Mango

When one eats just one mango for lunch, there is a remarkable difference to the quality of each bite! the way one views the mango undergoes a total make over!

தீ

காட்டுத் தீ பீறிக்கொண்டு வருகையில்
என்ன செய்யும் காய்ந்த புல்?
அதிருப்தி தீ உள்ளிருந்து பொங்கி வருகையில்
என்ன செய்வேன் நான்?

Mall vs Mouse Trap

The remarkable similarity between the two sciences is mind bogglingly scary!

Wall

The wall that protects is also the wall that imprisons!

Yogah Karmasu Kausalam

There is a famous zen story on the interactions between a zen master and samurai warrior, both of whom were expert archers. The zen master lived at the base of a mountain and the samurai warrior shows himself there one day and challenges him on who the better archer is. So, the zen master asks him to demonstrate his skill. The samurai warrior takes him up a mountain and from there, shows the zen master a far away tree down in the valley and tell hims,

"Can you see the third branch on the right side of tree. Follow this branch to the point where this branch forks into two. Can you see a tiny flower on the right fork?".

The zen master being a fairly old man had to squint his eye and finally spotted it. The samurai warrior then said that he can hit that flower and immediately took his bow out and hit the flower right in its middle. The zen master applauded the tremendous skill of the warriors.

"Your turn", said the warrior.

The master told him he will demonstrate his skill atop another mountain. So, after a few hours of trekking down this one and climbing up another one, they were at the spot where the master was to demonstrate his skill. From this mountain, there was a tiny rickety, almost ready to break, narrow bridge connecting the adjacent mountain. The zen master coolly walked on this bridge, stop right at the middle of it, completely unaffected by the huge fall into shark rocks below, and hit a flower on a similar far away tree. He then looked at the warrior and smiled gently.

As the zen master walked out of the bridge, the warrior had no option but to surrender for he quickly realized that all his skill would desert him the moment he stepped on that bridge.

While this story may seem far fetched to some of us, it actually is not. If not the literal situation, we face many situations like the samurai warrior where all our skills desert us. Imagine an interaction between a teacher and a student where the teacher, who is well informed and evolved to a certain extent but not perfected, is using some sharp language to correct a students mistake. If we imagine that this circumstance being played out in some far away country, it is conceiveable that we may say that the student has a great chance to learn as he is only being corrected. Even if we do not agree with this precise statement, we may have a fairly clear idea about what correct action would be at that point. But, if the student were ones close friend or a sibling, immediately the version of correct action we have in mind changes such that we take the side of the student. If the student is someone we do not like, we may side with the teacher. If we work in the same school and like both of them, we would want them to resolve the issue.

Taking the example further, if we were the student ourselves, we may react in so many unpredictable ways. Its always easy to imagine the situaion outside and come up with our best response. But, when we ourselves are caught in the situation, so many of our unconscious parts start trembling within. We rarely even pause to reflect and discover the right action that we are capable of. If we are in the situation and if the teacher is someone we like, we react differently. But, if the teacher is someone whom we do not like, it is an altogether different response.

But, in all these situations, there is the witnessing faculty alive in us at all times. In exactly the same situation, in some circumstances we are able to precisely come up with what according to oneself is the right action and in some other circumstances our own perception of right action is distorted. Further, if ouselves are in the situation, we have no clue what right action is. But, in all these situations, the witnessing faculty of ours, that can witness the situation as it is, is alive. If we can regularly get in touch with this witnessing faculty of ours, we can get in touch with that part of us which can guide us and tell us what the right action is. This right action is not what is right according to the Buddha or Krishna. It is what the innermost being tells us. Following this is indeed skillful action. This is the meaning of the title of this essay, 'Yogah Karmasu Kausalam' - 'Yoga is dexterity in action' ( a quote from The Gita). But, to follow this ones witnessing faculty needs to be very active in every situation.

If we are at all convinced of this, then we will constantly try to discover the witnessing faculty in us in every situation. If a sincere effort is made in this direction, one will easily discover that awareness is this witnessing faculty. We may also see that most times we respond in a way that is anything other than the most skillfull action we are capable of, we are being biased by our past memory of pain or sufferring. When this bondage to past memory goes away, one may be free to act skillfully. Patanjali says,

smṛti-pariśuddhau svarūpa-śūnyevārtha-mātra-nirbhāsā nirvitarkā

When bondage to memory goes, one acts as if one is absent. This means that the image of oneself and that of others accumualted in memory does not interfere in ones action. If action is not free from bondage from memory, then the old patterns will keep playing out continously and the ever fresh nature of life will be missed out.

When our families, organizations we work at and society at large is infused with people who can act skillfully as described above, clearly, there will be less and less conflicts. Even if there is conflict, it will not be carried forward in time. In addition, there will clearly be a high efficiency in the work done. May we all recognize and continuously strive to act at our skillfull best in every situation in life!

Freedom from the machine

Can we free ourselves of the feedback based self constructed, associative memory machine?

அவன் - இவன்

பலம்கொண்ட அவனும் பயமில்லா இவனும்
ஒற்றையடி பாதையொன்றில் ஓரிரவு மோதிக்கொண்டனர்
உயர்ந்தவனுக்கே பாதையென்று இருவரும் வாளெடுக்க
உயர்ந்தவன் எவனென்று காண வந்தனர் வானவர்!

முதலில் நீ என்று இவனை பார்த்து அவன் நகைக்க
பயமறியான் தன்பலம் கொண்டு அவனை தாக்கினான்
அவன் தேகம் தீண்டயதும் சீறிவந்த வாள்
தூள் தூளாய் நொருங்க திகைத்தனர் வானவர்!

அவன் - இவன்

பிறகு வானகம் நடுங்க வாளோங்கி அவன்
இடிபோல் இவனது இடபுறத்தில் அதை இறக்கினான்
தீண்ட எதுவுமின்றி இவன் வளபுறம் வாள் வெளியேற
இலக்கின்றி தடுமாறி தடம்புரன்டான் அவன்!

நடந்ததென்னவென்று விலங்காமல் வானவர் வியக்க
நடக்காததை எண்ணி அவன் பாதை விலகினான்
இல்லை இல்லை இவனென்று ஒருவன் இல்லை
இதையறிய பாதை பாதை பாதையென்றும் ஓன்று இல்லை
எனக்கூறி வானவர் வணங்க சென்றான் இவன்!

What I seek

The intelligence to recognize the truth as it arrives,

The humility to accept it completely,

The strength to align my life with it.

Is all I seek my lord!

Table Mayurasana

@Aapice! :)

Clear mind

Light from the moon of clear mind

drinks up everything in the world.

When mind and light both disappear,

What . . . is . . . this?

-- Kyong Ho Sunim

என்று தணியும் இந்த இரத்த வெறி?

Perfectly crafted life

It is no small thing to compose a sonata or write a perceptive novel; we are indebted to great composers and writers who have given us beauty and insight into human nature. But I am most moved by the beauty of a perfectly crafted life, where every bit of selfishness has been carved away and what is thought, felt, said, and done are brought into harmony

-- Eknath Easwaran

அமைதி காக்க

காக்க காக்க அமைதி காக்க
நோக்க நோக்க தெளிந்த கண்ணால் நோக்க
நீக்குக நீக்குக வினைப்பயன் நீக்குக
அடைக அடைக சரணாகதி அடைக

Desire of the Boddhisattva

Our human society, with all its intricacies, has been created by the interplay of human desires. In mathematical terms, it is the resultant vector emerging from a field of vectors where every desire of every human is a vector. These various desires of countless humans have interacted in complex ways to produce the world as it is today. Hitlers desire, obviously, was a major force that led to the second world war. Edison's desire led to the invention of the light bulb. None of these desires stand by themselves. They have been assisted and shaped by countless other desires, from within the same individual and from other individuals. It is interesting to study the characteristics of these desires. While some of the desires lead to a change in the external world, others do not. There are many factors that are involved here. The most important one is the strength and depth of the desire. Other factors would be the external situation that the individual finds hirself in, competition from other desires (from within the same individual and from others) etc.

Now if we observe the desires of most human beings impartially, it would be fair to conclude that most of them are not deep. Most desires of most people are simply social software - starting from good marks, to good looking spouse, to well paying job, to intelligent kids, to fear and desire of opinion of others. Unfortunately, much of our society is shaped by such shallow desires. This is not to denigrate these so called 'simple' desires of the average man but to point out the unhealthiness of the same (much like how a doctor points out that eating junk food is unhealthy as it leads to obesity). When an individual is driven by these desires, there is constant drama and conflict in the individuals life caused by conflicts of these desires with the desires of others who cross hir life path and/or by the failure of these desires to materialize. This generally only leads to a negative spiral of unsatisfaction and unhappiness. The way out is to understand the nature of desire. The reason for most desires is some form of gratification, of the mind or the body. Inability to live without a certain form of gratification is commonly referred to as addiction. The most general description of the addiction of socially programmed desire is a feeling of incompletion and the need to feel complete by the arrival of something external. The more intensely an individual sees this, the more the social software will fall away. The more the social software falls away, the more the deeper wants and needs of the individual surface.

Usually, its the people with these deeper wants and needs who shape the human society at a bigger level. They tend to become the, so called, 'leaders' of the society. There are quite a few such contemporary leaders in varying disciplines today. We will have to wait for history to judge the extent to which the deeper desires of Narayanamoorthy have affected the Indian society. The impact of these deeper desires are sometimes favorable and sometimes unhealthy, unlike the desires caused by social software. At least some sections of the society will benefit in a few ways from these deeper desires.

The separation of these desires into those caused by social software and those that are deeper is obviously not black and white. The deeper ones are many times influenced, and in the worst case, even hijacked by social software. This can be seen in how people try to optimize doing what they like and at the same time attempt to maximize their income (doctors who like their job but working in high paying hospitals and software folks who like software engineering but working in high paying IT firms are two examples that come to mind immediately). The question here is obviously not about earning an income for livelhood but about continously amassing wealth (of course, there is almost no one who things (s)he is in the latter category). Most often than not, in order to satiate ones deeper desires, one needs to play with and manipulate the base desires of others. In order to run a company, it is (almost?) necessary to offer 'competitive' (euphemism for up to the mark of greed) salaries and profit by taking part in the ruthless capitalistic machine. This requirement to manipulate others ego in order to satiate ones deeper desire is the reason why many of these deeper desires also, many times, fall into the realm of egoic desires. Hence, the actual benefits accrued from actions arising out of such deeper desires are questionable.

But this need not always be the case and it may often be possible to direct these deep desires into the right path. The right path is not a collection of rules that can be specified from outside but a direction that comes from within when the ego has completely left. Such a person can then effectively let their deeper desires flower in a way that is most fulfilling to them and most useful to the world. They may even continue to work in the so called 'capitalistic machine' or any other 'machine', but their reasons will be entirely different from the usual reasons of most other individuals within the same 'machine'. Though, I suspect, it will be increasingly harder as the pressures of the machine would be immense.

Bodhisattvas Descending from Heaven. Japanese painting, c. 1300.

There are other individuals who do not fit into the above described categories. These people do not have any desires of themselves. They are perfectly content with 'what is' and have no resistance to that at any time. They are truly the people who have discovered the state of completion within and thereby are beyond the need for desires. But, they consciously retain one desire, which is the complete and total reformation of the human society. They are the Boddhisattvas (individuals in dharma megha samadhi, in yoga terms). Since this is the only desire they have, all their energies are spent towards this. Consequently, it is amongst the strongest desire a human can experience. In addition, since this desire is motivated by compassion, it is amongst the deepest desires a human may experience and the way such desires shape the world is tremendously of a different quality than how any other average human's desire may shape the world. The desire of the Boddhisattva is unchanging and unrelenting, despite intense opposition from the very society which they intend to change. All desires of other humans vary in intensity and will eventually fritter away, depending on external and internal circumstances of the human(s) hosting those desires. Only the desire of the Boddhisattva is exempt from this increase in entropy. There are no internal conflicts within the Boddhisattva. There are no external circumstances that are too much for the Boddhisattva. Under these circumstances, the desire of the Boddhisattva will remain until the desire is satisfied.

In a world shaped by varying desires, when one desire holds its position firmly and is stronger than any other desire, slowly all other desires will start to align themselves with this desire. Gradually, the strength of this group will increase and over a period of time, it is inevitable that all human desires align themselves with the desire of the Boddhisattva, though the duration this process takes may have have to be measured in evolutionary terms. The desire of the Boddhisattva outlives the physical presence of the same. According to the Hindu theory of rebirth, as long as any desire is held, rebirth is inevitable. If this is to be accepted, then the Boddhisattva will be born again until hir desire of the evolution of the human race is met! But, if rebirth theories are not to be considered, it can be clearly seen how when an individual has the meme of selfless action for the upliftment of human society with total integrity and internal peace, the meme continues to propagate effectively into other humans and thereby lives on!

So, even a single Boddhisattva is enough for social transformation. But, it may take a very long time and in the meantime many humans will have to undergo tremendous pain and sufferring. But, instead, if more and more people align themselves with the desire of the Boddhisattva, the society may transform faster and thereby a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering may be brought down. If one sees this, will one not align ones life with the desire of the Boddhisattva?

சரணாகதி! Surrender!

Healthy Individual

Nityam hitaahaara vihara sevi
Sameekshakaari vishayesh asaktoh
Dataah satyapreah kshamaavan
Aaptopasevi bhavatyarogah!

One who eats and works appropriately,
Possesses equanimity of mind,
Is charitable, truthful, forgiving,
And helps all of society, is the one who is truly healthy!

-- Ashtanga Hridaya Samhita

Child like alacrity

A child lamented today, "Oh my god, its night now. I have to sleep. Noooo!". Contrast this with the usual adult lament, "Oh my god, its morning now. I have to get out of bed and go to work!"

Can adults maintain the state of deep inner peace and perfect external poise so as to have the curiosity and alacrity of the above child?

உள்ளம்

உள்ளம் என்பது உள்ளிருக்கும் அகம்
அதின்றி நாடோடியாய் திரிபவர்கேது சுகம்?

யாரிது

யாரிது? தெரிந்ஞ்ச முகமா இருக்கே?
தெரியுமா? ஹம்ம்ம். தெரியாது. ஹம்ம்ம்.

தெரியுமோ? இவளவு கொஞ்சறாரு? ஹம்ம்ம்.

ஓ! மாமா!!! அட மாமா!

ஆஆஆஆஊஊஊஊஊஐஐஐஐஐ!!!!!