The Innocence of Children
My one year old niece would only cry when she needs changing or if she is hungry, otherwise she is constantly laughing. Even when she gets up from sleep she would look you in the eye and give you the sweetest smile. She is friendly and playful amongst strangers, however, around certain strangers she would cry out aloud as though she is in pain. Could it be that she can detect the aura of people? Or sense the true nature of people just by being in their presence?
Have you ever looked at a new born baby sleeping? Do you ever wonder if babies dream.... what exactly do they dream... after all their brains haven't fully developed. My niece would sometimes smile when she is sleeping, mother said that angels are whispering in her ears. My sister, being a dcotor, said that is a reflex action with babies.
Nothing is more precious than laughing and playing with kids, to me that is the true fountain of youth. And sometimes kids say the darnest of things, the pure innocence of their thoughts are reflected by the cutest statements they would make or the questions they would ask. The poet Khalil Gibran truely convey the meaning of children in his book The Prophet......... "And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children.........
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you."
Friday, December 31, 2004
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Merry Christmas
Ticket to Toronto, Canada - $500 Cdn
Christmas presents - $700 Cdn
Watching my niece and nephew opening presents - PRICELESS!!
Monday, December 06, 2004
Destiny or Free Will?
Over the weekend I looked at two of my favourite movies on cable, Serendipity and The Family Man. These movies attempt to portray the concept of destiny by using a romantic scenario.
“The plan doesn't make us great, Jack. What we have together, that's what makes us great.” – Kate from The Family Man.
“Don’t screw up the best thing in your life just because you’re a little unsure about who you are. Okay?” – Arnie from The Family Man.
Serendipity concluded with Jonathan’s fake obituary, which end with the phrase:
“…..Life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences, but rather, it is a tapestry of events that culminate into an exquisite, sublime plan. …….If we are to live life in harmony with the universe we must all possess a powerful faith, of what the ancients used to call fatum; what we currently refer to as destiny.”
This brings me to the question; do you believe in fate/destiny or free-will? Destiny and free will has baffled the scholars and philosophers from time immemorial. It is the most misunderstood and misinterpreted subject in the philosophy of life. The Vedic sages of ancient India were very clear in understanding this subject. To understand and differentiate between fate/destiny or free will, one has to understand the concept of karma and reincarnation. Vedic philosophy, states that the divine spiritual and physical worlds are inextricably connected and sustained by cosmic order in a disjointed multiverse, and that any actions performed in either realms affects the status of all others. The theory of karma states that there is a universal accounting system in which each individual must experience the consequences of all his actions (Karmas); good actions bring good results and bad actions inevitably result in suffering to the one who does them. The theory also states that the consequences of actions (also known as Karmas) need not necessarily be experienced in the present life, they can be carried over into future lives. Because of this, several sub-divisions of Karma have been postulated.
1. Sanchita Karma. The store of Karmic debts accumulated from previous births.
2. Prarabdha Karma. That part of one’s Sanchita Karma which must be worked out in the present life. Because the law of Karma implies determinism in human activities, Prarabdha is often translated as destiny.
3. Agami Karma. New Karma accumulated in the present lifetime which is carried forward into future lives.
Everyday in our lives we have the power of free will, the ability to make choices. What we perceive as fate or destiny is really the manifestation of past karmas, i.e. the consequences of past actions in our previous lives. Bad actions disrupt the equilibrium of that cosmic order which sustains the spiritual and physical multiverse, where as good actions attempt to stabilize the equilibrium of that cosmic order. Depending on our past actions we are born into a better life or a life of misery. We a trapped into the cycle birth and death until we have paid our debts to the cosmic order which sustain spiritual and physical realms. In order to be liberated from the birth-death cycle, one can either live several lives of noble actions which would then clear the debts of bad karma or one can attain the state of self realization by ridding the mind of worldly and egotistical afflictions though various forms of yoga and meditation.
Again, the concept of destiny is really the consequences of past actions. In each life we are born into, our life is predetermined to the extent that each one of us enters the world with impressions (which in Sanskrit are called “samskaras”), which are the primitive emotions and tendencies that motivate our lives. They are impressions carried over from our past lives in our subconscious minds which motivate desires, and in turn produce our thoughts and actions. Thus, human beings reflect their inner ideas on the outside world and their perceptions are colored by their past experiences. Our actions follow the avenues of our own karma in tracing us, but our will at each moment is free to fashion our future karma. It is determinism to the extent that it is shadowed by the unchangeable law of karma, but life which is guided by free will does not follow any preordained pattern. Vedic philosophy has always denied the existence of a merciless fate that would play with human beings as it pleases. On the contrary, the sages have undeniably declared that human beings have control over their actions, but their actions have no control over their results.
Because everything in the spiritual and physical realms are inextricably connected, our past lives are imprinted in the vibrations of the universe and the planetary configurations. Vedic astrology is the philosophy of discovering and analyzing past impulses and future actions of both individual and nations in the light of planetary configurations. It explains life’s reactions to planetary vibrations. Astrology has been called the science of indications, but it does not follow that the stars rule our destiny. The stars merely record a destiny that has already been formed. They are then a symbol, not a force, or if their actions constitute a force, it is a transmitting energy, not an originating power. The planets do not dictate, but indicate the energies that are influencing a situation in a given time. Astrology therefore indicates what happen in our past and is it used as an indication of what could happen in the future, however, we posses the power of free will to steer our lives in a particular direction keeping in mind that we are yet to experience the consequences of our past actions.
So in a nutshell, fate and free will are essentially two sides of the same coin, in that fate is really the consequences of past actions and free will the ability to choose our present actions.
“The plan doesn't make us great, Jack. What we have together, that's what makes us great.” – Kate from The Family Man.
“Don’t screw up the best thing in your life just because you’re a little unsure about who you are. Okay?” – Arnie from The Family Man.
Serendipity concluded with Jonathan’s fake obituary, which end with the phrase:
“…..Life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences, but rather, it is a tapestry of events that culminate into an exquisite, sublime plan. …….If we are to live life in harmony with the universe we must all possess a powerful faith, of what the ancients used to call fatum; what we currently refer to as destiny.”
This brings me to the question; do you believe in fate/destiny or free-will? Destiny and free will has baffled the scholars and philosophers from time immemorial. It is the most misunderstood and misinterpreted subject in the philosophy of life. The Vedic sages of ancient India were very clear in understanding this subject. To understand and differentiate between fate/destiny or free will, one has to understand the concept of karma and reincarnation. Vedic philosophy, states that the divine spiritual and physical worlds are inextricably connected and sustained by cosmic order in a disjointed multiverse, and that any actions performed in either realms affects the status of all others. The theory of karma states that there is a universal accounting system in which each individual must experience the consequences of all his actions (Karmas); good actions bring good results and bad actions inevitably result in suffering to the one who does them. The theory also states that the consequences of actions (also known as Karmas) need not necessarily be experienced in the present life, they can be carried over into future lives. Because of this, several sub-divisions of Karma have been postulated.
1. Sanchita Karma. The store of Karmic debts accumulated from previous births.
2. Prarabdha Karma. That part of one’s Sanchita Karma which must be worked out in the present life. Because the law of Karma implies determinism in human activities, Prarabdha is often translated as destiny.
3. Agami Karma. New Karma accumulated in the present lifetime which is carried forward into future lives.
Everyday in our lives we have the power of free will, the ability to make choices. What we perceive as fate or destiny is really the manifestation of past karmas, i.e. the consequences of past actions in our previous lives. Bad actions disrupt the equilibrium of that cosmic order which sustains the spiritual and physical multiverse, where as good actions attempt to stabilize the equilibrium of that cosmic order. Depending on our past actions we are born into a better life or a life of misery. We a trapped into the cycle birth and death until we have paid our debts to the cosmic order which sustain spiritual and physical realms. In order to be liberated from the birth-death cycle, one can either live several lives of noble actions which would then clear the debts of bad karma or one can attain the state of self realization by ridding the mind of worldly and egotistical afflictions though various forms of yoga and meditation.
Again, the concept of destiny is really the consequences of past actions. In each life we are born into, our life is predetermined to the extent that each one of us enters the world with impressions (which in Sanskrit are called “samskaras”), which are the primitive emotions and tendencies that motivate our lives. They are impressions carried over from our past lives in our subconscious minds which motivate desires, and in turn produce our thoughts and actions. Thus, human beings reflect their inner ideas on the outside world and their perceptions are colored by their past experiences. Our actions follow the avenues of our own karma in tracing us, but our will at each moment is free to fashion our future karma. It is determinism to the extent that it is shadowed by the unchangeable law of karma, but life which is guided by free will does not follow any preordained pattern. Vedic philosophy has always denied the existence of a merciless fate that would play with human beings as it pleases. On the contrary, the sages have undeniably declared that human beings have control over their actions, but their actions have no control over their results.
Because everything in the spiritual and physical realms are inextricably connected, our past lives are imprinted in the vibrations of the universe and the planetary configurations. Vedic astrology is the philosophy of discovering and analyzing past impulses and future actions of both individual and nations in the light of planetary configurations. It explains life’s reactions to planetary vibrations. Astrology has been called the science of indications, but it does not follow that the stars rule our destiny. The stars merely record a destiny that has already been formed. They are then a symbol, not a force, or if their actions constitute a force, it is a transmitting energy, not an originating power. The planets do not dictate, but indicate the energies that are influencing a situation in a given time. Astrology therefore indicates what happen in our past and is it used as an indication of what could happen in the future, however, we posses the power of free will to steer our lives in a particular direction keeping in mind that we are yet to experience the consequences of our past actions.
So in a nutshell, fate and free will are essentially two sides of the same coin, in that fate is really the consequences of past actions and free will the ability to choose our present actions.
Thursday, December 02, 2004
The Unconscious Mind
In my last blog “Reality or illusion”, a comment was made on deja-vu and the commenter speculated that in our dreams we are sub-consciously reliving a past/future situation at a different point in time. A friend of mine who was also inspired by the contents of the blog as well as the comment made, shared a dream she had and indicated that she would remember her bad dreams and forget the good ones and she proposed a optimistic theory that maybe her bad dreams would not occur in her lifetime and her good dreams are yet to occur in her life to give her that deja-vu feeling.
The pioneer of psycho-analysis, Austrian born neurologist Sigmund Freud, negated the positivism thought of the western world in the 19th century which stated that people can acquire all knowledge via the gross senses/body. Freud says that just as the conscious mind –latent in our senses, is a means to obtain knowledge; similarly without any help from the senses, our unconscious mind is a great means to get knowledge. Conscious mind functions in the area which is bound by space and time; unconscious mind functions in the area which is not bounded by space and time, it is free to wander anywhere it desires crossing the barrier of space and time. Thus, the unconscious mind can see that area which for a conscious mind is a period of past and future and is beyond the scope of conscious mind. The area for conscious mind is the present and closeness to matter; the area of unconscious mind is past and the future –remoteness. Freud says that we are compelled to acknowledge that ‘priory knowledge’ rests in unconscious mind, such knowledge where the distinction of space and time does not exist. The existence of past and future happenings is visible before it without the gross senses. That sight, that knowledge is not bound in the bond of cause-action; that knowledge crosses the limit of causal basis.
Those who can remember previous lives or those who predict the future which later proves to be true in intervening time; or those who dream of such happening which never occurred at present but do happen with time- all this knowledge is through the unconscious mind. The knowledge contained in the Vedas, written in Ancient India 5000 B.C. clearly describes the unconscious mind, in the following verses:
That celestial entity (the mind) which goes far when man is awake and wanders similarly when he is asleep and which travels far and wide is the only one light of all lights.
Through whose agency the patient wise men perform their works and which is mysterious and is seated in the innermost recess of all creatures.
That which is endowed with the faculties of cognition, recollection and retention and that which is the immortal light placed within the self of all creatures and without whose agency no work can be accomplished.
The immortal substance by which all events of the past, present and future are fully comprehended and which presides over the senses and intellect.
As the skillful charioteer controls his horses by the use of his reins so does a controlled mind take men to his desired goal. This mind which reposes in the heart is most swift and never ages.
The pioneer of psycho-analysis, Austrian born neurologist Sigmund Freud, negated the positivism thought of the western world in the 19th century which stated that people can acquire all knowledge via the gross senses/body. Freud says that just as the conscious mind –latent in our senses, is a means to obtain knowledge; similarly without any help from the senses, our unconscious mind is a great means to get knowledge. Conscious mind functions in the area which is bound by space and time; unconscious mind functions in the area which is not bounded by space and time, it is free to wander anywhere it desires crossing the barrier of space and time. Thus, the unconscious mind can see that area which for a conscious mind is a period of past and future and is beyond the scope of conscious mind. The area for conscious mind is the present and closeness to matter; the area of unconscious mind is past and the future –remoteness. Freud says that we are compelled to acknowledge that ‘priory knowledge’ rests in unconscious mind, such knowledge where the distinction of space and time does not exist. The existence of past and future happenings is visible before it without the gross senses. That sight, that knowledge is not bound in the bond of cause-action; that knowledge crosses the limit of causal basis.
Those who can remember previous lives or those who predict the future which later proves to be true in intervening time; or those who dream of such happening which never occurred at present but do happen with time- all this knowledge is through the unconscious mind. The knowledge contained in the Vedas, written in Ancient India 5000 B.C. clearly describes the unconscious mind, in the following verses:
That celestial entity (the mind) which goes far when man is awake and wanders similarly when he is asleep and which travels far and wide is the only one light of all lights.
Through whose agency the patient wise men perform their works and which is mysterious and is seated in the innermost recess of all creatures.
That which is endowed with the faculties of cognition, recollection and retention and that which is the immortal light placed within the self of all creatures and without whose agency no work can be accomplished.
The immortal substance by which all events of the past, present and future are fully comprehended and which presides over the senses and intellect.
As the skillful charioteer controls his horses by the use of his reins so does a controlled mind take men to his desired goal. This mind which reposes in the heart is most swift and never ages.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Reality or illusion?
Today I went to the dentist, to have a filling done on my tooth. I was handed a mirror so I could view what was taking place in my mouth. When I saw what was taking place I started to clench my fists and my facial expressions showed me anticipating pain, however it was impossible to feel any pain because of the anesthesia. I then thought how funny it is our mind can play tricks on us. When I was unable to view what was taking place, I was calm and collected, the minute I had a chance to see what was taking place I starting to become tense, in anticipation of pain.
Only through our senses (sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing) our mind can be aware of the state of our physical body, and based on what our senses report to our mind we then make decisions. In the case of people who have some form of mental illness, their minds experience things that aren’t necessarily what the senses experience. The point I am trying to make is this, if we are in full control of our mind, then we would be in full control of our senses and of our body. It is said that the ‘Satan’ lurking inside us, is really a result from an uncontrolled mind/body. For someone who is not in full control of their mind/body, they tend to make decisions they regret, they “live in the heat of the moment” and thus make spur of the moment decisions without rationally thinking about the consequences of their “rash” decision. I know we are all human beings and we are prone to make mistakes, however, if someone is making the same mistake over and over, then they need to do some inner reflection.
Another question is how can our mind differentiate between reality and illusion? This brings me to a famous dialog between a master and disciple.
“Why do you insist that my normal self is unreal?” a disciple once complained to his master.
“Why not put it the other way,” the master replied. “What makes you think you are real?”
“It’s obvious ,” said the disciple. “I think and feel and act. I know myself for who I am, with all my habits, my likes and dislikes.”
“Yes but what do you really know?” the master insisted. “Did you have your habits when you were asleep.”
“Of course not. I am unconscious when I am asleep.”
“Perhaps you are unconscious now.”
“No right now I am awake.”
“Really?” The master smiled. “Can you remember everything that happened to you yesterday? Or even what you were thinking an hour ago? Isn’t your self-awareness very selective, amounting to just a partial memory? And then there have your dreams, which you lose as soon as you wake up. Not to mention that your habits and preferences are always changing, and even when you do seem stable, don’t you emotions often betray you? An insult from a passing stranger can completely throw you off balance, or the news that someone close to you has died. Isn’t there also the problem of being lost in wishes, false hopes and various mental illusions?”
The disciple looked baffled. “All this may be true, sir, but none of it makes me unreal. Perhaps I am just very confused.”
The master shook his head. “If so, then everyone is just as confused. The truth is that what we call a person is constantly in flux. There are long stretches of forgotten time, not to mention our lapse of consciousness when we sleep. Memory is faulty, and only the mind’s craving for continuity keeps alive the illusion that ‘I’ is constant. ‘I’ is never constant. For every experience there is a different ‘experiencer’.”
“I am beginning to see what you mean,” the disciple said with considerably more humbleness. “Although you make it seem that nothing can be trusted.”
“Nothing about the changing personality can be trusted,” said the master, “But there is more to life than experience. Things come and go- feelings, events, and achievements. Pleasure is inevitably followed by pain. Success is bounded up with failure. Yet behind all of this show of change, something remains aware at all times. Find out what that awareness is and you will have what can be trusted. This is the way out of illusion."
The famous paleontologist and philosopher, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once said, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; We are spiritual beings having a human experience."
Only through our senses (sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing) our mind can be aware of the state of our physical body, and based on what our senses report to our mind we then make decisions. In the case of people who have some form of mental illness, their minds experience things that aren’t necessarily what the senses experience. The point I am trying to make is this, if we are in full control of our mind, then we would be in full control of our senses and of our body. It is said that the ‘Satan’ lurking inside us, is really a result from an uncontrolled mind/body. For someone who is not in full control of their mind/body, they tend to make decisions they regret, they “live in the heat of the moment” and thus make spur of the moment decisions without rationally thinking about the consequences of their “rash” decision. I know we are all human beings and we are prone to make mistakes, however, if someone is making the same mistake over and over, then they need to do some inner reflection.
Another question is how can our mind differentiate between reality and illusion? This brings me to a famous dialog between a master and disciple.
“Why do you insist that my normal self is unreal?” a disciple once complained to his master.
“Why not put it the other way,” the master replied. “What makes you think you are real?”
“It’s obvious ,” said the disciple. “I think and feel and act. I know myself for who I am, with all my habits, my likes and dislikes.”
“Yes but what do you really know?” the master insisted. “Did you have your habits when you were asleep.”
“Of course not. I am unconscious when I am asleep.”
“Perhaps you are unconscious now.”
“No right now I am awake.”
“Really?” The master smiled. “Can you remember everything that happened to you yesterday? Or even what you were thinking an hour ago? Isn’t your self-awareness very selective, amounting to just a partial memory? And then there have your dreams, which you lose as soon as you wake up. Not to mention that your habits and preferences are always changing, and even when you do seem stable, don’t you emotions often betray you? An insult from a passing stranger can completely throw you off balance, or the news that someone close to you has died. Isn’t there also the problem of being lost in wishes, false hopes and various mental illusions?”
The disciple looked baffled. “All this may be true, sir, but none of it makes me unreal. Perhaps I am just very confused.”
The master shook his head. “If so, then everyone is just as confused. The truth is that what we call a person is constantly in flux. There are long stretches of forgotten time, not to mention our lapse of consciousness when we sleep. Memory is faulty, and only the mind’s craving for continuity keeps alive the illusion that ‘I’ is constant. ‘I’ is never constant. For every experience there is a different ‘experiencer’.”
“I am beginning to see what you mean,” the disciple said with considerably more humbleness. “Although you make it seem that nothing can be trusted.”
“Nothing about the changing personality can be trusted,” said the master, “But there is more to life than experience. Things come and go- feelings, events, and achievements. Pleasure is inevitably followed by pain. Success is bounded up with failure. Yet behind all of this show of change, something remains aware at all times. Find out what that awareness is and you will have what can be trusted. This is the way out of illusion."
The famous paleontologist and philosopher, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once said, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; We are spiritual beings having a human experience."
Friday, November 26, 2004
Purpose in Life
Sometimes I would ponder on the purpose of my life. What am I suppose to do? What am I suppose to accomplish? After completing an undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in engineering, I feel as though I have accomplished nothing, in that I have made no contributions to society. Sometimes I would reflect on my life and wish I had not procrastinated as much as I did, I felt as though I could have done better.
During my graduate internship, I was expressing my sense of hopelessness to a friend and she responded "You are young and very educated, you have the world at your finger tips, alot of people would want to be in your shoes." It's funny how we beat up on ourselves, creating a false perception of personal failure, whereas an outsider would see tremendous success and accomplishment within us. Only then I realize what I have achieved and that I have a long path ahead of me, I have more goals to accomplish in my life. Success is sometimes bounded in failure, the key is, to make that failure a learning experience.
After spending time reading and reflecting, I have finally understood that the purpose of life is to reach a threshold point where we see every aspect of life, whether it is joy or sorrow, success or failure as avenues of discovering our inner self, our true identity, our purpose for being here and contributing to the upliftment of mankind. In Hinduism, this is known as self-realization. According to the English novelist Aldous Huxley, "At any given moment, life is completely senseless. But viewed over a period, it seems to reveal itself as an organism existing in time, having a purpose, trending in a certain direction."
During my graduate internship, I was expressing my sense of hopelessness to a friend and she responded "You are young and very educated, you have the world at your finger tips, alot of people would want to be in your shoes." It's funny how we beat up on ourselves, creating a false perception of personal failure, whereas an outsider would see tremendous success and accomplishment within us. Only then I realize what I have achieved and that I have a long path ahead of me, I have more goals to accomplish in my life. Success is sometimes bounded in failure, the key is, to make that failure a learning experience.
After spending time reading and reflecting, I have finally understood that the purpose of life is to reach a threshold point where we see every aspect of life, whether it is joy or sorrow, success or failure as avenues of discovering our inner self, our true identity, our purpose for being here and contributing to the upliftment of mankind. In Hinduism, this is known as self-realization. According to the English novelist Aldous Huxley, "At any given moment, life is completely senseless. But viewed over a period, it seems to reveal itself as an organism existing in time, having a purpose, trending in a certain direction."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
