Show us the way

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When you are on a spiritual journey it is important that you know how to proceed towards your destination. There may be several paths. Some may be easy, some extremely difficult. And some, that may take you just in the opposite direction!

What do these mystic sounds mean?

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There are strange combination of mystic sounds in the beginning of some chapters of Quran. No one knows for sure what those sounds really mean or why they are there in the beginning. A devout Muslim just chants them with devotion without worrying about what they mean.

Path of complete surrender

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“As-salamu alaykum”

Probably you are surprised to hear some non English words in the very beginning!. These are Arabic words meant to convey peace to the other person – a beautiful way of greeting each other. Salaam means peace.

We are 'that'!

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For the past several episodes, we were discussing how father Uddalaka tries to explain the unity of whole existence to his son Swetaketu.

Uddalaka arrives at his conclusion by systematically following the modern scientific approach – observation, experimentation and reasoning.

BookTalk: Buddha’s Soul

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In Today’s book talk I am going to talk about my book “Buddha’s Soul’.

Forward reasoning

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In the previous episodes, we saw how father Uddalaka traces the origin of the existence by backward reasoning. He continues, to show the same unity among all the existence by forward reasoning as well.

Material things are not everything

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In the previous episode, we saw how father Uddalaka traces the origin of all material things to three basic components – Satva, Rajas and Tamas.

Various combinations of these three basic constituents result in various material forms that we see around us.

Our worldly science seems to say that material things are everything. But Upanishads disagree.

Two way inferring

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The purpose of the story that we started discussing, namely the story of Uddalaka and Swetaketu was to declare the oneness of ‘everything’.

How do you say two things are same even though they appear to be different?

The God can think!

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I am just using a catchy title. By God I am referring to that root cause for the existence of this world. The Upanishads refrain from calling it by any name and they just refer to it as ‘Tat’ or ‘Sat’ - literally meaning ‘That’ or ‘Existence’.

Interestingly, many ancient scriptures – whether it is Bible or Quran or even the Upanishads have almost identical definition for God. They define God (or the ‘Tat’ in the Upanishads) as the one from which this world has emerged, the one that sustains whatever exists, and the one into which everything returns.

BookTalk: How and why of Yoga

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“I read this book with keen interest …. The author has succeeded in providing a comprehensive account on how Yoga can be effectively utilized in alleviating stress in a way common man can understand. The author has critically analyzed the role of mind-body interaction in the genesis of stress, and how Yoga helps in normalizing it…”

The reality behind this world

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As I said earlier, worldly science tries to deal with the diverse things that exist in this world around us. In contrast, spiritual science tries to see the unified view of this apparently diverse world.

The main contribution of the Upanishads is to declare that the apparent diversity is only superficial. Underneath this diversity, there is unity.

So the story we have been discussing, namely the story of father Uddalaka and son Swetaketu, starts off with the fundamental question of “how did this world come into existence?”

Knowing the essence is knowing everything

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There was this great sage Uddalaka who had a son by name Swetaketu. Probably this boy was a bit too much pampered. So unlike other boys who normally went to school, this boy did not, even when he reached an age of 12 years.

In ancient India, a Brahmin boy was supposed to join the school at an early age of say 5 to 8. If he did not, he was ridiculed as ‘Brahma bandhu’ - someone who merely calls himself as Brahmin, but not actually so.

Worldly science VS Spiritual science

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We often use the word ‘science’ to mean a discipline that predominantly emphasizes on objectivity, verifiability, and precision. These three aspects are the corner stones of all our scientific endeavor.

Look at closely what we do in science. We try to differentiate things from one another, understand each of them distinctly, and use that knowledge to better interact with the world around, live a better life and so on. Ultimately, science aims at making our lives more secure and comfortable. I call it worldly science.

Why does realization give lasting peace?

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We started our story with Maitreyi asking her husband Yajnyavalkya about the way one can get eternal peace.

Yajnyavalkya first explained how our individual identities are only transient. These identities are given by our body and Mind. Mistaking the body/Mind as we is the root cause of our problems. It is the body/Mind that masks the real We.

BookTalk: Missing dimensions

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In the last book talk I talked about my book “How does the Mind work?”. That was about our current scientific understanding of the Mind.

Interest in this most complex and intriguing entity namely the Mind, is not something new. Thousands of years ago the Greek philosophers and their counterparts in India researched this wonderful subject albeit with almost no gadgets that we have today.

Though many modern researchers would like to dismiss their finds as mere speculations, anyone who has studied their contributions probably would think twice before arriving at such hasty conclusions.

How do we infer the oneness of everything?

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In the previous episode, the sage Yajnyavalkya was saying that the different things we see around, are all one in reality. The differences are only superficial. If we look deep, we see that everything is one.

Yajnyavalkya gives couple of examples to explain what he is saying. He says

Can worldly riches give you lasting peace?

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In the previous episode, we started with the story of Yajnyavalkya and his scholarly wife Maitreyi. Though Yajnyavalkya wanted to part with all his wealth and give it to his two wives, one of them namely Maitreyi was not interested in wealth. She asked him a profound question.

Do you really love your family?

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Of course you do. All of us love our husband, wife, children, parents and so on. Whatever we do is ultimately for their sake.

But did you notice something? We love our spouse, our son, our daughter, our friend, our mate, and so on and so forth. In all these relations what do we have in common? What else, it is we!

We love someone because that someone is related to us in some way. Not only related, but there is something that we get from them. That is the reason why we all love someone. Or else we won’t. So it is for our own sake that we love someone else.

Yes, you too can!

We started this Upanishadic story of Nachiketa with a question namely “what happens when someone dies?”. That is how even Nachiketa started. That was just a curiosity question.

But Nachiketa did not stop there. He kept asking questions, kept pondering. He rejected all that that may not lead him to the answers he was keen on getting.

He rejected all worldly pleasures for the sake of the answer to his question. He listened to Yama, the Lord of death who told him the real “story” behind death and the secret behind immortality.

Nachiketa finally attained the ultimate reality.

BookTalk: How does the Mind work?

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In today’s book talk I am going to discuss about my book “How does the Mind work?”.

Let me start with an interesting story about some well known incident that happened way back in 1950s. That incident totally revolutionized the way we understand our Mind.

You can do it in this life itself!

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Many religions promise better life after you die. But this Upanishadic story that we have been discussing in the past several weeks says that it is possible to attain the ultimate realization in this life itself!

Interestingly, it says even the spirits or angels cannot do that which you and only you can do it as a human being. So it advises you not to miss this great opportunity.

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?