In harmony with nature

Oct 31, 2010, 12.00am IST
KULBIR KAUR.

The Supreme Being is Karta Purakh, the Creator, transcendent and All-pervasive. Creation is His manifestation. "True is He and true is His Creation, All has emanated from God Himself", says fifth Sikh Guru Arjan.

Nature has all attributes of its Creator. Vaheguru, the wondrous Master, is the data or giver as well as karta or doer. Nature is but His creation and cosmic play. Nature teaches us humility. You are humble when you are satisfied with yourself, your life and the world around. In all religions, humility is regarded as the first step towards Self-realisation. Lack of humility leads to 'haumai' the feeling 'i am', that is, ahankar, egoism or self-centredness which is considered not only as an inner disease but as root cause of all evil impulses. A man full of haumai or ego, manmukh, is oblivious of the interests of others. He asserts his own needs, and this makes him selfish and arrogant, separating him from other human beings. Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, gives the example of a Simal tree which is very tall, symbolising an arrogant man, but this tree bears no edible fruit, and so is of no use to other life. He says, "The Simal tree is tall and straight/ But if one comes to it with hope of gain, what will one get?/ Its fruit is without taste, Its flowers have no fragrance/ Its leaves are of no use/ O Nanak, humility and sweetness are the essence of virtue and goodness/ Readily do we all pay homage to ourselves,/ Before others we refuse to bow."

Haumai is a major block in the way of realisation since it is not compatible with the practice of simran or remembering the Lord's Name, the two cannot coexist.

What is the way out, then? How to get rid of ego, the biggest hurdle to spiritual development? The first step is to realise and acknowledge the presence and power of God. Compared to the vastness and scope of God and His Creation what we are, but tiny specks on the Creation canvas? Guru Nanak regards Nature as both the manifestation and abode of God. He feels the presence of the Supreme Being in every object of Nature hills, mountains, valleys and oceans. Nature is a source of joy and peace. He says, "In Nature we see the Lord/ In Nature we hear His speech/ Nature inspires the divine awe/ In Nature is the essence of joy and peace."


Guru Nanak reminds us that each one of them is an embodiment of the divine light, which He again explains with reference to Nature, "The drop of water is in the sea,/ And the sea is in the drop of water, who shall solve the riddle?" Man is, therefore, a part of Nature and God, his goal being to merge in Him. A journey from being a manmukh or ego-centric person to a gurmukh or God-oriented one liberates you from ahankara or ego and all suffering.


Gurmukh meditates upon Nam or Sabda, bani in the form of kirtan, living life as a householder, earning an honest livelihood and sharing it with others. Therefore, it is not surprising that community service is at the very core of Sikhism, entirely relevant in current times.


October 20 is the day of the installation of the Guru Granth Sahib as the Eternal Guru.

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Multi-dimensional life

Oct 5, 2010, 12.00am IST
P V VAIDYANATHAN.

Anekantvad is Jain philosophy that perceives life as being multi-dimensional. What we think we see is only part of life, rarely the whole.


Though most of us operate from our periphery, often saying and doing things spontaneously, without thinking or planning, we are all eventually guided by our centre. What is our centre? It is usually that core collection of feelings, beliefs, conditionings, thoughts, biases, prejudices, ideas, perceptions, points of view, and opinions --- basically whatever we think we are. This centre is often mind-based, not being or soul-based, for those things always operate out of silence and love. The soul or being is our real centre, as opposed to the mind or ego based 'pseudo-centre' from where we frequently and unknowingly operate.


Very few of us operate from pure love. Invariably, we tend to operate from fear, or its subsidiaries, like hate, greed, envy, avarice, mistrust, anger, competition and frustration.

The Jain concept of Anekantvad is beautiful. It says that any truth is relative to the perspective from which it is known. Reality is comprised of innumerable substances, both material and spiritual, and these too are constantly changing and in a state of flux. Raw materials that make up material and spiritual things too, are impermanent. And hence, it is near impossible for ordinary individuals to see the whole truth, the complete truth, of reality. What we often see, due to our limited vision, perspective, point of view, our senses and sensibilities, or beliefs, our social upbringings, our limitations is a thin slice of life, or reality. What we see in not the untruth, but it cannot be the entire truth, which is too vast for mere mortals to comprehend, and is also constantly undergoing modification and evolution. It needs a highly evolved or enlightened soul, of the calibre of a Mahavira, Buddha, Jesus or Nanak -- or the 24 Thirthankars, who form the foundation of the Jain religion -- to be able to see and understand that whole truth.


The most common story cited to illustrate anekantvad is that of a king who called six blind men to touch and describe an elephant. All of them came up with different answers, calling the elephant a rope, fan, snake or wall. While they were partly right, they were nowhere near the whole truth. All of us see the world and life from our limited perspective. If we knew this, then we would not be in conflict with others. But we assume that what we know is the whole truth and that the other is wrong. And hence there are conflicts all over the world, basically because my truth does not agree with yours, although both of us don't know that we are both only partially correct, and are both likely to be wrong. We strongly hold on to our partial or wrong concepts, and fight over it, tooth and nail. When the final picture emerges, or with the passage of time, when we look back at the past, we will often see how our words and actions were often wrong.

Anekantvad, once understood, will make us realise that our knowledge is partial and incomplete. We form our central core from this partial truth, and hence are prone to get into conflicts with others. If we recognize that we don't know the whole picture, we are likely to become less aggressive and more humble, which will pave the way for more peace and joy on earth.

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