ARTICLES
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BY PRADEEP JOSHI
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1)Self Realization- How do you attain it!
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(In the above photograph Pradeep Joshi is seen talking at India Community Center, Sunnyvale)
How do you define Self Realization? Realize what is body or physique and what is self? Besides the physical body, there exists some thing like "Self" which is an integral part of one’s life which is a guiding lamp and which is always effulgent. To realize its power and impact, one needs to assume that it is not only the body or the brain power that guides our life’s actions but there is something beyond.
Self realization can be defined simply by saying that a person who believes that body and self i.e., soul are entirely two different things, is on the path of self realization or soul searching. Self or the Soul is real whereas Physical body is relative or unreal. What is real and what is relative has to be clearly distinguished. If one can clearly demarcate both the things, then a person is on the path to understand the power of soul or Atman. The more one is aware that both things are different, he is on his path of reaching the state of self-realization. That will enable him to learn more what soul is and how to gain access to it, so as to reach greater benefits of enlightenment. Another assumption is that every one is a pure soul- you and me! That feeling will be a cleansing factor of all the negative faculties one has within himself. With that feeling one can bring in good vibrations in the others and bring them on the positive aspects of life.
Just as the whole Universe presents to us a colossal picture from the macro view point, the body or physique also points at its myriad aspects and the myth, at the micro level. Unfathomable are both the Universe as well as the body or physique with their infinite and myriad operations and mechanism.
How the Universe with Sun and Moon, Planets and Stars came into existence and in the same manner how the physique or body of a human being or animal even plant life came into being on their own is beyond one’s comprehension. Who created the intricate parts of the body of a human being, or an animal, or the smallest as ant, a bird or different varieties of plant life bearing beautiful flowers and fruits are the greatest wonders in our life’s study which is always unending or infinite. It all seems that the scientific infrastructure of Nature governing the planets and the body/physic was available from the beginning of life in the Universe. We could call it as existence of "Law of Nature"- self born or auto-created and it continues for all the time as if it is programmed! Births and Deaths continue and other natural phenomena also occur, without being monitored by any authority excepting the Law or force of Nature! It is as amazing as how electricity is created which in turn generates light and energy!
Secondly, within this intricate physique how life is put into it which is invisible to the naked eye and it does not have any shape is also another exciting phenomenon. What controls its operation is no doubt, breath, which is also beyond one’s comprehension. Who places the breath in a proper manner and who supervises or monitors its constant operation so that man continues to remain alive, is also another unsolved riddle.
In the same way, a man has been able to investigate and research how the Universe is made of, he needs to make a similar investigation as to how a physique is constituted.
This effort leads one ultimately to the study of self or Atman.
Atman or Self-realization is a state of bliss one can attain when one assumes " that state is one of birthlessness or a deathlessness". One gets away from fear of death to a state of vibrant life, from darkness of ignorance to light of knowledge and from an unreal world to real. A self realized person feels that the real one i.e., Atman never dies and it is only the body which deteriorates as one ages. Atman or self is a permanent phenomenon where as body or physique is thus purely temporary and is bound to decay on aging.
Sages have attained the state of bliss through yoga and meditation. To prepare their mind to gain access to bliss, they mastered the true discipline of yoga and meditation. In other words, if one can get mastery over scientific yoga and meditation as taught by Patanjali, they find an easy path to reach the state of bliss. Attaining the state of bliss needs some preparation like renunciation and getting rid of materialistic pleasures because these attract and influence more the mind and actions even though one cannot get total happiness through acquiring them. A multi-millionaire is never contented and still wishes to have more and more wealth and that affects his health and life style as well as his thinking. Or, he might get fed up with the wealth as he might find that excessive wealth is also not happiness. Besides getting over the materialistic pleasures, one needs to conquer negative faculties like Sense pleasures, Ego, Anger, Greed, and Jealousy if one seeks spiritual bliss and contentment and acquire the state of "Sthita Pradnya" as described in the Bhagvad Gita.
With all this background for attaining the state of bliss or self-realization, one can ask why we should at all get into this kind of exercise! Firstly, through investigating into the depths of mind and self, one gets into the realms of vast and infinite knowledge and enlightenment, which ordinarily with a common man’s daily life of stress would have not been possible. At that level, one solves the greatest riddles of life and science and always finds a new path towards any problem. That state of bliss can only prepare the mind to open new vistas of knowledge. Sages, Saints, philosophers and Scientists have found new discoveries and innovations and reached new horizons of knowledge only through a spiritual eye or following a spiritual path.
Why one should aim at Self Realization is also a moot question for all of us. This brings us to the context of "Karma" and theory of "Recarnation" which has also been often quoted in the Vedas and Bhagvad Gita. Karma is not based on Destiny but on the choices one makes in his life time. These choices lead to future "effects" which may carry on in to the next life time. If actions are good, one can assume results that will happen ultimately will be good. Vice versa, if one’s actions are bad, then bad things happen to him. Prarabda karmas are one that are carried from our past lives. Sanchita karma is based on the way you act because of your past life. Agami karma is the karma of present life over which we do have control. One is said to get rid of karma through in-depth
Meditation and with love for God in which case karma can be detached from the Soul or Atman. Although this is not an easy solution, it is said if that happens, "moksha" or
Liberation from this world or mundane life, which is subject to, recycles of births and deaths, can be experienced.
Lord Krishna in Bhagvad Gita states; "O Arjuna, both you and I have had many births and death by rebirth. As a man casting off worn out garments takes new ones, so the dweller in the body casting off worn out bodies enters into others that are new."
Krishna further says "From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one, who attains to my abode, never takes birth again."
Through experiencing and attaining Self realization, one can get rid of the cycles of births and deaths and attain Moksha or liberation or enter into abode of God. If one believes in this theory through the knowledge of Bhagvad Gita, he is supposed to attain the state of bliss and liberation from the world’s miseries. Getting "Moksha" or "Beatitude" is nothing but the State of Bliss one gets in his mind at some stage after going through an ordeal or Tapasya. That is equivalent to saying "getting into Heaven". There is no separate Heaven or Paradise on earth or on any planet but one can seek both God and Heaven in one’s own heart.
Ishavasya Upanishad and Bhagvad Gita deal with different aspects of attaining self-realization. This is an in depth study in itself and needs a separate review beyond constraint of space and time. Also the opening verse in Isha Upanishad contains the hidden truth behind the power of Atman and Brahman, a combination of which leads one to "Fullness" or the achievement in life. (Atman is "Jeevatma" which one enjoys all materialistic pleasures in life after birth and later works towards attaining bliss of mind- going through successfully, the stages of Karma yoga, Bhaktiyoga and Jnanayoga as stated in Bhagvad Gita). When that Jeevatma merges with "Paramatma" the Super Consciousness ( all Supreme Power- in other words, God the Almighty ) in the minds of every one, that really is the Moksha i.e., liberation from the recycles of human birth and death.
What is this World? The following verse in Isha Upanishad explains:
Purnamadah purnamidam
Purnat purnamudachyate
Puranasya purnamadaya
Purnameva vasishyate
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti!
"The invisible Brahman is the Full. The visible (the world) too is the Full. From the Full (Brahman), the Full (the visible universe) has come. The Full (Brahman) remains the same i.e., invisible, even after the Full (the visible universe) has come out of the Full (Brahman)."
As soon as the human mind becomes aware of the world around it, it also becomes seized with the question as to what is the world that so surrounds it. This question marks the
Beginning of all knowledge as the mind will always strive to achieve that "Fullness" in life! Then Jeevatma i.e., Soul or Self in human being merges with "Paramatma" (the Supreme Consciousness) WHO is supposed to live in every Jeevatma i.e., individual Soul.
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2)Destination Shangrila-Aging Gracefully
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Shangrila is not a place for Biscuit Factory but it is a strange place on Earth about which I will let you know, shortly.
I just heard from a senior lady of “Chhajju ka Chaubara” session that her father in law is still going strong with 101 years. It seems he is as good as on High Way 101 with all his speed, strength and confidence not to get out unless and until he completes 125 years. We wish him all the best to live long as many years as he wants! I remember Prof. Karve of PUNE (India) who also hit a century in his age was not prepared to get out till he hit 105, if I remember right. He never hesitated to eat fried things like Bhajiyas or Pakodas at that age. Nutrition Specialists will shake in their grave if they hear of his story!.
I read some where, there are a number of luminaries in different regions of the World some of whom had a long and distinguished life and reached a high water mark in their contributions to the society or the Nation even at their much advanced age. Some examples:
.Actor George Burns won his first Oscar at age 80.
·Golda Meir was 71 when she became prime minister of Israel.
·At age 96, playwright George Bernard Shaw broke his leg when he fell out of a tree he was trimming in his backyard.
·Painter Grandma Moses did not start painting until she was 80 years old. She completed more than 1500 paintings after that, 25% of those when she was past 100.
·Michelangelo was 66 when he finished painting the “Last Judgment” fresco in the famous Sistine Chapel.
·Physician and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer was still performing operations in his African Hospital at 89.
·Doc. Councilman, at 58 became the oldest person ever to swim the English Channel.
·S.I.Hayakawa retired as president of San Francisco State University at 70, and then earned a seat in the U.S.Senate.
·Casey Stengel did not retire from managing the New York Mets until he was 85.
The author of this article is trying to follow his role model.
The title of this article is deliberately chosen as “Destination- Shangrila”. Shangrila is the name of an unknown mysterious place some where in Tibet or Bhutan where people are supposed to live up to 130 years according to the author James Hilton of the famous novel “Lost Horizon”. This book had blockbuster sales some 60 years back. This classic novel was made in to a movie with Ronald Colman and Jane Wyatt.
I am sure, some one from the crowd must have already read this novel.A peculiar feature of this place was that so long as one remains at the site, he or she would Never grow old even though after completion of 130 years. But, sooner he got out of this location by chance or accident will make him grow old so rapidly, that he may not survive for more than a couple of months. The community has a Gate locked and any person requiring to enter has to undergo a thorough medical examination.
Some of our seniors from India at the India Community Center have tried to find out where this place is exactly situated and are exploring with travel agents whether they could visit this place on way to China tour. Their plan is to settle at this place as a retirement Home and once they enter it, they would not return since there is every apprehension that they may not last for long! You can get ready if you wish to visit this place and learn to live beyond 105 years! Of course, do not be “ Yayati” of Mahabharata fame who according to folklore lived up to 1000 years, asking favors from Yamaraj-the Angel of Death that he had many missions to fulfill in his life when begging for extensions in his life tenure. Yamaraj wanted him to suggest some one in his place as he could not return to his kingdom without carrying one person with him. Yayati used to send his ten sons- one by one- so that he will live for long! The moral of this story is that a man never wants to die but would spend on this planet as long as possible to satisfy all his pent up desires, if not greed!
We have over a dozen octogenarians within our own senior group at the community center and all of them have tried their best to maintain their physical and mental faculties healthy never worrying about their advancing age. Some of them represent tower of spiritual strength and have taken a philosophic view of cycle of births and deaths and never worry over their advancing age. They feel they will never die and what dies is the aging body but since they possess immortal soul within them, there is no death. Death to them is like changing a worn out coat to a new jacket. A few seniors were able to walk to the highest places in Himalayas and located those places where Gods once meditated as per Hindu Mythology. They felt they were seeing the splendor of paradise while living on this planet. Some of them did not wish to return from this place but their wives dragged them to return to their town since there were many commitments which they had to fulfill at home before they left this Earth.
What is the secret of all these octogenarians and septuagenarians living successfully over their years still with plenty of confidence and enthusiasm least worried over the vicissitudes of the life span? Are following the reasons?
.Some seniors claim that Yoga and Meditation and control on diet and nutrition
have helped them to live long and they continue to practice it to extend the span of life under the guidance of a famous Yoga Specialist. They claim that on following her advice, they prevented the occurrence of diabetes, arthritis,
backache and stomach disorders!
·A couple of seniors have felt that by engaging themselves in helping the needy and serving them create a lot of alpha waves and they enjoy good health! They feel serving the needy is serving God! “Jana Seva is Janardhan Seva”. They seem
to be blessed by God. Some of our aging but healthy seniors visit nursing homes and hospitals to serve the sick and try to boost their morale. What a lofty goal as of these seniors? They feel that one day another senior will come to their sick bedside and take care of them, in case they provide nursing care to the sick and the old!
·Some seniors boast that they eat fried and fatty food and they never felt sick
all along their past years! They say that never worry over any thing and advise others to keep mind free from stress to maintain good health. They seem to have borrowed special genes from their ancestors. Their ancestors perhaps belonged to the tribe of Hercules!
·A few seniors have expressed that by engaging themselves in writing scores of books they have able to retain their strong memory power and that has helped them to maintain equanimity of mind and their stable health.
·One of the seniors is also considering writing a book on “100 such illustrious seniors at the Community Center” to bring out their stories and the secrets of good health.
·A senior doctor from India obtained another degree MPH in US at his age 80 years. He seems to eat only leaves and fruits to maintain his youth. He travels a lot and being a disciple of Acharya Rajneesh, he feels that one is never too old to go back to school, or change careers or to learn to fly or fall in love.
.Another aging senior was satirical and pointed out as to how some seniors in USA marry at the age of 80 years and use Viagra for rejuvenation. Our seniors who become widowers unfortunately due to their destiny do not marry at their advanced age as 70 or 80 years.In other words, they follow strictly the discipline as enjoined in the Vedas like Brahmacharya, Grihastha Ashram, Vanaprast-ashram, and Sanyasashram. The last two stages are pure celibacy with no focus on senses and pleasure. There is a return of the Rishis in them, and some of them may be designated as Vashista, Vishwamitra (of course not pining for Shakuntala), Agashtya and Jamadagni (with some inborn anger) who are our model Rishis from our Hindu mythology.
·One Senior described how Death could be a beautiful experience and why one
should at all get scared. In his opinion, death is a phenomenon, which should be rather celebrated with all jubilation, if an elderly person is leaving this planet. He felt rightly that one is never dead as Soul is indestructible and immortal.With this daring attitude, he returned safely from his Surgery table to the astonishment of the doctors performing surgery on him. His comment was that he got inspiration from the books he read of Dr.Deepak Chopra and the American Philosopher Dr.Wayne Dyer- who advise people not to get scared or stressed over death.
·One senior walks daily ten miles in silence meditating while walking.
All other young seniors at the Community Center want to follow the life styles of above seniors to get extension for their life.
A senior member, the other day took out an old issue of 'Readers Digest' and came up with the following humorous episode contributed by some reader: “At a weird place in Kazakhstan a country on the north of Himalayan ranges nearer to the Russian borders, one traveler who visited that place came to know that people in that country live any where between 110 years to 130 years. The traveler wanted to know what diet they eat and what they drink to survive so long. Some one in the City directed the traveler to visit a particular building, which had two floors. When he entered the first floor of the building, he witnessed two twin brothers who looked to be 110 years who were fighting throwing chairs at each other, with so much of ease. These brothers were asked why they were fighting with each other. Pat came the reply, that one brother eats all the food which is preserved for the other, safely in the Fridge and he is per force required to starve in the absence of any food left over for him. The Traveler was naturally surprised how much food each must be consuming every day.
Immediately thereafter, the traveler heard more violent noise on the second floor of the same building and it appeared some two other brothers were wrestling and fighting with each other. When the traveler asked a family member in the house, whether the same story of food scarcity had led to the violent fight, soon came the reply that both of these brothers were fighting with each other, disputing over a lady standing by.
Some of our seniors who went recently to China therefore, tried to get down near Kazakhstan to investigate how long people live there and by adopting what means!
The moral of this whole humorous fiction is that our seniors in the community center should never worry about their aging process because, the climate they enjoy in California, the food they relish in the company of their peers especially the Senior Nutrition and also the manner they laugh and enjoy at interactive discussions on subjects of humor in their weekly session of “ Chhajju-ka- Chaubara” at the India Community Center will automatically extend their life span up to 110 years. In addition, Medical facility from the U.S. Government gives them security and confidence to live longer and get over aging illnesses. Therefore, the motto at the Community Center is to grow young and livelong! And congregate at the Community Center with more of smiles, less of anger, with more of appetite and get over all the isolation!. If others want to see where “Shangri-La” is, they should visit India Community Center and watch our illustrious evergreen seniors when they debate amongst themselves in “ Chhajju Ka Chaubara” which really is the most vibrant session! There is no need to go to Kazakhstan or that special place known by name “Shangri-La” as painted in the novel “Lost Horizon” by James Hilton. They should be satisfied reading the great quote by Mark Twain as under:-
"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it does not matter."
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3)In Search of God!
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All of us wonder and think many times whether God exists and whether has any one seen Him!. No single person has explicitly confessed, to my knowledge that he has seen the God and he has a specific appearance, shape and figure etc. In many photographs, paintings and stone or wood carvings, God in his myriad forms has been always depicted as beautiful, each like Rama or Krishna or Sita or Radha their respective spouses having a particular attractive facial feature or appearance. Every one believes that they are Gods or Goddesses as our minds have been so programmed to believe so, from our childhood. We pray and worship them as it gives us happiness and leads us to think and act in a positive manner.
Bhagwad Gita introduces Krishna as the Supreme Consciousness ( Paramatma ) and one has to understand and believe him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Arjuna is regarded as the pure Consciousness ( Pure Soul ) as a human being. According to Upnishads and Gita, God is “Nirvikar” meaning that he has no shape and is invisible. In order to convince a normal person, devotees created some kind of images and paintings to depict him as the handsome and strong. Since this is an accepted fact, one need not say that God as such does not exist. He exists in the form of Super Consciousness and monitors the existence of Consciousness ( Atma ) in the body of every living being. The Supreme Being is “ Sacchi da nand “ and He is supposed to be the Controller over the Prakritis, living being etc., as per Gita.
I assumed for long and came to a conclusion ( as written else where in the previous chapters) that there is some one like Super Power who rules the destiny of an individual as also the entire Universe and he guides our actions. The assumption for existence of God is often combined with awe and amazement as to who would have created this entire Universe or the beautiful World with mountains, huge sea (occupying 3/4th of the World) oceans and rivers along with Sun and Moon, innumerable stars and planets all of which have occupied a specific field and have been assigned with a definite function or role to play. And to our surprise, all these objects are held in balance with a gravitational force which itself is a wonderful phenomenon. All planets, Moon and the Earth including the stars revolve around the Sun at a specified speed and cause day and night in their revolution around an axis or in orbit.
The “human body” itself is an amazing creation with its varied clockwise functions (we say some times a biological clock) with its own cycles of ups and downs throughout the day and night. For example, the whole digestion process that takes place in the human laboratory is a scientific phenomenon due to which food in one’s body gets converted into so many elements like blood, urine, stool or waste, and metabolizes it producing a variety of natural vitamins to nourish the body and brain on which man’s longevity depends. The food so converted gives a continuous source of strength and energy to the human body to enable the man or a living being to function properly. No one monitors this scientific phenomenon that works in the human body, on its own. Only if some thing goes wrong with the stomach or body due to a particular food intake or otherwise, one needs to take the help of a doctor to correct the imbalance.
Who created such a miraculous body and also put life in to it? Who placed the breath in this body which governs the very essence of life through its force? Sooner the breath disappears, life is dead and only a bare body and skeleton remain. Some have wrongly termed this breath as “Atman” which is not true. Breath is only a tool to keep the body alive and it is temporary and as soon as death occurs, breath disappears or it is the reverse. This theory of life does not only apply to human being but also extends to other living entities like innumerable insects, animals -from ant to elephant -besides a large number of species in plants and trees. Who is the originator of the seed that creates life into all these living entities or who at all created these living entities? Again, one can see in every living entity including the human being, that there is distinctness and so much of incredible diversity!. One plant or a leaf or a flower is not similar to another. Same is the case with the birds and animals. Who created this kind of gigantic structure of variety with so much of precision in the Universe? A very small leaf if one analyses, shows thousands of minute grooves as if life is pulsating in every groove! We have not found any logical answer for existence of these features in the Nature as a whole. This amazing phenomena spread throughout the Universe presumably led us to speculate that there must be some “Super Power” playing the role of a Creator! If we assume there is a Creator, then the question arises who created that Creator. These thoughts were no doubt, mind boggling to me over a period of years.
Recently however, I came across a theosophical group which came up with some answers which deserve to be considered dispassionately as there is a semblance of some logic. Let me describe what I understand from their explanation. According to this group, there is no one like God in existence! Since no one has seen a God or a Goddess in any specific form or appearance, it would not be right for us to make an assumption of their existence. Even the scientists and the younger folks would always wish to have some kind of proof to believe the existence of God or Goddess. What one sees and believes is, that some one in the past created a beautiful image of a particular God and Goddess and we believed it in good faith and worship them which helps us to lead a devotional path and gain inner peace.
This theosophical group assumes that from the very beginning of this World, there was already available a scientific infrastructure, in the form of a cosmos as well as human body which were totally equipped or endowed with certain characteristics and functions. For example, the Sun and Moon or the planets are the permanent features and move on their own fixed axis or orbit and have a certain impact on the living beings or the plants or animals, due to their movement. The earthquakes and volcanoes, rains and sunshine take place as per the system, which is already inbuilt in them. One can not come to the conclusion that these were created by God, as some one like God who is the embodiment of doing good things in our perspective, would not be causing any destruction due to the occurrence of earthquakes, volcanoes or Tsunamis! The group therefore concludes that God was neither responsible for creation of this scientific infrastructure nor is He interested in destroying them. If one affirms that God is responsible for all these occurrences, then who created the God or the Super Power himself?
In Bhagwad Gita, Nature is explained as “Prakriti” and the living entity is explained as the superior Prakriti. Prakriti is always subordinate controlled by the Supreme Lord or Consciousness. The living entities are considered as parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord and this is clearly mentioned in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagwad Gita. Material nature itself is constituted by three qualities; the mode of goodness, the mode of passion and the mode of ignorance. Above these modes, there is eternal time and by a combination of these modes of nature and under the control and purview of eternal time there are activities which are called “Karma”. In every field of life, we enjoy the results of our work or we suffer the results. This is called “Karma”.
Ishwara (the Supreme Lord), Jiva (the living being ) prakriti (nature), kala( eternal time)and karma( activity) are all explained in Bhagwad Gita. Out of these five, the Lord, the living entities, material nature and time are eternal. Karma only is not eternal. The manifestation of world is accepted as real, but temporary. It is likened in to a cloud, which moves across the sky or the coming of the rainy season, which nourishes grains. As soon as the rainy season is over and the clouds go away, all the crops, which were nourished by the rain, dry up. So, this material manifestation takes place at a certain interval, stays for a while and then disappears. This cycle of material nature is eternal. This material nature is the separated energy of the Supreme Lord or Consciousness as per the Gita. (Source; “Bhagwad Gita as it is” by Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupada)
An important view accepted by different religions is about the life in a human body or any living animal or plant is that, there is a “Soul” besides the body and this Soul is incorporated in every living being. That Soul is invisible, shapeless, indestructible either through fire or any thing, and it is a permanent phenomenon that pervades not only within one’s body but throughout the Universe. Therefore, the “Body dies but not the Soul!”. This leads us to re-incarnation theory which has been accepted in several religions including Hinduism. This is a philosophical expression in Upanishads or Bhagvad Gita, according to which Body is only an outer cover for the soul similarly as a clothing to a physical body. Each person therefore is in fact, a pure Soul ! If the body dies, soul always remains permanent and may in its rebirth, take the shape of a human being or an animal, insect or even a plant depending on the result of “Karma” i.e., actions he/she has performed in the previous life. “Karma Phal” is a cause and effect. Good actions result in to good “Karma Phal” that is, fruits of good deeds and on the contrary, bad deeds only lead to unhappiness.
Who are then Lord Rama and Lord Krishna whom we all worship and pray for our peace of mind and bliss? They were themselves “ Pure Supreme Souls” and they took birth in the form of human beings and underwent sufferings and demonstrated how bad deeds or actions can result in grave situations and how good deeds can result in a happy or comfortable state of living.
Although every living entity has a pure soul but he or she does not realize this fact. A person is rather unable to realize as he is totally engrossed in materialistic pursuits in his life and he never tries to find out who one is. “Whom am I?’’ is a moot question asked by the great Philosophers like Ramana Maharshi, Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramhansa or even Adi Sankara. One needs to realize that he or she is primarily the “Pure Soul” and his body is only an agent clothing this soul, to play or fulfill a defined role in life. When once he realizes this cardinal principle, he is proceeding towards attaining self-realization. Self-realization is defined as one getting into a devotional path i.e., (Bhakti Marg) and he is in the process of getting into Jnana Yoga (Intellectual Yoga) which when perfected releases him from the bondage of taking rebirth in the World. He is then considered fit to get release from this mundane world and merge into the Super Consciousness in a perfect state of bliss without reverting back to the earth in the form of a human being, animal, insect or a plant. There is also a belief that depending on the degree or level of good deeds one has performed in one’s life span, one will take the shape of a human being, animal, insect, bird or a plant.
In Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna sermonizes Arjuna to get ready for getting into the battle of Kurukshetra for killing the Kouravas or his near relations, step brothers, his teachers, etc. because they are destined to die in his hands because of their deeds “ karma” in their past lives. Here, the enemies are destined to die in the hands of Arjuna on one hand, and Arjuna himself is required under his “karmas” to perform the unpleasant duty of killing his own kinsmen. There is a strange contradiction involved in these actions as it is difficult to distinguish what is a good deed and what is a bad deed. According to Lord Krishna, Arjuna has been enjoined to take the role of a killer as the bad deeds of Kouravas have only one recourse i.e., to get killed from a near relative like Arjuna. Krishna advises him that in order to extricate the subjects from the tyrannies of Kouravas, they need to be annihilated. Arjuna therefore, is expected to perform this duty as
enjoined on him by the destiny. The question that arises is how his action is not considered as something evil?
Possibly, the answer is that Arjuna has to take rebirth in the world several times till such time he prepares himself fully towards Karma and Bhakti Yoga to finally merge with the Super Conscientious Soul (of Paramatma).Krishna while explaining the rationale behind killing the enemies and for Arjuna not feeling sorry for the killing is that no killing really takes place, as the Pure Soul is permanent and it is only the body that is destroyed. The spirit of soul still exists and takes another form of a living being. According to the same theory, one should not lament on one’s death as his Pure Soul always exists and remains all-pervasive. One has to accept death as it is a natural phenomenon after birth or rebirth and it is inevitable.
Some one gives the analogy of a butcher who when born did not know what his role would be but is destined to take up the role of a butcher required to kill or sacrifice animals. Similarly, a hangman is required under the law to hang people sentenced to death by the judiciary as per the administration of criminal justice. Although he kills the people, he is performing a duty and is not committing a wrong action. Whether one likes or not, the duty assigned has to be performed sincerely. Again, the duty assigned to him depends on his own “Karma” in his past life.
Another interesting story narrated by a theosophical group is about a thief or a robber who wrongfully deprives an innocent person with a valuable thing. Here, the thief is not considered as doing wrong thing. But, the man who has lost his valuables needs to console himself that the article that was robbed did not really belong to him. He would have owned or possessed it in his past or present life, through a wrongdoing like cheating. This does not mean that the thief should not get punishment for his theft but the loser should not repent for the loss as the object really did not belong to him nor was it the result of his honest deed in the past or present life. The causes and effects of one’s actions are none other than “ Karma” and the “Phal” i.e., the fruits or results of past deeds.
Similarly, a postman carries letters for the clients and he is not concerned with the contents of the letters he delivers. He may be carrying either good news or bad news of a death or loss for the client. His job just enjoins him to do his duties as assigned to him. In the same way, Arjuna is not concerned with the grief that results to him due to his killing his kinsmen in the battle. Because it is a duty he has been enjoined to perform. As per Lord Krishna, Arjuna has to know that it is the role or duty he is required to play in his life, fighting the battle, as his pure soul remains unaffected due to the action performed.
I found an appropriate verse in Bhagwad Gita while reading recently. Lord Krishna says as under:
" Neither the sense of acting; nor actions, nor connections of cause and effect comes from the Lord of this world. These three arise from nature".
-Bhagavad Gita 5:14 Here, the God himself says that he is not the creator or doer nor is he the enjoyer, and he has no connections with the cause and effect- what we call as "Karma Phal". At the same time, He is also not a destroyer of things. All creations in the Universe are due to the scientific circumstantial evidence or "Nature" as termed by Lord Krishna, but it was that way, it existed right from the beginning.
God does not also create any worries or problems for any one nor he finds a remedy for them. Ultimately it boils down to the fact there is some thing like "Karma Phal" for which man himself is responsible for his good and bad actions. Good actions lead to his enjoyable state and bad ones lead to suffering. He has to himself correct the course of his life.
God himself is a Super or Supreme Consciousness whereas man can only claim to achieve real consciousness and merge with Him, when only he proves through his cycle of births and deaths that he has throughout his existence in every life done only very good things. For this purpose, he has to go through Karma yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga finally and the last stage only makes him fit to merge into the Supreme Consciousness. To demonstrate this process, God as a Supreme Consciousness transformed himself into an ordinary person (namely Rama and Krishna) and went through all struggles in life and perhaps, and I cannot comprehend whether he also had to go through Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga- to reach his status as Supreme Consciousness. This seems to be more implicit than is explicit from what we discern from reading the Vedanta.
It is also interesting for us here to compare "Pure Atman" i.e.,"Shudhatma" with "Paramatma" to understand what is pure consciousness (as a man's maximum achievement) and Supreme Consciousness as a supreme God Head.
The great saints like Adi Sankara, Swami Ramakrishna and SwamiVivekanand had observed that there was no need for searching God any where in the Universe when He lives within you and in others. This leaves us with many questions unanswered. Would every one achieve that state of mind and interact with others with the same conviction? That is a distant possibility as in that case there won’t be any thieves or thugs nor would be there be any need for policemen and judges for administration of criminal justice. In other words, there will not be a perfect peace and well being because men are born to experience through their “Karma “ –good or bad outcome of their past deeds.
We always need to research more and more on the Vedanta literature to comprehend the philosophy that Gita preaches, or what Mahabharat describes, in the own words of Lord Krishna. The scope for learning is endless and unlimited.
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4)Humor In Banking
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Banking is considered normally a dull and drab job. I found in the Cash Department of the Bank, an employee was required to put in strenuous efforts with plenty of counting money- bank notes which were many times dirty through repeated handling in the market. One has to do plenty of figure work while counting others’ money. One got disfigured in the process.
I found too many cashiers and treasurers bald in their young age and some had to wear thick eye glasses. Some looked to have lost their vital teeth, losing power of chewing. A few had developed a paunch sitting continuously before the heap of cash and promissory notes which stinked too much as they had passed through millions of hands in their non-stop journey. All these innocents were unaware how their physique had undergone changes, so fast.
One colleague expressed when recruited he had a rich growth of hair on his head which had disappeared by handling cash. Another observed that due to sitting continuously on the counter, he had become hunchback and had lost some teeth also. When he smiled, one could not make out whether it was a smile or a cry in agony. It was sometimes a pathetic sight to meet and talk to such friends who were working in the Cash Handling Department.
I felt that all these employees at the end of their service career would look more like scarecrows only fit to stand on the agricultural fields to guard the grains. I only have sympathy and respect for these colleagues as they are doing wonderful service to the community at large, without expecting any gratitude!
I never handled cash in my banking career but was required to monitor the safety of cash and bullion in the treasury, periodically. I was slowly following their footsteps.
To console a friend, I once remarked that his expense on haircut should be nil. Pat came a reply that his wife almost forced him to visit a Barber at least once in three months, as the hair behind the neck had outgrown its size. The colleague had on the other hand thought that he was not completely bald. At the Hair cutting saloon however, the barber was confused what was he supposed to do with a client who had scarce hair.
Hair cut was again a costly affair.( Rs.10 in India, in those days it meant too much although in USA, it costs $12 with tips i.e., almost Rs.500). The barber always felt embarrassed to charge this high fee for no labor involved.
I did ruminate over the plight of my cashier colleagues and wondered whether that was going to happen to me? Only a couple of years later, the process had set in me also.
I compared my own photographs which were taken at the age of 25 years, where some one had remarked that I looked like a matinee idol. Perhaps that photograph had clicked the decision of a girl to marry me. When my age numerical reversed from 25 to 52, there was a sea of difference in my physique and general appearance. I started looking like a grand father. That was a travesty of my “hand-some ness”. As I passed through several birthdays, I have realized that I was not too far away from my colleagues and would be joining their bandwagon.
A visit to the Dentist also appeared imminent to knock off a couple of my wisdom teeth when I got sixty. My worry then was whether I would lose whatever wisdom God had given me along with those special teeth! I do not know why some of these teeth behind the front ones, are called “Wisdom Teeth”!
Accounting Conundrums
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Accounting forms an important task in banking. Our Bank decided to recruit people who did not have accounting qualification for handling accounts. This was more on an experimental basis to give opportunities for candidates to pass in their subjective tests and take up any job in the departments. Such employees could not be always trained to handle accounts. They got confused with debit and credit entries. They never understood why profit should appear on the liabilities side of the balance sheet and why loss should feature on the assets side. Any training to such people was futile. If allowed to continue in the accounting department, they would rob Peter to pay Paul for not passing the correct credit and debit entrees in the books of account. We transferred such trainees to other departments where accounting was not involved.
Computerization of accounting has since made the accounting tasks easy, over the years every where including the banks. Now an Anthropologist can also work as a Cashier through the aid of Computer Software!.
Our Tryst with Dacoits On Inspection Duties
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Once, I was traveling with two other team members in a dacoit-infested area in the Bhind and Morena districts of Madhya Pradesh when we were supposed to inspect a couple of banks in these districts. Those days, bus transport was one flexible mode of transport for traveling from one district town to another. Trains would be at odd timings.
While our bus was proceeding towards Bhind, on a lonely stretch of road which passed through ravines and mountainous terrain, some local dacoits spotted our bus and stopped it, pointing their guns at the bus passengers.
Seeing us better dressed than others, they reached us as potential victims of their booty on that day. We were naturally shocked and were at our wit’s end. Our voice became meek and we were looking at each other with all fear writ large on our face. The other passengers were also equally shocked and did not know what would happen with those 5-6 ferocious looking dacoits with heavy body, whiskers and red eyes.
They targeted us for demanding money and valuables including our watches. When they saw our steel containers with our bank’s name and address label printed on the top, they were visibly happy assuming that they contained a good treasure and asked us to open them. Who will not check when they see the name of the Bank on a steel trunk? They thought that we were transferring money from one bank to another, incognito. Our steel bag made us more vulnerable.
When we opened the Steel trunk, they were surprised that they were filled up with blank inspection forms, with no trace of currency, therein. They were so exasperated that we thought that our days were numbered. But, our presence of mind and sharp wits helped us from the crisis. We firstly explained to them that we work for the rural poor and our main object of this travel was to find out whether or not, the poor farmers received enough credit from their local cooperative or credit unions for their farming activity. These Dacoits strangely, looked at the poor with deep sympathy (because they also had passed through acute poverty before taking to dacoity) and sometimes even distributed a part of their booty to the poor to get their protection during their local hide-outs.
After some time, they demanded our watches and money. We took them out and handed over to them, to avoid further confrontation with them. Their leader was egoistic and threw them back to us, yelling at us “If you guys bring these steel bags with no money, we will teach you a good lesson”.
Some local bus passengers also seemed to sympathize with us that we were helping the farmers. At that moment, all of us heard the police sirens as the Cops were always on the move to spot the dacoits and arrest them. On hearing the Police Patrolling sirens, the Dacoits immediately jumped out of the bus and escaped. We were thus saved with grace of the Providence. More than humor, that was a spine chilling experience for us.
There were further shocks and surprises for us when we reached our destination to attend to our regular work-schedule. We learnt that the same dacoits or their accomplices had committed burglary in one of the banks we were to visit and had already slashed the ears and noses of some local directors of the bank, to fleece them of money.
Looking to such unforeseen calamities, we had to be extra careful and vigilant in our tours in the dacoit-infested areas to avoid any possible catastrophe. Our bank agreed to heavily insure the officers doing such inspection duties. Our family felt that was in no way, a substitute for the possible fatal risk which one could run into!
Verification of Loans
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One of our tasks was to find out whether farmers availing of loans, really used them for the purpose for which they were sanctioned. Otherwise, they would not have a regular cash-flow under the project handled by them, to repay their loans. We came across a few amusing incidents when our team went to some villages for spot verification of assets acquired through the bank loan.
Loan for Sinking Well
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At some village known for delinquent borrowers, a couple of them had sunk a well some 6ft. deep with a loan from local bank and had left it, half-done in that stage. We felt that there may be some practical problems in not completing the project. Before we appeared on the scene, the concerned borrowers had fled from the place. A few on-lookers in that village firstly explained that the borrowers had lost all their money in that well.
A few onlookers in that village explained “that the borrowers had literally lost all their loan money in that well”. We were perplexed because some farmers really faced the problem of failed wells, not finding water even after deep digging, they will incur losses and will ultimately default the bank loans.
When we started sympathizing with such farmers, those very local people laughed at the episode. They exclaimed that the borrowers had lost their bank money not while digging the well, but by gambling with the cash they had received. In order to escape the Cop’s eyes they had dug only a half-sunk well and used it as a hide out during the day and night. We were really taken back by this story.
Loan for Poultry-farming
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On another occasion, we met a borrower who had availed of loans for poultry-farming. When we went to his farm, there were no traces of chicks or hens or of that category to be noticed. At our cross examination, the borrower confessed that at his daughter’s marriage, the son-in-law and his relatives demanded entertainment and a sumptuous dinner and as he had no ready cash, he fed them with the project chicks! This was another real story of delinquency of the bank loan.
We had no other alternative than writing of the small loan. We were shocked to come across such instances but became wiser to lay down strict rules for monitoring the use of loans.
Loan for Live-stocks
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When my two other team-mates once went to a locality to find out whether loans given for purchase of cows/buffaloes were rightly used or not, by the concerned borrowers, their experiences made us laugh heartily!
A few borrowers showed them only calves or young ones, when a loan was meant for acquiring a fully-grown up milch animal. We found out that the credit union had disbursed to such clients, a small amount after deducting the previous dues which had remained unpaid. This was indiscreet on the part of the bank’s staff to recover loans in this manner. From whatever small money remained in hand, the farmer could not have purchased a grown up animal. He had purchased only a calf!
Who is to be blamed for this maladjustment of the loan amount? The farmers had reasons in not paying the earlier dues for reasons beyond their control. Either the crops had failed or some of his animals had died. In some cases there was also a misuse. All such deficiencies noticed during inspection pointed at the need for streamlining the loan policy and procedure to avoid recurrence of such instances.
At some other places, some borrowers tricked our teammates by showing the same pairs of cows/buffaloes at different spots. The same animals were owned by three or four borrowers, with one loan amount. The other loans were misappropriated!
Our colleagues could not understand this trick. To them all cows and bulls looked the same, unlike the human beings.
The borrowers did have tin-plate tags in the ears. Unfortunately, the ears of animals were required to be pierced, under loan rules by punching their ears and placing a tag indicating date of purchase, owner’s name. This was some what harsh to the animals but did amount to cruelty to them. Our inspectors could not go near the animals and scrutinize the names of owners or cows or buffaloes. The animals never allowed strangers to go near them with their names which were either named after rivers or the local mountains like Ganga, Jamuna, Sahyadri, Parbat, etc. Our inspectors could not take the risk of screening the tags tied to the animals’ ears. In other words, “they could not take the cow or bull by its horn!”
I was amused by the episode narrated by my one teammate that “buffaloes or cows looked alike” which made loan verification too difficult. Was it a crisis of identity?
My another South-Indian colleague who listened to this story, came up with a more interesting one. He explained, when he first landed in Delhi from Madras, he used to see a large population of gentlemen with turbans and beards, most of whom looked alike and he faced considerable difficulties in identifying a few such friends, in the crowds in the beginning. He used to greet and talk to wrong people and allowed the right ones known to him, just to pass by, simply staring at them. I remembered, same thing happened to me once, when I had gone to Japan for a visit as most of the people there with the same height and almost similar facial features (flat nose and small eyes), were difficult to be identified for most of the time. By the time, I started identifying them, I had to leave the country.
More than creating laughter, many of us, face such problems of identity crisis. Sometimes we may either not remember the names of the people we meet and at other times, we may struggle to place them where we had met them!.
Loan for Apiary (Bee-keeping)
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Another team-mate got himself bitten severely on his face by the bees, when he tried to open the door of a wooden box where the bees of a loanee were housed. He wanted to see how many bees can fit in, in that small wooden box and how honey got formed in the bee-hive. Perhaps, he also wanted to distinguish the Queen Bee from others and the category of “drones” in their group. He had never realized that although the bees were reared and domesticated, there was a technique in handling them and one could not just go near them and interfere in their activity!
Apart from a few hilarious instances, some of which turned out to be mock-serious, our team witnessed a few other funny incidents during performance of our duties in the rural scene.
The Indian farmers are proverbially known for their simplicity, honesty and hospitality. In one of the villages, when some farmers (who were borrowers from a local credit union) learnt that our team was visiting their village on a specific day to inquire of their difficulties, they wanted to welcome us, spreading a red carpet for us.
As they sighted our motor vehicle from a distance, they stood up in line, with a few flower garlands and bouquets (this is an age-old custom in India to welcome and respect VIPs) and a village music band was playing with hotch poch of Hindi Movie tunes.
We thought that there was a marriage ceremony and our vehicle was interrupting the marriage procession. We tried to divert our vehicle aside on the ramp. When those villagers proceeded towards us only , we were taken by surprise.
One of their leaders came forward and made a welcome speech to greet our team to meet the local people. We confessed that we are not VIPs supposed to receive such a welcome in performing our public duties and asked them not to take any photographs of ours in that environment. We also made it quite clear that we were “barefoot bank managers” wishing to know their practical difficulties in credit delivery. We will be thus, interested more in knowing them and their problems, rather than receiving garlands and bouquets.
Much to our embarrassment, they forced to accept the garlands along with the accompaniment of village band music.
The leader of the farmers’ group, announced that they always receive guests with similar gusto and there was nothing special in our case. He also expressed that refusal of their hospitality amounts to humiliation of all farmers’ class who had gathered on the spot. Then, we accepted those garlands without actually putting them on our necks and handed over the bouquets to some of them.
We wanted to know from the gathering as to who were those farmers that had benefited immensely from the Bank loan and had repaid the loans fully on the due date.
To our surprise, none of them raised their hands to demonstrate this achievement. Some of them pleaded that they faced a severe drought conditions in the village and they had no savings from the crops to apply for repayment.
On the other hand, there was no history of drought during that year in that village as per the local revenue authorities. It therefore, appeared that the defaulters who were mostly rich had no intention to repay the loans even after benefiting from the loan amount. Such farmers pleaded with one omnibus reason of drought and under-production of crops. Such borrowers spoiled the credit discipline by taking a non-challant attitude.
We had therefore, to strengthen and streamline our procedures to recover dues from such recalcitrant borrowers.
While this incident created some what a hilarious scene with the village borrowers entertaining us with the local music band, with garlands in hand for us, with a political speech to appease us, we had to play our own responsible role to educate them as how to utilize the bank loan and improve their economic lot, while meeting obligations to the bank. We had also to convince them that if they did not repay their dues, other honest people who had invested their hard savings in the banks as deposits will lose them.
After having a pep talk with those borrowers, we tipped those musicians who were trying to entertain us, with a non-stop medley of Hindi Movie songs. They were not the borrowers from the bank but were merely hired to please us.
Meeting groups of farming community as a part of our official duties presented innumerable situations of the above nature, which were a learning experience and funny.
What conclusions, can we draw from the behavior pattern of the typical class of Indian farmers living in the rural hinterland of India?
The farming class, by nature is simple and honest. In their farming business, they do face ups and downs, as in any other trade or commerce. Indian farming is greatly dependent on the Rain God and if rains fail or if some pests affect their crops, their repaying capacity is severely impaired. Each situation needs to be carefully studied by a creditor while postponing the loan repayment or writing it off, in crisis situations.
Along with the honest borrowers, there are also dishonest and delinquent farmers who consider the bank money as a charity as freely available. Even if many of them are affluent and have enough surplus cash to repay, they are reluctant to meet their obligations to a creditor. Such people deserve a different treatment. Our conclusion should be not to classify the entire faming class as dishonest and bad.
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5)Death – An amazing phenomenon!
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As per Hinduism and according to Vedanta literature, man passes through the cycles of birth and death. When one is born, death is sure to come, although one does not know when. Humorously, one says that a person is born with a return ticket in his hand. There is surely birth control but none has any control over death and in no case, can stop its occurrence. One cannot also foretell when death is likely to come to him and snatch him away from his life.
Man has made many scientific inventions over ages but none has been able to find out the exact tenure of one’s life and at what time and date his death will occur. Why there is so much mystery behind it? That is a moot question for us to ponder over.
Death can be a sudden phenomenon or it may be a lingering one over many days, months and even years. Death cannot be any one’s fond wish if a person wants to die, sooner or later. For a short cut to his life, he can of course take poison or commit suicide to end himself. But it happens in the case of many people that at the last moment, they are so much scared of the pains caused by the impending death, they abandon the plan. Suicide is a crime as per Law and it can never be a device for dying a natural death. It is in a way good that Death cannot be predicted as otherwise, one would die even before it comes up, with the shock of its being confronted.
One believes that normally, the maximum age of a person can be one Hundred Years although there may be exceptions that one has outlived 100 years and survived for a few more years like 10 or 20 at the most. The constitution of the body or physique itself is so made that each part of the body gets weaker and weaker as one gets older leading slowly towards degeneration of the physique culminating in the end of life. Upanishads say that
go on doing some good deeds helping the needy and disadvantaged to prolong the longevity of life.
Puranas say that Yayati” of Mahabharat fame who according to folk lore lived up to 1000 years, asking favors from Yamaraj- the Angel of Death that he had many missions to fulfill in his life when begging for extensions in his life tenure. Yamraj wanted him to suggest some one in his place as he could not return to his kingdom without carrying one person with him. Yayati used to send his ten sons- one by one- so that he will live for long! The moral of this story is that a man never wants to die but would spend on this planet as long as possible to satisfy all his pent up desires. Greed for money, sense pleasures, power over others, are some of the factors for which a person wants to live longer, as much as possible.
Deathlessness or “Moksha” or “Mukti” is only a stage that can be achieved through belief in immortality of Soul i.e., “Atman” or Pure Consciousness. Depending on the good deeds one has done, perhaps, when one’s Soul leaves this mundane world and merges with “Brahman” i.e., Cosmic consciousness, the Cycle of birth and death can come to a stop. There are a few glorious examples of some great people and saints dying when young like Adi Shankara, Sant Dnaneshwar, and SwamiVivekanand who perhaps felt that they had certain noble missions in their life and they were achieved through their actions. They therefore, wished that Death is the finale and a proper course when the
physical body has no other goals or attachments. These were the great Saints who believed in the Vedantic teachings that this whole world is unreal and Self Realization of merging with the Supreme Consciousness is the absolute Truth! A Sanskrit Shloka goes “Brahman Satyam, Jagat Mithyam”. Many are confused how one call this World and the life on the planet as unreal, when we experience so many great things of happiness or sorrow! The explanation is that our physique is temporary, and the life within it is so volatile, it can end any time without prior notice! Again, the physical world is also not permanent as it is subject to several disasters like earthquakes, volcanoes, Tsunami or a dangerous disease like plague which can diminish the life on the planet in no time.
There are also instances in the Hindu Mythology that Bhishma of Mahabharat possessed the rare boon of dying as per his wish at a time and day that suited him. That was termed as his “Iccha Maran” death as per his wish on the day and time he desired.
Death is a great leveler as Shakespeare said. Every one gets nervous and is scared when one thinks of this phenomenon or when one has to go through the dying experience. The fact that Death has not been conquered by any research scientists all over the world during the last five thousand years, points to the uniqueness of the Almighty or the Supreme power who has not as yet bestowed that power and authority to any one person in this mundane world. Enormous efforts have been made to create and give birth to new siblings by the scientists. Transplanting the genes from one animal to another and creating a living being through transfer of sperms from a male to female are being experimented. Cloning is the latest invention. When these are being researched, none has however, succeeded in reviving a dead person or an animal. Who can beat therefore the Almighty in this technique? In a way, it is absolutely a saving grace that no human being possessed this skill as otherwise; autocrats like Hitler would have remained cruel throughout their life. The Puranas also tell the story of Hiranya Kashyapu (father of Bhakta Pralhad) who did penance of Lord Shiva- who is also known as God of Death for making him immortal. When God refused to answer his wish, he asked for a strange type of death; i.e., not by any man or by an animal, not on any land or water, and not during any day or night. By demanding this kind of wish, he meant that he could ward off his death, as Lord Shiva would have to grant him immortality. Shiva ultimately acceded to his request but Lord Vishnu had to devise a proper strategy to overcome all the barriers that were placed against his death. He selected neither the day nor the night but in the evening, and He took the garb of a human body but the face of a lion and then he came out of a stone pillar to take his life as he had become a tyrant harassing his own son- the devotee of Lord Vishnu and others such as his subjects due to the powers he had obtained from Lord Shiva through his sheer penance. That is a part of a mythological story to indicate how the powerful kings who were principally the demons or the “Rakshasas” played havoc with their own kith and kin and their subjects who did not obey to their unreasonable demands.
It is a good conclusion that so long as the human being does not conquer death, he would be always subordinate to the indomitable powers of Nature i.e., God. God himself in the “Avatar” (guise) of a man as in the case Lord Rama and Lord Krishna embraced death as a natural phenomenon in order to demonstrate that any person once born has to die. These Gods could not have stayed immortal since they themselves appeared or were born as human beings.
As one grows old, he is always afraid of or is nervous over the death. What should be his attitude towards death? Can we compare the death of a person to a Computer Crash in the lexicon of modern age language of cyber space?. We can draw analogy between the human body and brain to a giant computer with a powerful Hard Disk of plenty of Giga bites of Memory supported by intricate or sensitive chips. The other day, a Doctor friend of mine explained that the brain contains billions and billions of cells and neutrons and therefore, the brain is the powerhouse for all the flow of thoughts to the human mind or brain. They guide the action, moods, emotions, sentiments, etc. Again these cells are stored when the birth of a human being takes place. There is no question of their further growth or addition. But, the cells die every moment in hundred thousands. This loss does not make any difference, as the storage of cells/neutrons is so high, it lasts for the whole lifetime! Is this not ingenuity or a miracle created by God or a super power?
Almighty Himself seems to be an unbeatable hardware and software Engineer for having created the intricate Human Body with an in-built Soul as the main chip with innumerable accessories for its systematic function. Almighty thus, seems to have followed an ingenious device in creating different brands of human computers with various sizes of hard disks and memory chips. That is how some one lives longer and some one for a shorter period depending on the metabolism he acquires from the Gene. Does the human chip (Gene?) decide the durability or longevity of one’s life?. The time factor also seems to have been so built into the system that whatever is done to save a dying life through all human effort, the life does not survive. Like the 21st Century Millennium Bug, the human computer ever faces a challenge of resolving the unanswered question of Life & Death. Many a time, no individual can decide or know what would happen to him or her at any point of time! God seems to have kept the research scientist always guessing about the marvel of this Godly Science!
Without getting into the polemics of this Life & Death question, which is incomprehensible to me, I would rather prefer singing the greatness of the Almighty for his rare powers of creation and destruction. At the same time, He steers each human towards “stability” making him responsible to perform a set of duties while he survives on this planet. Does this lead to a conclusion that he guides every one’s destiny?
Another school of thought is that a person’s tenure and state of life- happiness or misery- depends upon the theory of “Karma” which is the running theme of Upanishads and Bhagwad Gita. All good deeds lead to a “good Karma” and bad deeds to a “Bad Karma”. Human sufferings are mainly attributed to bad “Karma Phal” i.e., fruits or results of one’s deeds in the previous life or even in his current life. “Karma Phal “ is a phenomenon of cause and effect. However, it baffles me that although great saints like Ramakrishna Parama Hansa or Ramana Maharshi who led such a pious life and had achieved self-realization, why they had to go through the deadly disease of Cancer? Does it mean that they also believed in the theory of Karma? Or they wanted to demonstrate to the common man that the body or physique is not at all important and what is significant is one’s immortal soul!
Why even Lord Rama and Sita who were supposed to enjoy the fruits as King and Queen, as also the virtuous and the great souls worshipped by us as God and Goddess had to suffer twelve years of living difficult days in the thick forests without any comforts, sustaining on herbs and wild fruits? Were they born with a past record of bad deeds so as to lead such a life of sufferings and agony? Why Lord Krishna’s life ended with an arrow from a hunter in the forests? While depicting the lives of these Gods, the authors of Puranas wanted to convince the common man that even Gods had to live as human beings and go through all sufferings and happy periods due to their own respective bad and good karmas!. Some of these questions are very baffling and raise a controversy in our minds so as to seek the proper answer.
In view of the mysteries of Death, what should then, be the attitude of a person? The answer is, Death is as natural as birth and one should not lament if it comes either early or late in life. Especially, as the “Atman” or a Soul of a person is indestructible and is immortal, the physique should be treated as purely a temporary device enabling a person to live a specific period on this planet, and which is subject to gradual degeneration as one ages. Gita says in that case ‘throw away the garment which has become useless over its use for many years as your Soul never dies”.
Many a time, the physique of a person gets disabled or dies prematurely due to occurrence of a serious disease or an accident on which there is no control. One should therefore, never lament if death comes in any way. On the contrary, Death could be a beautiful experience and why one should at all get scared?. Death is a phenomenon which should be rather celebrated with all jubilation, if an elderly person is leaving this planet after enjoying a certain period of time!.
In order that death results in peace and tranquility, a person has to train his mind continuously to relinquish all attachments with the mundane world; in other words with wealth, property, near relations, etc and embrace death with open arms as if it comes naturally or suddenly. Some one said that Death is an amazing phenomenon if it comes as of old age and should be celebrated to enhance the sublimity of the departing Soul! It should therefore, be never lamented by the near kith and kin!
final word
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If one follows a spiritual path as adumbrated in Gita, one can certainly eliminate the undue fears of Death. This fear, as Gita interprets, mainly emanates from one’s attachment to materialistic things which one acquires or possesses, in his struggle for existence. This attachment includes worrying about one’s own life and that of one’s kith and kin, near and dear. One always gets worried what will happen to these earthly possessions or the relations, if one suddenly dies. Gita therefore teaches the philosophy of “Vairagya” i.e., “Detachment” as one of the possible solutions to eliminate or at least control the fear of death. This teaching does not mean in my opinion, that one should not care for his near and dear and also shun all the possessions which one would have rightfully acquired over the years for one’s own survival. These materialistic assets, which are of the nature of a house for living, some savings to take care of one’s living necessities of food, medicine etc cannot be done away with. Possession of these is in any case essential to reduce total dependence of an individual on others all the time and at least especially in the aging process. The only qualification for acquiring these possessions should be the honesty and integrity and not a wrongful appropriation of others’ possessions.
Deep concentration and through it, to Meditation, as one’s ultimate goal towards God realization is a good habit. In simple terms, this habit would not only help preserving stability of one’s health and mind but will eliminate avoidable stress and fears of impending death. With this attitude, a person can acquire the power of dying as per his wish and at the time and the date they like. We have glorious examples of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba and also Shri Raghavendra Swami of medieval age who believed and practiced spirituality in their daily lives as per our Vedantic literature. Both of them took “Samadhi” advising their devotees to make preliminary preparations for their final departure much in advance. It appeared they received their “Outreach” “Pushpak Vimaan” from the Supreme God to travel to Vaikuntha- the so-called Paradise of Gods.
(Writer is a Former Senior official of the Reserve Bank of India. He is also deep thinker and active Community worker. He worked as Commissioners on the several advisory commissions of the Santa Clara County,including on the Sunnyvale City Council. He is also at present program Director of India Community Center, Sunnyvale.)
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