What’s your promised land?

The book of Exodus tells the story of the Promised Land – the land promised to Abraham by God. God promised Abraham and later his descendants a land full of milk, honey and bread for them and all of their followers. This is a very well-known story and am sure many of us must have heard it as well. One must note that there is only one Promised Land where a person gets all that he wants or rather promised by God, provided he fulfils all the duties and complies by the rules laid out for him.

In the Hindu way of thinking, we have not one but 3 promised lands – Swarga, Kailasha and Vaikuntha. Let’s examine and understand!

Swarga or Heaven

Swarga or the pinnacle of all human wants is ruled by Indra. Full of all riches and dancing damsels, it is the dream of all humans. Asuras fight all their life gain control of the Swarga. Indra is the protector of Swarga and keeps both Asuras and Humans away.

There are three main things which make the swarga – Kamadhenu (an all-giving cow), Kalpavriksha (an all-giving tree) and Chintamani (an all-problem-resolver gem). Each of these items give you what you want when you ask them. Yet, we always see Indra worried of others taking over his swarga. Each time, there is an undefeatable Asura at his door and he runs for help. Each time there is a sage or a good king on the earth and he sends his damsels to dissuade them from their deeds.

Indra yearns for power and strives to feed himself before anything else.

All-in-all we see a lot of prosperity, yet no peace in this promised land.

Mount Kailasha

The abode of Shiva atop the mountains is covered with snow. Nothing grows there and nothing sustains there due to frigid. Yet Shiva and his family lives happily. Shiva is beyond the hunger. He is devoid of all the Maya emotions. In any calendar depicting Shiva’s family, you’ll see Shiva’s conveyance – Nandi the bull. Despite of no vegetation and no grass, the bull is happy. He doesn’t feels hungry! Shiva’s wife – Parvati or Annapurna or Devi rides a lion. A lion preys on a bull to feed itself. But they don’t do so. The snake around Shiva’s neck feeds on the rat. And there is a rat – Ganesha’s ride. Peacock – Karthikeya’s ride, eats snakes. But it doesn’t do it either. All live in harmony with each other.

 

This is because they are not hungry – they do not feel the hunger. Another thing to note – animals kill only when they are hungry! Animals feel their own hunger and care for that only. Humans on the other hand have the ability to sense other’s hunger too.

At Mount Kailasha we see a lot of peace but no prosperity.

Vaikuntha

The ocean of milk, the bed of Sheshnaga, Lakshmi at his footsteps, Garuda bowing to take orders and followers worshipping – the abode of Vishnu is well displayed in this image.

Vaikuntha is where we see prosperity and peace living together in a harmonious balance with each other. While the Sheshnaga provides a bed for Vishnu, Garuda provides him a ride. While Sheshnaga examines everything with a shorthsighted approach, Garuda provides farsightedness. Though many followers are here and many a gods asking for help, Vishnu rests in peace and smiles all the time. This peace is what keeps Lakshmi with him. He doesn’t has to fight anyone to protect Lakshmi, but she is with him by her choice.

Vishnu considers other’s hunger before himself. He empathizes with others and hence is known as the preserver.

Consider, what’s your hunger. Consider whose hunger matters to you! And you’ll get to your promised land.

I must give thanks to Dr Devdutta Pattnaik for having helped me see these patterns. This article is his ideas, represented in my words.

Activity or Inactivity – What should I do?

Arjuna asked Sri Krishna – “O Janardana, O Kesava, why do you urge me to engage in this ghastly warfare, if you think that intelligence is better than furtive work?” – Why should I engage in fighting with the people I I grew up up with? Why should I fight the teacher, who taught me the art of war? Why should I kill the cousins that I played with? Why should I kill so many innocents who have nothing to do with me or Duryodhana? Why should I fight with my elders, who always taught me the way to lead my life?”

I ask the same question – When Shiva closes his eyes to the Maya and realizes that the Maya is the cause of grief, why should we go on the path of Maya?

Sri Krishna answered Arjuna – “Partha, the prakriti or the nature is supposed to recreate itself. Its nature is to procreate and move on continuously. This is the way Brahma created the universe. This is the way I engage with the world.”

For the cycle of nature to keep moving, we all need to play our part and keep performing our actions. Our actions without the expectation of a return makes our deeds even nobler. Humans usually tend to follow a path shown by others. We all look upon others to choose our own activities. Only the ones who choose their own path, shine over others and are chosen as leaders. If the leaders themselves choose the path of inaction or “sanyas”, how would the cycle move?

Inactivity holds the nature’s cycle. Activity keeps it moving. Actions performed by a person are just the roles performed on the stage of the world. The real actor is beyond us. Another way to understand the same concept is the concept of the body and the soul. The body is destructible while the soul is not. The soul moves on to find another body as its house and continues to perform the actions.  

In our own interpretations of the god and the scriptures, we often mistake the God to have different forms and different acts. We often visualize the God to have taught us different paths. What we do not realize that the God himself took different forms to emphasize of different actions that are required to perform based on the situation.

Pravritti or Nivritti

Pravritti –personality –behavioral traits – is often considered as someone’s nature. This explains how a person reacts to a situation. The key in this scenarios is the external stimulus. Nivritti on the other hand defines abstinence or denial of acts that have no meaning. All acts in Nivritti state comes from the internal stimulus.

The hindu scriptures have very well laid out the two paths of life as Pravritti and Nivritti and have as usual left it to us to decide the way.

External stimuli or the desire is abundant all around us. The more you satisfy it, the more it grows. Knowing the purpose of your actions will help performing the actions better. This is where we can combine the external and internal stimuli.

Vishnu on one hand, indulges himself with the creation and helps the worldly creatures to lead their life meaningfully. In his acts, not only he desires he also plays along with the humans. Shiva on the other hand, meditates and turns his back on Brahma’s creation knowing that this is all fake and has no meaning. He knows Brahma created the world and the universe looking for answers to his existence and these creations would have no meaning more than that. While Vishnu displays the pat of Pravritti, Shiva shines the light on Nivritti.

Since Vishnu involves in the worldly matters and plays along, he has an outwardly gaze without leaving the sense of himself. In this process, he procreates and generates warmth all around him. Shiva on the other hand meditates and indulges in himself. He has an inwardly gaze and does not involves with anyone. This creates heat in himself. The inwardly heat or fire, which is expected to come when he opens his third eye. Since all the heat around him is converged inside him, everything around him turns cold into ice. Remember his abode on Mt Kailash.

Prajapati or Pashupati

Long time since my last post. Actually I have been reading less these days and watching more television.

I have been looking at the news channels too sometimes and watched how the media has been covering the so called crime stories. More or less every time a crime is reported, the reporters use the word “animal like behavior” to depict the criminals acts. Along with the same, the media is full of developmental stories displaying the progress the mankind is making today.

The question is what progress have we made? What instinct have we understood and how have we conquered?

As the story of the Hindu Trinity goes, Brahma had multiple sons who were born of his thoughts. Each of the son was born with a purpose. Narada, Sanaatan Kumars were amongst the glorious ones. And also was Daksa Prajapati. Many would remember Daksha as the arrogant father who did not relent to acknowledge the love of her daughter Sati. Due to which, Sati had to jump into fire causing Shiva to take the Rudra Avatar.

Daksha is Brahma’s son with the purpose to instill an order into the nature. Thus he tries to bind the nature into the set of rules. In other words, he tries to domesticate the nature. Daksha leads the humans and shows them the way. Hence he is termed as “PrajaPati” = Master of the People. However, as we understand, humans are an evolution step from the animals. And hence, even humans do have the animal instincts and display animal like behavior. Nature gave humans a powerful brain and the power of imagination through which they can shed off their animal like behavior. But, only a very few have mastered their animal instincts. It is said that one who conquers his or her animal instincts is known as “PashuPati” = Master of the animals. Shiva has been known as the Pashupati forever and has been mentioned in the puranas with that name.

Daksha tried to rule people through the set of rules or laws. In his view, all abiding by the rules are good. He tried to dominate people in order to rule them. However, we see no efforts being made by him to outgrow the development of nature and the humans all around him. He thinks outwards and seeks compliance from others. He does not applies the same rules onto himself. He is not looking onto himself to comply and grow. This arouses a fear in him of losing his safety net. Unable to understand and failure to introspect forms a delusion in front of him and he lives in the same.

Nature created all creatures and with that it created the imbalance so that it can renew itself. It is but natural that lion runs after the deer to feed itself. And the deer runs away from the lion to save itself. While lion eats the deer, the deer eats the grass. All animals hunt when they are hungry. They eat and live and eventually die. They kill but only to satisfy their hunger or when threatened. Humans have a brain to understand this cycle and hence to breakout of the cycle. Humans imagine a day when they would not be able to feed themselves and hence start saving for that day. Later the human mind conjures up the stories to create wealth for children, grandchildren and so on. We accumulate more than necessary and in the process take away from others. We start fighting for the larger share for ourselves. Unfortunately, somewhere we forget where this all has to end. And hence we never give up the animal behavior. 

To be able to grow, we must look inwards. We must overcome the animal in our self and give up the play of nature.

Being a Prajapati is easier, try being a Pashupati.

Taming the pride

In my previous post – "Main or May", I started a thought on the pride. Pride can come to a person in many forms – overconfidence being one of them and probably the most destructive too. Pride is a great feeling to have and is a great asset if in moderated quantity. Being a necessary evil, it helps one to move forward and overcome the inherent fear of failure, and at the same time, creates a path for self-destruction through complacency and too much of confidence on self or other. Pride comes with the sense of belonging and ownership. However, the nature makes no such claim. This is a human mind construct and creates boundaries.
We have all seen both the benefits and the destruction caused by pride. Let's see the symbolism of the same as seen in our scriptures!
Who better to kill pride or tame the feeling than Lord Shiva. Shiva took the form of "Bhairava" as a young child devoid of all the emotions of ownership and pride. Bhairava is always accompanied with a dog. A dog is a faithful companion of its owner. One would have noticed that the dog never walks away from the owner and strives for the owner's love. The dog wags its tail when it needs to be loved or petted and barks when it needs attention. Bhairava's dog is a parallel to human pride. The more you pet it, the stronger it grows. And like it or not, it always follows you. Bhairava, however is unmoved by the dog. The scriptures also represent the innocent looking Bhairava with a severed head in his hand. The severed head belongs to Brahma (Brahma's fifth head) which was severed to curb his pride.
History is full of examples where the great achievers became great losers just because they let their pride take over themselves. One must realize that we are all mere actors in the nature fulfilling our part in the grand scheme. If we do achieve something today, someone else shall be able to do the same sometime later or someone would have done so many times in the past.
Indra – the king of gods, was very happy with his arrangements and his rule. He had built the most amazing palace in the heaven and had all the very best apsaras in his court. This filled him with pride. The pride grew so much that he forgot all the steps required to keep heaven in shape and move forward. To make him realize, Vishnu took form of a small child and visited hi palace. Indra, the proud guide to his riches asked the child at the end of the tour – "how do you like my palace? Isn't it great". The child answered – "Yes. Definitely it is. But probably, the earlier Indra's were better". This made Indra realize that he too is part of the nature and the pride could be his destruction too.
Pride is a great motivation. Use it with caution!

What do I want - "Main" or "May"

I took a little time thinking on what do I want and what do I need. While doing so, I thought whether am I looking for "Main" (myself in hindi) or "May" (pride in hindi). Though a very glib pun on the sounds, yet a very profound meaning that changes the character of a person.

Below is my attempt in penning my thoughts.

कुछ ढूँढ रहा था मैं ,
कुछ पाना चाहता था मैं,
श्रम से बीज बोता मैं,
सोचता था फल खाऊँगा मैं।
                                       कभी मन को समझाता मैं ,
                                       कभी खूब मचल जाता मैं ,
                                       दूर भी जाना चाहता था मैं ,
                                       और अमर भी होना चाहता था मैं।
मन को शांत करता मैं ,
सब कुछ शांत करना चाहता था मैं ,
चाँद को चूना चाहता था मैं,
सूर्य से भी ज्यादा तेज चाहता था मैं।
                                         थोडा कुछ तो पाया भी मैं,
                                         और साथ ले आया मय।
                                         जिस मय से डरता था मैं,
                                         उसी मय मय हो गया मैं।
सभी कुछ तो जीत चूका था मैं।
फिर भी सबसे दूर हो चूका था मैं।
क्यों सब कुछ प् सका हूँ मैं?
क्यों अकेले रहने को अभिशप्त हूँ मैं?
                                           एक उत्तर ही तो चाहता हूँ मैं।
                                           वही एक सत्य तो ढूँढ रहा हूँ मैं।  
                                            प्रेम ही तो चाहता हूँ मैं,
                                            इस मय को ख़त्म करना चाहता हूँ मैं।

Devyani

I am sure that all of us have been stirred by the Devyani Khobragade arrest incident that has shaken the diplomatic ties between India and US for now. I spent much time yesterday reading through the news reports and talking to people with experiences into diplomatic scenarios. We spoke at lengths on the measures being taken by the various authorities and the excessiveness being exercised in matters deemed necessary. We all concluded that there were some gaps in the manner the situation was handled. This article today is dedicated towards the lamentation of these gaps.

In the Devyani case, the US officials have reported to have acted as per their rules and regulations. Their reports said that since the Indian Diplomat failed to align with their rules and regulations, they were supposed to take a corrective action and force the punishment on the accused. What were these rules? Putting appropriate salary to the domestic help (which is allowed as per US rules and regulations) in the visa application. However, the standards for the salary are too high and cannot be meted out since the employer is not paid enough. In such a case, the rules and regulations leave a case by allowing the domestic help to a diplomat, yet cut it down by raising the salary bar too high. In any case, the fact of the matter is, Devyani is in trouble which she may or may not have caused at all. She is at the center of mayhem being caused by someone else with different other motives that what is evident at this time.

At the same time, we ought to ask the question – how do you determine what is right? In the case above, it is seen that aligning to the rules makes a person right. If so, what makes the rule right? If following the rule makes a right or a good person, all law abiding people would be good people. If following the rule made good people, why did Jesus broke the law of the land? Why did Moses break the law and guided Jews out of slavery from Pharaohs? If the rules were good and following them made you a good person, why does every government changes the laws or rules set by the previous ones?

Rules or laws cannot be definitive. They are context based and time and place sensitive!

Sri Ram followed the rule of his ancestors to follow the word of his father. He went to exile renouncing his claim to the throne for fourteen years. Bhishma later followed the same rule to uphold his father's wish and renounced his claim to the throne forever and decided not to have children. The same law! In one case is considered great boon and in the other a great disaster! Had Bhishma laid claim to the throne, the entire Mahabharata could have been avoided. Duryodhana always followed the law. As per the law, he won Draupadi. He could do whatever he wished with her. She was no different than other courtesans in principle. However, we do consider him evil and his act of disrobing Draupadi the most evil of all – Why? He was just following the law. As per the law, Duryodhana was the eldest son of Dhritrasthra (elder of the two brothers – who ruled Hastinapur). Lawfully, he was the rightful heir to the throne. Yet we understand that he did injustice to the Pandavas. Following the law but not the principle behind it, will not make you a good person. Any rule or law which is applicable to a set of people in a particular timeframe at a place will not be applicable at other place as the parameters or the environment has changed. When Shabari fed half eaten fruits to Sri Ram, he ate them fondly. Though Lakshmana was enraged that how could a old, uncivilized woman offer leftover food to Sri Ram – future king of Ayodhya! Sri Ram pointed it out to Lakshmana that they and not Shabri were privy to court manners. It was they and Shabri who knew who they were. How could they expect the same court manners from Shabri when she hadn't been informed of the same? Thus the same rules do not apply to both! At the end of the war between Sri Ram and Ravana, the gods poured Amrit – or the nectar of life. Though Amrit fell on both the monkeys and demons, no demons got their life back. Doesn't the same rule applies to both?

Similarly, even in the US, every state has its own set of rulings with respect to certain topics. It is because the same rules do not apply to people when the environmental and social factors change. While such a dichotomy over the rules exist in a country, how could one be so sure that they take steps to jeopardize the relationships in a grave manner as this?