Let the New Year be The Wings of God

Swami Sukhabodhananda
2 January 2003, 12:00am IST

Where there are waves of love, bliss and beauty — prema, ananda and saundarya lahiri — a divine presence opens up. These waves are the wings of God. The new year will come alive if infused with the energy of these waves.

A true guru or master does not teach in words; he teaches through expression of His presence. A guru does not teach the Truth. It is a transmission that is beyond words and scriptures. Krishna taught Arjuna more by his presence.

How was it possible to teach Arjuna all that was contained in the Bhagavad Gita when the two armies were readying to fight? It would have taken hours for such a communication to take place — so, it was not in the realm of time or words. It was a communication between two hearts, far beyond words and time; it was effected through Krishna's presence.


A dream may last for about two minutes. But, it may take an hour to relate it in the waking state. The time-scale of the waking state is different from the time-scale of the dream state. So too, the communication between Krishna and Arjuna was in a different space.

Quieten your mind before approaching a master — let there be prema, ananda and saundarya. Life is the greatest master and scripture, so treat it with respect and love.

A Chinese carpenter who created many masterpieces of art was asked what the secret of his success was. He replied: "I approach a tree with deep love and joy and then ask if it is willing to be felled. Only when my intuition says 'yes' to a particular tree, I cut that tree with a prayer in my heart." In this manner, he was able to create masterpieces.

We are like the caterpillar who is unaware of its ability to become a butterfly. We are unaware that we can become a Buddha, an enlightened being.

It is difficult to love when we are surrounded by hate. Hate emanates from the lower self, where reside tamas and rajas, the lower qualities. When you operate from love, you are coming from a higher self, where resides the sattva guna, the higher quality.Every incident of hatred should invite you to be above hatred. Treat life like a game. Have fun with problems and challenges.

Can we live life in the presence of a feeling of divinity? Can our energies be one of love, bliss and beauty? We can — and if we do, then, the new year for us will have a beauty and depth that words cannot express — it can only be experienced by our very being. Without such a presence, we feel the world is imperfect, like the foolish man who said that snakes were imperfect creatures as they had no legs. With our wrong notions, we try to change the world.

We can make the new year a happy one by making the effort to reduce our problems. If you look at problems from the perspective of the jeevatma or the lower Self, they look like threats. Then you feel fearful and become unhappy.

Be like a tennis player who looks upon an approaching ball not as a threat but as an opportunity to play his best. The higher Self, the paramatma, will make you look at problems as an opportunity.

There are two types of creators in the world — one who works on the objects, like a poet, artist, painter, carpenter or engineer, and the other, a mystic who works on himself. We are like idols hidden in a rock. Removing a part of the rock reveals a beautiful figure.


Similarly, we have to look for the masterpiece hidden in our self. Like a sculptor who knows the potential hidden in a rock, we too should look for the hidden potential within us.

(http://www.swamisukhabodha-nanda.org. E-mail prasannatrust@vsnl.com)

Unlock Your Energy With True Yoga

Feb 1, 2004, 08.48pm IST
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.

The term ‘yoga’, for many, means physical postures , and that too twisted, impossible ones. But that’s not what we’re referring to as yoga .

Yoga means to be in perfect tune . Your body, mind, spirit and existence are in absolute harmony . When you fine-tune yourself to such a point where everything functions beautifully within you, the best of your abilities will just flow out of you.

When you’re happy, your energies always function better. In fact, when you’re happy, you have endless energy. Even if you don’t eat or sleep, it doesn’t matter; you can go on and on. So just knowing a little happiness liberates you from your normal limitations of energy and capability.

Yoga is the science of activating your inner energies in such a way that your body, mind and emotions function at their highest peak. If I don’t sleep for two days, you won’t notice any difference in me. I can still have a full day of activity.

When your body and mind function in a completely different state of relaxation and a certain level of bliss, you can be released from most suffering. You come to your office, and you have a nagging headache.

Your headache isn’t a major illness, but it takes away your capability for that day. The throbbing pain takes away everything. But with the practice of yoga, your body and mind will be kept at their highest possible peak.

When you activate your energies, you can function in a different way. As you’re sitting, you consider yourself to be a person. You’re identified with many things, but what you call as “myself” is just a certain amount of energy.

Modern science tells you that the whole of existence is just energy manifesting itself in different ways. It follows then that you’re also just a little bit of energy functioning in a particular way. In science, this same energy which you call as ‘myself’ can be here as a rock, lie there as mud, stand up as a tree, bark as a dog, or sit here as you. Everything is the same energy, but functioning at different levels of capabi-lity. Though all of us are made of the same energy, we don’t function at the same level of capability. What you call capability, talent, ability or creativity, these are just a particular way in which your energy functions.

The same energy, in one plant, creates rose flowers; in another, it creates jasmine. By gaining a bit of mastery over your own energies, you will see things that you never imagined possible, you will do them simply and naturally.

The same mud with which we construct huge buildings, is also used to build little huts. What you call a computer is dug out of the earth. We thought we could only dig mud and make pots or bricks out of it. Now we dig the earth and make computers, cars, and even spacecraft out of it. It’s the same energy; we have just started using it for higher possibilities. Our inner energies, too, are like that.

There is a whole techno-logy of applying this energy for higher possibilities. Each one of us must explore and know this. Otherwise, life becomes limited and accidental; you get to do only what you’re exposed to. Once you start activating your inner energies, your capabilities happen in a different sphere altogether. Yoga is a tool to find ultimate expression to life.

Sky nature of mind

Jul 31, 2010, 12.00am IST
GIRISH DESHPANDE.

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.)

Spiritual love as a natural progression

Feb 19, 2010, 12.00am IST
SWAMI KRIYANANDA.

Life is a thrilling drama. Typical of the spectacle—perhaps its greatest highlight—is that oldest of stories: Two young people, a man and a woman, meet. Both are in radiant health; they are beautiful, happy, and magnetic. They are instantly attracted to each other.

Certainly the attraction is deeper than physical. Each senses in the other a quality that satisfies a deep need. Yearning, they reach out as if to absorb a fulfillment long and ardently awaited.

Can their hopes ever be fulfilled? The attraction they feel is indefinable, elusive and evanescent. They long to draw from each other something very special. What is that something?

It is all a play of consciousness—ripples rising in expectation, cresting, then scattering in foam -- thoughts and emotions that flicker in the sunlight on life’s sea; wavelets that long to merge their separate identities in a larger wave. Waves themselves, however, are ephemeral. Moods pass. The starlight and the dancing, that gentle, sweet touch, those brief glimpses of beautiful, far-off scenes filled with love and happiness: All these change, and soon disappear. Is it all a mirage?

Can God have so arranged human existence that it is based eternally on false hopes? The loving embrace, then its sequel: children, each with its own interests and self-created destiny...Has that ardent coming together had no other purpose than to perpetuate the species?

Sexual union brings fleeting pleasure at first, then exhilaration—followed by physical and emotional depletion, and, if over-indulged, by satiety and disgust. What is the purpose?

The expression: “falling in love,” is a curious one. The experience is indeed a fall from high expectations, a crash downward into brambles of disappointment, suffering, and maybe, compromise. Will it ever be possible to become fully absorbed in that sweet smile, that loving look, that radiance in the eyes? Never! Such is the tragedy of human love.

Love has, in fact, a reality far more spiritual than material. The physical body is only a container for its animating spirit, to which one’s feelings truly belong. The less spiritual the feelings, however, the less also they qualify as love at all.

Every human desire, ambition, and aspiration is destined for ultimate disappointment, unless it transcends its human limitations. Life is a drama, a dramatic dream, with innumerable plots and subplots, all leading toward a wonderful ending.

Consider the basic structure within which the universe was manifested: dvaita or duality. The one vast Consciousness moved Itself in opposite directions from its state of rest at the centre. Waves appeared on the surface of the great Ocean of Consciousness. With each wave there came a corresponding trough; the over-all ocean level could never change.

All this movement exists in thought only. Spirit alone is Absolute; movement is relative. There are degrees of height and depth, which, for simplicity, were divided in scriptures as the three qualities of satva, rajas and tamas.

We can never find fulfillment anywhere except in the inner Self, yet we do absorb qualities from one another through emulation. We need to shed every human trait, including the most satvic; for as long as we identify it as a quality possessed by the ego, even satvic qualities suggest that in delusion itself lays the key to enlightenment.

Yet without human friendships we might never get a hint of God’s infinitely greater friendship. Moreover, although human love is “the greatest delusion,” without it we might never feel inspired to seek its true fulfillment, that is, union with God.

Excerpt from Swami’s recent book, Religion in the New Age. http://www.anandaindia.org/.

Generosity: A two-way street

Apr 9, 2010, 12.00am IST
MARGUERITE THEOPHIL.

Most of us were taught that generosity is about giving freely, and putting others' needs before our own. While there is nothing wrong with this definition, it remains somewhat incomplete. To think of generosity only in terms of giving can limit us.

Being truly generous is as much about being open to receiving graciously from others. Allowing the other to 'give' to us whether it be a compliment, an act of kindness, emotional support or even material help in times of need is, interestingly, as much of an act of kindness as extending ourselves to give to others.

Correspondingly, we need to be aware of a possible 'greed of giving' that can sometimes be a thinly disguised power trip! It's time we began to understand generosity as a kind of two-way street.

With all the talk about how "selfish" we are today, it's pretty amazing to see how many people have real difficulty being able to receive.

There may be at least four reasons why people have trouble receiving. Maybe they simply haven't learned how to graciously receive a gift or assistance from another. Or it could be that they don't want to feel under obligation to the giver. It's also possible they consider receiving a weakness, and want to always come across as the strong or defining part of a relationship; to receive, for some, is to acknowledge that they have needs, or are vulnerable, and they find this very hard. Or perhaps, most sadly, they don't feel they deserve what they receive.

Unfortunately, all of these reasons quite self-centredly put the focus on the receiver, rather than on the joy of the person giving the gift. It helps to recall the joy we feel when we ourselves give ^ and to allow others opportunities for experiencing the same joy.

Ultimately it is about finding that sacred balance between not wanting too much either to only give, or to only receive.

Teachers from various Traditions have spoken of the art of receiving; that learning to receive is an important step in connecting to our Higher Self. It may not be only working hard or being a more deserving person that draws good things towards us, rather, it begins with the process of 'allowing'. Perhaps we could reflect on the strange possibility that we may be allowing into our lives less than 2 per cent of the good things that Higher Self offers.

A sermon i once heard from a Christian pastor suggested that when Jesus called us to 'become as little children' to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, he meant that we should learn to receive as they do. "Children can teach us a thing or two about simple, joyful receiving," she said. "They hardly ever feel they have to earn the gift or are obliged to pay you back. They just accept. It's a form of surrender. That's how one enters the kingdom."

A Buddhist teacher in Thailand invited us to consider that in order to have a great life, you not only have to discern your needs from your greeds, but you also have to be humble enough to ask for what you need, and more importantly you also need to understand that the way you habitually receive often determines what you will receive in the future.

There's a danger of getting caught up in our own ideas of what it means to be generous and so losing sight of what this principle of generosity is really about ^ which is experiencing our interconnectedness in both the outgoing and inflowing energy of genuine reciprocity.

(The writer is a Mumbai-based consultant, personal growth coach and workshop leader.)

A Guru Can Help Us Get Connected

Why we lose our selves in a sea of identities

Sep 2, 2009, 12.00am IST
ACHARYA MAHAPRAJNA.

In order to understand society, we must first understand the individual. He who knows one, knows all; and he who knows all, alone knows one, Mahavira would say.

Complete knowledge of an atom is not possible without understanding it in the context of other things. That is why, when analysing an atom, one comes to know the countless laws of the universe.

The individual faces three types of problems: Physical, social and spiritual. To cater to ones physical needs, economic power is required. To regulate these matters of commerce, trade, money and distribution -- the state is required. Administrative machinery run by the state becomes necessary when the needs of the people have to be taken care of. Hence multiple identities evolve out of various functions and responsibilities. However, the power-centres created for solving individual problems have often themselves turned into problems.

There is a story in the puranas of a mouse that performed penance to earn the blessings of Lord Shiva and the mouse turned into a cat. As a cat, the mouse no longer feared other cats. But still the fear of dogs continued. Through successive courses of penance he kept changing from cat to dog to leopard to tiger and finally to man. One day Shiva asked him, "Are you now free from all fears?" He replied, "Even by becoming man my problems are not over, for I am suffering from fear of death. I may, therefore, be favoured and turned into a mouse again." Lord Shiva once again blessed him and he returned to the original form of a mouse.

Money was invented to enable us to share goods and services in an equitable manner. Today, however, it poses major problems. There is the rich-poor divide. From being created as a means to fulfill needs, money has come to be flaunted as a status symbol. Money, because of its purchasing power, is a much sought-after commodity. Its scarcity among some gives rise to theft and corruption. Enforcing law and order is also therefore a duty of the state.

State power lacks discipline. Religion faces its own set of problems. In some instances it is used as an instrument of state power. This is because religion has been reduced to mere ritual. True religion has no need of state power.

True religion stands for the experience of unity and harmony. There are some who say that religion has failed to solve human problems. But that is because religion is being used to accumulate wealth, cure disease and win legal suits. More importance is being given to name and form. Religion is not meant for these things; it is meant to elevate your consciousness on the spiritual plane.

So-called religious wars were caused not by religion but by its form and name. The soul of religion is unity. No war can be fought without destroying the spirit of religion. Vedanta propounds the principle that all sentient beings originate from the same source. Jain philosophy also asserts that all sentient beings are alike. Could human beings have fought each other, if people had practised the above feeling of unity and harmony? Could one individual have exploited another individual? Could one man have hated another?

Feeling unity and harmony with everyone is the spirit of religion. The greater the identity one feels with others, the more the religiosity one imbibes. Thinking along these lines convinces me that we have merely touched the veneer of religion but have never felt its inner core. What we have seen are the outer garments.

As told to Lalit Garg.

Plants: Borderline beings in Indian traditions

Jun 13, 2009, 08.00am IST
Ellison Banks Findly.

Classical admonitions to "do no harm" lead us to early Jain renunciates who must refuse foods that contain living seeds, sprouts, or mildews.

They also lead us to Buddhist monks who must refrain from walking in the rainy season so as not harm living beings in the soil underfoot. And they lead us, finally, to Hindu requests for forgiveness from trees about to be cut, hoping that the injury may be minimal...

In a world view shared by all three traditions, plants are seen as full participants in the ongoing flux of life, of enlivened energy and matter that includes animals and humans. This world view is uniform across traditions, and posits five elements for including plants in the living matrix of the cosmos.

Plants are "living" because they grow, because they are involved in the cosmic cycle of moving water, and because they breathe. Plants are "sentient", having only the one sense of touch the base for all other senses and the sense that does not die with the physical body but continues unbroken with karmic consciousness through rebirth.

Plants are "stable", enduring an anchored, rooted life unlike their mobile sentient colleagues. Plants feel "pleasure and pain" just as humans do, and show their experience of pleasure by turning towards the sun and flourishing, and their experience of pain by withering when cut and eventually dying.

Finally, plants are "karmic", enmeshed in the process of rebirth and conditioned therefore by the three gunas. Being one-sensed and the lowest of living beings, plants are classified as tamasic, indicated by laziness, inertia, inattention, dullness and delusion. Although tamasic at one extreme, plants also appear as "borderline beings" at the other extreme. As models for ascetic behaviour, plants are guides for the highest realm of sattvic life. Ascetics are admonished to be stable in body and mind; full of equanimity and tranquillity; flexible like trees in the wind; undistracted by annoying pests; and ready with compassionate service for humans, providing shade, lodging and food.

Jainism was the earliest to focus on ahimsa, and has the fullest application of non-violence to daily life... Renunciates, for example, cannot accept food that might still be living, and contemporary lay Jains are precluded from eating vegetables taken from the earth like potatoes, onion and carrots, that may have vegetation hidden in the folds of flowering tops like broccoli and cauliflower, or that may contain living beings (like honey).

In Hinduism, the practice of plant ahimsa extends into public spaces, with instruction on treating plant diseases, directions for planting trees and injunctions for rituals to ensure both the internal and external flourishing of plants...

In Buddhism, an interesting conundrum occurs. Early on, lay donors wanted to give only to ascetics of the very highest behaviour, that is, to those who practised full non-violence to animals, humans and plants. In time, when Buddhist donors themselves wanted to practise non-violence, they were stymied because, as lay people, they needed to cut plants for housing, transportation and eating purposes. In order to alleviate this dilemma, plants were determined to be non-living, thus allowing lay people to follow ahimsa.

The fullness of plant life puts plants in reciprocal relationship with humans. According to Hindu folklore, humans and plants can converse and marry. These possibilities bestow on humans the unique responsibility for nurturing and protecting plants; a responsibility that ensures that plant life remains a diverse, healthy and flourishing component of the world's harmonious balance.

Extracted from the writer's Plant Lives: Borderline Beings in Indian Traditions.

Communist Search For Divinity

1 December 2001, 12:23am IST
MANOJ DAS.

It was night — dead of night — in june 1956 when this author and his two comrades were ushered into the presence of d n aidit, the brilliant secretary general of the communist party of indonesia, at the party’s central office in jakarta. he was then asia’s third most important communist leader, next to mao and ho chi minh. he was young, for the entire elderly leadership of the archipelago had been wiped out a few years ago in what was notoriously called the madiun affairs. (aidit too was to be killed in the bloody civil war of 1966, following an abortive communist bid to take over the government through a couple of sympathising generals.) khruschev had lately exploded his report at the 20th congress of the soviet communist party, exposing the cult of personality stalin had built up through treachery, innumerable secret murders and ruthless suppression, including mass massacres. it is not easy to describe our anguish — the anguish of ‘true believers’ — on learning about the fallibility of stalin and the system he epitomised. for he had long replaced god in our consciousness. and god could do no wrong. ‘comrade aidit, you were present at the soviet congress as a fraternal delegate. what was your reaction to the report?’ we asked, as soon as we settled down around a small table, munching roasted groundnuts and sipping black tea. he listened to his interpreter and banged his forehead thrice or so, before he could formulate some apology. i have forgotten his rational explanation, but i can never forget his irrational gesture, a mute admission of defencelessness before the unforeseen tide of events. stalin was awful, yet providence — call it time-spirit if you please — used him to counteract the horrendous evil that was hitler. alexander could be a megalomaniac, a ‘legion’ of raw ambitions. but time-spirit is amoral. it could achieve through him a bridge between the east and the west. the same truth could apply to lenin. he led a revolution. probably it would be, factually, more correct to say that he represented a revolution. that did not oblige him to be an angel of sorts. but we must look for symbols. that is almost a divine trait in us, a peripheral expression of our psychic trust in the absolute good that is there, somewhere. after all, ‘‘an eternal perfection is moulding us into its own image’’ (sri aurobindo). hence, for many, lenin continues to be a symbol of perfection. they need not be disillusioned about the reality of perfection, but must be reminded of the difference between illusion and reality. they should not dream of perfection, a far-fetched state of consciousness, in politicians, leaders and even statesmen. it is embarrassing that some young enthusiasts and old intellectuals of kolkata’s leftist club should grab headlines through their protest against the depiction of lenin as a manic depressive towards the end of his life, in alexander sokurov’s taurus, a russian picture of some international fame, at the kolkata film festival. it is even more embarrassing what the actor playing lenin, leonid mozgovoi, had to say, ‘‘this is a problem with those who think lenin was god’’. it is past time these intellectuals learnt to do without that kind of god. ‘‘how could such a film be made?’’ asked the veteran jyoti basu, the former communist chief minister of west bengal. needless to say, it could be made because the russians have been liberated from their ideological tribalism whereas mr basu and his ilk are still enslaved to their illusion. ‘‘slavery holds few men fast; the greater number hold fast their slavery’’, said seneca. how true he sounds even after two thousand years! it is time intellectuals of this category understood the elementary truth that the russians knew lenin and stalin and the chinese knew mao — at least as human beings — better than the indian disciples of marx. china has not hesitated to bare mao’s feet of clay. but there are indians who would rather go blind than see them. religion as politics is bad, but politics as religion is worse. ‘‘our story is a private account of a clever person who wanted to change the world and did so. but faced with death and the inevitable destiny of having to give up power can have a strange effect on the most strong person’’, explained mozgovoi, giving a psychology lecture to the pre- university students. he had to. mozgovoi’s is the most prudently realistic assessment of lenin between two extreme attitudes. the first of the two was churchill’s: ‘‘it was with a sense of awe that they (the germans) turned upon russia the most grisly of all weapons. they transported lenin in a sealed truck like a plague bacillus from switzerland into russia’’. the second: the attitude of the kolkata protesters. the most ghastly and bizarre metaphor i have ever come across, however, is one innovated by lenin himself. it was concerning the british labour leader arthur henderson. ‘‘we will support henderson as a rope supports a man who is hanged’’, wrote lenin in 1920. i am afraid, my kolkata leftist friends are supporting lenin in the same way.

Towards Achieving Purity of Spirit

3 September 2001, 01:28am IST
Acharya Mahaprajna.

The followers of jainism celebrate paryushan parva, a spiritual festival that is spread over 30 days, culminating in the kshamavani diwas, the day of forgiveness and atonement. in pursuance of the ultimate goal of jainism, of achieving spiritual good, these 30 days are characterised by the observance of fasts, vows of silence and meditation. the underlying philosophy is to expound on truths like the impermanence of life.

there are two paths in life, the material and the spiritual. as long as we continue to work only through our conscious mind, we can never truly aspire for perfection. there are four steps to attaining spirituality; contemplation of impermanence, of non-sheltering, of separation of self from the material body and contemplation of solitariness. by achieving these four kinds of contemplation, we come closer to attaining spirituality. mere repetition of certain words or just chanting alone does not make one spiritual. the harsh reality is that with the present mental, physical and emotional conditions, we can never realise either our soul or our existence. by practising the four-fold spiritual process we can realise ourselves.

the first step towards realisation begins with the practice of impermanence of matter. by practising this, gradually, the happiness and sorrow associated with the object will start annihilating. an undesirable object gives sorrow, and a desirable object gives happiness. but in the state of intense awareness of impermanence, there is no sorrow. when the truth about the acquisition and separation of an object is fully understood, then there is no sorrow. when this consciousness awakens with full realisation, then there is no more fear and suffering of old age or death. a person who lives realistically and in spirituality with full realisation, can transcend these sufferings and enjoy unobstructed and infinite bliss.

what is sambodhi or enlightenment? it is the witnessing or awareness of impermanence. basically, enlightenment is of three types ^ enlightenment of knowledge, of vision and of conduct. intellect is also of three kinds ^ intellect of knowledge, of vision and of conduct. witnessing is also of three kinds ^ witnessing of knowledge, of reality and of conduct.

the first step of spirituality is the witnessing of impermanence. a spiritual person is one ``who has witnessed the impermanent''. the second element is non-sheltering. the helpless state of sickness and intense pain can awaken the consciousness of non- sheltering in anyone. external materials cannot provide relief and shelter. therefore we should seek for shelter within ourselves.

there are basically two kinds of persons, external seekers and internal seekers. a spiritual person is an internal seeker. an external seeker is materialistic because he is always inclined to seek externally. he searches for the solution to every problem in the material world. he hankers after objects. it is natural that wherever you are inclined, you will always move in that direction only. if your tendency is to seek within, then you will surely seek the solution to every problem in your spirit.

we are deeply attached to our physical body. our delusion is so profound and deep that we have accepted the body and soul to be the same. as long as this thinking persists, spirituality cannot materialise. the philosophy of contemplation of separation from the body is that, when knowledge of the separation of the soul from the body awakens, then spirituality starts taking root.

we accept three traits of personality ^ memory, imagination and thinking. all the three are mechanical and not related to the soul. feeling is related to the soul. it cannot be mechanical. the one who realises happiness and sorrow, exists. when the consciousness of the separation from the body awakens, then only does spirituality commence.

the last step of spirituality is to be solitary. mahavira has attached great importance to meditation in a solitary state. a person who has learnt the art of experiencing solitude even while in a crowd, has learnt to lead a life free from tension. the practice of spirituality should be pragmatic and rational, like the four contemplations talked about in jainism. in the context of prekshadhyana, we have accepted 16 types of contemplations. each contemplation is practised for months together and only then are they assimilated in our life. perception and contemplation should be practised together to attain happiness, to help us refine our thoughts and purify our mind.

There's More to Life Than Striking Deals

Apr 26, 2004, 12.00am IST

If you really want the best deal in life, stop making deals. Yet, your very demeanour should be such that your client is simply bowled over. This is not a trick.

The deal will happen if it's necessary; it won't happen if it's not. It is for the well-being of both parties, so it must be needed by both of you. Once we're in this world, there are transactions, personal or otherwise.

Let's say you're in love. If you are not fully involved, you will try to strike a deal. Once a bachelor who had been wooing an attractive woman for long mustered the courage to propose to her.

"There are quite a lot of advantages to being a bachelor," he began, "but there comes a time when one longs for the companionship of another being. A being who will regard one as perfect, as an idol to be worshipped and treated as one's absolute own, who will be kind and faithful when times are tough and hard, who will share one's joys and sorrows."

To his delight he saw a sympathetic gleam in her eyes. She nodded in agreement and then said, "I think it's a great idea! Can I help you choose a pup?"

So to get mileage out of a deal, you have to first assess the level of intelligence of the other party. If you just give of yourself and see how both of you can be benefited from the deal, then whenever it is possible, it will happen.

Of course, deals are subject to many other conditions such as market situations, economic conditions or the world situation, but if you establish your inner way of being and are doing the best you can do, then what has to happen, according to your capability, will happen.

What you can't do won't happen anyway. Even if you break your head it won't happen, but that's okay.

However, if your whole life is about making deals, you will be miserable. The devil is always making a deal with somebody. God never made a deal with anybody.

Maybe you haven't attained to your full Divine nature, but at least in this case let us imitate God for a while. God doesn't make deals. Deals will be offered to you in so many ways. In a way, everybody is just a businessman.

Everybody is trying to pull off some deal: some in the market place, another maybe at home, in the temple, and others even with their spiritual process, but everybody is trying to pull off some kind of a deal.

When you get a good deal, you are civilised and nice but if a deal goes bad, you yell and scream.

You need not be a super human being capable of doing everything. If you don't do what you're capable of doing, that's when it's not okay; that's when you have failed.

So don't worry about always pulling off deals, deals and more deals. Just learn to offer yourself, which is the best possible thing that you can offer to the whole situation. Then naturally people will take it if it's what they need.

Whether you talk to a taxi driver for a minute, or you talk to your boss, or speak to your client, husband, wife or child, every transaction is affecting your life.

Now the problem with you is that you hold one transaction above the other. You involve yourself more with one and less with the other. It won't work like that. All these things are needed for you to have a fruitful life.

Why don't you just fall in love with the whole situation? Then, work becomes effortless.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

Time to celebrate, it's Christmas

Dec 25, 2009, 12.00am IST
M P K Kutty.

Christmas is a time for celebration. It is also a time when we are infused with a kind, forgiving and charitable spirit that enables us all to have a good time.

In the midst of all the festive celebrations, exchange of gifts and merrymaking, the purpose of the birth of Jesus Christ in a manger in Bethlehem might get forgotten. It was not the intention of Christ to launch one more religion, but to empower people to live the abundant life mindfully.

All was not well with the world when Jesus was born on earth. On going through the Sermon on the Mount delivered by Jesus, it becomes clear how far removed we were from holistic living. Life was by no means free of deceit.

Three factors cloud the life of an individual, According to the Bible these are: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Sin is implicit in all these and the so-called fall of man is a result of the Original Sin and this distanced him from God. It is the contention of the faith that Christ came to reconcile man with God. His death on the Cross on behalf of all of us accomplished this purpose to some extent. Christ’s birth, death and resurrection were part of a plan for the transformation of man so that he could be liberated so as to live to his full potential.

Jesus presented to people a set of values that seemed to be in contradiction with the standards followed in the world. In the words of Malcolm Muggeridge: “It was the poor, not the rich who were blessed, the weak, not the strong who were to be esteemed; the pure in heart, not the sophisticated and the worldly, who understood what life was about. Righteousness, not power, money or sensual pleasure, should be man’s pursuit. We should love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them that use us, and in order that we may be worthy members of a human family whose Father is in Heaven.”

Man’s body, the Bible points out, is the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in him. When a person accepts Christ, this Spirit comes to work within and takes over his life. This opens up immense possibilities. The man who is led by the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Truth becomes filled with His love and power.

Thus empowered, the faithful find it possible to love unconditionally. This tallied with the deepest yearning of the human heart to love and be loved. St John emphasises that whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Christmas is a celebration of life. A historian wrote: “Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered millions more than Alexander, Caesar, and Napoleon. He shed more light on things human and divine than all the philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of the school, He spoke words of such wisdom such as were never spoken before and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator and poet. Without writing a single line, He has set pens in motion and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussion, and works of art, learned volumes, and sweet songs of praise. Born in a manger, and crucified as a malefactor, He came to control the destinies of many.”

Christmas, therefore is more than just a time to eat cakes and exchange gifts; it is also a time to reflect on how we need to uphold the standards of the One who came to give us the abundant life.

Exploring the nature of true realisation

May 28, 2009, 08.00am IST
DEEPAK RANADE.

Whatever events unfold outwardly, there is a continuous passive act of observation of these events. This plain awareness is what animates the intellect, thoughts and every aspect of existence; it also gives rise to the illusory self, to the identification of each individual as a separate body form.

It also affirms this identity as the real self because the body is the most tangible proof of existence. We can touch, feel and react with this tangible instrument. The ego is addition of many layers of likes, dislikes, preferences and priorities to this mind-body form. The sense of separateness. Of being one of a kind. Of discreteness.

The more we endeavour to attain salvation, the sense of separateness only gets reinforced. All chemicals such as alcohol and drugs induce a state of disconnect. A fleeting disconnect with the surroundings. This disconnect is pleasurable as it blunts the sensibilities and makes the individual immune to any unpleasantness of daily living. But it also fortifies the sense of separateness. This feeling of disconnect and indifference is momentarily blissful. These chemicals are addictive because they give an illusory, fleeting glimpse of 'spiritual' experience similar to the state of realisation.

The so-called chemical disconnection is 'exclusive'. In the sense that it refurbishes the sense of separateness but isolates the individual. The state of realisation, however, is inclusive. This inclusive disconnection is an all-pervading sense of oneness, in which any connection is superfluous. Connection or disconnection is relevant only in duality or an illusion of duality. Once this illusion of duality vanishes, what remains is unity. An impersonal awareness.

Realisation shifts the identification of the self from the mind-body form to just plain awareness. Like a drop of the ocean. This drop, when separate from the ocean, will become acutely aware of its independent existence. The drop can see the ocean separately and this separateness gives not only itself, but also the vast ocean a separate identity as well.

When the drop merges in the ocean it does not destroy the physicality of the drop. The drop just merges and loses its separateness. It becomes one with the ocean. Till the point of impact, it still maintains its identity, but at the moment of impact, the drop seemingly disappears. That state of merger can thereafter not be perceived, because perception was of the drop. When the drop ceases to exist, who or what is there to perceive?

The disconnect that occurs by inclusion is everlasting, beyond any time-space considerations. Compassion for all life then becomes the effect rather than any imbibed virtue. The sense of unity is not even an experience because experience implies the existence of an experienced. And we all are conditioned to believe that realisation would mean probably seeing some divine light, or hearing some soulful music or a tremendous state of happiness and so on.

The merger automatically dissolves the ego. It also liberates one from all desires and lust for sensory gratification. The body will eventually live out its destiny, but there would be no sense of doer-ship. There would be just a residual observer who transcends even joy and sorrow. The unqualified awareness celebrates a sense of 'am-ness' unadulterated by expectations and longing.

The intangibility and dissolution of one's identity can scarcely be expressed by any means of communication. The final moment of oneness can be experienced only when all layers of misconception are peeled away and the real self is apperceived not as a separate identity but paradoxically the absence of any.

The writer is a consultant neurosurgeon. E-mail: deepakranade@hotmail.com

Connect easily to a living master

Aug 4, 2009, 12.00am IST
BHANUMATI NARASIMHAN.

The guru is an embodiment of wisdom, and love. In Sanskrit, the word for gravity is gurutvakarshan.

The earth holds on to us with the force of gravity. Without this attraction or love, we would not have a base. Similarly, gurutva is the basis of our life. The guru is the guiding light who removes the darkness of ignorance and shows the path to wonderment.

A teacher can give knowledge, but the master brings a heightened awareness. A teacher can give information but the master awakens intelligence.

One day, while Lord Shiva was performing a puja , his consort Parvati sees him bowing his head in reverence. Seeing this, she asks: "You are the Supreme Consciousness, the substratum of entire Creation. Who is it that you bow down to?"

Shiva replied: "Dear Parvati, for the benefit of all humanity, I will answer your question. It is to the all-pervading guru tatva that I bow down to." In the many beautiful verses that followed called the Guru Gita, Shiva explains the guru principle, and says how fortunate one is to have a living master in his life.

The guru in the physical form is called pratyaksh . In the presence of the master, our enthusiasm and spirit are in an elevated state. Our sorrows diminish, joy wells up, there is contentment, knowledge is nourished and protected, and talent blossoms.

India honours a tradition of masters who have protected, and given this knowledge to us, generation after generation, according to the need of the age and times.

When a drop feels connected to the ocean, it feels the strength of the ocean. When we are connected to this tradition, we feel the strength and protection of all the masters. All these masters are an expression of the same Infinite, Undivided, Supreme and Pure Consciousness.

The guru is a tatva an omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent principle. Establishing connection with this tatva is a source of great strength. We know we have forefathers, great-grandparents and so on. Yet we feel most attached and connected to our parents or grandparents because they are with us. Similarly, we have many gurus in our tradition, but when we come in the presence of a living master, the connection is established immediately. The entire knowledge from time immemorial is made available to us.

Guru Purnima is a time to feel grateful. The more grateful we are, the more grace flows into our lives. On Guru Purnima, we remember all the masters who were, who are and who will be in the future. We feel gratitude towards the master who moves us from a limited understanding and pride of ''I know everything" to "I am everything".

A disciple seeks knowledge. A devotee seeks nothing. A devotee is soaked in love and devotion. Guru Purnima is a special day of the devotee as well. When a river meets the ocean, the river no longer remains a river. It becomes the ocean. It is the same when the devotee meets the Divine. Only Divinity remains. The individual 'i' dissolves in the One Divinity.

When we look at the world through the eyes of the master, the world will look so much more beautiful a place filled with love, joy, compassion and virtues. The master's presence is one that is unlimited, vast, infinite and all-inclusive. The presence of the master in one's life brings fulfilment in all other relationships.

To that one, eternal, pure, unbounded embodiment of knowledge and absolute bliss, to the lotus feet of my master, I bow down with respect and gratitude.

(The writer is director, women and child welfare programmes, the Art of Living Foundation. Today is Guru Purnima.)

A spiritual odyssey for a better tomorrow

Apr 5, 2010, 12.00am IST

What is compassion? To be compassionate is to understand. If you don't understand, no matter what you do in the name of compassion, you won't get anywhere .

You need to practise compassion but in order to do that you need to not only talk compassion but also do compassion. Going on a yatra or pilgrimage with other people, for instance, is a good opportunity to interact with others, tending to each other's needs and doing all this selflessly. More than 600 people will join the yatra , and most of them are women.

We need to integrate Buddha's thought to modern life. Which is why the spiritual padyatra that is to commence today from Manali will seek to raise public awareness on the significance of education, health care, environment and heritage and in the process, also help us on our journey towards enlightenment. Going on a pilgrimage is one way of finding the innate enlightened nature that resides within each one of us and use it to empower ourselves and serve humanity.

It is important to live in the world in an environment-friendly manner so that the future of coming generations is not compromised on account of our selfish actions. We need to be aware of other beings, too. Selfless service and being aware of all beings is integral to a spiritual outlook.

The Drukpa lineage respects both spirituality and material life. We need to bridge the two. We believe in higher philosophy and abstract metaphysics as well as practical living. It's just that mentally, you should not be dragged down, but you are on earth, so you cannot avoid it and so you cannot be indifferent to beings that are suffering as part of existence.

Walking, eating, sleeping or any other activity ought to be undertaken selflessly. Walk, sleep and eat for others. You drink water to satiate your thirst, but also be mindful of all the many bacteria in your body that are also drinking that water and benefiting from it. The interdependence becomes evident.

There is nothingness and there is everythingness. Nothingness is within everythingness and everythingness is in nothingness. It is necessary to contemplate on the practice of nothingness. Everythingness is all about practising the precept, "Live to Love" the essence of which is to act for the benefit of all. The Drukpa lineage believes in getting enlightened for the benefit of others. The goal is to enable practical application of Buddhist teachings to everyday life. If someone is suffering, it is our duty to try and alleviate that suffering. Contemplation is good, but not without offering a helping hand to those who need your help.

So the practice of everythingness is the practice of relative truth and the practice of nothingness is the practice of the ultimate truth. What we are doing now is to move more towards everythingness because it is important to be able to meet modern challenges, keeping in mind the principle of interdependence. Buddhism means progress in our mind how much you have achieved in respect of developing compassion, and how strong your understanding of wisdom has grown. How many hours you are sitting cross-legged and how many mantras you are reciting is not the main question.

Sometimes, a spiritual journey is all it takes to find the simplest solution to the greatest problem.

By H H The Gyalwang Drukpa: The XII head of the 800-year-old Drukpa lineage will lead a padyatra,`Walking on the world's rooftop', from Manali-Ladakh, May 23-July 3, with 285 nuns, 170 monks and other volunteers. He spoke to Narayani Ganesh in New Delhi.

Strong and silent string

Aug 3, 2010, 12.00am IST

Radha Kumar.

While driving from Brisbane to Sydney, apart from feasting my eyes on the beautiful images of the rich countryside, sign boards that simply said " Stop, rest, revive!" at regular intervals also caught my attention.

 

The terms almost seemed like friendly advice to us, caught up as we are in our self-indulgent hectic lifestyles. In the hustle and bustle, the very purpose of life is often pushed into oblivion. We are all the time chasing targets, meeting deadlines, competing, climbing, running, and getting exhausted. Do our trajectories have a central idea or purpose?
 

We could look to an interesting parallel in music. During the process of fine-tuning a musical instrument like the sitar, it is absolutely important that the strings are tuned keeping the naad or the sound of a single string called the "Jod ka taar" as the anchor. This string is tuned to note shadj or sa and the rest of the strings are beautifully blended to its sound such that it evokes harmonious music. Perfectly tuned strings then create different raagas.
 

Inlife, too, we are all operating to different vibrations evoking very distinct emotions. Sometimes states in life are as vibrant as a raag Basant, melancholic as raag Bhairavi, intense as raag Darbari, heroic as raag Sohini, vigorous as raag Hamir, simple as raag Yaman, or complex as raag Puriya Dhanyashri. Nevertheless the effect of the combination of swaras captures the mind and this melodic output draws out the senses to a state of meditative contemplation. Just like each stage in our life evokes diverse experiences, every raag has a very unique effect on listeners. The artiste, submerging himself in the melody, transports his audience to share the same experience. Thoughts merge and are in sync with the rhythm and music thus taking it far away from the challenges and stress of day-to-day life.

 

The magical outcome is the result of fine-tuning to a basic sur whose sound blends with our mind. When we adopt this method of fine-tuning to living, anchoring our lifestyles around our core values, not falling prey to herd instinct, it will definitely keep our thoughts anchored, focused and disciplined. It gives you a unique identity and more importantly peace of mind that you are on a path that you wish to embark on. Again, the basic sur here is the focus point, the base or the foundation. It only provides the silent support or the harmony but at the same time, it is the sound that amalgamates all the sounds of the strings and the tones of various raags so that melodious music is created.

In this entire process there is also embedded a deep philosophy. The creative rendering of the various ragas happens on the Baaj ka Taar, the first string, while the Jod Ka Taar, the second string gives the continuity. When the artiste very aptly uses the support of this silent string while his fingers move with practised dexterity in the first string the result is pure melody or naad. In the hectic pace of life it is imperative that we get acquainted with the silent Jod ka Taar and always stay in tune with its silent presence. But that will happen only when we stop, rest and revive ourselves in the journey of life!

Work is what you make of it

Jul 21, 2010, 12.00am IST
Sreeram Manoj Kumar.

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.

Lasting Benefits Of T'ai Chi

Feb 1, 2005, 12.00am IST
Sensei Sandeep Desai.

When I first visited Bob Bacher's T'ai Chi class a decade ago, I saw students dressed casually, doing movements that looked more than just exercise. They didn't seem to possess much physical strength; yet, they moved with extraordinary co-ordination. Captivated by their grace and composure, I asked: What is T'ai Chi and what benefits could I expect from studying it? Dr Bacher answered: "T'ai Chi is a beach to lie on, not a mountain to conquer. And the benefit is different for each person".


T'ai Chi is a form of martial art but you don't have to go harder or faster to reap fitness and health benefits. It derives its strength from the ability to yield in the face of an attack. T'ai Chi doesn't rely on brute force or speed. Instead, it places a premium on mind control, energy, sensitivity and intention. When your body is properly aligned and relaxed, it generates an amazing amount of power with seemingly little effort. These qualities give T'ai Chi a more spiritual tone than many other martial arts.

At the physical level, T'ai Chi increases oxygen delivery to the body and brain, increasing circulation and alertness. At the mental level, it provides harmless escape from our everyday lives. After work, doing T'ai Chi reduces the physical strain and pain acquired during the day. T'ai Chi comes as a breath of fresh air in a fast-paced world, where everyone seems to want things quickly — two-minute abs, five-minute dinners, and 10-minute walks.

T'ai Chi is enlightening; it is also great fun. The very thought of slowing down, breathing deeply, sinking lower into mother earth, grounding oneself — both physically and mentally — can set you off on a new cycle of experiences. The philosophical, spiritual, health and self-defence aspects of T'ai Chi Chuan are interconnected.

You will be surprised what something so seemingly gentle can do for you. The movements constantly rotate and twist every body part — a process often invisible to the untrained eye — in a variety of different ways with slow, consistent motions. Due to the constant internal activity the body is put through, the body's metabolism is kept working at a healthy level.

A simple, slow T'ai Chi walk can result in lower heart rates, reducing problems of cholesterol and blood pressure. The slow-motion movements increase your breathing capacity by getting your breath to synchronise with them. If you can get more air in and more air out, you will never suffer from asthma and other breathing ailments. The gentle, rounded movements have also been shown to relieve arthritis and other kinds of joint pain. People suffering from arthritis, for example, tend to move less because every move can hurt. And the reduced movement causes the muscles and tendons that support their joints to get weak.

You get out of T'ai Chi what you put into it. The rate at which you progress in T'ai Chi depends on how much, at what intensity, with what seriousness, and how often you incorporate the principles into your life. Your progress in T'ai Chi will not be a constant upward curve. T'ai Chi tends to be more zigzag, with peaks, valleys, and plateaus.

Because T'ai Chi is a broad teaching that contains ancient wisdom and principles of action. As you dive into T'ai Chi, all you need to do for success in your practice is the following: Start and Continue.

Walking the pathless path

Aug 26, 2010, 12.00am IST
Deepak Chopra.

Sometimes a lesson has to be repeated for thousands of years, not because it wasn't learned the first time but because new people arrive on the scene.

The lesson I'm thinking of was Siddhartha's, a prince on the Nepalese border of northern India. He dropped everything and hit the road, becoming the original, or at least the most famous dharma bum. He travelled from master to master with his begging bowl, seeking enlightenment. As Gautama the monk he became impressively austere. Instead of a loving wife, a warm bed, and feasts, he tried the opposite: solitude, sleeping by the wayside, and subsisting on whatever scraps of food he could beg for.

It's still an appealing choice, because we equate austerity with virtue. If the stress of a chaotic world is too much, perhaps harmony lies along a different, quieter, more solitary road. But the moral of Siddhartha's tale led a different way. Leaving home didn't bring enlightenment, nor did austerity, poverty, starving his body, or trying to force his mind to be still. Instead, Siddhartha became someone entirely transformed – the Buddha – when he hit upon a new road, the one called "the pathless path".

The pathless path isn't a straight line; it doesn't even lead from point A to point B. The journey takes place entirely in consciousness. A mind overshadowed by fears, hopes, memories, past traumas, and old conditioning finds a way to become free. This sounds impossible at first. How can the mind that is trapped by pain also be the tool for freeing itself? How can a noisy mind find silence? How can peace emerge from discord?

The Buddha offered his answer, which is a variant on an even more ancient answer from the seers or rishis of Vedic India: transcend the personal mind and find universal mind. The personal mind is tied to the ego, and the ego is forever swinging from pleasure to pain and back again. But if you look at awareness when there is no pleasure or pain, when the mind is calm while simply existing, a fascinating journey begins. You have made the first step on the pathless path.

This is not to dismiss the other path, the one that takes you away from home into a retreat, ashram, meditation centre, or holy place. They have their own atmosphere; seekers have stopped there for a long time; therefore, the mind can breathe a different kind of air, so to speak, an air of tranquillity and peace. When you arrive at such a place, two things usually happen. You soak up the peace, enjoying the contrast with your busy life at home. At the same time you notice how loud your mind is, how much chaos it has absorbed. So these holy places cannot do the work for you. They can only suggest what the pathless path is about.

Kabir sang of spiritual travellers: "There is nothing but water in the holy pools./ I know I have been swimming in them./ All the gods sculpted of wood or ivory can't say a word./ I know, I have been crying out to them./ The Sacred Books of the East are nothing but words./ I looked through their covers one day sideways./ What Kabir talks of is only what he has lived through./ If you have not lived through something, it is not true."


These lines don't deny the worth of spiritual journeying, but they tell us that there is no substitute for first-hand experience. Where you go to find it is irrelevant. The true seeker after truth discovers, sooner or later, that truth was seeking him all along.

DeepakChopra.com

Arrive At Peace By Consensus

30 October 2001, 12:49am IST
Guruji Rishi Prabhakarji.

Truth and non-violence as a way of life was the path that was lived and advocated by Mahatma Gandhi. the present-day war is against terrorism and we need to diffuse it, by putting into practice gandhian ideology. The solution to violence is not violence but non-violence. we practise democracy of the majority. This suppresses the minority group. It leads to frustration among them, as they are not heard and their grievances are not of concern to the majority that rules. The only way left for them is to seek attention, by terrorist activities. the present scenario where india feels that elimination of kashmiri terrorist will solve indian problems is false. We must allow the kashmiri people to reach a consensus on how they want to live; else it will be the majority controlling the minority. Osama bin laden has made us look objectively at our stand and our ideas about religion. he demands, ‘‘accept islam and follow allah or be ready to be killed’’, as those who do not accept his religion are all his enemies. thus he says, ‘‘my religion is better than yours’’. but if we look carefully, we are not different from bin laden, as we are saying much the same thing. We are divided amongst various religious sects, proclaiming that our religion is better than the other religion. Only we do not have the courage to say it and execute what we believe in. It is only when we stop saying that our religion is better than other religions, can the solution of the conflict appear. then what religion should we follow? What will take us beyond this conflict? truth, as we see it must be our religion. what is truth? It is not what is said in the holy books of various religions, but that which will help you to live in peace withyourself and with everyone else. Decision by majority does not make any decision right. a decision that is agreeable to all, can only be the rightful decision. We must meet and reach a consensus before making a decision. If the decision cannot be made in the first meeting, then a second meeting should be called for. If we fail, we must call a third one. in this way, we will ultimately reach a stage where all members reach a consensus to arrive at adecision. this is a noble way to accommodate everybody. It requires patience, but results in peaceand harmony. since everybody in the world cannot be called for all decisions, we need to organise ourselves into neighbourhood community networks through a group of families or individuals and see to it that all decisions for the community are collectively arrived at. this group can have a representative in the next hierarchy which is again responsible for an equal number of persons. Decisions that cannot be taken at a lower hierarchy will be referred to the higher one. in this manner, the whole globe can be covered. the penultimate institution will be the united world and not the united nations. all national and community boundaries will disappear. This provides an environment for the lowest individual to be heard. this is true democracy. It will not lead to a domination by the majority, and hence will do away with the problem of terrorism, as each community is then awake and alert. one must learn to be peaceful within oneself through silence and prayer to create a peaceful world. the next responsibility is to learn to love and share. this calls for deepening one’s silence and higher understanding or truth. higher understanding, for instance, means that ‘my intelligence, is god given and belongs to every one’. with this understanding, we will be able to share easily what we have, with other children of god. this is the real development of an individual. mere acquisition of wealth and power does not make a better individual. this is what gandhiji meant by ‘living in trusteeship’. selfishness creates problems. growing inselflessness leads to solutions. different people may adopt their own different ways of rising higher. some may do service to other persons, animals, birds and nature, some through prayer, some by introspection and some byinner silence. let india and all nations stop supporting any violent war anywhere. gandhiji’s principle of non-violence is an answer to the problem of violence, and it is for us to implement it. either we learn to live in peace or we are doomed. therefore, we should start making decisions by consensus in all bodies like parliaments, city governments, corporates, co-operative societies, public trusts etc.