Current State of Affair– Politics and Society

When we look at the recent clashes between AAP and BJP, it reflect the true state of politics and we as society. The political system has become so corrupt and society has become so intolerant.  We need to ask questions like doesn’t it blatant power misuse (corruption!!!) from the parties in power when they start using the state machineries for selfish political gains? We can see blatant examples recent examples like detention of Arvind Kejariwal by Gujarat police, without providing any justifiable reasoning.

On the other had it’s so intolerant from AAP workers and some of it’s leaders to indulge in to so called Dharana against Arvind’s detention in Gujarat. As Arvind Kejariwal rightly pointed out, in his press conference that “ The fight is not against BJP or Congress. It’s against the system got build around us. AAP has to be focused and not other distractive forces to subvert the main issue of corruption.”

Here if we try to understand more on corruption, it’s all the places in our society. Everybody who looks for petty gains at any cost, not doing their duties toward society and country, honestly is corrupt.  Members of this AAP is  coming from the same society. Only difference is they are not happy with this kind of rampart corruption and injustice in the society/country and joined for this cause. But along with that AAP team has to learn for being patient and being focused. Not indulge in petty party politics which they are here to change.

 As rightly pointed out by Arvind that party does not matter, we should think of nation. Good part of this AAP is they have a leader like Arvind Kejariwal, Yogendra Yadav  are at the top and they are guiding the discontent in constructive opposition, condemning and correcting the courses on the way. If we look at other political parties, they do also have good leader like Manohar Parikar, Shivraj Chouhan , Yeshwant Sinha , Manishankar Aayyar and so on. But these leaders are not in control or their views are minority in their parties. If we look at it very objectively, we all have evil and good sides in our personalities. Overall personality depends on what are the principals govern that person.  Same applies in to the parties. Everybody looks at their leaders/idols as role model.  Till AAP has leaders having no-nonsense views in leadership there is no issues. At least for now. But that’s does not hold true with other parties like BJP, Congress. They state no-toleration to corruption, but when we look at actions these are totally opposite. Be it using state machineries, state exchequers  for selfish, party gains. Abusing power to crush the opponents. This has to stop!

We as society need to be more tolerant towards others views and thoughts. There should be sense of equality, sense of fairness in all the sections of societies at large. No section in the society should feel victimized. Nobody should feel like dominated or dominator and this can be achieved by dialogs and corruption free society ( total corruption free society is a tall claim. There would be always evil and selfish forces). This can be achieved only by dialogs and companionate listening to counter views and constructive dialogs. True uplifting of backward sections in the society. Not just posturing like many parties does for vote back politics and play cards of secularism and communalism, without bothering it’s effects. If we want to take the example, Advani’s Ayodhya yatra. Haven’t it divided the whole country and caused massacres and terrorist activities followed. May be Ram Mandir would have been in place along with Babari Masjid in Ayodya, if BJP’s top leadership would have taken the interest in dialogs with other community to build the confidence and mutual trust. The coexisted structures would have been monument of piece in India. But for petty gains, BJP chose otherwise. We need to be accept the reality.... Minority community is there to be here in India and they will be part of India. Should we leave in constant hatred or peace... that we have to decide.

Being compassionate to others views and love is only the answer and not intolerance and hatred going ahead.

What is fanaticism?

     Everyone in the world are fanatics excepts some who had reached to Brahmin (bodhisattva) state. What differs is the degree of fanaticism. Somebody will be fanatics about culture, some will be for their religion and so on. If we try to see the how degree of fanaticism changes, some would be harming self like being fanatic about cigar, wines , money and so on... But it starts taking grave nature when it start harming and hurting the others. The degree can be gauged based on how much is the impact , is it self, family, society, country or nations.

     Fanaticism is there everlasting since ages and will be there in future...  One  can take some of historical fanatic acts from Mahabharata, which destroyed almost all human kind of bharat varsha or the recent one , by Hitler as the superior race to rule the world and pulling all the world to toe in world war...

    There are ongoing  fanatic movements  like talibans, womens independence and so on..  One has to ask does these movements are based on love and compassion and trying to up bring the underprivileged sections to equality , respect or these based on hatred towards other sections?  Whether it’s based on hatred or love , that makes the difference.  Recently I came across an story in the life of Swami Vivekananda. I will put it at narrated by him...  It goes like this ...

      I remembered a women whose husband was a great drunkard and she complained to me of his becoming so. I replied, “ Madam, if there were twenty millions of wives like yourself, all husbands would become drunkards.” . I am convinced that large number of drunkards are manufactured by their wives. My business is to tell the truth and not to flatter anyone. These unruly women from whose minds the words bear and forbear are forever, and whose false idea about independence lead them to think that man should be at their feet, and who begin to howl , as soon as men dare to say anything they do not like – such a women are becoming bane of the world, and it is a wonder that they do not drive half the men in to commit suicide. In this way things should not go on. Life is not so easy as they believe it to be; it is a more serious business! – Swami Vivekananda

I do believe this applies vice a versa in many cases...

Swami Vivekananda narrated one more incident where some writer had shared a book , which said there was no souls, but that there were gods and goddesses in heaven, and a thread of light going from heaven to all these things?  When asked, Swamiji disagreed to believe in these thoughts, then she replied “ You must be a very bad man; there is no hope for you!” This is fanaticism!  

  

अभंग!

कुठवर पोहशील तू स्वबला !
थांबलासी गुरु घेवूनी दिव्याघरा!!

काय म्हणुनि पकडून बसलास नामाशी !
असल भाव गळुनी चालला हातांनी !!

का असशी तू कमळ पत्र ! 
ज्ञान गंगेत राहुनि ज्ञान वंचित !!
तुझ अपेक्षा बरे ते वस्त्र !!!
जे धोबीण धुलाविते घाटात !!!!

काय करता हे माय बापांनो!
देतासि शरीरासी हाड सांगाडा !!
किंतू आपल्या बाल मना !!!
नाही देतासि संस्कार सांगाडा !!!!

कराया जाशी जग परिवर्तन!
होशिल तू त्रिलोक भिकारी !!
करशी स्व-मन परिवर्तन!!!
होशील तू त्रिकाळ स्वामी !!!!

कशास ठरवसी खरे आणि खोटे!
मीच असशी व्यसनात अन व्यसनपरी!!
संसारा असावे अलिप्त दोहांशी!!!
गत असती कमळ पुष्प गंगेत अन चिखलात !!!!

देता दुध योग्यास !
घेईल आस्वाद मनसोक्त!!
देता दुध शहाण्यास !!!
बनवील पेढा तूप लोणी !!!!
देता दुध मुर्खास V
पाहील टाकून मीठ लिंबू V!

लागता पाठीशी संसार मृगजळा!
जाणता स्वताला गावशी  ब्रम्हांडा!!

Life....

"For most people, the day-to-day experience of life is just a bundle of impressions gathered through perceptions. All the time you perceive something. You look at a tree, at the sky, at an animal, at a bird, at the people around you; all of these are certain transactions. All the time these transaction are happening through your five senses, either by seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching. All the time in so many ways you are absorbing impressions of millions of forms of life and other objects around you.

What you normally call 'life' is just the constant happening of this transaction. How you transact or communicate with a certain aspect of life fundamentally depends on how you have done it before. What kind of impressions you gather of somebody who is sitting in front of you right now is simply decided by past impressions you have within you. In other words, in this way of perceiving life there is no sense of freedom. This kind of perception is just a reinforcement of bondage, because you experience things the way your mind is conditioned to experience them all the time.

What perception means is this: right now if you look at me, it's certain energy transaction. Actually, what you call life is just a movement of energy. Energy is always dynamic, constantly in motion in so many ways. So this is constant energy transactions. It goes on all the time between subject and object.

Because this whole transaction happens between object and subject, you need two entities. But if there are two entities, there is no spirituality. If you and other exists, if God and devil exists, if heaven and hell exists, then there is no spirituality. Whether you communicate with a stone or you communicate with God, it is the same. It is the same level of ignorance, because there are still two entities. Duality still exists."

- Sadhguru.

Atmanishta Upanishad

I am blessed to come across the teaching of Sadguru H.H Swamiji Atmanishtananda Saraswati. His teaching was recollected by one of his disciple (Shri Ramakrishna) and I have started putting his teachings here http://atmanishta.blogspot.in/ at series of blogs for my friends here who are trying to gain higher consciousness.



Open mindedness, dedication and patience

One can do what other can do. Then what makes us different from others in what we can do and have archived?

If you ask me it's the receptiveness, patience and dedication. Receptiveness is also can be called as open mindedness. If we observe us closely we are open for things which are interesting for us, which make us happy. But at the same time we block the ideas which makes us uncomfortable, uneasy. What makes one uncomfortable might be well received by some other person.

As a normal human being we do not want to venture in unknown territory. We want to be in comfort zone avoiding to confront the unknowns. It requires lot of courage to venture in unknowns knowingly. One can not achieve status-quo for long time in life when life itself is like flowing water in river, ever changing like time. We try not to change ourselves with time and end up in misery as everything has changed with time.

Once a well known yogi went to a person who was well versed in Upanishads. He told him that he is great yogi and came there to learn about Upanishads. Learned man told yogi to come on next day. When yogi went back, again he was told to come next day. This happened three-four times and yogi lost his temper. He asked the learned man why he is not teaching him Upanishads. He told him that ' I know you are great yogi but you are still not eligible for gaining the Upanishads knowledge'. And he told yogi to come back after a year.

So what went against the yogi? The ego of being a great yogi and thinking that learned man will easily being impressed and he will readily accept him as deciple. Another factor went against him was the patience. Probably he would have been asked to come couple of times more and the guru would have been satisfied with his urge (Bhakti) and yogi would have been passed to his criteria.

Haven't we do the same thing every where we go and try to learn something? We always consider ourselves superior that the person teaching us. We do criticize him about what he does not know, about his teaching style, timings and so on , rather than being receptive to what he knows and gain it and move on. Not always we requires the guru to explain the things, anything in universe can express themselves provided we have patience, dedication ( Bhakti) and receptiveness (open mindedness). Innovation is the one of the example of where things explaining themselves and Innovators receiving the knowledge. Then what makes scientists like Einstein, Madam Curie different than common man? The qualities like open mindedness, dedication and patience.

This does not apply to only gaining knowledge. It applies to wherever we are at receiving side. Be it a patient receiving treatment from doctor or be it a student receiving knowledge from teacher and so on...

Is sex good for spiritual growth?

Sexual bliss is as good as meditational bliss provided sexual act is away from obsession, fear, ego, dominating or controlling our partners. But this is not a replacement for meditation, as sex requires two soul to unite selflessly at physical , metal and spriritual levels. Yoga is unification. In meditation one unifies with universe and in sexual act one unifies with their parther. Pure unification in sexual act is a bliss.

Sexual energy is the kundlini energy and is very difficult to control. Human being is trying to control it for ages. If it's not controlled systematically and suppressed it causes the trouble in other aspects of our being. Controlling the sexual energy is like trying to control the water current or a flowing river. Consider blocking a river without channalizing the water, it will do more harm than help. One should not supress sexual energy but need to be channelized it such that it's used for constructive work and raising one to higher self of spiritual levels. If one tries to outright reject it and suppress it , it will find the ways which harms the society in general. If analyzed the causes, a major portion of the crimes happens because of sexual depressions, even in so called civilized world. We as society should have some rules to control the sexual energy and it's effect with due respect. Our society should have a positive outlook towards the sex.

From ages we have been embossed in our mind that sex as low moral thing. If so, have we though about why in first place nature has given sexual urge to us? It's natural as we are hungry, we gets the thought of food, like having sexual urge, getting sexual thoughts. Why to have shame about our natural needs?

In marriages or in general sex is used as tool to dominate other partner, a instrument of ego , a tool to negotiate and so on... Rather it should be used as stepping stone to our spiritual rise. Both the partners understanding each other, instead of using sex to achieve covert agendas, will help one to overcome ego , add a zeal of loving and caring nature to one's being. It will give one enormous satisfaction as one has helped their partner to achieve bliss along with them.

Have we though of just experiencing sexual act without any bonding, as a free flowing act , flowing with our partner to achieve eternal bliss? It's just need to be experienced.

Sex is not a replacement for mediation. We should be very cautious about sex as it can easily be divert us in to negative trends of our spiritual growth. It can make us obsessed, angry , jealous or egoistic. So one has to be careful. As we become used to be in bliss with meditation, one does not need sexual acts. But even then it does not harm indulging into sex as long as one have control on oneself making sure it's not pulling them down. This applies to any worldy pleasures but sexual /redroduction(creation) urge is primitive and it drives the universe.