Spiritualism, Guru and Yoga

A small prelude……

Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Narayana Murthy and Azim Premji have given up part of their wealth for - social causes, shall we say? Who are they - practioners of spiritualism or just philanthropists?

Spiritualism

It is said that the cosmic process which in plain terms is how Earth was formed (nobody can say Earth was not formed) has assumed the five stages of matter (anna), Life (prana), mind (manas), intelligence (vijnana) and bliss (ananda).

Human beings are at the fourth stage. (S)he has intelligence – albeit in varying degrees. (S)he seems to know matter, life and the mind to a great extend. (S)he has mastery over the material world, vitality of life and the complex ways of mental dynamisms. Wo(man), as a matter of course, has not yet attained the completely illuminated consciousness – that is the state of bliss is not yet a normal evolution like the earlier four stages. The evolution of an individual from an intelligent being to one who realizes consciousness is, I say in the realm of spiritualism – a process between an individual and him/herself only.

Guru

We all go to schools (Gurukuls of old)  to imbibe knowledge. When teachers tell us something, we learn faster. There are good and bad teachers. There are bright and dumb pupils. The teacher (Guru) can only show the way. The pupil has to use her/his intelligence to interpret the teachings and imbibe knowledge. Likewise, if we so wish, Gurus can aid us to transit from the state of intelligence to consciousness. As in honing our knowledge we leave schools and be on our own, one in pursuit of spiritual consciousness has to, at some point of time, leave his Guru and walk on his own – as in academics almost always many pupils will outshine the guru. One need not always have a guru to learn – the inimitable Prince Siddhartha and the compassionate Jew, Jesus H Christ are the two best known in this category – closer home, a kid in the village,  Shankara learned what he did without a Guru.

Spiritualism is just between self and self. All influences outside self are at best means and methods.

Yoga

Probably a word on Yoga is required here to complete my point. I am not discussing the various types of Yoga or its merits and demerits. Yoga is a practice to harness the mind and body. That which is for the body is for the physical well being. The Yoga practices as suggested in Ch III of the Gita are what help in transiting from a state of intelligence to consciousness.
So, friends the realm of spiritualism can neither be ascertained in public discussions and discourses nor can it be defined by methods and practices.

Here is a stanza from the Gita -  II 46

Yavan artha udapane

   Sarvatha samplutodake

Tavan sarvesu vedesu

   Brahmanasya vijanatah

“As is the use of a pond in a place flooded with water everywhere, so is that of all the Vedas for the Brahmin (any person with profound knowledge) who understands”.

“Just as one who gets water from the river does not attach importance to a well, so the wise do not attach any importance to ritual action” For those of illumined consciousness, ritual observances are of little value.

Godmen

Dr. Sarveppalli Radhakrishnan, former President of India and a thinker has this to say on Godmen. “ When any finite individual develops spiritual qualities and shows large insight and charity, he sits in judgment on the world and starts a spiritual and social upheaval and we say that God is born for the protection of good and destruction of evil and the establishment of the kingdom of righteousness.”

How does any Godman of the modern era fit this bill is a moot point and for a Guru the relationship is only between him and his pupil at a personal level. So, where do we categorise the in-betweens?

What prompted one to write the above is , in a not so recent conclave on spiritualism (!), Javed Akhtar challenged Sri Sri Ravishankar on his actions, so to speak. Sri Sri did not react immediately, but retorted later. These are avilablel on the net if anybody is interested in reading the exchamges.

What we may note here is courage of conviction. He had the temerity and gumption to say what he said sharing the dais with Sri Sri Ravishankar – mark his words

“Sir, It is not enough to teach the rich how to breathe (my inference - alluding to Sri Sri Ravishankar’s Art of Living Sudarshan Kriya).  It is the rich mans recreation. It is the hypocrites' pretension. It is a mischievous deception. And you know that in the oxford dictionary, mischievous deception is a term that is used for a word, and that word is. HOAX.”

Full text of Javed’s Speech is at

http://palakmathur.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/speech-javed-akhtar-india-today-conclave-session-on-spirituality-halo-or-hoax/

SRI Sri Ravishankar’s repartee is at

http://www.dharmanext.org/2008/09/sri-sri-ravi-shankar-s-counterpoint-to.html

What stands out here is, a point was made emphatically. Of course one can join battle with Javed as did Sri Sri later – not on spiritualism but on methods and practices!!!

You can take your pick.

My India and I

If we are seeking indirect culpability for all that is happening in our India, let us not look beyond ourselves.

Manmohan Singh was one like us. His mother died young. He was brought up by his maternal grandmother. So, in all probabilities he grew up in a value system which was his hallmark when, as a surprise package who knew politics only as a word in the English lexicon, was drafted in as the finance minister by Narasimha Rao in 1991. In the next decade he turned around the Indian economy putting it on the road driven by the market. He became an indispensable part of the congress party (for his skills with matters finance) and got sucked into the system. His interest, possibly, only to see his policies and plans fructify for a resurgent India and take it towards becoming a world power. I do not write this in defence of MMS, the PM of India. Read on…

This is the story of all of us. We all let ourselves get sucked into the system. In this forum  I had said that temples make man forget God and emphasis on methods obscure values. For instance some may think that wearing a sari and a big round bindi is Indian culture (used only as an example and not meant as a chauvinistic comment).  I repeat, symbolism is different from content. Symbolism is fragile – content is durable. We must realize, India is not erstwhile Egypt (a repressed state, ruled by a despot) nor is it China (a regimented state ruled by a monolithic system) – India is a democracy where we have rights not enjoyed in China or Egypt. The very strength which provides for unity of India in diversity precludes a despotic rule in India; this very diverse nature of people prevents introduction of a monolithic government system – these are two alternates to democracy. If you do not want democracy, revolt.

Now for those who want a revolution – tell me, what after that? ; a despot or a monolithic system? Or another democracy ?  A Sania in place of a Sonia? Sukhwinder Singh for PM?  Kodanda Raman for HM? Mind you Sania, SS and KR will be made from the same mould as Sonia, MMS and PC or for that matter Sharma S or Advani LK . Every system has failings. Any system which upholds human and humane values and is true to itself will succeed despite the failings. Instead of looking to treat the symptom let us seek a cure for the disease.

So, what do we do? Let us change ourselves – let us stop going to temples*  - public places of worship - and realize GOD in ourselves. (* Please do not take this in the literal sense. Read the figurative meaning.)  Let us trade values for methods – let us improve content than symbolize. Let us stop hero worship – it does not matter who scores a ton, Sachin, Sehwag or Pathan, as long as India wins! Let not the system get buried under the weight of a Raja or a Kalmadi – eliminate the importance of charismatic individuals in the system and look beyond what we can see. Let us not patronize a Tata or an Ambani, let us not be in awe of an Attila, let us not ……… A bit vague? I know – but reflect, there may be something in it.

 Nitish ( A very unassuming individual; he was praising P Chidambaram as union home minister publicly on TV! He is not one for snide remarks or into giving a left handed compliment)  in Bihar seems to be succeeding as he pursues an agenda less personal and more public; his deeds are better known than him (by the way, Nitish Kumar is a reelected-for-second-term  CM of the state of Bihar). Is there a lesson there?

Friends, it all precipitates to the individual – that is you and I. In a democracy the buck stops at our door step. We as a people have to retrieve the value system.  The change has to be bottom up and not top down. I have a message for all fellow Indians - Let the change be you.

 Here is a verse from Peter Dale Winbrow's work, “The man in the glass”

For it isn't your father, your
mother, or wife,
  Whose judgment of you -
you must pass,
  The fellow whose verdict
counts most in your life,
  Is the guy staring back in the
glass.

When Raja met Telgi

In a long long time Raja had all the time in the world to think. He was all alone in the dimly lit cell in Tihar. He had met Telgi at breakfast in the morning. Telgi had then said, Raja being a lawyer should have done one better than Telgi.  Even after thinking for long, Raja didn’t understand what Telgi meant by what he said. That evening after supper (remember supper is taken by 7 PM in jails) Raja sought Telgi and after exchanging greetings sat him down for a chat.

Raja got to the point straight away and wanted to know what he did wrong. Telgi offered him a zafrani pan (Telgi being an old tenant was at home in Tihar; besides he knew his way around) and looking straight into Raja’s eyes told him “You didn’t do anything right”. Raja did a double take and stopped chewing the pan.

Telgi asked Raja how all those who were with him in the heydays have now suddenly disowned him.  Raja scratched is head; he hadn’t thought of it like that. In fact it dawned on him he was never thinking all these years – he just did what he was told to do. Telgi was his own boss. In such matters it is important to take control. He went on to tell his story.           

Telgi a school drop out never opened a bank account. He dealt in hard cash. His scam worth ` 100K million was all cash in Telgi’s pocket. Oh yes he gave away some of it to many others. The real money Telgi made is still a mystery. Contrast that with Raja. He is alleged to have made a mere ` 30K million, probably shared by many. The notional loss to us Indians is immaterial here.   Raja was listening intently, totally oblivious to the pan in his open mouth. Though he is in jail for long Telgi has all the cash he made still with him! You see his dealings were not through any bank!

As he lay in bed that night – Raja thought and realised he was doing this (thinking) for the first time in his life. He decided to become a disciple of Telgi. He thought some more and realised he has to think for himself. Telgi can help only so much. He has to behave his name. Will there be another chance?  Well, anything is possible in politics.

In passing…..

We can get lost in it. Riding it we can go back in time or travel to the future. However powerful, we can harness it on our own. We can follow it if we know one language or possibly no language at all. George Bernard Shaw had this to say about it “few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once a week. “

Snack bar – some (unpalatable) food for thought

 I grew up in the countryside when I was very young – even my boarding school was in a comparatively small town by the seaside. In the countryside, those days the movies were screened in temporary cinema ‘halls’ made from bamboo and thatched palm leaves, in Kerala. Artificial air conditioning was not required in the summer and you would carry an umbrella to the movies during monsoons – just in case! The more popular movies were screened for the evening shows while the obscure ones ran for meager audiences in the mornings. I wondered about these morning shows until some one told me they served the purpose of converting black money to white. It was years later I really understood what that meant.

 

There is a branch of a retail stores chain of a well known brand in our locality. The chain pays for the premises, a rent of ` 75,000/- per month – the thumb rule in industry is for any project to give positive returns on investment, the ratio of rent to turnover is 1%. So for the store to make profits the sales have to be worth at least ` 75 L in the month, which considering an average spend of ` 700 per person would mean (10, 714 foot falls per month) 357 footfalls per day.  That is (30 persons coming in every hour in a 12 hour working day) 1 buyer walking in every 2 minutes for 12 hours. This, I do not see happening. Then how do they survive? Many malls, signature restaurants (of celebrities), cinema production houses et al, may be in similar situations easily understood without telling in black and white. 

In passing

Mind you, there are many positives to creation of black money. (the only negative possibly being tax evasion and anyway the Government does not spend money judiciously!).  That colour money is spent easily. Money flows back into the system faster, creating employment opportunities. Just imagine the trade benefits and jobs created by Adarsh and its class of structures! 2G is a potent enabler affordable to every conceivable business person down to the istriwala.Money of a different colour from 2G has bolstered the business of a TV channel down south, we hear. That would certainly pave the way for more soaps, more actors, more technicians, more buying power, increased GDP and invite more FIIs to invest in India. This way we will overtake Chinese economy  sooner than forecast!

Any money coming back into the system is better than that stashed away in foreign banks. So let them bring back our money from the slalom slopes of the Swiss Alps and the luxury yachts of the Cayman Islands in a 50-50 deal. Call for amnesty. At least the money will come back into the system making for a more equitable distribution! Will the money return any other way?