"It is your perception that is at fault. Whether you see a leprous face or an insect who wants to bite you: it is beautiful."

Even if the bite of a cobra kills you? I said.

He laughed, "Lets not get carried away. Yes - in theory - all is beautiful but it depends on the level you choose to operate. If confronted by a cobra, you may choose to come down a few levels and run - or kill."

But...

"But that is the joy of dilemma!" said Khambatta. "Horseshit makes flowers."

Obssession with dilemmas

"Humankind loves dilemma. Daily, they invent it, They see only dilemma. If they do not see something to fight about - they have no choice but to clearly see reality," he said.

What is reality? This was a question I asked him daily, until he told me to shut up and to address such questions to the only person that matters. He tapped me on the chest.

"In any case. No words will describe reality. It is many levels above speech. Oneness is a word which comes fairly close to the fruitful path."

So is there an answer to whether ugliness exists? I said.

Khambatta repeated: "Ugliness exists only as a perception. But there are beings in the cosmos who would easily meet your definition of ugliness.

So I am in a bind.

"On one level, the eternal viewpoint: there is no ugliness. On the temporary level: yes, there is...but hopefully it will not be perceived as ugliness forever: transmutation of all things is an inevitable force towards evolution..." he ended the talk as darkness had fallen and he was needed elsewhere.

Often, I feel that Khambatta lives on levels unrelated to gritty tube trains, traffic jams, drug addicts lying around on streets, but then again he may have a point.

As a writer, I want to see deeply as possible to the living essence within all life. I fail many times to reach the level of experiencing the beauty, most especially when I look at myself. But then Khambatta would say I am not looking deeply enough!

-- Kuala Lumpur, 5th May 2008