The only way out is in, so look deep within

Nov 10, 2009, 12.00am IST

Venkatesan Seshadri.

We constantly seek a deeper experience of life, one way or the other. Whatever one may seek God, alcohol, drugs, meditation or any thing that one feels will provide relief, give pleasure or fulfillment you are only seeking to have a larger slice of life .

The intention is always the same, somehow to have a deeper experience, to extract a little more out of life, to find access to that which is not yet for you. The question is not of the intention as the intention is always the same; it is only of whether it works or not.

Everything you've done in your life so far has been in pursuit of joy career, business, making money or starting a family. From when you were a child till now, is your joy increasing or decreasing? Now that you have grown up, you have your own life, your own family, your own bank account, everything of your own ^ has your joy multiplied? In the last 24 hours, how many moments of joy have you known?

When you came into this world, you came with no investment. So whatever happens in your life, anyway you are in profit. But the reason people are in various levels of distress is because there is no life-sense, only ego-sense. If you are miserable, it is because life is not happening the way you think it should happen. If everything happened the way you think it should, the whole existence would happen within the limitation of your limited thought. Is it not wonderful that so many things that you could never imagine are happening? What you enjoyed, your parents were distressed about. What you are distressed about, your children are enjoying.

The nature and basis of your experience is within you. Pain and pleasure, joy and misery, agony and ecstasy happen only within you. The very seat of your experience is within you. So why try to extract joy from outside? At best, the outside can provide a stimulus.

If you depend on the outside to bring joy to you, understand that the outside never happens a hundred per cent the way you want it. Those who think that there is something like an ideal situation are not in touch with reality. No situation or person will ever happen a hundred per cent the way you want it. But at least you should happen the way you want yourself to be. Then there would be no need for you to be in pursuit of your happiness. So the question is not of intention or direction, but of doing that which works.

If you did happen the way you want yourself to be, joy would be the natural choice. What we refer to as inner engineering means not seeing joy as something that we could achieve in our life but seeing joy as the very basis of our lives. Joy is not the goal; it is the square one of our life. Other things can happen only if there is joy. Otherwise, you will live constantly with the fear of misery striking at you.

What great things you achieve in your life will depend on your capabilities, the situation, and the prevailing times. Regardless of what you do or don't, my wish and blessing is that your experience of life is pleasant and graceful.

Read More

Pilgrimage to Mecca is a divine experience

Nov 27, 2009, 12.00am IST
M Aslam.

A pilgrimage undertaken with sincerity and devotion could be a life-transforming, spiritually invigorating experience .


This is what happened to me when I went for Umra a few years ago. Umra can be taken up during any part of the year and it involves most of the rituals of Haj, but it is not a Haj. My experience with two important rituals that are also a part of Haj – tawaf or circumambulating the Kaaba and running between the two small hills of Safah and Marwah – was spiritually satisfying.


Wearing the Ihram – the two unstitched pieces of white cloth, one wrapped around the waist, the other worn over one shoulder – at Jeddah, made me feel I was entering a new world, far removed from the lifestyle familiar to me. I entered Baitul Mukaram, the Grand Mosque, on reaching Mecca. I began reciting Labiak at the Kaaba: “O my God,I am present, I am at your disposal ... ” and started doing tawaf, circling the Kaaba seven times. There was a huge crowd of devotees doing the same while chanting Labiak.
It was rather impossible to kiss Hajar Aswad, the holy black stone, because of the huge crowds going around the Kaaba at great speed. It crossed my mind suddenly that at Kaaba, you are so close to God that if you pray sincerely, it is immediately accepted. I thought this was the time to see whether my prayers were accepted. I prayed to God to facilitate me to kiss the Hajar Aswad. Even if it were for only a few seconds, my wish was indeed granted. A tall, well-built man in the front row near Hajar Aswad held back the surging crowd with his arms while I did the needful. I began to feel empowered. I remembered the words of Rumi in the Mathnawi: “God has made the Qibla – now that the House has come to view. If you forget this Qibla for one moment, you will be overcome by the Qibla of desires.”


After the completion of this ritual, a pilgrim is expected to run between the two small hills called Safah and Marwah that are described in Quran as signs of God. The pilgrims walk at different speeds coinciding with a rite performed in the memory of Abraham’s wife who helplessly ran between these two hills in search of water for her son, Ishmael. Again it was difficult for me to run and as an alternative I got a wheel chair after depositing my passport to perform this ritual. Believe it or not, I never did have to use the wheelchair. I was able to run between Safah and Marwah, unencumbered by my physical limitations. As I completed the ritual, I wondered from where I got the energy and willpower to do it. Was it faith that propelled me to do what i had thought was impossible for me to accomplish?

The Haj is not intended as an accomplishment to boast about nor undertaken to acquire the title of ‘Haji’. The pilgrimage is expected to make a person God-aware and sincere. My hope and wish is that every pilgrim who returns from Haj retains in himself the spirit of Haj without succumbing completely to worldly deeds and thereby lose all the benefits of a significant spiritual experience that reduces the distance between the seeker and the God.
The writer teaches at IGNOU, New Delhi.

Read More

The agony and ecstasy of true creativity

Nov 24, 2009, 12.00am IST
OSHO.

All creativity is a deep suffering, unless your creativity does not come out of the mind, but out of meditation.



French painter Paul Gaugin lived the last few years of his life on an island in the South Pacific. Shortly before his death, he finished his last masterpiece, entitled Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? He wrote: “I have put all my energies into this work before dying - a passion so painful, a vision so clear.” Osho, is there any more you can say about the role of creativity?


Paul Gaugin had to suffer just the way every creator suffers. Creativity is almost like pregnancy. The mother goes for nine months into deep troubled waters, and even after the birth of the child she is not free of responsibility. All creativity is a deep suffering, unless your creativity does not come out of the mind, but out of meditation. When it comes out of meditation, creativity is sharing the joy, sharing the blissfulness that you have.

Mind has no joy it is really a wound, very painful.


Gaugin had no idea of any meditation, but he had a tremendous passion, almost a madness to create. And just to create, he dropped out of society, forgot all about his wife and children and responsibilities. He was possessed by the idea of creating. The possession was so total that he could brook no distraction. But when you are possessed by something, you are working almost as a slave, and slavery cannot bring blissfulness.

All the creators in the West have passed through long years of suffering. Many of them have been forced to live in madhouses, and many of them have committed suicide. But still the western creator, either of meditation or of music, of painting or of dance, has not become aware of why he has to suffer.


In the East, the situation is totally different - not a single creator has suffered. In fact only the creators have enjoyed life to its fullest. Not a single creator has been put into a madhouse, not a single creator has committed suicide; but creators have moved deeper into meditation, and many of them have become mystics. From painting, from music, from dance, they have moved deeper into their own being.

So learn to be more meditative, and let your creativity be secondary to your meditativeness. Then you will have a totally different state of being - that of ecstasy; and out of ecstasy, whatever is created has also some flavour of it.

In the West, perhaps Gurdjieff is the only man who has divided art into two sections: objective and subjective art. Subjective art is from the mind, and is out of anguish. Objective art - the Taj Mahal, the caves of Ellora and Ajanta, the temples of Khajuraho - has come from meditative people. Out of their love, out of their silence, they wanted to share; it is their contribution to the world.


The western artist has lived under a heavy burden. It is time to be aware that there is something more beyond mind. First reach that beyond, and then you can create stars; and they will not only be a great joy to you, they will also be a great joy for those who see them.


An objective piece of art like the Taj Mahal is not just to be seen, but to be lived - and then you will be in a certain way connected with the creators of that beautiful architecture. It was created by Sufi masters. Its very shape somehow creates within you a new blissful space. One has to meditate on it - it may be that thousands of years have passed between the creator of that piece and you. Suddenly that distance disappears; you become part of that creative joy, of that creative dance.

Excerpted from The Golden Future. Courtesy: Osho International Foundation/www.osho.com

Read More

Karmic law and the Dharma of encounters

Nov 23, 2009, 12.00am IST
SHANTANU NAGARKATTI .

What is the best way to deal with terrorists, Naxalites, gangsters and other similar anti-social elements and perpetrators of violence and terror?


Should we take the path of legal action by submitting the case in courts of law – of protracted justice – that are known for their long and often tedious procedures? Or should we simply confront the perpetrators of injustice on the streets, with bullets of instant justice? These questions are not new. Gurcharan Das in his book The Difficulty Of Being Good – on The Subtle Art of Dharma, discusses the quandary that Yuddhistra faced in the Mahabharata epic.


‘‘Debate is useless,’’ says the Mahabharata. ‘‘There are many scriptural authorities (or law books) that contradict one another, as do the Brahmins (lawyers). The essence of dharma remains a great secret. We need to learn (dharma) from the conduct of the great Ones.’’ From the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and looking at the behaviour of divine incarnations like Rama and Krishna, we might get some insight: Are encounters or extrajudicial killings within the boundaries of dharma?


In the Kishkindhakand of the Ramayana, Rama hides behind a tree and shoots an arrow that kills the monkey king Vali as he battles his brother – and Rama’s devotee – Sugriva. While dying, Vali accuses the Lord of transgressing dharma by indulging in murder through concealment rather than by direct confrontation in battle. Rama declares that Vali has himself indulged in adharma by appropriating his brother’s wife. Further, Kshatriya dharma is valid only in battle against another Kshatriya, isn’t it?


In the Mahabharata, when a helpless Karna, left without any weapon, is facing an encounter type of death from Arjuna, he takes the shelter of dharma as protection. Krishna asks Karna if he upheld dharma – when Draupadi was being stripped, when Shakuni played a rigged game of dice with Yuddhistra, when Arjuna’s young son, Abhimanyu, was encircled in the Chakravyhu and mercilessly slain. As Karna hangs his head in shame, the Lord instructs a hesitant Arjuna to shoot his arrows and kill the defenceless warrior.


Dharma protects those who uphold dharma. Those who violate dharma are not entitled to the protection of dharma. Equality is a spiritual concept, for all of us are truly spiritually equal. But we need to be careful in porting this concept of equality onto the material plane of dispensing justice. If we must follow in the footsteps of the great Ones, it could be arguably stated that ‘‘encounters’’ might have a place – only if dispensed by just and flawless agents – in the big picture of maintaining law and order.


In his book, Beyond Good and Evil, Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, Nietzsche said, ‘‘When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.’’ If you look into evil long enough, even as you confront it, evil could become a part of you. So maybe it is best to let the wheels of justice grind faster.


In current times, there might not be the equivalent of the great Ones who could unravel through example, the mystery of dharma. Hence those who risk taking the law into their own hands must be prepared to face the karmic consequences of their actions, and like Yuddhistra at the conclusion of the Mahabharata, be ready to experience Hell – as the Pandava prince had to, in submission to the karmic law of cause and effect.

Read More

Following Dharma requires deep wisdom

Nov 15, 2009, 12.00am IST

Most of the time we grieve for ourselves.


Sage Vasishta consoles Arjuna by saying that since Dashrath Maharaj had lead a dharmic life, after his death, he would attain a higher plane and so there is no need to grieve for him. In the second chapter, verse 28, the Gita says that beings were unmanifest before they were born, and will become unmanifest again when they are dead; they are manifest only in the intermediate stage. What occasion, then, for lamentation?


Krishna wants Arjuna to look at the beings around him and become aware of his experiences with them. People like Bhishma Pitamah, Dronacharya and others were unmanifest before they were born. For a short time they appeared in these particular forms but before and after they remained avyakta or unmanifest. We exist for a short time in a particular body, interact with each other and then the whole thing is over.


When we travel by train, we meet and interact with people in our compartments. We come to know them for a short time, enjoy their company. We may even laugh and share some jokes but when they leave the compartment, we don’t hold them back. We let them go without grief. There is a Sanskrit saying, “Welcome whatever comes and let go of whatever goes”. Kabirdas gives the example of leaves on the tree, that are born together and after falling down drift off in different directions. All of us are moving together in this cosmos, with our own goals to achieve, with our own desires and expectations. We meet with other beings for a short while and then depart.


The right vision enables us to become free. Krishna explains the different ways in which to experience or understand the Truth. He begins with the Truth as it is. First it is important to have the ultimate vision about Supreme Reality. A step below is the holistic understanding about life, the laws of karma, and the paths taken by the jiva, traveling from one body to another. Wisdom helps us overcome grief.


Arjuna asks, “If Atman is eternal, then why are we unaware of it?” Krishna replies in the second chapter, verse 29 that the nature of the Self is wonderful. Despite this, very rare and few are the individuals who understand the importance of knowing themselves, strive sincerely, find the right teacher and recognise themselves. Those who do, see the Self as a great wonder. Their intellects are dumbfounded in the face of its grandeur and magnificence, similar to the reaction evoked by the majesty of the mountains.

It is a great wonder that without any modification or change, by its own power, the Self appears as this world. It is a marvel and beyond rational thought that the Self, which is infinite, appears finite and that which is changeless appears to be changing. Though everything is known by the Self, the Self is not known as an object. Those who come to recognise this know it to be a great wonder.

Knowledge about other subjects like, science, mathematics and history is easily available. Even in spirituality we have different types of gurus like, mantra guru, tantra guru, upadesh, diksha and shiksha gurus. They give us knowledge of mantras, rituals and moral etiquettes but the sadguru who guides and helps us recognise the Self is very, very rare indeed!

Courtesy: Chinmaya Mission.

Discourse: Swami Nikhilananda Saraswati

Read More

Holy cow, de-stressing is so simple

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

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


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

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


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


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


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

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


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


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


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

Read More

Give with humility and take with gratitude

Nov 23, 2009, 12.00am IST
JYOTI DESAI.

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


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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Read More

Charity is the theme of Haj pilgrimage

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

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


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

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

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


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

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

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


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

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

Read More

Empirical and metaphysical aspects of Dharma

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

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


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

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

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

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


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


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


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

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

Read More

Beware of lurking near enemies

Nov 3, 2009, 12.00am IST
Marguerite Theophil.

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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


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

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

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

Read More

The concept of emptiness is such a paradox

Nov 17, 2009, 12.00am IST
Sonam Tsomo.

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read More

All energy is consciousness

Nov 7, 2009, 12.00am IST
SWAMI KRIYANANDA.

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


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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

Read More

Receiving divine grace with heartfelt kirtana

Nov 12, 2009, 12.00am IST
ANANDMURTI GURUMAA.


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


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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

Read More

Don’t look too far for solutions

Nov 16, 2009, 12.00am IST

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



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

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


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


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

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

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


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


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

Read More

More the extravagance, greater the violence

Nov 5, 2009, 12.00am IST

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati

Today is Gandhi Jayanti.

Website: www.tattvatirtha.org

Read More