Understanding Guna

Guna is a difficult word to translate….It could mean having a certain quality…a certain property….a certain  inherent law…

The property(guna) of fire is heat……That is easy to explain….

But what is the property inherent in   nature?  or in a human being ? Or what are the properties  of a soul ?

According to the Hindu tradition there is not one Guna in Nature but there are three elementary gunas.Like the atom has electrons,protons and neutrons, Nature has the Tri Gunas which are Sattvic,Tamasic, and Rajasic……..

The Satvic is the positive energy,pure,luminous,stable,good for you.

The Tamasic is the opposite of Satvic-negative energy,impure,dark,inert,not good for you.

The Rajasic is the most difficult to understand-it is a force of action,active,in a state of constant flux-not pure not impure.It may be good for you or it could be bad for you.

To understand Gunas,you must understand that all these three exist simultaneously in nature,or in all human beings in varying proportions.

Let me try and explain through examples.

Take milk…..Like all of nature it too has three gunas…..

Milk may be good for you because of the calcium.But high fat milk may be harmful to you if you are a heart patient and have high cholestrol.Or if you take too much milk it may be harmful to you.So you could say milk is Satvic,Tamasic as well as Rajasic.An understanding of the right proportions of the three gunas is the first step to  help to focus on reducing the negative and the indifferent gunas and increase the quantity of the positive satvic guna.

What is the Chemistry Of Emotions ?

Another word I love is chemistry.Not in the literal sense but in the sense of relationships or in the sense of personal body chemistry related to your individual emotional state.

In relational terms we say “The two of them had good chemistry between them” meaning they understood each other well .Or “they shared a certain chemistry amongst them” meaning they bonded well emotionally….

But  the word chemistry is more important when I think  of it in terms of the human body.There are certain emotions which have a certain chemistry….and when these emotions are unleashed,they release certain toxins and change the chemistry of your body. Say for example ,anger.If you get really angry,certain toxins(chemicals) are relesed in your system which also makes your breathing go haywire.This is like poison in your blood stream,and when this blood reaches your brains,it looses the capacity to think logically because of the poisons.If the person on whom you are angry also gets angry then it gives rise to more anger and more toxins get released  in both leading to higher levels of anger.If violent acts are analysed I am sure it will be found that more than 50% of them can be traced to rage…or extreme uncontrollable anger.Anger changes the chemisty of a person dangerously by converting certain toxins into  poisonous chemicals.

Or take for example fear…when fear takes over,certain toxins are released and chemistry is altered drastically..Reflexes are  heightened and you will be able to run faster,think faster in the act of self preservation.It is most clearly seen in the jungles when animals are faced with danger from other wild animals.Chemistry gets altered with fear and this chemical could be a self preservation chemical. 

I am sure love must also be having a certain chemical(toxin) associated with it  and this must be releasing in the body when you fall in love making you feel all so emotionally messed up.

A study of  body chemistry will help in the study of controlling all negative emotions like anger,hatred,violence,jealosy,racism.

There are medicines for all diseases which work on this principle.Even mental problems like depression are dealt with by mood enhancers.

So hopefully one day,science will be able to control all other negative emotions as well .

In the Universe it may be Maths and Physics which rules.But  in the body,I am sure it is Chemistry.

Balance of The Left and The Right

Balance is a wonderful quality to be developed-often ignored in life.

The balance I’m talking about can be   physical , mental as well as emotional .

The Buddhists advocated moderation in everything, a sort of  an in between path.What they probably meant is maintaining a balance in life.

In Hinduism there is the Triguna terminology…. All matter is either Satvic,Tamasic or Rajasic ,not in an absolute sense but in a balance of the three.To reach the absolutely satvic state ,you have to go through a state which contains all the three in the proper proportions or in balance.

The Chinese Yin and Yang is also a sort of Balance-between male and female- between the left side and the right side.

Even the body has a biological balance between the left side and the right.Understanding this balance is crucial in understanding health and well being.There is a delicate balance between sanity and insanity and understanding balance is vital in remaining on this side of sanity.Medical terminology also uses the word unbalanced to denote a mental state of a patient.

The left side of the brain and the right side of the brain are known to have separate functions but the balance between the two is important.

So become more aware of the left side  and the right side of your body and always maintain a physical balance of the two.Even yoga recognises the value of balance and if you see a perfect yogi,all his asanas will convey  BALANCE if you are  a keen observer.The Natraj Asana,of Lord Shiva standing on one leg,is also a perfect example of perfect balance.Garuda Asana is another important asana of Balance or Ek Pada Pranamasana.

So recognise the importance of balance between the left and the right, and practice it at all times.Sitting ,standing , lying down or moving around-be aware totally of the  balance in you.

Start with the physical.The outlook  change  will also happen mentally and emotionally gradually.

Does a sixth sense make sense?

The Sixth sense? What is it?

If you develop the five existing senses with the help of meditation,maybe you may also discover your sixth sense.

When you start your meditation, get into your favourite meditation posture and close your eyes.Give your eyes total rest.Enter the blackness and feel the eyelids getting heavy.After meditation,every image  looks sharper.Feel the nerves behind the eyes relaxing.

Now focus attention on the nose.Smell all the smells around you.Feel the warm air as it enters the nostrils.Try and feel the nerves from the nose to the brain.

Now focus on your lips and move your tongue around it and move it at the top of the palate.Feel the nerves behind the tongue.

Now focus on your ears and the sounds all around you.Isolate each sound and then collectively listen to all of them.

Finally,focus  on the skin in contact with the ground or on sensations all over the body as done in Vipaasna meditation.Let the sense of touch become more and more sensitive/awakened.

Do each sense individually and then collectively.

Do this short  meditation of sense awareness at different times  whenever possible.

If you develop the five senses,you may discover the sixth sense.

According to me the sixth sense is a sense of intuition.And this is in a very undeveloped stage in our brain structure.

Why do scientists not work on developing intuition…?

A Bird’s eye view of your life

In period war movies of ancient times you often saw the Commanders on top of a cliff ,with a bird’s eye view of the battlefield,planning their modus operandi for battling the enemy.It made it easier for the audience also to understand and enjoy the battle better once you know which side are the heroes and which the villains.

Its the same in life.Its very necessary  to have an overview or bird’s eye view of your life to answer or clarify various questions.

Are you going in the right direction? Where are you now in relation to where you wanted to be?

Are the major relationships in your life working out to your satisfaction?

What changes would you like to make in your existing life?

What were the major turning points in your life so far?

What do you want to be doing for the coming portion of your life?

Its like a recap of the story of your life so far and the strategies you should follow from here onwards.

This quality of having a bird’s eyeview is an important quality to develop…..Of being a witness to your own life unfolding.

The parable of the escapist.

Once upon a time…there was a prison…in a very beautiful place in the  world.
There were strong prison bars all around the prison,but people  inside the prison were free..
The prisoners were fed good food,and were looked after so well that no one thought of escaping from this prison to a life of  freedom.
No one except one person.
This person tried to escape by squeezing between the bars,because he was thin.But try as he would ,he could not squeeze through.If he could not squeeze through then no one else could as he was the thinnest of all the prisoners.But this man was desperate to escape.So desperate that one day he discovered a way he could escape.He started fasting quietly,all on his own.Day by day, he started loosing weight.One day,after fasting on and off  for four weeks,he tried to squeeze out between the bars.Lo and behold.He was out of the prison.

He called all the prisoners,told all of them that he could squeeze out of prison and escape.They asked him how he did it and he told them the secret.He said goodbye to all of them and squeezed out.Some of the prisoners were happy that atleast one amongst them had become free and  cheered him and wished him good luck.But there were others who told him how could he run away leaving them behind and told him he was selfish.The man turned around to these people” I have told you the secret and I will be very happy if all of you follow me in my freedom.” And this man escaped.

End of Parable.The question is Was this man right in escaping or should he have stayed back in prison for the rest of his life with his other colleagues?

The second question is were his colleagues right in calling him selfish or should they have been happy that atleast one of them had found freedom?

Enlightenment Level ?

I had earlier written about Spiritual level and asked what is your spiritual level?
In the same vein,I would like to think of what is enlightenment level?
How close are you to enlightenment or really how far?
But before that I would like to ask the following questions .
1.Is enlightenment total or can it also be partial?
2.If one is partially enlightened or totally enlightened,is it permanent or it could be temporary?
3.Is enlightenment obtained gradually or suden ? If gradually is it over a long period of time or a short period ?
4.Does enlightenment appear and then disappear if you dont know how to hold on to it properly or if you misuse it or brag about it ?
The questions are serious and not in a lighter or sarcastic vein.
Coming back to the main issue of enlightenment levels ,I am making the following hypothetical measuring scale.
Lets assume that the scale is from 0 to ten,going on a reverse scale.
Zero is the level that Buddha reached,that is,full enlightenment.
In Buddhist terminology,Shoonya is an important word which means emptiness,or void or a zero.Thats why I have kept zero as the ultimate in enlightenment level.
Lets keep level ten the highest level of unenlightenment.
Each person has to ask himself this question what is my level? if he is into setting himself on the path of enlightenment.
Most of mankind is not into this.How much money have you made,how successful have you been in your career,how famous have you become,how happy are you with your family,how compassionate are you,how much you have returned to society,how environment friendly are you,these are the types of questions generally asked.How much have you refined your inner being towards enlightenment is hardly ever asked.The science of the inner world has not been investigated enough.Why not?

Jottings on Shoonya

Shoonya in Sanskrit could mean many things.

The common translation could be empty or emptiness.

It could mean the void.

It could be zero (a component of the computer language)

It could be vaccum,or non-existence,or even indifference.

Shoonya is full of meanings.My jottings on Shoonya are on Shoonya as void.

Jottings are thoughts on paper.Question marks.Shoonya is quite a popular concept both in Hindu( including Kashmir Shaivism) as well as Buddhist religious literature.

Could the Universe be an expanding Shoonya? With portions of it a contracting shoonya?

Can a void grow larger or smaller?

Can there be a void within a void ?

Is a dark hole in space  not a shoonya ?

Can a shoonya not explode ? Or implode?

If darkness is an absence of light,is not Shoonya  an absence of light as well as  space?

The big bang was born from Shoonya  and will end in shoonya.

The sun as well as the solar system as well as the planets and the earth have all emerged from  the void.

All humans too are a part of this void.

Death is accepted but the void is not.Why is this so ?

Enjoy and improve the present

“Look upon every day as the whole of life,not merely as a section,and enjoy and improve the present without wishing through haste to rush on to another.”
Richter.

“Your talent lies in your choices.”
Stella Adler

Look Back On Anger

Everybody gets angry and everybody feels bad about getting angry.
What happens when you get angry?
These are the visible signs of anger I have seen in myself as well as other  people.
1.Breathing goes all haywire.
2.The mind gets clouded,so speech pattern gets affected,volume level of voice increases and this in turn gives rise to more anger.You start to sweat and sometimes to suffocate.You will also tend to snort and flare your nostrils.In short you will get ugly and emnate bad vibes.
3.If the person you are lashing your anger on gets provoked this will increase your anger level.Anger escalates very easily.
4.Anger can throw the normal mind pattern out of control.The eyes will widen and be filled with venom.
5.When anger is caused due to an ego problem,then anger is likely to remain,even in a suppressed state,for a long period of time.
6.When anger is combined with frustration then it can lead to uncontrollable  violence.
7.When anger is combined with sex/lust,it can lead to rape or even murder.
8.Anger can be reduced if you anticipate it or learn the art of seeing it coming.
9.Anger can be slowly removed from your system totally with awareness.
10.When anger is caused by the other person’s stupidity, you can minimize anger by  compassion for that person.
11.If you look at the cause of your anger and mentally say to yourself”This too shall pass” you will get less and less angry.
12.Anger can be minimized if you think of people you know whom you have never seen get angry and using them as role models.

Anger is as bad as violence…anger is nothing but violence within oneself created by yourself.No matter what the cause is,there is no need to get angry.

Just as there is non-violence,there MUST be non-anger.

Be cool is a great phrase and that is possible if you decide never to get angry no matter what happens.