silentwalk: 06/19/2005

Saturday, June 25, 2005

The Mind

The Mind

I was listening to music and suddenly came across one of the hindi bhajan or song...............

".....Man Re Tu Kahe Na Dhir Dhare ....,

Woh Nirmohi...Moha Na Jane,

Kisaka Moha Kare....."

Really melodious!! but the hidden meaning is sweeter and spiritual... so I like it. Our mind is not patient and it always runs behind the things which doesn't have any moha i.e. say attachment, which doesn't know the word attachment. Yes in real life we all are like our mind,.... impatient. As we are running behind the things which doesn't have any attachment to this world. As soon as its work over the thing disappears but we still run behind......???

I remembered another hindi film song,

"..........Laaga Chunari Main Dagh,

Muhan Chupaun Kaise,

Ghar Jaun Kaise....Laaga Chunari Main Dagh...."

Same thing for this as well. It has a spiritual hidden meaning.

We all who have taken birth on this earth has spoiled purity of our soul which was with The Supreme power before coming down to earth. Suddenly after many years spending on earth and getting realised about the spoiled nature of the soul, the self sings "How I will go back with a spoiled soul.....if I want to offer it to merge into my dearest one...., The Supreme, it must be as pure as it was initially..."

The consciousness

The Consciousness

Again before writing something about the complex terms in philosophy, I would like to say that whatever I am writing is as per my simple understanding level. I tend to write with simple examples, stories to enable myself understand.

Before going towards the discussion about the pure consciousness one must discuss the consciousness. The consciousness is something related to the awareness in the Self which is totally different from self awareness. This awareness in the self can't be attained by reading books, getting good degrees from grand universities or even if ......, if I am not mistaken, from any Guru (The Spiritual Teacher). For getting that, one must be aware of her/his own actions right from the mind to physic. One must always be able to analyse rationally her/his own Self. If we will be conscious in the Self and not the self conscious then I think that will be a pretty good stage to understand the meaning of the consciousness.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

The Chaitanya

The Chaitnya

"................Everything solid, thus, contains much empty space within and everything stationary contains movement within. It is as though great dance of Shiva is being performed on earth during every moment of our existence." (Wings of Fire, by Dr A P J Abdulkalam)

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Spirituality and Religiousness (1)

Spirituality and Religiousness (1)

It is the continuation of my previous post spirituality and religiousness. Especially regarding some concerns raised by one of our friends (K) about indistinguishability of the spirituality and religiousness.

I was thinking and remembered a story in my mind. Again this situation we can see in many places, I am not generalising- But the point is that to show a contradiction only one example is sufficient.......again a concept from mathematics :-)

There is a story of Saint Namadeva who was one of the spiritual persons as recognised by Indian people especially in Maharashtra and Punjab. Initially he used to be quite religious. In the sense he was a great devotee of Lord Shiva and without offering prasada (the food offered by devotees to the God) to Lord Shiva he never had his meals. In that sense he was quite orthodox about purity of physical body before going to temple of Lord Shiva to worship. Once he came to the temple to offer prasada and saw that an old man was lying down in the garbhagruha (interior part of the temple where the ShivaLinga is kept) having one of his legs kept on the ShivaLinga. The old man was looking very ill. But by seeing the scene Namdeva
got angry and abused the old man for keeping his leg on the ShivaLinga. The old man uttered in a very low sound,"Will you please help me to keep it aside? as I have a terrible weakness". Namdeva immediately bowed forward and tried to put his leg aside. But he was surprised!! He saw another ShivaLinga appeared at that place where he kept the old man's leg. He thought that it was illusion. So he tried to keep the leg at different place. But the scene was amazing as he saw many ShivaLingas appeared in the garbhagruha wherever he kept the old man's leg. Namdeva was looking puzzled and by seeing his face the old man said, "Lord Shiva is everywhere on this earth." Namdeva understood what the old man wanted to emphasis and bowed down to the old man's feet. Thus Namdeva met his Guru and got spiritual knowledge from him. Later after some years when he was walking through the desert of the river Chandrabhaga while returning with the secred ganga water in a kamdal from Kashi saw a donky lying in the desert at noon and appeared to be dying out of sever thurst. People were just looking at that donky and passing away. Namdeva, who was changed after so many years, went nearer to the donky and offered it the secred ganga water in the kamandal which he brought all the way from Kashi and saved the life of the donky.

Now this is an example of a person who was only religious before meeting his Guru and afterwards developed the spirituality so that he could feel the empathy for the donky dying in the desert at noon.

I think here we have got the example for the level 2 (initially) and then developed level 3.
but contradction to the above statement.

In fact this is a process of giving proof by contradiction.

Enjoy!!

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

A quick note

A quick note and cordial request to the readers of this blog:

As it is a platform for the discussion, the comments written for any post are the part and parcle of the discussion and may be a start for next post. So before commenting on any post just make sure that you have gone through earlier posts' comments. Mostly my posts will be connected to the previous ones as it is a process of the discussion and understanding through it.

Enjoy the discussion and reading!

Spirituality and Religiousness

Spirituality And Religiousness

In terms of mathematical language

There are two sets one is spirituality and another is religiousness. Again religiousness is a quality.

Level 1 = non-spiritual and non-religious will be a part of the Universal set but not in either of the above two.

Level 2 = religious but non-spiritual will be a part of a set religiousness but not of spirituality

Level 3 = religious and spiritual will be in the intersection of the two sets

Level 5 = non-religious but spiritual will be only a part of the set spirituality but not of religiousness

Level 4 = The highest level = purely spiritual will not be in this universe because that person will be already merged in the supreme power that is Adwaita

What is your opinion regarding this?

Monday, June 20, 2005

Spirituality Vs Religion

Spirituality Vs Religion

I am not claiming that the difference I am going to tell is the final one. I am writing my perceptions. If somebody wants to add or argue you are welcome!!

In the mathematical language, spirituality is the superset and religion can be the subset of it.

Spirituality is something related to the self realisation which can be attained by different ways and is quiet global. I think the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam in Hinduism comes under spiritulity. It is something related with the realisation about existance of others along with one's own existence. Moreover, it is a quality of human personality which a very few persons can have as an inborn quality and many of the humanbeings struggle to attain it for their whole life. A person having that quality always glows with peace and happiness spreading it to others by her/his existence. There are no restrictions, obligations in spirituality. It is as pure as the divine knowledge. It is the real freedom or say independence.

Religion is more related with the ritualistic part and is quiet society oriented or human oriented.
That is why there are many different religions in this world but the spirituality is the only one quality. Religion is a way of life which is followed by a set of people in the society. There are several restrictions on the followers of that particular religion in the different religions. It is a bounded concept.

A spiritual person may not be religious and similarly religious people may not be spiritual.

What is your opinion regarding this?

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Purpose....

I was introduced to the 'blogging' in October-November when I arrived in Cambridge. The concept was quiet new to me and I liked it so decided to start with. But somehow the attempt was unsuccessful.

I feel that it is a good start to convey my own thoughts and transactions in mind. To whom?
ummmm....to nobody who is hidden in everybody.

Meaning
Let me explain the meaning of the name Silent Walk
Silent walk is a spiritual walk which is continued with a hope to reach one's spiritual endeavor with solitude. This is the definition created by me for the meaning of this blog.

Purpose
I have a great passion for vedanta and spirituality. I hope that this blog will gradually develop a platform for the discussion about spirituality and not religion. As I am more aware about Hinduism and Vedanta so many references will be from these but if anybody wants to add anything related to spirituality from other religions .....you are most welcome!!

Content
Mainly in this blog the readers will find writings related to vedanta or spirituality (not in a complex forms) in the form of small and simple stories which had a great impact in increasing my passion towards spirituality and vedanta. I am well aware that I have started my walk silently and not reached anywhere. So I hope that nobody who is hidden in everybody will not misunderstand me and will contribute in the blog.

Nirvaana_Shatakam_1

I am starting initially with the 'Nirvaana_Shatakam' of Adi Shankaracharya

"Nirvaana"= The mental state of absolute peace, tranquility, freedom and joy
"Shatakam"= A bunch of 6 verses, usually of 4 lines each.
It is also called "Atma Shatakam"....Atma=Self

Here is a short but interesting story about it.

A young boy was wandering in search of his Guru (The spiritual teacher) in the Vindhya mountain region(which is in India). He wanted to cross the river Narmada, which was suddenly in a spate of floods. The boy thought for a moment and started praying. With his special yogic powers, he collected the entire flood waters in his small Kamadal (a small copper vessel). A senior sage was watching the whole scene. He was greatly astonished to see the courage and wisdom of this boy. He was prompted to ask the boy "who are you". The answer to that question from this boy was "Nirvaana-Shatakam". The boy was none other than Adi Shankara. The sage was none other than Govinda Bhagavadpaada, whom exactly the boy was searching for. Shankara was only 8 years old at that time.

"Nirvaana-Shatakam" is precisely a crash course of "Advaita Vedanta"

silentwalk