Don’t miss this golden opportunity!

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In the previous episode we saw how ancient Indians were not against enjoyment completely. They only counseled for a guarded indulgence. They forbade promiscuity that can be a nuisance to the society in addition to harming the individual.

In that case, why not an individual keep taking births after birth, enjoying the world, of course in a well disciplined way? Why should one bother about ultimate realization and emancipation?

Were ancient Indians against enjoyment?

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We were talking about the endless cycle of births and deaths that a soul goes through and the emphasis in all ancient schools of Indian thought on the liberation from that cycle.

But the birth does give us an opportunity to enjoy this world!. In that case, why were these schools against enjoyment?

What happens when the Soul disembarks?

In the previous episode we were talking about the “Chariot allegory” that is used by the Upanishadic story that we have been discussing. The allegory says that our body is the chariot and our soul is the rider who uses this chariot. It also says that death is the event of this soul disembarking the chariot.

Now the question is “what happens when this rider disembarks?”. Obviously, the body gradually disintegrates. But what happens to the rider who has stepped down? Does he also perish?

BookTalk: Mysterious experiences

In today’s book talk I am going to discuss about my recent audio book “Mysterious experiences : A peek beyond the confines of the Mind”.

Swami Vivekananda once mentioned some mysterious experience he used to have in his younger days, I.e, before he became a Sanyasi. Whenever he closed his eyes before he slept, he could see a bright light in front of him. But swamiji never felt that that was something unusual. He thought everyone else experiences the same way!

The chariot we all are riding

In the previous episode we were talking about the chariot allegory. Allegories are visual depiction of some abstract ideas. The Nachiketa’s story we have been discussing for the last few weeks uses a chariot allegory to explain what we actually are and what relation we have with our body.

It says that our body is like a chariot.

Our body is just a tool

Many of us equate ‘us’ to our body. ‘We’ means ‘our body’. That is exactly the way even the modern science sees it. But ancient Indians did not think that way.

Ancient Indian Sankhya philosophers for example, put forth an elaborate reasoning to show why this view is meaningless. They did not expect you to blindly accept their view. But they gave reasons using which you too can logically arrive at the same conclusion.

What is death ?

The Upanishadic story of boy Nachiketa that we started with, opened up a fundamental question, namely “what happens when we die?”. 

Actually, that was only a pretext. The main aim of this story, like all stories in the Upanishads, is to talk about ultimate truth and ways to attain that truth. But let us move systematically to that end, as the Upanishad does.

What did Nachiketa ask the Lord of death?

In the previous episode, we started with the story of Nachiketa. This boy marched to abode of death just to keep his father’s word.

What happens when one dies?

Many of us are so busy that we hardly have any time to die ;-) But death and tax spare none.

Though it is difficult to prove that death is inevitable, that happens to be one of the truths all of us seem to accept. We all die one day. What happens when that inevitable thing finally comes about? Have you ever wondered?