The 88th South India conference dealt with the above topics and these are my impressions of the various lectures. Man, constantly is driven by the emergencies of the moment, the issues of daily life, the issues of personal ambition, dreams and desires ,in his actions. He rarely thinks that ,his present life could have a long term effect on life after death. He rarely spends time wondering what stage of evolution his spiritual self is in and how his choices in this birth could aid that growth.
If one were to imagine that one has had countless births before, that at some point in the last million years one has been poor, ultra rich, disabled, super strong, man, eunuch, a foreigner, maybe a buddhist ,widowed, orphaned, drug addict,unstable...what then would one's attitude to humanity around him be? Logically only compassion and a desire to help ,in whatever manner possible or at least be civil and respectful to all around, as one realises the pain of the other and does not want to add to his/her tale of woes. The laws of higher life are essentially this -understanding of living a life of service, compassion and a doing one's dharma or duty.
Duty, is individualistic, depending on the current status of our lives. The duty of a student is to study, the duty of a father is to provide, a mother to nurture etc. Doing one's duty, is doing the right thing at the right time. Duty is automatically obvious to one ,if one is even briefly contemplative. The next question is, how does one make oneself perform one's duties. What are the incentives. One of the main incentives is, perhaps , these bunch of duties that we have now, will at least not recur, in the next round of birth. We would have tackled these problems intelligently and efficiently, and the soul would seek newer challenges. From viewpoint of the reality the law of reincarnation and the law of karma-the law of natural justice, whose existence though is felt by many, but the absence of scientific proof, prevents most from completely and wholeheartedly accepting such doctrines, from these viewpoints, fulfilling one's duty, is then a manner of completing the term of punishment due to our past crimes. One could think better to complete the term than start all over again, entering the jail. Be out, a free man.
All this leads to this thought that is duty an unsavoury task always? The thing to understand is that the while the completion of one's duties, gives one momentary satisfaction-if one is seeking that satisfaction alone-one would only hate to do the duty-as there are so many better ways to seek momentary satisfaction. Hence , duty is a task finished entirely only for the sake of finishing it. 'karmanye vadika rastu,ma phaleshu kadachana'-oft repeated Lord Krishna's quote is the hidden basis of all correct actions on earth. Duty has to be done. Seeking a reward ruins the job- and one inherits new 'duties'. The best way out id to see what are the tasks that one feels compelled from within to complete-only those are our duties and doing them alone and feeling happy while doing them is all there is to this whole problem.
But then, why this case against happiness-isn't that why we are here on earth-to find happiness. The happiness , which we would find in the pursuit of pleasure is fleeting. The same from the pursuit of fulfilling duties transcends births and rebirths. Which would you choose?
Nivruti marga-the process of going in reverse gear-as pointed out by Ms Linda Olievra, in her individualistic style of speaking, is the accumalation of and concentration of energy which one gathers around oneself as one slowly wraps oneself into this narrow path of dharma and duty .And as she points out, a tree sustains itself, within its branches which cover the roots and thus shades it from the hard sun, while every part of it performs a vital role in its survival, the tree also generously gives its surplus to the life around it-shade to humans, habitat or food to animals etc. One can learn a lot from a simple tree. Doing one's duty like a tree does its. These are the small methods to start treading the path of higher life.
One must aim to apply all this every waking moment and not let it be just a rhetoric.
If one were to imagine that one has had countless births before, that at some point in the last million years one has been poor, ultra rich, disabled, super strong, man, eunuch, a foreigner, maybe a buddhist ,widowed, orphaned, drug addict,unstable...what then would one's attitude to humanity around him be? Logically only compassion and a desire to help ,in whatever manner possible or at least be civil and respectful to all around, as one realises the pain of the other and does not want to add to his/her tale of woes. The laws of higher life are essentially this -understanding of living a life of service, compassion and a doing one's dharma or duty.
Duty, is individualistic, depending on the current status of our lives. The duty of a student is to study, the duty of a father is to provide, a mother to nurture etc. Doing one's duty, is doing the right thing at the right time. Duty is automatically obvious to one ,if one is even briefly contemplative. The next question is, how does one make oneself perform one's duties. What are the incentives. One of the main incentives is, perhaps , these bunch of duties that we have now, will at least not recur, in the next round of birth. We would have tackled these problems intelligently and efficiently, and the soul would seek newer challenges. From viewpoint of the reality the law of reincarnation and the law of karma-the law of natural justice, whose existence though is felt by many, but the absence of scientific proof, prevents most from completely and wholeheartedly accepting such doctrines, from these viewpoints, fulfilling one's duty, is then a manner of completing the term of punishment due to our past crimes. One could think better to complete the term than start all over again, entering the jail. Be out, a free man.
All this leads to this thought that is duty an unsavoury task always? The thing to understand is that the while the completion of one's duties, gives one momentary satisfaction-if one is seeking that satisfaction alone-one would only hate to do the duty-as there are so many better ways to seek momentary satisfaction. Hence , duty is a task finished entirely only for the sake of finishing it. 'karmanye vadika rastu,ma phaleshu kadachana'-oft repeated Lord Krishna's quote is the hidden basis of all correct actions on earth. Duty has to be done. Seeking a reward ruins the job- and one inherits new 'duties'. The best way out id to see what are the tasks that one feels compelled from within to complete-only those are our duties and doing them alone and feeling happy while doing them is all there is to this whole problem.
But then, why this case against happiness-isn't that why we are here on earth-to find happiness. The happiness , which we would find in the pursuit of pleasure is fleeting. The same from the pursuit of fulfilling duties transcends births and rebirths. Which would you choose?
Nivruti marga-the process of going in reverse gear-as pointed out by Ms Linda Olievra, in her individualistic style of speaking, is the accumalation of and concentration of energy which one gathers around oneself as one slowly wraps oneself into this narrow path of dharma and duty .And as she points out, a tree sustains itself, within its branches which cover the roots and thus shades it from the hard sun, while every part of it performs a vital role in its survival, the tree also generously gives its surplus to the life around it-shade to humans, habitat or food to animals etc. One can learn a lot from a simple tree. Doing one's duty like a tree does its. These are the small methods to start treading the path of higher life.
One must aim to apply all this every waking moment and not let it be just a rhetoric.
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