Reflections (10 to 18)
Most of us, if not all of us, must have felt at some point of time in the span of our life that life is not worth living. We are burdened with a heavy heart either by bereavement of the closest or by the betrayal of someone who is close or meaninglessness of the very existence. The fraction of this microsecond lingers as decades in our memory due to our ignorance and attitude of non-acceptance of the reality. WE end up with great sigh "is this all?". We find that we are back in our own natural moments after few days or weeks or months depending upon the intensity with which we are touched by the events.
If only we are not blessed with loss memory and sleep, we would be miserable and carry those fraction of microseconds throughout our life. Though the memory of those microseconds weigh us down heavily, time is capable of healing the wounds. We find that the events pass and the events of such nature in future will also pass.
Agony and ecstasy are said to be a state of mind. Though the stimuli offered by this world are same, the responses of different individuals can be totally different. The differentiator between agony and ecstasy is not the event but our response to the event. We cannot choose events. We can certainly develop the skill or mind-set to choose our response to the event.
Truth is that which existed, existing and will continue to exist. Our body is untruth (asath). This was not here and will not be here, but is here. The seers and sages were able to look at this phenomenon with the right frame of mind. The responses to those events were realistic.
We celebrate the arrival of new born babies and mourn the demise of people around us. The joy or sorrow is not permanent. The journey from the womb to the tomb is full of events that are good and bad. Everything passes. We remain. We are moved, agitated and enthralled not by the events but by our choice of response to the events. One day we also pass.
Life is nothing but experience of the cycle of birth and death. The childhood dies and boyhood is born; boyhood dies and adulthood is born; the adulthood dies and the old age is born. There is a continuous birth and death of the same body wherein I alone remain and childhood, boyhood, adulthood are born and dead. We pass continuously from one stage to the other stage, be it change in the body or change in the mind or change of thought.
We pass through agonies and ecstasies, but we do not and cannot cling to them. This also will pass. The very fact that we have allowed many events to pass with little or heavy traces in our mind shows that everything will pass. We are unwilling to accept that the same thing is bound to happen in the future. The art of living in the present gives us the wisdom of accepting that everything will pass and this also will pass.
Watch your words, they become action;
Watch your action, they become habits;
Watch your habits, they become character;
Watch your character, they become your destiny.
The word 'destiny' is in the lips of everybody. It is said more out of helplessness than consciousness. The serious and sincere study of our own self will reveal that we are what we thing we are. It is said "As we think, so we become" (Yad bhavam, tad bhavati). When we closely observe our destiny, we realize that the destiny is the effect of our character.
Reputation is what other think about us. Character is what we think we are. It is the inner core of any individual. It is the conscious feeling of one's own understanding of himself. Cause is the character and the effect is the destiny. There is a saying "if you lose money, you lose nothing, if you lose health, you lose something and if you lose character, you lose everything". The character is which the fabric of life is textured.
We are habituated either into good or bad habits. Good habits result in good character which again leads to healthy destiny whereas the converse is true. It is said that "habit die hard". It is heartening to note the habit die. It is much more heartening to note that even good habits die hard. Hence, if we develop good habits, we imbibe good character.
The cause of habit is action. When we repeat things, they form into habits. When our actions are propelled and prompted by good intention, they result in good habits and if our actions are emanating from evil designs and motives, they end-up as bad habits. Hence, our action is the cause for our habits. Noble actions graduate us to possess noble habits and the converse is true. The Karmayogi in Bhagavad Geeta reveals the depth and details of action that ennobles and elevates the life of any individual.
The cause of action is our speech or words. Words precede action since the command is from the mind. Words are powerful stimulators for action. They are like arrows from the bow. Once the arrow leaves the bow, the bow has no control over the arrow. Words have the same power. They can do and undo things. They are the seeds of action. Hence, we have to watch our words.
The cause of words are our thoughts. What is not in our mind as a thought can never become a word. The texture and the quality of our thoughts determine the quality of our speech/words. The fundamental root cause which determines our destiny is the quality of our thoughts that we entertain in our life. As the thoughts, so the mind.
The silencing and stilling of mind enable us to develop a qualitative thought. It is in the depth of this silence, the voice of consciousness can be heard. It is natural to get good and bad thoughts. We should not resist, but refine them. Whenever bad thought arises in the mind, we should think, entertain and foster the opposite so that we are consciously reducing the bad thoughts thereby making ourselves available for good thoughts.
Nature is the best teacher. Conflict is the part and parcel of human nature. Conflicts are bound to exist but not necessarily conflicting. Problems are part of life there is nothing that we can do about it. The response to problems is in the realm of our operation. We find that different people respond differently to the same stimulus.
Adjustment is accommodation. Accommodation demands compromise. Compromise results in inner conflicts. Adjustment is mostly due to compulsion or convenience and not conviction. Adjustment are at the cost of inner peace. The cause for adjustment may be noble but the cost of imbalances the inner poise. Peace cannot be bought, but established. We do not appreciate the peace of the graveyard. Adjustment is not the process of establishing harmony. So, adjustment is painful though seemingly peaceful on a superficial level.
Fire burns; water wets and stone is hard. We do not fight against them. We accept them. The nature (dharma) of fire is to burn; water to wet and rock to be hard. We accept things as they are whereas we expect from people. When the behaviors of a person does not match our expectations, adjustment is required as a source for superficial happiness. If we accept people as they are, we not only make them comfortable but also find inner poise. Acceptance calls from empathy and understanding. As we accept things as they are and make the best use, we must learn to accept people as they are and establish good relationship.
If we reject or reprimand people for what they are not, we do not accept what they have also. We are mixture of good and bad qualities. If we reject a person for bad qualities, we also reject the good qualities in the very same person. If we can concentrate on the good qualities of a person, the good qualities become stronger and bad qualities become weaker. The process of acceptance enables a person to evolve by enhancing the good qualities and minimising the bad qualities. Good and bad are only a matter of perception. The 'closed-mind' do not accept the fact because of strong belief in their own perception. There is no key in the world to open a closed-mind.
Adjustment due to compulsion, compromise and convenience is painful because of the conflict between the mind and intellect. Acceptance is blissful since the mind is free from expectations, anxiety and excitement.
Life is a sojourn in this planet. We make a living by what we get and lead a life by what we give. Most of us (at some point of time in life) feel the emptiness and hollowness when we realize that we are not contributing what we are capable of. Service is the stamp of divinity on the document of life. Service is the rent that we pay for our place is this planet. The strong urge in every one of us to do something that can outlast our life, is the source of bliss. We have the potential, but unable to manifest due to lack of commitment.
The following statement of George Bernard Shaw is self-explanatory and is inspiring to maximise and manifest the dormant potential to leave an imprint in the sand of time.
"This is the true joy in life - that being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. That being a force of nature, instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the word will not devote itself to make you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. For the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It's a sort of splendid torch which I've got to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handling it on to future generations."
The journey of thousand miles will have to start with the first step. Can we take the first step in the right direction to maximise our potential in the years ahead that can outlast our life?
Never ever so many labored so long to say so little about a subject like leadership. God, love, sex and leadership are the subject that are talked about so much and hardly understood. There are many traits of a leader but we are still to find one common denominator. Dynamic situation calls for different styles of leadership.
Albert Einstien, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Theodore Roosevelt were chosen as the best leaders of the last century by the 'Times' Magazine. An analysis of all the three leaders bring many different and few unique qualities, which were contextual in their nature and humane in content. All of them had rise from ordinary background to Himalayan heights in their life. Compassion, courage and concern for the humanity at large are the hallmark of the leaders.
Leadership is not status; not symbol; not authority and not position. It is action, responsibility, accountability and commitment to ones consciousness. True characteristic of a leader is to listen to the inner voice for the benefit of the outer world. Gandhi could bear the sufferings and sacrifices with a smile; Nelson Mandela was behind the bars for few decades; Aung San Suu Kyi is going through sufferings inspire of the acknowledgement from the world by honoring with Nobel Prize. Many leaders were the victims of the bullet of assassinators. Inspite of hardship the force that keeps one moving is the uncompromising commitment for the cause that one believes deep-inside. No pain is pain for those whose aim is for the benefit of humanity.
Leadership need not be confined only to famous persons whom we know. A leader in the true sense can be anyone who can influence people. A school teacher who can inspire the students to lead noble life is a great leader who may be unknown to the outside world but remain as a leader to climb. A supervisor in a shop can inspire his fellowmen and peers to produce qualitative product for the benefit of the society.
Arjuna is a classic example of the modern man. We all have Arjuna-disease. We also have Krishna-cure. We are aware of this. The quality of leadership by setting an example cannot be better explained than by the following verse in Bhagavad Gita.
Whatever a great man does, that other man also do (imitate); whatever he sets up as the standard, that the world (people) follows.
The message of Lord Krishna is universal and eternal. There is a leader in all of us. Deep-inside, we are conscious. Courage and commitment can show the leader in us for us.
As you think so you become. This is a worn-out proverb. Much known and less understood. We are what our thoughts are. The subtler the thoughts, the subtler the person. The measure of a man is the texture and quality of his thought. Thought is the harbinger of action. The source of the thought is the root of the nature (vasanas) of an individual.
We are governed by three gunas. Inactive (tamas), active (rajas) and trans-active (sattwa). The fact of being conscious about the influence of these qualities that determine our action is the beginning of the journey towards the altar of nobler goals. An individual is the combination of all the three gunas. The only difference between individual to individual is the difference in the dominance of the qualities.
An individual may be tamasik by nature. The very fact that one realises his true nature is a wake-up call for him to graduate to sattwic. The journey is endless until one transcends all the three gunas, the state which is called Gunateetha.
The person whose dominant quality is sattwic is happy not because of his possessions but because of his dis-possessive attitude towards possessions. The thought-process of such a man is to be non-attached and still dynamic so that the ownership and doership drops automatically from his though-process and all that he does regardless of the result is the product of happiness. We love things and use people. If there is a shift in the process of thinking, we will love people and use things and this shift is greater happiness.
Happiness is a state of mind. Desire is the root cause of unhappiness. The pair like happiness and unhappiness alone can make a man happy. The man who walks in the hot sun with bare foot alone can feel the height of happiness under the shade of banian tree or in air-conditioned room. A man who is always used to happiness find that the happiness is too monotonous and that it what transformed Siddharth to Buddha.
The root cause of any action whatsoever starts from the progress of thinking. The simplest way to be happy is to refine the process of thinking is such a way that the man always thinks of healthy and noble thoughts. It is human to get unhealthy and ignorable thoughts. This is the nature of mind. There is nothing we can do about it expect to train ourselves to think of the opposites. The great poet Bharatiar declared :
"Vakkinilae inimai vaendum" - words must be sweet;
"Ninaivu nalladhu vaendum"-the thought must be good.
If the thoughts are good, words are sweet and the mind is strong, action is bound to be humane and contributive. The root of happiness is the thought and not things. We are born happy and said to be the source of happiness (Sat-chit-anand). We forget that we are the source of happiness and lean on the source outside for happiness.
- Albert Einstien
Knowledge is power. Wisdom is the application of knowledge for the right cause. Science is the body of knowledge. Science is based on facts and figure from research and enquiry.
Religion is derived from Latin root - re - back and ligare - to blind. Religion means that which binds one back to the origin or fountainhead. Religion goes beyond knowledge, facts and intellect. It is based on faith. While science is fact-based, religion is faith-based. The combination of fact and faith is the basis of all great achievements. Fact and faith are the two legs of the human body and two eyes in the face.
Mother is a matter of fact whereas father is a matter of faith. Mother (fact) tells who the father (faith) is. The intellect is incapacitated beyond a point from where the faith takes over. There are many problems from which the intellect cannot find any answer, whereas faith does. Faith is the force of life. Science, which is based on knowledge and facts and figures started with faith. Faithlessness in the journey of life will lead us nowhere but faith is the journey of finding the fact will lead us to the destination.
A religion that does not inquire into the knowledge of the self by constant and continuous interaction with the masters is not true religion. The great master never wanted their students to accept without inquiry. Religion without inquiry is blind faith. Albert Einstein, the great scientist felt the need that science and spirituality must coexist in the life of any individual for one without the other is like having one leg or one eye. Science, which is the body of knowledge without the spirit of faith (religion) is lame.
Religion without the spirit of pursuit of knowledge is just a ritual. It is a meaningless exercise of a man sitting in the caves of Himalayas and falling prey to the shackles of rituals, whereas a man in the noisy market place with the spirit of inquiry understands religion. Hence religion without science is said to be blind.
The necessity of integrating the science mind with the religions mould is emphasised by no less a scientist than Albert Einstein who is said to have realised the limitations of science without the favor of religion. Holistic living calls for a blend of scientific flavor with religions fragrance. Science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind.
The mother is equal to thousand teachers. It is believed that the holistic health of the child in the womb depends on the emotional balance of the mother.
It is desirable that a pregnant woman is exposed to good and noble thoughts. The learning process for the child starts in the womb and continues in the lap of the mother. If a child is cared with compassion, love and noble values, they imbibe these qualities. A child look at parents as infallible role models. The quality of exposure of the child with the parents during the formative years is crucial and critical. The learning that takes place during these formative years will leave and imprint on the child for the rest of their life.
The next immediate exposure to the child is in the school. Teaching is not mere parting with information but transformation in the attitude of an individual. The role of a teacher in the initial stage is very critical because he / she is the window for the child to the outside world. The child comes in contact with the teacher from the parents. It is natural for the child to expect similar care and compassion of parents from the teacher.
Although the duty of the teacher is to educate, parenting becomes equally important for the child to grow in the healthy atmosphere. The school is an extension of the home. If the teacher imparts knowledge with love and compassion, the child continues to get the parental love and care in the process of learning. Teachings from the parents and parenting from teachers are of paramount importance in the initial stages for the health growth of an individual.
The best learning of our life takes place at home from the parents. Hence, parents are our first teachers. If the teachers educate with love, care and compassion they are our second parents.
Our scriptures declare mother, father and teacher as God.
Man is a wanting animal and is never free from desires. The object of desire changes, but the subject of desire continues.
Those who depend on objects, things and people from external world for happiness can never be happy for dependence is the source of unhappiness. An object, which is the cause for happiness at one time, will be the very source of unhappiness later. As long as the source of happiness is external, it is bound to be fleeting.
Happiness is our true nature. This source is perennial. Ignorance of this knowledge is the cause of sorrow and awareness of this knowledge is the source of happiness. Nobody can make us happy or unhappy without our consent. We hold the key for happiness and remain a master of our emotions.
A person who masters the game of pole-vault depends on the pole until he crosses the bar and them drops the pole. Dependence is essential like the pole in the game. The moment we are aware that the source of happiness springs form freedom (independence), the pole of dependence must be dropped. Hence, dependence for independence is healthy since independence is achieved through dependence.
