Life has much to offer, don't go away yet

Feb 16, 2010, 12.00am IST
MURALI A RAGHAVAN.


A spate of suicides reported recently makes us wonder: What drives an individual to take his own life? The drastic action is perhaps due to intense despair and a feeling of helplessness.

The question then arises: What is life and what sustains it? No doubt the physical frame is sustained and supported by air, food and water. But at the psychological level it is hope, the perception of self-worth and moral strength that affirm the will to live. All excuses like loneliness, loss of wealth, humiliation, shame and guilt that might force the decision to give up on life midstream could be traced to the loss of the will to live.

Hope is the springboard of all activity. A new hour, a new dawn and a new year, all hold out hope. Hope can also spring forth in a manner that is unconnected with us. A good turn of events for someone else can kindle hope in us. However, hope could turn out to be a double-edged sword. Unfulfilled hope can be devastating, as in business, love and competitive situations. Grief might blur one’s vision but the flicker of hope helps us navigate the darkness of despair.

In contrast, death is total darkness. One way of handling this is to hope realistically rather than reach for something that is unattainable. There will be less chance, then, of falling so short of the goal that everything seems out of reach and hence, life will not lose all meaning. To act and not be distracted by the fruit of action is a good way to avoid such situations. The Gita advises us to remain detached from fruit of action.


Self-criticism and introspection are useful exercises to appraise one’s strengths and weaknesses so that one can understand one’s potential. This is not to sit in judgement and find fault. Any assessment of one’s worth can only be relative and so is not absolute. Comparisons are odious, wrote a poet. So when we desist from making comparisons, it helps us overcome a great many problems.
Everything in the world is there because it is of some worth. Ramakrishna Paramhansa said that a stone that lies on the road is there for a reason we might not be aware of. Every person likes to be loved, to receive compassion and kindness. No one would like to be hurt, deceived or offended in any way. So the universal moral code is clear: Do unto others what you would have them do to you. A convicted criminal appeals for mercy or clemency hoping that the very moral code he violated will somehow pull him out of the dire situation he has put himself in. In some cases a one-off moral transgression may make it difficult to justify the continuance of life.

Speaking a lie while being aware of the truth and doing wrong intentionally even while knowing what is right could lead to dilemmas that erode self-worth. A fractured mind, like a broken mirror, does not reflect reality. It leads to misconceptions and creates confusion, leading one to jump to conclusions. When one is unable to reconcile contradictions in perception, hasty decisions are made and when translated into action, these can have disastrous, and maybe irreversible consequences. Such as the decision to take one’s life.
A unified mind is the key to peace, happiness and fullness. It can help us see the whole picture rather then get trapped in ephemeral details. Not everyone might turn out to be a Beethoven or Stephen Hawking. However, by not getting disheartened by setbacks and by finding ways to overcome difficulties, we can learn to appreciate and enjoy whatever we have instead of calling it quits.

Read More

Moving Heaven, Earth To Create the World

Nov 24, 2004, 12.00am IST
Narayani Ganesh.

Rotorua, NZ: The Maoris, the original inhabitants of Aotearoa, "the land of the long white cloud" (today's New Zealand) live close to Nature and revere the Earth and the Sky as their ancestors. According to Maori mythology, we are descendants of Rangi, Heaven, and Papa, Earth.


In the beginning, there was Nothing, Te Kore. From Nothing came Darkness, Te Poo. In that "impenetrable" darkness Rangi and Papa clung to each other and had six sons: gods of the forest, of winds and storms, of fish and reptiles, of "fierce" human beings, of uncultivated food, and of cultivated food. Overcome with the suffocating closeness of their parents, the sons of Rangi and Papa longed for light and space and dreamed of stretching their cramped limbs with abandon. As the primal pa-rents continued to hold each other tight, Taane-mahuta, the god of the forests and father of all things that love light and freedom, rose to his feet with great difficulty and summoned all his strength. Standing on his head on Papa, his mother, he pushed upwards with feet against Rangi, his father.

After what seemed like eternity, Taane's persistence paid off: the parents were forced apart; Earth and Sky became separated. Rangi was hurled far away while angry winds screamed through the space between earth and sky. Light was able to creep through this huge gap and the earth was illuminated. Taane and his brothers were able to see the beauty of their mother's body but were saddened by the silvery mist that hung over her shoulders — a sign that she was grieving the separation from her husband. Rangi, too, was desolate. He shed tears of rain that fell on Mother Earth to form beautiful waterfalls, streams, rivers, lakes and oceans.


True, Taane had forcibly separated his parents, but he did love them dearly. He set about atoning for his act by decking his mother with beautiful flora with plenty of trees. Covered in green, the blue ocean lapped her body and the air was rent with the songs of birds and insects. However, one brother, Taawhiri-maatea, the god of winds and storms was inconsolable — till today he blows between the earth and sky.

Distressed at his father's loneliness, Taawhiri adorned Rangi's back with the bright Sun with the silvery Moon on his front. He threw a glowing red garment around his father but later removed it. A few strands of the garment remained, still visible at the time of the setting sun. Taawhiri looked farther for suitable adornments so that he could brighten the darkness that surrounded the sky. He went to Uru, a brother whose children, the "Shining Ones", lived at the foothills of the Maunganui mountain. Taane, the other brother, persuaded Uru to give him some of the Shining Lights to fasten on the mantle of the sky. At Uru's call, the children came rolling up the slope of the mountain to their father. Uru let Taawhiri collect some Shining Lights into a basket.

The five glowing lights that Taane placed in the shape of the cross on the breast of Rangi is the Southern Cross. The Children of Light were sprinkled on the dark blue robe of the Sky and the basket that lay suspended in the sky came to be known as the Milky Way. Sometimes, some of Uru's children tumble and fall swiftly towards the earth. We call them shooting stars. But most of the time, the Shining Lights remain twinkling like fireflies in the night sky, giving us the opportunity to star-gaze.

Read More

Physics is the New Bhashya of Vedanta

Apr 6, 2002, 02.10am IST

Vedas are four in number: the rig veda, the sama veda, the yajur veda and the atharva veda. each of these four vedas has four parts: the samhita, the brahmana, the aranyaka, and a number of upanishads. the first three parts of all the vedas are collectively called the vedas, and the fourth and the last, the upanishads, are collectively called vedanta. vedas are four in number: the rig veda, the sama veda, the yajur veda and the atharva veda. each of these four vedas has four parts: the samhita, the brahmana, the aranyaka, and a number of upanishads. the first three parts of all the vedas are collectively called the vedas, and the fourth and the last, the upanishads, are collectively called vedanta. these four parts of the vedas represent the historical order of their development over millennia. the samhitas are the most ancient, and of them, the rig veda samhita is the earliest. the samhitas are considered the vedas proper; the brahmanas, the aranyakas and the upanishads are periodic additions, made by way of growing with the changing times. the samhitas are hymns addressed to gods representing the forces of nature, followed by rites and sacrifices to propitiate those gods. the famous nasadiya sukta occurs in the rig samhita. the brahmanas were added to the samhitas by way of updating. the satapatha brahmana and the aitareya brahmana are well known. the aranyakas are so called because they were composed in the forests. during this period the sages and seers took to the practice of retiring into the forests to contemplate ‘the cream of all and what takes place’. in the fourth and the last stage, the upanishads appeared. there are 10-12 principal upanishads: the chandogya, the brihadaranyaka, the aitareya and the kaushitaki, forming the end part of the rig veda. the kena concludes the sama veda, with the taittiriya, isha, katha and shwetashwatara topping off the yajur veda, and the mundaka, mandukya and prashna signing off the atharva veda. these terminals of the vedas are generally called vedanta or shruti. the brahma sutras and the bhagavad gita make post-vedic literature, and are called smriti as opposite to shruti. together, shruti and smriti (the upanishads, the brahma sutras and the gita) are called prastana traya meaning the ‘threefold movement’, and this prastana traya is said to be the scripture of the hindus. the prastana traya has a self- perpetuating spirit and mechanism by which it adapts itself to periodic reinterpretations in order to fit in with the changing times. these periodic reinterpretations are called bhashyas. the latest bhashyas to the prastana traya are by shankara, ramanuja and madhwa. these bhashyas have now lost their edge because of the passage of time. the prastana traya needs a new bhashya to be in tune with the present age. the prastana traya looks for a new shankara for a new bhashya. in the samhitas, the vedic literature starts with a passion for the truth — ‘truth in clay, truth in iron’. it grows in search of this truth through the brahmanas and the aranyakas and ultimately in the upanishads, that truth is arrived at and declared to the world. what is that truth? the ultimate essence of the universe is space (akasho ha vy brahma). consciousness is but a condition of space (prajnanam brahma). the content of the world is the distortion, vikara, of its container, consciousness-space. the distorted 3-d space is saguna brahman and space minus its vikara or distortion, that is the unified field, is nirguna brahman. brahman-space is the ultimate reality underlying all existence: it is the biggest ‘i’ that contains all our small ‘i’s. our small ‘i’s can be merged in the big ‘i’ through contemplation or tapas and that is salvation or moksha. modern physics takes us to the same conclusion. physics is the study of how and why the nirguna distorts to become saguna. shruti lives in smriti which is the progressive knowledge and understanding of shruti over ages. physics is the new smriti; physics is the new bhashya of vedanta. there is talk in the air of introducing vedic studies in schools and colleges. however, what should be taught there is not the traditional vedic studies, but vedanta as the anta (omega) of not only the vedas but also of modern science, and as an intellectual and spiritual force capable of enlightening, inspiring and bettering the modern global village. introducing mere traditional vedic studies will further only narrow agendas, and will not serve the meaning or purpose of modern public education. we need to widen our vision by looking beyond the written word; and for this, it is essential that we rise above mere dogma.

Read More

Spiritual technique for mind repair

Apr 5, 2002, 02.19am IST
RAJA M.

Some of us believe that happiness is subjective. others, however, point out that its objective roots are beyond debate. maintaining balance of mind despite the bumps on the road of daily life means overcoming being miserable. even a moment’s perfect equanimity is actual happiness, peace of mind, or whatever one labels optimum mental functioning. such a temperament does not come readymade. for most of us, attaining a state of level headedness requires hard work and training. occasional unhappiness is an inevitable part of life. so too is disease, bad health and accidents. but we don’t shrug it off saying that it’s just part of life and refuse medical help. so why should we ignore mental short circuits, ranging from mood swings and bad temper to depression and insecurity? a practical-minded person cares as much for repairing the mind as to healing bodily malfunctions. mind repair is simply spirituality at its core practical level. we optimise mind machinery for a better life, for ourselves and for those around us. we need a powerful mind tool, and vipassana is an ancient mind-enhancing technology. in pali, vipassana means ‘insight to see things as they really are’. over 75 vipassana centres worldwide conduct residential 10-day courses for both beginners as well as senior students. vipassana is a self-observation technique taught by gautama the buddha. “its origins were already lost in timeless antiquity”, he had said. he rediscovered it in his prolonged search for a fundamental antidote to human misery. the sakya crown prince who had already mastered every prevalent teaching in india of those times, realised that nothing, including systems of the famous alara and ramputta, touched deep-rooted impurities entrenched in his mind. observing bodily sensations, he realised, led to hidden depths of the mind where our habit patterns are formed and multiplied. at the deepest level, our mind is constantly in touch with any feeling in the body like pain, heat, cold, perspiration and pressure. at the subtler subatomic level of the body, these sensations are felt as a biochemical flow of particles arising and passing away with tremendous velocity. any pleasant feeling in the body, and the mind reacts with clinging. unpleasant feelings are instantly greeted with aversion. the reactions go on every moment of our life, unnoticed. it seems that we are reacting to the external world. but in reality we constantly react with like or dislike to a biochemical flow within caused by our sense organs in contact with external stimuli. this blind reaction pattern forms the root cause of our mind’s malfunctioning, the buddha realised. so instead of neither reacting nor suppressing reality within, he gave humanity the middle path of merely observing reality as it is. this technique of objective observation of mind matter interaction at the level of sensation without blind reaction is vipassana. this practical, universal technique represents the quintessence of the buddha’s actual scientific teaching. it was lost to india and the world 500 years after the buddha’s passing away. fortunately, a little known chain of teachers in neighbouring burma (myanmar) preserved it in its pristine purity. every vipassana student independently performs self-surgery of the mind. a teacher guides and makes clarifications. but the student works very hard nearly 13 hours each day of the meditation course. alone, sometimes in a meditation cell, he or she braves inner demons and fights pain barriers. confronting reality within needs courage. it often shatters carefully polished self-images. “you are your own master”, sayagyi goenka, a vipassana teacher, tells his students. “the cause of your happiness or misery is within you”. this emotional self-dependence helps accept accountability for one’s condition in life. a vipassana practitioner realises everything in the world changes constantly, including people and situations. our full enjoyment of life is not dependent on any particular circumstance. happiness means a balanced mind to face the reality of the moment. only then can the mind calmly and dispassionately unleash its awesome power to solving our problems. life turns from negative reactions to beneficial positive action.

Read More

Nothing belongs to me

Aug 20, 2010, 12.00am IST
TNN.

Who is responsible for action that takes place? If you think that you are, you will need to reflect on the question. Never consider yourself as the doer of actions.


God himself is the doer and the one undergoing action. You have not made this world and the weight of this world is not over you. If you surrender to the One who has made this world and who is taking care of this world, then whatever you do will be noble and good for everybody.

Krishna said to Arjuna in the Bhagvad Geeta: "Give up your pride, beliefs and attachment to body and then come to my rescue. I am all-knowing and am the supreme soul. By doing so, you will experience divine peace and reach the supreme blissful state."

By believing God to be the doer, the karta and the one undergoing action (Bharata), one surrenders to God completely. If you feed a beggar and then think that you were the one who fed the poor beggar, then this reflects petty behavior, it's tamas. A believer in rajas or action will think that he was fortunate to feed the beggar and thanks God for giving him this opportunity to offer his service.

While a believer of satva or truth will think that he was just a mediator, it was God who gave strength to his hands to feed the God who is in the beggar. Your heart will become pure if you believe that by serving your mother or a guest or anybody else you are actually serving God in another form. Don't think that you served the helpless mother or guest. Those people appear to be helpless in their physical form but in reality the all-knowing God is present in them. God is the doer and the one undergoing action.

You will be successful every time you believe in the presence of God behind every action. One enjoys meditation, japa, worship or service when there is the belief that, "My dear Lord is doing and He only is getting that done!"

Whenever you come in submission to God knowingly or unknowingly, your work becomes divine, you are able to complete work without being worried and after completion also you feel the sweetness of that work. The result of selfish and evil work is unhappiness, depression and loss of peace of mind.

People may praise an officer using attractive words even if he is not praiseworthy, in order to get their work done. The officer then starts thinking that he is indispensable to the work being done. But when that officer retires, nobody recognises him.

God is the only true officer of all. If somebody praises you that you are a big person, then you should understand that you are not big, He is big who is making your heart beat and brain work.

If you sit down for meditation for two hours and spend the rest of 22 hours in inflating your pride, there will be no spiritual growth. It is good to devote time to prayer and meditation, but the rest of the time one should think: "There is the hand of God in whatever work is being done, that very God is the doer and is the one undergoing action." If you start contemplating on this thought, then you will soon realise the true self of God.

There is nothing mine in me, whatever is there is yours.
www.ashram.org
(Discourse: Asaram Bapu)

Read More