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
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.
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
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.
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
SRI Sri Ravishankar’s repartee is at
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.
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