Which caste(s) are you in ???

Caste has been misinterpreted as being hereditary whereas Krishna states clearly in the Bhagavad Gita that caste is a classification of people's potential. A single family might have children with qualities that are suitable for Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas or Shudras. A child interested in academics can be said to have Brahminical qualities; the one wanting to join the armed forces can be said to he Kshatriya like, the one who prefers business has Vaishya gunas and the one who likes serving has Shudra gunas. You might even find more than one trait in one person. Microsoft's Bill Gates, for instance, can be said to be of quadric-caste since his functions and properties contain elements of all four castes.
Attributing everything in creation as being dominated by three gunas - Saatvik, Rajasic and Tamasic - Krishna says that all beings are under the influence of these gunas. The three qualities determine our intelligence, emotions, behavior, actions, habits, impulses. Unlike other life forms, human beings have the capability to hone and polish specific skills and qualities.
When Saatvic guna dominates, we enjoy spiritual pursuits like meditation. When Rajasic quality is on the high, we derive pleasure from the five senses. Tamasic quality leads to wasting of time, and neglect of duties. Education counselors help students determine their aptitude. Similarly, Krishna the perfect counselor tells us which vocation to follow to gain the ultimate goal of self-realisation. For example, there are nine functional qualities of a Brahmin as enumerated by Krishna: serenity, self-control, austerity, purity, forgiveness, simplicity, scriptural proficiency, spiritual attainment and adherence to theological principles.
A competent warrior must have qualities of heroism, resplendence, and fortitude as is a Kshatriya. In the end all work as to lead to karmayoga, dedicated to the Divine. When Rajoguna is mixed with Tamoguna, it gives birth to Vaishya like qualities and they pertain to agriculture, animal husbandry and commerce. Some are naturally interested in service and so are suitable for those professions that require a predominantly service component. Whatever one's potential and interest, the ultimate aim is self-realisation and not self-gratification. These qualities do not bestow any special status on anyone; they are not even hereditary.
Krishna states: "The four divisions have been made according to the classifications based on natural qualities and functioning. There is no nobility in these divisions, as they are merely functional. The aim of life being self-realisation, the two pillars which help this are Varna and Ashram. Varna based on natural tendencies can help in deciding the appropriate field of activity which would help in achieving the goal of life. To consider oneself superior or inferior is not sanctioned by Shastras for such a perception leads to self degradation. One who is born in a trader's family for instance, might have an advantage but there can be exceptions. The most important factor in choosing a profession is one's natural aptitude. Choosing a profession one likes or for which one has the aptitude gives inner satisfaction and leads to self-ralisation".

Play of Prakriti and Purusha Experienced Through Dance

The concept of Purusha informs all Indian thought. It is that spiritual core within each one of us, which is resonant, still and constant as well. It ensues to quietude. Purusha is universal. Each of us is endowed with equal measure of Purusha. It is the Shiva or male principle and its very nature is to remain full, still and continuous. In that contrast, all that moves is Prakriti or Shakti, the feminine principle. Thus any movement that takes place in relation to either the spiritual core within or the world without is Shakti at work.
A yearning to unite with Purusha, the inner, constant core is an integral and coherent part of human nature; to yearn for continuity no matter how intangible this yearning might be. Purusha is the stream of continuity. Both the yearning and the varied pursuits of the self to arrive at, consummate and experience this continuity are human nature and the feminine. However, because of the subjective and intangible nature of Purusha, it is easy to be distracted. The feminine principle is multi-pronged and so as multiple flip sides, the chief polarities being between Vidya or the mindful that pursues the spiritual core, and Maya that distracts the mind and eye - to become entangled with objects and stimuli from the material world outside.
Dance and music are traditionally designed to take one from the material to the sublime. The idea of Abhinaya is to move from the outer to the inner and through process of externalizing the impressions of the outer upon the heart and soul of the dancer.
The imagining, ever fluid eye of the dancer is transfixed upon and is really responding to imaginary objects that only she can see, the viewer seeing the responses of the invisible object upon the body and being of the dancer and through the process of sympathetic identification, steps out of her vantage point and is propelled to view and partake of this imagined world through the eyes and heart of the dancer.
From then on the dancer and the viewer may co-author the dance, or the dancer may give form to the viewer's inner desire and intent. To view the dance is to witness meaning in the making, a meaning which lies in a transformation of the material into the sublime. This transformation is not a result of mime-Abhinaya, but the result of surrender of a readied, disciplined, material body of the dancer offering itself in full public view to the will and forces of an intangible imagined universe, seeking an entry point into that intangible universe of continuity on behalf of all viewers. But this will be possible only till the dancer remains self unconscious.

Great Awakening

When someone asked the Buddha whether he was God, Angel or saint, he replied simply: "I am awake". These words marked the transformation of Prince Siddhartha into Tathagata Buddha. The etymological root of the word Buddha - 'budh' means to awaken and to know. As Huston Smith terms it: "Buddhism begins with the man who woke up".
The story of the Four Passing Sights is symbolic of the existential crisis which engulfed the sensitive prince. The images of disease, decrepitude and death deeply impacted the prince and revealed to him the essentially impermanent character of all things. He resolved to journey out in search of some thing more lasting and fulfilling. In the process, the prince found some simple home truths that he realised most people avoid. He reached out to his audience with these Four Noble Truths in his first sermon after enlightenment in the Deer Park at Sarnath. He reasoned that the kind of life we lead is 'dukkha' or suffering as all things are impermanent, and they leave a trail of pain in their wake. Even so called pleasures and privileges do not last- they actually cause more pain, together with the pathological insecurity of losing those privileges and pleasures.
The cause of this pain, says the Buddha in his Second Noble Truth, is our desires. It is the selfish desire of man to dominate, impose and separate, out of tune with the universal symphony, that causes this dislocation, this existential anguish. Each man, as Ibsen would say, "has shut himself in a cask of self".
The Third Noble Truth points to the need to overcome this limiting, self-created delusion of ourselves, which is causing this anguish, for only then would we "open up to the vast expanse of universal life", beyond our petty selves. It stresses on the human potential to overcome this anguish.
The Fourth Noble Truth chalks out the Eightfold Path as the way out of this self-seeking cycle: a kind of blueprint for a "way of intentional living" which will imbue our lives with meaning and purpose, as opposed to the kind of " random, unreflective lives" that most people lead.
Buddha does not offer any soporifics; he clinically places before one the harsh facts of life underlying the ego, and asks each one to go on the path of Right Mindfulness, which will teach us to distinguish between the abiding elements of life and the trivia which our mind is used to. Buddha's only recommendation for this mind-clutter is self examination.
Vivekananda regarded Buddha as the greatest seeker ever; "he never bowed down to anything, neither Veda nor caste, priest or custom. He fearlessly reasoned as far as reason could take him. Such a fearless search for truth the world has never seen".
And this rationality was ironically accompanied with infinite compassion and love, as the Buddha reached out to all, irrespective of status or creed, to help each overcome. In emphasising the impermanent character of all things, Buddha wished to rid us of all delusions, myths and superstitions. To recount the story of his life is in itself a Call of the Self: a reminder that one needs to separate the abiding principles of life from the trivia. As the Buddha would say: "Be a lamp up to yourself...".

Looking for the ocean in a small cup of water.

Krishna says in the Bhaavad Gita: "O Arjuna, the body is akin to a field". In Sanskrit, field is kshetra - a farmland; innocent and pure. It takes on whatever character the farmer gives to it. A handful of grains turns into a harvest.
We can choose to create a garden that will delight the hearts of all who visit it or turn it into a dumping ground for people to come and unload their garbage. Krishna calls this body a field because it can help us accomplish whatever we choose. We can become a sensualist and entrap ourselves in mundane activities or we can withdraw ourselves and concentrate on developing our inner self. Whatever we sow, so will harvest later.
A painter who wanted to paint an ideal young man searched the kingdom until he found a handsome, noble man. The painting turned out well. The painter decided to do a portrait of a man who was the complete opposite of the earlier one. He looked for a man with negative qualities. In prison he came upon a man who appeared ruthless.
The artist displayed the second portrait. Copies of both portraits were hung inside the jail. When the prisoner, the painter's model, saw these portraits, he began to cry, saying: both the portraits were of him, Once he was good and noble, then his life went wrong and he became completely depraved.
One day the Buddha was sitting under a tree, practicing sever austerities. Group of seekers passed by singing: " O singer, don't draw the strings of your lute too tightly lest they break; don't slack them so much that they will not make music". The Buddha realised that his body was like a stringed instrument. By mortifying it, he was defeating his purpose, while if he overindulged himself, it would become soft and flabby. He understood that he must keep to the middle path.
Meditation, the middle path, avoids extremes. Seers have called it Sahaja Yoga or natural yoga and Maha Yoga or great yoga. It can be practiced while leading a normal life, meeting one's responsibilities.
One morning , St Augustine was strolling along the seashore. He had been seeking God day and night and his eyes were tired and heavy. He was weighed down by the scriptures he had studied and by the many disciplines he had tried to follow.
Just then he saw a young boy holding a cup in his hand. The boy said that he was trying to find a way by which he could hold the entire ocean in his small cup. St Augustine's eyes were opened. He understood that he was trying to hold the ocean of the Infinite in the tiny cup of his ego. Unless he threw the cup into the sea, he could never achieve what he longed for.
Ego separates us from God, making us small and insecure. It is responsible for jealousy and greed; it keeps us smouldering all the time. When we shed our ego we realise that God is our innermost reality. The Guru helps us mediate spontaneously. As we plunge within, we realise this wonderful space in the heart and we become absorbed in joy and bliss.

Redefining Passion

PASSION, a seven lettered word is only a word for the general. This can be the seven attributes of life from my perspective. It defines the way one should live its life.
The first one is the Purpose. This tells one should have a definite purpose in life, for which someone has come to the earth. That may be studying, playing or doing any useful work. Without a purpose a person looses its charm of living.
The second one is to have the right Attitude to do what someone feels like doing. To work for something without an attitude may lead to unexpected results. A person is known from its attitude which acts like a mirror in its surroundings.
The next one is Sharing. This quality is inherited within someone from the right environment. Without getting materialistic, it is a good habit to give what you can give to others when they are in needs without thinking that will this person help me in future or has he helped me in the past. Even if he or she had denied to help you in the past it is no way wrong to help someone
who is in need on the spur of the moment. Do not forget God does not give everyone the right to give.
The second S stands for Sensibility. This cannot be inculcated within someone, rather time has the power to provide you with this. Again this comes from experience.
I stands for Inclination to discover and rediscover oneself. A person learns every moment. If it ceases to learn it will become equivalent to a dead. One should find the hidden potential within
it and act accordingly to enhance it every moment.
O stands for Optimism. Crests and troughs are part of everyone's life. This no way means one should loose hopes of what he had dreamed to do. Rather the failure acts like an experience which counts really when u try it another time. This sounds easy to say that to implement it practically, but the real hero is he who stands against all barriers.
The last one is someway recursive, negation of Negativity. This sounds a bit like optimism, but it includes all the negative aspects of life. To define the 'negative' everybody in the earth has the capability. It happens that one feels something as negative, but is unable to get rid of that because it is so indulged or addicted to it. It depends on the individual to make itself mentally strong enough to fight the menace out. It is rubbish to give any excuse. It is only the individual who can ameliorate its own condition.
Well, one great person said, to do a certain task you need three important qualities. Ability to do that work, Concentration while doing that work and Desire to accomplish it. If someone is not able to do something it should calculate on what point he is lagging and it should never quit before giving enough try.

My first blog

This is the first time I am entering into the blog-world, for which I am saluting my dear Shyamal from whom I am inspired to commence. This blog is meant for my reference of articles which I find interesting. Many of the articles are inspired from books, novels, Gita etc. Feel free to comment and let me learn more.