I wonder why I did not think of writing about this earlier! Anyway, I guess it would be a welcome variation, to some extent at least, when I decided to voluntarily ‘disclose’ a close weakness of mine. No.. no… it is not a weakness that incapacitates me in anyway. (Perhaps, I feel that we need not always look at all ‘weaknesses’ as some kind of affliction, necessarily very detrimental to health, physical or mental). This weakness of mine happens to give me (‘bestow me with’ would be more sacred way of putting it!) some unfair advantage over others! Mysteriously enough, it never became an addiction!
I love to play carroms. It is still a weakness, though it is years since I came anywhere near a carrom board. That is the advantage of having just a weakness, not an addiction!
Honestly, I still don’t know who ‘started’ this carroms. I am not sure whether it got invented, or it was first ‘discovered’ and then got modified. Because, it is just a game of ‘billiards’, minus a 180 degrees of aim while ‘shooting’. Somehow, it is very popular in India, throughout. But it never really got the status it deserves, commensurate with its popularity. It is almost like those honest people, who invariably go unnoticed, though it is they who collectively keep the country ‘going’ despite all types of obstacles which flourishes liberally. But it is not entirely without any reward. In fact the reward that these honest people enjoy is a bit mystic and utterly subtle too.
I look at this game as a sort of ‘guru’, a guide, a friend, a good critic, and also as a very good ‘informer’! The other players seem like an open book, the moment they get involved into the game. The nature of their mind seems quite easy to grasp (the contents of the mind was never of any use or interest to me, and it does remain unknown too). For me, this game is like a handy measuring tool, or a ‘monitor’ that can be used to test my ‘mental’ balance. When the mind is relaxed, steady, and alert, the game is almost mine, irrespective of how well matched the opponent is. On the other hand, when the mind is unsteady, turbulent, etc, even a simple and easy coin seems an uphill task to deal with! The value of ‘practice’ became too obvious, and it was directly proportional to the tolerance level of deftly handling the game with an emotionally shaky mind of that day! The board seemed a clear mirror of my own state of mind, when I dealt with the game. I felt quite surprised that the rules of the game looked quite familiar to me, (it was just the same as ‘I had felt it ought to be’, long before the ‘standardized’ rules was shown to me later, at ‘tournament’ levels!). It is the love for the game that took me into deep concepts about the ‘ethics’ of a ‘level playing field’. Since this game combines the factors of luck, skill, logic, judgment, and specifically, an emotional balance, with all these in a blend of a wonderful proportion, the rules and the administrator of it, calls for an excellent grasp on Jurisprudence. Now, this might seem too far fetched, an imaginative argument! But, let me state a typical example. Once it so happened that I got ‘caught up’ into participating into an inter-offices-tournament at a district headquarters. I got the warning to stay away from that ‘set’ of participants a bit too late. (A few decades ago, hockey was played at international levels between two particular rival countries thus. The sticks were used more to injure the opponent than to hit the ball!). Within a few rounds, situation became too difficult for me to play, and I walked off (giving a ‘walkover’, in the middle of the game). It so happened, that the chief organizer felt guilty, and nursed a secret desire to somehow compensate me. He ensured that I attend the prize giving ceremony, persuading me with reassurance that it would just a symbolic show of sportsman-spirit, to attend. Reluctantly, I obliged him. There, he made a surprise announcement of an award in my favor for an ‘all round performance’, and he quoted appropriate skills displayed, which did stand on its merits. But, the other prize winners who knew the underlying significance revolted instantly, and took shelter under the ‘concept of strictness of purpose’. They argued that this chief organizer’s act of awarding me an ‘unscheduled’ prize would tantamount to ‘misuse’ of funds allocated for ‘prizes’ (as decided by ‘committee’)! I was standing there facing the audience, thoroughly embarrassed. I did not even look at the chief guest and others, despite the curiosity to observe their ‘reaction’. But the chief guest (a cabinet minister of the state) ‘responded’ instead of ‘reacting’ sporadically. He calmly got hold of the mike, invoked his ministerial rank, powers, and ability to ask the ‘aide-de-camp’ in case of need, and then made an announcement that baffled me! He instantly touched the core principles of jurisprudence, justified the need for recognition of skill and the award, and decided to circumvent the allegation of ‘misuse’ of funds, by bearing the cost of the ‘prize and the official photograph’ all by himself, out of his private personal money! In those few moments, I learnt many a precious lessons, including those about principles of equity and judicious use of discretion! (Never thereafter did I lack that watchfulness to ‘lookout’ for trouble of such kind, and used to gracefully allow the opponent to win, when such times arose. My gain was enormous, compared to the pittance in the form of a prize that gets forgotten too soon, in view of the status accorded to the game itself!).
I got pushed into this game at a very early age. My father was no exception to a sense of loyalty to the ‘ethnicity’ of the native village where he grew into adulthood. This sense of ‘loyalty’ towards the ‘ethnicity’ is a bit unique to those who hail from that state! The uniqueness lies in their refusal to budge from a few of their ethnic traits. For instance, people from non-English speaking countries struggle to catch the correct accent of English due to the ‘impact’ of their own native tongue. But this unique set of people simply ‘refuse’ to adapt themselves to the correct accent though it is very easy for them due to their pre-existing skill with the tongue twisting nature of their own native language, and its lean, being mostly on Sanskrit, a language that is known to bestow multi-dimensional benefits! So, such people, who share similar loyalty, also like to preserve their harmless eccentricity, join up and form a group, and also find a relaxation right in the midst of their own homogenous kind, where they tense up between themselves over trifles, which are mostly due to slight mismatch of levels of their very same ‘unique’ stamp-marks of ethnic traits! Yes, I used to wonder as a kid, what was the ‘nature’ of relaxation they would be(better to say, they “might be”) drawing, out of such brawls which reach high crescendos of noise when they are really tensed up, even if it all about just a game of cards or carroms! I was taken to the regular meeting place of this association ‘office’ right after the school in the evening, simply because my father chose not to waste the travel time to drop me home and then join up the ‘session’ of evening round of game. I cannot really blame my father or the situation for my ‘weakness’ that crept in. It is almost a family weakness, ethnic weakness, state weakness, and perhaps country’s weakness to try out one’s fingers at this game of carroms! Almost every household with some modest means would provide a carrom board for the entertainment of their kids. Quite inadvertently, I acquired good skills at the game of carroms, when I kept fiddling with the coins, trying to knock them into the pocket during brief intervals when elders discussed the previous game. I had the unfair advantage of an uncluttered mind of a kid, and all I did was “when you want to shoot, shoot, don’t talk” (That punch dialogue of old English movie “Good Bad, and the Ugly”). I even participated in a tournament, and was thrown out of the event, when somebody pointed out that I was a kid, and hence a ‘non-member’ of the association (membership was only for 18 years old and above), and hence ineligible for a prize. This was when I reached too close to winning a final game of doubles, with an expert, who chose me partner! (My first taste of ‘victimization’ for no fault of mine! Now you know, how much this game has taught me, the way nature does, when they say, ‘nature is the best teacher’!).
Psn(24th November, 2010)
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Perfectionism
There are two ways of looking at it. But casual critics mix up both these aspects or view points and come to a hasty conclusion.
If we try to perfect ourselves at doing something, it is ‘perfectly’ okay! It is good to do something better than the previous time. We keep evolving. Our focus gets better. Our involvement gets intensified. We fight that drudgery, fatigue, boredom, dullness, etc when we attempt at doing things more perfectly than before. Nothing at all is wrong about it.
The problem is when our craze for perfection is at the cost of others, and for the sake of our comfort. Usually, the burden of effort too rests upon others. That is something to be looked at, otherwise, time would catch up with us, and we get isolated in one way or other.
There are a few who adopt a ‘middle-path’ and use this ‘perfectionism’ for some petty advantage or to camouflage a lacuna. A hair dresser does not like his shop to appear desolate, and may choose to trim the hair of a helplessly lone visitor for an undue length of time, till another customer takes over! Here ‘feigning’ a ‘strive for perfection’ has nothing to do with improving the skill, or trying to wriggle out any undue benefit from other’s perfection.
Very few are fortunate to realize their own folly, looking for perfection from others, or things around. And then when they are genuinely interested to find a way to come out of it, they look for a ‘stable’ support, which would resolve the conflict within, paving way for a deep sense of acceptance, and then free themselves from this nagging problem!
I happened to stumble upon a question, where the asker seemed genuinely concerned about the needless attitude, and was eager to find a way to wriggle out of it.
(I was not quite sure, if this answer of mine ought to find a place in the blog, but then, it occurred to me that, perhaps, we may feel persuaded to look at ourselves, just in case, this perfectionism lingers around with a different name!)
Psn(22nd November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101121135914AAEGyGR
I hate myself for being a perfectionist?
Hello dear people,
I have a problem. Everything that I own has to be perfect. I will explain:
If a desk of mine has a bad scratch I replace it ( replaced 4 desks in 2 years time). I want to sell my laptop and buy another one because it has a scratch on it. I want to paint my room and buy new furniture because the furniture i have now has scratches on it.
I really hate myself for wanting to replace my stuff all the time because i`m using up my money and my parents money. But if I don`t replace that stuff I feel even worse. I also know that I should be really happy with what I have got because allot of people don`t have it, but still i want to have everything perfect. I want to replace my 2 month`s old TV just because it has some scratches on it.
I hate myself for this but I just cant stop thinking this way...
Is there anything i can do?
Thanks in advance.
I am re-posting my question because I didn`t get enough answers on the previous post.
My reply:
It is indeed a bit difficult to get 'enough' answers, because somewhere everyone is having this problem within themselves. Only the name changes. In general, people who like to have a 'smooth' life, are also hating scratches of stray incidents, which cause discomfort. And, can life be always really so 'smooth'? Even if it is, is it going to be really wonderful? Visualise a movie where the hero-heroine have an utterly smooth and comfortable life (all the 3 hours of that long movie). No villains, no untoward incident. Quite smooth. Interesting? Where is the thrill? Same with objects. Most people love to see thriller movies, where heroes suffer till the end, and somehow succeed at last. "Die hard" , that famous movie, full of trouble for the hero. And now we await the part-2,3,4 etc!!!
In real life, no body likes even a casual nudge in a crowded bus!
So, that hate for imperfection is merely a bit of resistence, a bit of intolerance. When such an emotion is 'noticed' please try some deep breathing, and just see whether it is possible to have perfection. Also, whether perfection "everywhere" is going to yield joy. (All leaves of all trees same size, flowers equally beautiful, fruits perfect round. Even drumsticks like vegetables perfect length, girls perfect beauties all alike, (Oh! I am reminded of that advertisement of pressure cooker, where the heroine asks her husband to visualise every family member looks like her... parents, brother, children, milkman, vendors etc.!! She wanted to suggest different shapes, colors and sizes of cookers! .... Just an ad... but the theme is to have variety, instead of perfection.). All this seems okay, but there is some difficulty in 'implementing' being so used to that instant repulsion towards imperfection. We have to try allowing the situation to decide, instead of "us" taking the 'control'. Then we have the freedom to blend with the situation, the freedom to correct the imperfect things if the situation needs, or else just learn to accept it gracefully, as a part of natural order of things. (You would notice, that generations at all times have been complaining about 'this' generation compared to the previous 'good' one during past time! An exception that people miss is that people on spiritual path 'never' complain. Once the 'inside' is smooth, everything outside appears 'smooth' whichever way it is!
If we try to perfect ourselves at doing something, it is ‘perfectly’ okay! It is good to do something better than the previous time. We keep evolving. Our focus gets better. Our involvement gets intensified. We fight that drudgery, fatigue, boredom, dullness, etc when we attempt at doing things more perfectly than before. Nothing at all is wrong about it.
The problem is when our craze for perfection is at the cost of others, and for the sake of our comfort. Usually, the burden of effort too rests upon others. That is something to be looked at, otherwise, time would catch up with us, and we get isolated in one way or other.
There are a few who adopt a ‘middle-path’ and use this ‘perfectionism’ for some petty advantage or to camouflage a lacuna. A hair dresser does not like his shop to appear desolate, and may choose to trim the hair of a helplessly lone visitor for an undue length of time, till another customer takes over! Here ‘feigning’ a ‘strive for perfection’ has nothing to do with improving the skill, or trying to wriggle out any undue benefit from other’s perfection.
Very few are fortunate to realize their own folly, looking for perfection from others, or things around. And then when they are genuinely interested to find a way to come out of it, they look for a ‘stable’ support, which would resolve the conflict within, paving way for a deep sense of acceptance, and then free themselves from this nagging problem!
I happened to stumble upon a question, where the asker seemed genuinely concerned about the needless attitude, and was eager to find a way to wriggle out of it.
(I was not quite sure, if this answer of mine ought to find a place in the blog, but then, it occurred to me that, perhaps, we may feel persuaded to look at ourselves, just in case, this perfectionism lingers around with a different name!)
Psn(22nd November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101121135914AAEGyGR
I hate myself for being a perfectionist?
Hello dear people,
I have a problem. Everything that I own has to be perfect. I will explain:
If a desk of mine has a bad scratch I replace it ( replaced 4 desks in 2 years time). I want to sell my laptop and buy another one because it has a scratch on it. I want to paint my room and buy new furniture because the furniture i have now has scratches on it.
I really hate myself for wanting to replace my stuff all the time because i`m using up my money and my parents money. But if I don`t replace that stuff I feel even worse. I also know that I should be really happy with what I have got because allot of people don`t have it, but still i want to have everything perfect. I want to replace my 2 month`s old TV just because it has some scratches on it.
I hate myself for this but I just cant stop thinking this way...
Is there anything i can do?
Thanks in advance.
I am re-posting my question because I didn`t get enough answers on the previous post.
My reply:
It is indeed a bit difficult to get 'enough' answers, because somewhere everyone is having this problem within themselves. Only the name changes. In general, people who like to have a 'smooth' life, are also hating scratches of stray incidents, which cause discomfort. And, can life be always really so 'smooth'? Even if it is, is it going to be really wonderful? Visualise a movie where the hero-heroine have an utterly smooth and comfortable life (all the 3 hours of that long movie). No villains, no untoward incident. Quite smooth. Interesting? Where is the thrill? Same with objects. Most people love to see thriller movies, where heroes suffer till the end, and somehow succeed at last. "Die hard" , that famous movie, full of trouble for the hero. And now we await the part-2,3,4 etc!!!
In real life, no body likes even a casual nudge in a crowded bus!
So, that hate for imperfection is merely a bit of resistence, a bit of intolerance. When such an emotion is 'noticed' please try some deep breathing, and just see whether it is possible to have perfection. Also, whether perfection "everywhere" is going to yield joy. (All leaves of all trees same size, flowers equally beautiful, fruits perfect round. Even drumsticks like vegetables perfect length, girls perfect beauties all alike, (Oh! I am reminded of that advertisement of pressure cooker, where the heroine asks her husband to visualise every family member looks like her... parents, brother, children, milkman, vendors etc.!! She wanted to suggest different shapes, colors and sizes of cookers! .... Just an ad... but the theme is to have variety, instead of perfection.). All this seems okay, but there is some difficulty in 'implementing' being so used to that instant repulsion towards imperfection. We have to try allowing the situation to decide, instead of "us" taking the 'control'. Then we have the freedom to blend with the situation, the freedom to correct the imperfect things if the situation needs, or else just learn to accept it gracefully, as a part of natural order of things. (You would notice, that generations at all times have been complaining about 'this' generation compared to the previous 'good' one during past time! An exception that people miss is that people on spiritual path 'never' complain. Once the 'inside' is smooth, everything outside appears 'smooth' whichever way it is!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
THE problem WITH "Ideas"
This time, “the pleasure is mine” to suggest a brief talk, about a very deep question!
Quite unfortunately, I missed the video viewing, because the question itself amazed me, and pulled me into spilling out my ‘ideas’ about an answer! (The asker had done everything possible with those additional details, to persuade the answerers to take a look at the video first, but …. Somehow, I was a bit late!)
The asker had chosen to put it to vote, being ‘torn’ between two answers (I still wonder which of those are the ‘two’!)
Anyway, my answer does not seem to matter at all, now that I decided to suggest a more captivating talk on this video clipping. I am sure, you would enjoy it well!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niZLWHY5OF0
(So, this time, I would not commit the stupidity of reproducing my answer ‘herein below’)
psn(20th November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101110072902AApaI7G
Is my desire to remember my true self just a concept of my mind?
Why do I feel like I have to dig deep to remember who I am if on the deepest level I never forgot?This video really resonates on a deeeeeeep level:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niZLWHY5O…
if you don't have the patience to watch it all skip to around 7:00, but it is an awesome video so in my opinion it is all worth watching :)
Additional Details
lol...I am so confused though! :)
The video is:"Assimilated into The Collective Delusion & The Imagined Journey Out ~ Mooji" posted by Awakening Bridge
LOL I am absolutely torn between two answers. I am going to have to put this one to a vote.
Thank you all for your beautiful answers and willingness to share your point of view. Love and blessings!
Before I put this to a vote I must say that I am realizing the importance of being in the moment now. Because that IS where my true self resides. It currently is still hard for me, but I am going to keep on working on my meditation practice. Thank you.
Quite unfortunately, I missed the video viewing, because the question itself amazed me, and pulled me into spilling out my ‘ideas’ about an answer! (The asker had done everything possible with those additional details, to persuade the answerers to take a look at the video first, but …. Somehow, I was a bit late!)
The asker had chosen to put it to vote, being ‘torn’ between two answers (I still wonder which of those are the ‘two’!)
Anyway, my answer does not seem to matter at all, now that I decided to suggest a more captivating talk on this video clipping. I am sure, you would enjoy it well!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niZLWHY5OF0
(So, this time, I would not commit the stupidity of reproducing my answer ‘herein below’)
psn(20th November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101110072902AApaI7G
Is my desire to remember my true self just a concept of my mind?
Why do I feel like I have to dig deep to remember who I am if on the deepest level I never forgot?This video really resonates on a deeeeeeep level:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niZLWHY5O…
if you don't have the patience to watch it all skip to around 7:00, but it is an awesome video so in my opinion it is all worth watching :)
Additional Details
lol...I am so confused though! :)
The video is:"Assimilated into The Collective Delusion & The Imagined Journey Out ~ Mooji" posted by Awakening Bridge
LOL I am absolutely torn between two answers. I am going to have to put this one to a vote.
Thank you all for your beautiful answers and willingness to share your point of view. Love and blessings!
Before I put this to a vote I must say that I am realizing the importance of being in the moment now. Because that IS where my true self resides. It currently is still hard for me, but I am going to keep on working on my meditation practice. Thank you.
Final Jump
What ever a person does, to some how evolve into the ultimate possibility, there comes a stage, where there seems to be no where else to go!
Now, when a similar question arises, at a very early stage of this kind of arduous journey, what to do with this question? Is it worth all, keeping this question alive? That is the subtle question behind the ‘apparent’ or ‘surface’ level question!
The mystic set of people, continue to amaze everybody, every being, including themselves, when they find themselves engaged relentlessly to assist people to ‘hang on’ to such questions. (That small insignificant journey ‘across’ the pathless path seems quite enough, for a pint sized ‘me’ even to gauge this much). ‘After’ all, time itself is a mere concept of the ‘mind’, so where is the relevance of that ‘too early’ or ‘too late’? (That is where I find some ‘excuse’/justification, in reproducing this question, ‘soliciting’ your ‘kind’ attention)
Before it is too late (that is, before the mind gets too much fatigued, to even look at that wonderful question), let me ‘rest’ , ‘here’!
Psn(20th November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101119112012AAcc0PC
Do you think the world exists?
When you are in deep dreamless sleep.If so..how do you know with absolute certainty.
Additional Details
We don't percieve anything when we are in dreamless sleep..
I am referring to dreamless sleep..not dreaming sleep.
My reply:
Well, the whole problem is,the world exists only when we are 'thinking', not when we are sleeping.Very right about that sleep state. All the sensory level perceptions are quite withdrawn, with no experience of even this 'earthly' life! (And incidentally, this is the very first problem of a dead person! To even know that the game is over now! )
The whole purpose of spirituality is to afford us the 'peek' look into that 'mystic' reality, where, the sleep happens in our full awareness! We go into that nothingness with that 'witnessing aspect' (unlike the 'absenteeism' during sleep that we are so 'familiar' about!! Yes, familiar about our unfamiliarity, is what I mean!).
(Honestly, I am amazed at the depth of questions such as these, that are slowly on the increase on this forum! When these questions become very intense, then, there is no going back! Whatever 'else' we do with our lives, this pulls us back into the 'groove' quite choicelessly! I bow humbly to such wonderful questions!)
Now, when a similar question arises, at a very early stage of this kind of arduous journey, what to do with this question? Is it worth all, keeping this question alive? That is the subtle question behind the ‘apparent’ or ‘surface’ level question!
The mystic set of people, continue to amaze everybody, every being, including themselves, when they find themselves engaged relentlessly to assist people to ‘hang on’ to such questions. (That small insignificant journey ‘across’ the pathless path seems quite enough, for a pint sized ‘me’ even to gauge this much). ‘After’ all, time itself is a mere concept of the ‘mind’, so where is the relevance of that ‘too early’ or ‘too late’? (That is where I find some ‘excuse’/justification, in reproducing this question, ‘soliciting’ your ‘kind’ attention)
Before it is too late (that is, before the mind gets too much fatigued, to even look at that wonderful question), let me ‘rest’ , ‘here’!
Psn(20th November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101119112012AAcc0PC
Do you think the world exists?
When you are in deep dreamless sleep.If so..how do you know with absolute certainty.
Additional Details
We don't percieve anything when we are in dreamless sleep..
I am referring to dreamless sleep..not dreaming sleep.
My reply:
Well, the whole problem is,the world exists only when we are 'thinking', not when we are sleeping.Very right about that sleep state. All the sensory level perceptions are quite withdrawn, with no experience of even this 'earthly' life! (And incidentally, this is the very first problem of a dead person! To even know that the game is over now! )
The whole purpose of spirituality is to afford us the 'peek' look into that 'mystic' reality, where, the sleep happens in our full awareness! We go into that nothingness with that 'witnessing aspect' (unlike the 'absenteeism' during sleep that we are so 'familiar' about!! Yes, familiar about our unfamiliarity, is what I mean!).
(Honestly, I am amazed at the depth of questions such as these, that are slowly on the increase on this forum! When these questions become very intense, then, there is no going back! Whatever 'else' we do with our lives, this pulls us back into the 'groove' quite choicelessly! I bow humbly to such wonderful questions!)
Briefly Wise
Yeah. To put it quite simply, somebody wanted to look at: where this wisdom is going to really take us ! For most people, the word seems to scare, trying to demand some unusual and abnormal amount of involvement, efforts, diversion from the comforts of ‘routine’ etc. They settle down for just an ‘average’ life, where the routine happens without much hassles (occasional ups and down are okay…. Okay because…. It happens with everybody….. if it is going to happen only to us, then, even that is not okay!). That ‘wise’ seems too burdensome (we find even that ‘common sense’ in us being challenged so frequently… why run into risk trying to chase that ‘unearthly’ wisdom? That is the ‘stand’ to be taken to maintain a stable equilibrium of mind!).
I was amused, when a question sought to set things “straight”, one leading to the other, starting from simple ignorance.
(That, the proviso “maybe”, is carefully inserted, not out of doubts or apprehension, is all that I can say, about my own view point about it.)
psn(20th November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Amulydwue6GJIX9TaxbamNWQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20101117235133AABq6Sm
What is wisdom if ..................?
Ignorance is the beginning of knowledge;
knowledge is the beginning of wisdom;
My reply:
Then.
Maybe, Wisdom is the beginning of awareness,
and Awareness the beginning of "ultimate"
I was amused, when a question sought to set things “straight”, one leading to the other, starting from simple ignorance.
(That, the proviso “maybe”, is carefully inserted, not out of doubts or apprehension, is all that I can say, about my own view point about it.)
psn(20th November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Amulydwue6GJIX9TaxbamNWQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20101117235133AABq6Sm
What is wisdom if ..................?
Ignorance is the beginning of knowledge;
knowledge is the beginning of wisdom;
My reply:
Then.
Maybe, Wisdom is the beginning of awareness,
and Awareness the beginning of "ultimate"
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Strength
It is a very relative term! Exclusively, strength means nothing, of course, in the sense of its tangible form usually. We usually seek strength in the form of number game. We garner opinion. We persuade grouping. Those who are comfortable with their laziness, try to form a ‘team’ for a job, which could have been easily handled alone, and then propagate the advantages of a team-spirit, unity is strength, etc. So, we humans are quite clever to even disrobe our ‘other’ weaknesses by according needless, or rather redundant credits to ‘strengths’. The consequence is that we get enmeshed into our own concepts of strength. That is when we start losing that mental strength! Political people have a better scope for this unique experience of that ‘strength’ slipping off all of a sudden. It takes them by utter surprise. All of a sudden everything turns against them(they play too much with the concept of ‘strength’! Even in the game of chess, we have that famous game “smothered mate” where all the ‘big’ powers actually end up preventing the main deciding piece, “the king”, from moving anywhere! So, the strength from external sources are not really a very good insurance.
Even about strength of knowledge and money is quite limited in crucial circumstances! A Sanskrit verse translates as “knowledge lying in books, and money lying in the hands of others are of little use during exigencies”. We lose information when data is stuck in an Hard disk which is inaccessible, and we are stuck out of money, when our ATM card gets stuck inside the ATM machine.
Psychiatrists would agree, when a patient is unable to think cohesively due to memory loss, only the ‘will’ or a strong ‘spirit’ is what they count on, for the ‘body’ of the patient to ‘respond’ to medicines!
During the training sessions for candidates selected for ‘coast-guard’, they stress the importance of that ‘will’ when they warn that the last few thoughts, during the crucial 15 minutes just prior to that numbness caused in brain, would decide whether they would swim to safety or drown to death in cold waters! (‘Hypothermia’ or something like that is the state, which disconnects our nervous system from carrying out the commands of the brain, but continues to do the ‘last known command’). Here too, the will of a person counts!
Then, what about the failures, which shatters all our ‘inner’ strengths? That was the question!
Psn(13th November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101110013832AAzcl3o
Is "Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger." a silly philosophy?
Whatever doesn't kill you may sever your spinal cord, crush your rib cage, cave in your skull, and leave you helpless and paralyzed soaking in a puddle of your own waste.And if you mean mentally strong, it could also break your spirit and leave you emotionally unstable.Anyone else think?
My answer:
Yes, it does sound 'silly' if we look at it just logically, bereft of the emotional content.
(And, emotions never obeyed logic!).
But, if we look at it a bit intuitively, it is the inner strength that this tries to indicate at. "We should not be 'stuck' at the pointing finger, or we would miss all that heavenly glory!" (quote adapted from the English movie "Enter the Dragon")....
This statement, "whatever doesn't kill me" means that whatever adversities that we face in life, especially those, for facing which we lack strength, would obviously make us fail, or perhaps, as the question says, sever our spinal cord, crush our rib cage, etc.... But, if we are alive, it simply means we outlived that 'bad' phase. It has failed to kill us. Now, we are enriched by the experience, and may be (... not just 'may be'... but, surely,...)our abilities have got reduced after that incident.
Now, if only we are willing to live on, the way we are now, there are several things we can do, we have time for them, which we never had for hither to, and with that strength and courage, we can achieve a still greater glory and make our life more meaningful, and perhaps, well remembered. (Please see, that Great Scientist Stephen Hawking, we have no scope to look at anything beyond his intellectual abilities, though our eyes can see his physical difficulty on the monitor/screen! His intellectual "strength" dwarfs most of us around him!)
Even about strength of knowledge and money is quite limited in crucial circumstances! A Sanskrit verse translates as “knowledge lying in books, and money lying in the hands of others are of little use during exigencies”. We lose information when data is stuck in an Hard disk which is inaccessible, and we are stuck out of money, when our ATM card gets stuck inside the ATM machine.
Psychiatrists would agree, when a patient is unable to think cohesively due to memory loss, only the ‘will’ or a strong ‘spirit’ is what they count on, for the ‘body’ of the patient to ‘respond’ to medicines!
During the training sessions for candidates selected for ‘coast-guard’, they stress the importance of that ‘will’ when they warn that the last few thoughts, during the crucial 15 minutes just prior to that numbness caused in brain, would decide whether they would swim to safety or drown to death in cold waters! (‘Hypothermia’ or something like that is the state, which disconnects our nervous system from carrying out the commands of the brain, but continues to do the ‘last known command’). Here too, the will of a person counts!
Then, what about the failures, which shatters all our ‘inner’ strengths? That was the question!
Psn(13th November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101110013832AAzcl3o
Is "Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger." a silly philosophy?
Whatever doesn't kill you may sever your spinal cord, crush your rib cage, cave in your skull, and leave you helpless and paralyzed soaking in a puddle of your own waste.And if you mean mentally strong, it could also break your spirit and leave you emotionally unstable.Anyone else think?
My answer:
Yes, it does sound 'silly' if we look at it just logically, bereft of the emotional content.
(And, emotions never obeyed logic!).
But, if we look at it a bit intuitively, it is the inner strength that this tries to indicate at. "We should not be 'stuck' at the pointing finger, or we would miss all that heavenly glory!" (quote adapted from the English movie "Enter the Dragon")....
This statement, "whatever doesn't kill me" means that whatever adversities that we face in life, especially those, for facing which we lack strength, would obviously make us fail, or perhaps, as the question says, sever our spinal cord, crush our rib cage, etc.... But, if we are alive, it simply means we outlived that 'bad' phase. It has failed to kill us. Now, we are enriched by the experience, and may be (... not just 'may be'... but, surely,...)our abilities have got reduced after that incident.
Now, if only we are willing to live on, the way we are now, there are several things we can do, we have time for them, which we never had for hither to, and with that strength and courage, we can achieve a still greater glory and make our life more meaningful, and perhaps, well remembered. (Please see, that Great Scientist Stephen Hawking, we have no scope to look at anything beyond his intellectual abilities, though our eyes can see his physical difficulty on the monitor/screen! His intellectual "strength" dwarfs most of us around him!)
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Lawyer
Somebody, a 'passer by', happened to look at an engraving on a coffin which read “Here lies an honest man and a lawyer”….. He wondered loudly, “How could two people be fit into this coffin?”!
The very idea, of taking up a dispute to the court of law, floods in, a feeling of fatigue and weariness, in most people. So, the only thing that seems to persuade, instigate or provoke a person to persist on climbing the steps of a court room would be the stubbornness, adamancy, or to appear more polite, a sense of loyalty to the laws of the land seeking a manifest form out of a very great urge!
In an ideal situation, only complex cases, which require an equanimous mind to analyze and decide as to what ought to prevail, should reach the courts of law. For this to happen, the society as a whole has to evolve. Today, it seems a far fetched dream. But, if we only care to turn the pages of ancient history, we have great civilizations that have demonstrated this possibility. For a convincing ‘ready’ reference, even today, if we just look at the kind of laws that a society has, we would know how evolved the people are! There is a country where, just about 7 decades ago, chopping off a woman’s head, was as simple as beheading a chicken for food. Now they have evolved from that point at least, we can definitely say, when they brought women at par with men, in the eyes of the law. We still have places where simple crimes like petty theft, are punished too severely with chopping off of arms at a public place!
In the Hindu way of life, in ancient days, jurisprudence (not just the ‘laws’, as in other religions) was seamlessly incorporated into the texts which formulated suggestions for an ideal way of life, to evolve into the highest possibility of a human birth, quite effortlessly, by adopting the suggested life-routine. Over a period of time, these suggestions evolved into rituals and traditions, enriched by great beings who came along the time, and who prescribed time-related modifications to these suggestions. Obviously, these texts had to address an individual, not the society as a whole. The way a particular group of people understood and adapted these came to evolve as a unique homogenous group, and over a period of time, acquired traditions, rituals and practices unique to that group. We now see an array of such unique life-styles. Nomenclature follows, to aptly describe the ‘way’ of that group. So the laws were also seamlessly inter woven to suit the lifestyle, taking cue from the original texts, and the deeper concepts of jurisprudence, ensuring strict adherence to spirituality. The present day experts are simply baffled by the complexity of the ‘concepts’, theories, and principles of this ‘way of life’, and thus, even great intellectuals are stuck with just naming this way of life as “Hindu Religion” , unable to make any progress towards comprehending the ‘nature’ of this religion.
The sudden transition into industrialized societies, surmounted by the imposed prescriptions of foreign rule, the society could not adapt to the changed situation, nor could they adhere to the traditional life styles! For the first time, the entire society had to bear the brunt of an absence of a prescribed religious leader! By itself, this ‘religion’ did not ever need any ‘leader’ in the modern sense of the term. Today we find the bulk of the people confused about their own religion, while stray fortunate individuals quietly enjoy the fruit of their individual efforts of self-awareness, and personal pursuit towards a spiritual understanding of this ‘way of life’! The brighter side of this ‘way of life’ is that the whole of its teachings is available as a ‘freeware’ (whether we call it hard ware or a soft ware! It is ‘hard’ when someone turns up after seeing ‘everything’ else, as the opening sentences of that great work by that great master says … ‘And now, Yoga…”; … or,…… it is utterly ‘soft’, when somebody decides to start when it is not at all a need-like priority in routine life, and even when things happen utterly smooth for that person!). The text form is terse, mystic, and tiresome to grasp. The ‘web’ form is quite hi-tech, instantaneous, and self-educative, self-tutored, self-supportive, (and with all such ‘goody-goodies’), but subject to a few simple ‘conditions’ which are unfortunately not quite easy! These conditions are more about our own ‘conditioning’ of self. Not worth while to elaborate here.
Coming back to a ‘lawyer’, the question was about its definition. But, true to my own agenda, I assumed a little bit of that ‘cleverness’ to seek the garb of the category under which this was asked, and proceeded to give out the ‘philosophical’ sense of the term.
The foregoing narrative is to persuade the reader to find a way to justify the answer, if otherwise it looks acceptable in a practical sense!
(It is not just about that ‘professional’ lawyer…. That person has to emanate out of our very same society. So, it has to be about our own people, even right within the families, where youngsters feel dissuaded to present their ‘case’ before elders, even when it comes to crucial life-time affecting questions like career, marriage, co-residing with dependents, etc!)
Psn(9th November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101108102614AAKKELZ
What's the definition of a lawyer?
My answer:
Obviously, what we are looking for is a 'philosophical' definition.
A lawyer is a person, learned in the enactments of the land and who represents the case on behalf of the client so as to present the case before the judge with maximum possible 'fitting' into the structure of law that is enacted by the land.
In doing so, if the law provides loop holes for a culprit to escape, then it is the law to be blamed, not the Vakil, or even the Judge. (As a law student, I had the good fortune to be told by an excellent 'Guru' in law, that the courts are there to administer law, basically, and it would be foolish to 'expect' that "somehow" justice would be rendered! In the whole world, it is in Indian courts perhaps, that we find this theory in a very demonstrable way!) We cannot find fault with common man/woman, when they find that justice is not always rendered in a court of law. Unless the concepts of "Jurisprudence" is well understood, the possibility is more of 'misunderstanding' the judicial process. This is true even for law students, other educated people, literate people, and the illiterate ones, in the ascending order of probability!
(This answer, if found even a little bit acceptable, happens to define the lawyer, the judge, the judicial process, and the institution of legal courts in an 'inclusive' manner. A lawyer does not find an exclusive definition apart from the comprehensive overview of the judicial system, when we look for a philosophical definition)
The very idea, of taking up a dispute to the court of law, floods in, a feeling of fatigue and weariness, in most people. So, the only thing that seems to persuade, instigate or provoke a person to persist on climbing the steps of a court room would be the stubbornness, adamancy, or to appear more polite, a sense of loyalty to the laws of the land seeking a manifest form out of a very great urge!
In an ideal situation, only complex cases, which require an equanimous mind to analyze and decide as to what ought to prevail, should reach the courts of law. For this to happen, the society as a whole has to evolve. Today, it seems a far fetched dream. But, if we only care to turn the pages of ancient history, we have great civilizations that have demonstrated this possibility. For a convincing ‘ready’ reference, even today, if we just look at the kind of laws that a society has, we would know how evolved the people are! There is a country where, just about 7 decades ago, chopping off a woman’s head, was as simple as beheading a chicken for food. Now they have evolved from that point at least, we can definitely say, when they brought women at par with men, in the eyes of the law. We still have places where simple crimes like petty theft, are punished too severely with chopping off of arms at a public place!
In the Hindu way of life, in ancient days, jurisprudence (not just the ‘laws’, as in other religions) was seamlessly incorporated into the texts which formulated suggestions for an ideal way of life, to evolve into the highest possibility of a human birth, quite effortlessly, by adopting the suggested life-routine. Over a period of time, these suggestions evolved into rituals and traditions, enriched by great beings who came along the time, and who prescribed time-related modifications to these suggestions. Obviously, these texts had to address an individual, not the society as a whole. The way a particular group of people understood and adapted these came to evolve as a unique homogenous group, and over a period of time, acquired traditions, rituals and practices unique to that group. We now see an array of such unique life-styles. Nomenclature follows, to aptly describe the ‘way’ of that group. So the laws were also seamlessly inter woven to suit the lifestyle, taking cue from the original texts, and the deeper concepts of jurisprudence, ensuring strict adherence to spirituality. The present day experts are simply baffled by the complexity of the ‘concepts’, theories, and principles of this ‘way of life’, and thus, even great intellectuals are stuck with just naming this way of life as “Hindu Religion” , unable to make any progress towards comprehending the ‘nature’ of this religion.
The sudden transition into industrialized societies, surmounted by the imposed prescriptions of foreign rule, the society could not adapt to the changed situation, nor could they adhere to the traditional life styles! For the first time, the entire society had to bear the brunt of an absence of a prescribed religious leader! By itself, this ‘religion’ did not ever need any ‘leader’ in the modern sense of the term. Today we find the bulk of the people confused about their own religion, while stray fortunate individuals quietly enjoy the fruit of their individual efforts of self-awareness, and personal pursuit towards a spiritual understanding of this ‘way of life’! The brighter side of this ‘way of life’ is that the whole of its teachings is available as a ‘freeware’ (whether we call it hard ware or a soft ware! It is ‘hard’ when someone turns up after seeing ‘everything’ else, as the opening sentences of that great work by that great master says … ‘And now, Yoga…”; … or,…… it is utterly ‘soft’, when somebody decides to start when it is not at all a need-like priority in routine life, and even when things happen utterly smooth for that person!). The text form is terse, mystic, and tiresome to grasp. The ‘web’ form is quite hi-tech, instantaneous, and self-educative, self-tutored, self-supportive, (and with all such ‘goody-goodies’), but subject to a few simple ‘conditions’ which are unfortunately not quite easy! These conditions are more about our own ‘conditioning’ of self. Not worth while to elaborate here.
Coming back to a ‘lawyer’, the question was about its definition. But, true to my own agenda, I assumed a little bit of that ‘cleverness’ to seek the garb of the category under which this was asked, and proceeded to give out the ‘philosophical’ sense of the term.
The foregoing narrative is to persuade the reader to find a way to justify the answer, if otherwise it looks acceptable in a practical sense!
(It is not just about that ‘professional’ lawyer…. That person has to emanate out of our very same society. So, it has to be about our own people, even right within the families, where youngsters feel dissuaded to present their ‘case’ before elders, even when it comes to crucial life-time affecting questions like career, marriage, co-residing with dependents, etc!)
Psn(9th November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101108102614AAKKELZ
What's the definition of a lawyer?
My answer:
Obviously, what we are looking for is a 'philosophical' definition.
A lawyer is a person, learned in the enactments of the land and who represents the case on behalf of the client so as to present the case before the judge with maximum possible 'fitting' into the structure of law that is enacted by the land.
In doing so, if the law provides loop holes for a culprit to escape, then it is the law to be blamed, not the Vakil, or even the Judge. (As a law student, I had the good fortune to be told by an excellent 'Guru' in law, that the courts are there to administer law, basically, and it would be foolish to 'expect' that "somehow" justice would be rendered! In the whole world, it is in Indian courts perhaps, that we find this theory in a very demonstrable way!) We cannot find fault with common man/woman, when they find that justice is not always rendered in a court of law. Unless the concepts of "Jurisprudence" is well understood, the possibility is more of 'misunderstanding' the judicial process. This is true even for law students, other educated people, literate people, and the illiterate ones, in the ascending order of probability!
(This answer, if found even a little bit acceptable, happens to define the lawyer, the judge, the judicial process, and the institution of legal courts in an 'inclusive' manner. A lawyer does not find an exclusive definition apart from the comprehensive overview of the judicial system, when we look for a philosophical definition)
Sunday, November 07, 2010
Emotional Confidence
In general, what we find is that logically oriented people exude more of ‘confidence’ situations. I say ‘situations’, because, ‘occasions’ doesn’t seem that much ‘all inclusive’.
Emotionally inclined ones do not ‘pose’ as if they are really ‘confident’ about themselves. It is the others, the onlookers, to whom a strong and emphatic manifestation of emotion seems to suggest that emotionally inclined are quite confident about themselves! (We even seem to know the properties of what we call as ‘chemically unstable substance’ where as the very nature of emotion are ‘unstable’ when we try to spy-look through the keyhole with logic-eyes….. emotions have never been opening its doors to logic!)
The whole of confusion is when neither we nor the onlookers are able to decide our orientation in a particular situation. A logical argument or discussion suddenly turns emotionally charged, and often goes out of control.
Some people who consciously focus on logical approach to philosophy for too long a time, feel having climbed on that ladder of confidence steadily and quite firmly too. This is quite normal amidst adults who are well qualified. And if their profession is teaching, the air of confidence becomes a bit more conscious. Further, if the study, practice and expertise is related more to logical aspects of philosophy, the confidence renders the emotions within to a sort of stoic state (the nearest expression, I find, to explain that ‘mixture of holding reins over emotion, tolerance of instability in others, etc). Psychiatrists often land into this sort of emotional ‘posture’ within! That is why their response seems ‘affected’ to other non-relevant onlookers.
Women are physiologically endowed with emotional orientation. But the increasing number of items to their multitasking job, forces them into that stoic-confidence level, to play well a pre-defined role in the civilized society. The heavy price for this deviation from their ‘natural’ orientation, is what women end up paying, in so many ways today! And we find that men ‘used’ to say .. ‘it is difficult to understand a woman’ . Now, it is more about ‘unpredictability’ rather than just the understanding.
Language adorns emotions, while it just connects logic. But the grammar seems to codify both logical use and the emotional expressions unsparingly. Please see, we are able to exempt only literary geniuses like Shakespeare and others, when they commit grammatically incorrect use of words, and invariably all such occasions are a clash between logic of grammar and inadequacy of expression to catch the grandeur of emotions!
I was rather amused, when a question insisted upon looking at ‘self’ as a grammatical structure! The suggestion was that there has to be “obviously’ some cohesiveness even about emotions within a person, just as there is a grammar for language which does express deep emotions! (We see a creeper entwine itself along the branches of a tree, not insisting on direct sunlight for its leaves, while these tree’s branches have formed a canopy at its extreme ends engulfing the entire sunlight! That is the grace of a woman who has been able to retain the beauty of ‘femininity’, not insisting on any ‘spotlight-focusing’ while adorning the logical male, with her everything, unconditionally, unassumingly, and in a total surrender!).
I felt a ‘stoic’ sense of reward, when the asker garlanded the answer with the remark, ‘reflecting my state of mind’… (Yes, emotions are quite confusing to a logical onlooker. Right from my early childhood, I have been fond of teasing the adults who pose to be accomplished-in logical analysis, with a simple question: “Why is it that a woman sums up with just a ‘sigh of relief’ when she could have bragged ‘victory’ or ‘success’ where the male partner failed to quieten a baby who was crying for too long, and she could effortlessly soften the baby soon?”).
Psn(7th November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkwkKuC0ANOhE74hX7OcTt6RHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20101105040713AAQX3yf&show=7#profile-info-AA11199137
Have you ever lost your grammatical structure? If you so, when did you loose the grammatical structure?
At times, I feel that I have acquired insanity!
My answer:
We often underestimate our capability of emotions. It surpasses our logical 'estimates' in dimension and depth.That is why we are a bit shocked when experience takes us by surprise.
(That "acquired insanity" is a misnomer. It occurs thus, simply because logic is struggling for its own existence during such times! Has emotion ever been logical? If there is any doubt about it, please take a look at that irresistible charming face of that tiny baby, with that contagious smile, lavish laughter, and see if that kid is capable even of our style of adult-logic?)..(Another shocker is a spiritual experience that can also dawn by itself, and, that is why, it is wonderful to have the proximity of that experienced Master, who is an embodiment of compassion, to gently hold our hands and guide us through that 'insanity-like' experience!).
Best wishes
Emotionally inclined ones do not ‘pose’ as if they are really ‘confident’ about themselves. It is the others, the onlookers, to whom a strong and emphatic manifestation of emotion seems to suggest that emotionally inclined are quite confident about themselves! (We even seem to know the properties of what we call as ‘chemically unstable substance’ where as the very nature of emotion are ‘unstable’ when we try to spy-look through the keyhole with logic-eyes….. emotions have never been opening its doors to logic!)
The whole of confusion is when neither we nor the onlookers are able to decide our orientation in a particular situation. A logical argument or discussion suddenly turns emotionally charged, and often goes out of control.
Some people who consciously focus on logical approach to philosophy for too long a time, feel having climbed on that ladder of confidence steadily and quite firmly too. This is quite normal amidst adults who are well qualified. And if their profession is teaching, the air of confidence becomes a bit more conscious. Further, if the study, practice and expertise is related more to logical aspects of philosophy, the confidence renders the emotions within to a sort of stoic state (the nearest expression, I find, to explain that ‘mixture of holding reins over emotion, tolerance of instability in others, etc). Psychiatrists often land into this sort of emotional ‘posture’ within! That is why their response seems ‘affected’ to other non-relevant onlookers.
Women are physiologically endowed with emotional orientation. But the increasing number of items to their multitasking job, forces them into that stoic-confidence level, to play well a pre-defined role in the civilized society. The heavy price for this deviation from their ‘natural’ orientation, is what women end up paying, in so many ways today! And we find that men ‘used’ to say .. ‘it is difficult to understand a woman’ . Now, it is more about ‘unpredictability’ rather than just the understanding.
Language adorns emotions, while it just connects logic. But the grammar seems to codify both logical use and the emotional expressions unsparingly. Please see, we are able to exempt only literary geniuses like Shakespeare and others, when they commit grammatically incorrect use of words, and invariably all such occasions are a clash between logic of grammar and inadequacy of expression to catch the grandeur of emotions!
I was rather amused, when a question insisted upon looking at ‘self’ as a grammatical structure! The suggestion was that there has to be “obviously’ some cohesiveness even about emotions within a person, just as there is a grammar for language which does express deep emotions! (We see a creeper entwine itself along the branches of a tree, not insisting on direct sunlight for its leaves, while these tree’s branches have formed a canopy at its extreme ends engulfing the entire sunlight! That is the grace of a woman who has been able to retain the beauty of ‘femininity’, not insisting on any ‘spotlight-focusing’ while adorning the logical male, with her everything, unconditionally, unassumingly, and in a total surrender!).
I felt a ‘stoic’ sense of reward, when the asker garlanded the answer with the remark, ‘reflecting my state of mind’… (Yes, emotions are quite confusing to a logical onlooker. Right from my early childhood, I have been fond of teasing the adults who pose to be accomplished-in logical analysis, with a simple question: “Why is it that a woman sums up with just a ‘sigh of relief’ when she could have bragged ‘victory’ or ‘success’ where the male partner failed to quieten a baby who was crying for too long, and she could effortlessly soften the baby soon?”).
Psn(7th November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkwkKuC0ANOhE74hX7OcTt6RHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20101105040713AAQX3yf&show=7#profile-info-AA11199137
Have you ever lost your grammatical structure? If you so, when did you loose the grammatical structure?
At times, I feel that I have acquired insanity!
My answer:
We often underestimate our capability of emotions. It surpasses our logical 'estimates' in dimension and depth.That is why we are a bit shocked when experience takes us by surprise.
(That "acquired insanity" is a misnomer. It occurs thus, simply because logic is struggling for its own existence during such times! Has emotion ever been logical? If there is any doubt about it, please take a look at that irresistible charming face of that tiny baby, with that contagious smile, lavish laughter, and see if that kid is capable even of our style of adult-logic?)..(Another shocker is a spiritual experience that can also dawn by itself, and, that is why, it is wonderful to have the proximity of that experienced Master, who is an embodiment of compassion, to gently hold our hands and guide us through that 'insanity-like' experience!).
Best wishes
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Need Wanted
“Waste not, Want not”……. prescribed the teacher, to us, asking the kids in our class to ‘expand the idea contained in…’
Usually, when something so brief comes up, leaving us utterly clueless as to what they are talking about, we used to have a ‘closed’ session over our lunch boxes, amidst the din and dust of the school playground around which some pavements provided us place to squat and gobble our food.
Since then, we started looking at that ‘waste’ as something very costly in life! When something goes a waste, it takes lots of cost along with it! It simply meant that we failed to acknowledge the value of that which got frittered away, and lost its utility. “Time” came up as a priority for some time at least!
We were yet to ‘feel’ that ‘want’ in its true intrinsic importance, since we used to get whatever we wanted ‘just like that’ (parents were bankers provided by nature!). Also, we tried to ‘want’ only what was ‘feasible’.
It is this ‘need’ that did not seem quite easy to fit in somewhere nearby the want! And, to look at the very beginning of the life form of a child did not help much. We tried out that. The tiny baby did not seem to ‘need’ anything at all! On the other hand, it seemed to want everything that it laid its eyes upon! The baby’s needs were taken care of by its mother.
Oh! I was just trying to look back at how we used to start with these basic questions during those tender-age-years. It helps to understand where we started mis-taking life in between, and then we lost that childhood joy almost irretrievably! Adults too, chase so many wants, and end up trying to compromise with just a little peace! But that was what afforded us, initially, to ‘want’ something more!
Any way, this time a question was clearly set, to know the difference between ‘need and want’ I was reminded of that other question “What is man's greatest need?” and we had kneaded it well enough some time ago.
(The skill of present the day “techies” depends upon their ability to divulge ‘info’ on a need-to-know-basis’ if they seek to remain afloat!)
Psn(4th November, 2010)
What is the difference btwn a NEED and a WANT?
My answer:
Want is a matter of choice, and once decided to be a 'want' it "becomes" a need.Situation decides a 'need' irrespective of whether a person knows about that need or not.
(For instance, two good friends become sworn enemies due to a stupid misunderstanding. The need is that they get clarity about their stupidity or the misunderstanding. But they do not want any clarification, because they feel that they are quite right about deciding to become inimical to each other! ).
Nice question. Perhaps, if we are reminded about the difference at right time, most divorce cases would get dissolved even before they ripen! Perhaps, students would get the priority about going to a school right, if they maintain the awareness about the need of going to school, and would prevent other desires from becoming "wants", to spoil the true priority!
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Calm Up!
When somebody is shouting, shaking, making fists, and visibly tensed up, we suggest that they calm down.
That calming “down” could have possibly triggered an automated analysis in the mind that calming is inversely proportional to alertness, consciousness!
Most people who ‘manage’ restraining the manifest form of inner turbulence! (perhaps it is such people, who happen to provide an ideal example of ‘calm’. If so, the real intrinsic value of the correct form of ‘calm’ would remain elusive to the ‘aam aadmi’!). Now it is a different matter that such people who happen to suppress the turbulence at socially tolerable levels for too long a time, end up eventually as stress-related patients!
Please see, when we “heave” a sigh of relief, it is deep exhalation! The vital energies are ‘driven to the wall’ , and now they make a feeble attempt at ‘drawing our attention’. That should convince us ‘logically’ that breath-watching, meditative practices related to it, etc, are not just a fun-pastime for those who have nothing better to do! It is about evolving enough to do everything better!
Now before some of us are inclined to heave that sigh of relief, I would like to wrap up the prologue, and quote the question, the asker of which, surprised me, when he felt inclined to ‘consider’ my answer!
Psn(2nd November, 2010)
Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApXaV9DQWJhCcd.AmbUXzpOQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20101101023745AAfCJsN&show=7#profile-info-R6DaVtMcaa
Will not watching breath while meditating make oneself more self conscious and alert instead of calming down?
My answer:
If calming down is exactly equal to less alert and less conscious, drinks would do a better job, why take the trouble of meditation or that tedious 'breath' watching? Yes. It does work, and as a quick fix solution too! But the problems come back with a bigger magnitude, and after some time, even drinks do not work, instead they make the nerves totally unstable apart from other medical complications. Some people who are in a great hurry to calm down are tempted, and before they realise, they are addicts.
A person can be really alert and very conscious only when very calm. With lots of thought process going at great speed, where is the alertness? That breath watching is just to keep a tab on the thought process, basically. That way, we have some control over the thought getting translated into unintentional nerve related problems, or a negative chemical disorder physiologically. It cannot happen all at once. A sustained effort would very slowly afford an enriching experience. Calm is not at all 'dull'.
That calming “down” could have possibly triggered an automated analysis in the mind that calming is inversely proportional to alertness, consciousness!
Most people who ‘manage’ restraining the manifest form of inner turbulence! (perhaps it is such people, who happen to provide an ideal example of ‘calm’. If so, the real intrinsic value of the correct form of ‘calm’ would remain elusive to the ‘aam aadmi’!). Now it is a different matter that such people who happen to suppress the turbulence at socially tolerable levels for too long a time, end up eventually as stress-related patients!
Please see, when we “heave” a sigh of relief, it is deep exhalation! The vital energies are ‘driven to the wall’ , and now they make a feeble attempt at ‘drawing our attention’. That should convince us ‘logically’ that breath-watching, meditative practices related to it, etc, are not just a fun-pastime for those who have nothing better to do! It is about evolving enough to do everything better!
Now before some of us are inclined to heave that sigh of relief, I would like to wrap up the prologue, and quote the question, the asker of which, surprised me, when he felt inclined to ‘consider’ my answer!
Psn(2nd November, 2010)
Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApXaV9DQWJhCcd.AmbUXzpOQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20101101023745AAfCJsN&show=7#profile-info-R6DaVtMcaa
Will not watching breath while meditating make oneself more self conscious and alert instead of calming down?
My answer:
If calming down is exactly equal to less alert and less conscious, drinks would do a better job, why take the trouble of meditation or that tedious 'breath' watching? Yes. It does work, and as a quick fix solution too! But the problems come back with a bigger magnitude, and after some time, even drinks do not work, instead they make the nerves totally unstable apart from other medical complications. Some people who are in a great hurry to calm down are tempted, and before they realise, they are addicts.
A person can be really alert and very conscious only when very calm. With lots of thought process going at great speed, where is the alertness? That breath watching is just to keep a tab on the thought process, basically. That way, we have some control over the thought getting translated into unintentional nerve related problems, or a negative chemical disorder physiologically. It cannot happen all at once. A sustained effort would very slowly afford an enriching experience. Calm is not at all 'dull'.
Monday, November 01, 2010
Mantras
I could not help getting attracted towards this question.
The debate about ‘efficacy’ of simply chanting certain words, has always been looked at as a stupidity, a blind belief, and even an effort towards ‘escapism’ towards the ‘life’ problems!
The debate is obviously going to be inconclusive. Added to this, there is that prefix of “Hindu” to these words or ‘chanting-of-mantras’. Do we not find when we are introduced to a group by a certain infamous person, we instantly ‘acquire’ the same colour of that introducer , at least to some extent? And then, we have an uphill task right from day-one, to repaint a picture in the view of those others, especially if they are going to decide our fate! Anyway, chanting it is a matter of personal choice. And nothing prevents us from looking at it objectively, even if for a purely academic point of view.
( I had my share of very rewarding experience about 2 decades ago, in a very impartial situation, stripped of all kinds of ‘religious’ colours! That is what prompted me to attempt an answer. And I do not seek any sort of patronizing beyond just a persuasion to stimulate some interest into spirituality. The rest is of course, purely a matter of personal choice).
Regards,
Psn(1st November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101031081142AAcydGC
Does mantras solvethe problems in life and which one?
Sometimes one is going through problem or tensions because not able to take right decision in life. Does the chants of hindu mantras help to give peace to mind and help to take decision to proove correct in life. If somebody can help and suggest remedies.Which mantra to chant to become more focused
My answer:
Well, when you say "mantras" it would obviously mean, those words in Sanskrit language.
It so happens, that sanskrit is the only "discovered" language.
Somewhere in 1981, a great researcher has opined that it is the only language compatible to 5th generation computers (after testing about 1400 or so world languages). And the reason given was its unambiguity. Research is still on. But people started looking a bit 'objectively' towards this language, especially the scientific community. Others would also try to 'claim' something about their own religious sentiments, since it has that stamp of "Hindu" mantras. But, even Hindus are not really prevented from 'also' .. 'trying'... to look at it a bit more objectively too. It would only help to enhance the level of indepth knowledge about the great language, its potential, and traditional values. It is reasonable too, because, this so called 'religion' was once treated as a 'way of life'. Even the name was given by foreigners. The prescriptions are merely in the nature of suggestions. One unique aspect is that these suggestions are addressed to an individual, in contrast to other global religions which we find to be generally addressing to groups/societies/masses.
Now, these mantras are in a language that conform to theory of quantum mechanics. And so, the effect is scientifically a proven one. (For instance, making noise inside the tunnel/pathway of a huge dam across a river is prohibited, simply because the sound reverbrates, multiplies, and threatens to cause huge cracks in the walls of that dam).
So, we cannot 'guarantee' that these mantras would surely solve the problems in life. But it would also contribute with its own positive effect, due to repeated vibrations produced consciously. Other factors decide to the extent of their impact and contribution to the solving of the problem. (That is why, certain experienced and wise Masters try to suggest certain 'austerity', to be adhered to, while undertaking a regular chanting for a prescribed period. It is their subtle and 'mystic' way to ensure maximum results, by trying to minimise the deterrent side effects of those 'other-negative-factors'!)Hope this helps to come closer to the answer a bit rationally.
Best wishes.
The debate about ‘efficacy’ of simply chanting certain words, has always been looked at as a stupidity, a blind belief, and even an effort towards ‘escapism’ towards the ‘life’ problems!
The debate is obviously going to be inconclusive. Added to this, there is that prefix of “Hindu” to these words or ‘chanting-of-mantras’. Do we not find when we are introduced to a group by a certain infamous person, we instantly ‘acquire’ the same colour of that introducer , at least to some extent? And then, we have an uphill task right from day-one, to repaint a picture in the view of those others, especially if they are going to decide our fate! Anyway, chanting it is a matter of personal choice. And nothing prevents us from looking at it objectively, even if for a purely academic point of view.
( I had my share of very rewarding experience about 2 decades ago, in a very impartial situation, stripped of all kinds of ‘religious’ colours! That is what prompted me to attempt an answer. And I do not seek any sort of patronizing beyond just a persuasion to stimulate some interest into spirituality. The rest is of course, purely a matter of personal choice).
Regards,
Psn(1st November, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101031081142AAcydGC
Does mantras solvethe problems in life and which one?
Sometimes one is going through problem or tensions because not able to take right decision in life. Does the chants of hindu mantras help to give peace to mind and help to take decision to proove correct in life. If somebody can help and suggest remedies.Which mantra to chant to become more focused
My answer:
Well, when you say "mantras" it would obviously mean, those words in Sanskrit language.
It so happens, that sanskrit is the only "discovered" language.
Somewhere in 1981, a great researcher has opined that it is the only language compatible to 5th generation computers (after testing about 1400 or so world languages). And the reason given was its unambiguity. Research is still on. But people started looking a bit 'objectively' towards this language, especially the scientific community. Others would also try to 'claim' something about their own religious sentiments, since it has that stamp of "Hindu" mantras. But, even Hindus are not really prevented from 'also' .. 'trying'... to look at it a bit more objectively too. It would only help to enhance the level of indepth knowledge about the great language, its potential, and traditional values. It is reasonable too, because, this so called 'religion' was once treated as a 'way of life'. Even the name was given by foreigners. The prescriptions are merely in the nature of suggestions. One unique aspect is that these suggestions are addressed to an individual, in contrast to other global religions which we find to be generally addressing to groups/societies/masses.
Now, these mantras are in a language that conform to theory of quantum mechanics. And so, the effect is scientifically a proven one. (For instance, making noise inside the tunnel/pathway of a huge dam across a river is prohibited, simply because the sound reverbrates, multiplies, and threatens to cause huge cracks in the walls of that dam).
So, we cannot 'guarantee' that these mantras would surely solve the problems in life. But it would also contribute with its own positive effect, due to repeated vibrations produced consciously. Other factors decide to the extent of their impact and contribution to the solving of the problem. (That is why, certain experienced and wise Masters try to suggest certain 'austerity', to be adhered to, while undertaking a regular chanting for a prescribed period. It is their subtle and 'mystic' way to ensure maximum results, by trying to minimise the deterrent side effects of those 'other-negative-factors'!)Hope this helps to come closer to the answer a bit rationally.
Best wishes.
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