Learning to Love Spiritually

Recently I read an article about love in a spiritual magazine. The writer argued that modern society writes a lot about lessons on making love and mostly it is taken in an obscene context. The real love, the spiritual love is something that also needs training. It needs practice to love someone, some object or yourself. Love could mean accepting someone, the way he is. Love can certainly make a person blind, to accept everything about someone or yourself. But love can disallow changes or the process of continuous change if it is not learnt continuously. That is why blindness of love is not darkness. Darkness is where there is no vision. Blindness can enhance internal vision. So, one can make spiritual love with the help of internal vision. 

Spiritual love can certainly be taught. Some people can argue that spiritual love is the love of GOD. But the argument here is that even GOD is something which a ‘Guru’ Offers to you and Delivers to you (GOD – Guru Offers and Delivers). Oh My GOD! I again created another acronym of GOD. You may recall that few days back, I had expanded GOD as Gives, Owns/Operates and Destroys. Let me expand LOVE also as Link Of Vital Energy. Love makes you link to yourself, link to others and a link to GOD. When we talk in the context of vital energy; you, others and GOD all unite as one. The term vital energy is one out of the key elements and is called ‘Consciousness’ as per the neo five element theory. It is this element which connects to GOD. 

So friends, let me stop this alphabet jugglery now and tell you about the school where you can learn something more about spiritual love. The full name of that school is YOU. It is you who has to learn love from you yourself. Just expand this Y.O.U. to be Youthful, being Optimistic and being Upbeat. Yes, these are the qualities needed to make all types of love. It is same for what comes to your mind and what I am trying to explain. Let me stop here friends, as I am not leaving my habit of creating expansions of common words. But what is the harm, if it can bring an additional punch to memorise the message easily. 

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg

Gandhidham Express

Too often we live under the assumption that life is all about achieving something worth inviting the cover page of a magazine. While on the deathbed, Aldous Huxley reflected on his entire life’s learning and then summed it up in seven simple words: “Let us be kinder to one another.”  The more I tried to install this concept within the more I understood that what all we call kindness is not kindness at all. 

All these rolled on through my mind as I was idly sitting in Gandhidham - Nagerkovil Express train in which I was returning from Ahmedabad. It was a cool afternoon on the Konkan corridor when a good looking man past his sixties hurried in with his baggage. He occupied a seat close to me. Very quickly he pushed his baggage under the seat and opened his handbag to take out a book. Because of his tense behavior I could not help watching him. The book he took out was ‘An autobiography of a Yogi’, a famous great book written by Shri Yogananda Paramahansa. It was easy for me to guess that he should be spiritual man. As soon as he opened the book came in the pantry man with eatables. He bought something and started cracking it. Then came a beggar hardly 35, walking with great difficulty even on his wild stick. His one leg seemed to be totally disabled. The man closed his book, took a coin and dropped it into the stretched palm of the beggar. I noticed that he was dropping the coin and not giving it; and I assumed that cast wise he could be from a privileged upper caste category. Incidentally, the coin fell down. I saw that disabled beggar struggling to bend his body and take the coin. Fortunately a passenger who came by took the coin and gave it to him. What that surprised me was that this man did not at all turned his head to help the beggar but only continued reading the Autobiography. I thought, ‘What use all these messages he consumes in dozes unless it could not generate within him the sort of kindness Huxley meant?’ I finally concluded that this typical aspirant is a commonly seen model, who claims to have great masters and possesses great knowledge but without kindness in its tender nature.

Two hours passed by and the train stopped at a minor station. The man with the book closed it and moved out with his luggage. He had not completed even a single page during the two hours in the train. Either he was checking his baggage or was bargaining with the vendors. The train began to roll on again. There I saw another strange thing – the physically disabled beggar was running into the moving train. My fellow passengers also noticed it. “Life is a whole drama.” I commented. The one thing that pained me was not just that. I had to admit that I too am a player in this cosmic drama though not as smart as the disabled beggar or as loose as the disturbed aspirant. Is it not about developing personality that we talk about? Personality is all about masks while individuality is all about self-holiness. 

Joseph Mattappally

Krishna on Bondage 9

I have heard that a rebel sage (A sage is always a rebel) was thrown into prison for his irrepressible love of freedom. He was going around the country singing songs of freedom. He was a Sufi sage and his captor was a Caliph who was both the religious and temporal head of Mohemmedanism. The sage was put in shackles from his neck downward, but he continued to sing his songs of freedom. One day the Caliph came to see him and inquired if he had any troubles. The sage asked, “What troubles? I am a royal guest, your guest; what troubles can I have? I am utterly happy. I live in a hut and you have put me in a palace. Thank you! ”

The Caliph was amazed. He asked, “Are you joking?” The Sufi said, “I say so because I have turned life itself into a joke.” Then the Caliph came with a down to earth question: “Are the chains on your hands and legs heavy and painful?” The Sufi looked at his chains and said, “These chains are far away from me. There is a great distance between me and these chains. You may be under the illusion that you have imprisoned me, but you can only imprison my body, you cannot imprison my freedom. You cannot turn freedom into prison because I know how to turn prison into freedom.”

It all depends on us, on how we see things. Seeing is foundational. We have to understand what the Sufi told the Caliph, “These chains are far away from me. There is a great distance between me and these chains.” Our life becomes what we are psychologically and spiritually, our death becomes what we are in our mind and spirit. If we are free, our birth our life, our death, everything becomes free. And similarly if we are in bondage, then everything we do or we don’t do binds us. Then action binds, love binds, life binds and even death binds. Then even God binds. 

In fact, we are our own makers. 

Wishing you good health & happiness,

Dr. Dwarakanath, Director, Mitran foundation- the stress management people

Very Reasonable

In the early years of my service, I was posted for a few months as Deputy Secretary in the Industries Department of the U.P. Govt. In that capacity, I was also a Director on the Board of a company. The financial condition of the company was bad and no production was going on due to labour unrest. The main reason of unrest was non-payment of wages for a long time. Soon after my joining I was required to attend a meeting of its Board in New Delhi. 

I was a new officer at that time and hardly knew the intricacies of industrial management. All that I noticed in the Board meeting was discussion on justifying the non-payment of wages. All senior Board members seemed to agree with the arguments placed by the Managing Director who appeared to be a very clever person. Whether on account of lack of knowledge or courage or both, I could not raise my objections forcefully and my feeble efforts to do so bore no results. I, therefore, had to sign on the dotted lines. The meeting for which thousands of rupees were paid as TA and DA, thus ended in almost half an hour. 

This left us with ample time to enjoy the drinks and snacks. I being a teetotaler could only watch senior friends of the Board competing with each other in choosing the best brands of whisky or wine or both, even the names of which I was not aware of. Somehow I passed my hours over a glass of juice and some snacks. The moment I thought that my agony was over, I found that we were on our way to the Taj Hotel for lunch. 

At the Taj Hotel also, the same indulgence was repeated but this was less torturous to me, as I was hungry and could enjoy the food, its price notwithstanding. When the bill came it was quite enormous even at that point of time but everyone sighed with relief calling it ‘Very Reasonable’. It was a time when the starting salary of an IAS officer used to be in 3 digits and I had just crossed that. 

There was one gentleman in this gathering who seemed to be disagreeing with this show through his silence and occasional gesture. He was the Company Secretary and by chance I travelled with him after lunch in the same car. Gathering hint from his gestures, I shared my views with him about the company. I said that, had we shared the amount spent on the Board Meeting with the workers of the company, preferably, over a frugal lunch, the labour unrest would have been over. In that case the company would have been in production and the workers would have waited for wages till the company was in a position to pay. The Company Secretary, who was seemingly a gentleman and had been in the company for years, was in complete agreement with me. 

Rakesh Mittal IAS

Be A Good Mother

Every woman is faced with distinct challenges as a mother but her ultimate aim is to raise her children in the best possible manner. As a mother you should keep calm and try to stay patient, although it may be difficult to keep your cool at times. Take interest in your child’s interests and involve yourself in their activities whether they are music or fashion.

Do not be tight about money and don’t automatically say no to everything your kid asks for. Be generous at their birthdays and buy them something they have been wanting for some time. You can also take them out to a special dinner or see a movie.

Make sure you are an approachable person to talk to. Try your hardest to always be understanding and a good listener. Knowing that they can go to their mom for friendship, advice, information on puberty, homework help or just a hug goes a long way for kids. Not having someone they can talk to can cause kids to retire into a shell.

Be supportive and never laugh at your child’s hobbies, interests or friends. Understand that its okay if your child thinks differently from you. Be able to admit that something you did may have been wrong and don’t be afraid to apologize.

Give your children a good education but don’t force a career of your choice on them. Guide your child through the problem solving process if they need help with their homework. Spend quality time with your child. Play ball with your son or do a craft project with your daughter. Make sure you have fun together. Take them out to museums, theatre, concerts and other cultural events. Always be supportive and fair.

A mother needs to teach her children how to be successful adults. Let them have freedom to work out problems on their own. Love them unconditionally and respect them as individuals. Be a friend but give your children moral and ethical guidance. Encourage them and teach them to be caring, respectful, helpful, friendly, trustworthy honest and God fearing.

Be a positive and moral role model and example that your children can look upto, appreciate and honour. 

Dr (Mrs) Archana Bharat

Freedom and Religion

Religious freedom was absent in the former Soviet Union. In the past there were countries that   had state religion, that did not tolerate other religions, and that taxed other religions. Religious freedom is not there in authoritarian China ruled by the Chinese communist party. In some Islamic countries, rights of other religions to practice their religion are not respected. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, only Sunni Islam restricted to the Salafi or Wahhabi sect is the only officially recognized state religion. Even the Shia Muslim sect is discriminated against. No other religion can worship there even in private. There is absolutely no religious freedom there. Conversion from Islam there can even be punishable by death. It is incredible that such a state of affairs exists in Saudi Arabia in the 21st century, and the Saudi extreme religious apartheid and gross human rights violations are not much written or talked about.

In this article my focus is not on religious freedom or the lack of it in different parts of the world. While it is important to consider the lack of freedom in all religions that, without any exception, require radical reformation and transformation, my specific focus is going to be on the lack of freedom in Catholicism, the biggest (about 1.25 billion followers), the best organized, and the most powerful denomination in the biggest religion that is Christianity. The influence of the Catholic Church is widespread in every part of the world through its tightly-knit parishes and institutions closely controlled by the hierarchy of priests and bishops. Christ came to preach the Kingdom of God, to free the down-trodden, and model especially truth and freedom, love and compassion among many divine values. And my question in deep anguish is: If Christ were to come to the world today, wouldhe recognize the Catholic Church that represents him? What would he think of the arrogance of primacy and infallibility of its head, the unnecessary doctrines and dogmas, the pompous rites and meaningless rituals, the burdensome disciplines and censures, the almost deification of his earthly mother, Mary, the numerous and often empty devotional practices, and mechanical recital of prayers, the extraordinary powers granted to its “official” saints, the feverish activity of beatifying and canonizing saints, the unwarranted consideration of all its members primarily as unworthy sinners, the enormous accretion of encumbering and crippling baggage over centuries?

Certainly all Christians like all other human beings, depending on their degree of awareness and surrendering to God’s will and  grace, fall down and get up, make mistakes, repent, and learn from them, and relentlessly strive toward perfection. Religions, far removed from their original inspiration and charism, shackle their members to blind loyalty, unexamined beliefs, and practices, robbing them of their God-given freedom. It is an insult to the one God of all that religions self-righteously fight among themselves and glorify themselves for some earthly advantage and posturing. In the final analysis all that matters is that we have been honest and sincere, compassionate and loving, and that we worked for the Kingdom of God to the best of our ability, and that we truly and really took care of all our brothers and sisters in the world.

Swami(Dr) Snehananda Jyoti 

An Unknown Language

“Azino-sibne-meta-nido-zoic”. My science teacher came to the class and wrote down this word on the black board. He also wrote an unknown script below this word and then he turned towards us for its explanation. By this time our curiosity level was really quite high. He smiled and began his explanation. Children! This is a word from a tribal language from an eastern island near Srilanka. This language is called “Ottarwaka” and today there are only five people left, who know this language. The word I wrote here means a feast that is given at the time of their marriages. 

We were just wondering, how come our science teacher became a geography teacher and what connection his narration has with our syllabus. The story he was telling was definitely wonderful. He started asking us, if anyone can suggest methods to save such dying languages. We were so involved in the story that we started giving some silly ideas that we thought were really innovative from our point of view. 

Then the teacher went out of the class and we all started making noise as usual. He came back again and asked all of us a very pointed question, “How many of you believe that this story is true?” Most of us raised our hands. The boy who did not raise his hand said, “Sir this story is true, but the number of people who know this language currently is probably even lower”. Another boy said, “Sir, in my view, there are many languages in India also, that are dying and are known to less than ten people”. 

Teacher asked from those two students, if they can give any reference regarding the comments they made. They said, “Sir! We have read it somewhere”. Teacher asked all of us, why they believe that whatever facts he narrated about the language are true. None of us could give a genuine answer. 

Then the teacher clearly told us that whatever story he told us is was fully a cooked-up one. He told us that our brain has a feature of believing things that are told in certain objective styles. He said, “Children! This is what science tries to find a solution about.” Our minds are trained to believe things that are told with certain Data parameters. The Data parameters given to us in this story were the location, name of the language, number of people and the meaning of the word. Science helps us to begin with disbelief and then verify the parameters with some proven techniques. The system of beginning with disbelief lead us to experiments and ultimately we start trusting things we are able to verify. 

I can now say it with full conviction, that this was one of the best science classes I ever attended. The meaning of Science I learned that day, I can never forget. My teacher proved his point well to all of us. I hope the people who tell us lot of stories in the name of religion are also listening. 

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg