A Individual Overcome By Emotions

arjuna uvāca

dṛṣṭvemaḿ sva-janaḿ kṛṣṇa
yuyutsuḿ samupasthitam
sīdanti mama gātrāṇi
mukhaḿ ca pariśuṣyati


Arjuna said: My dear Krishna, seeing my friends and relatives present before me in such a fighting spirit, I feel the limbs of my body quivering and my mouth drying up.

vepathuś ca śarīre me
roma-harṣaś ca jāyate
gāṇḍīvaḿ sraḿsate hastāt
tvak caiva paridahyate

My whole body is trembling, my hair is standing on end, my bow Gandiva is slipping from my hand, and my skin is burning.

na ca śaknomy avasthātuḿ
bhramatīva ca me manaḥ
nimittāni ca paśyāmi
viparītāni keśava

I am now unable to stand here any longer. I am forgetting myself, and my mind is reeling. I see only causes of misfortune, O Krishna, killer of the Keshi demon.


na ca śreyo ‘nupaśyāmi
hatvā sva-janam āhave
na kāńkṣe vijayaḿ kṛṣṇa
na ca rājyaḿ sukhāni ca


I do not see how any good can come from killing my own kinsmen in this battle, nor can I, my dear Krishna, desire any subsequent victory, kingdom, or happiness.



Commentary :

These verses brilliantly illustrates the helplessness of our self-control and the corresponding impact on our body and mind. When we face a tough situation, we find it difficult to exercise our own self-control because of our love, affection, fear and addiction to negative thoughts and emotions.

The scene is the Kurukshetra war where the opposing armies of the Kauravas and the Pandavas have gathered for a battle royal.

From an event perspective, just before the battle begins, Arjuna requests Sri Krishna to take the chariot between the 2 armies so that he can get an idea as to who are in the opposing armies. The all knowing Krishna takes the chariot right in front of the revered Bhishma, Drona etc. Bhishma is Arjuna's great grandfather and Drona is his revered teacher, both unfortunately being opposed to Arjuna now due to their prior obligations to Duryodhana.

Arjuna looks at the revered elders in front of him and his numerous cousins with whom he has played as a kid, now standing before him in battle. A wave of emotion overpowers Arjuna and he goes on a long lecture as to why it is not right for him to fight the battle.

Let us try and analyse the situation from different angles. First from the situational angle, here is the greatest warrior Arjuna who has done hundreds of battles and has been preparing for the greatest battle for the past 13 years, and he has broken down totally on seeing the people he is going to fight. Arjuna knew that he would have to fight his guru and his elders. It was not a surprise for him. but seeing them actually on the battlefield and the thought that his arrows could kill them totally threw him into a disarray. He totally forgot the purpose of the war and his duty and was overcome by emotion. His duty was to dislodge the Kauravas from the empire of Kurukshetra. It was not for the desire of kingdom that Lord Krishna wanted him to fight the war. Rather it was always known that the war was a righteous war to establish Dharma or proper conduct in society. The Kauravas were bad rulers climaxing in the utter horror of the crown prince attempting to disrobe a princess in the palace in the presence of elders. How much could society have degraded that it stood still watching such a scene and did nothing about it. It was Arjuna's duty as a warrior to fight evil tendencies and help establish a moral code of conduct. However as soon as he saw the people, he forgot that objective and the only thing that was in his mind was his keen selfish desire to preserve his kith and kin. From that perspective it was a massive fall for Arjuna from the lofty ideals of war to uphold righteousness to a selfish desire to protect his kin from certain death in the war.

Let us now look at it from a psychological perspective. Here was Arjuna, a towering warrior with a rich intellect overpowered by emotions. In this emotional state, Arjuna was finding enough reasons for not fighting, all within the control of emotions and not by the reasoning of the intellect. Most often than not, does it not happen to us that when we face a crisis situation, we are totally guided by the emotion rather than the intellect? Emotions, by themselves are not bad at all. They provide us a means to express and enjoy the rich tapestry of life. But emotions primarily consist of like(Raga) or dislike(dvesha) of something. Getting what we like makes us happy and losing what we do not like makes us happy and vice-versa. So, if any major act of ours is driven by emotion, in effect it is driven by our individual likes and dislikes and not by reasoning born of intellect. Such an act based on emotions is likely to lead to bad results. Just as Arjuna driven by emotion, deciding not to fight, would have meant a sure victory for the evilness of the Kauravas, our own actions driven by spurts of emotion can lead to actions with disastrous results. Seeing the fact that the destructive emotions are part and parcel of our own personality, our self-control find it difficult to act against them. Self control concludes that life without these thoughts and emotions is meaningless.

When we face a stressful situation, the perception will be sent to our thinking and emotional brain at the very same time through the thalamus. If the emotional brain finds a threat in the situation perceived, it hijacks our thinking brain ,may go to a fight, flight or freeze situation. The emotional response "can take over” the rest of the brain in a millisecond if threatened.

This challenge with the emotions overpowering the intellect and making self control powerless will manifest in different ways in our body and mind :

• Body Shivering
• Dry mouth
• Burning sensation in skin
• Cannot stand properly
• Mind spinning
• Hair stands up

Psychologically, when we are taken over by emotions in a stressful situation, the following typically happen:

• Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. A bleak outlook—nothing will ever get better and there’s nothing you can do to improve your situation.
• Loss of interest in daily activities. No interest in former hobbies, pastimes or social activities. You’ve lost your ability to feel joy and pleasure
•  Appetite or weight changes. Significant weight loss or weight gain—a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month
• Sleep changes. Either insomnia, especially waking in the early hours of the morning, or oversleeping (also known as hypersomnia).
• Anger or irritability. Feeling agitated, restless, or even violent. Your tolerance level is low, your temper short, and everything and everyone gets on your nerve
• Loss of energy. Feeling fatigued, sluggish, and physically drained. Your whole body may feel heavy, and even small tasks are exhausting or take longer to complete
• Self-loathing. Strong feelings of worthlessness or guilt. You harshly criticize yourself for perceived faults and mistakes
• Reckless behaviour. You engage in escapist behaviour such as substance abuse, compulsive gambling, reckless driving, or dangerous sports
• Concentration problems. Trouble focusing, making decisions, or remembering things
• Unexplained aches and pains. An increase in physical complaints such as headaches, back pain, aching muscles, and stomach pain.

Now let us look at this from a spiritual perspective. As a spiritual seeker, we are told that we have to give up desires, ego, past habits etc. Just as Arjuna felt that it is not worth fighting for a kingdom and winning it by defeating Duryodhana, we convince ourselves that it is not worth living if we give up all desires(Duryodhana).

Have we not heard enough arguments that without desire there is no progress and we should all aim higher and higher for physical/mental/intellectual desires? Having been conditioned by society that desires are essential, when we as spiritual students are told that we have to fight desires, we feel the spiritual path which is advocating giving up desires is not worth it. Arjuna could not face up to the fact that his arrows could kill Bhishma. Similarly we cannot face up to the fact that our arrow of intellect got through spiritual progress can kill our ego.



In summary, just as Arjuna, with clouded intellect, gave emotional reasons not to fight refused to fight with Duryodhana whose army consisted of warriors like Drona and Bhishma, we in our fit of ignorance of reality, give apparently convincing reasons not to fight desires whose army consists of warriors like ego and past habits and give up the path of spiritual progress.


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3 of my books

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality

 

Positive Thoughts

tataha shvetair hayair yukte mahati syandane sthitau |
maadhavaha paandavaschaiva divyau shankau pradadhmatau || 14 ||

paanchajanyam hrishikeesho devadattam dhananjayaha |
paundryam dadhamau mahaashankam bheemekarmaa vrikodaraha || 15 ||

anantavijayam raaja kuntiputrau yudhistiraha |
nakulaha sahadevashcha sughoshamanipushpakau || 16 ||

kashyashcha parameshvasaaha shikhandi cha mahaarathaha |
dhristhadyumno viraatashcha saatyakischaparaajiataha ||17||

drupado draupadeyascha sarvashaha pruthiveepate |
saubhadrashcha mahaabaahuh shankhaandadhmuh prithakprithak || 18 ||

sa ghosho dhaartaraashtraanaam hridayaani vyadaaryat |
nabhascha prithvim chaiva tumulo vyanunaadayan || 19 ||


On the other side, both Lord Krishna and Arjuna, stationed on a great chariot drawn by white horses, sounded their transcendental conchshells.

Lord Krishna blew His conchshell, called Pancajanya; Arjuna blew his, the Devadatta; and Bhima, the voracious eater and performer of herculean tasks, blew his terrific conchshell, called Paundra.

King Yudhishthira, the son of Kunti, blew his conchshell, the Ananta-vijaya, and Nakula and Sahadeva blew the Sughosa and Manipuspaka. That great archer the King of Kasi, the great fighter Sikhandi, Dhrishtadyumna, Virata, the unconquerable Satyaki, Drupada, the sons of Draupadi, and the others, O King, such as the mighty-armed son of Subhadra, all blew their respective conchshells.

The blowing of these different conchshells became uproarious. Vibrating both in the sky and on the earth, it shattered the hearts of the sons of Dhritarashtra.


Commentary

We have seen in the earlier verses, the role played by negative thoughts on our psyche. Before we go into a depressed mood thinking there is no end to negative thoughts, let us see the beacon of light  that enables us to break off from negativity and move towards positive thoughts.


Positive thinking / vibrations have a tremendous impact in our life. These positive vibrations will change our mental state positively and will make us become more optimistic. How do we get into the positive thinking mode? Positive thought process is initiated by the self control lead by spiritual wisdom. Self control is the ability of an individual to control his emotions, behaviours and desires for higher goals. The aim is to achieve infinite bliss and not the momentary happiness of worldly objects.

I had covered earlier about the symbolism of Arjuna.  Arjuna represents self-control.  Krishna represents the intellect. Arjuna is in a chariot driven by 5 horses. The five horses represent the 5 senses. What is needed to hold the horses to a chariot? They are the reins. The reins represent the mind. The sense organs by themselves don’t do anything. The eye just sees an object, but has no idea what it is. It is only the mind that knows it is a flower. Similar is the case with other sense organs. Now if the mind represents the reins, what happens if the reins are not held by a good charioteer? Then the horses will go in any direction they want and derail the chariot. In exactly the same way, sense organs held by a mind without a good charioteer will drive the individual in any direction and destroy his life. What is it that is the charioteer for the mind? It is the intellect and in the case of the war, it is symbolized by Krishna. So long as Krishna holds reins of Arjuna's chariot, he is guided well. Similarly so long as the intellect guides the mind, the individual is safe.

We see above about Lord Krishna blowing his conch. Symbolically it represents the Intellect sending out an inner message. Have we not heard of instances where worst criminals have changed? I have read about hackers who swindled millions changing and becoming good hackers, helping to prevent fraud. What causes this? It is that faint inner voice of the intellect.  Most of the times, the intellect's voice is drowned by the negative thoughts emanating from the ego trying to protect its existence. However with practice, it is possible to gradually learn to hear the intellect.

Arjuna in the mythological story, during the time the Pandavas are banished to the forest, visits a heavenly place in his quest for weapons to help in the future war. There, a heavenly damsel falls for him and wants him to love her. Arjuna has the capacity to say no to a beautiful female and stay true to himself. This is self control. I have also heard an apocryphal story of a famous saint who was very handsome. When he was delivering his lectures, it appeared as though the most handsome prince was giving a talk. A woman in the audience was besotted by him and told him she would love to have a handsome son through the saint. The saint smiled and said, take me as your son, so that your desire is fulfilled. The saint was in late 20's or early 30's and hence very youthful. But he used his intellect's discriminatory capabilities to decide what is right and what is wrong and showed exemplary self control.

In addition, the above verses mention about a variety of other conches that were blown. These represent the positive thought strands that are available to us to awaken our intellect and attain self control, thus defeating the negative forces.

• Manipushpaka: Helps to focus
• Sukhosha: Helps us to go beyond the doubting state of mind
• Deva data: Helps us to get connected with our potentials
• Paundra: Helps to destroy lower tendencies 
• Anantha Vijayam: Helps to stay calm 
• Panchajanya: Keep us in the path of good and lead us to the highest goals of life 

When we have clarity (focused intellect and /controlled mind), the union of the sense, mind and the higher self happens. Then the sense organs and mind  work respecting the control of  the intellect. They run in the direction given by the intellect with a focused / controlled mind. When there is control over the mind, the sense organs behave like a group of good horses in the hands of an competent charioteer. When one keeps the intelligence guided by spiritual wisdom as the charioteer and uses the mind to rein the sense organs, we will have the strength to traverse the course to a meaningful life and eventually attain the ultimate destination of life.

According to Mayo clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.com) researchers continue to explore the effects of positive thinking and optimism on health. Health benefits that positive thinking may provide include:

●    Increased life span
●    Lower rates of depression
●    Lower levels of distress
●    Greater resistance to the common cold
●    Better psychological and physical well-being
●    Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
●    Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress

Conclusion

When we are deluded (confused intellect and /uncontrolled mind), the union of the senses, mind and the higher self gets destroyed. The mind gets scattered and turbulent. It becomes incapable of conceiving the truth or goals of life. Such a mind will not be capable of getting connected with Truth / GOD and will get trapped in worldly problems. However, when, through positive thoughts, we awaken the intellect and use it to guide us in self control, the route to divine bliss is totally clear.

Negative Thoughts

tasya sanjanayanharsham kuruvriddha pitaamaha |
simhanaada vinadyochchai shankamdadhamau prataapavaan || 12 ||
tataha shankashcha bheryascha panavaanakagomukhaahaa |
sahasaivaabhyahanyanta sa shabda tumulobhavat ||13 ||

Then Bhishma, the great valiant grandsire of the Kuru dynasty, the grandfather of the fighters, blew his conchshell very loudly, making a sound like the roar of a lion, giving Duryodhana joy.

The context is the great Mahabharatha war with the 2 armies facing off against each other. Duryodhana, who is driving the Kaurava forces has asked all his commanders to protect Bhishma, who is the chief of his army. Duryodhana is shaken seeing the massive army of the Pandavas standing against him. Bhishma to produce enthusiasm among the Kauravas is blowing his conch loudly and that is cheering Duryodhana.

In our study, we are concerned more with the symbolism and the spiritual meaning of these verses. As already covered earlier, Bhishma represents the Ego or our false self. Duryodhana represents material desire which is the root cause of all our miseries. Drona, the preceptor of both the Pandavas and Kauravas represents habits. Habits can be good or bad and most often in our cases, we develop bad habits aiding the development of desire and that is the symbolism of Drona being in the Kaurava camp.

If the ego were to identify and realize it is the true consciousness or Brahman, there would be no material desires or the need for habits to sustain the desires. Conversely if there were no desires or habits, ego would not exist. However the ego wants to exist and identify with the body and try to get its material desires fulfilled. When as a practising student of spirituality, we try to practise giving up desires and habits, the ego feels threatened about its existence and uses the technique of creating thoughts to keep the material desires and habits active. So, the symbolism of Bhishma blowing the conch is the ego initiating flow of thoughts automatically to curb spiritual growth and lead the individual towards material desires.

Every action that we do is driven by a desire or agitation in the mind. Every agitation of the mind is created by a thought. Thought is influenced by habit. If I am a drunkard and am trying to give it up, the habit creates thoughts of drinking automatically. These thoughts create agitation in the mind and peace temporarily is achieved only by drinking. Where do these thoughts originate from? I may get thoughts of smoking but not of drinking. Someone may get thoughts of going to a place of ill repute, but I may not. The root of all thoughts is what is called as Vasana. Vasana is the sum total of all the impressions of desires and actions  created by the ego in its journey through multiple cycles of birth and death. Have we not heard of child prodigies? Where did their amazing talent come from? It is an expression of the Vasana acquired in previous births. As we journey in our current life, we acquire more impressions of desires/desires and that drives our thoughts.

Different types of thoughts create different emotions/disturbances leading to different types of action. For example, a thought that I’m in danger and I won’t be able to cope with it creates in the mind an emotion of anxiety/fear leading us to take actions which may not necessarily be sane. Similarly, a thought that everything is hopeless – I’m totally worthless, no-one likes me, and nothing can change, creates an emotion of depression and may lead to the action of suicide or any other form of violence.

There are different patterns of negative thoughts:

1. Filtering: A sort of limited vision; looking at only one element of a situation and the exclusion of everything else.
2. Polarized thinking: Black and white thinking; insists on either choice.
3. Overgeneralizations: Broad conclusions based on limited incidents / evidences. Exaggerates the frequency of problems and use negative global labels 
4. Mind reading; Assumes what people are thinking and feeling ; and concludes why they act the way they do
5. Catastrophizing; Expects and even visualizes disaster
6. Magnifying; Exaggerates the degree and intensity of a problem
7. Personalization; Assumes that everything people do or say is some kind of reaction to us. Compares us with other people.
8. Shoulds; Frames a set of rules about how we and others should act. Experience guilt when we break it and anger when others violate the rules 

The characteristics of negative thoughts are as follows:

1. Automatic thoughts have the same believable quality as the direct sense expressions.
2. They just pop in to our mind and we hardly notice them.
3. Usually the automatic thoughts predicts catastrophe, see danger in everything and anticipate the worst.
4. Automatic thoughts often triggers a long chain of associated depressing thoughts.
5. Automatic thoughts often lightning fast and very difficult to catch

Conclusion : In every seeker's path, at the initial stage of spiritual development, the ego employs a powerful technique of creating automatic thoughts to further the material desires and related habits.  Thoughts can fall into various patterns, but the goal is the same; To prevent the seeker on his journey and let the ego continue to rule the individual.


----------------------------------------------------

3 of my books

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality

18 Walls Of Separation From Bliss

Readers may start wondering whether I am blogging on numerology.  Far from it...! I know nothing of numerology and cannot comment on it at all. But the number 18 is a fascinating number. Please join me in the adventure to discover significance of 18.

Let's start with one of the greatest epics of all times, the Mahabharatha. There are 18 Parvas or main chapters. The Mahabharatha as readers are aware is a battle between two sets of cousins. Let us see how many army units were in the battle. The Kaurava army had 11 battalions or units and the Pandavas had 7 battalions or units. It adds up to a total of 18 battalions. Let us step into the Mahabharatha and look at its most precious gem, the Bhagwad Gita. How many chapters does it have? It has 18 chapters. 

What is  so significant about the number 18 from a spiritual perspective? It signifies the gates to be crossed before an entity(Jiva) can realize its true identity(Brahman). Let us try and understand this better. I have covered earlier that our essential nature is of happiness or bliss or Brahman. However, due to massive ignorance, I have arrogated to myself the state of smallness or a dissatisfied individual. Why is it difficult for me, the individual to realize that I am Brahman? It is because I have created a series of barriers between myself and Brahman. Let us try to enumerate these barriers.

1. Set of 5 senses

We are drawn to the world of objects through our 5 senses, which all know and I dont need to elaborate. However let me briefly tell the impact of sense organs.A fish gets caught due to the sense of taste. A deer stands still to the beat of a drum and is caught. So, we as humans are drawn to the world with all the sense organs. Imagine the impact!

2. Set of 5 action organs

It is not enough if we have sense organs. We need a method to do action to acquire and enjoy the sense objects. Hence we have the 5 action organs : Hands, Legs, Mouth, Reproductive organ and the Waste eliminating organ. 

3. Set of 5 internal organs

What is it that really creates ability to see, hear, touch, talk, walk etc? It is not the action organs or the sense organs by themselves. Most people would be aware of the above 2 sets. But this set of internal organs may require more elaboration.

a. The ability to intake: This is the essential force that enables us to intake anything, be it food, air, ideas, talk, signals from sense objects etc.

b. The ability to expel or throw out: This is the essential force that enables us to exhale, eliminate waste products, deliver life creating ability, deliver a new born child etc.

c. The ability to digest : This is the essential force that gives us the ability to digest the food we take.

d. The ability to assimilate/circulate: This is the essential force that allows the body to assimilate or circulate nutrition oxygen etc to every part of the body.

e. The ability to express/stand/grow : It’s the force behind all growth, our ability to stand erect, speech, effort, enthusiasm and will. This is the essential force that enables us to express our thoughts, feelings etc into a form that can be understood by others.

4. Set of 3 subtle organs

a. Mind: Just because we have the sense organs or action organs means nothing in terms of perception. The signals from the sense organs reach the mind where they are processed into information/perception. Without the mind, the signals from the sense organs are just electrical signals with nothing to process and hence no perception.

b. Memory : As we know, one of the things that binds us is memory. We remember a happy event in a particular place and like or are bound to it. We have memories of a unpleasant situation and hence we are bound to disliking it.

c. Ego: Our final barrier is the ego. Ego is that sense of identity, separateness etc. This is what creates a sense of duality and separation form the Supreme. The separation creates a void which we try to fill with sense objects acquired through the interaction of the above 3 sets of 5 organs each.

So, once we add up all the barriers we have a total of 18.  So, we as limited individuals have covered ourselves with a solid fortress of 18 walls. What have we separated ourselves from? We are separated from our true nature. The true nature is absolute and permanent bliss. Once we understand the nature of the various barriers and dismantle them one by one, we will be united with our true nature and after that it is only bliss.


As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality

 






 

The Strategy of the Negative Forces

aparyaaptam tadasmaakam balam bheeshmaabhirikshitam |

paryaaptam tvidameteshaam balam bheemaabhirikshitam ||

Our forces (negative) protected by Bhishma (pseudo self) are unlimited (but may be insufficient); whereas their army (positive forces), defended by Bhima (Life force control), is limited (but quite adequate).

ayanesu ca sarvesu yatha-bhagam avasthitah

bhismam evabhiraksantu bhavantah sarva eva hi

All of you, properly stationed in your places in the divisions of the army, do protect Bhishma  (Ego  or pseudo self) 

Commentary

To recap our discussion so far, the Mahabharatha war is about to begin and the forces of good(Pandavas) and the forces of bad(Kauravas) are ready for battle. Within the realm of our own mind, in our daily existence, positive forces and negative forces are always battling and the chief driver of the negative forces is Desire. Though the positive forces seem limited, they are powerful. Now here, Duryodhana is asking his army and especially Drona, a superb archer to protect Bhishma. 

Let us look at this request of Duryodhana to protect and support Bhishma from two angles. One is from the normal historical and strategic perspective. Bhishma was always known across India as a great warrior and a very righteous person. When the great war was announced, various kings across the country had a difficult choice to make on which side to support. Most of them knew that Pandavas were right and had to be supported. But still seeing Bhishma, the righteous warrior amongst and leading the Kauravas, many of them decided to align with the Kauravas trusting that Bhishma was doing the right thing. Duryodhana knew that if Bhishma fell, many of these kings that had aligned with him would desert him. Hence there was a strategic reason in asking his commanders to ensure that Bhishma was supported and protected.

 Let us now turn to our internal battle where the strategy of the negative forces is to invoke past habits to protect ego. To understand the strategy of the negative forces, we have to understand the concept of the ego.  Now, what is this ego? Ego is not what we normally associate the word with. It is not used like the way we say, “He is an egoistic person”. Spiritually speaking, ego refers to that “individualness” or “existence” or “identity”. 

When does this world of objects become available to us? In deep sleep, we have no idea that this world exists, because I as an individual do not know I exist. This may take some time to understand. Do I know I exist in deep sleep? I only know that I existed, when I wake up. Only then I know that I existed in deep sleep. Taking it a step ahead, if I die when I am in deep sleep, what happens? Will I not know that I exist? Readers will immediately know that though the body does not exist, I continue to exist.

The first thought of my existence or individuality is what is called “ego” spiritually. In deep sleep, there was absolutely nothing. I as an entity did not exist because there was no thought or at least there was no awareness of thought. The first thought that any of us have after a deep sleep is” I am” or “I exist” and then all other thoughts flow from there. The “I” in deep sleep who was peaceful am now the troubled husband, father, boss whatever, because all other thoughts now arise from the “I am” thought. So, it is the ego which associated with the body, mind, intellect which is the cause of all the vicissitudes of our life.

Most often for us, we associate the ego with the body. We look at the mirror, try to look good, feel bad if someone calls us ugly or panic if we see a pimple of rash, all because we identify our self-worth with the body. Any time anything happens to the body, we are distressed. We say, we feel hot, cold, pain etc because we identified with the body and because the body is feeling something, we say we are feeling it.

We also associate the ego with our mind. The mind is an emoting entity. We see our beloved and say, I am happy, without realizing that it is the mind that is happy and I am associating myself with the vagaries of the mind. Similarly, if there is sadness in the mind, we associate ourselves with that feeling and say, we are sad.

Another typical association is of intellect to the ego. The intellect is the conceptualizing entity. Just because I am born a Brahmin, I conceptualize and associate the ego with the intellect and say I am a Brahmin. I also associate the ego with concepts like education and say I am a graduate or with a profession and say, I am an engineer.

Why is ego harmful? What am I really? In reality I am nothing but the pure Existence or Life Principle or Brahman or Atman or Soul. However its evil twin, the Ego has imprisoned my Soul.  The poor Soul, which really is the owner or king of my mind and intellect, is now banished and in its place, my mind and intellect are governed by the Ego. Whereas the Soul was all bliss and non-dual, the Ego has arrogated to itself a separate identity and sees itself as different from others and the world. Once there is differentiation and duality principle has come in, the Ego experiences all the vicissitudes of this changing illusory world. It experiences happiness and sadness, calm and disturbance, birth and death etc. 

In the context of the Mahabharatha, Bhishma represents "ego". As we saw above, if ego(Bhishma) is destroyed, then there are no desires(Duryodhana) at all. This implies that desires are defeated if ego dies through intellectual and righteous effort (Pandavas). That is the reason that desires to continue their sovereignty over us and win the battle , command the past habits to protect the ego.

In the context of the Mahabharatha  Drona represents past habits, which can be good or bad. But more often than not, bound as we are by our past actions and intense ignorance of Reality, our Drona becomes bad habits. How often has it not been that we promise to give up a desire and say finally that we failed because we are habituated. So whenever the intellect helps us make a resolution to give up desires, desires take the support of past habits to defeat the intellect's resolve.

Duryodhana represents Desire. In each of us it is the desire that propels us into doing various activities, good or bad which bind us into karma's laws. Hence the strategy of the negative forces is to ensure that the main proponent of desire is always protected. This is nothing but the Ego. When Duryodhana asks his army to protect Bhishma, symbolically it means that Desire is asking for the Ego to be protected.This desire for worldly things, when it sees the goodness and righteousness of an intense sadhak, becomes afraid and the first thing it does is go to seek support of past habits. 

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Positive Forces In My Mind

paçyaitåµ på√∂u-putrå√åm åcårya mahatîµ camüm
vyü∂håµ drupada-putre√a tava çißye√a dhîmatå

Behold, O great teacher, the military formation of the army of the sons of På√∂u arranged by your gifted student, Dh®ß†adyumna, the son of Drupada.

atra çürå maheßvåså bhîmårjuna-samå yudhi
yuyudhåno virå†aç ca drupadaçca mahåratha˙

Within those ranks are great archers who are equal to Bhîma and Arjuna in war such as Såtyaki, Virå†a and the powerful charioteer Drupada.

dh®ß†aketuç cekitåna˙ kåçiråjaç ca vîryavån
purujit kuntibhojaç ca çaibyaç ca narapu∫gava˙

Great heroes such as Dh®ß†aketu, Cekitåna, the heroic king of Kåçi, Purujit, Kuntibhoja and Çaibya are also present.

yudhåmanyuç ca vikrånta uttamaujåç ca vîryavån
saubhadro draupadeyåç ca sarva eva mahårathå˙

The chivalrous Yudhåmanyu, the courageous Uttamaujå, Abhimanyu the son of Subhadrå, and the sons of Draupadî are indeed all mighty chariot warriors.

Summary

As we have seen, the great Mahabharatha war is about to begin and the two armies are ready for battle. The blind king Dritarashtra asks his charioteer, Sanjaya to tell him what is happening on the battlefield. Sanjaya gives the blind king a running commentary of the war.

In the above set of verses, Duryodhana is telling his master and preceptor Drona about the strength of the opposing army. This is enough from a contextual perspective. However, our interest is in the symbolism of the war and its applicability for ourselves.

We have seen in an earlier verse that Duryodhana represents Desire which is the root cause of all negative tendencies in our mind. We have also seen the five strong positive forces in our mind. When Desire feels threatened by the positive forces, it relies on Habits to support it. Here, let us see the type of positive forces in our mind, in addition to the five primary forces we covered in our earlier discussion. I will give an illustrative explanation of some of the positive forces here.

The list of positive forces within our minds include the following:

• Intuitive Awakening
• Self-Control
• Life Force Control or breath control
• Divine Devotion
• Divine Calmness
• Dispassion
• Power of Mental resistance
• Spiritual Memory
• Right postures
• Confidence
• Modesty
• Respect
• Empathy
• Faith
• Compassion
• Kindness
• Love
• Honesty
• Self Resilience
• Fearlessness
• Focus
• Creativity
• Forgiveness
• Fortitude
• Courage

One of the greatest force within us which will take us on the right path is Spiritual Intuition or intuitive awakening . Intuition is the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning. Innately, most of us know that hurting someone is bad. We do not need any great analysis to decide that I should not hurt others, without a valid reason. Similar is the case with spiritual intuition. Anyone on the spiritual path will very quickly understand the nature of this mesmerizing world of objects and its impact on our mental health. 

It almost happens suddenly without any warning. We have heard of cases where the most hardened criminals suddenly change. In our own epics, we know of Valmiki who was a robber, but changed into a learned person who ultimately composed the great Ramayana. In any battle within our mind, the first step is to know that there are issues and there are negative forces. The spiritual intuition represented by Dristadyumna gives us that great ability which needs to be harnessed to further grow the positive forces.

Faith is variously defined as belief, confidence or trust in a person, object, religion, idea or view. It may also be used to refer to a particular system of religious beliefs. Faith is integral to human existence. Every act that we do is normally an act of faith. We get into a public transport to go to office. How are we sure that the driver is not a maniac who will crash the bus? We get into a plane. How do we know that the pilot is sane? It is all a matter of faith based on our own experience, experience gained from others etc. The same faith can be harnessed to understand the validity of spiritual teaching regarding our reality and be able to understand the positive forces we can harness and negative forces to control.

Dispassion is the ability not to be attracted by the glamor of the worldly objects. Most of us have that quality in us, which can be harnessed. We are dispassionate about the toys we played with as we grow older. We are dispassionate about our first cycle when we take up a job and own a car. As we reach higher, we become dispassionate about lower things. It is possible for us to elevate our thinking towards a more profound desire for understanding our true nature and this will gradually make us dispassionate about worldly objects.

 

In summary, we have seen that there are several positive forces in our mind which can help defeat the strength of the negative forces led by desires and supported by habit. It is for each of us to recognize the evil forces first and their impact and then leverage the positive forces to battle the negative forces.

3 of my books

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1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality

Introduction To Gita

Challenges Of Life

Every century has presented human beings with its own unique challenges. The caveman’s main challenge was to protect himself from the wild environment and at the same time manage to find food to sustain himself. As centuries progressed and man’s skills developed, some of the basic challenges were more manageable. He could make sharp weapons to protect himself from wild animals, create fire to keep animals away and also use weapons to hunt animals for food. Did his challenges end? Of course not! He now had the challenge of protecting himself from other men who had similar weapons and were out to get his food, women etc. The wild hunter gradually evolved into an agricultural man with a better semblance of society and probably a more protected environment to flourish. Did challenges of life end? Unfortunately no! He faced the challenges of vagaries of nature which could make or destroy his crops. He faced challenges of marauders out to steal his crops and his property. The agricultural man evolved into the industrial man and further into the information technology man. But as man has evolved in the material world with ability to seemingly manage more and more of himself and his environment, have his challenges ceased? Unfortunately not! As man progressed over centuries, he got more and more evolved in harnessing his energy and brain to acquire the means to satisfy his physical desires. However at every stage, the challenges in life never ceased and on the contrary the complexity of challenges seemed to keep on increasing. Compared to the caveman, the current man has multifold many more opportunities to create, excel and enjoy the world. But at the same time he faces many more challenges.

To overcome challenge of the environment, the cave man used his intelligence to create weapons and gradually learned how to till the land and grow food. To overcome challenges of the agricultural world, he learned the skills of managing animals, managing the crops etc. To manage challenges of the industrial world he created machines. To manage the challenges of the information world, he created computers. It would appear as though man was in control of his destiny and he could create a solution for every challenge. But are we really in control? Do we really have the necessary skills to face the challenges thrown at us today? If at home, we have a disagreement with our spouse, are we able to handle the situation calmly or do we erupt in anger? If at work our colleague gets a promotion, are we able to wholeheartedly wish him or do we boil in jealousy? Thinking of potential failure on an assignment, do we stop even attempting to begin the job? In short, do we have the basic skills to manage anger, jealousy, hatred, greed etc? Without having these skills, how can we ever hope to lead a peaceful life as we pursue the various opportunities and manage the challenges in succeeding in this competitive world? Without this ability to lead life intelligently, are we not taking a chance to succeed in leading a happy life? Is there a way to learn the critical skills of life and be able to significantly increase our ability to be happy and successful in facing the various challenges of our lives?

The critical skills of life

To be a good engineer, one needs to acquire skills related to mathematics, physics, mechanics etc. To be a good doctor, one needs to acquire skills related to human physiology, diseases, drugs etc. What are the key skills needed to lead a happy life in which a person can face challenges boldly and yet make full use of the various opportunities this world has to offer? Life skills are the skills associated with managing and living a better quality of life. They help us to accomplish our ambitions and to live to our full potential. The life skills include the following:

• Listening
• Focus 
• Mind Control 
• Discern perception from Reality
• Emotional Intelligence
• Creativity  
• Efficiency in action 
• Stress Management 
• Relationship Management 
• Empathy
• Self awareness 
• Self Control

By mastering these life skills, any of us can be trained to develop an extraordinarily capable mind – a mind that is profoundly peaceful, happy, and blissful, which makes us extremely efficient in whatever we do.

The source to acquire critical skills

Whereas one can go to an university to acquire various worldly skills like engineering, physics, medicine etc, where can we go to acquire the above critical skills? Though of late, institutions have come up claiming to offer the above critical skills, they may not have the necessary sound foundation of logic and reasoning behind them. What if somehow the greatest and most peaceful people on this earth who were highly successful were to somehow come together and put together a manual of these critical skills? Where can we go looking for such an unique manual of life? Thankfully if we look around, we can find these manuals which have guided people in essential skills to face life across centuries. The great masters of the world, as they lead a peaceful life facing every adversity including death, gave us pearls of wisdom in the form of scriptures. Whereas Christianity has the Holy Bible, Islam has the Holy Koran, Sikhs have the Granta Sahib, for the Hindus, the source of eternal wisdom comes from what are known as the Vedas.

The entire belief system of the Hindus is based on the Vedas. The Vedas have a section in them called the Upanishads which house the treasure of wisdom related to life and how to face it. The Upanishads are the highest level of knowledge that a man can learn and once a man knows this knowledge, he becomes the ultimate in happiness and can face any challenges in life successfully. Considering that the Upanishads are slightly esoteric and not easily comprehensible unless taught by a true Master, the next best source of knowledge to face the worldly challenges is the Bhagavad Gita.

Introduction to the Holy Gita

Many of us from India have been exposed to the wonderful stories from the Mahabharatha. The Mahabharatha is a multi-generational story climaxing in an internecine battle between cousins of a royal family.  The Mahabharatha in addition to being a superbly entertaining story has gems within it. The most precious gem of all is the Bhagavad Gita. This portion of the epic runs into about 700 verses and condenses the greatest spiritual teachings of the Upanishads in an easy to understand format. The Gita was told by Lord Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield and motivated him to fight and win the battle.

The literal meaning of the Sanskrit word Bhagavad Gita”is the Song of Universal Intelligence. The teachings of the Gita are universal and can be studied, lived and experienced by people of any background, religion, caste, nationality and profession. The Gita provides the following:

• A science of human possibilities to extract the full potential of an individual.
• A leadership tool for achieving emotional intelligence
• A management guide to achieve efficiency and proficiency in day-to-day activities
• A psychological solution for achieving the mental equanimity and for being a master of a situation rather than a victim of it
• A means to go beyond the organic evolution and to achieve highest human potential
• A manual for taming and managing our emotional brain
• A scripture that leads us to the ultimate freedom from insecurities and unhappiness

　　What The Gita Is Not

• It is not a religious text
• It is not outdated.

What The Gita Is

The Gita is a source of knowledge which gives out practical advise to lead a blissful life and covers the following:

• The Need To Fight Desires
• The need to act and the way to act
• A principle of humility and gratitude
• The impermanence of stuff
• Means to reach full potential

The Theme of the GitaThe Gita's first word is Dharma, which means nature and the last word is Mama, which means mine. So basically, Gita brings out what the true nature of an individual is. It proves that we are not these small beings trapped in a body/mind/intellect, but are the very embodiment of that universal energy and tells us not to limit ourselves, but to strive to achieve the infinite.

Keeping in view the above theme, the Gita elucidates the following in detail:

• What is the real nature of “MY Self”, the world around me and the Supreme that sustains me and the world?
• What is the nature of the self perception of a typical individual and the problems associated with that self judgment.
• How can we lift ourselves from the current state of being identified with a false self identity to our actual self and what are the benefits of being identified with our own actual self

The Gita gives us the message that without analyzing, studying, and tuning our mind we cannot effectively face the challenges of the external world.


The Gita as seen by towering personalities

• "When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous." ~ Albert Einstein
• "The Bhagavad-Gita has a profound influence on the spirit of mankind by its devotion to God which is manifested by actions." ~ Dr. Albert Schweizer
• "The Bhagavad-Gita is the most systematic statement of spiritual evolution of endowing value to mankind. It is one of the most clear and comprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but to all of humanity." ~ Aldous Huxley
• "The Bhagavad-Gita is a true scripture of the human race a living creation rather than a book, with a new message for every age and a new meaning for every civilization." ~ Rishi Aurobindo
• "In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seems puny and trivial." ~ Henry David Thoreau
• "The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of lifes wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion." ~ Herman Hesse
• "When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day."~ Mahatma Gandhi
• "The Bhagavad-Gita deals essentially with the spiritual foundation of human existence. It is a call of action to meet the obligations and duties of life; yet keeping in view the spiritual nature and grander purpose of the universe." ~ Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
• "I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita. It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us."
• "The Bhagavad-Gita is an empire of thought and in its philosophical teachings Krishna has all the attributes of the full-fledged montheistic deity and at the same time the attributes of the Upanisadic absolute." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
• "In order to approach a creation as sublime as the Bhagavad-Gita with full understanding it is necessary to attune our soul to it." ~ Rudolph Steiner
• "From a clear knowledge of the Bhagavad-Gita all the goals of human existence become fulfilled. Bhagavad-Gita is the manifest quintessence of all the teachings of the Vedic scriptures." ~ Adi Sankara
• "The secret of karma yoga which is to perform actions without any fruitive desires is taught by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita." ~ Vivekananda

With this introduction to the Gita, I invite readers to begin the exciting journey of self discovery and self development as we step through the masterly wisdom in the Gita.