Showing posts with label Advaita-Vedanta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Advaita-Vedanta. Show all posts

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Just like the Ocean...

An Assyrian clay tablet discovered recently reveals that 4000 years back, people were worried about protecting their loved ones, money, property from rogues and brutal government officials.

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...



Darkness and light coexist.
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

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.


An outlook that tries to instill in us:

  • That profit and loss are mere flavours of the same underlying unified reality dynamic, and both profit & loss manifest simultaneously.
  • That profit & loss or success & tragedy - both the positive and negative...both are necessary for a healthy life.



Some Questions...
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.


We can only hope for more clarity.
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: