Today, the evening was a peaceful one. The inner turmoils seemed quite, a result of the cooling rain or the pre-evening short nap, I shall never know. Got up and went to mess for tea, saw a notice about a talk and attended it. The talk was on Shankaracharya a saint of yester years- known to have rekindled the dying faith in Hinduism. Also the proponent of Advaita philosophy. At a time when Hinduism had deteriorated, become ritualistic and rather inhuman in practices to certain sections of Indians he revived the faith, released the followers from the clutches of rituals and asked them to head along in the search of truth, showed them their lost path.
Few of his teachings that are worth pondering on-
“The atman resides not in the body, not in the intellect. The only way one can find it is by dispelling the ignorance. Ignorance can be dispelled only through the single minded pursuit of truth, through pure concentration and perseverance”
In a way he was reinstating the lost values of the religion- Hinduism is not about rituals. It’s the search of truth. Thus the Hindu mind is constantly grappling with these concepts- what is atman, what is truth, what is ignorance. The fun of being a Hindu is that there are no dictates; nobody will tell you that this is the truth and this is the ignorance. But it extols one to find the truth. It understands that everybody has their own perceptions which they believe to be the truth. It extols one to rise above perceptions, to question ones own truths. It guarantees only one thing that when you find the truth you will find peace of mind. It helps you by setting the criteria for truth- Impersonal, Impartial, Eternal and Constant. That’s it, from here on you are on your own. Some hints are thrown along- The thoughts are held captive by the emotions, emotions are held captive by the five senses. Free yourself from these and you shall find the truth and most probably the promised ever lasting peace of mind. Your only Messiah out there is inside you! There are some other rules such as, when in doubt about the truth or the right decision chose the path which will not harm others or the path of least harm. For one and everyone here has equal rights to live (be it an animal or human being). Ignorance leads to bad actions and knowledge to good actions. If you fail in the search for truth or are not interested in its pursuit, do not worry nothing bad will happen.
Does all this make sense? I guess it does. Some days back I lost two new bottles of liquid hand wash. I am sure they were lifted by someone. I was angry I was upset. It had caused a lot of inconvenience not to mention the money lost. I had every right to be angry, anybody would have been upset. But were these emotions of any use- I did not know who had done it and I would not get my bottle back. I was left nursing my own anger. Then it occurred to me the loss of the bottles was not entirely that other person’s fault. I had left it unattended for long or so it seemed. And I was aware of the fact that there were people around to whom an unattended new bottle of liquid hand wash may seem enticing. I did not give this too much of a thought when deciding to leave my precious bottles out (not even after the first one was lost). Then something struck me- there was a person out there who needed my bottle so badly that stealing seemed a good enough option. What might the person be like and what might be the conditions. What benefit the bottle held for her I will never know, may have resold it or may be she could not afford one for herself so felt enticed into taking mine. Was she to be blamed for it- yes but only partly, she could have controlled her urges but was it entirely her fault that she was stuck in such a situation? I may love to become the richest person on earth. I am ready to do the hard work. Will I make it there- may or may not. Whichever the case, the credit of the accomplishment or the responsibility of the failure would not belong entirely to me—things should fall in place synergizing my efforts. Well the explaination holds good for her too. We both exist in a system wherein we are responsible for somethings and somethings are not in our hands. She had no personal grudge against me.
So what did I learn, things happen; sometimes good and sometimes bad. The bad that happens (we don’t seek explainations for the good that happens) to us happens through a man/woman/animals/objects. That person/thing may or may not be entirely at fault and we might not be the chosen victims. Yes, they could have chosen not to do that action that harmed us. Similarly we have to decide upon actions that are least harmful and most beneficial. When one rises above the emotions attached to the incident- one sees clearly the choices at hand and their consequences and is therefore able to choose the action that will maximize benefits and minimize the harms
I now keep my hand wash in an unattractive bottle. Nobody has touched it since and its there near the sink ready to be used whenever needed. And pray that the lady also rises above such situations
(Hindu prayer, Sanskrit)
Om Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
Om sarveshaam swastir bhavatu
Sarveshaam shantir bhavatu
Sarveshaam poornam bhavatu
Sarveshaam mangalam bhavatu
Sarve bhavantu sukhinah
Sarve santu niraamayaah
Sarve bhadraani pashyantu
Maakaschit duhkha bhaag bhavet
Meaning:
May Eternal Peace & Goodwill Prevail in the Whole World,
Auspiciousness (swasti) be unto all;
Peace (shanti) be unto all;
Fullness (poornam) be unto all;
prosperity (mangalam) be unto all.
May all be happy! (sukhinah)
May all be free from disabilities! (niraamayaah)
May all look (pashyantu)to the good of others!
May none suffer from sorrow! (duhkha)
(the prayer and its meaning copied from this site: http://teck.in/om-lokah-samastah-sukhino-bhavantu.html)
