Enhancing spiritual memory

Feb 16, 2010, 12.00am IST
Uma and K S Ram.

Random Access Memory, RAM in short, is a feature that makes computers meaningful. It is hard to imagine a PC functioning minus RAM.


Computers without RAM are like people with dysfunctional memory, who live a life divorced from reality. Who imagine events, create a false world around themselves, and waste their precious lives. On coming across such people, we realise how blessed we are to have our memory alive and in order.


Sages, however, might beg to differ. In Indian spiritual lexicon, memory ( smriti ) is more than just remembering telephone numbers and bank balances. Memory connotes an evolved state of being. Success and failure in life, in the ultimate sense, depend upon how active and functional one's memory is. An illustration from the Bhagavad Gita might help clarify this point.

The forces are positioned on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, ready for war. Arjuna, a key player in the Pandava team, finds his brethren and revered seniors before him. His emotions suddenly get the better of him. He realises the futility of war. He sees before his mind's eye death and disaster on a large scale. He turns 'spiritual' and resolves to renounce the contest. His mentor, Krishna, pities Arjuna and gives the message of the Gita, ending it with, ''Reflect upon it and act as you choose.'' What is the effect of the Gita, coming straight from Krishna's mouth, on Arjuna, the ardent disciple? He says, ''My delusion is destroyed. I have regained my memory smritilabdha through Your grace!''

Tracing the sequence of self-ruin, the Gita states, ''Brooding over the objects of sense, man develops attachment to them; from attachment comes desire; from desire anger sprouts forth. From anger proceeds delusion; from delusion, confused memory or smriti-bhransh , from confused memory the ruin of reason, due to ruin of reason he perishes.'' Recovery of memory motivates Arjuna to engage in battle, but he fights in the dispassionate mode of action, the mode of Karma Yoga. He fights in Krishna's shadow of grace, acting solely as a blessed instrument of God to reset a disturbed cosmic order, dharma-sansthapanarthaya .


What is that ultimate memory that Krishna quickened in Arjuna to inspire him towards right action? In the typical paradox of cosmic truth, ultimate memory is the same as original memory which, in turn, is the same as eternal memory. This relates to the truth of the essential unity of creation, non-duality, advaita . Sustenance, guidance and positive energy flow from the renewal of the memory of oneness and unity. All belong to the One, not as its parts, but rather as the One. Each of us, jointly and severally, is the One. The prelude to the Upanishads enunciates the 'absurd' equation of Vedanta: One minus one equals one. ''That is a whole, this is a whole, from that whole has this issued. When this whole issues from that, what remains is a whole.''
Maya blurs the memory of oneness; it inspires notions of difference, self-interest and rival interest. The spiritual journey consists of constantly renewing this memory until it firmly lodges in the mind. This is called sumiran , a corruption of the term ' smaran ', or remembrance. Sages across religions have hailed its value. Steeped in sumiran one gets established in bhakti or devotion, because the point of bhakti is ananyata , 'non-another-ness'.

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Holy cow, de-stressing is so simple

Nov 30, 2009, 12.00am IST
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan.

I was a student of a village Madrassa in Uttar Pradesh in the 1930s. We studied a poem by the renowned poet Ismail Meerathi in the Urdu reader. It was titled ' Hamari Gaay ' - Our Cow. One of the verses went like this: ‘ Kal jo ghas chari thi ban mein ,/ Doodh bani woh gaay ke than mein .’


It means that the cow is a special kind of animal. It takes (eats) grass and in return gives us milk. In other words, the cow is divine; it is able to convert non-milk into milk.

This poem became a part of my memory. It taught me a great lesson. God, the Creator, has made the cow a model for human behaviour in that it gives us a lesson in high morality. We must develop this quality of conversion in our personality, and this should enable us to transform negative thought into positive thought.


It is said that man is a social animal. But what is society? Society is full of differences. Every day we experience provocative situations; every day we face the disagreeable behaviour of others and every day we suffer anger and tension because of conflicts arising out of differences.
Then what should we do? The cow could show us the answer. God has created a model in the form of the cow. We have to adopt cow culture, we have to develop in our personality what may be called the capacity for transformation; we have to turn negative experiences into positive thinking.


The fact is that everyone enjoys freedom. But everyone also has the choice to misuse freedom. It is this misuse of freedom that creates problems. Hence we need to learn the art of problem management.


According to Islam, the present world is a testing ground. Every man and woman here is being tested. If we have freedom, it is because without freedom, there can be no test. This freedom is God-given, and as such, no one has the licence to abolish it. We have no option but to follow the cow pattern, that is, to turn negativity into positivity.

Once a man came to the Prophet of Islam, and said: ‘O Prophet, give me a piece of advice by which i may be able to manage all the affairs of my life.’ The Prophet replied: ‘Don't be angry.’


‘Don't be angry’ means learning the art of anger management, learning the art of converting anger into forgiveness, of converting anger into peaceability. This is the highest form of spirituality.


Leaving society and going into the jungle or the mountains is a lower form of spirituality. The higher form is that which the cow demonstrates. We live with people, experience all kinds of behaviour, but try not to react negatively. You have to imitate the cow. Just as the cow converts grass into milk, you have to convert negative thought into positive thought. This is the highest form of spirituality.


Most are battling stress daily. They ask about ways to de-stress. I would suggest that they learn a lesson from the cow. They should adopt the cow habit in their affairs and they will be able to de-stress quite successfully. The cow represents an elevated form of lifestyle. Adopt this lifestyle, and you will be able to enjoy a tension-free life.

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Life is beautiful inside and outside

Feb 21, 2010, 12.00am IST
Balgangadharnath Swami.



Should you live? With joy and exuberance. Joy should come not only from serving society but also from enjoying the best things in life. Just live with them, enjoy them. You do not have to possess something to enjoy it.


Look at the butterfly. Its lifespan is so short, yet it enjoys itself thoroughly. It goes from flower to flower, the most beautiful creation of nature. It sucks nectar the sweetest thing in nature. Give it anything else to eat or drink, but it chooses only the best, honey. Similarly, we should speak only sweetly, think and live beautifully and enjoy life. Sweetness is the secret of a beautiful life. Once we speak sweetly the whole world will speak sweetly to us. This should become our nature. Only bhakti can ensure this, because bhakti means love.

What do we do in temples? We put a stone there and offer archana , which means we lavish praise on the stone for all the qualities we value. We say you are our father, our mother. We invoke agni and offer praise, not one or two but one crore prayers each time. By doing this, we invest power in that stone.

One day a priest, adept as he was in offering worship, came home and heaped praise on his wife. You can imagine what a happy home she made for him. We have to develop the ability to appreciate the good in everyone. If we are happy and so are others, our speech will become sweet. Life then becomes easy, weightless. Otherwise the mind is full of problems and we are always ready to fight. If we develop sattvik qualities, wherever we go we will be happy.

We are also quick to point out different things that have disturbed our equanimity. If you think deeply you will find the fault always lies with others, never do you find yourself at fault! Actually it is the other way round.


One day a man felt he needed to see and talk to God. He went to a forest where he saw a sage sitting in meditation. He placed his request. The sage told him to collect rainwater in a pot and look into it till the mud settled. ''When you see your face in the water, you will know you have got gyana .''

The man did as instructed. Just as the water was becoming clear and he was beginning to see his face, the sage disturbed the pot. He did this repeatedly. Finally the seeker got upset. ''Oh! I am not disturbing it. I just shook it,'' said the sage. It is in the nature of worldly things that people keep ''disturbing'' or interfering with your life and time.

So if you find that someone has put you in a bad mood and so you cannot say nice words, or that when you see a person you remember his bad qualities and find nothing to praise, you know that the external world has disturbed the pot in your mind. Do not let it do so. God and everything divine is within you and in everyone around you. If there is happiness within you, you would not quarrel. And to find that happiness you have to find the divine in everyone.

As told to Sudhamahi Regunathan. Balgangadharnath Swami is the 71st pontiff of the Adichunchanagiri Mutt, Karnataka.

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Pranayama of ragas brought to life

Jan 13, 2010, 12.00am IST
Subroto Roy.

There are two kinds of Indian oral-aural art traditions: the concrete and the fluid. Although both their form and content are tangible, their purpose has been mystical .


The concrete, like the statues of the 64 yoginis in Jabalpur and Bhubaneswar, are long-lasting and evidence of specific art traditions which went into firming up a culture. They represent cultural and scientific heritage. They often say much more than we can interpret and are repositories of untapped information about the knowledge of their times.

There is no need to do a pran pratishtha or infuse life into these art objects, as we do for Ganesh or Durga clay idols, because they are meant to communicate static information which, when apprehended by us, leads to a semeiosis, a term formulated by American philosopher and scientist Charles Sanders Pierce, which means any form of activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, including the production of meaning. Traditionally these works of art are not immersed in flowing water unless they are damaged, unlike clay idols.

Clay idols are short-lived and created for a different purpose to awaken spiritual powers. Their veneration is to promote peace and prosperity. Once their prescribed function is complete, they must return to Prithvi from where they came. This is why they are called parthiv or lifeless, unless prana is infused into them.

Fluid arts cannot be seen; they can be heard through invocation, like a musical raga. It is in one way like a clay sculpture, given structure by taal, and energy by the singer's own panchaprana or five vital energies and the sounds of svaras. This process is akin to pran pratishtha of clay idols; mere singing of aroha and avaroha cannot bring them to life.

Ragas are acoustic. They remain inaudible unless we recall them from memory and listen to the body of svaras. Musicians talk of raga roop or swaroop, the form with its content or raga as a being. If ragas were not living and life-giving, how could they make plants grow faster and better, as J C Bose showed in early 1900?

Matang Muni defined svara as sva+rajari = self-illuminating. Nada, the essence of svara, is also known as Nada-Brahmn and is taken as the cause of the universe. Both point at life potential, waiting to be tapped.

Hatha Yoga includes pranayama which is the regulation of the panchaprana. Is it a coincidence that rules do not normally allow ragas with less than five svaras? Do the five mandatory svaras of a raga form its panchaprana? Vocal music is essentially pranayama and regulation of the panchaprana into the form of raga. When the raga becomes fully alive, it spreads its own light and modifies space and time to provide a rejuvenating experience to the listeners.


The substance of a raga communicates its character and the performer and listeners rejoice in it. It is more like a live play than a film that has been shot earlier. It is listening to what a raga has to say about itself. It is collective experience of rasa emanating from a concrete but a fluid being just brought to life.

The next stage, the moment of visarjan (dissolution), has to arrive. Once its acoustic body ceases to be, the raga itself dissolves into vayu or wind, the most powerful of the panchamahabhoota.

The writer is a scholar of Indian music .

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Ch'i Kung makes you feel good

Feb 6, 2010, 12.00am IST
SENSEI SANDEEP DESAI.

Every morning, multitudes of Chinese gather in parks and practise Ch’i Kung, pronounced ‘chee gung’, which literally means ‘energy work’.


Ch’i Kung is about cultivating an expanded awareness. It helps your mind gain control over the movement of the life force. It is the practice of learning how to concentrate, circulate and focus on ch’i. It is considered to be the granddaddy of many internal and mindful arts, including T’ai Chi.

Many have at least heard of T’ai Chi but not Ch’i Kung, which is an older form of exercise. Taoist Ch’i Kung, believed to be the progenitor of all the different forms of Ch’i Kung and T’ai Chi, was created by meditation adepts 3,000 years ago. It was created through deep insight about how the body’s energy flows. Through inner awareness, they gained an understanding of energy channels, points, and the intricate relationship between internal energy systems of the body and its tissues.

Feng Shui – literally ‘wind-water’ – takes ch’i into account as it explores how the energies of the earth, sun, sky, landscape, colour, and time affect people, animals, and possible events. This promotes harmony and helps overcome, or at times prevent, natural and manmade disasters.

Ch’i Kung incorporates many ancient Chinese techniques for escalating the flow of life-energy in a series of dynamic postures or forms that flow from one into the other. The practice includes standing meditations, self-massage from standing or seated positions, and breathing exercises. Although physical movements may be utilised, Ch’i Kung practice can also be still.

In Ch’i Kung, there are three basics: smooth, even, silent breathing, total utilisation of effort but without creating internal strain, and performing soft, fluid, circular movements with a sense of ease and comfort.

Its peaceful and ch’i-stimulating nature complements any T’ai Chi practice. The effects you experience from the practice of Ch’i Kung are very different from those of T’ai Chi, but both are interconnected. Some say that T’ai Chi itself is a complex form of Ch’i Kung. However, others believe that they are separate and distinct mindful arts.

From improved physical health to greater mental clarity and spiritual awakening, increased life-energy can be felt in a wide variety of ways. Regular practice of these exercises will lead to a body and mind that are functionally younger, so that life becomes a joy and not a burden.

The best way to cultivate ch’i for health is to put the mind inside the body and make it conscious of the way the ch’i naturally flows and then change your internal environment to maximise that flow. For example, while practising either T'ai Chi or Ch’i Kung, become conscious of the gross and subtle movements of energy and also blockages if there are any. Then, let go, and the softness and relaxation frees up the energy hose.

Whether providing robust physical health, emotional well-being or peace of mind, Ch’i Kung enriches your life in surprising ways. The result? You feel healthier and happier.
To help us endure the strain of living up to a number of commitments, the need for something energising and revitalising such as Ch’i Kung exercises is felt today even more acutely than before.

(The writer is the author of ‘The Small Book of T’ai Chi’)

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Give with humility and take with gratitude

Nov 23, 2009, 12.00am IST
JYOTI DESAI.

On the verge of crying, I could barely express my gratitude. Saying a simple ‘thank you’ did not seem adequate for the effort taken by a friend in trying to get me a job in a vulnerable phase in my life. And so, thereafter, I must have tried to express my thanks many times over till she simply smiled and said: “It is your time to take.”


Taken aback by the reply I perhaps further complimented her on her goodness, not understanding the full import of the words ‘your time to take’. Life got busy and we lost touch. But somewhere inside me the words ‘a time to take’ sat patiently waiting their turn to play a part in my life. The going was good. I was now in a position to help others. My natural response to all the words of gratitude that were showered on me remained, ‘it is all right, it is just your time to take’.

There is a time to take and there is a time to give. Golden words often quoted, and yet we only want to give, we would rather not take. The puzzled looks I have received when I have gently said ‘it is a time to take’ set me thinking. What is so loaded in the words ‘a time to take’?

Perhaps it is to do with our upbringing. Instilled in us is this value about not taking – it is a favour, about managing alone even in the most difficult of times without seeking support. And yet, taking is one of the most natural acts carried out by each of us since the time we are conceived.


We take life’s sustenance from our mothers, we take love from our siblings, we take knowledge from our teachers, we take companionship from our friends, we take affection from our pets, we take food from the earth, we take warmth from the sun and that is an endless list. And yet we feel no obligation to all these givers, because we are conditioned to view them as normal life situations.

Our minds are full of suspicion, and more so when we are at the receiving end. The mind works at a furious pace on the implications of taking. One of the fears is of having to return the favour immediately or at some point of time in the future, and the guilt of ingratitude if we are not able to do so. But does it always have to work in that manner? Perplexing, as it may seem, there is a far more complicated system at play which is difficult to decode. Seers therefore stress on abiding by the fundamental principle of giving with humility and taking with gratitude – a simple way to resolving confusing moments in this endless cycle of take and give.

Every one of us, in our lifetime, experiences moments when we give on impulse. We are stirred to give to causes, beggars, friends, strangers. Do these people give us something in return? Do we expect them to? No, but in doing so we experience a strange calm. And when we as takers are full of sadness and shame, are we forgetting to recognise the moment of calm being experienced by the giver?

In this endless game of take and give we should just play along, taking and giving as life asks us to, enjoying the gifts we take and give, without grudging our ‘misfortune’ for being takers, not feeling lesser for having taken or superior for having given.

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Charity is the theme of Haj pilgrimage

Nov 29, 2009, 12.00am IST
SYED ZAFAR MAHMOOD.

Having climbed Mount Arafat on the main day of Haj one is overwhelmed with the feeling of an intense communion with God. I asked, ''O Lord, among the thousands of devotees present in the holy precincts of Mina today, who has received your full acceptance of his Haj pilgrimage?''


My conscience reverberated, ''Ali Hajveri.'' I travelled home and visited Hajver. I was told that in the entire town there is only one Ali, an unknown cobbler. I greeted Ali for performing the noblest Haj. Sobbing, he revealed that he was prepared to perform Haj that year but couldn't. He had, instead, given his life's savings to a starving family. I told him of my vision that because of his great sacrifice, God had accepted his Haj in absentia.

The Quran says that Haj is an obligation for those who can afford the pilgrimage after taking care of family and fulfilling basic obligations. Personal health should not be a constraint. Haj is an obligation only once in a lifetime. Funds intended for performing Haj more than once are better diverted to help the poor and the needy. That's true faith.

This year, a quarter million Indian Haj applicants did not succeed in the draw of lots conducted by the Central Haj Committee. Jointly they now possess two and a half billion rupees that would remain unutilised for one year or more. Not making such funds available year after year to the needy contravenes God's scheme of equitable circulation of wealth in the world


The Sachar committee has documented how Muslims are mostly lagging behind other socio-religious communities. By way of remedy, besides the government, people too have to discharge their obligation towards the poor and the ailing. Through zakat (charity), one-fortieth of one's net value is to be spent annually to help the needy. But in the heavenly computer, to enhance one's ranking among the righteous, zakat needs to be frequently augmented by sadaqa - optional charity out of the remaining 97.5 per cent of one's wealth

The scriptures say that for every Prophet's community, God fixed an object of test. For Mohammedan ummah it is material possession. A wealthy person is only a temporary custodian of funds, usually for less than a century. He has to meet God's expectations for its proper utilisation. The proof of a genuine spirit of benevolence and altruism is giving away something that you personally value and cherish. In addition to material support, you can give from your energy, time, knowledge, skill, moral support or personal position. The scripture warns those who perform religious rites but deny assistance to their less privileged fellows, jeopardising the fundamental socio-economic balance and integration.

Let not those who covetously withhold the gifts which God has given them out of His Grace, think that it is good for them. On the Day of Judgement the things which they covetously withheld would be tied to their necks like a twisted collar. To God belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth. He is well acquainted with all that we do, says the Quran.


Haj is training for God consciousness which should resonate throughout the pilgrim's life. The annual universal spiritual gathering, the community's focal point, reflects the equality of human beings regardless of geographic, ethnic, political, educational or socio-economic differences. It's a refresher course in living together and mutual accommodation to be extrapolated and applied for the benefit of all.

The writer is president, Zakat Foundation of India. info@zakatindia.org

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Empirical and metaphysical aspects of Dharma

Nov 5, 2009, 12.00am IST
Nagesh D Sonde.

Dharma is a complex Immutable Principle of avyaya yoga which was first communicated to the Sun.


Having become obscure in the process of transmission over generations, Krishna, conscious of his incarnation of the Supreme, communicates it to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita . Since dharma is difficult to understand, it has been explained in the Dharmashastras in a manner that is both comprehensible and timeless.

Two recent contributions to this column dealt with dharma . The first talked of those who defy the rule of law and suggested that the temporal should be dealt with temporal accountability. The second dealt with dharma on metaphysical grounds, observing events not as facts but as effects that follow causes where you reap what you have sown, as in karmic law

When Yudhishthira is disinclined to kill his cousins lest it should land him in hell, Vyasa admonishes him that desiring dharma , one should not contribute to adharma - unrighteous acts - and advises that killing his cousins is similar to the killing of asuras by the gods, though both were sired by Prajapati. For often, dharma appears in unrighteous garb even as adharma appears in righteous garb. Dharma is that which promotes common well being.

Unlike Duryodhana who justifies his unrighteous action saying that though he knows dharma , he is not inclined to perform righteous acts and though he knows adharma , he is not disinclined from performing unrighteous acts, Yudhishthira tells Draupadi that he performs righteous acts not for gaining benefit but because he is inclined towards dharma as an example set by men of wisdom and being conscious that calumny falls on one who acts with unrighteous intention


Vali's death by Rama's action and Karna's death instigated by Krishna, though they appear unrighteous and vindictive creating disquiet among the faithful and cynicism among sceptics, were in response to temporal events needing temporal response as what was expected from one entirely on an empirical level. Valmiki and Vyasa have primarily dealt with Rama and Krishna on the empirical level, raising their actions in many cases to the metaphysical level.


Rama, considering himself a human being, tells Sita that Ravana was killed to vindicate his honour and remove the stigma on his illustrious family, and not for her release. What was worth doing has been done by him, fulfilling his vow, and wiping out ignominy from his character. It was given to Prajapati to reveal his identity as the Supreme, born to destroy negative forces.


Though Krishna was recognised as Narayana in human form, he reacts more as a human than as God. He assures Kunti of his help to the Pandavas during the Kurukshetra war though everything is up to Divine Will. He tells Utanka Bhargava of his unsuccessful attempts to resolve the dispute between the Pandava s and the Kauravas, clarifying that born human, he acts like a human. When Arjuna requests Krishna to narrate the Gita again, since he has forgotten what was spoken, Krishna expresses his inability to do so since earlier, he was in an exalted state of yoga. At the same time he does not hesitate to show his divine form to the Kauravas to frighten them, and to enlighten Arjuna as Time, the destroyer, engaged in subduing the worlds.

There is not much to be said about those who doubt Rama's or Krishna's spiritual potency. But surely the faithful are free to inquire into that which is concealed as metaphysical intent manifesting in human forms as instruments for Divine Dispensation. Therefore on some occasions, Rama and Krishna respond on a human, empirical level, and on others, as karmadhyaksha , presiding over the Immutable Principle of Dharma - avyaya yoga .

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Explore the path to spiritual living

Feb 10, 2010, 12.00am IST
SUKHABODHANANDA.

Is spiritual practice a must for everyone?


You have to insulate yourself from the effects of worldly living. The environment has its strong impact. The external world is in a rat race for greed, glamour and respectability. It does not bother about real joy and purity. Naturally, external influence affects an individual. In this rat race even if one wins one continues to be a rat. Glamour gives you an illusory joy but your soul needs to grow.

'Why does a fish in an ocean try to jump out?' asked a Zen student.

'The fish is trying to explore a world beyond the ocean,' answered the Master.


Consciousness in each one of us is like a fish that wants to explore the unknown, to evolve and grow. If you do not insulate yourself from negative forces, there will be a leakage of energies and that would hamper your growth. So it is necessary not to struggle in life and not allow negativity to control your life. One has to learn to float in life, to let go, let in the essentials and negate unessential feelings.

How can I insulate myself from negative influences?

People live life in fear. It is out of fear that they worship; out of fear they get married; out of fear of insecurity they beget children. Whenever fear emerges, there is a leakage of energy. Fear creates a hurt body and it then tries to survive by quoting philosophy and logic.

We try to protect ourselves from fear through the influences of worldly life...by acquiring more money and more power. But spiritually we can insulate ourselves from fear, only if we have trust.


We were secure in our mother's womb. At term when we were pushed out into the world, it was as though we were facing death. We experienced tremendous fear.

After being born, is it death or birth that marks our lives?

Trust that when one door closes, another door opens. Such trust insulates us from fear. The spiritual way of seeing is, if there is an impression or a negative impression of fear in the mind, one has to de-identify with it. This detachment or de-identification is the insulation that i am talking of. In yoga, it is called atma smaranam, self-remembrance.

What happens when we insulate ourselves from negative impressions?


Worldly influences do not touch us. Instead, we would be in touch with higher vibrations and open ourselves for higher influences. The higher centres in us are constantly communicating something profound to us, but we close ourselves to them. It is like a cup turned upside down. No amount of rainwater can fill the cup. The moment we are available for higher vibrations, we attract nobler aspects of life. Lower states attract lower aspects of life while the higher states attract higher aspects of life. This is the law of attraction.


Why is devotion necessary?

Devotion activates our higher centres. Devotion purifies our emotions. Devotion allows the finer vibrations to flow into our lives. With devotion, your third eye or intuitive eye opens, and you would see many meaningful coincidences occurring in your life. You will see the mysterious hand of God blessing you.

http://www.prasannatrust.org/

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Beware of lurking near enemies

Nov 3, 2009, 12.00am IST
Marguerite Theophil.

In Buddhist teachings, the four Brahmaviharas, translated as the Immeasurables, Divine Abodes, or Divine Abidings are: metta or loving-kindness, karuna or compassion, mudita or sympathetic joy, and upeksha or equanimity. These are not just emotions we may or may not feel; they are states that we cultivate on our journey to being truly awakened.


The Buddha taught his son: "Rahula, practice loving kindness to overcome anger. Loving-kindness has the capacity to bring happiness to others without demanding anything in return. Practice compassion to overcome cruelty. Compassion has the capacity to remove the suffering of others without expecting anything in return.

Practice sympathetic joy to overcome hatred. Sympathetic joy arises when one rejoices over the happiness of others and wishes others well being and success.

“Practice equanimity to overcome prejudice. Equanimity is looking at all things openly and equally... Do not reject one thing only to chase after another. I call these the Four Immeasurables. Practice them and you will become a refreshing source of vitality and happiness for others."

Although each of these states is a mark of wakefulness and evolving, each can be confused with a condition that mimics the true state, but actually arises out of fear, and is aptly referred to as a ‘near enemy’.

When we strive to follow a path like the Brahmaviharas, we may not find it too difficult to identify and perhaps steer away from their absolute opposites -- sometimes referred to as ‘far enemies’ -- which are anger, cruelty, envy, and bias.

Much less easy to notice are the near enemies, as they cunningly masquerade as a spiritual quality, being subtle, disguised versions of what we might ordinarily see as pure and wholesome. One thing that makes these distinct from The Four Divine Abodes is that this path is essentially about connecting – to the deepest parts of ourselves as well as to other beings. The near enemies end up being about compartmentalisation or separation, and moral arrogance.


The near enemy of loving-kindness is attachment. Attachment may feel like love, but as it grows is revealed as insecure clinging, fear and the desire to control.


The near enemy of compassion is pity; a superior attitude, setting us above or apart from suffering around us, turning it to a kind of unhealthy spectator-sport.

The near enemy of sympathetic joy is comparison, checking whether we have or are more, the same, or less than another. Manifestations range from hypocritical humility to even over-identifying with success of others, especially those near to us.

The near enemy of equanimity is indifference. True equanimity is about balance and acceptance in any situation; indifference is withdrawal and not caring, often numbing us to the need to stand and act for justice.


Without examining these near enemies that create separations, our spiritual life stagnates and our awareness cannot continue to grow. However, it is not an easy task, since they are so close to the spiritually true way of being, that we are fooled and can easily embrace them instead. Most of us, even those claiming to be spiritually evolved, often operate in this space of subtle self-deception without knowing it.

Wise teachers suggest that we need to work on near enemies not as something to ignore, or roughly discard, but to first know as ‘intimates’ – after all they are termed ‘near’ ones – by drawing on our inherent gifts of self-reflection and self-awareness. This we do mainly by applying loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity to ourselves first and then to others, enabling us to become those “refreshing sources of vitality and happiness for others” that the Buddha taught of.

The writer is a Mumbai-based consultant, personal growth coach and workshop leader. Email: weave@vsnl.net

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The concept of emptiness is such a paradox

Nov 17, 2009, 12.00am IST
Sonam Tsomo.

Shunyata is a key concept in Buddhist philosophy, more specifically in the ontology of Mahayana Buddhism: ‘‘Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form.’’ This is the paradox of the concept .


Emptiness is not to be confused with nothingness. Emptiness is non-existence but not nothingness. Also, it is not non-reality. Emptiness means that an object, animate or inanimate, does not have its own existence independently. It has its meaning and existence only when all the elements or components it is made of come into play and we can understand and impute its existence clearly.

By way of explanation, we are asked to observe a cup or any other container. Is the cup empty when it does not contain any liquid or solid in it? We say yes, it’s empty. But is it really empty? No, it’s not. It is full of air. Even when the glass is in a state of vacuum, it is not empty. It still contains space, radiation and maybe light.

Therefore the Buddhist point of view differs from convention. The cup is always full of something or the other. To describe it philosophically, the cup is devoid of its inherent existence. It has come into existence because of many other conditions coming into play.

It is because of these intricacies that the Buddhist concept of emptiness is often taken as nihilism. Scholars opine that western philosophy probably had a role in creating this misconception. Nihilism as a concept means that reality is unknown and unknowable, and that nothing exists. Whereas the Buddhist concept of emptiness says that ultimate reality is knowable, and that in no case should the concept of emptiness be taken to mean nothingness.

Plato held the view that there is an ideal essence in everything that we have around us, whether animate or inanimate. After all, ‘‘the essence of the cup ultimately exists in the realm of the mind.’’ The Dalai Lama says that Shunyata is the absence of an absolute essence or independent existence. If a thing exists, it is because of several other factors.
One might as well ask: Is it possible to have a partless phenomenon? According to the Madhyamika school of thought, there can be no phenomenon without constituents. Every phenomenon in the universe has to have parts or constituents to come into being.

The Dalai Lama’s book, Art of Living , makes our understanding of the perception of reality clearer. He says, ‘‘as your insight into the ultimate nature is deepened and enhanced, you will develop a perception of reality from which you will perceive phenomena and events as sort of illusory. And that mode of perceiving reality will permeate all your interactions with reality.

Even emptiness itself, which is seen as the ultimate nature of reality, is not absolute, nor does it exist independently. We cannot conceive of emptiness as independent of a basis of phenomenon, because when we examine the nature of reality, we find that emptiness itself is an object. Look for its essence and we will find that it is empty of inherent existence. Therefore, the Buddha taught of the emptiness of emptiness.’’

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All energy is consciousness

Nov 7, 2009, 12.00am IST
SWAMI KRIYANANDA.

Truth can be likened to a pyramid - from its pinnacle, the highest expression of truth radiates, while its broad base gives strength and stability.


In a society like that of India, which for thousands of years has had a broad-based acceptance of spirituality, atheists too know a great deal more about spiritual truth than most westerners. I've been amazed by the number of people in India who tell me they don't believe in God, and then go on to demonstrate that they do.

They don't necessarily define God in terms of a flute-playing, blue Krishna. But the thought of an infinite consciousness is so ingrained in them that it's impossible for them to reject it.

Because the highest expression of spiritual teachings throughout the ages has usually been found only at the pinnacle of the pyramid, very few people reached it. Spiritual teachings were often esoteric, and the few who received them would seek solitude in the mountains or monasteries.


When Paramhansa Yogananda brought Kriya Yoga to the West, he understood the need to create a broad-based pyramid that was accessible to many. In fact, Kriya Yoga is the core of that pyramid because it helps magnetise the inner spiritual spine, and thus bring everything into alignment with a higher reality.


This universe seems solid but the truth is that it's just energy. Scientists are beginning to accept the truth that Indian sages taught thousands of years ago - that all matter is energy and that energy is really consciousness. The Infinite Consciousness brought out of itself ideas and clothed them with will power and energy. Then it vibrated that energy more grossly to become this physical universe.

Today, our senses are so constantly stimulated that the average person has an attention span of only one or two seconds. The deeper aspect is that we are always dissatisfied with that kind of restlessness. We think that by skating on the surface of life we'll have more experiences, and therefore more wisdom. We simply become more and more superficial. The more you live at the surface, the further and faster you may be able to skate, but the less you will absorb and understand.

The way to experience that expansion of awareness that all human beings seek is to rise above body consciousness. This is only done through deep meditation. The more you meditate, the more your senses become refined. Everything becomes a part of you. When you can really rise out of body consciousness, suddenly you discover that all is you. You are not this little ego - you are in all.

When Yogananda came to America, his purpose was to help all sincere seekers understand that if we approach life with this philosophy, and with the practice of Kriya Yoga, we will find God. When we do this, and bring all our energy into our inner Self, everything falls into place.

Usually sages tell you, ''The world is all delusion. Meditate and leave it all behind.'' Yogananda took the approach of the Vedas. He showed that by using Kriya Yoga, you can change yourself, and from your spiritual centre you can help transform this world.

Kriya Yoga has value beyond measure because it helps you become centred, so that everything you do improves. It takes your awareness from your own centre into attunement with that Divine Consciousness which is ''centre everywhere, circumference nowhere''.

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Receiving divine grace with heartfelt kirtana

Nov 12, 2009, 12.00am IST
ANANDMURTI GURUMAA.


Kirtana is a valuable spiritual aid to bring the seeker closer to the Supreme Consciousness. It is the singing of devotional songs, chanting creatively with heartfelt sincerity and purpose.


Kirtana is helpful in all spheres of life; it helps us to overcome physical troubles and tribulations as well.

During kirtana many assemble together, united in purpose, and so all their collective physical energies function in unison. Their collective psychic energies flow in the same channel, inspired by Parama Purusa. At the place of kirtana, not only will there be a huge concentration of physical energies, but also a powerful concentration of psychic energy, which will remove all the collective, accumulated miseries of the material world. Kirtana is initiation to the Divine to reveal the Supreme Consciousness within.


By the inspiration they receive from Parama Purusa, practitioners acquire great power. No worldly obstacles can stand before their tremendous spiritual force. Thus kirtana is helpful not only for spiritual sadhana but also for overcoming worldly difficulties.


Physical afflictions are caused partly by nature, and partly by our own thoughts and actions. Whatever might be the physical miseries – natural or man-made – if people collectively chant kirtana, calamities become easier to deal with. In case of natural calamities like flood, famine, drought and epidemic, or man-made calamities, miseries and tortures, relief is at hand through heartfelt kirtana. Singing together and seeking the grace of the Parama Purusa cannot fail to bring some relief, even enable a certain movement upward towards higher consciousness.

In addition to helping redress individual challenges, kirtana makes it less difficult to remove collective psychic afflictions as well – those that already exist, and those which have not yet arrived but about which we have premonitions. If we are aware of an impending negative situation, and kirtana is done in advance, those impending troubles seem to disappear. They are dispelled not merely because of the collective mental force of so many people, but also due to the impact of so many minds moving with tremendous speed under the inspiration of Parama Purusa.

At the place of kirtana, not only are the people who are themselves doing kirtana getting benefited, but also those who are not participating – and even those among the non-participants who are sceptics and non-believers, who don’t like the idea at all, the ripple effect of kirtana touches their lives as well, bringing positivity and peace, engendering common benefit.

One of the names of Parama Purusa is Ashutosh. Ashu means “quickly, easily”. Therefore, Ashutosh means the one who can be satisfied quickly and easily. That is, the one who is easy to please. If you do kirtana sincerely and wholeheartedly even for five or 10 minutes, Parama Purusa becomes pleased. Parama Purusa does not make any distinction between educated and uneducated, between black and white – all are His loving children.

Do kirtana without any consideration of time, place and person and those who do kirtana should always remember that the Parama Purusa is Grace and benevolence are made accessible.

Today is the 19th Mahaprayan Divas – departure from the worldly abode – of Shri Shri Anandamurti.

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Lighting the lamp of love

Feb 1, 2010, 12.00am IST
Ravi Shankar.

For an oil lamp to burn, the wick has to be in the oil, yet out of the oil. If the wick is drowned in oil, it cannot bring light.


Life is like the wick of the lamp; you have to be in the world yet remaining untouched by it. If you are drowned in the materialism of the world, you cannot bring joy and knowledge in your life. By being in the world, yet not drowning in the worldly aspect of it, we can be the light of joy and knowledge. Lamps are lit on this day not just to decorate homes, but also to communicate this profound truth.

Every human being has some good qualities. Every lamp that you light is symbolic of this. By lighting the lamp of wisdom in you, you light up latent values and by acquiring knowledge; you awaken all the facets of your being. When they are lit and awakened, it is Deepawali. Don’t be satisfied with lighting just one lamp; light a thousand, for you need to light many lights to dispel the darkness of ignorance.

Another profound symbolism is in the firecrackers. In life, you often become like a firecracker, waiting to explode with your pent-up emotions, frustration and anger. When you suppress your emotions, cravings, aversions, hatred, you reach a bursting point. Bursting crackers is a psychological exercise to release bottled-up emotions. When you see an explosion outside, you feel similar sensations within you as well. Along with the explosion, there is so much light. Let go of these emotions, so serenity dawns. You can experience newness when you discard these pent-up emotions. Deepawali means to be in the present, so drop the regrets of the past and the worries of the future and live in the moment.

Sweets and gifts symbolise the dispelling of the bitterness and renewal of friendship. Deepawali is a time to throw light on the wisdom you have gained and welcome a new beginning. When true wisdom dawns, it gives rise to celebration. But don’t let celebration make you lose your focus and awareness. To maintain awareness in the midst of celebrations, the ancients created rituals: puja brings sacredness. For the same reason, Deepawali is also the time for pujas that add depth to the festivities by infusing the spiritual aspect.

Celebration includes the spirit of seva or service. Share. In giving, we receive. Celebration also means dissolving all differences and basking in the glory of the atman. Happiness and wisdom have to be spread and that can happen when all come together and celebrate in knowledge.

Deepawali is the celebration of the wisdom thus born. For the one who is not in knowledge, Deepawali comes only once a year, but for the wise, Deepawali is every moment and every day. This Deepawali, celebrate with knowledge and take a sankalpa (intention) to serve humanity.

Light the lamp of love in your heart; the lamp of abundance in your home; the lamp of compassion to serve others; the lamp of knowledge to dispel the darkness of ignorance and the lamp of gratitude for the abundance that the Divine has bestowed on us. Light dispels darkness and when the darkness of ignorance within you is dispelled through the light of wisdom, goodness prevails.

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Don’t look too far for solutions

Nov 16, 2009, 12.00am IST

Change is the inevitability of life. Our interpretation of change determines our attitude and approach to life.



What is apparently beneficial is accepted without any fuss. When it comes to accepting the inconvenient and the unpleasant, there begins conflict and resentment. However the seemingly hopeless situations that are very painful to deal with are also instruments of change. ‘What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly,’ wrote Richard Bach.

Every seemingly hopeless situation is pregnant with the potential to effect improvement. It’s just that one usually looks at the problem in a way that’s too upfront. That creates a myopic perspective in dealing with the problem.


Like Godels theorem, which states that no part of a system can comprehend the system as long as it is an integral part of the system. As we distance ourselves from the problem, and have a bird’s-eye perspective, we can begin to see the issue in another light. Anticipation of the problem always tends to magnify the event and imagine it to be much more frightful. Anticipation should prepare, not scare.


A rigid approach that expects things to happen in a specific way only makes matters worse. The ability to adapt is what can make things better. Rigidity limits available options. It severely handicaps creativity, which is considered the mother of solutions. Serendipity happens only because the mind is open and willing to look at the same thing differently.

An alternative viewpoint is critical to make the most of any given situation. The severest of problems have more often than not brought out the best from many individuals. Isn’t it also said: “Necessity is the mother of invention”?

The process of strategising while solving a problem throws up many facets of ourselves that we never knew existed. Adversity has been a blessing often enough and ought to be respected rather than feared. Complications arise most often because we take things personally and too seriously. Surrender only destroys self-esteem. Fighting enhances it. The difference between the two is just a matter of attitude.
Helplessness is a state of the mind. Most successful businessmen and corporate executives are paid for their ability to keep cool in the most trying of circumstances. They probably begin where others stop trying. Fixing the blame is not what absolves one of failure. Fixing the problem is the only redemption.
Anger, fear, resentment and frustration only muddle neural networks. They are mere manifestations of the fight, flight or fright response. What is actually needed is a right, bright, and trite response. This response can only be attained with a calm and controlled thought process. Knee-jerk responses are just reflexes without any form of cerebration. They are most often fruitless. A deliberate, conscious effort needs to be inculcated to programme a conditioned response.


A positive approach is a big help, as it tends to activate the right brain, the one that has great intuitive abilities. The most appropriate response to any problem would be whole-brained. That is with both the right and left hemispheres giving their inputs. The dominant half -- the left-brain in right-handed persons and right brain in left-handed persons – enables analysis, logic and assessment. It tends to be a fragmentary approach.


The right has a more intuitive, subtle and holistic approach. A combined two-pronged approach is much more likely to bring out the best in adversity -- and make it easier for the butterfly in you to take wing.

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The unstruck sound, the Anahata Naad

Oct 15, 2009, 12.00am IST
ANUP TANEJA.

The initial creative impulses arose as spandan or thought-vibration of the Pure Being. The sound that emanated from the vibration was AUM. In its transcendental aspect, it is difficult to establish contact with the Supreme Being. However, the nearest approach is Sound, also referred to as Aparam Brahmn .


Supercharged with transcendent soul-force, sound is, in all Creation, the one, powerful principle that widely influences and effectively brings under control all other manifestations.

Self-realised beings, the siddhas , discovered that there exists a definite relationship between sound and mind. The mind, in the process of being attracted towards sound, loses awareness of the external world altogether.

Through meditation, seekers following the path of Siddha Yoga endeavour to establish contact with the divine sound, the Anahata Naad that helps in subduing the turbulent mind – that keeps roving in the pleasure garden of sensual objects – and giving it a new, inward direction.

As the seeker delves deep within, he realises that his physical and astral bodies, his senses and the mind, all have sound as their basis. An analysis of one’s individual existence takes one to sound before one reaches the Eternal Self.

Anahata Naad also forms the basis in all the six chakras or plexuses located within the sushumna that extends from the base of the spine to the crown of the head – the brahmarandhra or the tenth door. Since the lower three chakras – muladhara , swadhishthana and manipura – are dominated by the tattvas earth, water and fire respectively, Naad is not clearly heard in these.


Anahata chakra , which corresponds to the cardiac plexus in the physical body, is the centre of Vayu Tattva . Anahata Sound, called the sound of the Shabda Brahmn , emanates from this centre. Significantly, Anahata Naad is the unstruck, mystic sound that occurs spontaneously and is not the result of striking or beating certain things. Depending upon the intensity of a seeker’s concentration and the level of his mental purity, Anahata Naad can be distinctly heard in deep meditation, paving the way for the seeker’s evolution to the highest level of consciousness.


Anahata Naad manifests itself in different ways ranging from the sound that is similar to the beating of the waves of the sea to the deafening peals of huge bells and the holy sound of the conch. When the seeker hears the sound of the flute, his entire being is permeated with Divine bliss and he loses body-consciousness; the sound of the kettledrum bestows the seeker with powers of clairvoyance and the ability to see distant objects. But the naad that leads the seeker to the ultimate goal of yoga, Nirvikalpa Samadhi , is the meghanaad , the sound of thunder.

Siddha Yoga masters say that constant hearing of meghanaad for some days in deep meditation enables the seeker to enter the abode of Chiti, Pure Consciousness, where he experiences the tranquility of the supra-causal state of consciousness.

The seeker then begins to understand that there are two dimensions to Chiti : one is the supremely pure transcendent aspect, which transcends the world, and the other is the immanent aspect, in which by free will, there is differentiation, attribution and the projection of the wondrous universe on the canvas of the Supreme Being.

Despite appearing as the universe with myriad diversities and impurities, Chiti retains her immaculate purity and remains absolutely untainted.

The writer is an editor with the Indian Council of Historical Research.

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Why the anvil does not strike back

Oct 14, 2009, 12.00am IST
Stephen Isaac.

Look at the anvil. It gets struck repeatedly but not once does it strike back.


ould any one of us hold up the anvil as a role model? Even so-called spiritual leaders are ready to get into a fierce argument to uphold their version of the truth, claiming it to be the only truth, the absolute truth.

Is it possible that truth can be two or three different things? I don’t believe so, because truth is so simple. My definition of the truth which will coincide with what every great master or prophet has revealed and simplified, is not to tell a lie for any reason, not to use abusive language of any kind, not to hurt or harm any of God’s creation mentally or physically. To help whenever given the opportunity, never discriminate on the basis of colour, caste, creed or position. To receive whatever is our lot – that falls to us whether good or bad as our just reward for the moment, understanding that we can change the bad to good, by thinking and doing good deeds.

Each of us has the potential to follow these simple rules, but it takes a lot of courage to implement them, because most of us are already bound in chains created by our upbringing, culture, rituals and customs, and this simple knowledge that can set us free, is scary.

This is what a great Master said: The weak are burdens to the weak, but to the strong they are a pleasant charge. Seek out the weak; their weakness is your strength.

The hungry are but hunger to the hungry, but to the ones who are full, they are an opportunity for service. Seek out the hungry; your fullness is their want.

The blind are stumbling blocks to the blind, but they are mileposts to the seeing. Seek out the blind; their darkness is your light.

I personally don’t see anything complicated in these statements. It simply says, step out of your chains and inhibitions and start helping others with whatever you possess in abundance. This is a step towards the truth, because every person – rich or poor, bad or good – has some good in them that can be used. This step in knowledge also leads to a love that doesn’t discriminate. God loves everything He has created equally, so why do we choose a particular being or item, to shower our love on, ignoring everything else which needs the same love. Love is the Law of God.


We have all heard this saying “Love is blind”, meaning it sees no fault in the beloved. This kind of blindness is the height of seeing. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everybody had this kind of blindness, then they would never see any fault in anybody or anything, ever?

This kind of love neither lends or borrows, neither buys nor sells and when it gives, it gives its all, and when it takes, it takes its all. Its very taking is a giving and its very giving is a taking making it the same today, tomorrow and forever.

This kind of love is like the anvil, absorbing vibrations of all kinds all the time, yet remaining calm and steady, giving and taking constantly. Love is an active force which we should use to guide our every move and step, every wish and thought. And the byproduct of this love is peace, within and without. I wish this love on every living being on this Earth, because a love that singles out a fraction of the whole has already doomed itself to grief.

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The symbolism of the Thai spirit house

Oct 13, 2009, 12.00am IST
SOMA CHAKRAVERTTY.

On a visit to Thailand, the first thing that caught my attention was the ornamental structure that looked like a birdhouse cum oriental temple, situated at the corner of every residential and commercial complex .



The sacred corner was washed and cleaned every day, and was lit by candles and fragrant with burning incense. The sacred corner was rich with offerings of chocolates, canned and cooked food and fresh flowers, placed there by visitors and residents.

I got talking to the receptionist at the place where I was staying, and she answered my questions: “It’s a Spirit House,” she explained. “It’s a Thai concept. We believe that if the spirits are provided with such shelters and appeased with daily offerings, they will protect the house or building, and shield its inhabitants from harm.”


The overcast sky was saturated with rain clouds. I could not see the occupant of the beautiful Spirit House clearly. When the clouds parted suddenly, the dazzling sun shone on the spirit house, revealing a beautiful figurine of what must have been the representation of a divine deity.


The symbolism was interesting. Are not our bodies Spirit Houses too? In each and every one of us, deep inside, there resides a part of the universal spirit. I was reminded of this line from the Bible: “Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit whom we receive from God. We do not belong to our self.” Appearances are not more important than how we are inside. Our aura, the energy field that surrounds our physical body, is a reflection of what we are within. Our own perspective, the way we lead our lives and how we connect to each other – these are the offerings we can make to the spirit house in us.
Like the presiding deity of the Spirit House that looks after the well being of those in the area, our mind directs the way we channelise the energy available to us. The physical body that houses the spirit is dense and the mind that is meant to create the energy channel is most often restless and self-centered. It stops us from seeking out our divine nature and natural wisdom.


The lives we lead are mind-based, nay, mind-biased, for our actions and reactions is the outcome of what we think and feel. Therefore, when we learn to direct the mind with purity and love, we appease our inner spirit, which is the pure energy and true essence of our being.


Like the darkness that made Spirit of the Spirit House obscure, the materialistic mind, clouded by self-indulgence and ignorance obscures our view of the Supreme Spirit. For lack of communication, the inner spirit remains dormant. For lack of energy, it remains out of reach. What does it take to go about cleaning and accessing our own little spirit house tucked away inside? How to let in the brightness, banishing forever the dark clouds of ignorance?


Surya yoga is one way. Taking in the Sun’s energy could vitalise both body and spirit. The Sun’s energy could infuse us with the strength and perception to be able to listen to the soothing strains of Sakha , the Harmonious One, and the Universal One that resides in our own private spirit house. Making offerings of silence and meditation, with a love that transcends all barriers, could lead us to experience divine reality. To integrate harmoniously with the Universal Spirit is to experience Divine Bliss.

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Education should liberate you from the past

Dec 10, 2009, 12.00am IST
OSHO.

Education is a process of liberation, but it has not been actualised anywhere in the world.


Liberation means liberating the mind from the past, from theologies and political ideologies, liberating the mind in such a way that when a student comes out of education he is just a clean pure seeker with no prejudice.


That beautiful sentence at the gates of the universities in India, `ya vidya sa vimuktaye’ -- `education is that which liberates’ --, shows how man can be unaware. Liberation becomes impossible when the university itself has a certain prejudice, a certain programme to put into the minds of the students. So first dissolve Hindu, Muslim, Jaina, Catholic -- these names, from the universities. Secondly: India... has more than one hundred universities, which is meaningless... The result is that the standard of education goes on falling. When you have so many universities you cannot get the best as professors...

Just because somebody has a university degree does not mean that he becomes automatically capable of teaching. Teaching is a totally different art. Passing an examination is one thing; to teach, you need to be articulate, you need to have a vast range of knowledge. I mean not only the textbooks that you have read in the university, you have to be constantly in touch with the growing knowledge.

Thirty years ago somebody passed his master's degree or became a Ph D and for 30 years he has not bothered about what has happened in his subject. In 30 years human knowledge has increased more than has been possible in the past even 3,000 years. Now a professor who is unaware of these 30 years of development is absolutely incapable.


Should politicians become vice-chancellors? Retired politicians, those who have been defeated in the elections, need some place of respect. The vice-chancellorship has become a refuge. So make it a law that no politician can become a vice-chancellor.

Universities should be teaching also the latest discoveries, the latest literature, the latest poetry, and the latest in everything. The universities should be sensitive enough: each year there are new novels, new music, new dances, that should become part of the curriculum. Universities have to remain always up to date.


Speaking is an art, and a professor should be an artist. His words should not be simply words; they should carry some poetry in them, some music in them. Each professor and each student should learn a simple meditation method. He can choose one. There are 112 meditation methods; the simplest is vipassana. It is uncomplicated. Make vipassana part of the curriculum; unless a person passes in vipassana he cannot get his degree.

Then it will be real education. Then it will be a liberating factor, because vipassana will liberate you totally from your religions, from your races, from your countries. It will make you an individual. You will not be anymore a member of a mob. You will have your own integrity, your own centeredness, and your own roots.

Meditation is an absolute necessity for humanity to survive. All other subjects should be taught, but no other subject is so important as meditation. But no university is teaching it. If all the graduates from the university come out with a meditative mind, they will change the whole structure and fabric of society.

These are my simple suggestions, absolutely practical; there is nothing utopian about them.

Excerpt from `Death to Deathlessness’. Courtesy: Osho International Foundation.
Website: http://www.osho.com/

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Worry Is A Voluntary Form Of Suffering

Oct 8, 2009, 12.00am IST
Swami Sukhabodhananda.

What is it to be a witness, to just be?


The Buddha was once meditating. His mind started creating problems and distracted him from the path of enlightenment. It was as though hundreds of horses were galloping through his mind. But the monk remained a witness and did not identify with fear. His mind turned into thousands of elephants tempting him to identify with them, but again Buddha was just a witness... he saw through the mind's game. His mind became a loving deer but still Buddha remained a witness. He did not get tempted.

Finally, his mind turned into a loving child drowning in the ocean, seeking his attention. Buddha, out of compassion, merged with his thoughts and stretched out his hands to save the drowning child. At once, the child turned into a monster and started pulling Buddha to the ocean. Buddha realised his folly and left the monster and continued being a witness. The monster turned again into a child and started pleading for help.


Buddha continued his meditation of being not participating but being a witness. The child drowned in the ocean and emerged as an enlightened mind, reflecting Buddha's mind. This is a play narrating Buddha's effort towards enlightenment.


Is the shunning of identification an important aspect of meditation?


Learn to be a witness to your thoughts and feelings. In the witnessing consciousness, there is no identification with anything. Identification leads to misery. Worry is a form of identification. Literally, worry means twisting and tearing. Have you observed that when you worry, your moving centre gets twisted? Negative state of worry depression or fear... shows up strongly in the form of twisting one's body-moving centre.

Just be a witness and do not get identified. Relax your body, your mind and then finally just be a witness. Let not your 'I' get identified with your body and mind. This de-identification is meditation.


What about emotions in a state of worry?

Firstly, negative emotional states like that of worry and jealousy must be observed and recognised. Generally, we do not see them. Instead, we become them. While a negative emotion is happening, be an onlooker. Then the emotion will be like a cloud that comes and goes.

To stop a negative emotion that comes out, create a new will through the intellectual centre. This is not suppression as you are doing it with an understanding that if negative emotion is let loose, it will create a hurt body. In turn this hurt body will take control of you.

Worry is a form of identification. It is useless. Unfortunately, many of us think it is right to worry about someone we love. Give up this voluntary form of suffering. By worrying you exhaust yourself. Your energy gets depleted. In a depleted state, one cannot perform to the optimum level. Learn to take small steps, stop worrying. Weed out the worry as it emerges. Do not allow the other centres to support and nourish it.

What do you mean when you say we live in two worlds ?
One is visible and outer while the other is invisible and inner. The outer is your body that is visible. The inner is your psychology. The object of spiritual teaching is to lead a person from unconscious being to conscious being.

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The divine aspect of an ideal relationship

Oct 7, 2009, 12.58pm IST
YOGI ASHWINI.

Everything in the universe is in its place because of balance. A harmonious balance between two complementary forces is an integral part of nature.


As the half-female, half-male Ardhanareshwar, Shiva represents the union of Parvati as Prakriti, the energy force, and Shiva as Purusha, the two manifest aspects of the Cosmic Consciousness, Brahmn.
Both Prakriti and Purusha are two different aspects of nature and they come together to form a perfect, harmonious balance between two complementary forces. This is the concept of marriage in Vedic philosophy.

The marriage of two individuals is intended to create a harmonious balance very similar to that of the Ardhanareshwar. They come together to form a union, becoming an inseparable part of each other’s lives, subsuming their individual identities for a holistic relationship that was founded on mutual give and take. The partners take care of each other’s needs for the rest of their lives with mutual devotion, dignity and respect. The relationship might extend further to include children – if the couple had children – and to the rest of the family like parents and other close relatives.

Woman is considered as the force or Shakti in a man’s life. How long a marital relationship lasts would depend upon the evolution of that relationship – the higher the purpose, the longer the union would be. The bonds are established between two individuals at the level of chakras or energy centres. There are certain characteristics pertaining to each chakra, and the union happens at the level of these characteristics.


The lowest level is that of basic earthly desires, characteristics of the mooladhar chakra, pertaining to the satisfaction of grosser needs like sharing of wealth and belongings. There’s no higher purpose of the two partners coming together. A little above this is the connection based on sexual desires at the level of the swadhishthan chakra, at the level of physical Creation. Above this is the connection established on the plane of power, be it social, political, or economic, at the manipoorak chakra.
Most marriages exist at the level of attachment, when the partners feel that one cannot exist without the other. When this is misunderstood to be love, there are chances of a weakening of the relationship. The basic concept behind the marriage is that of ‘togetherness and oneness’, and this is found to be lacking in these relationships. People tend to get tied up, blinded by their own selfishness that they come to value individual needs more than the equitable give and take harmonious balance represented by the Ardhanareshwar symbol.


A connection formed on the basis of love is much higher and has no ties. It is established at the anahat chakra, the seat of selfless love. Love can never hold you back. It will not tie you down with emotions and conditions. It is selfless. Love sets you free because you are happy in the happiness of the person you love, unconditionally.


Even rarer are the connections established at the level of vishudhi chakra that are based on higher forms of creativity, where people come together when they have risen above their own selfish needs and can now think beyond themselves.


Then comes the highest energy centre in a being, the ajna chakra that is the seat of Shiva in the human body. The connection formed here is so subtle that in the current flow of circumstances, it might be very difficult indeed to find it. Such a union would be similar to that of Shiva and Shakti, complete in every respect.

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A Spectacular Vision Of The Universal Form

Oct 6, 2009, 12.00am IST
Jaya Row.

Arjuna has heard of Krishna's divine glories. He now wants to see for himself the One Universal Form. He asks Krishna to reveal his splendour and his wish is granted. However, He tells Arjuna that he would not be able to see this Form with normal eyes and gives him divine eyes with which the universal Form would be visible.

This is no ordinary perception. It is a visualisation. Thus, only two people Arjuna and Sanjaya see this vision in the battlefield of Kurukshetra that had thousands of warriors; this was possible because of their extraordinary powers of vision, granted to them by Krishna and Vyasa respectively.


This is one of the rare moments a sincere seeker is blessed with when the veil lifts, revealing the beauty and grandeur that lies beyond. It inspires devotion and renews one's conviction. But these flashes cannot be sustained. You need to go back to your level and work yourself up to find this magnificence in your everyday life, always.

Krishna shows Arjuna a synoptic view of the entire universe. Arjuna sees countless wonderful forms in divine robes, adorned with divine ornaments, with the effulgence and radiance of a thousand suns, all resting in the body of the God of gods. Filled with amazement, Arjuna bows with folded hands and goes on to describe this spectacular vision.

Arjuna now understands Krishna as the embodiment of the Divine Force. He is not just the dear friend he had mistaken Him for. He remembers the times he spent with Krishna as friends, unaware of His greatness. He begs forgiveness for inadvertently disrespecting Him.


Krishna comes up with a display of raw power, all-devouring and fearful. Arjuna sees the worlds getting pulverised. Flames blazing from his mouths consume the universe. Arjuna sees Dhritarashtra and all his allies including Bhisma, Drona and Karna as well as his own heroes getting destroyed.


He asks Krishna: ''Who are you? Why are you so fierce?'' Krishna answers: ''I am the destroyer of the worlds. I have already killed these warriors. You are merely an instrument. Rise therefore, kill the enemies, win fame and enjoy this vast kingdom.''

In other words, the law of karma prevails. The Kaurava forces have asked for destruction. They have to meet their end. Arjuna is not the one who kills them. He is only the instrument of law.


Overcome with fear at the sight of this terrible form Arjuna asks Krishna to go back to His gentle form. In his enthusiasm he has asked for more than he can assimilate. He now wants to see the benevolent form of Vishnu. Sanjaya sees the same vision but is not afraid. He has the strength to understand the fearful form of the Lord. He is exhilarated, inspired and speaks with reverence and adoration.


Krishna now shows His four-armed form of Vishnu, His gentle and gorgeous nature. The chapter ends with Krishna underscoring the rare privilege earned by Arjuna. Even the gods long to see this form that cannot be seen by mere spiritual practice. Krishna says He can be seen with single-pointed devotion; His essence can be known and entered. ''One who acts for Me, is devoted to Me and regards Me as Supreme obtains Me.''

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Simply elevate and see the big difference

Oct 5, 2009, 12.00am IST
MARGUERITE THEOPHIL.

"It's human nature after all!" Hearing this, we rarely stop to wonder "What does that really mean?" It is most often used in a negative sense about a spectrum of behaviour from the harmlessly quirky to the downright evil. But 'human nature' also embraces a wholesome capacity for love, compassion, service and interdependence.


What makes us, as a species, veer from time to time towards the 'dark' side of our nature? Ecologist and research psychologist John Calhoun tells of the Ik, a Ugandan mountain people forcibly relocated from their ancestral homeland to a desolate area. Cut off from their cultural roots, brought to near starvation, they slowly developed a numbing insensitivity to the suffering of others.

One day, Lo'ono, an old blind woman, fell into a deep ravine. Badly injured, her pleas for help were ignored; instead, many crowded around the edge, laughing and jeering, even throwing sticks and pebbles at her as she lay dying.

What happened to these people, Calhoun warned, can happen to any of us. His research revealed this was not an inherently violent tribe. Prior to relocation, they lived in relative harmony, extending the usual hospitality to each other and to strangers. But with a steady diet of neglect, hunger, despair and little else, they 'descended' into acting from the lowest side of their nature.

This works for individuals as well as for groups. Societies and governments today use and abuse power to subjugate or humiliate people and countries perceived in any way as being lower or less powerful. Then, as the less powerful now become more powerful, we witness increasingly inhuman instances of retaliation born from this contagious, toxic contamination. And oddly, we continue to be surprised!

There is an opposite and equally contagious 'ascending' tendency within us that some refer to as elevation that uplifting, inspiring feeling on reading, hearing of or experiencing acts of human goodness, courage, sacrifice and compassion.

What is significant here is that elevation results in making one want to also help others and to become a better person. When we encounter people behaving in a petty, selfish or vicious way, we tend to feel that we do not live in a morally inspiring world. When we see too much of this, it's easy to get to a stage when one says: "What's the use", and further to a stage when one feels: "If you can't beat them, join them."

On the other hand, when we learn of someone, especially a stranger, especially anonymously, performing an act of kindness or generosity for another, we do feel we live in a fair and just world, and want to make it fairer and even more just.

The effects of these feelings have potentially life-altering effects. A young woman i know was so surprised and moved at the prayerful and generous material support extended towards her brother going through a serious illness that she has vowed to work to reach out and help others in the same way.

If frequent bad deeds, small or large, trigger social hostility, cynicism, even violence towards others, frequent good deeds have a kind of 'undoing' effect on all this, raising the level of love, compassion and harmony around us.


What we call society is simply a manifestation of the choices we make. How our life turns out depends on the choices that individuals and groups make on a daily basis.

The writer is a Mumbai-based consultant, personal growth coach and workshop leader. E-mail: weave@vsnl.net

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Have serious fun with Pu-tai

Oct 4, 2009, 12.00am IST
NARAYANI GANESH.

Apot-bellied Laughing Buddha, reminiscent of a jolly Santa Claus, goody-bag and all, is the very antithesis of the stoic, self-denying Sakyamuni.


The Buddha as the serious one, often depicted seated in a jungle with eyes closed in deep meditation, oblivious to the vine entwining his still body, is a picture of quietude and contentment. Taking a closer look, the contrast between the jovial and serious caricatures of enlightenment might not be all that sharp, since they represent two aspects of the same insight that is suffused with kindness and compassion, selflessness and detachment.


The Laughing Buddha, also called the Celestial Buddha, is fat and jolly. He is shown carrying a rough-hewn sack that never becomes empty, from which he gives away that which promotes joy and happiness. As Pu-tai or Budai in Chinese folklore, Hotei in Japanese and Hasne Buddha in Nepali, the Fat Buddha is poor - in the material sense - but rich in knowledge and empathy. The obverse depiction of the Enlightened Buddha probably had its origins in the story of a Chinese Zen monk who lived in tenth century China, whose loving and detached nature is suffused with the wisdom of contentment . In Japan, he is also known as Shichi Fukujin, a Taoist lucky god.

Thai folklore extols the Laughing Buddha as Phra Sangkadchai, a Buddhist Arahant who was a contemporary of the Buddha who appreciated his ability to explain the sophisticated and abstract truths of the Buddha Dhamma in a simple but succinct manner, easily understood by the layperson.

The Laughing Buddha also has a Sanskrit name that indicates he was believed to be symbolic of the Buddha of the future, Maitreya, who guides people to the essence within each one that reveals the truth of the interconnectedness of all Creation. Depicted in Chinese murals as representing the tenth and most evolved stage of enlightenment, he easily shares the 'secrets' of self-liberation with humour and simplicity, as a people-friendly enlightened master. As an agent of happiness and generosity, Maitreya reveals to the seeker that heaven is not something out there but only waiting to be discovered within, even as one ekes out an earthly existence.

Budai's protruding belly signifies the expanse of his soul, and rubbing it is believed to bring luck. Like Ganesha, he has large, protruding ears that are symbols of his vast knowledge and deep understanding.


Murals and other representations of the Laughing Buddha show a wandering monk full of mirth, followed by children as he goes about distributing kindness and generosity from a bag slung over his shoulder, erasing the sadness out of the lives of people he meets on his infinite travels, spreading joy and happiness. Others show him wielding a 'wishing' fan, at the flick of which he grants the wishes of those who pray for something with great fervour. He's funny and serious, he also brings luck and prosperity. Figurines of the Laughing Buddha are given away as gifts to dear ones for luck, and he is often found welcoming visitors at entrances to temples, hotels and restaurants.

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Ahimsa, an active force of love

Jan 29, 2010, 12.00am IST
Madhuji.

The doctrine of ahimsa implies living with active compassion, refraining from violence in thought, word and deed.


The belief in the supremacy of truth was not based on theoretical abstraction. To seek the truth is a striving for human perfection.

Mahavira renounced all possessions and set out to live the solitary life of a wandering mendicant, begging for food and shelter and enduring the harshest of austerities. In fasting, he abandoned all hardships and concern of the body. He wandered about, meditating for 12 years on the truth of existence to understand the nature of the Self. After 12 years of intense penance, he attained the highest knowledge called Kevala jnana, which is infinite, complete and full.


Sakyamani Gautama chose the life of a mendicant practitioner in search of satya. He mastered four significant stages of mindfulness and contemplative awareness. This mastery was in union with a series of unusual cognitions. During the first watch (evening) Gautama attained the first cognition that unfolded each of his own previous incarnations. He saw them one by one, in absolute transparency. In the second watch (midnight), he acquired the divine eye, with which he could penetrate into the truth about the cycle of disease and rebirth of all living creatures. The universe appeared to him as a mirror reflecting the misery of the repeated cycles of birth and death. He saw the interplay between good karma and merits, bad karma, and its miserable retributions. During the third watch (the last night), he acquired the third cognition: he perceived the four noble truths. This is suffering, this is the source of suffering, this is the cessation of suffering and this is the path that leads to emancipation along with the sixth form of knowledge, that is, extinction of desire. In the fourth cognition, he realised the principle of ''dependent co-arising'' that framed his theory of existence. Having realised these truths, he attained the level of Buddhahood.


According to M K Gandhi, all faiths constituted a revelation of truth but as they are created by imperfect men they are alloyed by untruth, and therefore, liable to imperfection and error. But absorbing the tested truths of all faiths it is possible to assimilate the universal spirit of all religions. It was his search for satya that inspired him to introduce sarvadharma, the multi-faith prayers. These were chanted and sung in his ashrams.

Gandhi's deep commitment to the value of ahimsa came to him as a natural extension to his search for truth. After repeated experiments, Gandhi came to the conclusion that ahimsa is an infallible force and that ahimsa and satya are part of our inherent nature: ''Man as an animal is violent, and as spirit, is non-violent...violence is the law of the brute. The dignity of man required obedience to a higher law, to the strength of the spirit." In Gandhi's terms, ahimsa is a constituent of satya. It is not absence of violence, but as compassion, ahimsa is an active force of love.

While Mahavira the ascetic followed the path of austerity and Buddha advocated a middle path, Gandhi revisited the concepts of ahimsa and satya and used them successfully in the political sphere as well.

The writer teaches religious studies at Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi.

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More the extravagance, greater the violence

Nov 5, 2009, 12.00am IST

The great Indian epic, the Mahabharata, says: "Ahimsa or non-violence is the greatest dharma."


All religions and great saints have upheld ahimsa as the greatest dharma. Ahimsa was also one of the most effective means by which M K Gandhi helped liberate the country from foreign domination.

The word ahimsa is derived from the Sanskrit verb 'hims' which means to kill, to injure, or to hurt. The absence of these violent tendencies is ahimsa. The practice of non-violence calls for an understanding of violence and its cause. The principal cause of violence lies in the ignorance of the true nature of the Self that is characterised by happiness, peace and completeness.

This ignorance results in insecurity, selfishness, hatred, aggression and competition. Ignorance propels a person to resort to violence to fulfil his egocentric needs. It is for this reason that scriptures advice: "Do not harm any living being." Why, because i do not want to be harmed. I should not do unto others what i do not want done unto me. In this way, ahimsa becomes a universal law necessary to safeguard the order of the universe.

Violence occurs at three levels: in deeds, words and thoughts. Absolute non-violence at the level of deeds is impossible because some amount of violence might be necessary in order to survive in life. Even chores such as eating, cooking, walking and cleaning involve sacrificing minute life forms. Therefore, practice of ahimsa at this level would mean to reduce violence to the bare minimum. The more we increase our needs and the more extravagant we are, the more the violence. An awareness of this would require one to cut down one's needs and live a simple life as much as possible. In Gandhi's case, the loincloth he wore symbolised this concept.

With respect to food, opting for vegetarianism would be an expression of ahimsa. Even that involves destroying plant life. We can hurt others even through words. This is subtler than violence through deeds. Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita: "Speaking words which do not inflict pain, which are sweet, truthful and also beneficial, constitute austerity of speech". These conditions automatically check violence at the level of words.

Subtler than ahimsa at the level of words is that at the level of mind. Nursing hurtful thoughts for others is violence, too. When entertained for a long time, violence is bound to find an outlet through words or deeds. Words and deeds are generated in the mind, and this is also where violence in thought occurs. So the first step is to check violence in the mind. One way of doing this is to constantly replenish the mind with positive thoughts. If, for instance, the mind is full of anger, hatred and jealousy for someone, we could flood the mind with feelings of forgiveness, tolerance and accommodation, to flush the mind of violent tendencies.

Ignorance of the true nature and glory of the Self result in violence at the level of mind, words and deeds. Therefore, knowledge of the Self is ahimsa in the true sense of the word. Practising ahimsa in mind, word and deed paves the way for attaining to knowledge of the Self.

Implementation of ahimsa calls for sensitivity towards fellow beings, animals, insects, and plants and towards entire Creation. Awareness of the need of others and a proactive effort to fulfil them requires the sacrifice of one's own needs. Not only is ahimsa the greatest dharma, it is the only dharma.

By Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati

Today is Gandhi Jayanti.

Website: www.tattvatirtha.org

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