With Beloved Swami Vivekananda Puri

Monday, 15^th January 2018

Beloved Swamiji, I said, we remember you again on this 12^th January, as ever before.

Swamiji shook his wise head very slowly.

I continued, we feel proud describing your unbelievable range of contributions. Knowing them in detail, no one can ever imagine that a single person can demonstrate them all in such a short span of life. Unlike Jesus Christ or Adi Sankara (both being your masters), you could witness the remarkable influence you could initiate all over the world through your work.

Allow us to be proud of you, at least! We have no time either to read you or to study you. (You are the one who had read all the books in Calcutta National Library..!) No question of us living your values unmoved, which was not for any religion or any section, but was for the man-kind. You went to California as a Hindu monk, but talked as a human being, talked for the man-kind. We travel everywhere just as human beings and talk for our little sectarian interests!

You traveled in the spiritual path following the unrelenting inner urge for that. We go to Yoga class to somehow adjust a VISA to travel to abroad.

You are the idle and God for all the petty groups, here. All parties, all sections claim you and quote from you. No wonder. You have expressed various views, theories and approaches, according to the circumstances; because you knew that the reality shines beyond all thoughts. (When they asked you to sign your photograph, you did so with a sentence on it: “one infinite pure and holy – beyond thought beyond qualities I bow down to thee.”)

India which you represented has changed a lot. We are now the 70 year old independent India. But we have become more dependent than ever before, in all aspects, in even spiritual outlook and lifestyle.

Politics changed. Economy changed. Judiciary changed. Media changed. Art changed. Culture changed. Man, women, children and even new-born-babies have changed. What is there unchanged? Yes; they are unchanged! For whom you wept, for whom you advocated loudly, they are unchanged. The poor, the downtrodden, the disabled, the marginalized, they get the same treatment even now in free India. We still cry for them. But never act.

Once you said, “The miseries of the world cannot be cured by physical help only. Until man's nature changes, these physical needs will always arise, and miseries will always be felt, and no amount of physical help will cure them completely.” We agree with you; but not ready to change our nature for good.

We speak very high of your words and do act against them. It is not our fault, Swamiji. This is what we are taught. We are developing, Swamiji, developing!

The change that appears on the surface is not a change. The change in only the attire and behavior is not a change. We are the same. We are the same as you left us. (May be, a bit worse!) We have not transformed.

The words you uttered in the Parliament of Religion are still relevant. You said, “Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.”

Despite the bells that tolled again and again, nothing seriously have happened. We still hold on to those sectarianism, bigotry and fanaticism, as our hidden agendas. We will keep your words relevant always with our self-centered style of black development in all directions. This is the word we offer you, Swamiji.

After listening this, Swamiji smiled and replied thoughtfully, “At least, you have realized the situation. Now, child, there is a hope for the real change in you!”

Observe and Manage. (OM)

This is the method.

Trust, Understanding & Acceptance: Feeling for the Other

Monday, 08^th January 2018

Love is the basic motivating force in life. Everybody wants to love as well as to be loved. Wide range of emotions and states of mind are included in the word ‘Love’. It is fundamentally the attraction of the mind towards somebody or something. The attraction has endless variations of sequences in life.

In most of the situations, the reason for the attraction of the mind is the interest in certain aspects in the person or the object. It can be a behavior, utility or a purpose. Relationships in life are appeared for certain purposes. What is the purpose of this relationship? This should be there among your thoughts always. The purpose can be for the benefit of oneself or the other person. Still the purpose should be clear. That will make the relationship meaningful. The love or attraction is for the purpose. You like the shopkeeper for his good service. Your relationship with your barber is due to his perfect job. Inside family, the purpose of relationship is mutual benefit. The relationship between friends is also usually for mutual purposes; but there are many friendships for one sided intention. If both the persons in that relationship, agree with this one sided purpose, such a relationship of friendship will go smoothly. Your relationship with the bank is different. Even though it varies from time to time, mostly it is for your own benefit. You cannot exist in the world without connections and relationships. The interests in you motivate your relationships.

Your attraction for other things appears to be your love for certain individuals. The young singer who sings exactly in the style of Shri K. J. Yesudas, may be loved by many. If the singer sings in his own style, will he be loved? (If his song is good, people will appreciate. Eventually he also may be loved by many.) But those who loved this young singer initially are really attracted to K. J Yesudas’ style of singing. That particular attraction appeared as the love for the singer.

All relationships cannot apparently be called Love. But all relationships are motivated by some interests of the individual. In that sense all relationships have the elements of love in it. Late J. Krishnamurti once defined life as “the movement in relationship.”

Countless shades of Love can be observed and experienced in life. But when you search for what is the true Love, you come to a conclusion that Love is “the feeling for the other person”. I remember when my elder brother seriously hurt in an accident, I couldn’t hold my tears. I was feeling for him. A mother might forget her safety in the process of protecting her child. Forgetting yourself for the beloved is the strongest evidence of the existence of love. More than that, love consists of three behavioral qualities. To love somebody necessarily have these three behavioral qualities. 1. Trust 2. Understanding 3. Acceptance.

When you love somebody, naturally the distance with that person is decreased. Your tendency is to open your heart to that person. No love is possible without trust. You trust your loved one and all you have in your mind is naturally shared with that person. (In many occasions you might trust a wrong person and experience the consequences!) Trust and openness is the first feature of love. And when you love, you tend to understand the other person. Because you are close to that person, and you have detailed knowledge of the thought process of that person, you can understand the inner meaning of the behavior of that person. When you love, you become more sympathetic to that person, as a result of which you understand that person. This is the second feature of your love. The third one is the tendency to justify your beloved. You accept the one whom you love. You can easily take him as he is / accept her as she is. If you have these three features, namely trust, understanding and acceptance, in your behavior to someone, you can experience the hearty love with that person.

All human beings have the possibility to love; but all cannot experience this beautiful feeling. You need to have a clean heart, if you want to relish the feeling of love. Harmless thoughts and positive emotions need to be cultivated if you want to enjoy the joy of love. Feeling sincerely for the other person is not easy in this world.

Observe and Manage. (OM)

This is the method.

Action: Necessary, Unnecessary & Evil

Monday, 01^st January 2018

Life is nothing but action. You are living because you are active. Life is expressed in the Nature through actions and movements.

Action refers to the movements with purpose and knowledge. A movement has always a direction. The direction of the movement of a lifeless object is set by external factors. The direction of the movement of a ball is according to the hit with the bat. But the direction of the movement of the bat is decided by the player himself. When the doer himself fixes the direction, it can be called Purpose. Apparently he fixes it on the basis of his knowledge. The Purpose and Knowledge are there in the movement of the bat; so it can be called an action. The ball Moves due to the Action of the player. Movement is motivated from external factors, where, as the Action is from the internal. The doer is there for an action.

All actions are not done consciously. If you observe yourself, a lot of actions are done by you unconsciously. They are either Learned or Natural. When you drive a car, if you are skilled, almost all actions of driving happen unconsciously. But they were not so when you started driving a car. But now the action of driving is Learned. This is an example of Learned Action. Actions like digestion and purification of blood are Natural Ones. These are not conscious actions.

Conscious Actions can be categorized into three: Necessary, Unnecessary and Evil.

The action which should be avoided in all circumstances is in the Evil category. Hurting others and oneself is an example of this type.

The actions which are very much needed in life are categorized as Necessary Actions. One’s own duties and cleaning are the examples of this category.

There are other category of actions in life, which are not either Necessary or doing them cannot be that harmful as well. Watching the entertainment programs in television cannot be considered harmful. Watching it for a long time is definitely bad. It is not Necessary as well. It is Unnecessary Action. It can be avoided or the duration of watching television can be checked. Then you may get more time to do your Necessary Activities. Remember, that you are the only one authority to decide whether watching TV is Necessary or Unnecessary. Do not allow anybody else to decide this for you. That power to choose your action is very important to develop your intelligence. Anyway, this is not a discussion on watching television. There are such activities which can be categorized as Unnecessary in day-to-day life.

The well-defined purpose of your action gives you the discrimination whether it is Necessary or Unnecessary. You can find out an activity necessary or unnecessary based on for what purpose you are doing it. So understanding and considering the purpose of each action is very important before you execute it.

Action = Movement + Purpose + Knowledge.

Necessary Action = Movement + Defined Purpose + Knowledge.

Unnecessary Action = Movement + Confused Purpose + Erroneous Knowledge.

Evil Action = Movement + Evil Purpose + Wrong/misleading Knowledge.

Observe and Manage. (OM)

This is the method.