Sunday, January 30, 2011

Mechanics of the Mind


In life, we are constantly buffeted by winds of joy and sorrow. We are pushed in different directions by our minds. Both sorrow and happiness are just two extremes. When we are sad our minds are pushed to a negative low. If we give free rein to our minds then we get thoughts that tend to magnify our worries and sorrows. The mind cooks new doomsday scenarios. Joy is just another extreme. We are pushed into a positive high. While joy is welcome too much of it is also quite dangerous. While we can sit back and enjoy the ride when we are happy we should not get too carried away. Otherwise, the world takes on a nice pink hue and we fail to see the world for what it really is. After all joy also is just a state of mind.

What is more appropriate is to maintain a sense of mental equilibrium regardless of whether we feel pain or happiness. There has to be s certain sense of detachment towards our mental states. This way we will not feel let down when our positive high ebbs.

Our minds can be likened to cotton candy machine. In the cotton candy machine we put in sugar and coloring material into sugar bowl into the bottom. The spinning cotton candy machine coupled with the intense heat produces wooly candy. Similarly our hopes, desires, wishes or fears are the ingredients to the mind which is constantly spinning. The mind creates thoughts from our innermost feelings and wishes. If we tend to be afraid thee mind will automatically generate fearful thoughts and create situations which will produce more anxiety. Similarly when are tend to gloat over our successes the mind throws thoughts which try to substantiate the feelings of pride. We soon tend to go overboard with thoughts of our own self-importance.

However our minds are truly remarkable instruments and can serve us immensely if we understand the mechanics of the mind. When we are faced with a tough problem in life we can throw this problem into the cotton candy maker of the mind. After we spend an adequate amount of time wrestling with the problem we can just park the problem in our candy maker. Given some time the mind will continue to spin and work the problem out on its own. Similarly if we are interested in any creative activity like writing, playing an instrument or painting the mind is truly capable of real creativity. We however have to teach our brains by practicing the skill we are interested in. Buried deep in the recesses of our brain are our neatly organized ideas, rules coupled with innumerable associations and correlations of what is good and what is beautiful. The spinning mind can constantly throw up new and interesting combinations.

If we put in the right ingredients and ideas into our candy maker and let our mind do what it does best we will have truly discovered the fount of creativity.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Uncovering Morality through the Mahabharata - Part 2

Arjuna’s despondency
When the Pandavas return after their exile from the forest after 13 years and try to reclaim what is rightly theirs they are only met with stout denial by Duryodhana. Lord Krishna tries to negotiate a settlement where the Kuaravas would only need to part with 5 villages to Pandavas. But even this meager request results in a refusal by Duryodhana. Finally after much deliberation Yudhisthra as the eldest amongst the Pandavas declares war.

On the day of the war with both armies standing impressively facing each other Arjuna whose chariot is driven by none other Lord Krishna himself suddenly is overcome with mental anguish. Arjuna the great and courageous warrior goes through intense emotional turmoil. He is not able to come to terms with the violence of war where he would have to kill the Kauravas who are his own cousins. Besides the Kaurava army also has in its ranks the venerable Bhishma and Drona who have taught him all the necessary lessons of life along with the skills of warfare. This is an important juncture in the Mahabharata where the epic balances human emotions of compassion against the needs of justice. It is as this point Lord Krishna sings the inimitable and ineffable song of the Gita. Lord Krishna reiterates that man must perform his duty without attachment to the results of his work. He should look at joy and suffering with equanimity. The Gita also expounds that behind the material body is the indestructible soul or the Atman which is eternal in nature.

Arjuna is finally convinced when he witnesses Lord Krishna’s divine form and starts to fight for dharma or justice. The war results in victory for the Pandavas. However, the Pandavas are able to overcome Bhishma, Drona and Karna only through devious means. The Mahabharata brings into its narrative a human element of frailty. It clearly shows that even the virtuous Pandavas are not superhuman. Besides it brings into question again the issues of ends versus means. What is dharma? Does it represent something that should be beyond individual interests? Should one subordinate individual interests to the larger interest of the people?
The war ends with victory for the Pandavas. However, even the Pandavas army is destroyed by the wrath of Aswatthama leaving only the five Pandavas with widows and an empty kingdom.

Yudhisthra rather than rejoicing in his victory is tormented by the Pyrrhic victory which resulted in a lot of bloodshed. Again the Mahabharata does not glorify the victors nor belittles the vanquished. The Mahabharata does make one to reflect deeply on what is right and what is wrong. Given the virtues of truthfulness, compassion, ahimsa, charity what should be the most appropriate course for an individual be?

Uncovering Morality through the Mahabharata - Part 1

The Mahabharata, the ancient Indian epic, has endured for more than 5000 years. The Mahabharata is truly a classic which embodies eternal truths that will live on forever. The Mahabharata differs from Greek Mythology which are tales of adventure and exploits of Greek Gods and heroes in many ways. The Mahabharata besides including in it rich tales of adventure also weaves in its account eternal and timeless moral concepts.

The Mahabharata tries to handle the delicate issue of karma and dharma in the lives of its characters. There are so many lessons that are captured vividly in those tales that the Mahabharata leaves the reader trying to tussle with these difficult concepts in his own mind.

The central theme of the Mahabharata is the war for justice in Kurukshetra between the virtuous Pandavas (with the divine presence of Lord Krishna) and the Kauravas led by Duryodhana. The war is rightly termed as dharmayuddha or the battle of justice by Lord Krishna. Duryodhana is a scheming, cunning king who is jealous of the valor of the Pandavas and cheats the Pandavas of their kingdom through deceit and trickery. He invites Yudhistra to a game of dice and cheats him of his kingdom.

The Pandavas spend 13 years in exile after which they are supposed to get back their kingdom but Duryodhana stoutly denies giving their half back. The Pandavas are unwilling to fight and are willing to settle for just 5 mere villages. However, Duryodhana is stubborn and is unwilling to concede anything. Finally the Pandavas reluctantly go to war against the Kauravas as a last resort. The Pandavas are aware of horror of the war but are forced into it in order to reclaim what is rightly theirs. The Mahabharata does dwell on Yudhistra’s unwillingness to fight.
Similarly in the battlefield when the two armies are arrayed against each other with their conch shells blaring, Arjuna another valiant hero of the Pandavas has a moral crisis. He is unable to understand how the killing of his teachers and sages, among the enemy ranks, whom he so venerates, can be considered as a winning. He wants to put down his arms. The Mahabharata highlights the human issues that are involved with utter clarity and brings this despondency of Arjuna at a critical juncture.

It is then that Lord Krishna clarifies the situation where he states that the process of dharma or the need to uphold justice sometimes requires that evil be stamped out with authority. It is here that Lord Krishna’s celestial song Gita to Arjuna is rendered.

The dharmayuddha does raise the question as to what is the right course of action. One could argue that war, though violent, is required in order to eradicate evil. It leaves the reader with questions as whether virtuous ends justify violent means. Would it be right to say that dharma is upheld when the greatest good is done to greatest number?

The Mahabharata through the many tales tries to weave an intricate pattern of moral issues involved in day to day life. The interesting aspect to the Mahabharata is that the epic provokes the reader to deep thinking on moral issues.

Friday, January 21, 2011

The Essence of Charity

If there is one quality that is essential to the character of man it is the virtue of charity. Nothing is more important than the ability to give and give wholeheartedly. Charity truly elevates the giver.

There is an interesting tale in the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic, which highlights the essence of charity. When King Yudhistra was appointed king he performed great acts of charity by giving food and gifts to the poor and needy besides performing great rituals. People spoke very highly of the charitable acts of the king. One day while the king was performing these acts of charity a mongoose whose one half of the body was golden came to the assembly and rolled on the ground. After some time the mongoose gave up and said that the charity of the King was not all that great. This brought about a stunned silence in the court.

When the mongoose was asked why it had made such a statement it recalled its experience a few years back. The mongoose told the story of an extremely poor family, whose members had not eaten for a few day, had one day received a small bag of wheat flour. The wife made some bread for the family and just when they were about to eat a guest comes to their house. When the father of the household learns that the guest is hungry, he gives away his portion of the food to the guest. Since the guest is still hungry the mother and the son also give away their portions of bread to the guest. The guest goes away satisfied but the entire family dies due to hunger. It appears that the mongoose which was around this area happened to roll on the ground where there were a few grains of flour. The flour was so sanctified by the charitable act of the family that half of the body of the mongoose turned a golden color.

The mongoose said that since then it has been roaming the earth to witness an equally charitable act to turn its other half of the body golden. When the assembly heard they were dumbstruck and realized the value of true charity.

Generosity does not depend on the monetary value but more on the intention to help and serve.

There is another interesting tale of Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk, who lived during the 5th/6th century and transmitted Zen. Once he was asked by the Emperor Wu "What is the karmic merit I have earned for building monasteries and performing other charitable acts?". To which Bodhidharma was supposed to have said "Absolutely none, whatsoever. Good deeds done with selfish intent bring no merit."

By far the greatest act of charity is the virtue of forgiveness, the ability to pay back with goodwill to an act of transgression. As Shakespeare states, "Mercy is twice blest. It blesses him that gives and him that takes"

Charity must be done without any expectation. We should not even expect gratitude.
We should not feel that we are doing something noble. Charity does not mean only mean monetary assistance. It could also mean sharing of knowledge or giving moral support.

The virtue of charity requires us to be selfless while the performing the act. We should give from our hearts and expect nothing in return.

Charity is not determined by its magnitude but the magnanimity with which it is delivered.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

True Achievement

Mankind from time immemorial has always sought for attention. We crave for the attention and recognition of others. When we say or do something we internally hope that we get appreciation, hear some kind words or get a pat on the back for our work. We live our lives based on the opinions of others.

According to Alain De Botton our sense of identity is held hostage to the opinions of others. In other words our self worth, to a large extent, depends on what others say and think of us. Why should this be so? This kind of approach to life is fraught with danger as we are bound to be easily hurt if somebody says something unkind to us.

One's sense of dignity and self worth should be based on doing what one wants, how one wants and achieving the progress one wishes for. We should feel a warm glow from the fact that we achieved something dear to our hearts, in a manner that really appealed to us. Any additional praise or appreciation we get from others is definitely a bonus.

So in life, we need to identify those things we are passionate about and go about accomplishing them to our own satisfaction. While a certain amount of validation from an external source is necessary it should not be our only and main concern. We should only be keen to reaching the end goal that we wanted. That will give us the satisfaction and the contentment that it deserves.

We need to set goals for ourselves and honestly achieve it through our own efforts. Our self worth should be based on things that we have truly achieved rather than being based on praises from others.

We really don't need external validation but if it comes our way that is definitely a plus. While the opinions of others are important they should neither deter us from doing something nor determine what we do in life.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Gita's middle path

According to the ancient Indians there are 4 goals in any human beings life. They are ‘kama’ or the pursuit of pleasure, ‘artha’ or the pursuit of material wealth, ‘dharma’ or achievement of just ends and ‘moksha’ the attainment of liberation. This was the prevalent idea during the Vedic ages.

However the Gita gives a much more balanced approach to life. The Gita states that kama or desire is the cause of all unwanted suffering. The Gita enjoins us to perform actions in a selfless way without any ulterior motive or the desire for fruits of the action. This is known as “niskama karma” or desireless action. With a little thought we understand the depth of this idea. Clearly unnecessary attachment to the material world bring along with it unnecessary heartbreaks. We are neither supposed to be overjoyed at good tidings nor be heartbroken when something bad happens.

Secondly the Gita requires us to have just adequate material possessions to get on in the world, The Gita does not glorify a life of asceticism nor a life of wanton profligacy. The Gita requires us to follow a middle path where our wants are just met.

The ideal way according to the Gita to live a life filled with sattvic qualities of moderation and charity. The path of right living according to the Gita is life of work, filled with devotion to the Supreme, transcending dualities of pain and pleasure and performing charity without expectation of any reward.

The Gita is truly profound and eternal truth passed to us from ancient times.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Recognizing the Force Within


Our lives are less than perfect. We would like our lives to be one way but it generally turns out another way. Sometimes our friends are nasty to us, our spouses irritate us, and our bosses tend to ignore us when we are due for promotions or raises. We seem to have a lot of issues all the time. However the important thing is that we should not let these issues perturb us.

We need to look at each issue in its context and address it as we see fit. After that we should not let them continue to bother us. We should not let these petty issues nag us constantly. There is no point in fretting and fuming over trivialities.We need to consciously turn away from these issues and focus on more important things in life.

Deep within us are embedded our fondest hopes, wishes and ambitions. We need to look inward and recognize these dreams of ours and concentrate our efforts in realizing them. Rather than wasting time in worrying about petty things that did not work in ways we wanted we should nurture and works towards achieving things that we can..

For example, if we harbor dreams of becoming an accomplished musician we should spend time practicing and learning to play the instrument better. If we wish to become a writer we could do all that is necessary in learning to write well. We should spend our energies in trying to achieve things that we want rather than frittering away our energies in useless worries and wishful thinking. We should look at where we are in life and where we wish to be and work towards that.

While this may seem obvious, all too often we spend worrying and getting angry about things that we have little control over. We cannot change the way people behave as everybody is different and have their own priorities in life. Rather than being influenced with the way things happen to us we should channelize our entire energy to accomplishing that we always wanted to do. There is an indomitable force that lies buried inside us. We only need to recognize this force and give it shape. If we do this, not only will be more content with our lives but will also accomplish a lot more.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

The Many Faces of Truth

All of us get introduced to Truth during our early years. We are told that honesty and truth is the best policy. Truth in this context is to tell reality as it happened. It is quite understandable why this is so. The fragile fabric of society would just crumble if we did not speak truth and people prevaricated as a habit. There would be a lot of ambiguity in our day to day affairs and we would never know what really transpired.

 

But as we grow up we learn that there are more shades of grey to truth than appears to us at first sight. In my opinion it more important to be tactful in life than be truthful. It does not make sense to be brutally honest about something. We could state the same thing in much more gentler terms with a greater regard to sense and sensibility.

 

In one of India's ancient epics, the Mahabharata, there is a story about a band of robbers questioning a sage whether he had seen a witness to their crime running away. The sage who was more worried about speaking the truth (satya) tells the robbers about the whereabouts of the witness. The robbers appropriately apprehend the witness and exterminate him. The Mahabharata goes on to say that the sage eventually suffered hell (naraga) for causing the death of an individual when he might have couched the truth in terms that would not have given any information away.

 

While truth is important, I think truth takes a second place in comparison to kindness or compassion. In my opinion it is more important to kind than to be correct and truthful.

Truth needs to be looked at from the perspective what is more appropriate in any given situation. We cannot just say nor do things because it is so but we also need to look at the overall effect of the act.

 

While truth is important in the overall scheme of thing, ones actions should be directed towards the greatest good towards the greatest number. In this context truth will have to be weighed against other virtues of kindness, compassion and tolerance.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The Importance of Consistency



One key ingredient that is required for success in life is consistent effort. Effort by itself does not achieve much. However sustained effort over a long period of time will definitely bring its reward.  We have to persist in our efforts only then will be see the fruits of our actions.

 

For example if we wanted to become an accomplished player in any musical instrument we must make sure we practice every day. It is not enough to spend long hours in bursts. We need to practice regularly. Similarly if we want to excel in writing skills we must allot some time to writing on a daily basis. We should not adopt the attitude of waiting for divine inspiration before writing.  If we make writing a regular habit where we allot certain hours of the day for writing then pretty soon we will become good at it. We will get more ideas as we write more often. If we want to improve our general health we must ensure that we exercise regularly. There are a few who exercise is bursts and get upset when they don't see results. The secret to good health is constant and regular exercise.

 

Whichever field we look to and whatever we want to achieve can only be obtained through a consistent and sustained effort for long periods of time. There may be occasions when such a ritual will appear distasteful. But if we keep doing it we will slowly start noticing our own improvement in the skill and we will start to get into the flow.

 

We are generally awed when we watch an artiste perform on stage or a professional player play with such power and grace. We must understand that to reach that stage perfection he or she must have gone through many, many hours of consistent and regular practice. Behind all successful people there are years of rigorous practice.

 

This in essence is the secret mantra for success and achievement in life. To put it succinctly we could say that "Consistency breeds competency".



INWARDi

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Art of Getting Lucky

All of us spend a good part of our lives in envying people who are successful in life. We generally attribute success in anybody's life to be in large part to his or her luck. But, is that true? Is there a way we   can get lucky? By getting lucky, I don't mean winning the lottery. What is meant, by being lucky, is being more successful in life.

As a matter of fact we can increase the chances of being successful or becoming more fortunate. The key here is luck only comes your way if you make way for it. We need to take proactive steps in life to ensure our chances for success.

One of the steps that we need to take is to learn new skills that will be useful in our professional lives. We need to proactively take up some creative activity in life. Learning will not only hone our skills but also give us that little edge when it comes to promotions in office

We also need to network with a lot more of our colleagues and generally become visible in office life. We have to necessarily increase our circle of friends, colleagues and well wishers. This is extremely important for the present and will also serve as a cushion in times of crises.

Besides, we also need to put a little bit of our earnings on a regular basis for our and our children's future. It is not necessary to speculate but saving a little regularly over a long period.

Finally we need to make sure that we keep ourselves physically and mentally fit through regular exercise. We need to be healthy to be able to enjoy any windfall that comes our way.

If we take these little steps and pro-actively do activities then we definitely increase our chances of success. Providence only favors the prudent

In other words we need to take little steps to plant seeds or start creative endeavors in the present. This in turn will enable our chances of getting lucky or hitting something big in the future. This in essence is "The Art of Getting Lucky".

Uncommon Common Sense

If there is one thing we all tend to ignore in life, it is common sense. While all of us are endowed with this faculty right from our births, most of us never have occasion to use it. We generally tend to react to   situations rather than using common sense. We just get carried away and react on an emotional plane

However, if we tended to employ common sense more often, our lives will be a lot more peaceful and we will be in better control of our lives. One could say that common sense is the wisdom that is passed to us by our ancestors as a result of their worldly experience. It is programmed into our nature. Common sense is common knowledge as what is practical and right in any given situation.

While it is common knowledge that we need to save for our futures how many of us actually take a conscious effort to set aside some of our personal finances for our future, Some of us do, but there will be many occasions where we tend to splurge without giving much thought on how to save for the future.

Similarly to progress in our professional lives we all know that we need to enhance our skills. But we generally take little effort to make ourselves better. Common sense also dictates that we need to network better with our colleagues in office.

We all know that regular exercise is important not only for our physical well being but also for our mental health. But only a few of us perform this very important ritual in our daily life. We generally tend to eat junk foods and laze around till our bodies issue us with an ultimatum - hypertension or high cholesterol. Common sense requires that we make regular exercise a habit

Most of the choices we need to make in life can be very well done with sound common sense. But unfortunately common sense is most uncommon

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Diving into your past



None of us are really poor. We are all wealthy in a certain way. We all have a rich wealth of personal experiences. Our individual experiences are personal to us and nobody can take this away from us. From time to time, we need to dive deep into our past. There are hidden treasures that we can discover if we spend a fair amount of time going over and learning from our past experiences. Hidden in our memories and deepest thoughts are our reactions to different situations in the past, our emotions, where we went wrong and what really worked? In all of this is deep and enduring wisdom. It is all there for us to learn from. We need to forge our way courageously into our future by building on the experiences of the past.

However, we should be careful that we do not spend time regretting things that happened in our past. We should not waste time in wishful thinking. We need to go over each of our experiences from our early childhood. We can look back at our many successes, the numerous failures, the anger and the emotions that we went through and reflect on them. There are hidden nuggets of knowledge and wisdom that is embedded in each of these experiences. A successful person builds on both his/her previous successes and failures. There are invaluable lessons even in failures. Failure, in my opinion is a better teacher than success.

We should necessarily spend a few hours every week walking down memory lane. We can probably renew old friendships, learn from past failures understand where we erred in our reasoning and build upon our past successes.

Real wisdom need not only be obtained from books. Our own individual history and past experience can provide us all the much needed wisdom to get on with life.

To conclude, the map of your future lies is in your past.