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Truth and the Perception of Truth

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:37:18 -0500

Truth is universal. Perception of truth is not. Truth alone triumphs. The end.

Beyond Religion by The Dalai Lama

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:39:13 -0500

In his new book “Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World”, His Holiness the Dalai Lama argues that religion is not a necessity for pursuing a spiritual life. Rather he proposes a system of secular ethics that transcends religion as a way to recognize our common humanity and so contributes to a global human community based on understanding and mutual respect.

Ten years ago, in his book “Ethics for a New Millennium”, His Holiness the Dalai Lama first proposed an approach to ethics based on universal rather than religious principles.

Now, in “Beyond Religion”, the Dalai Lama, at his most compassionate and outspoken, elaborates and deepens his vision for the nonreligious way. Transcending the mere “religion wars,” he outlines a system of secular ethics that gives tolerant respect to religion—those that ground ethics in a belief in God and an afterlife, and those that understand good actions as leading to better states of existence in future lives. And yet, with the highest level of spiritual and intellectual authority, the Dalai Lama makes a claim for what he calls a third way.

Lobbycracy or Democracy?

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:48:00 -0400

United States of America is widely regarded by the world as the champion of democracy. So what does the term democracy mean in USA and rest of the world. The word democracy is formed by the combination of the ancient Greek terms demos (people) and kratos (power). Putting these two terms together, the meaning of democary is derived as power to the people or people power.

As part of democracy, we the people of the land elect representatives of the people to form the government of the nation. Here, the elected representatives and the constituted governing bodies they form derives from the power of people to enact laws of the land to eventually benefit the constituents, who are none other than the people who elected them in the first place. This leads us to the famous phrase from the Gettysburg address by Abraham Lincoln - “government of the people, by the people, for the people”, which symbolizes the ultimate meaning of democracy.

However, in many democratic countries including USA and around the world, lobbying has become entrenched in the democratic systems and aims to influence decisions by the elected government representatives to favour the lobbying interest. This process of buying the vote and conscience of the elected representives distorts the outcome of the elected representatives to favor the lobby interest, and not the people who elected the representative in the first place.

Lobbying is effectively political advertising, and a thorn on side of what clean and pure democracy is all about. Lobbyists represent the money interests of high net worth individuals and large corporations to eventually influence governmental decisions to facilitate business and ultimately increased profits. This might not be in the best interest of the people as a whole.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary website also lists Lobbycracy as a new slang word in their open dictionary section as below:

Lobbycracy (noun) : A mutant form of a democratic government in which certain group of persons or organizations try their best to militate the thinking of legislators or other elected public officials for or against a specific cause. In a lobbycracy, democracy is just reduced to counting number of votes and voters are not considered as a political power.

Word Usage: The ten thousands lobbies in the DC have transformed Democracy into Lobbycracy.

Finally, we come to the big question of the century - Do we have to rename the term democracy as lobbycracy to aptly reference the form of governance system prevalent in the times we live in this century?

Sanatana Dharma is the essence of Hinduism

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 23:35:16 -0400

Lead Us From the Unreal To the Real,
Lead Us From Darkness To Light,
Lead Us From Death To Immortality,
OM (the universal sound of God)
Let There Be Peace Peace Peace.

– Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28.

The above is the very essence of the Sanatana Dharma, the eternal law of Hinduism. To comprehend the meaning of Sanatana Dharma, one must know the eternal function of the soul.

Krishna Gopala Krishna

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 23:18:29 -0400

The divine Amma or Mata Amritanandamayi singing Krishna Gopala Krishna along with her troupe.

How to Overcome Ego’s Hold on You

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:16:00 -0400

Some great suggestions to help you transcend ingrained ideas of ego and self-importance, along with seven downright easy steps for overcoming Ego’s tight grip on you.

1. Stop being offended.

Don’t take everything personal.

The behavior of others isn’t a reason to be immobilized. That which offends you only weakens you. If you’re looking for occasions to be offended, you’ll find them at every turn. This is your ego at work convincing you that the world shouldn’t be the way it is. By all means, act to eradicate the horrors of the world, which emanate from massive ego identification, but stay in peace. Being offended creates the same destructive energy that offended you in the first place and leads to attack, counterattack, and war.

2. Let go of your need to win.

Just be there having fun in the moment.

Ego loves to divide us up into winners and losers. The pursuit of winning is a surefire means to avoid conscious contact with intention. Why? Because ultimately, winning is impossible all of the time. Someone out there will be faster, luckier, younger, stronger, and smarter-and back you’ll go to feeling worthless and insignificant. You’re not your winnings or your victories. You may enjoy competing, and have fun in a world where winning is everything, but you don’t have to be there in your thoughts. There are no losers in a world where we all share the same energy source. All you can say on a given day is that you performed at a certain level in comparison to the levels of others on that day. But today is another day, with other competitors and new circumstances to consider. Let go of needing to win by not agreeing that the opposite of winning is losing. That’s ego’s fear. If your body isn’t performing in a winning fashion on this day, it simply doesn’t matter when you aren’t identifying exclusively with your ego. Be the observer, noticing and enjoying it all without needing to win a trophy. Be at peace, and match up with the energy of intention. And ironically, although you’ll hardly notice it, more of those victories will show up in your life as you pursue them less.

3. Let go of your need to be right.

Just make choices based on love from heart.

Ego is the source of a lot of conflict and dissension because it pushes you in the direction of making other people wrong. When you’re hostile, you’ve disconnected from being rational. Letting go of your need to be right in your discussions and relationships is like saying to ego, I’m not a slave to you. I want to embrace kindness, and I reject your need to be right. In fact, I’m going to offer this person a chance to feel better by saying that she’s right, and thank her for pointing me in the direction of truth. When you let go of the need to be right, you’re able to strengthen your connection to the power of intention. But keep in mind that ego is a determined combatant. I’ve seen people end otherwise beautiful relationships by sticking to their need to be right. I urge you to let go of this ego-driven need to be right by stopping yourself in the middle of an argument and asking yourself, Do I want to be right or be happy? When you choose the happy, loving, friendly mood, your connection to others strengthened.

4. Let go of your need to be superior.

Develop self-control and by not controlling or not judging others.

True nobility isn’t about being better than someone else. It’s about being better than you used to be. Stay focused on your growth, with a constant awareness that no one on this planet is any better than anyone else. We all emanate from the same creative life force. We all have a mission to realize our intended existance; all that we need to fulfill our intentions is available to us. None of this is possible when you see yourself as superior to others. It’s an old saw, but nonetheless true: we are all equal. Let go of your need to feel superior by seeing the good in everyone. Don’t assess others on the basis of their appearance, achievements, possessions, and other indices of ego. When you project feelings of superiority that’s what you get back, leading to resentments and ultimately hostile feelings.

5. Let go of your need to have more.

By grateful with what you have and know that whatever you need the universe will provide.

The mantra of ego is more. It’s never satisfied. No matter how much you achieve or acquire, your ego will insist that it isn’t enough. You’ll find yourself in a perpetual state of striving, and eliminate the possibility of ever arriving. Yet in reality you’ve already arrived, and how you choose to use this present moment of your life is your choice. Ironically, when you stop needing more, more of what you desire seems to arrive in your life. Since you’re detached from the need for it, you find it easier to pass it along to others, because you realize how little you need in order to be satisfied and at peace.

6. Let go of identifying yourself on the basis of your achievements.

By allowing opporunities to come to you.

This may be a difficult concept if you think you are your achievements. I can hear your ego loudly protesting. Nevertheless, stay tuned to this idea. You’re not this body and its accomplishments. Notice it all; and be grateful for the abilities you’ve accumulated. The less you need to take credit for your achievements and the more connected you stay, the more you’re free to achieve, and the more will show up for you.

7. Let go of your reputation.

By being sincere at all times.

Your reputation is not located in you. It resides in the minds of others. Therefore, you have no control over it at all. If you speak to 30 people, you will have 30 reputations. Connecting to intention means listening to your heart and conducting yourself based on what your inner voice tells you is your purpose here. If you’re overly concerned with how you’re going to be perceived by everyone, then you’ve disconnected yourself from intention and allowed the opinions of others to guide you. This is your ego at work. It’s an illusion that stands between you and being at peace. There’s nothing you can’t do, unless you disconnect from rationality and become convinced that your purpose is to prove to others how masterful and superior you are and spend your energy attempting to win a giant reputation among other egos. Stay on purpose, detach from outcome, and take responsibility for what does reside in you: your character. Leave your reputation for others to debate; it has nothing to do with you.

Excerpted from the original post written by Dr. Wayne Dyer on this subject.

EGO stands for Edging God Out

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:36:00 -0400

EGO is a word we hear a lot about these days, we all have one, some are larger then others, but in someway we all have one. The ego serves only one purpose, and that is to make you feel better about whom you are. That in-of-it self is not a bad thing, but the ego has no concern for others, or really for it’s self.

The ego will, and has, destroyed many a great person, all in the name of defending it’s self. The whole purpose of the ego is to self preserve it self. The ego’s job is to make you feel better about yourself, and it will do what ever it needs to do to make that happen. The ego is the voice inside of you that tells you to kick them when they are down, to make others feel bad about themselves; all in the name of lifting yourself up, making you feel better about you.

We see it all the time, and I am sure we have all lived it. We take the opportunity to use others disadvantages to our advantage. Sad but true, we here about it on the news, read about it in the paper, or we see it first hand. But we fail to see it when we are the ones doing it, we justify it, we turn it around and repackage it, dress it up to make it look better, we may even call it by different names, but in the end its all the same, it is the ego doing its job, using others misfortunes to its advantage.

Some will argue that the ego is needed, that it really does serve a good purpose. But the argument is week at best and self-serving at all times. We tend to want to hold on to that which makes us feel better. Much like any addict, we need to get that ego fix daily or we start to go through withdrawal symptoms. We start to feel the tingling of self-doubt setting in, the layers of falsehood start to peel off, and we head in to a tail spin of despair, as we try to piece back together the image of self that was created thru deception and ignorance of others.

The ego does not allow for God to truly be present in you, there is no room to serve the god within you, It clouds the spirituality in you, and hinders the divinity within you. This ego replaces the God within each one of us by edging God out. This is why, many religious scriptures, warn about the sin of pride and the sin-of-self. Always remember that the greatest battle ever is happening withing you and keep reminding yourself that pride (ego) is a road block to true happiness.

"The ego is a very powerful elephant which cannot be brought under control by any creature less..."

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:49:22 -0400

““The ego is a very powerful elephant which cannot be brought under control by any creature less powerful than a lion, which, in this instance, is none other than the Guru, whose very looks make the elephant-like ego tremble and die. You will know in due course that your glory lies where you cease to exist.””

- Ramana Maharshi

Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:21:25 -0400

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, one of the greatest figures of French enlightenment, discusses two types of inequality, natural or physical and ethical or political. Natural inequality involves differences between one man’s physical strength and that of another – it is a product of nature. Rousseau is not concerned with this type of inequality and wishes to investigate moral inequality. He argues moral inequality is endemic to a civil society and relates to, and causes, differences in power and wealth. This type of inequality is established by convention. Rousseau appears to take a cynical view of civil society, where man has strayed from his “natural state” of isolation and consequent freedom to satisfy his individual needs and desires.

For Rousseau, civil society is a trick perpetrated by the powerful on the weak in order to maintain their power or wealth. Rousseau examines man’s physical and mental characteristics and finds him to be an animal like any other, motivated by two key principles: pity and self-preservation. The only real attribute that separates him from the animals is his perfectibility, a quality that is vitally important in the process Rousseau goes on to describe. Man in the state of nature has few needs, no idea of good and evil, and little contact with other humans. Nevertheless, he is happy. However, man does not remain unchanged. The quality of perfectibility allows him to be shaped by, and to change in response to, his environment. Natural forces such as earthquakes and floods drive men into all parts of the globe, and force them to develop language and other skills. As men come into contact more frequently, small groups or societies start to form.

As men start to live in groups, pity and self-preservation are replaced by amour propre or “self love” or “self-esteem” or “self respect”, which drives men to compare themselves to others, and to need to dominate others in order to be happy. Essentially, the opposite of self-preservation (amour de soi). Amour propre is an acute awareness of, and regard for, oneself in relation to others.

The invention of property and the division of labor represent the beginning of moral inequality. Property allows for the domination and exploitation of the poor by the rich. Initially, however, relations between rich and poor are dangerous and unstable, leading to a violent state of war as in the case of the French revolution.

Rousseau’s account of the operation of society focuses on its various stages. Beginning with the trick played by the rich, he sees society as becoming more and more unequal, until the last stage of inequality, which is despotism, or the unjust rule of everyone by one man. This development is not inevitable, but it is extremely likely. As wealth becomes the standard by which men are compared, conflict and despotism become possible. For Rousseau, the worst kind of modern society is that in which money is the only measure of value.

The Good Life as defined by the Bubble Generation

Tue, 17 May 2011 16:18:00 -0400

The economy we have today will let you chow down on a supersize McBurger, check stock quotes on your latest smartphone, and drive your giant SUV down the block to buy a McMansion on hypercredit. It’s a vision of the good life that many aspire which the noted economist Amartya Sen termed as hedonic opulence. And it’s a conception built in and for the industrial age, about buying and having more and more. Based on this perspective, it prompts us to the question: Is a well lived life worth anything?

This is in total contast to the other vison of maybe cooking a fine meal at a right-sized eco-home, to be accompanied by local, award-winning microbrewed beer your friends have brought over, and then walking back to the vegetable garden to pick some of the vegetables you have grown and use it in the dinner preparation. That’s an alternate vision of meaningfully well-lived life, what the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle termed eudaimonia, can be meant as “happiness” or “flourishing” and also as “well-being”. It highlights a concept called eudaimonic prosperity, and it’s about living meaningfully well. Its purpose is not merely passive consuming but living i.e. doing, achieving, fulfilling, becoming, inspiring, transcending, creating, accomplishing — all the stuff that matters the most in all our lives.

We live in an era where all that matters is people with supersized egos eyeing to be on Forbes who is the richest in the world list, an era defined as the bubble generation.

Renowned psychologist Abraham Maslow wrote in 1943 about hierarchy of human human needs in the classic - A Theory of Human Motivation, here is an excerpt:

It is quite true that man lives by bread alone - when there is no bread. But what happens to man’s desires when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled?

Which picture does your current or aspired life fit into?

Why commoners are fascinated by royalty?

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 09:55:00 -0400

The royal wedding of the century as was hyped by international media was wrapped in about an hour on Friday, April, 29, 2011. Britain’s Prince William married Catherine “Kate” Middleton in a storybook ceremony at Westminster Abbey in central London in the United Kingdom (UK).

Prince William is the elder son of The Prince of Wales and the late Diana, Princess of Wales and he is second in line to the British throne. After the marriage traditions at the famed church, Prince William, now conferred the title the Duke of Cambridge, kissed his new wedded wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Many people lined up the streets of London and crowds celebrated the event all day long, and many more were glued to their television sets to get a glimpse of the fanfare worldwide.

Now comming to the central question, why commoners from around the world are so crazy and fascinated by the royal wedding and royalty in general? The answer my friends is best said by the above picture taken today, a picture that is really worth more than a 1000 words.

To add to the charm, Kate was born a ‘commoner’ and not an aristocrat from a royal family, as was Prince William. The royal wedding also provides an avenue for us to express our ambivalence about class privilege, whereby rooting for Kate, who is commoner, a descendant of coal miners, lets us revel in our egalitarianism. However, paradoxically we would not see Kate’s marriage as a triumph for commoners if we did not accept the premise that it is desirable to join the ranks of the aristocracy?

God bless and may all the hopes, wishes and dreams of all commoners around the world be fulfilled!

Dalai Lama's Quotes on Kindness

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:21:00 -0400

The Dalai Lama is one of the best known living ambassadors for peace in the 21st century world we live in. He is famous for his quotes and views on many topics that touch the lives as lived in this modern era, and his signature jovial smile also highlights his inner peace that radiates contentment.

Here are a couple of quotes by the Dalai Lama on the importance of kindness in the world we live today.

Our visit to this planet is short, so we should use our time meaningfully, which we can do by helping others wherever possible. And if we cannot help others, at least we should try not to create pain and suffering for them.

It is important to reflect on the kindness of others. Every aspect of our present well-being is due to others’ hard work. The buildings we live and work in, the roads we travel, the clothes we wear, and the food we eat, are all provided by others. None of them would exist but for the kindness of so many people unknown to us.

The logic behind global military spending?

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:49:00 -0400

Military spending among all countries totaled $1.63 trillion in the year 2010, but that was up just 1.3% from the year 2009. Such military spending includes weapons, military equipment, soldiers and the cost of maintaining and upgrading a country’s military infrastructure. Take a look at what some of the world’s top 10 costliest militaries, which is a listing of top 10 countries ranked by their budget for military spending each year.

Take a look at the military expenditure as percentage of GDP chart using World Bank data, it shows that some of the top 10 nations listed are spending a proportionally higher amount on military spending in relation to their country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), money that could well be more importantly spent on other projects that benefits its citizens directly.

India has become the world’s largest weapons importer, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report on military expenditure, in the process overtaking China. India accounted for 9 percent of all international arms imports between 2006 and 2010, while China accounted for 6 percent. India’s $32.5 billion defense budget for 2011 jumped 40 percent from 2009, and it now expects to spend $80 billion over the next decade on arms. Russia is India’s largest arms supplier, accounting for 82 percent of sales.

All this military stockpiling for the greatest battle ever? Man and mankind will never change, I guess, as human nature is always ingrained to chase victory and supremacy, even though all victory is just an illusion?

The BRICS decade or two?

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:09:52 -0400

The BRICS, comprised of emerging economic countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, will restructure international economic and diplomatic relations over the next 10 to 20 years. Currently, representing around 40% of the world’s population and nearly a quarter of global economic output, the BRICS countries hold the reins of the economic engine for this and coming decade.

In 2010, China overtook the dragging economy of Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy. At current growth projections, China is sets to catch up America within a decade or two. India and Brazil are growing rapidly. The past few years have reinforced the suspicion of many that the story of the century will be the inexorable rise of emerging economic powers.

If projections of future growth look rosy for emerging markets, however, history counsels caution.

Google, Bing, and Blekko Talk Spamish Long long before in web...

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:05:00 -0500

Google, Bing, and Blekko Talk Spamish

Long long before in web years, before there was spam filters in email, our inbox was mostly filled with spam. Now thanks to spam filters, we are able to see the main email in the inbox.

Is this the story with web search today? Article spam, content farm, 10 articles on how to tie your shoe, how to build a brick wall, watch the above Big Think video on Spam!

Lot of talk of direct or primary spam in search results, i.e. links of sites ranking high on search engines which are of poor or spam quality pages. But I see the real issue, and bigger one to deal with, is of secondary spam, which are good sites or web pages maintaining or trying to manipulate their position to the top by submitting spam articles to many article and other related websites, just only to give their main site or web page a boost of some link juice through some aptly placed keyword links. Worst even, is these operators resort to article spinning where they try to fool and trick search engines by producing tons of other articles spun by re-arranging words and/or structure of the sentences used and combination’s there of. Search engines have to really get smarter here, and this is easier said than done.

There is a fine fine line with black-hat and white-hat Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques, with a lot of overlap, what is right, wrong or evil is left for lot debate. Read the case of penny links in the New York Times article - The Dirty Little Secrets of Search. Another high profile article on Overstock.com was posted on the Wall Street Journal - Google Penalizes Overstock for Search Tactics.

Also, what about search engines turning a blind eye to secondary spam as detailed above, because these sites or web pages are used by the search engines themselves profit for the clicks through link advertisements placed on these pages. So, we really need some separation of search and ads, if you may, to really keep the objective or intent of search engines clear.

On a philosophical side, the real issue here is something higher - human nature. Can search algorithm get smarter than human nature. Again, my friends, victory is just an illusion, as human nature is always trying to be victorious. Now that gets into programming human nature?

The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:57:00 -0500

The Bhagavad Gita is the sacred Hindu scripture for the religion Hinduism, is often referred to as the “song of God” or the “manual for mankind”, and is composed in the Sanskrit language.

The Bhagavad Gita comprises exactly 700 verses, and is drawn part of the great Hindu epic Mahabharata. The Gita is based on the conversation between Lord Krishna and the Pandava Prince Arjuna, taking place on the battlefield just before the start of the Kurukshetra war between the Kaurava and the Pandava clans.

Much of what is said in the Bhagavad Gita is allegorical, but two very interesting points that stand out clearly draws out to what the very essence of what this great scripture is all about:

The first sentence of the first verse of the Bhagavad Gita starts as “dharma-ksetre kuru-ksetre” and the last sentence of the last verse of the Bhagavad Gita ends as “dhruva nitir matir mama”. Notice that if you combine the start and end of these sentences, you get the word - dharma - in Hinduism, it means one’s righteous duty.
All that needs to be said in all of the 700 verses of the Bhagavad Gita is said in the first sentence itself of the first verse of the Bhagavad Gita which again is “dharma-ksetre kuru-ksetre”. Researching further, the word ksetre means “the field”, so “dharma-ksetre” would mean “the field of dharma or righteousness” which is nothing but one’s soul in his or her body. On a deeper context, this is in essence one’s conscience, or specifically “the discriminating mind” that seperates right action from wrong action. This action further leads us into karma, specifically to good karma or bad karma correspondingly. Now, the second half of the first sentence is “kuru-ksetre” means “the field of battle or battlefield”, as the great war in the Mahabharatha was fought in the battefied of Kurukshetra, which is where Lord Krishna advises the Pandava Prince Arjuna through the verses of the Bhagavad Gita.

The essence of the Bhagavad Gita which can be concluded is that the only battlefield that matters is one’s own discriminating mind, and only through individual contemplation that discrimination between prakrti (nature) and purusha (pure consciousness) occurs, all of which is guided by dharma. The Bhagavad Gita further explains that all of this can only be achieved only by “quieting the mind” through yoga. Always remember that the greatest battle ever is happening within you.

Jai Sri Krishna!

Albert Einstein's thoughts on Spirit and Science

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:37:47 -0400

Albert Einstein is considered as one of the greatest physicist ever in the modern world, and his ideas on theoretical physics and his invention or solving of the famous energy mass equation have significantly impacted every aspect of modern life. However, the same man is considered a great philosopher who penned the following quotes on humanity and true religiousness as noted below:

“A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.” - Albert Einstein, 1954

“The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.” - Albert Einstein - The Merging of Spirit and Science

Additional reading…

Deham Naham Koham Soham

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:48:00 -0400

In the Hindu vedas or the central teaching of advaita vedanta, the Sanskrit language phrase —‘deham naham;koham? soham’ — Sri Ramana Maharshi explains in his own words why and how this pure consciousness ‘I’ will destroy our ego.

The four words ‘deham naham; koham? soham’, each of which is in turn the first word of each of the four lines of this verse (in Sanskrit), mean ‘the body (deham) [is] not (na) I (aham); who (kah) [am] I (aham)? he (sah) [is] I (aham)’. The first sentence, ‘deham naham’ or ‘the body is not I’, denotes the initial process of self-analysis by which we gain the intellectual conviction that the body, mind and other adjuncts that we have superimposed upon ourself are not our essential self or ‘I’; the second sentence, ‘koham?’ or ‘who am I?’, denotes the practice of atma-vichara or self-investigation, whereby we will actually experience what ‘I’ really is; and the third sentence, ‘soham’ or ‘he is I’, denote the experience of true self-knowledge that we will gain by practising atma-vichara.

“That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings, who is the giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being — I am that.”

Amritbindu Upanishad

“That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which, like the universal space around us, fills everything completely from within and without, that Supreme non-dual Brahman — that thou art.”
Adi Sankaracharya

Read more about the above topic - Deham Naham Koham Soham.

Also, read about Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, the author of the book “I am That” which speaks on the above topic, which can be read online here: Part 1 and Part 2, or download the complete book in pdf format here.

The cosmic dance of Shiva

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:53:00 -0500

In most Indian houses, you find an idol or a picture of the dancing Shiva - Nataraja - dancing on a lotus pedestal with one leg raised and crushing a baby-like demon by his foot. A semi-circle arch of flames surround the dancing Shiva. Shiva’s hair is flying all across. A cobra sits on top of his head and the goddess Ganges and a crescent moon also adorn his hair. He wears a man’s earring on his right ear and a woman’s earring on the left ear. He is wearing tight fitting breeches, necklaces, a jeweled belt, and toe-rings. He has four hands. On his left hand, he is holding a fire and on his right hand a musical instrument called udukkai (a small drum). His third hand gestures that he is blessing the universe or saying “do not fear” and his fourth hand is pointing in the direction of the demon under his feet.

Why is Shiva depicted this way – ferocious, violent, and scary? Why Hindu gods and mythological figures are often shown in such unusual and bizarre ways? What is the purpose of such representations? In Hindu mythology, it is a common practice to tell stories about gods, people, and animals and indirectly use the stories to convey complex ideas and important messages. The stories are narrated through dance. Because there was no television or cinema at this time, Hindu saints and philosophers used dance as a medium to tell stories. Ancient Hindus, similar to Greeks and other Western philosophers, believed that dance was created by nature. The orderliness of the stars and constellations, the movement of the rivers, the waves in the seas, and the gentle fluttering of the leaves in the trees – produced images of dancing in their minds. For them, dance represented nature and movement of the universe.

Dance is also a visual medium. It can be used to illustrate not only religion and religious beliefs but also emotions such as anger, love, bravery, sadness, and kindness. In this sense, dance is somewhat like a television show or a movie. It can attract and influence an audience. When you watch a television show or a movie, you are fascinated by the images that you see on the screen. If the program or the movie you are watching is produced well and has a powerful story to tell you, it leaves a lasting impression on your mind. Similarly, the mythological stories and the images created by ancient Hindus were very appealing to the people. The messages that these stories and images conveyed attract us even today. We can relate to these stories, interpret them according to our modern age and learn from them. In this sense, they have universal appeal.

The dance of Shiva is one of the greatest examples of this tradition – using images to convey great truths and values. Before we interpret the meaning behind the dancing Shiva, let us briefly talk about the God Shiva and who he is. In Hindu mythology, the gods Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu are known as the Trinity. The three gods are associated with three important concepts of the universe: Brahma is the creator of the universe; Shiva is the destroyer (of evil and ignorance); and, Vishnu is the preserver of life. Unlike Vishnu who always appears in rich and majestic surroundings, Shiva always appears in simple environments. Shiva lives alone in the Himalayan Mountains, sits on a tiger skin with ashes covering his body and a cobra decorating his neck like a garland. He appears to be a recluse, far removed from the world. In other Indian temple sculptures, Shiva is also shown as Bhikshatana — a person who is begging, as Bhairava, a horrific destroyer or as Nataraja, a dancer standing on one leg and appearing ferocious. These sculptures create strange images of Shiva. However, when you read the stories behind these images, you get a different impression. Shiva comes in these different disguises only to help his sincere devotees and bless them and also, destroy evil things taking place in the world. He is a very benevolent and loving person and his objective is to destroy the evil and preserve the good.

Shiva is considered the master of dance. His dance is called the cosmic dance. In the picture of the dancing Shiva, Shiva is dancing at a great speed with flying arms and legs. This creates an illusion of energy — the energy that is associated with the creation of the world, its destruction, the changes and evolution. Shiva is carrying an hourglass shaped musical instrument called uduakkai in his right hand. The uduakkai or drum represents sound and sound is the basis for speech and communication. In Hindu mythology, sound is also associated with the atmosphere. Atmosphere is one of the five important elements of the universe, fire, water, air, and earth being the other four. Therefore, the drum symbolizes outer space and sound – the universal elements. In the opposite hand, Shiva carries the fire. Fire is an instrument of destruction. That is, through the symbols of drum and fire, Shiva is pointing to the creation and the destruction that follow each other in the universe. His third hand is held in the posture of blessing, to indicate protection and peace while his fourth hand points to his lifted foot. The lifted foot is a symbol of salvation - if you have faith and if you follow your faith with sincerity and dedication, you will be saved from misery. Shiva is also surrounded by flames. The flame is a bright object that gives out light and therefore, represents wisdom and truth. Only a person of wisdom and truth can destroy evil things and preserve good things. Shiva is wearing a man’s earring on one ear and a woman’s earring on the other ear. The different earrings point to the equality and importance of both men and women in the conduct of the world.

Shiva is dancing on a dwarf-demon. The demon’s name is Apasmara-Purusha, the name when translated into English means a forgetful and lazy demon. The demon is supposed to be highly ignorant and a trouble creator. He was causing lots of problems to people and they prayed to Shiva to save them from the demon’s bad deeds. Shiva appears on the world and kills him. Apasmara-Purusha is a symbol of laziness, forgetfulness, bad feelings, and evil thoughts that all of us have within us. The important message in this story is not whether a demon by the name Apasmara-Purusha existed or whether a god called Shiva appeared on the world and killed him and then danced on him. It is a symbol to communicate to us a greater message — get rid of your dark thoughts – jealousy, envy, hatred and laziness. If you do so, you will live happily and peacefully. This is a message that appealed to the ancient Hindus and it is a message that is useful to us even today, after thousands of years later. The Shiva’s dance is just an attractive way to convey this message.

The symbolism of Siva Nataraja is religion, art and science merged as one. In God’s endless dance of creation, preservation, destruction and paired graces is hidden a deep understanding of our universe. Aum Namah Sivaya. Bhashya Nataraja, the King of Dance, has four arms. The upper right hand holds the drum from which creation issues forth. The lower right hand is raised in blessing, betokening preservation. The upper left hand holds a flame, which is destruction, the dissolution of form. The right leg, representing obscuring grace, stands upon Apasmarapurusha, a soul temporarily earth-bound by its own sloth, confusion and forgetfulness. The uplifted left leg is revealing grace, which releases the mature soul from bondage. The lower left hand gestures toward that holy foot in assurance that Siva’s grace is the refuge for everyone, the way to liberation. The circle of fire represents the cosmos and especially consciousness. The all-devouring form looming above is Mahakala, “Great Time.” The cobra around Nataraja’s waist is kundalini shakti, the soul-impelling cosmic power resident within all. Nataraja’s dance is not just a symbol. It is taking place within each of us, at the atomic level, this very moment. The Agamas proclaim, “The birth of the world, its maintenance, its destruction, the soul’s obscuration and liberation are the five acts of His dance.”

Aum Namah Sivaya.

The grand illusion of maya

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:28:17 -0500

In the great epic Mahabharata, when Duryodhana enters the hall of illusion (maya sabha), he loses his way, becomes confused and envious. Seeing his predicament when Draupadi, laughs at him, he becomes uncontrollably angry, feeling insulted, and vows to take revenge against the Pandava clan for their audacity to display their power and wealth to belittle him in the presence of women. It is in the hall of illusions that the seeds of the great Mahabharata war were actually sown which germinated and ultimately consumed the whole Kuru family bringing them untold misery and great destruction. The epic Mahabharata shows in many ways how human beings can bring misery and destruction to themselves and others through their weaknesses, egoism and selfishness, unmindful of the consequences of their thoughts, desires and actions and where they may lead them eventually.

The world in which we live is also not very different from the hall of illusions we read about in the Mahabharata. We also live here enveloped by illusion, in a state of ignorance about ourselves, whereby we fail to discriminate between truth and false hood, become confused, engaging ourselves in egoistic struggles and binding actions, and lose our connection with God and our own divinity. If some one comes and tells you that you are a divine soul, you think about it in disbelief, with no conviction of your own that you could not have been here unless there was some underlying purpose. We all want to believe that we are not mere mortals and that there is something about us that extends beyond what we know and what we can feel and touch. But our rationale minds would not be satisfied with mere assurances of religious scriptures or the teachings of self-realized masters. We need proof, which will not come, however, unless we stand on the edge and take a deep plunge.

One of the unique concepts of Hinduism is maya, which is actually used to describe our current state of existence, how much alienated we are from our true nature and how deeply entangled we become with the objects of our desires, weaving in the process a web of deceptions around ourselves that keep us conveniently concealed from the truth of who we are or what we should have been. It is a state in which each individual soul considers itself to be someone else, separate and distinct from the rest of creation and God Himself. Our scriptures make it clear that our world is a trap and maya is the trapping mechanism. It is the idea of butter or the temptation of curiosity or some wicked desire that brings us here in the first place and puts us in contact with the objects of our world. Once we taste it, we enter into a make believe world and stop thinking about going back. We become involved with the process of becoming and being, as embodied souls, imprisoned in our own thoughts and desire bodies, undergoing births and deaths, binding ourselves to the consequences of our own actions and delaying our own liberation.

And who unleashes this potent force? God is described in the Hindu scriptures as Mayavi, the grand master of illusion. He casts his net of illusion to catch the individual souls that are swimming in the waters of life as free souls, enjoying the highest bliss. He then drops them in the lap of His dynamic energy or Shakti to take care of the rest of the process. Maya or illusion thus becomes a very potent
instrument in the hands of the Divine Prakriti, the Primal Nature. Through the force of illusion, She holds the beings under its sway. This objective is accomplished through the interplay of the triple gunas, the sattva, rajas and the tamas and the grand play of desires caused by the formation of the ego and loss of buddhi or the power of discrimination. Under their influence, the indwelling Purusha becomes attached to the outside world and thereby suffers from delusion of the mind and lack of discrimination and true knowledge. God is also described as the concealer. He hides Himself from Himself in our minds and bodies and there by perpetuates the belief that He is not what He is or that He is different from what He is. Maya therefore is not only a binding mechanism but also a concealing mechanism.

The Gita teaches us how to deliver ourselves from this delusion of mind and thereby from our bondage to the cycle of births and deaths and the pairs of opposites such as pain and pleasure or happiness and sorrow. The true meaning of the word moksha is not salvation but destruction of moha or delusion that precedes salvation. To achieve this a correct understanding of the mechanism of maya is essential, which is described in brief in the following lines.

1. The Senses

The sense which are ten in number (five external and five internal) are the main instruments of Maya through which it deludes the beings by developing in them the desire for sense objects. According to the Bhagavad Gita, out of desire comes attachment and out of attachment a man becomes deluded.

2. Loss of buddhi (discrimination)

Senses are imperfect instrument of truth. They cannot go beyond the sense objects. Therefore they actually breed ignorance. Beings who depend upon the senses cannot go beyond the visible and perceptible world. This results in ignorance and the loss of wisdom to know the reality from unreality, to discern correctly truth from untruth, good from bad, divine from demonic, right action from wrong action and so on. Out of the ignorance thus born, the individual soul indulges in wrong actions, beliefs, thoughts, false knowledge, ignorant masters, egocentric view of life and incorrect worship of God. Thus it becomes bound to the material and the mortal existence.

3. Desires and attachment

The person under the influence of Maya is always attached to the world outside him. Not only to the world, but very much to his own egoistic identity of himself, his possessions and his relations. Memories pursue him, time haunts him and thoughts possess him. By becoming attached to the world, conditioned by memory and accumulated knowledge, he develops envy and selfishness and also many such negative dualities as pride, fear, greed, anger, malice, caprice, cruelty, callousness, lust and intense desire for success and personal advancement. Life becomes a battle field in which he alone has to win. There is no
place for failure and weakness. Attracted to pleasures, averse to pain, fearful of loss and hopeful of gain, unable to go beyond the lures and temptations of the world, though aware that all is vain in the end, he plods on, striving and struggling, as if death would never touch him.

4. Sense of duality and multiplicity

The man of delusion cannot see the One hidden in all. He sees only the diversity and the multiplicity of the life and the world around him. Feeling lonely and isolated, unable to trust others and the world he lives in, as if the world is an enemy determined to subdue him and destroy him, he suffers from intense anxiety about himself and his future. Because of the sense of duality he loses his unified vision and sees the world in terms of pairs, divisions, groups, categories, numbers and opposites, and in short, in terms of relative and subjective reality.

5. Transience, Instability and Destructibility

One of the characteristic features of illusory existence is that it gives us the impression that our existence is finite, unstable, impermanent and ever changing. When an individual soul is drawn into this ever changing unstable world, which we call samsara or the world of cause and effect, it is attracted to the sense objects and in the process becomes subject to the conflicting emotions caused by the pairs of opposites such as pain and pleasure, gain and loss etc. It suffers from the insecurity and fear of death and becomes selfish and possessive. The souls develop qualities which direct their behavior. Those of demonic nature use cruelty, death and destruction as the means for establishing their control and supremacy over others.

6. Ego and False identification

Under the influence of illusion, the jivas or individual souls develop ego sense, the sense of separateness and pride in their individual merit, personal possessions and achievements. The ego is responsible for the sense of ownership and doership, identification of the individual with his body and mind, and failure to know his true nature. It makes the individual souls think and act selfishly and egoistically as if they are different from the others and engages them in acts of self preservation characterized by competition and conflict and cooperation and friendship. Thus the ego ultimately lands all the beings into suffering, delusion and bondage to the earthly life.

7. Incorrect Relationship with God

The beings under illusion cannot see the Invisible God and so they cannot correctly comprehend Him. They cannot see Him in all and all in Him. They cannot go beyond the senses and the gunas and experience the soul consciousness. Even if they do, they cannot contain that experience in their limited consciousness. Because of egoism they would not acknowledge God and would not surrender themselves to Him. Due to their inherent imperfections and negative qualities, they fail to show true devotion to God and realize Him in themselves.

8. Mortality and the Cycle of birth and death

Under the influence of illusion, when a jiva or being indluges in egoistic actions, accepting the sense of doership, with a desire to enjoy the fruit of actions, it becomes subject to the laws of karma and dharma and returns again and again to the world of mortality. Depending upon its previous actions, it takes birth in different wombs, circumstances and families and pays the price in the form of suffering from the consequences of its previous actions. This process goes on repeatedly till it realizes its folly and engages in right actions with the right attitude, which is prescribed in the Bhagavad Gita and lays a foundation for its progression towards its freedom and self-realization.

9. Deliverance from Maya

Not everything is lost for the souls in this world. It is possible for a soul to escape from the net of illusion by overcoming its limitations with the help of the teachings of Lord Krishna who showed the true path of liberation to Arjuna in the middle of the battle field. By following the Bhagavad Gita, a person can stabilize his mind by controlling his senses and desires; become a humble devotee of God by concentrating his mind on Him fully, surrendering to Him unconditionally and absorbed in him through single minded devotion; perform desireless actions knowing that only the senses, the organs of the body and the gunas are acting, offering the fruit of actions to God; and attain the Supreme Self.

10. What is Truth?

We all suffer from the grand illusion of maya that what we know and experience through our senses is the truth and that we are capable of knowing the facts of our existence with the help of our minds and senses, where as the truth is we cannot discern reality with our limited consciousness. We cannot answer the question about truth truthfully, because we do not know the answer. We may give an answer, some answer, but that answer would not be correct. It may satisfy our mental curiosity but not our soul’s deepest yearning to be itself. The predicament we face is how can we define something that we have not been able to experience consciously? How can we bring that into our field of experience when it does not exist here. We may explain the transcendental truths of our existence and describe it in roundabout ways, but we cannot translate it perfectly into words unless we can contain and maintain the absolute truth in an absolute way.

With regard to truth, we can take many stand points and justify each of them with necessary validations which we can conceive of. We can make each point of view stand by itself or stand tall or short in comparison with the rest. But we cannot bring them all together or hold them all together as one complete and whole truth. That is what Truth is all about. It is everything as well as nothing. It is multidimensional, indefinable and all encompassing. It reconciles everything into itself and resolves everything and anything into one harmonious whole, something which our human minds can never do, accustomed as they are to relative thinking and perceptivity. This is the limitation of the human existence and human intelligence, brought about by the divine play of maya. It is what happens when you come under the influence of maya and even not aware of it. You see but you do not actually see. You live, but you are not sure whether it is the right way of living. You know something, but you are not sure whether it is the truth. You are not sure whether you are awake when you are conscious and asleep when you are unconscious. You are not even sure why you are here and for what end.