Talking about abstention from drinking or taking a resolve is relatively easy, when away from the ‘vulnerable’ ground/area/war-field, like early mornings at home amidst the warmth of a strong well-knit family where all other ‘concerned’ family members feel ‘reassured’ to hear of our ‘sincere’ resolve afresh each time. Even when in a hospital bed due to the very consequence of excessive drinking this resolve seems relatively easy.
But right inside the ‘Madhushaala’ (Shri Harivansh Rai’s famed poem), it takes a different kind of mind to hang on to such a resolve. The war is between experiences, and the tremendous ‘force’ of cravings induced at our very cellular level. That is where spirituality comes to one’s rescue. It affords an ‘experience’, which can sustain any external temptation.
The topic was rather ‘hotly’ debated amidst my age group fellow-students during our penultimate and final years of schooling. But even I could not then guess, as to why most of them found it difficult to accept my view point about it. Now, as I can see, it was the proximity, the age, which did not allow the safe-distance, to stand and look at it, ponder over it, and think sensibly about it. From that view point, I did not expect such positive ‘vote’ response to my views, from today’s youngsters too. They did surprise me(pleasantly of course). I did not even think of adding, the ‘what next’ after managing that sensible dealing with this natural urge. I am slowly learning to refrain from giving that ‘unsolicited’ details.
It is good to save, conserve and preserve money, the most convenient form of wealth. But when it gets accumulated to a noticeable extent, the vulnerability too increases proportionately. This ‘natural’ energy too, was once upon a time so noticeable, but today, it is no problem, like, we are more dependent on ‘plastic’ money, so much as to even forget how a gold coin’s touch ‘feels’… very few can take notice of that preserved energy-form. This energy can be channelized to help us evolve a bit faster into spirituality. That is an altogether different ‘issue’…
Psn (29th March, 2010)
The Question:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100318115726AApuDpo
Tell me, spiritually (or otherwise)... how do you define sexuality?
And, as always... please elaborate. :-)
My answer:
It is no different from that urge called "Hunger". We humans overdo anything and everything. Most people have not known hunger for a long time. They eat as soon as the stomach feels 'empty'.
Please see, animals and other creatures eat and mate only in strict adherence to their natural urge and not other wise. We were 'expected' to evolve further, not fall even below, at least, that level!
Restrictions are looked at as setting better conditions, and are needed only when we seek refinement. That is how the institution called marriage evolved. When religious sanctity is accorded, the very same natural urge is now a means of spiritual evolvement. Maybe it is found beyond grasp for some of the present day people, but that is not entirely their fault. Even emotions are becoming less understood. As a kid I used to wonder, when I read about ancient Indian puranic stories where a young beautiful lady princess used to feel very lucky if an ascetic, way beyond old age even chose to marry her. Now I know exactly what kind of 'appeal' that very old-aged, grey haired sage holds for that young lady(much to the disappointment to many young suitors, princes even!). For most young ladies it is quite unthinkable to 'espouse' such an old person. even on a movie screen, leave alone real life!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Inter Personal Skills
A brief Prologue: (28th March, 2010….) It is with a bit of hesitation, that I decided to proceed with posting this blog. The only inspiration came from the hero of the English Movie “Independence Day” wherein, he took the precious hint when his father commented “You will catch a cold”. He realized that a virus that causes cold temporarily incapacitates a person. The brief time is enough to make a dent into the adversary’s defense system. Perhaps, I could at least be that innocent commentor, to inspire the young world of Hi-tech-techies, with impregnable fortresses of management-technology-jargons! Otherwise, I feel quite incompetent at this.(End of prologue)
I do not get to hear this term too often. But I did come to know of this, right in my early school days. That is what makes me wonder. How that simple school teacher who barely managed with very paltry salary, and stuck to the job for the sheer love of teaching could make a mention of this wonderful enriching concept, to the tiny tender buds that we were, then!! All that I could manage to grasp is that this skill had to do a lot with some kind of ‘all-round, all-inclusive, all-encompassing’ abilities.
These business schools must be focusing a lot on this concept. But in the outside, where also this is quite relevant, there is only an obscure mention. It does not attract any elaboration even.
Recently I read about the huge accumulating losses made by India’s National Carrier, Air India. I was wondering if it had been left in the hands of the legendary “JRD”, this situation would not have arisen. He was a ‘techie’ at aviation skills. He was cost conscious. He was consumer conscious. And the best part of it is that, all of the Tatas were Human Resource conscious. Recently Shri Ratan Tata touched heights of humility when he very simply put it that when he employed the staff, he did not ‘bargain’ for the Taj Hotel Staff to risk their very lives when they responded beyond the call of duty, and saved many people during the tragic attack on 26/11, and that the least he could do was to keep paying their regular salary, though the Hotel was unable to function till restoration work was completed(The body language of the staff who came on media, looked quite unassuming about the effortless ease with which they risked their lives, as if saying quietly “Oh! That is quite normal being a ‘TATA’ staff”!) Shri Jamshetji continues to shower his blessings on the descendants and the staff, without discriminating (A true TATA family in every sense)! I even remember the whispered old stories when our Political goons could not tolerate smooth relations at TATA Steel, where the Union Leader was equally popular with workers and management, and to create a dent in such a large work force, a foul means of ‘eliminating’ the leader had to be undertaken! My idea is not to initiate a debate about the validity of these stories. But, to access an example, which seems reasonable tangible, to have a glimpse of that unique combination of three major heads of abstract concepts. It is good enough to accept the incidents as hypothetical or at ‘fictional’ levels, though personally I would need to make a lot of compromise within myself for that.
1. Technical skills that in turn inspires creativity in the team.
2. Managerial skills that in turn churn out productivity, cost effectiveness and insulate or insure against possible obsolescence of the very business!
3. Human Relations skills, which invoke the highest levels of ‘Human’ Resources.
Unless an individual happens to strike a balance of these three, there would be stagnation at any level (individual-career-level, organizational growth level, or even that particular trade/industry level. We have seen examples in the famous lecture ‘Have breakfast, or be breakfast’!)
For those mystic beings, these skills are quite incidental by-products of the arduous trek on spiritual path, as I too could have a glimpse, fortunately!
Psn(24th March, 2010)
I do not get to hear this term too often. But I did come to know of this, right in my early school days. That is what makes me wonder. How that simple school teacher who barely managed with very paltry salary, and stuck to the job for the sheer love of teaching could make a mention of this wonderful enriching concept, to the tiny tender buds that we were, then!! All that I could manage to grasp is that this skill had to do a lot with some kind of ‘all-round, all-inclusive, all-encompassing’ abilities.
These business schools must be focusing a lot on this concept. But in the outside, where also this is quite relevant, there is only an obscure mention. It does not attract any elaboration even.
Recently I read about the huge accumulating losses made by India’s National Carrier, Air India. I was wondering if it had been left in the hands of the legendary “JRD”, this situation would not have arisen. He was a ‘techie’ at aviation skills. He was cost conscious. He was consumer conscious. And the best part of it is that, all of the Tatas were Human Resource conscious. Recently Shri Ratan Tata touched heights of humility when he very simply put it that when he employed the staff, he did not ‘bargain’ for the Taj Hotel Staff to risk their very lives when they responded beyond the call of duty, and saved many people during the tragic attack on 26/11, and that the least he could do was to keep paying their regular salary, though the Hotel was unable to function till restoration work was completed(The body language of the staff who came on media, looked quite unassuming about the effortless ease with which they risked their lives, as if saying quietly “Oh! That is quite normal being a ‘TATA’ staff”!) Shri Jamshetji continues to shower his blessings on the descendants and the staff, without discriminating (A true TATA family in every sense)! I even remember the whispered old stories when our Political goons could not tolerate smooth relations at TATA Steel, where the Union Leader was equally popular with workers and management, and to create a dent in such a large work force, a foul means of ‘eliminating’ the leader had to be undertaken! My idea is not to initiate a debate about the validity of these stories. But, to access an example, which seems reasonable tangible, to have a glimpse of that unique combination of three major heads of abstract concepts. It is good enough to accept the incidents as hypothetical or at ‘fictional’ levels, though personally I would need to make a lot of compromise within myself for that.
1. Technical skills that in turn inspires creativity in the team.
2. Managerial skills that in turn churn out productivity, cost effectiveness and insulate or insure against possible obsolescence of the very business!
3. Human Relations skills, which invoke the highest levels of ‘Human’ Resources.
Unless an individual happens to strike a balance of these three, there would be stagnation at any level (individual-career-level, organizational growth level, or even that particular trade/industry level. We have seen examples in the famous lecture ‘Have breakfast, or be breakfast’!)
For those mystic beings, these skills are quite incidental by-products of the arduous trek on spiritual path, as I too could have a glimpse, fortunately!
Psn(24th March, 2010)
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Response Ability
There is no dearth of sermons, speeches, advices, warnings, disclaimers, FAQ’s, informative materials etc. Most of the times, very little of these get ‘registered’ into us,.
Our response ‘system’ is elusively unique. Most people give a thought even, only when it comes to handling problematic children of their own, who fail to respond to several of appeals (very much meant for children’s own welfare). How to make this children get the message? Shall we tell the teachers? Or is it better to request the close friends of these kids? Sometimes, talking to them over a mobile, the very same message at least gets ‘heard’.
A wonderful question came up seeking to find the effect of embellishing well, a message, with words.
I was incessantly pursuing the task of fine-tuning my own assessment, of my own levels of extracting the response, when I try to communicate. Work place atmosphere, the nature of ‘stock-in-trade’ etc contributed immensely to my experience. The spiritual pursuits added the reinforcements like that magical combination in Cement, sand, steel and jelly-stones in “R.C.C.” (Reinforced cement concrete). But with all this, I am nowhere near evoking a response when it comes to ‘spiritually-oriented-opinions”, for which I most eagerly await even for a mere acknowledgement of having read/heard.
In this backdrop, it would be highly speculative to judge my competence to answer this question. Let us see, if my apprehensions of an imminent failure trigger some response.
Psn (25th March, 2010)
Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100324024744AABYOKY
Which one would you give more importance to, and why; words carrying deep feeling or words with strong intent?
My Answer:
Despite strong intent and that 'deep' feeling filled words, all those religious books , teachings, speeches, sayings etc have almost fallen on deaf ears. True , they are quite famous, but used mostly as 'ornamental' and for deceptively cosmetic purposes.
So, the emphasis lies on our disposition, attitude, presence of mind, alertness, awareness, when we respond to something that we hear, whether be it wonderful words or even a deep silence!
A kid responded to strong intent which did not work for the bulk of the people around, when this Zen master simply conveyed a message in the most wonderful way! Words were redundant! (Quote: http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind…
Whenever anyone asked him about Zen, the great master Gutei would quietly raise one finger into the air. A boy in the village began to imitate this behavior. Whenever he heard people talking about Gutei's teachings, he would interrupt the discussion and raise his finger. Gutei heard about the boy's mischief. When he saw him in the street, he seized him and cut off his finger. The boy cried and began to run off, but Gutei called out to him. When the boy turned to look, Gutei raised his finger into the air. At that moment the boy became enlightened. )
Our response ‘system’ is elusively unique. Most people give a thought even, only when it comes to handling problematic children of their own, who fail to respond to several of appeals (very much meant for children’s own welfare). How to make this children get the message? Shall we tell the teachers? Or is it better to request the close friends of these kids? Sometimes, talking to them over a mobile, the very same message at least gets ‘heard’.
A wonderful question came up seeking to find the effect of embellishing well, a message, with words.
I was incessantly pursuing the task of fine-tuning my own assessment, of my own levels of extracting the response, when I try to communicate. Work place atmosphere, the nature of ‘stock-in-trade’ etc contributed immensely to my experience. The spiritual pursuits added the reinforcements like that magical combination in Cement, sand, steel and jelly-stones in “R.C.C.” (Reinforced cement concrete). But with all this, I am nowhere near evoking a response when it comes to ‘spiritually-oriented-opinions”, for which I most eagerly await even for a mere acknowledgement of having read/heard.
In this backdrop, it would be highly speculative to judge my competence to answer this question. Let us see, if my apprehensions of an imminent failure trigger some response.
Psn (25th March, 2010)
Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100324024744AABYOKY
Which one would you give more importance to, and why; words carrying deep feeling or words with strong intent?
My Answer:
Despite strong intent and that 'deep' feeling filled words, all those religious books , teachings, speeches, sayings etc have almost fallen on deaf ears. True , they are quite famous, but used mostly as 'ornamental' and for deceptively cosmetic purposes.
So, the emphasis lies on our disposition, attitude, presence of mind, alertness, awareness, when we respond to something that we hear, whether be it wonderful words or even a deep silence!
A kid responded to strong intent which did not work for the bulk of the people around, when this Zen master simply conveyed a message in the most wonderful way! Words were redundant! (Quote: http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind…
Whenever anyone asked him about Zen, the great master Gutei would quietly raise one finger into the air. A boy in the village began to imitate this behavior. Whenever he heard people talking about Gutei's teachings, he would interrupt the discussion and raise his finger. Gutei heard about the boy's mischief. When he saw him in the street, he seized him and cut off his finger. The boy cried and began to run off, but Gutei called out to him. When the boy turned to look, Gutei raised his finger into the air. At that moment the boy became enlightened. )
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Einstein’s experience of tastelessness!
Even before the subject of Physics (for that matter ‘Science’) took over my peace of mind in a very big way at school, I was fortunate to learn about Dr. Einstein.
And it is the ‘benediction’ part of the very same fortune, which has perhaps enabled me to take up this question the way I would always love to look at. (Though it looks silly, I am still quite apprehensive that if I had first known Dr. Einstein through Science lessons, instead of that brief biography in English Non-detailed syllabus, the admiration for the discoveries would have overshadowed my discovering the ‘great spiritual person himself’, within him)
I earnestly hope that my answer would not appear too ‘mystic’ to invoke an appeal to our ‘reasoning faculties’.
The fact is, I could not hold back my admiration for the Great thinker, scientist, and a yet greater, ‘human’ being.
Psn(24th March, 2010)
The question:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100323213054AAgeQHD
Why is it "Tasteless" to live forever?
"I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly."-Albert Einstein
What's your opinion?
My answer:
In isolation, this question would attract an answer that has general and 'mass' appeal. But having quoted the Great Being 'Einstein' the reasons are unique.
Please note, "I will do it elegantly" is the whole of the clue !!!
We humans make lot of fuss when we 'go'. Very few people happen to even notice that other living creatures do it quite gracefully, elegantly and INCONSPICUOUSLY (of course, inconspicuous only to we the humans!). The tastelessness is due to the artificiality when a person steps into that realm of choicelessness, the ultimate freedom! "I want to go when I want" is very significant and indicates the heights of human capability wherein the rare type of real and true 'natural-death' is at will, and by choice, not waiting for the body to become incapable of 'housing' the life-energy. I shall reserve my interpretation of the words "my share" with a sense of sanctity (it is yet again, my share too!).
Mere 'thanks' looks ridiculously insufficient for this quote and of course the question.
And it is the ‘benediction’ part of the very same fortune, which has perhaps enabled me to take up this question the way I would always love to look at. (Though it looks silly, I am still quite apprehensive that if I had first known Dr. Einstein through Science lessons, instead of that brief biography in English Non-detailed syllabus, the admiration for the discoveries would have overshadowed my discovering the ‘great spiritual person himself’, within him)
I earnestly hope that my answer would not appear too ‘mystic’ to invoke an appeal to our ‘reasoning faculties’.
The fact is, I could not hold back my admiration for the Great thinker, scientist, and a yet greater, ‘human’ being.
Psn(24th March, 2010)
The question:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100323213054AAgeQHD
Why is it "Tasteless" to live forever?
"I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly."-Albert Einstein
What's your opinion?
My answer:
In isolation, this question would attract an answer that has general and 'mass' appeal. But having quoted the Great Being 'Einstein' the reasons are unique.
Please note, "I will do it elegantly" is the whole of the clue !!!
We humans make lot of fuss when we 'go'. Very few people happen to even notice that other living creatures do it quite gracefully, elegantly and INCONSPICUOUSLY (of course, inconspicuous only to we the humans!). The tastelessness is due to the artificiality when a person steps into that realm of choicelessness, the ultimate freedom! "I want to go when I want" is very significant and indicates the heights of human capability wherein the rare type of real and true 'natural-death' is at will, and by choice, not waiting for the body to become incapable of 'housing' the life-energy. I shall reserve my interpretation of the words "my share" with a sense of sanctity (it is yet again, my share too!).
Mere 'thanks' looks ridiculously insufficient for this quote and of course the question.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
True Relation
A mind boggling question came up. Many things that climb up and down our list of priorities, decide the very basis of relationships. A ‘double’ agent suddenly becomes the most sought after loyalist, for the ‘intelligence’ interceptors.
My answer could perhaps irritate the asker / reader, initially. But I did not like to let off a casual reader lightly. And so I took a different perspective at the answer.
This, I am aware is in spite of other two ‘posts’ under the caption “Theory of relativity for commoners” (http://selfseekers.blogspot.com/2008/12/theory-of-relativity-for-commoners.html ), and another ‘related’ one, “Hierarchy of Relationships” (http://selfseekers.blogspot.com/2010/02/hierarchy-of-relationships.html ).
The answer itself is sufficient to do what I feel persuaded to go about in this brief introduction. So, I ‘ground’ it right here.
Psn(23rd March, 2010)
The question:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100322190359AAXvxLO
Which relation is the the true and stronger one ?
There arer many relations in the life of Man? But which one is the most stronger and truthful?
My answer:
This relation with 'mother' earth.We spend most of our energies, time, resources, money, effort etc to get away from this relation all the time, to become available to do something else!
Please see, the bulk of our movements during all our life is to get away from gravity, which pulls us down towards earth all the time!
So the strongest bond, and relation, whether we like it or not, whether we agree or not, whether believe in it or not! Irrefutable truth. We are made up of the very same stuff, the earth (plus, the five elements held by it). We renew the relationship when we eat and also when we excrete.The ancient spiritual masters could see some truth in this, and that is why they formulated techniques to first reduce this relationship to the barest minimum level. Yogic exercises, postures that make the body light, agile, swift, less dependent on food, sleep(horizontal excessive gravity-effect), and even breathing deep (to extend the life span by reducing the intake per minute, etc), and then look at the inner freedom! But today, we have succeeded in making so many gadgets out of this earth-related materials that our dependence and relation is inextricably deep.
Sorry, but, other relationships (intra-human) are some way or other through this relationship. We fight with human relatives(parents, brothers, sisters, spouse, co-parceners etc), only when property rights are vital, till then our mutual relationships are cordial.
My answer could perhaps irritate the asker / reader, initially. But I did not like to let off a casual reader lightly. And so I took a different perspective at the answer.
This, I am aware is in spite of other two ‘posts’ under the caption “Theory of relativity for commoners” (http://selfseekers.blogspot.com/2008/12/theory-of-relativity-for-commoners.html ), and another ‘related’ one, “Hierarchy of Relationships” (http://selfseekers.blogspot.com/2010/02/hierarchy-of-relationships.html ).
The answer itself is sufficient to do what I feel persuaded to go about in this brief introduction. So, I ‘ground’ it right here.
Psn(23rd March, 2010)
The question:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100322190359AAXvxLO
Which relation is the the true and stronger one ?
There arer many relations in the life of Man? But which one is the most stronger and truthful?
My answer:
This relation with 'mother' earth.We spend most of our energies, time, resources, money, effort etc to get away from this relation all the time, to become available to do something else!
Please see, the bulk of our movements during all our life is to get away from gravity, which pulls us down towards earth all the time!
So the strongest bond, and relation, whether we like it or not, whether we agree or not, whether believe in it or not! Irrefutable truth. We are made up of the very same stuff, the earth (plus, the five elements held by it). We renew the relationship when we eat and also when we excrete.The ancient spiritual masters could see some truth in this, and that is why they formulated techniques to first reduce this relationship to the barest minimum level. Yogic exercises, postures that make the body light, agile, swift, less dependent on food, sleep(horizontal excessive gravity-effect), and even breathing deep (to extend the life span by reducing the intake per minute, etc), and then look at the inner freedom! But today, we have succeeded in making so many gadgets out of this earth-related materials that our dependence and relation is inextricably deep.
Sorry, but, other relationships (intra-human) are some way or other through this relationship. We fight with human relatives(parents, brothers, sisters, spouse, co-parceners etc), only when property rights are vital, till then our mutual relationships are cordial.
Courage
I did not expect that my answer might ‘click’.
But this one was my ‘living’ experience. Not exactly ‘through’ martial arts, though. It is much more subtle than that. I had to work my way, to really appreciate the martial arts at that level, in-depth! (The “thumbs” up that pours in can only be felt, not seen or heard!).
Anyway, it is very difficult to convince that courage of this kind is worth it. It has been emphasized over and again since times immemorial, but it does not appeal to logic that easily. And it is therefore that I did not expect a positive response. But the mere ‘dotted’ line ‘comment’ looks like even a bonus!
I really hope that my humble efforts have been (and also remain so), instrumental in shifting yet another person into that ‘fast’ track, towards deeper levels of consciousness!
……………….. (me too !!)
psn (23rd March, 2010)
The question.
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100320062323AAjPiBq
How can i overcome to emotional factor?
i am physically strong guy...... learning marshal arts from two years.but can't able to fight with anyone, even though i am good at my fighting style.reason is emotional factor!!due to strong emotional mind i can't hit anyone.... this attitude is not useful in games like marshal arts.so, how to overcome emotional factor in my case??[plz ignore the grammar]
My answer:
What you think as your weakness seems to be your best strength. It takes a lot of courage, to "not want to hurt others"! Even those who lack the physical strength, satisfy their weakness of 'negative' emotion to hurt others by at least hurling abuses in place of blows which requires good fighting style. If the skills in martial arts grows without ever using it at games, competition or to hurt others, this power turns inwards and becomes a towering spiritual strength. Only very very lucky people manage to do it, though it is the desire of every genuine Master who teaches martial arts to see at least one or two disciples grow into spirituality.
Best wishes.
But this one was my ‘living’ experience. Not exactly ‘through’ martial arts, though. It is much more subtle than that. I had to work my way, to really appreciate the martial arts at that level, in-depth! (The “thumbs” up that pours in can only be felt, not seen or heard!).
Anyway, it is very difficult to convince that courage of this kind is worth it. It has been emphasized over and again since times immemorial, but it does not appeal to logic that easily. And it is therefore that I did not expect a positive response. But the mere ‘dotted’ line ‘comment’ looks like even a bonus!
I really hope that my humble efforts have been (and also remain so), instrumental in shifting yet another person into that ‘fast’ track, towards deeper levels of consciousness!
……………….. (me too !!)
psn (23rd March, 2010)
The question.
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100320062323AAjPiBq
How can i overcome to emotional factor?
i am physically strong guy...... learning marshal arts from two years.but can't able to fight with anyone, even though i am good at my fighting style.reason is emotional factor!!due to strong emotional mind i can't hit anyone.... this attitude is not useful in games like marshal arts.so, how to overcome emotional factor in my case??[plz ignore the grammar]
My answer:
What you think as your weakness seems to be your best strength. It takes a lot of courage, to "not want to hurt others"! Even those who lack the physical strength, satisfy their weakness of 'negative' emotion to hurt others by at least hurling abuses in place of blows which requires good fighting style. If the skills in martial arts grows without ever using it at games, competition or to hurt others, this power turns inwards and becomes a towering spiritual strength. Only very very lucky people manage to do it, though it is the desire of every genuine Master who teaches martial arts to see at least one or two disciples grow into spirituality.
Best wishes.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Finger "Chip"
A wonderful story!
When the asker commented about ‘especially’ my answer, I was tempted to re-tell it here too.
I hope you would love the story, and possibly it might keep you intrigued too!
Happy fingering.
Regards,
Psn(17th March, 2010)
The question:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100314090441AA1iWv4
Zen Story:What do you understand from this??? Read it and share your opinions?
Whenever anyone asked him about Zen, the great master Gutei would quietly raise one finger into the air. A boy in the village began to imitate this behavior. Whenever he heard people talking about Gutei's teachings, he would interrupt the discussion and raise his finger. Gutei heard about the boy's mischief. When he saw him in the street, he seized him and cut off his finger. The boy cried and began to run off, but Gutei called out to him. When the boy turned to look, Gutei raised his finger into the air. At that moment the boy became enlightened.
Additional Details
I didn't understand any of you especially Spiritualseeker.What is benevolent about cutting a student's finger???? I have heard that Zen masters are logical and I expect a clear,logical explanation not abstract spiritual ones.
My answer:
The great master Gutei was indeed an embodiment of compassion. Who else can muster courage to cut off the finger of a 'candidate' on the verge, with just one last barrier left to be removed, the finger! Usually, Zen masters give enough chance to opt out of the path when half-willing, half-hearted people seek to become disciples. This is a wonderful story of out-of-the-way benevolence.
Reply to asker's comments:
Sorry about the abstract answer. But that is the way it is. The very chance to look at this story is a stupendous reward for me. I once again bow before the Great Master Gutei, here and now. His compassion is indeed matchless!
When the asker commented about ‘especially’ my answer, I was tempted to re-tell it here too.
I hope you would love the story, and possibly it might keep you intrigued too!
Happy fingering.
Regards,
Psn(17th March, 2010)
The question:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100314090441AA1iWv4
Zen Story:What do you understand from this??? Read it and share your opinions?
Whenever anyone asked him about Zen, the great master Gutei would quietly raise one finger into the air. A boy in the village began to imitate this behavior. Whenever he heard people talking about Gutei's teachings, he would interrupt the discussion and raise his finger. Gutei heard about the boy's mischief. When he saw him in the street, he seized him and cut off his finger. The boy cried and began to run off, but Gutei called out to him. When the boy turned to look, Gutei raised his finger into the air. At that moment the boy became enlightened.
Additional Details
I didn't understand any of you especially Spiritualseeker.What is benevolent about cutting a student's finger???? I have heard that Zen masters are logical and I expect a clear,logical explanation not abstract spiritual ones.
My answer:
The great master Gutei was indeed an embodiment of compassion. Who else can muster courage to cut off the finger of a 'candidate' on the verge, with just one last barrier left to be removed, the finger! Usually, Zen masters give enough chance to opt out of the path when half-willing, half-hearted people seek to become disciples. This is a wonderful story of out-of-the-way benevolence.
Reply to asker's comments:
Sorry about the abstract answer. But that is the way it is. The very chance to look at this story is a stupendous reward for me. I once again bow before the Great Master Gutei, here and now. His compassion is indeed matchless!
Easy Now
The asker was kind enough to draw my attention to this wonderful question.
I loved to answer it.
I was wondering if it would persuade others too, to give it a thought.
The rewards are ample, and motivations to strive perennial.
My very best wishes,
Psn (17th March, 2010)
The question:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100317001119AA5QjBK
Can you imagine how many people would exist if everyone knew how easy it was to live in this physical life?
Now... if you disagree with this sentiment in ANY way, then please tell me... why?And, as always, please... elaborate. ;-)Thank you to those who answer...})})})})>much-love-to-you-all>({({({{(
My answer:
Well, as soon as this wisdom of 'easy-living' dawns, very few would choose to retain the 'physical' existence, and if so, for a very noble purpose, out of unimaginable extent of compassion, towards the left out ones. Such people also look at their own communication skills or at least an effective mouthpiece to convey the messages with least distortions, and maximum time-relevant, mass appeal. (The answer, when looked at, after having typed it out, looks as abstract as the question, so why spoil the brevity with any further elaboration? Let the thirsty ones seek further :) ...)
I loved to answer it.
I was wondering if it would persuade others too, to give it a thought.
The rewards are ample, and motivations to strive perennial.
My very best wishes,
Psn (17th March, 2010)
The question:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100317001119AA5QjBK
Can you imagine how many people would exist if everyone knew how easy it was to live in this physical life?
Now... if you disagree with this sentiment in ANY way, then please tell me... why?And, as always, please... elaborate. ;-)Thank you to those who answer...})})})})>much-love-to-you-all>({({({{(
My answer:
Well, as soon as this wisdom of 'easy-living' dawns, very few would choose to retain the 'physical' existence, and if so, for a very noble purpose, out of unimaginable extent of compassion, towards the left out ones. Such people also look at their own communication skills or at least an effective mouthpiece to convey the messages with least distortions, and maximum time-relevant, mass appeal. (The answer, when looked at, after having typed it out, looks as abstract as the question, so why spoil the brevity with any further elaboration? Let the thirsty ones seek further :) ...)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Co-Experience.
Saha-Anubhoothi is the root word in Sanskrit. Saha is simply “co” like that ‘& Co.,’ Sahapaati is the word for class-mates, meaning ‘learns along with the other’.
Interestingly enough, we find this word (sahaanubhoothi) being used liberally to mean only as some sort of sympathy, “kind-consideration”(using that discretionary capability to “allow” some concession in favour of somebody in a lesser comfort or in discomfort), etc ( I dare not graze into other pastures like sahataapam, anutaapam or paschataapam, because invariably it ends into getting heated, being a “taapam”. Already we are reeling with the summer heat, being March, and we are also heated up due to discussing hotly, a recent topic called ‘Global-warming’!).
But when we look at the word ‘anubhoothi’ it is clearly just an ‘experience’ (not an idea, imagination, or thought). Perhaps, pain brings a person a bit closer to ‘life-experience’ better than other situations like joy, success, etc. When there is a deep experience, it just permeates around. The other person around too does have that experience, but whether with or without any awareness is dependent on the ‘availability’ of that person. Generally, a bit broad-minded person, with that fellow-feeling or fellow-consideration becomes more readily available to experience the pain of other. That may be the reason why the meaning of saha-anubhoothi became restricted over a period of time. As a contrast, nothing really prevents us from experiencing the joy of the other person, but we are caught up in our own web most of the time, and so we inadvertently remain ‘unavailable ‘ for that experience. For instance, a young student, bags a Gold Medal in an University examination, and the whole family seems to share the joy. But please see, each has one’s own private reason for rejoicing the same event, quite unique, distinctive, and not ‘experiential’ most of the times! The feel of joy is not exactly through the experience of it, but the thought process of having compared the ‘expectation’ or anticipation, or even contra-expectation (beyond expectation), and its matching of the situation (the actualization of the Gold Medal). Though without much of that self-awareness, a kid going into the LKG on the first day of his schooling, due to that pristine innocence, happens to simply absorb the ‘experience’ of intense sorrow of another kid who cries in deep anguish of being suddenly left out alone in the hands of a total stranger, for the first time in his life. Having absorbed this experience from the crying kid, this fellow also starts crying without knowing why! That also is saha-anubhoothi.
A saha-dharmini (wife) was supposed to share the anubhoothi of her spouse for the rest of the life, having taken the sacred vows with fire as a divine witness. This tradition was based on the observation that only women are gifted with the capability to ‘feel’ anubhooti of another person. Now when a woman finds herself incessantly engaged in that co-experience, over a period of time, she is naturally freed from her own thought process, preferences, likes and dislikes. Meditativeness simply pervades into her quite effortlessly. Perhaps that is why no special religious rituals are ‘prescribed’ for a woman compared to endless ‘duties’ cast upon her male counterpart in a ‘grihastha’ aashrama life. Obviously she ‘waits’ upon the spouse most of the time, “all attention”.
When the deep reasons, perception of these reasons fade out over centuries, the traditional outlook of woman seems like subservience, and it is quite logical to struggle for liberation out of this kind of slavery. Rightly, we have that woman’s day, to remind that she has chosen to have that ‘saha-anubhoothi’ as a matter of ex-gratia towards the spouse and other men-folk, at her choice, and at will. The way the femininity has been designed, the physiology struggles to adjust to this ‘modern’ view/outlook, and we now have a spate of latest types of woman-related physiological health problems, needing constant medical help. (For those who are inclined to doubt or question the theory that women are gifted to ‘experience’ the anubhoothi better than men, there is an example, which may only demand a little bit of ‘faith’ in puranic stories. Krishna was capable of experiencing intense joy and joy being experiential, it permeated into those Gopikas (the bulk of women folk around that place called Gokul), who grossly outnumbered the men who chose to wander around Krishna quite aimlessly, due to the sheer joyousness permeating into any body receptive enough around him.
We, the present day citizens scatter only that negative emotion most of the time, putting up a ‘defensive’ long face as soon as we step out of our homes, and join the mainstream of crowd, wading through busy traffic, fretting and fuming through bottlenecks commuting to and fro our workplace, market place for shopping etc.
A little bit of conscious concerted effort in that direction to try out sharing experience would bring a lot of deep life-experience and a sense of joy into us.
With wishful regards,
Psn(11th March, 2010)
Interestingly enough, we find this word (sahaanubhoothi) being used liberally to mean only as some sort of sympathy, “kind-consideration”(using that discretionary capability to “allow” some concession in favour of somebody in a lesser comfort or in discomfort), etc ( I dare not graze into other pastures like sahataapam, anutaapam or paschataapam, because invariably it ends into getting heated, being a “taapam”. Already we are reeling with the summer heat, being March, and we are also heated up due to discussing hotly, a recent topic called ‘Global-warming’!).
But when we look at the word ‘anubhoothi’ it is clearly just an ‘experience’ (not an idea, imagination, or thought). Perhaps, pain brings a person a bit closer to ‘life-experience’ better than other situations like joy, success, etc. When there is a deep experience, it just permeates around. The other person around too does have that experience, but whether with or without any awareness is dependent on the ‘availability’ of that person. Generally, a bit broad-minded person, with that fellow-feeling or fellow-consideration becomes more readily available to experience the pain of other. That may be the reason why the meaning of saha-anubhoothi became restricted over a period of time. As a contrast, nothing really prevents us from experiencing the joy of the other person, but we are caught up in our own web most of the time, and so we inadvertently remain ‘unavailable ‘ for that experience. For instance, a young student, bags a Gold Medal in an University examination, and the whole family seems to share the joy. But please see, each has one’s own private reason for rejoicing the same event, quite unique, distinctive, and not ‘experiential’ most of the times! The feel of joy is not exactly through the experience of it, but the thought process of having compared the ‘expectation’ or anticipation, or even contra-expectation (beyond expectation), and its matching of the situation (the actualization of the Gold Medal). Though without much of that self-awareness, a kid going into the LKG on the first day of his schooling, due to that pristine innocence, happens to simply absorb the ‘experience’ of intense sorrow of another kid who cries in deep anguish of being suddenly left out alone in the hands of a total stranger, for the first time in his life. Having absorbed this experience from the crying kid, this fellow also starts crying without knowing why! That also is saha-anubhoothi.
A saha-dharmini (wife) was supposed to share the anubhoothi of her spouse for the rest of the life, having taken the sacred vows with fire as a divine witness. This tradition was based on the observation that only women are gifted with the capability to ‘feel’ anubhooti of another person. Now when a woman finds herself incessantly engaged in that co-experience, over a period of time, she is naturally freed from her own thought process, preferences, likes and dislikes. Meditativeness simply pervades into her quite effortlessly. Perhaps that is why no special religious rituals are ‘prescribed’ for a woman compared to endless ‘duties’ cast upon her male counterpart in a ‘grihastha’ aashrama life. Obviously she ‘waits’ upon the spouse most of the time, “all attention”.
When the deep reasons, perception of these reasons fade out over centuries, the traditional outlook of woman seems like subservience, and it is quite logical to struggle for liberation out of this kind of slavery. Rightly, we have that woman’s day, to remind that she has chosen to have that ‘saha-anubhoothi’ as a matter of ex-gratia towards the spouse and other men-folk, at her choice, and at will. The way the femininity has been designed, the physiology struggles to adjust to this ‘modern’ view/outlook, and we now have a spate of latest types of woman-related physiological health problems, needing constant medical help. (For those who are inclined to doubt or question the theory that women are gifted to ‘experience’ the anubhoothi better than men, there is an example, which may only demand a little bit of ‘faith’ in puranic stories. Krishna was capable of experiencing intense joy and joy being experiential, it permeated into those Gopikas (the bulk of women folk around that place called Gokul), who grossly outnumbered the men who chose to wander around Krishna quite aimlessly, due to the sheer joyousness permeating into any body receptive enough around him.
We, the present day citizens scatter only that negative emotion most of the time, putting up a ‘defensive’ long face as soon as we step out of our homes, and join the mainstream of crowd, wading through busy traffic, fretting and fuming through bottlenecks commuting to and fro our workplace, market place for shopping etc.
A little bit of conscious concerted effort in that direction to try out sharing experience would bring a lot of deep life-experience and a sense of joy into us.
With wishful regards,
Psn(11th March, 2010)
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Resonated Emotion
Ever visited the Kindergarten / nursery class of the tiny tots? The very first day of the ‘schooling? Not all children cry on the first day. Nor do they plan for it. In fact they look forward to some pleasant ‘out-of-routine’ adventure. It so happens that a few of the kids suddenly find themselves left alone, in the hands of total strangers(they have no idea that it is a ‘teacher’), and they suddenly feel insecure and scared. The comfort zone is lost for the first time, big way. They cry very intensely. This emotion simply permeates through other children. After the first few moments of total ‘receptivity’ and observation, these other children too start crying, not at all knowing why they do. The teacher is now grappled with a lot of ‘wholesale’ wailing lot of kids. An experienced teacher would have noticed the early birds, and knows that she/he needs to just handle them, and the rest would be ‘automatically’ consoled/calmed.
As adults, when the same emotions go very deep beyond the normal capacity to handle, then there is a small problem. An expert’s help may be needed. I was reminded of a wonderful movie “Chandramukhi”(in Hindi language, “Manichitra-thaazhu” in Malayalam), where the director/script-writer did dare to bring out a direct compare-and-contrast between the traditional belief of a person being ‘possessed’, with an exorcist to remedy, and at the same time, a renowned psychiatrist who can clearly demarcate the distinction between this empathy effect and the possession, and due to a deep appreciation of both these aspects, handles a rare type of experimental cure, quite successfully. In real life, very few tantriks can make out the difference (the symptoms are quite similar, as in this movie, with the heroine), and all they do is to try out the ‘standard’ prescribed rituals, which may work even at psychic levels if fortunate (otherwise, the problem gets further compounded!).
Anyway, the intuitive aspect of the mind, when it combines the creative, imaginative and emotive power, works wonders that baffles the best of logical thinkers. I suppose, spirituality might handle it better.
It looks like, I happened to hit the mark, when I attempted to answer a question which did not attract many answers. I was not quite sure if my answer would appeal to the asker. But I knew that if it did appeal it would be complete, leaving no doubts. Fortunately the asker could ‘place’ the answer at the right slot, and complete the puzzle. What he experienced quite inadvertently and unawares is perhaps, traditionally known as Bhava Spandana in Indian Yogic culture.
At diluted levels, we do experience these kinds of spill-over of emotions into one another. But it goes almost un-noticed due to varied reasons. A brief knowledge would help us to make ourselves less vulnerable, and yet available, at will.
Regards,
Psn(9th March, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100308053530AAtn1u0
The question:
I may be foolish or selfish by asking this, I think anyone can help on this question please read below.?
Please read the whole thing, everything will lead to the question. Today a couple hours earlier, it was around 2-3am, I heard a man screaming outside "I am going to kill" you to a woman, I found out it was a woman because of her screams. I was in my room watching a Taiwanese police drama with the lights off. I am 18 years old almost 19, in my opinion I am an expect in my own thought out martial arts, I don't like hitting nor hurting anyone, nor do I like thinking or saying bad things about anyone, the martial arts I have never used on anyone nor do I ever plan to do so, the reason is because of the above and in my own opinion it has complete control of an opponents body, in the physical sense. In my opinion I am physically able to handle myself, I practiced punching trees, ran 10miles before, did 25 pullups, over 100 push ups, lifted extremely heavy weights. And not only in strength but also I can think in very complex ways how to overcome things or use them to my benefit. Before in my younger days I was fearless, I didn't care about dieing at all, that's how it lead to the martial arts I know. But the question and problem is, when I was sitting in my room hearing those screams, I didn't go outside and try to help, I know 95% I would have taken care of the situation with ease, 5% is if the other person somehow becomes lucky, that can always happen, so as you can I have carefully even made the percentage of success. But the decision I made was to call the police 911, with 2 girls with a sweet voice answering me, then for some reason I started to stutter murmuring my words as in a scared tone and shaking my heart beat rose, I became weak, while repeating several times my address. Why did this happen to me, am I that weak, in my younger times I was always seeking someone strong to fight against, always ready to fight dozens of people, whether they had knives I could have cared less, even if i was bloody all over I still would have gotten up, that's how I thought. Just today I was shivering with fear while calling the police just because of some screams. Why am I that pathetic, what am I scared of, even those 2girls who answered my call took care of situation like it was nothing. And me with all this background, was shaking in fear just by asking for help. I don't get it, I don't know if any of you believe in hell or heaven, but even if I died I know a person like would be sent straight to hell, because of own personal feelings and doings, maybe it might of been my fear of death, because who wants to burn in hell. Please give an answer if your so willing too.
My answer:
Practice of martial acts makes a person very receptive to emotional vibration from others. That is how, we can feel the fear creeping in the opponent when we stare into his/her eyes, and take a defensive posture. But unless we have a complete training the receptivity could make us also vulnerable. Especially, when we are not in a combative mood (like the situation in the question), the vibration received stays for a while, without a properly channelised outlet. Now the screams from the girl are full of fear. The same may have crept in, and while talking over the phone, it manifested and came out along with the words. This happens very rarely, and there is nothing to really worry about. But it gives us information about such a possibility. In any form of martial arts, breath awareness is insisted upon, as an essential tool. The very same breath awareness would have helped while speaking on phone too.
Best wishes.
As adults, when the same emotions go very deep beyond the normal capacity to handle, then there is a small problem. An expert’s help may be needed. I was reminded of a wonderful movie “Chandramukhi”(in Hindi language, “Manichitra-thaazhu” in Malayalam), where the director/script-writer did dare to bring out a direct compare-and-contrast between the traditional belief of a person being ‘possessed’, with an exorcist to remedy, and at the same time, a renowned psychiatrist who can clearly demarcate the distinction between this empathy effect and the possession, and due to a deep appreciation of both these aspects, handles a rare type of experimental cure, quite successfully. In real life, very few tantriks can make out the difference (the symptoms are quite similar, as in this movie, with the heroine), and all they do is to try out the ‘standard’ prescribed rituals, which may work even at psychic levels if fortunate (otherwise, the problem gets further compounded!).
Anyway, the intuitive aspect of the mind, when it combines the creative, imaginative and emotive power, works wonders that baffles the best of logical thinkers. I suppose, spirituality might handle it better.
It looks like, I happened to hit the mark, when I attempted to answer a question which did not attract many answers. I was not quite sure if my answer would appeal to the asker. But I knew that if it did appeal it would be complete, leaving no doubts. Fortunately the asker could ‘place’ the answer at the right slot, and complete the puzzle. What he experienced quite inadvertently and unawares is perhaps, traditionally known as Bhava Spandana in Indian Yogic culture.
At diluted levels, we do experience these kinds of spill-over of emotions into one another. But it goes almost un-noticed due to varied reasons. A brief knowledge would help us to make ourselves less vulnerable, and yet available, at will.
Regards,
Psn(9th March, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100308053530AAtn1u0
The question:
I may be foolish or selfish by asking this, I think anyone can help on this question please read below.?
Please read the whole thing, everything will lead to the question. Today a couple hours earlier, it was around 2-3am, I heard a man screaming outside "I am going to kill" you to a woman, I found out it was a woman because of her screams. I was in my room watching a Taiwanese police drama with the lights off. I am 18 years old almost 19, in my opinion I am an expect in my own thought out martial arts, I don't like hitting nor hurting anyone, nor do I like thinking or saying bad things about anyone, the martial arts I have never used on anyone nor do I ever plan to do so, the reason is because of the above and in my own opinion it has complete control of an opponents body, in the physical sense. In my opinion I am physically able to handle myself, I practiced punching trees, ran 10miles before, did 25 pullups, over 100 push ups, lifted extremely heavy weights. And not only in strength but also I can think in very complex ways how to overcome things or use them to my benefit. Before in my younger days I was fearless, I didn't care about dieing at all, that's how it lead to the martial arts I know. But the question and problem is, when I was sitting in my room hearing those screams, I didn't go outside and try to help, I know 95% I would have taken care of the situation with ease, 5% is if the other person somehow becomes lucky, that can always happen, so as you can I have carefully even made the percentage of success. But the decision I made was to call the police 911, with 2 girls with a sweet voice answering me, then for some reason I started to stutter murmuring my words as in a scared tone and shaking my heart beat rose, I became weak, while repeating several times my address. Why did this happen to me, am I that weak, in my younger times I was always seeking someone strong to fight against, always ready to fight dozens of people, whether they had knives I could have cared less, even if i was bloody all over I still would have gotten up, that's how I thought. Just today I was shivering with fear while calling the police just because of some screams. Why am I that pathetic, what am I scared of, even those 2girls who answered my call took care of situation like it was nothing. And me with all this background, was shaking in fear just by asking for help. I don't get it, I don't know if any of you believe in hell or heaven, but even if I died I know a person like would be sent straight to hell, because of own personal feelings and doings, maybe it might of been my fear of death, because who wants to burn in hell. Please give an answer if your so willing too.
My answer:
Practice of martial acts makes a person very receptive to emotional vibration from others. That is how, we can feel the fear creeping in the opponent when we stare into his/her eyes, and take a defensive posture. But unless we have a complete training the receptivity could make us also vulnerable. Especially, when we are not in a combative mood (like the situation in the question), the vibration received stays for a while, without a properly channelised outlet. Now the screams from the girl are full of fear. The same may have crept in, and while talking over the phone, it manifested and came out along with the words. This happens very rarely, and there is nothing to really worry about. But it gives us information about such a possibility. In any form of martial arts, breath awareness is insisted upon, as an essential tool. The very same breath awareness would have helped while speaking on phone too.
Best wishes.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tapasya
I suppose, penance is the nearest word in English for Tapasya.
The earliest encounter I remember to have had with this word is when my elders, my grandmother, mother, aunts etc referred to my ‘waiting’ patiently and intensely. I was watching them ‘brew’ some unusual item in the kitchen at our ancestral home (not just a house, then) at our village. It was my grandmother's humble way of passing on the baton to the next generation, when she instructed the daughters/ daughters-in-law to revive some ancient recipe which requires elaborate preparation. I could see why these items did not happen in our routine week-ends even in our city dwellings. As soon as I could sense that they are up to something wonderful, unique, unusual, out-of-ordinary-routine, I was all attention, and even failed to notice that my usual mischief prone schedules faded out. I mustered all efforts to be exceptionally obedient, lest I would be asked to keep myself at a safe distance, while I had decided to be at the hub of the activity, not ready to miss anything. My attempts to ask and find out what it is all about, usually gets warded off in a summary manner, since they themselves needed all their focusing.
During all this, all that they know is that I was around there, unusually silent, and carefully non-interfering. They just feel my harmless presence. This docile effort is amply rewarded, when they offer the first sample-taste of the finished product. This is where they also mention that “he has been doing tapas for this all the while”. I knew this much, that it was some sort of a compliment to me, and not the usual dose of admonishments. Yet, I could not grasp as to what I did to merit that dubious word ‘tapas’. All I did was to focus completely on what was going on. I was so absorbed that I even forgot that I was hungry, and the usual mid-day meal time was crossed over, the women folk too failed to notice it, due to the absence of my reminder that ‘I am hungry’.
A couple of decades later, I had a glimpse of it on celluloid, when I saw movies like “Zanjeer” & “Kala pathar” etc, where the hero retained that grim look all the time, to remind the audience that he carried that main purpose of his life all through, irrespective of the situation outside. Many years later, in a spiritual session, I was told that an intense participation could help reducing the time element in reaching the goals. Such practices required years of ‘doing’ regularly to reach a particular notch level. The word itself, means ‘heat’ (Taap, tapah) at its root. So the process of heating it up was the time consuming element. Heating up to such a point, where the shaping takes place instantly, as with molten metals. Slow heating takes time, we know. Becoming very intense about something would itself hasten the heating process tremendously, is what we learnt. An example we can see is the record-shattering-performances by sportspersons at the Olympics. It is here that individual’s own performance matters a lot, in contrast to other fields like academics, businesses, etc where outstanding achievements do happen but the nature of intensity is entirely different.
How to get at this kind of intense-ness is not of much interest to a casual reader, I agree, and therefore suffice it to say that once it is mastered, enough to be able to invoke it at will, not only spiritual growth, but handling of material aspects of routine life becomes almost effortless.
Psn (27th February, 2010)
The earliest encounter I remember to have had with this word is when my elders, my grandmother, mother, aunts etc referred to my ‘waiting’ patiently and intensely. I was watching them ‘brew’ some unusual item in the kitchen at our ancestral home (not just a house, then) at our village. It was my grandmother's humble way of passing on the baton to the next generation, when she instructed the daughters/ daughters-in-law to revive some ancient recipe which requires elaborate preparation. I could see why these items did not happen in our routine week-ends even in our city dwellings. As soon as I could sense that they are up to something wonderful, unique, unusual, out-of-ordinary-routine, I was all attention, and even failed to notice that my usual mischief prone schedules faded out. I mustered all efforts to be exceptionally obedient, lest I would be asked to keep myself at a safe distance, while I had decided to be at the hub of the activity, not ready to miss anything. My attempts to ask and find out what it is all about, usually gets warded off in a summary manner, since they themselves needed all their focusing.
During all this, all that they know is that I was around there, unusually silent, and carefully non-interfering. They just feel my harmless presence. This docile effort is amply rewarded, when they offer the first sample-taste of the finished product. This is where they also mention that “he has been doing tapas for this all the while”. I knew this much, that it was some sort of a compliment to me, and not the usual dose of admonishments. Yet, I could not grasp as to what I did to merit that dubious word ‘tapas’. All I did was to focus completely on what was going on. I was so absorbed that I even forgot that I was hungry, and the usual mid-day meal time was crossed over, the women folk too failed to notice it, due to the absence of my reminder that ‘I am hungry’.
A couple of decades later, I had a glimpse of it on celluloid, when I saw movies like “Zanjeer” & “Kala pathar” etc, where the hero retained that grim look all the time, to remind the audience that he carried that main purpose of his life all through, irrespective of the situation outside. Many years later, in a spiritual session, I was told that an intense participation could help reducing the time element in reaching the goals. Such practices required years of ‘doing’ regularly to reach a particular notch level. The word itself, means ‘heat’ (Taap, tapah) at its root. So the process of heating it up was the time consuming element. Heating up to such a point, where the shaping takes place instantly, as with molten metals. Slow heating takes time, we know. Becoming very intense about something would itself hasten the heating process tremendously, is what we learnt. An example we can see is the record-shattering-performances by sportspersons at the Olympics. It is here that individual’s own performance matters a lot, in contrast to other fields like academics, businesses, etc where outstanding achievements do happen but the nature of intensity is entirely different.
How to get at this kind of intense-ness is not of much interest to a casual reader, I agree, and therefore suffice it to say that once it is mastered, enough to be able to invoke it at will, not only spiritual growth, but handling of material aspects of routine life becomes almost effortless.
Psn (27th February, 2010)
Prayer
Right from early childhood, elders around me attempted to teach me to pray (worship was a monopoly of designated priests, who worship, and then make it easier for us to pray/ask). They even told me what to ask for, when praying to the various Gods in the temples around. The funny mind that I carried, I seldom failed to ask the name of the deity in each temple, and the volley of questions included what type of prayers we could offer to that particular deity. My humble idea was that in case that deity did not specialize in the thing that I asked for, that God or Goddess would be needlessly embarrassed (so I thought!). It could also be that there would be a mutual memorandum of Understanding that they would not encroach into each other’s portfolio.
As I grew a bit more, it then occurred to me that all these Gods had a ‘complete’ data base of events that had occurred and was yet to happen. Then, what is the point in my asking for something? More importantly I liked to know, whether these Gods really require to be ‘told’ what we needed? Because it conflicted with our understanding that Gods are omniscient, in addition to being omnipotent and omnipresent.
The stories of faulty prayers scared me. Some body mis-pronounced ‘Nir-deva-twam’ (‘let there be no competition’ from lower powers), while asking for a boon, to the highest One, and in a hurry asked for ‘Nidrey-va-twam’ (sleepiness). It was granted instantly. The asker of this prayer had to compromise with 6 months of deep sleep every year! I now thought of a bug-free prayer, and chose to accept traditional forms. Even they were in large variety.
The best one seemed to be in a story where a begger turns a negotiator, and makes a proposal that the Other One could not refuse (God-Father movie style)! He told (not asked), “O’ God, by myself, I do not covet for any thing, but let not people call me, your best devotee, a person who is in ‘want’ all the time”. This seemed like a life-time tax payment. No hassles thereafter. Now, it is the botheration of the Other One to worry eternally to keep us above wants. But then, later, it occurred to me ‘What if the Great One feels insulted that we had to ask Him, what we need, for him to really gain knowledge about it?” This is something that He would never disclose to the ‘concerned’ person. One has to be fortunate to deduce from experience that we just never happen to get what we ask, and instead, we get what we did not bargain for. A very inconvenient thing…..
Trust had to step in now. All we can do is to go to him (when we feel a bit run out of battery, not for anything else), and stand before Him. Hand over ourselves completely (any way, that is our ‘status’ even otherwise, at all times). If possible, listen with rapt attention, alertness, awareness, and an empty mind. If there is any communication that is worth while, it has to be only from Him, not from us to Him. If we are eligible, we may get to hear or feel it. Otherwise, out of trust, quietly leave the place, with the confidence that only some benefit could have accrued, which we are yet to know about.
Some how, I feel quite contended with this position, even if the bulk of the people around insist on a loud ‘presentation’ of their charter of demands. Clearly, I am not in their way. Trust works for me. And when I could later see that most of the enlightenments happened in places other than places of worship (not just prayer/asking places), it seemed to embolden my inclination to avoid adding to the crowd at ‘popular’ shrines.
Please tell me if I have been on the negative side of the ‘growth’ with these flawed concept, or is it that I am ‘grooved’ into being ‘pray full’, instead of a concerted effort at a prayer .
Regards,
Psn (27th February, 2010)
As I grew a bit more, it then occurred to me that all these Gods had a ‘complete’ data base of events that had occurred and was yet to happen. Then, what is the point in my asking for something? More importantly I liked to know, whether these Gods really require to be ‘told’ what we needed? Because it conflicted with our understanding that Gods are omniscient, in addition to being omnipotent and omnipresent.
The stories of faulty prayers scared me. Some body mis-pronounced ‘Nir-deva-twam’ (‘let there be no competition’ from lower powers), while asking for a boon, to the highest One, and in a hurry asked for ‘Nidrey-va-twam’ (sleepiness). It was granted instantly. The asker of this prayer had to compromise with 6 months of deep sleep every year! I now thought of a bug-free prayer, and chose to accept traditional forms. Even they were in large variety.
The best one seemed to be in a story where a begger turns a negotiator, and makes a proposal that the Other One could not refuse (God-Father movie style)! He told (not asked), “O’ God, by myself, I do not covet for any thing, but let not people call me, your best devotee, a person who is in ‘want’ all the time”. This seemed like a life-time tax payment. No hassles thereafter. Now, it is the botheration of the Other One to worry eternally to keep us above wants. But then, later, it occurred to me ‘What if the Great One feels insulted that we had to ask Him, what we need, for him to really gain knowledge about it?” This is something that He would never disclose to the ‘concerned’ person. One has to be fortunate to deduce from experience that we just never happen to get what we ask, and instead, we get what we did not bargain for. A very inconvenient thing…..
Trust had to step in now. All we can do is to go to him (when we feel a bit run out of battery, not for anything else), and stand before Him. Hand over ourselves completely (any way, that is our ‘status’ even otherwise, at all times). If possible, listen with rapt attention, alertness, awareness, and an empty mind. If there is any communication that is worth while, it has to be only from Him, not from us to Him. If we are eligible, we may get to hear or feel it. Otherwise, out of trust, quietly leave the place, with the confidence that only some benefit could have accrued, which we are yet to know about.
Some how, I feel quite contended with this position, even if the bulk of the people around insist on a loud ‘presentation’ of their charter of demands. Clearly, I am not in their way. Trust works for me. And when I could later see that most of the enlightenments happened in places other than places of worship (not just prayer/asking places), it seemed to embolden my inclination to avoid adding to the crowd at ‘popular’ shrines.
Please tell me if I have been on the negative side of the ‘growth’ with these flawed concept, or is it that I am ‘grooved’ into being ‘pray full’, instead of a concerted effort at a prayer .
Regards,
Psn (27th February, 2010)
Monday, February 22, 2010
Intimidation
The great scientist Dr. Albert Einstein, is reported to have said this : “It [atomic energy] may intimidate the human race into bringing order into its international affairs" (Albert Einstein).
And even in law, the theory of punishments includes one type of punishment as a “deterrent”, only with this hope of intimidating the onlookers.
What is wrong, in exploiting this vulnerability of being prone to intimidation, when we ourselves are ready to be subjected to intimidation day-in-and-out, in all our activities?
“Everybody” is a gentleman, when there is a policeman around the corner”.
People who genuinely tried “Gandhi-giri” in their real life failed, only because they did not notice the element of ‘intimidation’ by the “media effect” in the examples that the movie ‘Lage-Raho-Munnabhai” had depicted.
The fear of death intimidates us, and we die many times before it really happens.
The ‘vacuum’ after retirement, intimidates people who are otherwise clearly convinced that voluntary retirement is the best option when the work place no more supports sincerity, and when financial considerations are no more valid.
We do many things, opt for many things, merely because we feel intimidated of being left out, singled out, etc.
Oh! Even I seem to be indulging in that needless intimidation, reminding ourselves of the situations that trigger intimidation.
I am tempted to look at “expectation”, as, perhaps the root cause of this intimidation.
We expect that we are allowed to live a little longer, and therefore death finds scope to intimidate us.
We ‘expect’ lots of respect from others, all the time, and therefore that forced ‘ethical’ behaviour intimidates a visible adherence from us all the while.
Try to intimidate a three month old baby with anything, anyways, anyhow…. In all probability, at best, it may find your gesticulations/articulations quite an entertaining amusement!
We settle the score with that child, as soon as it acquires a little bit of ‘self-awareness’ and now starts to choose, relinquishing that priceless ‘choicelessness’ that it had enjoyed as nature’s best benediction for that brief, blissful, baby-period. Now, we recklessly intimidate that child, be it our ‘own’ even, with all samples of direct and indirect intimidations, till the child grows up to repay us in our ‘own’ coin!
That is why perhaps, these wandering mendicants choose to beg just one thing, their food, and declare their “abound” nature by choosing “choicelessness” quite consciously, to be least available to intimidation of any sort for the rest of their lives! They choose the ‘death’ even, in evolved cases/instances.
We can try out in small measures, to test its efficacy, if that intimidation and ‘expectation’ are really related.
Regards,Psn(22nd February, 2010)
And even in law, the theory of punishments includes one type of punishment as a “deterrent”, only with this hope of intimidating the onlookers.
What is wrong, in exploiting this vulnerability of being prone to intimidation, when we ourselves are ready to be subjected to intimidation day-in-and-out, in all our activities?
“Everybody” is a gentleman, when there is a policeman around the corner”.
People who genuinely tried “Gandhi-giri” in their real life failed, only because they did not notice the element of ‘intimidation’ by the “media effect” in the examples that the movie ‘Lage-Raho-Munnabhai” had depicted.
The fear of death intimidates us, and we die many times before it really happens.
The ‘vacuum’ after retirement, intimidates people who are otherwise clearly convinced that voluntary retirement is the best option when the work place no more supports sincerity, and when financial considerations are no more valid.
We do many things, opt for many things, merely because we feel intimidated of being left out, singled out, etc.
Oh! Even I seem to be indulging in that needless intimidation, reminding ourselves of the situations that trigger intimidation.
I am tempted to look at “expectation”, as, perhaps the root cause of this intimidation.
We expect that we are allowed to live a little longer, and therefore death finds scope to intimidate us.
We ‘expect’ lots of respect from others, all the time, and therefore that forced ‘ethical’ behaviour intimidates a visible adherence from us all the while.
Try to intimidate a three month old baby with anything, anyways, anyhow…. In all probability, at best, it may find your gesticulations/articulations quite an entertaining amusement!
We settle the score with that child, as soon as it acquires a little bit of ‘self-awareness’ and now starts to choose, relinquishing that priceless ‘choicelessness’ that it had enjoyed as nature’s best benediction for that brief, blissful, baby-period. Now, we recklessly intimidate that child, be it our ‘own’ even, with all samples of direct and indirect intimidations, till the child grows up to repay us in our ‘own’ coin!
That is why perhaps, these wandering mendicants choose to beg just one thing, their food, and declare their “abound” nature by choosing “choicelessness” quite consciously, to be least available to intimidation of any sort for the rest of their lives! They choose the ‘death’ even, in evolved cases/instances.
We can try out in small measures, to test its efficacy, if that intimidation and ‘expectation’ are really related.
Regards,Psn(22nd February, 2010)
Ethics Oversimplified
Ethics is prescribed quite often. But its true intrinsic meaning seems quite elusive. Not because it is complex by itself. We make it complicated, by attaching ‘strings’. Why we do it is, simply because, our mind refuses ‘one-way-traffic’. We expect some kind of reciprocal ethics from the ‘beneficiary’ of our ethics.
Even corporate level institutions have tried out that ‘business-ethics’. It does not seem to work. We have been very clever to trade our carbon emission entitlements, refusing to be truly ethical.
Perhaps that is why a question came up, looking out for non-traditional, unconventional, unique definition of ethics. The real search is to find out what would really work.
I somehow found myself oblivious of the concept of ethics for quite a long time. But, having attempted to look at spirituality, quite intensely too, from that ‘ridiculously-early’ age, I was tempted to offer an ‘own’ definition. The global tender allows such kind of a free-bid. The best part is that there is no ‘third’ umpire, to pass a judgement. But if somebody is really interested, and finds it worth trying out, the results are truly rewarding, obviating any need for external recognition, appreciation, acknowledgement, etc.
Regards,
Psn (22 February, 2010)
The question:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100221091942AAlsTcW
What is your own definition of ethics?
When I mean ethics I mean doing the ethical thing or not (doing the good or bad thing)
My answer:
"Own" definition is ridiculously simple.
When the finger on our left hand is injured, the fingers of the right hand do not need any ethics to extend help, nor do they complain that this left-hand-finger is unduly 'pampered' with good bandage, complete rest (as if it works hitherto!), etc. Science tells us that there is "cellular level intelligence" functioning a bit independently (that is why it fights back to survive when an insect bites, without waiting for our 'moral-sanction', even if we were on hunger-strike-unto-death).
By the same analogy, what ever rules we voluntarily adhere to, visualising this one-ness with people, and living/nonliving things around, it can be called ethics.
When we make a humble beginning to visualise, with some trust in nature, we would be blessed with the 'experience' that we were not really limited within our-OWN-body, all the time, but really we were all one and part of the universe. Once this experience dawns, no more ethics are needed. Till then, any "similar" rule with a hidden agenda is self-deceit, in the name of "ethics"
Even corporate level institutions have tried out that ‘business-ethics’. It does not seem to work. We have been very clever to trade our carbon emission entitlements, refusing to be truly ethical.
Perhaps that is why a question came up, looking out for non-traditional, unconventional, unique definition of ethics. The real search is to find out what would really work.
I somehow found myself oblivious of the concept of ethics for quite a long time. But, having attempted to look at spirituality, quite intensely too, from that ‘ridiculously-early’ age, I was tempted to offer an ‘own’ definition. The global tender allows such kind of a free-bid. The best part is that there is no ‘third’ umpire, to pass a judgement. But if somebody is really interested, and finds it worth trying out, the results are truly rewarding, obviating any need for external recognition, appreciation, acknowledgement, etc.
Regards,
Psn (22 February, 2010)
The question:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100221091942AAlsTcW
What is your own definition of ethics?
When I mean ethics I mean doing the ethical thing or not (doing the good or bad thing)
My answer:
"Own" definition is ridiculously simple.
When the finger on our left hand is injured, the fingers of the right hand do not need any ethics to extend help, nor do they complain that this left-hand-finger is unduly 'pampered' with good bandage, complete rest (as if it works hitherto!), etc. Science tells us that there is "cellular level intelligence" functioning a bit independently (that is why it fights back to survive when an insect bites, without waiting for our 'moral-sanction', even if we were on hunger-strike-unto-death).
By the same analogy, what ever rules we voluntarily adhere to, visualising this one-ness with people, and living/nonliving things around, it can be called ethics.
When we make a humble beginning to visualise, with some trust in nature, we would be blessed with the 'experience' that we were not really limited within our-OWN-body, all the time, but really we were all one and part of the universe. Once this experience dawns, no more ethics are needed. Till then, any "similar" rule with a hidden agenda is self-deceit, in the name of "ethics"
"Own"-Err-Ship
Quite often I used to wonder, about the nature of this ‘owner-ship’. When I happened to take up the study of law, I found that I really do not own my own house property for which I paid adequate consideration ‘ in full ‘ and final settlement. The document is registered, and everybody is ready to call me ‘owner’ of this piece of property. And yet, in India, a democratic country, the President of the country is the true owner of the entire country! We are allowed to hold that property only ‘during the pleasure of the President’. Of course, basically, this law intends to facilitate ‘acquisitions’ for public purpose. And if necessary, to oust or outlaw an undesirable citizen, stripping him or her of all the titles to these properties.
Even before that, I found people find it difficult to ‘own’ moral response-abilities for many simple miss-haps that occur in normal routine life. And yet, they find ‘own’ brother, sister, relative, etc being the root cause of their misery in life. They struggle to retain that ownership helplessly. We retain ‘ownership’ to ‘apart-ments’ , though in the very same building.
How to really own something, is in-deed a confusing question.
Some asker finds it amusing to tickle the most intimate relationship of ‘spouse’ with this ‘ownership’ issue, and further nudges it with the child-ownership.
Why not answer it, even if only to further confuse, is what I felt. But the benefit is that some re-look at the concept happens, what ever it ‘takes’.
When we find that we err in ownership-related-issues, we do not find enough time to look at it in detail. Children start disowning their parents when they step into teenage. That is the price the elders end up paying, when they try to exclusively try to own their children, refusing to own up the responsibilities for their own inadequacies in bringing them up.
Welcome to take a look at the question now, if you happen to own a little bit of ‘nerve’ having read this far.
And, no strings attached, for I quite understand how economical and viable it is, to own a stoic silence, instead of venturing comments/view/opinions etc, eitherways!
Regards,
Psn (22nd February, 2010)
The question:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100221152415AAgIOVh
Are you the owner of your body or the one who you married to? if both own each other then what they fight for?
in this world every body just says that o my husband/wife owns my body and we can not do without each other. BUT when the child arrives the owners starts showing the rights and duties to each other. why ?and time comes when go for separation or devours.ha ha ha .SO WHO OWNS WHO?
My answer:
Until a few decades ago, the small islands of Andaman and Nicobar were used for punishing the freedom fighters. "Kaala Paani ki Sazaa" was the term used. People were tied by chains to their hands and feet, whipped with sharp whips, and dirty water poured over the blisters, so that the tiny wounds and blisters become pus-wounds, and a very slow torturous painful death is caused. The people who were thus chained, seemed to 'enjoy' it, and even mocked at the punishers saying, "we will take birth yet another hundred times, and be ready for similar death. How are you going to make sure to come to do it again to me?"....
Today, many of the tourists report having 'experienced' a strange high-energy in those condemned cells, when they visit those ancient jails.
The punishers physically tried to claim the ownership of those living 'bodies' of the prisoners.
The prisoners declared their freedom for the next hundred similar-torturous-births.
The results are seen today by the fortunate few tourists who are alert, awake, and aware.
..
We own those for whom we are ready to give up ourselves unconditionally. (ourselves too, included).
Even before that, I found people find it difficult to ‘own’ moral response-abilities for many simple miss-haps that occur in normal routine life. And yet, they find ‘own’ brother, sister, relative, etc being the root cause of their misery in life. They struggle to retain that ownership helplessly. We retain ‘ownership’ to ‘apart-ments’ , though in the very same building.
How to really own something, is in-deed a confusing question.
Some asker finds it amusing to tickle the most intimate relationship of ‘spouse’ with this ‘ownership’ issue, and further nudges it with the child-ownership.
Why not answer it, even if only to further confuse, is what I felt. But the benefit is that some re-look at the concept happens, what ever it ‘takes’.
When we find that we err in ownership-related-issues, we do not find enough time to look at it in detail. Children start disowning their parents when they step into teenage. That is the price the elders end up paying, when they try to exclusively try to own their children, refusing to own up the responsibilities for their own inadequacies in bringing them up.
Welcome to take a look at the question now, if you happen to own a little bit of ‘nerve’ having read this far.
And, no strings attached, for I quite understand how economical and viable it is, to own a stoic silence, instead of venturing comments/view/opinions etc, eitherways!
Regards,
Psn (22nd February, 2010)
The question:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100221152415AAgIOVh
Are you the owner of your body or the one who you married to? if both own each other then what they fight for?
in this world every body just says that o my husband/wife owns my body and we can not do without each other. BUT when the child arrives the owners starts showing the rights and duties to each other. why ?and time comes when go for separation or devours.ha ha ha .SO WHO OWNS WHO?
My answer:
Until a few decades ago, the small islands of Andaman and Nicobar were used for punishing the freedom fighters. "Kaala Paani ki Sazaa" was the term used. People were tied by chains to their hands and feet, whipped with sharp whips, and dirty water poured over the blisters, so that the tiny wounds and blisters become pus-wounds, and a very slow torturous painful death is caused. The people who were thus chained, seemed to 'enjoy' it, and even mocked at the punishers saying, "we will take birth yet another hundred times, and be ready for similar death. How are you going to make sure to come to do it again to me?"....
Today, many of the tourists report having 'experienced' a strange high-energy in those condemned cells, when they visit those ancient jails.
The punishers physically tried to claim the ownership of those living 'bodies' of the prisoners.
The prisoners declared their freedom for the next hundred similar-torturous-births.
The results are seen today by the fortunate few tourists who are alert, awake, and aware.
..
We own those for whom we are ready to give up ourselves unconditionally. (ourselves too, included).
Monday, February 15, 2010
Rebellion
Most parents of the present day seem to have had the ‘bitter’ taste of this, around the same time, the time when their children clock between 15 and 20 of age. And then it ‘settles’ down (either ways)!
I was wondering whether the question would help us re-looking at things that do matter, even in the midst of our busy-packed-life.
I quote two of the interesting questions. Both these are of wide applicability, and so please do not look at the persons asking. It is the questions representing most common minds.
Regards,
Psn(15th Feb, 2010)
Defiance
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AupoERbf7b7kVlJgVF7OSbqQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20100213230957AAw6nDp&show=7#profile-info-ed3c4bcf8ff77a0a7f9283f0d3068a39aa
I am father of two kids, girl aged 15 and son 12. we are from a middle class joint family.?
both my kids are good in studies. Off late i have see that my daughter has started answering back and seems to have become defiant. she is still good in studies and when reprimanded about her behaviour even feels sorry but it seems that she wants to defy authority. what seems to be the problem
Contrast
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100213033827AAxqITF&r=w#NbUvWzq9WThW9GWqYeRc
Do you think Logic has no place for Emotions?
Are they poles apart?Thank you.~Smile :)
I was wondering whether the question would help us re-looking at things that do matter, even in the midst of our busy-packed-life.
I quote two of the interesting questions. Both these are of wide applicability, and so please do not look at the persons asking. It is the questions representing most common minds.
Regards,
Psn(15th Feb, 2010)
Defiance
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AupoERbf7b7kVlJgVF7OSbqQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20100213230957AAw6nDp&show=7#profile-info-ed3c4bcf8ff77a0a7f9283f0d3068a39aa
I am father of two kids, girl aged 15 and son 12. we are from a middle class joint family.?
both my kids are good in studies. Off late i have see that my daughter has started answering back and seems to have become defiant. she is still good in studies and when reprimanded about her behaviour even feels sorry but it seems that she wants to defy authority. what seems to be the problem
Contrast
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100213033827AAxqITF&r=w#NbUvWzq9WThW9GWqYeRc
Do you think Logic has no place for Emotions?
Are they poles apart?Thank you.~Smile :)
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Hierarchy of Relationships.
Once we settle down into our allotted seats in a train for a long journey, we look around to see what kind of people we are going to put up with, for the rest of our journey. Our mind starts calculating, tabulating the ‘type’ of people, as they appear to be when we just look at them. Now if somebody smiles lavishly at us, just at the first sight, our mind races to find out whether they are going to ask us to exchange for a more comfortable berth, move away our luggage to some other inconvenient corner etc. Some of us even try to restrict our ‘return’ smile within a safe limit. Later on things may change.
Now if the very same person comes to our workplace, where we are playing the role of a receptionist, we offer the first smile, and they return it with a casual acknowledgement, and both know, that there is no big risk involved in this smile.
These are small examples of the beginning of a relationship. At work place, a new comer, a new recruit, finds it the first concern to decide the hierarchy of relationship before even settling down into the job. People who attend to calls during a emergency(fire, earthquake, inundation etc), do not get this chance to pick and choose, and have to rush to save any person they come into contact first, and then look at salvaging the material things, and the building itself at last.
What kind of concepts we hold, in deciding our own private list of hierarchy of relationships would eventually decide the very quality of life! That is why, perhaps, the concept of ‘arranged’ marriages is not able to hold in the present day life. The support of large families to give ‘structural’ corrections when needed, to the ‘smooth’ flow of this relationship is absent, and there is not much scope for amicable adjustments. Or is it that the present ‘pattern’ of nurturing the relationship creeps into the ‘way of choosing’ a life partner?
Then, when a child is born, how does the child begin relating to us. No smile, no language, no self awareness for a while etc. We think we are ready for a healthy relationship. But if the child itself is not quite healthy, then how does this relationship take shape? What about the next child? What about the grand-parent’s view towards the child? How does a kindergarten teacher begin relating with the fresh batch of tiny tots? A nurse had to re-arrange the hierarchy of patients according to the rate of recovery, intensity of ailment, vulnerability of relapse etc (in an ideal situation, if it is an ideal nurse).
Then the social relationships. A friend’s friend remains a friend only till the friend remains a friend, in the normal course. This pattern is common even in case of relatives through ‘family’ relationships (in-laws, cousins, likely-claimants-of-share-in-property, ‘non-performing-assets’, etc).
When we suddenly find an insect taking a casual stroll over our body, the first thing that occurs to us is whether it is going to cause any harm, injury, hazard etc. Our mind looks at our ‘established’ list of relationships we have stored in our memory to ‘judge’ how fast we are going to react (in fortunate cases, act).
Technically, the meaning of ‘hierarchy’ runs as …… (the dictionary meaning):
“A hierarchy is an arrangement of objects, people, elements, values, grades, orders, classes, etc., in a ranked or graduated series.”
My point here is, are we aware, what is happening within us, when we lay down a ‘procedure’, a structure, and, do we re-assess’ our concepts, to evolve as a better human being, in the process of re-aligning our relationships, its hierarchy, with people and things around?
Regards,
Psn (13th February, 2010)
Now if the very same person comes to our workplace, where we are playing the role of a receptionist, we offer the first smile, and they return it with a casual acknowledgement, and both know, that there is no big risk involved in this smile.
These are small examples of the beginning of a relationship. At work place, a new comer, a new recruit, finds it the first concern to decide the hierarchy of relationship before even settling down into the job. People who attend to calls during a emergency(fire, earthquake, inundation etc), do not get this chance to pick and choose, and have to rush to save any person they come into contact first, and then look at salvaging the material things, and the building itself at last.
What kind of concepts we hold, in deciding our own private list of hierarchy of relationships would eventually decide the very quality of life! That is why, perhaps, the concept of ‘arranged’ marriages is not able to hold in the present day life. The support of large families to give ‘structural’ corrections when needed, to the ‘smooth’ flow of this relationship is absent, and there is not much scope for amicable adjustments. Or is it that the present ‘pattern’ of nurturing the relationship creeps into the ‘way of choosing’ a life partner?
Then, when a child is born, how does the child begin relating to us. No smile, no language, no self awareness for a while etc. We think we are ready for a healthy relationship. But if the child itself is not quite healthy, then how does this relationship take shape? What about the next child? What about the grand-parent’s view towards the child? How does a kindergarten teacher begin relating with the fresh batch of tiny tots? A nurse had to re-arrange the hierarchy of patients according to the rate of recovery, intensity of ailment, vulnerability of relapse etc (in an ideal situation, if it is an ideal nurse).
Then the social relationships. A friend’s friend remains a friend only till the friend remains a friend, in the normal course. This pattern is common even in case of relatives through ‘family’ relationships (in-laws, cousins, likely-claimants-of-share-in-property, ‘non-performing-assets’, etc).
When we suddenly find an insect taking a casual stroll over our body, the first thing that occurs to us is whether it is going to cause any harm, injury, hazard etc. Our mind looks at our ‘established’ list of relationships we have stored in our memory to ‘judge’ how fast we are going to react (in fortunate cases, act).
Technically, the meaning of ‘hierarchy’ runs as …… (the dictionary meaning):
“A hierarchy is an arrangement of objects, people, elements, values, grades, orders, classes, etc., in a ranked or graduated series.”
My point here is, are we aware, what is happening within us, when we lay down a ‘procedure’, a structure, and, do we re-assess’ our concepts, to evolve as a better human being, in the process of re-aligning our relationships, its hierarchy, with people and things around?
Regards,
Psn (13th February, 2010)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Are we an " ATM " for tolerance?
Very recently, I got into an argument with a lady who works as a cashier at a Bank.
Calling this conversation as an ‘argument’ , I am aware, is a bit of an unjustified allegation on this lady, since we both know very well that she holds me in great esteem, and would hardly think of proceeding beyond a ‘strong protest’, whenever I try to ‘suggest’ some changes in the ‘way of looking at things’.
This time, the discussion was about a very practical problem, which does not seem to have any real solution. The timings for making cash payments were from 10 am to 4 pm. Once the payments are ‘authorized’ on the computer system for payments, it is expected that a cashier should find ‘no reason’ to effect the cash disbursements. But when internal vouchers for sundry payments are kept pending, and released at the very last minute or even a few minutes after that, it amounts to almost a ‘blackmail’ on the cashier (“try and refuse it, and face the consequences” is the subtle message). Whenever a cashier attempts to protest this needless delay, the tactical use of power, the superiority, the linking up of ‘other instances where the cashier would need / depends on ‘sympathy’ of that superior, etc, comes into play! Now even if this cashier approaches a higher authority, this immediate ‘boss’ would whisper “Sir, there was a request from our valuable customer, not to close the cash till they come for an urgent ‘late-payment’, and so I had to use these internal vouchers to hold the cashier back from closing the cash”. It is altogether a different issue as to for whom this customer is really valuable (we know, Diwali comes every year!). There are however, genuine situations, where it is quite reasonable to allow an occasional late payment if somebody’s life, which is indeed universally valuable, is to be saved, with timely purchase of medicines, hospital expenses, with the money withdrawn. Any cashier would readily and proudly respond to such ‘genuine emergencies’. But commercially, this ‘late payment’ tendency is nothing new. It is a kind of sadism. When the accounting was manual, the timings were 10 am to 1 pm, then it was 2 pm, and after the back-office functions got automated, the timings were upto 3 pm, and later upto 4 pm. But irrespective of the closing times, the tendency was to ‘request’ for late payment after the ‘closing hour’, whatever the time be. What would they do, if it is made 24 X 7, to satiate this sadism, I wonder.
My part of the argument arose only after this lady happened to mention about a colleague of hers, who ‘ensured’ that when he was at this payments counter, the internal vouchers came well before noon! And seldom the habitual late coming customers thought of ‘not taking a risk’ with this cashier, and made it well ahead of last quarter of the closing hour! The lady could not become so strict like this colleague of hers, and yet she could not afford her own lenience simply because she could clearly see that her ‘accommodative nature’ was mostly misused or abused.
That is exactly where I had something to say. When we are “indecisive” even about the reason for which we happen to tolerate something, it really adds up to lots of stress, tension, and all that unwanted medical residues in our body over a period of time. The bulk of today’s health problems are owing to the present day situations where fail to cope with our indecisiveness. Please look at the situations…
The bus/train is getting late, and we have to choose between a costlier mode of transport and risk waiting for that regular bus (the auto, taxi fellow knows, with longer delay, he can quote a premium rate!).
The wife brings breakfast only at the last minute, and the spouse ‘utilizes’ the time to wear the shoes even, ties the lace, and reluctantly compromises ‘dry-cleaning’ the eating-hand wiping it hard on a nearby cloth, whether it be his own pant/trousers, before eating (instead of that comforting clean hand wash), before nibbling at that ‘quick’ breakfast (‘quick’ is a generous word to replace that ‘delayed-hence-brief’ breakfast. But the real test is when the breakfast comes in bits and pieces ………. One chappati/dosa after the other, from the tawa…. With that irritating ‘just a minute…’ dialogue with each refill (the hubby is indecisive, choice between getting late, and fighting early hunger. She has her own reasons … ‘did I not put up with your idiosyncrasies, when you chose to invite your friends for a late dinner, when there was a list of groceries yet to be bought since a week ago? The left over vegetables are stale and unfit for guests to be fed.'…
The teenager does not bother to inform when he/she is going to be late reaching home, and the tension is mounting with all the wild imaginations (what could have happened to her/him!)…
The other way, we happen to reach a bit late while visiting an old couple (a courtesy call to that elderly relatives), and the only stupid thing we did is that we informed them of our likely hour of visit. They now ‘use’ it as a weapon, saying “I was WAITING for you right since ‘X’ (so-and-so hour) today …”. Our ‘second track within’ echoes…. “Even otherwise, you were not so preoccupied with anything at this age, so there was no tangible loss, due to your stupid ‘WAITING’…till we came.”
Time is not the only thing that tests our patience. Space also. The person seated next, in a bus, keeps pushing us beyond the seat even, or leans on our shoulder to have a quick nap. Worst is while standing in a local train/bus, … invariably it is the other fellows elbow that finds its sure target our back of the head with that unexpected ‘knock’ (anything else would not have provoked our abrupt outburst, which even we regret, very painfully, later!). In a tight squeezed office, the next-seat-colleague, seems to enjoy nudging the chair, making his way past us from our ‘behind’ , and we end up spoiling that document with an ugly stroke of pen across, due to the unexpected jerk(by that fellow ‘THE jerk’).
Apart from time and space, there is another category which comes under an abstract concept ‘habitual offenders’.. We are tired of helping regular ‘borrowers’(whether it is cash or in kind), who lean heavily upon social norms like close relatives, friends, colleagues etc. They too test our tolerance levels. Once their ‘crisis’ situation is over, they are back to their basic tendencies /pattern /inclination /weaknesses/etc, to yet again create the same/similar crisis, to ‘invoke’ our ‘take-it-for-granted’ type of help. We succumb usually, unwilling to be ‘branded’ as an un-helping/miserly fellow.
There is a long list(we all are reminded of our own unique stock of ‘pet-peeves’).
The point is, how to manage the mounting tension, the accumulated stress/strain, due to countless ‘tolerances’ we are forced into, day in and out, throughout the life?
Not everybody is ‘abled’ to communicate dexterously, to counter the other fellow successfully. So, the ability to put up has to come from within, and end within us, and it has to be quite practical….. Self-deceit would not work. We need ‘strong’ reasons, to be able to put up with such situations. When the reasons are unshakeable, our indecisiveness gets drastically reduced, and adverse consequences on health are far reduced. Our mind would subdue considerably, and not force us to visit a psychiatrist. (The suggestion I offered to that lady constituted a bit elaborate narrative, but it sounded quite convincing to her. I am simply unable to think of attempting here, since it would only end up in testing the tolerance level of your patience yet again!).
I wonder, if that great preceptor “Patanjali” had also thought of this aspect, when he chose to begin that great monumental work “Yoga Sutras” with a strange opening sentence, which means, when translated in English as, “And now Yoga….” (Nothing else seems to work in life……. is the implied meaning!!!).
Regards,
Psn(11th February, 2010)
Friday, February 05, 2010
Working woman
The style of the question, the choice of words is what persuaded me to attempt an answer.
Whether it is happening or not, whether it is practicable in present day situation or not, at least in India, for thousands of years woman has been placed at the highest pedestal and they richly deserved it too. Nature has designed a woman to be emotionally more capable, and perhaps, the ancient Masters, realizing their worth, had assigned them certain way of life (the traditions, rituals, customs etc). The women did perform well. They were the lamp/light/torch bearers of the family in particular, and society at large.
When this is not happening now at that level, for whatever reason, it looks reasonable that why not at least let them enjoy an ‘equal’ footing with her counterpart, by becoming capable to ‘earn’ money? To most people, a working woman seems a win-win situation. I was amazed to find a question which emitted a different kind of fragrance! The asker presupposes that it is only about disadvantages, and seeks to know how bad the situation would become.
Unless somebody seeks to delve deeper, I found it reasonable to just give a passing reference to deeper aspects, than elaborate on concepts that ought to be “a subject matter of solicitation”
Regards,
Psn
The question
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100204043100AA1hO91&r=w#NbUvWzq9WThW9GWqYeRc
Disadvantages of working woman?
what are the disadvantages of a working woman for her family..
My answer:
More than a good answer, it requires a broad perspective to appreciate it.
The simple reason is, the question seeks an answer that can form a bridge between logic and emotion.
Please see, a woman works for income, whether she is going to be the sole bread-winner or to supplement the income of another person in the family, so that the standards of living can be better.
A woman who has to remain as a "home-maker" (whether by some compulsion or choice), has to shoulder the responsibility of nurturing emotional bonds within the family members (by sacrificing herself as a giant shock-absorber of all kinds of adverse situations the family has to face outside and even within the family, due to present day life-style, etc).
We are not trying to look at how far a woman is going to be successful. The question is how to "measure" the worth of both these, and strike a balance. The yardsticks for commercial contracts and emotional bonds are entirely different.
And that is why, the disadvantages need not be there at all, or it could be full of disadvantages only. Emotional bonds are entirely trust based. Commercial commitments are performance based. Each family member has to realise this in depth, if the family has to encourage a woman to work. In fact in an ideal situation, every human being, every citizen should work productively, so that nation prospers. May be we need not insist for 'payment' or compensation for what we work for. But in practical life we see, even families expect a 'milking-cow' (milch animal) as a prospective bride. That is why, it needs a large heart to appreciate the depth of the question.
The question deserves appreciation for its innocence (the question implies "how badly is my family going to miss my love and affection, when I stay away during the working hours")
Whether it is happening or not, whether it is practicable in present day situation or not, at least in India, for thousands of years woman has been placed at the highest pedestal and they richly deserved it too. Nature has designed a woman to be emotionally more capable, and perhaps, the ancient Masters, realizing their worth, had assigned them certain way of life (the traditions, rituals, customs etc). The women did perform well. They were the lamp/light/torch bearers of the family in particular, and society at large.
When this is not happening now at that level, for whatever reason, it looks reasonable that why not at least let them enjoy an ‘equal’ footing with her counterpart, by becoming capable to ‘earn’ money? To most people, a working woman seems a win-win situation. I was amazed to find a question which emitted a different kind of fragrance! The asker presupposes that it is only about disadvantages, and seeks to know how bad the situation would become.
Unless somebody seeks to delve deeper, I found it reasonable to just give a passing reference to deeper aspects, than elaborate on concepts that ought to be “a subject matter of solicitation”
Regards,
Psn
The question
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100204043100AA1hO91&r=w#NbUvWzq9WThW9GWqYeRc
Disadvantages of working woman?
what are the disadvantages of a working woman for her family..
My answer:
More than a good answer, it requires a broad perspective to appreciate it.
The simple reason is, the question seeks an answer that can form a bridge between logic and emotion.
Please see, a woman works for income, whether she is going to be the sole bread-winner or to supplement the income of another person in the family, so that the standards of living can be better.
A woman who has to remain as a "home-maker" (whether by some compulsion or choice), has to shoulder the responsibility of nurturing emotional bonds within the family members (by sacrificing herself as a giant shock-absorber of all kinds of adverse situations the family has to face outside and even within the family, due to present day life-style, etc).
We are not trying to look at how far a woman is going to be successful. The question is how to "measure" the worth of both these, and strike a balance. The yardsticks for commercial contracts and emotional bonds are entirely different.
And that is why, the disadvantages need not be there at all, or it could be full of disadvantages only. Emotional bonds are entirely trust based. Commercial commitments are performance based. Each family member has to realise this in depth, if the family has to encourage a woman to work. In fact in an ideal situation, every human being, every citizen should work productively, so that nation prospers. May be we need not insist for 'payment' or compensation for what we work for. But in practical life we see, even families expect a 'milking-cow' (milch animal) as a prospective bride. That is why, it needs a large heart to appreciate the depth of the question.
The question deserves appreciation for its innocence (the question implies "how badly is my family going to miss my love and affection, when I stay away during the working hours")
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Mirror Neurons
The inclination and intensity of the thought-process contributes to attitude formation, and it largely gives a strong sense of direction, even bye-passing the ‘indicative’ destiny/destination, I would dare to say.
My answer to a question about the possibility of a ‘mirror neurons’ phenomenon seeks to look at a deeper aspect, leaning upon the popular acceptance that philosophy is obviously much deeper than what the eye can behold! Irrespective of whether my answer finds patrons or not, it is an opportunity that I would never like to skip, to indicate something that cannot be put into words, especially when the situation allows me to assume a position of ‘you asked for it’!
psn
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100202031320AAIXBc4
The question:
What is this sudden fascination in philosophy and the meaning of life?
The last 5 years or so I would say that I am quite unmotivated to do much of anything besides being extremely persistent in pursuing the knowledge of truth. I've noticed a sudden trend forming within the last year or two which is only speeding and multiplying rapidly thanks to the discovery of our 'mirror neurons'. I see it coming from everywhere and I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of you reading this are going through the same thing or something similar?
My answer:
Ah! Two things.It looks sudden. But though logically difficult to accept, experience (when perception deepens beyond sensory levels), would reassure that it took quite long enough to 'develop' such inclinations. Yet, if the logic within is restless to 'know', please look at a wider cross-section, and we would notice people slipping too often into short term priorities, and even getting stuck inextricably. A logic of negation ("not this, not thus", and therefore something else) would show the pointer to this truth.Second, the majority is only amongst those who read. We have that 'inbuilt' perception to just look for what we really want to find, and we happen to feel that there is a lot of it around. It is more of a psychological phenomenon. Look for white shirts on a street, and we might get to see a lot of it. Try for blue instead, and we would be seeing lots of it. We get polarised to 'like-minded' when we are intense enough. It is an entire phenomenon by itself. Elaboration takes us across a wide range of deep subjects with tremendous relevance too. But what is happening is quite significant, and 'noticing' it speaks of yet greater significant aspect , "the awareness". Good going.Best wishes.
My answer to a question about the possibility of a ‘mirror neurons’ phenomenon seeks to look at a deeper aspect, leaning upon the popular acceptance that philosophy is obviously much deeper than what the eye can behold! Irrespective of whether my answer finds patrons or not, it is an opportunity that I would never like to skip, to indicate something that cannot be put into words, especially when the situation allows me to assume a position of ‘you asked for it’!
psn
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100202031320AAIXBc4
The question:
What is this sudden fascination in philosophy and the meaning of life?
The last 5 years or so I would say that I am quite unmotivated to do much of anything besides being extremely persistent in pursuing the knowledge of truth. I've noticed a sudden trend forming within the last year or two which is only speeding and multiplying rapidly thanks to the discovery of our 'mirror neurons'. I see it coming from everywhere and I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of you reading this are going through the same thing or something similar?
My answer:
Ah! Two things.It looks sudden. But though logically difficult to accept, experience (when perception deepens beyond sensory levels), would reassure that it took quite long enough to 'develop' such inclinations. Yet, if the logic within is restless to 'know', please look at a wider cross-section, and we would notice people slipping too often into short term priorities, and even getting stuck inextricably. A logic of negation ("not this, not thus", and therefore something else) would show the pointer to this truth.Second, the majority is only amongst those who read. We have that 'inbuilt' perception to just look for what we really want to find, and we happen to feel that there is a lot of it around. It is more of a psychological phenomenon. Look for white shirts on a street, and we might get to see a lot of it. Try for blue instead, and we would be seeing lots of it. We get polarised to 'like-minded' when we are intense enough. It is an entire phenomenon by itself. Elaboration takes us across a wide range of deep subjects with tremendous relevance too. But what is happening is quite significant, and 'noticing' it speaks of yet greater significant aspect , "the awareness". Good going.Best wishes.
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