Dhruv Beta the batman,
I want to share with you something which I heard when I was about your age. This is not a story, but about some experiments done with police dogs to find out as to how their minds adapt to severe desciplining.
Imagine a big ground (like a football ground). A basket of excellent food for the dogs is kept right at the centre. But the path to this is through a fence erected along the perimeter of the field with a narrow passage finally leading to the centre where the food is kept. Daily the dogs were taken thru these fenced passage, to finally the place where there was food, to be eaten.
After a few weeks of this experiment, the fences were removed. And when the dogs were brought to the ground, what you think the dogs did? Even when there were no fences, the dogs still followed the same route as if they were there, and reached the place of food in exactly the same manner as they were trained. They did not go to the centre, straight, even when they saw the food there.
I do not have any means to know whether this story is true, but assuming it is, what are the lessons one can learn from this Beta? Let Vichu thatha attempt first, and later you can tell me if you have any other point. Ok?
1. Like a desciplined soldier, who obeys command without a question, or Dhruv, when he is told by Amma, that the cake she has bought can be had only after giving it to Madhava, and later in the evening, Dhruv patiently obeys, no matter what the temptation. If your mind is desciplined, you will not break any rules whatever. The dogs minds are clear, and they will follow the path as trained.
2. Another way of looking at this is :- If your mind is not going helter skelter, the path to succeess, is always straight and without hurdles.
What else can you think of? Pl tell Vichu thatha, as he is very keenly awaiting your answer.
Love and lotsof kisses -- Vichu thatha.
For elders.
The traditionalists like our family's intrepretations could be
The hurdles in the guise of fenced paths are as a result of your Prarabda karma, and you have no way but to notice them. The moment you are rid of them, you realise that the "liberation" is
just there waiting for you. But single minded devotion to the path He has shown you, will reach you there, in any case, even if they appear tough.
Equally forcefully the western spiritual organisations tell you that, Since You are no one other than God, and if you practice daily, feeling the "I Am Him" concept, you will see nothing but infinite love, and there really are no barriers to reach Him. The Karma etc are invented hurdles thrown by organised religion, by Heads of institutions, etc, to keep you in perpetual bondage, for their own vested interests.
Can you say sacrelege, and just dismiss them outright? How many doubting thomasses are likely to convert to this appealing instant "nirvana".
The totally faithful Umashankar, and Jinji need to comment. Regardless of my ability to convince my friend Rebecca when she hinted something like this, that this kind of "self realisation" is really beyond me, she admitted, that this stage is not easy to reach, but insisted that it is easier reachable than I made it out to be.
Will someone besides the named 2, comment on this?
Love Vichu
I want to share with you something which I heard when I was about your age. This is not a story, but about some experiments done with police dogs to find out as to how their minds adapt to severe desciplining.
Imagine a big ground (like a football ground). A basket of excellent food for the dogs is kept right at the centre. But the path to this is through a fence erected along the perimeter of the field with a narrow passage finally leading to the centre where the food is kept. Daily the dogs were taken thru these fenced passage, to finally the place where there was food, to be eaten.
After a few weeks of this experiment, the fences were removed. And when the dogs were brought to the ground, what you think the dogs did? Even when there were no fences, the dogs still followed the same route as if they were there, and reached the place of food in exactly the same manner as they were trained. They did not go to the centre, straight, even when they saw the food there.
I do not have any means to know whether this story is true, but assuming it is, what are the lessons one can learn from this Beta? Let Vichu thatha attempt first, and later you can tell me if you have any other point. Ok?
1. Like a desciplined soldier, who obeys command without a question, or Dhruv, when he is told by Amma, that the cake she has bought can be had only after giving it to Madhava, and later in the evening, Dhruv patiently obeys, no matter what the temptation. If your mind is desciplined, you will not break any rules whatever. The dogs minds are clear, and they will follow the path as trained.
2. Another way of looking at this is :- If your mind is not going helter skelter, the path to succeess, is always straight and without hurdles.
What else can you think of? Pl tell Vichu thatha, as he is very keenly awaiting your answer.
Love and lotsof kisses -- Vichu thatha.
For elders.
The traditionalists like our family's intrepretations could be
The hurdles in the guise of fenced paths are as a result of your Prarabda karma, and you have no way but to notice them. The moment you are rid of them, you realise that the "liberation" is
just there waiting for you. But single minded devotion to the path He has shown you, will reach you there, in any case, even if they appear tough.
Equally forcefully the western spiritual organisations tell you that, Since You are no one other than God, and if you practice daily, feeling the "I Am Him" concept, you will see nothing but infinite love, and there really are no barriers to reach Him. The Karma etc are invented hurdles thrown by organised religion, by Heads of institutions, etc, to keep you in perpetual bondage, for their own vested interests.
Can you say sacrelege, and just dismiss them outright? How many doubting thomasses are likely to convert to this appealing instant "nirvana".
The totally faithful Umashankar, and Jinji need to comment. Regardless of my ability to convince my friend Rebecca when she hinted something like this, that this kind of "self realisation" is really beyond me, she admitted, that this stage is not easy to reach, but insisted that it is easier reachable than I made it out to be.
Will someone besides the named 2, comment on this?
Love Vichu
Athanji,
ReplyDeleteNamaste!
Felt provoked, thought would comment. Again, I must seek advance pardon for missing any satire, somehow it seems to elude me.
For e.g. I don't see how the 'cake-fence' analogy will go down positively with Dhruv, but I'll leave Madhuri to comment on that / deal with it! I will tackle your larger issue.
Your 'karma, etc. as a hurdle by religious institutions for vested interests' angle surely finds consonance with me, with my Marx-ian (not Marxist) baggage, and as I have 'felt' myself. I have NO DOUBT on this about organised religion at all, in not one but many cases, within a single and across many of them. Faith is often demanded & accepted as an assumed basepoint, that plays on a feeling of helplessness & gullibility, at the unexplaineds.
(By the way, there's a new breed in my generation, if I may, that say they DO believe in God / a higher Power surely, and is MOST sensitive to fellow beings & the earth and cognisant of greater laws in the universe, but insists that they dont adhere to any 'ORGANIZED RELIGION'. This is surely different from Atheism and surely antithetical from Agnosticism, mark you).
But to not completely run down the 'heads' (sacrilege or blasphemy be damned, but just to appreciate the absolute sense that a few original 'seer's infallibly make), they only have seen a path to wisdom / realization and recommend it. The attached strings develop almost IMMEDIATELY after them (this from my study of several seers & their 'religions' over several years for my Humanities course). Strings or fences, if you will.
So, you may follow the fences and feel 'led completely' like the multitude who seek with fervour and stay assured by others (masses-comfort or 'higher persons'), OR 'read' the fences as you can best, and be assured of your having questioned (that is all, mind you), OR see 'no fences' and feel free.
I daresay I clearly see you (and I, if I may, at present at least) as being in the second category. I also see myself moving towards the third, but slowly and with deliberation. Growing old with the genes that I already got, will make only make the process more interesting / challenging.
That's it for a response. Felt provoked. Hope you find this engaging.
Anand
I am not the least provoked. I am happy that one doubting Thomas (of our traditional only see prarabda kind) responding positively to Rebecca's reservations, about organised religions strangle hold as she calls it.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I am also very aware of the category of people referred by you, and find it difficult to pooh-pooh them, and hence the call for elaboration from the traditionalist angle, which is well represented by Jinji, and Umashankar.
I am more interested in this, as my convincing Rebecca, is between me and her, and I would like to hear more about defences, of the tradional camp.
Once I have questioned, why is this bar when all I seek are answers ( That is all mind you is what you say, pray why? And why should I follow any argument till I hear defences and take a call, as evolution is to my mind purely subjective.) I dont quite fancy (not yet) the saying, once you evolve everyone else also evolves kind of glib sophistry.
As to the cake analogy, there was no sarcasm, no other motive or reason except that to make the kid relate to "descipline" quoted the easiest that came to my mind. Period. Now that you have found some holesin it, let me wait for Dhruv/ Madhuri to respond, when and if they do.
I am in quest. I cannot defenitely say where I am, and can only pray that I get answers. And I am also not sure, I will be able to be precise to others, as they must have their own answers.
Keep engaging me buddy......
Vichu