52. दुःखमेव सर्वं विवेकिनः

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So said Patanjali in his Yoga sutras (2.15). "For the one with wisdom, everything shall be [realized to be] misery" (duḥkhamēva sarvaṁ vivēkinaḥ). The first Noble Truth of Buddha is "The existence of suffering". Saankhya philosophy begins by elaborating on the suffering of life. The first couple of chapters of the great Yoga text Yoga Vāsiṣṭha elucidate how Rama finds every pleasure of life inherently filled with misery.

This is not pessimism. This is realism.

We have become insensitive to our own dirt. And therefore everything appears clean. And we therefore proclaim "Ah, life is so beautiful". We have mostly confused 'external circumstances' to be our life itself. And since the ambiance of life is experienced as favorable at certain times, such hasty statements are blurt out.

This is really the great disease in spirituality. Uttering the final conclusion without really going through the process systematically. Buddha can say that life is beautiful, not us. He can say that because as Siddhartha he acknowledged the misery in his fundamental experience of life; he saw how weak and ineligible his mind was to do even a simple activity; he realized how everything around him disturbed his mind. And thus the intense desire arose to overcome misery permanently. Only then could the world have a Buddha. Not just by spreading out the hands open in a beach and uttering in a filmy style "Life is beautiful" This beauty is going to vaporize in a few minutes when we don't get a cup of good coffee at the beach stalls :-D

We have to become deeply sensitive... to our mind. We will then see tons of dust hidden within, which is only waiting to come out. We will then see that a small disturbance outside is disturbing our mind. Even a simple task is not done with complete ease. Some friction is felt at all times. "I am not at complete ease with existence" is acknowledgement of misery. We should realize that mind itself has become our greatest misery. Good or bad - all thoughts should be acknowledged as disturbance. "For no thought is contented" (Shakespeare, King Richard 11) This should be realized so intensely that going through life in this state should become suffocating, even if the ambiance of life is favorable.

Only then is a Jijnasu born. One who cannot go on with life with just some recreation and procreation. One who wants a permanent solution. One who wants to be perfectly eligible to live. One who wishes to be at absolute ease with everything around him. Only then will he attempt to seek something more. And the more intense his seeking, nearer is the solution (rather dissolution) - तीव्र संवेगानाम् आसन्नः (tīvra saṁvēgānāṁ āsannaḥ) (Yoga Sutra - 1.21)

When life becomes suffocating due to recognition of misery, it is not a helpless situation leading to depression and suicide. The same scriptures which ask us to recognize misery, also give a solution. After uttering about suffering, Buddha's authoritatively said in his third and fourth Noble truths - "Suffering can end. And my dear, I know how to end it. If you come to me I shall show you the path" The more you recognize the misery, the more will you understand and eagerly adopt the solution. Else the solution will not be given its due value. Yoga will then only remain as a hobby or health booster. Therefore the emphasis to recognize misery in everything. It is a prerequisite for real Yoga.

Only a person really sleeping can be woken up. Someone who is pretending to be asleep can never be woken up.

Only when there is genuine acknowledgement of ignorance (vacuum), can there be flowing in of true knowledge (light). When there is a pretence of knowledge, real knowledge can never dawn.

Only a person really aware of the misery can be given a solution. Someone who is assuming to be happy with life can never be given any solution. For he is not even seeking anything more.

Let us not forget that, Krishna, the enlightened one, did not utter a word of spiritual teaching to his closest pal Arjuna (for around 40 years!), until the latter genuinely felt the pinch of misery at the battlefield (although he had already undergone so much misery by then) and collapsed at the former's feet asking for a solution. And Dhritarashtra who heard the same Gita through Sanjaya exclaimed at the end - "After all, Krishna provoked Arjuna to fight!". Evidently he had not acknowledged his ignorance even a bit.

May the acknowledgement of misery, and the pain of ignorance thrive in us and bring tears of genuine frustration! The ocean of sweet water is then ours to seek and own.

51. Recognizing the Feminine

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We decide gender based only on biological features, which results in the superficial idea of man-woman. In contrast, there is much more to the idea of masculine and feminine. These are fundamental components of any living system, and everyone is a mixture of both feminine and masculine characteristics. In Chinese philosophy they are called as Yin and Yang respectively. Fritjof Capra, in his classic work 'The Turning Point', gives a beautiful account of this concept. Later I got to hear similar ideas from various other sources, and also realized a few points myself. And thus this post. The concept is vast; only an essence is presented. And some may find it contentious.

The characteristics of Yang are - assertive, competitive, demanding, analytical etc. Basically self-preservative - the inherent urge to preserve myself at various levels - physical, mental, ideological, social etc.

The characteristics of Yin are - adjusting, cooperating, accepting, intuitive etc. Basically self-expansive - the inherent urge to become something more than what I currently am, by surrendering to and identifying myself with a bigger picture (say, nation).

For a healthy growth of an individual/society a mixture of both is necessary. But the crisis today is that masculine qualities have become dominant dinosaurs and feminine qualities have become endangered species. I am not speaking in terms of men-women; I am speaking in terms of masculine-feminine. By saying masculine is dominant today, I mean that not only men have forgotten their feminine side, but even women are becoming increasingly masculine. Manly women! Due to the physical and psychological suppression of biological women over the centuries by biological men, biological women are trying to retaliate. They should retaliate. But instead of bringing feminine qualities to the forefront, the biological women are again promoting masculine qualities. So even if females rise, the feminine will anyway fall. This is a lose-lose situation.

The masculine is dominant because it is portrayed as success in today's society. But masculinity, the self-preservation part, has to do only with survival. Earn money, status, security etc. It ends there. It is only the initial necessary part, not the final fulfilling part. But we somehow seem to have missed that point. We are running a blind race only to survive. Even after we have well more than what we need to comfortably survive, we still run after money. Because we measure success with how much money one has. You know very well what "He is very successful" means by default. But measuring success with just how well you survive is very dumb. For instance, an individual with a 3-bedroom house is considered more successful than the one with a single room - we should be laughing at this really.

Success should in fact be decided by feminine qualities. It is that additional thing you do after you have managed to survive. How well are you in tune with the bigger picture? How fulfilled you feel with your life? What have you experienced beyond the basic physical world?

For instance, social service is feminine, an additional thing beyond your survival. And that gives you a sense of contentment. Motherhood is intensely feminine, something which can biologically be supported only by women (fatherhood is also feminine, but less intensely). But due to the rampaging masculinity, modern mothers think that working in office is success rather than spending time with their children. Is motherhood - bringing up a child with good values and preparing the next generation - not success? Men have anyway lost their minds in masculinity. And now women too are defeating the feminine.

Spiritual seeking is the culmination of the feminine. The deepest yearning, which is way beyond the realm of the survival. All seekers are intensely feminine. As Meera put it, there are no other men in existence apart from Krishna, the final reality. Only when we become extremely feminine in seeking this reality can we surrender ourselves to it and annihilate the self-preserving masculine individuality. Therefore, may all of us invoke the feminine in us.

50. The Imaginary Plight of Light

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Light energy comes through a bulb. Due to witnessing the bulb as an individual entity (which is also a form of energy), the light-energy also gets identified as "light from this bulb". Else there is no identity to it - there is one ocean of energy. You cannot point at the light and say "this light" or "that light". There is really no division in energy (strictly speaking there is - there are packets/quanta of energy - but let us not be so rigorous - this is for the sake of an analogy). The division created in energy by saying "light from this/that bulb" is only apparent and not real. The division is due to witnessing only a part of the ocean at a time, and not recognizing that it is one whole - universe.

Similarly, the identification of consciousness as "mind from this/that body" is apparent and not real. There aren't different consciousnesses just as there aren't different energy. It is one continuum, one existence.

Therefore we have to get out of this ignorance of "this individual light" - because there is no such thing. "Light from the bulb" is not an individual; similarly "me from this brain" is not an individual - it is an unceasing flow of consciousness. It can never be pinpointed as "this". All such pinpointing is wrong (avidya - ignorance). If you say "I am the body" it is as good as the light from the bulb saying "I am this bulb" and creating an imaginary plight. Light can witness the bulb from which it is coming, but it is never the bulb. Furthermore, energy does not go out of existence, it always is; similarly, consciousness never goes out of existence, it always is. Sorry... I always am.

Therefore keenly and diligently focus on this light - the sense of 'me' - and know yourself as the undivided ocean of light, rather than as a petty bulb. And roar, 'I am That'

"I am waiting peace that passeth understanding, which is neither joy nor sorrow, but something above them both…. Now I am nearing that peace, the eternal silence. I preached the theory (of Vedanta) so long but Oh joy! I am realizing it now. Yes, I am. ‘I am free.’ Alone, alone, I am the one without a second.’" (Swami Vivekananda - 1902 May 15 - few days prior to Mahasamadhi)