The first post on a philosophical subject. Credit for this goes to pyaare RCG and Dilip Suraanaji. I am just a messenger passing on the message akin to Naarad Muni. The main contributor to this blog will be Dilip Suraanaji. I will just chip in a couple of cents if I have anything to share from time to time.
To begin with, whenever somebody is seeking out some sort of a salvation path, s/he goes to some renowned guru and the guru will say, start with the question 'Who Am I'. Right from the olden days to HH Shankaracharya, to HH Raman Maharishi and now HH SS Ravishankar will also say the same thing; start with the premise 'Who Am I'; If I say I am Nagraj, then that is not correct because Nagraj is just my name; If I say am a boy, then it is just a symbol of my body's gender. So on and so forth, no matter what we try to identify with, never is there an answer for Who Am I when we are trying to introspect and do a self-analysis. In fact it is said that a hilarious scene happened with Raman Maharishi when seekers used to come to him. He asked them to continuously chant Who Am I and reflect on it; and many people were just parroting 'Who Am I-Who Am I-Who Am I' and they did it for years without any effect. In the northern part of India, there was a lot of focus on chanting the name of Lord Rama. Yet again, a lot of people just went on [and still do so] keep on hankering 'RamaRamaRamaRamaRama' at a frantic pace. Another corner of the mind starts interpreting this as 'MaraMaraMaraMaraMara' and says - this is a useless technique.
Unfortunately, this is how people have been for ages together. There is absolutely no intention of dedication in the actions. It is not uncommon for a lot of [aptly] occupied women doing household chores as well to take some time out to do a recital of Vishnu Sahasranaam or Sundarkaand and as a couple of pages are flipped through, suddenly a woman looking at the book looks up and rants, 'Shaarada - have you put the gas off - please do so otherwise the milk will get spoilt'. 'Bittu ke paapa, apna tiffin box lene naa bhoolna - aaj main zara paath karne mein vyasth hoon'. Well I won't go into the details of such examples because we are all bombarded by dozens of sadhus and gurus on our television giving the same examples with different names. [Or maybe I am also a me-too branded normal person trying to be philosophical and using their examples?]
The fact is I have been grappling with this question of 'Who Am I' for over 10 years now. I am not a sadhu or a person who is going to take 'sanyaas' and try to attain 'nirvana' or 'moksha' by giving up responsibilities I have taken up by my own choice. It is only fair that I fulfill all my obligations to the logical end because unlike the colour of my eyes, my height, the shape of my nose, these responsibilities I have taken by my own accord. There may be some obstacles on the path but I am just a normal mortal who does have a craving for personal success in terms of having a good job, a good house, good food on the table, an abode etc. On the other hand, I find myself on a very tricky situation where I see myself beyond a normal person who is only thinking about roti, kapda aur makaan.
It is very natural that roti, kapda aur makaan are essential for living. In fact, in all likelihood, if I were not blessed with a good career opening after university, mentoring by my father and some senior gentlemen in my life, I might also have been just hankering about the base matter. I know that there is something beyond the normal eat, drink and be merry attitude perpetuated by Epicurus [who I understand just lived a normal life with plain bread, butter and salt; his eat drink and be merry principle had some higher level of significance akin to that of Diogenes or Socrates]. However, 10 years and counting, I am pretty much where I started this journey. In this journey, I have read a lot of books from Osho, Swami Chinmayananda, HH Sri Sri Ravishankar but as of now - NO PROGRESS. All I know is who said what, I have accumulated a good mental library of examples, stories, parables and some odes.
Suddenly, out of no where, an idea occurred to the main person behind this initiative [Dilip Suraanaji] that let us take some time out on weekends and discuss certain aspects. Then in a couple of sessions, it dawned upon us that maybe we should record some of the important discussions and upload the audio files for all to review. Then, it just dawned upon me that just like some of us are trying to follow the paradoxical nature of capital markets, isn't it the case that a lot of people in general are living and trying to comprehend the whole paradox of existence itself? Why not make a blog section to that as well. Now I am a bit obsessed with the suffix 'Paradox' and asked Dilip Duraanaji to think of something that the blog title can be called paradox. He said, 'Nagi - let us keep it simple and straightforward - The World: Paradox. I think this is a small little example of Win-Win.
Whilst the audio files that will be uploaded here are in Hindi, there will be posts and commentaries in English and readers of the blog are encouraged to put forth their questions in the comments section.
Since some of the topics are heavily tilted towards philosophy at a higher degree, I am putting forth a list of books that one can start reading. Please note that the list of books I am putting out are on the basis of my personal experiences and hence, in a way my knowledge is limited to that. If people do have other books as recommended reads, suggestions are more than welcome.
To begin with, whenever somebody is seeking out some sort of a salvation path, s/he goes to some renowned guru and the guru will say, start with the question 'Who Am I'. Right from the olden days to HH Shankaracharya, to HH Raman Maharishi and now HH SS Ravishankar will also say the same thing; start with the premise 'Who Am I'; If I say I am Nagraj, then that is not correct because Nagraj is just my name; If I say am a boy, then it is just a symbol of my body's gender. So on and so forth, no matter what we try to identify with, never is there an answer for Who Am I when we are trying to introspect and do a self-analysis. In fact it is said that a hilarious scene happened with Raman Maharishi when seekers used to come to him. He asked them to continuously chant Who Am I and reflect on it; and many people were just parroting 'Who Am I-Who Am I-Who Am I' and they did it for years without any effect. In the northern part of India, there was a lot of focus on chanting the name of Lord Rama. Yet again, a lot of people just went on [and still do so] keep on hankering 'RamaRamaRamaRamaRama' at a frantic pace. Another corner of the mind starts interpreting this as 'MaraMaraMaraMaraMara' and says - this is a useless technique.
Unfortunately, this is how people have been for ages together. There is absolutely no intention of dedication in the actions. It is not uncommon for a lot of [aptly] occupied women doing household chores as well to take some time out to do a recital of Vishnu Sahasranaam or Sundarkaand and as a couple of pages are flipped through, suddenly a woman looking at the book looks up and rants, 'Shaarada - have you put the gas off - please do so otherwise the milk will get spoilt'. 'Bittu ke paapa, apna tiffin box lene naa bhoolna - aaj main zara paath karne mein vyasth hoon'. Well I won't go into the details of such examples because we are all bombarded by dozens of sadhus and gurus on our television giving the same examples with different names. [Or maybe I am also a me-too branded normal person trying to be philosophical and using their examples?]
The fact is I have been grappling with this question of 'Who Am I' for over 10 years now. I am not a sadhu or a person who is going to take 'sanyaas' and try to attain 'nirvana' or 'moksha' by giving up responsibilities I have taken up by my own choice. It is only fair that I fulfill all my obligations to the logical end because unlike the colour of my eyes, my height, the shape of my nose, these responsibilities I have taken by my own accord. There may be some obstacles on the path but I am just a normal mortal who does have a craving for personal success in terms of having a good job, a good house, good food on the table, an abode etc. On the other hand, I find myself on a very tricky situation where I see myself beyond a normal person who is only thinking about roti, kapda aur makaan.
It is very natural that roti, kapda aur makaan are essential for living. In fact, in all likelihood, if I were not blessed with a good career opening after university, mentoring by my father and some senior gentlemen in my life, I might also have been just hankering about the base matter. I know that there is something beyond the normal eat, drink and be merry attitude perpetuated by Epicurus [who I understand just lived a normal life with plain bread, butter and salt; his eat drink and be merry principle had some higher level of significance akin to that of Diogenes or Socrates]. However, 10 years and counting, I am pretty much where I started this journey. In this journey, I have read a lot of books from Osho, Swami Chinmayananda, HH Sri Sri Ravishankar but as of now - NO PROGRESS. All I know is who said what, I have accumulated a good mental library of examples, stories, parables and some odes.
Suddenly, out of no where, an idea occurred to the main person behind this initiative [Dilip Suraanaji] that let us take some time out on weekends and discuss certain aspects. Then in a couple of sessions, it dawned upon us that maybe we should record some of the important discussions and upload the audio files for all to review. Then, it just dawned upon me that just like some of us are trying to follow the paradoxical nature of capital markets, isn't it the case that a lot of people in general are living and trying to comprehend the whole paradox of existence itself? Why not make a blog section to that as well. Now I am a bit obsessed with the suffix 'Paradox' and asked Dilip Duraanaji to think of something that the blog title can be called paradox. He said, 'Nagi - let us keep it simple and straightforward - The World: Paradox. I think this is a small little example of Win-Win.
Whilst the audio files that will be uploaded here are in Hindi, there will be posts and commentaries in English and readers of the blog are encouraged to put forth their questions in the comments section.
Since some of the topics are heavily tilted towards philosophy at a higher degree, I am putting forth a list of books that one can start reading. Please note that the list of books I am putting out are on the basis of my personal experiences and hence, in a way my knowledge is limited to that. If people do have other books as recommended reads, suggestions are more than welcome.
- The Razor's Edge by Osho
- Commentaries on Bhagwad Gita by Swami Chinmayananda
- From Personality To Individuality by Osho
- Bhaja Govindam by Shankaracharya
- Letters by HH Sri Sri Ravishankar
Most of Osho's books and discourses are available online for free at www.oshoworld.com
Some readers maybe uncomfortable with the way Osho brings in some elements of physical relationships time and again - but as one takes the entire content in the right context, one will understand that Osho is just trying to keep the people alive and awake through the lectures.
In my journey so far, people have asked me why I do not keep a collection of books by J. Krishnamurthi or encourage reading his books. My response is simple and straight-forward. I find Krishnamurthi's books too heavy and dull [maybe it is because I am so enthused by Osho and Ravishankarji that there is an inherent bias in me towards Krishnamurthi's literature. As far as literature by Swami Sukhbodananda is concerned, no doubt they are wonderful but most of what is there in these books all exist in Osho's books as well.
One important point to be noted - as far as the authentic and original sources of knowledge and wisdom are concerned, they lie in Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagwad Geeta and for that matter Patanjali Yoga sutras. Patanjali wrote not just on yoga postures for the body but techniques for taming the mind as well. He was a well learned practitioner of what in modern days we call psychologists, psychiatrists or to put it in gentle terms 'counsellor'. In the last 3000 years at least, all the knowledge that has come in the form of books, commentaries, discourses are all nothing but modified contents vis a vis specific geography, time, customs etc.
Disclaimer: I have no religious leanings just because I am a Hindu. I have had some exposure to the Holy Bible since I studied in a convent school and have also been exposed to a little bit of the Holy Quran as well. It is just that I have not studied them well enough to even make any form of comment. So the omission of mention of these books is not out of any bias but simply out of ignorance.
This week, we will be putting up some articles and audio files on the 2 sessions we had so far
Session 1: 2nd September 2011
Swa-Sanmukhata-Dukh
Session2: 9th September 2011
Discussion Topic: Swa-Sanmukhata-Sukh
Session 1: 2nd September 2011
Swa-Sanmukhata-Dukh
Session2: 9th September 2011
Discussion Topic: Swa-Sanmukhata-Sukh
Had the opportunity to follow the First Session today.And I slept while doing the swa-sanmukhta.
ReplyDeleteWhy did it happen?
Purusharth ---- has been defined as effort which directs energies from "par" to "swa". Please give some more time to it in the next session. Particularly on the aspect of "parmaarth"--literally meaning for benefit of others. We have been fed on the values wherein "parmaarth" has been considered pious and "swaarth" has been looked down upon.
ReplyDeleteNow Purushaarth -- in the literal sense understood by me,wherein energy has to be directed from "par" to "swa"-- seems to be akin to "swaarth" and thus hits at the value system itself. Hope you understand my dilemma and would take it up in next session.
Regds.