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Internal Detachment, External Engagement!

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by Srama, Feb 21, 2022.

  1. Srama

    Srama Finest Post Winner

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    I see Venus in the morning sky and say out loud to myself, 'already'? But it is also an indication of the seasonal changes coming up! How can I not be excited about that? I am on somewhat a long drive – have a couple of hours on the road. After turning some stations on and off, playing from play lists, instead of listening to a book on audible as I do often, this time around I decide to listen to a lecture on Bhagavad Gita! Long story short, I was surprised when I received this recording from a Gita group I belong to, but never attend any lectures! Boy, am I glad I decided to do that or what! I am often teased by my yoga teacher that I study Gita with him for Sanskrit and not for what Gita has to say. He will be proud me if I share with him what I understood. The phrase that has me spell bound for the next hour or so is “Internal detachment, external engagement”. How beautiful and complete! If we master this skill, all problems disappear, and we can contribute to the world effectively! I realize that most of us operate the other way round – we appear externally detached but are internally engaged completely with a lot of things! Are we doing things backwards?

    Mrs.S, would you please log me in to my computer? If you are wondering, well some parents want me to have some sort of control over when a child can log on to their device in the classroom which should anyways be not a question at all. We live in a different world, and I am grateful for the little power vested in me. I feel like a superhero and in control! If you are wondering, you should watch students walk into the classroom with their heads buried deep into their screens, dropping their stuff on the floor as they settle down into their seats. I am not exaggerating! So far, I have not started a class without a "screens off" command even before I greet them. These "screenagers" like my DD calls all teenagers who are on screens all the time, I tell you! The screenagers bring the 'scream-ager' in me out all the time is what I say which by the way was coined by me much to the annoyance of my students and my DD - they shake their heads and go, not so funny! If not funny, I can be annoying too, no? Anyways, coming back to my student, instead of logging her in, I choose to ask, "Why do you want your computer K in this this 5 min break time?" She responds back with a "To play games you know!" and adds "It is an educational game, Mrs.S" for good measure. That leaves me wondering as to when games became educational while education is required to be taught in a fun/playful way. When did we start doing things backwards?

    I am in the middle of teaching. I receive a whatsapp message, which BTW are always ignored. But this was from a parent and I am compelled to at least take a glance at it and lo!, it is not a text message but a voice message! For the life of me, I can't understand how this parent assumed I would listen to the message in the middle of my teaching! I am surprised with this ‘leaving a voice message’ on whatsapp! Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for whatsapp. I have a couple of very old aunts in the family who prefer to leave a ‘voice message’ on whatsapp, even though whatsapp has come a long way with its language capability. I feel loved. How I wish my mom could do that in her time. But now seems like leaving a message is a trend. I don't know about you, but I am surprised. I understand that maybe she is driving and can't type but I am also teaching and can't play that message, no?[​IMG] When did voice messages became text messages and text messages became voice messages? When did we start doing things backwards?

    What is it with us humans? When we have something, we want the other! Look at the case of smileys - hieroglyphics to alphabets to symbols again?! And then there is this our incredible ability to normalize anything. I am only using this phrase and pondering over it because of reading it in a science fiction – there is this man lost in space, makes friends with an alien, they each learn to communicate, save each other, work together, solve a huge mystery, and save both their worlds respectively, working collaboratively and after a few days begin to feel ‘normal’ about it all! Our sense of wonder makes us seek and once we find, we normalize and seek the next wonder? And if we don’t get that, switch back? I don’t about you, I am all confuzzled! But then, I remind myself to learn to be ‘internally detached and externally engaged’ – go with the flow, mull over things that matter and let the rest go and just be!
     
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  2. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    This is the first I've heard of WhatsApp voice messages. How quaint! Here I thought voicemail only just went out of style. I guess sooner or later, all old things become new again. Seems like we are not just doing things backwards, we're doing a full circle. Can’t wait until it becomes cool to write letters again! :grinning:

    I had fun reading this book. For once we didn’t end up with a scary green alien. I was rooting so hard for Rocky. “You sleep, I watch.” : )
     
  3. shyamala1234

    shyamala1234 Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Sabita,
    Usage of technology is for convenience....which would make us comfortable. We have a whatsapp group of cousins....ranging from 40 to 80 years. Some do not know much of English, typing etc. They communicate in Telugu with WhatsApp voice messages. Very freely. They learnt it because they need it for interaction. We all enjoy....listening to the voice makes us more intimate than reading a message!
    Lost in space, making friendship with an alien....first it is new and later it becomes "Normal". It is so in life too. During Covid we have learnt many new Normal things!!!
    Enjoyed reading.
    Syamala
     
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  4. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Srama,
    That is life cycle Madam.In good old days when daughters
    were sent to their in-law's house,mothers used to advise
    "certain things you may not like in-law's house.But in due course
    you will like it" ( Pazhaga pazhaga pidikkum)This is famous dialogue in a Tamil movie.Metaphorically this used to be expressed
    in the basket( brass pot) of bhakshanams in those days. On the top there will be
    the hardest eatable" Pori Vilangaa urundai, made of flours of wheat and certain other grains with jagory,very difficult to bite.You may
    need a pestle and mortar. Beneath, there will be kai murukku,
    Thenkuzhal and athirasam. At the bottom of the vessel there will be
    Thirattu paal ( milk koa) very soft and sweet.The difficult experiences will become soft and you will be able to tackle them as easily as eating koa.
    In life everything becomes feasible and possible as we go on experiencing and solving.The things that looked strange once upon a time may become a normal event.
    Jayasala42















    " certain things you may not like
     
  5. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:
    Kudos to you @Srama

    Brightest Venus - Bhagavad Gita- internally detach externally engaged - IDEE - you have brilliantly connected observed dots - woven an essay each paragraph distinctly caters to different aspects. (Only Tobby is missing)

    I went to terrace to watch my Venus but alas I could not see in late evening sky that was enveloped in darkness. Venus in chennai as per Google now visible only in ungodly hours raising around 3. 30 am and setting in afternoon after dozen hours. I was wondering how in Nature the season (of colours) of Holi in mid March would be heralded.

    You must have heard that Concept of IDEE from Sanskrit Guru.
    You already know in chapter six of Bhagavad Gita* it is described as to how Lord explains to confused Arjuna about it. Sage Viswamitra found it difficult to practice IDEE.
    Arjuna too express that if Lord Orders, he would be able to control the movement of wind but he can’t control (monkey) mind.
    Controlling mind is prerequisite for success of IDEE.

    Daughters are attached to their dad while boys detached (Vairagyam) to dad but attached to mom. In the yore of days, I could understand attachment or and detachment this way only. By and by, I learnt other meaning of these words. I began hearing complicated meanings of attachment and it’s antonym when I had approached sunset years!

    Some time during learning computer, I learnt attachment in e-mails. When e mails sent with attachments, I thought I would get detached from it.

    • Then after listening live discourses of Bagavat Gita on chapter VI , I BEGAN LEARNING that in order to have complete control over my mind, I should practice IDEE.
    • Many yogis and mystics have tried in the past to gain control over their mind, but they MISERABLY failed.
    • Sage Viswamitra renounced everything, retired to the forest, and did penance(tapasya) for several years.But he too failed to control his mind. As soon as he saw Menaka, he could not resist himself and got allured. (thanks to google)
    Your essay talk of practises old vs modern and return to old ones.

    LEARNING of maths begun first with fingers then abacus. When I was small, to remember sequentially total number of days in Georgian months, my dad had taught me by his knuckles. Slate and chalk used to be our stationery. We had by-hearted multiplication tables. But today those methods are obsolete .

    The academic world may not get back to those cost effective old habits. When calculator or phone lost they are lost & pupils are miserable.

    • I recall the tooth paste promo shown in channels here. A woman enters a crowded marriage dinner hall and see plight of a lady when she bites some hard sweet. The promo woman question her “Do you have salt in your tooth paste”? This of course reminds me of my childhood when i used charcoal and powdered crystal salt to clean teeth.

    Technology began as an aid & service to science and industries. It has resulted in people forgetting pursue basic science and research. The number of students for basic courses in science & humanities are dwindling down and majority of youth rush to learn Computer technologies with Google Pichhai behind their head.

    A reversal in this trend can never happen in future.

    WhatsApp-stored-7voice helps instant exhilaration to listen to voice of our near & dear & favourites: but is not as delectable & ruminant as we hear live over phone though incoherently. It was more thrilling, when we could hear distant daughter on ISTD/STD.

    • I remember I wrote inland letters and later in scented paper billet doux and with that for next day delivery - rush to mobile post office at 7 pm to drop into the slot box.
    • The thrill of receiving responses waiting for few days was more exhilarating than via e mail or e voice.
    *चञ्चलंहिमन: कृष्णप्रमाथिबलवद्दृढम्।
    तस्याहंनिग्रहंमन्येवायोरिवसुदुष्करम्॥३४॥

    GOD - surplus invested with detachment caused enormous Attachment!
    - before wedding it is only attachment internal
    and
    after wedlock for some, few years later it is neither!
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2022
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  6. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    A mouth-watering response to a connoisseur of foods
    indicating how hardness distributed in life in a range from soft to hardest
    from bottom upwards!
    For few In life core is hard and outer is soft & for some it is vice versa.
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2022
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  7. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    There was a time when we use3d to own things but now things own us. We hive not mastered technology. Technology is our master.+ I wo0nder what will happen to the world if all mobile phones and xomputers conk out! We will probablt back in the middle ages!
     
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  8. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    You started off with a homage to nature and seasonal changes, Srama, but soon went back to a car and a long drive. : ) It was a pleasant journey to read/travel with you in the car with the Gita lecture playing, to the classroom, then to the latest in WhatsApp (literally and figuratively) and to wrap it up with a ponder on how we normalize the new and move on to the next new.

    The phrase is beautiful and complete indeed. A timely one for me, at least going by how I interpreted it: we learn to say No to more commitments and people/events that drain us and our time, but the internal detachment is more necessary. If you get a chance, do write more about the external engagement. BTW, I googled the phrase. It returns this thread at the top. : )

    I realized the depth of my internal attachment or over-engagement when I started to do the day's Wordle while still half awake, and rather than savor the consonants or vowels choice, the mind was all over other places.

    I was searching just today for a beginner course on something. I figured given my total beginner status, a children's course would be good. Every single course was gamified, fun, playful.

    My question about WhatsApp voice messages is: does the sender know whether I have played it or not? : )

    Yes.. some let it go and some let it be. In another lifetime, I knew a babysitter who used to pronounce "let it be" as "lettie be." I have to ask my child if they still remember that!
     
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  9. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Sabitha,

    External engagement comes naturally to us but internal detachment? It is hard. It happens only when we see ourselves in others and see the whole humanity as one and the same. There is no world without "I" and "Mine". "Mine" is worst than "Wine" and "Dine". People always misunderstand they are made out of food that they take in but forget what they take in through their minds plays a dominant role how we are built. Emptying the pot (mind) is essential for internal detachment. A spiritual speaker once said in a meeting that we need to initially "Control" the mind, then "Alter" the mind and finally "Delete" the mind. "How can one operate without a mind?" is a question everyone who inquires asks. The mind is nothing but a cauldron of thoughts and once thoughts disappear, the mind disappears. If the mind is completely subordinated to the Consciousness, the world that is perceived by the mind ceases to exist. What we perceive everyday is the "Screen Time" and we need to reduce that "Screen Time" too. Other than our deep sleep state, we are having "Screen Time" both during waking state and dreaming state. Sometimes, we sit in a place with a cup of tea and get lost in our thoughts oblivious to the surroundings. Yesterday, I went to Publix store to buy something and a gentleman was in the middle of the road for good 2-3 minutes texting something when all cars waited for him to move on into Publix. The real battle is with the five senses and the mind.

    Even I question the way I engage externally. Am I scratching the surface of the world only to see what is in it for me or am I looking for how I could contribute to the well-being of the community and humanity as a whole? External engagement should be to faciliate the existence or enhancement of the life of living beings. That is what most living beings do and only the living-beings with the discrimination power looks in a different direction. When Mahabharatha war was fought, Lord Krishna asked the sense of hurt and fight the war with the intend to make the world better place to live.

    I agree with Gowri that I long to write letters and one reason for me writing in IL is to fulfill that passion. Those who can't type in English are mostly sending voice messages through WhatsApp to me. I sent a message for a vehicle when I visit India in March and he replied through voice message that he would be in the airport.
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2022
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  10. Srama

    Srama Finest Post Winner

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    Dear Gauri,

    Thank you for your first feedback! I appreciate it so much. Between being not well and sleeping all day, I am glad I wrote something here. It really is taking me longer than I anticipated to get back to routine. I am used to whatsapp voice messages from some aunts and my Sanskrit teacher - given a chance he would have loved to write in Sanskrit. I recently downloaded the local fonts on whatsapp just so that I can send a message to that aunt or uncle in the language they can read if I am busy. I am impressed with myself now. Voice messages are amazing - they convey the feelings way better than texting and easier too, I think.

    Me too, it was Rocky all the way and I am sure you drew a mental picture of Rocky as you went through the book. For me the ending was phenomenal - the dome and all that and I can see how a movie might make use of it so well. As creepy as it sounded in the beginning, you sleep I watch begins to make sense! I tell you , I took my time reading this book enjoying it and not rushing through in a long time!
     
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