"I am free to express myself!"
"I am free to wear what I want!"
"I am free to do as I like!"
But where is freedom to be found here?
Could this, perhaps, actually translate as slavery to the need for self-identification, desire and sense-gratification?
Could there be more freedom in the absence of this need?
How about...
"It doesn't matter whether I get an opportunity to express myself or not, because I feel complete and fulfilled anyway."
"What I wear no longer affects how I feel about myself. And I am not concerned about others' perception of me."
"I am equally satisfied while fulfilling your wishes rather than mine, and while working or playing."
"It is not a matter that I am not free to do that, but rather I am free from the desire, or the need, to do it."
This is not suggesting annihilation of personality, rather equanimity in all situations presented before a person.
This is true freedom: freedom to be fully active without the sense of necessity or attachment.
In reflecting upon this point, I dug into the timeless wisdom of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, ancient Vedic text, and decided to share some of it here:
2:15
yam hi na vyathayanty ete, purusam purusarsabha
sama-duhkha-sukham dhiram, so ’mrtatvaya kalpate
O noblest of men, the wise man who is equipoised in pleasure and pain, and undisturbed by sense-experiences, is alone qualified for immortality.
2:64
raga-dvesa-vimuktais tu, visayan indriyais charan
atma-vasyair vidheyatma, prasadam adhigachchhati
The integrated person who can control his mind at will, and who, free from attraction and repulsion, accepts his worldly necessities through his controlled senses, attains tranquillity.
3:19
tasmad asaktah satatam, karyam karma samachara
asakto hy acharan karma, param apnoti purusah
So perform your prescribed duties without attachment. By selflessly executing one’s duties a person attains liberation. (True liberation is the state of pure devotion, attained in the maturity of selfless action.)
6:8
jnana-vijnana-trptatma,kuta-stho vijitendriyah
yukta ity ucyate yogi,sama-lostrasma-kancanah
One who is always satisfied within by both knowledge and realisation, who is always fixed in his spiritual nature, who is sense-controlled and who has the vision of equality for a clod of earth, a rock, or gold—it is said that such a person has attained yoga.
23 June 2009
11 June 2009
Circle of Life (and Death)
"On the plains is played out a scenario that is repeated, day after day... the drama of the hunter and the hunted..." (Earth, BBC Documentary)
How odd that we appear to be at the top of the food chain. Our intelligence gives us that position, although our bodies are actually so weak.
Yet we are like a virus... increasing in numbers and spreading too fast, exploiting the host that feeds us... to the point of its destruction?
How odd that we appear to be at the top of the food chain. Our intelligence gives us that position, although our bodies are actually so weak.
Yet we are like a virus... increasing in numbers and spreading too fast, exploiting the host that feeds us... to the point of its destruction?
06 June 2009
Riding the Wave
My friend welcomed me with a kiss on each cheek.
"Wow, this is great! I'm so happy to see you are so busy!" I said, eyes wide.
"Amazing! Just as we had decided to quit and move location, there was an explosion! You let it go and then it comes to you with a boom!" He looked at me meaningfully, "Isn't everything like that?!"
"Indeed!" I smiled, patting him on the back and urging him to carry on. Although I had not seen my friend for a while, busy as he had been in pursuing his goal, I did not wish to steal his attention. I stood aside and observed, deeply pleased.
Let go of it then it's there. Relax about it and then just catch it when it happens. Because by pushing too hard we push it away!
Repeatedly I have experienced that, when desires for results come to a standstill, when we cease forcibly trying to control the environment, when we surrender to the natural, mystic flow... things begin to happen such that it serves our favour.
Not to mean we should sit idly, waiting for things to happen, but rather, like a surfer, to catch the wave and ride it where it takes us instead of swimming against the current to be tossed and turned in the crashing waves.
Hence the new-age slogan, BE HERE NOW (!!!) It may be a cliche', but it holds truth.
Yet too often we are not content... always looking beyond, afar, for more, for something different!
And so easily we can forget to be grateful when our wishes have been fulfilled... and take it all for granted. So fickle is the mind that before we know it, we may begin to desire yet another different situation!
If work is slow, we may desire more custom, yet if it is busy, we may wish to take it easy. If we are single, we may want a partner, yet if we are engaged, we may crave some freedom. In a world of duality, all situations have their positive and negative aspects. And if we are experiencing one situation, it seems that we naturally hanker for an alternative situation, hoping the grass is greener on the other side!
Ultimately I should ask myself, why do I need to experience this? Perhaps I simply need to realise that nothing can give complete, fulfilling happiness in this world, because it all comes at a price and everything is temporary.
The fact is that seldom do we realise just how perfect our present situation is - that it was just what we needed to live through - until it is gone!
"Wow, this is great! I'm so happy to see you are so busy!" I said, eyes wide.
"Amazing! Just as we had decided to quit and move location, there was an explosion! You let it go and then it comes to you with a boom!" He looked at me meaningfully, "Isn't everything like that?!"
"Indeed!" I smiled, patting him on the back and urging him to carry on. Although I had not seen my friend for a while, busy as he had been in pursuing his goal, I did not wish to steal his attention. I stood aside and observed, deeply pleased.
Let go of it then it's there. Relax about it and then just catch it when it happens. Because by pushing too hard we push it away!
Repeatedly I have experienced that, when desires for results come to a standstill, when we cease forcibly trying to control the environment, when we surrender to the natural, mystic flow... things begin to happen such that it serves our favour.
Not to mean we should sit idly, waiting for things to happen, but rather, like a surfer, to catch the wave and ride it where it takes us instead of swimming against the current to be tossed and turned in the crashing waves.
Hence the new-age slogan, BE HERE NOW (!!!) It may be a cliche', but it holds truth.
Yet too often we are not content... always looking beyond, afar, for more, for something different!
And so easily we can forget to be grateful when our wishes have been fulfilled... and take it all for granted. So fickle is the mind that before we know it, we may begin to desire yet another different situation!
If work is slow, we may desire more custom, yet if it is busy, we may wish to take it easy. If we are single, we may want a partner, yet if we are engaged, we may crave some freedom. In a world of duality, all situations have their positive and negative aspects. And if we are experiencing one situation, it seems that we naturally hanker for an alternative situation, hoping the grass is greener on the other side!
Ultimately I should ask myself, why do I need to experience this? Perhaps I simply need to realise that nothing can give complete, fulfilling happiness in this world, because it all comes at a price and everything is temporary.
The fact is that seldom do we realise just how perfect our present situation is - that it was just what we needed to live through - until it is gone!
02 June 2009
Pairs
It is a strange dynamic, that exchange of energy that fulfills.
What draws people together? What pushes them apart? Personalities are living and growing and developing, needs are always changing, and so do relationships.
While relationships may last from a few moments to a lifetime, roles may be ever-changing.
By exposing some personal nature and sharing time, the mellow with a business client changed to friendship, with the introduction of affection and attachment. As brother and sister we found solace in each other's understanding of our views about life and the world, sometimes verging on the teacher-student situation when one's experience surpassed the other's in a particular field. Sometimes I could be as his mother, sometimes as his daughter.
Then a misunderstanding brought about disappointment that could only be experienced by lovers, such intimate affection was there although that exchange had never come by... and then again, we became like strangers.
Days passed. A tall, dark stranger caught my eye, and soon we were lost in words. Much later, he was still holding my hand. So comfortably natural it was, I had barely noticed. We complemented each other, two became one... until cultural circumstance dictated that our affections could remain only on a friendly level, but one that would last.
Any two individuals, a unique relationship.
In Sanskrit, the term rasa refers to the degree of intimacy and sweetness of relationship with the Divine (shanta - peaceful, dasya - servitude, sakhya - friendship, vatsalya - parental or madhurya - conjugal).
It is clear that fragments of rasa are reflected in every relationship experienced in this world, because we are sparks of that eternal flame, the Original Source, cause of all. 'Made in the image of God,' we are similar in quality though not in magnitude.
While it is natural that we are attracted to experiencing these mellows in the here and now, bound as we are by space and time, impermanent is their nature, nobody can deny this fact.
It is said that the Eternal, Krsna (He that is irresistably attractive to all souls) is the origin and reservoir of all rasa to the infinite degree... yet how hard it is for us to realise, and feel!
Thus we continue to search the light and warmth of a candle instead of journeying to the sun.
What draws people together? What pushes them apart? Personalities are living and growing and developing, needs are always changing, and so do relationships.
While relationships may last from a few moments to a lifetime, roles may be ever-changing.
By exposing some personal nature and sharing time, the mellow with a business client changed to friendship, with the introduction of affection and attachment. As brother and sister we found solace in each other's understanding of our views about life and the world, sometimes verging on the teacher-student situation when one's experience surpassed the other's in a particular field. Sometimes I could be as his mother, sometimes as his daughter.
Then a misunderstanding brought about disappointment that could only be experienced by lovers, such intimate affection was there although that exchange had never come by... and then again, we became like strangers.
Days passed. A tall, dark stranger caught my eye, and soon we were lost in words. Much later, he was still holding my hand. So comfortably natural it was, I had barely noticed. We complemented each other, two became one... until cultural circumstance dictated that our affections could remain only on a friendly level, but one that would last.
Any two individuals, a unique relationship.
In Sanskrit, the term rasa refers to the degree of intimacy and sweetness of relationship with the Divine (shanta - peaceful, dasya - servitude, sakhya - friendship, vatsalya - parental or madhurya - conjugal).
It is clear that fragments of rasa are reflected in every relationship experienced in this world, because we are sparks of that eternal flame, the Original Source, cause of all. 'Made in the image of God,' we are similar in quality though not in magnitude.
While it is natural that we are attracted to experiencing these mellows in the here and now, bound as we are by space and time, impermanent is their nature, nobody can deny this fact.
It is said that the Eternal, Krsna (He that is irresistably attractive to all souls) is the origin and reservoir of all rasa to the infinite degree... yet how hard it is for us to realise, and feel!
Thus we continue to search the light and warmth of a candle instead of journeying to the sun.
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