This too shall pass

Human mind is a complex system of thoughts, thoughts and thoughts. And the  moment something goes wrong it has the overwhelming power of whining over it, hovering over it, refusing to defocus its attention. At that moment we feel as if its the end of the world, insomnia creeps in and the big question 'Why Me??'  wakes up like a monster waking out of its slumber. We don't see the end of the tunnel...we feel that its not going to end...That's the time when we have to tell ourselves again and again-'This too shall pass'...for it will definitely pass. Instead of grinding our teeth against the person or situation causing the misery we can very well concentrate on our recovery. We can engage in things making us happy. Making someone else's life miserable just because they did something to you doesn't make your life any better. Time to focus all the attention to yourself, your health, physical and mental and make your life better. I have met people in despair, and have found that a word or two with compassion and empathy can bring them back to normal. It may not be drastic, overnight, but strong belief that 'This too shall pass' can do magic. I remember a verse from Bhagavat gita at this moment.

uddhared atmanatmanam

natmanam avasadayet

atmaiva hy atmano bandhur

atmaiva ripur atmanah
 

"One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well.

The power of accepting the situation and moving on is very well illustrated in Mahabharata by the character of Pandavas mother Kunthi devi. This was recited by Swami Utit Chaitanyaji in his recent discourse about Bhagavat Gita in Singapore and I consider myself blessed to listen it from him in person. Mahabharatha by Veda Vyasa is an Indian epic. It depicts the rivalry between Pandu's sons, the Pandavas and Dritharashtra's sons, the Kauravas. Kunthi devi is the mother of Pandavas and Gandhari is the mother of Kauravas. The story leads to the 18 day war called Kurukshethra where Krishna discloses the eternal truth called 'Bhagavat Gita' to Arjuna.The incidents which are of our significance here happens towards the end of the war. Pandavas by the help of Krishna were defeating the opponents one by one and when Gandhari came to know that destiny is not favouring her pedigree she wanted to give a boon to her Son Duryodhana and asked him to come to her and seek blessings. Krishna on knowing this coaxed Duryodhana to go dressed up and while Gandhari was transferring her power acquired over years to her son, it fails to traverse the dress worn by him. Gandhari knows that its done by none other than Krishna. The war proceeds and in the fight between Bhima and Duryodhana, Krishna hints Bhima to hit Duryodhana on his thighs which didnt receive the power from Gandhari even though hitting below the waist is against the law of war with clubs. Bhima does accordingly and kills Duryodhana. On seeing his son's state, standing depressed in the Kurukshethra, unable to accept whatever happend Gandhari curses Krishna with all her might.

On the other hand, Kunthi Devi had to witness her son Arjuna killing her first born Karna, also by the help of Krishna. When Arujuna comes to seek her blessing after the victory, Kunthi devi could neither cry nor smile for one of her son was killed by another son. Herself and Krishna are the ones who knows the truth and when she sees Krishna, she doesn't burst out like Gandhari, instead prayed to Krishna to give more miseries in her life so that she will grow closer and closer to God. In times of rejoice and happiness seldom do we think about God, but when misery strikes, we seek God.

Here Gandhari unable to accept what had happened , burst out and made her life as well other other people's life horrible. The curse did hit the character Krishna badly and resulted in wiping off his entire pedigree from the face of earth. For Kunthi Devi it was her matured and strong mind which accepted the reality and sought the best out of it in the form of blessing...She knew that like waves in the ocean, things come and go in life, but in the end the wastness of ocean remains and when each wave comes, we have to keep reminding ourselves that 'this too shall pass'...for it will definitely pass.

Life goes on and on.... -picture courtesy Sajeev

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my meal is not worth your life!!!

When I tell someone that I am a vegetarian the first question I get is, "is it by religion???" My answer is "yes and no, yes because I am a Hindu and Hinduism advocates Vegetarianism, no because I am not a Brahmin and no one insists me to remain a vegetarian." In fact, I am a vegetarian by my choice and conviction. I am a converted vegetarian, who enjoyed all kinds of food till I was 18. My parents were vegetarians and when I started realising that cooking non-vegetarian food for us was not really comfortable for them, the first stir of emotion rippled in me. Kind of hesitation like being given food in separate plate and washing with separate sponge, keeping the cooking vessel and plates separately. Being a teenager, this made me to think of being treated differently. Not parents' fault, just my thinking when blood was young and boiling :-). Later during my degree I happened to be a member of nature club and used to write articles and poems for its magazines and came across 'People for Animals' by Maneka Gandhi. After reading so many articles against the cruelty towards animals and how ill treated their souls and bodies are when taken to the butchery made me to think that their lives are of much worth than my meal. I wrote to Maneka and she replied to continue to work in my region and fight against the cruelty towards animals. I was thrilled and excited but couldn't go into much of the social activities in between balancing the academic work. One fine day when I was not feeling well, I felt having non-veg and told my mom. She prepared in her usual tasty manner and I had it mindful , stomach full and soulful and decided that its the last time I am having it. In one day I could conquer my mind, thoughts, body and quit being a non-vegetarian. I started feeling much better, lot of lethargy disappeared, body started feeling light and I knew I liked it.

When I see documentaries on how people are struggling to rescue animals I really feel like laughing. How many chicken might have lost its life just for those people's meal ?? And how can one life be better than another life??Isn't the pain of losing one's life same for all the beings?? And when losing life, wont the animals have adrenaline rush?? Wont the adrenaline remain in its dead body and reach the people while having the food?? I am not trying to say that one is good and one is bad or one gives human longevity and other one doesn't.

Biologically, all that goes into human as dead becomes a part of living body and excretes out of body as a non living and again goes into nature become part of a living creature and when it is killed/dead become part of another one's diet....and this cycle continues. This is the inevitable cycle of nature. We humans have the choice of selecting what should be the source of new cells in our body.

World, I am not arguing over whether vegetarian or non-vegetarian diet is good. Please stop pouncing over me with questions and putting forth your reasons that one is better than the other. Its just a humble being's choice and reasons to remain a vegetarian just because she thinks that her meal is not worth another being's life!!!

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The uniqueness of human mind and Hinduism!

Today let me write about the uniqueness of human mind. When I thought about it, I found it interesting to connect it with how Hinduism appreciates and celebrate that uniqueness and its delicate nature. Every mind is unique and that in turn result in every human being being different. What human being can perceive in the universe is limited to the physical capacity of his brain and how it control the senses. There is a limit to our audible voice, there is a limit to the spectra of colours which we humans can sense. So there is a limit to what we see, hear and know in this universe. This is different from what animals or other living beings can perceive. So whats real could be much different from what humans see or understand. Yet we boss around telling that we are the masters of the universe.

Our mind tends to believe that hurt, happiness, pleasure etc are bestowed upon us because of other people's actions, which is totally wrong. The story which swami Udit Chaithanya narrated really woke me up. It goes like this. A dog was eating a bone and got hurt in its mouth by its sharp edge. Blood started oozing out and still the dog continued to chew the bone thinking that the blood is really coming out from the bone and enjoyed its own blood. Similar way what we presume as pleasure or pain given by others is just because of our perception and our own body. No body can give anything more than what our mind and body can sense or perceive.

I have heard so many criticisms about Hinduism having so many 'Gods'. But the real Hinduism insists on only 'One God' the almighty which is nothing different from the energy that fills us. The total energy in the universe is a constant and matter and energy are inter convertible and is proved scientifically by Einstein. Matter as we see around us has an origin and end.  So the perishable universe we see around us has a beginning and end.But energy remains the same. This energy Hinduism considers as 'The God'. The ultimate power that has designed the tiny atoms to the cells of our brain which no supercomputer can beat yet.

Sometimes after visiting a shop I come out of it being unable to find things that I like there and tag it as 'not good'. But later I have realised that its just that it doesn't have the collection of my liking which is evolved in me due to the environment in which I am being in and the taste of my parents which later sank in to me and formed as my preference. If a shop owner just collects things of his liking, only those with his taste can buy things from there. So, the vast diversity of likings of human mind is to be taken into account while choosing to serve the public in any kind of business.So as every human mind is different, like every shop owner keeps wide variety of items for different people's liking, Hinduism is offering wide variety of Gods for each person to choose and worship in his nursery stage of understanding the religion. And as he graduates, he has to come out of the form and know and feel the divine energy in its real form. When we worship an idol its not the idol we worship, its the divine master, similar to the fact that we see the person and not the paper or the frame when we see the portrait of a person.

No human mind is same. And we can never know what is really going on in another human mind. Humans does not have the ability to like something which it cannot perceive, either see, hear, touch or smell. So, when the human race was struggling because of desire, lust, want for money, land etc, the spiritual gurus had to device stories to raise it from the puddle and bring it into a higher level. There came the great epics like Mahabharatha and Ramayana. The five pandavas in Mahabharatha are the five senses and the hundred Kauravas are the evils with which our senses has to fight every day. Our mind needs 'bhagavat gita' at times when our mind struggles between its desire to keep or kill the evils. Bhishma is the stubbornness in us which refuses to leave us. Bhishma is dying after being in the bed of arrows for eighteen days. It shows how difficult it is to overcome our stubbornness.

In the nursery stage of knowing my religion I have taken Krishna as my idol as my mother was a devotee of Krishna. As we move on to higher plains of understanding we do not really need an idol to worship. First time when I came across the fact that Krishna is just a brain child of the great guru Veda Vyasa, it hurt me, I cried. But later it increased my desire to learn more about the religion and the real facts about its diversity of Gods.

So, lets celebrate every human mind and its uniqueness, which makes it all the more interesting in this beautiful world which we are given, with the  limitations our senses can perceive, as everything else is not really necessary for us, as our creator knows what is best for His masterpiece!!!

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Thought for the Day

Why are treasures guarded by demons and not angels ???

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Survival is for the fittest, is Earth fit to Survive?

3 June 2009

I have always believed that whatever needs to be extinct has to go extinct. Survival of which is going to be a pain for itself or the people helping it to survive. But when it comes to the survival of Mother Earth there is a second or third thought regarding my belief. Can we let anything to go extinct if we love it? Probably not. So when environmentalist are trying hard to protect an animal or bird species to prevent it from disappearing completely from the face of earth, there is a lot of love and empathy and affection behind their action.

Now, 'go green' is a slogan heard in every continent. Recently, I happened to watch a travel programme on TV. It showed massive parts of glaciers of Antarctica melting and falling down several times a day, baring the mountains of its ice clothing!! That was a scary scene. This is the ultimate result and proof of global warming now. The ice melts and the water level increase. And places which are close to sea level are under the threat of being submerged in water in near future!!. One by one will the continents disappear and will there be a massive extinction of all the species on earth?? Is there a need for a 'Noah's Arc' to be send to space to preserve all the species?

One step at a time, what can an individual among 6,784,247,386 people do to help it? I found few steps from the net and thought of jotting three of the easily doable ones for you and me.

1. Bring reusable bags for shopping. I haven't done it yet. Will definitely start this week

2. Reduce electricity usage. Clean and repair damaged appliances on time to save more.

3. Start using a reusable plastic bottle which u can always refill instead of using single use mineral water bottles.

List is long... but lets start with one tiny step at a time. Join me!! If we can increase the age of mother earth even by a single day, its worth trying whatever it takes!!

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Strength

17 Feb 2009

This is not written by me, but happened to read it by chance...
Its well written and adds to your inner strength the more u read it. Here u go......

"Master self-control to tame fears or impulses to prove of what stuff I'm made. I boldly go...but a willful heart is part of my secret identity.My infinite fortitude is seen by what I do, sacrifice or defy to stand up for what I feel is right, including admitting when I'm wrong, keeping out of it or not dignifying responses provoked by moral cowards and brutes. When resolve is tested I draw on the courage of my true character from the more savage or humble virtues of my natural instincts to maintain objective by composure. This enables me to hold my toungue against bravado, repress claws at empty threats, and not turn tail in pride against passion when it's hard or inconvenient, but to persuade through self-restraint until assimilation is complete or resistance is futile."

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