Overcome ego!
SATYA NARAYAN, Oct 3, 2010, 12.00am IST
Who doesn't wish for happiness? Can money buy happiness? Do great achievements bring true happiness? Riches, success and achievements may bring name, fame and pride, but they do not always bring happiness.
If lack of money and success creates sorrow and suffering, their possession does not give happiness either. The question then is how can you be peaceful and happy, irrespective of whether you are a success or failure in life?
Krishna says in the Bhagvad Gita: "There is neither intellect nor bhavna (feeling for God) for the ayukta or the one who is not united, and to one devoid of bhavna , there is no peace. To the one without peace, how can there be happiness?" Krishna says, clearly, that unless a person is tuned into God he cannot have peace and without peace, he cannot be happy. Krishna also says that an un-united person does not have intellect.
So if you want happiness, unite with God. For this, you don't have to abandon the pursuit of riches, success and achievements. God is self-knowledge and wisdom of sameness towards all beings because all are God. An egocentric person remains alienated from wisdom that is God. If you are free from ego, you look at all beings as God and so are united to the wisdom that is God. You will be free of sorrow and will attain peace and happiness.
Krishna says that we do not have right to the fruits of action and, therefore, we should perform actions, leaving the fruits to God. How can you avoid worrying about the fruit while performing actions? When a person regards the fruits of action (success or failure) as 'mine' and performs focused on the object, he is automatically worrying about the fruit.
Moreover, in doing so, he fails to abide the law of God, which says that one does not have right to the fruits. What you have to really do is to steady your intellect with the thought that the fruits of actions are of God. And when the fruit accrue in the form of success or failure, joy or sorrow, you have to mentally renounce the fruit to God. Since you do not contemplate the objects, you will not be attached to them. You will break the chain that starts with attachment and gives rise to desire, anger, delusion, confusion of memory, loss of intellect and death. Your intellect will become steady.
Krishna calls the wisdom of steadying your intellect by renouncing the fruits of action to God as Buddhi-yog or discipline of intellect. In this state you can be freed from constant births in different bodies. If you don't, you are bound by actions. You lose your intellect due to attachment, desire and anger and perish, only to take another birth in a new body.
To steady our intellect we have to bring change in our thoughts. We have to remain engaged in usual actions and enjoyments as earlier but with a steady intellect fixed on the thought that all fruits of action are of God. This will free us from desire and ego, and gain eternal peace and happiness.
The same wisdom that will give peace and happiness to us will also give us Self-realisation and make us immortal. It will lead our world to a new age where we will live in peace, happiness and oneness, realising that we are in union with God.
The way of the Buddha
M K GANDHI, Oct 2, 2010, 12.00am IST
God laws are eternal and unalterable and not separable from God Himself.
It is an indispensable condition of His very perfection -- hence, the great confusion that the Buddha disbelieved in God and simply believed in the moral law.
Because of this confusion about God Himself arose the confusion about the proper understanding of the great word nirvana. Nirvana is undoubtedly not utter extinction. So far as I understand the central fact of the Buddha's life, nirvana is utter extinction of all that is base in us, all that is vicious in us, and all that is corrupt and corruptible in us.
Nirvana s not like the black dead peace of the grave, but the living peace, the living happiness of a soul which is conscious of itself and conscious of having found its own abode in the heart of the Eternal...
Gautama taught the world to treat even the `lowest' creatures as equal to himself. He held the life of even the crawling things of the earth to be as precious as his own. It is arrogant assumption to say that human beings are lords and masters of the lower creation. On the contrary, being endowed with greater things of life, they are trustees of the `lower' animal kingdom. And the great sage lived that truth in his own life.
I read as a mere youngster the passage in the Light of Asia describing how the Master took the lamb on his shoulders in face of the arrogant and ignorant Brahmins who thought that by offering the blood of these innocent lambs they were pleasing God, and he dared them to sacrifice a single one of them. His very presence softened the stony hearts of the Brahmins. They looked up to the Master, they threw away their deadly knives and every one of those animals was saved.
The Buddha said, if you want to do any sacrifice, sacrifice yourself, your lust, all your material ambitions, all worldly ambition. That will be an ennobling sacrifice. His was the right path, right speech, right thought and right conduct. He gave us the unadulterated law of mercy. And the extent of the law as he defined it went beyond the human family. His love, his boundless love went out as much to the lower animals, to the lowest life as to the human beings. And he insisted upon purity of life...
Life is not a bundle of enjoyments, but a bundle of duties. That which separated man from beast is essentially man's recognition of the necessity of putting a series of restraints to worldly enjoyment...
Explore the limitless possibilities of non-violence or ahimsa. It is definitely greater than the gems and the diamonds people prize so much. It can become, if you make wise use of it, you own saving and saving of mankind.
Non-violence is an intensely active force when properly understood and used. A violent man's activity is most visible, while it lasts. But it is always transitory... as transitory as that of Jhenghis' slaughter. But the effects of the Buddha's non-violent action persist and are likely to grow with age. And the more it is practiced, the more effective and inexhaustible it becomes, and ultimately the whole world stands agape and exclaims: 'a miracle has happened.'
Excerpt from The Way Of The Buddha
Work is what you make of it
Sreeram Manoj Kumar, Oct 2, 2010, 12.00am IST
Work and mentally renounce the fruits achieved thereafter. Don't let the shadow of personal prejudice affect how you perceive work.
This is the essence of karma yoga. The wise work for common benefit whereas the ignorant work only for themselves or their near and dear ones. A farmer has control over how he works in his fields, but not over the harvest. Krishna tells Arjuna: "Yoga is karmasu kausalam, doing work skillfully in the first attempt."
Work is external but our attitude to it is internal. A certain attitude may make us feel work is miserable while another kind of attitude makes it pleasant. By cultivating the right attitude, we will become spiritual. That is meditation.
Once in a village several people were engaged in construction of a temple A wandering sage passing by wants to know what is happing there, so he asks a person cutting stone: "What are you doing?" The labourer replies with frustration: "Don't you see that I am cutting stone? It's a hard stone. Look at my hands! They have become red. Work is hell. And to make matters worse, you ask me what I am doing. How I wish I were not doing this!" The sage asks: " I see you are cutting stone, but let me know what is coming up here?" The stonecutter replies that he has no idea; it does not concern him. He is disinterested.
The sage next goes to another man and asks him the same question: "What are you doing?" The man replies: "I'm cutting stone here; that's my job. For eight hours of work I get paid Rs 100. I have a wife and children to take care of. I'm doing my duty." The sage asks him: "Do you know what is coming up here?" He says: "Yes, they say they're making a temple. How does it matter to me, whether what is being constructed is a temple or a jail, as long as I get paid?"
Then the sage goes to a third worker who is also cutting stone and poses the same question. The man replies: "We are building a temple. There is no temple here; every year at festivals we have to trek to the temple in the next village. You know, every time I hit the stone I hear wonderful music. The temple work has put the sleepy village in a festive mood." The sage asks: "How long do you have to work on this project?" The man says the timeline is not his concern for as soon as he wakes up in the morning, he gets ready for work and begins cutting stone. He tells the sage that he spends the entire day here, taking a break between mealtimes. "When I go home in the night and sleep, in my dream I think of this construction and feel grateful that I enjoy the work I do, I am truly blessed," he said.
Three men doing the same work have three different attitudes. The first person thinks it's hell, the second looks upon his work as his duty. However, the third worker thinks what he is able to do is a blessing. If the work it self had the qualities inherently, good or bad, then, these three men might have felt the same. But in reality, it's not the work itself that is good or bad. It is not the work that disturbs us but something that's subtler; it's the attitude we have towards work.
Facing problems? Good
Asaram Bapu, Oct 2, 2010, 12.00am IST
For those of you who plan to embark on or are already on the path to knowing God, a little bit of discussion is in order.
When you tread the spiritual path that takes you closer to God, you are bound to face both favourable and unfaourable circumstances in the course of your journey. When circumstances start becoming favourable to you, it shows that you have succeeded on this path a little bit. However, if you start facing adversities, then take it as a sure sign that you will be treading the path with greater speed.
"They alone, whom He loves/ Are by Him tried and put to test./ The treasures of His benign grace,/ Does He shower on them under this pretext."
That devotee is fortunate, who finds that he has to deal with relatives who harass him. Meera may not have been as resolute as she was in her devotion to Krishna had she not had relatives who oppressed and troubled her. Similarly, were it not for the stubborn king, Hiranyakashipu, who troubled little Prahlad, he might not have been so steadfast in his devotion to Hari. Had Sant Eknath not come by troublemakers, it is possible he might not have been so firmly established in patience and divine peace.
When troubles and obstacles come our way, it is perhaps because God wants to establish us quickly in our divine nature of serenity. On the other hand, if pleasures and comfort come our way, it might mean that God knows our weakness that we are devoted to pleasure and so He gives us these toys. Accept the toys that come to you but don't get carried away by them.
The point is take care that toys don't gain contgrol over you, becoming the focal point of your life. Accept them as gifts from God. Just as we make offerings of sweets to God, receive it as prasad and then do not eat it alone, but distribute it to others as well. Similarly, when you are blessed with competence or comforts, make good use of them in the service of God. Likewise, when faced with difficulties or obstacles, just tide over them and get to your serene nature. Such a devotee quickly succeeds in his spiritual endeavour.
Do not become bloated in favourable circumstances, nor lose heart in adverse conditions. Both happiness and sorrow will invariably pass away. Irrespective of the nature of the present situation, you must always reiterate in your mind that this, too, will be over. Keep telling your mind, 'Even this shall pass away'. This will quieten the mind and gradually eliminate your sense of attachment and hatred.
Make your vision divine and see the world as an expression of Divinity. Your wealth, property and power will not accompany you on your final journey. It is only your intrinsic nature that will accompany you after your death. Therefore, always strive to elevate your nature; let it touch the loftiest heights of sublimity. Once the effulgent Sun of knowledge rises on the horizon of your life, the demon mind that roams in the darkness of the world's illusions will be destroyed right away. Afflictions like lust, anger, and greed will dissipate and disappear. The path of your life will become fully illumined and filled with bliss. As a human being, you will thus find true fulfillment.
Sex and salvation
DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, Oct 2, 2010, 12.00am IST
Salvation is the destination. Love is the way. However, sex provides three interesting detours – procreation, recreation and creation – on the path for one who wants to be God!
Recently a swami from south India was caught on camera in what the media calls a 'compromising position' with a couple of women. There was a public uproar and he has since been arrested. The swami, in his early thirties, would have gotten away with what is perhaps the result of a hormonal surge had he not vowed to be, well, a swami. Literally, a swami is someone who is a 'master of his senses'. Popular culture tends to look up to a saint or swami as some kind of divine entity.
Strangely but true, there is very little room for sexual adventure on the path to salvation. Yet, Nature wholeheartedly designs a 30-odd-year-old man's body for what Nature needs to do: propagation of the species. Nature puts forth several smart promotional schemes to get this job done through its species. The physical and physiological pleasure associated with the sex surge is the soft packaging for the hard nuts and bolts reality of giving birth to a baby. It is difficult not to be seduced by this pleasure when all our senses converge to draw us to it. Leonardo da Vinci puts this across from the artist's perspective: "The art of procreation and the members employed therein are so repulsive, that if it were not for the beauty of the faces and the adornments of the actors and the pent-up impulse, Nature would lose the human species."
When the contraceptive pill arrived, sex evolved from the basic need of procreation to sex for recreation. The inventive human mind was apparently able to checkmate Nature's ploy of painful procreation by recreating the pleasure of sex without producing a result. This is somewhat like sniffing around in a pastry shop with the intent to do just window-shopping. Nature made sure that the residue of recreational sex remains as sensory impressions in the mind in the form of vasanas – burning embers waiting for the next gust of passion to flare up. These vasanas are potential desires that incarnated themselves at the opportune moment.
The real challenge for human evolution was then to put out the embers of vasanas that transported sex in the head from where it actually belongs. This challenge of transforming sex-for-procreation into sex-for-recreation has been productively met by saints, explorers, artists, writers, inventors, innovators and wealth creators. They lifted the sexual energy from their thoughts and emotions and expressed them in their creative works. While saints like Buddha, Krishna and Christ created new maps of human consciousness; explorers like Galileo and Columbus redrew maps of our physical world.
On the path of salvation celibacy is not a prerequisite but a consequence – an effortless by-product of creativity. Celibacy is a kind of flowering of consciousness and not a moral given, as most sermons would have us believe. It is easier to cover a raging fire with a piece of cloth than to contain libido with sermons. A celibate is like an austere tree in winter that has seen the whole cycle of life from seeding to flowering and stands to rejoice as an enthralled witness in having completed the cycle of creation. The human consciousness scripts the whole journey from being the creatures of sex to the Creator Her self. The "fallen," swami, like any one of us, is somewhere on the path. I would just let him be.
Get more out of life with deep silence
SWAMI BRAHMDEV, Oct 1, 2010, 12.00am IST
Silence is a valuable constituent of the game of life; silence is the key that has the potential to open doors; it can free you of confusion. Silence empowers you think things through and come up with solutions because it is only in silence you can listen well. You can listen to the deepest wisdom of your soul.
Silence is a valuable constituent of the game of life; silence is the key that has the potential to open doors; it can free you of confusion. Silence empowers you think things through and come up with solutions because it is only in silence you can listen well. You can listen to the deepest wisdom of your soul.
In the absence of silence you tend to get overtaken by the mind and the body, and emotions. The clutter prevents you from listening to your psyche and soul. To listen to your psyche, your soul, your Divinity, you need to establish a strong relationship with silence; without it we might remain unaware of many things. When we live on the surface, the noise is overpowering.
It may be interesting to carry out a small experiment with your life. Go some place where there is plenty of silence and quiet. Sit in silence and observe yourself. You will find that in that silence you are beginning to get to know yourself. People go to the Himalayas and the caves to find a silent, secluded place free of distractions. The ambience of quiet engenders the exercise of looking within.
The life we have designed and created; the life most of us live, is an outer life. The outside is a very beautiful world; we have created it with our consciousness. However, the inner world is even better, more powerful, stronger, greater and bigger. Whatever exists in the universe outside also exists inside you. The whole universe, and maybe more, exists inside you. With our limited mental, vital and physical capacities we are able to become a little bit aware of the outer world, but by bringing alive our inner world we can know much more. We wish for possible happiness and success; its the inner world that has the capacity to open many more possibilities for you.
Right now you are enjoying travelling. This is a possibility. You take decisions on the basis of the possibility of a peaceful, joyful, harmonious, healthy, mindful and clear life, without any kind of insecurity or fear, pain, sufferings, worries. That is the desire, the aspiration every one of us nurtures. If we are searching for those possibilities in the outer world it is not possible, because the outer world has different kinds of possibilities also. It can give every comfort you ask for, but with every comfort, there comes some discomfort too. With any outer joy, pain will also be there. With any outer happiness, unhappiness would come too. Anything that comes from the outer world comes with its opposite in tow.
Take some time off every day to be silent, even if for five or 10 minutes Feel it, experience it, and observe it. That is the moment when you are with you, when you available to yourself. When you are in silence you are living in the present, which we dont do very often.
Silence does not mean absence of speech. Silence is an inner state. Something will automatically change in your state, in your nature, and silence will establish itself. Even if you are in a catastrophe, no one can destroy your silence; no one can take the inner quiet away from you. Once silence starts helping you, helping your evolution, then you can enjoy the beauty of life.
Silence is a state of consciousness. Silence is not an effort. If you are making an effort to be silent you are making more noise. Silence is an effortless effort. It will be born spontaneously with your understanding. Silence is the birthplace of your soul.
(As told to Sudhamahi Regunathan. Swami Brahmdev lives in his Aurovalley ashram in Raiwala, Uttarakhand .)
The option is yours
Geetika Jain, Sep 30, 2010, 12.00am IST
Life, by and large, is inscrutable. But one of its aspects is very clear - it does not indulge in favouritism.
It presents a medley of opportunities and challenges alike to one and all, with no discriminations whatsoever. Then why is it that some of us tend to lead peaceful, fulfilling lives while an abject, strife-torn existence is the fate of others? The logic is clear - each individual opts for his own options and traverses life accordingly.
Savants have endorsed the need to lead a truly simple and uncomplicated life. It need not be the two extremes of the spectrum - a highly flamboyant or a starkly austere life. In fact, a life of balance and moderation is desired. But more often than not, to propitiate our base instincts, we create in society a façade about our status, power and affluence. And to live up to this cosmetic image, we give in to corruption, conceit and compromise.
The choice is ours - either we choose to suffer with a delusional lifestyle or adhere to one that is genuine; that we are comfortable with. Be true to yourself.
Money, to an extent, is essential for happiness and comfort. However, an evolved perspective enables harmonious integration of material prosperity and spiritual progress. After achieving a comfortable level of financial security, choosing the right direction is vital. Pause and think. A wise person would overcome greed and look towards following a finer, humane and creative path.
We can maximise our happiness by minimising two habits - expectations and comparisons. When we have high expectations of others, especially our near and dear ones, we invariably end up getting hurt. Similarly, making comparisons can cause negative emotions like discontentment, jealousy and an unhealthy competitive spirit. So the ball is in our court, so to speak, as we need to make the right choice.
Often, we make our life onerous by nursing secret grudges and resentments against others who may be totally oblivious of our acrimonious feelings. This self-created baggage will only perpetuate the uncalled-for miseries and intricacies of our life. Cultivate a generous disposition - forgive, forget and move on in life. Life will never stagnate. Such a wise decision can only bring peace and joy.
We are gregarious beings, living in society. Relationships are an inevitable component of our existence. We can nurture robust, loving and transparent relationships or choose to tarnish them with selfishness, malevolence and deceit. The former will promote equanimity and smoothness in life while the latter will cause rancour and perpetual turmoil.
Life, however, may not always be rewarding. During troubled times, we need to maintain an unwavering faith in Divine functioning. A trusting, non-resistant attitude will help us embrace reality gracefully. Accept the world the way it is rather than brood over its imperfections. A negative attitude will certainly not alter reality - the option is in our own hands!
For true, undiluted happiness, it is imperative to live in the present. Past is a grave and the future is unknown. Living in the present moment is what can yield positive results. Again, the choice is ours. Simply pondering over past miseries and not learning lessons will make us cling to the past in sadness. It is only when we wisely embrace the lessons that we let go of the past and move on in life to brighten our present.
Hence, when we make wisdom and righteousness an intrinsic part of our being, our options will never be flawed. We can choose the right path, right conduct, right thought and right speech. Our life will tend to be in perfect alignment with Divine expectations!
Perspectives, space, time
SANJAY DEV, Sep 30, 2010,
Every space under the sun has a place in the cosmic scheme of things. It may remain anonymous or amorphous, or may get a name for convenience, easy association or identification sake. It could be: personal or impersonal; commercial or mundane; terrestrial or extra-terrestrial; private or public, social or official.
Space can be explained by its physicality, or lack of it. It could be corporeal when filled with solid, liquid or gaseous matter, and incorporeal when imbued with human emotions.
The filled part is beyond us. You can't do much to change it. But the imbued part can be taken care of by us, individually or collectively. For every single move made in individual capacity can bring about subtle change in its character for better or worse.
Imagine a hypothetical situation where a room wears a completely cluttered look. Nothing seems to be in place here. The occupants now decide to de-clutter it and strive to land it some semblance of order.
Each sets about cleaning the shabby things first, and with shared imagination puts the thing at a place that fits its size, use and background, and in no time, the room assumes a spick-and-span look and a whole new space is created for more things.
The space in any situation is a given. What you want to give it is purely your choice. You can use it for any effect. You can create the illusion of depth in it by making subtle changes, or cause delusion of grandeur by stuffing it with frills and furbelows.
It is sacrilegious to invade a space that is held sacrosanct by its occupier, even though it may not appear to be so to its violator. Apparently the occupier and violator of if it belong to different spatio-temporal zones where one can't understand the other's perspective.
If the violator doesn't understand his own space, how can he respect the space of another? The problem gets compounded when people mistake space for place which is a corollary to it, but once defined becomes independent of it, and gains exclusivity. This exclusivity of space is crucial to its own existence and that of its occupier.
The occupier has a tenancy to space. He has to pay the price to maintain it the way he chooses to. If the space is casually thrown open, or is used as a thoroughfare, people won't hesitate driving roughshod through it.
It is imperative that we first learn to differentiate between space and place and how they fit in the greater cosmic scheme of things. How beautifully they meld as willed by God and nature.
Why does a shrine evoke feelings of piety, fleeting though it may be? Why is it that a library and collective sense of individuals reading in it, spurs your pursuit of learning for a while you are there? Why do work, market and social spaces strive to fill themselves with a competitive spirit?
It is not space per se, but what one wants to make of it that is important and responsible for it being the way it is.
In order to live peacefully and harmoniously in the world, we need to first know our place in the whole wide cosmos, and then seek to create a sacred space for ourselves where we are at peace with ourselves, and in harmony with the world around.
This exclusive space can't be found outside, where it is mostly filled. Rather it exists inside us, ready to be tapped just for the seeking.
Every breath can rejuvenate
ANANDMURTI GURUMAA, Sep 29, 2010, 12.00am IST
Breath is life; hence the better we breathe the better we live. To breathe slowly is to prolong youthfulness and life.
So say yogic texts that caution us to breathe as if, at birth, only a fixed and immutable number of breaths had been allotted to us. If so, then each slow breath we take preserves our precious respiratory credit balance and prolongs our existence. It can even be considered as an obligation, because if we are pre-programmed in this way, it is because we have a task to accomplish, a destiny to fulfill, in that limited span of time.
The yogi obtains a greater quantity of oxygen and expels more gaseous toxins, especially carbon dioxide, than the sedentary person who breathes superficially 18 times a minute. This is because it is not the volume of air that matters, but the quantity of oxygen which is actually absorbed and assimilated in the body. Air is nourishment and requires time to be digested, just like any liquid or solid food in the digestive tract.
In practise
Whenever we remember to think about it, we can breathe slowly, deeply and with awareness, utilising the technique of yogic breathing. One or two minutes of this practice can be more beneficial than 59 minutes of shallow breathing.
We should schedule frequent sessions of yogic breathing throughout the day, especially when we are outdoors, even if we are only going to fetch the car. Each minute of practice increases our vitality and health. Each slow and deep breath rejuvenates us, in the sense that it revitalises our tissues. This is not merely affectation, but a personal and even a civic duty.
The yoga session offers a good opportunity to practice slow breathing. A session of asanas includes not only conscious breathing, but also the practice of continuous controlled breathing , therefore deeper and slower, with asanas included. Just as a handful of pearls do not make a necklace, a succession of asanas become a series only if breath links them together. Of course, the breath must be accompanied by mental awareness.
The unconscious breath
It is true that it is quite impossible to stay conscious of the breath all day long and during our daily work. Therefore, whether we are yoga practitioners or not, for most of our life our breathing is unconscious. So the practice of yogic breathing can only be a small part of our active, waking life, let alone of our sleeping time, during which it is seemingly impossible to control the breath. But there is another aspect to remember.
If we can manage to practise slow and deep breathing several times a day, we will eventually influence our unconscious breath. After practising for only one or two minutes, even if we forget about it immediately, our body continues with a deeper and slower breathing rate than usual for a variable time. The usual rhythm of respiration, shallow and quick, does not supervene immediately.
The more we prolong and repeat our practices, the more the unconscious respiration will slow down and deepen permanently, even during sleep. It is worthwhile to persevere. Therefore, let us breathe slowly and deeply, each time we think of it. And let's hope that it is often.
Perils of over-confidence
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Sep 29, 2010, 12.00am IST
Confidence is good, but overconfidence is not. When you become overconfident, you tend to take great risks. If you fail, that might pull you down as it is not in your capacity to overcome such problems. It is like fighting against the laws of nature.
Why does a person become overconfident? The reason lies in over-assessment of his capabilities. Sometimes people over-assess their competence and jump into situations that are beyond their control.
Napoleon Bonaparte who became emperor of France, would say that the word 'impossible' was current only amongst fools. The overconfident Napolean invaded Russia in the winter of 1812. Although the Russian army at that time was not very strong, the severe cold proved to be fatal for Napoleon's army – it was caught in a hailstorm and because of this most of his army personnel perished before even entering Moscow.
Most leaders and generals who have either lost their ability to lead or win came to that state on account of over confidence. Overconfidence generally leads people into misadventures, jeopardising their prospects.
According to the divine scheme of life, any achievement is a result of two factors – one's personal planning and support from the external world. The share of personal planning is less than 50 percent while the share of outside factors is more than 50 percent. It is this fact which makes overconfidence untenable in this world. People, thanks to their obsessions, take into account only their planning, generally ignoring external factors. They become unable to foresee future developments. Hence the great risk of failure.
I know an educated person who was in a government job then. But because of his political ambitions, he resigned from service and threw himself into the arena of politics. This political adventure proved to be beyond his grasp and he was defeated in the elections. He lost both his job in the government as well as the assembly seat he was contesting for.
Then there is the question: of how one can manage overconfidence. The formula is very simple. Before taking a decision, discuss the matter with other informed people with an objective mind and when it is proved that you are about to go off the path, accept reality and say without delay: "I was wrong."
Overconfidence is a flaw characterizing such people as lack the virtue of modesty. Modesty makes you a realist; you become a person who is cut to size. People of this kind become very cautious; before taking an action they assess the whole situation. They adopt a realistic approach. They are able to discover their own shortcomings. This psyche serves as a self-controlling element in their lives, enabling them to save themselves from untoward happenings.
Overconfident people live within their own thoughts. They know themselves but they are unaware of others. Living inside their own cell; they are unable to make use of the experiences of others. This kind of habit is highly damaging to all concerned, disastrous for all men and women.
There is a saying that the young man sees the rule and the old man sees the exception. With a slight change, I would like to say that the overconfident person sees the rule and the confident person sees the exception. Overconfident people always live in risks. It is said that taking risks is good. They say: no risk, no gain. But risk must be a well-calculated risk otherwise risk becomes very dangerous.
Why does a person become overconfident? The reason lies in over-assessment of his capabilities. Sometimes people over-assess their competence and jump into situations that are beyond their control.
Napoleon Bonaparte who became emperor of France, would say that the word 'impossible' was current only amongst fools. The overconfident Napolean invaded Russia in the winter of 1812. Although the Russian army at that time was not very strong, the severe cold proved to be fatal for Napoleon's army – it was caught in a hailstorm and because of this most of his army personnel perished before even entering Moscow.
Most leaders and generals who have either lost their ability to lead or win came to that state on account of over confidence. Overconfidence generally leads people into misadventures, jeopardising their prospects.
According to the divine scheme of life, any achievement is a result of two factors – one's personal planning and support from the external world. The share of personal planning is less than 50 percent while the share of outside factors is more than 50 percent. It is this fact which makes overconfidence untenable in this world. People, thanks to their obsessions, take into account only their planning, generally ignoring external factors. They become unable to foresee future developments. Hence the great risk of failure.
I know an educated person who was in a government job then. But because of his political ambitions, he resigned from service and threw himself into the arena of politics. This political adventure proved to be beyond his grasp and he was defeated in the elections. He lost both his job in the government as well as the assembly seat he was contesting for.
Then there is the question: of how one can manage overconfidence. The formula is very simple. Before taking a decision, discuss the matter with other informed people with an objective mind and when it is proved that you are about to go off the path, accept reality and say without delay: "I was wrong."
Overconfidence is a flaw characterizing such people as lack the virtue of modesty. Modesty makes you a realist; you become a person who is cut to size. People of this kind become very cautious; before taking an action they assess the whole situation. They adopt a realistic approach. They are able to discover their own shortcomings. This psyche serves as a self-controlling element in their lives, enabling them to save themselves from untoward happenings.
Overconfident people live within their own thoughts. They know themselves but they are unaware of others. Living inside their own cell; they are unable to make use of the experiences of others. This kind of habit is highly damaging to all concerned, disastrous for all men and women.
There is a saying that the young man sees the rule and the old man sees the exception. With a slight change, I would like to say that the overconfident person sees the rule and the confident person sees the exception. Overconfident people always live in risks. It is said that taking risks is good. They say: no risk, no gain. But risk must be a well-calculated risk otherwise risk becomes very dangerous.
Indefinable nature of maya
Swami Sukhabodhananda, Sep 28, 2010, 12.00am IST
Vedanta uses the expression anirvachaniya kyathi. Anirvachaniya means indefinable. Maya, by its very nature defies definition and description. Who is the Creator? The Lord! What is the object that was created? Jivatma! What is maya -- is it Lord the Creator, or jiva the object created that has the property of maya? If jiva has maya, then jiva has come from maya. If God has maya, God is jiva. Maya means ya ma sa maya. Ya means that, ma means not, sa means that which is maya. From that which is not, He created the world.
Let me give a modern example.
A king had 17 elephants. Then the king died. He had three sons. According to his will, the first son was entitled to one-half of the number of elephants, the second to one-third, and the third to one-ninth. The size of the share couldn't be changed. As 17 is an odd number, and difficult to share among the three, they were unable to find a solution to the challenge. Fortunately for them, a wise man was passing through their country. He was an old friend of their father's as well. The young men described their predicament and asked for his help. The wise man asked them not to worry and set about solving the problem immediately.
He added his elephant to the 17 elephants; they were now 18. He separated 9 elephants or one-half of 18, and gave them to the first son. The second son was given six elephants or one-third of 18. Lastly, the third son was given two elephants, two being one ninth of 18. The total number of elephants given away was 17 (9+6+2). The eighteenth elephant left was that of the wise man who took his elephant back and left, with everybody happy and satisfied. The last elephant is like maya: it came to solve a problem, and having solved it, it removes itself from the scene, leaving no trace of its previous presence.
Here's another example: You are a king, sleeping, and you dream that you are a beggar. Your guru appears in the dream and tells you that you are not a beggar, but a king. Similarly, you may be under the delusion that you are paramatma, not jivatma. You are like the king who dreams he is a beggar. The guru reveals that it is your delusion, and that it is maya that makes you think you are a beggar. Which identity is maya, the king's or the beggar's? The king has only to wake up for delusions to disappear.
"When and where can I experience enlightenment?" asked the student. The master replied, "Right here, and right now."
"Then why don't I experience it," the student persisted. Because you do not see," said the master. "Not seeing what," asked the student. "You don't see the flower, the tree, or the sun" the teacher said patiently. "Yes", the student said, "I do see the flower, the tree, and the sun, but is there a special way of seeing them?"
The master said, "No, there is no special way, you can look at them from an ordinary perspective". Then with a tone of finality, the master added, "In order to see, you must be awake, but you are asleep."
Vedanta uses the expression anirvachaniya kyathi. Anirvachaniya means indefinable. Maya, by its very nature defies definition and description. Who is the Creator? The Lord! What is the object that was created? Jivatma! What is maya -- is it Lord the Creator, or jiva the object created that has the property of maya? If jiva has maya, then jiva has come from maya. If God has maya, God is jiva. Maya means ya ma sa maya. Ya means that, ma means not, sa means that which is maya. From that which is not, He created the world.
Let me give a modern example.
A king had 17 elephants. Then the king died. He had three sons. According to his will, the first son was entitled to one-half of the number of elephants, the second to one-third, and the third to one-ninth. The size of the share couldn't be changed. As 17 is an odd number, and difficult to share among the three, they were unable to find a solution to the challenge. Fortunately for them, a wise man was passing through their country. He was an old friend of their father's as well. The young men described their predicament and asked for his help. The wise man asked them not to worry and set about solving the problem immediately.
He added his elephant to the 17 elephants; they were now 18. He separated 9 elephants or one-half of 18, and gave them to the first son. The second son was given six elephants or one-third of 18. Lastly, the third son was given two elephants, two being one ninth of 18. The total number of elephants given away was 17 (9+6+2). The eighteenth elephant left was that of the wise man who took his elephant back and left, with everybody happy and satisfied. The last elephant is like maya: it came to solve a problem, and having solved it, it removes itself from the scene, leaving no trace of its previous presence.
Here's another example: You are a king, sleeping, and you dream that you are a beggar. Your guru appears in the dream and tells you that you are not a beggar, but a king. Similarly, you may be under the delusion that you are paramatma, not jivatma. You are like the king who dreams he is a beggar. The guru reveals that it is your delusion, and that it is maya that makes you think you are a beggar. Which identity is maya, the king's or the beggar's? The king has only to wake up for delusions to disappear.
"When and where can I experience enlightenment?" asked the student. The master replied, "Right here, and right now."
"Then why don't I experience it," the student persisted. Because you do not see," said the master. "Not seeing what," asked the student. "You don't see the flower, the tree, or the sun" the teacher said patiently. "Yes", the student said, "I do see the flower, the tree, and the sun, but is there a special way of seeing them?"
The master said, "No, there is no special way, you can look at them from an ordinary perspective". Then with a tone of finality, the master added, "In order to see, you must be awake, but you are asleep."
So wake up. Open your eyes.
A tryst with love
Pranav Khullar, Oct 3, 2010, 12.00am IST
alt="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/5766056.cms" u2:shapes="Picture_x0020_5" v:shapes="_x0000_s1026">I'm not sure what woke me up – the strong call of the muezzin or the peacocks. It was three in the morning, according to my watch. That's the right time to wake up, my guide had said to me the previous evening. I looked around for him. He was fast asleep and snoring, too. The tomb of Salim Chisti seemed still and calm, a milky white in the darkness.
Another couple of hours and the month-long fast of the holy month of Ramadan would be over, giving way to festivity and Eid celebrations. I got up cautiously, the Archaeological Survey guide still snoring to my left. I stood there, in the huge, roofless quadrangle around Chisti's tomb. I could sense a prairie-like placidity.
Even as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see that a few devout were at prayer already, savouring the last day of the holy month. Kneeling on their rugs beneath the open sky, lifting their hearts directly towards a divine presence, they mingled with the silence at Fatehpur Sikri, Agra.
The enormous Buland Darwaza, the ornate gateway some yards away, stood out in the night like a Sphinx, a symbol of man's search for meaning. Beyond it, on the outside was a world of differences and identities and roles. Inside here, one had crossed the threshold to enter a world of oneness and harmony that seemed to precede all existence. I closed my eyes.
I remembered Jiddu Krishnamurti's words: "Truth is a pathless land... the mind that goes into itself goes on a long pilgrimage from which there is no return." I wondered when our role-playing would end, when we would be jolted to awareness of the faith beyond all faith.
The cool, crisp air coming in from the desert seemed like the proverbial creative breeze, revealing deeper truths than what we normally seek. The peacocks continued calling out vigorously even as the devout poured their soul into prayer.
When I opened my eyes, the first rays of the sun had just lit up the red sandstone of Fatehpur Sikri. While my guide could be seen sleeping at a distance still, there was no one else in sight. I rubbed my eyes. The devout had left, it seems – or had they evaporated in the morning sunlight? The young caretaker of the Salim Chisti tomb was waking up. The epiphanic moment had passed.
The fast of Ramadan gave way to peace that could be felt all around. Instinct told me that this peace cannot be held hostage – neither by threat of war nor any other kind of violence, because the power of love and bonding is so much stronger than divisive forces that seek to shatter the peace. Love is the ultimate answer to all.
The epiphanic moment may have gone, but the experience had left behind the lingering taste of a timeless truth – of man's essential Self, beyond his created self. As I wound my way back to the hustle and bustle of the bazaars of Agra, I felt like a Qalander, a free soul myself, having stumbled upon what seemed like an ancient secret – a secret that is ironically programmed in our DNA, yet forgotten and held captive by the ego. Eid, therefore, is a beautiful reminder of our tryst with love, with fellow beings and creation itself.
Live with effortless grace
Sheel Vardhan Singh, Sep 28, 2010, 12.00am IST
It was 9.30 in the morning. From my balcony on the eigth floor, I could see below a stream of shining cars crawling on the roads.
The traffic seemed chaotic, vehicles trying to get past the other, so much like situations we face in our chaotic lives, driven by competition.
A peaceful life is essentially a simple one and hence effortless. The sheer simplicity of peaceful life is a magnet that attracts, for deep within we identify with it. To be simple is not something external; we have to become simple and natural from within, be open to our own 'internal self', and perform actions knowing where they are leading to. One has to consciously bring about this change, as Paramhamsa Swami Niranjananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga, Munger says, " To change externally is just a cosmetic change, it is feeding the intellect, the real change is internal." Being open to our internal selves connects us to the fantastic inner world wherein in each one of us a `sage' dwells. Once connected to this sage our decisions are taken from deep within and we no longer need approval of others. We stand tall and empowered, yet simple, natural and in harmony with self and others.
However, being at peace does not guarantee freedom. We all have responsibilities that bind us in many ways, creating a web around us in which we feel enmeshed. So how do we experience freedom? Though it may seem contradictory on the face of it but one who is disciplined is the one who experiences real freedom. Freedom, like peace, is an internal concept, we can experience freedom only when we feel freedom within us. A disciplined man is able to organise his life and take care of his responsibilities with aplomb, and thus he is set free. A disciplined man is able to achieve balance in life.
By virtue of our existence we live in a world of relationships with others. The only constant in life is change and that is true of relationships as well. Only relationship that does not change with time is the one between mother and child, where normally affection is unconditional. If we honestly view our relationships we will find that we are constantly `performing' with others. We unleash words and thoughts often couched in terms of 'love' while the intent to have control over others. The moment we are able to stop `performing,' relationships grow without expectations.
Once we simplify life and take decisions from deep within, infuse discipline in our lives and stop enacting dramas in our relationships we are at peace and free. Once at peace and free, happiness happens. Life becomes an expression of divine calmness and flows with effortless grace. One becomes a 'farmer' instead of a 'warrior'. As Paramhamsa Swami Niranjananda Saraswati says, "In life become a farmer instead of a warrior; learn to nurture and take care and begin the process with yourself with your personality and mind. The victory of a warrior is accompanied by destruction while the victory of a farmer is accompanied by creation."
The shrill note of a motorcar's horn from the street below brought me back from my reverie. I saw a `warrior' in a huge shining red car weaving his way aggressively through the traffic before I turned and went inside the apartment.
Bihar School of Yoga, Munger. www.yogavision.net, www.yogamag.net, www.rikhiapeeth.net
The traffic seemed chaotic, vehicles trying to get past the other, so much like situations we face in our chaotic lives, driven by competition.
A peaceful life is essentially a simple one and hence effortless. The sheer simplicity of peaceful life is a magnet that attracts, for deep within we identify with it. To be simple is not something external; we have to become simple and natural from within, be open to our own 'internal self', and perform actions knowing where they are leading to. One has to consciously bring about this change, as Paramhamsa Swami Niranjananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga, Munger says, " To change externally is just a cosmetic change, it is feeding the intellect, the real change is internal." Being open to our internal selves connects us to the fantastic inner world wherein in each one of us a `sage' dwells. Once connected to this sage our decisions are taken from deep within and we no longer need approval of others. We stand tall and empowered, yet simple, natural and in harmony with self and others.
However, being at peace does not guarantee freedom. We all have responsibilities that bind us in many ways, creating a web around us in which we feel enmeshed. So how do we experience freedom? Though it may seem contradictory on the face of it but one who is disciplined is the one who experiences real freedom. Freedom, like peace, is an internal concept, we can experience freedom only when we feel freedom within us. A disciplined man is able to organise his life and take care of his responsibilities with aplomb, and thus he is set free. A disciplined man is able to achieve balance in life.
By virtue of our existence we live in a world of relationships with others. The only constant in life is change and that is true of relationships as well. Only relationship that does not change with time is the one between mother and child, where normally affection is unconditional. If we honestly view our relationships we will find that we are constantly `performing' with others. We unleash words and thoughts often couched in terms of 'love' while the intent to have control over others. The moment we are able to stop `performing,' relationships grow without expectations.
Once we simplify life and take decisions from deep within, infuse discipline in our lives and stop enacting dramas in our relationships we are at peace and free. Once at peace and free, happiness happens. Life becomes an expression of divine calmness and flows with effortless grace. One becomes a 'farmer' instead of a 'warrior'. As Paramhamsa Swami Niranjananda Saraswati says, "In life become a farmer instead of a warrior; learn to nurture and take care and begin the process with yourself with your personality and mind. The victory of a warrior is accompanied by destruction while the victory of a farmer is accompanied by creation."
The shrill note of a motorcar's horn from the street below brought me back from my reverie. I saw a `warrior' in a huge shining red car weaving his way aggressively through the traffic before I turned and went inside the apartment.
Bihar School of Yoga, Munger. www.yogavision.net, www.yogamag.net, www.rikhiapeeth.net
Why do we fear?
Swami Sukhabodhananda, Oct 1, 2010, 12.00am IST
Most fears are nothing but movements of thoughts. A thought is a language that we give for words, pictures and feelings. Put in a different way, a thought is just a movement of word, picture and feeling... You interpret a thought in your mind in a language that you are afraid, and you experience fear.
What happens when you are in a state of deep sleep? In that state there are no thoughts, and you experience no fear at all. If there is no thought, there is no fear. When you are in deep sleep, a snake may glide close to you, but you are not afraid of that snake in such proximity because you are not thinking about the snake. On the other hand, when you are awake, the sight of even a coiled piece of rope can fill you with fear, because you think that the rope is a snake.
Fears that are physical in their origin arise from a threat perceived in our immediate physical surroundings. For example, you may be in the jungle, and you know there are tigers in the jungle. You will genuinely be afraid. Even then, you can turn that fear into an enjoyable experience, what advertisers of adventure sports call an "adrenaline-pumping" or "hair-raising" experience. Such fear also has great survival value. Ask professional hunters and experienced trekkers, and they will tell you that it is fear that keeps them alert and alertness that keeps them alive.
You can work on reducing or eliminating your fear. If you have a fear, first understand the nature of the object that arouses it. Let us say you are afraid of your future. What you really fear is the uncertainty that surrounds events yet to happen. By living totally in the present and by planning ahead you can reduce the uncertainty and fear. If you do not know how to plan, you can take the guidance of consultants and counsellors. You cannot plan for all uncertainties but being prepared to an extent reduces your fear of uncertainties. Learn the art of enjoying it, too.
At times, even when we are thinking positively, negative thoughts and images intrude. How to prevent this?
I will begin my answer with an analogy. You have a computer and you switch it on. Windows 98 comes on. You don't want Windows 98. You get angry. You switch off the computer, and switch it on again. Still you see only Windows 98 on the screen. Then you buy a new computer, and that also displays only Windows 98. All the computers of the time work on Windows 98. Switching the computer on and off repeatedly will not change the situation. For, the built-in programming environment is Windows 98. You have to change the programming.
Similarly, the psychological programming inside you, your subconscious mind, should change before any real change can happen. Your subconscious mind comprises engrams – mental traces that have been created over life experiences. These consist of both positive and negative associations and act like computer programmes. So long as the programming remains the same, the computer will function only in the manner dictated by that programme.
Similarly, we have to change the programming of our mind. Wise thinking leads to discrimination of the good and the bad. When you have changed your programming, you start perceiving and acting positively. So it is wise thinking that holds the key to a positive frame of mind.
What happens when you are in a state of deep sleep? In that state there are no thoughts, and you experience no fear at all. If there is no thought, there is no fear. When you are in deep sleep, a snake may glide close to you, but you are not afraid of that snake in such proximity because you are not thinking about the snake. On the other hand, when you are awake, the sight of even a coiled piece of rope can fill you with fear, because you think that the rope is a snake.
Fears that are physical in their origin arise from a threat perceived in our immediate physical surroundings. For example, you may be in the jungle, and you know there are tigers in the jungle. You will genuinely be afraid. Even then, you can turn that fear into an enjoyable experience, what advertisers of adventure sports call an "adrenaline-pumping" or "hair-raising" experience. Such fear also has great survival value. Ask professional hunters and experienced trekkers, and they will tell you that it is fear that keeps them alert and alertness that keeps them alive.
You can work on reducing or eliminating your fear. If you have a fear, first understand the nature of the object that arouses it. Let us say you are afraid of your future. What you really fear is the uncertainty that surrounds events yet to happen. By living totally in the present and by planning ahead you can reduce the uncertainty and fear. If you do not know how to plan, you can take the guidance of consultants and counsellors. You cannot plan for all uncertainties but being prepared to an extent reduces your fear of uncertainties. Learn the art of enjoying it, too.
At times, even when we are thinking positively, negative thoughts and images intrude. How to prevent this?
I will begin my answer with an analogy. You have a computer and you switch it on. Windows 98 comes on. You don't want Windows 98. You get angry. You switch off the computer, and switch it on again. Still you see only Windows 98 on the screen. Then you buy a new computer, and that also displays only Windows 98. All the computers of the time work on Windows 98. Switching the computer on and off repeatedly will not change the situation. For, the built-in programming environment is Windows 98. You have to change the programming.
Similarly, the psychological programming inside you, your subconscious mind, should change before any real change can happen. Your subconscious mind comprises engrams – mental traces that have been created over life experiences. These consist of both positive and negative associations and act like computer programmes. So long as the programming remains the same, the computer will function only in the manner dictated by that programme.
Similarly, we have to change the programming of our mind. Wise thinking leads to discrimination of the good and the bad. When you have changed your programming, you start perceiving and acting positively. So it is wise thinking that holds the key to a positive frame of mind.
Revolution based on love
Sep 27, 2010, 12.00am IST
We bring you an excerpt from interactions in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, September 15-17.
School student: What is the significance of spirituality in our lives?
Spiritual elevation is very important in our lives. Three dimensions cannot be ignored. They are: spiritual emotions, mind and body and a healthy environment. We are committed to celebrating life, to plant more trees and to preserve and protect the environment. We face so many challenges today. The youth, particularly, face many situations that tend to create confusion and stress.
Member of Parliament: How to avoid stress and ward off depression?
Life is a celebration, so why should you feel depressed? Youngsters have so much enthusiasm and energy. You can get spiritually elevated by practicing deep breathing and by meditating. Think positive. Fill your hearts with joy. Forty-three universities in the US have created spiritual clubs as these practices have helped reduce corruption, alcoholism and school dropout numbers and spiritual practices have helped students to improve their academic performance. Spiritual elevation is brought about by regular meditation practice. Science and spirituality have come together – they were always together but today science acknowledges the role of spirituality in enhancing the quality of life.
Olympics gold medalist boxing champion Badar-Uugan: How can sportspersons benefit from spirituality?
Sportspersons like you need lots of energy, a quick reflex and presence of mind. Dynamics of breath plays a very important role in raising or affecting your metabolism. Centering your mind helps you to enhance your presence of mind. Spirituality makes you flexible and you are then easily in rhythm with nature.
Visitor: Do your followers have to convert to Hinduism?
There is no such thing as conversion in Hinduism – only embracing everything; no rejection. Conversion implies rejection rather than adoption. Anger and rebellion was the basis of the Russian revolution, for example. Yet, it did not help us find answers. Nor did it last. Why not we make revolution based on love and compassion for all time to come? It's all about connecting with the universe, with divinity that's not out there somewhere but right within you and me.
Visitor: How would I know that I am connected to divinity?
When your mind is calm and collected you know already that you are connected. When we are connected, language doesn't matter because we are talking heart-to-heart. We convey a lot just through our presence.
A Teacher: I find it difficult to ignore those who speak harshly. They exude so much negativity ...
If someone has negative tendencies, don't take it inside you. Understand that roses have thorns, too. So life, too, has problems. We do have the strength to overcome them; just tap into your inner energy. See problems as opportunities. The more spiritual knowledge we share, the more we spread happiness and joy. When you deal patiently with a person who is angry, you will have a calming effect. Your intention is what makes the difference.
Art of Living student: While meditating, I feel really good. How do I ensure that the feeling lasts?
Keep doing it; do satsang, motivate yourself. You have to water the plant till becomes a strong tree. We talk of global economy – what we need to do is to globalise wisdom. I would like Mongolia to establish an international university with modern facilities here, where wisdom from ancient cultures and traditions can be shared and people benefit from that; take the best of the east and west.
(Satsang: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
School student: What is the significance of spirituality in our lives?
Spiritual elevation is very important in our lives. Three dimensions cannot be ignored. They are: spiritual emotions, mind and body and a healthy environment. We are committed to celebrating life, to plant more trees and to preserve and protect the environment. We face so many challenges today. The youth, particularly, face many situations that tend to create confusion and stress.
Member of Parliament: How to avoid stress and ward off depression?
Life is a celebration, so why should you feel depressed? Youngsters have so much enthusiasm and energy. You can get spiritually elevated by practicing deep breathing and by meditating. Think positive. Fill your hearts with joy. Forty-three universities in the US have created spiritual clubs as these practices have helped reduce corruption, alcoholism and school dropout numbers and spiritual practices have helped students to improve their academic performance. Spiritual elevation is brought about by regular meditation practice. Science and spirituality have come together – they were always together but today science acknowledges the role of spirituality in enhancing the quality of life.
Olympics gold medalist boxing champion Badar-Uugan: How can sportspersons benefit from spirituality?
Sportspersons like you need lots of energy, a quick reflex and presence of mind. Dynamics of breath plays a very important role in raising or affecting your metabolism. Centering your mind helps you to enhance your presence of mind. Spirituality makes you flexible and you are then easily in rhythm with nature.
Visitor: Do your followers have to convert to Hinduism?
There is no such thing as conversion in Hinduism – only embracing everything; no rejection. Conversion implies rejection rather than adoption. Anger and rebellion was the basis of the Russian revolution, for example. Yet, it did not help us find answers. Nor did it last. Why not we make revolution based on love and compassion for all time to come? It's all about connecting with the universe, with divinity that's not out there somewhere but right within you and me.
Visitor: How would I know that I am connected to divinity?
When your mind is calm and collected you know already that you are connected. When we are connected, language doesn't matter because we are talking heart-to-heart. We convey a lot just through our presence.
A Teacher: I find it difficult to ignore those who speak harshly. They exude so much negativity ...
If someone has negative tendencies, don't take it inside you. Understand that roses have thorns, too. So life, too, has problems. We do have the strength to overcome them; just tap into your inner energy. See problems as opportunities. The more spiritual knowledge we share, the more we spread happiness and joy. When you deal patiently with a person who is angry, you will have a calming effect. Your intention is what makes the difference.
Art of Living student: While meditating, I feel really good. How do I ensure that the feeling lasts?
Keep doing it; do satsang, motivate yourself. You have to water the plant till becomes a strong tree. We talk of global economy – what we need to do is to globalise wisdom. I would like Mongolia to establish an international university with modern facilities here, where wisdom from ancient cultures and traditions can be shared and people benefit from that; take the best of the east and west.
(Satsang: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
Music of optimism
Acharya Nityasatyananda, Sep 27, 2010, 12.00am IST
Earlier, human beings sang of the fulfillment of physical needs. With evolution of intellect, musical expression grew richer in content. Today Indianmusic is widely known for its rich ideas, tunes and rhythms. Since long, India has been sanctified by the presence of spiritual seekers and seers.
Spiritual endeavour leads the mind towards the supra-mental sphere and beyond, where dormant seeds of creativity repose. Indian musical traditions have been enriched with songs emanating from the inner consciousness of countless mystics from the Vedic age to the musical compositions of Rabindranath Tagore.
Shri Anandamurti, Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, essentially a spiritual preceptor, composed 5018 songs known as Prabhata Samgita, with universal appeal and the capacity to impart a fresh insight into the meaning of life, the cosmos and the Lord of the universe. Once he started, the stream of his creativity flowed around obstacles, and the small stream grew into a swiftly flowing river and then into a mighty waterway that finally merged into the boundless ocean of the supreme, unfathomable consciousness.
The depth of the ideas, the language, tune, rhythm and beat, woven together in a novel style so appealing to the heart, have imbued these songs with a unique quality and universal message. Prabhát Saîgita is named after its composer, at the same time it steps out of the rut of the conventional to proclaim the advent of a new dawn (Prabháta) in music. The present times has brought us to the brink of a deep crisis. Confronted with innumerable problems, people have lost their way and fallen into decadence.
Despair is pervasive. That is why the fundamental note in Shri Anandamurti's ideology and in Prabháta Samgita is one of optimism. About his songs he says "I am an optimist. Everyone should be an optimist in all matters, big and small. I have sung songs of hope to you and I shall continue to do so. For I know that a person who aims to become whole, is sure to reach his goal."
Shri Anandamurti, founder of Ananda Marga, wanted that the people who are stricken by despair and sick with degeneration, should dance and sing their way towards the supreme attainment and bring to this earth, overflowing with tears and smiles, the river of heavenly music..
For everyone is linked with everyone else through the kinship of the soul – vasudhaiva kutumbakam. There is no other way except this. But very often dark clouds of doubt hide the sun of faith. The traveler wavers. "Is this path then not for me?" One may be battered and bruised by the arrows of a thousand questions and doubts. The answers to such questions can be found in the songs of Prabháta Samgita. These songs are full of guidelines for spiritual seekers; the topics cover ardour, prayer, the pangs of separation, union, questioning, curiosity, and the offering of the heart of the devotee.
Prabháta Samgita contains songs to raise social consciousness and to arouse in people the high ideal of universalism, so that they will feel inspired to create a universal family free from exploitation. It also contains songs on neo humanism – a new thought that connects all animate and inanimate creation and binds them into one.
Prabhat Samgita also includes songs on nature, songs for children and also for special occasions –like festivals, birthdays, or marriage ceremonies and also to express the pathos and put balm when a dear one passes away.
Prabhat Samgita anniversary, September 14-28
Earlier, human beings sang of the fulfillment of physical needs. With evolution of intellect, musical expression grew richer in content. Today Indianmusic is widely known for its rich ideas, tunes and rhythms. Since long, India has been sanctified by the presence of spiritual seekers and seers.
Spiritual endeavour leads the mind towards the supra-mental sphere and beyond, where dormant seeds of creativity repose. Indian musical traditions have been enriched with songs emanating from the inner consciousness of countless mystics from the Vedic age to the musical compositions of Rabindranath Tagore.
Shri Anandamurti, Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, essentially a spiritual preceptor, composed 5018 songs known as Prabhata Samgita, with universal appeal and the capacity to impart a fresh insight into the meaning of life, the cosmos and the Lord of the universe. Once he started, the stream of his creativity flowed around obstacles, and the small stream grew into a swiftly flowing river and then into a mighty waterway that finally merged into the boundless ocean of the supreme, unfathomable consciousness.
The depth of the ideas, the language, tune, rhythm and beat, woven together in a novel style so appealing to the heart, have imbued these songs with a unique quality and universal message. Prabhát Saîgita is named after its composer, at the same time it steps out of the rut of the conventional to proclaim the advent of a new dawn (Prabháta) in music. The present times has brought us to the brink of a deep crisis. Confronted with innumerable problems, people have lost their way and fallen into decadence.
Despair is pervasive. That is why the fundamental note in Shri Anandamurti's ideology and in Prabháta Samgita is one of optimism. About his songs he says "I am an optimist. Everyone should be an optimist in all matters, big and small. I have sung songs of hope to you and I shall continue to do so. For I know that a person who aims to become whole, is sure to reach his goal."
Shri Anandamurti, founder of Ananda Marga, wanted that the people who are stricken by despair and sick with degeneration, should dance and sing their way towards the supreme attainment and bring to this earth, overflowing with tears and smiles, the river of heavenly music..
For everyone is linked with everyone else through the kinship of the soul – vasudhaiva kutumbakam. There is no other way except this. But very often dark clouds of doubt hide the sun of faith. The traveler wavers. "Is this path then not for me?" One may be battered and bruised by the arrows of a thousand questions and doubts. The answers to such questions can be found in the songs of Prabháta Samgita. These songs are full of guidelines for spiritual seekers; the topics cover ardour, prayer, the pangs of separation, union, questioning, curiosity, and the offering of the heart of the devotee.
Prabháta Samgita contains songs to raise social consciousness and to arouse in people the high ideal of universalism, so that they will feel inspired to create a universal family free from exploitation. It also contains songs on neo humanism – a new thought that connects all animate and inanimate creation and binds them into one.
Prabhat Samgita also includes songs on nature, songs for children and also for special occasions –like festivals, birthdays, or marriage ceremonies and also to express the pathos and put balm when a dear one passes away.
Prabhat Samgita anniversary, September 14-28
What parents face today
Could parents have something to do with education going off track?
I was in California once where I happened to meet a senior Indian immigrant. We got talking about education. I remarked that it was the age of education and that the greatest need of our generation was to be educated to the highest standard possible. But my companion expressed disappointment at the effect such education was having on youngsters. He said he had come to the conclusion that what we needed was de-learning!
Could parents have something to do with education going off track? For parents, there were only two options: either accept whatever was going to become of their children or try to understand them and address their minds in such a way that what they, as parents, required of them was made clear to them.
This dilemma is visible in every country. Parents, having failed to understand their children, go on complaining about them. It is, of course possible to change your children's way of thinking, but you must first be endowed with the intellectual ability to properly address the minds of your educated children.
The fact is that in our present society the majority of parents are traditional in their outlook, but they want to educate their offspring in modern educational institutions. This requires an optimal blending of the old and new. But there tends to be confusion in this regard and parents often end up arguing with children with the result that children begin to resist education.
It is not so much a question of de-learning as a question of self-training. If parents want to bring about a change of attitude towards learning in their children, they must prepare themselves to be good counsellors. There is a great deal of lack of parental counselling.
Another problem is pampering. Parents have great affection for their children and this often leads to their pampering them. While affection is good, pampering is bad. Children become easy-going and that is that worst thing that can happen. They become fussy and refuse to heed advice. They know nothing but their own desires. Harsh realities have no place in their dictionary. It is for this reason that pampered children cannot meet the challenges they have to face in the external world.
Once I met two Indian boys, both graduates, who said that they found themselves in difficult circumstances. When they were at home, they were living under the protection of their parents, who were always ready to provide anything they wanted. But now that they had left their homes and wanted to find a place in the external world, they felt unloved and unwanted. Their homes had been ready to give them everything free of cost, but now they found that the external world was quite different. Here everything had a price in terms of hard work, adjustment, acceptance of reality, proving their ability, and making compromises. They found that at home they had not been trained to meet such challenges.
Indulgent parents can do grave potential harm to their children. They end up "making" their children unfit, like unwanted products in the marketplace. Parents must understand that their children need double education – professional education as well as spiritual training. The former can be had in educational institutions but the centre for the latter is the home. And parents are teachers at home. However, the language of dos and don'ts will not serve the purpose. Parents will have to prepare themselves for a more sensitive and complex approach. Indeed, they must ground themselves in what may be called rational spirituality.
www.cpsglobal.org
I was in California once where I happened to meet a senior Indian immigrant. We got talking about education. I remarked that it was the age of education and that the greatest need of our generation was to be educated to the highest standard possible. But my companion expressed disappointment at the effect such education was having on youngsters. He said he had come to the conclusion that what we needed was de-learning!
Could parents have something to do with education going off track? For parents, there were only two options: either accept whatever was going to become of their children or try to understand them and address their minds in such a way that what they, as parents, required of them was made clear to them.
This dilemma is visible in every country. Parents, having failed to understand their children, go on complaining about them. It is, of course possible to change your children's way of thinking, but you must first be endowed with the intellectual ability to properly address the minds of your educated children.
The fact is that in our present society the majority of parents are traditional in their outlook, but they want to educate their offspring in modern educational institutions. This requires an optimal blending of the old and new. But there tends to be confusion in this regard and parents often end up arguing with children with the result that children begin to resist education.
It is not so much a question of de-learning as a question of self-training. If parents want to bring about a change of attitude towards learning in their children, they must prepare themselves to be good counsellors. There is a great deal of lack of parental counselling.
Another problem is pampering. Parents have great affection for their children and this often leads to their pampering them. While affection is good, pampering is bad. Children become easy-going and that is that worst thing that can happen. They become fussy and refuse to heed advice. They know nothing but their own desires. Harsh realities have no place in their dictionary. It is for this reason that pampered children cannot meet the challenges they have to face in the external world.
Once I met two Indian boys, both graduates, who said that they found themselves in difficult circumstances. When they were at home, they were living under the protection of their parents, who were always ready to provide anything they wanted. But now that they had left their homes and wanted to find a place in the external world, they felt unloved and unwanted. Their homes had been ready to give them everything free of cost, but now they found that the external world was quite different. Here everything had a price in terms of hard work, adjustment, acceptance of reality, proving their ability, and making compromises. They found that at home they had not been trained to meet such challenges.
Indulgent parents can do grave potential harm to their children. They end up "making" their children unfit, like unwanted products in the marketplace. Parents must understand that their children need double education – professional education as well as spiritual training. The former can be had in educational institutions but the centre for the latter is the home. And parents are teachers at home. However, the language of dos and don'ts will not serve the purpose. Parents will have to prepare themselves for a more sensitive and complex approach. Indeed, they must ground themselves in what may be called rational spirituality.
www.cpsglobal.org
A caller ID option for your thoughts
The tide is shifting. Society is no longer about unity; it's about individual isolation. The mantra seems to be: "Everything only for me." As this selfish attitude becomes more firmly established, we find that our happiness is slowly slipping through our fingers.
Unity is the law of Nature. Without give-and-take there is no life. When the sun shines, rivers flow, birds sing, and trees bear fruit, they do so without expecting our acknowledgement or praise. Everything in Nature gives as much as possible. Our tendency to swim against the natural flow fills our minds with tension, sorrow and fear. Hence there is the rich-poor divide and so much conflict and suffering.
Earlier, there was no ownership of land. The indigenous American people and others like them in other parts of the world believed: "The earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth." They didn't understand how land could be measured, divided, bought and sold. Then how has it come to be that we are now willing to kill each other over even the smallest of property disputes? How come children don't flinch when they take their parents to court over inheritance matters?
Scientists and governments are promoting cutting edge research that would enable greater exploration of the universe – we want to be able to travel to Mars and beyond. We've succeeded in reaching the Moon, and many such efforts have led to exciting discoveries in the universe. Regardless, just as we are reaching for the stars, we should also strive to bring ourselves back to Earth.
We rush about, with packed schedules and back-to-back appointments. There's so much to do and so little time. But if we lose our peace of mind and happiness as a result, what is the point? It is not enough to be on the fast track; we also have to go in the proper direction. Otherwise the whole trip is a waste of time. Because of our obsession with speed, many precious opportunities are passing us by without our being aware of it.
There are two important days in our life. The first is the day we are born. The second is the day we realise why we are born. But for many people, this second day never comes. They live mechanically from the day they are born until the day they die. We will only be able to appreciate the beauty and magnitude of life when we realise its true purpose.
Worrying has become second nature to us. Once a thought enters our mind, it quickly establishes a dictatorship. Soon, we lose our freedom to think in a discriminating manner with the result the mind becomes a slave. When a virus infects a computer, we are unable to access information in our folders or files. Such is the condition of our mind, infected with unwanted thoughts.
To enjoy freedom, to be more aware, we need to liberate the mind from needless thoughts. Most of our phones have a caller identity option. With this, we can see either the name or the number of the person calling us. We can accept the calls we want and ignore the calls we don't. Similarly, when we develop awareness, we gain the ability to accept and nourish healthy thoughts and reject bad ones. Through awareness, we can even develop the ability to witness all the various functions of our mind and, ultimately, realise our true Self.
(Amma is currently touring north India. For details visit: www.amritapuri.org .)
Unity is the law of Nature. Without give-and-take there is no life. When the sun shines, rivers flow, birds sing, and trees bear fruit, they do so without expecting our acknowledgement or praise. Everything in Nature gives as much as possible. Our tendency to swim against the natural flow fills our minds with tension, sorrow and fear. Hence there is the rich-poor divide and so much conflict and suffering.
Earlier, there was no ownership of land. The indigenous American people and others like them in other parts of the world believed: "The earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth." They didn't understand how land could be measured, divided, bought and sold. Then how has it come to be that we are now willing to kill each other over even the smallest of property disputes? How come children don't flinch when they take their parents to court over inheritance matters?
Scientists and governments are promoting cutting edge research that would enable greater exploration of the universe – we want to be able to travel to Mars and beyond. We've succeeded in reaching the Moon, and many such efforts have led to exciting discoveries in the universe. Regardless, just as we are reaching for the stars, we should also strive to bring ourselves back to Earth.
We rush about, with packed schedules and back-to-back appointments. There's so much to do and so little time. But if we lose our peace of mind and happiness as a result, what is the point? It is not enough to be on the fast track; we also have to go in the proper direction. Otherwise the whole trip is a waste of time. Because of our obsession with speed, many precious opportunities are passing us by without our being aware of it.
There are two important days in our life. The first is the day we are born. The second is the day we realise why we are born. But for many people, this second day never comes. They live mechanically from the day they are born until the day they die. We will only be able to appreciate the beauty and magnitude of life when we realise its true purpose.
Worrying has become second nature to us. Once a thought enters our mind, it quickly establishes a dictatorship. Soon, we lose our freedom to think in a discriminating manner with the result the mind becomes a slave. When a virus infects a computer, we are unable to access information in our folders or files. Such is the condition of our mind, infected with unwanted thoughts.
To enjoy freedom, to be more aware, we need to liberate the mind from needless thoughts. Most of our phones have a caller identity option. With this, we can see either the name or the number of the person calling us. We can accept the calls we want and ignore the calls we don't. Similarly, when we develop awareness, we gain the ability to accept and nourish healthy thoughts and reject bad ones. Through awareness, we can even develop the ability to witness all the various functions of our mind and, ultimately, realise our true Self.
(Amma is currently touring north India. For details visit: www.amritapuri.org .)
Go on, define yourself
Janina Gomes, Sep 28, 2010, 12.00am
Looking back at all the seasons of life we have lived so far and looking ahead to the yet unknown that is to come, we are able to see that we have been defining ourselves all through life.
If we have lived life like sponges, absorbing experiences without reflecting on them and trying always to win the approval of others, we would never help shape the universe, to reflect the glory of creation all around us.
An undifferentiated life lived on the basis of choices made by other people for us or catering to their expectations alone is fruitless. Every plant, tree, animal, flower we have touched has shaped us. Our childhood was the time for personal differentiation, when we first became conscious of differences. If our parents helped us to develop ourselves, we learned the first few steps towards self-definition.
Our choice of careers, our specialisations and our qualifications were all part of this process. For those depending solely on the opinions of others, the choices they made showed contempt of their own person. By allowing others to dictate their lives, they did not take responsibility for their own actions.
Self-definition is a process of continuous choice exercised by the responsible. Sometimes it may result in approval by significant others. There are times when others may reject us for the choices we make. By rejecting us they circumscribe themselves rather than us. They deny the values that we stand for and the independence of choices that make us different.
Self-definition does not allow us to feel bad about ourselves for long. On analysing the choice we've made, we see that even where we have remained silent or not taken sides, we have been true to ourselves. The walls we had to put up against others or the psychological distance we created were all part of the process.
As we grow older, we become less impetuous and more dispassionate. We adopt equanimity. In the process of evolving as individuals, we continue weaving the fabric of our lives and the designs we create everyday are helping shape the universe. Sometimes, when the way ahead is unclear, faith has helped us move forward.
Looking back we see that grim situations we have been in have taught us priceless lessons. We have learned not to retaliate personally when others attack us. We have kept our hopes alive when we've been written off. We have moved into and inhabited other worlds, when the world as we knew no longer accepted us.
It is only towards the end of our lives that we will begin to understand what impact we might have had on the life of others and how we shaped the universe. Did we build bridges rather than walls? Did we reach out to others or did we imprison ourselves in narrow confines of prejudice and bigotry? Did we allow others to voice their opinions and give them an ear? Or were we so self-absorbed that we could not think beyond our own pedestrian needs? Did we reach into our intrinsic divine self and connect to divinity in others? Only time can tell.
Till we take our last breath, we will continue to define ourselves through our attitudes and actions. We will keep revealing the way we have defined ourselves - either as creators of beauty and harmony in the wider universe or as killjoys who spent a great deal of time and energy disrupting the life of others and our own.
If we have lived life like sponges, absorbing experiences without reflecting on them and trying always to win the approval of others, we would never help shape the universe, to reflect the glory of creation all around us.
An undifferentiated life lived on the basis of choices made by other people for us or catering to their expectations alone is fruitless. Every plant, tree, animal, flower we have touched has shaped us. Our childhood was the time for personal differentiation, when we first became conscious of differences. If our parents helped us to develop ourselves, we learned the first few steps towards self-definition.
Our choice of careers, our specialisations and our qualifications were all part of this process. For those depending solely on the opinions of others, the choices they made showed contempt of their own person. By allowing others to dictate their lives, they did not take responsibility for their own actions.
Self-definition is a process of continuous choice exercised by the responsible. Sometimes it may result in approval by significant others. There are times when others may reject us for the choices we make. By rejecting us they circumscribe themselves rather than us. They deny the values that we stand for and the independence of choices that make us different.
Self-definition does not allow us to feel bad about ourselves for long. On analysing the choice we've made, we see that even where we have remained silent or not taken sides, we have been true to ourselves. The walls we had to put up against others or the psychological distance we created were all part of the process.
As we grow older, we become less impetuous and more dispassionate. We adopt equanimity. In the process of evolving as individuals, we continue weaving the fabric of our lives and the designs we create everyday are helping shape the universe. Sometimes, when the way ahead is unclear, faith has helped us move forward.
Looking back we see that grim situations we have been in have taught us priceless lessons. We have learned not to retaliate personally when others attack us. We have kept our hopes alive when we've been written off. We have moved into and inhabited other worlds, when the world as we knew no longer accepted us.
It is only towards the end of our lives that we will begin to understand what impact we might have had on the life of others and how we shaped the universe. Did we build bridges rather than walls? Did we reach out to others or did we imprison ourselves in narrow confines of prejudice and bigotry? Did we allow others to voice their opinions and give them an ear? Or were we so self-absorbed that we could not think beyond our own pedestrian needs? Did we reach into our intrinsic divine self and connect to divinity in others? Only time can tell.
Till we take our last breath, we will continue to define ourselves through our attitudes and actions. We will keep revealing the way we have defined ourselves - either as creators of beauty and harmony in the wider universe or as killjoys who spent a great deal of time and energy disrupting the life of others and our own.
Universal path and spirit
Prabhakar V Begde, Sep 25, 2010, 12.00am IST
Science and technology have contributed greatly in bringing people closer in the present era of globalisation. Spirituality does this differently, by highlighting the oneness of all, and by talking of a common goal.
Uplift of self is a concept universally accepted by all religions. Vedic seers emphasised that good comes from the entire universe. The aim of life is to achieve ananda or bliss. This takes us to the psycho-epistemological realm of philosophy, the study of man's cognitive process, an interaction between the conscious mind and the automatic functions of the subconscious.
The Taittiriya Upanisad gives an interesting view of the evolving universe and man. The five-fold concentric kosas or sheaths are annamaya or material, pranamaya or vital, manomaya or mental, vijnanamaya or intellectual, and anandmaya or blissful. Each process is a continuum, transcendentally projected – having expressions of emergence, sustenance and disappearance, from the existing to the highest order. The end process of the apparent orders is to the anandamaya kosa, which is finally grounded in a mystic way in a supremely transcendent process of Brahmn or pure existentiality, which is both expressive and non-expressive.
This analysis is accepted by the Buddha who speaks of the five kinds of food for the physical, vital, psychological, logical and spiritual elements. The enjoyment of nirvana is food for spirit. For Aristotle, the human soul is, in a certain sense, everything.
Centuries later Augustine, in an entirely different religious environment, asserts the same. "Step by step was I led upward, from anna or bodies to the soul which perceives by means of prana or bodily senses; and hence to the soul's inward faculty, manas, which is the limit of the intelligence of animals; and thence again to the reasoning faculty to whose judgment is referred the knowledge received by vijnana or bodily senses. And when this power also within me found itself changeable it lifted itself up to its own intelligence, and withdrew its thoughts from experience, abstracting itself from the contradictory throng of sense-image that it might find what that light was wherein it was bathed when it cried out that beyond all doubt than unchangeable is to be preferred to the changeable; and thus with a flash of one trembling glance it arrived at That which is ananda."
It is said that Schopenhauer had the Latin text of the Upanishads on his table and was in the habit, before going to bed, of performing his devotions from its pages. "From every sentence (of the Upanishads), deep original and sublime thoughts arise, and the whole is pervaded by a high and holy and earnest spirit. In the whole world... there is no study... so beneficial and elevating as that of the Upanishads. They are the products of the highest wisdom. They are destined, sooner or later to become the faith of the people." -- Bloomfield, 'Religion of the Veda.'
This is how the Upanishadic transcendentalism will proceed. It is for one conscious of the post-Hegelian philosophy of transcendental phenomenology of Husseri in its development towards the existential phenomenological traits of Heidegger and Sartre; to see where exactly the advanced model of the Upanishads can be located or reflected upon.
Seers have aptly stated: Ekam sat vipra bahudha vedant – "'So many religions, so many paths to reach one and the same goal."
Science and technology have contributed greatly in bringing people closer in the present era of globalisation. Spirituality does this differently, by highlighting the oneness of all, and by talking of a common goal.
Uplift of self is a concept universally accepted by all religions. Vedic seers emphasised that good comes from the entire universe. The aim of life is to achieve ananda or bliss. This takes us to the psycho-epistemological realm of philosophy, the study of man's cognitive process, an interaction between the conscious mind and the automatic functions of the subconscious.
The Taittiriya Upanisad gives an interesting view of the evolving universe and man. The five-fold concentric kosas or sheaths are annamaya or material, pranamaya or vital, manomaya or mental, vijnanamaya or intellectual, and anandmaya or blissful. Each process is a continuum, transcendentally projected – having expressions of emergence, sustenance and disappearance, from the existing to the highest order. The end process of the apparent orders is to the anandamaya kosa, which is finally grounded in a mystic way in a supremely transcendent process of Brahmn or pure existentiality, which is both expressive and non-expressive.
This analysis is accepted by the Buddha who speaks of the five kinds of food for the physical, vital, psychological, logical and spiritual elements. The enjoyment of nirvana is food for spirit. For Aristotle, the human soul is, in a certain sense, everything.
Centuries later Augustine, in an entirely different religious environment, asserts the same. "Step by step was I led upward, from anna or bodies to the soul which perceives by means of prana or bodily senses; and hence to the soul's inward faculty, manas, which is the limit of the intelligence of animals; and thence again to the reasoning faculty to whose judgment is referred the knowledge received by vijnana or bodily senses. And when this power also within me found itself changeable it lifted itself up to its own intelligence, and withdrew its thoughts from experience, abstracting itself from the contradictory throng of sense-image that it might find what that light was wherein it was bathed when it cried out that beyond all doubt than unchangeable is to be preferred to the changeable; and thus with a flash of one trembling glance it arrived at That which is ananda."
It is said that Schopenhauer had the Latin text of the Upanishads on his table and was in the habit, before going to bed, of performing his devotions from its pages. "From every sentence (of the Upanishads), deep original and sublime thoughts arise, and the whole is pervaded by a high and holy and earnest spirit. In the whole world... there is no study... so beneficial and elevating as that of the Upanishads. They are the products of the highest wisdom. They are destined, sooner or later to become the faith of the people." -- Bloomfield, 'Religion of the Veda.'
This is how the Upanishadic transcendentalism will proceed. It is for one conscious of the post-Hegelian philosophy of transcendental phenomenology of Husseri in its development towards the existential phenomenological traits of Heidegger and Sartre; to see where exactly the advanced model of the Upanishads can be located or reflected upon.
Seers have aptly stated: Ekam sat vipra bahudha vedant – "'So many religions, so many paths to reach one and the same goal."
Decondition your mind
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Sep 25, 2010, 12.00am IST
Conditioning is an integral part of life, discovered the American psychologist Broadus J Watson, after researching the subject at great length. Every human being is born in an environment, so everyone is subject to environmental conditioning. There is no exception whatsoever. So, every one of us is conditioned one way or other.
Professor Watson's finding is perhaps relevant. We do lead conditioned lives. But there is more to the finding than is apparent. It is half of the truth. He elaborated on the law of conditioning, but said nothing about the law of deconditioning. According to his research, everyone is bound to live a conditioned life. It is everyone's fate and no one can escape from it.
It's an unnatural statement. It is a fact that everyone is subject to conditioning but it is also a fact that every form of conditioning can be reversed. Conditioning is a phenomenon of thinking; so it can be changed by counter-thinking. Thinking and counter-thinking are both well within the capacity of the mind.
The modern computer is a small mechanical model of man's mind. Everyone knows that a computer can delete anything that you want it to delete. If you feed something into the computer, and then you want to delete it; this can be done, simply by striking a small key. Man's mind is an inconceivably large model of the computer. If a small mind can delete an item without failure, it is inconceivable that a bigger model cannot do the same.
The deconditioning of mind also has a small touch-button. This touch-button is a simple phrase of just three words: "I was wrong." Say with complete sincerity: "I was wrong" and you can delete any type of conditioning in a second.
Watson himself is proof that environmental conditioning can be reversed in the later period of one's life. As a matter of fact, Watson first deconditioned himself, consciously or unconsciously, and only then was he able to discover the phenomenon of conditioning. So, if this deconditioning was possible for him, why should it not be possible for others?
Deconditioning is the only way to intellectual development. It is accepted that education is an important tool for personality development. At the same time, one must try to decondition one's mind; otherwise one cannot receive the fruits of education.
I know a member of a minority community who was obsessed with the concept of discrimination. He said that unless there is reservation for members of minority groups, he would not be able to find a good job in this country. I said: "No, at present you are thinking in terms of discrimination, but please try to understand the matter in terms of excellence." I reminded him: "There is always room at the top." If you were an average student, then you might face some kind of discrimination, not only here but elsewhere, too. But if you made the effort to do well, then you would certainly get the job you desired. There is a limit to discrimination and you could cross that limit only with dedication and hard work.
The student took my advice and thought again. He increased his efforts and the result was miraculous. He got good marks and eventually achieved what he wanted to; he got a good job here.
Those who look only at external factors invariably underestimate their own capacity. But those who discover themselves become free of this obsession and can meet all challenges. Decondition your conditioning and you will instantly emerge a new person – even better than what you were in the past.
www.cpsglobal.org
Conditioning is an integral part of life, discovered the American psychologist Broadus J Watson, after researching the subject at great length. Every human being is born in an environment, so everyone is subject to environmental conditioning. There is no exception whatsoever. So, every one of us is conditioned one way or other.
Professor Watson's finding is perhaps relevant. We do lead conditioned lives. But there is more to the finding than is apparent. It is half of the truth. He elaborated on the law of conditioning, but said nothing about the law of deconditioning. According to his research, everyone is bound to live a conditioned life. It is everyone's fate and no one can escape from it.
It's an unnatural statement. It is a fact that everyone is subject to conditioning but it is also a fact that every form of conditioning can be reversed. Conditioning is a phenomenon of thinking; so it can be changed by counter-thinking. Thinking and counter-thinking are both well within the capacity of the mind.
The modern computer is a small mechanical model of man's mind. Everyone knows that a computer can delete anything that you want it to delete. If you feed something into the computer, and then you want to delete it; this can be done, simply by striking a small key. Man's mind is an inconceivably large model of the computer. If a small mind can delete an item without failure, it is inconceivable that a bigger model cannot do the same.
The deconditioning of mind also has a small touch-button. This touch-button is a simple phrase of just three words: "I was wrong." Say with complete sincerity: "I was wrong" and you can delete any type of conditioning in a second.
Watson himself is proof that environmental conditioning can be reversed in the later period of one's life. As a matter of fact, Watson first deconditioned himself, consciously or unconsciously, and only then was he able to discover the phenomenon of conditioning. So, if this deconditioning was possible for him, why should it not be possible for others?
Deconditioning is the only way to intellectual development. It is accepted that education is an important tool for personality development. At the same time, one must try to decondition one's mind; otherwise one cannot receive the fruits of education.
I know a member of a minority community who was obsessed with the concept of discrimination. He said that unless there is reservation for members of minority groups, he would not be able to find a good job in this country. I said: "No, at present you are thinking in terms of discrimination, but please try to understand the matter in terms of excellence." I reminded him: "There is always room at the top." If you were an average student, then you might face some kind of discrimination, not only here but elsewhere, too. But if you made the effort to do well, then you would certainly get the job you desired. There is a limit to discrimination and you could cross that limit only with dedication and hard work.
The student took my advice and thought again. He increased his efforts and the result was miraculous. He got good marks and eventually achieved what he wanted to; he got a good job here.
Those who look only at external factors invariably underestimate their own capacity. But those who discover themselves become free of this obsession and can meet all challenges. Decondition your conditioning and you will instantly emerge a new person – even better than what you were in the past.
www.cpsglobal.org
Multi-dimensional life
P V VAIDYANATHAN, Sep 24, 2010, 12.00am IST
Anekantvad is Jain philosophy that perceives life as being multi-dimensional. What we think we see is only part of life, rarely the whole.
Though most of us operate from our periphery, often saying and doing things spontaneously, without thinking or planning, we are all eventually guided by our centre. What is our centre? It is usually that core collection of feelings, beliefs, conditionings, thoughts, biases, prejudices, ideas, perceptions, points of view, and opinions --- basically whatever we think we are. This centre is often mind-based, not being or soul-based, for those things always operate out of silence and love. The soul or being is our real centre, as opposed to the mind or ego based 'pseudo-centre' from where we frequently and unknowingly operate.
Very few of us operate from pure love. Invariably, we tend to operate from fear, or its subsidiaries, like hate, greed, envy, avarice, mistrust, anger, competition and frustration.
The Jain concept of Anekantvad is beautiful. It says that any truth is relative to the perspective from which it is known. Reality is comprised of innumerable substances, both material and spiritual, and these too are constantly changing and in a state of flux. Raw materials that make up material and spiritual things too, are impermanent. And hence, it is near impossible for ordinary individuals to see the whole truth, the complete truth, of reality. What we often see, due to our limited vision, perspective, point of view, our senses and sensibilities, or beliefs, our social upbringings, our limitations is a thin slice of life, or reality. What we see in not the untruth, but it cannot be the entire truth, which is too vast for mere mortals to comprehend, and is also constantly undergoing modification and evolution. It needs a highly evolved or enlightened soul, of the calibre of a Mahavira, Buddha, Jesus or Nanak -- or the 24 Thirthankars, who form the foundation of the Jain religion -- to be able to see and understand that whole truth.
The most common story cited to illustrate anekantvad is that of a king who called six blind men to touch and describe an elephant. All of them came up with different answers, calling the elephant a rope, fan, snake or wall. While they were partly right, they were nowhere near the whole truth. All of us see the world and life from our limited perspective. If we knew this, then we would not be in conflict with others. But we assume that what we know is the whole truth and that the other is wrong. And hence there are conflicts all over the world, basically because my truth does not agree with yours, although both of us don't know that we are both only partially correct, and are both likely to be wrong. We strongly hold on to our partial or wrong concepts, and fight over it, tooth and nail. When the final picture emerges, or with the passage of time, when we look back at the past, we will often see how our words and actions were often wrong.
Anekantvad, once understood, will make us realise that our knowledge is partial and incomplete. We form our central core from this partial truth, and hence are prone to get into conflicts with others. If we recognize that we don't know the whole picture, we are likely to become less aggressive and more humble, which will pave the way for more peace and joy on earth.
Anekantvad is Jain philosophy that perceives life as being multi-dimensional. What we think we see is only part of life, rarely the whole. Though most of us operate from our periphery, often saying and doing things spontaneously, without thinking or planning, we are all eventually guided by our centre. What is our centre? It is usually that core collection of feelings, beliefs, conditionings, thoughts, biases, prejudices, ideas, perceptions, points of view, and opinions --- basically whatever we think we are. This centre is often mind-based, not being or soul-based, for those things always operate out of silence and love. The soul or being is our real centre, as opposed to the mind or ego based 'pseudo-centre' from where we frequently and unknowingly operate.
Very few of us operate from pure love. Invariably, we tend to operate from fear, or its subsidiaries, like hate, greed, envy, avarice, mistrust, anger, competition and frustration.
The Jain concept of Anekantvad is beautiful. It says that any truth is relative to the perspective from which it is known. Reality is comprised of innumerable substances, both material and spiritual, and these too are constantly changing and in a state of flux. Raw materials that make up material and spiritual things too, are impermanent. And hence, it is near impossible for ordinary individuals to see the whole truth, the complete truth, of reality. What we often see, due to our limited vision, perspective, point of view, our senses and sensibilities, or beliefs, our social upbringings, our limitations is a thin slice of life, or reality. What we see in not the untruth, but it cannot be the entire truth, which is too vast for mere mortals to comprehend, and is also constantly undergoing modification and evolution. It needs a highly evolved or enlightened soul, of the calibre of a Mahavira, Buddha, Jesus or Nanak -- or the 24 Thirthankars, who form the foundation of the Jain religion -- to be able to see and understand that whole truth.
The most common story cited to illustrate anekantvad is that of a king who called six blind men to touch and describe an elephant. All of them came up with different answers, calling the elephant a rope, fan, snake or wall. While they were partly right, they were nowhere near the whole truth. All of us see the world and life from our limited perspective. If we knew this, then we would not be in conflict with others. But we assume that what we know is the whole truth and that the other is wrong. And hence there are conflicts all over the world, basically because my truth does not agree with yours, although both of us don't know that we are both only partially correct, and are both likely to be wrong. We strongly hold on to our partial or wrong concepts, and fight over it, tooth and nail. When the final picture emerges, or with the passage of time, when we look back at the past, we will often see how our words and actions were often wrong.
Anekantvad, once understood, will make us realise that our knowledge is partial and incomplete. We form our central core from this partial truth, and hence are prone to get into conflicts with others. If we recognize that we don't know the whole picture, we are likely to become less aggressive and more humble, which will pave the way for more peace and joy on earth.
Memory holds the door
DEEPAK RANADE, Sep 24, 2010, 12.00am IST
Nostalgia is often a pleasurable pain. But pain, nonetheless.
Unpleasant memories could create bitterness while pleasant memories tend to fill one with happiness and a desire to relive the experience. Some perceive nostalgia as part of emotional baggage, and question its biological relevance.
From an anthropological standpoint, remembering where the waterholes were in a situation where the supply of water is never constant is a valuable memory input. Similarly, knowledge of the precise location of food sources is important when supply tends to fluctuate. As a recording device, memory provides vital information in trying situations. However, the bank is also filled with a wide ranging mix of seemingly trivial and redundant data.
The colour of the dress your first date wore on that first day, the tears that coursed down your mother's cheeks after she'd spanked you and the fight you had with your class mate in school over jumping the queue - these are all recorded somewhere in our memory bank. In fact, our identity and ego are but an aggregate of all recorded data. Individual identities take shape on the basis of all past events and feelings, experiences and situations that find place in a corner of the brain. Cognitive focus or concentration lends a criticality to this unique and biological data processing system.
Perception, too, plays a crucial role in this recording mechanism. What is assimilated and stored is an outcome of what is perceived. A pragmatic person may therefore not perceive an event in a complex way. If a pragmatic person's friend or colleague encountered him on the street and passed by without a greeting, such a person would record it as an event, a megabyte of mere oversight. But someone with a more complex perception could interpret this as part of a grand conspiracy. His memory would record it not just as an event megabyte; it would perhaps be a gigabyte of associative emotional data.
Studies have shown that the most vivid autobiographical memories have been of emotional events rather than of any empirical or neutral event. Consciousness is the turntable that keeps rotating while ego is the pin that records grooves on the record. Memories are grooves made by ego on unformatted consciousness. Identity is consciousness formatted by the perceptive ego.
The sense of self as a discrete entity makes all awareness an interaction between self and environment. Interaction is all about duality. But in moments of extreme pleasure or thrill, there is no interaction; there is only a sense of being.
There is an invisible time zone between self and environment. The sense of discreteness disappears momentarily. In those fleeting moments, there is nothing to record. The present has no access to any data. In fact the present is the moment just prior to the beginning of the process of recording. The dominant temporal lobe is the warehouse of all data. It is an integral part of the limbic system that is phylo-genetically the oldest in the evolution of the brain. It was linked with emotional responses required for survival and reproduction.
Considering that the limbic system is one of the oldest, all emotional augmenting of mundane events are perhaps vestiges of primitive behaviour, and so is not evolved. In this context, a patient suffering loss of memory may be temporarily or otherwise `liberated' from stored data and its effects, though this is a source of anguish for near and dear ones.
The writer is a consultant neurosurgeon www.neuroconsciousness.blogspot.com
Nostalgia is often a pleasurable pain. But pain, nonetheless.
Unpleasant memories could create bitterness while pleasant memories tend to fill one with happiness and a desire to relive the experience. Some perceive nostalgia as part of emotional baggage, and question its biological relevance.
From an anthropological standpoint, remembering where the waterholes were in a situation where the supply of water is never constant is a valuable memory input. Similarly, knowledge of the precise location of food sources is important when supply tends to fluctuate. As a recording device, memory provides vital information in trying situations. However, the bank is also filled with a wide ranging mix of seemingly trivial and redundant data.
The colour of the dress your first date wore on that first day, the tears that coursed down your mother's cheeks after she'd spanked you and the fight you had with your class mate in school over jumping the queue - these are all recorded somewhere in our memory bank. In fact, our identity and ego are but an aggregate of all recorded data. Individual identities take shape on the basis of all past events and feelings, experiences and situations that find place in a corner of the brain. Cognitive focus or concentration lends a criticality to this unique and biological data processing system.
Perception, too, plays a crucial role in this recording mechanism. What is assimilated and stored is an outcome of what is perceived. A pragmatic person may therefore not perceive an event in a complex way. If a pragmatic person's friend or colleague encountered him on the street and passed by without a greeting, such a person would record it as an event, a megabyte of mere oversight. But someone with a more complex perception could interpret this as part of a grand conspiracy. His memory would record it not just as an event megabyte; it would perhaps be a gigabyte of associative emotional data.
Studies have shown that the most vivid autobiographical memories have been of emotional events rather than of any empirical or neutral event. Consciousness is the turntable that keeps rotating while ego is the pin that records grooves on the record. Memories are grooves made by ego on unformatted consciousness. Identity is consciousness formatted by the perceptive ego.
The sense of self as a discrete entity makes all awareness an interaction between self and environment. Interaction is all about duality. But in moments of extreme pleasure or thrill, there is no interaction; there is only a sense of being.
There is an invisible time zone between self and environment. The sense of discreteness disappears momentarily. In those fleeting moments, there is nothing to record. The present has no access to any data. In fact the present is the moment just prior to the beginning of the process of recording. The dominant temporal lobe is the warehouse of all data. It is an integral part of the limbic system that is phylo-genetically the oldest in the evolution of the brain. It was linked with emotional responses required for survival and reproduction.
Considering that the limbic system is one of the oldest, all emotional augmenting of mundane events are perhaps vestiges of primitive behaviour, and so is not evolved. In this context, a patient suffering loss of memory may be temporarily or otherwise `liberated' from stored data and its effects, though this is a source of anguish for near and dear ones.
The writer is a consultant neurosurgeon www.neuroconsciousness.blogspot.com
Just around the corner
Jaya Row, Oct 3, 2010, 12.00am IST
alt="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/5766056.cms" u2:shapes="Picture_x0020_19" v:shapes="_x0000_s1029">Swami Rama Tirtha said, "If you are not happy as you are, where you are, you will never be happy." Yet everyone is waiting to change one or two things in life to be happy.
You suffer from the JATC syndrome – you believe that happiness is Just Around The Corner! You achieve that one thing and another comes in its place. This goes on all your life.
You can choose to be happy in the worst of circumstances or be miserable with the best. Happiness is a state of mind. When the mind is tranquil, you are happy. However, you are in a constant state of unrest that arises from a feeling of inadequacy. Vedanta helps you change focus to your abundance. When you do that you will be grateful for the bounty. Then the few things you do not have will cease to bother you.
The mind gets turbulent when it is full of unfulfilled desires. You carelessly entertain desires without realising the havoc they cause and the sorrow they breed. All religions warn against the perils of unabashed pursuit of desire. When desire mounts to levels that are no longer sustainable by legal and ethical means people cross the line and enter destructive behaviour.
Vedanta gives a unique formula for happiness. Happiness is the number of desires fulfilled divided by the desires harboured. You are in the mindless pursuit of fulfilling desires, focussing on the numerator. This will never make you happy. As you fulfil a desire more pop up. The denominator increases, reducing your happiness. Instead shift your attention to the denominator. As you reduce desires your happiness increases. Eradicate desires and you reach infinite happiness.
The first step to eradicating desire is to ask: Is it in your interest? Is the desire in line with your life's goal? If yes, fulfil the desire. If not, press the delete button. The next step is to reduce desires by upgrading them. A mother willingly sacrifices her desire for chocolate when her child enjoys it. A student keen on a PhD gives up pleasures as well as the safe haven of her home to venture into unknown terrain. When you are inspired with the spiritual goal all desires fade away.
At times you may be happy but that happiness is dependent on everything around you being just right. Vedanta promises happiness completely independent of the world. The world is unpredictable, is constantly changing and is a mix of pairs of opposites.
Inner enrichment is inversely proportional to dependence on the world. A spiritually evolved person needs little from the world to be happy but has the capacity to command the resources of the world. He may need only a one-bedroom modest home but has a luxury penthouse apartment. He may be happy commuting by public transport but has a high-end car at his disposal. The surplus he has over his needs puts him in heaven. A less evolved person needs much more from the world. Ironically he lacks the capability to gain them. There is a huge gap between his needs and his income which makes life hellish.
Vedanta helps in two ways. It helps leverage your talent and energies to attain success and prosperity. It also develops you spiritually by which your dependence on the world reduces. You are in bliss!
Only Mumbai Pune editions
Jaya Row will speak on Happiness on July 17 at the Bhaidas Hall, Vile Parle West, 6.15 to 8 pm. All are welcome.
alt="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/5766056.cms" u2:shapes="Picture_x0020_19" v:shapes="_x0000_s1029">Swami Rama Tirtha said, "If you are not happy as you are, where you are, you will never be happy." Yet everyone is waiting to change one or two things in life to be happy. You suffer from the JATC syndrome – you believe that happiness is Just Around The Corner! You achieve that one thing and another comes in its place. This goes on all your life.
You can choose to be happy in the worst of circumstances or be miserable with the best. Happiness is a state of mind. When the mind is tranquil, you are happy. However, you are in a constant state of unrest that arises from a feeling of inadequacy. Vedanta helps you change focus to your abundance. When you do that you will be grateful for the bounty. Then the few things you do not have will cease to bother you.
The mind gets turbulent when it is full of unfulfilled desires. You carelessly entertain desires without realising the havoc they cause and the sorrow they breed. All religions warn against the perils of unabashed pursuit of desire. When desire mounts to levels that are no longer sustainable by legal and ethical means people cross the line and enter destructive behaviour.
Vedanta gives a unique formula for happiness. Happiness is the number of desires fulfilled divided by the desires harboured. You are in the mindless pursuit of fulfilling desires, focussing on the numerator. This will never make you happy. As you fulfil a desire more pop up. The denominator increases, reducing your happiness. Instead shift your attention to the denominator. As you reduce desires your happiness increases. Eradicate desires and you reach infinite happiness.
The first step to eradicating desire is to ask: Is it in your interest? Is the desire in line with your life's goal? If yes, fulfil the desire. If not, press the delete button. The next step is to reduce desires by upgrading them. A mother willingly sacrifices her desire for chocolate when her child enjoys it. A student keen on a PhD gives up pleasures as well as the safe haven of her home to venture into unknown terrain. When you are inspired with the spiritual goal all desires fade away.
At times you may be happy but that happiness is dependent on everything around you being just right. Vedanta promises happiness completely independent of the world. The world is unpredictable, is constantly changing and is a mix of pairs of opposites.
Inner enrichment is inversely proportional to dependence on the world. A spiritually evolved person needs little from the world to be happy but has the capacity to command the resources of the world. He may need only a one-bedroom modest home but has a luxury penthouse apartment. He may be happy commuting by public transport but has a high-end car at his disposal. The surplus he has over his needs puts him in heaven. A less evolved person needs much more from the world. Ironically he lacks the capability to gain them. There is a huge gap between his needs and his income which makes life hellish.
Vedanta helps in two ways. It helps leverage your talent and energies to attain success and prosperity. It also develops you spiritually by which your dependence on the world reduces. You are in bliss!
Only Mumbai Pune editions
Jaya Row will speak on Happiness on July 17 at the Bhaidas Hall, Vile Parle West, 6.15 to 8 pm. All are welcome.
Chanting as therapy
SWAMI BRAHMDEV, Sep 23, 2010, 12.00am IST
alt="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/5766056.cms" u2:shapes="Picture_x0020_22" v:shapes="_x0000_s1030">If you are searching for God, any name of God is a mantra. If you know the significance of the mantra, you will feel more comfortable.
When you know the meaning, you know what you are doing ... but without knowing, it can also become clear. Mantra means "that which can take one out of the flow of life's miseries". It's a very beautiful thing; it has that power. Mantra is for the awakening of the Self.
Some people keep mantras a secret. It's the traditional way; it is perhaps to ensure its sanctity and purity. Here's a story. One day a saint went to a village. A young man there welcomed him and offered him food with great respect. Happy with the young man, the saint thought he would make a good disciple. He said to the boy: "I find that you are a very good soul, a very good person. I want to give you a mantra." The young man asked, "What for?" The saint continued, "I will give you a mantra to solve all your problems, all your miseries; prosperity and happiness will come to you." The young man said, "OK, give it to me." The saint gave it to him and the boy was very happy with the secret mantra.
In the village there was a lot of poverty, problems and unhappiness. The boy went up on his roof and called everybody saying, "Look, this is the mantra, repeat it." The saint was there and he said to the boy, "What is this foolishness, what are you doing? I told you to keep it a secret!" But the young man replied, "Why can't I share it? If it is such a good thing that it can solve all my problems, it could also solve the problems of the whole village."
If something is good for you it doesn't have to be a secret. Every tradition, every sect has something good. Sometimes we are so complicated that to become a good person we have to follow a sect or a tradition and give our life to that. After 15, 30, 50 years, your seed will grow. If the method is to repeat five mantras, give your life to that and be patient; maybe your seed can grow. Normally we have no patience. Now nothing is secret, everything is written in the scriptures. Look up the Internet and you will find everything, but there is one thing more beautiful and that is the touch of a person. In these days there is no need of teachers, of schools because the Internet is there, but the touch of a teacher is needed because there are many things that we cannot learn from machines. The master's purpose is to give you a special touch, a touch that the Internet cannot give you. The touch of the master is important to give you the mantra because it has some vibration, some energy, some force. It is not a visible thing.
Reciting mantras, sometimes aloud and other times silently, could impact our psychology positively. Our psychology is always changing: we feel good, we feel bad. When something inside us starts speaking, we can repeat mantras and all our problems finish. Suppose we are very fearful and it's dark. We are alone and we have fear; our mind tells us, "Chant a mantra" and we start chantingand our fear goes away.
Psychologically, we need is some support, some help. The whole process is therapy.
As told to Sudhamahi Regunathan .
aurovalley@gmail.com
alt="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/5766056.cms" u2:shapes="Picture_x0020_22" v:shapes="_x0000_s1030">If you are searching for God, any name of God is a mantra. If you know the significance of the mantra, you will feel more comfortable. When you know the meaning, you know what you are doing ... but without knowing, it can also become clear. Mantra means "that which can take one out of the flow of life's miseries". It's a very beautiful thing; it has that power. Mantra is for the awakening of the Self.
Some people keep mantras a secret. It's the traditional way; it is perhaps to ensure its sanctity and purity. Here's a story. One day a saint went to a village. A young man there welcomed him and offered him food with great respect. Happy with the young man, the saint thought he would make a good disciple. He said to the boy: "I find that you are a very good soul, a very good person. I want to give you a mantra." The young man asked, "What for?" The saint continued, "I will give you a mantra to solve all your problems, all your miseries; prosperity and happiness will come to you." The young man said, "OK, give it to me." The saint gave it to him and the boy was very happy with the secret mantra.
In the village there was a lot of poverty, problems and unhappiness. The boy went up on his roof and called everybody saying, "Look, this is the mantra, repeat it." The saint was there and he said to the boy, "What is this foolishness, what are you doing? I told you to keep it a secret!" But the young man replied, "Why can't I share it? If it is such a good thing that it can solve all my problems, it could also solve the problems of the whole village."
If something is good for you it doesn't have to be a secret. Every tradition, every sect has something good. Sometimes we are so complicated that to become a good person we have to follow a sect or a tradition and give our life to that. After 15, 30, 50 years, your seed will grow. If the method is to repeat five mantras, give your life to that and be patient; maybe your seed can grow. Normally we have no patience. Now nothing is secret, everything is written in the scriptures. Look up the Internet and you will find everything, but there is one thing more beautiful and that is the touch of a person. In these days there is no need of teachers, of schools because the Internet is there, but the touch of a teacher is needed because there are many things that we cannot learn from machines. The master's purpose is to give you a special touch, a touch that the Internet cannot give you. The touch of the master is important to give you the mantra because it has some vibration, some energy, some force. It is not a visible thing.
Reciting mantras, sometimes aloud and other times silently, could impact our psychology positively. Our psychology is always changing: we feel good, we feel bad. When something inside us starts speaking, we can repeat mantras and all our problems finish. Suppose we are very fearful and it's dark. We are alone and we have fear; our mind tells us, "Chant a mantra" and we start chantingand our fear goes away.
Psychologically, we need is some support, some help. The whole process is therapy.
As told to Sudhamahi Regunathan .
aurovalley@gmail.com
Destroy your mind
Destroy your mind. Only then you can knowVedanta.
Vidyaranya Swami says, " Mind verily is the root of the tree of samsara with thousands of sprouts, branches and leaves. To suppress sankalpas -- thoughts and imagination -- it is essential to devitalise the mind by forceful effort and destroy it. By doing so, the tree of samsara will wither away."
Vasishtha says, "An unrestrained mind alone is the cause of degeneration while a controlled mind causes progress." Restraint of mind is the only means to control it to uproot disquietude and agitation. The mind is like a poisonous snake sitting with its hood raised in the forest of the heart. It is filled with the deadly poisons of resolves and counter-resolves. I pay my obeisance to the one who has overcome the poisonous snake that resides in the mind and liberate the mind so that it becomes free of vices. Once rid of the poison, the mind is as perfect as a full moon." The mind of an enlightened one gets destroyed while that of an ignorant one is boound and fettered, unable to experience freedom. Unless the mind is controlled through steadfast practice towards realising the Supreme Truth, it keeps wavering, flitting about without direction.
When the mind is not restrained, it develops a penchant for power and influence. The root cause of this is the feeling of imperfection in oneself. With the eradication of the sense of identification with the body, one becomes free from attachment to it, which in turn leads to the complete eradication of the sense of 'mine-ness' regarding relations of the body and the objects related to it.
How can desires stay in the mind of one who has been freed from ego and the sense of 'i-ness' and 'mine-ness' regarding the objects of samsara? His desires are destroyed like the lotus that withers in autumn. He whose desires have been eradicated is liberated. It is only those who have cultivated ways of reining in the mind and using it at will who can be counted as being wise and fortunate.
The mind is the seed of the forest of samsara. One who has destroyed this seed has nothing to fear anymore. Just as a lion roams fearlessly even in the midst of various ferocious animals in the forest, so also does he move about blissfully, free from pairs of opposites, and fearless even in the midst of obstacles, troubles, pleasures, pains, honour and dishonour.
Every one us us wants to lead a happy, blissful and peaceful life forever but unless we learn to control the mind, happiness and peace would be impossible to achieve. It is is not enough to merely listen to discourses and read scriptures for hours on end. One needs to practice what one has heard sages say. By doing what one wishes to do without a thought to whether actions are commensurate with the requirements that take one on the right path, how can one become liberated?
The one who completely assimilates the knowledge imparted by saints and scriptures, attains liberation. He becomes the master of not only his mind but of the three worlds as well.
Hence control the mind by means of the techniques imparted by great saints. If you overcome your mind, you have overcome the world because the mind alone is the root cause of all that one experiences in the world. It is only when the mind attains the state of no-mind-ness (amani bhava) that one becomes happy, blissful and altruistic in life.
www.ashram.org
Vidyaranya Swami says, " Mind verily is the root of the tree of samsara with thousands of sprouts, branches and leaves. To suppress sankalpas -- thoughts and imagination -- it is essential to devitalise the mind by forceful effort and destroy it. By doing so, the tree of samsara will wither away."
Vasishtha says, "An unrestrained mind alone is the cause of degeneration while a controlled mind causes progress." Restraint of mind is the only means to control it to uproot disquietude and agitation. The mind is like a poisonous snake sitting with its hood raised in the forest of the heart. It is filled with the deadly poisons of resolves and counter-resolves. I pay my obeisance to the one who has overcome the poisonous snake that resides in the mind and liberate the mind so that it becomes free of vices. Once rid of the poison, the mind is as perfect as a full moon." The mind of an enlightened one gets destroyed while that of an ignorant one is boound and fettered, unable to experience freedom. Unless the mind is controlled through steadfast practice towards realising the Supreme Truth, it keeps wavering, flitting about without direction.
When the mind is not restrained, it develops a penchant for power and influence. The root cause of this is the feeling of imperfection in oneself. With the eradication of the sense of identification with the body, one becomes free from attachment to it, which in turn leads to the complete eradication of the sense of 'mine-ness' regarding relations of the body and the objects related to it.
How can desires stay in the mind of one who has been freed from ego and the sense of 'i-ness' and 'mine-ness' regarding the objects of samsara? His desires are destroyed like the lotus that withers in autumn. He whose desires have been eradicated is liberated. It is only those who have cultivated ways of reining in the mind and using it at will who can be counted as being wise and fortunate.
The mind is the seed of the forest of samsara. One who has destroyed this seed has nothing to fear anymore. Just as a lion roams fearlessly even in the midst of various ferocious animals in the forest, so also does he move about blissfully, free from pairs of opposites, and fearless even in the midst of obstacles, troubles, pleasures, pains, honour and dishonour.
Every one us us wants to lead a happy, blissful and peaceful life forever but unless we learn to control the mind, happiness and peace would be impossible to achieve. It is is not enough to merely listen to discourses and read scriptures for hours on end. One needs to practice what one has heard sages say. By doing what one wishes to do without a thought to whether actions are commensurate with the requirements that take one on the right path, how can one become liberated?
The one who completely assimilates the knowledge imparted by saints and scriptures, attains liberation. He becomes the master of not only his mind but of the three worlds as well.
Hence control the mind by means of the techniques imparted by great saints. If you overcome your mind, you have overcome the world because the mind alone is the root cause of all that one experiences in the world. It is only when the mind attains the state of no-mind-ness (amani bhava) that one becomes happy, blissful and altruistic in life.
www.ashram.org
Rituals as learning tools
MURALI A RAGHAVAN, Sep 22, 2010, 12.00am IST
The man who sells a television set does not tell you the intricate scientific principles that make it work.
He simply places a remote in our hands with an instruction booklet. Reading it, even a lay person who has no knowledge of science is able to tame the images, sound, brightness and colour, and switch channels by pressing buttons.
Many of us are not aware of how a mobile telephone functions but we are conversant with basic rituals like dialing a number, scrolling, typing a message – thereby helping us to communicate, send and receive messages.
Pure science abounds in theories, concepts, abstraction and perhaps even speculation. It is technology that reaches science to our doorstep. Technology is the external face, the outward expression of science.
Identical to the above is the relation between spirituality and religion. Religions are outward expressions of spirituality. They have evolved over time and each religion has its own constituency of followers.
Like science, the goal of spirituality is to help efface our problems and improve the quality of our lives. The difference exists in time dimension and vision. While science broadly deals with problems one by one and that which are external in nature, spirituality seeks to strike at the root of all problems that is embedded in our ignorance of the true purpose of life and inability to recognise the true Self.
While applying science to our lives we perform various rituals without questioning how it works because the 'how' has already been taken care of by those who formalised it. The rituals go hand-in-hand whenever technology-based appliances are in use. A religion, too, prescribes rituals which are to be viewed in the light of the above. A religion adapts spirituality and enlists some easy steps for consumption and benefit of people.
If you are inclined to study and learn about science – understand theories and formulae and how things work – and you have the commitment, drive and a sense of urgency and adventure to explore and discover truths, then, you could similarly pursue spirituality, to plumb the depths of metaphysics.
It is irrational to reject or run down any ritual only because we have not understood it. Every ritual has been evolved with a great deal of thought and experience, in order to enhance physical and mental well being that will contribute towards spiritual uplift.
Taking three sips of water called achamanam was intended to boost one's immunity. Touching various parts of body as part of prayer rituals was done to activate, in the process, nerve endings at these places. The various mudras expressed during chanting of mantras or dance are based on the principle of acupressure.
The sitting posture advocated in most kinds of yoga helps keep the spine erect to facilitate free flow of energy. Offering fruits, leaves and flowers during puja symbolizes purity, for the plant kingdom is one of the few life forms that procreates without sexual exchange as we understand it. In this manner, religious rituals mostly do have an underlying meaning and significance that might have been forgotten over time, leaving us with form but bereft of the essence.
All the same, getting struck in rituals life-long is like building new bridges every day and not crossing them.
Religious rituals are usually purification exercises designed to propel one towards refinement. They are not meant to add to the already swollen repertoire of our desires. Once true knowledge is gained, rituals can be abandoned as they would have served their purpose. While science aims to enhance the comfort of human life, spirituality teaches us how to be comfortable with what we have. That is the difference.
He simply places a remote in our hands with an instruction booklet. Reading it, even a lay person who has no knowledge of science is able to tame the images, sound, brightness and colour, and switch channels by pressing buttons.
Many of us are not aware of how a mobile telephone functions but we are conversant with basic rituals like dialing a number, scrolling, typing a message – thereby helping us to communicate, send and receive messages.
Pure science abounds in theories, concepts, abstraction and perhaps even speculation. It is technology that reaches science to our doorstep. Technology is the external face, the outward expression of science.
Identical to the above is the relation between spirituality and religion. Religions are outward expressions of spirituality. They have evolved over time and each religion has its own constituency of followers.
Like science, the goal of spirituality is to help efface our problems and improve the quality of our lives. The difference exists in time dimension and vision. While science broadly deals with problems one by one and that which are external in nature, spirituality seeks to strike at the root of all problems that is embedded in our ignorance of the true purpose of life and inability to recognise the true Self.
While applying science to our lives we perform various rituals without questioning how it works because the 'how' has already been taken care of by those who formalised it. The rituals go hand-in-hand whenever technology-based appliances are in use. A religion, too, prescribes rituals which are to be viewed in the light of the above. A religion adapts spirituality and enlists some easy steps for consumption and benefit of people.
If you are inclined to study and learn about science – understand theories and formulae and how things work – and you have the commitment, drive and a sense of urgency and adventure to explore and discover truths, then, you could similarly pursue spirituality, to plumb the depths of metaphysics.
It is irrational to reject or run down any ritual only because we have not understood it. Every ritual has been evolved with a great deal of thought and experience, in order to enhance physical and mental well being that will contribute towards spiritual uplift.
Taking three sips of water called achamanam was intended to boost one's immunity. Touching various parts of body as part of prayer rituals was done to activate, in the process, nerve endings at these places. The various mudras expressed during chanting of mantras or dance are based on the principle of acupressure.
The sitting posture advocated in most kinds of yoga helps keep the spine erect to facilitate free flow of energy. Offering fruits, leaves and flowers during puja symbolizes purity, for the plant kingdom is one of the few life forms that procreates without sexual exchange as we understand it. In this manner, religious rituals mostly do have an underlying meaning and significance that might have been forgotten over time, leaving us with form but bereft of the essence.
All the same, getting struck in rituals life-long is like building new bridges every day and not crossing them.
Religious rituals are usually purification exercises designed to propel one towards refinement. They are not meant to add to the already swollen repertoire of our desires. Once true knowledge is gained, rituals can be abandoned as they would have served their purpose. While science aims to enhance the comfort of human life, spirituality teaches us how to be comfortable with what we have. That is the difference.
Life, a laughing matter
MURALI A RAGHAVAN, Sep 22, 2010, 12.00am IST
alt="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/5766056.cms" u2:shapes="Picture_x0020_25" v:shapes="_x0000_s1032">Humour relieves boredom, eases tension and enlivens the atmosphere. Laughing at oneself is a good way to keep one's ego in check. Yet `serious' spiritual seekers tend to think that humour and spirituality are poles apart. This is far from the truth.
Evolved masters have a sense of humour, and they often use humour to drive home a point. Gurus like Kanchi Paramacharya, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Chinmaynanda and Swami Dayananda Saraswati sprinkled their talks liberally with humour.
Swami Chinmayananda was once scouting for a suitable venue in Chennai to hold his Geeta Gyana Yagna. Most temples, under the dominant influence of Brahmins, were reluctant to help out. Finally, one of his disciples rushed to him with the news that a Muslim was ready to make available his empty bungalow for the purpose. "But there is a problem," said the disciple, "the house is believed to be haunted." On hearing this, the Swami quipped: "What a wonderful opportunity! I've never seen a ghost in my life!"
Every morning, Ramana Maharshi would walk up the Arunachala hill. Once a stranger spotted him all alone, and wishing to have darshan, he walked faster and managed to overtake the Maharshi and stood in front of him, blocking his way. With folded palms he said "Swamiji, this is a great day for me. You have blessed me with your darshan." The Maharshi responded: "This is really funny. What darshan you're talking about? It is you who have come before me and given me your darshan."
On another occasion a group of American devotees who were seated at a distance from Maharshi because of the crowd, asked him whether they could move forward so that Maharshi's grace will be upon them. Maharshi replied that he has no objection to their moving forward but his grace was always there for everyone irrespective of proximity. The group, nonetheless, pushed forward and almost came near him. After some time the devotees requested Maharshi to place his palms on their head so that they can receive the grace in full measure. An amused Maharshi said: "Next you might ask me to sign a bond and take me to court if you imagine that the grace has not worked!' The entire gathering burst into laughter.
While delivering a discourse on the Gita Swami Dayananda Saraswati narrated the following story: There were three terminally ill patients and the doctor asked them to express their last wish so that he could arrange to fulfill them. The first patient said that he would like to meet the priest and confess. The second said that he would like to meet his entire family. The doctor took care of the requests. He turned to the third patient who muttered: "I'd like to see another doctor."
A scholar approached Kanchi Paramacharya and boasted that he was an expert on the Gita. The seer asked him if he could spare some time to hold a 10-day discourse at the local temple. The scholar assented. On the first day 50 people were came to hear him and the attendance dwindled on subsequent days. The scholar said to Paramacharya and said: "What sort of a town is this? No one seems to be interested in the Gita. On first day there was a crowd of 50, second day 25 and on the third day there were only two persons to listen to me!'
With a twinkle in his eye the seer remarked: "Why fret? When Krishna spoke the Gita there was only one person to listen to him!"
alt="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/5766056.cms" u2:shapes="Picture_x0020_25" v:shapes="_x0000_s1032">Humour relieves boredom, eases tension and enlivens the atmosphere. Laughing at oneself is a good way to keep one's ego in check. Yet `serious' spiritual seekers tend to think that humour and spirituality are poles apart. This is far from the truth.Evolved masters have a sense of humour, and they often use humour to drive home a point. Gurus like Kanchi Paramacharya, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Chinmaynanda and Swami Dayananda Saraswati sprinkled their talks liberally with humour.
Swami Chinmayananda was once scouting for a suitable venue in Chennai to hold his Geeta Gyana Yagna. Most temples, under the dominant influence of Brahmins, were reluctant to help out. Finally, one of his disciples rushed to him with the news that a Muslim was ready to make available his empty bungalow for the purpose. "But there is a problem," said the disciple, "the house is believed to be haunted." On hearing this, the Swami quipped: "What a wonderful opportunity! I've never seen a ghost in my life!"
Every morning, Ramana Maharshi would walk up the Arunachala hill. Once a stranger spotted him all alone, and wishing to have darshan, he walked faster and managed to overtake the Maharshi and stood in front of him, blocking his way. With folded palms he said "Swamiji, this is a great day for me. You have blessed me with your darshan." The Maharshi responded: "This is really funny. What darshan you're talking about? It is you who have come before me and given me your darshan."
On another occasion a group of American devotees who were seated at a distance from Maharshi because of the crowd, asked him whether they could move forward so that Maharshi's grace will be upon them. Maharshi replied that he has no objection to their moving forward but his grace was always there for everyone irrespective of proximity. The group, nonetheless, pushed forward and almost came near him. After some time the devotees requested Maharshi to place his palms on their head so that they can receive the grace in full measure. An amused Maharshi said: "Next you might ask me to sign a bond and take me to court if you imagine that the grace has not worked!' The entire gathering burst into laughter.
While delivering a discourse on the Gita Swami Dayananda Saraswati narrated the following story: There were three terminally ill patients and the doctor asked them to express their last wish so that he could arrange to fulfill them. The first patient said that he would like to meet the priest and confess. The second said that he would like to meet his entire family. The doctor took care of the requests. He turned to the third patient who muttered: "I'd like to see another doctor."
A scholar approached Kanchi Paramacharya and boasted that he was an expert on the Gita. The seer asked him if he could spare some time to hold a 10-day discourse at the local temple. The scholar assented. On the first day 50 people were came to hear him and the attendance dwindled on subsequent days. The scholar said to Paramacharya and said: "What sort of a town is this? No one seems to be interested in the Gita. On first day there was a crowd of 50, second day 25 and on the third day there were only two persons to listen to me!'
With a twinkle in his eye the seer remarked: "Why fret? When Krishna spoke the Gita there was only one person to listen to him!"
Change your attitude willingly
Taking to spiritual development is today seen as a way to stress busting and thus bettering the quality of our lives.
This seems to be more relevant in urban living where lifestyle, desires and aspirations are working at cross purposes. People are getting increasingly edgy and short-tempered and social grace is taking a beating.
Treading the spiritual path, the aspirant needs to ensure that he has the correct reference point of beneficiary.
There was a sorcerer in a town in Tibet who would torment people with his black magic. Stories spread of how he could bring down hail and destroy villages with his powers. He would rob and kill people at will. He gained great `respect' out of sheer fear. After a few years, a great personal tragedy shook him and he decided he would practice this sorcery no more.
In the high mountains lived a lama of repute. He had heard of the deeds of the black magician and was overwhelmed with the suffering the people had to undergo because of him. The sorcerer approached the lama and said to him: "Master, I have been a bad man all thee years. I need to redeem myself. Please help me." The lama suggested: "Very well, now that you wish to change, you need to change your attitude first! Just as you did all the evil things to people causing them great suffering, thereby deriving great pleasure from it, you are to exactly reverse the process!"
"What do you say, master? I dont understand," the penitent asked. The lama continued: "Well, just as you did harm to others and derived pleasure, now do good to people and derive happiness. It's so simple." The sorcerer got the message and went on to become one of the greatest masters of our time.
We always look at benefit with this viewpoint: "How will i derive benefit out of my practices and actions?" The shift of attitude should be in cultivating a mind that thinks of how others can derive benefit from my practices and actions. The moment shift of the reference point of the true recipient of the beneficiary is made the pathway is yours for gainful merit. This has to be done willingly and in happiness, otherwise we will accrue negative karma.
The teacher becomes the compassionate one who gives direction. The rest is up to us, to translate to action willingly, understanding why it is necessary to do so. The shift in attitude, in the point of reference of the true beneficiary of actions undertaken, is necessary for all those in public life, too, like administrators and politicians. Then the results would be of great common benefit.
Summarising everything into a single verse, the greatest teacher of Mahayana and Indian scholar, Shantideva said:
"All the joy the world contains
Has come through wishing happiness for others,
All the misery the world contains
Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.
Tathagatha realization to you!"
Tathagatha refers to one who has walked the path to full awakening and so reached the end of suffering and is released from life-death cycle. The implication is that the path is open to all who would follow it. In later Mahayana Buddhism, Tathagatha came to mean the essential buddha nature found in every sentient being.
The writer is a Pune based Dharma practitioner.
www.urbanlama.blogspot.com
This seems to be more relevant in urban living where lifestyle, desires and aspirations are working at cross purposes. People are getting increasingly edgy and short-tempered and social grace is taking a beating.
Treading the spiritual path, the aspirant needs to ensure that he has the correct reference point of beneficiary.
There was a sorcerer in a town in Tibet who would torment people with his black magic. Stories spread of how he could bring down hail and destroy villages with his powers. He would rob and kill people at will. He gained great `respect' out of sheer fear. After a few years, a great personal tragedy shook him and he decided he would practice this sorcery no more.
In the high mountains lived a lama of repute. He had heard of the deeds of the black magician and was overwhelmed with the suffering the people had to undergo because of him. The sorcerer approached the lama and said to him: "Master, I have been a bad man all thee years. I need to redeem myself. Please help me." The lama suggested: "Very well, now that you wish to change, you need to change your attitude first! Just as you did all the evil things to people causing them great suffering, thereby deriving great pleasure from it, you are to exactly reverse the process!"
"What do you say, master? I dont understand," the penitent asked. The lama continued: "Well, just as you did harm to others and derived pleasure, now do good to people and derive happiness. It's so simple." The sorcerer got the message and went on to become one of the greatest masters of our time.
We always look at benefit with this viewpoint: "How will i derive benefit out of my practices and actions?" The shift of attitude should be in cultivating a mind that thinks of how others can derive benefit from my practices and actions. The moment shift of the reference point of the true recipient of the beneficiary is made the pathway is yours for gainful merit. This has to be done willingly and in happiness, otherwise we will accrue negative karma.
The teacher becomes the compassionate one who gives direction. The rest is up to us, to translate to action willingly, understanding why it is necessary to do so. The shift in attitude, in the point of reference of the true beneficiary of actions undertaken, is necessary for all those in public life, too, like administrators and politicians. Then the results would be of great common benefit.
Summarising everything into a single verse, the greatest teacher of Mahayana and Indian scholar, Shantideva said:
"All the joy the world contains
Has come through wishing happiness for others,
All the misery the world contains
Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.
Tathagatha realization to you!"
Tathagatha refers to one who has walked the path to full awakening and so reached the end of suffering and is released from life-death cycle. The implication is that the path is open to all who would follow it. In later Mahayana Buddhism, Tathagatha came to mean the essential buddha nature found in every sentient being.
The writer is a Pune based Dharma practitioner.
www.urbanlama.blogspot.com
Trust is everything, nurture it
ANIL DHIRUBHAI AMBANI, Sep 27, 2010, 12.00am IST
Trust was the foundation on which my father,Dhirubhai Ambani, built his life, his enormous wealth of relationships, and one of India's greatest business enterprises.
The absolute sanctity he attached to trust is reflected in the very name that he gave to his business – Reliance. It was his way of saying to the world, "You can rely on me."
Without reliance, he said, there can be neither trust, nor relationships, neither family nor life itself. Reliance means many things. But, first and foremost, it is a deep sense of honour, a commitment to one's word.
When Kaikeyi approached Dashratha for the grant of her boons, he was devastated and broken. How could he send his beloved Rama to exile? How could he deny him, the righteous one, the throne? How could he nominate Bharata as his successor?
But, equally, could he afford to break his word, not keep his promise? Dashratha knew the answer but he had his moment of doubt.
Rama had none.
When the news of his terrible fate was broken to him – by Kaikeyi, not Dashratha, who was too distraught to talk, one might remember – he was the very picture of tranquillity.
If father had given his word, could Rama ever think of going back on it! His was to obey, not question, follow, not doubt, surrender, not seek. Raghukula Riti Sadaa Chali Aai, Praan Jaahun Paru Bachanu Na Jaai . (Ayodhya Kanda). Could there be a higher example of trust?
Lord Rama knew in his heart, as a billion Indians do, that trust is not about taking short-cuts, it is not about taking the easy way out. Trust is all or it is nothing. Make a sacrifice if necessary; but do what is right rather than what is convenient.
Trust is also my father's proudest legacy to all of us, our most precious inheritance.
Sadly, a legacy might not be forever. More than what you get, it is what you make of it. Cherish it, and it grows. Neglect it and it wilts. Like a tender young sapling, it demands constant care and concern.
Looking back over the last few years, I am deeply and painfully aware of how easy it is to lose touch with one's values. How easy it is to let one's samskaras turn into empty words without meaning or intent.
How easy it is to let the obsession with self – 'I, me, mine' – vitiate even the purest, most selfless of relationships – the bond between a child and his mother.
This takes us beyond trust to a realm yet higher; a realm so sacred, so exalted that it is likened, in our scriptures, to divinity itself. There is no higher duty, purpose or end in life, say our epics, than an unconditional surrender to a mother's love, a supreme respect for her will, a devotion to her well-being.
"Verily," say the Vedas, "the mother is God". "Matrudevo bhava!" proclaims the Taittriya Upanishad. "Honour thy mother. Look upon her as God."
Can one worship God without total trust? Can one show her reverence without bowing one's head in absolute humility? Can one break a word spoken solemnly in her presence?
And if one does – in the mindless pursuit of power, ego or material riches – what has one gained and, more importantly, what has one really lost?
Trust was the foundation on which my father,Dhirubhai Ambani, built his life, his enormous wealth of relationships, and one of India's greatest business enterprises.
The absolute sanctity he attached to trust is reflected in the very name that he gave to his business – Reliance. It was his way of saying to the world, "You can rely on me."
Without reliance, he said, there can be neither trust, nor relationships, neither family nor life itself. Reliance means many things. But, first and foremost, it is a deep sense of honour, a commitment to one's word.
When Kaikeyi approached Dashratha for the grant of her boons, he was devastated and broken. How could he send his beloved Rama to exile? How could he deny him, the righteous one, the throne? How could he nominate Bharata as his successor?
But, equally, could he afford to break his word, not keep his promise? Dashratha knew the answer but he had his moment of doubt.
Rama had none.
When the news of his terrible fate was broken to him – by Kaikeyi, not Dashratha, who was too distraught to talk, one might remember – he was the very picture of tranquillity.
If father had given his word, could Rama ever think of going back on it! His was to obey, not question, follow, not doubt, surrender, not seek. Raghukula Riti Sadaa Chali Aai, Praan Jaahun Paru Bachanu Na Jaai . (Ayodhya Kanda). Could there be a higher example of trust?
Lord Rama knew in his heart, as a billion Indians do, that trust is not about taking short-cuts, it is not about taking the easy way out. Trust is all or it is nothing. Make a sacrifice if necessary; but do what is right rather than what is convenient.
Trust is also my father's proudest legacy to all of us, our most precious inheritance.
Sadly, a legacy might not be forever. More than what you get, it is what you make of it. Cherish it, and it grows. Neglect it and it wilts. Like a tender young sapling, it demands constant care and concern.
Looking back over the last few years, I am deeply and painfully aware of how easy it is to lose touch with one's values. How easy it is to let one's samskaras turn into empty words without meaning or intent.
How easy it is to let the obsession with self – 'I, me, mine' – vitiate even the purest, most selfless of relationships – the bond between a child and his mother.
This takes us beyond trust to a realm yet higher; a realm so sacred, so exalted that it is likened, in our scriptures, to divinity itself. There is no higher duty, purpose or end in life, say our epics, than an unconditional surrender to a mother's love, a supreme respect for her will, a devotion to her well-being.
"Verily," say the Vedas, "the mother is God". "Matrudevo bhava!" proclaims the Taittriya Upanishad. "Honour thy mother. Look upon her as God."
Can one worship God without total trust? Can one show her reverence without bowing one's head in absolute humility? Can one break a word spoken solemnly in her presence?
And if one does – in the mindless pursuit of power, ego or material riches – what has one gained and, more importantly, what has one really lost?
So much enthusiasm
Swami Sukhabodhananda, Sep 21, 2010, 12.00am IST
alt="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/5766056.cms" u2:shapes="Picture_x0020_28" v:shapes="_x0000_s1034">Live your life with passion. Edmund Hillary, the first to climb Mount Everest with Tenzing Norgay, had faced failure thrice, earlier.
Later at a party hosted in his honour in New Zealand, he looked at the portrait of Mount Everest and remarked: "Mt Everest has a problem...it cannot grow more than 29,000 feet, but I can grow in my ability to climb farther than that." That's passion.
Our lower self is jeevatma and the higher self is Paramatma. One can operate from either level. Operating from the higher self consistently generates enthusiasm.
Any situation viewed as threat is an example of one involving the lower self that operates as an obstructing thought. The higher self operates as a supporting thought.
If our immune system is weak, the body is prone to disease. So too, we have a psychological immune system. If our psychological immune system is weak...we are upset, hurt, frustrated. Like our genes, our minds are also products of evolution of many years. When our psychological immune system is weak, we are prone to perceive external situations as dangerous or as obstruction. It only calls for strengthening the psychological immune system so as to be powerful individuals.
How do you make it powerful? Just like how we make the physical body powerful by right exercise and diet, so too, the psychological immune system can be made powerful by not allowing the lower self in us to operate...instead we should encourage the higher centre to operate in our daily lives.
We tend to operate from acquired knowledge, rather than the cosmic intelligence of the cell. Where do we draw our identity from? Most of us draw our identity from acquired knowledge. Don't we? Why is it so? Because through acquired knowledge, our ego is established, our identity is established, and our address is established. In cell intelligence - that we have not created, but are gifted with - our uniqueness is not established. Ego is established in the 'i'. Acquired knowledge is the lower self. The knowledge from which we are born - the cell evolution, is the 'higher self'.
Let us draw our identity from this growing cell that is the higher self. But alas, we don't trust this. Instead we trust our acquired knowledge. In life we should eliminate our lower self and operate from cosmic intelligence. The acquired knowledge will be supportive in our growth and not obstructive. Understand this distinction.
Acquired knowledge should support the higher self, not obstruct it. For example, in a game of tennis, when you see a ball coming from an opponent, your thought should not interfere with it and obstruct your spontaneous effort to hit a ball. But if you think, 'Oh, i am going to miss it because my history of missed stroke last time'; then acquired knowledge is an obstruction. As a player, you cannot succeed.
Suppose, the higher self looks at the ball differently - "With a focused awareness i allow my being that has evolved to guide me in hitting a ball. In case i miss it, the higher self being a learning and evolving being, makes required corrections the next time i face a ball...but whereas acquired self or the 'lower self' creates an image that i am not good and i am not lucky. This image makes me look at a ball next time as a threat and acts as an obstruction. The lower self is rigid, while the higher self is flexible in learning and growing. I will not allow my static conclusions to decide my action instead allow my flow to decide a response."
Later at a party hosted in his honour in New Zealand, he looked at the portrait of Mount Everest and remarked: "Mt Everest has a problem...it cannot grow more than 29,000 feet, but I can grow in my ability to climb farther than that." That's passion.
Our lower self is jeevatma and the higher self is Paramatma. One can operate from either level. Operating from the higher self consistently generates enthusiasm.
Any situation viewed as threat is an example of one involving the lower self that operates as an obstructing thought. The higher self operates as a supporting thought.
If our immune system is weak, the body is prone to disease. So too, we have a psychological immune system. If our psychological immune system is weak...we are upset, hurt, frustrated. Like our genes, our minds are also products of evolution of many years. When our psychological immune system is weak, we are prone to perceive external situations as dangerous or as obstruction. It only calls for strengthening the psychological immune system so as to be powerful individuals.
How do you make it powerful? Just like how we make the physical body powerful by right exercise and diet, so too, the psychological immune system can be made powerful by not allowing the lower self in us to operate...instead we should encourage the higher centre to operate in our daily lives.
We tend to operate from acquired knowledge, rather than the cosmic intelligence of the cell. Where do we draw our identity from? Most of us draw our identity from acquired knowledge. Don't we? Why is it so? Because through acquired knowledge, our ego is established, our identity is established, and our address is established. In cell intelligence - that we have not created, but are gifted with - our uniqueness is not established. Ego is established in the 'i'. Acquired knowledge is the lower self. The knowledge from which we are born - the cell evolution, is the 'higher self'.
Let us draw our identity from this growing cell that is the higher self. But alas, we don't trust this. Instead we trust our acquired knowledge. In life we should eliminate our lower self and operate from cosmic intelligence. The acquired knowledge will be supportive in our growth and not obstructive. Understand this distinction.
Acquired knowledge should support the higher self, not obstruct it. For example, in a game of tennis, when you see a ball coming from an opponent, your thought should not interfere with it and obstruct your spontaneous effort to hit a ball. But if you think, 'Oh, i am going to miss it because my history of missed stroke last time'; then acquired knowledge is an obstruction. As a player, you cannot succeed.
Suppose, the higher self looks at the ball differently - "With a focused awareness i allow my being that has evolved to guide me in hitting a ball. In case i miss it, the higher self being a learning and evolving being, makes required corrections the next time i face a ball...but whereas acquired self or the 'lower self' creates an image that i am not good and i am not lucky. This image makes me look at a ball next time as a threat and acts as an obstruction. The lower self is rigid, while the higher self is flexible in learning and growing. I will not allow my static conclusions to decide my action instead allow my flow to decide a response."
Neurons, love, attitude
Rev K Vasudevan, Sep 20, 2010, 12.00am IST
When we respond negatively to people and situations, we set in motion a negative trend in our entire body system.
All our emotions are electro-chemically charged and intrinsically connected to the endocrine, nervous and immune systems through our thoughts and feelings. If the systems are negatively charged, they set in motion a chain of negative reactions. Hence we need to respond carefully to situations in life.
When American journalist Norman Cousins, became very ill his doctors, finding the prognosis poor, had to give up on him. In a few days, he would be gone. In his state of illness, Norman Cousins was convinced that negative emotions have negative physical consequences just positive emotions will impact the body in a positive way. So he rented really humorous movies and began watching them regularly
He noticed that he was able to sleep more without the aid of sleeping pills. The pain that was excruciating was reducing. He was now less dependent on painkillers. Once he became well, he wrote of his experience in the British Medical Journal.
Art Mathias was allergic to hundreds of food items including fibre. He could wear only cotton clothing, and these were expensive. The prognosis being bad, doctors reluctantly gave up on him.
One day, he listened to a teaching on forgiveness and simply decided to forgive those who hurt him. He suddenly realised from that day he could eat many foods, to which he was allergic. Even his skin allergies stopped. Behind this phenomenal healing was the major shift he made in his thinking, that is, to move from harbouring bitterness to forgive and bless those who hurt him.
For both Norman and Art, the turning point was their attitude towards health and hurts. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2002 that one out of every three persons, who went to consult doctors for a common symptom got diagnosed with some form of mental illness arising from anger and depression. To a large extent, many of us suffer a degree of anger and depression. A great many of our physical sicknesses could be avoided if we could only change our attitudes.
It has been said that ten per cent is what happens to you and 90 per cent is your response (attitude) to that. The important thing is to learn to deal with disappointment in constructive ways. Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to his son's teacher, in which he requested, "Teach my son how to win but also teach him how to handle failure."
We don't always know everything about an illness but a recent study says 82 per cent of all physical sickness is caused by emotions. Caroline Leaf, a medical specialist, in her book, "Who Switched My Brain off?" says, "If this is true it will be extremely wise of us to respond positively to all the failures and disappointments in life."
In our reactions to failures and disappointments, which are bound to occur, it is good to make an effort to avoid bitterness, anger and resentment. Neurologists tell us that the neuron, which is the basic unit of the brain, was created by God for love. When you and I experience God's love and find others to express our love, every organ in our body will function to its optimum level. Hope and confidence itself will produce positive energy in the body.
All our emotions are electro-chemically charged and intrinsically connected to the endocrine, nervous and immune systems through our thoughts and feelings. If the systems are negatively charged, they set in motion a chain of negative reactions. Hence we need to respond carefully to situations in life.
When American journalist Norman Cousins, became very ill his doctors, finding the prognosis poor, had to give up on him. In a few days, he would be gone. In his state of illness, Norman Cousins was convinced that negative emotions have negative physical consequences just positive emotions will impact the body in a positive way. So he rented really humorous movies and began watching them regularly
He noticed that he was able to sleep more without the aid of sleeping pills. The pain that was excruciating was reducing. He was now less dependent on painkillers. Once he became well, he wrote of his experience in the British Medical Journal.
Art Mathias was allergic to hundreds of food items including fibre. He could wear only cotton clothing, and these were expensive. The prognosis being bad, doctors reluctantly gave up on him.
One day, he listened to a teaching on forgiveness and simply decided to forgive those who hurt him. He suddenly realised from that day he could eat many foods, to which he was allergic. Even his skin allergies stopped. Behind this phenomenal healing was the major shift he made in his thinking, that is, to move from harbouring bitterness to forgive and bless those who hurt him.
For both Norman and Art, the turning point was their attitude towards health and hurts. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2002 that one out of every three persons, who went to consult doctors for a common symptom got diagnosed with some form of mental illness arising from anger and depression. To a large extent, many of us suffer a degree of anger and depression. A great many of our physical sicknesses could be avoided if we could only change our attitudes.
It has been said that ten per cent is what happens to you and 90 per cent is your response (attitude) to that. The important thing is to learn to deal with disappointment in constructive ways. Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to his son's teacher, in which he requested, "Teach my son how to win but also teach him how to handle failure."
We don't always know everything about an illness but a recent study says 82 per cent of all physical sickness is caused by emotions. Caroline Leaf, a medical specialist, in her book, "Who Switched My Brain off?" says, "If this is true it will be extremely wise of us to respond positively to all the failures and disappointments in life."
In our reactions to failures and disappointments, which are bound to occur, it is good to make an effort to avoid bitterness, anger and resentment. Neurologists tell us that the neuron, which is the basic unit of the brain, was created by God for love. When you and I experience God's love and find others to express our love, every organ in our body will function to its optimum level. Hope and confidence itself will produce positive energy in the body.
Leap in perception
TONY PARSONS, Sep 19, 2010, 12.00am IST
When very young I had a sense of being in a magic world, outside of time and the need to have to become or do anything... an unrecognised oneness that enveloped me simply in the wonder of what is. I feel it is the same for most children.
One day all of that changed and I entered the world of separation and need. I found that I had a separate mother and father, a name, and an apparent choice to do this or that. I moved into the world of time and space, boundary and exploration, endeavor, manipulation, and the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain.
I came to own these experiences and believed they were my natural way of being.
I was also taught and came to believe that if I work hard, behaved myself and succeeded in my chosen or imposed job, got married, had children and looked after my health, I stood a good chance of being happy. I did all of this quite successfully, and enjoyed myself at times, but I also recognised that something intangible and fundamental seemed to be missing -- a secret of some kind...
I was told that if I worked hard and applied myself to various disciplines, rituals and purifications, I would eventually come to deserve "spiritual fulfillment". Again... I still could not discover the reason for my sense of bereavement.
One day, almost as if by accident, I rediscovered the secret, or perhaps it rediscovered me... The revelation that accompanied this rediscovery was so simple and yet so revolutionary that it swept away in a stroke all that I had been taught or had come to believe.
Part of that realisation was that enlightenment is absolutely beyond my effort to change the way I live, or even of changing life at all. It has to do with a total shift in the realisation of what it is that lives.
I am already that which I seek. Whatever I seek or think I want, however long the shopping list may be, all of my desires are only a reflection of my longing to come home. And home is oneness, my original nature. It is right here, simply in what is. There is nowhere else I have to go, and nothing else I have to become.
Since that time I have embraced and lived that revelation – and avoided and rejected it.
It is of course impossible to communicate in words the inexpressible, and so this declaration is my attempt to express my understanding of that revelation. I try to explain the way in which my beliefs about enlightenment, time, purpose and my effort to achieve spiritual fulfillment, can directly interrupt that oneness that is continuously and directly available. How the illusion of separation, fear, guilt and abstraction can distract me from the freedom that includes and transforms these influences.
I also express in the best way I can how effortless and natural it is to let go and be open to that freedom. This declaration speaks about a singular and revolutionary leap in perception about what we really are. It requires no embellishment or lengthy explanation and once realized, leaves nothing more to be said.
For the sake of clarity, the terms enlightenment, liberation, fulfillment, freedom, oneness, and so on, are all seen here as being the same as the absolute realisation by anyone of what they really are.
Excerpt from The Open Secret of Spiritual Awakening, Yogi Impressions
When very young I had a sense of being in a magic world, outside of time and the need to have to become or do anything... an unrecognised oneness that enveloped me simply in the wonder of what is. I feel it is the same for most children.
One day all of that changed and I entered the world of separation and need. I found that I had a separate mother and father, a name, and an apparent choice to do this or that. I moved into the world of time and space, boundary and exploration, endeavor, manipulation, and the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain.
I came to own these experiences and believed they were my natural way of being.
I was also taught and came to believe that if I work hard, behaved myself and succeeded in my chosen or imposed job, got married, had children and looked after my health, I stood a good chance of being happy. I did all of this quite successfully, and enjoyed myself at times, but I also recognised that something intangible and fundamental seemed to be missing -- a secret of some kind...
I was told that if I worked hard and applied myself to various disciplines, rituals and purifications, I would eventually come to deserve "spiritual fulfillment". Again... I still could not discover the reason for my sense of bereavement.
One day, almost as if by accident, I rediscovered the secret, or perhaps it rediscovered me... The revelation that accompanied this rediscovery was so simple and yet so revolutionary that it swept away in a stroke all that I had been taught or had come to believe.
Part of that realisation was that enlightenment is absolutely beyond my effort to change the way I live, or even of changing life at all. It has to do with a total shift in the realisation of what it is that lives.
I am already that which I seek. Whatever I seek or think I want, however long the shopping list may be, all of my desires are only a reflection of my longing to come home. And home is oneness, my original nature. It is right here, simply in what is. There is nowhere else I have to go, and nothing else I have to become.
Since that time I have embraced and lived that revelation – and avoided and rejected it.
It is of course impossible to communicate in words the inexpressible, and so this declaration is my attempt to express my understanding of that revelation. I try to explain the way in which my beliefs about enlightenment, time, purpose and my effort to achieve spiritual fulfillment, can directly interrupt that oneness that is continuously and directly available. How the illusion of separation, fear, guilt and abstraction can distract me from the freedom that includes and transforms these influences.
I also express in the best way I can how effortless and natural it is to let go and be open to that freedom. This declaration speaks about a singular and revolutionary leap in perception about what we really are. It requires no embellishment or lengthy explanation and once realized, leaves nothing more to be said.
For the sake of clarity, the terms enlightenment, liberation, fulfillment, freedom, oneness, and so on, are all seen here as being the same as the absolute realisation by anyone of what they really are.
Excerpt from The Open Secret of Spiritual Awakening, Yogi Impressions
Inception and the subconscious
Jui Pagedar, Sep 23, 2010, 12.00am IST
Hollywood director Christopher Nolan has stirred the creative world and enthralled fantasy-loving cine buffs by mixing the psychologists' old muse —dream reading — with a high-tech, special effects bonanza called ` Inception.'
He has understandably made some compromises with the plot — car-chase, shootouts, killing et al — to keep the audience engaged while dealing with a complex subject and a mental game which could otherwise have easily gotten swallowed in psycho-technical mumbo-jumbo.
While western audiences marvel at this " James Bond meets Matrix" tale, very few are perhaps aware that Sri Aurobindo, the renowned mystic and spiritual master had spent considerable years through his Integral Yoga, probing what he called the `subconscient' human mind and came up with some interesting insights on universal consciousness as a whole.
Sri Aurobindo discovered, for example, that there are several realms of consciousness beyond the physical world we live in, and that these planes of consciousness are in fact the other worlds that are as real as we take our own world to be. When one sleeps, he said, the subconscient mind is freed from the shackles of the mind that operates in the physical world, travelling across those other worlds soaking in experiences, both good and bad, that are needed for further consciousness evolution of the individual in the dream state. Our skepticism or ignorance notwithstanding, these "other worlds" not only coexist with our physical world but they also impinge on it in myriad ways.
According to Sri Aurobindo these other worlds are stacked in a spiral of lower and higher levels of consciousness. We have good dreams or nightmares, depending on where our subconscient mind chooses to travel in the labyrinthine spiral, with each level having several sublevels. Without our being aware, we draw upon these worlds for some of the vilest, crudest or most noble and sublime ideas that eventually shape our known world. It isn't surprising therefore that for a Jesus who comes to redeem our world we are also visited by others who wish to subvert and destroy it.
Sri Aurobindo believed -- through his own experience of yoga spanning over 40 years -- that through regular practice one can raise one's consciousness to various higher levels until one reaches what he called the supra-mental level, the pinnacle of evolution. (He never took others' word for any kind of truth, and insisted on testing it through self-experience). Sri Aurobindo made another profound revelation that unlike what scientists tell us, man is not the pinnacle of Nature's evolutionary cycle. Human beings are transitional beings. We will undergo transformation and reach our ultimate evolution level when we reach the highest plane of consciousness. However, we will have to delve deep into our subconscient mind and begin rising through the spiral consciousness to reach the pinnacle.
Sri Aurobindo's spiritual endeavor was not, however, aimed at his own personal salvation. He wanted to share his experience with others and inspire them to follow this path so that it would lead to a spiritual revolution in us and usher in lasting peace. He didn't accept the old spiritual belief that one could reach moksha only if one quit this so-called wretched world and ascend to a heaven above. "It is here on this earth that we can create heaven and find release in our own lifetime," he said. The writer follows Guru Siyag Siddha Yoga system.
juipagedar@gmail.com; website: www.the-comforter.org
Hollywood director Christopher Nolan has stirred the creative world and enthralled fantasy-loving cine buffs by mixing the psychologists' old muse —dream reading — with a high-tech, special effects bonanza called ` Inception.' He has understandably made some compromises with the plot — car-chase, shootouts, killing et al — to keep the audience engaged while dealing with a complex subject and a mental game which could otherwise have easily gotten swallowed in psycho-technical mumbo-jumbo.
While western audiences marvel at this " James Bond meets Matrix" tale, very few are perhaps aware that Sri Aurobindo, the renowned mystic and spiritual master had spent considerable years through his Integral Yoga, probing what he called the `subconscient' human mind and came up with some interesting insights on universal consciousness as a whole.
Sri Aurobindo discovered, for example, that there are several realms of consciousness beyond the physical world we live in, and that these planes of consciousness are in fact the other worlds that are as real as we take our own world to be. When one sleeps, he said, the subconscient mind is freed from the shackles of the mind that operates in the physical world, travelling across those other worlds soaking in experiences, both good and bad, that are needed for further consciousness evolution of the individual in the dream state. Our skepticism or ignorance notwithstanding, these "other worlds" not only coexist with our physical world but they also impinge on it in myriad ways.
According to Sri Aurobindo these other worlds are stacked in a spiral of lower and higher levels of consciousness. We have good dreams or nightmares, depending on where our subconscient mind chooses to travel in the labyrinthine spiral, with each level having several sublevels. Without our being aware, we draw upon these worlds for some of the vilest, crudest or most noble and sublime ideas that eventually shape our known world. It isn't surprising therefore that for a Jesus who comes to redeem our world we are also visited by others who wish to subvert and destroy it.
Sri Aurobindo believed -- through his own experience of yoga spanning over 40 years -- that through regular practice one can raise one's consciousness to various higher levels until one reaches what he called the supra-mental level, the pinnacle of evolution. (He never took others' word for any kind of truth, and insisted on testing it through self-experience). Sri Aurobindo made another profound revelation that unlike what scientists tell us, man is not the pinnacle of Nature's evolutionary cycle. Human beings are transitional beings. We will undergo transformation and reach our ultimate evolution level when we reach the highest plane of consciousness. However, we will have to delve deep into our subconscient mind and begin rising through the spiral consciousness to reach the pinnacle.
Sri Aurobindo's spiritual endeavor was not, however, aimed at his own personal salvation. He wanted to share his experience with others and inspire them to follow this path so that it would lead to a spiritual revolution in us and usher in lasting peace. He didn't accept the old spiritual belief that one could reach moksha only if one quit this so-called wretched world and ascend to a heaven above. "It is here on this earth that we can create heaven and find release in our own lifetime," he said. The writer follows Guru Siyag Siddha Yoga system.
juipagedar@gmail.com; website: www.the-comforter.org
Of passion and compassion
Osho, Sep 19, 2010, 12.00am IST
We know what passion is hence it is not very difficult to understand what compassion may be. Passion means a state of biological fever – it is hot. You are almost possessed by biological, unconscious energies. You are no longer your own master, you are just a slave.
Compassion means you have transcended biology and physiology. You are no more a slave, you are master. Now you function consciously. You are not driven, pulled and pushed by unconscious forces; you can decide what you want to do with your energies. You are totally free. Then the same energy that becomes passion is transformed into compassion.
Passion is lust, compassion is love. Passion is desire, compassion is desirelessness. Passion is greed, compassion is sharing. Passion wants to use the other as a means, compassion respects the other as an end unto himself or herself. Passion keeps you tethered to earth, to mud and you never become a lotus. Compassion makes you a lotus. You start rising above the muddy world of desires, greed and anger. Compassion is a transformation of your energies.
Ordinarily you are scattered, fragmentary. Some energy is being absorbed by your anger, some by your greed, by your lust, and so on. You are left hollow, empty.
All your energy keeps on going down the drain. When all these energies are no longer being wasted they start filling your inner lake, your inner being. You become full. A great delight arises in you. When you start overflowing you have become a Buddha and you have come upon an inexhaustible source.
Compassion is a key word, but you will understand it only if you go deep into meditation. Meditation is the key to transform passion into compassion. You will have to become more conscious. Right now you are unconscious.
We live like robots... The more like a robot you are, the better you function, the better the society feels with you – because it is a society of robots. To be awakened, alert, conscious is dangerous. It is a society of blind people; to have eyes is to invite danger.
But without creating consciousness you will never be able to know the beauty, the blessing that existence has bestowed upon you. You will never know the great opportunity that has been given to you to grow, to become. You can be sunlit peaks and you are just dark holes!
Socrates says, "If you know that you don't know, that is a great beginning. Then it is possible for you to know." To be aware that "I am ignorant" creates the possibility of seeking, searching in your own interiority for the truth – for your truth.
Compassion is the ultimate transformation of passion. You are in passion, but you go on thinking that you are right as you are. You go on defending yourself. And anything that disturbs your comfortable, mechanical life, you go against...
When you come to me you don't come to be awakened, you come to me so that you can dream beautiful, sweet dreams. That is your purpose in coming; that is not my purpose in being here. Once you are here you are caught. Then, slowly, slowly i start taking your dreams away. Then, slowly, slowly i go on destroying your illusions. Once your illusions are dropped, your dreams shattered, a great awakening is waiting you for you – a great awakening which makes you a Buddha. And compassionate.
Excerpt from Walking in Zen Sitting in Zen.
We know what passion is hence it is not very difficult to understand what compassion may be. Passion means a state of biological fever – it is hot. You are almost possessed by biological, unconscious energies. You are no longer your own master, you are just a slave. Compassion means you have transcended biology and physiology. You are no more a slave, you are master. Now you function consciously. You are not driven, pulled and pushed by unconscious forces; you can decide what you want to do with your energies. You are totally free. Then the same energy that becomes passion is transformed into compassion.
Passion is lust, compassion is love. Passion is desire, compassion is desirelessness. Passion is greed, compassion is sharing. Passion wants to use the other as a means, compassion respects the other as an end unto himself or herself. Passion keeps you tethered to earth, to mud and you never become a lotus. Compassion makes you a lotus. You start rising above the muddy world of desires, greed and anger. Compassion is a transformation of your energies.
Ordinarily you are scattered, fragmentary. Some energy is being absorbed by your anger, some by your greed, by your lust, and so on. You are left hollow, empty.
All your energy keeps on going down the drain. When all these energies are no longer being wasted they start filling your inner lake, your inner being. You become full. A great delight arises in you. When you start overflowing you have become a Buddha and you have come upon an inexhaustible source.
Compassion is a key word, but you will understand it only if you go deep into meditation. Meditation is the key to transform passion into compassion. You will have to become more conscious. Right now you are unconscious.
We live like robots... The more like a robot you are, the better you function, the better the society feels with you – because it is a society of robots. To be awakened, alert, conscious is dangerous. It is a society of blind people; to have eyes is to invite danger.
But without creating consciousness you will never be able to know the beauty, the blessing that existence has bestowed upon you. You will never know the great opportunity that has been given to you to grow, to become. You can be sunlit peaks and you are just dark holes!
Socrates says, "If you know that you don't know, that is a great beginning. Then it is possible for you to know." To be aware that "I am ignorant" creates the possibility of seeking, searching in your own interiority for the truth – for your truth.
Compassion is the ultimate transformation of passion. You are in passion, but you go on thinking that you are right as you are. You go on defending yourself. And anything that disturbs your comfortable, mechanical life, you go against...
When you come to me you don't come to be awakened, you come to me so that you can dream beautiful, sweet dreams. That is your purpose in coming; that is not my purpose in being here. Once you are here you are caught. Then, slowly, slowly i start taking your dreams away. Then, slowly, slowly i go on destroying your illusions. Once your illusions are dropped, your dreams shattered, a great awakening is waiting you for you – a great awakening which makes you a Buddha. And compassionate.
Excerpt from Walking in Zen Sitting in Zen.
Buddhism and ecology
Martine Batchelor and Kerry Brown, Sep 18, 2010, 12.00am IST
Dharma, for Buddhists, is the sacred law, morality and the teachings of the Buddha. It is also all things in nature. Cats, dogs, penguins, trees, humans, mosquitoes, sunlight, leaf dew are all dharmas. So at its very essence, Buddhism can be described as an ecological religion or a religious ecology.
The principles of love, compassion and respect for all life, are familiar to the Western mind but in recent centuries, we have restricted them to humans only. Even the law of karma (cause and effect) has some place in our thinking although without the universal and inescapable power it is given in Buddhist thought. The law of karma ultimately places mind as the first cause. It is the maker and the shaper of our personal and global destiny.
Our birth and existence is dependent on causes outside ourselves, inextricably linking us with the world and denying us any autonomous existence. Indeed when we think deeply enough, the borders between our self and the world wash away like water in water. We and all of nature are inseparable, entwined, one. Compassion for others should be as natural and instinctive as compassion for us and our own bodies.
This is perhaps the most striking and difficult idea of Buddhism and the one most misunderstood – that there is no independent individual self. Yet the individual self is one of the western world's most cherished beliefs and greatest source of suffering. It is what separates us from the world and causes us to cling to it with the stranglehold of the drowning. To be enlightened is to awaken from this delusion.
To transform the world, we must begin by transforming ourselves ... by discovering our true Buddha (enlightened) nature.
As the primacy of the individual and individual desire has continued to grow exponentially in the shadow of the industrialising world, two questions have arisen, says Timmerman: 'How can we deny people their right to self-fulfillment? Yet how can we survive on a planet of ten billion points of infinite greed? This is the point at which the more challenging aspects of Buddhism present 'a serious alternative basis for environmental thought and action'. Timmerman argues that to be a Buddhist today is a geopolitical act, taking us away from the ethos of the individual and its bondage to the consumer ethic and providing us 'with a working space within which to stand back from our aggressive culture and consider the alternative. This working space, with its ways of carefully considering and meditating on what we do, is part of what can be called 'non-violent thinking.'
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech said: "We must develop a sense of universal responsibility not only in the geographic sense, but also in respect to the different issues that confront our planet. Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually. Peace, for example, starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighbouring communities, and so on.
It is my dream that the entire Tibetan plateau should become a free refuge where humanity and nature can live in peace and in harmonious balance ... Tibet could become a creative centre for the promotion and development of peace."
(Excerpt from Buddhism And Ecology, MLBD)
The royal path
Rajmani Tigunait, Sep 17, 2010, 12.00am IST
The life of an individual is like an iceberg floating in the ocean of cosmic existence — only a small portion is visible at any given time.
We become frustrated, disappointed, and depressed because we identify ourselves with the small portion of ourselves that is visible, the trivial matters of day-to-day life. Every pleasure and pain, success and failure, loss and gain affects us. Thus we are tossed about by experiences that are not particularly significant in the larger scheme of things.
We are happy one moment, cranky the next. We forget that birth, death, and all the experiences in between are only a ripple in the eternal stream of life. We forget that life has a higher purpose. Yet in the depths of our hearts we yearn to reach that place where we are free from the cycle of birthand death, and we know the greatest loss is failing to reach that place before the body returns to dust.
In the depths of our being, we know true happiness comes only from the realisation that we are free. But on the surface, we busy ourselves with trivial concerns, even though we know that such activities will not help in the long run. There is a chasm between what we know in our hearts and what we are driven to do in the outer world. Thus we live in two different worlds with no way of bridging the gulf between them. While living in the outer world, we forget about our spiritual goals, and while attempting to live in the inner world, we find ourselves distracted by worldly concerns. The failure to remain in the company of our best friend, the inner soul, creates a sense of loneliness and alienation. This is the source of our misery.
Raja yoga, the royal path, gives us the tools to overcome our misery. It bridges the gulf between the outer world of day-to-day life and the inner world of the soul. This is the path of balance and integration, a path so broad and all-embracing that each of us can follow it at our own pace no matter our capacity or background. Raja yoga is the ancient art of holistic living. Its foundation consists of practicing ten simple principles—non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, moderation in sense activity, non-possessive, cleanliness, contentment, self-discipline, studying the scriptures, and faith in a higher truth. In addition, raja yoga offers practices for making the body strong and healthy, the breath deep and even, and the mind clear and one-pointed.
Working with the mind is the core of raja yoga. Ordinarily the mind has a habit of running from one object to another, yet no one with a scattered mind can be successful in either the outer or the inner world. The methods of concentration taught on the path of raja yoga help us make the mind calm and one-pointed. As the mind clears and becomes focused, we begin to perform our actions in the outer world skillfully, selflessly, and without clinging to their fruits. We become more familiar with the larger, eternal aspect of ourselves that lies unchanged below the turbulence of daily life.
As we do, our identification with the part of ourselves that is eternal and ever free deepens and solidifies. We find ourselves floating on the ocean of cosmic existence instead of being tossed about by the trials and challenges that are an inescapable feature of the outer world. Then the mystery of life begins to unveil itself and we come to experience the true meaning of yoga.
www.HimalayanInstitute.in
The life of an individual is like an iceberg floating in the ocean of cosmic existence — only a small portion is visible at any given time. We become frustrated, disappointed, and depressed because we identify ourselves with the small portion of ourselves that is visible, the trivial matters of day-to-day life. Every pleasure and pain, success and failure, loss and gain affects us. Thus we are tossed about by experiences that are not particularly significant in the larger scheme of things.
We are happy one moment, cranky the next. We forget that birth, death, and all the experiences in between are only a ripple in the eternal stream of life. We forget that life has a higher purpose. Yet in the depths of our hearts we yearn to reach that place where we are free from the cycle of birthand death, and we know the greatest loss is failing to reach that place before the body returns to dust.
In the depths of our being, we know true happiness comes only from the realisation that we are free. But on the surface, we busy ourselves with trivial concerns, even though we know that such activities will not help in the long run. There is a chasm between what we know in our hearts and what we are driven to do in the outer world. Thus we live in two different worlds with no way of bridging the gulf between them. While living in the outer world, we forget about our spiritual goals, and while attempting to live in the inner world, we find ourselves distracted by worldly concerns. The failure to remain in the company of our best friend, the inner soul, creates a sense of loneliness and alienation. This is the source of our misery.
Raja yoga, the royal path, gives us the tools to overcome our misery. It bridges the gulf between the outer world of day-to-day life and the inner world of the soul. This is the path of balance and integration, a path so broad and all-embracing that each of us can follow it at our own pace no matter our capacity or background. Raja yoga is the ancient art of holistic living. Its foundation consists of practicing ten simple principles—non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, moderation in sense activity, non-possessive, cleanliness, contentment, self-discipline, studying the scriptures, and faith in a higher truth. In addition, raja yoga offers practices for making the body strong and healthy, the breath deep and even, and the mind clear and one-pointed.
Working with the mind is the core of raja yoga. Ordinarily the mind has a habit of running from one object to another, yet no one with a scattered mind can be successful in either the outer or the inner world. The methods of concentration taught on the path of raja yoga help us make the mind calm and one-pointed. As the mind clears and becomes focused, we begin to perform our actions in the outer world skillfully, selflessly, and without clinging to their fruits. We become more familiar with the larger, eternal aspect of ourselves that lies unchanged below the turbulence of daily life.
As we do, our identification with the part of ourselves that is eternal and ever free deepens and solidifies. We find ourselves floating on the ocean of cosmic existence instead of being tossed about by the trials and challenges that are an inescapable feature of the outer world. Then the mystery of life begins to unveil itself and we come to experience the true meaning of yoga.
www.HimalayanInstitute.in
Of diffusion and drift
G S Tripathi, Sep 17, 2010, 12.00am IST
Diffusion is the law of nature. It takes place when there is inequality and non-uniformity. Since our world has plenty of the above traits, diffusion is bound to happen. However, it is not free from obstructions; it has to overcome barriers that oppose diffusion.
Consider the diffusion of knowledge. Knowledge developed at one place must diffuse to places devoid of it. This helps its spread and contributes to its growth. Similarly, wealth created at one place must also diffuse to places where it is absent. In the process, equilibrium is maintained, which contributes to stability of the system.
Society that jealously guards its wealth and knowledge, without making these available to others is bound to disintegrate. Strong isolated places of affluence do not serve the interest of humankind. Diffusion is a spontaneous process.
In the Bhagavad Gita, the cosmic form visualised by Arjuna of the Supreme Being seems infinite. It is the diffusion of an infinite energy. It is undiminished everywhere and all the time, hence is omnipresent and omnipotent because of its infinite power. Before assuming Vishwarupa, Krishna says: "All of the universes are pervaded by me in imperceptibly subtle manifestation." Thus, in the realm of spirituality, one could interpret the omnipresence of the Supreme Energy as being due to diffusion.
In real life, however, we experience limited diffusion. The spread of a flower's fragrance in the air and the dissolution of ink in water are examples of diffusion in gaseous and liquid states of matter. Diffusion takes place in gases and liquids due to their flexible nature. Diffusion does take place even in a solid matter, in spite of its rigidity. Diffusion takes place in the material world irrespective of its nature; however, the degree varies.
Unlike diffusion, drift is a driven process. There are both positive and negative drifts. If a person is swayed away by bad company or habits, it is a negative drift. If influenced by something good, it is a positive drift. It does well to both the doer and its recipient.
Good action done without attachment to results in sattvik drift. Drift resulted from a fruitful action may be termed as rajasik drift. However, its degree of positivity is much less than the former. Inaction is a tamasik drift, which is negative.
What is the sig nature of drift in inanimate matter? Electric current in a metallic wire is driven by a power source and is a drifted motion of conduction electrons, negatively charged subatomic particles, bound in an atom but free in a metal. There's a philosophical angle: The electron which conducts in a metal does not do so in an isolated atom.
Stretching it to life one would conclude that society makes one dynamic, whereas isolation does the opposite. Thus, if society does such a good thing for us, we should work more for it, rather than only for ourselves.
Diffusion and drift sometimes oppose each other. It is not bad. Together they create a balance in life. In matter, drift and diffusion together does wonders. Solid state electronics results from this joint action. In solid state, not only particles but also atoms, which are much heavier, diffuse. Hence no barrier is strong enough to stop spontaneity.
Life is a queer mixture of drift and diffusion. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Roger Moore said: 'Teach love, generosity, good manners and some of that will drift from the classroom to the home and who knows, the children will be educating the parents."
(The writer teaches Physics and Materials Science at Berhampur University, Orissa)
Diffusion is the law of nature. It takes place when there is inequality and non-uniformity. Since our world has plenty of the above traits, diffusion is bound to happen. However, it is not free from obstructions; it has to overcome barriers that oppose diffusion. Consider the diffusion of knowledge. Knowledge developed at one place must diffuse to places devoid of it. This helps its spread and contributes to its growth. Similarly, wealth created at one place must also diffuse to places where it is absent. In the process, equilibrium is maintained, which contributes to stability of the system.
Society that jealously guards its wealth and knowledge, without making these available to others is bound to disintegrate. Strong isolated places of affluence do not serve the interest of humankind. Diffusion is a spontaneous process.
In the Bhagavad Gita, the cosmic form visualised by Arjuna of the Supreme Being seems infinite. It is the diffusion of an infinite energy. It is undiminished everywhere and all the time, hence is omnipresent and omnipotent because of its infinite power. Before assuming Vishwarupa, Krishna says: "All of the universes are pervaded by me in imperceptibly subtle manifestation." Thus, in the realm of spirituality, one could interpret the omnipresence of the Supreme Energy as being due to diffusion.
In real life, however, we experience limited diffusion. The spread of a flower's fragrance in the air and the dissolution of ink in water are examples of diffusion in gaseous and liquid states of matter. Diffusion takes place in gases and liquids due to their flexible nature. Diffusion does take place even in a solid matter, in spite of its rigidity. Diffusion takes place in the material world irrespective of its nature; however, the degree varies.
Unlike diffusion, drift is a driven process. There are both positive and negative drifts. If a person is swayed away by bad company or habits, it is a negative drift. If influenced by something good, it is a positive drift. It does well to both the doer and its recipient.
Good action done without attachment to results in sattvik drift. Drift resulted from a fruitful action may be termed as rajasik drift. However, its degree of positivity is much less than the former. Inaction is a tamasik drift, which is negative.
What is the sig nature of drift in inanimate matter? Electric current in a metallic wire is driven by a power source and is a drifted motion of conduction electrons, negatively charged subatomic particles, bound in an atom but free in a metal. There's a philosophical angle: The electron which conducts in a metal does not do so in an isolated atom.
Stretching it to life one would conclude that society makes one dynamic, whereas isolation does the opposite. Thus, if society does such a good thing for us, we should work more for it, rather than only for ourselves.
Diffusion and drift sometimes oppose each other. It is not bad. Together they create a balance in life. In matter, drift and diffusion together does wonders. Solid state electronics results from this joint action. In solid state, not only particles but also atoms, which are much heavier, diffuse. Hence no barrier is strong enough to stop spontaneity.
Life is a queer mixture of drift and diffusion. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Roger Moore said: 'Teach love, generosity, good manners and some of that will drift from the classroom to the home and who knows, the children will be educating the parents."
(The writer teaches Physics and Materials Science at Berhampur University, Orissa)
Trust is your third eye
Osho, Sep 21, 2010, 12.00am IST
Trust is an inner eye. Just as the two outer eyes are for seeing the universe, there is a third eye inside of you whose name is trust. With this eye of trust the divine is seen. The eye of trust means the eye of love. There are some things which only love can know. There is no other way to know them.
If you love someone you will see certain things in the person that no one else will see. You will see in that person a sweetness that no one else can see. That sweetness is delicate and the touch of love is needed for it, only then is it revealed. You will hear the echo of a song in that person that no one else will hear. To hear it one has to come closer than anyone else has come. Only you are that close.
This is why beauty begins to manifest in the person whom you love. People think that you fall in love with someone who seems beautiful to you. They are wrong. The one you fall in love with begins to be beautiful – all of life's grandeur, all of its dignity is revealed in the person. And it is not that you are imagining it. As soon as the eye of love opens the invisible begins to be visible to you, the unperceivable begins to be perceivable. The presence of what is hidden begins to be experienced. Without any door opening, someone enters into you.
"Finding upon waking the doors yet bolted,
Who knows by which door he enters and leaves."
This is a very lovely couplet from Bihari. The beloved is sleeping with all the doors and windows of the room bolted, yet in her dreams her lover visits her. Later she wakes up and sees that the doors are still closed with the bolts in place, just as they were. Who knows how he enters and by which route he leaves?
"Which way do you enter, which way do you depart? From which window do you peep?" This window is called trust.
Someone living in logic will never know anything deeper than the material; his life will be meaningless. He may well collect money, but all his wealth will be left lying there when he dies and he will have missed meditation. And it is only meditation that will accompany you in death. Such a person will not attain the ultimate wealth. Only the one who has the eye of trust within attains the ultimate wealth.
Trust is the culmination of love. Trust is the faith that what has not already happened so far will happen. Trust also arises from what has already happened: there is such beauty in this universe, there is such light, such music...the throat of each bird is filled with song.... There is beauty in each leaf, light in each star; this universe is so full of magnificence, there must be some energy or other behind it.
Trust means trusting that there must be some energy creating all this colour. Trust means trusting that where so much beauty is being showered, the source of such beauty must also exist.
Trust means accepting the existence of the source from which you receive these subtle, delicate indications.
Excerpt from Die O Yogi Die .
Courtesy: Osho International Foundation, www.osho.com
Trust is an inner eye. Just as the two outer eyes are for seeing the universe, there is a third eye inside of you whose name is trust. With this eye of trust the divine is seen. The eye of trust means the eye of love. There are some things which only love can know. There is no other way to know them.
If you love someone you will see certain things in the person that no one else will see. You will see in that person a sweetness that no one else can see. That sweetness is delicate and the touch of love is needed for it, only then is it revealed. You will hear the echo of a song in that person that no one else will hear. To hear it one has to come closer than anyone else has come. Only you are that close.
This is why beauty begins to manifest in the person whom you love. People think that you fall in love with someone who seems beautiful to you. They are wrong. The one you fall in love with begins to be beautiful – all of life's grandeur, all of its dignity is revealed in the person. And it is not that you are imagining it. As soon as the eye of love opens the invisible begins to be visible to you, the unperceivable begins to be perceivable. The presence of what is hidden begins to be experienced. Without any door opening, someone enters into you.
"Finding upon waking the doors yet bolted,
Who knows by which door he enters and leaves."
This is a very lovely couplet from Bihari. The beloved is sleeping with all the doors and windows of the room bolted, yet in her dreams her lover visits her. Later she wakes up and sees that the doors are still closed with the bolts in place, just as they were. Who knows how he enters and by which route he leaves?
"Which way do you enter, which way do you depart? From which window do you peep?" This window is called trust.
Someone living in logic will never know anything deeper than the material; his life will be meaningless. He may well collect money, but all his wealth will be left lying there when he dies and he will have missed meditation. And it is only meditation that will accompany you in death. Such a person will not attain the ultimate wealth. Only the one who has the eye of trust within attains the ultimate wealth.
Trust is the culmination of love. Trust is the faith that what has not already happened so far will happen. Trust also arises from what has already happened: there is such beauty in this universe, there is such light, such music...the throat of each bird is filled with song.... There is beauty in each leaf, light in each star; this universe is so full of magnificence, there must be some energy or other behind it.
Trust means trusting that there must be some energy creating all this colour. Trust means trusting that where so much beauty is being showered, the source of such beauty must also exist.
Trust means accepting the existence of the source from which you receive these subtle, delicate indications.
Excerpt from Die O Yogi Die .
Courtesy: Osho International Foundation, www.osho.com
Cleverness and wisdom
MARGUERITE THEOPHIL, Sep 16, 2010, 12.00am IST
Zomo the rabbit, though not big or strong, was known to be very clever. Zomo decided it was time he was known for wisdom too, so he approached Sky God.
Sky God told him he would have to earn it by bringing him the scales of the Big Fish Of The Sea; the milk of the Fearsome Wild Bull-Cow; and the tooth of the Mighty Leopard.
Zomo confidently agreed. He began playing his drum so loud at the shore, that the drumbeats went down to the bottom of the sea. Big Fish, dancing to the irresistible rhythm, flipped right out of the water. Zomo drummed faster and faster; Big Fish danced faster and faster, so fast that its jingling scales fell right off. Embarrassed, it jumped back into the sea. Zomo grabbed the scales and ran.
Back in the forest, Zomo climbed a palm tree till Wild Bull-Cow showed up. He goaded Bull-Cow, telling it that it wasn't really big and strong, daring it to knock down the little palm tree. Enraged, it charged. However the palm tree was soft and its horns stuck in it, so Zomo slid down, turned his drum upside down filling it with milk before it got free.
Zomo then ran to the top of the hill where Mighty Leopard lived, sprinkled some fish scales and a few drops of milk on the path, and hid. Leopard came striding down and slipped, rolling down the hill, hitting a rock. Its tooth immediately popped out. Zomo caught it and hopped away to Sky God.
Sky God smiled. "You are clever enough," he said. "But not wise ... three things in this world are worth having: courage, good sense, and deep understanding of things and creatures," said Sky God. "Little rabbit, you have lots of courage, a bit of sense, but absolutely no understanding. So next time you see Fish, Cow or Leopard ... better run fast!"
Like Zomo, we imagine that cleverness can easily bring us to wisdom, or that they are sister states of being. Actually they are more like distant relatives.
Cleverness is satisfied with short-term gains; wisdom acts from a wider perspective. Wisdom is founded on confidence rather than arrogance; learning from experience, yet forever open to the power of new possibilities.
Most of us are good at being clever, and are encouraged to be so, appreciated for being so. Being clever has made us more powerful. We are technologically advanced. We can build organisations, cities, countries. We can also destroy them.
How does it make sense to say, "He is a wise man but he does foolish things."
Wisdom is not just thinking intelligently, but living intelligently. More than just being effective in daily life, it means we choose our values and basic priorities well and we live by them. It means we can fail, but learn from mistakes. It means we take responsibility for the intended as well as unintended consequences of our actions.
When cleverness does serve wisdom, knowledge, information and experience can be distilled in a meaningful way. Often cleverness, recognised in showy brilliance, involves resourceful manipulation of elements; wisdom deals with accepting reality, putting things in perspective, and acting accordingly. While cleverness is often context-dependent and compartmentalised, wisdom is timeless, free of any particular context. Cleverness mostly is purposive -- a means to something else, and is often for a narrower gain; wisdom, recognising the interrelatedness of everything, is always for the good of all.
Sky God told him he would have to earn it by bringing him the scales of the Big Fish Of The Sea; the milk of the Fearsome Wild Bull-Cow; and the tooth of the Mighty Leopard.
Zomo confidently agreed. He began playing his drum so loud at the shore, that the drumbeats went down to the bottom of the sea. Big Fish, dancing to the irresistible rhythm, flipped right out of the water. Zomo drummed faster and faster; Big Fish danced faster and faster, so fast that its jingling scales fell right off. Embarrassed, it jumped back into the sea. Zomo grabbed the scales and ran.
Back in the forest, Zomo climbed a palm tree till Wild Bull-Cow showed up. He goaded Bull-Cow, telling it that it wasn't really big and strong, daring it to knock down the little palm tree. Enraged, it charged. However the palm tree was soft and its horns stuck in it, so Zomo slid down, turned his drum upside down filling it with milk before it got free.
Zomo then ran to the top of the hill where Mighty Leopard lived, sprinkled some fish scales and a few drops of milk on the path, and hid. Leopard came striding down and slipped, rolling down the hill, hitting a rock. Its tooth immediately popped out. Zomo caught it and hopped away to Sky God.
Sky God smiled. "You are clever enough," he said. "But not wise ... three things in this world are worth having: courage, good sense, and deep understanding of things and creatures," said Sky God. "Little rabbit, you have lots of courage, a bit of sense, but absolutely no understanding. So next time you see Fish, Cow or Leopard ... better run fast!"
Like Zomo, we imagine that cleverness can easily bring us to wisdom, or that they are sister states of being. Actually they are more like distant relatives.
Cleverness is satisfied with short-term gains; wisdom acts from a wider perspective. Wisdom is founded on confidence rather than arrogance; learning from experience, yet forever open to the power of new possibilities.
Most of us are good at being clever, and are encouraged to be so, appreciated for being so. Being clever has made us more powerful. We are technologically advanced. We can build organisations, cities, countries. We can also destroy them.
How does it make sense to say, "He is a wise man but he does foolish things."
Wisdom is not just thinking intelligently, but living intelligently. More than just being effective in daily life, it means we choose our values and basic priorities well and we live by them. It means we can fail, but learn from mistakes. It means we take responsibility for the intended as well as unintended consequences of our actions.
When cleverness does serve wisdom, knowledge, information and experience can be distilled in a meaningful way. Often cleverness, recognised in showy brilliance, involves resourceful manipulation of elements; wisdom deals with accepting reality, putting things in perspective, and acting accordingly. While cleverness is often context-dependent and compartmentalised, wisdom is timeless, free of any particular context. Cleverness mostly is purposive -- a means to something else, and is often for a narrower gain; wisdom, recognising the interrelatedness of everything, is always for the good of all.
Three ways to adore Him
Shri Shri Anandamurti, Sep 16, 2010, 12.00am IST
krishna was adored in three different ways: vatsalya bhava, madhura bhava and sakhya bhava. Nanda and Yashoda, Krishna's foster parents, adored Him in vatsalya bhava, whose spirit is: "How lovely the child is; how pleasingly he speaks, how charming is his smile, how sweet is his mouthing of 'Pa-Pa-Pa Ma-Ma-Ma'. I shall bathe, dress and feed him; make him laugh, caress him, placing him on my lap." Such devotees are busy exclusively with Krishna. Nanda and Yashoda were the first to find the cosmic reflected in Baby Krishna. This is vatsalya bhava. Krishna's biological father Vasudeva and mother Devaki were separated from him after he was born and were therefore deprived of vatsalya bhava. Krishna only returned to them when he was grown up and mature.
Radha attained Krishna through madhura bhava. In Krishna she found everything that was charming and sweet in life. The spirit of madhura bhava is this: "I will make my entire existence, whether physical, mental, social or spiritual one-pointed to derive bliss from Krishna." Usually 99 percent of all devotees maintain Radha bhava due to its sweetness. Never before had anyone attained the Supreme Power in madhura bhava: They attained Him so for the first time in Vraja Krishna. As Vraja Krishna the Lord increased the degree of sweetness by playing His flute. People might say, "I will never look at Him again" – but then the flute's melody would reach their ears their ears and they would say, "How could I not look at him?" Or they might say, "I will never even think of Him again, but will remain content to look after my little worldly family" – but then the notes would call to them: "Why didn't you come today? Are you not coming? I'm waiting for You." This is madhura bhava.
Parama Purusha first appeared as the personification of charm and sweetness, to be attained through madhura bhava, in Vraja Krishna. Krishna is "like the dark patches of cloud which appear as harbingers of hope in the northeastern sky after the scorching heat of summer. He brings hope; Krishna means hope – hope of protection, of deliverance. The very sight of Him brings peace to the mind, delight to the eyes, and joy to the heart. Some chew betel or use other things to colour the lips and mouth, but my Krishna needs nothing except His sweet, enchanting smile."
Krishna is one, but adored in different ways. Radha adored Him in madhura bhava. Yashoda and Nanda worshipped Him in vatsalya bhava, and the cowherds – who had neither schooling nor learning, but who had sincerity and a loving heart – adored Him in sakhya bhava, as a friend. The gods also received Him in sakhya bhava as their friend. Initially the gods accepted Him as their close friend, but later said, "You are our friend, no doubt, but You are much more. You are more radiant than all the world's pearls and jewels put together, You are the helmsman in the ocean of bhava, the expressed universe. You have all the qualities to cross this ocean of bhava. You do not need liberation in this world nor in the next world. I take refuge in You without any fear or reservation, for You are everything."
When I am in trouble, when there is not the faintest trace of a single ray of hope, You appear to allay my doubts and fears, only You can grant liberation to those who seek nothing else but to be freed from worldly bondages after carrying out their worldly duties.
Excerpt from Namami Krishnasundram
Krishna: Love unparalleled
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sep 16, 2010, 12.00am IST
Krishna's wisdom, humility and love are unparalleled. You see from any angle, there is a totality, a uniqueness, in Krishna's personality. This indicates that your innermost has these qualities just like a ray of sun which has all colours.
Once Queen Kunti, mother of the Pandavas, told Krishna, "I wish I had more troubles. You were always with me when I had troubles. Nothing can equal the joy of your company. I can trade all the pleasures of the world for a moment of your Presence."
Krishna gave her more knowledge of the Being: "I am in you as you. There is not a place in this world where I am not. People think of me as a physical body and they do not really know my nature. Body is made up of these eight aspects: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and ego. I am the ninth -- beyond all this. I am all-pervading. Though I am in the body, I am not the body. Though I am working through the mind, I am not the mind. I am much more than what you perceive. I am present in your heart as you and anytime you need me, I am there. You can always count on me".
Saints fell in love with Krishna. The dispassionate would be drawn to him. Krishna means that which is attractive. The very core of your Being is such, the bliss and joy of the Self is like that. It just draws everything. The symbolism in Krishna's birth is beautiful. Devaki as the body and Vasudev as prana or breath came together to bring forth Krishna.
Krishna is always depicted as the Blue God. It means that the body is so transparent, almost as if it was not there. Whatever is infinity is represented by blue. The sky is blue, and so is the ocean. Krishna says in the Gita: "People do not know my true nature. Nobody knows." In all his life only three people knew his true form -- Yashoda, Arjuna and his childhood friend Uddhava. Krishna says: "People think of me as a physical embodiment, as a body. I am not the body; I am the Consciousness which is present in everything, everywhere... I am the sweetness in sugar, the light in the moon, the heat in the sun". He expresses himself as 'all-permeating'.
Krishna always stands with one foot firmly on the ground, the other foot crossed over, as though it is touching, but not really touching. It is elsewhere. That is called the 'tribhangy' pose, implying perfect balance.
Krishna was makhan chor, stealer of butter. Butter is from milk. Milk is fermented to get curd and the curd is churned to get butter. Life is a process of churning. Your mind is being churned by so many things, events, happenings, and instances.
Finally what comes up is butter which is the saintliness in you. And Krishna steals the butter, the saintliness. It means he loves this mind which is like butter, which is not hard. This means infinity is coming towards you, loves you so much that it steals you at any cost. He seeks you out, wherever you are.
Janmashtami is the day when you enliven the virat swaroop – the cosmic vision -- of Krishna in your own consciousness, once again. Letting your true nature manifest in your day-to-day life is the real secret of Krishna's birth.
Krishna's wisdom, humility and love are unparalleled. You see from any angle, there is a totality, a uniqueness, in Krishna's personality. This indicates that your innermost has these qualities just like a ray of sun which has all colours. Once Queen Kunti, mother of the Pandavas, told Krishna, "I wish I had more troubles. You were always with me when I had troubles. Nothing can equal the joy of your company. I can trade all the pleasures of the world for a moment of your Presence."
Krishna gave her more knowledge of the Being: "I am in you as you. There is not a place in this world where I am not. People think of me as a physical body and they do not really know my nature. Body is made up of these eight aspects: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and ego. I am the ninth -- beyond all this. I am all-pervading. Though I am in the body, I am not the body. Though I am working through the mind, I am not the mind. I am much more than what you perceive. I am present in your heart as you and anytime you need me, I am there. You can always count on me".
Saints fell in love with Krishna. The dispassionate would be drawn to him. Krishna means that which is attractive. The very core of your Being is such, the bliss and joy of the Self is like that. It just draws everything. The symbolism in Krishna's birth is beautiful. Devaki as the body and Vasudev as prana or breath came together to bring forth Krishna.
Krishna is always depicted as the Blue God. It means that the body is so transparent, almost as if it was not there. Whatever is infinity is represented by blue. The sky is blue, and so is the ocean. Krishna says in the Gita: "People do not know my true nature. Nobody knows." In all his life only three people knew his true form -- Yashoda, Arjuna and his childhood friend Uddhava. Krishna says: "People think of me as a physical embodiment, as a body. I am not the body; I am the Consciousness which is present in everything, everywhere... I am the sweetness in sugar, the light in the moon, the heat in the sun". He expresses himself as 'all-permeating'.
Krishna always stands with one foot firmly on the ground, the other foot crossed over, as though it is touching, but not really touching. It is elsewhere. That is called the 'tribhangy' pose, implying perfect balance.
Krishna was makhan chor, stealer of butter. Butter is from milk. Milk is fermented to get curd and the curd is churned to get butter. Life is a process of churning. Your mind is being churned by so many things, events, happenings, and instances.
Finally what comes up is butter which is the saintliness in you. And Krishna steals the butter, the saintliness. It means he loves this mind which is like butter, which is not hard. This means infinity is coming towards you, loves you so much that it steals you at any cost. He seeks you out, wherever you are.
Janmashtami is the day when you enliven the virat swaroop – the cosmic vision -- of Krishna in your own consciousness, once again. Letting your true nature manifest in your day-to-day life is the real secret of Krishna's birth.
Unfolding of a raga
Bindu Chawla, Sep 15, 2010, 12.00am IST
The unfolding of the raga's swaras or notes has often been referred to as the unfolding of the 'note' petals of a mystic flower. Which was in fact the layout of musical notes during the days of the Sama Veda.
When the Sama Veda was first composed, it was not sung, but chanted, in what are now the first three notes of the scale: Sa, Re and Ga. According to the Naradiya Shiksha, at some point, to these three notes were then added a fourth, fifth, sixth, and then a seventh note, to get a complete scale, the three note-petals on either side of the 'Sa' or mystic kernel of the flower. By which the note-scheme now consisted of Ma, Ga, Re, Sa, Ni, Dha, Pa—set clock-wise, or in the descending order. It was a truly meditative approach.
No matter how blissful the music then sounded, it was not felt to be very audible, as it could not be heard beyond a point. As more and more people began to come and listen, musicians looked for ways and means to make the music louder. So one day certain higher-pitched notes were conceived to expand Sa's range further to become more audible. This was done by simply repeating the three notes Re, Ga, Ma, in higher pitches in the same middle register, and giving them names of those of the lower register—Pa, Dha, and Ni.
The new string of notes came to be called the saptak or the new seven-note scale, which could be heard loud and clear. However, the scale was so mesmerising due to its higher pitch that the notes in the lower register came to be neglected. It was thought that the middle register was the real scale, instead of that which was earlier part of the natural swara-circumference of Sa, which had been the same on either side of the note. Instead of being the gateway to meditation, the Sa became a note only, and the scale came to be treated in linear fashion, instead of what is actually was—a clock-wise, cyclic expansion of the Sa.
With the 20th century came the microphone that helped musicians project their music naturally rather than by compulsions of having to `shout' the notes to have them heard. There was a return —another shift in emphasis -- to the natural dictates of the scale of ancient times, a scale that emanated from Sa rather than beginning from Sa.
Ustad Amir Khan would say that the microphone was the most liberating piece of 'musicology' ever invented. Pandit Amarnath declared at a concert in New York, "You need to learn only half the Hindustani raga" -- the rest (the second half of the saptak or seven notes) was a repetition. Like the 'loading' sign on the computer before it opens a track to be seen and heard, the Sa was now meditated upon much more than the saptak had ever allowed for earlier. It had returned to its ancient roots. The raga was once again being unfolded petal by petal, swara by swara, to reveal the honey-centre of its mystic flower—which was more in the nature of meditation than singing the saptak, which tended towards linear phraseologies. This was now like Issac Newton's psycho-physical colour circle, with its centre of gravity the colour white, and its range of seven colours on all sides, that paralleled the seven notes of the scale.
Underlining the new approach, Pandit Amarnath wrote in a composition for the raga Vibhas: 'Bhavana tapas gulab si/ Ur kantak bhar /Jagat lubhavana,/Kar sadhana, bhar yatana'. "O musician in sadhana, be the spirit of the mendicant rose, who with thorns under its throat, brings joy to the world with his bloom."
The unfolding of the raga's swaras or notes has often been referred to as the unfolding of the 'note' petals of a mystic flower. Which was in fact the layout of musical notes during the days of the Sama Veda. When the Sama Veda was first composed, it was not sung, but chanted, in what are now the first three notes of the scale: Sa, Re and Ga. According to the Naradiya Shiksha, at some point, to these three notes were then added a fourth, fifth, sixth, and then a seventh note, to get a complete scale, the three note-petals on either side of the 'Sa' or mystic kernel of the flower. By which the note-scheme now consisted of Ma, Ga, Re, Sa, Ni, Dha, Pa—set clock-wise, or in the descending order. It was a truly meditative approach.
No matter how blissful the music then sounded, it was not felt to be very audible, as it could not be heard beyond a point. As more and more people began to come and listen, musicians looked for ways and means to make the music louder. So one day certain higher-pitched notes were conceived to expand Sa's range further to become more audible. This was done by simply repeating the three notes Re, Ga, Ma, in higher pitches in the same middle register, and giving them names of those of the lower register—Pa, Dha, and Ni.
The new string of notes came to be called the saptak or the new seven-note scale, which could be heard loud and clear. However, the scale was so mesmerising due to its higher pitch that the notes in the lower register came to be neglected. It was thought that the middle register was the real scale, instead of that which was earlier part of the natural swara-circumference of Sa, which had been the same on either side of the note. Instead of being the gateway to meditation, the Sa became a note only, and the scale came to be treated in linear fashion, instead of what is actually was—a clock-wise, cyclic expansion of the Sa.
With the 20th century came the microphone that helped musicians project their music naturally rather than by compulsions of having to `shout' the notes to have them heard. There was a return —another shift in emphasis -- to the natural dictates of the scale of ancient times, a scale that emanated from Sa rather than beginning from Sa.
Ustad Amir Khan would say that the microphone was the most liberating piece of 'musicology' ever invented. Pandit Amarnath declared at a concert in New York, "You need to learn only half the Hindustani raga" -- the rest (the second half of the saptak or seven notes) was a repetition. Like the 'loading' sign on the computer before it opens a track to be seen and heard, the Sa was now meditated upon much more than the saptak had ever allowed for earlier. It had returned to its ancient roots. The raga was once again being unfolded petal by petal, swara by swara, to reveal the honey-centre of its mystic flower—which was more in the nature of meditation than singing the saptak, which tended towards linear phraseologies. This was now like Issac Newton's psycho-physical colour circle, with its centre of gravity the colour white, and its range of seven colours on all sides, that paralleled the seven notes of the scale.
Underlining the new approach, Pandit Amarnath wrote in a composition for the raga Vibhas: 'Bhavana tapas gulab si/ Ur kantak bhar /Jagat lubhavana,/Kar sadhana, bhar yatana'. "O musician in sadhana, be the spirit of the mendicant rose, who with thorns under its throat, brings joy to the world with his bloom."
Sky nature of mind
GIRISH DESHPANDE, Sep 26, 2010, 12.00am IST
In every sentient being the buddha mind is omnipresent. We don't have to go looking for it. We don't have to strive to perfect it. It has been with us since birth and it is always perfect! Just as the sky. This is the nature of our mind. Who would want to strive to perfect a cloudless sky?
All of us want to be happy at all times. So why do our actions of body, speech and mind work often in contradiction to what we really want, bringing suffering in its wake? The reason is simple; it's because we allow them to. We could correct this; we can attempt to clear the clouds that obscure the beautiful sky.
What is holding us back from exploring the brilliance of the sky? The four faults, as enumerated below:
Too close: Have you ever tried to see your face without something that could reflect it? Not possible. Similarly, the nature of the mind is so close to our mind that it finds it difficult to see it.
Too profound: How often have you waded into unknown waters? You take a few steps and the fear of the unknown stops you. Similarly, we have no idea how deep the nature of mind would be. We cannot fathom its depth. So we don't make an attempt.
Too easy: It is often that we have not attempted something simply because it was too easy. So it is with the nature of mind. Something that has always been with us, always perfect, gets a priority that is low amongst other worldly distractions & attractions.
Too wondrous: How many times have we left something untried because we see it as an immense task? We just don't believe that we can actually attain enlightenment which is the essential nature of our minds.
The Tibetan word for 'Buddhist' is nangpa, which means `insider', that is, alluding to the fact that one has to learn of living and dying not from external sources but from knowing the nature of mind. However, people fear to look within themselves, not knowing what they will find. Whether they will be able to face what they will find. They are afraid that they will be treated like social outcasts amongst friends, left alone to live life in solitude. And this conceptualised, misplaced approach plays perfectly into the ploy of the wily ego that could have asked for nothing more than this.
The answers you genuinely seek will come to you only from within, from the nature of your mind and not the nurtured mind. Even if you get the most accomplished teacher, his only responsibility will be to guide you through unknown pathways with the help of teachings and practices, cutting through obscuration of a contrived mind and make you discover the true nature of your mind. And in doing so, help you dispel the fears of sickness, old age and death and understand better the prospect of life, death and afterlife.
It needs endeavour. Let the winds of awakening blow away the clouds from the sky nature of your mind. Introduce yourself to the perfect sky that is your very own and has always been with you. This is the only happy way out from here! Buddha hood to you!
(The writer is a Pune-based dharma practitioner.)
In every sentient being the buddha mind is omnipresent. We don't have to go looking for it. We don't have to strive to perfect it. It has been with us since birth and it is always perfect! Just as the sky. This is the nature of our mind. Who would want to strive to perfect a cloudless sky?
All of us want to be happy at all times. So why do our actions of body, speech and mind work often in contradiction to what we really want, bringing suffering in its wake? The reason is simple; it's because we allow them to. We could correct this; we can attempt to clear the clouds that obscure the beautiful sky.
What is holding us back from exploring the brilliance of the sky? The four faults, as enumerated below:
Too close: Have you ever tried to see your face without something that could reflect it? Not possible. Similarly, the nature of the mind is so close to our mind that it finds it difficult to see it.
Too profound: How often have you waded into unknown waters? You take a few steps and the fear of the unknown stops you. Similarly, we have no idea how deep the nature of mind would be. We cannot fathom its depth. So we don't make an attempt.
Too easy: It is often that we have not attempted something simply because it was too easy. So it is with the nature of mind. Something that has always been with us, always perfect, gets a priority that is low amongst other worldly distractions & attractions.
Too wondrous: How many times have we left something untried because we see it as an immense task? We just don't believe that we can actually attain enlightenment which is the essential nature of our minds.
The Tibetan word for 'Buddhist' is nangpa, which means `insider', that is, alluding to the fact that one has to learn of living and dying not from external sources but from knowing the nature of mind. However, people fear to look within themselves, not knowing what they will find. Whether they will be able to face what they will find. They are afraid that they will be treated like social outcasts amongst friends, left alone to live life in solitude. And this conceptualised, misplaced approach plays perfectly into the ploy of the wily ego that could have asked for nothing more than this.
The answers you genuinely seek will come to you only from within, from the nature of your mind and not the nurtured mind. Even if you get the most accomplished teacher, his only responsibility will be to guide you through unknown pathways with the help of teachings and practices, cutting through obscuration of a contrived mind and make you discover the true nature of your mind. And in doing so, help you dispel the fears of sickness, old age and death and understand better the prospect of life, death and afterlife.
It needs endeavour. Let the winds of awakening blow away the clouds from the sky nature of your mind. Introduce yourself to the perfect sky that is your very own and has always been with you. This is the only happy way out from here! Buddha hood to you!
(The writer is a Pune-based dharma practitioner.)
Prayer for common benefit
Prayer is like breathing. Without breathing, we cannot live ... Prayer is communion with God; we become more like God, more loving, wise, powerful, kind and good. We are cleansed of the accumulated impurities ...
Prayer is not only asking God for things ... the relationship is valuable in it self, as in all true love. Does not God know what we need, even before we ask him? Why does He want us to ask? God wants that our will should not incline towards negative desires, but desire the good with deep yearning. God said: 'Let there be light', and there was light ...What God willed became reality. We must also acquire the capacity to will the good, and it will happen as we desire. When we are delivered from selfishness, pride, and negative desires, our prayers will become more like the creative Word of God. By prayer we do change reality ... But this power is not available to us until we become more godlike. That is why the prayers of saints are more effective than our own.
In unselfish prayer, the first focus is God – His name, His kingdom, His will. The second focus is other people. Only in the third place should we ask things for ourselves.
Prayer can achieve 'miracles' of healing and transformation that cannot be explained by medical science. Prayer is also subject to certain laws. In prayer, we are never alone. In group prayer, we commemorate all those who are members of the Body of Christ. This is why we commemorate the prophets, apostles, the blessed Virgin Mary, martyrs, saints, great teachers and all the faithful, departed and living.
Prayer has to be learned. It is like swimming. When you are first thrown into the water, you may sink. By repeated practice, one acquires the skills of remaining afloat. Some people are more skillful swimmers because they have learned the rules and acquired the skills by constant practice.
The first rule in prayer as in swimming is not to give up just because you do not succeed in the first three or four attempts. Prayer is a spiritual skill to be acquired by constant practice. The second rule, is to 'let go', to let the water support you, to not be anxious, but relaxed. Relax, trust in God to support you and teach you how to pray. The third rule is to keep up the practice, even if you do not enjoy it. It will take years before you get the habit of prayer and really begin to enjoy it.
The fourth rule is to develop the discipline of prayer through fasting and self-control. Fifthly, use your whole body in the service of prayer. The body can participate in prayer through posture, speech, and acts. Sixth, keep the balance between group prayer and personal prayer. It is important for us to come in the presence of God regularly as a community to get rid of our selfishness and pride, and grow. Seventhly, prayer needs to be nourished by reading scriptures and meditating every day. Systematic reading of the scriptures will be found helpful as life advances.
Prayer can never be isolated from continuous, active compassionate love for your fellowmen.
(The writer (1922–96) was the first metropolitan of the Delhi Orthodox Diocese. A Biblical scholar and promoter of unity among Orthodox churches, he was also president of the World Council of Churches. Dr Karan Singh will receive the Paulos Mar Gregorios award today.)
Prayer is not only asking God for things ... the relationship is valuable in it self, as in all true love. Does not God know what we need, even before we ask him? Why does He want us to ask? God wants that our will should not incline towards negative desires, but desire the good with deep yearning. God said: 'Let there be light', and there was light ...What God willed became reality. We must also acquire the capacity to will the good, and it will happen as we desire. When we are delivered from selfishness, pride, and negative desires, our prayers will become more like the creative Word of God. By prayer we do change reality ... But this power is not available to us until we become more godlike. That is why the prayers of saints are more effective than our own.
In unselfish prayer, the first focus is God – His name, His kingdom, His will. The second focus is other people. Only in the third place should we ask things for ourselves.
Prayer can achieve 'miracles' of healing and transformation that cannot be explained by medical science. Prayer is also subject to certain laws. In prayer, we are never alone. In group prayer, we commemorate all those who are members of the Body of Christ. This is why we commemorate the prophets, apostles, the blessed Virgin Mary, martyrs, saints, great teachers and all the faithful, departed and living.
Prayer has to be learned. It is like swimming. When you are first thrown into the water, you may sink. By repeated practice, one acquires the skills of remaining afloat. Some people are more skillful swimmers because they have learned the rules and acquired the skills by constant practice.
The first rule in prayer as in swimming is not to give up just because you do not succeed in the first three or four attempts. Prayer is a spiritual skill to be acquired by constant practice. The second rule, is to 'let go', to let the water support you, to not be anxious, but relaxed. Relax, trust in God to support you and teach you how to pray. The third rule is to keep up the practice, even if you do not enjoy it. It will take years before you get the habit of prayer and really begin to enjoy it.
The fourth rule is to develop the discipline of prayer through fasting and self-control. Fifthly, use your whole body in the service of prayer. The body can participate in prayer through posture, speech, and acts. Sixth, keep the balance between group prayer and personal prayer. It is important for us to come in the presence of God regularly as a community to get rid of our selfishness and pride, and grow. Seventhly, prayer needs to be nourished by reading scriptures and meditating every day. Systematic reading of the scriptures will be found helpful as life advances.
Prayer can never be isolated from continuous, active compassionate love for your fellowmen.
(The writer (1922–96) was the first metropolitan of the Delhi Orthodox Diocese. A Biblical scholar and promoter of unity among Orthodox churches, he was also president of the World Council of Churches. Dr Karan Singh will receive the Paulos Mar Gregorios award today.)
So many roles to play
Among the fundamental questions we tend to ask ourselves at some point in our lives is: "Who Am I?" Ramana Maharshi asked the seeker to constantly question himself as a way of exploring deeper truths and to come to a better understanding of them.
Who are you? Jiddu Krishnamurti answered thus: "When you call yourself an Indian, a Muslim, a Christian, a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, religion, political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind."
While discussing what J Krishnamurti had to say on the subject of identities, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at a satsang held recently in Rishikesh, offered the following insight: The process of evolution is moving from somebody to nobody and from nobody to everybody, realising one's true identity, Brahmn, the all-inclusive and all-pervasive. Masters all along, even after achieving the highest, have chosen to play limited identities well. Rama was called Maryada Purushottam, Krishna was Yogeshwar, and Dwarkadheesh , and Buddha as a bhikshu meticulously followed the sanyas dharma.
An individual cares for his immediate family and as part of society shares love and affection with neighbours. For a master, the family is the whole world. An avatar, a sadhguru, skillfully fulfills individual as well as universal roles, without any conflict. Playing a limited role is in no way in conflict with the universal role. Though Krishna was a Yadava, he also was Devakinandan. Arjuna tells Krishna in Chapter XI: "He Krishna, He Yadava, He Sakha." Krishna fulfilled the role of a son, a Yadava leader, sakha to Arjuna and guru to Udhava.
A master is unattached to any identity but still presents an expression appropriate to desh, kal and patra or space, time and situation. For example, a Times of India marketing person may be reading every newspaper in the house, but while doing his job promoting his paper, he has to claim Times of India is the best. If he says every paper is the same then will he be doing justice to his job? When Arjuna wanted to let go off his kshatriya identity and live in the forest, it was Krishna who insisted that he has to keep his kshatriya identity.
Remaining universal inside and assuming identities and roles outside relevant to the situation is the skill of a gyani which each one of us has to cultivate. An incarnation or avatar is remembered by the role played. That is also how the ten incarnations of Vishnu, the Dashavatar, have been beautifully portrayed. Janak performs a limited role as a king externally but internally, nurses a thirst for the unlimited, which makes him a grand seeker before Ashtavakra. A disciple like Janak is rare indeed. A guru's job is to bring everybody to play Janak's role -- skillful in performing their duties and having a yearning for the highest knowledge. A sadhguru is totally detached, established in Advait, universal in being, at the same time his expression is based on desh, kal and patra -- place, time and situation. Universal in being, nischay, and yet effortlessly fulfilling different roles in the world (vyavhara) is the skill of a Master.
Who are you? Jiddu Krishnamurti answered thus: "When you call yourself an Indian, a Muslim, a Christian, a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, religion, political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind."
While discussing what J Krishnamurti had to say on the subject of identities, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at a satsang held recently in Rishikesh, offered the following insight: The process of evolution is moving from somebody to nobody and from nobody to everybody, realising one's true identity, Brahmn, the all-inclusive and all-pervasive. Masters all along, even after achieving the highest, have chosen to play limited identities well. Rama was called Maryada Purushottam, Krishna was Yogeshwar, and Dwarkadheesh , and Buddha as a bhikshu meticulously followed the sanyas dharma.
An individual cares for his immediate family and as part of society shares love and affection with neighbours. For a master, the family is the whole world. An avatar, a sadhguru, skillfully fulfills individual as well as universal roles, without any conflict. Playing a limited role is in no way in conflict with the universal role. Though Krishna was a Yadava, he also was Devakinandan. Arjuna tells Krishna in Chapter XI: "He Krishna, He Yadava, He Sakha." Krishna fulfilled the role of a son, a Yadava leader, sakha to Arjuna and guru to Udhava.
A master is unattached to any identity but still presents an expression appropriate to desh, kal and patra or space, time and situation. For example, a Times of India marketing person may be reading every newspaper in the house, but while doing his job promoting his paper, he has to claim Times of India is the best. If he says every paper is the same then will he be doing justice to his job? When Arjuna wanted to let go off his kshatriya identity and live in the forest, it was Krishna who insisted that he has to keep his kshatriya identity.
Remaining universal inside and assuming identities and roles outside relevant to the situation is the skill of a gyani which each one of us has to cultivate. An incarnation or avatar is remembered by the role played. That is also how the ten incarnations of Vishnu, the Dashavatar, have been beautifully portrayed. Janak performs a limited role as a king externally but internally, nurses a thirst for the unlimited, which makes him a grand seeker before Ashtavakra. A disciple like Janak is rare indeed. A guru's job is to bring everybody to play Janak's role -- skillful in performing their duties and having a yearning for the highest knowledge. A sadhguru is totally detached, established in Advait, universal in being, at the same time his expression is based on desh, kal and patra -- place, time and situation. Universal in being, nischay, and yet effortlessly fulfilling different roles in the world (vyavhara) is the skill of a Master.
Dreams and nightmares
Sreeram Manoj Kumar, Sep 11, 2010, 12.00am IST
Four basic qualities of consciousness that we experience are: jagrat or waking, swapna or dreaming, sushupti or dreamless sleep and turiya or sleepless sleep. These four stages of consciousness are governed by the four vyuha or forms of Para-Vasudeva.
Jagrat is the stage in which we are awake, when the five sense organs and mind are active, doing decisive activities. The most significant aspect of this state is the capacity of an individual to recognise a thing which had been cognised some time back, whether through vision, taste, smell, sound or feel.
According to Pancharatra Agamas, Aniruddha, the emanated form of Para-Vasudeva is among those deities responsible for this aspect and is regarded as "the uncontrollable unifier of experiences". One more faculty He governs is the ability to reconcile the five senses and mind which fall prey to likes or dislikes of events happening in the materialistic world; hence it is possible to slowly overcome bereavement of dear ones. Aniruddha, the provider of individual consciousness, is the grandson of Krishna and son of Pradyumna and Kakudmati.
Swapna is the dreaming stage in which the individual enjoys the five objects of senses while all the five sense organs are at rest and only the mind is working. Dream is the imitation of the experiences of the wakeful stage with some modifications and is created out of materials supplied from the waking stage. Mind itself is the seer and seen. Pradyumna is responsible for this aspect and is regarded as "the provider of unfulfilled desire experiences". With these experiences unfolding the individual is denied peaceful sleep, like in a house where though elders are asleep (the five senses) the naughty child, the mind, is awake and causing illusions. Some believe that the mind weavesdreams due to experiences that happen in the day and has control over it, if so is it possible to choose only sweet dreams and avoid nightmares? Pradyumna is the giver of astral consciousness. He is the son of Krishna and Rukmini and incarnation of Kama, god of love.
Sushupti is stage of deep sleep where the individual is self-oblivion unaware as the mind is also at rest along with the five senses. In this state individual is not aware of his worries or reassurances. Sankarshana is responsible for this aspect and is regarded as "the annihilator of experiences". The individual experiences deluge every night and is in union with the Self and due to ignorance there is no authenticity for the same. Sankarshana is the provider of subconsciousness and He is the elder brother of Krishna, also called Balarama.
Turiya also called chaturtha is the stage of transcendental consciousness where the individual experiences ultimate reality and truth. This state is inexperienced by the five senses and indescribable, incomprehensible by the mind which is tied to continuous cycle of births. The transcendental mind is within itself a possibility of creating anything and everything that mind conceives and the possibilities are infinite. Vasudeva is responsible for this aspect and is regarded as "the merger of individual and universal experiences". In this state the individual experiences the sleepless sleep or bliss, witnessing similarities of macrocosm and microcosm and is well aware of the union of Self and Absolute. Vasudeva is the provider of superconsciousness; He is Lord Krishna Himself.
Jagrat is the stage in which we are awake, when the five sense organs and mind are active, doing decisive activities. The most significant aspect of this state is the capacity of an individual to recognise a thing which had been cognised some time back, whether through vision, taste, smell, sound or feel.
According to Pancharatra Agamas, Aniruddha, the emanated form of Para-Vasudeva is among those deities responsible for this aspect and is regarded as "the uncontrollable unifier of experiences". One more faculty He governs is the ability to reconcile the five senses and mind which fall prey to likes or dislikes of events happening in the materialistic world; hence it is possible to slowly overcome bereavement of dear ones. Aniruddha, the provider of individual consciousness, is the grandson of Krishna and son of Pradyumna and Kakudmati.
Swapna is the dreaming stage in which the individual enjoys the five objects of senses while all the five sense organs are at rest and only the mind is working. Dream is the imitation of the experiences of the wakeful stage with some modifications and is created out of materials supplied from the waking stage. Mind itself is the seer and seen. Pradyumna is responsible for this aspect and is regarded as "the provider of unfulfilled desire experiences". With these experiences unfolding the individual is denied peaceful sleep, like in a house where though elders are asleep (the five senses) the naughty child, the mind, is awake and causing illusions. Some believe that the mind weavesdreams due to experiences that happen in the day and has control over it, if so is it possible to choose only sweet dreams and avoid nightmares? Pradyumna is the giver of astral consciousness. He is the son of Krishna and Rukmini and incarnation of Kama, god of love.
Sushupti is stage of deep sleep where the individual is self-oblivion unaware as the mind is also at rest along with the five senses. In this state individual is not aware of his worries or reassurances. Sankarshana is responsible for this aspect and is regarded as "the annihilator of experiences". The individual experiences deluge every night and is in union with the Self and due to ignorance there is no authenticity for the same. Sankarshana is the provider of subconsciousness and He is the elder brother of Krishna, also called Balarama.
Turiya also called chaturtha is the stage of transcendental consciousness where the individual experiences ultimate reality and truth. This state is inexperienced by the five senses and indescribable, incomprehensible by the mind which is tied to continuous cycle of births. The transcendental mind is within itself a possibility of creating anything and everything that mind conceives and the possibilities are infinite. Vasudeva is responsible for this aspect and is regarded as "the merger of individual and universal experiences". In this state the individual experiences the sleepless sleep or bliss, witnessing similarities of macrocosm and microcosm and is well aware of the union of Self and Absolute. Vasudeva is the provider of superconsciousness; He is Lord Krishna Himself.
Happiness is not everything
SWAMI BRAHMDEV, Sep 12, 2010, 12.00am IST
The idea of happiness is a kind of ignorance. If your understanding is healthy, then you will never give too much importance to happiness; we do so because of our ignorance. Happiness is not the idea, purpose or aim of life; happiness is a consequence, a fruit.
Happiness is a subject of the senses; it is felt by the senses, it is an idea of the senses; it is information got from the senses. The scope of the senses is limited and the senses are completely unaware of the greatness of life. So if you are thinking for happiness or working for happiness you are just following your senses, you are indulging them. You are just living with your senses.
Understand the game of the senses, and then go beyond them. Discover that portion of life, that part of life that can give us something permanent, the highest knowledge of life, the highest clarity in life.
Nobody enters the path with full clarity, so even if you are ignorant or you lack the aspiration, somehow you will get connected. For instance you have a certain understanding of life and what you want. On the basis of what you know, your highest goal is to find happiness. As you undergo experiences in the course of life, your understanding grows wider and deeper. As your understanding develops you begin to see that happiness is not everything, that there is something beyond, that happiness comes and goes. You begin to think that perhaps satisfaction and being content is more important, no matter the kind of circumstances you are faced with. You could be content if you wished to be so.
Earlier your level of understanding prompted you to say: "How can I be content when I don't have this, or I don't have that?" Now your level of understanding has changed, and with that understanding you don't miss anything, you are fully content. So it is just that in the level of our understanding something happens; if the understanding is high then you will not give too much importance to happiness, or sadness. When you aspire for something higher you will give more importance to your clarity, to your higher understanding, you will live for that; you will not give importance to whether the path is long or not, you will not give importance to the path at all, you will give importance to the target, the target is higher, aspiration is higher.
When you climb a mountain with the aim of reaching the top you have clarity. You know that you have to reach the top. That clarity helps you. The path will be very difficult, and maybe you will not be happy on the way, but when you reach the top that will give you much more than happiness, it will give you contentment. If we are only looking for happiness then we will never be able to climb high, aim high, or aspire for anything that can help us to evolve further.
What we understand by happiness lies on the surface. When you live at a deeper level, you give importance to clarity of consciousness which gives you information on the purpose of your existence; it gives you purpose. Once this is clear, everything will come to you including contentment and balance.
(As told to Sudhamahi Regunathan)
The idea of happiness is a kind of ignorance. If your understanding is healthy, then you will never give too much importance to happiness; we do so because of our ignorance. Happiness is not the idea, purpose or aim of life; happiness is a consequence, a fruit. Happiness is a subject of the senses; it is felt by the senses, it is an idea of the senses; it is information got from the senses. The scope of the senses is limited and the senses are completely unaware of the greatness of life. So if you are thinking for happiness or working for happiness you are just following your senses, you are indulging them. You are just living with your senses.
Understand the game of the senses, and then go beyond them. Discover that portion of life, that part of life that can give us something permanent, the highest knowledge of life, the highest clarity in life.
Nobody enters the path with full clarity, so even if you are ignorant or you lack the aspiration, somehow you will get connected. For instance you have a certain understanding of life and what you want. On the basis of what you know, your highest goal is to find happiness. As you undergo experiences in the course of life, your understanding grows wider and deeper. As your understanding develops you begin to see that happiness is not everything, that there is something beyond, that happiness comes and goes. You begin to think that perhaps satisfaction and being content is more important, no matter the kind of circumstances you are faced with. You could be content if you wished to be so.
Earlier your level of understanding prompted you to say: "How can I be content when I don't have this, or I don't have that?" Now your level of understanding has changed, and with that understanding you don't miss anything, you are fully content. So it is just that in the level of our understanding something happens; if the understanding is high then you will not give too much importance to happiness, or sadness. When you aspire for something higher you will give more importance to your clarity, to your higher understanding, you will live for that; you will not give importance to whether the path is long or not, you will not give importance to the path at all, you will give importance to the target, the target is higher, aspiration is higher.
When you climb a mountain with the aim of reaching the top you have clarity. You know that you have to reach the top. That clarity helps you. The path will be very difficult, and maybe you will not be happy on the way, but when you reach the top that will give you much more than happiness, it will give you contentment. If we are only looking for happiness then we will never be able to climb high, aim high, or aspire for anything that can help us to evolve further.
What we understand by happiness lies on the surface. When you live at a deeper level, you give importance to clarity of consciousness which gives you information on the purpose of your existence; it gives you purpose. Once this is clear, everything will come to you including contentment and balance.
(As told to Sudhamahi Regunathan)
You are what you think
Asaram Bapu, Sep 29, 2010, 12.00am IST
Self is immutable and so is the Supreme Self. Therefore be one with the immutable.
Why do you allow yourself to be swept hither and thither like a straw? You become peace-less in the face of petty troubles – a notice from a government department, not being able to have your way, not being able to gratify your senses, a slight to your ego, a servant not saluting, not getting approval or recognition in some matter... how small you become!
As you think, so does your mind become. Therefore, please think of God.
Don't let your mind go towards any person or thing other than God. Focus.
You are told that God is in everybody and everything and that His will be done. It means the Lord abides in you. Thousand of gamblers are playing games; let them play. You think of playing with the Indweller Lord and so turn your mind inward. You shouldn't exhaust yourself capitulating to kinsmen labouring under delusion. God's will be done means accepting whatever is happening whether or not it is to your liking.
Some people, when they meditate, expect some type or depth of meditation. Don't predetermine any type of meditation nor have preconceived notions of the results it should produce. As you sit for meditation, tell Him, 'O Lord! Hail to you! Thy will be done!' This is meditation and reflection, too.
Whatever you do with your body, do it for the pleasure of Indweller Lord. Don't work for sense-gratification or for ego trip. Work with a view to propitiate the Lord. This is real service. If people seek your help or service by flattering you, be careful and examine yourself whether you are being motivated by adulation or you are rendering service for the pleasure of the Guru or the Indweller Lord. If you exercise this care, your service will become much rewarding and your nature will be sweet.
Those who work for appreciation and fame end up quarrelling and fighting with each other.
Reject your ego. Doing so is good for you. Give your acceptance by saying, 'O Lord! What you will is for the best of all! Thy will be done!' God, the Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute and Freedom Absolute, wants you to be like Him. God's will being fulfilled means God will make you God. The Supreme Brahmn wants to see you as Brahmn for you are in substance one and the same as Himself.
Instead of praying for a particular kind of weather, pray to Him, 'O Lord! Thy will be done!' Then whatever the weather may be, it will not cause any trouble to you. Just give your consent. If somebody hurls abuses at you, say in your mind, 'God! You are great! Through these cuss words, You are destroying my ego. O Lord! Thy will be done!' This in itself is a great sadhana. If you think 'Oh my god! It is very hot...' you will be tormented by hot weather. But you want to enjoy the rain -- summer heat is essential for the rains to come. Summer heat is essential also for making one strong enough to tolerate cold as cold is essential for making one strong enough to tolerate the summer heat. Insults are necessary to make one able to assimilate appreciation and fame. Death is necessary for one to assimilate life. The Lord is doing all that is necessary for you
www.ashram.org
Self is immutable and so is the Supreme Self. Therefore be one with the immutable. Why do you allow yourself to be swept hither and thither like a straw? You become peace-less in the face of petty troubles – a notice from a government department, not being able to have your way, not being able to gratify your senses, a slight to your ego, a servant not saluting, not getting approval or recognition in some matter... how small you become!
As you think, so does your mind become. Therefore, please think of God.
Don't let your mind go towards any person or thing other than God. Focus.
You are told that God is in everybody and everything and that His will be done. It means the Lord abides in you. Thousand of gamblers are playing games; let them play. You think of playing with the Indweller Lord and so turn your mind inward. You shouldn't exhaust yourself capitulating to kinsmen labouring under delusion. God's will be done means accepting whatever is happening whether or not it is to your liking.
Some people, when they meditate, expect some type or depth of meditation. Don't predetermine any type of meditation nor have preconceived notions of the results it should produce. As you sit for meditation, tell Him, 'O Lord! Hail to you! Thy will be done!' This is meditation and reflection, too.
Whatever you do with your body, do it for the pleasure of Indweller Lord. Don't work for sense-gratification or for ego trip. Work with a view to propitiate the Lord. This is real service. If people seek your help or service by flattering you, be careful and examine yourself whether you are being motivated by adulation or you are rendering service for the pleasure of the Guru or the Indweller Lord. If you exercise this care, your service will become much rewarding and your nature will be sweet.
Those who work for appreciation and fame end up quarrelling and fighting with each other.
Reject your ego. Doing so is good for you. Give your acceptance by saying, 'O Lord! What you will is for the best of all! Thy will be done!' God, the Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute and Freedom Absolute, wants you to be like Him. God's will being fulfilled means God will make you God. The Supreme Brahmn wants to see you as Brahmn for you are in substance one and the same as Himself.
Instead of praying for a particular kind of weather, pray to Him, 'O Lord! Thy will be done!' Then whatever the weather may be, it will not cause any trouble to you. Just give your consent. If somebody hurls abuses at you, say in your mind, 'God! You are great! Through these cuss words, You are destroying my ego. O Lord! Thy will be done!' This in itself is a great sadhana. If you think 'Oh my god! It is very hot...' you will be tormented by hot weather. But you want to enjoy the rain -- summer heat is essential for the rains to come. Summer heat is essential also for making one strong enough to tolerate cold as cold is essential for making one strong enough to tolerate the summer heat. Insults are necessary to make one able to assimilate appreciation and fame. Death is necessary for one to assimilate life. The Lord is doing all that is necessary for you
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Tuning in to the rhythm of life
We are not here on earth to struggle for a satisfying existence, or just exist aimlessly to the whims of our destiny. The Vedic view is that cessation of all misery is the purpose of human birth.
This can be achieved only through complete liberation of our consciousness. Good and evil, happiness and misery only exist in the mind of the observer. The conditioning of the mind is dictated by the manner in which we live. No one on earth can live a self-indulgent, indiscipline and wantonlife and hope that this lifestyle will not affect his state of mind, for it would impact all his perceptions and circumstances.
Even our subsequent departure from this world would not alleviate our distress, because the cycle of birth and death is endless. Only Self-knowledge can free us from miseries. Self-knowledge can be achieved by living right. According to the Vedas, there are four values that are to be cultivated by any individual for living right. That is, there are four main purposes to human life. They are: Moral perfection, worldly attainment, fulfilment of legitimate desires and liberation. The first three values have meaning only when they are aimed at the fourth one. Only when the major aim is liberation, can an individual remain centred while following the other three tenets, else he may tend to become arrogant, greedy, power-hungry and immoral.
We live a life of moral perfection when we live in tune with our real Self, thereby always being in tune with the rhythm of life. We discover how to function in an optimum manner, and have the full support of Providence to evolve because Nature is always inclined towards progression. This is also known as 'the righteous way to live'. All our behaviours then become constructive, life enhancing and appropriate.
When we have a harmonious relationship with the Universe, it provides for all our needs. Whatever is required to make our lives satisfying, unfolds spontaneously. We are always in the flow of harmonious relationships and supportive circumstances. But we should also cultivate the faith that whatever is showing up is for our highest good. Impatience does not have spiritual virtue. With unshakeable faith in God, we should be joyous and enthusiastic always.
When our life-enhancing, legitimate desires are fulfilled, life is fulfilling, enjoyable and we can devote ourselves to higher learning and practice. As spiritual beings we have this ability to have our desires fulfilled by gentle intention. We do not have to apply great effort or struggle to have them fulfilled. As our awareness increases we are naturally in a state of fulfilment. We only need to acknowledge our desires and have complete faith that they will be soon fulfilled.
As spiritual beings we cannot be satisfied only living a life of contentment, worldly attainment and having our desires fulfilled. Without spiritual unfolding of our consciousness, we would always remain disgruntled and despite the fulfillment of the first three ideals, we would still be prone to getting waylaid. The first three practices make our lives satisfying so we can devote ourselves to the fourth and most important ideal. All four resolutions are interrelated and work in conjunction. We can demonstrate commitment to spiritual practice by making it the focal point of our lives. All actions and thoughts should be conducted from that platform. As we keep progressing on our path with full dedication, we are forever assured of God's grace.
This can be achieved only through complete liberation of our consciousness. Good and evil, happiness and misery only exist in the mind of the observer. The conditioning of the mind is dictated by the manner in which we live. No one on earth can live a self-indulgent, indiscipline and wantonlife and hope that this lifestyle will not affect his state of mind, for it would impact all his perceptions and circumstances.
Even our subsequent departure from this world would not alleviate our distress, because the cycle of birth and death is endless. Only Self-knowledge can free us from miseries. Self-knowledge can be achieved by living right. According to the Vedas, there are four values that are to be cultivated by any individual for living right. That is, there are four main purposes to human life. They are: Moral perfection, worldly attainment, fulfilment of legitimate desires and liberation. The first three values have meaning only when they are aimed at the fourth one. Only when the major aim is liberation, can an individual remain centred while following the other three tenets, else he may tend to become arrogant, greedy, power-hungry and immoral.
We live a life of moral perfection when we live in tune with our real Self, thereby always being in tune with the rhythm of life. We discover how to function in an optimum manner, and have the full support of Providence to evolve because Nature is always inclined towards progression. This is also known as 'the righteous way to live'. All our behaviours then become constructive, life enhancing and appropriate.
When we have a harmonious relationship with the Universe, it provides for all our needs. Whatever is required to make our lives satisfying, unfolds spontaneously. We are always in the flow of harmonious relationships and supportive circumstances. But we should also cultivate the faith that whatever is showing up is for our highest good. Impatience does not have spiritual virtue. With unshakeable faith in God, we should be joyous and enthusiastic always.
When our life-enhancing, legitimate desires are fulfilled, life is fulfilling, enjoyable and we can devote ourselves to higher learning and practice. As spiritual beings we have this ability to have our desires fulfilled by gentle intention. We do not have to apply great effort or struggle to have them fulfilled. As our awareness increases we are naturally in a state of fulfilment. We only need to acknowledge our desires and have complete faith that they will be soon fulfilled.
As spiritual beings we cannot be satisfied only living a life of contentment, worldly attainment and having our desires fulfilled. Without spiritual unfolding of our consciousness, we would always remain disgruntled and despite the fulfillment of the first three ideals, we would still be prone to getting waylaid. The first three practices make our lives satisfying so we can devote ourselves to the fourth and most important ideal. All four resolutions are interrelated and work in conjunction. We can demonstrate commitment to spiritual practice by making it the focal point of our lives. All actions and thoughts should be conducted from that platform. As we keep progressing on our path with full dedication, we are forever assured of God's grace.
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