Milkman's Pride

A humble milkman visits our home since last twenty six years. He is seventy three. Yesterday he informed my wife that he had built a temple in his village, all with his own money and requested both of us to visit the opening ceremony of the temple, which falls on Shiva-ratri day today. He made such a soft and courteous request that we both felt like going to his village. In fact, it was the first time in last so many years we asked his name, so that we can locate his place in the village. We were feeling guilty, that we should have known his name earlier. That is the way we city dwellers are. We label people whom we meet daily with their profession as milkman, washer man, and sweeper and then we call them with the name of their profession, rather than with their sweet names.

Finally, we reached the place where he had built this temple. It was deep inside a village lane. We had to leave our car on the road and walk all the way in the lane. The lane was narrow but was all carpeted with curtains covering both the sides. The temple idols were still sitting outside as they had just been dipped in a temporary water pond and were waiting for the priest for some more rituals. A person in the village had already informed our milkman about our arrival and he came running all the way. He offered us the fruits as 'prasad'. He also insisted us to visit his house which was nearby. As we entered his home we could feel that this person was feeling extremely proud. Actually his house was quite palatial, much bigger than our house. He showed us every room. He insisted that we should see his drawing room, which had a big screen LED television. The kitchen had the modern smoke chimney. He also told that his children and their families live in these modern rooms and he still takes the wooden cot lying in the verandah at the ground floor. With us he came out to main road and showed us his four wheelers and the garage for the same. Since I had a small car, I was not willing that he should come along with us till the point it is parked. But he saw us off till the parking point. All this time, he remained extremely humble, uttering every word with respect. Obviously on our way back, I and my wife were trying to analyse destiny versus education, conversion of farming land to residential property, city and village habits and many similar topics. And, before I stop keying in more words, I did take photograph of the stone he had put outside the temple, which inscribed "In memory of my parents".

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg.

I don’t Know

13.5 billion years have passed by since energy, time and space came into being, according to the Big Bang theory. Some 3-4 million years ago, on a planet called earth certain molecules combined to form particularly large and intricate structures called organisms. Slowly life began to flourish on earth. One of the most important revolutions that shaped the course of history on its revolutionary evolution is the Cognitive Revolution, which is dated back to 70,000 years.

As humans evolved, they turned out to be the only species with exceptionally big brains. While a mammal, which weighed 60 kilograms has an average brain size of 200 cubic centimeters, human brain weighed at an average of 600 cubic centimeters. Thank God, for the partiality shown to humans; otherwise every life species on earth would have developed their own space programs and war tactics. Truly, it is on the intellectual limitations of other things and beings that we humans build our glass mansions. 

As the cognitive revolution began, there developed seeds of own destruction too. We have proofs to believe that structured communication tactics also began during this period. Studies on communication between living beings have proved that animal communication is confined to the present, like ‘an eagle is flying above’ or ‘a snake is waiting near’. Only humans are able to say that there is a lion near the river. They only developed the capacity to speak about unknown things or things that never existed. You cannot fool a monkey off a banana by convincing it that it will get a hill of bananas after its death. It is from our capacity to think and speak on things beyond visibility, from where myths came into our lives. So came religions too, spreading fear all around. It is our capacity to think about things that did not exist that paves our way to inventions on a daily basis. 

The civilization of Atlantis was limited to an area, so was Moo that existed in Sahara. They were all completely wiped out from the surface of the earth; one reason was that they all crossed the limitations set to them as human beings. Unlike ancient civilizations that were limited to certain areas, we are an whole mass living in one global village and it seems that our end could be complete eviction from the surface of the earth, for we also are crossing the ‘optimum points’ set by the universe. My question is what would have been better - a life in the present or a life spread to unknown domains of past and future? My answer is ‘I don’t know’. 

Joseph Mattappally

The Medium Can Change The Message

An elderly illiterate carpenter received some mail and he was very upset about it. A letter was a very unusual thing in his life and he was worried about what might be in it. So he hurried over to the butcher shop and the rough-voiced muscle man behind the counter read it aloud. 

“This is a letter from your son,” he growled, “and it says: ‘Dear Dad, l am sick and haven’t a single cent. Send me some money quick. Your son Bill.” Influenced by the harsh tones of the reader, the carpenter became red with rage and exploded, “Who does that kid think he is, telling me what to do? I won’t give him a cent.” 

In a fit of anger, the carpenter walked back home. But along the way he met his friend the soft-spoken tailor. He stopped him and confided, “I want you to see this letter my boy sent me.”  The tailor took the letter and read it aloud in his usual calm and cultured way. 

Suddenly the message sounded different to the carpenter. It came across as appealing and plaintive. It left the carpenter deeply saddened. “Poor Bill,” he said with worry in his voice. “He’s in bad shape. I’d better send him some cash — fast.”  So off he went to wire some money to his son. 

The message can often depend on the medium!  Quite often troubles can be traced to the way a particular message was delivered. The same message can cause diametrically opposite reactions. How strange!

Indian Thoughts Archives

Art of ‘letting go’

Baba continued, ‘Do not ever forget my son; empty-handed had we come into this world, and empty-handed shall we go away from this world. We need to learn the art of ‘letting go’…. We need to outgrow the pulls and attractions of the flesh and the world at every stage, and keep our focus always on the ultimate goal and purpose of our sojourn in this world…. 

‘There is an interesting story, my son…. When the young Alexander the Great was about to die, he had given three commands to his Generals…. The first command was that his empty hands had to be put outside the coffin to show to the world that Alexander the Great after conquering the whole world was going away from this world empty handed!... 

‘The second command was that the path over which his dead body was to be carried for the funeral rites had to be cast with pearls, diamonds and other precious stones to show to the world that all the wealth that he had looted and plundered from the different countries that he had conquered could not save his life!.... The third command was that his best physicians had to carry his dead body. This was to show to the world that all the knowledge of his best physicians put together could not cure him, and save his life! It is believed that Alexander had died of Malaria......

‘This story reveals to us the simple truth that empty handed have we come into this world and empty handed shall we go away from this world, and that all the power, all the wealth and all the knowledge put together cannot save us from death… 

‘Our physical life is a pilgrimage on earth, my son. Birth is the beginning and death is the end of this pilgrimage….Birth and death are two realities beyond our control. What is within our control is the time span between these two realities….

‘The worth of one’s life can be measured based on the way one has utilized the wealth and relationships that one has acquired during this time span…

‘The best way to use our time, wealth and relationships is to surrender them with love to God by serving one’s fellow beings selflessly with love, and by working for a culture of peace in the world……

‘An integral vision of life and reality is what you need for the great mission of your life, my son. You have to translate it into a life-mission to build a spiritually awakened, morally regenerated, economically prosperous and politically strong India through further study, work and prayer….

‘A spiritually awakened, morally regenerated, economically prosperous and politically strong India will help to usher in a civilization of love and a culture of peace in the world. This is the divine mission ahead you...

‘Keep this mission in your heart always, my son … Also, please remember, what one learns from the guru constitutes only a quarter of the wisdom acquired in one’s life. Another quarter is to be acquired through one’s own study, yet another quarter from others, and the last quarter from one’s own lived-life experiences.’ The Baba stopped and looked at his disciple questioningly.

Excerpts from Integral Revolution

Consumer Culture -1

LOSING BATTLES, WINNING THE WAR

This morning as I was having breakfast, I noticed our cat, Rasan, jumping on to his perch on top of the dog house to see his food dish. After a very brief look he jumped out searching for his caretaker. Soon I went to see his food dish to find out what happened. There was quite some food left over from the previous day in the tray. There was also food carelessly strewn around making the place messy. He does not hunt any mouse that destroy edible roots in our garden. Rasan eats his choice food to his content, basks in the sun, and tries to sneak in to the house and sleeps in bed or clothes piles even though he knows he is not allowed in the house. I do not like pets inside the house though this is a common phenomenon in the USA where a great deal of money is spent on their food, and to keep them clean.  A dog or cat does not clean itself after its bath-room chores. I am witnessing the same scenario that I did not care for in the US: overweight and obese persons, and fat and overfed pets. This is due to what I call a tragic consumer culture of affluence that drains our rationality and sense of priorities. We may lose many battles, but we have to win this war on consumer culture that makes us impotent. Here is an attempt to make us aware of the destructive nature of consumer culture.

Consumer culture gradually sneaks into our life as it pleases our senses, especially our taste and sight. It caters to our cumulative sense of comfort. We are attracted by looks and sensual pleasures that routinely make us indulge in impulsive behaviors. For many shoppers, mostly women, in the US, shopping is a form of entertainment. Window-shopping – finding out the new products available in the market – is a great pastime. Shopping any more is not need-based but want-based. Shopping in the developed countries has become a serious form of addiction for many whom I have seen in therapy.  Persons in shopping spree impulsively buy things that they do not need, do not have space to store, and do not have money to pay for. They charge what they buy on their many credit cards, and finally end up in the offices of credit counseling, and often in declaring bankruptcy. Currently this is the kind of shopping model that is being exported into the developing countries. Persons who engage in impulsive criminal activities on the spur of the moment that involve thefts or sexual crimes are also led by thrill-seeking behaviors and momentary excitements resulting from extreme, negative form of impulsive behaviors. The many models the young men and women imitate are not known for their moral values and integrity. Guinness World Records contain amazing but destructive achievements that can happen only in a consumer culture.

Economies of the developed world depend on consumer culture. Prosperity anymore depends on producing products, whether needed or not, selling, buying, and using them irrespective of improved quality of moral and social life. Recently a slump in economic production in China led to the world economic down-turn.  We have recently seen that very high oil prices as well as very low prices crash financial markets. Currently oil producing countries are trying to come together to limit the production of oil to increase its price as there is more oil production than the real demand. This is the kind of senseless economy produced by the consumer culture that we are living in. At this rate the consumer culture is going to destroy us spiritually, emotionally, and physically. This is a century of consumption of products. A century ago tuberculosis that destroyed humans was also known as consumption caused by tubercle bacillus bacterium. Like tuberculosis of old, our consumer culture is destroying us. Once we realize this fact we can change our strategies to slowly win our war on consumer culture, and gain control over our life and freedom.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti 

Ems in Life

Read this title as "M's in life". This post definitely talks about the power of letter 'M' in life. Sometime back I was learning the power of letter M in an entrepreneurial development programme. The trainer told about the six Ms required to 'Make' a successful business entity, which are Man, Material, Machine, Money, Mind and Mission. We need to 'Manage' these entities to get miraculous results. I was really impressed with this explanation and started thinking if m's are really so important in our lives. As I applied my mind more and more the magic and mystery of m's started unfolding. The powerful word that keeps someone moving is 'Motivation'. A 'Mentor' is required to keep someone motivated. Much of mental makeup of a man is made up of mixed emotions, but marvelous things can result if these emotions turn meaningful. Life has given us immense number of minutes to us to take most correct path to move on. While moving with life we have time to make modifications too, but we mock our own mission and fall prey to misdeeds.

 

We become too materialistic and money becomes our main motivator. We throw out the thought from our memory, that our Master, Master of every thing in this universe has all the might. The mechanical way in which every mister and misses around us move, forces our mind to think, if we are just a messed up mobile generation or a true model what our master wanted to make. Hope this magic of 'ems' will move some matter in your mind to uplift your mood. By the way before I sign off, I must tell you that the size of text and margins on an internet web page are often defined not in terms of milli meters but as 'ems' as its unit, which means something equal to width of letter 'm' in English. Just notice that m is one such character with highest width. Just pick your mobile and call your software friend to confirm this. So friends! Just learn to manage M's; your life will be made.

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg.

Freedom

I have on my table a guitar string. It is free to move in any direction I like. If I twist one end, it reacts and responds. It is free. 

But it is not free to sing. So I take it and fix it into my guitar. I tie it down and I bind it. And only when it is bound like this, is it free for the first time to sing. 

We also tie plants like tomatoes and pepper vines to keep them off the ground, and in the sunlight and air. This tying them makes them free to grow. 

Someone once referred to such a situation as a “liberty bond” — something with which to tie up your freedom. -  Rabindranath Tagore 

Unbridled freedom tends to be counter productive. Absolute freedom outright becomes even harmful. My freedom should necessarily end where your nose begins. Freedom is best in its elements when it is reasonably restrained and rationally made use of.

Indian Thoughts Archives