Give father a break

A person living in society but aspiring to be a jnani goes through two stages in his life. As a householder (grihastha) he plays out all roles correctly and purifies his mind through right action. Then as a sannyasi (in-house mostly) he withdraws from daily responsibilities and focuses more on reading and discussing spiritual matters, trying to gain jnyana. Both these stages are important to evolution.

It is the duty of a father to start off a healthy grihastha life for his child. And it is the duty of a son to make possible a peaceful sannyasi life for his parents.

I hope I can do the first one. Definitely did not do the second one for my father. Till the last he had to remain bogged down in running the administration of his house and other daily chores, while I lived abroad. That should not have been so.

The 4th test match

Recently, I heard an excellent analogy to the attitude of a karma yogi.

Imagine that in a 5-test series, one team has already won the first three. They have practically wrapped up the series. So what is their attitude in the 4th test match? They are happy and satisfied because they have already won the big event and even losing this match can be taken in their stride. Yet they still strive to put in a good performance, maybe break some records for the books. There is no tension on their face and they respond to the other team's desperate sledging with grins!

The karma yogi knows that he is complete already, a winner of the series. Various things may please him and he will put in full effort for them but he is not tense about getting or not getting them. He does not build his own image out of ther people's comments. He is smiling inside.

Bounce

Karma and free will.
The wall and the ball.
Things happening just now, the present moment, is immutable.
What we decide to do just now is flexible.
Sometimes we are deluded into thinking it is the other way around.
Instead of trying to change the wall, let's learn how to bounce the ball.

Smell the wind

Emotions are like fragrance. For one, they are temporary. And for another, they are already out of our body, about to be wafted away. But they still affect our senses and make us feel that we are defined by that fragrance.

When we feel anger, it is already exposed and ready to be dissipated. Yet we define the 'remaining' ourselves as 'angry'. When I pass wind, is there any point defining myself by its smell and saying: "Oh, I am such a stinky person." It is gone.

While the fragrance is passing, just deal with it. Let's not define ourselves by it.

Mind's brain

In meditation we become watchers of our own mind. How can the mind watch itself? How can it separate into two, the watcher and the watched? Actually the watcher is said to be beyond the mind, but when we start meditating, a corner of the mind itself has to act as proxy and watch the rest of it.

It happens in the body as well. The brain is part of the body, but it has a will of its own that decides and directs the rest of the body. It is as if it is a thing at a different level than the rest of the body. It has an added function of thought.

Similarly, in meditation, a part of the mind rises above the rest of it, anchored in the original observer, and works on the rest of the mind during meditation. The smaller the 'watcher mind' in proportion to the 'watched mind', the more effective is the meditation and the more authentic the watcher.

What a nerve!

Suppose my eyes were placed on the surface of my heart and only the nerve-endings on the heart's surface were active, what would I consider to be the limits of my physical body? I would be looking out at the cavity of my body, the various organs, the inside surface of the skin, and would presume these to be part of an external universe. 'I' would be limited to the organ of the heart and everything else would be 'outside'. 

 What we consider as 'I' is physically defined by where the sense organs are placed. The sensation of touch is the biggest culprit as it reinforces our idea of the surface of the skin as the boundary of 'I-ness'. It is possible to imagine that everything in the universe is also part of me, but the sense organs have been unfortunately placed and activated for only one physical body. Yogis who have enhanced their mental perceptions are able to receive sensory vibrations from any body they choose and understand the universality of their existence.

Proof of the pudding

How do we prove that something exists? The tree, for example. Can we prove it is there? We see it. Good. That postulates a tree. Can a postulate be proved? Being the first point of reference, it never can.

Let's look again. The cricket ball is red in colour. Can you prove it? Impossible. The sensation of redness is as much our property as that of the ball. Can we prove that a rose smells sweet? No, but it does. Or rather, the way it affects our nose is called a sweet smell.

Relative things can be proved. Your are taller than your brother. This can be proved or demonstrated. Three is greater than two. This can be proved. But can you prove two? No.

Existence is absolute. What is there is there. As of the moment, the set of objects we perceive around us, our jagath, is absolutely in existence, a sensory existence. It is a direct proof by itself; it is pratyaksha.

It is only a small step to understand that this whole universe therefore exists standing on our five senses. And our senses are also part of this world! Amazing, isn't it? If the senses shut down, no way the physical world can exist.

Abracadabra......