Following the last blog, Anish asked 'how do you achieve non-doing?'
My thoughts are,
You don't do 'non-doing'. Non-doing is not a doing. It is a state. It is not an action. Being in that state means you will just be a watcher. Watching as thoughts cross your mind to stimulate you to doing something. I guess the more you go into the state of watching, the less you do. Or put it other way, you still do something, but not any more without your permission.
I have found many times, that I need to fill up my day with several things - doing this, reading that, watching that movie, talking to some friend, going somewhere......And over a period of time if I look back, I have done a lot of these again and again like a machine. Who was wanting all these? If it is me, then nothing of that seem to remain NOW in me, except those memories. But at that point in time, I have always believed those things are so important to make my day. Now I think I can be without any of those. I have seen my readings have considerably gone down, my watching has gone down...you may say this is out of boredom. But it is not. If I am bored of watching a movie, I would have probably filled it up with another doing , like say a hobby. I now feel I am OK without any of those. But then who is this person without any shades , without any color, without any identity?
I don't know. I know I am on the path, but the way is far and I am not there yet. You need to believe that you may find IT ultimately. I guess you will find the REAL you.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Stop DOING you moron!
Inside me there is a voice right from the time I spring up from bed in the morning. It constantly tells me what I should be doing next. One after another, I create Karma in a day, across a week and over years. Do, Do and Do. Do something all the time.
Why is this constant penchant for Doing something or the other? This thought came to me strongly when I was meditating today. Unlike today, the other days when I meditate, I do some surya namaskarams, I become impatient because a thought came to me about a person I deal in office to whom I should have sent a email. Then I invariably hurry up my yoga and meditation - not a possibility when such "Do this" thought come to me.
So today I was contemplating on this question suddenly. I asked myself, who am I if Iam not doing any of this? Its pretty blank. The reason why Iam maniacally driven into "do something" is because I dont want to feel this blank. More because I dont know what it is. And no one around me seem to be visibly doing less. They all do more and they seem to do all the time something.
I feel in some sense the concept of 'time' is created within you when you "Do something". If you practice non-doing (How do you do that?) may be there is lot of time for obvious reasons. For example, come December and I have to plan on my vacation somewhere with my family. Then it creates a mountain of things to do before you go in a short span of time.
Why am I not fine as is? Why should I do something to know Iam there. Yes, the 'I' gets created and often grown by this doing. If I do nothing, then there is less of what I have created as myself in the view of this world. There is a craving in every one to show to the rest of the world some identity of him. All these seem to be intricately woven and entangled.
Drop the doing , you drop the I and you drop the misery you undergo. You have more time to watch and decide on what really gives you the pleasure in life and do that fully. Most of us are fortunately indirectly guided towards something worthy of doing. But this is very less and a large part is filled with rubbish.
Next time when the voice comes in you "Do this" or "Do that" , pause and reflect and most of the time you may end up leaving it for better ones.
Why is this constant penchant for Doing something or the other? This thought came to me strongly when I was meditating today. Unlike today, the other days when I meditate, I do some surya namaskarams, I become impatient because a thought came to me about a person I deal in office to whom I should have sent a email. Then I invariably hurry up my yoga and meditation - not a possibility when such "Do this" thought come to me.
So today I was contemplating on this question suddenly. I asked myself, who am I if Iam not doing any of this? Its pretty blank. The reason why Iam maniacally driven into "do something" is because I dont want to feel this blank. More because I dont know what it is. And no one around me seem to be visibly doing less. They all do more and they seem to do all the time something.
I feel in some sense the concept of 'time' is created within you when you "Do something". If you practice non-doing (How do you do that?) may be there is lot of time for obvious reasons. For example, come December and I have to plan on my vacation somewhere with my family. Then it creates a mountain of things to do before you go in a short span of time.
Why am I not fine as is? Why should I do something to know Iam there. Yes, the 'I' gets created and often grown by this doing. If I do nothing, then there is less of what I have created as myself in the view of this world. There is a craving in every one to show to the rest of the world some identity of him. All these seem to be intricately woven and entangled.
Drop the doing , you drop the I and you drop the misery you undergo. You have more time to watch and decide on what really gives you the pleasure in life and do that fully. Most of us are fortunately indirectly guided towards something worthy of doing. But this is very less and a large part is filled with rubbish.
Next time when the voice comes in you "Do this" or "Do that" , pause and reflect and most of the time you may end up leaving it for better ones.
Friday, November 11, 2011
fear tags
When you are afraid of something, you become weak. The powerful mind which can think becomes numb and dumbfounded. Thus you end up making wrong decisions and waste your life energy on contemplating and correcting them.
Fear need not be caused only by objects that may be direct like a Snake. Large part of the fear in you is caused by people whom you interact with on a day-to-day basis. For example, let us say you are building a house and have a contractor do the job for you. If he delays the work and you have overpaid him for what he has already done, then you become scared whether he will complete the project and worried that you have already paid more. This will make you suspect him, even if he had some genuine reasons for the delay and make you blurt out when you talk to him, may be spoiling what otherwise was going fine. Just an example. In the job, you have the fear of some one taking your work away by shooting down your ideas. You wait for approval nods even in a small conversation and feel no good if people around you are disapproving. I guess fear is the reason why people keep checking emails or their mobile phones..in some sense.
All these are a result of fear that follows you like a shadow wherever you are and whatever you do.
I feel thats the reason why Shiva wore a snake around his neck?? To show that the fear is always there with you symbolically, may be...
You live with fear and I feel to overcome it is not so easy. It is there all the time. It comes many a time because of the fact that you always have 'expectations' on the outcome of something and then a fear gets 'tagged' to it automatically. Will the expectation be met? Will those people allow this to happen?....all these automatically and very subtly get added and haunt you without your knowing.
So I feel the first thing to sharpen your mind....this is a separate topic. I will talk about this in another post. However, assume you have a razor sharp mind which is trained to be in the present. Again, this is the toughest part. And remember this also sets a goal and hence a fear tag.
The point is, a sharp mind and intellect makes you to be aware of whats happening around you all the time and be present. This means, you cut down lot of thought flow that goes back and forth about people, about things and you have less fear or eventually nothing at all. You just live now and here. This is very hard to achieve and you cant measure it. When you measure, it is not there. So, it is something that may happen to you like a satori if you keep practising something.
I feel 'Belief' is a great remedy. You can start believing in people, things around you. Remember your child. He trusts you and is fearless. He is so comfortable living with people. As you grow, trust deficit grows. When you are with people whom you love, you dont have fear. Love is a great remedy again. Belief, Love etc. all help you overcome fear. Also, the fact that you love and believe, you automatically stop differentiating YOU from some one else. Every one becomes part of you.
But you may ask how do you love?
I would say 'Unask' - your basic condition was that.
Go back to basics!
Fear need not be caused only by objects that may be direct like a Snake. Large part of the fear in you is caused by people whom you interact with on a day-to-day basis. For example, let us say you are building a house and have a contractor do the job for you. If he delays the work and you have overpaid him for what he has already done, then you become scared whether he will complete the project and worried that you have already paid more. This will make you suspect him, even if he had some genuine reasons for the delay and make you blurt out when you talk to him, may be spoiling what otherwise was going fine. Just an example. In the job, you have the fear of some one taking your work away by shooting down your ideas. You wait for approval nods even in a small conversation and feel no good if people around you are disapproving. I guess fear is the reason why people keep checking emails or their mobile phones..in some sense.
All these are a result of fear that follows you like a shadow wherever you are and whatever you do.
I feel thats the reason why Shiva wore a snake around his neck?? To show that the fear is always there with you symbolically, may be...
You live with fear and I feel to overcome it is not so easy. It is there all the time. It comes many a time because of the fact that you always have 'expectations' on the outcome of something and then a fear gets 'tagged' to it automatically. Will the expectation be met? Will those people allow this to happen?....all these automatically and very subtly get added and haunt you without your knowing.
So I feel the first thing to sharpen your mind....this is a separate topic. I will talk about this in another post. However, assume you have a razor sharp mind which is trained to be in the present. Again, this is the toughest part. And remember this also sets a goal and hence a fear tag.
The point is, a sharp mind and intellect makes you to be aware of whats happening around you all the time and be present. This means, you cut down lot of thought flow that goes back and forth about people, about things and you have less fear or eventually nothing at all. You just live now and here. This is very hard to achieve and you cant measure it. When you measure, it is not there. So, it is something that may happen to you like a satori if you keep practising something.
I feel 'Belief' is a great remedy. You can start believing in people, things around you. Remember your child. He trusts you and is fearless. He is so comfortable living with people. As you grow, trust deficit grows. When you are with people whom you love, you dont have fear. Love is a great remedy again. Belief, Love etc. all help you overcome fear. Also, the fact that you love and believe, you automatically stop differentiating YOU from some one else. Every one becomes part of you.
But you may ask how do you love?
I would say 'Unask' - your basic condition was that.
Go back to basics!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
The New Lokpal Bill
Sometimes I just think the best way to remove corruption is by surgical procedures. What I mean is, it should not be very hard for the medical scientists who are sweating out with rats and other meek animals in the labs to always figure this out. Often I hear that some part of your brain makes you feel sad or shake in terror or laugh and so on. Why dont they find that part which makes you take a bribe? Or evn give one ?? Then by just operating that out, isnt it we have a corrupt-free nation?
This can be made mandatory like polio drops or other vaccinations to eradicate this evil completely. The government can do this free of cost.
The only catch here is, I guess it will not be even difficult to discover that brain part, but Anna Hazare should go on fast for this new "Lokpal" bill - which makes this surgical procedure compulsory for kids to introduce the bill in parliament and pass it!
This can be made mandatory like polio drops or other vaccinations to eradicate this evil completely. The government can do this free of cost.
The only catch here is, I guess it will not be even difficult to discover that brain part, but Anna Hazare should go on fast for this new "Lokpal" bill - which makes this surgical procedure compulsory for kids to introduce the bill in parliament and pass it!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Why we think we become increasingly useless
As time progresses, people become more and more useless as opposed to being anything useful. If you differ with this perception saying that people grow wise I agree, but only as an exception.
You may attribute it to ageing or energy levels going down etc. While I may agree partially here, I would say there are several people who are very meticulous about regular physical activity to keep them charged. But they dont do anything that is useful.
By useful, I mean, being creative.
When you were in college and later you work for someone especially the initial years the creativity is at its best. As you cross the 10th year, you start travelling the curve of sheer mundaneness.
How did you lose your charm? This question may fetch different answers with each one of them. For some it could be the marriage. For some it could be the constant quest for money. For others it could be some power or position they were seeking in their work or elsewhere.
You just get sucked by your greed for more and more.
Rather than just being that fellow who was open to learn the first day in office.
Unlearning is a great tool. I feel unlearning is not something similar to the way computers erase their data in memory. It is about attaching the importance to new things or things which can open your vision to another world which never existed within you.
For example, if some one has been mad after making money all his life, to unlearn that habit, he may start playing golf which may open up new experiences for him. While playing golf dont make new friends with the intention of making more money..thats all. If it comes your way, take it. But dont go for what you have been always going for.
Change the gears!
It may sound hard because of the comfort zone you rest on. But you will not discover the other side of you if you dont move out.
You may attribute it to ageing or energy levels going down etc. While I may agree partially here, I would say there are several people who are very meticulous about regular physical activity to keep them charged. But they dont do anything that is useful.
By useful, I mean, being creative.
When you were in college and later you work for someone especially the initial years the creativity is at its best. As you cross the 10th year, you start travelling the curve of sheer mundaneness.
How did you lose your charm? This question may fetch different answers with each one of them. For some it could be the marriage. For some it could be the constant quest for money. For others it could be some power or position they were seeking in their work or elsewhere.
You just get sucked by your greed for more and more.
Rather than just being that fellow who was open to learn the first day in office.
Unlearning is a great tool. I feel unlearning is not something similar to the way computers erase their data in memory. It is about attaching the importance to new things or things which can open your vision to another world which never existed within you.
For example, if some one has been mad after making money all his life, to unlearn that habit, he may start playing golf which may open up new experiences for him. While playing golf dont make new friends with the intention of making more money..thats all. If it comes your way, take it. But dont go for what you have been always going for.
Change the gears!
It may sound hard because of the comfort zone you rest on. But you will not discover the other side of you if you dont move out.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
E-merging india ,Edward Tufte and Upanishad
I had recently ordered a book on FlipKart.com. It is like a breeze I would say.
They said 3 days and there it was. "Cash on delivery" was so easy that avoids all the fear of releasing your credit card into the sea of data in the internet.
Delivered at your doorstep. How amazing it is and avoided me a trip to the book store, traffic, waste of petrol and above all time!
Very well packaged.
By the way the book I bought was "Envisioning Information" by Edward Tufte. Seriously doubt I would have landed on it in any of the Bangalore bookshops.
Reading the book now. The nature of such original and pure thinking about how multidimensional information can be represented in pictures is expanding before me.
I wonder why Indians never venture into such unchartered waters.
Nowadays I dont tend to read things fast. Iam quite slow, try to absorb and digest what is being told as if Iam sitting beside the author and listening in his own voice similar to Upanishad.
Talking of Upanishad, I had read a interpretation of some "Upanishad"s by Osho and in that I remember he saying that the word "Upanishad" means "Beside the teacher".
I imagine the vedic civilization, the serene environment, a mighty but silent saraswathi river flowing and a long bearded sage under a peepul tree surrounded by students and I being one of them. Would he have talked of Envisioning Information?
May be...in some other sense. He indeed would have spoken of how to "Not have information" from within. I mean how to "stop having questions" and be a witness to show the inner transformation.
May be this answers probably my question of why Indians never venture into such things.?
Now...back to my world of reading Tufte.
They said 3 days and there it was. "Cash on delivery" was so easy that avoids all the fear of releasing your credit card into the sea of data in the internet.
Delivered at your doorstep. How amazing it is and avoided me a trip to the book store, traffic, waste of petrol and above all time!
Very well packaged.
By the way the book I bought was "Envisioning Information" by Edward Tufte. Seriously doubt I would have landed on it in any of the Bangalore bookshops.
Reading the book now. The nature of such original and pure thinking about how multidimensional information can be represented in pictures is expanding before me.
I wonder why Indians never venture into such unchartered waters.
Nowadays I dont tend to read things fast. Iam quite slow, try to absorb and digest what is being told as if Iam sitting beside the author and listening in his own voice similar to Upanishad.
Talking of Upanishad, I had read a interpretation of some "Upanishad"s by Osho and in that I remember he saying that the word "Upanishad" means "Beside the teacher".
I imagine the vedic civilization, the serene environment, a mighty but silent saraswathi river flowing and a long bearded sage under a peepul tree surrounded by students and I being one of them. Would he have talked of Envisioning Information?
May be...in some other sense. He indeed would have spoken of how to "Not have information" from within. I mean how to "stop having questions" and be a witness to show the inner transformation.
May be this answers probably my question of why Indians never venture into such things.?
Now...back to my world of reading Tufte.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Fear, Anna and my wish
Birds are still chirping and flying
Nothing has happened to the sun, trust me, it was there in the morning to greet me
Trees are also standing there only wherever they were
I saw a dog jogging along with me in the morning and it seem to be not worried
The TV channels seem to go on showing the Anna Hazare and the Politicians and the public
Corruption comes because of greediness. Greediness is there in everyone of us.
Greediness in a way arises out of fear! The fear of tomorrow.
Only humans live in fear. Other living beings dont. They exhibit fear only when they are confronted with a life threat.
Fear arises out of imagining and that comes out of the mind.
Obviously we have a large enough mind to accomodate all sort of things and thinking which mostly don't happen on the ground.
And the only way you can let go off fear is to reason it out. And that's what seem to be happening on this latest fear of "corruption" everywhere in the country.
I hope peace and calm prevails on this country men and women and they reason out the right things for themselves.
On a ending note, I hate the reaction of the government people - Manmohan, Kapil Sibal and Chidambaram who seem to be repeating like a parrot on the supremacy of parliament to enact laws for the people when they forget to realize that they are also one among them in a democracy.
So why dont they want a strong lok pal bill? Obviously I feel they would have drafted anything that would not be voted down in the parliament. If there is a bill that puts majority of the ruling folks behind bars why would even BJP will do it?
My thinking is the government will withdraw its bill for now and let discussions continue and die on its own .....without a Lokpal bill getting passed ever (as before)
I wish Anna wins in the end and we have a strong lok pal. More than that, I wish each one of us vows not to Bribe which can automatically bring in the bill in action!
Nothing has happened to the sun, trust me, it was there in the morning to greet me
Trees are also standing there only wherever they were
I saw a dog jogging along with me in the morning and it seem to be not worried
The TV channels seem to go on showing the Anna Hazare and the Politicians and the public
Corruption comes because of greediness. Greediness is there in everyone of us.
Greediness in a way arises out of fear! The fear of tomorrow.
Only humans live in fear. Other living beings dont. They exhibit fear only when they are confronted with a life threat.
Fear arises out of imagining and that comes out of the mind.
Obviously we have a large enough mind to accomodate all sort of things and thinking which mostly don't happen on the ground.
And the only way you can let go off fear is to reason it out. And that's what seem to be happening on this latest fear of "corruption" everywhere in the country.
I hope peace and calm prevails on this country men and women and they reason out the right things for themselves.
On a ending note, I hate the reaction of the government people - Manmohan, Kapil Sibal and Chidambaram who seem to be repeating like a parrot on the supremacy of parliament to enact laws for the people when they forget to realize that they are also one among them in a democracy.
So why dont they want a strong lok pal bill? Obviously I feel they would have drafted anything that would not be voted down in the parliament. If there is a bill that puts majority of the ruling folks behind bars why would even BJP will do it?
My thinking is the government will withdraw its bill for now and let discussions continue and die on its own .....without a Lokpal bill getting passed ever (as before)
I wish Anna wins in the end and we have a strong lok pal. More than that, I wish each one of us vows not to Bribe which can automatically bring in the bill in action!
Monday, July 25, 2011
3G and Lu
When I went to the lu after lunch in the office restroom I happened to hear someone talking behind me. There were the toilets and the sound was coming from there. It appeared that some one was talking over the mobile phone. What a discovery as the other options are obviously he (yes, it was a he as it's a Men's toilet, oh! by the way you don't know me either!) is talking to himself OR someone else is there along with him....Thoughts are always stupid and wild and this is what happens when you are given a nice cozy infrastructure to blog your thoughts.
I was thinking if I were the person at the other end, and I had a idea of this, how I would feel. It would definitely not be a pleasant one. I think doing the lu is more important than (and you don't have a choice here) talking over the mobile. But now that you are comfortably sitting and you dont have anything else to do other than the involuntary acts, it is probably fine to handle a call? How mobiles have brought some one into your supposedly personal place that is as close as this.
I guess the issue is if a call comes when you are in the act, how would you respond? Right now, I can't take your call as Iam busy. Why not do this then?
I only wish with the advent of 3G and video calls, such people are conscious of taking calls at such and such places!
I was thinking if I were the person at the other end, and I had a idea of this, how I would feel. It would definitely not be a pleasant one. I think doing the lu is more important than (and you don't have a choice here) talking over the mobile. But now that you are comfortably sitting and you dont have anything else to do other than the involuntary acts, it is probably fine to handle a call? How mobiles have brought some one into your supposedly personal place that is as close as this.
I guess the issue is if a call comes when you are in the act, how would you respond? Right now, I can't take your call as Iam busy. Why not do this then?
I only wish with the advent of 3G and video calls, such people are conscious of taking calls at such and such places!
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