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There must be a reason why I keep hearing things like, do not procrastinate, be disciplined , Be proactive and its ok, let go. People feel free, calm and productive if they let go some things, when they have done what they were supposed to do in time, when their mind is not preoccupied with stale thoughts.
Stale thoughts are rotten, they are the thoughts about the things you've been thinking about for quite sometime. I generally prefer to finish of the something I don't like to eat immediately somehow gulping of entire thing rather than letting it become old and mushy, squishy and non crispy state or whatever. Same things apply to thoughts, especially the ones with a deadline like assignment; they seem to develop more side effects as the expiry date gets closer and absolutely of no use or little use after expiry. Leaving things incomplete and unfinished leaves more of staleness within you. After a certain point you become sick you start stinking, a thick atmosphere develops around you which people tend to avoid.
Become aware of that staleness, just let go, meditate and be purified. You don't like staleness do you? Think fresh think rich, the quality of thoughts you float around with, become aware of it.....Freshen up Take a breath and start playing and loving again......
But to make a wine the grapes need to ferment right? Yeah sure, but you don't want to make a wine out or own mind do you?
So think fresh, eat fresh, please don't eat non-veg and keep dancing in the rain.....
jgd
I think everyone one of us have had this experience with someone or the other. Its a basic technique used generally by moms, girlfriends, boyfriends, etc. to punish you or to make you do something and many other such silly stuff which can be bought by silence. It is interesting however to wonder about the power silence has which sometimes threatening (words) or action wont have. Guruji is going to be in silence for navratri. His silence is going to convey something special to you. This navratri check on the positives that are created in you and do post it in the comments.........
For interest of general people let me make a few things clear. Guruji refers to H H Sri Sri Ravishankar. For every navratri people from all over the world visit our ashram(Art of living) in Bangalore to experience a phenomenal fest. Yagyas are performed in these 9 days of navratri for the benefit of the entire world. Sitting in one of these with thousands of people is an awesome out of the world experience......
When you think of wars, these are the situations that give us a good idea of what humans are. Almost every part of being a human makes itself visible and discernable, emotion are not surreal any more, feelings not hidden, and the will power shining forth which can move any human soul. War starts by greed carried out by anger and ends always in realisation that love is the only driving factor for everything. War photography embodies the mad, crazy youth part of the parcel. I just happened to see a BBC documentary video called “Vietnam war unseen”, supposed to be for Americans to show the war from the eyes of Vietnam side, from the Vietnam War photographers to be precise.
The documentary shows a Tim from each side of American side and Tim from Vietnam side with some other Vietnamese war photographers who took part in what Americans call Vietnam war and what Vietnamese call the American war and the shattering contrast between the two. Both Tim’s were war photographers and both were adrenaline junkies but with stark difference in their motives. One was having a mad party abroad and the other was trying to keep up the national spirit as soldier and as a responsibility.
It’s thanks to these people that the realisation lasts for long. They do the job of preserving these moments that makes us realise that human will can surpass any situation, nothing is impossible. The Vietnamese used to build a series of underground tunnels to survive the bombing raids by American b52 bombers. All by using primitive tools and their own muscles and will. In these tunnels contained a world of its own again exemplifying the human nature of making the best of the situation. Here the mothers raised their babies the wives cooked and the family members sang songs. But how could these stills be taken in dark underground tunnel with a camera with no flash? Who would have thought that the bullet used to take life would come handy for preserving it and that the gunpowder in a bullet can be burned to give flash. This particular photographer wanted to inspire the country by taking picture of beauty surrounded by war came up with this solution which again made me marvel at human ingenuity. When this photographer came back to the village where the survivors from those tunnels lived after 50 years you can imagine the warm reaction from both sides. He gifted them these photographs, essentially their youth back to them. One of these Vietnamese war photographers was recalling that with the one lens camera they had he had no choice but to be in the line of fire unlike their American counterpart.
It made me think whether a war is really needed to make humans realise this awesome power they have, if only we had a huge army in every country with the same spirit to solve social problem currently plaguing the world and when will I start to make this a reality in my life. Would anybody commit suicide if they knew they had such potential in them? Will the minor poverty problem exist if the major part of the world just realised their will instead of complaining? Well I’m already set to go in this path and hope I don’t fall into a war like situation before I gather courage.
There are three kinds of load that can be applied on a material and there are a number of loads applied in a human being.
Tension-Applied in axial direction pulling the material apart. Tension when time is very less and you need to do more- you sweat it out. When you are studying for exams. An object yields under tension, then hardens and under tension of greater magnitude eventually fails. A human yields under tension with so many worries pulling you around and he/she just does what life dumps on. Fear and confusion builds up in tension leading to suicidal tendencies.
Compression- Applied in the axial direction pressing the material. When someone is pressurised due expectations placed on him or when he is bearing the load of something. Under compression an object's volume reduces usually hardens due to increase in density. A human under pressure from parents, job, society etc., gets dense in the mind, the head starts to ache, he wont be able to think anything creative, its very hard for him/her to open up their mind to new concepts. Anger builds up.
Shear- Applied in tangential direction to the face of the object. Distractions caused by his own emotions. Under shear an object tends to flow or deform. A human gives up to his feeling of lust and greed. this the easiest way to yield a man. All attachments, the complying to friends move a person to do unproductive things even though its not intelligent.
Under fatigue loading a material fails even if the load is small, it brings down their life expectancy. Humans and randomly loaded all through their life, stress can suck out humans strength. If the material is brittle it can crack easily no mater how hard it is, high ductility is also not desirable its has to be engineered properly.
Materials are intelligently manufactured through subjecting them to various processes involving controlled heating, cooling, application of pressure, extruding. They are machined, welded, molded, formed into various shapes for various applications. materials can be assembled intelligently in a system to to get the desired function.
But the nature is the best designer it builds from from atomic level and hence a perfect product is born according to that environment. Every living thing evolves, learns becomes better. But nature doesn't prefer a particular species, organism, color or shape. It just uses the best material and design possible for a particular purpose without any prejudice or preference.
Man is brought up by the society to fulfill its needs. He is force-fed to behave in a certain manner. Materials have limited reaction but humans have the ability to adapt. He engineers himself to suit the situation- but this is just a bad way to treat himself. He hardens, sometimes kills his own dream, commits crime, breaks down when not needed.Everything that can happen to a material can happen to him. Man designs not for the good of all, he designs for himself, society and he is insensitive, doesn't care about anything else unless it involves him. Nature makes him realise. The ecosystem created by man called the society is filled with chaos and is not in balance. He aims for linear growth and doesn't realise that in nature everything goes in a circle.
Man knows the loads applied on him, he knows its not good for him but still continues to yield, harden and fail without direction. He can act like water when he wants or even air and but also has the strength of iron. He is the best material designed by nature. I wonder why this science of self or spirituality is not taken seriously, isn't education supposed to teach us that. That would be very intelligent, don't you think?
I don’t know whether this theory already exists nevertheless I want to give it try. To put it in simple words maybe the a flowchart of all the possible characteristics of a species is laid out and according to the environment the organism chooses what it wants to be. Like a grasshopper would choose to be green in colour since it operates in green fields. Unlike the ‘Survival of the fittest’ theory this theory assumes that it’s the nature which alters the species. Almost all species are mutated according to the environment or every animal has the capability to follow the most likely path of evolution in a given environment. Each individual is different from other and every organism has got different species. It’s like the consciousness chooses the best route according to the environment so though the organism is the same but species differ in a small way. So breeding between two different species is possible if the mechanism/method of reproduction hasn’t changed there by creating crossbreeds which may be inconsistent or evolved.
Another possibility is that due to the radiation level in that area only certain kind of mutations occur and effect all the individuals belonging to certain species in same way in an area and hence a different kind of species evolve in different areas. But this means that two species can’t possibly occupy same area, and I think it’s true to the best of my knowledge. There weren’t whites in Africa and blacks in Britain.
But if this theory were to be true then there would be only one organism in one area, assuming we all evolved/mutated from a single cell. Here comes part of chaos – the nature’s and god’s divine algorithm. Chaos can be the cause of variety in organisms. Some evolved to be elephants, some humans and so on. Well as compared to the number of permutations and combinations possible with genes the variety of organisms there are in this world seems to be feeble. Maybe in some world beyond ours we may find a different variety of creation.
Even chaos is predictable. Suppose we have some objects with arbitrary shapes and lets say we coat them with a sticky substance and now if we mix them all together in a container and stir them then the possible combinations are many but a star shaped body wouldn’t stick so much to a surface as it sticks to similar kind, which means that most probable shapes emerge victors but in different proportions. Similar thing happens in a chemical reaction, though it is chaotic in micro level but the products have certain composition. Chaos in unpredictable in micro level but when it comes to macro there’s always a clear composition. Survival of the fittest theory doesn’t is too narrow minded to be the theory of evolution. And I think theory of chaos can explain everything. But humans seem to have a power which can even change outcome of chaos to some extent. But what seems to a choice in a certain level may be a divine plan in a different level. No matter how chaotic your life is or anybody’s life for that matter, humanity is heading somewhere very predictable in a level beyond your thoughts can go. Thinking of lower level makes us miserable and bound due to the chaos we can’t handle and thinking above our level in other words our selves makes things predictable. This is the way to make things predictable and be in control. The more you want to control the higher level you need to reach, the more you need to think of others. We’ve thought a lot of ourselves already now let’s start thinking about our society, country and the world.
Seva can’t be done for satisfaction but it brings satisfaction. I feel the seva is just another natural activity which has been made out of trend. Sharing joy or sorrow is also part of our nature but the trend today is to talk ill of others behind their backs. I’m sure most of us agree that a person should be share, care, control anger, should love everyone but it simply is not the trend. If doing seva is bringing you stress then that is not the true seva. Seva can never bring sadness. If you are sad then it is because of the attitude of seva you have. Seva is natural, repetitive and joyful. When we do something which is very close to our heart and which might not have any apparent reason and without expectations the satisfaction it brings is enormous.
What stops us from being natural is the ego, the ego which is out of place. When a saint expresses his ego in the form of orders he gives his disciples to spread the knowledge he has given to them, people usually think that he is promoting himself and that he wants fame. With the kind of impossible things they do and the love for silence they have, it somehow doesn’t seem logical to me that they would want attention or the company of their disciples. The people who criticize them of being fame hungry egoists are the same who normally take pride in showing off to the people around them their accomplishments, the service activities which they might have done and in their ideas, principles and concepts which don’t have any depth. They some how find it very disturbing when an enlightened person praises himself, they simply can’t take it.
People sometimes do seva to get good karma, which in itself beats the purpose of seva. Though the result of a seva is definite, they miss out the most fulfilling results of all which is more important than any good karma. This part of seva is the fulfilment itself. The belongingness is what I believe brings the contentment.
If you can sing well then it is for others, if you can dance well it for others to enjoy, if you are a good cook it is for others you make the food. Any talent bestowed to you is for others. Guruji has very aptly pointed this out in his knowledge sheet.
Some of us are not open to share the talent we have, due the ego which has created barriers and inhibitions which keeps us in check.
When I imagine a world where everyone has recognised their talents and not imitating others in the mad rush of rat race, it fills me with a subtle breeze of joy. The feeling of lightness is so blissful.
I have noticed that for a creative person his creation brings an amazing sense of wonder to him. It creates some wow effect in me when I come up with something original and it soothes me like meditation.
The creation however doesn't bring satisfaction to the creator. He is left with a hint to create something else and an eagerness to apply what he has learned, to continue creating. When this application brings joy to others, that creates satisfaction. Only giving can create satisfaction.
I feel that this ability to create or innovate is the talent. When the talent is used to bring joy to others it is Seva. To realise our talent or break the barriers which does not allow us to be natural, we need knowledge and the company of the truth or the truthful which is Satsung.
It’s a thing to wonder that every religion has this concept of justifying act violence. In Hinduism Krishna said that we are supposed to our duty and not care about the results(in a situation of a war), in Islam its the concept of jihad, of which I cant comment much since I haven't studied it on my own but from my limited knowledge I can tell that the concept had importance when the small Muslim community in its infancy was threatened by some irrational people long ago and reflects that it was used for self defense and I'm sure Christianity also has some element similar to these .
So does it mean that all the gurus, the prophets and saints of religion had intentions of making their own religion great, knowing that other religions also existed or is it our interpretations that have distorted their teachings. Would prophet Mohamed have any problem with existence of Krishna or did Jesus have any problem with existence of the prophet. It’s really foolish to think that those great enlightened people would even have disagreement with each other imagining they meet each other. So where does this conflict come from, it’s obvious that it’s only our narrow minded approach to their teachings that has resulted in this situation. And these situations I believe, exist only to make us realise this very point. Unless every human being understands this, it is likely going to continue. The fastest way to get to this understanding is to accept this situation and then only take action accordingly.
It makes a lot of difference. considering that the event that is being talked about is sufficiently close that the person could have enough time to prepare to attend, whether he/she uses the word "when" or "at what time" to attempt to know the time of the event, tells a lot about the attitude of that person towards attending that event. If observed carefully the use "when" tell us that the person is not really interested but might attend, on the other hand use of "at what time" confirms that the person is exited and lookin forward to attending to the event.
Though a language can hardly evolve to a point where it can be used instead of an emotion, some words make it obvious what we have in mind. They are used lightly but if we give enough attention we find that words we use reflects on the a person's state of mind, his culture, the patterns he has in his mind. It is said that face is the index of mind, i believe that face is a bit hard to be interpreted. Words that are spoken the tone of it and the other noticeable details of speech are much easily diagnosed to mean anything. Body language though gives a clearer indication of the state of mind its has too many factors to be able to be interpreted.
Remembering facts is tough but remembering the logic is easy. That’s why people ask for the logic rather than believing the facts. By logic multiple problems can be solved. Its like the data stored in ROM in a comp, this is the place where the comp selects useful and pre-programmed instruction when some conditions are met. The only difference between a ROM in a comp and our brain is that the patterns in the brain can be changed where as patterns in a ROM are permanent. Storing few instructions and data in ROM saves time and each time the same operation is done to get an answer, which is more effective than storing values for every possible input. Facts are managed by RAM memory where these facts can be forgotten or stored as a strong impression if required. We might store a particular fact in mind and choose to forget it. But it doesn’t mean that it can be erased and new thing can be stored. It can be retrieved anytime. Therefore storing the logic is more important than storing the facts. Logic can be reminded if we face a situation and there’s an impression of similar situation faced earlier.
Next important thing to note is that the mind doesn’t store all the situation of same kind. A first impression of a situation or problem is easily stored or it may choose to store the situation which gives us the maximum learning. The mind also stores how a change in different parameters in different situations can affect the overall result. In other words in learns from most of the situations but stores only the first impression or that which is most. This is a fantastic strategy of the brain. By this the brain effectively deals with facts to get the maximum experience out of it. So be carefull to choose the first impression in your mind. If its a girl making a very good first impression on the mind you may forget the face but the hairstyle the basic build of the body, colour, hairstyle, features of face the smile- all these are stored as a picture in the mind devoid of some details. Hence you create a picture of aesthetic beauty in your mind. So if you find a round faced person attractive and you have a strong liking towards that person. Then you may find every round faced person attractive later. That doesn’t mean you are not going to like a person who doesn’t have such feature. It depends only on the impression a person makes.
Lets now see the reason why people generalise things for example - all marvadis are miserly, beautiful girls don’t are not intelligent. These are normal impression which a mind makes and stores, may be due to experience or general conception. This will definitely lead to a prejudice. So be carefull this pre conceived notions will affect our behaviour towards a particular person which may turn out to be completely false. So when ever you start feeling about anything just realise what impression is causing it and then analyse the present situation using the data stored as impression as well as data you are presently receiving. This is very important in decision making and can pretty much take care of handling exceptions. In short having a non judgemental attitude towards thing and by not being very feeling based and impulsive is necessary for decision making.
Extending this to a artificial intelligence - we can make a self learning system which stores the impression of the situation which gave the best result and analysing the situation in terms of parameters involved. Then later if the system faces similar situation and parameters are satisfied fully or partially depending on how rigid we want to make the system can carry out a host of sequenced operations which can give us desired results. Rigidity of a system-the system must be given an instruction to consider a parameter as necessary or sufficient or the system can be made to decide for itself these factors. Now when the system meets a situation where certain parameters are satisfied and it gives an output of so and so value, it stores it and now when it meets another situation where some parameter has changed and its able analyse the difference it made in the output, the logic is stored that this particular change in this parameter made this change and giving various inputs and outputs for same parameters the system is able to create a relation between the parameter and the output and now the characteristics of this graph such as its shape and variation in slope etc are stored in terms of range rather that the whole detail itself. If another parameter involved in change then the system stores a situation and characteristics of the situation and creates a model this can simulate other situations when encountered and if now the response is the same then the model is reinforced or else a new model is generated which takes into account the various situations involved. This can be helpful in designing autonomous and decision making systems.
A similar method can also be used in data compression techniques. If a 3d model is created then instead of storing all the details of the model we can store the sequence of steps which created the model. So every time you open a file created by a 3d software it may actually create a model using the sequence of meaningful steps which lead to the final model. This I think is already been put to use.
The bottom-line is that our mind is so highly evolved that I don’t think that any human intelligence can beat it. We must dedicate some of our resource and time to experience, realise and enjoy the gifts the Mother Nature has given us. It is interesting to think whether human mind can ever decipher the bigger mind. Hail the bigger mind