Many people find themselves unable to manage the people around, at a work place, though they are technically very competent at the job. Often this ‘human-interactions’ has a fall-out, affecting their performance adversely, and even affecting their career when appraisals carry a significant confidential ‘note’ about their inability to ‘get-along’ with co-workers/customers/clients, etc! When just a small correction is needed to their emotional manifestation, they are simply categorized as “lacking communication skills”, and are denied the due elevation in organizational ladder! Emotion-management is just one of the many aspects of ‘communication skills’ but very noticeable enough, and therefore quite significant where the nature of work is ‘commercially’ affected due to lack of ‘proper’ interaction with people. It would not be out of place to mention here that most youngsters engaged in “BPO-call-centers” now-a-days, tend to go ‘mad’ or ‘insane’ in trying to put up with patiently responding to abusive hysterical in coming ‘calls’ from customers! Recently, I came across one such youngster who presented the problem as insurmountable, and hence agreed with the trend that most people quit too soon, only to be replaced with ‘freshers’ who are eager to first land at some job to start with! I jokingly retorted to that youngster that after all, they do not ‘face’ the customer, they only listen, and that too, from a safe distance. What about the elder generation, who used to manage the maddening crowds with manual handling of work ‘across’ the counter, face to face? Then I further mounted an argument, what if this youngster has to ‘face’ the ‘same face’ for the rest of their life, like for instance, in the form of a mother-in-law? The youngster was somewhat confused at this logic. I now delivered the final blows with 'stretching of the argument', what if they have to face an irrational spouse? Okay, may be divorce is a choice. But if the offspring is to be ‘faced’ (the emotional bonds are often one-sided!!). Thinking of such possibilities might give some strength to face with relative ease, the occasional “rough & rude” customers at a distance, more cheerfully, I said. Please take it as a ‘training’ session (just in case), I added, concluding!
I felt a bit guilty, having had an unfair advantage at the youngster with my experience at play of verbal logic. But, the ‘seeding’ to move towards an emotionally mature adult was invariably done! Whether it was some intuition or premonition, I do not know, but very soon thereafter, I was to learn what was in store for that youngster (A very trying, irreversible, knotty situation, which would rigidly test the emotional ‘balance’ decisively, to affect for the rest of the life!). Yet again, I seemed to be prevented by unseen hands, from interfering with ‘nature’s work’. That is however, a personal or rather subjective matter. Let us proceed to look at the general question quoted below.
Regards,
Psn(12th December, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AuxYU_dmmDygiiDmdGrDiGSQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091211161624AAtZHvf&show=7#profile-info-NuLIDK6maa
The question:
How do you become more emotionally mature?
I'm 26. I've been told a lot that I'm immature for my age. My bosses also say I show my emotions too much. Did some research on it and a lot of the signs describe me. I also seem to have a fatal flaw of logic and misinterpret a lot of social signals. I'm tired of it. Now that I'm aware of this, how do I become more emotionally mature?
My answer:
When we relate 'emotions' and the show of it, at work place, then we have to look at why we are at the workplace in the 'first' place.The relationship is basically contractual, materialistic, and therefore more logical than emotional.The emotions at the workplace do not warrant much of manifestation. The love for the work we do, for instance, is the deepest of emotions that gets excellent recognition in an 'ideal' situation. But commercial logic prevents such recognition, due to apprehensions of 'taking undue advantage'! The reason is, in commercial obligations, the element of 'trust' is kept at barest possible minimum level, replacing it with other verifiable means, like documentation, pre-conditions to be complied etc.When we human beings need to interact with others at a work place, we do not literally 'switch-off'' our emotions. And when we 'experience' deep emotions, an onlooker who is having other priorities would often fail to appreciate our 'inner' situation, and 'read' it as over-emotional. Take an extreme example. In a battle, the boss, the "Major" commands a soldier to forsake a dying wounded soldier and proceed to 'capture' a vital position, to get control over the battle. But this soldier is 'emotionally' stricken to help out his colleague who was with him for years like an own brother. Logically, staying back to help this near-dying soldier is very risky for the soldier and for the country(loss of one more soldier --vulnerability of getting shot/killed like a 'sitting duck'!). Logically it is sound reasoning to obey the Major. But, leaving the wounded soldier to die alone, uncared would leave a permanent scar like memory in our friend-soldier. That is why very 'intense' training is given with stress on 'obedience'.At work place, a worker has to choose, to decide priorities, and manage to stay intelligently at a job. Emotions have to be contained, understanding the priority of the situation around. With sustained practice, a person can become 'mature'. An emotionally mature person has sufficient control over emotions, about whether to manifest it or not. It is not about becoming insensitive/unemotional. It is about allowing logic to prevail where the situation does not warrant emotional outbursts.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Control to 'improve'?
Control in any form does not contribute to improvement by itself. Control is a kind of limitation, a restriction, looking at it one way or other.
Self control, and self improvement, is a popular concept.
I was wondering if my answer would find any appeal at all! Right from my childhood, I had been holding myself out of reach on any kind of control. We try to control something which is likely to ‘go out of control’. Why at all go out of control was my way of looking at it. The outside situation has always been beyond our control, not just ‘out of our control’. So now, the mind says, control the self… if nothing else comes under our control. This is how we tend to drive ourselves crazy and towards frustration! Once we decide to blend with the situation, choosing to do what is appropriate, then, the concept of ‘control’ itself would become redundant! I would suggest ‘regulate’ as a milder form instead, if at all needed. Children naturally repel any attempt to control them in any manner. And when they grow up, it is their turn to control us now. But they take pity now-a-days, and dispose us unto old age homes, instead (please rot there, no point in trying to control a stale vegetable!).
Please see if the answer affords a little relaxation of the controls we inflict upon ourselves and others.
(The question is about reaching the ultimate freedom but through some kind of control! How am I to subscribe to it?)
Regards,
Psn(9th Dec., 2009)
Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AguAxsQ0fmefZfZeDYiatpuQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091113131214AA3vh7m
The (wonderful) question:
Does self control and self improvement lead to enlightenment?
Should I renounce the world as an illusion or are our very bodies and minds the site of enlightenment?
My answer:
Oh! Mere 'self'' realisation would be enough!Only that, to realise the self, perhaps, all that circus is needed, that self-control, self-improvement, etc!The "child-like" innocent get it just-like-that! They have nothing astray to control, or improve upon!Statistics give evidence! The bulk majority of those who 'made it' happen to be mostly unlettered ones!
Self control, and self improvement, is a popular concept.
I was wondering if my answer would find any appeal at all! Right from my childhood, I had been holding myself out of reach on any kind of control. We try to control something which is likely to ‘go out of control’. Why at all go out of control was my way of looking at it. The outside situation has always been beyond our control, not just ‘out of our control’. So now, the mind says, control the self… if nothing else comes under our control. This is how we tend to drive ourselves crazy and towards frustration! Once we decide to blend with the situation, choosing to do what is appropriate, then, the concept of ‘control’ itself would become redundant! I would suggest ‘regulate’ as a milder form instead, if at all needed. Children naturally repel any attempt to control them in any manner. And when they grow up, it is their turn to control us now. But they take pity now-a-days, and dispose us unto old age homes, instead (please rot there, no point in trying to control a stale vegetable!).
Please see if the answer affords a little relaxation of the controls we inflict upon ourselves and others.
(The question is about reaching the ultimate freedom but through some kind of control! How am I to subscribe to it?)
Regards,
Psn(9th Dec., 2009)
Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AguAxsQ0fmefZfZeDYiatpuQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091113131214AA3vh7m
The (wonderful) question:
Does self control and self improvement lead to enlightenment?
Should I renounce the world as an illusion or are our very bodies and minds the site of enlightenment?
My answer:
Oh! Mere 'self'' realisation would be enough!Only that, to realise the self, perhaps, all that circus is needed, that self-control, self-improvement, etc!The "child-like" innocent get it just-like-that! They have nothing astray to control, or improve upon!Statistics give evidence! The bulk majority of those who 'made it' happen to be mostly unlettered ones!
Privilege of Guests to honour it!
Many of the present day’s ‘left overs’ of that wonderful culture and way of life known as Hinduism are quite understandably very much concerned about this problem of retention.
But the mystic way it is, a person who embarks to grasp it gets so absorbed that the purpose of retention and then to spread it dissolves the very person, most of the times, conclusively! Very few really care to stay back. And those who do, hardly resemble any known marketing strategist!
Any way, I yielded to the temptation to answer this question.
Regards,
Psn(9th December, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091209023953AAupkjP
The question:
Which is the best way to retain and spread Hinduism ?
My answer:
Become a living example of what can be attained by attaining it.
That is what attracted maximum intellectuals, seekers, philosphers from all over the world , from time immemorial. These wonderful people know how to sift the fine contents from superficial appearances. There is no need to spread this 'way of life'. It can survive on its own! We need it for our personal salvation.
But please see... it is 'others' who have contributed more to spread this wonderful 'way of life called Hinduism', more than Hindus themselves!
I wish to quote a rather lengthy 'forward' but a quick glance through it would prove the point...
quote:
Very very interesting and thought provoking discussions indeed ! There are points where, according to me, you are right and there are areas where perhaps you could be wrong! It is essential to differentiate between God and religion as rightly brought out by both of you!
Instead of indulging in the thesis I believe in, I am forwarding here some "quotable quotes" from some high intellectuals, respectable world renowned persons for your reading pleasure please !!
I would like you to kindly remember the following aspects before you read them, if you may !!
(1) Each one of these person is famous well respected professional, known world over for their work in diverse fields like science, art, politics and so on
(2) Each one has achieved far more in their lives -- than all of us put together can claim -- and hence their views deserve respect and consideration to that extent!
(3) None of these are professional religious Pundits, paid to promote the interests of any given religion for money or livelihood, but giants in their own profession and hence their views are not financially or otherwise motivated!
(4) I have deliberately excluded the very many quotes from Hindu monks, priests, who may have a vested interest to promote Hindu religion! Thus each one whose quote you are going to read is from Non-Hindu scholars and nothing more can be said about objectivity or bias!
(5) Many ridicule God or religion on grounds of science and technology! As soon as logic and scientific explanations are available God is given a go-by, and His influence questioned! Fair enough!! But these quotes from world class scientists, Nobel Laureates on religion--not necessarily on God --especially the Hindu religion -- need to be considered in that light !!
(6) Don't just read the quotes but Introspect a little! Believe me it is too difficult to gather the full impact of what is being stated ! To make this kind of profound observations or express an opinion how much reading and getting to know about an alien religion ( Hinduism) was necessary for them, given their own busy schedule in their diverse fields!
(7) It goes without saying that when you read the scriptures of another religion-you do subconsciously compare and analyze what you read and reject especially if that does not find favour! Your speaking favorably is indicative of your genuine appreciation/ acceptance in some cases if not all !!
Quotes on HINDUISM
The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn – Alwin Toffler
Quotes by eminent persons of great repute & Nobel Laureate
1. Albert Einstein, (1879-1955) physicist. In 1905 He published his theory of Relativity.
When I read the Bhagavad Gita and reflect about how God created this universe, everything else seems so superfluous. We owe a lot to Indians who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
2. . George Bernard Shaw, (1856-1950) a vegetarian and Nobel Laureate in Literature.
The Indian way of life provides the vision of the natural, real way of life. We veil ourselves with unnatural masks. On the face of India are the tender expressions which carry the mark of the Creators hand.
The apparent multiplication of gods is bewildering at the first glance, but you soon discover that they are the same GOD. There is always one uttermost God who defies personification. This makes Hinduism the most tolerant religion in the world, because its one transcendent God includes all possible gods. In fact Hinduism is so elastic and so subtle that the most profound Methodist, and crudest idolater, are equally at home with it.
3. Annie Besant { Annie Wood Besant (1847-1933) was an active socialist on the executive committee of the Fabian Society along with George Bernard Shaw.
After a study of some forty years and more of the great religions of the world, I find none so perfect, none so scientific, none so philosophic, and none so spiritual as the great religion known by the name of Hinduism. The more you know it, the more you will love it; the more you try to understand it, the more deeply you will value it. Make no mistake; without Hinduism, India has no future. Hinduism is the soil into which India's roots are struck, and torn of that she will inevitably wither, as a tree torn out from its place. Many are the religions and many are the races flourishing in India, but none of them stretches back into the far dawn of her past, nor are they necessary for her endurance as a nation. Everyone might pass away as they came and India would still remain. But let Hinduism vanish and what is she? A geographical expression of the past, a dim memory of a perished glory, her literature, her art, her monuments, all have Hindudom written across them. And if Hindus do not maintain Hinduism, who shall save it? If India's own children do not cling to her faith, who shall guard it? India alone can save India, and India and Hinduism are one.
Nobel laureates
4. Niels Bohr, (1885-1962) Danish nuclear physicist who developed the Bohr model of the atom. His received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1922, for his theory of atomic structure
I go into the Upanishads to ask questions.
5. Werner Heisenberg
After the study of Indian philosophy (derived from Vedas), some of the ideas of Quantum physics that seemed so crazy, suddenly made much more sense (father of Quantum Physics Werner Heisenberg).
6. Erwin Schrödinger (1887--1961) Austrian theoretical physicist, was a professor at several universities in Europe. He was awarded the Nobel prize Quantum Mechanics, in 1933. During the Hitler era he was dismissed from his position for his opposition to the Nazi ideas and he fled to England. He was the author of Meine Weltansicht
This life of yours which you are living is not merely apiece of this entire existence, but in a certain sense the whole; only this whole is not so constituted that it can be surveyed in one single glance. This, as we know, is what the Brahmins express in that sacred, mystic formula which is yet really so simple and so clear; tat tvam asi, this is you. Or, again, in such words as "I am in the east and the west, I am above and below, I am this entire world."
The unity and continuity of Vedanta are reflected in the unity and continuity of wave mechanics. In 1925, the world view of physics was a model of a great machine composed of separable interacting material particles. During the next few years, Schrodinger and Heisenberg and their followers created a universe based on super imposed inseparable waves of probability amplitudes. This new view would be entirely consistent with the Vedantic concept of All in One.
Vedanta teaches that consciousness is singular, all happenings are played out in one universal consciousness and there is no multiplicity of selves.
Nirvana is a state of pure blissful knowledge.. It has nothing to do with individual. The ego or its separation is an illusion. The goal of man is to preserve his Karma and to develop it further – when man dies his karma lives and creates for itself another carrier.
There is no kind of framework within which we can find consciousness in the plural; this is simply something we construct because of the temporal plurality of individuals, but it is a false construction....The only solution to this conflict insofar as any is available to us at all lies in the ancient wisdom of the Upanishad.
The multiplicity is only apparent. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads. And not of the Upanishads only. The mystical experience of the union with God regularly leads to this view, unless strong prejudices stand in the West.
7. Alfred North Whitehead
Science in the most advanced stage now is closer to Vedanta than ever before -- (Alfred North Whitehead)
8. Romain Rolland (1866-1944) French Nobel laureate, professor of the history of music at the Sorbonne and thinker.·
If there is one place on the face of the earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India....For more than 30 centuries, the tree of vision, with all its thousand branches and their millions of twigs, has sprung from this torrid land, the burning womb of the Gods. It renews itself tirelessly showing no signs of decay.
9. Octavio Paz (1914-1998) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990.
The Hindu genius is a love for abstraction and, at the same time, a passion for the concrete image. At times it is rich, at others prolix. It has created the most lucid and the most instinctive art. It is abstract and realistic, sexual and intellectual, pedantic and sublime. It lives between extremes, it embraces the extremes, rooted in the earth and drawn to an invisible beyond.
10. Dr. Carl Sagan, (1934-1996) famous astrophysicist.
The Hindu religion is the only one of the world's great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond, to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang. And there are much longer time scales still.
The most elegant and sublime of these is a representation of the creation of the universe at the beginning of each cosmic cycle, a motif known as the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva. The god, called in this manifestation Nataraja, the Dance King. In the upper right hand is a drum whose sound is the sound of creation. In the upper left hand is a tongue of flame, a reminder that the universe, now newly created, with billions of years from now will be utterly destroyed.
A millennium before Europeans were wiling to divest themselves of the Biblical idea that the world was a few thousand years old, the Mayans were thinking of millions and the Hindus billions.
11. Julius R Oppenheimer- (1904-1967--Father of Atom bomb)Scientist, philosopher, bohemian, and radical. A theoretical physicist and the Supervising Scientist for the Manhattan Project, the developer of the atomic bomb. Graduating from Harvard University, he traveled to Cambridge University to study at the Cavendish Laboratory.
Modern Physics is an exemplification and a refinement of old Hindu wisdom- contained in Vedas
12. Julius Robert Oppenheimer
Access to the Vedas is the greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries.
The general notions about human understanding… which are illustrated by discoveries in atomic physics are not in the nature of things wholly unfamiliar, wholly unheard of or new. Even in our own culture they have a history, and in Buddhist and Hindu thought a more considerable and central place. What we shall find [in modern physics] is an exemplification, an encouragement, and a refinement of old wisdom.
The juxtaposition of Western civilization's most terrifying scientific achievement with the most dazzling description of the mystical experience given to us by the Bhagavad Gita, India's greatest literary monument.
13. Robert R. C. Zaehner (1913-1974) British historian of religion.
In the family of religions, Hinduism is the wise old all-knowing mother. Its sacred books, the Vedas, claim, 'Truth is one, but sages call it by different names.' If only Islam, and all the rest of the monotheistic 'book' religions, had learned that lesson, all the horror of history's religious wars could have been avoided. Which other religion has its God say, as Krishna does in the Bhagavad Gita, 'All paths lead to me.'
If only the Church had the sense to allow so many different and seemingly contradictory approaches to God, how much saner its history would have been!
It was the sublime ancient tolerance of Hinduism that he often stressed, that was the true proof of the wisdom and mature dignity of the Hindu tradition.
14. Klaus L. Klostermaier professor of Religious Studies at the University of Manitoba.Hinduism has proven much more open than any other religion to new ideas, scientific thought, and social experimentation. Many concepts like reincarnation, meditation, yoga and others have found worldwide acceptance. It would not be surprising to find Hinduism the dominant religion of the twenty-first century. It would be a religion that doctrinally is less clear-cut than mainstream Christianity, politically less determined than Islam, ethically less heroic than Buddhism, but it would offer something to everybody. It will appear idealistic to those who look for idealism, pragmatic to the pragmatists, spiritual to the seekers, sensual to the here-and-now generation. Hinduism, by virtue of its lack of an ideology and its reliance on intuition, will appear to be more plausible than those religions whose doctrinal positions petrified a thousand years ago.
15. Sir Charles Eliot (1862-1931), British diplomat and colonial administrator, a famous scholar and linguist of Oxford. ·
Let me confess that I cannot share the confidence in the superiority of Europeans and their ways which is prevalent in the West. European civilization is not satisfying and Asia can still offer something more attractive to many who are far from Asiatic in spirit.
I do not think that Christianity will ever make much progress in Asia, for what is commonly known by that name is not the teaching of Christ but a rearrangement of it made in Europe and like most European institutions practical rather than thoughtful. And as for the teaching of Christ himself, the Indian finds it excellent but not ample or satisfying. There is little in it which cannot be found in some of the many scriptures of Hinduism..."
The claim of India to the attention of the world is that she, more than any other nation since history began, has devoted herself to contemplating the ultimate mysteries of existence and, in my eyes, the fact that Indian thought diverges widely from our own popular thought is a positive merit.
Hinduism has not been made, but has grown. It is a jungle, not a building. It is a living example of a great national paganism such as might have existed in Europe if Christianity had not become the state religion of the Roman Empire, if there had remained an incongruous jumble of old local superstitions, Greek philosophy, and oriental cults such as the worship of Sarapis or Mitras.
Compared to Islam and Christianity, Hinduism’s doctrines are extraordinarily fluid, and multiform. India deals in images and metaphors. Restless, subtle and argumentative as Hindu thought is, it is less prone than European theology to the vice of distorting transcendental ideas by too stringent definition. It adumbrates the indescribable by metaphors and figures. It is not afraid of inconsistencies which may illustrate different aspects of the infinite, but it rarely tries to cramp the divine within the limits of a logical phrase.
The Hindu has an extraordinary power of combining dogma and free thought, uniformity, and variety. Utmost latitude of interpretation is allowed. In all ages Hindus have been passionately devoted to speculation. It is also to point out that from the Upanishads down to the writings of Tagore in the present day literature from time to time enunciates the idea that the whole universe is the manifestation of some exuberant force giving expression to itself in joyous movement.
16. Queen Fredricka of Greece (1931- 1981) The wife of King Paul of Greece.
It was my advanced research in physics that had started me on a spiritual quest. It culminated in me accepting the non-dualism or absolute monism of Shankara as my philosophy of life and science.
You are fortunate to inherit such knowledge. I envy you. While Greece is the country of my birth, India is the country of my soul.
17. Alfred B. Ford grandson of Henry Ford (founder of the Ford Motor), and Trustee member of Ford Motor Company.
For me the most important thing is to spread the Hindu knowledge about the soul. This is more important than any other knowledge and is my main priority.
18. Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) aide-de-camp to George Washington and first secretary of the Treasury.
When we read in the valuable production of those great Oriental scholars...those of a Jones, a Wilkings, a Colebrooke, or a Halhed, - we uniformly discover in the Hindus a nation, whose polished manners are the result of a mild disposition and an extensive benevolence.
19. Christopher W. B. Isherwood (1904-1986) Translator, biographer, novelist, and playwright.
I believe the Gita to be one of the major religious documents of the world. If its teachings did not seem to me to agree with those of the other gospels and scriptures, then my own system of values would be thrown into confusion, and I should feel completely bewildered. The Gita is not simply a sermon, but a philosophical treatise.
20. David Frawley
The Hindu mind represents humanity's oldest and most continuous stream of conscious intelligence on the planet. Hindu sages, seers, saints, yogis and jnanis have maintained an unbroken current of awareness linking humanity with the Divine since the dawn of history, and as carried over from earlier cycles of civilization in previous humanities unknown to our present spiritually limited culture.
The Hindu mind has a vision of eternity and infinity. It is aware of the vast cycles of creation and destruction that govern the many universes and innumerable creatures within them.
21. Muhammad Dara Shikoh (1627-1658 AD) the favorite Sufi son of Moghul emperor, Shah Jehan.
After gradual research; I have come to the conclusion that long before all heavenly books, God had revealed to the Hindus, through the Rishis of yore, of whom Brahma was the Chief, His four books of knowledge, the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda.The Quran itself made veiled references to the Upanishads as the first heavenly book and the fountainhead of the ocean of monotheism.
22. Sylvain Levi (1863-1935) French scholar, Orientalist who wrote on Eastern religion, literature, and history.
From Persia to the Chinese Sea, 'from the icy regions of Siberia to the islands of Java and Borneo, from Oceania to Socotra, India has propagated her beliefs, her tales and her civilization.
She has left indelible imprints on one fourth of the human race in the course of a long succession of centuries. She has the right to reclaim in universal history the rank that ignorance has refused her for a long time and to hold her place amongst the great nations summarizing and symbolizing the spirit of humanity.
23. Solange Lemaitre author of several books, including Le Mystère de la mort dans les religions d'Asie and Râmakrishna et la vitalité de l'hindouism
The civilization of India, at root purely religious, is only now becoming known in Europe; and as the mystery surrounding it is unveiled it emerges as one of the highest achievement in the history of mankind. By the very breadth of the outlook it affords on to the destiny of man the Vedic religion offers in abundance the spiritual experience that has inspired the Indian people since the dawn of their history. The vocation of India is to proclaim to the world the efficacy of religious experience.
Stephen Cross, in his book on Hinduism, pg 1, says, It is no secret that we in the West live in a time of spiritual crisis. Western civilization has been guided by Christianity. Now it appears that this period is drawing to a close. Both religious institutions and social structures are in disarray. A great many things that were considered basic assumptions of western thought are being challenged. The reality of the external world, the soul, the linear nature of time.
25. W. J. Grant India indeed has a preciousness which a materialistic age is in danger of missing. Some day the fragrance of her thought will win the hearts of men. This grim chase after our own tails which marks the present age cannot continue for ever. The future contains a new human urge towards the real beauty and holiness of life. When it comes Hinduism will be searched by loving eyes and defended by knightly hands.
26. Will Durant (1885-1981) American historian.
It is true that even across the Himalayan barrier India has sent to us such questionable gifts as grammar and logic, philosophy and fables, hypnotism and chess, and above all our numerals and our decimal system. But these are not the essence of her spirit; they are trifles compared to what we may learn from her in the future.
Perhaps in return for conquest, arrogance and spoliation, India will teach us the tolerance and gentleness of the mature mind, the quiet content of the unacquisitive soul, the calm of the understanding spirit, and a unifying, a pacifying love for all living things.
India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all. Nothing should more deeply shame the modern student than the recency and inadequacy of his acquaintance with India....This is the India that patient scholarship is now opening up like a new intellectual continent to that Western mind which only yesterday thought civilization an exclusive Western thing.
"As flowing rivers disappear in the sea, losing their name and form, thus a wise man, freed from name and form, goes to the divine person who is beyond all." Such a theory of life and death will not please Western man, whose religion is as permeated with individualism as are his political and economic institutions. But it has satisfied the philosophical Hindu mind with astonishing continuity.
Even in Europe and America, this wistful theosophy has won millions upon millions of followers, from lonely women and tired men to Schopenhauer and Emerson.
27. Vecente Avelino who was the Consul General for Brazil in India in 1930. India is the only country which has known God and if anyone wants to know God he must know India.
28. Mark Twain (1835-1910) also known as Samuel Clemens, one of the most widely loved and celebrated American writers since his first books were released in the late 1860s.·
Land of religions, cradle of human race, birthplace of human speech, grandmother of legend, great grandmother of tradition. The land that all men desire to see and having seen once even by a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of the rest of the globe combined.
India had the start of the whole world in the beginning of things. She had the first civilization; she had the first accumulation of material wealth; she was populous with deep thinkers and subtle intellects; she had mines, and woods, and a fruitful soul.
Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India.
"Land of religions, cradle of human race, birthplace of human speach, grandmother of leagacy, great grandmother of tradition. The land that all men desire to see and having seen once even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of the rest of the globe combined."
Count Hermann Keyserling (1880-1946) philosopher, author, public speaker. He is the first Western thinker to conceive and promote a planetary culture, beyond nationalism and cultural ethnocentrism, based on recognition of the equal value and validity of non-western cultures and philosophies.
Hinduism at its best has spoken the only relevant truth about the way to self-realization in the full sense of the word.
Hinduism has produced the profoundest metaphysics that we know of.
The absolute superiority of India over the West in philosophy; poetry from the Mahabharata, containing the Bhagavad-Gita, “perhaps the most beautiful work of the literature of the world".
Benares is holy. Europe, grown superficial, hardly understands such truths anymore.....I feel nearer here than I have ever done to the heart of the world; here I feel everyday as if soon, perhaps even today, I would receive the grace of supreme revelation...The atmosphere of devotion which hangs above the river is improbable in strength; stronger than in any church that I have ever visited. Every would be Christian priest would do well to sacrifice a year of his theological studies in order to spend his time on the Ganges; here he would discover what piety means.
Dr. Arnold J. Toynbee (1889-1975) the great British historian. His massive research was published in 12 volumes between 1934 and 1961 as `A Study of History'. Author of several books, including Christianity: Among the Religions of the World and One World and India. Toynbee was a major interpreter of human civilization in the 20th century.
It is already becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western beginning will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in self-destruction of the human race. At this supremely dangerous moment in human history , the only way of salvation is the ancient Hindu way. Here we have the attitude and spirit that can make it possible for the human race to grow together in to a single family.
So now we turn to India. This spiritual gift, that makes a man human, is still alive in Indian souls. Go on giving the world Indian examples of it. Nothing else can do so much to help mankind to save itself from destruction.
There may or may not be only one single absolute truth and only one single ultimate way of salvation. We do not know. But we do know that there are more approaches to truth than one, and more means of salvation than one.’’‘‘This is a hard saying for adherents of the higher religions of the Judaic family (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), but it is a truism for Hindus. The spirit of mutual good-will, esteem, and veritable love ... is the traditional spirit of the religions of the Indian family. This is one of India’s gifts to the world.
At the close of this century, the world would be dominated by the West, but that in the 21st century "India will conquer her conquerors."
Huston Smith born in China to Methodist missionaries, a philosopher, most eloquent writer, world-famous religion scholar who practices Hatha Yoga.
The invisible excludes nothing, the invisible that excludes nothing is the infinite – the soul of India is the infinite.
Philosophers tell us that the Indians were the first ones to conceive of a true infinite from which nothing is excluded. The West shied away from this notion. The West likes form, boundaries that distinguish and demarcate. The trouble is that boundaries also imprison – they restrict and confine.
India saw this clearly and turned her face to that which has no boundary or whatever.India anchored her soul in the infinite seeing the things of the world as masks of the infinite assumes – there can be no end to these masks, of course. If they express a true infinity. And It is here that India’s mind boggling variety links up to her infinite soul.
India includes so much because her soul being infinite excludes nothing.” It goes without saying that the universe that India saw emerging from the infinite was stupendous.”
While the West was still thinking, perhaps, of 6,000 years old universe – India was already envisioning ages and eons and galaxies as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. The Universe so vast that modern astronomy slips into its folds without a ripple.”
Alan Watts (1915-1973) a professor, graduate school dean and research fellow of Harvard University
To the philosophers of India, however, Relativity is no new discovery, just as the concept of light years is no matter for astonishment to people used to thinking of time in millions of kalpas, (A kalpa is about 4,320,000 years). The fact that the wise men of India have not been concerned with technological applications of this knowledge arises from the circumstance that technology is but one of innumerable ways of applying it.
It is, indeed, a remarkable circumstance that when Western civilization discovers Relativity it applies it to the manufacture of atom-bombs, whereas this Oriental civilization applies it to the development of new states of consciousness.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American Philosopher, Unitarian, social critic, transcendentalist and writer.
In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial.--Walden
What extracts from the Vedas I have read fall on me like the light of a higher and purer luminary, which describes a loftier course through purer stratum. It rises on me like the full moon after the stars have come out, wading through some far stratum in the sky.
Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that some unearthly and unknown light illuminated me. In the great teaching of the Vedas, there is no touch of sectarianism. It is of all ages, climes and nationalities and is the royal road for the attainment of the Great Knowledge. When I am at it, I feel that I am under the spangled heavens of a summer night.
The Vedas contain a sensible account of God.The veneration in which the Vedas are held is itself a remarkable feat. Their code embraced the whole moral life of the Hindus and in such a case there is no other truth than sincerity. Truth is such by reference to the heart of man within, not to any standard without.
The Hindus are most serenely and thoughtfully religious than the Hebrews. They have perhaps a purer, more independent and impersonal knowledge of God. Their religious books describes the first inquisitive and contemplative access to God.
One sentence of the Bhagavad Gita, is worth the State of Massachusetts many times over.
Most books belong to the house and streets only, . . . .But this(Bhagavad Gita) . . . . addresses what is deepest and most abiding in man. . . . Its truth speaks freshly to our experience. [the sentences of Manu] are a piece with depth and serenity and I am sure they will have a place and significance as long as there is a sky to test them by.
But the mystic way it is, a person who embarks to grasp it gets so absorbed that the purpose of retention and then to spread it dissolves the very person, most of the times, conclusively! Very few really care to stay back. And those who do, hardly resemble any known marketing strategist!
Any way, I yielded to the temptation to answer this question.
Regards,
Psn(9th December, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091209023953AAupkjP
The question:
Which is the best way to retain and spread Hinduism ?
My answer:
Become a living example of what can be attained by attaining it.
That is what attracted maximum intellectuals, seekers, philosphers from all over the world , from time immemorial. These wonderful people know how to sift the fine contents from superficial appearances. There is no need to spread this 'way of life'. It can survive on its own! We need it for our personal salvation.
But please see... it is 'others' who have contributed more to spread this wonderful 'way of life called Hinduism', more than Hindus themselves!
I wish to quote a rather lengthy 'forward' but a quick glance through it would prove the point...
quote:
Very very interesting and thought provoking discussions indeed ! There are points where, according to me, you are right and there are areas where perhaps you could be wrong! It is essential to differentiate between God and religion as rightly brought out by both of you!
Instead of indulging in the thesis I believe in, I am forwarding here some "quotable quotes" from some high intellectuals, respectable world renowned persons for your reading pleasure please !!
I would like you to kindly remember the following aspects before you read them, if you may !!
(1) Each one of these person is famous well respected professional, known world over for their work in diverse fields like science, art, politics and so on
(2) Each one has achieved far more in their lives -- than all of us put together can claim -- and hence their views deserve respect and consideration to that extent!
(3) None of these are professional religious Pundits, paid to promote the interests of any given religion for money or livelihood, but giants in their own profession and hence their views are not financially or otherwise motivated!
(4) I have deliberately excluded the very many quotes from Hindu monks, priests, who may have a vested interest to promote Hindu religion! Thus each one whose quote you are going to read is from Non-Hindu scholars and nothing more can be said about objectivity or bias!
(5) Many ridicule God or religion on grounds of science and technology! As soon as logic and scientific explanations are available God is given a go-by, and His influence questioned! Fair enough!! But these quotes from world class scientists, Nobel Laureates on religion--not necessarily on God --especially the Hindu religion -- need to be considered in that light !!
(6) Don't just read the quotes but Introspect a little! Believe me it is too difficult to gather the full impact of what is being stated ! To make this kind of profound observations or express an opinion how much reading and getting to know about an alien religion ( Hinduism) was necessary for them, given their own busy schedule in their diverse fields!
(7) It goes without saying that when you read the scriptures of another religion-you do subconsciously compare and analyze what you read and reject especially if that does not find favour! Your speaking favorably is indicative of your genuine appreciation/ acceptance in some cases if not all !!
Quotes on HINDUISM
The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn – Alwin Toffler
Quotes by eminent persons of great repute & Nobel Laureate
1. Albert Einstein, (1879-1955) physicist. In 1905 He published his theory of Relativity.
When I read the Bhagavad Gita and reflect about how God created this universe, everything else seems so superfluous. We owe a lot to Indians who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
2. . George Bernard Shaw, (1856-1950) a vegetarian and Nobel Laureate in Literature.
The Indian way of life provides the vision of the natural, real way of life. We veil ourselves with unnatural masks. On the face of India are the tender expressions which carry the mark of the Creators hand.
The apparent multiplication of gods is bewildering at the first glance, but you soon discover that they are the same GOD. There is always one uttermost God who defies personification. This makes Hinduism the most tolerant religion in the world, because its one transcendent God includes all possible gods. In fact Hinduism is so elastic and so subtle that the most profound Methodist, and crudest idolater, are equally at home with it.
3. Annie Besant { Annie Wood Besant (1847-1933) was an active socialist on the executive committee of the Fabian Society along with George Bernard Shaw.
After a study of some forty years and more of the great religions of the world, I find none so perfect, none so scientific, none so philosophic, and none so spiritual as the great religion known by the name of Hinduism. The more you know it, the more you will love it; the more you try to understand it, the more deeply you will value it. Make no mistake; without Hinduism, India has no future. Hinduism is the soil into which India's roots are struck, and torn of that she will inevitably wither, as a tree torn out from its place. Many are the religions and many are the races flourishing in India, but none of them stretches back into the far dawn of her past, nor are they necessary for her endurance as a nation. Everyone might pass away as they came and India would still remain. But let Hinduism vanish and what is she? A geographical expression of the past, a dim memory of a perished glory, her literature, her art, her monuments, all have Hindudom written across them. And if Hindus do not maintain Hinduism, who shall save it? If India's own children do not cling to her faith, who shall guard it? India alone can save India, and India and Hinduism are one.
Nobel laureates
4. Niels Bohr, (1885-1962) Danish nuclear physicist who developed the Bohr model of the atom. His received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1922, for his theory of atomic structure
I go into the Upanishads to ask questions.
5. Werner Heisenberg
After the study of Indian philosophy (derived from Vedas), some of the ideas of Quantum physics that seemed so crazy, suddenly made much more sense (father of Quantum Physics Werner Heisenberg).
6. Erwin Schrödinger (1887--1961) Austrian theoretical physicist, was a professor at several universities in Europe. He was awarded the Nobel prize Quantum Mechanics, in 1933. During the Hitler era he was dismissed from his position for his opposition to the Nazi ideas and he fled to England. He was the author of Meine Weltansicht
This life of yours which you are living is not merely apiece of this entire existence, but in a certain sense the whole; only this whole is not so constituted that it can be surveyed in one single glance. This, as we know, is what the Brahmins express in that sacred, mystic formula which is yet really so simple and so clear; tat tvam asi, this is you. Or, again, in such words as "I am in the east and the west, I am above and below, I am this entire world."
The unity and continuity of Vedanta are reflected in the unity and continuity of wave mechanics. In 1925, the world view of physics was a model of a great machine composed of separable interacting material particles. During the next few years, Schrodinger and Heisenberg and their followers created a universe based on super imposed inseparable waves of probability amplitudes. This new view would be entirely consistent with the Vedantic concept of All in One.
Vedanta teaches that consciousness is singular, all happenings are played out in one universal consciousness and there is no multiplicity of selves.
Nirvana is a state of pure blissful knowledge.. It has nothing to do with individual. The ego or its separation is an illusion. The goal of man is to preserve his Karma and to develop it further – when man dies his karma lives and creates for itself another carrier.
There is no kind of framework within which we can find consciousness in the plural; this is simply something we construct because of the temporal plurality of individuals, but it is a false construction....The only solution to this conflict insofar as any is available to us at all lies in the ancient wisdom of the Upanishad.
The multiplicity is only apparent. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads. And not of the Upanishads only. The mystical experience of the union with God regularly leads to this view, unless strong prejudices stand in the West.
7. Alfred North Whitehead
Science in the most advanced stage now is closer to Vedanta than ever before -- (Alfred North Whitehead)
8. Romain Rolland (1866-1944) French Nobel laureate, professor of the history of music at the Sorbonne and thinker.·
If there is one place on the face of the earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India....For more than 30 centuries, the tree of vision, with all its thousand branches and their millions of twigs, has sprung from this torrid land, the burning womb of the Gods. It renews itself tirelessly showing no signs of decay.
9. Octavio Paz (1914-1998) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990.
The Hindu genius is a love for abstraction and, at the same time, a passion for the concrete image. At times it is rich, at others prolix. It has created the most lucid and the most instinctive art. It is abstract and realistic, sexual and intellectual, pedantic and sublime. It lives between extremes, it embraces the extremes, rooted in the earth and drawn to an invisible beyond.
10. Dr. Carl Sagan, (1934-1996) famous astrophysicist.
The Hindu religion is the only one of the world's great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond, to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang. And there are much longer time scales still.
The most elegant and sublime of these is a representation of the creation of the universe at the beginning of each cosmic cycle, a motif known as the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva. The god, called in this manifestation Nataraja, the Dance King. In the upper right hand is a drum whose sound is the sound of creation. In the upper left hand is a tongue of flame, a reminder that the universe, now newly created, with billions of years from now will be utterly destroyed.
A millennium before Europeans were wiling to divest themselves of the Biblical idea that the world was a few thousand years old, the Mayans were thinking of millions and the Hindus billions.
11. Julius R Oppenheimer- (1904-1967--Father of Atom bomb)Scientist, philosopher, bohemian, and radical. A theoretical physicist and the Supervising Scientist for the Manhattan Project, the developer of the atomic bomb. Graduating from Harvard University, he traveled to Cambridge University to study at the Cavendish Laboratory.
Modern Physics is an exemplification and a refinement of old Hindu wisdom- contained in Vedas
12. Julius Robert Oppenheimer
Access to the Vedas is the greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries.
The general notions about human understanding… which are illustrated by discoveries in atomic physics are not in the nature of things wholly unfamiliar, wholly unheard of or new. Even in our own culture they have a history, and in Buddhist and Hindu thought a more considerable and central place. What we shall find [in modern physics] is an exemplification, an encouragement, and a refinement of old wisdom.
The juxtaposition of Western civilization's most terrifying scientific achievement with the most dazzling description of the mystical experience given to us by the Bhagavad Gita, India's greatest literary monument.
13. Robert R. C. Zaehner (1913-1974) British historian of religion.
In the family of religions, Hinduism is the wise old all-knowing mother. Its sacred books, the Vedas, claim, 'Truth is one, but sages call it by different names.' If only Islam, and all the rest of the monotheistic 'book' religions, had learned that lesson, all the horror of history's religious wars could have been avoided. Which other religion has its God say, as Krishna does in the Bhagavad Gita, 'All paths lead to me.'
If only the Church had the sense to allow so many different and seemingly contradictory approaches to God, how much saner its history would have been!
It was the sublime ancient tolerance of Hinduism that he often stressed, that was the true proof of the wisdom and mature dignity of the Hindu tradition.
14. Klaus L. Klostermaier professor of Religious Studies at the University of Manitoba.Hinduism has proven much more open than any other religion to new ideas, scientific thought, and social experimentation. Many concepts like reincarnation, meditation, yoga and others have found worldwide acceptance. It would not be surprising to find Hinduism the dominant religion of the twenty-first century. It would be a religion that doctrinally is less clear-cut than mainstream Christianity, politically less determined than Islam, ethically less heroic than Buddhism, but it would offer something to everybody. It will appear idealistic to those who look for idealism, pragmatic to the pragmatists, spiritual to the seekers, sensual to the here-and-now generation. Hinduism, by virtue of its lack of an ideology and its reliance on intuition, will appear to be more plausible than those religions whose doctrinal positions petrified a thousand years ago.
15. Sir Charles Eliot (1862-1931), British diplomat and colonial administrator, a famous scholar and linguist of Oxford. ·
Let me confess that I cannot share the confidence in the superiority of Europeans and their ways which is prevalent in the West. European civilization is not satisfying and Asia can still offer something more attractive to many who are far from Asiatic in spirit.
I do not think that Christianity will ever make much progress in Asia, for what is commonly known by that name is not the teaching of Christ but a rearrangement of it made in Europe and like most European institutions practical rather than thoughtful. And as for the teaching of Christ himself, the Indian finds it excellent but not ample or satisfying. There is little in it which cannot be found in some of the many scriptures of Hinduism..."
The claim of India to the attention of the world is that she, more than any other nation since history began, has devoted herself to contemplating the ultimate mysteries of existence and, in my eyes, the fact that Indian thought diverges widely from our own popular thought is a positive merit.
Hinduism has not been made, but has grown. It is a jungle, not a building. It is a living example of a great national paganism such as might have existed in Europe if Christianity had not become the state religion of the Roman Empire, if there had remained an incongruous jumble of old local superstitions, Greek philosophy, and oriental cults such as the worship of Sarapis or Mitras.
Compared to Islam and Christianity, Hinduism’s doctrines are extraordinarily fluid, and multiform. India deals in images and metaphors. Restless, subtle and argumentative as Hindu thought is, it is less prone than European theology to the vice of distorting transcendental ideas by too stringent definition. It adumbrates the indescribable by metaphors and figures. It is not afraid of inconsistencies which may illustrate different aspects of the infinite, but it rarely tries to cramp the divine within the limits of a logical phrase.
The Hindu has an extraordinary power of combining dogma and free thought, uniformity, and variety. Utmost latitude of interpretation is allowed. In all ages Hindus have been passionately devoted to speculation. It is also to point out that from the Upanishads down to the writings of Tagore in the present day literature from time to time enunciates the idea that the whole universe is the manifestation of some exuberant force giving expression to itself in joyous movement.
16. Queen Fredricka of Greece (1931- 1981) The wife of King Paul of Greece.
It was my advanced research in physics that had started me on a spiritual quest. It culminated in me accepting the non-dualism or absolute monism of Shankara as my philosophy of life and science.
You are fortunate to inherit such knowledge. I envy you. While Greece is the country of my birth, India is the country of my soul.
17. Alfred B. Ford grandson of Henry Ford (founder of the Ford Motor), and Trustee member of Ford Motor Company.
For me the most important thing is to spread the Hindu knowledge about the soul. This is more important than any other knowledge and is my main priority.
18. Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) aide-de-camp to George Washington and first secretary of the Treasury.
When we read in the valuable production of those great Oriental scholars...those of a Jones, a Wilkings, a Colebrooke, or a Halhed, - we uniformly discover in the Hindus a nation, whose polished manners are the result of a mild disposition and an extensive benevolence.
19. Christopher W. B. Isherwood (1904-1986) Translator, biographer, novelist, and playwright.
I believe the Gita to be one of the major religious documents of the world. If its teachings did not seem to me to agree with those of the other gospels and scriptures, then my own system of values would be thrown into confusion, and I should feel completely bewildered. The Gita is not simply a sermon, but a philosophical treatise.
20. David Frawley
The Hindu mind represents humanity's oldest and most continuous stream of conscious intelligence on the planet. Hindu sages, seers, saints, yogis and jnanis have maintained an unbroken current of awareness linking humanity with the Divine since the dawn of history, and as carried over from earlier cycles of civilization in previous humanities unknown to our present spiritually limited culture.
The Hindu mind has a vision of eternity and infinity. It is aware of the vast cycles of creation and destruction that govern the many universes and innumerable creatures within them.
21. Muhammad Dara Shikoh (1627-1658 AD) the favorite Sufi son of Moghul emperor, Shah Jehan.
After gradual research; I have come to the conclusion that long before all heavenly books, God had revealed to the Hindus, through the Rishis of yore, of whom Brahma was the Chief, His four books of knowledge, the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda.The Quran itself made veiled references to the Upanishads as the first heavenly book and the fountainhead of the ocean of monotheism.
22. Sylvain Levi (1863-1935) French scholar, Orientalist who wrote on Eastern religion, literature, and history.
From Persia to the Chinese Sea, 'from the icy regions of Siberia to the islands of Java and Borneo, from Oceania to Socotra, India has propagated her beliefs, her tales and her civilization.
She has left indelible imprints on one fourth of the human race in the course of a long succession of centuries. She has the right to reclaim in universal history the rank that ignorance has refused her for a long time and to hold her place amongst the great nations summarizing and symbolizing the spirit of humanity.
23. Solange Lemaitre author of several books, including Le Mystère de la mort dans les religions d'Asie and Râmakrishna et la vitalité de l'hindouism
The civilization of India, at root purely religious, is only now becoming known in Europe; and as the mystery surrounding it is unveiled it emerges as one of the highest achievement in the history of mankind. By the very breadth of the outlook it affords on to the destiny of man the Vedic religion offers in abundance the spiritual experience that has inspired the Indian people since the dawn of their history. The vocation of India is to proclaim to the world the efficacy of religious experience.
Stephen Cross, in his book on Hinduism, pg 1, says, It is no secret that we in the West live in a time of spiritual crisis. Western civilization has been guided by Christianity. Now it appears that this period is drawing to a close. Both religious institutions and social structures are in disarray. A great many things that were considered basic assumptions of western thought are being challenged. The reality of the external world, the soul, the linear nature of time.
25. W. J. Grant India indeed has a preciousness which a materialistic age is in danger of missing. Some day the fragrance of her thought will win the hearts of men. This grim chase after our own tails which marks the present age cannot continue for ever. The future contains a new human urge towards the real beauty and holiness of life. When it comes Hinduism will be searched by loving eyes and defended by knightly hands.
26. Will Durant (1885-1981) American historian.
It is true that even across the Himalayan barrier India has sent to us such questionable gifts as grammar and logic, philosophy and fables, hypnotism and chess, and above all our numerals and our decimal system. But these are not the essence of her spirit; they are trifles compared to what we may learn from her in the future.
Perhaps in return for conquest, arrogance and spoliation, India will teach us the tolerance and gentleness of the mature mind, the quiet content of the unacquisitive soul, the calm of the understanding spirit, and a unifying, a pacifying love for all living things.
India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all. Nothing should more deeply shame the modern student than the recency and inadequacy of his acquaintance with India....This is the India that patient scholarship is now opening up like a new intellectual continent to that Western mind which only yesterday thought civilization an exclusive Western thing.
"As flowing rivers disappear in the sea, losing their name and form, thus a wise man, freed from name and form, goes to the divine person who is beyond all." Such a theory of life and death will not please Western man, whose religion is as permeated with individualism as are his political and economic institutions. But it has satisfied the philosophical Hindu mind with astonishing continuity.
Even in Europe and America, this wistful theosophy has won millions upon millions of followers, from lonely women and tired men to Schopenhauer and Emerson.
27. Vecente Avelino who was the Consul General for Brazil in India in 1930. India is the only country which has known God and if anyone wants to know God he must know India.
28. Mark Twain (1835-1910) also known as Samuel Clemens, one of the most widely loved and celebrated American writers since his first books were released in the late 1860s.·
Land of religions, cradle of human race, birthplace of human speech, grandmother of legend, great grandmother of tradition. The land that all men desire to see and having seen once even by a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of the rest of the globe combined.
India had the start of the whole world in the beginning of things. She had the first civilization; she had the first accumulation of material wealth; she was populous with deep thinkers and subtle intellects; she had mines, and woods, and a fruitful soul.
Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India.
"Land of religions, cradle of human race, birthplace of human speach, grandmother of leagacy, great grandmother of tradition. The land that all men desire to see and having seen once even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of the rest of the globe combined."
Count Hermann Keyserling (1880-1946) philosopher, author, public speaker. He is the first Western thinker to conceive and promote a planetary culture, beyond nationalism and cultural ethnocentrism, based on recognition of the equal value and validity of non-western cultures and philosophies.
Hinduism at its best has spoken the only relevant truth about the way to self-realization in the full sense of the word.
Hinduism has produced the profoundest metaphysics that we know of.
The absolute superiority of India over the West in philosophy; poetry from the Mahabharata, containing the Bhagavad-Gita, “perhaps the most beautiful work of the literature of the world".
Benares is holy. Europe, grown superficial, hardly understands such truths anymore.....I feel nearer here than I have ever done to the heart of the world; here I feel everyday as if soon, perhaps even today, I would receive the grace of supreme revelation...The atmosphere of devotion which hangs above the river is improbable in strength; stronger than in any church that I have ever visited. Every would be Christian priest would do well to sacrifice a year of his theological studies in order to spend his time on the Ganges; here he would discover what piety means.
Dr. Arnold J. Toynbee (1889-1975) the great British historian. His massive research was published in 12 volumes between 1934 and 1961 as `A Study of History'. Author of several books, including Christianity: Among the Religions of the World and One World and India. Toynbee was a major interpreter of human civilization in the 20th century.
It is already becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western beginning will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in self-destruction of the human race. At this supremely dangerous moment in human history , the only way of salvation is the ancient Hindu way. Here we have the attitude and spirit that can make it possible for the human race to grow together in to a single family.
So now we turn to India. This spiritual gift, that makes a man human, is still alive in Indian souls. Go on giving the world Indian examples of it. Nothing else can do so much to help mankind to save itself from destruction.
There may or may not be only one single absolute truth and only one single ultimate way of salvation. We do not know. But we do know that there are more approaches to truth than one, and more means of salvation than one.’’‘‘This is a hard saying for adherents of the higher religions of the Judaic family (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), but it is a truism for Hindus. The spirit of mutual good-will, esteem, and veritable love ... is the traditional spirit of the religions of the Indian family. This is one of India’s gifts to the world.
At the close of this century, the world would be dominated by the West, but that in the 21st century "India will conquer her conquerors."
Huston Smith born in China to Methodist missionaries, a philosopher, most eloquent writer, world-famous religion scholar who practices Hatha Yoga.
The invisible excludes nothing, the invisible that excludes nothing is the infinite – the soul of India is the infinite.
Philosophers tell us that the Indians were the first ones to conceive of a true infinite from which nothing is excluded. The West shied away from this notion. The West likes form, boundaries that distinguish and demarcate. The trouble is that boundaries also imprison – they restrict and confine.
India saw this clearly and turned her face to that which has no boundary or whatever.India anchored her soul in the infinite seeing the things of the world as masks of the infinite assumes – there can be no end to these masks, of course. If they express a true infinity. And It is here that India’s mind boggling variety links up to her infinite soul.
India includes so much because her soul being infinite excludes nothing.” It goes without saying that the universe that India saw emerging from the infinite was stupendous.”
While the West was still thinking, perhaps, of 6,000 years old universe – India was already envisioning ages and eons and galaxies as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. The Universe so vast that modern astronomy slips into its folds without a ripple.”
Alan Watts (1915-1973) a professor, graduate school dean and research fellow of Harvard University
To the philosophers of India, however, Relativity is no new discovery, just as the concept of light years is no matter for astonishment to people used to thinking of time in millions of kalpas, (A kalpa is about 4,320,000 years). The fact that the wise men of India have not been concerned with technological applications of this knowledge arises from the circumstance that technology is but one of innumerable ways of applying it.
It is, indeed, a remarkable circumstance that when Western civilization discovers Relativity it applies it to the manufacture of atom-bombs, whereas this Oriental civilization applies it to the development of new states of consciousness.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American Philosopher, Unitarian, social critic, transcendentalist and writer.
In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial.--Walden
What extracts from the Vedas I have read fall on me like the light of a higher and purer luminary, which describes a loftier course through purer stratum. It rises on me like the full moon after the stars have come out, wading through some far stratum in the sky.
Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that some unearthly and unknown light illuminated me. In the great teaching of the Vedas, there is no touch of sectarianism. It is of all ages, climes and nationalities and is the royal road for the attainment of the Great Knowledge. When I am at it, I feel that I am under the spangled heavens of a summer night.
The Vedas contain a sensible account of God.The veneration in which the Vedas are held is itself a remarkable feat. Their code embraced the whole moral life of the Hindus and in such a case there is no other truth than sincerity. Truth is such by reference to the heart of man within, not to any standard without.
The Hindus are most serenely and thoughtfully religious than the Hebrews. They have perhaps a purer, more independent and impersonal knowledge of God. Their religious books describes the first inquisitive and contemplative access to God.
One sentence of the Bhagavad Gita, is worth the State of Massachusetts many times over.
Most books belong to the house and streets only, . . . .But this(Bhagavad Gita) . . . . addresses what is deepest and most abiding in man. . . . Its truth speaks freshly to our experience. [the sentences of Manu] are a piece with depth and serenity and I am sure they will have a place and significance as long as there is a sky to test them by.
3-in-1
Three in “one”.
This is a very common ‘present-day’ feature with teen-age-children. The parents try to attribute the irritable nature, tiredness, sleepy nature etc to the overload of books, syllabus, the crowd at the outside life, etc…. Pampering this irritable nature only goes to accentuate the problem (subtly giving the seal of ‘approval’ that it is quite ‘natural’ in the present day situation!).
In fact, I was rather sort of ‘waiting’ for this question, where I can link up this fairly common ‘phenomenon’ , though ‘technically’ these three cannot be linked together (anger, tiredness, sleepy tendencies).
Not that the adults are left out of this problem (perhaps, I may end up irritating them further, if I suggest that it is a bit ‘late’ for them to correct themselves at a ‘tangible’ speed!)
It would be more prudent to stick to brevity on subjects of anger, tiredness and sleepy-ness, for obvious reasons, so I simply wind up here, quoting the question and my answer hereunder.
Regards,
Psn(9th December, 2009)
Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AlyYi6kIxlu6ds2r2P7iiTeRHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091208160535AAx8IVt&show=7#profile-info-AO9AF7gtaa
The question:
Why am i angry, tired, sleepy all the time?
i've been sleeping from 7 pm till 5 am (that's when I have to get up) and i'm still tired and sleepy. And i've been irritated at everything. For instance, someone could ask me a question and i'll just get randomly irritated. I don't understand why?
My answer:
Resistance, intolerance deep within can cause anger when we are unable to remove the obstacles that cause this resistance or intolerance.The rigidities caused at nervous level when we 'recognise' our helplessness increases within our body, and keeps growing subconsciously (in the background, in a subtle manner), causing stress, tension. Small doses of mild anger flares up when there is already stress/strain built up. As a contrast, please see, when we are over joyous, we gently say 'Oh! it is all right' when somebody in a crowded bus steps on our toe!Continuous rigidity and resultant strain/stress/tension drains the energy levels drastically, making a person tired too soon, and induces sleep tendencies, in its humble effort to restore the energy from its reserves (the food digests very slowly in a 'rigid' body!). Anger also contributes little bit of draining of energy, but the larger damage done by anger is pumping of blood enriched with lots of blood sugar. In turn this unused blood-sugar attempts to spend itself in vain. Invariably, it seeks an outlet. The process of seeking an outlet resembles the pressure in water breaking open at a weak point of the pipe-line. The weak point is what we 'inherited' as a weak organ, or what we neglected to become a weak organ... may be liver, kidney, heart, lungs, stomach, head(!) etc.....The reversal process may be a bit slower, but one has to do it by a conscious choice, & with concerted effort.
Best wishes.
This is a very common ‘present-day’ feature with teen-age-children. The parents try to attribute the irritable nature, tiredness, sleepy nature etc to the overload of books, syllabus, the crowd at the outside life, etc…. Pampering this irritable nature only goes to accentuate the problem (subtly giving the seal of ‘approval’ that it is quite ‘natural’ in the present day situation!).
In fact, I was rather sort of ‘waiting’ for this question, where I can link up this fairly common ‘phenomenon’ , though ‘technically’ these three cannot be linked together (anger, tiredness, sleepy tendencies).
Not that the adults are left out of this problem (perhaps, I may end up irritating them further, if I suggest that it is a bit ‘late’ for them to correct themselves at a ‘tangible’ speed!)
It would be more prudent to stick to brevity on subjects of anger, tiredness and sleepy-ness, for obvious reasons, so I simply wind up here, quoting the question and my answer hereunder.
Regards,
Psn(9th December, 2009)
Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AlyYi6kIxlu6ds2r2P7iiTeRHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091208160535AAx8IVt&show=7#profile-info-AO9AF7gtaa
The question:
Why am i angry, tired, sleepy all the time?
i've been sleeping from 7 pm till 5 am (that's when I have to get up) and i'm still tired and sleepy. And i've been irritated at everything. For instance, someone could ask me a question and i'll just get randomly irritated. I don't understand why?
My answer:
Resistance, intolerance deep within can cause anger when we are unable to remove the obstacles that cause this resistance or intolerance.The rigidities caused at nervous level when we 'recognise' our helplessness increases within our body, and keeps growing subconsciously (in the background, in a subtle manner), causing stress, tension. Small doses of mild anger flares up when there is already stress/strain built up. As a contrast, please see, when we are over joyous, we gently say 'Oh! it is all right' when somebody in a crowded bus steps on our toe!Continuous rigidity and resultant strain/stress/tension drains the energy levels drastically, making a person tired too soon, and induces sleep tendencies, in its humble effort to restore the energy from its reserves (the food digests very slowly in a 'rigid' body!). Anger also contributes little bit of draining of energy, but the larger damage done by anger is pumping of blood enriched with lots of blood sugar. In turn this unused blood-sugar attempts to spend itself in vain. Invariably, it seeks an outlet. The process of seeking an outlet resembles the pressure in water breaking open at a weak point of the pipe-line. The weak point is what we 'inherited' as a weak organ, or what we neglected to become a weak organ... may be liver, kidney, heart, lungs, stomach, head(!) etc.....The reversal process may be a bit slower, but one has to do it by a conscious choice, & with concerted effort.
Best wishes.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Key 'holding' during Travel
Soon after I had managed to ‘stand on my own legs’ I got myself enmeshed into a desire to travel. Somehow I felt that to make the most use of my waking time, I have to visit as many places as possible, visit places of worship in particular, and the places which had been very significant in the lives of people who lived centuries ago. The idea was to gather the essence of experiences of people who live now and those who lived previously, thereby deepening my own experience of life. I never had an occasion to share my ‘key’ learnings from the travel experiences. This question made me look at that aspect of my travels. There is nothing much to share about it, and travel-preferences or priorities are individualistic. So no prescriptions are ‘tailor-made’. Yet I thought, it would amuse you to know how I looked at it.
Regards,
Psn(8th Dec., 209)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091202134209AAaoVWt&cp=2
What are some of your key learnings from your travel experiences?
It's going to be vacation time soon and most of us will be planning trips to different parts of the world. What have you learned from your previous travel experiences? Is it to remember to check all your documents and tickets? Is it to remember not to pack sharp objects? What do you ensure you do before you leave home and start the fun times?
My answer:
The planning part is very good to make a travel comfortable. But implementation of the plans should be selective, so as to make our alertness and awareness more 'available' to experience the place of visit. Most people just 'see' the places, and mention having visited them, and carry visual images in memory, or store captured images in celluloid or digital form. But they grossly miss the experience of the place! The experience of the place is the essence of travel. We should feel as if now we 'own that place' for ever, deep within ourselves. For this kind of experience to happen, we need lesser distractions(unnecessary luggage items, clothes, valuables, gadgets, undigested food in stomach, heavy fat content in storage areas of our body, worries in our mind, lack of sleep, disinterested co-travellers, etc). And then, a little bit of spirit of adventure would help us to explore unexpected potentials of the place of visit, and give our selves that unique surprise gift of amazement, to cherish, remember and 're-live' them at will for the rest of our lives. It would be a bonus, if we happen to make a difference in the lives of people living in the place of visit, sharing joy through our intense involvement in their concerns, however brief that may be. It is like leaving our fingerprints at the places of visit for ever, in the sands of time! The conclusive 'test' of our fruitful cumulative travels is that over a period of time, the urge, the need to travel gradually satiates like a hungry stomach feels satisfied after feasting on variety filled meal, and yet keeps feeling the heightened taste right from the pit of stomach in its belches(the best ever feed back that the tongue can have)!
Regards,
Psn(8th Dec., 209)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091202134209AAaoVWt&cp=2
What are some of your key learnings from your travel experiences?
It's going to be vacation time soon and most of us will be planning trips to different parts of the world. What have you learned from your previous travel experiences? Is it to remember to check all your documents and tickets? Is it to remember not to pack sharp objects? What do you ensure you do before you leave home and start the fun times?
My answer:
The planning part is very good to make a travel comfortable. But implementation of the plans should be selective, so as to make our alertness and awareness more 'available' to experience the place of visit. Most people just 'see' the places, and mention having visited them, and carry visual images in memory, or store captured images in celluloid or digital form. But they grossly miss the experience of the place! The experience of the place is the essence of travel. We should feel as if now we 'own that place' for ever, deep within ourselves. For this kind of experience to happen, we need lesser distractions(unnecessary luggage items, clothes, valuables, gadgets, undigested food in stomach, heavy fat content in storage areas of our body, worries in our mind, lack of sleep, disinterested co-travellers, etc). And then, a little bit of spirit of adventure would help us to explore unexpected potentials of the place of visit, and give our selves that unique surprise gift of amazement, to cherish, remember and 're-live' them at will for the rest of our lives. It would be a bonus, if we happen to make a difference in the lives of people living in the place of visit, sharing joy through our intense involvement in their concerns, however brief that may be. It is like leaving our fingerprints at the places of visit for ever, in the sands of time! The conclusive 'test' of our fruitful cumulative travels is that over a period of time, the urge, the need to travel gradually satiates like a hungry stomach feels satisfied after feasting on variety filled meal, and yet keeps feeling the heightened taste right from the pit of stomach in its belches(the best ever feed back that the tongue can have)!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Abstraction, thou art the architect of distraction!
I saw a question, which did not attract many answers!
Please take a look at the question, and let it have a try at how you feel about it!
The question:
Quote:
How can i break an embarrassing habit?
this will sound weird, i know.. my problem is that whenever i socialize with people, i tend to divert my attention from the person am speaking to into another thing, thus i lose focus. when i am at a friend's house, and they bring food, i then start thinking of the food in front of me and cannot remove this idea from my head. it is important to mention that in fact do not care for the food or desire it, but i have this habit to shift my attention to it when it is present. the embarrassing thing is that friends notice that am thinking of the food, and thus i look like a dump. my habit does not reflect me, i do not care for food! PLEASE help me overpass this because i cannot enjoy my life unless this habit is gone forever.
Unquote:
My Comments about the question….
Looking at it the other way around, quite often, we do feel the difficulty in retaining the other person’s attention upon what we are trying to say!
Most of the teachers who are given those ‘dry’ topics to be delivered to students, know too well this problem.
We accidentally happen to land at some auditorium, where it turns out to be a philosophy-talk, especially those involving interpretation or commentaries on scriptures, religion etc. If it is a technical subject which contains mostly jargon, then we really had it!
Even the refresher courses at training centers arranged by employer-organizations usually turn out to be ‘lullaby-talks’! (I dread to think of how embarrassing it must be to the speaker who would have so painstakingly prepared for the lecture, and in his anxiety to ‘squeeze-in’ maximum of essence into the little, allotted time-slot, missed out the vital element of ‘how to ensure riveted attention of the listeners’!).
When we make a courtesy visit to friends and relatives and the somebody strays into details of something abstract, the group slowly disintegrates, and it is ladies mostly who take the lead to lead people away! Not that the ladies are less capable, but at social gatherings, intense discussions are the last thing they prefer. They focus more on pleasantries, family enquiries and other ‘light’ subjects. We find that few people who are a bit oblivious of ‘fellow-considerations’ getting isolated as soon as they get ‘identified’ as potential threat to ‘lively’ gatherings!
But, when it does matter to us, to focus when needed most, some of us find it too difficult, and some of us find it a ‘lucky-day’ when we are able to focus better! It is here that I find scope to discuss; keeping in mind the positive effect it could have on growing children, if they are given a little bit of focused attention about how to focus attention!
Experts at communication evolve their own tailor-made techniques to ‘get’ attention to the theme and usually, they succeed at holding at least undivided attention of most of their audience. They introduce an element of humour, or an example that can be easily related to something that can be readily visualized. Deviation or digression from the main theme steals away the purpose of talk. Distraction is a double edged sword. It defeats the speaker and the listener, and in many ways too!
Let me proceed with the answer I gave:
Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArJDIfcjCbWNfuzTcV9qZFqQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091124014518AAMUvdn&show=7#profile-info-PXrgflL7aa
Perhaps, it is just that 'abstract' concepts are still a stranger to you. There are a few who have this problem. During discusions, it is usually mere exchange of words, and nothing tangible is placed before us to focus attention. That is why when something like 'food' is placed before us, the mind uses 'food' to get away from abstract 'words' (not that we are really too much interested in food!).
This is not a uncommon thing. When children are taken on a visit to see people who are total strangers, they have very little to 'converse'. They give briefest possible replies to questions, and try to remain silent. If a TV is now put on, their attention gets focused on TV, irrespective of any trash program that is on. Now if a new question is put to the child, it takes time to grasp the question, and gives not just a brief answer, but sometimes an incomplete reply too! (Try telling very interesting stories to children while they are just given a bowl of something they love very much to eat--like noodles etc, they may not be able to focus on the listening to stories!).
As grown-ups, we are aware of 'social' obligations, and that is why we feel embarrased due to our inability to focus. Once this is clear, we can now consciously attempt to focus on 'abstract' things, and soon this problem can be got over. It is not a very serious problem. Best wishes.
Unquote:
The approach to the problem, as also the possible solutions is multi-faceted. It would be a drudgery to delve into all the details here.
But it would be indeed very useful to bring the ‘issue’ into focus, and inculcate the ‘element’ of a possible conscious application of mind at will, to be able to handle abstractions better. Concepts are what we hold as our everlasting assets, to dexterously handle life situations!
Regards,
Psn (28th November, 2009)
Please take a look at the question, and let it have a try at how you feel about it!
The question:
Quote:
How can i break an embarrassing habit?
this will sound weird, i know.. my problem is that whenever i socialize with people, i tend to divert my attention from the person am speaking to into another thing, thus i lose focus. when i am at a friend's house, and they bring food, i then start thinking of the food in front of me and cannot remove this idea from my head. it is important to mention that in fact do not care for the food or desire it, but i have this habit to shift my attention to it when it is present. the embarrassing thing is that friends notice that am thinking of the food, and thus i look like a dump. my habit does not reflect me, i do not care for food! PLEASE help me overpass this because i cannot enjoy my life unless this habit is gone forever.
Unquote:
My Comments about the question….
Looking at it the other way around, quite often, we do feel the difficulty in retaining the other person’s attention upon what we are trying to say!
Most of the teachers who are given those ‘dry’ topics to be delivered to students, know too well this problem.
We accidentally happen to land at some auditorium, where it turns out to be a philosophy-talk, especially those involving interpretation or commentaries on scriptures, religion etc. If it is a technical subject which contains mostly jargon, then we really had it!
Even the refresher courses at training centers arranged by employer-organizations usually turn out to be ‘lullaby-talks’! (I dread to think of how embarrassing it must be to the speaker who would have so painstakingly prepared for the lecture, and in his anxiety to ‘squeeze-in’ maximum of essence into the little, allotted time-slot, missed out the vital element of ‘how to ensure riveted attention of the listeners’!).
When we make a courtesy visit to friends and relatives and the somebody strays into details of something abstract, the group slowly disintegrates, and it is ladies mostly who take the lead to lead people away! Not that the ladies are less capable, but at social gatherings, intense discussions are the last thing they prefer. They focus more on pleasantries, family enquiries and other ‘light’ subjects. We find that few people who are a bit oblivious of ‘fellow-considerations’ getting isolated as soon as they get ‘identified’ as potential threat to ‘lively’ gatherings!
But, when it does matter to us, to focus when needed most, some of us find it too difficult, and some of us find it a ‘lucky-day’ when we are able to focus better! It is here that I find scope to discuss; keeping in mind the positive effect it could have on growing children, if they are given a little bit of focused attention about how to focus attention!
Experts at communication evolve their own tailor-made techniques to ‘get’ attention to the theme and usually, they succeed at holding at least undivided attention of most of their audience. They introduce an element of humour, or an example that can be easily related to something that can be readily visualized. Deviation or digression from the main theme steals away the purpose of talk. Distraction is a double edged sword. It defeats the speaker and the listener, and in many ways too!
Let me proceed with the answer I gave:
Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArJDIfcjCbWNfuzTcV9qZFqQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091124014518AAMUvdn&show=7#profile-info-PXrgflL7aa
Perhaps, it is just that 'abstract' concepts are still a stranger to you. There are a few who have this problem. During discusions, it is usually mere exchange of words, and nothing tangible is placed before us to focus attention. That is why when something like 'food' is placed before us, the mind uses 'food' to get away from abstract 'words' (not that we are really too much interested in food!).
This is not a uncommon thing. When children are taken on a visit to see people who are total strangers, they have very little to 'converse'. They give briefest possible replies to questions, and try to remain silent. If a TV is now put on, their attention gets focused on TV, irrespective of any trash program that is on. Now if a new question is put to the child, it takes time to grasp the question, and gives not just a brief answer, but sometimes an incomplete reply too! (Try telling very interesting stories to children while they are just given a bowl of something they love very much to eat--like noodles etc, they may not be able to focus on the listening to stories!).
As grown-ups, we are aware of 'social' obligations, and that is why we feel embarrased due to our inability to focus. Once this is clear, we can now consciously attempt to focus on 'abstract' things, and soon this problem can be got over. It is not a very serious problem. Best wishes.
Unquote:
The approach to the problem, as also the possible solutions is multi-faceted. It would be a drudgery to delve into all the details here.
But it would be indeed very useful to bring the ‘issue’ into focus, and inculcate the ‘element’ of a possible conscious application of mind at will, to be able to handle abstractions better. Concepts are what we hold as our everlasting assets, to dexterously handle life situations!
Regards,
Psn (28th November, 2009)
Friday, November 27, 2009
Listening!
While most of us are still groping to “feel” even our consciousness right now, there is a question about how to get to “listen’ to a Sub-Conscious voice!
Mind itself is not very clearly visible. Yet we are able to talk of our mind being calm, confused, upset, alert, dull, etc. So, logically, there is another fellow within us, who is keeping a ‘watch’ on this mind. (The brain is no problem at all, and not our problem too, as long as we can pay for a doctor!). This another fellow, seems to be one of these things :- soul, consciousness, life-energy, Aatma, Praana (with its 4 or 5 brothers) etc etc….
This subconscious is a bit fuzzy thing. Is it subordinate to the main conscious? Or is it the real boss, but known as ‘sub’ just because it lies hidden below the main conscious? Or is it the deeper layer of the conscious itself? As long as our “routine” life does not depend too much on this group of conscious/sub-conscious etc, it is not really a priority right now.
It was quite interesting to know that there are people who are keen to listen to something that is extra-sensory!
Having answered, I was curious to put it across to yet others, just to know how they “listen” to the echo!! (Yeah! Echo it is, for dubious reasons!)
Regards,
Psn(27th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkuVs56.h9f74FqxAoJYfSOQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091126215416AAoyr3j
The question:
How does one learn to listen to their subconscious?
I am a firm believer in our powers of intuition, the subconscious if you will. Are there any tactics to enhance our receptiveness to it? Any ways to be able to tune in to it easier? I have a pretty good intuition, but would like to strengthen it even more.
My answer:
Well, with such strong belief, it makes the matter only too simple (though not quite easy!)...
When we have to "listen" well on a phone, we have to keep shut and then try to listen.This sub-conscious cannot speak to us through a phone-like-means... So, we have to keep silent on our "inside", and yet remain very alert, sharp, focused and patient! It is the quality of 'waiting' silently and patiently that decides how soon we get to hear the subconscious!
Remaining silent inside is evolved into a great technique by evolved Masters since ancient times. This can happen naturally too, but it is a matter of chance and could take anywhere between the next moment to even a lifetime. These techniques are mere tools to make the possibility better, and sooner. "Meditation" is indeed a very high sounding word, but that is what the technique is about. And to bring us close to this meditativeness, the path is called spirituality. When others observe a person on spiritual path, and practising meditation, it looks like a very 'tough' thing to do. But, once the priorities are set firm, it is just fun all the way!
Best wishes.
Mind itself is not very clearly visible. Yet we are able to talk of our mind being calm, confused, upset, alert, dull, etc. So, logically, there is another fellow within us, who is keeping a ‘watch’ on this mind. (The brain is no problem at all, and not our problem too, as long as we can pay for a doctor!). This another fellow, seems to be one of these things :- soul, consciousness, life-energy, Aatma, Praana (with its 4 or 5 brothers) etc etc….
This subconscious is a bit fuzzy thing. Is it subordinate to the main conscious? Or is it the real boss, but known as ‘sub’ just because it lies hidden below the main conscious? Or is it the deeper layer of the conscious itself? As long as our “routine” life does not depend too much on this group of conscious/sub-conscious etc, it is not really a priority right now.
It was quite interesting to know that there are people who are keen to listen to something that is extra-sensory!
Having answered, I was curious to put it across to yet others, just to know how they “listen” to the echo!! (Yeah! Echo it is, for dubious reasons!)
Regards,
Psn(27th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkuVs56.h9f74FqxAoJYfSOQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091126215416AAoyr3j
The question:
How does one learn to listen to their subconscious?
I am a firm believer in our powers of intuition, the subconscious if you will. Are there any tactics to enhance our receptiveness to it? Any ways to be able to tune in to it easier? I have a pretty good intuition, but would like to strengthen it even more.
My answer:
Well, with such strong belief, it makes the matter only too simple (though not quite easy!)...
When we have to "listen" well on a phone, we have to keep shut and then try to listen.This sub-conscious cannot speak to us through a phone-like-means... So, we have to keep silent on our "inside", and yet remain very alert, sharp, focused and patient! It is the quality of 'waiting' silently and patiently that decides how soon we get to hear the subconscious!
Remaining silent inside is evolved into a great technique by evolved Masters since ancient times. This can happen naturally too, but it is a matter of chance and could take anywhere between the next moment to even a lifetime. These techniques are mere tools to make the possibility better, and sooner. "Meditation" is indeed a very high sounding word, but that is what the technique is about. And to bring us close to this meditativeness, the path is called spirituality. When others observe a person on spiritual path, and practising meditation, it looks like a very 'tough' thing to do. But, once the priorities are set firm, it is just fun all the way!
Best wishes.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
The Logic of Ethics!
We decide, judge, adjudicate, comment and pronounce our verdict about so many things, quite unawares of the fact that if it happens to ‘sail-through’ too often, such recklessness becomes our very attitude and way of being! We even try to decide how much fees a preceptor is eligible to ‘draw’ out of us(especially, even when we have a choice to precipitate away from preceptors)!
Regards,
Psn(25th Nov, 2009)
(quote:)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiwWjn2sIlVcZKUR5yBb6_CQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091123224416AAt2oUs
The question:
Are zoos unethical or not?
An answer to it:
If you feel that animals have property rights, then they have rights over their bodies and are ethically tied to the non aggression principle . Personally I don't feel that animals have a sense of property rights. I'm asserting that without evidence. I hope that's good enough for you.
A counter to this answer:
Blappers... is it ethical/moral to make assumptions that grant liberal permissions when you know there is no proof supporting the position?I would argue that "you have no rights because you havent proved you have rights" is an immoral perspective to hold, and validates notions such as slavery and womanizing on the grounds that the other person hasnt proven their sovereignty yet.If you want to discuss morality and pretend that you have any, you have to take a conservative position on the matter and assume (even if falsely) that animals do have sovereignty... until proven otherwise. (Not the other way around)Should I obligate you to prove your own sovereignty before I grant you freedom and rights? And then lock you up in a cage so that you cant under the presumption that you havent got any? It doesnt make sense to presuppose the conclusion in any argument, much less a conclusion that infringes on your rights and consequently hinders your ability to mount a counter-argument. Makes no sense, at least from a moralistic perspective.This is a common fallacy in western thought. We abort fetuses on the potentially false assumption that they are not alive... that perspective grants peoples liberal permissions to act as they see fit. Instead of the opposite perspective: to infringe on a woman's rights to self-dictate for a few months of her life in order to protect the life of a fetus, under the potentially false assumption that it is indeed alive. The moral uncertainty exists... so which is therefore the greater immorality? Why use the ignorance of a moral resolution as a tool to justify self-serving agendas? Moral culpability is not relinquished when you abuse your own ignorance, no matter how moral the act in and of itself may be.
The asker’s comments, having chosen this “counter” as the best answer:
The man sure knows where he stands. Hehehehe...
Anyone gotta' problem with that?
Regards,
Psn(25th Nov, 2009)
(quote:)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiwWjn2sIlVcZKUR5yBb6_CQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091123224416AAt2oUs
The question:
Are zoos unethical or not?
An answer to it:
If you feel that animals have property rights, then they have rights over their bodies and are ethically tied to the non aggression principle . Personally I don't feel that animals have a sense of property rights. I'm asserting that without evidence. I hope that's good enough for you.
A counter to this answer:
Blappers... is it ethical/moral to make assumptions that grant liberal permissions when you know there is no proof supporting the position?I would argue that "you have no rights because you havent proved you have rights" is an immoral perspective to hold, and validates notions such as slavery and womanizing on the grounds that the other person hasnt proven their sovereignty yet.If you want to discuss morality and pretend that you have any, you have to take a conservative position on the matter and assume (even if falsely) that animals do have sovereignty... until proven otherwise. (Not the other way around)Should I obligate you to prove your own sovereignty before I grant you freedom and rights? And then lock you up in a cage so that you cant under the presumption that you havent got any? It doesnt make sense to presuppose the conclusion in any argument, much less a conclusion that infringes on your rights and consequently hinders your ability to mount a counter-argument. Makes no sense, at least from a moralistic perspective.This is a common fallacy in western thought. We abort fetuses on the potentially false assumption that they are not alive... that perspective grants peoples liberal permissions to act as they see fit. Instead of the opposite perspective: to infringe on a woman's rights to self-dictate for a few months of her life in order to protect the life of a fetus, under the potentially false assumption that it is indeed alive. The moral uncertainty exists... so which is therefore the greater immorality? Why use the ignorance of a moral resolution as a tool to justify self-serving agendas? Moral culpability is not relinquished when you abuse your own ignorance, no matter how moral the act in and of itself may be.
The asker’s comments, having chosen this “counter” as the best answer:
The man sure knows where he stands. Hehehehe...
Anyone gotta' problem with that?
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Pain!
“Woh Haseen dard de dow, jisey mai gale laga looen … Woh nigaah mujh pe…....”
The moment one reads this caption, the mind races to tap the resource of one’s own memory bank!
A wonderful question gave me the chance to look at pain yet once again!
This time, it is brevity, which comes to my rescue, when there are certain taboos that I have to adhere to (or else, I would end up in the maze of ‘techniques’ which ensure subtle practices infused into the disciples by Spiritual Masters!).
Pain is not something new to us. We play with it literally. We say, ‘He is a pain in my neck!’ (This reminds me of my primitive stages of experimentation when I used to invoke the friendship-privileges at work place, with colleagues, and give them that ‘instant’ relief by a gentle insignificant touch at the neck portion. Little did they realize how vulnerable the nervous system was around that place! I am way beyond such indulgences now!). We also say, ‘ It pains me, when I see such wastage of natural resources (etc)’…
Heart-ache is yet again a form of that ‘emotional’ pain, at times, sweet too!
Then there is the ‘pain of separation’!
And old-age is nothing but essentially a summary of ‘pain-full’ experiences.
For most people, efficient pain-management constitutes resultant contentment, peace, and in a very restricted sense, ‘happy life’ too! It is here that there is a constant search for newer variety of ‘pain-killers’! We do not stop with drugs. Terrorists seek comfort under the consolation that they are seeking out to destroy pain-causers, when they turn themselves into ‘pain- killers’(in doing so, they inadvertently switch off that vital and precious in-built response system within themselves, which constitutes the essential element of being a ‘human-being’—they immunize their own emotional pain-responses to witnessing needless man-made suffering inflicted upon people around!)
So a correct understanding of pain is indeed worth one’s while.
If not, in our attempt to incessantly ‘diffuse’ pain, we end up misusing it, abusing it, or even ‘disusing’ it. The consequences are far reaching and quite irreversible (“Melancholy” is one such situation, which even in turn, triggers a vicious circle!). When a doctor-friend of mine was discussing the psychosomatic root causes of a new type of disorder concerning bowel evacuation, my attention was instantly drawn to mishandling of a set of response-oriented nerves, which would have contributed largely to the symptom! Fortunately for me, there was another well-learned friend of ours who steered us away from my readiness to address the issue, with a ‘valid’ reference to my medical-incompetence! The issue was quite deep, and exceedingly fascinating indeed, given my efforts in spiritual field! I felt rescued (both, in mystic and literal sense!).
It is now up to individual preferences to look at it ‘afresh’. I choose to remain contended with merely quoting the question, my answer, and to those who happen to retain sensitivity beyond pain, a link which I recommend as quite informative!
Regards,
Psn(24th November, 2009)
The (pain-full) quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Avjcw8YZX0f57cNb7UTokZqQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091123105025AAiPI4k&show=7#profile-info-TuESRYH8aa
The question:
How does a person define pain?
My (pain-full) answer:
We have to try it out, in a way that it suits the phenomenon infallibly....Pain is a neurological response directed towards brain, requesting for urgent attention from the 'brain' to direct 'voluntary' means of responses to complement the actions of involuntary 'set' of inbuilt mechanisms, to bring back normalcy to that part of the body which is affected adversely
...
Even an insect bite causes slight pain. Our hands reach out to scratch that area. The efforts of our fingers (or even nails), complement by the scratch to spread out the poison speedily and save the affected cells from 'death' , decay or degeneration.We feel 'emotional-pain'. The heart beat rate shoots up. It is the 'fight-or-flight' action oriented response system that is invoked. It is the heart that sends up the message "I am working overtime' to pump extra flow rate of blood, to enable quicker action to save some 'unknown' threat perception to the very survival of 'entire' body(!). The brain's neurological mechanism sends this message of 'danger' to heart, and heart responds with higher rate of beats. The brain is simply a processor of what ever data is given as 'input' (whether from memory, poor visualisation, hallucination, wrong judgment or what ever!). That is why imbalanced mind causes faulty signals, and in turn health problems (it means prosperity 'for' psychiatrists!).
The link:
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2008/11/24/stories/2008112450090300.htm
The moment one reads this caption, the mind races to tap the resource of one’s own memory bank!
A wonderful question gave me the chance to look at pain yet once again!
This time, it is brevity, which comes to my rescue, when there are certain taboos that I have to adhere to (or else, I would end up in the maze of ‘techniques’ which ensure subtle practices infused into the disciples by Spiritual Masters!).
Pain is not something new to us. We play with it literally. We say, ‘He is a pain in my neck!’ (This reminds me of my primitive stages of experimentation when I used to invoke the friendship-privileges at work place, with colleagues, and give them that ‘instant’ relief by a gentle insignificant touch at the neck portion. Little did they realize how vulnerable the nervous system was around that place! I am way beyond such indulgences now!). We also say, ‘ It pains me, when I see such wastage of natural resources (etc)’…
Heart-ache is yet again a form of that ‘emotional’ pain, at times, sweet too!
Then there is the ‘pain of separation’!
And old-age is nothing but essentially a summary of ‘pain-full’ experiences.
For most people, efficient pain-management constitutes resultant contentment, peace, and in a very restricted sense, ‘happy life’ too! It is here that there is a constant search for newer variety of ‘pain-killers’! We do not stop with drugs. Terrorists seek comfort under the consolation that they are seeking out to destroy pain-causers, when they turn themselves into ‘pain- killers’(in doing so, they inadvertently switch off that vital and precious in-built response system within themselves, which constitutes the essential element of being a ‘human-being’—they immunize their own emotional pain-responses to witnessing needless man-made suffering inflicted upon people around!)
So a correct understanding of pain is indeed worth one’s while.
If not, in our attempt to incessantly ‘diffuse’ pain, we end up misusing it, abusing it, or even ‘disusing’ it. The consequences are far reaching and quite irreversible (“Melancholy” is one such situation, which even in turn, triggers a vicious circle!). When a doctor-friend of mine was discussing the psychosomatic root causes of a new type of disorder concerning bowel evacuation, my attention was instantly drawn to mishandling of a set of response-oriented nerves, which would have contributed largely to the symptom! Fortunately for me, there was another well-learned friend of ours who steered us away from my readiness to address the issue, with a ‘valid’ reference to my medical-incompetence! The issue was quite deep, and exceedingly fascinating indeed, given my efforts in spiritual field! I felt rescued (both, in mystic and literal sense!).
It is now up to individual preferences to look at it ‘afresh’. I choose to remain contended with merely quoting the question, my answer, and to those who happen to retain sensitivity beyond pain, a link which I recommend as quite informative!
Regards,
Psn(24th November, 2009)
The (pain-full) quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Avjcw8YZX0f57cNb7UTokZqQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091123105025AAiPI4k&show=7#profile-info-TuESRYH8aa
The question:
How does a person define pain?
My (pain-full) answer:
We have to try it out, in a way that it suits the phenomenon infallibly....Pain is a neurological response directed towards brain, requesting for urgent attention from the 'brain' to direct 'voluntary' means of responses to complement the actions of involuntary 'set' of inbuilt mechanisms, to bring back normalcy to that part of the body which is affected adversely
...
Even an insect bite causes slight pain. Our hands reach out to scratch that area. The efforts of our fingers (or even nails), complement by the scratch to spread out the poison speedily and save the affected cells from 'death' , decay or degeneration.We feel 'emotional-pain'. The heart beat rate shoots up. It is the 'fight-or-flight' action oriented response system that is invoked. It is the heart that sends up the message "I am working overtime' to pump extra flow rate of blood, to enable quicker action to save some 'unknown' threat perception to the very survival of 'entire' body(!). The brain's neurological mechanism sends this message of 'danger' to heart, and heart responds with higher rate of beats. The brain is simply a processor of what ever data is given as 'input' (whether from memory, poor visualisation, hallucination, wrong judgment or what ever!). That is why imbalanced mind causes faulty signals, and in turn health problems (it means prosperity 'for' psychiatrists!).
The link:
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2008/11/24/stories/2008112450090300.htm
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Baabul Ka Ghar
Laaga Chunari mein daag, chupaun kaise…..
A song that never tired me of listening, right from child hood. And, as I grew up, I felt a bit fortunate that I “happened” to like a song which has a deep meaning too!
I did not quite expect that a question about the link between Sasural and Babul ka Ghar would appear thus! At school, as a kid too, it so happened a few times, that I happen to learn an obscure, not-so-important-looking piece out of “test-portion” allotted for periodical exams in school, and just that one comes as a short notes question or so(with a small ‘twist’ too sometimes)! There is a thrill, when most others opt out leaving it as a ‘choice’. To me, leaving something choicelessly did not really appeal as a ‘choice-leaving-out’ even then (but I was very hesitant to propose it, even as a valid argument, with even my classmates, leave alone elders!).
This connectivity between the mortality and immortality reminded me of that unexpected obscure bit appearing in the ‘question-paper’ (at school). Not that this link is unimportant, or even that people are not concerned. But very few actually prefer to choose it as a choice!
Whether I am right or wrong about the link is verily one’s choice indeed. I am not very sure if I would score any ‘fractional’ marks even for this ‘bit-question’ I attempted.
Regards,
Psn(18th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091115183811AAbj9aW
The question:
Tell me, spiritually, in your own words.. how does mortality complement immortality?
Thoughts...?
I did say... morTality ;-)
My answer :
The 'unity' holds the other 'complementary' half with itself, to keep the separated half attracted to reach back to its source. We find the same phenomenon everywhere. What comes out of the earth goes back to it. Water travels to sky and comes back to earth. Planets keep rotating around the sun, held by its magnetism (or whatever), as long as the planets can effectively offer Resistance from yielding to its pull. Sleep pulls us back into the nothingness, seeking our hidden complementary half for a while, so that our 'something' does not become too shaky by keeping awake for too long a time! Spiritually, the effort is to enjoy the merger and separation all the while, using that 'awareness' by consciously dropping the wrong identification with just the 'manifest' half in ignorance.
A song that never tired me of listening, right from child hood. And, as I grew up, I felt a bit fortunate that I “happened” to like a song which has a deep meaning too!
I did not quite expect that a question about the link between Sasural and Babul ka Ghar would appear thus! At school, as a kid too, it so happened a few times, that I happen to learn an obscure, not-so-important-looking piece out of “test-portion” allotted for periodical exams in school, and just that one comes as a short notes question or so(with a small ‘twist’ too sometimes)! There is a thrill, when most others opt out leaving it as a ‘choice’. To me, leaving something choicelessly did not really appeal as a ‘choice-leaving-out’ even then (but I was very hesitant to propose it, even as a valid argument, with even my classmates, leave alone elders!).
This connectivity between the mortality and immortality reminded me of that unexpected obscure bit appearing in the ‘question-paper’ (at school). Not that this link is unimportant, or even that people are not concerned. But very few actually prefer to choose it as a choice!
Whether I am right or wrong about the link is verily one’s choice indeed. I am not very sure if I would score any ‘fractional’ marks even for this ‘bit-question’ I attempted.
Regards,
Psn(18th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091115183811AAbj9aW
The question:
Tell me, spiritually, in your own words.. how does mortality complement immortality?
Thoughts...?
I did say... morTality ;-)
My answer :
The 'unity' holds the other 'complementary' half with itself, to keep the separated half attracted to reach back to its source. We find the same phenomenon everywhere. What comes out of the earth goes back to it. Water travels to sky and comes back to earth. Planets keep rotating around the sun, held by its magnetism (or whatever), as long as the planets can effectively offer Resistance from yielding to its pull. Sleep pulls us back into the nothingness, seeking our hidden complementary half for a while, so that our 'something' does not become too shaky by keeping awake for too long a time! Spiritually, the effort is to enjoy the merger and separation all the while, using that 'awareness' by consciously dropping the wrong identification with just the 'manifest' half in ignorance.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
At cross-roads!
Very few are really bothered about which of the two main paths to choose. Making both ends meet takes up the quality time of our minds!
But after a certain age, we find our physical bodies no longer capable to do justice to “fullest” enjoyment of ‘indulgence-games’…. When the body was capable, there was less of enjoyment, and more of ‘letting off the steam’. What a predicament, this life-journey is!
When the body is unfit for anything else, the mind now tries to seek comfort from that devotional path. That is when exactly this question comes up. Whether wisdom or devotion is better, to make some mention-worthy progress, is the question. We are not very sure if our cleverness, smartness, cunningness etc, which had so long managed a fake passport in the name of ‘wisdom’ would now work! And the very same ‘over-smartness’ might not permit wholehearted surrender that the ‘devotional’ path demands! Devotion for its own sake looks a bit hollow too!
These are the questions that torment the mind of a person who did not have a chance to plan one’s own upper-middle age. The situation simply drove the person hither and thither!
Be it as it may, but no harm at looking into which of the path is suitable.
That was what the question was about.
A quite discouraging answer is what I thought of it, after having submitted. But when it found the mark, I thought some of us would like to take a look at it. The irony is that if this answer finds appeal, an immediate indispensable corrolary is that the preparation ought to start at teens or youth itself.!
Regards,
Psn(18th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgfSCEuHOq5hGBgUGC.5YlqQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091116194444AAIXTMp
The question:
Which is more important wisdom or devotion............?
give reason?
My answer:
Depends upon the person choosing between the two.Wisdom requires tremendous alertness, good analytical skills, and open-minded-logic.Devotion requires unconditional trust.
In the present day lifestyle, devotion does not look very practical to reach the highest, though it seems to work for some temporary gains. The traditional prescriptions of different paths do not find relevance today, because the minds have become too complex. A person needs all the four paths (which include these two too), and yet a little more of one of those four according to basic inclinations. Women are naturally attracted towards devotion more, because nature has designed them to be more emotional than logical.
But after a certain age, we find our physical bodies no longer capable to do justice to “fullest” enjoyment of ‘indulgence-games’…. When the body was capable, there was less of enjoyment, and more of ‘letting off the steam’. What a predicament, this life-journey is!
When the body is unfit for anything else, the mind now tries to seek comfort from that devotional path. That is when exactly this question comes up. Whether wisdom or devotion is better, to make some mention-worthy progress, is the question. We are not very sure if our cleverness, smartness, cunningness etc, which had so long managed a fake passport in the name of ‘wisdom’ would now work! And the very same ‘over-smartness’ might not permit wholehearted surrender that the ‘devotional’ path demands! Devotion for its own sake looks a bit hollow too!
These are the questions that torment the mind of a person who did not have a chance to plan one’s own upper-middle age. The situation simply drove the person hither and thither!
Be it as it may, but no harm at looking into which of the path is suitable.
That was what the question was about.
A quite discouraging answer is what I thought of it, after having submitted. But when it found the mark, I thought some of us would like to take a look at it. The irony is that if this answer finds appeal, an immediate indispensable corrolary is that the preparation ought to start at teens or youth itself.!
Regards,
Psn(18th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgfSCEuHOq5hGBgUGC.5YlqQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091116194444AAIXTMp
The question:
Which is more important wisdom or devotion............?
give reason?
My answer:
Depends upon the person choosing between the two.Wisdom requires tremendous alertness, good analytical skills, and open-minded-logic.Devotion requires unconditional trust.
In the present day lifestyle, devotion does not look very practical to reach the highest, though it seems to work for some temporary gains. The traditional prescriptions of different paths do not find relevance today, because the minds have become too complex. A person needs all the four paths (which include these two too), and yet a little more of one of those four according to basic inclinations. Women are naturally attracted towards devotion more, because nature has designed them to be more emotional than logical.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The Balancing Act!
When ever I had the opportunity to hear a lecture or a talk by a spiritual Master, I know I can look forward to ‘out-of-ordinary-questions’ from the audience. All that matters is that the time-slot permits for such questions!
So, that is where my fascination to deal with such questions finds its roots!
The question and my answer to it seems to hardly need any further elaboration.
I take courage to put it across to you is from the fact that the asker finds a ‘logical’ appeal in it. That, is something special, especially since the question is about emotions!
All I can assure you is that reading this, may not at all cause a burden on you to exert yourself to ‘balance’ the ‘disproportionate’ movement, (if any at all ,) within!
Regards,
Psn(17th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091115181204AAGRN7E
The question:
Are our feelings and emotions 'disproportionate' to our 'capability'?
Why are we often OVERWHELMED by our feelings and emotions?
My answer:
It is just because our logic incessantly attempts to contain our emotions.We try to hold back our tears, to LOGICALLY appear appropriate amidst 'decent' folks!We try to suppress our laughter to logically suit the occasion of a condolence meeting or so, where the laughter-evoking-situation had occurred naturally or inadvertently.We try to suppress our fear to logically disallow the adversary a better advantage of foretelling our conceding of defeat at the other's hands!We try to conceal our jealousy, intolerance, hatred, Resistance to avoid getting revealed, thus maintaining that 'generous' gentlemanly look!We suppress our excitement/eagerness/anxiety in a shop when we discover that the shopkeeper has just the very same item we want to buy, so that we can logically retain our negotiating power to bargain as if we are "not that much interested to buy, unless he gives a discount or so"
..
And, there are times, when we logically assess ourselves to be reasonably calm, and are surprised at a surge of emotion, trying to manifest itself like some sudden tsunami wave, which does take us by surprise! After all, logic takes sequential time to build up analytically and arrive at a result, where as emotion is ever-logic-defying and often abrupt, if the perception is deep enough and alert!
So, that is where my fascination to deal with such questions finds its roots!
The question and my answer to it seems to hardly need any further elaboration.
I take courage to put it across to you is from the fact that the asker finds a ‘logical’ appeal in it. That, is something special, especially since the question is about emotions!
All I can assure you is that reading this, may not at all cause a burden on you to exert yourself to ‘balance’ the ‘disproportionate’ movement, (if any at all ,) within!
Regards,
Psn(17th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091115181204AAGRN7E
The question:
Are our feelings and emotions 'disproportionate' to our 'capability'?
Why are we often OVERWHELMED by our feelings and emotions?
My answer:
It is just because our logic incessantly attempts to contain our emotions.We try to hold back our tears, to LOGICALLY appear appropriate amidst 'decent' folks!We try to suppress our laughter to logically suit the occasion of a condolence meeting or so, where the laughter-evoking-situation had occurred naturally or inadvertently.We try to suppress our fear to logically disallow the adversary a better advantage of foretelling our conceding of defeat at the other's hands!We try to conceal our jealousy, intolerance, hatred, Resistance to avoid getting revealed, thus maintaining that 'generous' gentlemanly look!We suppress our excitement/eagerness/anxiety in a shop when we discover that the shopkeeper has just the very same item we want to buy, so that we can logically retain our negotiating power to bargain as if we are "not that much interested to buy, unless he gives a discount or so"
..
And, there are times, when we logically assess ourselves to be reasonably calm, and are surprised at a surge of emotion, trying to manifest itself like some sudden tsunami wave, which does take us by surprise! After all, logic takes sequential time to build up analytically and arrive at a result, where as emotion is ever-logic-defying and often abrupt, if the perception is deep enough and alert!
The 'Earthing' Factor
I felt a sense of excitement, when I came across this question. I had thought that the traditional custom or ritual is almost extinct, or forgotten. And now, ‘presto’! here comes somebody asking for the reason behind it!
Bowing to mother earth has currently got into trouble with political controversies with religious sentiments overlapping!
Mere quoting of traditional beliefs do not seem to work with the present-day-minds!
Quite reasonable, agreed. But then, if unaccompanied by a keen enquiring mind, the rich heritage passed down from generations would get lost due to ‘blind-disbelief’!
For me, the question is an awaited ‘excuse’ to remind ourselves of something that is perhaps very precious, though it costs almost nothing to try it out!
Now it is up to us to keep it or throw it away!
Regards,
Psn(17th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091116184026AAbrTgN
The question:
Why to touch earth when you wake up?
people say that, one has to touch the earth with is hand(only hand) first and then wake up (or then the legs)... why ?
My answer:
Scientifically, we may try to compare it with 'earthing' (the neutral line, required to complete the circuit in power cables, electric current...)
Traditionally there is another example. In Hindu way of life, the annual ceremony of a dead person performed on the lunar phase of date of death(tithi), is also using direct contact with earth (in contrast to other rituals/pujas done sitting on a non-conductor like wooden plank, cushion, Kusha-grass, deer-skin, etc). Here too the reason is to 'provide' earthing to the person invoked (that person is presumed to be floating, without the body).
Everyday, we go into a sort of 'nothing-ness' while asleep. In our own experience, we are almost like 'dead' to the outside world during our sleep state. So, soon after waking, we make the contact or the 'earthing' quicker by touching, to get back to worldly business at the earliest. We have that 'extra-gravity' problem getting out of bed when we wake up :)
This tradition is almost extinct! Many people would not have even heard of it! A special thanks to you for this question, giving an opportunity to look at it with the modern scientific way of looking at it! The previous generations were more trusting, quite innocent, ignorant of modern-like-logic, so the belief system worked well, when the explanations were belief-oriented, like treating the earth like a goddess, and bowing, worshipping by that humble touch .. etc. Even this traditional belief has its value, but to experience it, a person has to evolve beyond logic! For those who can afford to believe and trust, the traditional explanations too are very precious and hold good value.
Bowing to mother earth has currently got into trouble with political controversies with religious sentiments overlapping!
Mere quoting of traditional beliefs do not seem to work with the present-day-minds!
Quite reasonable, agreed. But then, if unaccompanied by a keen enquiring mind, the rich heritage passed down from generations would get lost due to ‘blind-disbelief’!
For me, the question is an awaited ‘excuse’ to remind ourselves of something that is perhaps very precious, though it costs almost nothing to try it out!
Now it is up to us to keep it or throw it away!
Regards,
Psn(17th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091116184026AAbrTgN
The question:
Why to touch earth when you wake up?
people say that, one has to touch the earth with is hand(only hand) first and then wake up (or then the legs)... why ?
My answer:
Scientifically, we may try to compare it with 'earthing' (the neutral line, required to complete the circuit in power cables, electric current...)
Traditionally there is another example. In Hindu way of life, the annual ceremony of a dead person performed on the lunar phase of date of death(tithi), is also using direct contact with earth (in contrast to other rituals/pujas done sitting on a non-conductor like wooden plank, cushion, Kusha-grass, deer-skin, etc). Here too the reason is to 'provide' earthing to the person invoked (that person is presumed to be floating, without the body).
Everyday, we go into a sort of 'nothing-ness' while asleep. In our own experience, we are almost like 'dead' to the outside world during our sleep state. So, soon after waking, we make the contact or the 'earthing' quicker by touching, to get back to worldly business at the earliest. We have that 'extra-gravity' problem getting out of bed when we wake up :)
This tradition is almost extinct! Many people would not have even heard of it! A special thanks to you for this question, giving an opportunity to look at it with the modern scientific way of looking at it! The previous generations were more trusting, quite innocent, ignorant of modern-like-logic, so the belief system worked well, when the explanations were belief-oriented, like treating the earth like a goddess, and bowing, worshipping by that humble touch .. etc. Even this traditional belief has its value, but to experience it, a person has to evolve beyond logic! For those who can afford to believe and trust, the traditional explanations too are very precious and hold good value.
Monday, November 16, 2009
अपने आप से रूठो ना (Forgive Myself)
When I have to request my own mind, ‘please forgive me’, it is a bit difficult! All that ‘character-building’ exercises that we arduously undertook all along, suddenly now, seems to turn against very own self! At the very start, it looks like giving ourselves undue concessions! We hear people say “I could never forgive myself for that….” and when they say so, we feel a bit proud too, of having such a person as our friend! Here is a person who is strict enough when it comes to own self! But I wonder, does it really work?
Anyway, a question came up where the asker was seeking a way out of frustration when he (or she perhaps) could not find a ‘release’ despite an attempt to forgive oneself. Here, I felt there is something I could offer as a suggestion. The asker seems to be quite impressed. So I was wondering if yet others might find it worth taking a look at.
Regards,
Psn(16th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091115185827AA4WRxb
The asker’s question:
I have forgiven myself but it seems as though I can't forget about the wrong I have done....?
I think so much and it becomes frustrating when I can't find answers as to why something happens. I am always looking for truth in situations and sometimes it can become very frustrating. People who think alot...What is it they do to keep their minds healthy and positive? and What keeps them to not dwell on the past and keep their minds rolling on the future? How is it done?
My reply:
Well, then try that 'forgiven myself' in two ways, instead of either of the ways.Emotionally console yourself, and forgive, with clear understanding of how emotions led us a bit astray, and caused the frustration.Logically too, analyse what happened, and how the logic failed us to cause that frustrating situation, due to our own acts of omission/commision etc, and resolve it conclusively and logically, taking a mental note to better ourselves next time.The memory of the situation by itself will never be the cause of frustration when looking at the past. In fact once the residue is resolved conclusively, only the 'positive' aspect of it remains, to serve us as a good lesson learnt for future guidance!(We might have heard of "Homer" the great ancient thinker, philosopher, and a wonderful legendary poet. He mentioned 'troubles & pebbles' as a solution to resolve such troubling memories. He used to take a few pebbles, keep one at a time in hand, ponder deep, resolve it either way, and cast away the pebble as 'dealt' with!)
Best wishes.
Anyway, a question came up where the asker was seeking a way out of frustration when he (or she perhaps) could not find a ‘release’ despite an attempt to forgive oneself. Here, I felt there is something I could offer as a suggestion. The asker seems to be quite impressed. So I was wondering if yet others might find it worth taking a look at.
Regards,
Psn(16th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091115185827AA4WRxb
The asker’s question:
I have forgiven myself but it seems as though I can't forget about the wrong I have done....?
I think so much and it becomes frustrating when I can't find answers as to why something happens. I am always looking for truth in situations and sometimes it can become very frustrating. People who think alot...What is it they do to keep their minds healthy and positive? and What keeps them to not dwell on the past and keep their minds rolling on the future? How is it done?
My reply:
Well, then try that 'forgiven myself' in two ways, instead of either of the ways.Emotionally console yourself, and forgive, with clear understanding of how emotions led us a bit astray, and caused the frustration.Logically too, analyse what happened, and how the logic failed us to cause that frustrating situation, due to our own acts of omission/commision etc, and resolve it conclusively and logically, taking a mental note to better ourselves next time.The memory of the situation by itself will never be the cause of frustration when looking at the past. In fact once the residue is resolved conclusively, only the 'positive' aspect of it remains, to serve us as a good lesson learnt for future guidance!(We might have heard of "Homer" the great ancient thinker, philosopher, and a wonderful legendary poet. He mentioned 'troubles & pebbles' as a solution to resolve such troubling memories. He used to take a few pebbles, keep one at a time in hand, ponder deep, resolve it either way, and cast away the pebble as 'dealt' with!)
Best wishes.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Transition of Trust
The quality of Trust that a person holds almost decides the very quality of life, irrespective of the material comforts affordable!
This trust takes strange shapes and forms (all of them quite abstract in nature!) in one’s experience. We even feel perplexed whether it was a ‘belief’ or a ‘trust’!
I found the question quoted below to be one that seems to touch one of the core issues involving trust. The transition (of that trust), when it happens within a person, it often reaches stagnation at most unlikely places! And the consequences (I would prefer to call it as ‘residues’, because it is the very residues that contributes to the bulk of our ‘karmic-natured-attitudes’!), solidify the stagnation! Quite fuzzy, I agree. But, then, trust itself is quite fuzzy, if only one were to reflect deep enough about it!
When I look at the question, the answer occurs, (of course the way it does, to me only, not necessarily the right one, the apt one, or even an agreeable one!).
But, very few are left out of this maze of trust and belief; I hope there you would agree. Perhaps, some of us feel too ‘sentimental’ to even touch it, to venture pondering over it, fearing that vulnerability!
Certain aspects of trust, I chose to merely make a passing reference, leaving it to the alert mind to grasp its significance, in my answer (call it the ways of a mystic or whatever! A ‘Guru’ is usually quite familiar with these aspects, being the one grappled with the problem of begetting that ‘trust’!).
Regards,
Psn(15th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091111154402AAlxuH2
Maybe the feeling of contended solitude can only be reached through a series of incidences with people?
that make you realise that it's only yourself you can trustdo you agree?
My answer:
Trust is understood in a deeper way only with intense life experiences.Initially, it is expected from others, instinctively.... like a child innocently trusts its parents, elders etc. With experience, this trust declines, with growing awareness about how people give priorities to their own personal desires surpassing even empathy, fellow consideration etc. Then comes, this phase of 'contended solitude’. This is a difficult phase, and if a person happens to go deeper within, then the 'Trust' now widens its scope in a big way, indescribably big! When that happens, now the trust on others happens effortlessly and without any expectation, or even the need to verify the trustworthiness of others! Consequences do not matter at all. When such trust is betrayed by others, the perception affords instant clarity of the cause, and forgiveness is also simultaneous! Quite incredible, but true, and purely experiential too!
This trust takes strange shapes and forms (all of them quite abstract in nature!) in one’s experience. We even feel perplexed whether it was a ‘belief’ or a ‘trust’!
I found the question quoted below to be one that seems to touch one of the core issues involving trust. The transition (of that trust), when it happens within a person, it often reaches stagnation at most unlikely places! And the consequences (I would prefer to call it as ‘residues’, because it is the very residues that contributes to the bulk of our ‘karmic-natured-attitudes’!), solidify the stagnation! Quite fuzzy, I agree. But, then, trust itself is quite fuzzy, if only one were to reflect deep enough about it!
When I look at the question, the answer occurs, (of course the way it does, to me only, not necessarily the right one, the apt one, or even an agreeable one!).
But, very few are left out of this maze of trust and belief; I hope there you would agree. Perhaps, some of us feel too ‘sentimental’ to even touch it, to venture pondering over it, fearing that vulnerability!
Certain aspects of trust, I chose to merely make a passing reference, leaving it to the alert mind to grasp its significance, in my answer (call it the ways of a mystic or whatever! A ‘Guru’ is usually quite familiar with these aspects, being the one grappled with the problem of begetting that ‘trust’!).
Regards,
Psn(15th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091111154402AAlxuH2
Maybe the feeling of contended solitude can only be reached through a series of incidences with people?
that make you realise that it's only yourself you can trustdo you agree?
My answer:
Trust is understood in a deeper way only with intense life experiences.Initially, it is expected from others, instinctively.... like a child innocently trusts its parents, elders etc. With experience, this trust declines, with growing awareness about how people give priorities to their own personal desires surpassing even empathy, fellow consideration etc. Then comes, this phase of 'contended solitude’. This is a difficult phase, and if a person happens to go deeper within, then the 'Trust' now widens its scope in a big way, indescribably big! When that happens, now the trust on others happens effortlessly and without any expectation, or even the need to verify the trustworthiness of others! Consequences do not matter at all. When such trust is betrayed by others, the perception affords instant clarity of the cause, and forgiveness is also simultaneous! Quite incredible, but true, and purely experiential too!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Childhood Snatchers!
That is what we the present day elders have turned out to be!
The famous songs, which reminds a person of one’s own sweet memories of childhood are no more relevant! (“Koi loutadey mere beetey huwhey din”, or “Yeh doulat bhi le lo, ye shohrat bhi lelo, bhaley cheen lo mujh se meri jawani, magar mujh ko de do wo bachpan ki yaadein….”)
These children of today, may not be left with any such memories at all! I can hope for some attention only when I am able to quote with some authenticity. I paste two articles by eminent people, and the more knowledgeable of them yet again seeks to quote a ‘spiritual’ poem!
Is it possible that we create at least a very nominal space for children in their routine daily life, how ever minimal our efforts turn out to be? In doing so, we send out a powerful thought process, which could snowball into a positive movement. Already there are a few institutions that have taken very powerful measures. And astoundingly enough there are courageous people to subscribe to it. There is a school, in South India, which assures that students face only one public exam (the 10th standard/Matriculation) as the earliest one. The same institution runs yet another informal school which does not fetch any recognised educational qualification at all! Yet there is a waiting list for admissions! The later one however assures that the child would grow into a ‘self-sufficient’ person irrespective of the outside situation! I am not at all canvassing for this or even such schools at present. Is it possible that we subscribe to this concept positively at least in our thought level! It is not really too much to ask when we have that collective accountability for having made those wonderful songs totally redundant!
Regards,
Psn(12th November, 2009)
(The quotes below are with due respect and acknowledgment to the sources)
1.
http://www.hindu.com/op/2009/11/08/stories/2009110851351400.htm
‘I only want to enjoy my childhood, ma’
(Dear co-parents, some of us might hear a small, fading voice making yet another attempt to reach us)
Inumella Sesikala
Amma, I don’t want to go to school.
I am just a child, Ma. I want someone to tell me stories and teach me. I want to watch tadpoles and butterflies and know what they eat, where they sleep. I want to climb a hill and catch a cloud to see what it is made of.
I want to wait with my hands in the stream and feel the fish swimming.
I want to run with the puppies, sing with the birds, and play with paper-boats in the rain.
I want to lie down on the soft green grass and hear the wind whisper.
Only then I want to learn more about them from the printed word.
Only after my imagination is fired, my thirst to know more has begun, a seed of ‘Why?’ is planted in my brain.
Amma, I feel trapped in the prison-like classroom. I feel my spirit slowly weakening with the monotonous teaching. Often, when I ask a basic question our teachers say, “No time for all that. Let us finish the syllabus.”
I get tired of studying just for marks without pausing to truly understand.
I want to go to the museum with my classmates and hear my teacher explain the stories of the artefacts.
I want plenty of nature trips where real Biology classes would be held.
I want to see colourful videos of volcanic eruptions and deep-sea dwellings.
I want our whole school to visit together the historic and cultural places in my city.
I want to learn astronomy after looking through a telescope once.
I don’t want to just read them in my textbooks; I want to see, hear, touch, smell and taste whatever I can. I want to experience.
Why can’t the school make at least one such trip every year?
And, I cannot stoop down anymore to carry my school sack. My back is ready to break. Why should I carry all the books everyday? Why can’t we have only two subjects per day? Or, why don’t we have lockers like in the Western schools? And, why should I squeeze in that over-crowded auto?
But, Amma, growing up no longer seems to be fun. I see only more of homework, winter projects, summer classes, weekly tests, monthly tests, quarterly, half-yearly and annual exams, external competitive exams, more tests, more competitions, more pressure, more stress…
When can I sing, paint, dance, swim, or cycle?
When I can just play cricket or even hide-and-seek?
What happened to that minimum sleep that you always say a child needs?
Why should I always study, study?
Amma, I am scared of increasing atrocities by untrustworthy teachers, ragging-raving seniors, acid-loving nuts, perverted adults…
Ma, right now, I don’t want to be a doctor, engineer or anything else.
I just want to feel safe and secure, play and learn without any stress before I become an adult like you.
I only want to enjoy my childhood, Ma.
2.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/12/stories/2009111254570900.htm
Need for creativity in classroom
The former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, writes:
I was happy to see the article “I only want to enjoy my childhood, ma” by Inumella Sesikala (Open Page, Nov. 8). I liked the article very much, which is a dream of every child. Creativity of children has to come out from the classroom. Some of us had such opportunities. Our children should go to primary school only at the age of six. Till then, we have to promote creativity of the children with great teachers and an innovative classroom environment.
Yesterday, when I was reading the book Spiritual Intelligence, The Ultimate Intelligence by Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall, I came across the poem, “The Student’s prayer.”
“The young son of a Chilean biologist, Umberto Maturana, became unhappy at school because he felt his teachers were making it impossible for him to learn. They wanted to teach him what they knew, rather than drawing out what he needed to learn. As a result Maturana wrote “The Student’s Prayer”, of which this translation is an abridged version. It perfectly expresses the spiritually intelligent individual’s response to the conforming pressures of parents, teachers, bosses or the crowd.
The Student’s Prayer
Don’t impose on me what you know,
I want to explore the unknown
And be the source of my own discoveries.
Let the known be my liberation, not my slavery.
The world of your truth can be my limitation;
Your wisdom my negation.
Don’t instruct me; let’s walk together.
Let my richness begin where yours ends.
Show me so that I can stand
On your shoulders.
Reveal yourself so that I can be
Something different.
You believe that every human being
Can love and create.
I understand, then, your fear
When I ask you to live according to your wisdom.
You will not know who I am
By listening to yourself.
Don’t instruct me; let me be.
Your failure is that I be identical to you.” I thought, there is a connectivity among young hearts even beyond ocean — “I only want to enjoy my childhood, ma” and “The Student’s Prayer.”
The famous songs, which reminds a person of one’s own sweet memories of childhood are no more relevant! (“Koi loutadey mere beetey huwhey din”, or “Yeh doulat bhi le lo, ye shohrat bhi lelo, bhaley cheen lo mujh se meri jawani, magar mujh ko de do wo bachpan ki yaadein….”)
These children of today, may not be left with any such memories at all! I can hope for some attention only when I am able to quote with some authenticity. I paste two articles by eminent people, and the more knowledgeable of them yet again seeks to quote a ‘spiritual’ poem!
Is it possible that we create at least a very nominal space for children in their routine daily life, how ever minimal our efforts turn out to be? In doing so, we send out a powerful thought process, which could snowball into a positive movement. Already there are a few institutions that have taken very powerful measures. And astoundingly enough there are courageous people to subscribe to it. There is a school, in South India, which assures that students face only one public exam (the 10th standard/Matriculation) as the earliest one. The same institution runs yet another informal school which does not fetch any recognised educational qualification at all! Yet there is a waiting list for admissions! The later one however assures that the child would grow into a ‘self-sufficient’ person irrespective of the outside situation! I am not at all canvassing for this or even such schools at present. Is it possible that we subscribe to this concept positively at least in our thought level! It is not really too much to ask when we have that collective accountability for having made those wonderful songs totally redundant!
Regards,
Psn(12th November, 2009)
(The quotes below are with due respect and acknowledgment to the sources)
1.
http://www.hindu.com/op/2009/11/08/stories/2009110851351400.htm
‘I only want to enjoy my childhood, ma’
(Dear co-parents, some of us might hear a small, fading voice making yet another attempt to reach us)
Inumella Sesikala
Amma, I don’t want to go to school.
I am just a child, Ma. I want someone to tell me stories and teach me. I want to watch tadpoles and butterflies and know what they eat, where they sleep. I want to climb a hill and catch a cloud to see what it is made of.
I want to wait with my hands in the stream and feel the fish swimming.
I want to run with the puppies, sing with the birds, and play with paper-boats in the rain.
I want to lie down on the soft green grass and hear the wind whisper.
Only then I want to learn more about them from the printed word.
Only after my imagination is fired, my thirst to know more has begun, a seed of ‘Why?’ is planted in my brain.
Amma, I feel trapped in the prison-like classroom. I feel my spirit slowly weakening with the monotonous teaching. Often, when I ask a basic question our teachers say, “No time for all that. Let us finish the syllabus.”
I get tired of studying just for marks without pausing to truly understand.
I want to go to the museum with my classmates and hear my teacher explain the stories of the artefacts.
I want plenty of nature trips where real Biology classes would be held.
I want to see colourful videos of volcanic eruptions and deep-sea dwellings.
I want our whole school to visit together the historic and cultural places in my city.
I want to learn astronomy after looking through a telescope once.
I don’t want to just read them in my textbooks; I want to see, hear, touch, smell and taste whatever I can. I want to experience.
Why can’t the school make at least one such trip every year?
And, I cannot stoop down anymore to carry my school sack. My back is ready to break. Why should I carry all the books everyday? Why can’t we have only two subjects per day? Or, why don’t we have lockers like in the Western schools? And, why should I squeeze in that over-crowded auto?
But, Amma, growing up no longer seems to be fun. I see only more of homework, winter projects, summer classes, weekly tests, monthly tests, quarterly, half-yearly and annual exams, external competitive exams, more tests, more competitions, more pressure, more stress…
When can I sing, paint, dance, swim, or cycle?
When I can just play cricket or even hide-and-seek?
What happened to that minimum sleep that you always say a child needs?
Why should I always study, study?
Amma, I am scared of increasing atrocities by untrustworthy teachers, ragging-raving seniors, acid-loving nuts, perverted adults…
Ma, right now, I don’t want to be a doctor, engineer or anything else.
I just want to feel safe and secure, play and learn without any stress before I become an adult like you.
I only want to enjoy my childhood, Ma.
2.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/12/stories/2009111254570900.htm
Need for creativity in classroom
The former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, writes:
I was happy to see the article “I only want to enjoy my childhood, ma” by Inumella Sesikala (Open Page, Nov. 8). I liked the article very much, which is a dream of every child. Creativity of children has to come out from the classroom. Some of us had such opportunities. Our children should go to primary school only at the age of six. Till then, we have to promote creativity of the children with great teachers and an innovative classroom environment.
Yesterday, when I was reading the book Spiritual Intelligence, The Ultimate Intelligence by Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall, I came across the poem, “The Student’s prayer.”
“The young son of a Chilean biologist, Umberto Maturana, became unhappy at school because he felt his teachers were making it impossible for him to learn. They wanted to teach him what they knew, rather than drawing out what he needed to learn. As a result Maturana wrote “The Student’s Prayer”, of which this translation is an abridged version. It perfectly expresses the spiritually intelligent individual’s response to the conforming pressures of parents, teachers, bosses or the crowd.
The Student’s Prayer
Don’t impose on me what you know,
I want to explore the unknown
And be the source of my own discoveries.
Let the known be my liberation, not my slavery.
The world of your truth can be my limitation;
Your wisdom my negation.
Don’t instruct me; let’s walk together.
Let my richness begin where yours ends.
Show me so that I can stand
On your shoulders.
Reveal yourself so that I can be
Something different.
You believe that every human being
Can love and create.
I understand, then, your fear
When I ask you to live according to your wisdom.
You will not know who I am
By listening to yourself.
Don’t instruct me; let me be.
Your failure is that I be identical to you.” I thought, there is a connectivity among young hearts even beyond ocean — “I only want to enjoy my childhood, ma” and “The Student’s Prayer.”
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Good enough to be boring!
Askers keep amazing me!
The very question in its latent contradiction, seemed to de-mystify the elusive root cause of boredom itself!
I should be the one to thank the asker, for a clue that I had been hunting for! Not that I was all that innocent, but to find a way to put it across in a way, that is easily (rather irrefutably) understood by others?
I hope you have a good reason now, to either agree or disagree.
Regards,
Psn(11th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091109224023AAeQ3kh
Do you find "good" boring?
My reply:
That's a very " good " clue!It could be no where else I guess!Just that the 'goodness' is yet to reveal itself!In my attempt to 'dissect' this 'boredom' I ended up into a maze searching for an equivalent word in any of the Indian languages too!There was another word, 'sentiment' for which I am looking out for an equivalent in Indian languages!!But, I think that settles the 'source' of boredom!
Thanks!!
The very question in its latent contradiction, seemed to de-mystify the elusive root cause of boredom itself!
I should be the one to thank the asker, for a clue that I had been hunting for! Not that I was all that innocent, but to find a way to put it across in a way, that is easily (rather irrefutably) understood by others?
I hope you have a good reason now, to either agree or disagree.
Regards,
Psn(11th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091109224023AAeQ3kh
Do you find "good" boring?
My reply:
That's a very " good " clue!It could be no where else I guess!Just that the 'goodness' is yet to reveal itself!In my attempt to 'dissect' this 'boredom' I ended up into a maze searching for an equivalent word in any of the Indian languages too!There was another word, 'sentiment' for which I am looking out for an equivalent in Indian languages!!But, I think that settles the 'source' of boredom!
Thanks!!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Batau (Shall I explain?)
Batau
“Shall I explain”
A question, and an answer that needs no further explanation.
A question of motivation, it is….
Regards,
Psn
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091109071405AASiPY0
Tell me, spiritually.. what motivates an individual to confront the challenges that most would run from?
What are those challenges?Thoughts...?
My ‘Batau”:
There was a joke. In Hindi language 'Batau' means 'tell, explain, show(how),' as a part of usage....A Hindi speaking person went to taste 'Punjabi' dishes, in a restaurant and asked 'what is today's special'. The reply was "Batau". The visitor said, "Batau". Once again the reply was "Batau". This happened for several times. Then the visitor elaborated, 'I asked what is special today, and you keep saying, "shall I explain" (the accent while pronouncing that 'batau' resembled the tone of enquiry, by the waiter)...Now the waiter elaborated, "Batau tho hai, aur kya batau?" (The dish is "batau", what else am I to elaborate). There was a dish called "Batau"........
Spirituality IS the motivation, by itself!!!
“Shall I explain”
A question, and an answer that needs no further explanation.
A question of motivation, it is….
Regards,
Psn
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091109071405AASiPY0
Tell me, spiritually.. what motivates an individual to confront the challenges that most would run from?
What are those challenges?Thoughts...?
My ‘Batau”:
There was a joke. In Hindi language 'Batau' means 'tell, explain, show(how),' as a part of usage....A Hindi speaking person went to taste 'Punjabi' dishes, in a restaurant and asked 'what is today's special'. The reply was "Batau". The visitor said, "Batau". Once again the reply was "Batau". This happened for several times. Then the visitor elaborated, 'I asked what is special today, and you keep saying, "shall I explain" (the accent while pronouncing that 'batau' resembled the tone of enquiry, by the waiter)...Now the waiter elaborated, "Batau tho hai, aur kya batau?" (The dish is "batau", what else am I to elaborate). There was a dish called "Batau"........
Spirituality IS the motivation, by itself!!!
Saturday, November 07, 2009
OCD test!
ज़िन्दगी भी एक नशा है मेरे दोस्त, जब चढ़ता है तो पूछो मत क्या आलम रहता है लेकिन.......
This life too is an intoxication my friend, and when it permeates in, do not ask what possesses us, but....
An intoxication like this must have crept into the asker, which triggered an obsession like थिंग that crept in him, and then he was anxious to get clarified!
Psn(7th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091106150200AAmHAsJ
Why am I obsessed with getting "dirty" so much?
Serious question. I used to have germophobia, and now it's the complete opposite. I rarely bathe, and I touch everything. Has my OCD gone 360 on me? because now i love getting my hands and feet dirty.is there a disorder named after this?is it a sign of mental illness?why does this make me feel good? (being contaminated)
My Nuska (recipe/solution):
This is not really an obsession. It is just a phase of transition, rejoicing that freedom from resistance. When acceptance deepens, there is a slight 'overdose' of tolerance.When a person suddenly becomes tolerant to music or singing, after having detested it for years, there is an urge to 'soak-in' that music for a while, and then it subsides to 'normalcy'.After a while, the optimum sense of hygiene would prevail, and then the cleaning would be need-based, or 'decided-by-situation' rather than one's own compulsive behaviour!Very few are fortunate to experience with this kind of change over! It sounds wonderful to know.
Best wishes.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Hardwork or luck, which do you prefer?
It is a very common and casual question!
If we understand the depth of it, perhaps, then for a better reason, for a longer sustaining reason, for a reason that does not impose dependence on the outside situation, we could choose hard work(otherwise, normally, we find our mind evading all our resolves to work hard !)
psn(6th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091105090853AAqZgeK
Hardwork or luck, which do you prefer?
My answer:
Luck is almost like the product of hard work. Lucky to win a lottery--somebody produced that money by hard work. Lucky to be born of wonderful parents--it takes a lot of hard work to become wonderful parents! Lucky to get a seat in a crowded bus--somebody beside us undergoes the 'hard work' of standing instead of us! Lucky to be born in a prosperous country--that country is prosperous due to hard work, honesty, good team spirit of a few generations!When we decide to forgo a part of the results of our hard work, somebody else is bound to be lucky!
If we understand the depth of it, perhaps, then for a better reason, for a longer sustaining reason, for a reason that does not impose dependence on the outside situation, we could choose hard work(otherwise, normally, we find our mind evading all our resolves to work hard !)
psn(6th November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091105090853AAqZgeK
Hardwork or luck, which do you prefer?
My answer:
Luck is almost like the product of hard work. Lucky to win a lottery--somebody produced that money by hard work. Lucky to be born of wonderful parents--it takes a lot of hard work to become wonderful parents! Lucky to get a seat in a crowded bus--somebody beside us undergoes the 'hard work' of standing instead of us! Lucky to be born in a prosperous country--that country is prosperous due to hard work, honesty, good team spirit of a few generations!When we decide to forgo a part of the results of our hard work, somebody else is bound to be lucky!
Complexity of Emotion-based concepts!
At the very outset, I have resolved to adhere to brevity. No point in trying out other’s patience!
I tried to look at ‘provocation’ as a violent form of temptation! To use a dramatic example, I choose to take a small incident from the war & its battles of the great epic “Mahabharata”.
Despite advice from a great being, none other than Lord Krishna himself, the divine charioteer, Arjuna could not bring upon himself to aim the fatal arrows, and unleash it upon the venerable Paterfamilias, the venerable Bhishma! Bhishma’s stature & character loomed large, clouding the vision of Arjuna. This hesitation “provoked” Krishna to climb down the chariot, take up his own weapon, the sudarsana Chakra and aim it at Bhishma! A puzzling contrast is that Bhishma, who has never known defeat, nor has ever refused an offer to combat, welcomes with open arms, bare palms, to joyously get killed by Krishna! To me, here, Bhishma’s conscious choice, a seemingly logic-defying one, represents the virtue of selfishness at its peak! (Yes! Ethics and selfishness seem to be in an endless conflict when we are torn between the two, when the choosing either of them becomes imminent, due to compulsions of situation, in our day-to-day-life routine! Selfishness in a deeper sense does advocate ethics, and then there is no inner conflict. That is the secret of our ancient mystics, the spiritual Masters!)
It is this unfair advantage to Bhishma, for which Arjuna does not like to become a root cause! He once again assures Krishna, to resume his resolve ‘not to take up arms himself’. This incident repeats several times! Then ultimately, Arjuna the sole spiritual disciple of Krishna, barely manages to grasp the complex concept of this emotional conflict, and obeys to slay Bhishma!
Some ‘ethical’ prescriptions like ‘do not nurture hate for others’ etc does not really seem to work in practical life! We need to seek better reasons, to cheerfully adopt this kind of ethics. Reasons which are not flimsy, like ‘trying to appear’ like a good person in the eyes of others! Such flimsy reasons only add up to stress within, and cause untold miseries like tension, BP, and related ailments like diabetes! That reminds me of a funny incident! We were a group chatting casually during the post feast-lunch session after a ‘match-fixing’ ceremony of a bride & groom. An elder lady was asserting ‘her’ non-availability to common causes of diabetes like tension, anger, stress, BP etc, when youngsters seated around were trying to suggest a possible cause for her mild manageable level of diabetes. I suddenly blurted out “Telling lies”! Quite unexpectedly, all the youngsters shouted “YES!”!! Despite all of us knowing too well, that this is not a logical answer, the elderly lady became a bit stiff-faced, serious and got deep into thoughts! I at once realized that I had, quite inadvertently, poked at a deep wound inside! (This lady is well known to the entire group, and is deeply respected for her grand stature, blemish-less character, stout honesty, and her health has been a constant concern of all the people around her, always! So, it is not the commonly referred meaning of “telling Lies” that caused laughter to the youngsters or the ‘stiffness’ to that lovable elderly lady!) This is the problem with trying to be ‘ethical’ for superficial reasons! It ends up causing health problems, as an immediate side-effect. I lack courage to mention the other ‘karmic’ side effects! I suppose now, it would be somewhat clear, as to what kind of ‘ethical’ error-bug that Arjuna tried to avoid, and yet needed some time to grasp a ‘better’ reason to adhere to the very same ‘ethics’ while taking the crucial decision to slay Bhishma !
It is this complexity (ethics, emotions, its concepts) that I liked to ‘bring to your kind attention’ for the present!
Regards,Psn (6th November, 2009)
I tried to look at ‘provocation’ as a violent form of temptation! To use a dramatic example, I choose to take a small incident from the war & its battles of the great epic “Mahabharata”.
Despite advice from a great being, none other than Lord Krishna himself, the divine charioteer, Arjuna could not bring upon himself to aim the fatal arrows, and unleash it upon the venerable Paterfamilias, the venerable Bhishma! Bhishma’s stature & character loomed large, clouding the vision of Arjuna. This hesitation “provoked” Krishna to climb down the chariot, take up his own weapon, the sudarsana Chakra and aim it at Bhishma! A puzzling contrast is that Bhishma, who has never known defeat, nor has ever refused an offer to combat, welcomes with open arms, bare palms, to joyously get killed by Krishna! To me, here, Bhishma’s conscious choice, a seemingly logic-defying one, represents the virtue of selfishness at its peak! (Yes! Ethics and selfishness seem to be in an endless conflict when we are torn between the two, when the choosing either of them becomes imminent, due to compulsions of situation, in our day-to-day-life routine! Selfishness in a deeper sense does advocate ethics, and then there is no inner conflict. That is the secret of our ancient mystics, the spiritual Masters!)
It is this unfair advantage to Bhishma, for which Arjuna does not like to become a root cause! He once again assures Krishna, to resume his resolve ‘not to take up arms himself’. This incident repeats several times! Then ultimately, Arjuna the sole spiritual disciple of Krishna, barely manages to grasp the complex concept of this emotional conflict, and obeys to slay Bhishma!
Some ‘ethical’ prescriptions like ‘do not nurture hate for others’ etc does not really seem to work in practical life! We need to seek better reasons, to cheerfully adopt this kind of ethics. Reasons which are not flimsy, like ‘trying to appear’ like a good person in the eyes of others! Such flimsy reasons only add up to stress within, and cause untold miseries like tension, BP, and related ailments like diabetes! That reminds me of a funny incident! We were a group chatting casually during the post feast-lunch session after a ‘match-fixing’ ceremony of a bride & groom. An elder lady was asserting ‘her’ non-availability to common causes of diabetes like tension, anger, stress, BP etc, when youngsters seated around were trying to suggest a possible cause for her mild manageable level of diabetes. I suddenly blurted out “Telling lies”! Quite unexpectedly, all the youngsters shouted “YES!”!! Despite all of us knowing too well, that this is not a logical answer, the elderly lady became a bit stiff-faced, serious and got deep into thoughts! I at once realized that I had, quite inadvertently, poked at a deep wound inside! (This lady is well known to the entire group, and is deeply respected for her grand stature, blemish-less character, stout honesty, and her health has been a constant concern of all the people around her, always! So, it is not the commonly referred meaning of “telling Lies” that caused laughter to the youngsters or the ‘stiffness’ to that lovable elderly lady!) This is the problem with trying to be ‘ethical’ for superficial reasons! It ends up causing health problems, as an immediate side-effect. I lack courage to mention the other ‘karmic’ side effects! I suppose now, it would be somewhat clear, as to what kind of ‘ethical’ error-bug that Arjuna tried to avoid, and yet needed some time to grasp a ‘better’ reason to adhere to the very same ‘ethics’ while taking the crucial decision to slay Bhishma !
It is this complexity (ethics, emotions, its concepts) that I liked to ‘bring to your kind attention’ for the present!
Regards,Psn (6th November, 2009)
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Agenda in Prison!
There are two ways of looking at the caption!
Yes, I seldom let go an opportunity to imprison the mind, and then let loose my own agenda leaving the mind a bit choice-less!
All that the asker meant to know was the effectiveness of psychologists who are assigned the duty of counseling the prison inmates as well as the prison officers, who become vulnerable to acquiring the unruly attitude as a sort of occupational hazard!
I did feel guilty when I had put up my answer. But very surprisingly the asker did not wait for any more answers! The fourth sloka of a time-capsule(soundarya Lahari), the legendary work of Adi Shankara, that makes a mention of a concept ‘more that what you can even ask for’ (Vaanchya sam Adhikam!) was what I was reminded of! The asker perhaps felt that he/she got more than what was asked.
It is therefore, that I am tempted to share this unusual question, and my answer to it.
I only hope that I do not inadvertently hurt anybody’s personal sentiments!
Regards,
Psn(1st November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091031074714AA6EhOa
Evaluate the effectiveness of Prison Psychologists. Consider how useful these Psychologists are in ...........?
Evaluate the effectiveness of Prison Psychologists. Consider how useful these Psychologists are in terms of helping prisoners and prison officers?THANK YOU!
My answer:
Basically, the inmates of a prison are relatively more innocent ones that those outside! They just translated their thoughts into action, and got caught! There is hardly a crime that the so-called 'gentlemen' outside did not commit in their thoughts!So, the job of a psychologist is much easier dealing with those innocent ones. They are violent, gross, and perhaps appear more tough. They are already 'branded' and so, they do not have anything to lose, holding back their instinctive behavior. But if properly and systematically counseled, they can turn into wonderful beings, with long term effects, compared to most clever ones on the outside.If all the non-prisoners outside were truly good, the society would have been very exemplary. Politicians have not much of a role to play then! Only honest leaders can really survive!
Yes, I seldom let go an opportunity to imprison the mind, and then let loose my own agenda leaving the mind a bit choice-less!
All that the asker meant to know was the effectiveness of psychologists who are assigned the duty of counseling the prison inmates as well as the prison officers, who become vulnerable to acquiring the unruly attitude as a sort of occupational hazard!
I did feel guilty when I had put up my answer. But very surprisingly the asker did not wait for any more answers! The fourth sloka of a time-capsule(soundarya Lahari), the legendary work of Adi Shankara, that makes a mention of a concept ‘more that what you can even ask for’ (Vaanchya sam Adhikam!) was what I was reminded of! The asker perhaps felt that he/she got more than what was asked.
It is therefore, that I am tempted to share this unusual question, and my answer to it.
I only hope that I do not inadvertently hurt anybody’s personal sentiments!
Regards,
Psn(1st November, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091031074714AA6EhOa
Evaluate the effectiveness of Prison Psychologists. Consider how useful these Psychologists are in ...........?
Evaluate the effectiveness of Prison Psychologists. Consider how useful these Psychologists are in terms of helping prisoners and prison officers?THANK YOU!
My answer:
Basically, the inmates of a prison are relatively more innocent ones that those outside! They just translated their thoughts into action, and got caught! There is hardly a crime that the so-called 'gentlemen' outside did not commit in their thoughts!So, the job of a psychologist is much easier dealing with those innocent ones. They are violent, gross, and perhaps appear more tough. They are already 'branded' and so, they do not have anything to lose, holding back their instinctive behavior. But if properly and systematically counseled, they can turn into wonderful beings, with long term effects, compared to most clever ones on the outside.If all the non-prisoners outside were truly good, the society would have been very exemplary. Politicians have not much of a role to play then! Only honest leaders can really survive!
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