Dreaming of Immortality

The lockdown, due to the Coronavirus pandemic has incinerated us in our own homes.

No matter how bleak, every situation presents opportunities. We now have time to ponder over many things, family, friends, work, love, relationships, viruses, etc. Our thoughts are dominated by questions about life and death, the meaning of our existence, or the lack of it. 

Modern medicine, diet and rule of law have increased the life span of most humans.Though the quality of life has degraded for many, we remain obsessed with longevity. The main purpose of our lives, has become to try and outrun death, either due to fear of death, or are we trying to be immortal.

Can we be immortal? 
Are we immortal?

The answer starts with another question, 'Am I a body with a soul, or a soul with a body?'
Most of us do not really know, and Man cannot live without knowing.

We can either, discover the answer for ourselves or we can ask others. Most of us, do not even question, we simply adopt a belief system.
In a belief system, some individuals or institution whom we consider as 'higher authorities', will give us readymade answers on everything. This we simply embrace because it makes life easy and uncomplicated.

There is a difference between the two. While all realisation is divine, all beliefs are human in origin.

Knowledge acquired by realisation is called wisdom and that wisdom is unique, it belongs to the one who has awoken to the one who has realised.

In belief, there is neither knowledge, nor wisdom, unawakened we just gather a lot of information, follow many rituals and rules. In belief, information is acquired merely by following or copying, hence it is not genuine and we use it as per our convenience.

Handed down to humanity through generations, beliefs are constantly being created and modified as is convenient to rulers and priests. After all, it is they, who draw their wealth and power from people who follow these belief systems.
 Since beliefs are created by humans they tend to be greatly flawed and completely misleading.

When we think of ourselves as intelligent beings, why do we blindly accept beliefs? 
Because by nature we humans tend to be spiritually lazy and mentally too clever.

So, what then is the answer?

All that is created will one day perish. This is the golden rule of existence.
When we die, what dies, is the body.  Since the body and the mind are created, they will one day surely perish.


Science, now proves what the Gurus and great Spiritual Masters have always said, 'Everything is mere energy'.  Pervading all existence and all things this life energy is called 'Prana'.

Our life emerges from 'Prana' and this our soul which is a minuscule manifested energy is  part of that universal energy which will never die. This is because energy can't be created nor destroyed, it can only change its form.

Though nowadays erroneously associated only with Hinduism, the mother of all Indian thought is Sanatana Dharma. (The eternal order). It is the philosophy espoused by seekers of the truth. Whatever was realised, has been formulated by sages and transmitted to humanity. Sanatana Dharma's beauty is it is open to all and welcomes being questioned and modified. It has been constantly challenged but always found unassailable, though it is often reinterpreted. 

This philosophy does not restrict the human to a body and a mind, therefore each one of us has infinite potential. This approach helps explain the remarkable achievements of ancient India in almost every field of art, culture, literature, philosophy, mathematics, science, technology, etc. I shall cover more about Sanatana Dharma in more detail in another article. 

In the Sanatana tradition of India, death is called 'Dehe Anth' meaning 'end of body'. We are immortal because our soul is manifest energy, housed within a mortal body. 
When we realise that, perishing of the body is not death, Fear of death disappears. 

Thus when my body perishes, my soul will soar away, only to return afresh in another body in another dimension at a different time, for I am immortal.

As the Guru said, "Nothing is mine. All I have is this breath, this moment." 
When we live each moment with awareness, we realise the limitations of the body and the mind and the immortality of the soul. 

It is all fine and rosy to speak or write in this manner, but how will we know that this realisation has taken place?

When we awaken we will see a transformation in our approach and manner. We will be open, fearless, friendly, compassionate, forgiving, respectful and possess forbearance. This is the natural outcome when we are at peace with ourselves and with all of Creation.

We do not have to adopt any 'ism, for they are mere mortal masks on the immortal soul.

As we survive each worldly crisis, realisation will dawn on us 'I am not the body nor the mind, I am an immortal soul. I am the Universe and the Universe is me'. 

Diligent about Nothing

On the whole, we have been living in the most materially prosperous time in human history. As a result we are freed from much back breaking labour and most physical labour. 

Now we have a lot of free time to do pretty much nothing, so, we should be happy, right? 
Wrong, because, we have so much freedom and do not know what to do with it.

At this time in history, we are at the lowest point in happiness, peace of mind and at the nadir of our mental and spiritual health. Worse, we do not know what to do.

Here we sit, leading lonely, bored and confused lives. But the normal human mind refuses to remain idle. 
Therefore, we indulge ourselves in various forms of masturbation and abuse. Most frequently sexual, social, intellectual, religious financial, political, anything and everything that amuses us and inflates the self. 

We are becoming increasingly narcissistic that is the is the pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of one's idealised self image and attributes.

At heart, we always have a higher opinion of ourselves than do our family, friends, peers and society have of us. In the hope that the world will recognise us if not today but sometime in the future, we record every thought and action that crosses our lonely, self occupied mind and body. 

It is tragic that so much human potential, joy, passion and achievement is wasted by a generation that so diligently records themselves accomplishing so little.

Not a devil's workshop

DEVIL'S WORKSHOP?

http://rainysingh.blogspot.com/2011/12/not-devils-workshop.html

My office overlooks a school. This location provides me ample opportunity to observe children in an environment, which to me appears to need much change.  Children are happy, no matter what we adults impose on them. Their energy, mischief and zest, is infectious and never fails to perk me up.

Feelings of despair envelope me on the other hand when I observe how we invest in our future. The kid’s backs are stooped as they carry their overweight school bags. There are no sports or play area to speak off and the children try to run about in the small courtyard and on the semi covered rooftop for a brief while before they dragged inside to memorize something more. 

I sometimes chat with some of the kids as they wait for their ride.  I learn that most of them are not going back home but to some tuitions / classes and even more study. Children naturally want to play, but sadly their wants or needs are not a consideration for most educationists, parents, or the government.

Most kids get home a little too late in the evening and then they spend time in front of a television set or some video games before they are marched off to sleep much later in the night than they should.

Our current schooling system was born from the needs of industrialization a few hundred years ago.  Further pushed by priests and governments to keep their flock timid and busy at all times children were managed by the motto  'An empty mind is a devil's workshop'. Nothing could be more sad or further from the truth.

Industrialization as undertaken so far is mostly based on maximum exploitation of resources. This approach demands that the majority of people and employees should have facts and not thoughts. They must possess a compliant spirit to take orders and not independence and of course having fun at work or during learning is deemed dangerous. This approach deadens the mind rather than enlightening it. 

As a result many children do not get a moment free, and this suits parents and teachers just fine. Many parents and teachers are anyway absorbed in their own genuine or imaginary issues and struggles.    

I spent almost my entire childhood in a boarding school, and my youth living in college hostels.  The institutions were set in quiet places and free of many of today's distractions.  I had encountered my share of fantastic teachers and petty tyrants. The curriculum was not killing because we did not have so much drivel. Sports were encouraged along with extra curricular activities that helped build character and develop the personality.

One thing many of my friends now look back with incredibility is the amount of time we had on our hands, to do, really nothing.  These were times for fantasizing, and to spend in wonder. The space, and time afforded us the luxury to daydream, to study ourselves and the world around us as we experienced it and the world we wanted to create.

What differentiates humans from lower species is our overdeveloped mind. Our current social and education system clutters the mind, stifling our thoughts and not allowing the mind to breathe. When the mind is overfilled with facts and figures even temporarily, it knocks off large chunks of creativity. 

The end result of this education-lifestyle combination is the output of generations of a well informed, non creative, mentally and physically weak people.

When you live for more than half a century it can be advantageous  to be able to look back and study cause and effects of various actions and inactions. I classify my associates and classmates into four categories;

1.       First the sloggers, they always worked hard and they still slog at their careers and in  their lives.  Un-lived they are often overworked and overstressed. They believe they are avoiding the devil's workshop.

2.      Bums, these folks never did anything then and decades later still pretty much do nothing very useful even today.

3.      Negative achievers who day dreamt and fantasized about the future. Driven by negative influences at home and from their choice of friends and associates they went on to notoriety and often burnt out. 

4.      Positive achievers who continue to achieve success. These folks are often not only generating wealth but also do interesting things. They lead useful and generally more fulfilling lives. Contributing to society many of these people daydreamed away but were guided by a good value system and worked hard applying both mind and spirit. Most of them participated in sport and extra curricular activities

Let's give our kids space and a good value system and just watch them create an interesting, healthy, happy, caring and successful world. 

Pablo Picasso the famous artist said;   "Every child is born an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up" 

A wise man once said; "If you do not build castles in the air, you build them nowhere". 

Interesting thoughts on this subject can also be found at the following two blogs;

·      http://sureshg.wordpress.com/2006/08/18/what-is-meditation/

·      http://odyssey2self-sumiran.blogspot.com/2009/06/empty-mind-is-it-devils-workshop.html