Republished from: G Sampath @ Dnaindia.com
By columnist G Sampath.
I can’t say whether there are certain things in my life that depress me or if it’s just that being depressed has become the default setting of my existence. Fact is I am depressed all the time.
But this does not mean there aren’t individual charging points that keep my depression fully charged. For instance, I am depressed by the sun, particularly by its habit of rising every day and leaving a morning on my plate even when I have no appetite for it. I am depressed by the sound of cell phones and television. But most of all, I am depressed by the banality of my emotions, the pettiness of my worries, and the pre-programmed futility of hope.
To give you a simple example: whether or not I cut myself during my morning shave can sink or save my day. My biggest sense of accomplishment comes from finding a parking space where my vehicle won’t be covered in pigeon shit by the time I return to collect it. And a cutting remark from the vegetable vendor can plunge me into despair for weeks.
If these are individual trigger points for the spikes (or troughs) in my mood flow, there are other things that, together, act like an emotional climate control mechanism designed to keep me just short of killing myself. These include the following: my job, my domestic life, and my inability to nurture a sense of self-esteem that is sustainable over the long-term (say, a 24-hour cycle).
Also, I am depressed by crowds, which is a terrible thing to be depressed by if you happen to live in Mumbai. I am depressed by individuals too. My shrink says I can’t relate to people. But I don’t see the point in talking to anyone — unless the person I am talking to is also as depressed as I am and can therefore comprehend the sense of dread that envelops me when I have to talk to someone. But then, if the other person was as depressed as I am, then she wouldn’t want to talk to me either. And yet, unless she talked to me, or I talked to her, neither of us would ever discover that we could talk to each other only because we do not want to talk to anyone. Yet, because we do not want to talk to anyone, we would never be able to talk to each other, either.
If I can continue to live as a depressed person — and evidently I can — should I still seek a remedy for my depression? Or is there some value in being depressed such that I wouldn’t want to let go of it? Maybe we need a constitutional right to access that value — a right to be depressed. The right to death, liberty, and the pursuit of sadness.
Nobody has, to the best of my knowledge, explained why people who have a natural gift for sadness and melancholy should not be allowed to remain sad and melancholic but instead, are looked down upon with pity and condescension by those who are desperate to be happy. This fetishism of happiness and the fascism of fun depress me more than my own sadness.
Say, if each one of us were to pick our favourite song, what are the chances that we would pick a song that celebrates the power of positive thinking, as opposed to a song about loss or grief or pain or sorrow? It can be safely stated as a universal law that sad songs are more beautiful than happy songs. Why is that so? Perhaps, as Keats said, if beauty is truth, then the truth is a sad one. As sad as loss or death or deprivation, all of which are in excess in this world we’ve made for ourselves.
Most of us don’t have the time, or as they say these days, the ‘bandwidth’, to think of loss or deprivation unless it hits us directly. We are in denial about the fact that our society — including many of the things in it that we like — is founded on deprivation.
We are told, day in and day out, that this is the best of all possible worlds. And we force ourselves to believe it, even as we lead lives of quiet desperation in a society we know to be sick. The sicker we are, the more desperate is the need to have fun, to blank it all out. But then, most of us have a rather low threshold for truth. Whoever said that the truth shall set you free got it wrong. It only gets you depressed.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
The Importance of Being Depressed
Monday, October 31, 2011
Summation
Spiritual awakening is proportional to the extent and intensity of suffering.
It comes and goes, and then comes back, much like when we wake up from sleep in the morning..
Loss of any type is difficult to handle. But the suffering & fear caused by losses and tragedies - this suffering slowly reduces with time WITHOUT ANY RATIONAL REASON.
Acceptance of things as they are sets in slowly, but surely. AUTOMATICALLY.
The past, the morbid nature of human life, the morbid nature of the present moment - with acceptance of these, comes freedom from fear of the future.
Whatever form the future will take, it's all fine - this feeling grows slowly.
Philippians 4:7: And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds....
The Buddhas mentioned in various texts have reportedly laughed when they have awakened. Not a cynical, bitter laugh but a laugh of amusement combined with a feeling of perfect safety, empowerment and well being.
You are alive in this moment.
A beautiful song, by the beautiful Fairuz (Fairouz), lebanese singer Nouhad Wadi Haddad.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Just like the Ocean...
A look at history, and 1000 years back, people were worried about the same. All cultures. All socio economic levels.
500 years back - same.
50 years back - same.
Today - same.
There can be no yard stick of progress except quality of life. And on this scale, human progress is non existent.
I've been pondering theories on randomness for a couple of months now...
The basic essence of these theories is that there is no net pattern, no net direction to human life. The patterns, the net movements we see in our environment are nothing but our own imagination.
Life's flow is nothing but random interplay between living trajectories IN THE CURRENT MOMENT......no one trajectory can win the battle.
That life flows in no particular direction. All that rises, falls. All that begins, ends. The day will always melt into darkness. Life will always melt into death.
All of our achievements, struggles, insights, wisdom will melt into nothingness one day.
So, struggling in any particular direction, wanting to gravitate towards some 'meaning', working towards some 'higher goal'...it's all contrary to the random nature of reality...all such plans will therefore lead to nothing but frustration.
Maybe there is some truth to the statement that a human's life is like a leaf blowing in the wind...tiny, inconsequential, temporary flight, in an infinite, incomprehensible cosmos..
Like the ocean..no net movement, no direction...just this moment..
Like the clouds in the sky...no net movement...just this moment...
Loss and profit coexist.
The continuous interplay between opposites gives life its definition
The dance between light and shadow gives life its beauty
If only light existed, all would be dark.
There would be no form, no structure.
Just like all colours emerge from white light
Opposites emerge from the same source
Ocean image ctsy Peripateticously
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Maya of the Mind
The mind, it appears, is our biggest enemy. We are hard coded to get fooled easily and there is no limit to the nature, depth and complexity of the illusion that may form in the mind.
As per my understanding of Advaita Vedanta, the biggest illusion could be that events of the human world flow chronologically and are connected by cause and effect.
But how true is this concept - only moments of transcendence of mundane reality could reveal to us.
I don't know if it is true.....
BUT
Have you ever, in your life, looked at something, and found yourself saying...'TIMELESS' or 'AMAZING' or 'WOW'...and found the surroundings dissolving...
Those are, technically speaking, moments of transcendence of human life.
Such temporary transcendence is also known as "Satori". Beautiful things, beautiful concepts, beautiful music, beautiful places, little children, cute puppies, such things can push us into "Satori".
Each experience with Satori is unique. It's like Tea. No two cups of tea can be the same.
Why I am talking of 'Satori' is --- in the moment of 'Satori'...the non chronological nature of the flow of events in the human world could hit you. As per the texts...
Carl Jung suggests that memory is merely a dance of archetypes in the transcendental NOW. Everything - the past, the present, and the 'future' - it is all unfolding simultaneously in the transcendental NOW.
Moments of "Satori" could give us a glimpse of this timeless reality. As mentioned previously.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
When tomorrow comes, it's the NOW again.
A Tolle lecture on the 'transcendental NOW' in which he points out that careful observation will reveal that audio-visual quality of memory --- whether it is from 10 minutes back or 10 years back or 20 years back - it's the same.
The 5 minute old memory is as fragmented, as disjointed as the 5 year old memory. Or the 10 year old memory. Or the 20 year old memory.
Your transcendental self has been, and is, peacefully watching all moments of your life manifesting simultaneously. These moments contain archetypes, i.e., models of you, not the real you.
The future does not exist, except as a thought, a moment on the above mentioned transcendental fabric. It is also unfolding in the NOW, along with the past.
And here is Carl Jung, talking about the relationship between the past and the present moment.
It appears that Jung is in perfect tune with Tolle.
If indeed the 'transcendental NOW' is all there is, one just might prefer to say -- memory or "movement of archetypes" from 10 minutes below, or 10 years "below", or 20 years "below". -- to use Jung's representation.
One dynamic moment, evolving 'vertically'. Outside of time, which can be looked upon as flowing horizontally.
"One dynamic moment evolving vertically" is also a sensibility that physicist Fritjof Capra ponders in 'The Tao of Physics', when he comments on the experiences reported by eastern mystics who claimed to have transcended, and the odd behaviour of phenomena seen at the sub atomic level, phenomena that do not flow chronologically, and appear to move in complex ways that can be summed up as "distortion of time."
An interesting statement pointed out by Eckhart Tolle that points to temporal distortion in human life:
"Before Abraham was, I am."
Some more examples of temporal distortion:
- You are reading this for the first time, all over again.
- You have been watching this statement forever.
- You are visiting this blog for the first time, but you think you have been here before.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Word maps versus the Territory
When it comes to building maps of reality using words, I try to avoid building maps that are elaborate.
Word maps of reality should move like poetry.
There is no need to try to be 'exact' -- there is no such thing as 'exact'. It is an imaginary thing.
Whatever reality is, it's beyond word-maps, and can be comprehended only through the DIRECT EXPERIENCE.
Reality is totally different from the maps we build.
For example, consider the statement:
"We apply a certain force to a mass, and the mass moves through a distance as predicted by the laws of motion".
This statement is ok, as far as engineering is concerned.
But it is NOT OK, as far as the real flow of reality is concerned.
So what would be the REAL flow of reality in the above mentioned situation?
Answer: IN-DETERMINISTIC. Cannot be defined, cannot be expressed in words. It is a dance of quality that involves all of infinity. That's the only thing that can be said.
Robert M. Pirsig has the following to say, Chapter 5, Lila:
"The fundamental nature of reality is outside language. Language splits things up into parts while the true nature of reality is undivided." [While talking about the POV of mystics.]
He also says..."Quality does not have to be defined. You understand it without definition, ahead of definition. Quality is a direct experience independent of and prior to intellectual abstractions."
Saturday, April 23, 2011
The Magical Mystery Tour
Something living, something real, is taking place in everything."
- Chogyam Trungpa
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Nuclear Weapons, Insanity, Cowardice
"More than a decade and a half after the Cold War ended, the world's combined stockpile of nuclear warheads remain at a very high level: more than 22,000. Of these, nearly 4,500 warheads are considered operational, of which nearly 2,000 U.S. and Russian warheads are on high alert, ready for use on short notice.-Federation of American Scientists.
The exact number of nuclear weapons in each country's possession is a closely held national secret."
In the words of U.S. president Jimmy Carter, 1979:
Just one of our relatively invulnerable Poseidon submarines - less than two percent of our total nuclear force of submarines, aircraft, and land based missiles - carries enough warheads to destroy every large and medium-sized city in the Soviet Union. Our deterrent is overwhelming.'
The depths of human insanity, cowardice are bottomless.
The Dogs of War are creatures of fear and hatred. Not in their nature to be peaceful.
And they are everywhere. In every country, every town. Not necessarily only in the armed forces.
The following song by Roger Waters is an interesting comment on oil politics, nuclear weapons, and the severely catatonic state of mind of our politicians...people who take policy decisions that influence billions of lives.
Roger Waters is far from crazy and paranoid.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Value of Life, Detachment, Buddhahood
Many of us often reach a point where we ponder the value of our existence.
As far as 'value' goes...mystics say that one should avoid attaching value to anything, actually. Nature (which is mystical/spiritual/alive acc. to some traditions) attaches no value to anything.
A beautiful inhabited home, or an abandoned building or a school full of hundreds of children -- a storm will destroy everything in its path.*
There can be many other examples. The flowing river (once again a living phenomenon from within the Hindu/Buddhist paradigm) could drown Mother Teresa and throw ashore a Hitler.**
Our not attaching value to things/people would be in tune with the natural flow....
This approach is at the risk of being interpreted as a cold, desensitised approach to life, of course. But.......
In its true form, our not attaching value to things/people is a neutral, serious, peaceful, highly aware state, a state in which oneness with all that exists can be felt very clearly, and the role of destructive forces is understood completely, and accepted as is. (Buddhahood.)
______________________
*It cannot be said that the storm has negative value for life, so it destroys, even from within the Hindu/Buddhist paradigm that considers the storm to be living. A storm is not a Doer/Thinker like a human being.
** Nature does not appear to have in built values that we humans take so seriously. And we are a small part of nature, there can be nothing in us that does not exist already, in nature. Although we think, plan, do, and nature does not.a
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aThis is a complex discussion on qualities, relationships, and many other issues like the nature and scope of doer-ship and spontaneous, unplanned intelligence.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Religion 101 with Acharya S
Acharya S is the author of controversial books on the origins of religious ideas dating back thousands of years. Many of these ideas revolve around what is called "astrolatry" or "astrotheology."
Imagine a world in which the masses very seriously start pondering whether religious idols like Jesus or Krishna ever existed at all. Imagine a world where people start questioning the conventionally accepted concept of God.
The following article is from: TRUTHBEKNOWN.COM.
It has been suggested that I am an "atheist" and am "very destructive." However, I am neither a theist nor an atheist, although, for the most part, I prefer atheists because they can think for themselves and are usually not as vicious as fervent believers. The atheists' morality is dependable, as it comes not from the outside, imposed by some supernatural figure, some repressive puppetmaster in the sky, but from within, as dictated by their own autonomy, wisdom and maturity. My only problem with extreme atheists is that they are sometimes too cynical and rigid, dismissing all "paranormal" or non-third-dimensional events often without proper investigation. They seem to see nothing sacred about the universe.
I have many more problems with theists, however, as they consider humans to be pathetic, born-in-sin pieces of trash in the face of a glorious God. Real, tangible human beings are to be treated very badly and with tremendous condescension, because they are mere lost sheep and stupid children! The god of their choice, of course, who is invisible and intangible-and, presumably, unable to feel pain (or pleasure), unlike humans-must be praised and complimented to high heaven! Do not love your fellow man, who can actually feel it and who needs it, but "love the Lord your God with all your heart." Extreme theists and atheists share a certain attitude towards creation itself: to wit, it is not divine or awesome.
"The mystic or gnostic does not reside in the realm of belief or disbelief. She or he knows, rather than believing."
I categorize myself as neither of these labels, since I prefer to view the entire cosmos as divine and awesome. I may thus be called "pantheistic." Yet, if I must wear a label, let it be "freethinker." For the moment, for the purposes of this essay, I may also be considered a mystic of sorts, a "homo novus," or, as it were, a new woman.
The mystic or gnostic does not reside in the realm of belief or disbelief. She or he knows, rather than believing. I do not need to believe in the sun. I can see it and feel it. I know it exists.
I also know that there is a sentience that pervades the cosmos. I am it. You are it. The birds singing in the trees and the trees themselves are it. This sentience could be called "God," but it is not a giant man somewhere in outer space apart and aloof from creation. As the esteemed mythologist Joseph Campbell said in "The First Storytellers":
"The idea of God as the absolute other is a ridiculous idea. There can be no relationship to that which is absolute other."
By definition, "God" is OMNIPRESENT, which means it is everywhere, in me, in you and in all creation. Behind the creation is the Great Void, where there is no separation and all is one. This idea - this perception of the mystics and sages of ages - is backed by science, in that ALL IS ATOMS VIBRATING, and we are exchanging atoms with everything around at all times.
All is connected, and we are breathing the air exhaled by others from around the globe. We are washing with Buddha's sweat, so to speak. Or Jesus's, or Hercules's, or that of any other of the thousands of deities man has created.
"ALL IS ATOMS VIBRATING, and we are exchanging atoms with everything around at all times."
The human ego has created an artificial separation that makes it as dense as the material world can get. We are all one; we are the Cosmic Being; yet, the human mind creates "other." This developments ranks as no different from the animals, who constantly play out the roles of predator and prey, of "other" and "alien." But as humans, we have the capacity to go beyond the deluded animal state and realize that we are spiritual beings condensed into an illusion of materiality and separation. We are That Which Is.
To attain to the mystical is to know "God" and all its fullness.
The mystical is paradoxical. It does not take a solid platform. That is why it is MYST-ERIOUS. The mystical lives in the herenow and says neti, neti, neither this nor that. It dictates totality.So, no, I don't believe in any god person. I know myself as That Which Is. This notion is not a new concept to those who think for themselves and check out the astounding amount of information found around the globe on this all-important subject of "God" and the cosmos, instead of blindly going along with some other person's prescribed path, which is usually very cultlike, sectarian, racist and sexist. The blind leading the blind is dangerous.
"And yes, I am here to destroy. I am the intellectual aspect of Kali, the destroyer, of Shiva, of Zeus the thunderer, and of Jehovah the flattener of cities."
And yes, I am here to destroy. I am the intellectual aspect of Kali, the destroyer, of Shiva, of Zeus the thunderer, and of Jehovah the flattener of cities. But I am also a part and parcel of the Creative Life Force that permeates the cosmos, and upon the ruined foundations of dead and rotten ideologies I build anew. I construct a better creation with a more solid and universal foundation, one not built upon the mental quicksand of racism, sexism and "chosen people" of one ethnicity or another.
I build anew atop this foundation that wisdom is found in every culture, race and creed, and even throughout the cosmos, as it cannot be and never has been contained in one person, one book, one race or one gender. The living truth cannot be constrained by borders and artifice. This universal foundation cannot be chipped away by niggling little forces of racial, political or "religious" ideologies that teach separation and division. For, when one proudly declares he is a Christian, he is also equally proudly declaring that he is NOT a Jew, Hindu, Buddhist or any other "devilish" thing. Plain and simple, this bigotry is ugly, and it is what I'm here to destroy.
"We saw other children, beings with smiling faces exuding innocence. The unbridled, radiant love of life beamed from our souls and flowed from our hearts."
Let us think back to when we were children, before we started getting conditioned - or, more appropriately, brainwashed - by those around us. We did not see race, gender, ethnicity or religion. We saw other children, beings with smiling faces exuding innocence. The unbridled, radiant love of life beamed from our souls and flowed from our hearts.
Then we started to learn that we were no longer one empathetic being but were part of a variety of groups that separated us from each other. Suddenly, we were "boys" or "girls," "blacks" or "whites." We were "Americans" and "Russians." We were "Christians," "Jews." And those over THERE were not like us over HERE. Again, this divisiveness is extremely ugly and is at the root of all kinds of prejudice and bigotry that go on day in and day out. In reality, these divisions represent false separations.
"The truth is that we all have wisdom, and my wisdom is telling me that now is the time to wake up to our universal selves, as we sit on the edge of global chaos."
The truth is that we all have wisdom, and my wisdom is telling me that now is the time to wake up to our universal selves, as we sit on the edge of global chaos. Because of the various ideologies that are blinding humanity from its true nature, from living in the present, from being awakened, most of humankind is oblivious to what is going on all around. They are frogs in the pot of water, waiting to be cooked and not feeling the heat. Their minds are twisted, and they cannot think for themselves here and now but must constantly look for answers elsewhere.
When you are in such a state, you are not truly living, because you must first wait to close one transaction to begin another. Also, you're stumbling about, somnambulating, without being fully present.
Such is not the state of life but of catatonia. Thus, like Kali, I am hacking away at the veil that keeps you sightless and asleep to the ethereal and awe-inspiring nature of the cosmos.
______________END OF ARTICLE_______
Monday, February 28, 2011
Crazy Wisdom & Wrathful Compassion
The problems of existence are very rarely one dimensional.
When we get hit by life, we often get hit from multiple angles simultaneously, and many of those angles are inextricably intertwined.
Life situations in general, are not here to make us happy, says Eckhart Tolle.
If this is true, what could it all be about then?
According to Tibetan Buddhism, problems of life exist to WAKE US UP FROM DEEP MYSTICAL SLEEP.
Problems of life are manifestations of infinite cosmic compassion in a TERRIBLE FORM.
Buddhists have a long list of wrathful, fierce, violent, blood drinking deities....who are revered. And considered sane. THOUGH THEY LOOK AND ACT INSANE.
So...if the Buddhists are right about 'Wrathful Compassion', the consequences are tremendous....
Here are some images of Crazy Wisdom Buddhas, Dakinis(Goddesses) from Buddhism and Hinduism.
These deities can be looked upon as Jungian archetypes.
__________BEGIN BRANEMYRS________________________
Blood-Drinking Buddhas and Wrathful Compassion:I hope you had a good Halloween. For the occasion, here is a Buddhist legend, particularly associated with Vajrayana or Tibetan Buddhism.
Once there was a man who heard Buddha preach. So mired in delusion, craving, and aggression was he that he interpreted Buddha's words as a license for indulging himself to the fullest. When the Wheel of Life rolled around, he was reincarnated as a terrible monster, Rudra, and gained great power in all the hells and all the earth.
Faced with such an unregenerate egoism, the buddhas knew that they could not turn Rudra to compassion by appearing to him in their usual form. Therefore they manifested themselves as the herukas. The herukas, also called the wrathful deities, are expressions of buddha-consciousness and buddha-compassion, but under a terrible aspect. They are the expressions of wrathful compassion. Their visible representations are terrible monsters that drink blood.
The way of it is this. Sometimes people so identify themselves with their delusions, cravings, and aggressive impulses that the compassion of the buddhas is something threatening. The buddhas wish to destroy our attachment to this world, to break our slavery to aggressive impulses, to snap the bonds of our delusions. When we identify ourselves too fully with these things, it's not surprising that buddha-compassion has a terrible aspect: it destroys, crushes, devours the very things we think we are. It does so in order to free us, of course; the blood-drinking buddhas have clear minds and compassionate hearts. But their clarity of mind seems to the soul mired in egoism to be terrible and violent (as truth sometimes seems to be), and their compassion of heart appears to be something that devours and destroys (for they devour and destroy our attachments to this world).
In this way the buddhas were able to subjugate the terrible monster Rudra, bringing him to enlightenment and compassion.
___________________END BRANEMYRS____________________
Problems of Life: 1. Their only aim is to WAKE US UP. Nothing else. People don't wake up without loud bangs in their surroundings. 2. Are cosmic compassion in a terrible form. |
Further reading:
1. Khandro.net
2. The Dangerous Friend.
3. Wiki: Wrathful Deities.
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Avadhut Gita Highlights (Aghori)
Chapter I
1. By the grace of God the Brahmins above all men are inspired with the disposition to non-duality (unity of the Self with God), which relieves them of the great fear.
2. How can I salute the Self, which is indestructible, which is all Bliss, which in Itself and by Itself pervades everything, and which is inseparable from Itself?
3. I alone am, ever free from all taint. The world exists like a mirage within me. To whom shall I bow?
4. Verily the one Self is all, free from differentiation and non-differentiation. Neither can it be said, "It is" nor "It is not." What a great mystery.
5. This is the whole substance of Vedanta; this is the essence of all knowledge, theoretical and intuitional. I am the Atman, by nature impersonal and all-pervasive.
6. That God who is the Self in all, impersonal and changeless, like unto space, by nature purity itself, verily, verily, that I am.
7. I am pure knowledge, imperishable, infinite. I know neither joy nor pain; whom can they touch?
8. The actions of the mind, good and evil, the actions of the body, good and evil, the actions of the voice, good and evil, exist not in me (Atman). I am the nectar which is knowledge absolute; beyond the range of the senses I am.
9. The mind is as space, embracing all. I am beyond mind. In Reality the mind has no independent existence.
10. How can it be said that the Self is manifest? How can it be said that the self is limited? I alone am existence; all this objective world am I. More subtle than space itself am I.
11. Know the Self to be infinite consciousness, self-evident, beyond destruction, enlightening all bodies equally, ever shining. In It is neither day nor night.
12. Know Atman to be one, ever the same, changeless. How canst though say: "I am the meditator, and this is the object of meditation?" How can perfection be divided?
13. Thou, O Atman, wast never born, nor didst thou ever die. The body was never thine. The Shruti (revealed Scriptures) has often said: "This is all Brahman."
14. Thou art all Brahman, free from all change, the same within and without, absolute bliss. Run not to and from like a ghost.
15. Neither unity nor separation exist in thee nor in me. All is Atman alone. "I" and "thou" and the world have no real being.
16. The subtle faculties of touch, taste, smell, form and sound which constitute the world without are not thyself, nor are they within thee. Thou art the great all-transcending Reality.
17. Birth and death exist in the mind, not in thee, as do also bondage and liberation. Good and evil are in the mind, and not in thee. O Beloved, why dost thou cry? Name and form are neither in thee nor in me.
18. Oh my mind, why dost thou range in delusion like a ghost? Know Atman to be above duality and be happy.
19. Thou art the essence of knowledge, indomitable, eternal, ever free from modifications. Neither is there in thee attachment nor indifference. Let not thyself suffer from desires.
20. All the Shrutis speak of Atman as without attributes, ever pure, imperishable, without a body, the eternal Truth. That know to be thyself.
21. Know all forms, physical and subtle, as illusion. The Reality underlying them is eternal. By living this Truth one passes beyond birth and death.
22. The sages call Atman the "ever-same." By giving up attachment the mind sees neither duality nor unity.
23. Concentration is not possible either on perishable objects, on account of their mutability, nor on Atman. "Is" and "is not" do not apply to Atman either. In Atman, freedom absolute, how is Samadhi1 possible?
24. Birthless, pure, bodiless, equable, imperishable Atman thou knowest thyself to be. How then canst thou say: "I know Atman," or "I know not Atman."
25. Thus has the Shruti spoken of Atman; "That Thou art." Of the illusory world, born of the five physical elements, the Shruti says: "Neti, neti" (not this, not this).
26. All this is ever pervaded by thee as Atman. In thee is neither the meditator nor the object of meditation. Why, O mind, dost thou shamelessly meditate".
27. I know not Shiva1, How can I speak of Him? Who Shiva is I know not, How can I worship Him?
28. I am Shiva, the only reality, Like unto space absolute is my nature. In me is neither unity nor variety, The cause of imagination also is absent in me.
29. Free from subject and object am I, How can I be self-realizable? Endless is my nature, naught else exists. Truth absolute is my nature, naught else exists.
30. Atman by nature, the supreme Reality am I, Neither am I slayer nor the slain.
31. On the destruction of a jar, the space therein unites with all space. In myself and Shiva I see no difference when the mind is purified.
32. Brahman alone is, as pure consciousness. In truth there is no jar, and no jar-space, no embodied soul, nor its nature.
33. There are no worlds, no Vedas, no Devas, no sacrifices, no castes, no family tribes, no nationalities, no smoke-path, no shining-path.
34. Some there are that prize non-dualism, others hold to dualism. They know not the Truth, which is above both.
35. How can the supreme Reality be described, since It is neither white nor any other colour, has no qualities such as sound, and is beyond voice and mind?
36. "I eat," "I give," "I act"; such statements do not apply to Atman, which is purity, birthless and imperishable.
37. Where the one Brahman alone is, how can it be said "this is Maya2", or "this is not Maya", "this is shadow" or "this is not shadow"?
38. I am without beginning and without end. Never was I bound. By nature pure, taintless is my Self. This know I of a surety.
1. Samadhi - A high state of consciousness.
39. From subtle substance (mahat) down to formed creation, there is nothing but Brahman; most clearly do I see this. Where then is the division of caste?
40. The absolute void and its opposite, all am I everlastingly.
41. Atman is not male or female, nor is It neuter; neither is It happiness or suffering. How dare ye pervert It?
42. Atman is not purified by the six methods of Yoga. Absence of the mind makes It no clearer. The teachings of a Guru reveal It not. It is all purity, in Itself, by Itself.
43. I am neither bound nor free. I am not separate from Brahman.
44. Neither the doer nor the enjoyer of the fruits of karma am I. The pervader or the pervaded I am not.
45. As a volume of water poured into water is inseparably united with water, so, I perceive, matter and spirit are one.
46. Why callest thou Atman personal and impersonal. Since thou art neither bound nor free?
47. Pure, pure thou art, without a body, unrelated to the mind, beyond maya; why art thou ashamed to declare: "I am Atman, the supreme Reality"?
48. O my mind, why dost thou cry? Realize thy Atman, o Beloved; drink the timeless great nectar of non-duality.
49. Knowledge born of the intellect am I not. By nature Truth eternal am I. I am perpetual immutability.
50. Neither formless nor with form, described by the Vedas as "Not this, not this," free from separation and unity, the true Self reigns supreme.
51. There is no father, no mother, no kinsman, no son, no wife, no friend, no prejudice, no doctrine. Why art thou disquiet, o my mind?
52. Why do the wise imagine the bodiless Brahman to be a body? In It there is neither day nor night, neither rising nor setting.
1. Shiva - a name for Brahman
2. Maya is the creative power of the Lord, the means by which the phenomenal world has been brought into existence.
53. Since the imperfections of attachment and the like are not in me, I am above the suffering of the body. Know me to be infinite, like unto space, one Atman.
54. O my mind, my friend, many words are not needful, and the world comprehends not reason. In a word, I have told thee the essence of truth: "thou art Truth, thou art as space."
55. In whatever place and in whatever state the Yogi dies, his spirit is absorbed into That, as, on the destruction of the jar, the space in the jar is united with absolute space.
56. Whether he dies conscious or in coma, in a holy temple or in the house of an untouchable, he obtains liberation, becoming the all-pervading Brahman.
57. The Yogis regard righteousness, prosperity, desire for Paradise and liberation, and also the moving and fixed objects, as mere will-o’-the-wisps.
58. The Avadhut in unshakable equanimity, living in the holy temple of nothingness, walks naked, knowing all to be Brahman.
59. Where there is no "Third" or "Fourth1", where all is known as Atman, where there is neither righteousness nor unrighteousness, how can there be either bondage or liberation?
1. These are states of consciousness. There are waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep. The "Fourth" is the substratum of these three, also called Turya, beyond this is the absolute, beyond words and experience, Turyatita.
Chapter 6:
1. The whole universe is a projection of the mind; therefore it is a mode of the mind. The true nature of the mind is bliss, and when the mind is stilled, bliss absolute is revealed.
2. Consciousness absolute, being unknowable by the mind, how can speech explain it?
3. The Self is free from day and night, and therefore the conception of its pilgrimage in time and space is no true one.
4. No sun illumines Atman; the fire and the moon cannot shine therein. It is not equanimity or even desirelessness; how then can action exist in it?
5. Neither can it be said that It is to be known by the absence of action. It is neither within or without. It is naught but bliss absolute.
6. How can it be said that It is the first or that It is the last, since It is neither element or compound, nor emptiness nor fullness? Eternal, ever the same, the essence of all is Shiva.
7. The statement that Atman is describable or indescribable cannot stand. Neither is It the knower nor the known. It cannot be imagined or defined. How can we say that It has a mind or any of the senses?
8. Space, time, water, fire, earth, constituting the world, are a mere mirage. In truth the One, imperishable, ever blissful, alone exists. There is neither cloud nor water in It.
9. As there is no possibility of birth and death in It, so no conception of duty nor dereliction of duty can be applied to It. That undifferentiated, eternal, all-pervasive Shiva alone is.
10. The modifications of primordial matter and of individualized consciousness are in the realm of cause and effect. When there is eternal all-pervasive Shiva alone, how can there be matter or spirit therein?
11. There is in It no suffering, and no possibility of suffering, because It is free from all attributes.
12. There is no duality in It. How can there be age, or youth, or childhood in that One eternal principle?
13. Atman is dependent on nothing and is unlimited. The law of cause and effect touches It not. How can the buddhi, which operates only in duality, and which is perishable, discern It?
14. It grasps not, nor is It grasped. It is not born nor does It bring forth. We can only say that in It there is no destruction.
15. In Atman there is neither manhood nor womanhood, because such conceptions cannot exist in eternity.
16. There is no pleasure in It, and no faculty of enjoying pleasure, since It is free from such defects as attachment. Equally free from doubts and suffering, one and eternal is Shiva; thus the conception of "I" and "mine" do not apply to It.
17. Neither is there Brahman in It, nor the absence of Brahman. Since It alone exists and is eternity, it must follow that It is free from pain, and also from freedom from pain.
18. There is no gain and there is no loss. Infatuation and worldly wisdom have no place therein. When the eternal consciousness alone exists, how can discrimination or wisdom, or any such thing be contained in It?
19. In It there is no "thou" and no "I", therefore family and caste exist not therein. It is neither true nor untrue. Neither is It of this world nor of the next. How then can one pray to It?
20. Illusory is the connection of the learner and the teacher. Teaching and contemplation, when thus beheld, are not admissible. "Verily, I am Shiva." This alone is the whole Truth. How then can I pray to It, or worship It?
21. The body itself is imagined in Atman, as is the whole universe. Atman is free from all differentiations. Then since I am Shiva, there can be no idea of prayer or worship.
22. Consciousness absolute has no body. It cannot be said that It is without a body or attributes. All that can be said is that It is bliss absolute, and that bliss am I. This is the height of worship, and this is the culmination of all prayer.
23. The Avadhut who has realized this mystery of all mysteries, and has risen to the state of unceasing and perfect bliss, moves about in the crowds unconcerned, radiating bliss and higher knowledge.
24. He is clothed in a habit of old and worn. He walks in a path that is free from religious merit or sin. He lives in the temple of absolute emptiness. His soul is naked, and free from all taints and modifications of maya.
25. The Avadhut has no ideal, neither strives he after the attainment of an ideal. Having lost his identity in Atman, free from the limitations of maya, free also from the perfections of Yoga, thus walks the Avadhut. He argues with no one, he is not concerned with any object or person.
26. Free from the snares of expectations and hopes, he has cast off the worn-out garments of purity, righteousness, and all ideals. His path is free from any such consideration. It can only be said about him that he is purity absolute, and is far, far above the clouds of maya and ignorance.
27. He has no such thoughts as "I am not in the body," or "I am not the body." He has no aversion, attachment or infatuation towards any object or person. Pure as space he walks, immersed in the immaculate bliss of his natural state.
28. The Avadhut may be compared to immeasurable space. He is eternity. In him is neither purity nor impurity. There is no variety nor unity in him; no bondage nor absence of bondage.
29. Free from separation and union, free from enjoyment or absence of enjoyment, he moves calm and unhurried through the world. Having given up all activity of the mind, he is in his normal state of indescribable bliss.
30. Atman, with which the Avadhut has found natural unity, is limitless and inconceivable. It is unknowable by the mind. It is neither a part nor is It divided. It cannot be said, "So far is its province and no farther." Verily, it is hard to describe and hard to obtain.
31. The Avadhut is not concerned with the things of the world, because the natural state of Self-realization renders all else insignificant. Death and birth have no meaning; he meditates not, neither does he worship.
32. All this world is a magic show, like a mirage in the desert. Concentrated bliss, alone and secondless, is Shiva and that is the Avadhut.
33. The wise man strives not for anything, not even for Dharma1 or liberation. He is free from all actions and movements, and also from desire and renunciation.
34. What do they, the pundits, know of him? Even the Vedas cannot speak of him perfectly. That bliss absolute, ever indestructible, but a source of bliss to all, is the Avadhut.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Living Systems Theory & The Investment Portfolio
Fritjof Capra (born 1939) is an Austrian-born American physicist, systems theorist, and author of five international bestsellers. Capra is a founding director of the "Center for Ecoliteracy" in Berkeley, California.
In his book "The Turning Point" (1982), Capra talks of Living Systems.
A system of people for example, is a Living System.
Let us now consider the FINANCIAL PORTFOLIO. This portfolio has our emotions invested in it and therefore can be called a Living System. And a Living System cannot function properly if it does not have all the necessary body parts.
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A bird in hand is better than two in the bush. The 'expected rate of return' is never the real rate of return. |
It is not possible to time the stock market, otherwise it would be too easy to make money. However, there are well defined disciplines to investing that over the long run of the market can provide reasonable returns.
Proper Asset Allocation could optimise returns.
More details on Asset Allocation: Get Rich Slowly. MoneyControl Asset Allocator: Asset Allocator. Here is another Asset Allocator: Asset Analysis. Article on Market Pressure & Risk Management: Safe Haven. |
Here is what MPT (Modern Portfolio Theory) -- has to say:
"The fundamental concept behind MPT is that the assets in an investment portfolio should not be selected individually, each on their own merits. Rather, it is important to consider how each asset changes in price relative to how every other asset in the portfolio changes in price."
This would suggest that the healthy financial portfolio is one:
=> Which does well in both BULL and BEAR markets.
=> In which an investment decision depends entirely on what the portfolio needs to stay healthy, and not solely on the attractiveness of the individual investment.
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Every well diversified financial portfolio could be said to be the microcosm of the entire world economy. Its big picture will be the big picture of the entire world economy. Which may not be too good - but it is certainly more balanced than an imbalanced portfolio that is focused on 'too much of any one thing'.
The Investment Portfolio as a "Living System" would mean that it would follow the 'Self Organising Principle'. As long as the owner of the portfolio keeps a track of things, and balances it periodically. Keeps it dynamic.
The following is from Wikipedia:Self-Organisation:
In economics, a market economy is sometimes said to be self-organizing. Paul Krugman has written on the role that market self-organization plays in the business cycle in his book "The Self Organizing Economy". Friedrich Hayek coined the term catallaxy to describe a "self-organizing system of voluntary co-operation," in regard to capitalism.
More on Self Organisation:WN.COM
Monday, January 10, 2011
Mystical Look at Profit-Loss
The stock markets have fallen sharply in the last few days...and the future of equity investments is not so bright, keep in view economic-political factors.
Tragic. For many of us.
Made me dig deep into Advaita Vedanta.
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Wouldn't life get extremely boring, if all we did was guaranteed to succeed? Imagine playing chess with someone who you know you will defeat. Will you enjoy it? Will you not just want to walk away? Would we be able to appreciate the value of profit, if loss did not exist in our lives? Would we be able to enjoy the thrill of winning, if losing was not a part of the game? |
Let us analyse the Advaita Vedantic perspective that BOTH PROFIT AND LOSS are the SAME THING.
If we see the effects of profit and loss on the human being...
A sudden huge loss can make a person ill. Of course.
But...a sudden huge PROFIT can also make a person fall ill.
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Now let us look at the Advaita Vedanta concept that opposites manifest simultaneously.
When a human is born, his death is also "born" simultaneously, in the very moment of his birth...
Here is another example.
Whenever light manifests, shadows are also born instantaneously.
And the dance between light and shadow gives our visible surroundings its form, its richness, intricacy.
Extreme heat, and extreme cold - both cause the same effects. People in extremely hot regions like African deserts, or the North Pole....both wear HEAVY CLOTHING as well as COVER THEIR HEADS.
Same would apply to profit and loss. Both will always co-manifest.
And the dance between profit and loss would give life its depth, its enrichment.
The famous movies and books of our world are not books that talk of continuous profit but those that talk of profit and loss both.
The Advaita Vedantic perspective says the dance of life just cannot go on if opposing poles do not exist. This would mean that life just cannot go on without both the polar opposites, profit and loss...
A balance between profit and loss is necessary for stability in life.
The focus of all this is --- LOSS IS AN OK BARGAIN.
Some kind of "Net Profit" will accrue over time as a result of the profit-loss dance however. Spontaneously.
This "Net Profit" of life may not always be in monetary terms, however.
Heavy monetary loss, crushing financial insecurity, such things could manifest as "profit" in other aspects of life.
All aspects of life cannot be in the negative zone simultaneously. That is impossible.
More vision.
More perspective.
However, there are sources, like ACIM, that would not agree with the above analysis. They reject outright, all forces of decay, loss, harm.
Here is one video in which ACIM builds its case:
