The Paradigm Shift

 

Ending the Fear Psychosis

The reality of our beliefs is nothing but the perspective we create for ourselves. As we shape our beliefs so does the reality of our life gets defined for us.

Fear structures a set of beliefs within our psyche, it also helps to trigger a sense of impostions within the mind's consciousness. Realities of fear are not expansive in nature, they are contractive - It does not help, to have a broadened perspective with fear over riding the mind's consciousness, it completely narrows down the vision and options in the way we see things.

Fear Psychosis helps in retaining contractive belief structure, it prevents us from seeing beyond a defined field of view. This framework of fear psychosis, limits the sense of freedom one naturally feels and lives with. Fear psychosis manipulates the way we think and the way we construe and create our beliefs for ourselves.

Hence, a myth - created by beliefs of fear can very easily cause amplified ripples and waves of terrifying reality within our mind, it apparently assumes enough power and capacity to manipulate the way we think and perceive reality. How then do we break free from this nature of imposed reality ? How do we transcend - fear psychosis?

The only way to be free of something, is first realize what it is doing to us, to understand its limitation, its consciousness, its contraction and opression, without being aware of the compromising nature that we have retained with it, it will not be possible to look beyond it otherwise.

When fear affects us, it is pointing in a certain direction. It is revealing to us the nature of it impulses,  intentions and  what we are fearing regarding it within ourselves. A negative charge cannot exist without its positive element. Whenever fear arises the potential of freedom too arises with it too. A negative charge needs a counter productive positive to be neutralized. One kind of charge cannot exist isolated.

The vibration of fear has an origin, it is not outside of us, because it is felt from within, the thought forms may seem to arise from everywhere - inside, outside literally everywhere, but the effect of these thought forms is felt from within, hence to uproot a fear we first have to become aware of its ripple effect within us, these ripples help us to trace the source thought that is causing the ripples to arise within our consciousness. Once we become aware of the origin of the thought pebble that caused the ripples, fear dissipates on its own.

Why should we be scared of anything within us to start with? This might seems a very aggrandizing question to begin with but it is worth a thought.

Consciousness exists as open space, like the sky, and the clouds of mind exists as innumerable thoughts, attention is nothing but what we are focussing on. What we focus on becomes our Reality.

 

Micro Cosmic

Let us consider for a moment, the fear psychosis of the current world scenario, created by the constant media information showering, on how deadly a microbe is? and the numbers... and so  on and so forth... oh ofcourse.... No one want bad things happening to them... but the fear psychosis works in keeping that fear at the back of everyones minds, as a warning, as a danger, as a threat, as death....as the only self destructive thought patterns we come to believe as our reality.

Why are we forgetting the other side of things? The people recovering, the people surving through it, the courage shown by so many, the compassion and kindness of so many there are good things happening too...Earth healing. water and air pollutions declining, balance getting restored due to less human intervention and less consumption of natural resources. Here too the list goes on...

A microbe is doing what is in its own grain to do, the reality of it's natural existence has created plentiful damage already, add onto that - the reality of our fear psychosis, where humanity feels victimized by a microbe...here starts the ripple effect... a single microbe is only a pebble in the consciousness of the world, but the magnitude of the ripple effect it has created is interesting...

Perhaps we need to redefine heirarchy of intelligent organisms.. this microbe might be on top... and humanity at the bottom, roles are reversed, it is working more on us rather than we are working on it... Are we not supposed to work with microbes rather than live in fear of them? This is the reality of fear psychosis.

If we consider that some destructive agenda is hidden within this micro organism - it is still the part of the whole not 'the Whole' itself .. hence its a microcosmic organism not 'Reality Itself'.

Fear narrows down the vision of workable possibilities onto an organism of thought.. Consciousness reveals the very origins of that body of thought - its creation, its sustasnance and its dissolution too.

 

Eggs in the basket come from the hens on the farm

An egg may contain the potential of future lives or universes in it - who knows? Yet it not the entirety of wholeness itself, it is a micro part of creation contained within the Source. This is as the egg would have originally served it purpose of evolution in manifestation, there is another perspective of veiwing reality of the world as segragated.

The problem happens then, when we keep all the eggs in one basket, assuming it is the 'Basket of  Fear (altered reality)' and forgetting that there is an entire farm where the 'hens' are still laying the eggs.

Altering perspectives shift the way reality is viewed... For eg: Just looking at big dark clouds covering the skies does not mean that the Sun has ceased to exist...

 

The Paradigm Shift

This is the paradigm of transcending perspectives, shifting and putting things in their place... where they belong... not scattered, not spread out, not contained, but just where they need to be. The problem today, is our focus tends to narrow down on more defined, tangible material stuff of life, which assume is our only reality and forgetting life as a 'Whole' because we are so obsessed of thinking about life in parts and not as whole or 'One'.

When the focus changes from the part to the whole, the beliefs too change, the perspective changes, the reality changes and the conscious awakening shifts the Paradigm of what we perceive to be 'True and Real' for us, for that is the only thing which validates our existence.

There is awareness needed intially to recognize the limitations of our perspectives and vision, as the awareness expands, the limitations find their right place in the paradigm of the 'Whole'. 

Consciouness is provoking expansion of awareness and expansive awareness is dispersing the ignorance of our narrower beliefs, hence eventually the Light breaks through...and we see that the Sun is always shining...


Shyam Lala

The Illusion of Happiness

The Illusion of Happiness

What is Happiness?

A joy derived from achievement? A moment to cherish? Finding a Love that has been longed for? 

A human being is provoked by desire, the desire to have or to want, but do desires hold the seed to experience happiness in life?

The achievement of desires brings a sense of joy, but does that joy last forever?

Even when there is some sense of happiness that is derived from the joy of achievement; it fades away over a passage of time.

So what brings us to True Happiness? Is true Happiness possible?

A question that arises in the minds of many, but it is yet left for future consideration.

Is Happiness just a belief of our mind?

We search for it through our entire life, yet it evades us?

Let us presume, if Happiness is not possible in our life for a moment. What holds True for us then?

Mind creates thoughts, an infinite flow of thoughts, could Happiness just be another thought?

Which us back to the source question of What is Happiness again?

The simplest answer is - We don't know what happiness is

We struggle to be happy without knowing what it truly means for us, we think we know what it means until we find out that it has only been another thought or a desire we have been chasing for so long - An endless circle of longing in existence, penetrating and manipulating perceptions of our life, mind and our sense of reality.

Accepting that we don't really know what IT is, is the acknowledgement of the fallacy of our ideas regarding IT

What remains in the moment, when the idea of Happiness is recognized to be untrue?

Confronting a presence of deadened silence in our life? A loss of hope or faith perhaps?

or just a stoic quietness that reflects back nothing... an absolute space of darkness...

or perhaps the experience of how we truly feel within our Self?

The moment is totally empty devoid of any hope or expectations projected by our mind towards the world, or any that we may have regarding our life or from anybody.

Happiness is illusory when desired and self existent when there is no desire for it. 

What an irony! We look for it everywhere yet we find it nowhere - Just Now Here

The moment that strips us of all our veils, all the covering, all that we hide within reveals the Happiness that we already are. 

But, That moment cannot be found anywhere if we are looking for it somewhere.

I chased my dreams beyond the clouds

into the Universes that were unheard of

yet i returned only to find - The emptiness of it all

and as I resigned giving up my dreams of hope and adventure

Struck by an unseen lightening, and unheard thunder

IT lay bare, stark naked in front of me

myself not separate in IT

Words simply find their dead end

and IT already is more Alive HERE and NOW

When Pain Heals...

A broken Heart lays scattered everywhere. Scarred with the injuries of crushed expectations, broken down, weary with exhaustion and  burdened by the memories of the past. What does it unfold? A deep abyss of misery and pain. Anger at the reminder of mistakes, hatred swelling up within the bosom. What bitterness? We become alien to our own being, separated, feeling disgusted, living in utter chaos and pathos.

Why should such a thing happen with us? Why should things not be better for us? Why do we have to suffer through so much pain and agony?

How is it ever possible for us to gather ourselves again and start feeling better?

The Truth is, its not possible to start feeling better just by turning around and ignoring all this pain and misery. It is not possible to feel better, expecting again that something will cause the change.

It is not possible to be free, unless we know what is really binding us.

Pain is a healer, It slows us down, it makes Life more contemplative. It makes us look more within than without. This in itself is the Grace of the Divine. Without this pain, our attention would never ever turn towards our Heart. To move on further, it is not possible to do so, if we still continue to live in self deceit. Anger creates a veil, as self deceit predominates us, self aversion reveals its nature, when self aversion is experienced it further opens us to self hatred and self loathe. This vicious cycle never seems to end, conforming its existence only to the reality of the suffering we feel. It confirms only to the reality of the pain and misery experienced by us.

To be released seems impossible, our mind feels confused, clouded unable to see anything clearly. Unable to fathom or accept anything to be true. unable to trust anything, or keep faith in anyone.

Surely, we arrive at the zenith of our darkness within.

Where is light? Where is freedom then?

Mind with all the shadows of scarred and scattered emotions conceals the true nature of our being. Verily to say, the experience of the mind becomes our existence.

How is it the possible for us to be free?

From the depths of our grief and pain there is an rises a prayer from the Heart. A prayer to be released, a prayer to be free. This very desire for freedom carries a tremendous power within itself. It carries the seed of our Liberation. It is from the Heart of the Heart that this prayer arises from.

This is the silver lining chord that reveals the nature of Divinity left veiled in the very depth of our being. Love is its carrier. Pain it is Life Giver, and Freedom is its Birth.

When the human soul is pregnant and contained with the injuries of this world. Its Child of Liberation is ready to be born. But birth cannot happen unless there is the pain of birth to be undergone. For this birth pain is what makes is more alive. Pain is what keeps u awake and pain is what allows for the child of Freedom to be born.

Why then should we run away from what is Nature's movement for manifestation?

Pain is a healer  because it makes us whole again, it gives us the sense of being alive again, it nourishes our soul  back to health again. Pain is a life saver, and pain is also a life giver. Why then should we run away from pain? To be born is to suffer, but is there any possibility to be free if we are not born from pain?

Shyam Lala

Tiruvannamalai.

Moving into an Inner Silence.

Arunachala Shiva - Image Copyrighted 2016 - Shyam Lala. Tiruvannamalai

There are things that happen every day to us, from the moment we wake up to the moment we sleep. The day passes by like any other day, sometimes it seems as if time runs by so fast and yet other days seems as if few moments are too long to bear and sit through. Through all of this we experience some things that the mind is always thinking about, it could be our hopes, our desires, our fears, our expectations, or simply things about our past, thoughts that we still hold on to as our reality.

Through all these moments sometimes there is an urge to find a quietness that can put us to rest at least for a few moments so we are able to forget everything and rest in a sense of non intruding, undisturbed peace.  When such a desire arises, what do we do? Do we listen to this or simply ignore it and consider it to be another reason for procrastination of more important things that we have in our mind to do?

This is a question that we need to consider first, as to how important feeling that quietness or peace is to our Being.  Being silent is not something that can harm us. A mind full of thoughts needs some rest too. But then, again we may argue here that a good night’s sleep is enough for us to feel a quieter mind in the morning and for us to feel refreshed. Why is it then necessary for us to consider having a quieter mind in any other way?

The truth is, when we sleep our mind retreats back into its source that is it retreats back into the self, but most times we are not very conscious of it, we are conscious of it to certain extent and when we wake up the mind appear back with all its thoughts, and ideas, expectations and fears so in essence we have only experienced a temporary absence of the mind that gives us a feeling of some quietness. This quietness does not have a more permanent quality with it, it appears and disappears and the freedom or peace experienced with it is also very temporary state. This brings us to question one thing ‘If it’s possible to experience a more sustained silence or deeper peace or quietness for ourselves?’

Surely there is a way but it requires an openness and willingness on our part to accept it and follow it. Mind is going to conjure thoughts endlessly, there will be one thought after another and it’s a never ending stream of thoughts that arise and subside, how is it possible then to find a place deeper within our consciousness to be able to experience and uninterrupted peace?

The answer and techniques are very simple and effective, there Is not much to follow here actually its more of a journey that leads to self discovery of our inner reality of being-ness and the thing we call the mind.

Simply putting we have to take time out to be Quiet…….

Find a moment in a day where you don’t allow any disturbance, distraction or mental pre occupation to demand your attention. This moment need not be long but has to be considered in all sincerity.

It could be anywhere, but it has to be very potent where you can be by yourself without anybody or anyone disturbing you.

What you need to do then is simply sit quietly, do nothing just sit quietly and just watch as to what is happening with your mind right now..

Some may simply find it very difficult initially but its ok take your time to just to look and observe at what is happening in that moment within you.

Breathe in and breathe out. Just breathe just feel  yourself, feel your body, feel  your pain, feel your mind, feel your exhaustion, feel the life that is pulsating within you, feel its moment within you, it ok to feel yourself as you are, with no expectations, with no movements, with no desires, with   no mind.

This moment is your moment of silence, it is  your moment of quietness, it need not have to be under a frame of time, though initially there are  going to be many thoughts arising as to what is to be done, if this is really going to work or not. But eventually there is going to be a natural urge to feel quiet and this is what takes over us. This natural urge to feel the silence is what nurtures us to  be more at peace with ourselves. This desire takes us deeper into our true nature.

As these moments mature into long moments slowly day by day our mental sense of being becomes more flexible, the thing that we used to call mind and its reality of thoughts and desires that we would so passionately hold onto becomes slightly subdued as we watch the process of how mind unfolds its reality to us. We start treating mind not as our direct self but as subordinate self, understanding its nature as an expression of inner desires or habits. This glimpse of understanding is actually very liberating since we realize one more thing… that the mind that we experience as our nature is not really our nature but more an appearance what we have subconsciously accepted to be our self.

This also makes us question as to what is then really our true nature, or what is then our true self.

How is it possible to know oneself?

This moment determines the beginning of our quest for self knowledge and self understanding and is accompanied with moments of self reflection and self enquiry.

We go back to the place we started from, sitting quietly to watch more and observe more, to feel more with our heart, the reality of our existence.

The clouds that carry rain are bound to relieve themselves

Be it in the valleys or the cities it doesn’t matter to them

The earth simply pulls them onto Her bosom

They just let go of what they have carried for so long

Its rain, rain, rain everywhere

The thunders breaking the silence, announcing the storm

They wet the lands, draughts and the farms

When all the water pours itself in the rain

It quenches the thirsty and sometimes floods the rest

So when the clouds of thoughts break their silence

They thunder first and pour later

In moments such as these there is a big release

A rain of tears flooding our being

And as the tears release themselves

The cool waters spread everywhere

The thirst is quenched and everything becomes still

A vast stillness and peace unfolds in our Being.

Shyam Lala - Tiruvannamalai.

Seeking a genuine path

Seeking a genuine path

We tend to get confused with all the synonyms used for religious expressions. There is not much of a difference between understanding the connotations of rituals and ceremonies. An initiation into a certain spiritual path is confused with religious stigmatism. Topics related with spiritual enhancement are then made to be seen in the light of blinding superstition. What then is the genuine path for a seeker of truth? What is the way to truly realize the nature of Divinity in our lives?

A whirlpool within a whirlpool, the torrid currents of the media influence, the hunger of guru kin ship and the mere disbelief, that there is any true benefit acquired, have become the greatest hindrances for us, preventing us from following a true spiritual path. The fear and confusion related with all the worldly cacophonic opinions, totally confusing the nuances of spirituality with religious paraphernalia.

As this movement heightens into another level of collective criticism – It gains the momentum of thousands compromising on the interest of those few who may be genuinely interested to follow a truer path. The hatred of collective, targets the very core of our religious beliefs. It’s not the religion that has made things bad; it’s the people who have manipulated its purer cause to serve their selfish greedy motives. Such a drastic situation almost scares away the possibility of those who desire the revelation of a truer direction and experience in life.

India today has touched the pinnacle of such religious conflicts. There are no conflicts in a truer sense in religion. The truth of any religion is to bring us to an end of conflicts not to their advent.  Understanding of universal Love is no conflict; appreciation of mutual differences is no conflict. Why then have we become a society of hate breeders? Religion was created for man to understand his spiritual reality. To become awakened to his truer self. Spirituality is the purpose, religion is the means, and realization is the end. We have forgotten our purpose and got stuck - hating the means without realizing the end. Such is the trauma of a world that claims to live with a better quality of life but a poorer understanding without the finesse of mutual acceptance.

Hatred breeds hatred, and love breeds love. If we are to make this world a better place how can we do so by breeding hatred for everything that we are to truly love? Man was not made for religion. Religion was made for man. But it was to serve a purpose of enhancing lives with the enrichment of Truth, Love, Beauty, Understanding, and develop compassionate hearts - Hearts that understand the purpose of life and its existence. Spirituality is the process of this revelation, and self- realization of this truth is the goal.

It is important for truth seekers to understand this and not be swayed by the stormy currents of opinion arising in this world. We have to remain focused and true to our path, we have to consider our own experience and take only that which is true and factual. Critical Judgment comes easy but when love unfolds, it generally comes through a breakthrough from a painful understanding. Sometimes existence offers us a chance to recognize this love, but it can only be realized through unasked humility. In short, the humbler the mind becomes the easier it is to live in love. We can surely blame this world for not realizing love, and blame ourselves in too for not realizing that love within ourselves, but this blame game goes nowhere and lands us back to the initial point, this is where we have to consider if our movement has to be a genuine one or just allow it to pass by as another event unfolding in our lives.

A true seeker is the meek servant of the Heart. He beckons not to the whirlwinds swaying in this world. A light that has sparked within, lights up the path of the dark voyage. The burden is borne by the soul that seeks its enlightenment and fights until the end. Victory is for such a blessed one, victory is his. This life has offered such a rare blessing of the Almighty unseen glance. Don’t hold back yourself, don’t let the doubts arise; don’t let the foolish wolves bite. The day when we see all this as a false illusion, we will tear apart from this world of delusion, victory will be ours to shine in, and in the embrace of the divine we dive in. The world will perish as a sand castle swept by water. We build again, another, just for our laughter.

Shyam Lala

Tiruvannamalai

14 Sept 2013

Transforming Hatred into Love

Transforming Hatred into Love

Mankind in the present times is technologically evolving very aggressively. People have ambition, needs, desires and wants that are larger than them and their lives. We feel pressured and compelled to live in a very competitive environment and aggressive surroundings so it is very natural for a lot of us to live in comparison and experience competition, jealousy and hatred. These very traits form the foundation of unhealthy value systems in humans and abuse and violence related with it.

How do we transform these severe poisons that affect us? How do we experience a better change in regards to our environment, greater love in our relationships and a sense of harmony with everyone?

There is no doubt that Divine Love itself is the transforming element but one may find it very difficult to experience this love so long as they carry anger, jealousy and hatred in their hearts. Love can be experienced very easily but unfortunately for a heart that is afflicted with these grosser poisons it does not come to experience love for itself immediately.

Therefore it is very essential for us to recognize and cure ourselves from the poison that we carry within our heart. It does not take much to become hateful and it does not take much to release ourselves from this poison of hatred. The only difference between accepting and rejecting hatred in our lives lies in the fundamental choice of self awareness and the self acceptance of love that we live with.

Hatred poisons our entire being. It affects us to our very core and if left unattended, it deteriorates into Self- loathe that hardens us and makes us completely numb in every way possible. Hence for a healthy living, one has to get rid of hatred from their life.

Our relationship with others cannot have a prolonged destiny if we infuse it with hatred. Our health too gets affected with hatred. We live in bitter resentment and finally ruin our good health forsaking the opportunity to live a happier and a healthier life. In effect, the lesser the hatred we live with, the healthier we are.

It is a very natural phenomenon for children to live as their parents live. If parents, without realizing are living with hatred, they too will compel their children to live and grow in hatred. That will only unfold greater tragedies for the oncoming generations.

The violent outbursts and abuse caused by hatred are the major causes of sicknesses affecting our society. Therefore, just accepting a “No Hatred” way of living is enough to cause a great transformation.

If we can’t give love, at least we should not give abuse and hatred. If we can’t say something good about somebody at least we should not speak badly about them. Just by remaining quiet and accepting that, unfolds a greater strength within the spirit.

Man was not born for hatred, he was born to live in love and if love is too difficult at least let us not spread more hatred around. This world has already become a toxic playground. And we don’t need more of venomous self loathing environments. Just accepting this is enough to bring a great change within us, and the moment it happens within us we see it happening everywhere. That is the Grace.

Maithreem Bhajatha , Akhila Hruth Jethreem,

Cultivate friendship that conquers all Hearts

Atmavat eva paraan api pashyatha

Look upon others as Thy self

Yuddham thyajatha , Spardhaam Tyajata ,

Give up war, forswear competition

Thyajatha Pareshwa akrama aakramanam

Give up aggression on others which is wrong

Jananee Prithivee Kaamadughaastey

Our wide mother Earth is Here to fulfill all our desires

JanakO Deva: Sakala Dayaalu

We have the kind compassionate Lord; as our Father

Daamyata Datta Dayathvam Janathaa

O People of the world! Give! Be Kind!

Sreyo Bhooyaath Sakala Janaanaam

Sreyo Bhooyaath Sakala Janaanaam

Sreyo Bhooyaath Sakala Janaanaam

May all beings be Happy and Prosperous

Nurturing Blossoming Buds

Since the advent of Modern civilization and its advancement to its zenith, the Education systems have undergone massive changes and have meant more as a means and tools to serve the modern Industries rather than as means to encouraging human values. The meaning of education has merely become a concern for business, trading, economy, health and medic industry transforming itself into a very different nature of light and journey for the oncoming generations.

Since Industrialization we have allowed so many different systems of Education into our society, assuming that most of it; is to bring a better future for our children. Hoping to give them a better life, a better way of living, a sound system for achieving their goals and securing their future, well it may sound too good but it might not all be true, not just yet, not all of it is good and not all of it truly benefitting healthy or nurturing.

Consider this - A child learning about things of the world at the same time learning about his own self, nurtured with a deeper understanding, he feels more integrated with him-self and world, such a child will definitely care more and do more for the world because he learns to respect it. He is a part of it and there is an integrated approach towards accepting the totality of life in it as a whole, filled with abundance of understanding, love and its correlation with this world, rather than living in the lack of it all.

Consider again – A Child who is just taught and oriented with the idea of achievement for only oneself, disregarding mutual respect and care for others, not having any understanding regarding oneself will grow up confused in society, simply due to the fact that it has been nurtured in an extremely competitive environment. He is definitely going to continue living under that nature of confusion compelling him-self and others to live in the same mode of life.

Ethics play a very vital and a pivotal role in the formation of the character of a child. If we push our children into learning, just how to make a living without teaching them about how to make a life, how to love and live in life, we are putting them into a grave danger of becoming individuals who will start to only achieve and live for their personal selfish gains.

This dangerous experiment of putting the delicate hearts through a process of educational pressure by peer abuse, and social pressure is only going to fold them into ‘compartmentalized thinking’ which will leave them extremely exasperated and depressed. This is the byproduct of the mounting burden that they have been assigned to accomplish. The deeper Truth is a fact - that their inability to perform according to the expectations loaded onto them makes them, feel more inadequate with themselves, which becomes the foundation for self abuse and self hatred and self loathe in most cases. This nature carries on further if uncorrected into another generation of abuse and peer pressure.

The most common misunderstanding we have regarding Education is that a better Education means a better life – in material terms it may mean so, but matter as a means to serve to an end not as an end to serve the means. A better education should actually mean a better human being with a better understanding potential, a better developed character, a loving heart and an intelligent mind.

Sadly, this is not the truth today. The order of success and the social pressure as well as the peer pressure created for the children is having a very damaging effect upon them. The struggle to achieve and be on the top with colorful scores has subdued the concern for having children with a clearer understanding potential and regard for human ethics, values and behavior.

It does not take much to understand this – ‘Good Modern Education’ does not necessarily mean a Good Natured Human Being. To be a good Human being we have to get Edu – Cared not Edu – Cated. This ‘Care’ starts right at the source - at Home. The responsibility for getting edu-cared lies with loving parents, with caring teachers, with the overseeing elders of our society who help us with their wisdom to understand the value of human relationships and above all the value of fundamentally nurturing love.

In the world, that has become far more competitive today, where people are living in such haste and a waste, we have to take a few moments and slow down. Question the basics! Observe our decisions for these very blossoming buds. They are our future, they are our tomorrow! Are we just simply taking their future for granted? What we are giving them, is it really ‘the best’ because the world says so? Or are we really giving them our values to be carried forward? Or we just await a future where we have doctors who are doctors but with no heart and engineers with no consideration for Nature (Human, earthly or divine).

The future does not come into existence sometime later; it is happening HERE and NOW itself. The decisions we take today; shape what awaits us in the future. If we fail to encourage love in our children and want them to be shaped according to the worldly nature of understanding, we are going to fail tremendously.

We hear about the violent outbreaks in different countries where simple children get complicated and have violent outbursts to the extent of killing other students, this is an unfortunate result of education without proper loving care. No child could ever be violent if he felt love within his heart. No child could ever harm another if he felt he was cared for. No child would ever rebel if he felt he was listened to.

It our responsibility to show them the right path - Of truer understanding, love, consideration of Human values and ethics as means for getting Edu - cared. The future that holds children as abiding in mutual respect, integrated with the understanding of this world as whole rather than in parts, and awakening to the responsibility as sensitive, caring and conscious individuals.

A trend perhaps has set into motion, where all students are compelled by either competition or their families to migrate abroad to get educated, this is another means of escapism. Denying responsibility that a better education could be available here, in fact we do have a potential not just for a better Education but a better Edu Care here.

What starts as a spark spreads as a fire

When the dry woods ignite with the light

Warm winds carry the fire into the forests

Such are the mysteries of Life.

But alas! Who really cares about this?

Fragmented realities torn apart in the spasms of time,

And flowers wilted away in the freezing winds.

These trends are just like the weather, foreign bound,

Some still hoping till today

The return of a soul home bound.

Shyam Lala

Tiruvannamalai

18 April 2013

Game of Desires - The Ultimate Killer

The Game of Desires - The Ultimate Killer

Humanity today runs a mile and furlong for gratifying their excessive needs of consumption. World today as we know it, and understand it has become a gateway of unwholesome, unethical, insensitive massive consumption.

We teach our children these same mannerism of life, we teach them to be walking talking consuming entities.

A world full of desires is considered welcoming by most, rather than understanding it as a world full of responsibilities. A view that has got pretty much contorted along the passing roads of time moving from industrialization into modernization and finally into techno-I-zation. 

A big moment of success for those who believe in wasting away the natural resources of life. What humans have taken for granted from the mother Earth and its Nature thereof will have to be paid back with a huge Capital plus a forbearing interest. 

This is not an uncommon knowledge anymore - growing markets, taxing economy and the Autocratic Tyranny of the Governments all over the world have added to the burden of taking more than what is truly needed. We have fed our greed into the mortal veins of our lives, and this very greed is become the treacherous poison that consumes our entire existence. 

Who is to blame?  Society? Governments? Education? Conditioning? Parents? Teachers? Who is to blame?

The answer to this question does not lie outside of us, it lies within us. We accepted greed and treachery as a way of life for ourselves. What motivates greed? What motivates a man to become so treacherous in destroying the very roots of sane existence? Accepting the tyranny of dominating behavioral modes at all times?

Man was not meant to be born as a slave of social conditioning and norms!

What motivates us to accept this evil? Simply Desire itself! Our biggest Master has become 'Desire.'

Modernization brought along with itself an amazing blessing that became a vicious curse too. Instant-I-zation.

People wanted everything instantly from coffee too food ..... you name you got it. This very attitude adapted also became a curse, Instant Gratification fueled more desire and more needs and more wants.

The natural pace of our desires reached an untimely proportion, we did not stop to think anymore of what was good and what was not good for us. Simple because desires could be gratified instantly we progressed into speeding up, going off limits to have and to get what we want.

This might sound as thrill for some but it could also be very dangerous. Very little of instant age brought some good utility along with it. Of course there few good things that came out of it but on an ethical level a lot of it got propelled towards the greater fall of human self understanding and consciousness.

Now critics may disagree and would like to point otherwise, but let us again consider one more thing here. The good that happens does not hinder transformation it adds to it. It is the evil that we adopt that needs more work of accuracy and transformation. Hence, it is very important to observe this and to examine the roots of our faulty social norms and attitudes.

Desire today holds the motivation for human behavior and conduct. A desire can be good, a desire can be evil too. It is how we are are using desire rather getting used or abused by it that determines our quality of living. Man has a greater blessing than just desire to accept and adopt in his life. What is that? Self Discrimination!

Where desire has become the Ultimate Killer in our way of living, a Re-Investigation is necessary reminding us to consider first then act. To self discriminate first then decide. Using discrimination as a means for greater good than evil. To adopt a harmonious, wholesome perspective, a caring attitude and a giving attitude from a consumption-ist to a conservationist. This what can bring changes for a greater whole. It does not take much to remember this. Our society that has turned competitive, violent and discriminative in separateness can turn around into a more healthy, encouraging, harmonious and accepting the Oneness of our existence. This in itself can bring about a greater change and transformation.

What we have accepted from the philosophy of separative existence, and that can be undone only by the accepting the realization of One humanness. Not heading from desire into destruction but rather from desire into self realization. It is only then that the awakening of responsible humanity unfolds, if we give away this responsibility for ourselves we are giving up our very potential of an awakened future.

The question still persists if not now then when? When do we wake up? This is a question that humanity has to answer for itself today. Not sometime in future but HERE AND NOW.

We have only burrowed from what belongs to our future generations, and we have already done an irreparable damage to this planet to their future lives. Our insatiable desires have caused tornado's of mass destruction, and its time, we whirl ourselves away from it to save of what's left for the chidlren of tomorrow's dreams. Its only a simple decision, to accept, not by trying to change the world,  without changing ourselves first. The change within causes the change without. This is how it all began and this is how it all ends too. May the Grace of a clear compassionate understanding prevail on us today. May humanity realize its folly above its pride of achievement, may be we all move towards a better future in living more harmoniously and with a fuller understanding of love for all humanity and beings as ONE and ONE only.

The Death of a Spiritual Quest

The Death of a Spiritual Quest

When the heart wakes up in darkness
In the middle of the night
And you bear upon yourself
A burden of a fear
Something does not feel completely right
Something does not resonate like before
Some wise ones said long ago
The birth of man is the birth of his sorrow
but I say unto you
The birth of man's sorrow is only man's foolishness
For wisdom is plentiful and abundance is the nature of Life
Yet man is only full of misery in his Heart
Looking at the profits that come and depart
How foolish is such a man's mind
Leaves him to live like a total blind
The eyes that can see are unused to see
Ears that can here are deafened to hear
The tongue tastes nothing but dead broth
Skin just left to rot
Nose just smells the putrid smells
Oh what a life this is full of misery, death and cursed spells
Such a One numbed in his existence
Lives and yet not lives
For he is dead to his spirit
and to the Life of bountiful existence
Oh is this cursed dream or the mundane way of life?
The death of Spiritual Quest at bay with no strife?
Tell me my friend, for I do not know
I know just this,
when the wind moves it makes me flow
when the flowers bloom they make me glow
and as I look up at the skies it give me hope
for now  i look up again
for the mortal are too dead in their brains
Caught up in their mundane existence
Too blinded to see the sunlight glowing through darkness.

The Awakening of Being - Know Thyself – A myth or Reality.

‘Be a Light unto yourself

Like the fire in the darkest night

Wake up every moment and

Don’t go back to sleep.’

This great teaching was uttered by the Awakened One, who we know as ‘The Buddha’. I guess it is self explanatory for some, but for others? What does this mean – ‘Wake up every moment and don’t go back to sleep.’ It does not ring a bell, does it?

I am reminded of a small anecdote, I read few years ago.

A small fish asks a big fish “Where is the Ocean?” and the big fish answers “You are in it.”

“Where is our Spiritual Nature?””We are in it.” Some may even ask “what is this supposed to mean?””We are in it.”

It simply means to open your eyes and look and stay awake; you are never really away from your Self.

Understanding ones Spiritual Nature is not as difficult as it seems. We tend to think, if we seek a spiritual way of life then it is another kind of path to follow, but the Truth is, it is not. It starts from right Here right Now, Here and Now wherever we are Here and Now in this moment itself.

Why does this seem so alien for us to recognize our true intrinsic nature?

Spirituality is not about seeking something, far away in the mountains and caves of Himalayas rather about knowing oneself in Here and Now. And that is what this is all about, knowing One Self as we are.

The Sun wanted to see what a night looks like, but never could find it somehow, whenever It decided to show up, the night vanished away. This is the nature of Awakening, of Godliness.

A seeker seeks God or a Spiritual way of life. Is God not there even before the seeking, during seeking, or after seeking? Why is it so important to seek and then to have found? A drama unfolds only for the sake of its enjoyer – the seeker and who is this enjoyer? Who is this seeker? This is the ultimate question that no one asks, because no one has really found an answer to that. There is no answer to this question. It is like looking for something that you don’t really know what it is you are looking for.

That deepens the mystery for a seeker so he seeks even further in the abysses of his life or Existence to enjoy the entire process of seeking itself. This seeking has to continue intensely until the seeker and the seeking become One and there is nothing really there to be sought. In such a Moment this seeking seeker simply vanishes into thin air? The seeking vanishes too. Where did this seeker go? He simply became nonexistent. What happened? No one really knows. The seeking consumed the seeker totally and hence got self consumed too. This is the moment of awakening. The awakening of a (no seeker) way of Being, the awakening of a nonexistent Identity, it signifies the moment of truth and awareness.

Unfortunately this is not true for many of us, we read about this, hear about it but we don’t experience this as being true for us. Why is that so? Why can’t we enjoy ‘A no way’, way of being? Why can’t we experience the simplicity of our true Being? How can it be possible to know this, in today’s times? Especially when we are living under such a high pressure cooking society? Knowing oneself - A myth or reality?

It is true we live in such a fast paced society today, it becomes very difficult to slow down and look at what is really happening in our minds. The thoughts are just pre occupied with one thing after another, there is no time to contemplate or reflect, and this is the curse of techno lifestyles. How can anyone without the intention to ‘look within’, really come to realize their own Self?

Intention to enquire equals self interrogation, self enquiry can only begin if one keeps a sincere intention to know oneself. This cannot be known by reading books or hearing audios or watching videos. It only starts when we ‘look within’ our own self and enquire the truth of our existence.

Knowing oneself has nothing to do with this entire social pressure network. It is simply about looking at the source of our intelligence, the source of our thoughts and the source of our existence. The simplest way to self enquire is to ask oneself ‘Who am I?’, ‘Where does this breath arise from?’, ‘Where are these thoughts arising from?’ ’Who is thinking? breathing, sleeping, dreaming or eating?’ ’Who is the doer here?’ A network of such questions should trouble ones heart, mind and soul, then only we can say self enquiry has begun. A True Guru ( Satguru) is the inspector of such self interrogation. He inspires such aspiration within a seeker’s heart. The Sat Guru is constantly lighting the fire for an internal revolution of consciousness, burning the conditioned mind down to ashes.

Without an intense insomnia caused by such questions, awareness does not really ignite the fire of Awakening within us. It has to trouble us, cause despair, sometimes even sorrow, that is good too, as the old saying goes, ‘No pain, no gain’. A compromised seeker is not a seeker of truth at all.

Knowing oneself integrates self understanding and hence brings a clearer perspective onto how we look upon ourselves. Self Understanding invokes Love. Sometimes Love in a Universal sense, or cosmic sense and sometimes love as we understand in more mundane worldly sense.

Speaking of it mundanely, we love the world and expect it to love back. But Self Loving is normally misunderstood, in the superficial sense at least it is understood as loving what one desires. This is neither, true Self Understanding nor true Self love.

True Understanding of Self inspires unconditioned love for all. It invokes compassion and kindness naturally without any effort of doing so, simply because no one and nothing is seen as being separate from One’s Self. This is the beginning of Self Knowledge. It is the beginning of knowing one’s Self and All as One.

The Ocean Self embraces all the waves of its existence. These waves that arise and flow then fall. It does not discriminate between the arising and dissolution of waves that dance on it. Though the waves appear separate yet they all are One only. Everything in Life too, is contained as Inseparable One Oceanic Existence only. This is true for all. No one and nothing is separate and there is no another, other than what is already One.

In conclusion, I would like to quote from the sacred verses of the Vedas. The essence of the Vedas and Upanishads also Glorify this Universal Truth of All is One. One such recitation so commonly heard during the chanting of the Vedas and Upanishads is as below:

Om Purnamidah Purnamidam Purnatya Purnamudachyate

Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnamevavashishyate.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

That is One. This is One. From One arises One.

Into One dissolves One. Thus remaining as One only

All is Still. All is Peace. All is One.

May all beings be Happy, May all beings be in Peace