On re-reading Illusions

 I re-read Illusions by Richard Bach. 

And wondered why. 

Then, today, a change happened that was only possible because I willed it. 

And I realised, the reason I was told to re-read this book is to know that I can still will physical changes. 

Sweet, good thing to remember. 

Owning your energy

For as long as i can remember, my self-concept has been that of a fumbly, awkward teenager. Then, the world's dowdiest housewife. Because that is how my family made me feel - awkward, unsuitable, ugly, and dowdy. 

But in recent years, people have told me that I also exude another energy - kind, warm, and, according to some, unwittingly sensuous (meaning, they can see that I have no idea of having that effect on people, but it's there nonetheless). 

Yesterday, Roopam came home and as I was walking to my room through the corridor, she asked me to pause. And she put me in a different mindspace. And asked me to pose just so. She said, "You won't believe this is you." 

And I didn't! 

Those pictures had another quality. But they also initiated another shift in me. For the first time, I started to own, not just acknowledge, but accept, that I might have another kind of energy - kind, warm, and positive.

When, in meditation, I see my own energy, it is usually the spiritual domain. My aura is not white or even golden yellow. It is still the healing yellow, and transitioning towards pink (spiritual love) and white. 

But this energy, belonging to this world, is new to me - the acknowledgement of self as a being also of this planet - that does not happen. 

What is the purpose of life?

In my spiritual practice, one consistent question i used to ask was - If the origin and the destination of the universe are predetermined, then why do zillions of beings lead minuscule lives for zillions of years? What is the point of the circle of life? 

The answer I got was complex and simple at the same time - If the blood in your body always has to remain at 5-6 liters, why do zillions of RBCs circulate for 180 days each? What is the point of their circle of life? 

The point of that circle of life is to keep you alive. You - who are both an organism and an ecosystem. Everything - from the quark to the multiverse, is both an organism and an ecosystem. And an ecosystem is a living, breathing entity. Every element must complete its journey. That circulation - that is life. Consciousness is often compared to a grain of light. The circle of life is necessary because the universe is not wood, diamonds, and rock. It is consciousness. The only carrier of consciousness is the tiny entities at various stages of awareness. They are ALL necessary to ensure that the universe remains ever-new. We cannot forget selfishness or base traits - they are integral to consciousness too. Like photons are charged particles that carry light from point A to point B, beings are sentient particles that ensure that Consciousness remains in the Universe. 

Why is suicide prohibited in every single religion of the world? Because lives are not incidental. Each life has a mandatory journey that it has to complete. Think of it as being in a grade in school. You can drop out of second grade because it is too hard. But will they put you in third grade? No. They will tell you to take your time, drop a year, two if you want. But when you rejoin, it is going to be second grade only, not third grade. 

It is exactly the same with births. You can choose to end a birth early. You can also take time in the time space. But when you take a physical birth again, it WILL be for the same lessons. For the same objective that your soul had set out originally. 

It is your timeless soul that sets its path. It decides how much or how little it will do in each birth. Like a grain of light, it reaches the destination (which Hinduism calls Nirvana). 

Remember the endless pillar of light that Shiva showed to Brahma and Vishnu? That is our existence. That is the journey of the universe. No beginning and no end. 

If you take a picture of the sun or the moon at the exact same spot for a year and super impose the pics, you will find that they make a symbol known to men and mathematicians. The symbol is infinity. Let that sink in - infinity is a loop. 

That is the spiritual answer to your question - what is the purpose of life. If we have to die anyway, why live? The RBCs have the answer. We are all photons. 

Nataraja, Shiva, and dance

The Nataraja roopa of Shiva is considered Rudra... the angry one, and is therefore not worshipped in the homes. 

But the Shiva who dances is not angry. Shiva loves dance. Shiva is mridul (soft) in dance. 

Shiva loves to dance. Loves the soft rhythm and the flow. 

The Nataraja roopa mudra is angry, but it is not representative of the relationship between Shiva and dance. In it, as the name goes, he is the king of dancers, but not one in tune with his own inner flow. For in that, there is no raja, only vileena. (Vileen - to merge into something) 

Thoughts on Reading the Geeta - I

जब हम कोई कविता पढ़ते हैं, तो कविता अपना रस पाठक को सहजत: ही दे देती है। किन्तु फिर हम उसकी संदर्भ सहित व्याख्या करने में लग जाते हैं, और कविता पढ़ना एक सरस क्रिया से पीड़ा बन जाती है। 

गीता का भी ऐसा ही है। गीता स्वयं अपना संदेश सरल भाषा में देती है। किन्तु हम गीता को छोड़, उसकी व्याख्या पढ़ने के पीछे पड़ जाते हैं। आश्चर्य की बात यह है कि भगवान स्वयं कहते हैं, सब कुछ मुझ में है और मुझ से बाहर कुछ नहीं, और इस सत्य की खोज हम सत्य के बाहर करते हैं। क्यूँ? 

गीता को पढ़ना श्री कृष्ण के महात्म्य को पढ़ना नहीं है। गीता अध्यात्म की पठन पुस्तिका (textbook) है। सांख्य, ज्ञान, कर्म आदि योग उस में पढ़ने को सरल भाषा में मिलते हैं। 

कितनी अजीब बात है न, कि हमारे देश की नदियों का उद्गम तो एक स्थान पर होता ही है, उनका गंतव्य भी एक ही सागर है। परंतु इन दो सम बिंदुओं के बीच की यात्रा पूरी करने के लिए, हर नदी का पथ अलग है। इस पथ पर, हर नदी अलग-अलग गाँव की तृष्णा की तृप्ति करती है। हर नदी की यात्रा उपयोगी भी है और महत्वपूर्ण भी। 

ऐसा ही अध्यात्म के मार्गों का भी है। गीता हर मार्ग को समझाती है। नदी की तरह, हम अपना मार्ग चुनते हैं। 

******* 

A poem is delightful to the reader. It is a thing of beauty. But then, we start "analysing" the poem and answering questions about alliterations, word forms, metaphors, etc. That is the precise point at which reading poetry goes from being a pleasurable experience to an absolute pain. 

It is the same with the Bhagwad Geeta. It shares its message in a relatively simple language. But instead of reading the book, we hanker after its various "explanations". This, when surprisingly, the book itself states - All truth is in me and there is no truth outside what I am about to tell you. - Why do we do this? 

To read the Geeta is not to read the pontification of a God. It is the textbook of spiritual practice. It explains Sankhya, Karma Yog, Dhyan Yog, etc. in simple language. 

Have you ever noticed that in India, most rivers originate from the same source (watersheds in the Himalayas)? What is even more surprising is that their destination is also the same - the Bay of Bengal. 

So, with exactly the same source and the same destination, the path of each river is different. On its path, each river irrigates and waters different villages. Each of these paths is important and productive. 

It is the same with our paths to spirituality. They originate and culminate at the same place. But the path is different for each one. And they are all correct paths. They all add value. 

How do we describe our actions?

 Have you ever noticed that when we do something that is not right, we dissociate ourselves from it immediately: 

"I did what needed to be done." 

"It was my job." 

"I had to do this to survive." 

But when we do something positive, we associate it with ourselves, personally: 

"Very glad to be a part of ~" 

"Spent a beautiful morning doing ~" 

This is not isolated. Even the drug lord, when asked to describe himself, says, "I was a good guy. I helped a lot of people."  - This is documented. Even serial killers and psychopaths view themselves as "good person". 

The need to feel that one is a good person is universal. So, anything that conflicts with that need is either flat out denied (I never did any of those things) or rationalised (I did what needed to be done). 

********* 

In the spiritual world, the goodness in the human heart is the natural state of existence. To do something that hurts another soul - that is the anomaly. That is why we immediately distance ourselves from it. 

Even a hacker, when asked why he hacked, will give you a reason like avenging another wrong, or something else. Very few people say, " I did it to see them suffer." The words are likely to be "It had to be done." 

If you want to move towards unity with your self, the way to do that is by removing the distance between the self and the action by the self. 

A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, "How will I describe this?"

If the answer is, "I did~", that is an action that is close to the unity of your soul. 

Conversely, if the answer is closer to the impersonal - "I had to.." "Something needed to be done~" etc., then it is distant from your soul and will lead to discomfort and friction. 

********** 

 I wish i could explain this using a brilliant Zen story or something, but, well, one has limitations. 

On meditation

The Gods don't judge you. Your spiritual guides don't judge. There is karma for that. And Karma is a self-regulated, perfect algorithm for crime and punishment. It doesn't need supervision. It is the most brilliant energy based algorithm in the world.

The Gods Love. In that dimension, there is only love and acceptance. If you want to see a negative imagery and participate in that, sure. If you want to be a part of a positive image, that too. That world is yours to create, yours to be in. It is not Second Life. It is your primary life - that is lived across dimensions, of which, the Earth is only one.

If you are not able to feel that love on any one day, the gateway is closed to you. Why? We dont know. But its not judgement. At best, it is karma. If the portals are opened and you do not enter, the portals close themselves. That is karma. when the portals do open, there will as much love as there ever was. 

Meditation talk

You request me to share with you the spiritual knowledge.

Tell me,  my dear,  can you open my eyes from the outside? 

Perhaps you can lift the eyelids,  but you cannot make me see.  

What is true of the physical eye is also true of the spiritual one.  

One day, your eyes will open,  and you will see all there is to see - clear as day. 

There are designated teachers in the world.  I'm not one of them.  My job is something else.  

The Freedom to BE

This post was actually written for my friend’s dauther, but in hindsight, I was able to learn much from it too.

Many of our children want to take paths that are, to put it mildly, “OFF the beaten path”. Some of them want to discontinue studies and travel the world. Many of them want to quit corporate careers and move to farming. As parents, obviously, our reactions range from quiet acceptance to being appalled. We’d like to blame “The times” , “Technology” or anything else that’s handy - like the white handkerchief that the mother always used to press into their hands as they left for school, or the said second cousin of the spouse who you “always knew” was a bad influence.

This post is for those children - and parents.

Dear Person (Because, as you know, I firmly believe in the right of the child to be recognised as an equal stakeholder in the world), you are FREE to make a decision about the future course of your life -both short term and long term.

But that decision must be taken from a place of freedom. Not from a place of slavery. Slavery is a strong word to use, but from where I stand, there is so much of it all around!

What does that even mean? Being free and taking a decision from place of freedom?

Here is what I think it means:

Freedom is not a linear thing. It is multi dimensional. And these are the most important dimensions.


 To be truly free, you need to be:

A. Physically Free

The first, and one of the most important dimensions of freedom, is physical independence. Are you able to take care of your physical needs yourself? Are you in a situation where you are physically safe and reasonably free to move around? If we are not able to take care of our simple physical needs like hygiene, safety, health and even basic physical movement, then our decisions will always be based on that dependence. Of all dimensions of freedom, this is the most fundamental.

B. Financially Free

If you lead a life that is physically free, the next freedom that you must have is financial freedom. The ability to get up and not have to worry about the next meal frees you up in an incredible way. And the converse is even more true - lack of financial freedom gnaws at your ability to take independent decisions progressively - until it destroys all your relationships, connections, work and even day to day actions. No decision taken in this state of existence is a decision connected to “freedom.”

C. Emotionally Free

Vivekananda explained this beautifully. In a single, simple sentence, he solved the world’s most difficult question for me - Love never brings pain. Love can only bring joy. Attachment brings pain.
 

Take a minute to think about that. Remember the time when you felt absolute, pure love. The object of that love is not important. The joy that you experienced at that moment - that is.

But love is not the only emotional dependence that we need to break. If we are emotionally dependent - on anything - another person, a place, even an emotion (if all our actions come from anger, for instance, or, as is more common, an emotional need to be accepted by those we want to align with), then we cannot experience the freedom of our decisions. Those decisions are basically slave reactions to our emotional needs.

If you have not tried it yet, try loving for its own sake. Not because you expect acceptance from them, or approval. Just because you find it in your heart to give love, and therefore you want to. That is when you will know emotional freedom - when you connect with someone because you want to - not because you need to.

D. Spiritually Free

We are not bodies with a soul. We are souls in a body.


Of all our freedoms, this should be held dearest. Let no one sabotage your spiritual journey.


There is a reason that a lot of followers of spiritual leaders do not experience the same peace and spiritual progression as the guru. It is because they are following the path of the Guru, not their own.


Remember that a guru is like the runner who holds the baton in a relay race.

It is the baton that has to reach the cross line - not the runner. The runner puts their best into helping the baton on that journey - holding it safely and taking it as best as is possible for them. But the journey belongs to the baton. Not the runner. If you make someone else the custodian of your spiritual journey, then it isnt yours any more. A guru is to learn from, and we surrender to them for the learning. But the responsibility of the journey rests with us.

To be spiritually free is to own this journey for ourselves. If your decisions are coming from a dependence on someone or something or a group and if you cannot imagine your spiritual journey without them, you are acting from a place of belonging, but not from a place of freedom. When you act with spiritual freedom, you will take control of your own journey and you will then take decisions based on what your journey needs at that moment.

And finally, lets talk about the image attached to this note. Radha Krishna, even if they are in the middle of the circle, surrounded by a thousand gopis, are free. The gopis, even though they surround the love struck couple, are not.

When you reach a place of freedom, you will know. And at that time, you will yourself observe a difference in the quality of your decisions, and the satisfaction you get from taking those decisions and acting on them.

For the parents: As guardians, we can only help our children reach that place of freedom. Because we have seen more slavery than they have, and can make an effort to recognise it. Once our children are truly in a place of freedom, will find them taking decisions that are not temporary.


We will see a difference in the peace on their faces. Instead of wondering if it is, in our terms, “a good decision”, lets try to see whether it is coming from a place of freedom. Because the accompaniment of freedom is wisdom. Freedom is not easily got.

When people do things they love..

When someone is doing what they love doing best, all the veils on their heart fall away. All the layers of paint worn to be who they should appear to be, are washed out.


To see someone doing what they truly love doing, is like seeing their soul naked.

3 Gems from Indian Education Techniques

In trying to find ways to enrich education, one of the things I started doing, was reading more about the Indian system of education in the pre Mughal era. And am surprised to know that there is so little information available on the Indian methods of education.

 

We have been fortunate, however, to pick up 3 gems that we will share here.

1. It’s not a lesson. Its a conversation.

Bhaskaracharya wrote a book called “Leelavati Beej Ganit” . The format of the book is a dialogue between Lilavati and the author of the book.

 

Indian books and lessons rely heavily on the concept of Story telling. If a complete story telling is not possible, we convert it into a conversation between two people, to make it interesting. All of Panchatantra is narrated as a conversation. All of Mahabharata is recorded as a narration from a disciple of Rishi Veda Vyaas to the descendants of the Kuru clan. We use this technique extensively in our books too!

 

2. The teacher does not teach. The teacher asks questions.

 

A beautiful thing that we found in addition to the technique of Vartalaap was the technique of asking the right questions. When a teacher wanted the student to learn something profound, they did not give the lesson to the student. They asked the student difficult questions. The student would attempt to answer the Guru’s questions in a satisfactory manner and through this process, would arrive at the answer / gyaan.

 

The most famous example of this technique perhaps appears again in the Mahabharata, in the espisode where Guru Drona takes the princes to a spot, makes them take aim, and asks them, “What do you see?” All the princes, except Arjuna, respond that they see the tree, the bird, the branches etc. Only Arjuna replies that he can see nothing but the eye of the bird, that he is supposed to shoot. The lesson was that you must focus only on your endgoal and completely eliminate all distractions from your senses. It was not given. It was taken.

 

3. We do not merely memorise. To be called learned, we must analyse.

 

It is often assumed, erroneously, that the native Indian method of learning involves, basically, rote learning. Ergo, the oral transmission of the Vedas and the oral tradition of Indian classical music and dance. But that’s simply not true! In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

We first learn enunciation. Then we learn the text. And THEN, the education begins.

Not only did learning involve a critique of the subject at hand, the best analyses were also published with the name of the author (A very rare thing in Ancient India). You might have heard of some books that are ‘Teekas” on a certain book. A Teeka improves upon an original work and adds new perspectives.

 

Another word that appears often, is “Shastrarth” - literally meaning - the meaning of the Shastras. Sanskrit being the magical language that it is, the same phrase could mean a lot of different things. The ONLY way you could be a scholar, was to interpret that text, and argue your interpretation with other scholars. If you could not do a Shastrarth, you were not a learned person at all.

 

And this has fuelled in us a hunger to understand more cultural learning aids from around the world. What did education mean before we universalised it to mean the 3 Rs all over the world? How was education imparted? If you know any resources that could help us understand, or if you remember education techniques from your own family, please do share.

seedhi si yatra/ A simple journey

साकार > निराकार > निरंकार

Today's message : We first focus on the tangible - the mantras, the breath, the shloka.. then slowly, the intangibles take over - the joy of meditation, the peace that one gets. From there, we move to Nirankar - where we ARE the Brahman. And it doesn't matter. There is no accomplishment. Only a sense. Or lack of it.