Parochialism vs Universalism

Dear Friends

Oxford Dictionary defines “Parochialism” as a limited or narrow outlook, especially focused on a local area; as narrow-mindedness. Merriam Dictionary also calls it petty selfishness, although according to me that definition is far extreme compared with my own understanding of the term. The opposite of parochialism is called “Universalism”.

Recently I have been interacting amongst two association of people, in one of which I am a little active in communication whereas in the other, not so much. In the interaction with people in the former, I have observed some preference to interact with a few chosen ones more freely, than others. However in the latter, I have observed openness, a welcome approach to assimilating emotions of all who come in contact, without any chosen preferences.

In many organizations, there are policies geared towards welcoming new members, familiarizing and engaging them in participation with different work-groups etc. In certain other organizations, the new members are left to fend and find their way. Over a period of time, the newcomer, in either case, becomes a part of the various activity groups and finds his or her moorings. Having said that, we find that in almost all organizations, there are “cliques”, i.e. a group of people who prefer to maintain a “closed association” amongst themselves, where “outsider entry is prohibited”.

Why am I using these examples? What am I trying to get at? Let me explain.

We Hindus are fond of saying that our religion is ancient. Actually our ancient religion was called “Sanatana Dharma”. Translated to English, this means “Universal Religion”. There was nothing sectarian about it. All beings were considered equal. Differences based on birth, gender, wealth, caste, etc were not found in Sanatana Dharma. People who worked in different activities, did so because they were adept or experts at that nature of work. This ancient religion is claimed to be over 7500 years old. There were no deities, no forms or names of worship. Nature was God manifested in a beautiful form.

Nowadays, as people have become more learned, somewhere down the line, they have lost their education. Knowledge is plenty but Wisdom is scarce. We differentiate people and have created groups to identify them. In the process groups of “WE” and “THEY” have been created. These differentiations are on the basis of work, workplace, groups within works, schools, classmates, colleges, clubs, etc etc. Although these differentiations are necessary to make our living more organized and less chaotic, somewhere, we have lost the “WE” collectively and become “ME” centric. Our differentiation has led to an unconscious “Parochialism”. Without realizing it in our day-to-day actions, we have lost the Universal Vision.

Among the teachings in Bhagwad Geeta, this Universalism is explained by Lord Krishna to Arjuna in Chapter 7, Verse 10 as follows:-

Beejam Maam Sarva Bhootanam; Viddhi Partha Sanaatanam

Buddhirbuddhi Mataamasmi Tejastejasvi Naamaham.

(This is translated by Swami Chinmayananda as follows: -

Know me, O Partha, as the eternal seed of all beings. I am the intelligence of the intelligent. The splendor of the splendid I am)

Let us celebrate togetherness, embrace Universalism and shun Parochialism.

Prem & Om / Suresh

Science and Religion

Dear Friends

Albert Einstein, probably the greatest modern scientist, said “science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind”. Swami Chinmayananda, a contemporary spiritual master, said “Religion is a science of improvement in the inner nature of man”. Bafflingly, each master is equating his field with the other. Leads us to the question, “Is there a connect between science and religion?” Recently, when I had been on one of my annual pilgrimages, I entered into a discussion with one of my co-pilgrims, an engineer by profession, on this subject.

The most common representation or belief about religion is that, it involves a set of practices where some ceremonies, rites or actions are performed, trying to invoke some unseen or unknown power, to enable mankind in overcoming their obstacles in life.  The most common representation of science is that, it involves a set of experiments where a theory about matter performing in a particular manner, in given circumstances, is proven. While these representations may sound superficially correct, we need to understand the deeper significance of these two fields.

Every science, including mathematics, has what is called “pure science” and “applied science”.  Pure Science deals with the theory and research in observing how various elements or matter, and establishing reasoning about why they behave in a certain manner when they come in contact with other matter. For instance, there is a scientific explanation for why the fire turns yellow in a closed area whereas in the open, the fire looks colorless? In direct contrast, Applied Science deals with the practical everyday aspects of applying the pure knowledge to live situations. For instance, the phenomenon about the fire’s behavior is explained through experiments in a laboratory.

Likewise, Pure Religion is based on acquiring knowledge about what is the purpose of our life, why have we taken this human form, what is God, is God limited to forms and names or is it a cardinal principle which goes beyond name and form etc. For instance, our ancient scriptures (Indian), teach us about the benefits of meditation / contemplation etc. They impart knowledge, that we are composed of the body, mind, intellect equipment but our Pure Self is the one Inner Principle which is the same for all beings. In Bhagawat Geeta this is called Jnyana Yoga (the Knowledge Domain). In contrast, Applied Religion deals with our transactional behavior in the world, rooted in the knowledge of one Superior Being, unseen and unmanifest, who is the doer of all our actions and deeds. This is expressed in the form of selfless action and good deeds or words that we speak, in each of which, we manifest ourselves as children of the same God. In Bhagawat Geeta this is called Karma Yoga (the Action Domain).

Obviously there is synergy between Science & Religion, a fact accepted and taught by great masters as well. It is the synthesis of the Pure Science and Applied Science that leads to all development and progress in the material world. Likewise, it is the synthesis of Pure Religion and Applied Religion that leads to all happiness, joy and contentment to mankind in the spiritual world. This synthesized version of religion is called devotion, manifested as our daily prayers, remembering Him as the driving force of our lives at all times and as all music and dance that we play, hear, sing etc. This devotion in Bhagawat Geeta is called Bhakti Yoga (the Devotion Domain).

For is it not true that God is in all small things, viz: - the flowing river, the singing bird, the playing kitten, the crying child, the loving mother, the hand of friendship and many such things that we encounter daily

Prem & Om

Suresh

Why do people marry?

Why do people marry?

The last fortnight has been a great time for dance, music, feasts, laughter and reliving old memories. You see, there were two mega weddings in the family! Participating in these, enjoying every bit of it, I got a funny thought. Why do people marry? I am happily married, silver jubilee fast approaching, with two fine children; yet the thought was strange.

Invariably, when someone is eligible to get married and looking for the right partner and the right moment to tie the knot; we have habit of ‘advising’ them, that marriage is indeed the right thing to do; it makes one complete. The poor guy or girl, sincerely wanting to enter matrimony, takes our ‘advise’ seriously. As soon as the “candidate” is away from earshot we say “when you are single, you are incomplete; but when you marry, you are FINISHED”

The philosophical way of explaining the creation of the world is that “God created the world and called it the Garden of Eden. Into that garden he sent Adam, who was meant to be the pinnacle of his creation. He found Adam wandering and lost in the garden and then realized that the poor guy felt incomplete. So he sent Eve to join him. Now God felt happy, Ah! My man is complete now with his woman, he exclaimed” From that free garden, the man and his woman roamed, enjoyed, procreated and multiplied. We all owe our origins to that Garden, where Mr Adam and Ms Eve, first landed!!

But man (woman included) is a funny creature. He felt the need to institutionalize this relationship; therefore he created an association called “marriage” because it was a democratic thing to do. And God, because he had abdicated his responsibility to this man/woman combine, left them to fend this battle themselves. Since that day, every man or woman who has married, goads, encourages, analyses and justifies the need for others to marry. The “candidates” of their encouragement tie the sacred knot; only to end up doing the same for their successors and this way the great institution is kept active and dynamic. And whenever the wedded ones turn to God for an answer to their mutual disagreements, God only looks down and winks at them saying; “I only gave you the garden, why did you make it an institution!!!!!!!!!!!!!”.

In the western society (now even in India), “live-in” relationships are pretty common. The partners, probably wary of entering into a commitment, decide to live together, to test their minds. Once their choice is firmed in their minds, some of them decide to formalize it. In the west, we have heard of many couples actually marrying after child-birth. Obviously therefore, the emotional or mental quotient that decides marriage is “commitment and compatibility”. Couples, who find themselves emotionally or intellectually compatible, choosing to spend the better parts of their future lives together, decide to institutionalize the relationship for posterity.  To enable that happening, the society, including parents, relatives, friends etc are made witnesses, and in turn they bless and wish the couple well. Thus this institution, which provides feasts, celebration, merry-making for others, is kept vibrant and relevant, atleast in the Indian context.

There are of course those who choose to remain single. They are not the subject for this article. They can read the opinions that are obviously going to fly across, once this article is posted. Happy reading!

Prem & Om

Suresh

Wake up!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wake up!!!!!!!!!!!

Many of us have grown up listening to Mohd Rafi songs. One of Goswami Tulsidas’ compositions, which was rendered into a melodious but melancholic number by Rafi has the following lyrics: -

उठ जाग मुसाफिर भोंर भई, अब रैन कहाँ जो सोवत है, जो जागत है सो पावत है, जो सोवत है वह खोवत है !

तुक नींद से अँखियाँ खोल ज़रा, ओह गाफिल रब से ध्यान लगा, यह प्रीत करण  की रीत नहीं, रब जागत है तू सोवत है!!

जो काल करें सो आज कर ले, जब चिड़िया खेत चुग डाली, फिर पछताए क्या होवत है, उठ जाग मुसाफिर भोर भइ!!!

The verses are poignant in that the poet is exhorting us to “wake up” from our present situation of “ignorance” and come into the “knowledge” of our Higher Self. Different languages and different religions have named “God” differently. Urdu invariably uses the word “Rab” to identify Him. Wonder really, what’s in the name, because He is the Real One. How does it matter, by what name we call HIM.

We are all “travelers” in this world, having come into this mortal plane for fulfilling certain “vasanas” and grow within ourselves before departing; only to return again for continuing this journey. This constant coming and going will continue till we have realized the true knowledge about our Inner Self, which when fully realized, there is no more any need to return for a fresh journey in this world. But so long as we are travelers here, we need to be ever awake to realize the True Knowledge of the Lord of our Hearts, Lord Jagadeeshwara.

As Tulsidasji says, “Hey traveler, wake up, it is already dawn, where is the time now available for sleeping. The one who is awake, gains and the one who sleeps, loses”. If we try to understand his true meaning; the journey that we have come into, is a short one. We assume that this life is very long, but really speaking this life is but a small dot in a long and constant coming and going process. And for such a short journey, if we don’t spare enough time for realizing His true nature, we are literally asleep to the reality of life.

Continuing, Tulsidasji says “You open your eyes from your sleep and devote your attention on the Lord; for this is no way of Love that the Lord is Awake and you are asleep”. If we introspect on this verse, the poet says, shift your attention from the day-to-day and mundane wants, likes, dislikes, passion, anger, fear and anxiety driven desires and transfer it towards the Lord, who is your Inner Being; who is your Consciousness and guiding you always. This Consciousness is always Awake (meaning it is nothing but the life spark in us) whereas, we in our ignorance, claiming to love Him, we are always asleep. Metaphorically, we always seem to spend a little time in prayer every day. But we need to introspect and answer to ourselves, are we Awake in Prayer. We always pray while desiring for something. How many of us can claim that when we pray, we offer all our desires, feelings, emotions, thoughts, possessions and everything else, at His Feet. We claim to be praying, but really, most of us are only begging; to give something, to get rid of something, to get some happiness, to protect someone whom we love etc etc. In each of these interactions with the Lord, we are “asking” Him to do something. But real prayer will happen only when we turn internally, within ourselves, and allow Him to dwell in our Hearts, where He really belongs!!

Lastly, Tulsi says, it is never too late. If we believe in His True Nature and want to shift our focus, we can begin NOW, no matter where we are and what our life situation is. It is better to start now than regret later. He asks us to act on the determination of our Hearts, for there is no use regretting tomorrow after the birds have ruined the crops. So wake up Oh Traveler, It is Dawn.

Let us invoke these sentiments in our Hearts and start in right earnest, before “Sunset”, i.e. before depart from this mortal plane.

Prem & Om

Suresh

Peace

Peace within is what we have

Peace within is what we’ve lost

Peace within is what we’ll find

If we look for it with Peace within

These were line that came to me while on a walk about 5-6 weeks ago.Lest I forget it, I put it down on facebook with a promise to elaborate on them later. Today, on Shivaratri day, He’s given me the inclination to do that.

Childbirth is an amazing event starting life on this earth. Those who’ve witnessed it will know that for the first 10-15 seconds after being pulled out, the newborn is silent; and then comes the first full-throated cry. This cry is a manifestation of its sudden insecurity. During the 9 months and 9 days that the child was in the womb, its security, food, relaxation, comfort etc were attended by the mother. From the time the foetus developed life, about 24 weeks after conception, the baby was in total comfort and suddenly on delivery, it is now thrown into new unfamiliar surroundings.

This first cry is a manifestation of that discomfort; which is relieved by the mid-wife / nurses wrapping it up, providing it warmth and the mother feeding the baby. This is the first act of desire manifestation by any human being and its consequent gratification begins the entire cycle of desire fulfillment in this life. The peace that we entertained in the womb is now challenged and we are suddenly left disturbed, only to find comfort again in desire gratification. The peace that was within us is lost at every moment that we get disturbed by desire propelled action.

The kind of life we led in our earlier form and name, prior to coming into the present embodiment; coupled with the unfulfilled ‘vasanas’ of the previous embodiment (called our old bundle), propels us into the atmosphere, surroundings, people and experiences that we encounter in the present embodiment. Through education and learning, we realize the importance of discarding this old bundle gradually and re-discover the peace that was within us when we “landed” here.

For undertaking this journey, of re-discovering the peace within, knowledge alone does not provide the wisdom. Knowledge coupled with understanding on His Eternal Grace is necessary. Through our learning we understand that desires alone are not the cause of our unhappiness but it is our attachment towards their achievement as well as loss of equanimity at the absence of our desired results. Through courageous self-effort, offering all our successes and failures at His Feet, without the identification of the “I” or “Me” in the actions that we perform, we generate the serenity in ourselves and realize that the Peace within ourselves that we lost, was none other than the Lord of our Hearts, the Jagadeeshwara, who is always waiting for us to return to Him.

Once we are with Him, our actions will only be for Love, Selflessness and Duty, all of which lead us to our Inner Peace, that is for ours to keep till we leave this mortal plane.

Prem & Om

Suresh

Ephemeral Mind

The Ephemeral Mind

By its very nature the mind is transitory. Like a flowing river, it drives itself with the mood of the moment. Like a chain-link, it attracts one thought with a succeeding one; which itself is born from an idea in the earlier thought. If we take an example; of children building blocks, only to collapse at the whiff of the wind or imbalance caused by too many blocks; the moment the mind recognizes the weight of such succeeding thoughts, the chain collapses and all of a sudden the intellect recognizes the fanciful movement of the mind.


The beauty of concerted effort at meditation is that, the intellect becomes powerful at detecting this ephemeral, transient, passing, temporary and fleeting mood of the mind. Honey-bees, butterflies and many other insects are known to fly from one flower to another and suck a little bit juice from each of them. But the beauty of these insects is that they never stick to one flower. They move continuously. We are different; we return back to enjoy the pleasure of certain pleasant thoughts and also to brood over some unpleasant thoughts. This constant retreat and reaffirmation of the pair of opposites determines whether we remain happy or unhappy. Through meditation, we perfect the art of recognizing this jumping-jack nature of the mind at all times, and arresting the mind from carrying our prudence and rationale away. It also helps us to know who or what we are, in contrast with what we think we are.


Inspired performance can come when we have an ideal to follow. When there is something far higher than ourselves, or our limited knowledge about ourselves, which beckons us. I remember mentioning in my first post during the preparation for Kaliash Yatra, that a pilgrimage is a means to an end and not an end by itself. The 18 weeks that I spent in writing to my friends, whilst preparing for the pilgrimage, was a time when probably the mind & intellect, in perfect unison, encouraged me to write my innermost thoughts which resulted in publishing “Eighteen Steps to Kailash”. On my return, I wrote a thanksgiving, called “Shiva and Me” promising myself that I would put our memoirs of the visit into a new book. That was August 2012 and now we are in early 2013. How I have got swamped by my work and personal preoccupations; but not a moment has passed without my telling myself to muster the strength to start again. Has it been the case of a lack of inspiration or is it the mind taking over the intellect; I really wonder.


Yesterday morning during my walk, I met a friend who was strolling his dog. In the excitement of seeing my friend, I rushed towards him, only to realize that his dog, faithful as it was to its master, advanced menacingly towards me. My friend warned me against coming near and I retreated. This little event set me thinking about the animal nature of the human mind. Gurudev was fond of saying “Man is an Intelligent Animal”, indicating that the discriminating intellect that man possesses is what distinguishes him from an animal. But it is a matter of introspection for each one of us to know, what part of our behavior and actions are oriented as “man” and what part as “animal”.


Sufi teachings include a simile which suggests that our Inner Spirit is like a porcupine, the more you beat it with the sticks of sufferings, the fatter the porcupine of the Spirit will grow, ultimately leading to self-realization. How many of us really believe that the sufferings that come to us in this life are but His calls to us to travel towards our Inner Self? I wonder!


Prem & Om
Suresh

15 and 51

Sharing a message I wrote for my school friends today.

"Hi Friends

I bumped into a great number mystery about us. Most of us were born in 1962 and passed out of school in 1977. Today, in 2013, we are 51 whereas we were 15 when we passed out.

Numerology says that 15 is a number that asks you to keep your thoughts and actions focused upon your goals and aspirations in order to manifest your highest ideals and to use your initiative, personal tenacity, positive affirmations and visualizations and keep your outlook bright and receptive in your life path to achieve all that you strive for.  

On the other end of the spectrum, 51 contains a message that it is time to put your priorities in order and get to work serving your soul mission and life purpose.  It says that our thoughts bring about our life circumstances and we create our own realities and we should look forward to wonderful new beginnings.

I am not into numerology nor am I even faintly acquainted with this science. But the peculiar similarity in these numbers; has prompted me, on this occasion of a numeric transposition in our ages, to pen down a few stray thoughts, for us to mull over.

At 15, going to school meant hanging out with my friends;

  At 51, hanging out with my friends, means remembering my school.

At 15, I yearned to spend a few extra minutes with my friends at school;

  At 51, I still yearn for those 2 days or 2 hours with my school friends. 

At 15 I was all zest and mischief for all that life had in store for me;

At 51 there is zest and maturity to make a deeper meaning to my life. 

At 15 I had a hazy vision about what I’d do with my life ahead;

        At 51, I wonder the same for my child, who looks to his/her life ahead. 

At 15, I dreaded what the teacher would say, was I to err in my lessons;

  At 51, I dread being a teacher, for I know not, if I have learnt my lessons. 

At 15, “Satyaanaasthi” was meant to be a place for punishment;

  At 51, I’ve learnt that it means there is no Religion Higher than Truth 

At 15, I dreamt that I will become an important person in life;

  At 51, I realize it’s taking me a long time to become the person I should be. 

At 15, love meant infatuation, romance, togetherness;

      At 51, love means caring & acceptance for all that is, has been or will be. 

At 15, I felt I will succeed and become different from what I am;

  At 51, having succeeded, I wonder how much I am still no different."