Cracking our codes and rewriting them

Viswamitra · Jul 7, 2013

Dear VJ,

I am truly humbled and honored by your comments. I am a student in this world learning things everyday including from the posts of the writers in this IL forum. If there is anything worthwhile in this post, it should go to the One without the second who is driving all of us. I am merely an instrument in His divine hand.

I remain a humble servant of His and His children benefit out of my work driven by no one but Him, it makes me very happy for being useful to convey His message.

Viswa

Kamalji · Jul 9, 2013

Dear Vishwa,

Very well said. A little i would beg to differ with u.

You say we are born to learn to not be born again. Same is what my wife says. she does not want to be born again, ad wants freedom from the cycle of birth and death.

i keep telling her, are u unhappy with me, that this birth u have seen so much sadness that u dont want to be born again ? HAHA

Frankly, i would want to be born again and again in this world, my personal views are, this world has such beauty, u are given a ffree body, with all senses intact, and u enjoy all the senses with time.

i am enjoying life, i am thanking the lord every minute of myu existance, and i pray to him to let me be born again, but to good parents, and to let me have good friends and some guide. i am not into spirituality, or gurus or holy books, i know nothig Vishwa, these are all my personal views.

i beleive, if the lord has given me colour in my eyes, the sense of smell, the sense of taste, etc, that it means that i enjoy his creations with these senses. And i am doing so. And he gave me right parrents, who have made me what i am, yes i could have been born in the worng house, i am aware of that, so i blackmail the lord to give me birth again, wiht the rider of a good parents.HAHA

let me stop before i make u tear yr hair, well said dear friend, i have a right to disagree sometimes with u, dont i ?

Regards

kamal

Kamla · Jul 10, 2013

Dear Viswa,

What can I say! Be it about cracking codes for personal computer or personal me, it is a hard task!

Of course, then there are Viswamitras who make it sound easy, all one needs is a bit of quietness, concentration and contemplation. There is so much noise both around me and within me, to achieve that quiet contemplation is an impossible task indeed.

Kamalji's input here seems more appealing to me! When HE/SHE created us with so many miracles and created also miracles around us, is it not our duty to explore both? Yes, explore keeping the good senses and good control and not going overboard?

Like it or not, age is going to be the great leveller towards the end, provided we are blessed to age!

punarapi jananaM punarapi maraNaM
punarapi jananii jaThare shayanam.h .
iha saMsaare bahudustaare
kRipayaa.apaare paahi muraare ..........

We may repeat the above a hundred or thousand times a day. But like Satchi says, 'does one have an option'??!

L, Kamla

Congrats on being nominated to FP by Kamalji in his inimitable style!

Manjureddy · Jul 10, 2013

This was verily like a sermon , from Rshi Vishwamithra ! A lot to ponder upon . They say, " Heaven and Hell are Here and Now"; our minds create the whole Jagat and the chains that bind us to it. It may be our Vasanas , our Karma that tosses us into samsara ,giving us chances to either swim or sink. They say, We hold the Choice in our hands. A valuable thing, also immense responsibility that sometimes scares us .
All philosophers preach that salvation lies in the conquest of Maya. But no one has been able to teach exactly HOW. Oh yes, meditation, self inquiry etc. But all those are also mind games . There is a persistent call to develop Awareness. Aware of what, by whom ? The moment you are aware of something there is a duality . Equanimity is another prescription. Treat joy and sorrow alike is a wonderful counsel for stabilising the mind , especially in the angst ridden modern world, we need to have some measure of " emotional detachment" in order to remain sane. There's a line in Ashta Vakra Geetha:
Like Bubbles in the sea, All the worlds arise in you
Let it all go, the body and the mind
Nothing touches you; What is there to renounce ?

Leading a life of withdrawal from everything , what they'd call "Jadam" , seems to me a rather thankless attitude towards Nature( aka. God, Ultimate Power, Higgs Boson ,whatever that created this unimaginable diversity in the universe) If Brahman did create everything, She must have had a reason . (Like, for instance, why the senses of perception if they are to be withdrawn ? Is an amoeba,also a life with a soul, a Gnani ?) Or if Brahman Herself is a creation of our mind( "a figment of imagination" ) meditating upon Her and trying merge with Her ( Aikyam, Sayujyam)makes no sense.It seems like another kind of bondage. Perhaps the Taoist philosophy " Be" is a much simpler alternative !

It is my humble opinion that nothing can be achieved by reading treatises (" Yettu Suraikkai ") , nor listening to discourses, or attending satsangs or even by giving deep thought to all that has been handed down to us. Each of us is unique, our life circumstances are unique, how we find our peace is also our own unique recipe. Since we live in a society, we have to practice certain general dharmas for common good. Beyond that who is to say who is a Gnani and who agnani ?
After all, a great savant, a seer ,the Realised Soul , once sang:
( Panittha sadayum....)
Initthamudan edutha por paadamum
Kaana petraal,
MANITHA PIRAVIYUM VENDUVATHE IM -MANILATHE" !

You have provided a lot of food for thought, Viswa. Perhaps if i digest it well, I too may learn to crack the code of my life !

Viswamitra · Jul 10, 2013

Dear Kamalji,

Last thing first. Of course, you have a right to disagree with me, my friend. After all a good friendship thrives on saying things that are difficult to a friend and disagreeing with his/her views. Agreeing to disagree is an art that a good friendship should learn.

Let me rephrase what I was trying to convey and perhaps as a good businessman, you may be inclined to agree with my views. I believe that incarnation happens because of our actions and we continue to delve on duality as long as we have Vasanas which I call as encryption. Once we wipe this out with our constant effort, building a good character, we learn not to know the difference between pleasure and pain, time and space restrictions no longer apply, we see not only the past, present and future but know the outcome and so on.

With Vasanas, your incarnation is governed by the Law of Karma and you have no choice when to come and when to go, who to be born as a child, what experiences you would like to gain and so on. On the contrary, if you become a liberated soul, you can come to this world at your wish, be born and leave at your will, experience what you wish to experience and always remain in Bliss. In your own terminology, it is an intoxicated stage in which you are constantly in ecstasy.

Viswa

Viswamitra · Jul 10, 2013

Dear Kamla,

Thank you for visiting this post and as I said earlier, without your visit, no post can be considered as complete. The one who recognizes the task ahead is hard is the one who makes the maximum progress. The one who thinks it is easy like me are the ones who struggle day in and day out.

Yes. You are absolutely right. The noise around and inside of us is enormous and finding calmness is difficult but not impossible. It is the hope and faith that drives our lives.

Controlling senses and mind does not mean we need to be devoid of enjoyment of nature around us. In fact, appreciating the creation is one way of tacit acceptance of the Universal Absolute. Our mind truly enjoys the moment of happiness thoroughly and look forward to such opportunities more and more in life. But are we able to achieve it? Don't we face pain and suffering at the most unexpected time reminding us the reality of life? We reconcile to that and try to continue our life thinking that this would also pass. The pleasure and pain come alternatively and we have no control over it.

The world is the perception of our mind and what you see as the world is different from what I see. Therefore, the pleasure and pain are also different. If we transcend that mind and make it listen to our divine consciousness, it works towards auto cleansing and find the calmness we all aspire for. As we all know, the progress happens only when we are not satisfied with what we experience today. Spiritual progress is no different. We need to constantly aspire for permanent happiness and peace and when we get it, we will realize that the desires we pursued are like chasing for the water in a desert.

My answers to Satchi's question is "Yes". We do have option but it is entirely in the effort we make every day of our lives. If we reconcile to the cycle of birth and death, the effort becomes difficult.

Viswa

Viswamitra · Jul 10, 2013

Dear Manju,

What is in a name? Other than having the Saint's name, I have no capacity to provide a sermon like Saint Viswamithra. I have to travel a lot to even comprehend the level of consciousness achieved by Saint Viswamithra. I am not here to teach anything to anyone but merely to present my thoughts and in the process learn more from the thoughts of our friends here in IL. I am a beginner/learner and not a preacher.

It is always a pleasure to receive a response with so much depth. It is our seeking answers to our questions that makes us progress in life. Blind faith does not help and we need to inquire and get answers for our questions.

If we believe in Advaita Philosophy, it says, "Janthunam Narajanmam Dhurlabam". So becoming a human being is a rarest of rare event. Are we supposed to be a human forever? Is that the final destination? Everyone has the right to pursue happiness in life. Does happiness we derive in pursuit of our desires remain forever? We are given a tool called "Mind" to decide whether to pursue "worldly pleasure" or "permanent Bliss". The choice is ours and the Divine entity inside of us becomes a witness to our free will. Therefore, in my opinion, the only free will we have is whether to pursue the worldly pleasure or to pursue the real or ultimate pleasure called "Bliss. The mind of ours is like a moon that can believe that it has the light of its own or can realize that the light it gets is from the Sun. As long as we perceive it as our own light, we delve in dualism and once we begin to realize the light is from the Sun, we understand that we are part of the Solar system.

If we believe we are a divine being, the knowledge resides in us and all we need to do it to tap that knowledge by invoking it. When we want to move from forgetfulness (ignorance) to awareness (knowledge), there are only four options available for us to gain knowledge and they are through a) direct perception, b) inference, c) comparison and d) tradition. Our mind at initial stages of spiritual development is too narrow to have direct perception nor has the ability to infer or compare the "Reality" with something else. Therefore, the only option available for beginners like me is to use traditional methods of gaining knowledge from the teachings.

The Advaita Philosophy also says dualism is the cause for all pain and suffering and we need to recognize that we are divine beings having human experience and not the other way around. Our mind making us think that we are this body itself is Maya. If the mind creates the whole world for us, who created the mind? If we understand what is mind, we understand what is Maya. Adi Sankara said

"bhaja govindam bhaja govindam
bhaja govindam müãhamate,
samprápte sannihite kále
na hi na hi rakúati dukøòkaraïe."

Is he suggesting us to delve in dualism by asking us to chant "Govinda"? Of course, not. He is the teacher of Advaita philosophy. It is our mind that confuses us by looking at one aspect of life as complete and visualize the truth from one angle. It is our mind that makes us believe that birth is our beginning and death is our end. Don't we ask "Why me?" when we face pain and suffering as though "pain" is an intellectual property that belongs only to us and don't we feel happy when we experience pleasure as though it belongs only to us? It is the mind that conveys the pain when we suffer and happiness when we experience pleasure. If mind is the cause of Bhavaroga, it is also the tool to liberate us from that disease as well. "Viveka Chudamani" written by Adi Sankara which is considered a "Crown Jewel of Discrimination" and a master piece of Advaita philosophy provides the depth of knowledge we need to understand maya, awareness and equanimity. In sloka 574, Adi Sankara explains that "there is neither death nor birth, neither bound nor striving for freedom and neither seeker after liberation nor liberated".

I believe all teachings lead to only one destination. It is our understanding that varies based on our ability to perceive the reality. It is true that nothing can be achieved by reading treatises, nor listening to discourses, or attending Satsangs or even by giving deep thought to all that has been handed down to us, unless we make a concerted effort to practice such teachings. If Satsangs are not useful why would the most respected leader of Advaita Philosophy suggest

"Satsangatve Nissangatvam
Nissangatve Nirmohatvam
Nirmoatvam Nishchalattvam
Nishcalattvam Jiivanmuktih"

It is true no one can declare who is a Gnani or Agnani. That is not the objective of our life either.
Even if we assume Taoist philosophy "Be" is a simpler alternative, is it not restricted by the perception of each one of our minds as to how to "Be"?

Thank you for stepping in and giving a lot of points to contemplate about. By no means I believe I have learned how to crack the code and all my thoughts expressed here are all to find ways to crack the code by indulging other friends who are here to help.

Viswa

BHAVNAM6 · Jul 11, 2013

my dear Viswa,

You very well described the significance of meditation to be able to crack our codes and rewrite them.Honestly, Meditation is the only effective tool for us to succeed in our spirtitual journey. Of course spiritual reading and understanding the purpose of our life is the first step in our path. We do require the guidance of Guru, may be in form of spiritual scripture or spiritual guide.The teachings acquired from our guide make our mind think in completely different direction than our material life.However we continue pursue our material life hence there is a huge change in the perception toward life.Truly speaking for me it is a dualism in terms of believing in spirituality but not being able to practice it in full of spirit.This is indeed a gradual process which Lord Krishna has stated in Bhagavad Gita.I would say it is merely a baby step toward my goal.Lord Krishna has explained the significance of meditation in Gita.Which he has said the most difficult path ever.Once we stick to it with extreme faith in HIM, our destination will seem clear and radiant.Like you said, everything becomes so casual and effortless when we reach to the highest level of spirituality.I believe meditation controls our mind, body and intellect.Eventually it will benefit our mind and intellect to be able to make right choices for our spiritual journey and will liberate us from the Maya of this world.

Love,
Bhavna

zainabsarfraz · Jul 11, 2013

A very thought provoking post. Yes we always worry about the death, how will it come? when will it come? what next? but we never give thought to the root cause of all this "Birth".
Im sure today my mind will be re-reading your post whole day.

Viswamitra · Jul 11, 2013

Dear Bhavna,

Thank you for your excellent response. Yes. Our spiritual progress starts from controlling our mind and senses. The only way we can learn about the mind is to start observing our thoughts. It provides us the ability to discriminate good from the bad and understand the purpose of life. When we make spiritual progress and begin to discriminate between Maya and Reality, things will unfold as the warehouse of knowledge resides in us. It is just a question of taping it by reminding it about that invaluable knowledge. It is my humble opinion, when we are ready, a Guru will come to teach us the Truth.

I am in the same situation as you are in believing in spirituality and struggling to put them into practice in real life. But the first step is to realize it and work towards it and that way, we are still making progress. If we make one step towards progress, the Lord will make ten steps towards us. He is ready to help His children always as I always believe He expects us to lead an ideal and purposeful life. Giving up and reconciling to the fact that life is for deriving pleasure from our desires is not an option. It is the Lord's mercy to give unlimited resources to us to fulfill our desires and can we say that He has given it for a reason. We eat moderate food when there is unlimited scope for us to eat whatever we want. We don't do that because we know moderation helps our health. The same way moderation in our material life helps our spiritual health.

Yes. When we keep growing spiritually, it becomes casual and effortless and the initial steps are the most difficult ones. The primary goal is to understand the mind which creates Maya and if we really need to understand what is Maya, we need to study our mind.

Viswa