January 2003 BACK
When
passion rules life, life’s temporal passage wears thin. One hears the common
exclamation: “How time flies, I hardly realised it.” One is so immersed in
what one is doing, that the burden of passing days is not felt. When such a
blessing makes its visitation on a person, he can hardly wait to get up in the
morning, for the heart aches to live the passion. In fact geniuses declare that
man is a mere possibility, he does not exist; he is a latent force, if not
blessed and driven by a passion – like the flint which awaits the shock of the
iron before it can give forth its spark. But when the spark does fly, it is
brilliant; and shows.
After all, what is passion? It is the becoming of a person. Are we not, the
commoners amongst us, for most of our lives, marking time? Most of our being is
at rest, unlived. In passion, the body and the spirit seek expression outside of
self. The Passion is all that is other from self. The more extreme and the more
expressed that passion is, the more unbearable does life seem without it. It
reminds us that if passion dies or is denied, we are partly dead and that soon,
come what may, we will be wholly so.
History of Great people show that the memories of struggle to achieve success in
reaching the goal gives more happiness than the success itself.
And surely there is some place where your specialties can shine. Somewhere that
difference can be expressed. It’s up to you to find it, and you can.
-
Dr. Sheilu Sreenivasan
*****
April 2003
Often,
we blame fate for our failures. Are our lives governed by fate? Can free will
shape our lives? Which is stronger, fate or free will? Both are karma or action
– fate is the result of past karma, and present karma is free will. So, the
two are one. Fate is hidden. So it is called adrishta
or unseen; its intensity is unknown.
Just
as we created our own fate by exercising our free will in the past, it is within
our power to overcome it by exercising our free will in the present. The
attainability or otherwise of a particular thing is not an absolute
characteristic of the thing itself but is relative and proportionate to our
qualification, capability and capacity to attain it at that time. By increasing
the intensity of our present karma we can override the intensity of our past
karma.
This is illustrated with the following analogy: Just as we do not know the
length of a nail that lies inside a piece of wood that we had earlier driven
into the wood, we do not know the extent of our fate created by our earlier
karma. But with sufficient effort we can take the
nail out of the wood. The
intensity and number of attempts to pull it out must be greater than that of the
strokes that drove the nail into the wood. Because we cannot see the
length of
the nail inside the wood, we do not know how much effort will be required to
pull it out. Since fate is adrishta, before a venture, we will not know the
quantum of effort required to succeed. So we must ignore fate and continue to
exercise our free will till our objective is reached.
One is born with the vasanas accumulated from past lives. Retribution for a past
act is unavoidable, but vasanas can be managed by exercising our free will
correctly.
Scriptures
and teachings of sages tell us which vasanas are bad and which vasanas are good.
But with determination it is possible to overpower all vasanas and, in time, we
will cease to be swayed by bad as well as good vasanas. At that point, when both
fate and vasanas disappear, we become free, free from the results of our
actions. This freedom is moksha or liberation.
-
Sri Chandra Shekhara
Bharati Mahaswami
* Always I used to wonder that if the fate is already determined based on the past karma then where is the scope for initiative to do better in this birth. The above message deals with relationship between Fate & Freewill or initiative.
- ED
*****
BACK
Cyclic
Existence
Paticca
– samuppada of Buddhism deals with the cause of rebirth and suffering with a
view to ridding life of all ills. It is also called the law of cause &
effect.
“With the base of ignorance, reaction arises; with the base of
reaction, consciousness arises; with the base of consciousness, mind and body
arise; with the base of mind and body, the six senses arise; with the base of
six senses, contact arises; with the base of contact, sensation arises; with the
base of sensation, craving and aversion arise; with the base of craving and
aversion, attachment arises; with the base of attachment, the process of
becoming arises; with the base of the process of becoming, birth arises; with
the base of birth, ageing and death arise, together with sorrow, lamentation,
physical and mental sufferings and tribulations. Thus arises this entire mass of
suffering”. Ignorance of the reality of suffering, its cause, its end, and the
path to its end, is the chief cause that sets the wheel of life in motion.
Buddha discovered that between the object and the reaction stands a
missing link: sensation. We react not to the exterior reality but to the
sensations within us. Whenever any of six sensory organs comes in contact with
‘their’ objects, we “cognize” them, then our ‘perception’ evaluates
the object on the basis of stored information and passes a value judgement.
Based on this value judgement, pleasant or unpleasant sensations arise in the
body. If the sensations are pleasant, we crave for them; if they are unpleasant,
we develop an aversion to them.
So, three kinds of reactions are generated: The first is like a line drawn on water, which is temporary. The second reaction is like the lines drawn on sand, which are semi-permanent. The third reaction is like the lines drawn on a rock, which are enduring. They leave a lasting impression on the conscious mind. By observing our sensations objectively, we can control these reactions.
Change occurs every moment within us, manifesting itself in the play of
sensations. It is at this level that
impermanence must be experienced. Observation of constantly changing
sensations permits the realisation of one’s own ephemeral nature. We
realise the futility of attachment to something that is so transitory. Thus
the direct experience of impermanence
gives
rise
to
a
certain
detachment.
In
this way one gradually frees the mind of suffering.
*****
All
Yoga techniques require faith, discipline and concentration. The objective
of all Yoga techniques is to make
a change in man's values, attitudes and behavior. When
proper discipline is applied it leads to a higher state of consciousness.
Karma yoga is a realization of the higher consciousness through selfless action and service. In our materialistic society where men and women lead an active life, the path of Karma yoga is one of the best paths for self-evolution.
Lord Krishna in the Bhagvad Gita says, "Your right is to work only, but never to the fruits thereof”. This can happen when the individual forgets himself and looses himself in work, overcoming the sense of 'I' and completely surrendering to the higher reality God.
Jnana Yoga
is gaining realisation of the universe and ourself through enlightened
knowledge. This is based on enquiry and philosophical speculation. The
individual is advised to constantly dissociate himself from all limitation.
Bhakti Yoga is a system of union and
this is realised through love and devotion and is used
by person of emotional nature. It has no intellectual demands.
Mantra Yoga is the path of sound and
vibration which effects
consciousness. Chanting of certain syllable has wonderful power to subdue many
forces of nature.
Japa Yoga - means union of the self with supreme being through repetition of name of God and the rotation of consciousness.
In Tantra Yoga lower energy is harnessed to awaken the higher consciousness. The Tantrik must be in the highest state of physical development with his body under complete control.
Hathyoga is the path of mental
mastery through physical development. It consists of the following disciplines
1. Asana
(physical postures) 2. Pranayama
(Breath control) 3. Mudra (body gestures) 4. Bandha (energy locks) 5.
Satkarma (six purifying techniques).
Classical Yoga of Patanjali popularly
called Rajayoga
is
the
most
systematic
method
of
attaining
the
highest
state
of
meditation and was
propounded
by
Maharshi Patanjali.
Rajayoga
advocates,
a
technique
with eight limbs, appealing to the
mind, body and intellect of the aspirant. The eight limbs of Rajayoga are Yamas
(abstinences), Niyamas (observances), Asanas
(postures), Pranayama (breath control), Pratyahara
(abstrictions),
Dharana
(Concentration),
Dhyana (meditation)
and
Samadhi
(Super
conscious state).
-
-
Salim Jumma
Yoga
and Total Health, June 2003