IS EQUALITY A MYTH?

A few days back, a celebrity feminist said in TV that the world would be a better place if “every one is treated equally.”

Her emphasis was obviously upon women empowerment and equal rights to women. I liked her views. Really, there exists a colossal difference in the way opportunities come to men and women, the problems faced by them, the way they think, talk or do a particular job! Suddenly a thought dawned upon me. No matter how many times do we scream, how many effigies we burn demanding equality, will there be equality? Is there really anything like equality? Let’s observe carefully without being biased to any ideology.

Science clearly states that no two objects in this universe are absolutely equal in all aspects. Even the identical twins are similar, not the same. Every leaf of a tree is different. Every single human is different. Every one has a gift! A king size Pandora box which is full of possibilities! Man is a container of infinite potential! Each one of us is born with certain inherent traits. So every individual is unique. Again, from a religious perspective, we all agree upon the fact that God/Supreme Being or the Creator is One and Unique. There is none like Him/Her. So it is but natural that we being His creation, are One and Unique in ourselves! We possess the same spirit as He has. We have unique capabilities, different tendencies and different ways of thinking and understanding. There is nothing equal in this! And that’s where the beauty of life lies. Isn’t it? Rather to make everything equal forcefully would be a problem!

Those men who talk about equal rights to women, they have not and will never experience the pain a mother feels while giving childbirth! Raising a child is not a child’s play! I dare any man to go through (if they can) the intense emotional and psychological ups and downs that a woman feels every month. The women naturally are more tolerant, more patient and more receptive than men! In the ancient India, the women were called by the name Devi which literally means a Goddess. Who are we to bring them down to our standards???

I understand that now a days, the plight of women in society is very depressing. We are living in an era where scientific discoveries have reached the pinnacle but women are not safe in the streets. But that doesn’t mean that women have to be trained, shaped and made to think like men! They have their own inherent and natural traits. If for the sake of empowering and equalizing, we end up destroying their inherent attributes, aren’t we actually deceiving ourselves? Let every woman and man be trained, educated, empowered as per their own aptitude , traits and inherent tendencies. Let the gifts within us bloom to the full. Let all of us be unique in our own ways just like the different seasons. Relaxing and Refreshing at once!

Religion — a healer or a killer?

A recent study showed that more than anything else, people die in the name of religion. It is so surprising to note that more than any kind of natural calamity, it is the sword of religion which takes the lives of fellow humans! Every sect is busy vilifying the other. Everyone is hundred and one percent sure that they are surely the ones chosen for the reward hereafter, the juicy fruits of the paradise or the cool, sweet water of the eternal streams that flow there. And the other sects are labeled as fallen, kafirs or heathens.  The same story goes on and on and on, though the languages and the versions may vary.

Naturally, a question arises in our minds. Why did God, the All-Merciful, Benevolent creator go on with such a disastrous plan of destroying His best creation? And that too, in his name? To find out the answers I decided to do a more in-depth study of the world major religions. Astonishingly, they speak the same truth! Of course each according to their own time, region and the circumstances.  I am not providing the references here as it shall increase the volume of this post unnecessarily. I shall be posting the references in my later posts.  But in a nutshell, every religion has the following key points.

•God is one, without a second. (Although many religions believe or are said to believe in polytheism but if we look closely, we may find that in actuality they are propagating a different form of pluralism and not polytheism.)

•Prophets are the messengers of God. (It’s not necessary to call them prophets. One may call them Rasool, Avatar, Navi, Messenger or anything. Their job is to deliver the message of Almighty to the mankind.)

•There is always a promised Messiah or the latest advent whose signs are said in all the scriptures like codes. That latest advent shall unify all the sects as we understand by doing a comparative study on all the scriptures.

•All the scriptures of all the religions teach us to love, peace, and tolerance. Confusions arise due to lack of understanding and often misinterpretations.

Often a single verse is picked up without the context and is manipulated and presented distortedly to the common mass. This creates a veil over the understanding and severely affects the religion. People who present the religious talks, those who claim to be the preachers most often twist the sayings of the scripture in some crooked way which creates a negative impression to the mass. And not many go back to crosscheck the speeches of these crooked religious preachers. Hence this vicious cycle of brainwashing continues and blind faith blinds the understanding. Faith when backed by logic and reasoning, becomes a wonderful resource but the same faith when devoid of reason becomes the blind faith which is deadly both to him and his immediate environment. Let us go back to our scriptures, see for ourselves what is written over there without any intermediary or manipulator in other terms. Let’s try to grasp the word of God as it is, establishing a one-to-one contact with God! I strongly believe that world can undoubtedly be changed to a better place if we fix the misinterpretations of these scriptures which are undoubtedly the most influential books on the face of the earth. If we can grasp and apply the learning of the scriptures in our day to day lives, I firmly believe that the paradise can be verily brought down on the earth itself!

 

My talk on Gita Govinda

Kishore Mahadevan

I had given a talk on Gita Govinda on 18-December-2016 at V-Excel Educational Trust, RA Puram, Chennai. This was one of the preparatory talks, organized by Tamil Heritage Trust for the upcoming site seminar to Orissa. I’m posting a summary of my talk, for those who had wanted to know more about it. A concise version of this should appear in the site seminar’s source book.

Gita Govinda: Jayadeva’s epic love poem

Gita Govinda is a dramatic lyrical poem written about the love between Krishna and the cowherdess Radha. It is believed to have been composed by the 12th century poet Jayadeva. Gita Govinda is considered a unique work in Indian literature and source of inspiration in both medieval and contemporary Vaishnavism. Gita Govinda is also an integral part of culture in Odisha, with several sources claiming that the literary work originated in Odisha.

Legend:

According to some legends, Jayadeva was a wandering poet who would not…

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CREATING POSITIVE ENVIRONMENT WITHIN AND WITHOUT

Source: CREATING POSITIVE ENVIRONMENT WITHIN AND WITHOUT

CREATING POSITIVE ENVIRONMENT WITHIN AND WITHOUT

Once upon a time happiness wasn’t  subjected to a matter of occasion. People used to be happy naturally. Actually happiness is something already inherent in us. It’s one of the many emotions which is engraved in our very being. Sorrow or grief on the other hand is a temporary phase, which passes on, comes and go with time. that’s the reason our saying goes like “time heals”. Our mind has the potential  to heal itself from any kind of traumatic experience it counters during the clashes and conflicts we face almost everyday.  One may question that happiness too is just an emotion. It too shall pass with time, just like any other emotion. But in actual terms it is not so. Ever had a chance to read or view an interview of a creative writer or a song composer? The thing which is common among all of them is that they love their job and are happy within. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that their inner happiness manifests itself in their writing, work of art or song. They contemplate upon a certain aspect of a story or a song for days or even months at end and then, all of a sudden they  come across that golden line which adds a new color and value to their work. This is happiness or let’s say a form of it. It’s not necessary that happiness would always manifest itself with an intense form of ecstasy or euphoric outcry.  It may find meaningfulness in various activities and creative work.

          Also in a converse way, the activities bring us happiness. Both are interrelated. The feeling or satisfaction one gains after successful completion of a particular task fills us with joy and satisfaction. Many psychologists would agree that in the treatment protocol patients suffering from sleep disorders and depression, the role of creative activities is beyond doubt. Listening to music, singing a few lines along, reading your favorite book or painting, all  may contribute to our happiness.

We can ourselves create an environment which is free from sorrow. Smile at a stranger passing by you in the morning. Wish that old man a very good morning. give a candy or two to that child near the subway. Buy a flower from that old lady and then gift it back to her. Try helping a needy or feed a hungry. All these acts of kindness are actually small steps towards happiness.  If you want to be happy, make others happy.  Our existence is not separate from our environment. Rather, without our environment our own being is incomplete. The love, the joy which we seek for, has to be transmitted to our surroundings at first. The joy of giving, of doing something good for the needy is much more long lasting than that soccer match which you watched the last weekend.

      Happiness, as I said earlier is very much inherent in us. The only thing needed is a stimulus to make it bloom.

I TRUST YOU!

Hi there! Its been a long time since I last posted. Hope you all are doing fine. The past few days have been a roller coaster ride for me in some sorts. Many changes took place in my life which has and will continue to exert a lasting impression on my whole life.

We all face such situations in life, which change the whole perspective of life altogether. A moment, a fraction of second is what it takes to change everything. Being a worshiper of existence, I am ever optimistic. Yeah, we all have gone through that rough patch. The harsh reality of life. We all have gone through that phase when we crumble down by the weight of our own failures, guilt and mistakes. There are times when we desperately pray that this phase we are going through isn’t true. Let this be just a nightmare. We’ll wake up one fine morning to find out that it was all a bad dream. But no, somewhere in our hearts we are aware of this brutal fact that this is true. This is life, verily the life in its true colors.  It is at that particular moment when we realize that we are all alone. We search for shoulders to cry on, people who would sympathize us, pacify us. We search for people who would trust us. But in that desert of sorrow, we feel alone, deprived and lost.

  WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

     Wait, watch and take care. Right now, you feel you are all alone. You think that in this war, you are fighting all alone, but its not true. I am with you. We are with you and we all trust you. That harassment you faced while going to work, that mistake for which your boss abused you so much, that  failure which still haunts you, trust me we all have faced and some of us are still facing these things You worry over the failed relationship you broke up  with, last week? Well congrats! It made you strong. There’s nothing which can’t be fixed if tried real hard. There’s nothing wrong in committing mistakes. Mistakes give you an excellent lesson and a gem to utilize in the later period. It gives us the gift of EXPERIENCE! With perseverance and experience, any man can bring down empires.

Do mistakes, but learn from them. Utilize them as your experience. Grab the opportunities by both hands and brush aside all the negative thoughts that stand between you and your objective. Remove all the negative elements from your life which deters you in any way.

 Above all,  have faith in GOD. HE trusts you. Remember, It took the perseverance and workmanship of the Supreme Being to create a masterpiece like you! you are special and I have complete faith on you.

    I TRUST YOU.

    WE TRUST YOU.

So my dear friend! get up, wear your armor and strike again. The war of life isn’t over yet!

What is the Key to happiness?

The world today is plagued by so many problems.  Life has become so much stressful these days. In the run for materialistic luxuries, we often fail to think and fulfill the needs of our soul. And what is the result of all these? We have acquired most of the materialistic luxuries of the modern world but our soul still cries and craves something to get attached to. Something which gives us peace, a moral security, something to hold on!

   We all have gone through many rough patches in our lives. Life is not at all a bed of roses; rather most of the time the path appears to be full of thorns. In the words of the great poet Shelley, we all fall upon the thorns of life and we bleed. Since childhood, we all experience fear, pressure, stress and failures in many forms. And with time, the magnitude of these problems increase manifold. Childhood days get over very fast and the days of youth come knocking the door! Love is in the air. But that too, is not a child’s game. Every couple starts their relationship with dreams of an ideal one. But most of them end breaking up. They part their ways, promising themselves and each other not to face each other again in lifetime. This has become a routine affair in our lives. With childhood gone, comes the responsibilities; more stress and pressure. Along with that, comes guilt from the past, prangs of broken dreams and ambitions. Life becomes a living hell all of a sudden. Some, failing to compensate with these, feel the need to end their lives. No wonder, the rates of suicides have been on the rise as compared to past few years. Gradually comes the old age. With it, comes life full of guilt and sorrow. And ultimately we end up unhappy till the grave.

        What is the solution? To refrain and abandon everything and get on a jungle safari,being a monk? There is a more simple way than that. The one word solution to this life long problem is SURRENDER. No, I am not asking to surrender or yield in front of the circumstances. Rather, take up the sword of life and fight with the sorrows with full strength! But there are times, when we feel low, dejected, out of form. That time we are reminded once again that not everything can be bought by money and not everything can be achieved by material comforts. The craving for soul is eternal. As I said earlier, to attach with something or someone who can put a balm of relief over our wounds. Someone whose love dictates us, goads us to good. Someone whose love never falls short irrespective of how many times we ignore His wishes or act against His path. That “someone” is the pivot of our life. The central point, the ideal. Following Him gives us relief. Obeying His commands, gives us pleasure and saves us from many different complexes and dangers in life. As I have said earlier in one of my prior articles, that we encounter sorrows in life whenever we get away from the Ideal and be a servant to the complexes. So, naturally Ideal can not be just any Tom, Dick or Harry! The Ideal must be Himself above the complexes, free from boundaries and limitations of materialistic affairs. A drowning man can only be saved by a person standing on the shore. The one, who is himself drowning can not save another man’s life. The ideals are such “lights of God” ; the love incarnate, the “Christs” as I said. Following the commands of such great men, we understand what love is, what life is. Their commandments are like handbooks to learn the art of living. To enjoy this beautiful gift of life gifted by God. These lights of God, are the ideals. The same spirit, the same light shines through many different forms, each according to time, place and circumstances. Krishna, Rama, Buddha, Jesus, Prophet Muhammed all are the lights of God. The same light is transmitted throughout the globe in the form of their love. They can not be bounded or limited by organizations, sects or vested interests of people. If we desire to be truly happy, we must at first, surrender ourselves to the Ideal. To submit our will to God, by walking upon the path shown by the ideal is the key to be happy. 

Without this simple way, there can not be any other path to happiness.

Also see my earlier post Secrets of Happiness.

WORLD NEEDS CHRISTS AND LIVING BIBLES!

                                 — Dr Kritiranjan Nath

I have deliberately used the term “Christs” in the title, although the scriptures and history speak of only one. Jesus, the Christ, the savior and the messiah. If we closely observe the relevant scriptures of the major religions around the globe, we would find that the undistorted form of Christ and all the great teachers of the world have actually spoken the Same universal truth of life and growth, the eternal journey of being and becoming. I have emphasized the word “undistorted” here. As I think, the sole problem in the spiritual world lies in the distortion and misinterpretation of the scriptures. Many people consider Jesus as God incarnate, the infinite Almighty walking in a finite form. Some others consider Him a messenger Of God. Some others call him a great teacher of humanity. As a whole, it hardly matters what we think of him, but the only thing which matters is how much do we sincerely follow him. How much do we carry Him in our lives, in our daily activities. Christ means the “annointed one”. He is the savior. To follow Him is to follow God. But today, I think there has arisen a time for introspection. To look back into what we have achieved. If we have tried even a little to imbibe Christ in our daily lives, His attributes will be normally seen in our character. If Christ’ s words do not find our bodies, those words will hardly make any change in the world. No matter, how much charity work is carried out all over the globe. Every great teacher of humanity has spoken of the same truth. They have all carried the message of the Supreme Being, the Almighty and have glorified Him throughout their lives. They did not come in this world to create sectarian boundaries or narrow religious organizations. It is but we, the ignorant followers, who create boundaries. We create sects, we divide the people in Christ’s name. Christ means the anointed one, as I have already said. Christ and all the great souls descend to earth for the whole world and not for a particular organization. Hence, all the great teachers of the world can be called Christs. They have all carried the message of God. To differentiate or discriminate between them is a heinous act. The same message is carried over and over again each time according to the time, place and the circumstances. 
    The religions of the east like Hinduism and Buddhism hold a very scientific belief of Avatarvaad or theory of succession of prophets. The Hindus believe that God the Almighty sends His message for humanity through the anointed beings or Avatars. For westerners, consider Avatar to be the Prophet or what we call Navi in the middle east. The Hindus believe that the same spirit travels through Many forms. Though the physical forms may vary, but the truth is always the one. Sri Rama, Sri Krishna, Parsurama are among the avatars of the Hinduism. 

  Why did I call this doctrine of Avatarvaad as scientific?

 Because as we can see, Sri Rama and Sri Krishna are not considered as different entities,but rather the same spirit in different forms! Likewise there are ten avatars (major) in Hinduism. It’s a fact that Lord Buddha,the propagator and pivotal figure of Buddhism is also considered as an Avatar of Vishnu! In this way, normally, there lies exactly no place of communal tension between the two sects! 

  All the spiritual men are truly religious people. Devoid of narrow mindedness, devoid of any hatred towards any other sectarian followers. Irrespective of the sect they belong to, they all are walking on the path of God. All of the avatars are Christs. To defy any one of them is to defy all. 

   

The world today, needs more Christ like men. Those men who have manifested Christ in their nature, behavior, words and actions. It is by taking refuge to these Christ like men, the world may take a breath of relief.  Let us all strive towards being the Bible ourselves by carrying out the words of scriptures in our very character. Because, instead of simply reading the Bible, it would be more good to us and to the world at large if we could turn ourselves onto Living Bibles! That would surely make a change for good. 

Images from this facebook page.

How To Channelize the complexes?

What are complexes? They are certain passions or urges which are present in all of us and play an important role in almost every small and large event of our life. They are seen as “evils” or hurdles in the path of spiritual practice.

Interestingly if we closely observe we shall see that these complexes or passions, if utilized properly may bring in a great change in our lives.
         We, the humans are by birth under the action or interplay of a variety of complexes.The major forms of complexes are namely Lust, Anger,Pride, Greed,Infatuation and Envy. These six major vices are considered the greatest of all and these are the complexes which give birth to most of the problems we face. No one is free from the clutches of these complexes.Friends become enemies. Family becomes foe when man falls a prey to these passions. To win over these is actually a herculean task which is almost impossible for the common man. We can never control the complexes but we can surely channelize their powers and utilize them for good. Everything in the universe is an amazing interplay of various forms of energy. The creative force manifests itself in many different and beautiful ways! Complexes too, are forms of energy. The upsurge, the outbursts of complexes are actually storehouses of energy and power. If we adhere to a Guru,  a spiritual guide and try following his principles, we can surely adjust them for good.

   The best way to deal with the sudden upsurges of passions is to deviate them and adjust them for constructive purpose rather than to waste them. Engage yourself in creative activities. Start painting a picture, write something or sing! Do whatever you can! Dance till your complexes start wearing out!  Do whatever you can but deviate the track of complexes. Read a good book. Tell a story. Anything you can do to control the upsurges of passions.Gradually with time, comes the self control. But that needs practice. Try  and explore what are the gifts and skills which the Lord almighty has blessed us with! Meditation is an effective method for adjusting the complexes.

        Complex is like a servant. To have it under control renders us with a storehouse of energy. Untapped raw power! But the same power can outrun us and can be even fatal if not adjusted! They are like a strong current or force of water. It can not be stopped but can surely be changed in direction of flow. It is up to us that how do we utilize it! This is where the secret of happiness lies.

Why are our prayers often unheard?

Prayers and various ascetic practices have been considered as means of attaining peace, a calming balm for healing the various wounds acquired by the struggle we face in our day -to-day lives. All the faiths have made it compulsory to include daily prayers in their daily routine. Some consider Prayer as something miraculous, something which renders them capable for performing certain superhuman deeds. Some others pray just to attain peace of mind. There are also many such devotees who pray to their Lord for saving themselves from some impending danger and to avoid trouble. Whatever might be the reason behind it, Prayers are undoubtedly the strongest articles of faith irrespective of the sect one belongs to. To sit in front of the Lord and to express our desires, our feelings is a part of the prayer, but not the only part!

      But it is utterly surprising that how, in our so called rational world, we have completely lost our senses when it comes to religion and spirituality. Praying and other religious practices, which have always been considered as the pivot of life and growth, are being seen as ways of escaping the real world. Some even call them ‘job of the idles’.

 On the other hand the actual meaning of prayer is quite opposite from this. Actual prayer consists of various parts. While meditating upon the Lord, praising and glorifying the Almighty is obviously an important aspect of prayer, however, it is not the only part! Prayer is actually a three-fold procedure. One part is praising, glorifying the God. Next is to contemplate HIS attributes and to try and imbibe these attributes within our character. The attributes of Truth, Perfection, Mercy, Compassion, Justice and many such virtues are considered Godly in the scriptures. If we worship the Almighty but fail to develop compassionate feelings towards any of His creation, then indeed our prayer is not the real one! If after years of praying, we still have to fight over something with our neighbors, then indeed it is to be contemplated seriously whether or not we have understood the true meaning of prayer. The third part is another important part – doing!

  Yeah, the part of doing, the part of executing what we have said and contemplated upon. Without doing, the condition of the prayer is as worse as a man whose limbs are severed and is still forced to walk by continuous thrashing by a stick. No prayer claims to work without completing the third part of doing. It is like you have completed the electrical circuit and have fitted a bulb. But if you do not switch it on, Will the bulb glow? The same stands true for prayer. Even if by advanced ascetic practices, we claim to have acquired some divine connection with the Lord Almighty, that won’t be of much use if we fail to complete the final procedure of doing.

       The whole universe works on a ‘cause-effect relationship’ . It’s not like we can just do anything out of free air instantly. Even the incidents which apparently look like Miracles have a huge science behind it. Everything is governed by a set of laws and rules. We can not build a house by just any material according to our whims or wish. We need to understand the soil texture, the type of soil, the ground water level and much more. In a nutshell, we must always remember that praying is not just an idle pastime of a lazy man but rather it is an ever dynamic process which involves praising the Lord, contemplating upon His attributes and doing accordingly. Then, surely our prayers will be heard and we shall be bathed in the river of bliss!