Fallen Intellect: Part 2

On the day of  “Ganesha Chathurthi” the most revered , followed and loved Hindu God Ganesha, I felt that we should revisit certain fundamentals of what Lord Ganesha depicts.  as you read the Extract from the book “ Symbolism of Hindu Gods & Rituals by my one of the Guru Sri Swami Parthasarathy, which is shared below Verbatim”  you will either download/revisit the image of Lord Ganesha as you read each of the paragraphs below :)-

The Hindu religion is ingeniously designed to treat all types of disorders of the mind.  The human mind is most complex suffering from multifold diseases.  Religion is meant to cure these diseases to regain spiritual health.  Just as there cannot be one doctor one cure for all diseases, Hindu religion is likewise.  Religion is meant to take the mind away from the mundane worldly activity to focus on the one Self within.  Since the mind possesses desires, the ramblings of the mind never stop.  The great sages, hence, brought gods and goddesses , rituals and festivals, ceremonies and celebrations.  The master plan of the sages was to divinise everything in this world since the human mind is always on the objects of the world.  Religion is derived from 2 latin terms Re (Back again) and Ligare (Bind / Unite). Etymologically, religion means "that which binds one back to the origin".

Ganesha

Ganah means Multitude Isha means Lord. - Ganesha literally means Lord of all beings. In Hindu Mythology, Ganesha is described as having a human form with an Elephant head one of the tusks broken. He has a conspicuously large stomach sitting one leg folded in. At his feet, there's a variety of food spread.  A rat sits near the food and looks up. This mystic form is actually the perfect human form and the path to reaching the perfection.

The first step of spiritual education is shravana (listening).  Second step is Manana (independent reflection) upon the truths listened to.  The large ears symbolise listening and the large head represents Wisdom.  The trunk which springs out from the head represents Intellect. Intellect is the discriminating faculty, the discerning ability or the judging capacity in Man.  The intellect is of 2 types - gross and subtle.  Gross intellect is that aspect of his discrimination which is applicable to the realm of  the terrestrial world, distinguishing between day & night, Black & white, joy & sorrow etc. Subtle intellect is the other aspect which distinguishes between finite & infinite, the real & the unreal, the terrestrial & the transcendental. The trunk of an elephant has the unique capacity to perform both gross and subtle actions (can uproot a tree and pick up a needle). So Ganesha's head is symbolic of the person who has the wisdom and perfect understanding both terrestrial and transcendental worlds.

The world is defined as pairs of opposites eg  Heat and cold (physical); joy and sorrow (mental); honour and dishonour (intellectual)... This is represented by the 2 tusks.  One broken tusk symbolises the fact that a perfect human being is not swayed by the pairs of opposites that confront him in the world.  The pairs of opposites are likes and dislikes. Man should endeavour to go beyond likes and dislikes.

The large belly - indicates that the man of perfection can consume and digest all types of experiences and maintain an unaffected grace through the fluctuations of the world. 

In Hindu mythology, Kubera (lord of wealth) offered dinner to Ganesha at his palace. Ganesha ate all the food prepared for the entire gathering and started eating festive decorations.. Lord Shiva came and offered a handful of roasted rice. Ganesha consumed it and his hunger was satisfied immediately.  This is indicative of 2 aspects - man is never satisfied with the joys and sorrows provided by the world. The only way to attain absolute fulfillment or peace is to consume our own vaasanas (unmanifest desires) in us. The destruction of desires is represented by consumption of roasted rice (has lost its capacity to germinate upon being roasted)

The folded legs - The leg on the ground indicates that personality of man which deals with the terrestrial world, whereas the other is ever rooted in the Supreme Reality Atman.

At the feet of Lord Ganesha is spread an abundance of food. Food represents material wealth, power and prosperity. When a man follows high principles of living indicated earlier, he achieves these material gains. He has them always at his command though he has an attitude of indifference towards them.  Beside the food there's a tiny rat looking up to Lord Ganesha.  The rat doesn't touch the food but waits for the master's sanction.  The rat represents DESIRE.  A rat has a small mouth with sharp teeth but it is the greediest of all animals. One little desire entering a man's mind can destroy all his material and spiritual wealth earned over many years. The rat looking up symbolises desires being under control.   The activities of such a man is motivated by his clear discrimination and judgement rather than emotional craving.  The symbolism of Lord Ganesha riding a rat is the control over desires.

Ganesha has four arms representing Manas (mind) Buddhi (intellect),  Ahankara(Ego) and Citta (conditioned consciousness).  Lord Ganesha represents pure Consciousness (the Atman) which enables the four arms to function in you.  Oner hand holds the axe which symbolises destruction of desires and attachment and their consequent agitations and sorrows.  Another a hand holds a rope which is meant to pull the seeker out of his worldly entanglements and bind him to his own SELF.  The third hand holds a Modaka - rice ball representing the joyous rewards of spiritual seeking.  The fourth hand he holds a Padma (Lotus) thus drawing the attention of seekers to that Supreme state that each one aspires for through proper spiritual practices.

Thus, by indicating to mankind the GOAL of human evolution and the path to reach the same.  Lord Ganesha occupies a place of distinction in the Hindu pantheon.

Sanathana Dharma / Hinduism is Universal and anyone can follow it  and Lord Ganesha is Universal too, he transcends everything.

Wish you all a Peace of Mind, Health, Prosperity and Happiness. Stay Safe , Stay Positive, Stay Healthy and Stay Spiritual. 

My Two Bits: Fallen Intellect

My Two Bits: Fallen Intellect:  I thank my Gurus for their yeomen service to the humanity: Fallen Intellect: Kindly take a pause when someone ask you the following Questio...

Fallen Intellect

 I thank my Gurus for their yeomen service to the humanity:

Fallen Intellect:

Kindly take a pause when someone ask you the following Question. “Are you ruled by the Mind or by your heart”. There is valid reason for the pause which is what i like to share my learnings ( half baked?? Yeah may be but getting baked every day will get there :) )

Caveats :

Not prescriptive

My perspective may not be yours

I found it useful in my Personal / Professional life thought it may be useful to you too

If you like it leave your comments as to why you like it, if you do not, please do leave your comments

Only through sharing the following grows viz., knowledge, love, affection and wealth. Thought i could do my bit here.. ( yeah two bits right you are..)

“World is a beautiful phenomenon of Cause and Effect. On Cause and Effect a separate blog in the near future. Reality pervades and percolates every aspect and facet of the world we live in thus making it beautiful, graceful, glorious and a heaven on earth. Please don’t judge me as an impractical joker or a naive idiot :)-

However the life today is not to be the one painted by me above. The four emotions such as Desire, Attachment, Lust and Greed had devastated and still devastating the human race. If we have to peel the onion or find the root cause of this state then it is Fall of the human intellect, the loss of reason and judgement. This has led people across the world to live by a herd instinct. A very few can claim to possess the an intellect to think originally, freely and independently. “

The world today is of strife , struggle, “dog eat dog world scenario”  which has lead to sadness, unhappiness, misery, dissatisfaction. In short a monotonous, clueless and a robotic existence if i may say. The prime reasons are the 4 emotions which are driving us today. Humanity has sadly taken a back seat. The human mind is self centred and selfish. 

To restore the humanity back on its rails, each one of us have the responsibility is it not? As the adage goes, you are the architect of your fortune and you are the architect of your misfortune. 

How to set it right?

What process needs to be followed?

Why should I do it, why not others?

What’s in it for me?

What’s the guarantee that it will work?

Is this really worth it?

Such questions will arise and they are all normal questions. 

Before correcting the world, we need to correct ourselves. Hence one needs to first study the human constitution. To know how a car functions we need to Open the Hood. Similarly, let’s do the same to ourselves. 

A curtain raiser will meet you all in the next post. Stay healthy, safe and happy. Cheers 

FEAR of Failure??!!

Hi Friends

After a hiatus, i am back in dabbling with my second blog which by itself is the  most controversial, hot, unacceptable, soul searching, soul stirring.... topic. Yes FEAR of Failure. The choice of the font is not accidental but designed that way. The word FEAR is capitalised which is bigger than the failure most of the times and the symbols after the word failure denotes what fear?? Me having the fear?? and then when one does the soul searching or the near or dear one makes the individual to traverse the depth or the thought of fear there is an exclamation or a sigh ...

Let me not play with words or punctuation and try to attempt to decode, decipher the topic. 

A few caveats for the readers ( if at all you read this) 

• this is just my view culminating out of my experience
• this is no silver bullet or medication or if i may say "one size fits all"
• if it resonates with your views well and good, if it does not, feel free to share with me, we can have dialogues to mutually find a common ground
• If it hits you hard, then it's not my intention.
• This topic is not new at all but the beauty is that many do not acknowledge if one has fear and many do not implement when they are aware they have such a feeling... that is the prime reason why i thought i can share my view

When does an individual gets introduced/ made aware/ institutionalise/internalise/ befriend FEAR?

This happens right from the childhood when the child attempts a few baby steps. No parent, especially a mother will allow her child to fall during this phase. Completely understandable. The baby understands and gets educated during the Child phase of Do's and Dont's, Right and Wrong. The learnings and experience is continuous and it gets registered in the sub cutaneous issues in middle oblongata? ( forget and pardon my ignorance) in common man's parlance in the Child's Brain..

While each parent goes through this phase ritually with ofcourse love and care , they do infuse their thoughts and fears without their knowledge and this is the starting point...

The child masters cycling by falling, learns swimming by drowning is it not? Have you noticed that the rate of learning for a child is much much faster than an adult with respect to cycling and swimming?? Introspect... because it does not have the fear of failure and is not self conscious... 

Can we say then  falling from a bicycle and not learning to float or swim are failures?? 

The parents play a bigger part in this phase,  as they are the ones who introduce, internalise and institutionalise FEAR of failure. Let's analyse why?

1. They pass their baton ( fear of failure ofcourse what else?)  thinking that it's their prime duty
2. Their inability to surmount the fear of failure , or experiment with the options
3. The so called Society, peer pressure and what not.. Snobbishness, ignorance, herd mentality... hmm what to say...
4. Fear of maintaining success
5. Ignorance of game theory/ probability
6. Rabid reactions when the child fails.. 
7. Do not encourage or teach to fight against the ODDS

The fail safe mechanism, success is the only way to survive, snobbish tendency to brag about their ward's capabilities/ranks, benchmarking the child against the visible candidates who have tasted success ( by design or chance no child knows or even dare to ask ), despise and abhor the junta who according to them or not successful, warning the child not be to associated with the junta.. Phoof!! what a tortuous  and a tumultuous journey into the puberty for a child. 

The Other Enablers of Fear of Failure

• The neighbours, the extended family, the so called well wishers 
• the educational system especially the School teachers and Principals.
• the educated and the successful friends of the BOY/GIRL ( school days are about to end )
• The Boy/Girl ( will be referred as the victim)

Lets take one example which stands out as a Plume in the cap of Fear of failure, the choice of the under graduation of the victim. 

Engineering: It's seeing to believe especially in South india, wherein the victim needs to attend coaching classes to enter into a coaching institute which coaches you again to face the entrance examination. This is like the snake like queues you find outside of cricket/foot ball stadium, temples during the festival times... They catch the victim really young as the tiered or TIRED coaching starts when the victim is hardly 12 years... The day starts with books and ends with books.

Considering that today there are no public places to play or lack of time or willingness to play and socialise, they do that through App stores, surfing the social networking.. Where is the street life? Where are the seasonal games Goli ( Marbles) , Gilli Danda, Pambaram ( Tops), Police & Thief, 7 stones, Kite flying etc., Do even today's victim know these things... 

How much  can we relate to these games and i am sure we would have learnt the art of survival ( forget winning) is it not? The gupshup/ gossips   in the Tea kadai ( Tea shops) the battle creek brawls with friends/ opponents  and the famous reunions ....do they exist today? Street life teaches you how to face defeats, criticisms, survival skills, thinking on the feet, bouncing back capabilities, performing in unprotected environments, team spirit, conflict management, decision making,  friendship, breakups etc., No educational institution or parents for that matter can provide the learnings however simulated they are. 

Coming back to Engineering, the essence of Engineering is to learn &master an aspect of science or any particular field and then create a career around that field. Today Engineering is a path to find jobs mostly unrelated to the subjects the victim has studied. This where the disorientation starts and the victim is confronted with fear of failure. 

The Victim jumps into the bandwagon of IT as it gives a solace and temporary comfort. If he does not get a campus recruitment or an off campus, dabbles into a MBA and prays for Manna from Heaven to shower...

Final part  under construction. 

 

what's success??

Hi my first Blog!!

Success is one magic word which the whole world crave after. After all what is this jargon about? I thought i could sit cool in a corner and think about it. Only issue here is i am thinking aloud and in writing too.

My perspective emnates out of my upbringing, my experience and the rat race which continues  on full swing around me.

First thing first, this word first, number one is so ingrained in Succes is it not? Right from our childhood we were taught, groomed, many a time brainwashed that it's a sin to come number two which can be in  a friendly game, school race, vocation based competition like quiz, drawing, JAM and what not. Coming second in a  pre Mid term exam in a preKG ( sorry if i sound saarky!but cannot help it) class is just unacceptable and if a kid is consistent in missing his/ her 1st rank then the kid had it. That's where the trouble starts. People attach so much importance to number 1 which makes me think why at all other numbers should exist?... If everyone had to come first then who will take the next positions or numbers.. Ok Scene changes now....

Std X: The budding teenager is on tender hooks as he/she is in a "pressure cooker situation" mom, dad, uncles, aunts, friends, neighbours and THE SO CALLED WELL WISHERS ( hmm saarky again!) are eagerly waiting to slot this teenager into one word called successful. Even if the teenager scores 98 or 99 Ofcourse on 100 damn it :)-the poor fella is brandished for msising the mark. He is made guilty and many a time guillotined too.. ( Louis XIV will be put to shame by these well wishers), instead of tasting and toasting to the success, the kid will me introspecting what mistake he did in losing that vital 1 or 2 marks..

The scene is set for this guy ( not a MCP for ease i am using this gender) to forcefully think on "Fail Safe strategies" and he works his back side off to fight for the 100th percentile as if other percentiles were non existent. This guy compromises the happiness, entertainment, fun, humor and bashes on regardless to become the numero uno in whatever he is aspiring for. Nothing wrong so far..

This guy finishes graduation, post graduation, gets a plum job from the campus and lands in a MNC and becomes the most revered, benchmarked and most sought after individual ..Nothing wrong so far. .

He gets married ( let's not worry whether it is an arranged marriage or love marriage but one thing is sure he gets married to a girl, important is it not or is it a PJ) anyways!! gets into the journey of a family man and then passes on the baton what his elders had taught him to his by products... He makes zillions, runs the company, creates wealth, divorces, son and daughter go their own way not listening to his advises and he retires and wonders what to do... This story is not new but the learnings are resounding..

Was he wrong in being a number 1 student, number 1 in his career, number 1 in achieving his goals, number 1 in creating wealth.. ? no he wasn't..where did he lose out?... Think

The flavour of the story may change and you may change it to suit your life but at the end ??? Success eludes one totally, are available in bits and parts, available more to others excepting you, or not to one's liking.. and many other permutations and combinations. Now let's revist the title of this blog.. what's success??

Is success materialistic?
Is it to occupy the numero uno position?
Is it to get to the CXO position
Is it wealth = Rs.  / $ xxxxx?
Is it to grow the business exponentially ?
Is it to see the kids acheive the above? and so on...

let's rewind our past, everyone feels that his/ her school days college days were golden, nostalgia makes them to feel happy, and heave a sigh.. and have a lump in one's throat.. why? dont you feel that when you rewind the past, you would have added many trailing zero's in your bank account, atleast one house if not more, two cars to wroom.. seen the world etc. etc.. still why the lump? why the sigh??..

Now comes my theory, funda or recipe for success which suits me and it is not prescriptive at all

Never attach too much importance to number 1 slot, i was lot happier in not compromising my teenage escapades than marrying my books round the clock.
Pick up some alternate talents be it reading, sports, music, painting, etc which comes to our help in the longer run
Never stay indoors, we did not have internet, facebooks, twitters, but friends outside be it in grounds, parks, tea shops but we were on the roads literally. Street taught us many things than the institutions..
A game of cricket on the road tested us always to face defeats and we used to fight argue and get on with the next game. initially it was tough to face defeats but we when we started tasting success the next game, we knew the secret of facing defeat and success with an agnostic expression
We used to be thrown out of the class for chatting, not doing homework, teasing girls but always were ready to participate in skits, debates, JAM, sports and enjoyed our lives...

In life we always postpone happiness to the next stage in life and when we get old, we have lumps in our throats and nostalgia of the past..

Journey is important and not the end result.. we miss enjoying the journey thinking that we will enjoy once we reach the target. How many times you enjoyed alighting down the train/bus?  How many times we felt blank after finishing the last exam? Enjoy the journey, every over in cricket is important not when we beat or miss the target?

Success is individualistic and customised.. it is not a holy grail, or a formula cast in stone where one can follow and achieve it. If one do not know how to enjoy life and still stay focused, if one is not healthy even if wealthy, if one is well healed and has a broken family, if one is a superstar in whatever arena he is in and cannot get a good sleep, when one is a disturbed soul, what is the use of the hardships/ struggle/ effort  during the journey of life.. Think. each one should know what makes one tick, do not look at neighbours and live life, do not look at colleagues in office and work, do not think what your so called well wishers will think of you, it does not matter,, you live for yourself and be in your zone, your thought process, and do good to yourself and others..

Sucess is a feel and and many a time it's a mirage in the desert for the mercenary but for the guys who are rooted to the ground it is within them.. .Heavens sake start living for yourself .. stop being hypocrite, stop being snobbish, you made 3 idiots successfull but start implementing the fundas in life. Mental peace is in your hands and not outside. You determine your fate, your success called INNER PEACE..

My father taught me what was success if it sounds banal to you, are basic then you need to read this again and again.
He said, that whatever you ate it gets digested and whenver you crash in the bed sleep envelops you... then you are successful.. believe me it is profound statement as the rich and famous they will give tons of money to get atleast one if not both..

Cheers. please give your valued feedback and comments.