Learn to Lead from Within Yourself

Dec 20, 2003, 12.00am IST
Thomas M Easley.

What defines a gathering of individuals as a religious organisation? Belief? If so, why is a belief in God defined as a religion whereas a belief in free enterprise is not? Should all beliefs be defined as religious and all that is believed in, defined as God? If they do, are we free to assume that all who believe are equal in their belief and equally illuminated by the presence of “God”?


Those who create and support a free enterprise entity do so because they believe they will benefit from that organisation. Equally, believers in God maintain their belief because to do so benefits them. So there is no distinction between those who believe in a divine being, a country, family, gang, group, cult or fashion statement.

The adage that “all men are created equal” is wholly applicable when taken to mean that all men believe and all believers aspire to glorify the subject of belief. Then why do we disagree to the point of violent conflict when the subject of belief for one man differs from that of another?

We often disagree because leaders and subjects of belief are not regarded as equal in their capacity to bestow benefit upon the believer. A belief in God, for some, has more value than a belief in atheism or family, for instance. All organised bodies are similar — whether they are defined as religions, corporations, political parties, sports leagues or environmental movements — because they are created by the need for benefit. Also, they are sustained by leaders who strive to regulate social norms through manipulation of belief and the even- tual control of food, water, shelter and property, the hereditary and archetypical roots of man’s power.

The greater the perceived religious or spiritual value a subject of belief has, the more intense its imaginative interpretation and vulner-ability to manipulation by corrupt leadership. Any belief renders the believer malleable in the hands of group leaders and equally subject to harsh reprimand if he doubts the supremacy of his group identity and his behaviour contradicts the prevailing behavioural standards dictated by the subject of belief.

Behavioural regulation is essential to an organi- sation’s vitality and its longevity. In the absence of rules and its conformity there can be no cohesive group identity, no repetitive standards upon which to attach acceptance of group morality, no means of securing loyalty and no justification for leaders to assume possession of the believer’s will, his indivi-dual identity and his personal possessions.

A believer needs no proof of the existence of what is believed in. He will make no separation between himself, his belief, and the subject of belief. He will defend “the faith”, see non-believers as less pure, less moral and less right. Any challenge to his belief is a challenge to him, a direct affront to his ‘God’. He becomes one with his group and perfectly programmed to defend the group.

We fight because we follow. Were all men leaders with none to follow, differences in the subject of belief would not evoke conflict as each man would feel the gain and loss of every other man. Belief in leadership would then become unnecessary.

An individual human body is a self-organising system. There is no leader in the body, not one single cell, gene, system, or organ that leads the rest. All the body’s parts work as a whole and not as parts in search of a whole. The degree to which man will evolve will be measured by man’s ability to wean himself of the illusion of leadership.

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Push the Sky, Open Your Wings, Take Off

Dec 30, 2003, 12.00am IST


T'ai Chi is a mindful practice, an ancient, internal martial art, which gives you a feeling of success and accomplishment . It helps you find out how to slow down instead of always going faster and harder.


Buddha said: "Life is so short that it must be lived slowly". Slowing down can mean you look at things calmly. Don't fly off the handle. T'ai Chi can positively affect every aspect of your life including your physical and mental health , your view of the world and the way you interact with others.

After 25 years of personal experience when I say that T'ai Chi is a highly evolved art, science and philosophy of mind and body development, for health, healing, sickness prevention and stress management, I am only endorsing the views of its many followers worldwide, who kick-start their day with some T'ai Chi.

Although T'ai Chi is only 400 years old, its principles of action have been developed over thousands of years.

Considered a cultural treasure in China for centuries, T'ai Chi is the culmination of martial art, traditional Chinese medicine and Taoist philosophy which is concerned with life on earth and works on the premise that the softest things in the world overcome the hardest things.

T'ai Chi took birth at Chenjiagou, a village dominated by a simple farming community and located on the Yellow River in the peaceful countryside of northern China.

The continually spiralling, coiling, flowing movements alternating between slow and quick, gentle and firm, rising and sinking, contracting and expanding, combined with natural deep breathing and full intention, promote a deep sense of relaxation of body and mind by releasing nervous tension and balancing the circulation of internal energy or chi.

A typical T'ai Chi session consists of "Embracing the Tree" which allows you to feel your body and the chi and its movement. Also, it helps you to become aware of any tension in the body, which you can release by letting your breath go to the spot.

Exercises like "Push the sky, Snatch the Yang and Open the Wings" improve the digestive functions of spleen, pancreas and stomach, and help you to focus and concentrate.

This is followed by a series of continuous circular, flowing movements called silk-reeling exercises which calm the mind, strengthen the chi and provide physical benefits. The session usually ends with a long sequence called the ‘form', central to any T'ai Chi system.

The T'ai Chi Form is the greatest teacher, and through it the serious student ultimately understands the true meaning of T'ai Chi.

While T'ai Chi for seniors res-tores youthful pliability, joint mobility and increases energy levels, for children, it cultivates self-discipline, self-control and emotional balance, through teaching them mutual co-operation rather than competition.

There are opportunities to put a little T'ai Chi practice into practically everything you do. Sink a little and do some abdominal breathing when stuck in a line at the bank or grocery store.

Instead of pulling the door with your arms, pull the door open by shifting your weight. You can try mini-meditation while the phone is on hold. Practice yielding and you will be amazed to see how relaxed you feel and how much more efficient in life you become.

Life is simple — normally you live, learn, seek happiness and love, you grow old, and you die. Whether in T'ai Chi practice, at work, in personal relationships, or shopping at the mall, live and act simply and truthfully.

Get out of your own way, and you'll find all your problems begin to resolve themselves.

Sensei Sandeep Desai

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Make Time Now for Higher Pursuits

Dec 29, 2003, 12.00am IST


Most people see money as the starting point of exchange, a means to acquiring goods and services. To be able to access more and more of goods and services, we strive to acquire more and more money, working extra hours.


What we often tend to forget is that money comes at a real price. Money is not the first point of exchange in this world: it is an intermediate point. You earn money for a good life , and, ironically, even as you are struggling to earn money, you are exchanging your good life for it.

Pursuit of money can become an end in itself. It can distort all values, and make you blind to the basic purpose of life. Henry Thoreau discusses this phenomenon in his celebrated book, Walden.

When you, for instance, build a large and grand house, or buy a new car, how do you understand the cost of your acquisition?

You may express it in terms of how many rupees you have paid for your purchase. But this amount represents a certain number of years of your labour and earnings, a definite part of your life.

Thoreau prefers to understand the cost of any acquisition in terms of how large a portion of life you had to expend to acquire it. If the cost of a house is the equivalent of, say, a decade of your toil and earning, the expenditure on the house is 10 years; equal to maybe 12.5 per cent of your entire life.

Thoreau's view of eco-nomy in life is how to minimise the portion of time on toil devoted to organising food, clothing and shelter, so that the bulk of the prime time is available for attending to callings of a higher value in life.

The situation in our present day world is most often the opposite of this. Most of our life is spent in the pursuit of money. Even the education of the children is chosen with the purpose of equipping them for this pursuit.

Result: Occupation tends to become the sole preoccupation, until acquiring money becomes a way of life, drowning the very habit of thinking about any higher pursuit. Thoreau sees much of what passes as livelihood as a fool's penance.

He pities young men in his town "whose misfortune it is to have inherited large estates".

Ego-driven, men expend the best part of their life to raise their social status in a fool's paradise. If and when they do get to it, they find it hardly fulfilling.

Having made it to the top rungs, they cannot descend, because they fear a loss of face; and so they continue to pay with the balance of their life to maintain their 'position'.

A successful CEO expressed this irony in the form of a sequel to the fable of the fox and the grapes. The fox, failing to reach the grapes, 'rejected' it as sour. His friends, however, said he had failed and so he was calling the grapes sour.

The humiliated fox was provoked into action — while his friends slept, he worked hard for long hours, practising the high jump. One day, as his friends watched, he jumped and deftly grabbed the grapes. The fox earned their respect and titles were conferred upon him.

The poor fox, however, discovered to his dismay that the grapes he'd managed to attain were in fact sour. How could he reject it now? Would he not be jeered at?

The fox had reached the point of no return; he must feed on, pretending to eat the sour grapes with great relish. Miserable and unable to share his secret, the fox eventually fell ill and died.

K S Ram

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The Kingdom of God Is Within You

Dec 27, 2003, 12.00am IST


The coming of Christ was God's precious gift to the world, a spiritual guide who showed us a path of hope and self-discovery. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, wrote in Science and Health about Jesus Christ: "His consummate example was for the salvation of us all, but only through doing the works which he did and taught others to do. His purpose in healing was not alone to restore health, but to demonstrate his divine Principle."


"He was inspired by God, by Truth and Love, in all that he said and did. The motives of his persecutors were pride, envy, cruelty, and vengeance, inflicted on the physical Jesus, but aimed at the divine Principle, Love, which rebuked their sensuality."

"Jesus was unselfish. His spirituality separated him from sensuousness, and caused the selfish materialist to hate him; but it was this spirituality which enabled Jesus to heal the sick, cast out evil, and raise the dead."

Though in a human form, Jesus lived all the divine qualities of humbleness of mind, meekness, courage, patience, loving kindness, and forgiveness.

Thus Jesus taught and demonstrated for tired humanity, that it is possible for all to live the divine qualities and bring blessings manifold for themselves and everyone they come in contact with.


God did not need his help to govern His creation, but because of His abundant love for us all, He sent incarnate Jesus to show us the way.

The Scriptures tell us: "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (John 4:9)

Jesus's Sermon on the Mount is a practical guide for us to live our lives by. A person's life was completely reformed, when he read the Sermon once a week for several months, and made honest effort to put the teachings into practice.

Even Mahatma Gandhi was inspired by the Sermon, and he practised it in his life in many ways, and thereby brought about good results for the entire world to acclaim its relevance today.

From Christian Science we understand that Jesus was a human name, and Christ was not a name so much as the divine title of Jesus. Christ expresses God's spiritual, eternal nature.

The name is synonymous with Messiah, and alludes to the spirituality which is taught, illustrated and demonstrated in the life of which Christ Jesus was the embodiment.

The proper name of our Master in the Greek was Jesus the Christ; but Christ Jesus better signifies the Godlike. Christ is an idea, the divine influence forever present in every human consciousness which guards, guides and governs every human being.

All we have to do is to listen and follow. Thus Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God is within you.

L T Caswell writes in a hymn: "I am the way, the truth, the life,/ Our blessed Master said;/ And whoso to the Father comes,/ Must in my pathway tread:/ To point that living way, to speak/ The truth that makes men free,/ To bring that quick'ning life from heaven,/ Is highest ministry."

Mrs Eddy wrote: "Christmas to me is the reminder of God's great gift,/ His spiritual idea, man and the universe,/ a gift which so transcends mortal, material, sensual, giving/ that the merriment, mad ambition, rivalry, and ritual of our common Christmas/ seem a human mockery in mimicry of the real worship/ in commemoration of Christ's coming."

Subhash Malhotra

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Common Cause | South Asia Can Go the EU Way

Dec 23, 2003, 12.00am IST


Prime minister Vajpayee's reference to the European Union as a model for the future economic integration of South Asia with open borders and a common currency has led to questions being raised as to why the subcontinent's nations are not able to co-exist in amity as in Europe.


People have forgotten that the most revolutionary union of states came about with the Indian independence when over 500 princely states and nine provinces of British India merged on August 15, 1947.

On the previous day, five provinces and a few princely states seceded from India on the basis of what they called the two-nation theory or the clash of civilisations thesis. India became a multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-ethnic union of states long before the European Union.

While after two world wars and a prolonged Cold War, European nations are getting over their centuries-old national animosities, in India, animosity was introduced on the basis of the clash of civilisations thesis and has sought to be sustained since then.

Second, the European Union came about after Germany and Italy became democracies. Spain and Portugal could join the union only after they ceased to be authoritarian.

The Eastern European countries are being admitted into the union only after they demonstrated their democratic credentials. In the subcontinent, only Sri Lanka and India have been demo-cracies over the last 50 years.

All the EU countries shared a common security perception. Initially, it was the threat from the Soviet Union. After the end of the Cold War, they are all members of the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

When the common market was originally established as a result of the Treaty of Rome, it included Germany, France, Italy and other smaller nations. These three had an approximate balance.

In the subcontinent, India outweighs all other states combined in population, GDP, trade and professional skills. As the new European Union's constitution is being drawn, there is as yet no agreement on the voting weights of different countries.

The smaller nations are worried about the four bigger nations — Germany, France, the UK and Italy — dominating decision-making.

While the smaller countries in the subcontinent would be averse to India dominating decision-making, India, in turn, would not like other countries ganging up against it.

As described recently by former Sri Lankan foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, while all other six members of SAARC share affinities of language, ethnicity and territorial contiguity with India, they are not each other's neighbours.

He compared it to a wheel with India as the hub and other countries as spokes. Many Pakistanis argue that a union on the model of the European Union would have been possible if India had not been united into such a giant entity.

The more appropriate comparison for the subcontinent is the North American free trade area and its proposed expansion to include other Latin American countries. Canada and the US have open borders.

Living close to a giant market, smaller nations find it to their advantage to access that market through a free trade agreement.

India is now convinced that it can grow at a rapid rate of seven to eight per cent only by integrating itself with the global economy and having free trade access to as many countries as possible.

India has proclaimed its determination to become a developed nation by 2020.

An article Beyond the Edge in the Pakistani paper The News International of December 14, 2003 by Masood Hasan enumerates the Indian achievements and quotes an Indian telling a Pakistani some years ago, "It is true we are both in the gutter. The difference is, we are looking at the stars. You are looking at the gutter".

It points out that 70 MNCs have set up R&D facilities in India and that 100 of the ‘Fortune 500' companies are now present in India vs 33 in China. While in India, poverty has declined, in Pakistan it has increased in the last decade.

The Indian per capita income has overtaken Pakistan's. In the previous 40 years, Pakistan had a higher per capita income than India.

There are, therefore, compelling economic interests for India's neighbours to join the free trade area arrangement. But irrespective of the glitches that will get in the way of a SAARC union, it is commendable that the prime minister spelt out his vision.

Even the Pakistanis, who would have been expected to object to it virulently, have said that it is not an unfeasible proposition in the long-run.

The engine for the formation of the European Union was the cooperation between France and Germany. In the subcontinent, it has to start with cooperation among India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives.

The Bangladeshis have some problems about providing transit rights for India and the sale of oil and gas. Pakistan does not even extend the routine most-favoured nation status to India — a mandated requirement under WTO.

India may have to be prepared for an incremental economic integration. In South Asia, the time has come for economics to dominate politics in the relations among nations. The initiative is very much in the hands of New Delhi and a lot depends on the speed of its own economic reforms.

K Subrahmanyam

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Christian Mantras And Meditation

Dec 22, 2003, 12.00am IST


Chanting of mantra s and the practice of meditation are time-honoured traditions in oriental religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. But because of the universal validity of this practice, the Desert Fathers adopted it and made this the starting point for the "tradition of pure prayer" which they handed down within the Christian context.


Christians use the concept of chanting in a variety of ways in their prayer. The Divine Office or Prayer of the Church is a rhythmic recitation or singing of the Psalms in monastic communities.


The Rosary is the successive repetition of the 'Hail Mary'. But perhaps the most popular mantra used by Christians is "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me". The Way of the Pilgrim is the story of a Russian pilgrim who learned the practice of the presence of God through the cons-tant use of this mantra.


Eastern tradition of meditation helps the mind turn away from thoughts and images, to help achieve liberation. Similarly, the Christian tradition of pure prayer seeks to protect us from distraction, taking us to the inner silence of the heart where Christ prays in us through the Spirit.

For a Christian the practice of meditation is the practice of an 'awareness' of God in Christ. Equally, at the heart of the practice of Christian meditation is the essential onslaught on the 'ego' so that we may be completely free from its domination. Prophet Isaiah says (30:15): "In conversion and tranquillity lies your salvation".

Conversion and inner silence are the essential ingredients of Christian meditation. Solitude is the place of conversion. It is not a private therapeutic place. Rather it is the place where the old self dies and the new self is born.

It is in Christian terms a death- resurrection experience, a participation in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Meditation helps us get free of the domination of the ego.

The practice of Christian meditation is very simple. You say your word - from the scripture, or a short devotional phrase. As you recite it you also begin to internally "listen" to it. The word recommended is Ma-ra-na-tha (meaning the Lord comes!).

When you sit down to meditate, you close your eyes gently and sit upright and then in the deepening silence within you, you repeat the word, the mantra, "Maranatha", for the entire time of your meditation. That is all.

You listen to the mantra as you repeat it and you do not think about yourself - and that is the power of the mantra. All your attention is deflected from yourself to the word. We have to turn the light around, away from ourselves, beyond ourselves or perhaps through ourselves.

In other words, the only way to transcend the ego is to ignore it. This is what the mantra enables us to do. It is not so much a matter of 'intention' or an exercise of the will. We all experience our utter failure in this regard. Rather it is a matter of 'attention'.

Silence is a presence and at the heart of it is God. It is the late John Main, a Benedictine monk (OSB) who in recent years rediscovered the lost tradition of Christian meditation. His disciple and successor Laurence Freeman OSB has continued his good work establishing what is now known as the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) in London.

He is active in the contemplative meeting of the different faiths and led the "Way of Peace" initiative with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Christopher Mendonca

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Visual Culture in Jaina Kalpasutra

Dec 19, 2003, 12.00am IST
Amrit Gangar.


The Kalpasutra is held in great honour especially by the Svetambara sect of Jainism. A work in Prakrit, its composition is originally attributed to the celebrated author Bhadrabahu (BC 433 to 357).


The Kalpasutra shows the early stage of the development of Jainism, the succession of pontiffs and the rules for Jaina monks during the four months of monsoon or chaturmasa when the monks are not on the move. The text records the five auspicious events — the descent from heaven, birth, initiation, obtaining of omniscience, and death — and many legends of the last three Pathfinders or Tirthankaras: Aristanemi, Parsvanatha, and Mahavira, and those of Rishabhanatha, the first of the 24 Tirthan-karas. The arrangement of Bhadrabahu’s book moves back in time.

The tradition of 24 Tirthankaras became established among the Jainas around the first or second century AD though its older roots are not denied. As an illuminated manuscript, the Kalpasutra, representative of Jaina visual culture, contains some masterpieces of Jaina miniature paintings. The western Indian Jaina miniatures have left a significant mark in subsequent Indian painting.

An illuminated manuscript is a handwritten book that is embellished with brilliant inks and dyes — largely silver and gold. During the middle ages, many such manuscripts were created in the monasteries in different parts of the world. Illuminated manuscripts came in many forms and certain characteristics of these forms were essentially global. The brilliance of gold symbolises transcendental light. The calligraphy in some illuminated manuscripts of the Qur’an, for example, consists entirely of gold.

European scholars have compared the Kalpasutra’s hagiographic manuscript with the Christian Book of Hours. According to A Dieter, the two manuscripts resemble in division of sections: “The Book of Hours devotes sections to the important events in the Virgin Mary’s life and the calendar of saints, similarly, the Kalpasutras of the 15th and 16th centuries had a Jinacarita that illustrated the auspicious events in the lives of important Jaina figures. As each of the Christian saints is illustrated with their own symbols, the pictures of the Jains are accompanied by illustrations of their specific symbols”.

Among many other details, the Kalpasutra gives a list of 42 rainy seasons spent by Mahavira since he renounced the life of a householder. He stayed the first chaturmasa in Asthikagrama, three in Champa and Pristichampa, 12 in Vaisali and Vanijyagrama, 14 in Rajagraha and Nalanda, six in Mithila, two in Bhadrika, one in Alabhika, one in Panitabhumi, one in Sra-vasti and the last one in the town of Papa in king Hastipala’s chamber.

The Kalpasutra is significant for its narration of geographical locations most of which have been identified to be in the modern state of Bihar and some parts of Bengal and UP. A major portion is devo-ted to the biography of Mahavira and includes details of his birth, lineage, parentage, childhood, marriage and journey to asceticism and finally, his death. Before his birth, Mahavira’s mother is said to have seen a number of dreams. The Kalpa- sutra describes 14 dreams.

This important Jaina canonical text is the oldest available on the life of the Tirthankaras. Once a year during the auspicious Paryusana festival, a Kalpasutra manuscript is taken out in procession and read by the monks before the laity. Great merit is attributed to hearing the Kalpasutra.

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The River, a Cow And a Butterfly

Dec 18, 2003, 12.00am IST
Neeraja Raghavan.


"Tell me mighty river! Are you changing or are you constant?" asked the butterfly. The river chortled as it sped along, over rocky pebbles and around mossy little hills. "Why, can't you see?" it replied. "Do I look still to you?"


"No, of course you are not still. You are always moving. But are you not the same river?" The butterfly asked, a trifle hesitantly. "Yes, indeed I am the same river that has flowed down the mountains and through this forest for so many, many years!" said the river grandly. "But your waters are constantly flowing away... which part of you is the same?"

"No part of me is the same, my flighty friend!" answered the river, with a hearty laugh. "I keep losing water every time the sun shines, and I keep gaining water every time the rain falls! I merge into the sea, and I began from a humble spring, I keep changing; in change, I am constant... I have neither a beginning nor an end..."

"What happens to the water that leaves you, river? Where does it go?" asked the butterfly, a trifle confused. "Oh, it goes up into the clouds, then falls down as rain onto the ground, or into some other river or sea... every drop has gone on a long journey, you know, before it comes and joins me! And it will leave me sooner or later, to go on yet another journey."

"Why, that means all the oceans and clouds are in you!" squealed the butterfly, excitedly. "Yes", replied the river, "I appear to be limited to this stream, but I contain many worlds hidden inside me." Then a disturbing thought struck the butterfly. "Can water ever disappear into nothing, river?" it asked, curiously. "No, my friend, nothing in this world can ever become nothing. All that is will always be. It may change form, like the water turning into a cloud, then into rain and then the sea... but what is can never cease to be."

"I think I'm beginning to understand!" said the butterfly, excitedly. "Just as I changed form but remained the same insect, you, too, keep changing form but are still the same river!" "That's right,” said the river as it sped along, and so did the butterfly...

The swishy sound of grass being chewed woke up the butterfly from its gentle snooze. Who was this?

Dark gentle eyes looked down at the butterfly from a big white and brown face. "Moo! Moo-oo-ooo!" inquired the cow, loudly. "And what are you doing here?" "Oh, just resting in this soft grass. How are you this evening?" asked the butterfly, politely.

"Very well indeed. But it's been a few days since the cowherd gave me a bath, and I miss that... when the water flows over my back and falls down my sides, I feel like there is nothing for me to resist or push: I just let go completely, and enjoy the feel of the cool water splashing all over my body." The cow's eyes rolled over in delight, just at the mention of such a delightful experience...

"You have taught me the secret of living, dear cow!" said the butterfly, exultantly. "As you enjoy your bath, so must we all enjoy every moment of this precious existence! For there is a purpose behind every event, a direction in each change... all of which is dictated by a simple law that says energy can neither be created nor destroyed: only transformed. Energy is eternal."

As it sank back on the cool green grass, the butterfly knew that its time had come. It knew, too, that it would merely be transformed now, from one form of energy to another. What came next? It didn't matter.

(Extract from the writer's recently published work : Curioser & Curioser )

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Universal Mother, Ma Sarada Devi

Dec 16, 2003, 12.00am IST
SEEMA BURMAN.


 
Sarada Devi, Ramakrishna Paramhansa's spouse and spiritual companion, showered endless love on all. Ramakrishna called her "My Shakti" and worshipped her as the Divine Mother. He said that she was the incarnation of Goddess Saraswati.


Sarada Devi's mission was to uplift all without bias of caste or religion. Among her devotees was Amzad, who went to jail for thieving. When Amzad came to see her after a long stint in jail, the Mother simply said: "Amzad, I have been really worried."

Sarada Ma was a reformer. She blessed all even though at times she felt extreme pain when people of impure minds touched her. Yet she stopped none from touching her and gave initiation readily.

A man leading an immoral life visited her, which displeased others. When asked to prevent this disciple from coming, she said: "If my child gets covered with mud, is it not my duty to cleanse him and take him on my lap?"

A woman of ill-repute came to see the Mother and brought her some food. The devotees who were present there refused to eat it but when they saw that the Mother was accepting food from her, they had to follow her example.

She protected all who took refuge in her. She would often say: "To err is human; but few know how to lead an erring man".

She had no rules for giving diksha. At a railway station a porter wished to get spiritual initiation but said that he could not come to her village. Mother just put three straws as asana on the platform and making him sit on it, gave him diksha.

During her last days none was allowed to meet her due to her illness.

Actor-director Sohrab Modi, a Parsi, came for diksha but was denied permission. The Mother sensed his arrival, had him called inside and initiated him. Even when ill she did japa continuously explaining that it was her mission to free all from the bonds of Maya.

With her power of introspection she saw the spiritual side of all and refused to see their faults. Ma Sarada's many relatives and an unstable niece were a source of annoyance to her yet she did not swerve from her responsibilities.

She cooked for all and looked after their comforts despite suffering from painful rheumatism. Her kitchen was much more than a place where food was cooked — it was where she simul-taneously worked out solutions to the worldly and spiritual problems of the devotees and monks.

Sarada Devi had a cosmic vision, yet she cried her heart out when a widow's only son died. The Universal Mother identified with the bereaved mother's pain.

Once a doctor's wife asked the Mother to bless her husband so that he could hope to expand his practice. The Mother, however, refused. It would mean people falling sick, she said. Sarada Devi could neither read nor write — yet, Ramakrishna would refer to her as Jnanadayani, the giver of knowledge.

She was the giver of that Supreme Knowledge which leads to Supreme Reality. The Spiritual teacher in her was hidden in her Mother form. Rather than others serving her, she served all. For her the world was one, none was a stranger.

She often said, "It is in the mind alone one feels pure and impure. A man must make his own mind guilty and then alone he can see another man's guilt". Refusing to see another person's faults she made forgiveness her spiritual code.

Her last instruction to a disciple was to make the entire world one's own and never to see the fault of another.

( Today is Sarada Devi's 150th birth anniversary )

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Wing Your Way to Self-awareness

Dec 15, 2003, 12.00am IST


Since ages, human beings have dreamt of flying; of reaching out to the stars. Most mythologies depict gods who have the power to go any place at will. Patanjali's Yoga Darshan says that a yogi can get, through spiritual practice, the power to fly through space with speeds matching that of the mind.


The Mahabharata and the Ramayana have references to flying machines and in other societies also gods are often portrayed as luminous beings descending to earth from space. Almost all our scriptures talk about liberation from planet earth, and urge us to go to higher worlds or swargalok.

The Wright brothers in the US on December 17, 1903 became the first human beings in recorded history to achieve sustained flight in a manmade machine.

Similarly in 1903 a Russian school teacher Konstantin Tsiolkovsky had suggested for the first time the use of rockets for space flight. However, it was only in 1926 that Robert Goddard in the US fired the first liquid fuel rocket that set man on the path of space exploration.

In the last 100 years we have been able to go to the moon, as well as jet across the planet. In fact, the 26-year-old Voyager has reached the outskirts of our solar system some 13 billion km from Earth.

The achievements of phy-sical flight have been possible due to technological developments. On the metaphysical plane, we are capable of soaring really high — with no help whatsoever from technology.

There could be a link between the way space travellers feel exhilaration on leaving the gravitational field of earth and the experience recounted by those who have had out-of-body experience (OBE). Both feel free, unfettered.

Similar experiences have been reported by people who practise hang-gliding. They talk about the thrill of flying silently, like a bird. Maybe future technological developments will permit us to feel an OBE without having to actually go through a life-threatening state.

Most astronauts who have flown over the earth talk about the beauty of the blue planet in spiritual terms. For those who went to the moon, the landing itself was a spiritual experience.

The view from the moon, they say, is incredibly beautiful. Similarly, flying over snow-covered mountains, green fields and forests is very pleasing to the eye and shows the beauty of Mother Earth from a different, wider perspective.

Human beings have always reacted with awe when faced with the powerful forces of nature. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atom bomb, described in almost spiri-tual tones the explosion of the first bomb in Trinity in New Mexico.

Similarly, when scientists peer through their telescopes and witness gigantic forces at work, which are billions of times more powerful than atomic bo-mbs, they begin to wonder if all this is God's handiwork.

When Krishna showed Arjuna his virat form, it is possible he was showing him the galaxy formation and black hole. The sight is said to have made Arjuna's hair stand on end.


Thinking about stars and seeing the forces of the universe at play gives us a wide perspective on life. We are like a small speck of dust in the vast universe and yet our petty worldly matters overwhelm us. What we need is to create greater awareness about the wonders of the cosmos so that our vision is not limited to a narrow field.


Future space exploratory missions might be more about enhancing spiritual experience rather than for home-hunting. Space-inspired enlightenment, then, will prompt us to thank the Wright brothers and Goddard for making it possible for us to fly far into space — both the outer and the inner.
Anil K Rajvanshi

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Salve for the Soul In Sound of Music

Dec 9, 2003, 12.00am IST
Mrinalini Sarabhai.


Sound leads to understanding unity and divinity. Hence the importance given to the recitation of the sacred syllable ‘Om’.


The Sangeetanataka says that consciousness of the Nada Brahman leads to enlightenment. Rishi Matanga in the Brhaddesi says: “Without nada neither song nor dance can exist — the entire universe is the embodiment of nada”.

The songs of the Sama-veda are the precursor of all Indian music. The singers of these chants participated in all sacred ceremonies. Positive sound is productive; it creates greater understanding and unity and is closest to the divine. Depictions of gods and goddesses in India reflect the importance of music in spiritual evolution — Nataraja dancing with the damraku, Krishna with the eternal flute, Saraswati, goddess of learning with her veena, Nandi and his maddalam, Narada the sin-ger wandering the earth, tan-pura in hand.

Music is an intrinsic part of Indian spirituality. When Maitreyi asked her husband Sage Yagna-valkya, why he was going away to the forest he replied: “When the veena is played one does not try to grasp the sound that is being played, one seeks the player of the veena. When the drum is played one does not grasp the drumming, one seeks the drummer. It is that limitless Self of our creation, the Atman, that I seek.”

The notes of music have symbolic meaning; they evoke varied moods. Sa and Ri are to be used for the rasas of vira or heroism, adbhuta or wonder and rudra or anger; Dha denotes bibhatsa or revulsion and bhaya or fear. Ga and Ni project karuna or compassion and Ma and Pa, hasya rasa or humour and srin-gara or the erotic. Each note activates and affects the different cells of the body and mind. Most temples of South India have mani mantapas with stone pillars that play music when struck with a thin stick and emit different notes of the musical scale.

The legendary musician Tansen reportedly brought rain to the parched earth by singing the raga Malhar. In the south, Viraraghava Iyer sang the raga Vasanta to allay the heat and was known as Tsallagali (cool breeze) Iyer ever since. South India’s Thyagaraja reportedly brou-ght to life a person presumed dead, with the raga Bihari. That’s why many believe in the miraculous healing powers of music.

The Sufi poet Hafiz tells us of how God made a model of a clay figure and requested the human soul to enter within. But the soul refused to be imprisoned. But when God asked the angels to play beautiful music, the soul made its entry.

Hippocrates, the Greek who pioneered the western system of medicine, used music in the healing process. Today, it is pro-ven that when used selectively, music can indeed heal. The term, the ‘Mozart effect’ has evolved from the fact that the composer’s music has helped strengthen the mind, reduce tension, enhance creativity and heal the body of those who turned to it for succour.

Japa or chanting of mantras has been a traditional daily ritual in India. It helps us connect to the source of all creation and the resonance of the last syllable of Om is a healing sound.

Whatever the music, if it is spiritually moving, it elevates the spirit and affects positively both mind and body. While good music is highly beneficial, today’s cacophony of loud noises in the environment aggravates stress and will eventually destroy us. Loudspeakers used during festivals and other public functions and the constant noise generated by traffic are all serious health hazards. Remember, sound is a powerful force — it can heal; it can also destroy.

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Sahaja Yoga and the Seven Holy Chakras

Dec 8, 2003, 12.00am IST
R Venkatesan.


"The following tale of India", wrote Heinrich Zimmer, ‘‘has never ceased to amaze me due to its rich-ness and subtlety’’. A queen longing to meet a sage who lived in the forest vows that she would fast until she feeds the sage next morning.


When she bade farewell to the king, her husband, and set forth on her journey, little did she realise that the river, which separated the city (where her husband ruled) from the forest (where the sage meditated), would be in spate that night. Worried at the prospect of breaking her vow, she approached the king for his counsel.

His counsel was simple: “Invoke the river goddess; speak to her and tell her that if the king had lived a chaste life till that day, the river should give way”. So the queen speaks to the river. The river tossed its water to its left and right, paving the way for her and her entour-age to cross to the other side.

Having feasted the sage and after eating her food, she set out to return home only to find the river in spate once again. Disturbed, she approached the sage for counsel. He said: “Speak to the river goddess; tell her that she should give way if the sage had fasted till the moment.” Once again the incredible feat occurred and the queen was able to join her husband.

Bewildered, she asked the king: ‘‘How could you call yourself chaste when you fathered my children; how could the sage claim that he was fasting when I fed him with my own hands?” The king smiles and explains the concept of satya (truth) and ananya bhakti: ‘‘You can be connected to God and still perform all worldly duties with detached involvement.”

The union of atma with the paramatma is a vital concept in Indian philosophy. Yoga or union with God allows you to reach that state and have the ability to carry out your day-to-day tasks with vigour and alertness, without undue fatigue and with ample energy. Increasingly, yoga is being perceived and accepted as the link between body and mind. The practice of Hatha Yoga, based on physical postures and controls, has become increasingly popular.

Breathing exercises have shown to decrease blood pressure and lower levels of stress hormones, and stretching the body through various asanas promotes efficient drainage of the lymphatic vessels while the holding posture is proven to aid toning up muscle. Yoga improves one’s productivity irrespective of age, gender or profession. The focus is on the end goal of yoga, which is union of the atma with the paramatma.

The Indian system of awakening Kundalini is one such discipline that gives equal importance to both physical and mental aspects for overall well being. Unfortunately, awakening of Kundalini is shrouded in mystery. Sahaja Yogis worldwide, followers of Sahaja Yoga founded by Mata Nirmala Devi, have been practising Kundalini awa-kening over three decades to facilitate self-realisation. The number seven has a mystic connotation to it.

It is not just the seven wonders of the ancient world, seven seas or the seven pheras that bind two individuals for life; it is the seven chakras which form part of your subtle system that are crucial for holistic well being. It allows the practitioner to lead a de-stressed life; it transports one’s awareness to a higher level. Sahaja Yoga facilitates free flow of life force across nadis.

This balances seven energy hubs (chakras) that allow one to overcome certain diseases which arise out of the imbalance in these energy hubs, gain vibratory awareness to clean and balance the chakras, leverage emotional intelligence factors and gain spiritual intelligence. Above all, it helps to develop a balance of personality traits.

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Gita as Guide for Today's Youth

Dec 6, 2003, 12.00am IST


When I say that the Bhagavad Gita is an ideal guidebook for the young, the reaction is almost always: " Gita for the young? Wasn't it meant for retired people? Who has the time to read the Gita when we are already under so much pressure every day of our lives?"



Wait, hang on, I tell them... perhaps the Gita can help relieve those very pressures and enable us to overcome stress and threat of failure.

Youth is characterised by boundless energy, the spirit of adventure and thirst for new horizons. Yet today the young seem bored. So many options are available to them — it is like eating different types of exotic food but without salt.

All that is required is just a dash of salt to make the fare more palatable. So it is with life. The Gita lends taste to life like does salt to food. Just a sprinkling is enough to bring back the excitement in life, not only during our youth but right through life. So I would say that the Gita is an essential ingredient in life.

In this age of intellectual capital you are busy acquiring the latest skills and expertise in the belief that it will guarantee success. But success comes only when you put all that knowledge to use.

For example, you need the knowledge during examinations or at a job interview. But you get so nervous that it is not available to you when you need it most. You blank out in the exam hall.

The Gita introduces you to your inner personality. The intellect which reasons and discriminates and the mind which is the centre of emotions and impulses. The mind is like a virus in a computer and the intellect is like anti-virus software.

The former corrupts your database, the latter protects it. So only when the intellect is in command of your personality, you can access the knowledge that you have so painstakingly acquired. When the mind is playing up, the "Access Denied" sign flashes on your screen.

So alongside academic education you need to invest time and effort in developing the intellect to achieve success. So the Gita could be the password to success.

You must be driven not by passion but by a vision, not by the desire to arrogate but to abnegate. Go beyond mere feeding and clothing to satisfy your own deeper, more meaningful aspirations.


A lofty ideal keeps the mind from devolving into chaos and poor work. The ideal is the vitamin that fuels performance. Prosperity is the collateral benefit which comes as a result of working for a nobler cause.


Physics tells us that an object is red in colour because it absorbs all other colours except red — which it reflects. Amazingly, what it gives it retains. What it takes, it loses. So it is with life.
The more you give the more you get. Dedicate yourself to a higher goal. And see the phenomenal results. What is the driving force behind your action? Is it merely prize money, personal landmarks and records? If so, you will soon get bored with life.

If you have a powerful emotional motivation you outperform your own standard and excel. Further, if you are dedicated to an intellectual ideal, you have access to far greater reserves of energy.


Rise still higher to offer your talent as an act of worship to the Divine Power and you can make the impossible happen. Tap your potential.
So go ahead, connect with the Gita . Embark on a journey to transform your life from one of mediocrity to that of excellence.
Jaya Row

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Internalise the Core Values of Humanity

Dec 5, 2003, 12.00am IST


Morality is neither an abstraction nor many-complexioned. There cannot be different sets of morality for politicians, business persons and bureaucrats. If such a difference is being accepted by most of us today, it is because we have been indifferent to the progressive deterioration of moral and ethical standards in the social order over the last half century.


Any moral code has to be applicable to all. "I never did, or countenanced, in public life", said Jefferson, "a single act inconsistent with the strictest good faith, having never believed there was one code of morality for a public and another for a private man".

That politics and morality are not compatible is a canard propagated deliberately by a few who have come to dominate public life. Through their dubious ways, they are distorting and redefining morality.

Just as bad money drives out good money, bad politicians have very nearly clear-ed the political arena of good politicians committed to moral or ideological principles and values. As a result, the entire social system and the environment is vitiated — resulting in widespread corruption and unethical behaviour.

There has been talk of framing some kind of moral/ethical code of conduct for politicians. But this assumes there is a need to evolve different codes of conduct for different people.

"What is morally wrong", said Gladstone, "cannot be politically right". It is only men of moral conviction and courage who can carry a country or community forward. Morality is a practical philosophy of life mirrored in a person’s everyday beha-viour and social interaction.

Basic values are eternal — truthfulness, integrity of character and propriety in thought and action. It simply means being cultured, gentle, unselfish, noble and liberal in dealing with others. Being moral is being a man of conscience.

We are all acutely conscious of our right to freedom. However, we have not evolved a corresponding awareness about the value of restraint and self-control. A freedom that is limitless has no meaning — there can be no right without a corresponding duty.

Also, a distinction needs to be made between freedom and licence. To have a conscience is to have the ability to understand this distinction.

Family, school and the prevailing environment play a crucial role in moulding and shaping an individual’s character and conscience. What we learn in our younger days becomes a permanent part of us. "Live as long as you may", wrote Southey, "the first twenty years are the longest half of your life."

Children instinctively know the right from the wrong. So adults need to set an example that validates this natural instinct. Anything which is anti-social or against the law is morally undesirable. The idea of sin, which has its origin in religion, is formulated to deter people from straying away from the right path.

Sex education and moral education may not be synonymous — but no moral education can be complete without adequate sex education thrown in. "Our civilisation", writes Will Durant, "has unwisely stimulated this sex impulse. Our ancestors played it down, knowing that it was strong enough without prodding. We have blown it up with a thousand forms of incitations — advertisement, emphasis and display — and armed it with the doctrine that inhibition is a mistake, whereas inhi-bition, the control of the impulse, is the first principle of civilisation".

We need to promote a relationship of understanding, dignity and mutual respect not only between the sexes but also between all people, governments and other forms of life.

Niti Paul Mehta

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Tribals Live Close To Nature & God

Dec 4, 2003, 12.00am IST


A question his ‘civilised’ friends frequently put to Verrier Elwin, the British missionary who quit the Church and found fulfilment in tribal India, was: Why did he choose to live in the remote and ‘primitive’ world of aboriginals?

Elwin would respond that in tribal India he had found an answer to the prayer: Lead me from the unreal to the real. Like him, many who visit Bastar, Chhattisgarh’s tribal heartland, go back enchanted, wishing that they, too, could live so close to nature and God, free from the stress and anxiety that seem so inescapable in their daily lives.
Tribals, however wise, generally do not bother to answer strangers’ queries to this end. Their simple life is their profound message, if you care to take it.

Tribals are the fortunate ones who shunned the bustle of war-infested plains and made the blessed hills and forests their home. To them, every hill, dale, river, forest and field is blessed by the Mother’s pre-sence. They have forged a symbio-tic relationship with forests.

To them, harming the environment is like committing suicide — or worse, like killing your mother. Their life is a model, an example of how to be in this world, rather than restlessly striving to become one thing or the other in the face of competition.

Tribal houses, set in sylvan surroundings, are built of locally available materials. Use of clay helps keep the houses cool in summer and warm in winter. Poultry and domestic animals are extended family.

Their possessions are a bare minimum, essential for life. Nothing is kept for the sake of hoarding or for decoration. There is no such thing as tribal art: all that the world values as tribal art are really items and patterns functional in their everyday life.

The tribal economy revol-ves around subsistence and self-sufficiency: agriculture is largely to meet domestic demand; collection and sale of forest produce helps meet cash expenditure. Value- time is devoted to festivals, dancing and celebration.


Tribals are reputed for their honesty. While honesty in the ‘civilised’ world matters at the inter-personal transactional plane (where honesty is important as the best policy), honesty for the tribal is a value at the individual plane, because dishonesty will invite the Mother’s wrath.
Atonement is an expensive process, besides loss of face. The gaita, priest, who is a divine pleader before the Mother (who firmly governs the tribal psyche) ends by stating: “O Mother! You understand the mind of this supplicant whose woe I have placed before you. Based on his honesty and your mercy, do what you deem fit in the matter!”


The tribals follow no scripture — and they don’t miss it — because the Devi, repo-sitory of all needful knowledge, is readily accessible through her me-dium, the siraha, to reveal her mind in any matter. Never dismiss this as super- stition, because tribals are known to dump both the siraha as well as a Devi if they are seen as ‘weak’.

Tribals are very pragmatic in their approach to religion. Tribals have rightly been described as ‘light-hearted’. They do not carry the weight of ego or anxiety: they live in the eternal Now.


What can be more refreshing than the sight of a group of tribal boys and girls bursting into laughter at the slightest provocation? Their laughter has depth and purity. It is perhaps the opposite of what Shelley observed in the ‘civilised’ world, where: “We look before and after/ And pine for what is not;/ Our sincerest laughter/ With some pain is fraught;/ Our sweetest songs are those that tell of the saddest thought!”
K S Ram

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Unconditional Love Brings Joy to All

Dec 3, 2003, 12.51am IST


All of us need to believe that we are loved and are lovable. We begin life secure in our mother’s love, swaddled in our innocence. Love was never in question, but over time, we become increasingly unsure...


In The Path to Love, Deepak Chopra says that by bringing spirituality back into our relationships, we can discover a world of depth and meaning. He says: “You were created to be completely loved and to be completely lovable for your whole life”.
The problems begin when we start taking love for granted and get possessive about life. We deny freedom and space to the people we love — our children, spouse, friend. Unknowingly, we start killing our love. And we create bondage for ourselves, too, when we curb the freedom of the person we love.


Osho says: “Freedom is a higher value than love”. Love stifles and gets stifled when it encroaches upon the space of another. Love blossoms in the space of freedom, in breeziness. Once we realise the nature of true love, we no longer ‘fall’ in love — we actually ‘rise’ in love.


At this point love becomes unconditional. We give our love and feel grateful to all those who receive it, because this way we unburden ourselves.
Osho says when the clouds are full of rain water, they have to shower. It is their need. Similarly, when we become full of love it is our need to give our love to one and all. Then we are not concerned whether or not we receive love in return. We simply enjoy giving.


Conditional love is attachment; it is bondage, so it is also an illusion. We say we want to be free but are we brave enough to be alone? We fear loneliness. We fear being unoccupied. We started out looking for love, but maybe we were really looking for attachment. Our need may have been attachment all along. Love was the way to attain it, the bait.

Unconditional love will not become attachment. But the moment you say to your partner, “Love only me”, you begin to possess her. And in possessing, you’re making your lover into an object to be used.


Immanuel Kant said that to treat another person as a means is an immoral act. In other words, if you see your lover as being there for your gratification, or to fulfil your sexual desires, or to provide something else for you... you’re reducing your partner to an object.


You are in bondage — so inevitably, you’ll eventually desire freedom. You will be bored by what you have and yearn for what you don’t have. Or you could try to be free even while ‘possessing’ your partner, causing a struggle.


Osho says, “I want to be a free person, and yet I want you to be possessed by me; you want to retain your freedom and still possess me — this is the struggle... We must remain indivi- duals and we must move as independent, free consciousness. We can come together, we can merge into each other, but no one possesses. Then there is no bondage and then there is no attachment”.


Love becomes a blessing, a real celebration when love breathes fresh air free from possessiveness and jealousy. There should be no judgment, no blame, no expectations and no attempts to control.


The soul can grow only in freedom — and unconditional love provides freedom. Osho says: My message is beyond biology and theo-logy... Love is nothing but sharing of your consciousness with as many people as possible; not only with people, but with animals, trees, birds, clouds, stars.

Swami Chaitanya Keerthi

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