Fall, Find and Rise

                Do you think war happens only outside? If you think so, then you got it wrong. War happens both inside as well as outside. Deep beneath our subconscious mind, we are in a constant ‘state of war’. This war is fought for ‘self-determination’, as all other outside wars are fought. But there is a difference. The war is to find out that whether we are a ‘finite-self’ or an infinite self’. The finite-self is nothing but the body and its associated objects, whereas an infinite-self is that which transcends the body and its associated objects.

war

            How can we understand this state of war? For example, I have forgotten the answer to a very familiar question. I try by all means to recollect it, but of no avail. And, therefore, I ask my friend. I know very well that my friend too doesn’t know the answer, but still I ask him so that I may get a sudden hint of the answer. Similarly, we too, to find out our ‘real-self’, project the so-called ‘conflicts’ in our life, so that we can determine our real ‘self’. From our childhood, all the conflicts of love, hatred, and anger etc. that we have experienced are nothing but our ‘projections’ to deduce our ‘real-self’.

               So, what are these conflicts or forces that bring about the self-determination? In physics, we remember, we have read the so-called centrifugal (outward) and centripetal (inward) forces. Similarly, we too have these forces in our mind. The centrifugal force is the attraction of our body in relation to the outside objects. All beings constantly attract these objects. Particularly the so-called ‘sense-objects’. This makes up the so called love and affection towards the objects. As soon as the centrifugal force acts, the centripetal forces also come to play.

              The centripetal force takes away the objects in relation to the body. This we call detachment and withdrawing ourselves. This withdrawing from objects happens because of the limitations of sense objects. These two forces play a major part in our self-determination.

          There are three phases involved. The first phase involves the quest for sense objects. The centrifugal force makes up the maximum. But the forces cannot dwell on the objects constantly, because of the defects and, therefore, a man falls back or fails. The man fails repeatedly again and again in this centrifugal projection towards the outside objects. This is the first phase which I would like to call it as ‘fall’.

            The second phase involves withdrawing from the body and its associated objects. The centripetal force makes up the maximum. This is the phase where man begins to question everything and this is the phase where he transforms from a finite self to an infinite self. This phase is called ‘find’.

            The third phase is the glorious phase when man shines in his infinite self and the action that he does in the conscious of infinite self, becomes a legend. This phase is called ‘rise’.

             The comic Dark Knight Rises is one such example where we can find this ‘state of war’ for ‘self-determination’. Batman aka Bruce Wayne goes through these phases of ‘fall’, ‘find’, and ‘rise’.

Fall:

       In this story, Batman comes out of self-imposed exile to counter the increasing menace of Bane, a mercenary. Batman fails to halt the illegal transaction of his business by mercenaries. Batman is chased away like a criminal by Gotham police. Batman is betrayed and led into a trap by Selina Kyle. Batman is badly bruised and battered by Bane. Batman’s armory is robbed. Batman’s fusion reactor is lost. Batman is lodged in a well-prison.

         In this phase, batman fails in everything. He loses his fortune. He loses his spirit. The action that he does is not accompanied by his spirit. He always lags behind Bane.

fall

             This phase happens when our actions don’t have the proper backing of our spirit or the strength behind. This happens when there is no philosophy or a proper goal behind our actions. There is complete disorientation between action – goal – philosophy etc. A stage comes when we were suddenly knocked out and confronted by this centrifugal force. This knock-out may be due to ailments or diseases, physical and mental. There are so many ways we get challenged. And the important thing that we have to note is that these challenges are brought only by ourselves. At one point in time, everyone has to confront this reality. It is altogether self-made. So at the end of this phase, we have brought a challenge to ourselves.

Find:

          Batman is down in prison. There is nothing else to lose in his life. Slowly he recovers himself from bruises and injuries. He tries to scale up the wall and cross the platform in the well (a symbol of triumph over spirit). He fails many times but, at last, succeeds without tying a rope. He regains his lost spirit. In prison, his concern is not about his fortune anymore, but in saving Gotham from Bane, a psychopath, who plans to detonate a nuclear bomb in the city.

           This is the transformation phase when we come out of this finite-self. This may take many years. One is alone in this phase. The world doesn’t need that person anymore. The world moves ahead. One moves into oblivion and obscurity. One is away from all sense objects and the body idea. The transformation takes place with the persistence in the idea of non-body-objects. This we call it as meditation.

Rise:

            The dark knight now rises. He comes out and bangs Bane. He carries the nuclear bomb by himself, out to a safe are. He ultimately carries the bomb and ‘BOOM’. Batman is gone. He has become a legend.

Rise

       When men rise they don’t care for themselves anymore. They just sacrifice themselves for the good of all. They become a legend forever.

            So, whenever there are conflicts in life, know that you are creating them to find out your real self. Once you have found out your infinite self, there is nothing, which is going to stop you. A child falls down only to rise.

Thank You.

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Why do we hate?

Why hate?

In recent times, we find that there is an increase in violence motivated by hatred. These ‘hate crimes’ are the proof that humanity has still a long way to go before calling itself the so-called ‘civilized’. Why do we hate? The simple answer is ‘The other person is not like me’. He is not like me in colour, in attire, in intellect, in religion and, therefore, I take a gun and shoot him.

Why religious hatred is stronger?

Therefore the difference in colour, name and form makes me to hate the other. The difference in name, form and colour becomes more tangible in religion. Racial hatred is more of difference in colour; whereas, religious hatred combines the differences in colour, intellect, names and forms and therefore, are stronger. We all know how many wars are still fought on these grounds.

The Prophets:

The prophets or founders of religion were great men, infinitely greater than vast majority of men. They took the humanity to the next level. They solved the fundamental problems of life. They are like pathfinders and torchbearers, who lead the vast masses of mankind from darkness to light. They found the so-called religious principles upon which the whole gamut of life and phenomena is based.

Principles explained:

It is difficult for the vast majority of mankind to understand the principles of religion and, therefore, the prophets simplified them. Say, for example, if you ask the great author, Leo Tolstoy, ‘Sir, can you please explain greed’, He will tell you in the form of a story ‘How much land does a man need’. And if you ask him, ‘Sir, Please explain unselfishness’, again he will tell you in the form of a story, ‘what men live by’, and so on. So, here the point to be noticed is that religion taking concrete shape.

To explain a principle, you need a character, which embodies the principle and again you need a language to explain it. The environment surrounding the story has to be taken into account. So, in simple terms, the character became Gods and Goddess. The stories become the religious texts and scriptures. The language of the text also plays a part. So in different environment (topography), obviously there are differences in stories, language etc. to explain the principle.

Another example:

Please go to school and ask the kids about love. The kids wonder how to explain love and therefore, one kid says, ‘My mama loves me more’. And now you form a religious school based on love of mama. Another kid says, ‘My father loves me more’. And now you form a religious school based on love of papa. Another kid says, ‘My Brother loves me more’. And now you form a religious school based on love of bro. After all it is love which is all they tried to explain. But the differences in explanation took concrete names and forms like mama, papa and bro.

The Institutions:

The prophets explained, and the disciples formed institutions around the teachings of the prophet. They build temples, wrote innumerable scriptures and instituted rituals for the continuation of the institutions. The institutions were the guiding lights for the vast majority of people to seek peace and solace. Religion is easy to grasp because of the familiarity of the story, environment and language etc. But at the same time, the institutions, at best, preserved the differences of mama love, papa love and bro love. The conflict is mainly about whose love is greater!

Buddha’s dilemma:

Buddha understood these conflicts and at best tried not to provoke differences. For example, when asked about love, the kid thought of saying ‘My sister loves me more’ but eventually kept quiet. The kid thought ‘Love is love; how to explain?’ therefore keep quiet. Buddha kept quiet for these questions. But ironically, because of his keeping quiet led to many speculations about the significance of his silence and therefore, the disciples split and each one of them formed their own schools, interpreting the silence in their own words.

Next, Buddha was completely against name and form. Till his last breath, he warned his disciples not to fall into name and form and not to depend on it. His last dying words were ‘Be on your own, work out your own liberation’. Buddha was strongly against the dependencies on name and form (worship in a statue). But again, ironically, the statue of Buddha was the most replicated in the world.

Conclusion:

So far I tried my best to explain the differences in religion in simple terms and the origins of hatred. Religion is after all love. Love is independent of institutions, books, names and forms. Therefore love.


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Nuclear bomb Vs Ice cream!

     If we ask, what is the most devastating thing on earth, it is the nuclear bomb. In my opinion, it is the sense objects, which is the most devastating thing on earth. An Ice cream or a chocolate can be a sense object for a person. What? Are you saying Ice cream is more dangerous than a nuclear bomb? It's ridiculous. Nuclear bomb vs Ice cream! You may confirm, that I have got a slight mental aberration in the brain with this sort of comparison. But let us delve deep into the subject to understand the veracity of the statement.

     A nuclear bomb will shred you to pieces in a moment and you will be in hell in the next moment J. Whereas, a slight look at the sense object can send you to a hell of millions and millions of lives. All sense objects leave so-called ‘sense impressions’ or ‘Vrittis’. These sense impressions are not visible on the obvious surface of the mind. They remain hidden beneath the subtle layers of the mind. They express themselves when suitable environment and conditions prevail. 

   For example, you may look at an upcoming movie poster say, Jurassic World and you immediately dismiss the thing from your mind in the next moment. You begin to look at the other tasks which need your immediate attention. But unknown to yourself, the impressions are created and they are now like pointed arrows and missiles ready to strike at any moment, given the environment is conducive. After a week, say, your friend calls up and asks ‘Hey dude are you ready for a movie?’ Immediately even without your consent you reply ‘Yup, let’s go for the Jurassic World’. The power of sense impressions is that it doesn’t care for your consent. It pushes at any rate, at any length to express itself. There is no way that you cannot hold on to a sense impressions, except expressing it.

     How do we define a sense object? There is a big difference between an ordinary object and a sense object. First, the sense object deludes. Delusion is the first and foremost characteristic of a sense object. It deludes by beauty and aesthetics, pleasing color, taste, and form etc. An ordinary object does not create delusion. Second, the sense objects create a feel of permanence. You feel the object is permanent and it stays intact and that it is going to accompany you forever. An ordinary object does not create this feeling. Third, Sense objects are not satiated, it asks for more. An ordinary object is satiated. Fourth, the sense objects create pain in the end. The fourth character is a hidden one and it is the after effect which is not visible at the first sight. An ordinary object does not create pain.

     There are some, a man of insight, who can identify a sense object and its consequences. The difference between a man and a man of insight, a Yogi is that the latter sees or recognizes the pain involved in the object, just by having a look at it, without getting deluded or enjoying the sense object. Whereas the former gets deluded, enjoys, then suffers the inevitable pain.

     We have now some idea of ‘sense impressions’ and ‘sense objects’.  In our lifetime, therefore, we carry innumerable sense impressions. Only some percent of these sense impressions finds expression. The others simply wait for the earlier cycle to complete or wait for favorable conditions. When life ceases (death), the sense impressions continue to exist in the subtle body. They still remain very active, but could not find the suitable companion, the body, to find expression. Then comes the process of body determination (the type of body required for the particular set of sense impressions). There is another factor which plays a major role in the body determination, it is called karamasaya, or the summation of all works done in a life time.

     Therefore, ‘the summation of work force’ together with ‘sense impressions’ creates a gross body from the subtle body. Again the cycle of sense impressions begins with the new body. It is like a continuous wheel rotating and rotating, on and on without any break. Therefore it is very hard to imagine what a sense object and sense impression can do. It may create a hell of cycle of millions and millions of life. Therefore in my opinion sense object is more dangerous than a nuclear bomb. J

Next time, when you see an ice cream J just see it J

Summary:

1. Sense objects creates ‘sense impressions’.
2. Sense impressions remains hidden and finds expression in favorable conditions.
3. Sense object Characteristics:     

• a.       It deludes
• b.      Creates a feel of permanence
• c.       They cannot be satisfied
• d.      Creates pain in the end

4. Sense impressions remain even after death.
5. It continues to find expression in the new body.

*Hi friends, this is the blog that I have begun, to share with you, the ideas, which I feel is most important. I feel, you will definitely have a look at it. I think, it will be useful as well. The notes are based on ancient texts and some from my own views and reflections. The views expressed here are of my own and not the organization which I belong to. Thank you friends.

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