Often we hear from the wise people that we should not be selfish. However, there is no work without selfish motive. Whoever is doing something has some happiness or pleasure or satisfaction in doing something. Take the example of Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi. Both might have felt some internal peace in doing some service.
When we relate the activities, which fulfills our senses we call them as selfish and whatever is not related to sense fulfilling we call them unselfishness. But, behind those unselfish activities there is mind fulfilling. So, all activities are selfish only.
That is why Bagavat Gita teaches to surrender the fruit of all Karmas. When we do not feel about the fruits and when we are neutral towards the fruit then that is Karma yoga. Basically one should be neutral to anything. Apart from that there is no word like unselfishness.
When someone says that he is doing something unselfishly then he is a cheater.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Earnings and amassing wealth
Question:-
As the people in the world trying hard to earn more money or accumulate wealth like lands and properties, can we also strive for such amassing wealth?
Answer:-
I recommend to earn and accumulate wealth as much as possible.
But…there are other considerations while making money.
ENJOYMENT:
The first and foremost is the enjoyment of life. The earning of money should not in any way disturb our enjoyment of life. The earnings are meant for enjoyment. So, the process of earning money should not defeat the enjoyment, which is the whole purpose of making the money. I presume this point is very clear.
Apart from the above, there are other considerations also.
Who are we? We are made up of body, mind and soul. Apart from this, we have our own Identity, that is Solai, or Stephen. Suppose, if somebody says, Solai is a coward. It is pointing a person other than the body and mind. Like drumstick, chilly powder, bengal gram, water has individual names. But, when all are combined it has a different name called Sambar. Similarly, apart from the individual components like body, mind and soul the combination has a name like Solai or Stephen.
So, the earning of money should not in any way damage these components of a person, namely, the body, mind and the individual identity. Soul is unaffected by anything. So, we have to exclude it.
BODY:
Now, let us see, how some of the earning process affects the body:
Many people, work for almost 18 hours and have a little sleep and work and work. By this way they not only enjoy, but they also loose the health.
Some people, though they don’t have a long hours of work, they work under tremendous stress and stress leads to lots of internal health problems, including high BP, hyper acidity, nervous break down etc.,
Some people work under unhealthy and unhygienic working conditions and end up in occupational hazards.
Some people stick to the fields, where they don’t get job satisfaction, but, continue their job as they are getting lots of money. At the end, they will feel a vacuum and they will end up in chronic depression.
In some families, the husband and wife work together and they have to travel long distance to their work places, so they woke up early and they leave the young kids in the crèche or baby sitting and they run for work. They don’t get sufficient peace to do their house hold work and their children don’t get sufficient food from the crèche or baby sitter, so the whole family’s food habits get changed and eventually their health gets affected.
So, ultimately, the earning process should not affect greatly the 8 hours work, 8 hours spare time for family and 8 hours sleep pattern. In short the health should not be under threat due to earning process.
MIND:
After all, the mind is the key player in everything. But, the money or properties has the peculiar character to affect the mind greatly.
In what way money or properties affect the mind? When we loose money, or when our earnings or accumulation of wealth with higher benefit is obstructed, or when we assume that we lost money.
For example 1: we buy a pen for $ 2 and we go to another shop next day and we noticed that they are selling at $ 1, then we feel disappointed. We curse us for not checking with many places; in case if it was recommended by our spouse, we curse him or her and we curse the first shopkeeper; we recommend our friends not to go there and we loose sleep on the night for being cheated for $1. Suppose, if we didn’t visit the second shop, our peace is with us. The same product and same price we are so much happy and whenever we write we feel great about the pen. But, the moment we understand that we are cheated, whenever we write with that pen, we feel about the cheat and we don’t feel great instead we feel small when we write with the pen.
Example 2: The Company has given me a brand new Toyota Camry and it is fantastic and I feel great about it. But, the moment I come to know that somebody much junior to me, with less qualification, with less experience, is also given the same Toyota Camry, I lost my happiness. I will feel this is ridiculous and I am being degraded in the company. So, until I get a better car or that person is given a smaller car, I will not be happy.
Example 3: When the exchange rate is higher or lower or when the stock prices are lower or higher or the gold rates or higher or lower, it affects our mind. For example, we sent $10,000/- to India at Rs 46/- per dollar on 17/12/06 and on 18th the rate gone up to Rs 52/-. That is enough for us to feel depress that I should have waited for one more day. I lost Rs 60,000 in one day. So, whether we really lost any money? No. suppose, if the rate gone down to Rs 42/- we would have felt happy. It applies to the other rates I mentioned above. I know people who look at the rate simply but either feel happy or feel sadness.
Apart from the above examples of fictitious losses, there are at times actual losses also. Suppose, we buy a washing machine with one year guarantee and on the 13th month the washing machine is beyond repairable. We lost and we hear from someone that they purchased some or same washing machine 7 years ago and it is still running good. Our mind goes down further on the magnitude of loss. We purchased a plot on the prime location assuming that it will escalate in the future. But, unfortunately the Govt. constructed a fly over in front of the plot and even for free no one will buy the plot. We lost in the deal.
Apart from this there will be real loses like losing our baggage, or jewels or laptop or mobile etc.,
Next is the loss of opportunity or obstruction to our growth or better prospectus. For example, now, you feel that you have somehow been stopped from being allowed to get a better job in a better state. Similarly, people think that “I have been stopped from being producing a movie by some means.” People think that “I have been stopped from starting some business etc; somehow my promotion is stopped; somehow my increment is stopped.”
All these, fictitious, actual and real losses and our assumption that we are stopped from our growth opportunities disturb our mind. We should not allow these losses to disturb or affect our mind in any way. In nutshell, suppose, if we purchased an expensive diamond necklace and we lost during a party and if we are able to come in the night and sleep as if we lost a worn-out slipper, then we are highly matured. That shows that the money is not affecting our mind.
INDIVIDUALITY:
To the individuality, we attach so many attributes like prestige, pride, ego, dignity, credibility, honesty etc.
A person apart from his body, mind and soul he is made up of his characters. These characters are the values of life.
In majority of the cases these values are lost in process of making money.
The hero in the movie “E” is prepared to kill and do prostitution to make money. We will not be even killing a rabbit if we are given money. A pimp will wait near Egmore and look for individual girls who are lost and took them to prostitution and he will not feel anything bad for the feelings of the girls or for the prostitution instead he will look at the money only.
On the contrary, suppose, if a company tells our conservative girls to come just with very minimal low cut T shirts, some will refuse even if it is highly paid job.
Just I gave some examples of the various values in our life.
But…there is a wrong notion among people that we can do anything to amass wealth. You can lie, you can cheat, you can beg, you can hide things, you can twist facts, you can kneel down etc., for the sake of money. This mentality has come from America and western. That is why all the advertisements show all the misleading information. If we tell lie in Politics it is called diplomacy (Raja thanthiram), if we tell lie in the business it is called Business strategy (viyaabara thanthiram). But, this is wrong.
When we are making money, we should not in any way compromise our values. Once the values are compromised we loose our identity. For example, if someone says, you send your wife with miniskirt and sleeveless low cut jacket, I cannot send and my wife will kill me. Why? Because, by doing this as per my wife or me, it is devaluing us. Whereas, we don’t mind making a lie in the CV or in the interview or in presenting a report or twisting the facts for our convenient.
There are so many wealthy kings and businessmen lived and died in the past, but do we remember them. But, we remember the people, who were penniless. In the Gandhi movie, the first dialogue comes from the final ceremony commentator, saying, “This man is not a head of any state, not a head of any political organization, not owning any properties, but all the heads of states from all over the world is gathered….” Why? That is the value of a person. The king of Ramanathapuram, Baskara Sethupathi took the position of a horse and pulled the chariot wherein Swami Vivekananda was sitting. Swami Vivekananda was much younger than the Raja Baskara Sethupathi and the king has a large reputation and has enormous wealth, but assumed a position of horse and pulled him. So, there, the value of money and position became smaller than the character. The same with any saints.
So, as long as our individual value is not degraded or devalued, we can make money. But, I know wealthy people just for the sake of 10 rupees making big lies.
So, the summary is: We can make money or earn money and accumulate wealth, without in anyway compromising or affecting the four considerations mentioned above, the enjoyment, the health, the mind peace and the individual value.
Our mind should be focused on making money, we should think about saving money, we should think about not wasting anything, we should be cautious in spending, we should look for opportunities for the ways and means to increase the earnings and wealth. But, not at the cost of enjoyment, health, mind peace and individual value. These four are the priorities in life than money and wealth.
As the people in the world trying hard to earn more money or accumulate wealth like lands and properties, can we also strive for such amassing wealth?
Answer:-
I recommend to earn and accumulate wealth as much as possible.
But…there are other considerations while making money.
ENJOYMENT:
The first and foremost is the enjoyment of life. The earning of money should not in any way disturb our enjoyment of life. The earnings are meant for enjoyment. So, the process of earning money should not defeat the enjoyment, which is the whole purpose of making the money. I presume this point is very clear.
Apart from the above, there are other considerations also.
Who are we? We are made up of body, mind and soul. Apart from this, we have our own Identity, that is Solai, or Stephen. Suppose, if somebody says, Solai is a coward. It is pointing a person other than the body and mind. Like drumstick, chilly powder, bengal gram, water has individual names. But, when all are combined it has a different name called Sambar. Similarly, apart from the individual components like body, mind and soul the combination has a name like Solai or Stephen.
So, the earning of money should not in any way damage these components of a person, namely, the body, mind and the individual identity. Soul is unaffected by anything. So, we have to exclude it.
BODY:
Now, let us see, how some of the earning process affects the body:
Many people, work for almost 18 hours and have a little sleep and work and work. By this way they not only enjoy, but they also loose the health.
Some people, though they don’t have a long hours of work, they work under tremendous stress and stress leads to lots of internal health problems, including high BP, hyper acidity, nervous break down etc.,
Some people work under unhealthy and unhygienic working conditions and end up in occupational hazards.
Some people stick to the fields, where they don’t get job satisfaction, but, continue their job as they are getting lots of money. At the end, they will feel a vacuum and they will end up in chronic depression.
In some families, the husband and wife work together and they have to travel long distance to their work places, so they woke up early and they leave the young kids in the crèche or baby sitting and they run for work. They don’t get sufficient peace to do their house hold work and their children don’t get sufficient food from the crèche or baby sitter, so the whole family’s food habits get changed and eventually their health gets affected.
So, ultimately, the earning process should not affect greatly the 8 hours work, 8 hours spare time for family and 8 hours sleep pattern. In short the health should not be under threat due to earning process.
MIND:
After all, the mind is the key player in everything. But, the money or properties has the peculiar character to affect the mind greatly.
In what way money or properties affect the mind? When we loose money, or when our earnings or accumulation of wealth with higher benefit is obstructed, or when we assume that we lost money.
For example 1: we buy a pen for $ 2 and we go to another shop next day and we noticed that they are selling at $ 1, then we feel disappointed. We curse us for not checking with many places; in case if it was recommended by our spouse, we curse him or her and we curse the first shopkeeper; we recommend our friends not to go there and we loose sleep on the night for being cheated for $1. Suppose, if we didn’t visit the second shop, our peace is with us. The same product and same price we are so much happy and whenever we write we feel great about the pen. But, the moment we understand that we are cheated, whenever we write with that pen, we feel about the cheat and we don’t feel great instead we feel small when we write with the pen.
Example 2: The Company has given me a brand new Toyota Camry and it is fantastic and I feel great about it. But, the moment I come to know that somebody much junior to me, with less qualification, with less experience, is also given the same Toyota Camry, I lost my happiness. I will feel this is ridiculous and I am being degraded in the company. So, until I get a better car or that person is given a smaller car, I will not be happy.
Example 3: When the exchange rate is higher or lower or when the stock prices are lower or higher or the gold rates or higher or lower, it affects our mind. For example, we sent $10,000/- to India at Rs 46/- per dollar on 17/12/06 and on 18th the rate gone up to Rs 52/-. That is enough for us to feel depress that I should have waited for one more day. I lost Rs 60,000 in one day. So, whether we really lost any money? No. suppose, if the rate gone down to Rs 42/- we would have felt happy. It applies to the other rates I mentioned above. I know people who look at the rate simply but either feel happy or feel sadness.
Apart from the above examples of fictitious losses, there are at times actual losses also. Suppose, we buy a washing machine with one year guarantee and on the 13th month the washing machine is beyond repairable. We lost and we hear from someone that they purchased some or same washing machine 7 years ago and it is still running good. Our mind goes down further on the magnitude of loss. We purchased a plot on the prime location assuming that it will escalate in the future. But, unfortunately the Govt. constructed a fly over in front of the plot and even for free no one will buy the plot. We lost in the deal.
Apart from this there will be real loses like losing our baggage, or jewels or laptop or mobile etc.,
Next is the loss of opportunity or obstruction to our growth or better prospectus. For example, now, you feel that you have somehow been stopped from being allowed to get a better job in a better state. Similarly, people think that “I have been stopped from being producing a movie by some means.” People think that “I have been stopped from starting some business etc; somehow my promotion is stopped; somehow my increment is stopped.”
All these, fictitious, actual and real losses and our assumption that we are stopped from our growth opportunities disturb our mind. We should not allow these losses to disturb or affect our mind in any way. In nutshell, suppose, if we purchased an expensive diamond necklace and we lost during a party and if we are able to come in the night and sleep as if we lost a worn-out slipper, then we are highly matured. That shows that the money is not affecting our mind.
INDIVIDUALITY:
To the individuality, we attach so many attributes like prestige, pride, ego, dignity, credibility, honesty etc.
A person apart from his body, mind and soul he is made up of his characters. These characters are the values of life.
In majority of the cases these values are lost in process of making money.
The hero in the movie “E” is prepared to kill and do prostitution to make money. We will not be even killing a rabbit if we are given money. A pimp will wait near Egmore and look for individual girls who are lost and took them to prostitution and he will not feel anything bad for the feelings of the girls or for the prostitution instead he will look at the money only.
On the contrary, suppose, if a company tells our conservative girls to come just with very minimal low cut T shirts, some will refuse even if it is highly paid job.
Just I gave some examples of the various values in our life.
But…there is a wrong notion among people that we can do anything to amass wealth. You can lie, you can cheat, you can beg, you can hide things, you can twist facts, you can kneel down etc., for the sake of money. This mentality has come from America and western. That is why all the advertisements show all the misleading information. If we tell lie in Politics it is called diplomacy (Raja thanthiram), if we tell lie in the business it is called Business strategy (viyaabara thanthiram). But, this is wrong.
When we are making money, we should not in any way compromise our values. Once the values are compromised we loose our identity. For example, if someone says, you send your wife with miniskirt and sleeveless low cut jacket, I cannot send and my wife will kill me. Why? Because, by doing this as per my wife or me, it is devaluing us. Whereas, we don’t mind making a lie in the CV or in the interview or in presenting a report or twisting the facts for our convenient.
There are so many wealthy kings and businessmen lived and died in the past, but do we remember them. But, we remember the people, who were penniless. In the Gandhi movie, the first dialogue comes from the final ceremony commentator, saying, “This man is not a head of any state, not a head of any political organization, not owning any properties, but all the heads of states from all over the world is gathered….” Why? That is the value of a person. The king of Ramanathapuram, Baskara Sethupathi took the position of a horse and pulled the chariot wherein Swami Vivekananda was sitting. Swami Vivekananda was much younger than the Raja Baskara Sethupathi and the king has a large reputation and has enormous wealth, but assumed a position of horse and pulled him. So, there, the value of money and position became smaller than the character. The same with any saints.
So, as long as our individual value is not degraded or devalued, we can make money. But, I know wealthy people just for the sake of 10 rupees making big lies.
So, the summary is: We can make money or earn money and accumulate wealth, without in anyway compromising or affecting the four considerations mentioned above, the enjoyment, the health, the mind peace and the individual value.
Our mind should be focused on making money, we should think about saving money, we should think about not wasting anything, we should be cautious in spending, we should look for opportunities for the ways and means to increase the earnings and wealth. But, not at the cost of enjoyment, health, mind peace and individual value. These four are the priorities in life than money and wealth.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Question: I have a question, can you please explain, is every human is guided by God and every action is guided by God? If so, then why this world has people with falsity to their heart. If we say either the karma will punish them or they will be punished during the judgement period, is there any benefit for the affected person? Affected person is affected only, isn't it?. How you will you explain this as a normal human without bring the concepts of spirituality.
Answer: Have you seen old Gramophone records. It will have cyclical grooves and the needle will be sitting on it, depending on the grooves condition, the needle will move up and down and the up and down motion produces the music. Suppose, if the groove is uniform, will you hear any music? No. Unless the groove is up and down it will not produce music. You know now any automatic production, be it pepsi or coke or tetra pack juices, or car, all are uniform. Suppose, if god has created everybody like a pepsi bottle with same colour, same features and with same charecters, do you think life will be interesting or meaningful? It will be like having one flat groove on the gramophone record. It will be like car horn with one sound of bang.............. Is it possible to hear car horn continuously without break? No way. So, if you want a harmonious music, then you will have mix up of different kinds of instruments and different tones. If there is only comedy scene in a movie, we may not like it, unless there are different emotions in it. So, if everybody is truthful and honest we will not have any Mahatma or saints. So, both will be there Mahatama and Gotse. The Thumb is so small. But, thumbs of any two persons of living or deceased will never match. So, God is so great to have these mixers. So, instead of looking at why God has to have bad and good people, let us look at if only we have only good people what will happen, the life will not be interesting.
Answer: Have you seen old Gramophone records. It will have cyclical grooves and the needle will be sitting on it, depending on the grooves condition, the needle will move up and down and the up and down motion produces the music. Suppose, if the groove is uniform, will you hear any music? No. Unless the groove is up and down it will not produce music. You know now any automatic production, be it pepsi or coke or tetra pack juices, or car, all are uniform. Suppose, if god has created everybody like a pepsi bottle with same colour, same features and with same charecters, do you think life will be interesting or meaningful? It will be like having one flat groove on the gramophone record. It will be like car horn with one sound of bang.............. Is it possible to hear car horn continuously without break? No way. So, if you want a harmonious music, then you will have mix up of different kinds of instruments and different tones. If there is only comedy scene in a movie, we may not like it, unless there are different emotions in it. So, if everybody is truthful and honest we will not have any Mahatma or saints. So, both will be there Mahatama and Gotse. The Thumb is so small. But, thumbs of any two persons of living or deceased will never match. So, God is so great to have these mixers. So, instead of looking at why God has to have bad and good people, let us look at if only we have only good people what will happen, the life will not be interesting.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Inside - Out
Inside – out
When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world.
As I grew older and wise, I realized the world would not change.
And I decided to shorten my sights somewhat and change only my country. But, it too seemed immovable.
As I entered my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I sought to change only my family, those closest to me, but alas they would have none of it.
And now here I lie on my death bed and realize (perhaps for the first time) that if only I’d changed myself first, then by example I may have influenced my family and with their encouragement and support I may have bettered my country, and who knows I may have changed the world.
When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world.
As I grew older and wise, I realized the world would not change.
And I decided to shorten my sights somewhat and change only my country. But, it too seemed immovable.
As I entered my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I sought to change only my family, those closest to me, but alas they would have none of it.
And now here I lie on my death bed and realize (perhaps for the first time) that if only I’d changed myself first, then by example I may have influenced my family and with their encouragement and support I may have bettered my country, and who knows I may have changed the world.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Non-vegetarianism
Non-vegetarianism
Is being non-vegetarian a sin?
No. It is not a sin. Some people argue that killing an animal is sin. Then plucking plant, fruits, and vegetables is also sinful. Because, plants also have the life and they have buddhi or brain also. If we obstruct the source of sunlight, the plants will move their branches towards sunlight. It has been proved. So, killing animal or plant is one and the same. Apart from that God himself created certain species as flesh eaters, if He is concerned about the animals’ life, then he wouldn’t have created them in this manner. Secondly, whatever is born has to die one way or other. So, just because we leave them in the earth, it is not going to save anything. Plus, no scriptures say that people have to be vegetarian.
The scriptures say that we have to control our senses. So, even a person who is not eating non-vegetarian finds difficult to control his tongue is not good as per scriptures. Again scriptures talk about Ahimsa, non-cruelty, which includes cruel thinking and cruel words. Without foregoing cruel thinking and cruel words stopping animal killing is not true ahimsa. So, one who foregoes cruel thinking and cruel words only should think about the cruelty involved in killing animals. I have seen lots of vegetarians, who use frequently bad, teasing and cursing words. It is of no meaning to use such words and claim to be a vegetarian.
Nevertheless, we all kill lots of species everyday. We kill ants, mosquitoes, insects, rats, etc., (we constantly invent new technologies to kill them cleverly). All those vegetables reach the hands of vegetarians after using pesticides and killing many insects. Apart from that when we have fever, we use antibiotics to kill all the bacteria and the vegetarians are not going to die for the sack of those bacteria. Even if he dies for them they also will die along with him. Though these killings are done for safety reasons, whether those species are killed for food or for safety, it is all done for selfish motive only. So, it doesn’t make any difference.
Further, all those vegetarians wear silk clothes, leather goods, which are all made up of killing some species only.
Finally, the vegetarians feel pride about their vegetarianism and thinks that those flesh eaters are lower grade. I think this is the only negative advantage gained by vegetarianism.
Is being non-vegetarian harmful to health?
No. As we can see from the present world, where majority eats non-veg and it is proved that it is not harmful and in fact it is a must for those who are doing heavy works. All the medical research institutes recommend eating non-vegetarian foods.
But…
If we want to be peaceful, then the need for being vegetarian arises. If we want peace or shanti we have to advance in spirituality. By the way spirituality does not mean sainthood. The true spirituality aims at 24 hours and 365 days blissfulness, which none of the worldly wealth can buy. For spirituality, we need a proper stage. Michael Jackson or AR Rahman need a proper stage for their performance, they cannot perform in folklore stages. For Bharatanatiyam to perform, we need a specific type of stage. Similarly, spirituality cannot be done in any way as we think. There needs to be some specific stages for it to grow. Those stages require good qualities on the forefront.
A man doesn’t get angry just like that, unless he is pricked by someone or some incidents. So, the anger is sleeping inside a person and someone has to wake it up. Similarly all the good and bad qualities like, jealous, pride, coward, magnanimity, hatred, joy, etc., are all sleeping inside and they are woken up by someone or some incidents. When we associate with satvic or good natured people and by constantly getting exposed to their good natures, good impressions are repeatedly falling on us and our sleeping good qualities are waken up. That is why the scriptures insist on Satsang, the company of good people, and that is why Christianity made Sunday exclusively for get together prayer and Islam made Friday for get together prayer.
We can notice some people are always angry, but when we enquire they will say “in the past I was not like that but, recently I become in this sort”. Because, when they are constantly exposed to anger pricking situations, they become always angry. When we go to pleasant places like hill station or water falls automatically those pleasantness clings to us. The environment wakes up the pleasantness, which was sleeping within us. Similarly, when we sit in an irritating situation, we feel uncomfortable. The point is that all good and bad qualities are inside us, sleeping, and the external environment wakes them up and it is up to us to select the environment, depending on whether we need to sprout the good qualities or bad qualities.
In this regard, the foods we eat are also capable of waking some qualities in us. Non vegetarian foods have the capacity to wake the negative qualities. Because, non vegetarian foods are not meant for human being. Prior to the invention of making fire, the human should have eaten only vegetables. Because, without cooking we cannot either chew or eat the food; and our stomach cannot digest those foods. Even now if people eat half cooked or half boiled non veg stuff, indigestion or stomach upset happens. In order to make the food digestible, we add lots of ginger, garlic, etc., which are all again capable of elevating the negative qualities. You can very well understand this point by observing the difference between the calmness of vegetable eating animals and flesh eating animals. The point is that all good and bad qualities are inside us, sleeping, and the foods are capable of waking them up and it is up to us to select the foods, depending on whether we need to sprout the good qualities or bad qualities.
So, choosing vegetarianism or non-vegetarianism is not on the basis of sinfulness or harmfulness; it is purely based on the individual preference for peace, shanti.
No. It is not a sin. Some people argue that killing an animal is sin. Then plucking plant, fruits, and vegetables is also sinful. Because, plants also have the life and they have buddhi or brain also. If we obstruct the source of sunlight, the plants will move their branches towards sunlight. It has been proved. So, killing animal or plant is one and the same. Apart from that God himself created certain species as flesh eaters, if He is concerned about the animals’ life, then he wouldn’t have created them in this manner. Secondly, whatever is born has to die one way or other. So, just because we leave them in the earth, it is not going to save anything. Plus, no scriptures say that people have to be vegetarian.
The scriptures say that we have to control our senses. So, even a person who is not eating non-vegetarian finds difficult to control his tongue is not good as per scriptures. Again scriptures talk about Ahimsa, non-cruelty, which includes cruel thinking and cruel words. Without foregoing cruel thinking and cruel words stopping animal killing is not true ahimsa. So, one who foregoes cruel thinking and cruel words only should think about the cruelty involved in killing animals. I have seen lots of vegetarians, who use frequently bad, teasing and cursing words. It is of no meaning to use such words and claim to be a vegetarian.
Nevertheless, we all kill lots of species everyday. We kill ants, mosquitoes, insects, rats, etc., (we constantly invent new technologies to kill them cleverly). All those vegetables reach the hands of vegetarians after using pesticides and killing many insects. Apart from that when we have fever, we use antibiotics to kill all the bacteria and the vegetarians are not going to die for the sack of those bacteria. Even if he dies for them they also will die along with him. Though these killings are done for safety reasons, whether those species are killed for food or for safety, it is all done for selfish motive only. So, it doesn’t make any difference.
Further, all those vegetarians wear silk clothes, leather goods, which are all made up of killing some species only.
Finally, the vegetarians feel pride about their vegetarianism and thinks that those flesh eaters are lower grade. I think this is the only negative advantage gained by vegetarianism.
Is being non-vegetarian harmful to health?
No. As we can see from the present world, where majority eats non-veg and it is proved that it is not harmful and in fact it is a must for those who are doing heavy works. All the medical research institutes recommend eating non-vegetarian foods.
But…
If we want to be peaceful, then the need for being vegetarian arises. If we want peace or shanti we have to advance in spirituality. By the way spirituality does not mean sainthood. The true spirituality aims at 24 hours and 365 days blissfulness, which none of the worldly wealth can buy. For spirituality, we need a proper stage. Michael Jackson or AR Rahman need a proper stage for their performance, they cannot perform in folklore stages. For Bharatanatiyam to perform, we need a specific type of stage. Similarly, spirituality cannot be done in any way as we think. There needs to be some specific stages for it to grow. Those stages require good qualities on the forefront.
A man doesn’t get angry just like that, unless he is pricked by someone or some incidents. So, the anger is sleeping inside a person and someone has to wake it up. Similarly all the good and bad qualities like, jealous, pride, coward, magnanimity, hatred, joy, etc., are all sleeping inside and they are woken up by someone or some incidents. When we associate with satvic or good natured people and by constantly getting exposed to their good natures, good impressions are repeatedly falling on us and our sleeping good qualities are waken up. That is why the scriptures insist on Satsang, the company of good people, and that is why Christianity made Sunday exclusively for get together prayer and Islam made Friday for get together prayer.
We can notice some people are always angry, but when we enquire they will say “in the past I was not like that but, recently I become in this sort”. Because, when they are constantly exposed to anger pricking situations, they become always angry. When we go to pleasant places like hill station or water falls automatically those pleasantness clings to us. The environment wakes up the pleasantness, which was sleeping within us. Similarly, when we sit in an irritating situation, we feel uncomfortable. The point is that all good and bad qualities are inside us, sleeping, and the external environment wakes them up and it is up to us to select the environment, depending on whether we need to sprout the good qualities or bad qualities.
In this regard, the foods we eat are also capable of waking some qualities in us. Non vegetarian foods have the capacity to wake the negative qualities. Because, non vegetarian foods are not meant for human being. Prior to the invention of making fire, the human should have eaten only vegetables. Because, without cooking we cannot either chew or eat the food; and our stomach cannot digest those foods. Even now if people eat half cooked or half boiled non veg stuff, indigestion or stomach upset happens. In order to make the food digestible, we add lots of ginger, garlic, etc., which are all again capable of elevating the negative qualities. You can very well understand this point by observing the difference between the calmness of vegetable eating animals and flesh eating animals. The point is that all good and bad qualities are inside us, sleeping, and the foods are capable of waking them up and it is up to us to select the foods, depending on whether we need to sprout the good qualities or bad qualities.
So, choosing vegetarianism or non-vegetarianism is not on the basis of sinfulness or harmfulness; it is purely based on the individual preference for peace, shanti.
However, being vegetarian alone will not guarantee peace. It is one among the qualities, which makes the stage for peace.
If your ultimate goal is getting peace, shanti then try to become a vegetarian if not tomorrow, over a period. Otherwise, you can happily live with non-vegetarian food. There is no sin or harm.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
TREASURE
We are searching for treasures, labour for treasures, crave for treasures, but the greatest treasure we own is our body.
We seldom realize the gold mines in our body.
If God wishes to give us a new planet, there wouldn’t be any other treasure, which equals a planet like earth. However, our body is also made up of Pancha bootas – Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Akash (Ether), wherein earth also made up of these Pancha bootas only. Hence, our body is a planet.
We never realize that how the food we eat transforms into energy. How God has meticulously created all the enzymes and gastric juices to defragment the food we eat and making the continuous flow of the food into the intestine where the nutrition are to be absorbed. Similarly, there are so many systems in the body and these body systems are complex and we never sit and think that how much labour is being done within our body, each part is doing its own duty without asking anybody or without the order of anybody. These are all done for whom; it is all done for us only. So, they act as per the original instructions given to them by the God. It is a separate world with so many mini built in factories to take care of our body.
WE ARE SO CAREFUL in selecting the kind of petrol we have to use for our Car. We don’t want to use the adulterated petrol, because we know that the engine will be worn out quickly. When we buy good quality DVD system, we don’t want to insert pirated or third rated DVDs, because it will spoil the DVD system. But, when it comes to body, which is a treasure for us, which is a separate planet, we don’t bother about what kind of food we eat and how those foods will spoil the microscopic instruments within our body. I have seen people, who upset for days, when they notice a small scratch in their car. But, they drink lots of alcohol in the night. A small drops of wrong substance added to petrol will spoil the engine within no time. Similarly a few drops of poison can take a life of a person. Hence, we never know what kind of wrong food will affect which part of our body at what time.
We take our cars for regular services; we check the oils and filters. We know that any mechanical thing needs proper rest. But, I know some people who never give proper rest to our body. They have very erratic sleeping pattern, which will spoil the rhythm of the body, which will bring irreparable deceases.
Earlier, I mentioned we never realize the importance of our body. But, people realize the importance, only after they loose some portions of their treasure. By that time it will become irreparable. Hence, we have to safeguard our existing treasure, which cannot be snatched by any one in the world, except by our own mistakes.
What we need to do is just eating right kind of food systematically at regular intervals and maintaining proper sleeping pattern. That is all.
We seldom realize the gold mines in our body.
If God wishes to give us a new planet, there wouldn’t be any other treasure, which equals a planet like earth. However, our body is also made up of Pancha bootas – Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Akash (Ether), wherein earth also made up of these Pancha bootas only. Hence, our body is a planet.
We never realize that how the food we eat transforms into energy. How God has meticulously created all the enzymes and gastric juices to defragment the food we eat and making the continuous flow of the food into the intestine where the nutrition are to be absorbed. Similarly, there are so many systems in the body and these body systems are complex and we never sit and think that how much labour is being done within our body, each part is doing its own duty without asking anybody or without the order of anybody. These are all done for whom; it is all done for us only. So, they act as per the original instructions given to them by the God. It is a separate world with so many mini built in factories to take care of our body.
WE ARE SO CAREFUL in selecting the kind of petrol we have to use for our Car. We don’t want to use the adulterated petrol, because we know that the engine will be worn out quickly. When we buy good quality DVD system, we don’t want to insert pirated or third rated DVDs, because it will spoil the DVD system. But, when it comes to body, which is a treasure for us, which is a separate planet, we don’t bother about what kind of food we eat and how those foods will spoil the microscopic instruments within our body. I have seen people, who upset for days, when they notice a small scratch in their car. But, they drink lots of alcohol in the night. A small drops of wrong substance added to petrol will spoil the engine within no time. Similarly a few drops of poison can take a life of a person. Hence, we never know what kind of wrong food will affect which part of our body at what time.
We take our cars for regular services; we check the oils and filters. We know that any mechanical thing needs proper rest. But, I know some people who never give proper rest to our body. They have very erratic sleeping pattern, which will spoil the rhythm of the body, which will bring irreparable deceases.
Earlier, I mentioned we never realize the importance of our body. But, people realize the importance, only after they loose some portions of their treasure. By that time it will become irreparable. Hence, we have to safeguard our existing treasure, which cannot be snatched by any one in the world, except by our own mistakes.
What we need to do is just eating right kind of food systematically at regular intervals and maintaining proper sleeping pattern. That is all.
SPIRITUALITY
Where does spirituality start?
Does it start when someone initiates prayer?
Does it start when someone goes to temple, church or mosque?
Does it start when someone reads a spiritual book, like Bagavat Gita, Bible, Quran?
Does it start when someone listens to the preaching of the priests?
It starts only when someone sacrifices something for others. The more you forego or prepared to forego for others the more you are elevating in the spiritual plane.
The great saints had lots of super powers, what we call in India is Siddhi. With those powers they could have had anything they wanted but they lived by wearing single cloth. They sacrificed everything and concentrated on the benefit of others and that is how they were on the top spiritual plane.
The expression of love is only when we do something for others without any expectations or selfish motive. Here also, though any material sacrifice is not involved, we are sacrificing our valuable time for others. This is what we generally call love. When our love through the sacrifices of time, energy, money extends to many people, then we are elevating in the spiritual plane.
The great saints, though they are capable of using their valuable time for material gains, they dedicate their time only for the benefit of others.
Does it start when someone initiates prayer?
Does it start when someone goes to temple, church or mosque?
Does it start when someone reads a spiritual book, like Bagavat Gita, Bible, Quran?
Does it start when someone listens to the preaching of the priests?
It starts only when someone sacrifices something for others. The more you forego or prepared to forego for others the more you are elevating in the spiritual plane.
The great saints had lots of super powers, what we call in India is Siddhi. With those powers they could have had anything they wanted but they lived by wearing single cloth. They sacrificed everything and concentrated on the benefit of others and that is how they were on the top spiritual plane.
The expression of love is only when we do something for others without any expectations or selfish motive. Here also, though any material sacrifice is not involved, we are sacrificing our valuable time for others. This is what we generally call love. When our love through the sacrifices of time, energy, money extends to many people, then we are elevating in the spiritual plane.
The great saints, though they are capable of using their valuable time for material gains, they dedicate their time only for the benefit of others.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
What to pray?
If we believe that there is a super power, Who is our savior, Who directs and controls the world, Who knows everything, then there is no need to ask HIM anything. He knows what to give when to give. Without asking us, He has given us the five sensory organs, which are not available for plants; He has given us the mind and voice, which no other species is having; He has given us “I” feeling, which is the creative force, which allows us to create, invent, which no other species is having; He has given us the ability to laugh, which no other species is given. So, when He has given all these superior qualities to us without asking us, then He knows when to give and what to give.
By asking Him, we are insulting Him, that he is unaware of His duty. By asking Him, we expose our disbelief in Him.
If you want to really ask something while pray, ask for the benefit of others. Sure, this is also wrong, but this has the advantage of purifying our mind. In fact prayer is a means of cleaning our mind and removing all the garbage from it.
If you want to really ask something while pray, ask for better characters, if you are jealous, greedy, lustful, mean minded etc., ask Him to completely eradicate them. If you do not have love, generosity, magnanimity etc., ask Him to give them. Again this is also wrong, but by repeatedly asking Him these superior qualities in front of His holy shrines, we are polishing our mind.
By asking Him, we are insulting Him, that he is unaware of His duty. By asking Him, we expose our disbelief in Him.
If you want to really ask something while pray, ask for the benefit of others. Sure, this is also wrong, but this has the advantage of purifying our mind. In fact prayer is a means of cleaning our mind and removing all the garbage from it.
If you want to really ask something while pray, ask for better characters, if you are jealous, greedy, lustful, mean minded etc., ask Him to completely eradicate them. If you do not have love, generosity, magnanimity etc., ask Him to give them. Again this is also wrong, but by repeatedly asking Him these superior qualities in front of His holy shrines, we are polishing our mind.
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