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.

INTOLERANCE

Is intolerance of intolerance, intolerance?

The answer depends on one's convenience. 

We are quick either to condemn or to support, both in my opinion are bad.

For a moment let's forget intolerance, think about tolerance. This itself is such an ugly word and its meaning is so negative.

We need to respect not tolerate.

Tolerance is always limited and this limit can be breached at any time for any reason, even the most idiotic and frivolous one. 

Anyone who tolerates is abiding time until he, she or they cannot or will not tolerate anymore. 

Tolerance is a negative term, and intolerance which is born out of the inability or unwillingness to tolerate is even more negative. 

Tolerance is a simmering of discontent, and its offspring intolerance  always leads to conflict and destruction.

Respect on the other hand is a positive emotion and attitude. 

It sees the good in the other and hence a desire to yield space and energy, to cooperate and to share. Respect leads to flowering of relationships.

It is better to talk about, respect rather than tolerance and intolerance.

Can't you dress like a gentleman?

During a visit to England, an Englishman asked the great Swami Vivekananda ji, who wore traditional Indian clothes,
"Why don't you wear proper clothes to look like a gentleman?"

Swami ji's response was,

"Maybe, here, its the tailor that makes a gentleman, in our country its character"

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An excess of economic  wealth is as harmful as poverty. Wealthy societies begin to decay because they grow clueless of what to do with their wealth and their time.

Such a society is identified by numerous and elaborate social rituals and an excess focus on political correctness.  This keeps the idle rich and powerful busy and intrigued.

This is nothing new . In ancient Rome, two months in a year would be seen, devoted to exotic and lavish entertainment, this is why the Coliseum was built. It kept the poor enthralled and distracted. 

The greater the disparity in living standards between the rich and the common people, the more complicated, superficial and grandiose the rituals and social standards of the rich become. It also sets the ridiculous standards of success and happiness, to which the poor might aspire.

Practicality is sacrificed at the altar of ridiculous fashion. Character and human values are replaced by gaudy displays of wealth and glamour. So enamoured do we become that we often lose touch with reality. The fake become accepted as valuable and the things of true value are shunned. 

In this world did Swami Vivekananda ji visit when he went to England. He was mobbed by people and seekers of truth. We normally mock the unique because it differs from the collective. The great are nor ashamed of their uniqueness, rather they use into their advantage to attract people to their message and cause.

This also indicates that you can seize all my land and all my resources, but you shall never seize my soul or my beliefs. No wonder Swami Vivekananda ji is the youth icon of India 

I am the universe

I am the universe,

and the universe is within me.

From this realisation,

my spiritual journey began.

~ Gurvinder Singh 

The reflective individual

It is dawn now at the Ashram of Sant Baba Ishwar Singh ji on the outskirt of Dehradun. Rising each morning at 4 am I join the morning meditation and prayer at 4:30. followed by a couple of hours of silent contemplation before breakfast. The ashram provides a perfect place for rejuvenation.


An ashram literally means a sheltered abode. A shelter need not be only of the physical kind that protects the body. A true shelter envelopes also the mind and the spirit, allowing the individual to connect with the life giving energy of the cosmos. Known by numerous names this life force normally called God has to be experienced not learnt.


Only where there is love, friendship, peace and understanding can a house become a home. Similarly an ashram comes alive with the presence of a living Guru. The presence of the teacher/ master called Guru provides the recharging energy and wisdom at the ashram.


Visiting a mere structure has little meaning and acts more like a spiritual placebo, providing a superficial feeling of goodness which soon vanishes leaving the soul and the inner person untouched.


At the ashram my tensions ebb away as I sit here and contemplate and observe the monsoon fury which is so easily absorbed by the forest at whose edge the ashram is nestled.


Pursuing people and things, we are so busy in our daily lives experiencing love, hate, greed, lust etc. Yet we learn almost nothing from our experiences unless we reflect (look back and review) and analyse whatever happens.




Genuinely happy and successful people are often spiritually strong for they are in touch with their inner self. To connect with their inner being, they look inwards and reflect. It is however difficult to reflect on our experiences with the constant and omnipresent din of our social environment. We need a getaway place.


The quest for a getaway is initially a physical place, but we soon learn that it fulfills only a small part of our craving. The fortunate ones learn that the getaway is a spiritual place and within our own very being.


This spiritual place can be found within us but for which a living master is required. This master called a Guru leads people to discover their own inner space. This is the place where we hear, see, and feel not only ourselves but the entire creation. Peace, joy and understanding come to the reflective mind and spirit.


The first part of our spiritual journey takes us only to the inner space where we reflect. This reflection is useful if it is evaluated appropriately. Our reflection is tested against our values acquired from our parents, teachers and society at large. Much of this is material and some of it spiritual.


Like a beacon of light the Guru's teachings illuminates a way forward, helping the individual to choose between right and wrong. The Guru provides the precious touchstone for making the right choice.


It is helpful that each night before we fall asleep and review in a few minutes the entire day like one watches a movie. Reflecting on what transpired, one can judge what should have been done or said rather than what actually took place. This provides the seed for  corrective actions in future words and deeds. 



Truly reflective people exists simultaneously on two planes. They interact physically on the social plane yet their spirit and  mind operates at a higher plane making them happier and enabling them to be more  successful.

Hold my hand

A little girl was walking along a path with her father when they came to a treacherous section. Instinctively the father stretched out his hand to his daughter and said; "Here hold my hand."

The daughter replied; "No dad you hold my hand."

The father was confused, "What is the difference, whether you hold my hand or I hold yours?"

The little girl smilingly said, "If I hold your hand and stumble I may let go off your hand, but if you hold my hand I know you will never ever let go."

---

What a lovely narration I had received from a friend on this father's day. I called up my father to hear his voice and to tell him I loved him and how I wished I could be with him on this day.

Somewhere along the way when we tasted the fruits of success we forgot an important fact. Our achievements were the result not only of our labour but also the investment of, values, wisdom of our teachers our elders and most of all our parents in us. As long as our parents watched over us, blessed us and prayed for us we were invincible.

If put in a spiritual context I believe that each person is nurtured and protected by a protective umbrella of the blessings of our parents and God. I have personally experienced it. Soon after we let go our our parents shunned their blessings ignored their love, we as a family went into total decline. This is also experienced by many people no matter what their age is, who feel exposed and vulnerable upon the passing away of a parent or beloved elder.

Their love and blessing I always had, but I had travelled too far down the road. I worked hard to journey back over many years to become worthy of them. Now with their love, and blessings my life has blossomed once again.




As with each interaction I reflected on this issue and my mind opened a window in which I saw the image of an uncle and his tortured existence. While I am lucky to be able to serve my parents and obtain their blessings and love, a distant Uncle of mine in Thailand is not so fortunate. His parents are not with him and neither are most of his siblings.

He lost the love and blessings of his parents and all his siblings who were older than him. His material growth and his physical /emotional decline started almost 45 years ago with the complete nationalisation of all private assets by the Burmese government in 1964.

As the Burmese government nationalised everything most Indians fled Burma. My extremely wealthy and honourable grand-uncle converted his entire wealth from cash to rubies and arranged to have them smuggled them out from Burma to his youngest son in Bangkok, so that the family could start life all over again.

This uncle receive all the wealth and set up a very successful business. When his brothers escaped from Burma they called upon this uncle who turned his back on his brothers claiming that all he received was a pittance and the wealth that the brothers saw was the result of his personal hard work and therefore they could not expect anything from him.

The heartbroken brothers felt cheated by their youngest brother. They dispersed all over the world and started to rebuild their lives all over again from scratch. They had neither the time nor the energy for conflict and revenge. They simply stopped thinking of their enormous wealth and a brother, as if he never ever existed at all.

My grand-uncle was a giant of an achiever. He was brilliant and hardworking, but age was not on his side. The shock of the betrayal of his son so traumatised him that he fell ill. He passed away thirty five years ago, a sad and bitter man. On his deathbed he cursed his son; " He who has so wrongfully cheated his own family would never ever be able to enjoy the wealth that he had stolen".

It appears from visible facts that the curse has all but destroyed my uncle and his family. He who allegedly wronged his brothers fell seriously ill soon after the death of his father.

For past 30 years this uncle has lost use of his body and he lies on his bed in his fabulous mansion. Surrounded day and night by a battery of doctors and nurses with no friends nor companions. He cannot move and lies on his bed with most of the systems in his body having failed.

The puncture made in his throat by his doctors permits him to breathe and to be fed by various tubes. A sad sight he makes in addition to the almost unbearable eerie rasping noise his breathing makes.

This almost completely paralysed man my uncle, the owner of millions of dollars, but not of his own life and body. He can only move one arm. His torment is magnified by an extremely alert mind as he wallows in his misery. My uncle is prepared to give up all his wealth to make right his folly and greed, alas it is too late. His father and most of his family have passed away a long time ago. He has no one to make peace with.

I know fathers are difficult people and they exasperate us, but if we look beyond the obvious at the sublime we will catch a glimpse of our creator. So starting this father's day let us cherish our parents, tell and show them that we love them.

I have come to appreciate that we must be humble enough to overlook their weaknesses, love them for their strengths and all the goodness they have showered on us and fear them for their wrath.

I pray that all those that have the good fortune of receiving the love and blessing of your parents continue to do so, and those that have somehow lost that love and goodwill will in the coming days have the opportunity to earn their blessings and love once again.

I remember that everyday is 'Fathers Day'