An incredible journey

Soul is a dynamic system. We are all given a map at the time of birth that broadly determines the proportions of various elements in the soul but all this changes as soon as the experiences of our senses begin to leave their own imprint on the soul. 

The input from our senses can change this map at any time.

Sounds and smells can invoke any one of positive or negative feelings. As our experiences expand they are imbedded in our memories. A beautiful melody can touch our soul. There is a constant turmoil going in within our soul. It is the eternal fight between the Cosmic Intelligence and the negative forces that are nothing but emptiness on the soul map.

Those who live in reasonably happy surroundings, can sustain positive feelings most of the time and remain happy. The unhappy soul strays trapped inside an unhappy body. When the body dies the unhappy soul is released into the universe only to come back as another unhappy person. The cycle goes on. The grander purpose of life and the universe is unfulfilled. So staying happy by increasing the proportion of cosmic intelligence in our souls and getting rid of emptiness should be a common goal.

The key to finding that happiness is the so-called “sixth” sense or “sense of belief” as I would like to call it. This sense is the portal through which cosmic intelligence enters the mind. Even as a child this sixth sense. There is a sense of wonder, a quest to know more and to accept what we learn, in all of us. However, this sense of wonder is mediated by our upbringing, surroundings and education and that wonder starts getting clouded. But the good news is that it can be cleared of clouds by conscious effort.

Once the sixth sense is opened it allows direct communication between cosmic intelligence inside our souls and the all-prevailing cosmic intelligence in the universe. The more we “believe” the greater are the chances of our consciousness flowing freely and taking advantage of the vast ocean of positive energy flowing all around us. So the first and foremost step of achieving permanent happiness is to believe in something completely with your heart, mind or soul whatever you want to call it. This sense has also been described in mythology as the inner eye or third eye. ... Many people already have the sixth sense opened to a great extent. This manifest in them as the power of intuition.

... The Bhagavad Gita describes karma yoga, the practice that allows us to continue working and doing whatever we are doing as long as we do not work for ulterior motives, and follow the pure way of life with detachment from all results of our actions. We do not consider ourselves as the “doer” but believe that cosmic intelligence within us determines all actions or karma.

Be in the presence of people who know ‘the truth.’ Satsang simply works from the flow of cosmic intelligence between people. By sharing, it grows further. People who are in love with each other experience this feeling in the presence of the loved one. Your sorrow, pain and grief are diminished if someone else shares those with you. That is the key to compassion that flows from people who have high levels of cosmic intelligence. 

 

Change your attitude willingly

Taking to spiritual development is today seen as a way to stress busting and thus bettering the quality of our lives.

This seems to be more relevant in urban living where lifestyle, desires and aspirations are working at cross purposes. People are getting increasingly edgy and short-tempered and social grace is taking a beating.

Treading the spiritual path, the aspirant needs to ensure that he has the correct reference point of beneficiary.

There was a sorcerer in a town in Tibet who would torment people with his black magic. Stories spread of how he could bring down hail and destroy villages with his powers. He would rob and kill people at will. He gained great `respect’ out of sheer fear. After a few years, a great personal tragedy shook him and he decided he would practice this sorcery no more.

In the high mountains lived a lama of repute. He had heard of the deeds of the black magician and was overwhelmed with the suffering the people had to undergo because of him. The sorcerer approached the lama and said to him: “Master, I have been a bad man all thee years. I need to redeem myself. Please help me.” The lama suggested: “Very well, now that you wish to change, you need to change your attitude first! Just as you did all the evil things to people causing them great suffering, thereby deriving great pleasure from it, you are to exactly reverse the process!”

“What do you say, master? I dont understand,” the penitent asked. The lama continued: “Well, just as you did harm to others and derived pleasure, now do good to people and derive happiness. It’s so simple.” The sorcerer got the message and went on to become one of the greatest masters of our time.

We always look at benefit with this viewpoint: “How will i derive benefit out of my practices and actions?” The shift of attitude should be in cultivating a mind that thinks of how others can derive benefit from my practices and actions. The moment shift of the reference point of the true recipient of the beneficiary is made the pathway is yours for gainful merit. This has to be done willingly and in happiness, otherwise we will accrue negative karma.

The teacher becomes the compassionate one who gives direction. The rest is up to us, to translate to action willingly, understanding why it is necessary to do so. The shift in attitude, in the point of reference of the true beneficiary of actions undertaken, is necessary for all those in public life, too, like administrators and politicians. Then the results would be of great common benefit.

Summarising everything into a single verse, the greatest teacher of Mahayana and Indian scholar, Shantideva said:

“All the joy the world contains

Has come through wishing happiness for others,

All the misery the world contains

Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.

Tathagatha realization to you!”

Tathagatha refers to one who has walked the path to full awakening and so reached the end of suffering and is released from life-death cycle. The implication is that the path is open to all who would follow it. In later Mahayana Buddhism, Tathagatha came to mean the essential buddha nature found in every sentient being.

Power to heal and renew

The Sacred Tridium of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter has its roots in the celebration of the Passover by the Israelites 12 centuries before Christ.

Memorial for the Hebrew means making present in the “now” the event that took place years ago, not merely in the sense of remembering it, but believing that what happened then happens even now, in our very midst with the same intensity with which it first occurred. The ‘symbols’ of yesteryear become the ‘reality’ of today, albeit in a different setting.

Deliverance from slavery, passing over from one form of existence to another, crossing over and making it to the other side against all odds, are all a reminder of the presence of the same power that allows the event to be repeated. For Christians, these days are a celebration of deliverance from enslavement to the ego, passing over from the ‘death of the self’ to the new life of the true Self. The journey to the Promised Land that took 40 years is a symbol of the lifelong resistance we face as we make the journey in our own lives. But Easter is the assurance that we will make it to the other side. 

In Hebrew thought and culture the individual and nature are meant to be in harmony in the Original Plan of God. Easter comes to us as God’s gift in the person of Jesus who exercises the fullness of Divine Power by healing at all levels – cosmic, physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. Christians believe that Resurrection of Jesus makes us partakers of that very power. We are called to share this gift with each other to participate actively in this process of renewal and re-creation, first of all by healing ourselves and then making this the starting point of healing all around us.

We do not ourselves heal others. Rather we allow ourselves to become channels of the healing power of God with us and in us, enabling it to be effective at all levels. But it is given to us in freedom. The power of the Risen Lord, real as it is, does not take away our freedom to reject it.

Why are we so often unable to heal our sicknesses? Why is it that new form of diseases surface and hold to ransom large sections of the population even as we have made staggering advances in the field of medical science? Why are we so often incapable of healing broken relationships? Why does peace so often elude us? All our efforts at building a better world, of establishing a society free of violence and war, of living together in peace and justice and love will come to naught if they are not at the same time linked to our own progressive “Passing Over” from the Ego to the True Self.

The celebration of Easter is more than a Christian Festival; the Passover goes beyond the boundaries of Judaism. It is an invitation to every individual to delve deep into his own contemplative tradition and encounter there the power that raised Jesus from the dead, the power within us that is the source of healing and renewal. Precisely because of Easter, together with us ‘the whole of creation still retains the hope of being freed like us from its slavery to decadence, to enjoy the same freedom and glory as the children of God’.

Of diffusion and drift

Diffusion is the law of nature. It takes place when there is inequality and non-uniformity. Since our world has plenty of the above traits, diffusion is bound to happen. However, it is not free from obstructions; it has to overcome barriers that oppose diffusion.

Consider the diffusion of knowledge. Knowledge developed at one place must diffuse to places devoid of it. This helps its spread and contributes to its growth. Similarly, wealth created at one place must also diffuse to places where it is absent. In the process, equilibrium is maintained, which contributes to stability of the system.

Society that jealously guards its wealth and knowledge, without making these available to others is bound to disintegrate. Strong isolated places of affluence do not serve the interest of humankind. Diffusion is a spontaneous process.

In the Bhagavad Gita, the cosmic form visualised by Arjuna of the Supreme Being seems infinite. It is the diffusion of an infinite energy. It is undiminished everywhere and all the time, hence is omnipresent and omnipotent because of its infinite power. Before assuming Vishwarupa, Krishna says: “All of the universes are pervaded by me in imperceptibly subtle manifestation.” Thus, in the realm of spirituality, one could interpret the omnipresence of the Supreme Energy as being due to diffusion.

In real life, however, we experience limited diffusion. The spread of a flower’s fragrance in the air and the dissolution of ink in water are examples of diffusion in gaseous and liquid states of matter. Diffusion takes place in gases and liquids due to their flexible nature. Diffusion does take place even in a solid matter, in spite of its rigidity. Diffusion takes place in the material world irrespective of its nature; however, the degree varies.

Unlike diffusion, drift is a driven process. There are both positive and negative drifts. If a person is swayed away by bad company or habits, it is a negative drift. If influenced by something good, it is a positive drift. It does well to both the doer and its recipient.

Good action done without attachment to results in sattvik drift. Drift resulted from a fruitful action may be termed as rajasik drift. However, its degree of positivity is much less than the former. Inaction is a tamasik drift, which is negative.

What is the signature of drift in inanimate matter? Electric current in a metallic wire is driven by a power source and is a drifted motion of conduction electrons, negatively charged subatomic particles, bound in an atom but free in a metal. There’s a philosophical angle: The electron which conducts in a metal does not do so in an isolated atom.

Stretching it to life one would conclude that society makes one dynamic, whereas isolation does the opposite. Thus, if society does such a good thing for us, we should work more for it, rather than only for ourselves.

Diffusion and drift sometimes oppose each other. It is not bad. Together they create a balance in life. In matter, drift and diffusion together does wonders. Solid state electronics results from this joint action. In solid state, not only particles but also atoms, which are much heavier, diffuse. Hence no barrier is strong enough to stop spontaneity.

Life is a queer mixture of drift and diffusion. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Roger Moore said: ‘Teach love, generosity, good manners and some of that will drift from the classroom to the home and who knows, the children will be educating the parents.”

Intellect and intelligence

We spend a lot of time acquiring intelligence at the expense of developing intellect.

Intelligence is built by gaining information, knowledge from external agencies, from schools and universities, teachers and textbooks. The intellect is developed through your individual effort by exercising the faculty of questioning, thinking and reasoning. Not accepting anything that does not admit logic or reason. Know the difference between the two. And that any amount of intelligence gained cannot per se build your intellect.

The intelligence acquired from external agencies is much like data fed into a computer. Consider, a computer charged with a complete knowledge of fire extinguishers, firefighting and fire escapes. All the knowledge stored in its memory cannot help the computer act on its own. If the room catches fire, it cannot escape. It will go up in flames. Likewise, all the knowledge you acquire is of no use to you without an intellect.

You need a powerful intellect to put the knowledge, intelligence gained, to practical use in life. That explains why among millions of doctors graduating from medical schools only a few have discovered life-saving drugs and surgeries, finding cures and remedies. So too, millions of engineers have passed out of engineering schools but only few design something unusual like the Panama Canal or Eurotunnel. It is their intellect that renders their performance outstanding. Besides hindering success and progress, intelligence without intellect could destroy peace and happiness in the world.

Not realising the importance of the intellect in life people make no attempt to develop their own. Instead, they merely indulge in acquiring intelligence through surface reading of others’ periodicals and publications. Few go into the depth of any literature. Education has lost its meaning and purpose. For generations human beings have turned into intelligent robots and are traversing through life without awareness, much less enquiring into the meaning and purpose of life. Herbert Spencer, a profound thinker and writer, was a rare luminary. Someone asked him if he was a voracious reader. He said: “No sir, if I were as big a reader as others, I would have been as big an ignoramus as they.”

The world today is in a state of chaos due to the perversion in human development − all intelligence and no intellect. That explains why even highly educated businesspersons, professionals and scholars become alcoholics, are short tempered and succumb to worry and anxiety. It is the mind that craves alcohol. It is the mind that loses its temper. Again, it is the mind that constantly harbours worry of the past and anxiety for the future. When the intellect remains undeveloped and weak, it is unable to control the vagaries of the mind. The frail intellect looks on helplessly as the mind devastates the person. In such a condition the business, profession and even family relationship run into shambles. On the contrary those having developed a powerful intellect, with or without academic distinction, can hold the mind under perfect control and direct action to spell success and peace in life.

The educational systems the world over must be held responsible for the debacle of the intellect. It is their primary responsibility to strike an equable balance between acquiring intelligence and developing the intellect. Only by maintaining this essential equation can governments be run, businesses conducted, professions practised and families live in peace and prosperity.

You are a blue pearl

Head understands head and heart understands heart. The nose can only smell; eyes can only see; ears can only hear. Similarly, the heart can only feel while the head can only think.

We try to put the heart in the head and the head in the heart and it doesn’t seem to work. Your heart feels something is beautiful, whereas head says it is beautiful. We cling on to the word in the mind but we don’t feel it. We repeat the word ‘beautiful’ in the head but it doesn’t seem or feel beautiful.

Same thing about love, you talk too much about love, you get stuck in the head and it doesn’t rise in the heart. In silence, love emits, radiates. We experience ourselves in the things we love more. That is why, when we lose the things we love, we feel hurt; we feel unhappy. Suppose you love your piano very much and you hear that something has happened to your piano, something gets cut off in you. Or, if something happens to your car or your dog, you feel a loss. So you are not just living in your body, but also in that of the objects or people you love. But if you can expand this existence even more to cover the entirety, you will know that there is no loss and you are total.

You are a blue pearl. Blue is beautiful; blue is something that is big, vast and infinite. All that is immense and infinite in creation and that which has depth expresses itself in blue. The sky is blue, the ocean is blue. You are a blue pearl, in the sense that you can’t be measured. You are so deep in your being. Though you are in the body, nobody can measure your being. The being in you is not just the blue infinity; it’s a shining radiant infinity that is deep and immense. Blue pearl means that which is shining, that which is radiant, that which is infinite; yet, it seems to be finite.

When we start listening to our heart, then we know that all is one; and one God is in all. See, in our body we have so many cells and each cell has got its own life. Many cells are being born every day, many cells are dying but they do not know you. You know if something is wrong with one particular cell; you can feel it. Similarly, though we all have small lives, there is one life that covers and governs all the other lives.

We are all floating in an ocean of life; a big life. It is not just empty space all around us; it is lively big life. And in the big sea of life there, all shells are floating and each shell has got a little water in it which is not the water separate from the water in the sea. So, we come out of our shells and experience, “I am not just in the body, but I am expanded all over; everywhere, it’s me there and it’s me here. I see myself in everybody”.

That is the essence of life!