Paths to Truth

 

Most of us are in search for the truth, whatever that means.

The meaning of truth differs for different people and differs for the same being at different times.

There are three paths to discover the truth of reality. One is the scientific approach, the second is the logical approach, the third is the spiritual approach.

The scientific mind will experiment, and test repeatedly in the objective world. Only when there is proof, the scientific mind accepts.

The logical mind, by using philosophy, evaluating pros and cons, reasons out the truth and conclusions are drawn. No testing is carried out. The entire exercise is subjective and in the mind.

The spiritual approach, where one experiences the truth. They often know not why it is so, but it is.

Scientific approach is of the material world and the exterior, it deals with the objective. In this category belong great people like Newton, Aryabhatta, Ramanujan.

The logical approach is pure mind work and it deals with the subjective and is of the interior. In this category belong Socrates, Kautaliya and Einstein.

The spiritual is the link between the interior of our existence and the exterior world in which we exist. Linking our being and our world, and in this category belong Guru Nanak, Gautam Buddha, Jesus, Kabir Das, etc.

Every individual has a natural inclination and sometimes the gift of teaching and guiding others. Some go the scientific route and some logical and some spiritual.

The scientists often laugh at the spiritual and the logical people for their lack of hard facts and truth.

The philosopher thinks the scientist blind in his arrogance, and the spiritual being as a fake.

The truly spiritual being, simply smiles in bliss and says nothing about others. He or she simply knows.

We are like water, each one a droplet. We take birth springing out along with other droplets of water soon to form a stream. Soon streams merge to form rivulets and they in turn become the river.

Some rivers flow almost straight some wind their way forward. Some rivers flow east, others flow west. Thousands of rivers known by a million names some mighty and some little but all will eventually flow into the ocean where no one can describe which water came from which river.

Each droplet with all its arrogance will eventually return to the ocean. Who knows which drop is right and which is wrong, which is greater. No drop is insignificant but none is also eternally significant.

So it is with each individual and our truths Each one originating from the same ocean as a droplet and returning to the ocean through a long journey back to the ocean.

Truth is so evident and yet so elusive. It is like the air, we cannot grasp it with our hands and minds. It can only breathed in and experienced.

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Note: I am grateful to my elders and various friends and teachers who taught me so much and help me awaken even if so little.

The folly of seeking happiness in the 'Rat Race'

 

Ever wondered what is this 'Rat Race'? 

Well this video provides a good idea. Many of us can relate to this depiction for the answer.

We run in the race because of FOMO (fear of missing out).

How can we escape the Rat Race?

Simple. Don't run in the race. 

We can escape if we focus on our needs rather than wants, because our needs are limited, whereas our wants are infinite.

Our inner being speaks to us, telling us what really appeals to us, suits us and what does not. 

Most elements in society tell us how inadequate or incomplete we re because we are lacking this or that. So we pursue what we are told is appealing rather than what is genuinely appealing to us. 

If we follow our heart and take the mind with us, we can escape the 'Rat Race'.

The 'Rat Race' can only hold the promise of success. Success however is external to our being so we have to look for it outside. Happiness is inherent within us, it only has to be realised from within our being. 

Rich or poor, the 'Rat Race' cannot deliver happiness.  More money, power or success does not mean more health and happiness. They just help to buy a better quality of unhappiness. If we examine carefully we will notice that the rich are comfortably unhappy and the poor are uncomfortably unhappy. 

Live simply, eat moderately, love intensely, work and play passionately is a good mantra for living outside the 'Rat Race'.

If it's not for money, then why do you write?

 

A friend asked me, "If it's not for money then why do you write?"

It would be foolish to say that 'money is not important' but can that and should that be, the only reason for doing anything? 

Writing I suppose is like playing golf. 

One really doesn't play for money or against an opponent, but for oneself against oneself. Attempting to improve oneself from the previous day. Meaning that one should write for one's own sake and for oneself, improving with each piece in clarity, brevity, impact and pleasure.

If I write something nice, correct or agreeable, I get a decent number of replies providing me some new learning.

If I wish to learn something more, I have to only make or plant an error. Then I am bombarded with criticism, corrections and different perspective.

I suppose like men can usually never resist a bad girl, it is difficult for readers to resist a writer who in their opinion needs correcting and learning.

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Because of my writing, I have found several teachers, discovered some students, and befriended many, in this insanely wonderful world.

Every day offers an opportunity to share good wishes. Today is special because it is the new year day for the vast majority of Indians. I send you greetings and good wishes.

The eighth wonder is, swallowing the world.

There is so much beauty, and wonder in the universe, but it seems, we spend most of our lives, wondering, 'What is wrong with the world?'
Nothing and yet everything.

Nothing is wrong with Nature and Creation, its exquisite and unfathomable. So what we do not understand, we condemn.
Humankind, now that is a completely different matter, for here, everything seems to be wrong.
Which leads us to the question, 'What is the root cause of all that is wrong?'

The 'will to power', the desperate and insatiable desire to dominate all that we humans set our eyes on or even conceive, is the root cause of human suffering.

With time the methods and approach to acquiring power and dominating has changed and  grown more sophisticated. However two fundamental approaches remain unchanged, wealth and force. Both are transient, and temporary, but that has never stopped the human animal from relying on them.

Unfortunately other great human qualities of friendship, compassion, wisdom and respect which are more useful and enduring traits of our human nature have all been subordinated to the pursuit of wealth and power. The two are synonymous, because in a material world all power originates with wealth.

Almost every human benefit and progress, tragedy and setback can be traced to Man's pursuit of money.

So called modern society, is designed to earn, steal or extort money at every occasion. Government, politics, society, justice, law and order machinery, education, religion, healthcare/illness-care, art, literature, music, every aspect of society is structured focussed primarily on obtaining more wealth and power.

Those who don't have wealth want it, those who have it want even more of it. This craving is insatiable.

Unfortunately incredible material, and scientific progress has resulted in an unhappier, unhealthier and unsustainable world. This has made us beautiful humans, ugly.

The single greatest factor for all this misery is not poverty but a ridiculous excess of wealth. This wealth in the hands of few individuals, organisations and countries compels them to put this wealth to earn more wealth by deploying it as loans to others.

To get the world hooked on borrowing, we are made to feel inadequate about ourselves and our situation. Our GDP has to zoom, we must have this and we must have that. As aspirations rise by leaps and bounds while our ability to pay for them are restricted, we are compelled to borrow.

Not only individuals and families fall in this debt trap, many organisations, and all countries fall in this debt trap, spending money they do not have to get things they want but do not need. Then borrowing more money to pay the interest. Modern slaves are not in chains they are in debt.

Baron Rothschild a member of the wealthiest family in the world is supposed to have remarked, at a dinner party, "I can't name the Seven Wonders of the World,  but I can tell you that the Eighth Wonder is compound interest.”

'Compound Interest' is the accumulation of interest to the principal amount repeatedly on money borrowed. So by compounding the interest at a rate of 7% per year the amount invested doubles every 10 years. Or as in many developing countries where the interest rate of 18% per year the money returnable is doubled every 4 years.

The wealthy need to use their wealth to earn even more, and the way is lend it to earn more money by the compounding of interest on loans. It is because of the this the world of finance has come to dominate all aspects of human existence. This is why the people at the head of private banks, funds, and financial trading are paid obscene amounts by their employers.

This driving force that creeps and consumes humanity is compound interest. Debt is this cold and ruthless creature if not kept contained or limited slowly creeps and consumes the world.

From the lenders point of view, the beauty of lending money is that the lender can go about doing what they want while the meter of interest grows and compounds continuously, every second, night or day. In fact debt gnaws at the innards of its host the borrowers, eventually consuming all of humanity and the world.

When Napoleon had the concept of compound interest explained to him, he exclaimed: “I wonder, it has not swallowed the world.”


When 10% of the world wealthy have 80% of  the wealth, it creates an imbalance and everything in modern society and economic policy is designed to not only conserve but enhance this.

Numerous revolutions, religions and ideologies have failed to change this situation of human self destruction.
This is because we try to use the same thinking, philosophy, institutions and social order to solve the problem which itself we have created.

Throughout history, great spiritual and philosophical masters have come, warning us humans of our foolish and excessive ways. But we are so smart hat we have even converted them and their messages into instruments of increasing our wealth and power. Now God is sold as religion. Love, friendship, compassion, and our intrinsic nature itself are all being traded and sold.

Driven to despair many of us drown ourselves in alcohol and drugs, violence and plunder, and those who cannot escape by these means indulge ourselves in a frenzy of entertainment, and acquisition of things and relationships. It seems we are doomed to remain unfulfilled and unhappy.

Some of the materially wealthy seek escape by unburdening ourselves, we donate all ur possessions, to institutes of religion education,  government and social organisations. But our name must be there on the foundation stone and plaques. We trade cash for the wealth of a name in a memorial.

We try a number of ways to escape. To the hills, and wilderness, to the seas  and the desert, to monasteries and to therapy. Nothing helps because at the core of our being our nature remains unchanged.

To live with dignity one needs wealth, and relationships, but how much?
I have discovered to my surprise, that when I stopped exploiting things and relationships, seeking neither power nor wealth, I have become liberated, grown happier and more peaceful.

The religious appear more anxious.

A question of love

We are not a half, looking for the other half to complete us.
We are complete by ourselves. 

What we term as 'needing love' is the need for sympathy, understanding, compassion, friendship or even sex.

Those who demand love are beggars, those who give it are emperors.
Both never tire. The former, of asking, always remains dissatisfied and unhappy, the latter of giving, and always happy.

Even if we seem to have lost love, we can always regain it.  Because love is not something to be acquired, it is something to be given. 

It is a good time to ask ourselves, 'Am I a beggar or an emperor?'

A master’s farewell Letter

"If God, for a second, forgave what I have become, and granted me a little bit more of life, I would use it to the best of my ability.

I wouldn't, possibly, say everything that is in my mind, but I would be more thoughtful of all I say. I would give merit to things not for what they are worth, but for what they mean to express.

I would sleep little, I would dream more, because I know that for every minute that we close our eyes, we waste 60 seconds of light.

I would walk while others stop; I would awake while others sleep.

If God would give me a little bit more of life, I would dress in a simple manner, I would place myself in front of the sun, leaving not only my body, but my soul naked at its mercy.

To all men, I would say how mistaken they are when they think that they stop falling in love when they grow old, without knowing that they grow old when they stop falling in love.

I would give wings to children, but I would leave it to them to learn how to fly by themselves.

To old people I would say that death doesn't arrive when they grow old, but with forgetfulness.

I have learned so much with you all, I have learned that everybody wants to live on top of the mountain, without knowing that true happiness is obtained in the journey taken and the form used to reach the top of the hill.

I have learned that when a newborn baby holds, with its little hand, his father's finger, it has trapped him for the rest of his life.

I have learned that a man has the right and obligation to look down at another man, only when that man needs help to get up from the ground.

Say always what you feel, not what you think. If I knew that today is the last time that that I am going to see you asleep, I would hug you with all my strength and I would pray to the Lord to let me be the guardian angel of your soul.

If I knew that these are the last moments to see you, I would say 'I love you'.

There is always tomorrow, and life gives us another opportunity to do things right, but in case I am wrong, and today is all that is left to me, I would love to tell you how much I love you and that I will never forget you.

Tomorrow is never guaranteed to anyone, young or old.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Today could be the last time to see your loved ones, which is why you mustn't wait; do it today, in case tomorrow never arrives. I am sure you will be sorry you wasted the opportunity today to give a smile, a hug, a kiss, and that you were too busy to grant them their last wish.

Keep your loved ones near you; tell them in their ears and to their faces how much you need them and love them. Love them and treat them well; take your time to tell them 'I am sorry, please,  forgive me, and thank you', and all those loving words you know.

Nobody will know you for your secret thought. Ask the Divine for wisdom and strength to express them.

Show your friends and loved ones how important they are to you.

Say and do what you must today itself ...tomorrow will be like yesterday, and if you never do it, it doesn't matter either, the moment to do it is now.

For you,

With much love,

Your Friend,"

_________________________

Note: 

In 2000, the impending death of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, (famous Colombian writer, and Nobel Peace Prize) winner for literature) was incorrectly reported by Peruvian daily newspaper La República. The next day other newspapers republished his alleged farewell poem, but shortly afterwards García Márquez denied being the author of this beautiful poem.

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Travel, makes us smart ..

Being a restless creature, Man feels compelled to constantly travel, seeking, but knows not what. 

Not all of our travels are physical. We also travel with our minds, hearts and spirit. We travel when we work, play, read, observe, converse, think, contemplate, pray and meditate.

Why does the same activity of travel, have a different impact on different people?
Why is it that, '**Travel, makes smart people wise, and fools worse**'. 

In my experience it has to do with attitude and level of openness, of the mind and heart.  

Smart (not to be confused with cunning) people, know that they know so little and there is so much more to learn and experience. They are open to meet with others, examine and even adopt new ideas, and influences. 

Fools, are people who usually know little or nothing and are easy to identify. Not only are they ignorant, they arrogantly bask  in their ignorance. Fools usually take refuge in 'blind faith or following'. They are smug and usually have closed mind and hearts. In the extreme they are fanatical.

In present day society, which is primarily materialistic, smart people are seen as, those people that have acquired, wealth, power, degrees, rank and position. Fools are seen as those that have failed to acquire in any significant way any of these things. 

Foolishness and smartness manifests irrespective of how much schooling or college they attend, or what their rank and position is in society or how much money they have.

Smartness and foolishness are traits mostly acquired in early childhood, usually at home, by familial influences, teachers and caretakers. 
All travel of the mind during later schooling and in all travels in life, only amplifies this already developed nature. 

We are all born innocent and ignorant. 
Education and travel allows us to shed our ignorance and hence our capacity to think and achieve.
Retaining our innocence provides us the capacity to be happy and experience well being.
Smart people take the most out of travel and engagement with others. On the other hand, fools only seek reinforcement for their biases. The more sense of superiority that they have been pumped with in life, the worse they become.

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Smartness and Foolishness can also be identified by the level of open-mindedness.

The open-minded person has a willingness not only to accept new ideas but also from a wide range of sources. He or she seeks to journey outwards, but eventually land up introspecting and looking within themselves. 

Such people come away with a wealth of experiences and learning. This is why travelling usually helps them become wiser.

Many people are closed mind. They have been fed somethings usually fictional, irrelevant and often destructive and since it is all they have, they feel compelled to cling to to it. Such dogmatic and foolish people reach a conclusion before they arrive at it and call themselves believers and followers.

Blind faith without actually experiencing anything, is the path of the taken by the intellectually, and spiritually lazy individual. So travel is wasted on them for all they seek to do is, find selectively traits and so called 'facts' which reinforce their existing rigid idea and concepts. Such people become worse with travel. 

As mentioned earlier not all travel is physical. We can also journey through our minds and hearts. Sharing reading, observing, conversing, working and playing provide great opportunities to travel intellectually and emotionally. 

The dogmatic person and the fool have a closed mind, so it is difficult for them to gain much from an encounter or experience particularly travelling and meeting other people. 

___________

Actually society is mostly filled with open-minded individuals who find themselves trapped within groups in society or families where they have been indoctrinated and conditioned to think only in a particular way and to reject all else.

Such 'middle-minded' people, seek to learn and experience more and publicly they appear conformists and closed but privately they are open.  Such people have the  maximum possibility of intellectual enrichment from travelling and association with others. Their faith is either reaffirmed or completely demolished.

Unfortunately, 'middle-minded' people who travel, experience great stress. They face the great challenge, how do they recalibrate their lives when they return from their travel, to their closed minded indoctrinated society? 

They know, what they are doing is wrong, harmful and negative, yet they cannot live nor can they leave.  For them to go against the majority trend is to court disaster and most choose to live in intellectual and spiritual distress rather than face social isolation.

Values and attitudes are best shaped by parents and by others within and near the home when the child is young. Unfortunately most parents are too preoccupied with themselves and other concerns, so they outsource this most fundamental responsibility to others. 

Servants, caretakers and  professional priests and teachers usually take up the responsibility of opening or closing minds by imposing their individual and group ideas and biases on the virgin minds, of the young.

Eventually children imbibe the nature of the 10 people with whom they spend most of their time. 

Travelling is not just a journey to a destination and back. 
The journey is the destination.

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Comment on Guru Wonder website

We need more education, less schooling.

India boasts of a Human Resources dividend because of a young working population in the present times and in the foreseeable future. Actually going by present trends India is heading towards a Human Resources disaster. Here is why.

Surveys have always confirmed what I have experienced in recruiting employees. Our schooling system is out of sync with the needs of our society and our humanity.

As per ASER (Annual Survey of Education Report) India 25 per cent of Class 8 students can't read Class II text.
Another statistic, 56% of Class 8 students cannot do simple basic math


As regards college graduates one survey revealed that [47 Percent graduates in India are unemployable for any job.
Another report reveals that, over 80% Indian engineers are unemployable, lack new-age technology skills

The causes are numerous and blunders of historical past cannot be undone. However with understanding and commitment, transferred into action the future can be created.
The sure sign of an impending disaster is that in spite of knowing that the situation is very bad, we are unable to or unwilling to act.

Though Schooling and Education are terms often used interchangeably, there is a big difference.

Schooling is the pushing out of facts, figures, data, instructions, and the regimentation of the student, by instructors but called teachers so as to get students to think and behave in a reliably predictable manner. 

Society has evolved and changed dramatically but the approach to learning remains mostly unchanged. Mandated by government bureaucrats and effected by various boards, schooling as is currently effected is damaging if not disastrous to society.

Schools nowadays may have modern infrastructure but their soul has mostly been lost. Schools currently do only two things, they babysit students and deliver curriculum.

At the end of their schooling, an intelligent, innocent and pure child will in all probability be converted into an indoctrinated arrogant creature lacking values. Will possess at best a lot of facts and figures and unlikely to live a wholesome, happy and successful life.

Most schools now focus entirely on ensuring that students pursue and achieve high marks in various mandated board examinations, so that the student can join the next level of rote learning and progress to being further dumbed down in colleges.

Only a small percentage of students with the guidance and support of their parents and some committed teachers be able to escape the trap. They will join select institutions and rise to become something. 

Anyone or anything that provides a lesson is a teacher.  In the schooling system of today, the teacher only transfers the information from a syllabus to the student so that the student can pass an examination based on his or her memory.

Education is the creation of an environment which stimulates the student to thirst for information and knowledge, which they will find exciting, relevant and useful. Education is a pulling of knowledge from formal and informal sources.  Education is also experiential learning while schooling provides only rote learning. 

Schooling significantly disregards the numerous natural intelligences, and natural inclination of individual students, so as to produce identical products which will be considered normal. While education excites human intelligence and therefore inspires, schooling tends to deaden and degrade human intelligence. 

Schooling certainly enhances intellect and memory, but it is not the same as enhancing intelligence and creativity which comes only from education. Schooling is a top down approach whereas education is multidirectional. Education can come from ones research and experiences, from public sources, internet, libraries, peers, seniors, juniors, colleagues, associates and even strangers. One of the most impactful source of education are parents and family. 

Demotivated by school managements running as businesses or as ineffective and inefficient government  bureaucracies, overworked and distracted by excessive regulations, and curriculum, intimidated by aggressive parents, teachers in schools have little or no room to really facilitate student learning. 

As a result the student receives information in such an insipid manner, and without understanding its relevance and application, that, whatever is taught is crammed and quickly forgotten after the examinations. Most schools at best convert ignorance into arrogance by providing vast amount of information.

Many of my friends are men of extraordinary character and capabilities. We owe much of our achievements and happiness to the great education we received from our parents, companions and teachers. Pursuing education and not mere schooling made all the difference.

The only way to build a better society and a better humanity is to provide more education understanding and awakening and less of schooling and testing.

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Interesting References:

Annual Status of Education Report - ACER 2018

India's demographic dividend - BBC news