the brand new mind

Happy new year to all of you. It is yet again the beginning of another year and I am confronted with unfinished business from 2008, pending work in 2009 and an indescribable anxiety for the years to come. And to think of it is just the beginning of the year.

Oprah has started the new year by screening 5 episodes of Live Your Best Life in 2009 dealing with food, weight and health, relationships and intimacy, money, and last but not least spirituality. Oprah says in these episodes that she aims to instill into each and everyone how they should live their best life according to how they see fit and not according to how the world wants them to live. Understanding very well that people are confronted with problems in these areas day in day out, year in year out, she has specialists in each field talking about how to tackle their problems. What really touched me in these episodes was the emphasis for HONESTY. Oprah tells us to be honest to ourselves and acknowledge the problems and tackle them, taking the bulls by the horn, so to speak!

We would have had lots of problems in the year that passed. And we are probably anticipating many more problems in the future. But what we cannot deny and cannot forget is the present. The present is all that we have and the sooner we acknowledge that fact, the better. There is basically no past and definitely no future because everything that happens, only happens in the present. Whatever that happened too, could only have happened in one present. Eckhart Tolle in the Power of Now states, when you surrender to what is and so become fully PRESENT, the PAST ceases to have any power.

I wish it was as easy as that. I have had my fair share of disappointments in 2008. I have had my fair share of joys and pleasures too in 2008. How does one be dispassionate about both pleasure and pain and treat them both in the same light? Can I treat the pains the same way I jumped for joy during my times of happiness and pleasure? Somehow pain doesn’t equal pleasure and I find it difficult indeed to look at only the happy incidents that happened to me.

Its okay to be sad about the pains, its also okay to cry about it. Infact it is double okay to acknowledge the fact that you have been hurt. What is not okay is to think about the past, regret our actions and wallow in self pity over all that has happened in the past. Why just acknowledge the painful episodes? The pleasures need acknowledgement too. Pain and pleasure are just opposites of the same coin and therefore cannot be avoided. One young lady in pouring her heart out to me commented on the waste of time and waste of energy and waste of all her sincerity in terms of an unrequited love affair. I would not call it a waste. I think they all serve as useful lessons and reminders to understand people better. She would have got so much joy while she was in that relationship. I think that should be acknowledged and that despite it all she will come out of it smiling.

We are grinning ear to ear when we are in a joyous relationship, over the moon when someone pays us a compliment, jubilant when we have had some success or the other or totally ecstatic when we have done something right. The question is, when will we be happy for no apparent reason? Happy for nothing... Not something to be tackled on a lazy sunday morning but really...think about it! Spiritual gurus all over advocate this ...being happy for nothing, happiness that is non dependent on any external factors. Can we just be happy for being able to wake up every morning, see the the sun rise and smell the flowers? I have not been successful with this so far but i think i am going to try this in 2009.

It is time to put everything behind me and move on in 2009 with fresh hope and new beginnings. Lets embrace 2009 with vigour and excitement. Lets love, laugh and live like we have never done before. Lets enjoy the present moment fully rendering both past and future powerless. Many of us fail to enjoy the present due to regrets of the past and anxiety over the future. And what do you get out of that? A totally screwed up present! Happy new year people!

the peaceful mind

being in a peaceful state is a state of mind. a mind void of agitation, being calm, tranquil and still is considered being peaceful. i would think being joyful is being peaceful too.

how many of us can actually boast of having this peaceful state within us? the world spins at top speed making all of us mere mortals to spin with it and dance to all its tunes and fancies. from dawn to dusk man is working to make a living. we get caught up in this web called life; studying to achieve good grades first, and then going on to secure a good job in the quest to earn a good salary, and then do the 'done' thing like find a mate , get married, have children and then work even harder now to feed more mouths and educate the kids. and this entire web continues.

i have often wondered...why do we need to do this and need to do that...why do we constantly have to worry about whether the money we make this month will fulfill all our needs, or whether the children will finally get their hi-end mobile phones, or whether the house will now get the much needed paint job, or whether the trusty car will cave in sick this time... why is there a need to be responsible and do the right thing? why is there a moral responsibility to stop developers from raping the hills or why is there an emotional responsibility to take care of the old and the aged? why should there be a responsibility to declare your assets and pay your taxes? why/ why?

the other day i thought out aloud...why shouldnt i just do something rash? why shouldnt i just bang my car against the wall or just walk away from my home and kids and just sit at some place till the wee hours of the morning and not to have to worry about whether they have eaten or whether they have done their home work or whether they are warm and well...

i realised quickly enough though that i would never be able to do something like that, never been able to before and never going to be able to in the future too! simply becoz i value my peace and quiet too much i suppose. everyone yearns for a peaceful life and i am no exception. i, to a large extent, seem to equate peaceful with being joyful. all i want at the end of the day is to be able to say to myself i have used this day to the best of my capacity and that i have no regrets whatsoever as to what i have done and that i am at peace with myself and the people around me. being responsible gives me that peace of mind and that happiness.

being able to laugh at myself and all that happens around me wholeheartedly and wholesomely gives me immense peace and joy and knowing i have touched someone's heart in some way or the other gives me peace beyond explanation. being able to be of service to mankind in some small or big way is another thing that gives me so much of peace within myself.

people who experience inner peace say that the feeling is not dependent on time, people, place, or any external object or situation, asserting that an individual may experience inner peace even in the midst of war.One of the oldest writings on this subject is the Bhagavad Gita itself. My Swamiji too always tells us, the mind can be totally at peace with EVERYTHING, and yet it can be at peace with NOTHING too!

peace means different things to different people. to my mum in law, peace means being able to pray, pray and pray. my friend ambi finds peace in being able to find the best butter at the best price. letz finds his ultimate peace when he beats me 21-0 in a badminton match. joey gets her peace when she is able to walk into her class and find that all her students are paying attention to what she says and not how she looks. hmmm... molu gets her peace when she can sleep all day long!

whatever it means to anyone, it is ultimately what everyone craves for. may we all find our peace in some way or the other. Mother Theresa said, peace begins with a smile.

the friendly mind

In our own little ways we have a way we deal with every individual that crosses our path. We deal with parents in a particular way, siblings differently, acquaintances, bosses, employees in a somewhat special manner, lovers in an irritatingly sweet demeanor, enemies in a very cautious way and finally friends.

Somehow friends are the ones we always take for granted. The ones whom we think we can wake them up at 4 in the morning. After all, only if they respond to your phone call at 4 in the morning, do they really matter as friends.

This thing called friendship is such a beautiful bond. I have tried defining it and looking at it from different angles but I never did reach a proper conclusion to it. But I love the way this definition of friendship is written and I want to share it with you.

Friendships are different from all other relationships. Unlike acquaintanceship, friendship is based on love. Unlike lovers and married couples, it is free of jealousy. Unlike children and parents, it knows neither criticism nor resentment. Friendship has no status in law. Business partnerships are based on a contract. So is marriage. Parents are bound by the law. But friendships are freely entered into, freely given, freely exercised.

Stephen Ambrose.

This is so beautifully written and I think it encapsulates the entire nature of friendship to the last letter. But due to its nature, I feel that friendship is always kicked around and seldom given the respect and the attention it rightly deserves. The conclusion is always, after all he/she is ‘just a friend’… please notice the inverted commas. Friends are always referred to as ‘just friends’ and that is really sad.

I like friends of mine who mirror my thoughts before I even say it. I love the ones who know what I am thinking just by looking at my eyes. And I absolutely adore the ones who will do something for me before that thought even crossed my mind. I think that friends are important people in each one’s lives.

As we progress in life, friends who matter come along with us. Sometimes due to the nature of the friendship, some friendships just die a natural death. True friends stab you in the front, they say. But really, it is so important to have friends who will tell you your faults and shortcomings and keep you in check. It is mandatory to have friends who will stand up for you and defend your integrity and show you as you really are because the truth is one can be their true selves only with their friends.

We live in such a fast world and a fake one too where people just whizz along and smile insincere smiles, laugh fake laughs and exchange falser pleasantries. It is imperative to have good friends whom you can pick up the phone and say, humour me, I m feeling really low! Or someone to tell all your days happenings and events and you know that you are not going to be judged or criticized. Basically a someone who will understand your silence and bask in your laughter. Friends are that very special people.

Having said that, men and women treat friendships very differently. Men kick it around like a football while women treat it like a piece of glass. It is the way the world has evolved too that makes it difficult for men to have very close friendships with fellow men as intimacy among men is really scorned upon by many cultures. So men end up having this real impersonal relationships with their fellow friends but I think they have a much better time because men are generally not too sensitive and not too petty about anything. They basically just want to have a good time and enjoy some good comradeship among themselves.

Women on the other hand treat friendship like a piece of glass and it just crumbles into little pieces all the time because women are famous for their cat fights and the envys’ and the jealousies and the pettiness. Nevertheless, an intimate relationship among women is totally possible as it is not uncommon to see girl friends kissing each other or displaying affection for each other.

However friendship between men and women is the most controversial one and can lead to beautiful as well as sad endings. It takes a rare man and a rare woman indeed to have a beautiful friendship between them and it takes a rarer third party to understand the entire relationship. Fear makes strangers of men and women who would otherwise be the best of friends.
Sexual relations between two friends tend to alter the nature of friendship, either by "taking it to the next level" or by severing it. Sexual partners may also be classified as friends and the sexual relationship may either enhance or depreciate the friendship. One went as far as saying, dont ever kiss your girl 'friend' because the intimacy just kills the friendship.

I personally think men vibe much better with women and they are more comfortable sharing their woes and troubles with women rather than men because women will actually listen to them with their hearts and take it upon them to find the best solutions for them. And I have over the years found men to be the best listeners, they don’t judge, they are so generous with their compliments and make the best of friends. Each friend is special. Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. And believe it or not, the length of acquaintanceship is not as important as the intensity and the quality. Some friends leave more lasting impressions and you wonder, where was this one all my life!

Friendships though freely entered into and freely given should not be taken for granted. One has to work on it and ensure that friends are given the due respect irrespective of age or gender.

"A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often - just to save it from drying out completely."

-Pam Brown

If the friend is worth your trouble, I think the friend is worth fussing about and spoilt every now and then too.

My swamiji says, God's world contains enough safeguards for His devotees. There are operative evil influences as well as virtuous ones. By your reliance on God for your security, with that confidence and assurance, evil influences will recede. Dont think bad of anybody or his doings. Think only of the goodness in the people you meet and your mind too will be filled with goodness.

True friends are a rare breed. You can tell by the genuine laughs, the wholesome care and concern and the devotion and loyalty. If you have one like that today, I suggest you hold on to them because there not too many of them left. But before that, be a friend today. It is said you can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

the expansive mind

i know its been almost a month since i blogged anything. my swamiji was here in Malaysia together with his disciples and what can i say, it was celebration of sorts for all of us at the ashram here in PJ and also for all the devotees who thronged from far and near to see him. we also pulled off a half day mega event which saw a strength of 800 participants much to swamiji's delight and my relief! my mind is obviously not expanded enough to imbibe the whole of swamiji's vision and teachings because he had anticipated this crowd while i just worked hard hoping the crowd would come. and the crowd did come making our whole effort so worth our while and it was a power packed session. for those who attended and listened intently, the take come would have been clear... the mind is wide and expansive.

swamiji says, we view the entire petronas twin towers through our little beady eyes. (my eyes are a little bigger) and the entire picture of all its might and glory gets embedded in the seat of our minds. we can now describe each of its detail, the steely magnificence, the height, the width and its breadth. now imagine...how wide is our mind? we are capable of imagining a lot more in this mind of ours apart from the magnificent petronas twin towers. take the himalayas now. the snow capped peaks of the himalayas are all so clear in our minds the moment our eyes makes an impression of it. our mind is actually so so powerful and big. it has the capacity to retain and to reproduce what we see and think of.

swamiji says think of the ganges. the ganges water flows with all the mud and the filth and the muck. he says our mind is like that too. we are actually pure too but we have so many constrictions in our mind. we have desires, we have expectations, we have attachments, we have greed, we have possessiveness, we have hatred, we have fear. drop all of them swamiji says. drop your desires. drop your expectations. eliminate fear. practise detachment. learn to love wholesomely and wholeheartedly.

swamiji says think society. have a societal dimension, swamiji says. he says the moment we walk out of our house, we walk onto the road or the pavement that is built by the society for our convenience. dont you think we owe it in us to give back to society what society gives to you? he says, you are part of your family and your family is part of the society. and the society is part of the country. learn to think society. expand your mind to include the whole world in your mind. be tolerant of society. be loving to society. think nationwide. inculcate national feelings. love for the country, love for your society, love for your family should only be secondary as compared the broader picture.

swamiji says the mind is such a beautiful thing. the beauty of this mind is that it can be happy with all the material objects. and yet this mind can be happy with NOTHING too! lets us all be happy with nothing because at the end of the day we have nothing on us and with us. we came to this world with nothing and we will leave with nothing too. lets train our mind to be happy with NOTHING. understand that happiness comes from within and not from some material object outside. our mind has got the huge potential to generate this happiness and wholesomeness without anything tangible and that is what we have to strive for.

recently, i lost something very dear to me and i was devastated. i almost lost my mind thinking about it. i still do think about it every now and then because i cannot believe that it is gone from me. but it is foolhardy to hang on to possessions and think that it is yours because then attachment and desire set in and before you know it possessiveness has already reared its ugly head and all this can only result in hatred and fear and jealousy. it is a difficult process to train the mind to just look within for all the happiness it needs. but i have started my journey. may i be able to draw the strength and inspiration from within me to succeed. at the end of the day, you are your own master and only you can do it! the mind is BIG enough to heal, to create, to forgive, to forget, to play, to laugh, to sing, to dance, to cry, to rejoice and to do whatever else that you so desire! Jaigurudev!

the loving mind

this word 'love' must be the most misconstrued word in the english language. the fact that it means a lot of things to a lot of people must be the beginning of all the confusions.

the word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure to intense interpersonal attraction. this diversity of meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states. as an abstract concept love is normally described as a sort of intense feeling that one feels for another human being that you cant quite put your finger on. like it defies logic or explanation or even creed or caste . it could be some sort of passionate desire, romantic or unromantic relationship, intimacy or just plain serious liking.

i used to think that love but happens only once in your life and that once it comes, it should be your end all and be all. not true! love is a beautiful feeling that overcomes us every time we give ourselves to another human being. and there is so much of love to be given around. i dont think anyone has a short supply of love in themselves to be given out. and the biggest challenge in love is, i suppose, not being loved back! but somehow the one who loves can only gain by the experience because being in love is such a beautiful experience albeit it being a lil bit of everything not so pleasant in the case of unrequited love. Love has got nothing to do with what you hope to get but everything to do with what you have to give which is EVERYTHING.

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage." Lao Tzu

how does this love develop between two individuals? for me it has always been a combination of a lof of factors. Alain de Botton sums up the lovers language so beautifully that it seems a shame not to just quote him.
The more familiar two people become, the more the language they speak together departs from that of the ordinary, dictionary-defined discourse. Familiarity creates a new language, an in-house language of intimacy that carries reference to the story the two lovers are weaving together and that cannot be readily understood by others.

my latest young reader, mkshiv, quoted Mother Theresa and posed a question to me some days back. she asked me, how do you expect to love God whom you cant see when you dont love human beings whom you can see?
well, love demands certain qualities in a person. the idea of love does not conquer it all but acts of love such as patience, understanding, selflessness, sacrifice and compassion would be vital ingredients in people who love. though it comes across as second nature to many, love does not come so easily to everyone. to a lot of people being in love is baring their soul and making them vulnerable to other human beings. opening one's self to another does not come so easily to many. not to mention all the ego and the pride that is present that stops them from confessing love or even admitting to themselves that just maybe some other soul has managed to touch their heart somewhere. and yes, how do you profess to love God then?

this other friend of mine Chel said to me that true love happens only once and that is the love he shares with his wife. Chel and i debated on this issue of love and i decided to write about it this time around. he says that any other love professed by him would be hypocritical as he would not be able to fulfill his obligations as a lover or a partner etc. i dont necessarily agree with him on this one.

however, Chel's opinion brings me to look at the cultural view held by the Turkish.
apparently in Turkish the word "love" comes up with several meanings. a person can love god, a person, the parents or the family. but that person can "love" just one person from the opposite sex which they refer to as "ask". Ask is a feeling to love, as it still is in Turkish today. the Turks use this word just for their romantic loves in a romantic or sexual sense. if a Turk says that he is in love (ask) with somebody, it is not a love that a person can feel for his or her parents; it is just for one person and it indicates a huge infatuation.

whatever views that you hold steadfastly to, i suppose as long as love does figure out somewhere in your life and in your vocabulary you cant be too bad a person.

Studies have shown that brain scans of those infatuated by love display a resemblance to those with a mental illness. Love creates activity in the same area of the brain that hunger, thirst, and drug cravings create activity in. New love, therefore, could possibly be more physical than emotional. Over time, this reaction to love mellows, and different areas of the brain are activated, primarily ones involving long-term commitments.
Dr. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist, suggests that this reaction to love is so similar to that of drugs because without love, humanity would die out.

In the spiritual sense, love holds a much greater meaning and it encompasses the entire creation on earth. Vedanta stresses the point that all beings originate from the same source and therefore to hate anyone would be equivalent to hating your own self.

My swamiji says, economically one may be below mark, but in giving out emotions, sentiments, in pouring out love and affection, none in this world need be poor, lowly or underprivileged. these sentiments are lavishly available in everyone's heart- be he an aristocrat or a beggar. one has to only to share these. those who do not or cannot extend these, i consider them as impoverished hypocrites.

Its a case where if you have love, you dont need anything else. But if you dont have love, then it doesnt matter what else you have. However it is not easy to be in love continuously and to keep that love. You need to constantly work on it to keep it going. Leo Buscaqlia says and i quote;

"Perfect love is rare indeed - for to be a lover will require that you continually have the subtlety of the very wise, the flexibility of the child, the sensitivity of the artist, the understanding of the philosopher, the acceptance of the saint, the tolerance of the scholar and the fortitude of the certain."

Bhakti is a Sanskrit term meaning 'loving devotion to the supreme God'. A person who practices bhakti is called a bhakta or a devotee. love or devotion is the easiest path to god realisation. this can be attained by wholesomely devoting oneself to the holy people and the holy scriptures and developing dispassion towards worldly things. by giving my swamiji the supreme position in my life I hope i will be guided as to how to cultivate supreme love for the lord, how to develop desirelessness, how to develop dispassion and how to reach the pinnacle of devotion.

Love for the lord makes you see the lord in every thing, in all creatures, in all the moving and the non-moving objects. Wherever we see, whomever we see and whatever we see, we should see the lord alone. Love in its purest form...

However i have always felt that the one who loves himself/herself the best is the one who knows how to love another human being. So above everything, love yourself. Then love everyone else. Whether it is love for the human being or love for the supreme lord, it is giving yourself wholesomely and whole heartedly. At the end of the day, it is the one who loves who is enriched by the entire experience. Love unconditionally, expect nothing in return, be emphatic and remember to say 'i love you'. The love we have in us is God's gift to us. What we do with it is our gift to God.

the tolerant mind

i was at a loss as to what to write when Letz suggested to me perhaps i should write about tolerance and what it entails. well tolerance is such a big word but i doubt whether its definition embraces the broad range of skills we need in order to live together peacefully. well, that is what tolerance basically means.

In its Declaration on the Principles of Tolerance, UNESCO offers a definition of tolerance that most closely matches our philosophical use of the word:

Tolerance is respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world's cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human. Tolerance is harmony in difference.

We view tolerance as a way of thinking and feeling — but most importantly, of acting — that gives us peace in our individuality, respect for those unlike us, the wisdom to discern humane values and the courage to act upon them.

Now thats more like it. it encompasses such a wide spectrum that tolerance should be written in capitals and in bold and then engraved onto everybody's minds. what touched me most is the word respect. respect manages to make itself known as an important ingredient in every aspect of human relationships. somehow there is nothing without mutual respect for each other. big, small, tall, short, black, white, poor, rich, ugly, beautiful and all the other various opposites of the world can do well in their lives with a dose of respect from each other. once respect is there, the tolerance will automatically arise. i am reminded of a saying at this point. i dunno who said this but it is a personal favourite of mine.

"how far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong because someday in life you will have been all of these."

tolerance calls for us to see beyond the act, accept and appreciate whatever has taken place and live in harmony with the world. somehow it is easier to tolerate strangers. when it comes to tolerating loved ones, we always have a problem. is it because it does not matter one way or the other when we are dealing with strangers? why cant we have the same amount of tolerance with our children, our spouses, our parents, our friends and associates? is it a case where we take loved ones for granted and expect them to behave in a particular manner? where is our sense of respect? tolerance comes from respect!

Eric Hoffer says this very beautifully.

"The capacity for getting along with our neighbor depends to a large extent on the capacity for getting along with ourselves. The self-respecting individual will try to be as tolerant of his neighbor's shortcomings as he is of his own."

it is not just relationships that require tolerance. cultures, religions, beliefs and dogmas will thrive with sensitivity and acceptance and tolerance from human beings. how is it that my belief becomes more powerful than that of my friend's? and due to intolerance there is a disagreement between the both of us. why cant we just accept and appreciate it? tolerance comes from acceptance and appreciation!

my swamiji says, whatever you do, wherever you are, with whatever persons, places or thoughts you interact- in everything the same Atma, the same atmic experience, the same sublimation should be felt. Sukha (joy) and Dukha (misery) are both expressions of the self. as you are at home with Sukha, so should you be at home with Dukha. The idea is to sublimate the bitterness of the mind in facing an unpleasant situation so as the love for pleasant interactions. Sukha and Dukha are the final subjective outcome of all interactions in our life. As are laughter and smile beautiful expressions of the Self, so are the tears and grief too. when will you have this samatva? (the ability to see both in the same manner)

Basically if we have the dispassion to treat both joy and misery in the same manner, we would be able to tolerate people, places and events. If we can tolerate the good that brings joy, cant we then tolerate the bad too that brings about misery? If only we understand that it is the same very mind that produces both joy and sorrow. tolerance comes from dispassion!

at home, at the work place, at the market; in short all our interactions in the world depend on tolerance. on how well we tolerate people, places and event.

Rene Dubos said Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival.
tolerance is a quality that everyone should imbibe to ensure the smooth running of your life. the moment one party feels the 'why should i tolerate you?' feeling, that is when unpleasantness occur. rifts in relationships and marriages often happen due to lack of tolerance. then again i always think that if the other party really meant something to you and if you have that dispassion, that respect, that appreciation and that acceptance, wont you just tolerate? wont you just live and let live? wont you just compromise? tolerance comes from compromise!

tolerance has ended up being a much bigger word than i expected. we live in a multi racial, multi faceted society. we all have our own quirks. joey has this stubborn streak that would put even mules to shame. suguna has no sense of timing. sean has this sugary sweet irritating ways. letz has a temper of a tyrant and the jealousy of a green goblin. ram has the ability of making everyone else seem imperfect. the list can go on and on.my quirks are endless too but at the end of the day, i have to learn to live in harmony with all of them. it can only be through tolerance. tolerance is a big word indeed!

the shraddha-full mind

we are trying to figure out what shraddha is. it is a topic so close to my heart that a day doesnt pass without me thinking if i have enough of it.

i grew up hearing this word often enough from my parents. and at that time my understanding of the word was in its basic and common meaning. my mother tongue is malayalam and this word 'shraddha' means putting your attention to whatever you are doing. mom used to say, do it with shraddha and you will not make mistakes. after so many years, i find the word staring me in the face yet again and this time in its true sanskrit form and honestly i didnt think it would have so much profundity.

my swamiji quotes the Gita when he speaks of shraddha saying that it is a man with shraddha who attains jnana. for the uninitiated, jnana actually means knowledge, wisdom or even self realisation. the Gita equals an attentive mind to a knowledgable one. the Gita says, if man has his senses under control and exercises shraddha in all that he does, he would be able to attain jnana. swamiji goes a step further by saying that not only do you need to keep your senses under control, you also need to find joy in everything that you are doing be it a small job or the most serious one. he says if you do not find joy in everything that you do it means that you do not have shraddha. and if you dont have enough shraddha, you are not giving enough importance to jnana. makes sense?

we were discussing this matter in our satsang on sunday and sugi actually made a very pertinent statement. she said maybe shraddha is all about being NOW! being in the present moment! and yes, it is. how can you have shraddha if you are not in the present moment? krish gave us an example of how a student went up to his zen sifu asking to be elevated to the sifu status. the sifu just asked him one question and the student was baffled. the sifu asked him, when you came into my room on which side of the door did you leave your foot wear? the student had to think a moment and contemplate whether it was the right or the left. it straightaway goes to show that the student did not have enough shraddha. he was not in the present moment.

shraddha is so important in every aspect of our everyday life. it is more often the little details that make you stand out as having shraddha. a neat and tidy person can come across as boring and unexciting but the shraddha that the person has towards being all that speaks volumes about the person that he/she is. we are all shraddha-full in our own little ways. i call it selective shraddha. uncle avg in our centre thrives on getting us the best bananas for breakfast. ram is so shraddha-full of the flowers and the way we offer those petals to swamiji. joey has this no compromise shraddha when it comes to anything and everything with regards to swamiji. letz is irritatingly tidy, methodical and very neat with his appearance, his work and the way he speaks. thats his selective shraddha.

my shraddha for details irritates everyone. i might not put the light off when i leave a room or even lock the door when i leave but i will know if the furniture is not in a straight line or if my bathroom is not the way i want it to be. little things like giving and receiving a firm handshake would tell me volumes about the person on the other end. similarly my shraddha for looking a person in the eye when talking! they are little details but they are my selective shraddhas. words spoken is another area where shraddha is so important. more often than not, it is not so much what you say that is important; it is how you say it. i never used to give this area much of an attention as i was always a very direct and matter of fact person. i still am very direct and matter of fact but i am learning to put more shraddha into the way words are delivered because it makes such a big difference to the person hearing it.

shraddha, thank god, can be developed! so lets get going people. lets not be selective anymore. lets have more shraddha and lets develop it in every aspect of our life.

my swamiji says, shraddha is to be cultivated with a view to discover one's own disharmonies, distractions, slips and inattentions and to remove them outright. So, everyday, every moment from now on, i want you to do whatever is to be done, joyfully and lovingly. do whatever is necessary, and do it well!

we have the cue, wait no more!