True Reflections of A Spiritual Seeker

Jun 23, 2004, 12.00am IST
Robert Carr.

We had not met before, but my new friend knew something of my interest in spirituality. He also knew that I knew U G Krishnamurti, the sage-teacher. There is so much to know, he said, that I don't know where to start.



Look, I said, all the questions we have are born of the answers we already know. We tend to ask the same questions that mankind has been asking since the beginning of time. But we are not satisfied with the answers.


Yes, he said. I want to know for myself — I am not interested in stereotyped readymade explanations. They don't bring about any peace or understanding.

Look my friend, have you ever asked yourself, is there anything to know and how do I know anything at all? You want to be certain that what you know is real and not just some imagined idea. Yes, that's right, he said, I can't get anywhere with the different gurus I've met... They just give the ready answers that I have heard over and over again.


True, the world is a mess; you and I have created this world, the greed, the inhumanity of man, and the destruction of nature.

Everywhere man is in conflict with himself and the world around him. We have created a mess, and so we will have to pay the price. Right, he said, but we will have to set it straight. How?


He fell silent, looking at the floor and then at me. We will become enlightened and that will change the world, he says. I ask, will you become enlightened?

Trying to be something that you are not is not possible. The very want is no different than any other want that we might have. The Sanyasi wants to find liberation, the poor man wants to be rich and you want all this and heaven, too.

The wants you have are not really yours but your gurus have created the want to be in some other state that you think will solve all your problems that you think you have.

But why do you say the gurus have created the wants in me? Down the ages man has tried to discover life's meaning, the purpose of living, whether there is a God or release from suffering...and to attain to some spiritual state where all the questions are understood by some experience, a transcendent mystical union with the ultimate.

What you are is the past. That knowledge is colouring your perception with images that are just the memories that mankind has collected and put before you as the goal to reach. So the goal that you have is using you to express the wants of others...

What you are saying is too much; you are asking me to put an end to searching. You cannot stop the momentum that is pushing you to struggle and try to find the ans-wers to your questions.

What you call You is the question; you are no different than that. You are full of thoughts about this and that. You are planning the future every moment of your life; you want to keep your thoughts, your dreams and hopes going on and on. What you are is just a continuity of thoughts, thoughts that belong to the deep stream of consciousness that we are all part of.

That consciousness is only interested in continuing its pattern of repeating over and over what it knows. That knowledge is misery; the struggle to keep intact all the memories, beliefs and that is the content of our culture.

He was silent for a moment; he saw the implications of what we were talking about. After some time he smiled and asked if we could meet again?

(The writer has authored 'God Man Con Man'.)

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Atmabodha: Path Of Self-enquiry

Jun 16, 2004, 12.00am IST

Pranav Khullar.

Sankara's views on advaita are best encapsulated in the classic line from his Brahma-Sutra Bhasya: "Brahma satyam jagat mithya, Jiva brahmaiva naparah — the Brahma alone is real, the world illusory, the individual and universal soul are one."


Using everyday references to illustrate advaitic concepts, the Atmabodha, set in 68 verses, seeks to put the abstruse philosophy of the Brahma-Sutras within easy reach of the average person. Sankara begins by stating that the Atmabodha will serve as a primer to those desirous of liberation, equipped with the tools of discernment and renunciation.


The second verse gets to the heart of the matter bluntly: It declares that knowledge alone can be the cause of liberation, just as fire is the direct cause of cooking. Requirements might include water, pots and pans; but it is fire which actually makes cooking possible.

Sankara states that karma or action is powerless to destroy ignorance, for "...it is not in conflict with ignorance". The Self can be known only through knowledge, just as light alone can dispel darkness. He compares the jnana abhyasa or practice of knowledge which purifies by removing ignorance, with the traditional method of purifying muddy water in rural India with kataka-nut powder. Just as the powder sprinkled on the surface of the water forms a film and drags all the impurities to the bottom, leaving pure water on the surface, constant practice and use of knowledge removes the dirt of ignorance. And just as the kataka-nut powder merges into the water after doing its work, knowledge too disappears after the Self emerges.

Sankara talks about the illusion created by oyster shells scattered along the beach on a moonlit night. We mistake them for silver, only till we recognise the reality of the oyster-shells. Similarly, the world of names and forms exist till self-know-ledge dawns. The phenomenal world exists in the mind of the perceiver alone, and names and forms are like ornaments and Vishnu, the all-pervading consciousness, is like the gold. Sankara reinforces the spirit and content of the Upanishads by alluding to the Mahavakyas in his delineation of the nature of Brahma, reiterating the well-known method of arriving at the nature of Brahma by practising "neti, neti...", not this, not this.

Sankara declares that meditation is essential to refocus on the Self. The flame of knowledge can be kindled only by constant meditation, which he compares with the act of rubbing wood to light a fire. Meditation is the friction between the mind-wood and Om-wood pieces. The story of Rama is allegorised as Atmarama, one who derives satisfaction from the Self alone, having crossed the ocean of delusion to vanquish the creatures of passion, just as Rama crossed the ocean to kill Ravana.

The concluding verses are a lucid exposition of advaita, in which Sankara seems to speak from a meditative trance, as he alludes to the nature of Brahma — sat-chit-ananda (knowledge- existence-bliss). These ver-ses reflect the cosmic nature of his thought as he exhorts: "All things, which can be perceived or heard, are Brahma itself, and nothing else...and though atma is reality, it can be perceived by one who has the eye of wisdom..." Sankara asks us to undertake the real pilgrimage to "the shrine of the atma..." which will bestow real equanimity.

Atmabodha, like its companion-piece, the Vivekachudamani, is a call to free enquiry. It reflects the fact that Sankara was reaching out to the masses as much as the intelligentsia of his time: It is a call to the heart as much as a call to the mind.

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Relax and Surrender With Suryayog

Jun 15, 2004, 12.00am IST

Anita Madan.

Suryayog or Sun-meditation is one of the most rewarding and natural of all human activities, says Swami Surya Jowel. It produces wonderful results at all levels of our being — physical, mental, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. It connects us with our very own inner powers of vitality, clarity, light and love. It removes blocks and so unfetters our natural abi-lities. It helps us to improve ourselves. Our relationships become centred, balanced, and more loving. It cultivates awareness and the quality of being alive. Suryayog is not just a technique for relaxation; it is the path of surrendering to the Absolute.


To man’s eternal quest for answers to oft-repeated questions — Who are we?; What are we here for?; What is the nature of the universe? — the insight comes more from the subconscious rather than the conscious mind. This quest leads to stilling the mind. Meditation is neither a method, nor a process; it is the oneness with our inner Surya.


Patanjali in the Yoga Sutra says that “The fluctuations of consciousness created by gross and subtle afflictions are to be silenced through meditation.” Meditation has different levels and the highest is Suryayog — it is laya or merging with nature. Where meditation stops, laya begins. That is the state of sat-chit-anand. During meditation the powerful, soothing waves that arise exercise a benign influence on the mind, organs, cells and nerves. Hence meditation has been found to also reduce stress, strengthen the immune system, and help in the body’s healing processes. During meditation the breath and brain waves slow down, blood pressure and metabolic rates decrease, and circulation and detoxification of the blood increase. Studies of patients with coronary artery disease show that a combination of meditation, Suryayog, and a natural vegetarian diet could reverse disease. Regular meditation makes the mind calm and steady. It makes one intuitive, creative and inspired.

Concentration is a pre-requisite to meditation. Fixing the mind on an object, whether internal or external, for a given period of time is concentration. A person with the ability to focus his mind totally on the work at hand, is able to complete it in record time and still turn out work of exceptional quality. This applies to people engaged in a varied spectrum of activities, whether physical or mental.


A person whose mind is filled with all kinds of wants and desires will not be able to concentrate even for an instant. Regular concentration will steady the mind, harbour good health, create clarity of vision, improve efficiency and develop insight and intuition. But for concentration to be effective it is essential that pranayam, purity of thought and discipline be a part of life and reduction of wants, anger, desires and the like be destroy-ed. Focusing the mind totally on what one is doing with no awareness of the world around is a kind of meditation.

Meditation is a discipline. It has to be acquired. Sometimes, it is not easy for a layman to meditate no matter how much effort is put in. At that time, if there is a great desire to move on the spiritual path a guru or guide comes to you. A mantra or a method given by him to you to enable meditation helps you to forget the world, body consciousness and desires.

It helps the mind to focus and so makes effective meditation possible. Swami Surya Jowel, founder of the Suryayog movement, says that doing Suryayog daily will balance the five elements in the body (fire, earth, ether, air and water), the seven chakras and planetary vibrations, purifying the halo of light. One can reach the divine through Suryayog, which is the enlightened form of prayer-cum-meditation.

(www.suryayog.org)

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Freedom from Exile: The Gift Outright

Jun 14, 2004, 12.00am IST

Destiny and the dynamics of living often remove us from the place we belong to, from what we refer to as our hometown. Living away, we tend to get "hometown-sick".


We split ourselves, and suffer a 'body here, mind there' syndrome. Interestingly, this can happen not just to an individual or a family, but even collectively to a whole people.

Take the plight of America's founding fathers. Mostly victims of religious persecution, they dared to cross the Atlantic to found a new settlement. They fled bodily, but mentally, they remained in England.

Many American cities reflect this nostalgia. England's York became New York. The new Americans sought liberty, but could not free themselves of their emo-tional bondage to the "mother country".

America became a colony of England. The immigrants had to fend for themselves, often under harsh conditions. England was a distant past, yet they saw themselves as subjects of the British government.

They suffered governmental apathy and grave injustice for over 100 years, until one day they said, enough is enough. They realised that they were victims of their own mindset.

A slight mental adjustment made them to realise that they were, in fact, an entity by themselves. This eventually led to the American Declaration of Independence.

Robert Frost has succinctly summed up this realisation in a brief poem titled The Gift Outright. He says: "The land was ours before we were the land's./ She was our land more than a hundred years/ Before we were her people. She was ours... But we were England's, still colonials,/ Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,/ Possessed by what we now no more possessed..."

It took them 100 years to comprehend the folly of not surrendering to the land that was their home. The poem says: "Something we were withholding made us weak/ Until we found out it was ourselves/ We were withholding from the land of our living."

So they surrendered, and "forthwith found salvation in surrender". This was the American people gifting themselves to the American land. What followed, of course, is history.

Many of us are employed and are living in places we are prejudiced to believe is not our home. We live in a state of exile, longing for the day when we shall get back to our 'home-place'.

We poison our minds with thoughts of imagined alienation. So much so, we do not tend with loving care the house we live in, although we may be living in it for long, just because it is a leased house or, worse, a 'government quarter'.

This is not our house - we corrupt our minds into believing - our house is where we have built it, thousands of miles away. Finally, maybe after retirement, if and when we do get back to the home-place, we hardly feel at home, what with so much changed, and the change often not to our liking.

We feel even more miserable than before. We wonder, what went wrong? Frost, perhaps, would say, Friend, why did you withhold yourself all your life? If only you had surrendered to the place of your living, it might have been a different story!

If we begin to view the local people we are destined to live amidst (for whatever length of time) as our people, we learn to feel at home always.

If we evince a little interest and involvement in our neighbourhood, we discover an exciting world. Home is where the heart is. If you force your heart away from your place of living, the place of your destiny, you invite misery upon yourself. Homesickness, like any other sickness, incapacitates a person. It corrupts the joy of life.

K S Ram

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Mountains: Source of Divine Inspiration

Jun 9, 2004, 12.00am IST
JANINA GOMES.

Men pass, mountains remain. Little wonder, why mountains are a sign of solidity and stability. They tower over us, touching the sky, sometimes through clouds ... they convey a sense of mystery.


In fact, philosophers say that the mountain is the point where heaven and earth meet. Mountains, therefore, are considered holy in many faiths . They are believed to be the abode of gods , even a place where one can find salvation.

Christian literature reveals the symbolic role of mountains. In the Old Testament, God was depicted as God of the mountains. But God was also a God of the valleys.


The mountains in the Bible are not divinised. The Psalms say: "Before the mountains were born, you always were, O God". It was God as creator who weighed the mountains with a balance and the hills with a scale.

Mountains also provided the backdrop to many key events in the unfolding story of the Bible. From the days of the flood to the days of the prophets, the mountains continued to be important points of spiritual contact or revelation.

In the story of the Great Flood, only Noah, his family and the animals in his boat were saved. When the rain stopped and the water outlets beneath the earth and the floodgates of the sky were closed, after a deluge that lasted 150 days, the Noah's boat came to rest on a mountain in the Ararat range.

It was from that mountainous perch that Noah sent out a dove to find out whether the floods had fully abated and if he could emerge from the ark to begin life anew.

It was also on Sinai — the holy mountain where Moses was taking care of the sheep and goats of his father-in-law Jethro — that Moses received his call from God in the burning bush to deliver his people from the cruelty of their Egyptian masters. Sinai was also the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments.

In the book of Psalms there are many canticles of the mountains. In the 121st Psalm, which looks upon God as our protector, the psalmist says: "I look to the mountains; where will my help come from? My help will come from the Lord, who made heaven and earth".

Psalm 125 says: "Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which can never be shaken, never be moved. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people now and for ever".

In the New Testament, too, we see that mountains play a significant symbolic role. Jesus often went away to the hills to pray and be alone. He delivered the famous Sermon on the Mount from here.

Mountains were also places for testing spiritual strength. One of the temptations of Jesus reported in the Bible is that the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their greatness, saying: "All this I will give you if you kneel down and worship me".

When Jesus showed three of his disciples, Peter, James and John his divine form, they were alone with him on a high mountain and as they looked on a change came over Jesus and his face shone like the Sun and his clothes became dazzling white.

Mountains have provided refuge to truth-seekers, hermits, and even to ordinary men. With their beauty, mystery and transcendence, they can help lift our lives above the grime and dirt associated with the plains below.

Till today to conquer a mountain is seen as a human and spiritual feat. When we are saddened by the transient nature of our earthly existence mountains through their sheer lasting quality can challenge us to look beyond ourselves and to hope for unending life.

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Selflessness Can Be A Huge Burden

Jun 7, 2004, 12.00am IST

If you are disappointed today about something, it does not mean that it is a permanent condition. There is always a tomorrow to look forward to.


If you refuse to be optimistic or hopeful for the morrow, you will find yourself getting dragged into a whirlpool of despair, which is in itself a generator of unhappiness.

Is there a secret, a magic formula for happiness? If there is, does it lie inside you or outside? Logically, it has to be inside you.

But having assumed it can be found only outside, and being unable to find it, you have brought misery upon yourself; you are depressed.

Some of you ask, what is wrong in seeking happiness outside? Everything, is the decisive answer. For, happiness is not an object to be possessed or retained but a subject to be experienced and shared.

This truth apart, we continue to identify happiness as an object because we do not know how to live for ourselves. Yes, the unhappy man always lives for the applause of others. He constructs a house, not for himself.

He buys a car, not for himself. Perhaps, he even decides to get married and have a family but mainly in order to be praised by others. This man thunders unto the world: Look, I'm capable of possessing all these. Can you match me?

In trying to keep up with the Jonesses, or even with our peer group, we forget that each time we match our acquisitions and aspirations with those of others, there are still others who have more than us - so the mindless race continues.

Hence, happiness, as of now, seems to be all about throwing and accepting challenges. There are also those who belong to either category; they neither throw a challenge nor pick one up. This segment is not happy either: If only we were a little stronger, we could've participated in this game, it laments.

Osho has an anecdote: A certain bachelor finally decided to get married. He had remained a bachelor because it was difficult for him to find a bride of his dreams.

However, in the end, he decided to give up his bachelorhood. His matri- monial advertisement received immense response. After scanning hundreds of applications, he chose one.

In fact, he was surprised to find that the bride of his dreams actually existed. Soon, he called on her. But to his utter dismay, the bride refused him. Reason: He did not match the bridegroom of her dreams.

The search for happiness is perhaps like searching for a perfect bride or groom. The unhappy man here is living in the hope of finding someone who might not even exist or even if she did, he might not be able to find her.

This gives rise to two pertinent questions. Firstly, would you be happy if you were to live for yourself? Of course, yes. For, when you begin to do that, you neither appease nor get appreciated.

What's more, you find yourself liberated from daily challenges to unravel the peace which had eluded you. In such a scenario, it is not your possessions that count, for you can own or disown them at your own free will - they are meant for your comfort, not for others' appreciation.

The second question arises: Won't living for oneself amount to self-centredness? The answer is: 'No'. Firstly, there is nothing wrong in living for yourself, especially when you are bound to become a burden to society by living for others.

Secondly, if every individual can live for himself and experience the state of happiness - his ultimate goal - the need for leading a selfless life does not arise at all.

Once you come to this understanding and leave the path of confrontation, all challenges cease to exist and life becomes a benediction.

T S Sreenivasa Raghavan

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Theism is the Basis of High-end Hinduism

Jun 5, 2004, 12.00am IST

Sri Jayendra Saraswathi.

Since we believe in the Paramatma or Supreme energy that is beginningless and endless, it is clear that Hinduism in its purest form is theistic. Theism is its basic premise.


Some people ask: “What came before the Parama-tma? Who created the Supreme energy?” The answer is that it is something that is ever-present and everlasting; it has neither beginning nor end; it is infinite. When something is born, it has to die. This applies to planets, stars, humans, animals and all other things which have a beginning. But the Supreme energy is all-pervasive.

How does one access or experience this divine energy? The Vedas show the way. The Vedas are like spiritual primers — they introduce you to the wonderful world of spirituality. Like all primers, the Vedas, too, only help you infer the divinity aspect, for the experience itself can only be yours. So the verses, the rituals are all designed to help you understand their import and then move on to a higher plane of consciousness. Here, you draw from the wisdom of Vedanta. Lite- rally, the term ‘Vedanta’ means “ved ka anth” or “end of the vedas”. You can call Vedas the Part One of the “Do-it-yourself” spirituality and Vedanta, the Part Two.

Every religion has three components: rituals, cultu- ral and spiritual. There is scope for differences only in the first two. But the third, the spiritual element, helps us overcome conflicts arising from differences in the first two. Rituals including ceremonies relating to birth, marriage and death are an important constituent of all faiths. Culture springs from the way of life, and its nature hinges a great deal on heritage and environment. The spiritual aspect is free of all differences and so is able to help us direct our mind towards the Paramatma.

Dharma, artha, kama refer to good deeds, material well-being and desire respectively. But the fourth, moksha, cannot be accu- rately described because it is an atma-anubhav — an intensely personal experience. So only the one who experiences moksha will know what it is like. Adi Sankara said that one should rise above the first three and get liberated from them via moksha. The moksha experience cannot be described. Try describing the sweet taste of misri (sugar crystals) to someone who has never tasted it — and you’ll find that the best way to make him understand its taste is to let him eat it. Moksha can be understood only with direct experience. An enlightened person who has experienced moksha can try and guide a seeker to the path that leads to moksha.

Can one transcend even the desire for moksha? Once moksha has been achieved, can we seek “moksha from moksha”? No, because that would be a contradiction. For it signals not merely the end of suffering. In Hinduism moksha refers to the simultaneous end of suffering and the experience of anand or bliss — what we call sat-chit-anand. It is the experience of the eternal and unchanging truth, revealing the universal limitlessness and our nature as the source of infinite peace and joy. So there is nothing beyond this state. This is the ultimate, when the atma unites with the Paramatma, when the individual energy merges with the Supreme energy. Why should one seek release from such a state? Moksha is not something to be attained but that it is a state to be experienced, a natural state. Moksha is not a ritual like bathing or offering flowers. That is why the Bhaja Govindam says don’t look for moksha outside but search within.

(The 69th Sankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham spoke to Narayani Ganesh.)

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The Spiritual Atheism Of Vedantic Thought

Jun 2, 2004, 12.00am IST

The last verse of Chapter 8 in Gita perhaps contains the kernel of all vedantic thought.


The chapter, as is well known, begins with Arjun asking Krishna about the nature of Brahma, adhyatma and karma and how they might be inter-related. Having explained the first two — albeit in the aphoristic way typical of the vedantic spiritual tradition — Krishna focuses on the third element of the triad. Karma or action, he says, is the real-life bridge that links the two: The ontological or transcendental realm of Brahm (or absolute), on the one hand, and atma, or individuated consciousness rooted in the here and now, on the other. Admittedly, it is not easy to see this link in a logical or material sense — how does one associate that which exists in time and space with that which is both beyond time (without beginning) and space (boundless)?

The true being of atma, which is attached to the corporeal body, is of course clouded by desire. In a paradigmatic sense, this desire is the desire for the rewards of action. The Gita makes no category distinction between different kinds of action. Depending on one’s worldly calling or svadharma, going to war is on the same footing as going to a temple or pursuing politics. The key then is not what you do but with what intent or motivation you do it. The true yogi, as the Gita declares, is one who goes beyond “whatever fruit or merit is declared to accrue from the Vedas, sacrifices, austerities, gifts”.

The path to moksha lies in overcoming desire and is typically described as liberation from the inexorable law of karma. But isn’t the sear-ch for moksha — the state where no desires are left — itself an act of desire? This tension or paradox is clear to Sankara — ‘na dharmo, na artho, na moksha’. Even the desire for moksha, it seems, is a form of bondage. Not surprisingly, this question holds the key to an understanding of the Gita and is at the heart of its varying latter-day expositions.

While the Gita is by no means alone in advocating a renunciation of desire, it makes a departure in the context of orthodox Hindu philosophy, in specifying three different ways of reaching the ultimate state of nishkama karma, namely, action, worship and know-ledge or karmayoga, bhaktiyoga and gyanayoga. Particularly radical in this context is the Gita’s steadfast refusal to advocate a withdrawal from worldly action. Chapter 3, verse 4 says: “Man does not attain perfection merely by ceasing to act”. And, in the very next verse: “None can ever remain inactive even for a moment”.

Superficially, Gita appears to be theistic in nature. Verse 29 of Chapter 9 is one of several where Krishna tells Arjun about bha-ktiyoga or the path of devotion. But the full shloka makes it clear that this is no ordinary worship. “The same am I to all beings, to me there is none hateful or dear; but those who worship me with devotion are in me and I am also in them”. Moksha, in other words, is a state of oneness rather than duality.

This is fundamentally at odds with the traditional western notions of theism, where the belief in God is also a belief in His radical otherness. In common with large parts of Indian tradition, however, Gita’s theism is an assertion of “one’s own divinity” and is premised on ‘svaswaroopanusandhan’ or the discovery of true selfhood. That is also why, Srimad Bhagavat, can make the intriguing claim that the act of bhakti or worship is higher even than the object of worship (Isht).

But if such is the case, then isn’t the traditional opposition between atheism and theism overdrawn? Indeed, isn’t pure spiritual atheism a superior form of theism?

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Cosmic Consciousness Is Well Within Reach

Jun 1, 2004, 12.00am IST

Anil K Rajvanshi.
 
Does an enlightened indivi-dual need to remain caged in the body? Why not get liberated from the physical? For seven days, the Buddha grappled with this dilemma. In the end, he decided that there was nothing personal about enlightenment — the knowledge should be shared with all for the benefit of humankind. He spent the next 50 years doing just that and all those who listened to him benefited greatly.



It is necessary for all of us to discover truth but once we find it, it should be shared freely with others. This will not only provide more insight, but also foster peace and happiness. The desire to share our discoveries with the world is normally fuelled by greed for either fame or money. Very few are selfless enough to share their discoveries freely for common benefit. Even philanthropists are guided by the desire to become famous. It probably comes from internal insecurity. The desire to be loved and adored by other humans is the basic desire since it reinforces the work, direction and path of an individual. When a person feels secure he becomes very humble and the desire to get fame, name or money goes away or is greatly reduced. Then his desire to tell the truth comes from pure selflessness. Even those in search of the ultimate truth are initially not averse to fame — but later, this greed for fame gets subsumed by the greater urge for truth-realisation.

However, as long as greed does not dominate, it is a necessary engine of development, for producing inventions and finding the truth. The best way to keep greed in check is to cultivate from early on the habit of deep thought. This will help remove psychological knots and create all-round happiness.

We expect our children to compete with others in every sphere of activity. This competitive spirit also creates insecurities which turn counterproductive in the long run. A relaxed brain, which is free of greed, can create many more inventions. However, it is very difficult to remove the greed from the human system and this trait will remain as long as humans exist. It should therefore be curbed and channelled for greater human cause.

The most important thing which can help us is personal evolution. Knowledge has to be obtained first; only then it can be shared. Individual evolution also includes fulfilment of personal needs so that we can think of higher things. Every one of us is free to move to the higher or highest category. We can become better human beings by evolving beyond the limitation of a particular species. Spiritua-lity gives us a certain perspective that helps shift the focus more towards mental peace. Once each individual evolves to higher consciousness levels, the multiplier effect will take place.

Chance could thrust us into active public life and if our personal needs and emotions have not been resolved, they can create dangerous situations for everyone. This is normally the case with very greedy, ambitious and insecure leaders both in political and economic fields. History is replete with personalities like Hitler, who, because of their insecurity, created havoc because they had tremendous resources and powers at their disposal.

Personal or individual evolution — an ongoing process to higher and higher levels — enables one to contribute positively to the entire community. A simple way to achieve this is to work diligently and conscientiously. This will automatically reduce the greed and corruption quotient, and enlarge the space for truly evolved living.

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