturing with which individual grew within a virtuous family, deep learning, harsh experiences and reflective changes in characteristic of being human.

Good leadership is about being more human than a mechanical autocracy. The factor X function is key to managing the mechanism an organisation. 

The schools where this factor X is missing in the leader has no sign of factor x in every other people within the organisation. This absences is what make workplace a furnace of silent pain and discomfort.

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OBITUARY TO A LOST STAR

This is a synopsis to recall the memory of my late uncle, a rare talent to be lost forever. Some people will never pass away in spirit, memory and magnificence. He is my Aku, younger brother of my dad.

Like a comet streaking through the sky and vanishing into the expanse of the limitless night sky, Khaling Karma alias Tashi Tshering, passed away on the afternoon of 8th October 2021, after years of convalescent recovery from illness he has been fighting to regain strength. This left a massive hole in the hearts of many people who know him well. 

He was my vault of wisdom, skill and talents only few can have learnt to master. He was a encyclopedia and an engineer that needed no schooling to become master in how life can be lived to the fullest. 

Even at seventy, he was one of the versatile and farsighted spiritualist and a philosopher. Aku was a thinker without limits, a humorous man with a heart of gold. He was the most versatile craftsman, a creative designer, an engineer at everything, a man of focus and purpose, a resourceful mechanic of ideas.

His devotion to Chod practice was relentlessly investigative, drawing deep into the profound essence of Dzogchen teachings. His Root Teachers included luminaries like Dudjom Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and other great Lamas of his time. Jamyang Khentse Rinpoche has been his primary Guru, an inspiration for his practices and life.

During his last days, Aku had been lively to family and visitors, even dancing during Thruebaab. He began practicing Phowa and Luibjinn intensively in the last few weeks every night. At one time he said, “death is imminent for everyone. Mine is nearby and I am ready to leave.” This conviction is a sign of acceptance and fulfillment.

Aku was my first guide and a teacher to initiate me into Chod teachings. A night after my marriage fell apart irreparably, Aku walked me to Thimphu the following morning to buy drum,bell and Chod prayer book. Later that day, I was taught the tune, given directions with highlights on the pages of the book and even gave me prayer recorded in a cassette. That was in May 2003. 

Thereafter, apart from getting taught and inspired in many profound teachings, his experiential learning and histories, Aku became one of the guides to cut through my ignorance and learning. The other two teachers were father, a lifelong Chod hermit and my Aku Tshampa, a Throma Lama at Paro.

Aku is also known as ‘Samsara’ to many students of the ninety’s in Khaling High School, for teaching life and philosophy of samsaric world. When I young I was told Aku was known as Kuenphen Karma, and that he was a Royal Photographer at one point of time.

He was one of the first graduates from NIE Samtse, a teacher from his early age. And he lived as a teacher, teaching people through his ways and words that are inexplicably beyond being an intellectual.

You will be missed but you will never be gone.

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