Pollution in China

Pollution in China - in pictures

Sad sad price of all the development we see!

When will I start taking responsibility for all the indirect violence that I cause? I mean, me throwing a coffee cup in the dustbin is not directly violent but it definitely implies adding to the pollution faced by slum dweller somewhere in India near whose residence would it be burnt! Sometimes it is next to impossible to not use that coffee cup but I find that in more than 90% of circumstances it is avoidable and sadly I tend to slip many times on that! Such reminders provide a renewed vigor to commit myself to be extremely aware of all the garbage I produce.

Self

Self is the highest one can achieve in this world and the highest one can give to another. I feel the search ends when one finds oneself and be with it.

What a life

Connect with words
but do not connect with hearts
Oh, what a life you live!

Understand the truth
but not live it
Oh, what a life you live!

Moving up

As the lower bird moves towards the higher bird, at each stage it is swamped by fear, self-doubt and anxiety. It starts to worry about missing the things in the level it just crossed. But, the experience so far is that it becomes progressively easier and the hope is that the trend continues.

Short stories

Sveta-ketu goes to school from Chandogya upanishad

"... by knowing the nature of one lump of clay, we can know the nature of everything made of clay, can we not? The shapes of other things, such as a pot, a toy elephant, etc., are just names, given to help us talk about them. The reality in them is just the clay, is it not?"

Questions for Anigras from Mundaka upanishad

"Then (after one realizes the supreme truth, Brahman), just as the many rivers flow into the one ocean, losing their names and forms, so the wise person, free from name and body, enters into that Divine Being, higher than the highest. My son, when you know that Brahman, you become that Brahman. You cross beyond all sorrow and evil. You become immortal."

New age Yama & Niyama

Yama & Niyama are the basic moral behavior suggested to the individual in Indian / yogic tradition. I have been thinking that a basic understanding of the functioning of the world - politics, economics and social structure, their consequences and implications should also be included in the list. Otherwise, you might be enlightened, but still be totally lost when it comes to important matters related to the human society. For e.g, here we see Paramahamasa Nithayanada, an enlightened master, uttering fairly nonsensical things that he probably does not really understand.



Nithyananda says in this video recorded in USA (reproduced verbatim)

For a new transformed world, my hope lies with youth, especially NRI (non-residential Indian) youth. If I am asked to create a world newly, (Ill create a world that has) the infrastructure, medical care, roads, bridges, dams, social freedom of the west and, the mental and physical structure of the east. Yogic hardware (body), vedic software (mind) and western infrastructure is the key to a new world order.

As I was hearing this, I just felt, Swamiji, please restrict yourself to things you know and do not venture out into things you do not really understand. Yes, there are many nice things in western infrastructure but all of these have many tonnes of hidden costs. Infrastructure like roads necessarily imply extreme consumption of gasoline leading to pollution and global warming, installation of oppressive and many times very violent regimes in many gulf countries, arbitrary wars to secure supply of gasoline etc. Yes, social freedom in the west is fabulous but the line between social freedom and social apathy is fairly thin. So, many things in western infrastructure has hidden costs. So, blindly appreciating only the positives is not smart! It misses the big picture.

This (a lack of understanding of the functioning of the world) also leads to other issues. A friend of mine was talking about how he saw huge vinyl boards with images of Nithyananda all over Vellore. This has two fold problems. One is that it is propagating a style of personality cult. Nothing to deny Nithyananda's amazing wisdom, but that does not justify a personality cult. Other is the environmental costs of huge vinyl boards is really high and is something that is best avoided. Claiming refuge in saying, my state of being or state of consciousness is at the supreme level and hence I do not have to care about silly things like 'environmental issues' is shere escapism and cannot be condoned. Of course, it is possible that the swami is simply not aware of these things. I do totally understand that it takes a bit of living in the real world as a conventional / unenlightened person to understand/experience its ways.

Hence, my view that a basic understanding of the functioning of the world should be included in the modern version of 'yama and niyama'.

Companionship

The common opinion about why people need companionship is that one cannot be alone (sometimes, it is even worse that people do not even think about it and assume by default they need a companion). People further feel that they are somehow incomplete alone and hence need a partner. By 'feel incomplete' I refer to the feeling people have about being greatly happier and contended if only they have a partner.

The not so common aspect about the relationships is the need to love someone, express affection, express concern etc. By calling this uncommon, I am not saying regular relationships do not have it. Its uncommon in the sense that its not the primary motivating force in most common relationships.

So, when people want a partner because they feel they will be complete only then, there will be a constant trying to fit the partner in a mold, such that the partner fills the incompleteness in them and its next to impossible to find a perfect fit. And this is a cause of unhappy relationships. Some relationships fit approximately, and then people are willing to just go forward with it and live with it. But, then there will still be constant drama - low level to high level.

I think the burden of incompleteness lies with the individual. I feel I should not dump my feeling of incompleteness on someone else and that I should fix myself first. I should put myself through rehab and cure myself of this perceived incompleteness. Then, when I get into a relationship, Ill be able to love the person totally without any requirement of me to get the other person to fill an emotional incompleteness in me. I feel, such a couple, where the partners are both not trying to get the other person to fill an emotional incompleteness in them are the primordial couple - Shiva and Parvathi.

A beautiful cartoon about the same topic - Missing piece meets the big O


PS: Post copied from a google chat and hence sentences might appear a bit odd :)

Rehabilitation

I finally have the words to describe what I have been doing for the past 2.5 years (though I didnt always think about it that way). The word is rehabilitation! I have been rehabilitating myself from being an automaton. The automaton was programmed to:

• Work for the success of 'partha'
• Want others to consider 'partha' kind
• Compulsively desire praise / acknowledgment from others
  
• Compulsively think
• Fear for the the future of 'partha'
• Run away from all the violence in the world
• Masquerade all of its actions so that its presence is not detected
  

I am happy I detected it and that I made some progress in releasing myself from its grip. I am happy to share this journey with you and if you are doing something similar, would love to hear it from you too!

"Going WithIn" The Great Paradox

A nice write up - "Going WithIn" The Great Paradox

There is a beautiful sufi story in the writeup that Ill reproduce here!

A Beggar came to an Emperor. Just by chance, the Emperor was coming out of his Palace for a morning walk. And the Beggar was standing there, so the Emperor asked, 'What do you want?' The Beggar laughed. He said, 'You are asking as if you can Fulfill my Desire! "What do you want?" you say!'
The King was offended, challenged. He said, 'Yes, I can Fulfill your Desire. What is your Desire? you just tell me.' And the man said, 'Think twice before you promise anything.'
The Beggar was no ordinary Beggar, the Beggar was the Emperor's past-life Master. And the Master had promised, 'I will come and try to Wake you again in your next Life. This Life, you have Missed -- but I will come again.'
But the King had forgotten completely -- who remembers about Past Lives? So he insisted, 'You just tell me, and I will Fulfill it. You just tell me. I am such a Big Emperor -- what can you Desire that I cannot give YOU?'
And the Beggar said, 'It is a very simple Desire. You see this Begging-Bowl? Can you fill it with something? Anything will do. I don't ask diamonds, and I don't ask gold -- anything! Can you fill it?'
And the Emperor said, 'Yes! You seem to be mad! Why can't it be filled?' He called one of his viziers and told the vizier, 'You fill this man's Begging-Bowl with money.' And the vizier went. It was a small Begging-Bowl, but soon the King was getting afraid. Money was being poured, and the moment you would pour it, it would disappear. And the Begging-Bowl remained Empty, and remained Empty, and remained Empty.
The whole Palace gathered together. By and by, the rumour went into the Capital; people started coming from all corners. There was a huge crowd, and the prestige of the Emperor was at stake. And he was a man of his word. He said to his viziers, 'If the whole Kingdom is lost I am ready to lose it, but I cannot be defeated by this Beggar. The Bowl is something Magical -- but I will have to prove to him that I also have something to fill it.'
His treasuries started becoming Empty. And people are running and rushing out of the Palace, trying to pour into that Begging-Bowl -- and that Begging-Bowl seems to be Bottomless, everything immediately disappears into it. You cannot see it again; once it has gone in, it has gone out of Existence. It simply dematerializes -- or what?
Then diamonds and pearls and emeralds... and they started disappearing. Soon the vizier said to the King, 'This seems to be impossible. You will have to accept Defeat. And this man does not seem to be an ordinary Beggar, he cannot be. There is some Message in it. You Surrender to this man, you have been Defeated!'
It was evening, and the whole Capital had gathered there, and people were standing there in utter silence. There was such great excitement: 'What is going to happen?' Finally, the King dropped at the feet of the Beggar and said, 'Sir, excuse me. It was wrong of me to pretend that I have anything. I have nothing to fill your Begging-Bowl. Just one thing -- what is the secret of this Begging-Bowl? Just tell me one thing. I am Defeated, you are Victorious -- before you leave me, just fulfill my curiosity. How has this Begging-Bowl been made, of what?'
And the Beggar laughed. And the Beggar said, 'Don't you remember me at all? Have you forgotten me completely? Look into my eyes! I am your old Master. And this is what I was teaching you in the Past Life too, but you didn't listen. This Begging-Bowl has no Magic! It is simply made out of the Human Heart. There is no secret in it; this is how the Human Heart is.'
The mysterious Begging-Bowl. Go on throwing things into it -- you go on throwing Worlds into it, and they dematerialize and they disappear. And one is never Satisfied, Never Never Ever.

Exit

ஒன்பது துவாரங்கள்
ஓர் உயிர்
எதன் வழியே வெளியேருமோ?

Nine holes body has
A life makes the body home
Which hole will it choose?


PS: Translation not accurate - but in Haiku :)

What do you want to do?

I get asked this question many times. But, rarely is anyone interested in a proper answer. What people want are sound bites. But, I do not have them. So, I never get to commune with most people on this. Here is an attempt to briefly outline why this question cannot be answered so easily.

When people ask 'What do you want to do?', I want to ask them, is the question about 'me' or the question about the 'action'. Typically, this question actually means, 'What is it that you are going to do to make your life better? (monetarily, status, security etc)'. This is what I meant by the question being about 'me'. Then there is the other variation which is about the 'action'. The correctly worded question for this variation would be, 'What is it that you love so much that you would do it forever irrespective of other considerations like money, status etc?'.

So, for me to answer the original question, 'What do you want to do?', Ill have to split it into these two variations and then address the variation that the person is interested. Typically, people either do not have time/interest to discuss this or do not have an intellect that is sharp enough to cut through the mindset that posed the original question, and such people mostly only mean the first variation. I do not want to answer this question without making the point about the two variations and hence the failure to communicate.

The answer for the first variant would be that my life is as good as it can ever be and it can never change. I have no future, in terms of career, growth, status, and hence there is no need to worry about them. Security (in terms of food, health etc) is an issue but these are quite trivially taken care of. The answer for the second variation is that I would like to find out what is the best and holistic way I can contribute to the society (NOTE: please do not understand this as 'social service') and then spend the time I have doing that. If there is no group of people doing what appears to be the correct way to me, Ill go and do it. If there is such a group and if it appears to me that my time is best utilized by joining them, Ill join them in whatever capacity I am capable of (be it a manager or a security guard) and assist them.

Companionship

JK on the need for companionship from 'Think on these things'

A girl asks why we want a companion. Why does one want a companion? Can you live alone in this world without a husband or a wife, without children, without friends? Most people cannot live alone, therefore they need companions. It requires enormous intelligence to be alone; and you must be alone to find God, truth. It is nice to have a companion, a husband or a wife, and also to have babies; but you see, we get lost in all that, we get lost in the family, in the job, in the dull, monotonous routine of a decaying existence. We get used to it, and then the thought of living alone becomes dreadful, something to be afraid of. Most of us have put all our faith in one thing, all our eggs in one basket, and our lives have no richness apart from our companions, apart from our families and our jobs. But if there is a richness in one's life - not the richness of money or knowledge, which anyone can acquire, but that richness which is the movement of reality with no beginning and no ending - then companionship becomes a secondary matter.

But, you see, you are not educated to be alone. Do you ever go out for a walk by yourself? It is very important to go out alone, to sit under a tree - not with a book, not with a companion, but by yourself - and observe the falling of a leaf, hear the lapping of the water, the fisherman's song, watch the flight of a bird, and of your own thoughts as they chase each other across the space of your mind. If you are able to be alone and watch these things, then you will discover extraordinary riches which no government can tax, no human agency can corrupt, and which can never be destroyed.

Destroying the Tao

A famous quote about how humanity commenced the destruction of the Tao by Chuang Tzu:

The knowledge of the ancients was perfect. How perfect? At first, they did not know that there were things. This is the most perfect knowledge; nothing can be added. Next, they knew there were things, but did not yet make distinctions between them. Next, they made distinctions between them, but they did not yet pass judgment upon them. When judgments were passed, Tao was destroyed.

A nice commentary on this in this new site I stumbled upon yesterday - Friends of Reality. There are a lot of wonderful essays on that site. Check them out!

Wheel maker

Beautiful story attributed to Chuang Tzu - Wheel maker

I can teach the mechanics of wheel making to anyone. It is easy to create something that looks like a wheel, but quite difficult to make wheels that are durable, safe, and provide a smooth ride. I can explain all of this to my son, but it is impossible for me to give him the feeling that is at the heart of the wheel making art. He must gain that on his own. This is why I am seventy years old and still making wheels.

Your Majesty, the ancient sages possessed the feelings that were at the heart of their mastery. Using words, they could set down the mechanics of their mastery in the form of books, but just as it is impossible for me to pass on my experience to anyone else, it is equally impossible for them to transmit their essence of wisdom to you. Their feelings died when they passed away. The only things they left behind were their words. This is why I said Your Majesty was reading the leftovers of a dead man.

Realization

When one is amidst a tough, emotionally draining and challenging situation that is dragging along, one suddenly realizes that one is with Naryana himself and what one is going through is ones own Kurukshetra!

Death

We rarely, if ever, think of our own death in a non trivial fashion. But, if anything is certain in anyone's lives, it is death. But, almost no one is ready to die at any point in their lives. There is always more things to be done, more things to be enjoyed etc. Even after having enough and more opportunities to do and enjoy more things, people are seldom satisfied. That is, there rarely ever is a time for someone where the person may say, 'OK. I am ready to die now.' This dilemma is beautifully captured by the story of king Yayati from Indian mythology.

Even Death felt compassion. Death took the young man aside, whispered in his ear, ”Are you a fool? Your older brothers are not ready, they have lived long. Seventy-five years somebody has lived – he is not ready.

And you are ready? Your father does not want to die. He is a hundred years old, and you are only twenty.”

The young man said something very beautiful, something of tremendous import. He said, ”Seeing this, that my father has lived one hundred years and he has ALL that one can have, and he is still not satisfied, I see the futility of life. What is the point? I may live one hundred years and the situation will be the same. And if it was only my father then I would have thought, ’Maybe he is an exception.’ But my brothers – seventy-five, seventy, sixty-five, sixty – have also lived long. They have enjoyed every kind of thing; now what else is there to enjoy?

They are getting old and they are not satisfied. So one thing is certain: this is not the way to become satisfied. Hence I am ready, and I am coming with you, not in any despair but in tremendous understanding. I am coming with you with great cheerfulness that I have not to pass through this torture, these one hundred years of torture which my father has had to suffer. He has not yet become able enough to go with you.” And the story continues. One hundred years again passed; they came and were gone, nothing was noticed.

Its a fabulous story that so wonderfully captures the state of mind of almost all of humanity. There is always more to do and more to enjoy and there is never a time when one is ready to die despite it being an utter certainty from the time one is born.

This is not to say we should not enjoy or we should keep anticipating death. On the contrary, we should enjoy but we should be ready to let go of the body at any given point. Then, there is no suffering - when we die or when someone we know dies. More importantly, fear of death is the ultimate and root fear from which all other fears emanate. The person who truly conquers lear, lives life with true freedom!

Thiruvalluvar, as always, has a great saying to describe this (kural 334)

‌நாள்என ஒன்றுபோல் காட்டி உயிர்ஈரும்
வாள்அது உணர்வார்ப் பெறின்

The day is a sword in disguise
that is cutting through your life


Typically when people hear such words of mystics, they are quick to dismiss that these mystics are masochists. I do not think so. I think they are merely trying to point to something that we have in general totally missed. I do think it helps a lot to meditate on this pointers from the mystics.

Check out this beautiful video on youtube about the concept of death and rebirth in Buddhism. Irrespective of whether the idea of rebirth makes sense or not to one, its still great to listen to some of these masters.

Diwali

No, I am not excited about Diwali! No, I am not going to dish out inanities in the form of 'Oh, I missed Diwali for the past three years!'. Yes, I am all for all the tasty food. But, its all coming at the cost of extreme noise and air pollution. Not to mention the non-stop blaring of television. I really want to escape all this.

I wish, I were able to travel to Singampunari, a village that is 90KM from Sivakasi (firecracker manufacturing hub) in Tamil Nadu for this Diwali. The folks there have not burst crackers in the last 3 decades for the purpose of not disturbing the exotic birds nesting in the Vedankudi bird sanctuary nearby. May be next year Ill spend Diwali there! Anyone wanna join me?

Two birds metaphor

Mundaka upanishad has this beautiful metaphor of two birds that capture the two parts of all us.


Story from here

A bird was hopping on an immense tree having innumerable branches and huge foliage. The branches were laden with fruits of different sizes and shapes. The lone bird chirped and jumped from one branch to another. The sweet taste of fruits made him happy, and his eyes sparkled with contentment and joy. His breast swelled up with the pride of having discovered and enjoyed the sweet fruits.

But soon, the bird tasted a bitter fruit and his joy turned sour; his ego deflated. Cursing the whole tree, he pondered, 'all this is useless; there is no happiness or joy in these fruits. I don't want any of them.' Ah! The glorious feeling of discrimination and renunciation occupied his heart. He looked hither and thither, and his eyes caught sight of a calm and serene looking bird sitting at the top of the tree. That Bird appeared to be in state of meditation, golden effulgence radiating from His countenance that illumined the whole tree including our little bird.

'O my, my! What a dignified composure and wonderful peace! I must go there,' resolved the little one. It flew up for a while, but soon the temptation of juicy fruits hanging from the innumerable branches overpowered his resolve. He thought, 'those fruits on the lower branches were bitter, but these fruits here appear different, sweeter. Let me enjoy a few of these.' Thus, our little friend stopped and pecked at one juicy fruit. And what a wonder! The fruit indeed turned out to be very sweet. Soon, forgetting the past experiences of repulsive bitter tastes, forgetting everything about that Golden Bird above, this little bird got busy in relishing the sweetness of fruits and cool comfort of green foliage.

However, the story was repeated; it had to. For, the fruits although appearing healthy, juicy, and fresh were but a mixture of sweet and bitter. The bitter taste once again caused dejection, and once again there arose an intense desire to reach the Bird at the top. Repeating such cycles of which no account can ever be kept, at last the lower bird reached the treetop. Approaching the Graceful Bird with a mixture of fear and awe, respect and humility, the lower bird realized to his surprise that he was but the reflection of that Golden Bird! He also acquired that golden hue, that state of peace and bliss, which he had never experienced in its life before. At last, as he reached nearer and nearer to that Bird our friend became one with It, losing his own identity forever.

Gates

Many spiritual masters and books often seem to contradict each other. This seeming contradiction arises from a non understanding of the core idea. Different people point to the core idea, but from different positions. Its like pointing to India. From China, one points west, and from UK, one points east and from Sri Lanka, one points north. The apparent contradiction between spiritual masters is like this. Once the core idea is understood, the apparent contradictions dissolve.

To get this core idea, there are hundreds of gates. Just describing three of them:

a.) Way of the heart - compassion
Finding out what one can do to help this world struggling with violence will help. The most complete and absolute form of help (throwing shoes at so called 'environmental criminals' is NOT one :D) one can do in every moment of ones existence will lead us.

b.) Way of the intellect - ego
Identify every place the ego is hiding. Places where we seek our ego - words of others in the form of honor and pride, career and ambition, happiness in the form of events, material progress etc. Having a sharp intellect and finding out every place where the ego is hiding and cutting through it with the sharp intellect will help.

c.) Way of stillness
First understand that for most people the mind is diseased as it cannot stay still even in the presence of glorious natural beauty, let alone the mundane. Seeking to try and get the mind to stay in the moment and seeking to understand its incessant chattering will help.


The three ideas are interconnected of course. But to begin with, I think its fine to not consider that. Any one of these gates (also the countless gates not listed here) when held on to sincerely, will lead us to the understanding of the core idea.

Tea

Knowing the taste of tea from http://www.sentient.org/


It is impossible to know the taste of tea without first drinking it.

Studying tea will not help.
Meditating on tea will not help.
Listening to others talk about tea will not help.
Reading sutras about tea will not help.
Smelling the aroma of tea will not help.
Sitting blissfully in samadhi around tea will not help.
Seeking tea in exotic countries will not help.
Having profound insights about tea will not help.
Opening the heart in deep life-changing ways will not help.
Going inside a tea shop will not help.

All of these things are mere confusion and delaying tactics.
To know the taste of tea you must drink it. There is no other way.

What I seek

A body sculpted by Asana & Pranayama
A mind cleansed by the teachings of Buddha & Christ
A consciousness in service of Narayana
Is all I seek!

Vitarka and scientific reasoning

Many scientists, thinkers and modern educators keep saying again and again that inculcation of the scientific reasoning in young minds is the sole purpose of education and they claim that it is the foundation of a peaceful and progressive society. Scientific reasoning simply means logical thinking. The saints and rishis of ancient India knew better and went one step better.

The sanskrit word for logical/scientific reasoning is 'tarka'. The saints and rishis of ancient India did not advocate the mere inculcation of tarka. Instead, they advocated the inculcation of 'vitarka'. 'Vitarka' is logical reasoning without the presence of ego. So, when one is trying to find out about the external world, like gravity, vitarka reduces to tarka. But, when one is studying the internal world, when one is observing ones own mind, vitarka is the only tool that works. Tarka fails dramatically in those situations. When there is only tarka, we might have lots of tools and toys (which will be used mostly to hit each other) without actual peace in the society. In addition, only inculcating vitarka could be the foundation of a just, peaceful and progressive society. Hence, one of the primary purposes of eduction is to inculcate the spirit of vitarka in the young minds.

Patanajali talks about the importance of Vitarka in one his sutras (Chapter 1, Sutra 17). In this sutra he indicates that Vitarka is the first step towards Samprajnatha samadhi.


PS: Thx to a talk by Paramahamsa Nithyananda for this!

Lack of awareness could kill

11 run over by trains in a single day

Eleven people died while crossing railway tracks on Tuesday, under the Chennai division (stretches up to Erode and Coimbatore) of Southern Railway. The 11 deaths occurred in Korukkupet, Gummidipoondi, Erode, Pothanur, Morappur, Athur, Tambaram (two cases), Chromepet, Annanur and Basin Bridge. The deaths were due to careless crossing of tracks. A majority of the accidents occur because commuters cross railway tracks while talking on mobile phones. The victims were all run over by trains.

This is really sad and scary too! I have found myself being lost in thoughts and/or lost in conversation in phone many a times on the road. I have personally had one or two close shaves also. I am sure many of you have experienced this. We better practice awareness and especially intense awareness while on the move on Indian roads.

Royal life

This, according to me, are the four steps to losing all fears and living life royally i.e. with total freedom!

• Lose fear of death
  
• Understand life
  
• Understand death
• Lose fear of life

I have ordered them, in what is in my opinion, increasingly difficult to accomplish. Losing fear of death usually is, either an accident or divine grace (depending on your perspective). I really think that the first big progress in the spiritual realm is made with this step (though tiny progress could be made in any subset of the above four steps simultaneously). Along with it a lot of common fears of life (like career, growth, happiness, ambition, pride etc) will disappear. Though many more deep fears (like physical security, food, basic needs of near ones etc) will remain.

Then, one understands that all of life, every event, emotion etc is something that is being projected on the mind (like how a cinema is projected on the white screen). With practice, one slowly stops reacting to the projections. This consists of one primary teaching of the Buddha and many other mystics - all of life is but a mere projection on the vast canvass of the mind. With practice and patience one slowly realizes that one is nothing but the canvass itself. This may or may not be a single sudden jump. Most often, it is a series of small and big jumps.

Later, I think (I am not totally sure how things will proceed from here, though I can and will conjecture), one understands death. This is the other half of the primary teaching, that even death is nothing but an event being projected on to the canvass of the mind. If this is true and when it is understood, all the other left over fears of life also disappear.

At this point, the person is ready to die any moment and hence lives with gay abandon and total freedom. This does not mean recklessness (though there could be occasional streaks of them, arising primarily due to the inability in handling the freedom). On the contrary, it would mean total responsibility as there is absolutely no fear. Such a life is indeed Royal.

The four reasons

The tibetan book of living and dying beautifully lists four reasons why we do not ordinarily understand the nature of the mind:

• Nature of mind is just too close to be realized!
• It is just too profound for us to fathom!
• It is too easy for us to belive!
• It is too wonderful for us to accommodate!

Basava Premanand

Basava Premanand, an eminent skeptic and a leader of the rationalist movement in India passed away. He was India's biggest paranormal claims buster.

He hit the news when he took on the claims of paranormal powers of Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi.

Banana in the ear

Dialogue between Bert and Ernie

Bert: "Hey, you've got a banana in your ear!"
Ernie: "What?"

Bert: "I said, YOU'VE GOT A BANANA IN YOUR EAR!"
Ernie: "What? I can't hear you; I've got a banana in my ear!"

Bert: "Hey, you've got a banana in your ear!"
Ernie: "I know, I'm keeping the alligators away."

Bert: "But there aren't any alligators on Sesame Street!"
Ernie: "I know, it's working!"

This conversation (modified for his purposes) was also told by Father Anthony in one of his talks to show the nature of most of his conversations! :)

Strength

Strength of the intellect to understand the truth,
without the interference of desire!

Strength of will to live the truth,
without the interference of fear!

Strength of heart to speak it,
without the need to appear kind!

This is all I seek
Do you have any issues in blessing me with these?

Not so flattering remarks on parenting

I have some not so flattering thoughts on parenting, and in particular asian and even more particular, Indian style of parenting. The remarks are not intended to be brutal or unflattering. They, in my inquiry, seems to be the truth. But, they do appear to be unflattering.

Why do people have kids? In my opinion, most people have kids for one of the following reasons: (a) They want to enjoy the act of being with kids and get the pleasure of going through the motion of bringing them up (b) The society (friends, family, neighbors, neighbors aunts third cousin), at least in non-metropolitan areas, is usually not very kind to couples without kids, and hence out of pressure (c) In the heat of the moment, they have unprotected sex. There could be other reasons but these are the primary ones. There is of course nothing wrong with this and this is not the unflattering remarks that I referred to.

But then, there are responsibilities and duties that go with parenting. If one has a kid, then it is ones responsibility to ensure that the kid has a healthy body, sharp intellect and if not awakened, at least an open mind! Of course, most people attempt to do one or more of these. But, they want their kids to 'repay' them for this and that is trouble! Of course not in monetary terms - but in terms of honor, pride, expectations etc etc.

The kids are usually not given freedom to do what they want, to explore themselves and to express themselves. This is many times true even when the kids themselves are adults. 'Oh! I did so much for you, and now look what you are doing?', 'You let my honor and pride down' etc etc etc and much more emotional but meaningless statements like this. What they did for the kids was their duty. The kids of course are responsible for bodies of their parents when the parents are too old to fend for themselves, company during the lonely final days, and really truly owe them nothing else! Parents unfortunately don't seem to realize this. They are so much emotionally dependent on their kids and that really does not augur well for their relationship with their kids, especially when the parents are old. This will only lead to frustration and disappointment.

Gandhi jayanthi

On the occasion of Gandhi jayanthi, wishing everyone a life with total inner peace!

Yoga and reductionism

Many yoga folks often complain about reductionism in allopathy - a total reductionism of the body and hence its side effects. Reductionism is great as long as a corresponding constructionist argument can be given. But, this is quite hard. For this, all interactions between the components obtained by reducing the original need to be understood and then the bigger picture needs to be obtained. Not impossible, but quite darned hard! Thats where many allopathic medicines screw up in the form of side effects - from a lack of complete understanding of the interactions between the components! When this constructionist argument is not available, the understanding obtained by reductionism is useful, but mainly remains an intellectual exercise. But, unfortunately, many people, including many scientists do not want to treat it that way. Of course, their ego wouldnt let them do so. It wouldnt be very flattering for them.

Many folks in yoga, do something similar! I have seen quite a few people claiming practice of some poses changes ones mental character and makes one sattvic! The reason given is that these poses acts on nadis (nerve centres) and hence the change! The same problem similar to allopathy. It could be true that characteristics may be possibly totally reduced to the state of the nadis (in the sense that the reason why Russia and US decided not to go for real war during cold war rests on the state of few atoms in the brains of their presidents). But, its next to impossible to put up a constructionist argument for that and hence the claim is silly.

In my opinion, characteristics change primarily only due to effort of the individual. Asanas and other yogic techniques might assist, no doubt, and nadis may probably be involved in that! But, the primary effort is from the individual. To claim that it can be simply achieved by doing some poses is ridiculous!

Asana and meditation

Many people ask me, if I do meditation besides yoga. Mostly, my reaction is, 'eeks. syntax error.' :) A syntactically correct question would be, do you practice meditation besides asana? By meditation, people mean sitting silently and observing ones mind. The answer is, I do that too, but asana itself is a form of meditation.

One major purpose of asana is to train the mind into one pointed focus and to bring about awareness*! When one does a pose, there usually is a physical limit. But, there is also a mental limit, which is much before the physical limit. Say, ones body can handle Navasana for 12 breaths, the persons mind might start telling them to get down from the pose by the 6th or the 7th breath. Only by bringing ones awareness totally to the present moment and to ones body, can one hold it till the 12th breath. That is done by bringing the awareness first to the mind which is racing. This calms the mind down. This teaches us to observe the mind and that is meditation.

In addition, many times, the mind constantly keeps wandering to a million places during the practice despite our best efforts. Asana helps here too. During, an asana, like say Triang Mukha Eka Pada Paschimottanasana, the calf muscles are toned and get stretched. This feeling in the calf muscle, provided its not painful, assists in naturally bringing the attention of the mind to the moment and the body and also assists in bringing back awareness to the practice and thereby assisting in meditation.

In my little experience, these are the two primary links between asana practice and meditation!

Of course, awareness of the body can be cultivated by placing the body in any awkward position. That would be stupid as we might hurt ourselves. Thats why, in the ancient research laboratories of India (read the forest ashrams of yogis :D), the yogis identified the poses in which the body can be placed in order to cultivate awareness and at the same time improve bodily health. Result is dual adavntage - health and improved awareness!


* Caveat: Awareness and attention cannot be brought about by any technique, be it yoga or vipassana. Getting rid of lack of awareness cannot be done like how one pops a pill to get rid of headache. Techniques help. But, its the individuals intention, on a 24/7 basis, that does the job primarily.

Royalty

Fr. Anthony on what royalty is!

You only change what you understand. What you do not understand and are not aware of, you repress. You don't change. But when you understand it, it changes. If you're lucky and the gods are gracious or if you are gifted with divine grace you might suddenly understand who "I" is, and you will never be the same again, never. Nothing will ever be able to touch you again and no one will ever be able to hurt you again.

You will fear no one and you will fear nothing. Isn't that extraordinary? You'll live like a king, like a queen. This is what it means to live like royalty. Not rubbish like getting your picture in the newspapers or having a lot of money. That's a lot of rot. You fear no one because you're perfectly content to be nobody. You don't give a damn about success or failure. They mean nothing. Honour, disgrace, they mean nothing! If you make a fool of yourself, that means nothing either. Isn't that a wonderful state to be in! Some people arrive at this goal painstakingly, step by step, through months and weeks of self-awareness.