Life is a do-it-yourself job

We generally ascribe our failures to Fate; the sanskrit aphorism:   yadbhaavam tat bhavati (as one conceives, so things happen) contradicts this assumption, reminds us that we are responsible for the consequences of our actions, and advises us to remember that Life is a do-it-yourself job:We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up with less than what is best.for us in the long-term. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we ourselves have built. If we had realized earlier, we would have done it differently. Think of yourself as the carpenter Who builds your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project" Who could say it more clearly? Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today. If you find the job difficult, help is always available: from the Wisdom of the past contained in the scriptures or the experienced, wise and competent teachers who are willing to advise and guide. Life's path is like the razor's edge, dark and difficult to tread - as explained in Kathopanishad: kshurasya dhaaraa nishitaa duratyayaa durgam pathastat kavayo vadanti and therefore: praapya varaan nibodhata get the know-how from competent सगेस. There is an another, easier path to liberation from the sufferings of failures: the ego's surrender to Krishna and resting in his hands as his flute. He himself has advised: मामेकं शरणम व्रज maamekam sharaNam vraja . This theme is lucidly brought out in the song "kuzhaloothi": குழலூதி மனம் எல்லாம் கொள்ளை கொண்ட பின்னும் குறை ஏதும் எனக்கேதடி? kuzhaloothi manamellam koLLai konda pinnum kuRaiyethum enakkEthadi I am safely resting in His hands It is He who blew the first breath of life into me and it is He who will determine the last breath of my life. I should rest my self in His hands as His flute and let Him play the sweet song of my life. Tired of this stressful life and senseless pursuits? Come; let us surrender to our dear Lord Krishna! Let us place our ego as the flute in His hands. Our every action will then becomes a note in the music that He will gladly play through us. Then, where will there be place in our mind for regrets about failures, or for unfulfilled wants and wishes that ceaselessly haunt us? We can blissfully chant thenceforth in harmony with His divine music: குறை ஏதும் எனக்கேதடி I am wanting in nothing; I am full; I am full; I am full. OM! Poornamadah Poornamidam! The sound of Krishna's flute is the divine call to ecstasy; it is His call advising us: "Give up attachments and follow Me." Happy are those who can harken to this call and commence living in eternal Bliss: yasya brahmani ramate cittam nandati nandati nandatyevaHe whose awareness rests constantly in Brahman-Conciousness, his mind is ever in the supreme Blissful state.

When Philosophy Lost Its Way - nytimes.com/

Excerpts from  NY Times: Opinionator | When Philosophy Lost Its Way 

The act of purification accompanying the creation of the modern research university was not just about differentiating realms of knowledge. It was also about divorcing knowledge from virtue. Though it seems foreign to us now, before purification the philosopher (and natural philosopher) was assumed to be morally superior to other sorts of people. The 18th-century thinker Joseph Priestley wrote “a Philosopher ought to be something greater and better than another man.” Philosophy, understood as the love of wisdom, was seen as a vocation, like the priesthood. It required significant moral virtues (foremost among these were integrity and selflessness), and the pursuit of wisdom in turn further inculcated those virtues. The study of philosophy elevated those who pursued it. Knowing and being good were intimately linked. It was widely understood that the point of philosophy was to become good rather than simply to collect or produce knowledge.

The scientist’s privileged role was to provide the morally neutral knowledge needed to achieve our goals, whether good or evil. This put an end to any notion that there was something uplifting about knowledge. The purification made it no longer sensible to speak of nature, including human nature, in terms of purposes and functions. By the late 19th century, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche had proved the failure of philosophy to establish any shared standard for choosing one way of life over another. This is how Alasdair MacIntyre explained philosophy’s contemporary position of insignificance in society and marginality in the academy. There was a brief window when philosophy could have replaced religion as the glue of society; but the moment passed. People stopped listening as philosophers focused on debates among themselves.

Once knowledge and goodness were divorced, scientists could be regarded as experts, but there are no morals or lessons to be drawn from their work. Science derives its authority from impersonal structures and methods, not the superior character of the scientist. The individual scientist is no different from the average Joe; he or she has, as Shapin has written, “no special authority to pronounce on what ought to be done.” For many, science became a paycheck, and the scientist became a “de-moralized” tool enlisted in the service of power, bureaucracy and commerce.

Here, too, philosophy has aped the sciences by fostering a culture that might be called “the genius contest.” Philosophic activity devolved into a contest to prove just how clever one can be in creating or destroying arguments. Today, a hyperactive productivist churn of scholarship keeps philosophers chained to their computers. Like the sciences, philosophy has largely become a technical enterprise, the only difference being that we manipulate words rather than genes or chemicals. Lost is the once common-sense notion that philosophers are seeking the good life — that we ought to be (in spite of our failings) model citizens and human beings. Having become specialists, we have lost sight of the whole. The point of philosophy now is to be smart, not good. It has been the heart of our undoing.

As you deeply think so it shall happen

yat bhaavam tat bhavati  यत्भावं  तत्  भवति 

In her personal journal as well as in her short stories, Katherine Mansfield showed a special interest in exploring the psychological underpinnings of much human conduct.  

   "Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently,
    but life itself would come to be different.
    Life would undergo a change of appearance because
    we ourselves had undergone a change of attitude."

   "If you wish to live, you must first attend your own funeral."

In this observation, Mansfield recommends that -- no matter what our current age -- we imagine our own death.  The basic idea is to think about who will show up at our funeral, and what will be said about us in the eulogies.  It's an old idea, but a good one, and most recently suggested by Stephen R. Covey in his book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" (1989).  His Second Habit is called "Begin with the End in Mind

Childless-Couple in Kongu, Tamil Nadu

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/in-defence-of-the-chronicler-of-kongu/article6778031.ece

Extract:

“Perumal Murugan is a scholar with a rich sense of history.”
A file photo of the novelist. - The Hindu

“Mathorubhagan” was published four years ago. The novel marks the second phase of Mr. Murugan’s fictional explorations. It poignantly tells the story of a childless peasant couple set in a time about a century ago. Ponna and Kali rejoice in their conjugal love but their pain of being childless is accentuated by the taunts of neighbours and insults on religious functions. Tiruchengode, the abode of Siva in the form of half-woman half-man, is the sacred temple to which childless couple flock to this day hoping to extend their lineage. Over 125 years ago, Chinnathayammal and Venkata Naicker of Erode circumambulated the “varadi kal” at Tiruchengode resulting in the birth of the great rationalist, Periyar.

After exhausting all means, childless couples seek what is, from a modern perspective, an exotic, even ‘immoral,’ solution. Every year, at the Vaikasi Visakam car festival, childless women indulge in consensual sex in a carnivalesque atmosphere. The lucky are able to conceive. Children born of this socially sanctioned ritual are referred to as sami kodutha pillai (god-given children). 

Any anthropologist would attest to similar practices existing in many pre-modern societies with no access to assisted conceptions. Classical Hindu traditions refer to this practice as niyoga or niyoga dharma — an indication of its religious sanction. It is this section of the novel that has provoked the ire of Hindu fundamentalists and caste purists. Portrayed as a slur on Hindu women, Mr. Murugan is being pilloried for denigrating the whole town.
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My Note:
Due to political agitation, Perumal Murugan has discontinued his profession as writer and has left his town. Compare this narration with the modern procedure for childless couples portrayed in the 2012 Hindi film "Vicky Donor" in which a young unemployed man is the donor of his sperm that is used by the doctor to impregnate his clients. The modern procedure avoids physical sexual contact by the lady with the sperm-donor who remains anonymous. The Pandavas were the children of Kunti and Madri through Nioyga :

"The epic Mahabharata describes two instances of niyoga. Queen Satyavati compels her son and sage Vyasato perform niyoga with the widows of her son Vichitravirya. The widows Ambika and Ambalika and one of their maids bear Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura respectively. When Pandu is cursed to die on being intimate with any woman, his wives Kunti and Madri perform niyoga with the Devas and mother five sons - the Pandavas." -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niyoga

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

35 Amazing Photos from the Ruins of Angkor Wat Vishnu Temple in Cambodia

http://www.talkpundit.com/news/history-and-culture/35-amazing-photos-from-the-ruins-of-angkor-wat-r42 

A visit to Cambodia is recommended or may even be de rigueur for any Indian with an interest in the erstwhile history of India. For nowhere in the world outside India one can see the glory of its past splendor so well exhibited as in Cambodia. There are several hundred Hindu and Buddhist temple ruins throughout the countryside, especially around the town of Siem Reap near the large lake Tonle Sap. Siem Reap is the heart of the country. Here is where the splendid temple Angkor Wat has stood for nearly nine hundred years. Read Article...

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"Nothing Really Changes When You Die"

Nothing Really Changes When You Die

By: Anup Taneja on Speakiing Tree   5-Mar-2014

At the time of death a whole storehouse of impressions and desires is churned out and the most cherished and deep-rooted desire comes to the mind’s surface.  This cherished desire occupies the dying man’s mind for immediate gratification. If the desire is not gratified, his mind gets permeated with it and it is said to be reborn and seeks gratification in the next birth. The desire will manifest prominently in his next birth. The last thought thus determines the nature or character of the body to be attained next. The Gita says, “Whatever thoughts predominate at the time of death as a result of the way you have lived your life, those thoughts determine your after-death state....”..

According to Paramhansa Yogananda, it would be futile to depend upon death to liberate you from your imperfections. You are exactly the same after death as you were before. Nothing in fact changes; you only discard your body. If you were a trickster or liar before death, you don’t become a saint merely by dying. Whatever you have made of yourself thus far, so will you be hereafter. And when you reincarnate, you will carry the same traits with you. To bring about a change in your character, huge effort is required.

The question that arises is: What type of effort should one make to ensure that thoughts of the Divineoccupy our mind in our last moments so that we are   able to depart peacefully from the world?

To begin with, Yogananda suggests that the seeker should adopt an attitude of  dispassion  by constantlyremaining aware of the transitory nature of life and the fact that the great sleep of death can take him away any moment from the world. Then, through regular meditation, the seeker should endeavour to rise above the delusion of body-consciousness in order that he is prepared mentally to depart from this world  with an unruffled mind.

In meditation the seeker does consciously what he does unconsciously every night in deep sleep.  Every night you lose awareness of your physical existence and the world, with its concomitant pains and tribulations, as these get obliterated from the screen of your consciousness. This points to the fact that you are not a mere body of flesh and bones. And what is unconsciously experienced  in the state of deep sleep, can also be experienced consciously in mediation by reconnecting our identity with our true Self, the inner Witness that both sustains and transcends the three lower states of consciousness.

The more you meditate, the more you will realise that there is something divine behind the kingdom ofordinary consciousness where supreme peace and happiness reign. By the practice of ever deeper meditation, the seeker can gain access to the supra-causal state of consciousness where he loses his separate entity and his ego gets dissolved in Pure Consciousness.

Paramhansa Yogananda calls this state as ‘dying to the world without dying’-- a state where no duality of consciousness is experienced and all painful experiences of life and death give way to the bliss of eternal consciousness. A conspicuous feature of this state is that even while performing his worldly activities, the seeker continues to remain established in the super-conscious state of inner realisation.

Yogananda would say:  “Never go to bed   without   making the effort to meditate. What of it if you lose a little sleep? But it would be worthwhile if you can reach the deathless state before the Grim Reaper catches you”.

The great Truth alone is the source of peace and bliss

Extract from: http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/heart/heart_12.html

"Tell me about the Atman," said Narada.

By a long-drawn discussion – stage by stage, step by step – the sage Sanatkumara took the mind of Narada to the apex point.

"The great Truth alone is the source of peace and bliss," said the sage.

"Tell me the Truth," asked Narada.

"The Truth is the Infinite," said Sanatkumara.

"Tell me what the Infinite is," asked Narada.

"Where you see nothing else outside you, where you hear nothing else outside you, where you are not thinking anything outside you, that is the Infinite. Where you see something outside you, where you hear something outside you, where you are thinking something outside you, that is the finite. The Infinite alone is bliss. Know that!" replied Sanatkumara.

"Where is that Infinite?" asked Narada further.

Sa evadhastat, sa uparistat, sa pascat, sa purastat, sa daksinatah, sa uttaratah, sa evedam sarvam (C.U. 7.25.1). "Where is the Infinite, you are asking me. It is in front of you. It is behind you. It is to the right. It is to the left. It is above. It is below. It is everywhere. It alone is. One who knows this has freedom in all the worlds," replied the sage. No passport is necessary; no visa is necessary to move in the realms of being.

Such a person who knows this secret becomes the Self of worlds galore. He becomes the Self of all beings. He becomes everything! Such a person is the centre of gravitation for everything in the universe.Yathaika ksudhita balah mataram paryupasate evam sarvani bhutany agni-hotram upasate ity agni-hotram upasata iti (C.U. 5.24.5). If that person who knows this secret eats food, the whole universe is satisfied. In earlier days there was a concept of feeding Brahmins. 

The idea is that a Brahmin is one who knows Brahman. 

and if he eats, everybody is satisfied. This knowledge makes you such a potentate in the cosmos that the worlds – all beings – gravitate around you for blessing in the same way as children sit around their mother for food. "Mummy, give me food. Give me something to eat," so children cry around the mother. So all beings, all creation – everyone will rally round you and seek your blessing because what you are, they also are. What you eat, they eat, and what you feel, they feel. Your joy is their joy. Your existence is their existence.

This is the import, finally, of this one wondrous story I mentioned to you of the six great people going to Ashvapati, the king, for the knowledge of the Atman, which is not outside and not somewhere, and that Atman about which Yama, the Lord, refused to speak.

Ascaryavat pasyati kascit enam (B.G. 2.29), the Bhagavadgita also reiterates. "Wonder is this thing that you are speaking. It is a wonder!" The teacher who can explain this is a wonder. The student who can understand this is a wonder. The thing that is explained is a wonder. The whole thing is a wonder. The greatest wonder is the Ultimate Being called God Almighty, the Absolute. May this wonder bless you, is my prayer!