Joy of Success!

At times, I actually end up destroying joy of others!
Somebody asked a question, inviting joyous instances where success appears abruptly, and a bit unexpectedly.
I was really surprised that my answer seemed to appeal to him!
I made it an exception to send him a personal message of humble acknowledgement!
And, when it does have an appeal to the asker, I wonder whether it would ‘work’ for yet others. That is why I was tempted to share it here.
Psn (23rd Oct, 2009)

quote:

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsekoJY6t2_Rur6hHRQOmlyQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091027034654AAhgLoG


Do you have ever experienced the joy of success?
We daily face a variety of situations that need to be tackled.They may be simple or complex problems.Recently I tackled successfully a problem that has been evading me for several days.I am a beginner and just learning operation of a computer. To have online transactions I obtained ID,log in and transaction passwords from my bank. I tried several times to log in but every time I tried it came back saying try again. I was frustrated and decided to have a last attempt before asking for an experts help.While I was following the guidelines step by step I noticed the check boxes on the left and clicked them for the first time and pressed the submit button. To my dismay that has worked and I had access to my account. OOH what a relief and joy and confidence it gave me!. You too may have similar experiences which you can share with us.

My answer:
Yes, had very similar situations. But the joy was a bit short lived. The very next thought was about being thoughtless! A mere glance with an empty mind would have shown us what was there all along! The joy is now about the clarity that occurred that we do not see deep enough!When somebody proved that earth is not flat, but round, surely some of the better intelligent ones would have felt a bit bad about themselves feeling 'why did it not occur to me earlier?' It was round all along! And when it rotates, it ought to be round, logically. The possibility of it being flat was only when the movement was straight not revolving!But the computer world present many such situations where the joy is sudden! When I used to present some short-cut keys, or when the 'auto-text' is invoked to repeat some predefined complex key strokes, the time taken is reduced drastically! Colleagues used to experience joy and sorrow together intensely! Why was I not told of this earlier is the question that causes that sorrow!Anyway, what you narrated is a wonderful experience and very interesting and indeed thought provoking.

(My response email to asker:)
Sir,
Your question: http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091027034654AAhgLoG
It was a pleasant surprise to see my answer being 'chosen' as the best!
I thought that a part of my comments might sound a bit discouraging (to any average person, of course!). Most of the answers go for voting too!
The choice of asker never seemed to really deter me since the very process of answering is too rewarding.
Your kind comments is a bonus!
Very many thanks!
Regards,

Wish Bone!

It is wonderful to have our wishes fulfilled! Yet, there is a challenge, what to wish for, and never have to regret for it. There have been great legendary stories of people who wished for wrong things and got into trouble!

There are very good techniques in the form of guided meditations to even actualise wishes! But for an answer to a question on Yahoo Answers forum, it seemed exciting to give it a try!

I quote my answer below. Please do try, at least within yourself, though for fun. And if you are inclined, I welcome feed backs to point out any shortcomings in my answer.

Regards,

psn

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091027214640AAakR8K

If you could change one thing to make the world a better place, what would it be?
If you could change one thing to make the world a better place, what would it be? How would this change improve the world? Please don't put a random answer just to get points.


My answer:

It is almost like a sure fulfillment of 'any' one wish!
And that wish, if it comes true, has to do the maximum good!
Well, then, let this change happen: "Let all the people get rid of all their negative emotions for ever!"
The rest would follow.
Just 4 negative emotions: Anger, hatred, jealousy and fear!
Every living human would become a pure being overnight!
The hidden, incognito Great Beings, with and without physical bodies would simply surface and manifest the big way. The line of demarcation limiting what is supposed to exist as heaven would become an actual existential reality all over the universe!
No more "if we could change one thing" would be needed at all!
..Coming to the ground realities and practical aspect of life, to whatever extent, a person keeps these 4 emotions under check, life happens beautifully to that individual to that extent, what ever the outside situation. We do see people, though rare, maintaining that joyousness throughout. They are almost like living miracles!

Ingrazy means "Educated"!

There is a fancy amidst those innocent village folk, to call anyone who can flash a couple of English words as educated!
The asker has invoked a deeper look at even those certified educated, when they do not behave cohesively, in parlance to the degrees that they have been ‘awarded’ in recognition to their academic performances, and, despite the oath they take during convocation!
I thought it would be wiser to snatch away the ‘extended’ meaning of the word educated, and reassign it to that lesser important word ‘literate’ instead, to satisfy that asker friend. We are ‘nobody’ to take back the awarded degree! For that matter, we are helpless to even deal with those self-styled-Gurus!!

What would be your ‘take’ at it?
Psn(11th Oct., 2009)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArwgqJq4OFeCPD9uoN.YhPiRHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091011204241AArxsGj&show=7#profile-info-dAuLduxyaa

Is education solution for all?
But even educated person also lack in social awareness,even educated person are more selfish,not treated the women equally, asking dowry(not applicable for western people) ,lack of bravery,etc,etc,....then how can we say education is the solution for all? Where is the lacking?

Please let us not confuse education with literacy!The great mathematician Ramanujam, introduced his mother to his foreign visitor professor-friend, saying "This is my mother, well educated but not literate"!Literacy is an essential ingredient of education. Mainly because the purpose of education is to be more effective, productive and useful in a society. For this communication is essential. And this communication needs literacy. This literacy is essentially the language well understood by others, not a foreign jargon! Same is true for all sciences like maths, physics, chemistry, economics etc. For instance, even today, we struggle to grasp the "Vedic Mathematics" which is supposed to be very advanced one than what we learn in modern schools, but we are not “literate” enough in the concepts of the language and the application of that language which has "embedded" in a very high complexity, the multiple variations of intricate formulae! That is EXACTLY why the formulae in Vedic mathematics are called "Sutras" (literally sutra means a thread, using which a person can weave any type of garland with any kind of flowers! Like the thread, the sutras of vedic mathematics find very very deep applicability, and is available to Challenge the perceptional skills of the student, professor etc!!!!). We can try to look at literacy thus, and can distinguish education easily!

De-Bugging (Q.A.)

I have an irksome nature within me. There is a tendency to look at my ‘self’, when I notice any phenomenon that could snowball into a concept on the ‘outside’ (the life situation around me). It would have been quite alright if it stopped there. But when I find somebody who is likely to be inclined to look at it in an ‘afresh’ manner, I find myself now ‘engaged’ in sharing this pattern! A great Master’s words gave me that much needed consolation, when he said (in some other context) that “there is a prototype of the whole Universe right within us!

Exactly this “pattern sharing” was what happened when I got initiated into the world of computers way back in 1991. Most of our colleagues were shying away, feeling that they are now too old to adapt to this new concept of information technology. I somehow landed at a nearby University, where, 3 PhD level professors had enough ‘quality’ spare time to garner a modest additional income resource to that infant University. The computer department was yet to become really busy. My ‘wiser’ colleagues looked at us (the handful of ‘over enthusiasts’) as even innocent and willing scapegoats! Very soon, these professors decided to make a thorough job of it, and went a little deeper than perhaps needed, into fundamentals. ‘GW Basics’ was of course there. But the lecture took us to the very junk-looking characters of low-level-language (may be the machine-language), the embedded circuit below the keypad etc. The binary form popped up too often, even during those data-transmission classes, with the concept of data packets, check-sum/symbols, parity bit, or whatever! Most of the participants found these classes to be an excellent source of invoking a quick nap after that hectic, stressful day at our work place! I was a front-bencher, an odd-man-enthusiast and sole source of inspiration for the professors! Even I was not spared, when my classmates used their ‘whip’ (they were my bosses at work place!), to warn me “not to ask any question during the last quarter hour”, that warrants an ‘extended’ session! I sneaked in this problem to professors who readily understood and volunteered for a one-to-one ‘after-class-session’ to satisfy my thirst! One professor was in for a surprise. He almost confessed that he was never prepared for that surprising revelation, when I suggested looking at….. how man happens to ‘replicate’ the ‘pattern’ of one’s own mind, when he devices a gadget like memory machine called computer! The data-supplements I offered in support of this theory, the examples in particular, happened to impress him and interested him very much. Even the ‘de-bugging’ concept was, an ‘embedded software’ in that ‘time-capsule’ when I happened to study this aspect of the famous ‘Soundarya Lahari’ by Adi Shankara. There was the data-compression technique, where alphabets were assigned numeric values(to incorporate scientific formulae), while refusing to dilute the poetic appeal, but also ensuring the concept of quantum mechanics phenomenon, the sound of chanting it effecting a miniature virtual ‘bombardment’ on the grey matter in the medulla oblongata (or whatever we call for brain, intellect, memory etc!). It is around 1971 that I came to know of ‘self-corrective-factors’ being embedded in the ‘prescribed number times of chanting’ of these verses! Very close to artificial intelligence, perhaps! So, obviously, when I gave hints at such credible instances, these PhD professors were understandably impressed.

The de-bugging concept dawned on me only when we were asked to ‘test’ our own primitive simple programs, by deliberately giving junk/wrong/incorrect inputs while running the program! I was reminded of “to err is human”….. ‘only’ too? If another machine or even an animal is going to provide inputs, too much of de-bugging would not be needed in a program! I suddenly liked to look at our being ‘prone-to-commit-mistakes’ as an invaluable asset! It affords scope for improvisations, innovations beyond imagination! We have those fool-proof, tamper-proof, child-proof gadgets! Hacker-proof is something that might be ever elusive! The marketing technology department imposes an ever increasing demand on its R & D wing for reducing the Do’s and Don’ts on latest models of gadgets! Nothing but de-bugging! I love to watch the materialistic world struggling with ‘debugging’ while the ancient spiritual giants had resolved this conclusively, when they had already perfected a technique long ago to evolve into a bug-proof-human being!

Psn (10th October, 2009)

In search of Truth!

Right now, ‘The ultimate truth’, to many of us, seems quite far off. So, there is no point in trying to stretch our hands to reach out towards that straight away. May be we can try out to look at the simple impediments that we can readily see, and then try to improve upon it. If nothing else, I am sure the immediate benefits are tangibly worthy enough!

When we look at a child who has just learnt to talk, we find the use of ‘pronoun’ like ‘I’, ‘me’, etc coming up a bit late. This is because the concept formation tries to catch up a bit late. And when we ask a child questions like “Why do you like sweets?”, there will be only a blank look!

As adults, we communicate a lot amongst ourselves, at home, office, on the street, etc. There is a unique difference between the ‘chat’ content of adults and that of children.
This particular unique aspect mostly goes un-noticed! Children notice it, but being unable to understand it, it remains a bit latent within their innocent minds, and by the time they grow into adulthood they too get inextricably enmeshed in this game! This unique aspect is that we adults try to justify everything that we do! We ‘assume’ that we are simply trying to ‘explain’ to avoid that ‘misunderstanding’ about us in others, by explaining our ‘sequence of logic’ which led us to do something (either commission or omission of actions). There are a few people who do not insist upon offering too much of explanations of this kind. Over a period of time, these ‘explanations’ become almost like a nuisance to others. But they simply and quietly put up with it (perhaps, because they know that even they are not entirely free from it!).

When children chat, please look at their talk-content. They simply express their experience and leave it at that. They do not volunteer any further explanation of ‘because…’ etc. When children hear the parents, they find explanation for everything that parents do (especially for things they failed to do or did it wrong!). This explanation does not stay as innocent explanation. It assumes the look of justification! Initially, children trust the elders and feel that adults seldom go wrong (they are able to ‘explain’ so well every instance!). Now as these children grow, they get a feel of the truth. They understand these ‘explanations’ now too well! It could be justifications most of the times. It is very flexible, and can change to any extent, only to suit the person who uses it! The resentment is held back and kept suppressed till they gain that ‘freedom’ from parents. And then there is no looking back! But, sadly enough, they too get caught up in this game before even they realize it! Children lose trust on their parents to a great extent, when they realize that all along, the parents had been playing that ‘patch-up-game’ justifying every action of theirs, in the name of explanation! Parents wonder when, how and why their children become suddenly ‘disobedient’! And then, there is the consolation …….there is a pattern in the ‘present’ generation! “Oh! We were not like that!”. And soon enough, history repeats! Perhaps, the worst fall out of this ‘tendency to explain everything’ is a drop in ‘open-minded-receptivity’ ability, and as a consequence, also a drop in perceptibility!

It takes lots of effort to get rid of this nasty habit of trying to justify everything that we do. Confessing our errors of judgment is too painful and not adequate even. It may be too late, and perhaps redundant. It is the tendency to ‘explain’ that has to be brought into our ‘conscious acts’ as a first small step. If we try to do it all of a sudden, there could be a sort of vacuum in our communications. Something like everybody becoming needlessly silent when power goes off at night time!

If my theory seems any where near acceptability, there is a lot of scope to do something else about that ultimate truth!Psn(10th October, 2009)

The Pink Slip!

My earliest memories goes, touches my childhood, when I happened to get a glimpse of this ‘pink slip’! It was just a memory of something ‘odd’ that I noticed. So the concept was not clear.
My data base of memory is a bit quixotic! When people usually struggle to sift between that bitter residues (which they misconstrue to be memory), and something that they failed, despite concerted effort, full of struggle, to commit into memory, my memory ‘about that memory itself’ seemed to be fairly clear! It is only during the later years that I could realize the worth of this clarity!

Be that as it may, let us get down to pink slips. My father narrated a very odd incident(I was a kid, about 6 to 8 years old, and hence quite inconspicuous among elders who were the targeted audience!). One of his subordinates at his work place, requested my father to fire him! This fellow was very efficient, trusted, trustworthy, loyal, sincere, punctual, alert etc. Just that he was illiterate, or else, he would have gone places! And he was very much attached to my father, like his own brother! That was the very reason why he asked my father to fire him! Sounds strange, isn’t it! Yes, everybody felt it only that way, and logically an accurate deduction. Except that, it seems, his people would look down upon him if he gave up the job (quitting, resigning, etc!), and there fore this request! He gave very valid reasons for his desire to quit, and my father did readily oblige him, taking the bare minimum care of any possible repercussions for that ‘unethical’ act of firing an ideal employee!

Then I read stories (like the puranic ones, Mahabharata), where, Vidura gladly awaited for that pink slip to join the righteous side of pandavas. The story of his birth would amply convince us why he was so fastidious about that less paid job!

It also occurred to me that Adi Shankara, too had to ‘extract’ the pink slip from his mother to extricate himself from normal duties and responsibilities!

So far, I got inputs about people who ‘sought’ pink slips! Then came instances, where pink slips were issued most unexpectedly! The worst instances that I noticed were those when I heard of ‘untimely’ demise of known people around!

By the time age ripened me, I was fairly ready to confront that pink slip.

Something stirred up the earliest of my memories, and now it is conclusively resolved, when I could remove the ‘oddity’ attached to that memory. I am full of admiration for that barely lettered employee who ‘sought’ it in right earnest, unable to bring it upon himself to forsake his loyalty and commitment! I am not too sure if he was aware of the immense value that he so effortlessly carried when he decided to adhere to the tradition that he believed in! I am not very sure if this tradition was traceable to his community or just his class! But for me, this was yet another instance of benediction being showered by sheer force of adherence to tradition!

I am now inclined to go hi-tech, right within me, to seek for pink slips! The manifest form may seem crude, illogical, etc. But ‘mystic’ is the ancient name for it. The last lap of evolvement has to happen by itself. The dissolution. The pink slip from our bondages! The more that awareness creeps in, this sense of commitment presents itself in all its complexities, making that extrication almost an impossibility! Torn between the ‘desire’ to be free from desires, the desire to seek pink slips from all our commitments, our sense of loyalty, the pain is deepest and very unfortunately the sweetest to forgo! Mercifully enough, people around me are very charitable when it comes to giving out the pink slips to me! All I have to learn is to manage the ‘love’ that I feel for them, when I see their innocence about it! I could muster courage to give verbal shape to the battles within me, only when I had a fair sense of control over the outcome of the war! Perhaps, it will at least amuse a few of us, reading this!

Regards,PSN(7th Oct., 2009)

Bifocal vision (not lenses or spectacles)!

Please bear with me and try to find a way to forgive me, if the answer to this rare type of question sounds a bit mystic. To my humble knowledge, experience seems to be the only way to de-mystify the phenomenon to its full extent. Yet there is always that inquisitiveness to ask, and a still greater eagerness to struggle with the words to find an appropriate answer!
I would take a chance with my dear readers, what ever it takes!
Regards,
Psn(6th Oct, 2009)


http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091005211752AA3h95V

Spiritually speaking... what is one to do when one's consciousness incorporates a wider vision of itself......?
...and one's physical focus feels threatened?


My answer:
There are only two possible situations where this could occur.
One is under the direct supervision of an experienced spiritual master. Under this situation, there is no reason to worry about any threat to one's physical focus. It would not happen, and the sense of security that the master would offer due to proximity is overwhelming enough to ensure any apprehensions creeping in.
The second possibility (this is perhaps why even such a question itself gets prompted to be asked!) is that this could occur naturally. Naturally meaning, own efforts whether consciously or otherwise, awares or unawares, due to that rare support of the situation. A typical example would be, we have seen growth of a small plant due to some bird dropping the seed of a fruit into the crevice of a huge tree, Then wind brings dust, mud into that crevice formed by the branches , the rain drops providing the moisture etc. How far that plant would grow is quite speculative, depending upon the type and variety of seed etc. This is just an indicative example, not to be taken too literally.When such widening of that 'vision' occurs, the physical body has to be capable of enduring the 'effects' of such widening, and there is no basis for even a doubt to occur, regarding threat to that 'physical focus'. All that a person could do is to rejoice it, struggle to retain that wider vision, and impatiently struggle to get it back!

There is also a third situation, about which I am a bit hesitant to mention here, since it would seem too incredible, but suffice it to say, that it is a subtle combination of the first two types! The experience is 'deluxe' (like we differentiate those public transport buses from 'ordinary' and 'deluxe' !)
I am very pleasantly surprised at the very question. It is I who owes any gratitude for the chance to even look at the question!

The ‘Brighter aspect of ‘darkness’

The asker is perhaps not even aware that not all are able to ‘sense’ like this in pitch dark. Some of them just ‘hallucinate’ too.
It requires something else to feel thus!
But I can ‘feel’ from the question, that the asker did experience it!
All I can do is to gently and suggestively persuade a conscious effort to ‘seek’ for more of it, even in broad daylight!

Though I am not very sure, how many of us would really care to take it even with ‘a pinch of salt’ , I was simply so impressed by the innocent looking question, that I couldn’t help sharing it with you.

Regards,
Psn(4th Sept, 2009)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AtvIuUCdZoSizWAM6_8J4YbuHwx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091003174352AA5ViPY

question:
In a dark room, why can people feel the presence of others?
Why is it that in a pitch black room, even without hearing breathing or any noise, people can still sense the presence of another human being?What are we sensing?

My attempt to de-mystify the mystic phenomenon (the answer)
Not everybody is fortunate to have that kind of 'sensing'. It happens in a pitch dark room, is just because we insist on getting ourselves focused too much on the 'seeing' through the eye, which is now forcibly switched off! Once a person is curious and intense, such people can even try it out in broad daylight, and it opens up new dimensions, perception beyond sensory levels! Since times immemorial, spiritual masters have been trying to simplify and make available the techniques to more people around, to make others too see beyond the limited 'self'. Basically, with sustained practice, the first thing we can 'feel' is our own very selves, simply because we know we are there very much even when it is pitch dark. Then we feel, and know by means of our own experience that we are not limited to remaining just within our body!In simple terms, if we are sure that we are sensing 'something' which we know for sure that it is not through the sense organs itself, then we can be assured that we need not anymore just blindly believe that there 'could' be perception levels beyond the sensory levels. We 'know' now that it is possible! Not everyone will easily agree with this! Please also try to see, the 'logical' aspect of our own mind does not subscribe to this 'theory' though it is an 'experience'. To such fortunate people, all we can say is, 'Welcome, to the world of spirituality'!