The Color Of The Wildflower May 6, 2008
Posted by Kedar in atheism, atheist, buddhism, desire, east, eastern, enlightenment, hindu, hinduism, india, karma, mahayana, maya, oriental, philosophy, religion, spiritual, spirituality, story, subjective, subjectivity, tao, theory, zen.4 comments
Two people were waiting on the bank of a river. They were waiting for the ferry to take them to the other side of the river. To kill the time, they started talking.
“I am a lifelong student. I have spent all my life searching for the truth.” The first one said.
“I feel I am about to find it.” He continued. ” I have been told that there is a teacher on the other side of the river who is very knowledgeable and insightful. If I get to meet him, he will help me get enlightened.”
“Very nice.” The second one said. “But are you sure you want to get enlightened? Are you sure that it will end all your problems?”
“Seems to me that you know nothing about enlightenment. It is eternal bliss. It is death of deaths. It is escape from the cycles of life. It is attained by only the most knowledgeable.” The first one replied.
“Indeed. I don’t know enough about enlightenment.” Said the second person. “But let me ask you a simple question. “
“Look at that.” Pointing to a wildflower at some distance , he said ” What color is that flower?”.
“That is a blue wildflower.” Said the first one.
“I wonder what color it will look to you when you are enlightened.” Remarked the second one.
That was the moment of enlightenment for the first person.
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Substitute “enlightenment” with any other accomplishment you have in your mind, graduation, job, finding love or winning lottery, and you will realize that no matter what you achieve, a blue wildflower will always look blue.
No matter how big accomplishment you achieve or no matter how badly you fail, a big part of your life will remain the same. The color of the sky, taste of water, sensation of hot and cold will be the same. Mountains and rivers will look the same, breeze and sunlight will always feel the same.
So put every accomplishment, every pursuit in right perspective. Do not hold your entire life hostage to your pursuits.
Even the small part that changes as a result of culmination of pursuits is most of the times in our mind. Say you get a million dollars right now. All that changes is how you look at the world. Not the world. A million dollars will save you from some dangers, not all. It will not save you from earthquake.
This disillusionment is the beginning of spiritual journey.
A Tale Of Radha Krishna And Uddhava- II January 22, 2008
Posted by Kedar in atheist, buddhism, eastern, hindu, hinduism, india, karma, oriental, philosophy, religion, spiritual, spirituality.Tags: radha krishna uddhava mahayana soul tao zen spititualit
2 comments
It was early morning. The world was slowly coming to life.
As the morning breeze rattled tree leaves , meek chirpy whistles came out from the nests . Slowly, cows and cattle were standing up in their stable. The bells in their neck rung intermittently. The soft rays of morning sun made their first appearance and the dew on tree leaves sparkled like pearls. Far off somewhere a rooster made it official. It was morning.
Knock Knock!!
The sound of knocking broke the silence.
The door of Radha’s house cracked open. Once again Uddhava was greeted with warm smile. Once again he was welcomed in.
The front yard was cleaned, the plants were watered and a lamp was lit under the Tulsi Vrindavan. So Radha was already awake.
Uddhava freshened up and finished his glass of fresh milk, as Radha finished some morning chores. She lit the fire and sat next to him.
“So Uddhava, I hear you are Maharishi now?”
“Yes. I am afraid so.”
Both of them laughed.
“So what’s the message for me today?”
She still had that mischievous smile.
“Today I come with no message. Only questions.” Uddhava said as he fidgeted with his fingers.
“Still today I lay back on my bed in night, I think of what you said. I try to link it to what I learned. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t.”
He paused for a moment. The crackling sound of firewood only highlighted the silence in that moment.
“I think of the day I left from Dwaraka, feeling weird that Krishna has not given any message for you. My intentions were honest, yet I ended up doing something very foolish. If such a circumstances may arise in future, what should be the course of my action? What is the right thing to do? All my knowledge seems to have failed this simple test Krishna gave me.”
“Sitting in the chariot, I tried to fake a message. That was a mistake, and standing before you, I looked foolish , that was the retribution. Don’t you think so?”
Radha did not say anything for a few minutes. She rearranged the logs in the fire. The smoke reduced and the flames showed up again. Finally she spoke in the same soothing tone.
“You see this firewood, Uddhava? In a few minutes this will be reduced to ashes. Then I will throw the ashes in the trees. They will go into soil. One day a new tree will come out of the soil. There will be new trunk, new branches, new leaves. One day those branches and leaves will collapse and will burn again somewhere.”
“Is there a right way of going from firewood to ashes? Is there a wrong way of going from ashes to soil? The truth is Uddhava, the words wood, soil and ashes have no meaning an inch outside of your head. They exist only in your thoughts, your mind. In reality there is no wood, no ashes, no soil and no tree. There is only journey from wood to ashes to soil and to wood again.”
“Has she read Gita?” Was Uddhava’s first thought. He remembered Krishna’s description of journey of soul.
“What I hear you saying is the entities and their relationships exist in my perception. May be this is true, but this does not answer my question.” Uddhava said.
“If I apply what you said to me, then it means that my ego is an fictional entity. In such a way you can argue that every entity like ego, person, family, village community, an empire and humanity is more of a convention, not a reality.”
“If all these are convention, then what should be the foundation of morality? The mother nurses the child. Can she just turn away from the child thinking that the child, the ego of the child is just another convention? “
Uddhava let off his steam and fell silent. Radha was still calm, still smiling. Slowly she began.
“Uddhava, if you cross the fence and go to the next door, you will indeed find a mother nursing her daughter. She is not the only one to nurse her kid. All the mothers in the village do. And why village, all the mothers in the universe, animals and humans alike, have nursed their kids from the beginning of the time and will do so till end of time.”
“So if each and every mother does it, then may be it is not the person, the identity, the ego, the individual. It’s the nature. Nature nurtures nature itself, through the mother and through the child. Nature kills nature itself, through the winning warrior and through the losing warrior.”
“The one who sees the world as such, will not think of himself or herself as the driver of this world. Rather the person would see himself/herself as the vehicle, an agent, through which the nature drives a giant game. “
“We are all part of this game, we always were and we will always be. Sometimes we are the nature, sometimes we are the individual. Sometimes we play dead, sometimes we play alive. Sometimes we are happy, sometimes we are sad. Uddhava, a being is not any of its state, it is the going, the motion. A person or an individual is not the one who is happy or the one who is sad, a person is who goes from being happy to being sad and from being sad to being happy.”
“Such is the game of world. Happiness always gives birth to grief and grief always delivers happiness. There is no end. They have alternated since the beginning of time and will continue to do so. Those who realize this will not worry about being happy or being sad. They will not resist nature, instead realize that they are part of it. Thus they will stop living artificial, manipulated life and start living natural, easy life. Thus they will stop being something else and be themselves.”
A Tale Of Radha , Krishna and Uddhava April 5, 2007
Posted by Kedar in brahma, buddha\, buddhism, desire, east, eastern, hindu, hinduism, india, karma, oriental, philosophy, spiritual, spirituality, story, zen.Tags: krishna, radha
19 comments
Uddhava, the apprentice of Krishna, one day expressed his dis-satisfaction to Krishna that in-spite of studying all Vedas ,Upnishadas and Sutras, he still was not recipient of the title “Maha-Rishi”, meaning the great sage. He indirectly suggested that Krishna should use his weight in the council of wise men to honor him with the title.
Krishna sensed the ego and pride of Uddhava. He smiled and asked Uddhava if he thought his study was complete. Uddhava answered a confident yes. Krishna did not say anything. He just told Uddhava to come and see him the next day.
The next day Krishna asked him a for a favor. He asked Uddhava to visit Vrindavan, where Krishna’s soul mate Radha resided, and to give her a message. Uddhava gladly agreed. After all, getting to do a special assignment for no one else but Krishna, the divine one, was an honor. When he was ready to leave, Krishna smiled and waved him goodbye. Uddhava asked about the message and Krishna said he had none.
Uddhava was surprised. He sat in chariot and started on his way, but he could not help wonder what would be Radha’s reaction. He was sure Radha would be very angry at this. He did not want to see a problem in Radha and Krishna’s relationship. So just before he entered Vrindavan, he got a parch-paper and wrote a hi-hello message to Radha and forged to look like it came from Krishna.
On reaching Vrindavan, he did not have problem finding Radha’s house. She gave him a warm welcome. After he settled, he handed over the message, hoping she would not examine the message in too much detail.
For a moment Radha stared at the parch-paper and then she started laughing hysterically. Uddhava was confused. He asked Radha what was the matter. She said the message Krishna wrote was funny. Uddhava pretended surprise and asked what was the message.
“The message says Uddhava’s study is still not complete.” replied Radha.
On listening this, Uddava was stunned.
‘How could she have known this?’ he wondered.
Radha calmed him down.
“I love Krishna and trust Krishna in ways beyond you can imagine.” She said “We are two bodies but same soul. There is nothing to be said in between us. We have walked the path of trust, love, devotion and sacrifices for so long that there are no boundaries in my being and his. He does not need to send me messages. He is my message. He is my love letter from the universe.”
“But Uddhava, you have not learned to trust Krishna. You have not learned to give up your self, your ego, and stop your manipulating mind. You ego stands between you and the truth. Between you and the supreme awakening.”
“Erasing the sense of duality and being one with the universe, being one with the one who beholds universe, is this not the jist of the sacred ancient texts, Uddhava?”
Uddhava was speechless. Within a minute, Radha had explained the the deepest mysteries of life. He just wanted to stand there and listen.
He spent the whole day at her house. She talked about life in layman’s terms of love and truth. But Uddhava found answers to his most profound questions in philosophies he learned all this life.
“How did you get so much knowledge staying in this village and living life doing chores?” He asked.
“Each moment makes you take sides. If you always take side of truth and love, you will gain insights. Each insight awakens you from the illusion and takes you a step closer to the supreme awakening.”
“How can you be in Love with Krishna and still remain free from bonds of life ?”
“There is distinction between the love that results from insecurity and the love that results from faith. The former results in bonds. The later results in freedom. The former gets lost, the later transcends. The former leads to fear of death and abandonment. The later leads to Nirvana, to enlightenment that is death of death, to realization that Radha and Krishna are just ripples and love is like the water, eternal and infinite.”
“How can you get awakened without leaving the society and becoming a monk?”
“Where a man reaches by renouncing the world, a woman reaches by embracing the world in its wholeness.” Said Radha.
“Is there no point in pursuit of knowledge? Then what is the meaning of life?”
“Your ability to give it any meaning, is the meaning of life. ” Ansewred Radha. “And about the pursuits, pursuit of currency is not the same as pursuit of wealth, pursuit of sensation is not pursuit of happiness, pursuit of titles is not pursuit of knowledge. These pursuits are in synergy for some time, and they are at conflict later. You must wake up, and open your eyes.”
Radha’s answers turned all of Uddhavas learning upside down and inside out and presented to him as a paradox, a paradox his doubting mind could never grasp. Uddhava’s ego surrendered. The constant chatter of thoughts at the back of his mind stopped and he saw a totally new world at the same place. An eternal, peaceful world where everything seemed OK.
On his way back to Dwaraka, Uddhava sensed a big change within him. He sang to himself. He offered lift to a sick man. He appreciated the sunset in the Western sky. He did not feel rush to get home and work on getting his title.
Next day he met Krishna. Krishna sensed the change too.
Krishna smiled and said “So let’s talk about your title Maha-rishi.”
“I am not that interested in the title anymore. ” replied Uddhava and bent to touch Krishna’s feet.
Krishna rose from his throne. He hold on to Uddhava’s shoulders and smiled at him.
” Your journey is complete. You have arrived. Uddhava, I bestow you the responsibility of writing down my teaching in simple language for all those who do not have luxury of spending their life trying to be Maha-rishi. You will share the gems of knowledge that do not belong to any title such as Maha-rishi. “
“And for this great contribution to humanity, hereafter you shall be known as Maha-rishi.”
[This post is being moved to http://kedarsoman.wordpress.com/2007/04/05/a-tale-of-radha-krishna-and-uddhava/
This blog overall is being moved to kedarsoman.wordpress.com/zen
Thanks to all, see you there.]
Flower Blooms – A Zen Poem February 19, 2007
Posted by Kedar in atheism, atheist, buddha\, buddhism, cycle, east, eastern, hindu, hinduism, india, karma, mahayana, oriental, philosophy, tao, zen.add a comment
Flower blooms for it wants to bloom,
Spring comes for it wants to come,
Play of mind sees cause and effect,
Mind plays for it wants to play.
Cycle of Will January 18, 2007
Posted by Kedar in atheism, atheist, conflict, cycle, desire, east, eastern, hindu, hinduism, india, karma, oriental, philosophy, spiritual, spirituality, zen.add a comment
Every day we are walking new paths in the material world. But in emotional world, persons and families and societies are walking the same paths for centuries. Same play, different actors. Same story new characters.
It begins with a conflict. Conflict brings a sense of agony, where we know we want change, but we can’t figure out what. It’s a first vague reaction. This agony when simmers for some time, gives rise to desire where we know what change is required. Yet we don’t know how. Desire stays at the back of our experience and being. Slowly by osmosis, it permeates into our perceptions. Now we have a mind. Reflexes are built in. Habits are forged. It results into sponteneous action. Finally it leads to knowledge and fullfillment.
Any attempts to reach quick gratification leads to faulty perception of this world, which leads to believing into mirages. Believing into mirages leads to more conflicts.
Howmuchever we hate conflicts and agony, we cannot deny their rightful place in our emotional cycle. No conflict, no experience of desire.
Walking in circles, walking in circles, it’s a mad mad world.
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My Lessons from The Story of Tao January 17, 2007
Posted by Kedar in atheism, atheist, buddha\, buddhism, east, eastern, hindu, hinduism, india, mahayana, oriental, philosophy, spiritual, spirituality, tao, zen.add a comment
If you have not yet read my previous post, please read it here.
Following are the important lessons I should learn from the story of Tao
Not knowing what you are being punished for is perhaps part of your punishment.
The story of Tao tells us one important thing. When I come across a conflict, I can believe that the universe is unbalanced and unjust and can go berserk. Or I can believe that I am failing to see some part of the whole chain of events. The immediate next question is why am I failing to see part of that chain. Perhaps by my own direct or indirect choice of ignorance.
We are unhappy, it is not because out will is not getting fulfilled. But it is because we do not know which of our will is getting fulfilled. Not knowing for what you are being punished, is part of punishment.
If we don’t know, than it is our choice.
And why did we not know for what we are being punished? Because we did not want to know. How this component gets added in punishment? By our choice. We chose to forget things in order to feel surprised later and bring some drama to our life.
If Tao had chosen to face punishment while he retained memories of his crime, he would have gained knowledge and seen harmony. Instead he chooses to limit his perception so that he can believe world can be cheated. This way he pumped up his “High” feelings and kicks. He chose the belief that ‘world need not be balanced’. This belief will cause him as much trouble later as he avoided by creating this belief.
Getting closure is previlege. It needs to be earned.
May it be our crusade to be rich or may it be the agony we felt when our money was stolen. What we are looking for is closure. That’s why we need every book and every movie to start with a conflict and end in “happily thereafter”. It is not the pains or atrocity we are afraid of. We are secretly afraid of not having closure, not seeing the victim get punished, not seeing our efforts rewarded.
In case of Tao we see that conflict is property more of Tao’s perception than that of the material universe. And so is closure. Getting closure is a privilege, not birthright. That needs too be earned by facing the truth, taking pains to form a right perception. You deserve closure only if you earned it.
Earning closure points comes with it’s own costs. More we see closure, more we see harmony. More we see harmony, more we lose drama in this world. Which one is better? I don’t know. I guess when your time to seek harmony comes, you seek harmony.
One thing I know for sure is that the harmonious world really looks serene and beautiful.
A Poem By Dalai Lama January 15, 2007
Posted by Kedar in Blogroll, buddha\, buddhism, east, eastern, india, mahayana, oriental, philosophy, spiritual, spirituality, tao.1 comment so far
A beautiful poem. Got it in email. Claimed to be from Dalai Lama, but could not verify it. The last two lines make me wonder if Dalai Lama would write some lile like “Hit Delete”, which is targeted specifically for email. But nonetheles, a beautiful poem.
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In our times,
Height of skyscrapers increased, but did that of humanity decreased?
Rodes widened, but did the viewpoints narrowed?
Expenses increased, but did the savings dwindled?
Expanded homes, but small families.
Pleasures increased, but the fun reduced.
Free time increased, but the fun reduced.
Degrees and diplomas increased, but wisdom went down.
Mountains of information, but noone to point the correctness.
Lot of medicines, but less health.
Ownership increased, values went down?
We talk a lot, love less and hate easily
Standard of life increased, but life became poorer.
We added years in life, but not life to those years.
We visited the moon, but we are not visiting the neighbor.
we are winning outside, but losing within.
We are trying to purify air, but our soul suffocates.
Income increased, but honesty decreased.
This is time of more tall people, but less towering characters.
Tons of profits, but less of relations.
Talks about world peace, but fights in home.
Time at hand, but fun already lost.
Lots of foods, but no taste.
More people earning, but divorces increased.
Houses decorated, but homes devastated.
Lots of showpieces in windows, but rooms empty.
There is technology today,
to make this letter reach to you.
And you still have freedom,
To take a serious look,
If you want to change something, change,
Or just forget it and hit delete.
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