Friday, July 14, 2006
A New Approach to Misery
The Confusion about Truth
……………………………… This nature of Truth, of being unchanging and eternal, of being forever present, is the biggest hurdle in realizing it.
The problem is compounded because of the language. The Truth is referred to differently in different spheres of enquiry. In religion it is ‘God’, in philosophy the same is called ‘Truth’, in spirituality it is called ‘Self’. In the field of science it is the yet-unrealized aspiration of Einstein in the form of ‘The Unified Field Theory’ or Stephen Hawkings’ ‘Theory of Everything’; if only these great scientists ever had an opportunity to study Indian scriptures or under the tutelage of Indian Masters they would have beeen dumbfounded and awe-struck; the Upanishads are nothing but their elusive theory. The Mundaka Upanishada deals with this specific question; Shaunaka, a householder in search of the Truth asks Sage Angiras, ‘What is that by knowing which everything is known?’ The sage thereafter expounds on ‘The Theory of Everything’ to the disciple.
A New Approach to Misery
Approaches to a Problem
There can be many ways to tackle a problem. Two diametrically opposite methods can be a Western Approach and an Eastern Approach. The Western Approach is directed at finding answers to an identified problem. The Eastern Approach does not seek to find answers, instead it stares into the problem; the answer appears in its own time. The advantage of the Eastern Approach is that the answer is not limited by the knowledge of the individual. Einstein was limited in his enquiry when he adopted the Constant, the speed of light. In fact the Constant itself became his limitation. Had he persisted beyond this Constant or if he had the privilege of an Indian Master it was quite likely that he may have succeeded with his Unified Field Theory.
J. Krishnamurti says, ‘In the light of silence all problems are dissolved.’
One should notice Krishnamurti’s choice of word – he says that problems are ‘dissolved’; he does not say problems are ‘solved’. By adopting the Western Approach one may find an answer, but this answer will be inadequate. You may have an answer but ironically the problem remains; worst, the problem mutates into a new problem.
The Western Approach identifies a symptom; it then tackles the symptom. The misery has to first manifest, say as boredom, and the West will tell you 300-ways to overcome boredom - with TV, fast-foods, false-foods, window-shopping etc. The quick-fix solution will invariably result in side/after-effects in the form of some addiction, obesity and more boredom. Treatment of boredom will mutate the initial problem; it may manifest ten years later as obesity, and the cycle of treating the new symptoms, finding answer to the new problem, will commence all over again. In the process of such evolution one life-span as a human being will go wasted!
The Eastern Approach addresses itself to the cause rather than the symptom. It targets the cause; the currently-manifest symptoms disappear on there own in due course. It aims at destroying the seed with undesirable potentiality, with no possibility of any future scars like the side/after-effects.
If we look at the cause of misery, the misery will dissolve. The misery or any of its mutated variants will never be encountered in life.
Some of us are aware of our miseries while others are not. There is a deadly virus inside us; in some of us the incubation period is over and we are suffering in the physical world. In others, either the incubation period is not yet over, or the manifestations are within our acceptance levels. Call this virus any name. Taking a cue from the latest bird flu virus (H5N1) I call this virus E1-G5-O2. Don’t attach any great significance to the name. It has no connection to whatever may come to your mind; if you do, you’ll probably miss the point.
What is important is that the sooner we immunize ourselves against this virus better it will be for us. If ignored, it has a tendency to mutate, and then it becomes unmanageable.
The Cause of Misery
The cause of all misery, yours and mine and for the entire mankind inhabiting this planet, is the mind.
We have to understand the mind and know its nature.
The Root Cause of Misery
While the seed of misery is the mind, the root of misery lies deeper than the mind itself. The real problem is in the nature of the mind.
The reality is that instead of us using the mind, the mind is using us! Due to our being unaware of the ways of the mind, it has taken over and has become the auto-pilot for us. So long the auto-mind is operating i.e. mind operating within its own nature (prakriti apne mein hi barat rahi hai) the misery will continue to exist.
A little example may help to clarify how vicious can be the working of the mind in an auto-mode.
The highest experience of fulfillment possible for a person is the Mother’s love. It is so beautiful and complete. It satisfies both, the Mother and the child. In fact it sustains the world; without love in the heart of a woman no child would have been born; which girl would willingly bear the intense labour pains associated with child-birth if not for the intense love in her heart? A mother is actually the principle of love, a reflection of divinity itself.
God’s love is identical to a mother’s love except for its sphere of influence. God’s love encompasses everyone and everything while a mother’s love is restricted to her own children. This is the only difference. Going by the purity and universality of a Mother’s love we may conclude that every mother is God-personified for her child. A mother is actually the principle of unconscious love; she herself is not aware of its existence, and she continues to operate under its influence. If a human being has experienced Mother’s love he has had a glimpse of divinity. The reality is that most people have not experienced the Mother’s love; most have just taken it for granted.
Now, watch the transformation of this so-called principle of love under the influence of the virus E1-G5-O2. Look at the condition of the same woman in the role of a mother-in-law!
What happened? Here was a lady who was God-personified, but she becomes so awfully transformed in her new role as a mother-in-law!!
In the above case the love of the mother got hijacked by the working of the mind because she is unconscious of it. Her love for her child is part of Nature. This love can flow towards her own child only; the neighbours’ child is excluded from her sphere. This is mind in an auto-mode, of Nature operating within itself. If the same love can be experienced consciously it is capable of transcending a Mother-in-Law to the level of Mother Teresa whose love knew no boundaries.
When we are unconscious, and choose to remain so, we are the victims of such unconscious transformations.
The mind has its nature. When we are operating within the framework of its inherent nature we are miserable. If we can be conscious of its methods there is hope, that over a period of time, our miseries will cease. The E1-G5-O2 virus would have been destroyed.
If you wish to exercise your choice to reduce misery, learn about the nature of mind to transcend it. Go beyond the nature of mind and you will never be miserable because you would have discovered bliss - Ananda.
Note:
Till the next posting on this site on 18 Jul 2006 try out the following activities.
Time required : Two minutes
I. Close your eyes and let your mind fly to the furthest place you
have visited.
[You will realize the tremendous speed of mind. The light from the Sun
takes eight minutes to reach us but our mind can reach the Sun in an
instant.]
II. Close your eyes and direct your mind to the big toe of your right
foot.
[You will find that this practice is more difficult and time consuming
than the previous one. The reason is that the untrained mind is not
adept at inward journey ]
Time required : Fifteen minutes
III. Make out a small list of, maybe five to seven items each of:-
(a) things you like to do,
(b) things you do not like to do,
(c) things you feel convinced about yourself,
(d) and a fourth list of what are those things that you fear.
Are you getting impatient?
[Watch your impatience with patience. See if you can watch it?
Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya
(From darkness lead me towards light)
******************************************************
……………………………… This nature of Truth, of being unchanging and eternal, of being forever present, is the biggest hurdle in realizing it.
The problem is compounded because of the language. The Truth is referred to differently in different spheres of enquiry. In religion it is ‘God’, in philosophy the same is called ‘Truth’, in spirituality it is called ‘Self’. In the field of science it is the yet-unrealized aspiration of Einstein in the form of ‘The Unified Field Theory’ or Stephen Hawkings’ ‘Theory of Everything’; if only these great scientists ever had an opportunity to study Indian scriptures or under the tutelage of Indian Masters they would have beeen dumbfounded and awe-struck; the Upanishads are nothing but their elusive theory. The Mundaka Upanishada deals with this specific question; Shaunaka, a householder in search of the Truth asks Sage Angiras, ‘What is that by knowing which everything is known?’ The sage thereafter expounds on ‘The Theory of Everything’ to the disciple.
A New Approach to Misery
Approaches to a Problem
There can be many ways to tackle a problem. Two diametrically opposite methods can be a Western Approach and an Eastern Approach. The Western Approach is directed at finding answers to an identified problem. The Eastern Approach does not seek to find answers, instead it stares into the problem; the answer appears in its own time. The advantage of the Eastern Approach is that the answer is not limited by the knowledge of the individual. Einstein was limited in his enquiry when he adopted the Constant, the speed of light. In fact the Constant itself became his limitation. Had he persisted beyond this Constant or if he had the privilege of an Indian Master it was quite likely that he may have succeeded with his Unified Field Theory.
J. Krishnamurti says, ‘In the light of silence all problems are dissolved.’
One should notice Krishnamurti’s choice of word – he says that problems are ‘dissolved’; he does not say problems are ‘solved’. By adopting the Western Approach one may find an answer, but this answer will be inadequate. You may have an answer but ironically the problem remains; worst, the problem mutates into a new problem.
The Western Approach identifies a symptom; it then tackles the symptom. The misery has to first manifest, say as boredom, and the West will tell you 300-ways to overcome boredom - with TV, fast-foods, false-foods, window-shopping etc. The quick-fix solution will invariably result in side/after-effects in the form of some addiction, obesity and more boredom. Treatment of boredom will mutate the initial problem; it may manifest ten years later as obesity, and the cycle of treating the new symptoms, finding answer to the new problem, will commence all over again. In the process of such evolution one life-span as a human being will go wasted!
The Eastern Approach addresses itself to the cause rather than the symptom. It targets the cause; the currently-manifest symptoms disappear on there own in due course. It aims at destroying the seed with undesirable potentiality, with no possibility of any future scars like the side/after-effects.
If we look at the cause of misery, the misery will dissolve. The misery or any of its mutated variants will never be encountered in life.
Some of us are aware of our miseries while others are not. There is a deadly virus inside us; in some of us the incubation period is over and we are suffering in the physical world. In others, either the incubation period is not yet over, or the manifestations are within our acceptance levels. Call this virus any name. Taking a cue from the latest bird flu virus (H5N1) I call this virus E1-G5-O2. Don’t attach any great significance to the name. It has no connection to whatever may come to your mind; if you do, you’ll probably miss the point.
What is important is that the sooner we immunize ourselves against this virus better it will be for us. If ignored, it has a tendency to mutate, and then it becomes unmanageable.
The Cause of Misery
The cause of all misery, yours and mine and for the entire mankind inhabiting this planet, is the mind.
We have to understand the mind and know its nature.
The Root Cause of Misery
While the seed of misery is the mind, the root of misery lies deeper than the mind itself. The real problem is in the nature of the mind.
The reality is that instead of us using the mind, the mind is using us! Due to our being unaware of the ways of the mind, it has taken over and has become the auto-pilot for us. So long the auto-mind is operating i.e. mind operating within its own nature (prakriti apne mein hi barat rahi hai) the misery will continue to exist.
A little example may help to clarify how vicious can be the working of the mind in an auto-mode.
The highest experience of fulfillment possible for a person is the Mother’s love. It is so beautiful and complete. It satisfies both, the Mother and the child. In fact it sustains the world; without love in the heart of a woman no child would have been born; which girl would willingly bear the intense labour pains associated with child-birth if not for the intense love in her heart? A mother is actually the principle of love, a reflection of divinity itself.
God’s love is identical to a mother’s love except for its sphere of influence. God’s love encompasses everyone and everything while a mother’s love is restricted to her own children. This is the only difference. Going by the purity and universality of a Mother’s love we may conclude that every mother is God-personified for her child. A mother is actually the principle of unconscious love; she herself is not aware of its existence, and she continues to operate under its influence. If a human being has experienced Mother’s love he has had a glimpse of divinity. The reality is that most people have not experienced the Mother’s love; most have just taken it for granted.
Now, watch the transformation of this so-called principle of love under the influence of the virus E1-G5-O2. Look at the condition of the same woman in the role of a mother-in-law!
What happened? Here was a lady who was God-personified, but she becomes so awfully transformed in her new role as a mother-in-law!!
In the above case the love of the mother got hijacked by the working of the mind because she is unconscious of it. Her love for her child is part of Nature. This love can flow towards her own child only; the neighbours’ child is excluded from her sphere. This is mind in an auto-mode, of Nature operating within itself. If the same love can be experienced consciously it is capable of transcending a Mother-in-Law to the level of Mother Teresa whose love knew no boundaries.
When we are unconscious, and choose to remain so, we are the victims of such unconscious transformations.
The mind has its nature. When we are operating within the framework of its inherent nature we are miserable. If we can be conscious of its methods there is hope, that over a period of time, our miseries will cease. The E1-G5-O2 virus would have been destroyed.
If you wish to exercise your choice to reduce misery, learn about the nature of mind to transcend it. Go beyond the nature of mind and you will never be miserable because you would have discovered bliss - Ananda.
Note:
Till the next posting on this site on 18 Jul 2006 try out the following activities.
Time required : Two minutes
I. Close your eyes and let your mind fly to the furthest place you
have visited.
[You will realize the tremendous speed of mind. The light from the Sun
takes eight minutes to reach us but our mind can reach the Sun in an
instant.]
II. Close your eyes and direct your mind to the big toe of your right
foot.
[You will find that this practice is more difficult and time consuming
than the previous one. The reason is that the untrained mind is not
adept at inward journey ]
Time required : Fifteen minutes
III. Make out a small list of, maybe five to seven items each of:-
(a) things you like to do,
(b) things you do not like to do,
(c) things you feel convinced about yourself,
(d) and a fourth list of what are those things that you fear.
Are you getting impatient?
[Watch your impatience with patience. See if you can watch it?
Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya
(From darkness lead me towards light)
******************************************************
# posted by Abhay Gupta @ 9:43 AM 
