Discussion on Treadmill Experiments

The responses I received are in bold and italics.

Mystery is the way of divine will. I always used to wonder how does Bhakti fare in this age of science and rationality. May your tribe increase!


Our Physics teacher at Little Flower Jr. College,
Mr. EV Subba Rao used to say whether we grow up to become
Engineers or Doctors, we are science students first. That
seems to be true: The methods of science are so much built
into everything that we do.

Vivekananda once said that there should be as many
religions(paths) as there are human beings. How true
he was and he is.

How ironical it is to see people coming from a land of
such visionary leaders not able to tolerate even a single
other religion, let alone billions of religions!

One practice very popular in India is to have a
group discussion of book such as Bhagavatam or
Bharatam. You may think about it.

Many people tend to postpone such activities to retirement,
when they have nothing else to do. But to me, physical growth
is meaningless without spiritual growth. I heard that the
physical body is just a very minor fraction of what we
actually are. Yet we don't care about the other major
fraction of ourselves, causing so much pain to ourselves
and others. If I did not blindly learn what my elders
taught me about religion when I was very young, it would
not have helped me cope up with so many unexpected disasters
in my life. Who knows how life will turn tomorrow? That's
why I think spirituality should be an ongoing part of our
lives.

I defer with u when u say atheist realizes God in a
different way. I understand an aetheist is one who does
not believe in the existance of God. Then where is the
matter of realizing Him?


We do so many things without our knowledge. I think aethiests
realize God without their knowledge. To me, there is no
difference between good and GOD (Generator-Operator-Destructor).
Anyone who is doing good and enabling the activities of generation,
operation and destruction for good is realizing the invisible
force called God in him. Religion and belief in God will help
in doing good, like a tool helps in doing a task. If we believe
that good will happen (optimism / belief in God), there are more
chances that we and the nature can make it happen.

Why do we consider Lord Krishna as God? Just because Bhishma said
that? Or is it because Sri Krishna Himself said that? Neither is
true. Well, we saw the fate of the people in A.P. who claimed to
be the 'Kalis' of this yuga, right? So, how is Sri Krishna
different? Why is Lord Rama a God? Irrespective of what Valmiki
or Vyasa used as figures of speech or encrypted and wrote in
the epics, Sri Rama or Sri Krishna broke no laws of nature to
do miracles. God would come down to earth to preach how to
follow the laws of nature that he made for everyone's benefit.
Not to show how they can be broken.

The only reason we accept them as God is because of the
extent of their consciousness shown in their actions and
their exemplary mindset which is close to divinity or
divinity itself. That's why anyone who does good is being
God in one of His forms. One who does good only and nothing
but good is God Himself. I read this sweet explanation of
God to a little girl somewhere: "Who pops-up the next tissue
in the Kleenex box? It is God!" Since we are grown up, we call
the invisible force present everywhere (BTW, that's what Vishnu
translates to) including within ourselves as God.

U have said that God has not rewarded u in spite of your
telling Him all your problems. We call God when we have
worries just like a manager calls the peon by pressing the
buzzer when he wants his services. Our duty is to worship
God and not to ask for anything, He knows in what
way to help a devotee.


That's a very good way of practising to live in the moment
and leave the rest to the invisible power in and around us
called God. But doing it knowingly may enhance this power
in us towards action. I wouldn't worry about God feeling
bad about using Him. A divine mind or even a mind in the
direction of divinity is beyond these kind of feelings. In
fact God, even in the form we imagine, may feel happy that
we look to Him for everything, like a true 'friend indeed'
feels when we look to him in need and continue so with
gratitude.

Of course gratitude is important - not to God or the true
'friend indeed', but to ourselves. If the 'take' of help
is not associated with the egoless 'give' of gratitude, it
wouldn't count as a help. It would be a loan instead, which
compounds our sins, or worse still, theft, which destroys our
character. Gratitude need not be expressed. As long as we feel
it in our hearts, it should be fine. Sometimes, expressed
gratitude unnecessarily evokes the receipient's ego. Ego is
like an open wound. It feels good when someone blows air on it,
pains at all other times. That's why the sooner we get rid of ego,
the better for us. I'm telling this from my own experience.

You have quoted the example of Basmasura. I feel it is foolish of God Shiva to grant a boon to a
rougue and then suffer the afteevvects and go to Vishnu
for help. Very peculiar the leelas of Gods and Goddesses!


To me, God Shiva is the personification of what the psychologists
call 'subconscious'. This is the most powerful part of ourselves.
There are examples in Psychology where people were made to do
the unbelievable by programming the subconscious. An example that
comes to my mind is that of an ordinary lady who was made to
lift a huge (weighing a ton??) vehicle, when she was hypnotized
to believe that her baby is going to be crushed under it if she
doesn't do it.

This subconscious is innocent, will take whatever
it is given, without questioning. It is also the part of the body
which stays same in sleep and some say, after death as well. Whatever
is the impression that's left on it before death will continue
in the next life. That's why it is said in the Gita that whoever
recites the God's name at the end, will reach the God. That's
why Lord Shiva is also called the God of death, who reclaims
the subconscious after death.

The person with the subconscious mind
can do wonders because s/he doesn't question. Rationale is
sometimes the main blockade to realizing the power, because
the supreme within is beyond rationale. All these reasonings
that I'm giving or you may be thinking may take closer to
the Supreme, but actually realizing the Supreme cannot be
fully reasoned. We should think of it like the concept of infinity.

Anyway, the point is, Lord Siva was helpless. He had to
bow to the power of the meditating mind just like the
subconscious. That's why, it is often said that a devotee
is more powerful than the God Himself. We all know, subconscious
cannot solve problems. It has to depend on the conscious
mind, Lord Vishnu (that's why He's the Operator) for help
in such situations.

And it is not very difficult to explain Bhasmasura desire
also. Though very powerful, the subconscious and its activities
are very very dull. To imagine how dull, just think of not using
the conscious mind for a while. It is so dull. The first reaction
to my effort to teach (without rationale) my son (program his
subconscious, in other words) to recite the sanskrit slokas
when he was 3 or 4 was that he was getting bored. "Dad, I'm
becoming dull with these things. Should we do this at all?" was his
innocent, sweet question. Of course, he started liking it later
and may like it more as he grows, as everyone does.

So, Bhasmasura, the evil that he was, gained power by meditating
with the subconscious mind and once the power was gained, might've
tried to destroy it, so he'll never ever get bored again. The other
thing to observe is that most of these Rakshasas, like Ravana too,
have a good, powerful, subconscious, but a wicked conscious mind.
Puranas say that these daemons were actually Lord Vishnu's
gatekeepers in their previous lives, so that explains the
nature of their subconscious which doesn't change from birth
to birth.

This happens in real life also right? Often, one of the
spouses has a strong subconscious mind and the other a
strong conscious mind. The person with more subconscious
mind is powerful, but is a puppet in the spouse's hands.
I remember how one of my aunties, who never questioned
my paternal uncle ever in her life, used to do unbelievable
amount of work for her 5 daughters, husband, guests,
and still stay fresh and clean with a big smile all day,
in spite of the financial, political and other problems
all around her.

But this aunty is a big zero when it came to doing anything
on her own, out of routine. My uncle had to give her directions
almost in assembly language and people often used to make
fun of her. A strong subconscious mind in the company of
a strong, GOOD conscious mind is the best possible
combination (like Gods Siva-Vishnu).

Why do we consider Lord Rama, and Lord Krishna as avatars of
Vishnu and not Siva? I don't think it's the color of the God,
because in other avatars, He had different color. It's because
subconscious (Siva) has only one way - meditate. It is the
consciousness which is root of diversity, of good and bad,
of everything. (Aren't we now glad that consciousness is
perishable while subconscious or aatma is unperishable?)
Only consciousness (Vishnu) can mend and correct the consciousness
of this world. (I hope I'm reasoning good here.)

u seem to be growing alot


Only yesterday, I looked at a picture of Lord Jesus
and it struck me that most of us are older than He was, when He
was crucified!!

Mostly I spend in meditation and exercise. Somehow
I was into meditation rather than into pujas from my childhood.


Lord Krishna gives the precedence in Bhagavadgita
as: sacrifice of the fruit of action > meditation > knowledge.
So meditation is more powerful than knowledge. It is
said that 1 hr's meditation equals 8 hrs of sleep.

It is certainly nice to read your emails. I read them
and would appreciate you thoughts, more than that I
appreciate your openess to share your personal
thoughts / activities.

I am just wondering (just asking), you may choose not
answer (no problem with me):

-How do you get so much time to write?


Where there's a will, there's a way. I think it's more
to do with interests than time I guess. This reminds me of
one of my favourite hobbies - forwarding at least one e-mail
a day for the last almost 7 years now to a select group
of interested friends. Many of my previous senders stopped
sending, but still there has not been a day when I did not
have a good e-mail to forward for 7 years. Call it inertia,
call it God, anything good has the propensity to continue
on its own.

That's why it is important to start something
good. By its very nature it conitnues. Like the group
recitals of the sanskrit stotras that got started. One person
particularly mocked at my idea of making it a continuous
activity. Doesn't matter if we are not remembered for
starting it. 'God' within us and everywhere else knows
it and we are automatically rewarded.

Do you really get feedback from other group members
on your thoughts (they are good)?


Yes. I get about 15 replies to the weekend mails and
they are still less than 10% of the receipients of
these mails, though. Only replies / my comments to those
which could be of interest to others are included here,
irrespective of whether they're favourable to me / others
or not. Needless to say, just like I don't take questions
like these personally, all of you, please do not take my replies
personally. I'm not trying to blow air on anyone's open
wound (ego), so the replies may not be very pleasing :-).

Realizing God: Experiments on the TreadMill

Here's how I practice the "Understand-Appreciate-Enjoy"
model that I proposed in my first mail. Daily when I cool
down on my way back to home from the morning jog and during
my afternoon walk near my workplace, I try my best to
enjoy the surroundings - the lush green grass, the fall
colors, the buildings and the open sky. These, I do
simultaneously as I recite "Aditya Hrudayam" thrice in
my mind, being aware of the meaning, solely in
gratitude and appreciation of the Sun God in the
morning and talk diverse topics with my friend(s) in
the afternoon. These are the specific 2 times when I
deliberately apply the UAE model. At all other times
too, I try my best to try to identify situations where
I can apply the model, without purpose. Needless to
say, I do the same when there is a purpose too.

Though the procedures and principles described here are
Hindu oriented, other religions would also have similar
things I guess. After all, religion is just a tool to
reach God. I visited quite a few prominent catholic
churches (cathedrals) in USA, still have the statue of
mother Mary holding bleeding Jesus in her lap on my
entertainment center and the cross holding Lord Jesus
hanging to the living room wall. I said Christian
prayers and sung Christian carols for 12 years in
school and most of them did not seem way different.
Just that they were more direct, down-to-earth, and
easily understandable. Anyway, the intention here is
not to promote any religion or religion at all.
Presented here is just one way - my way of applying the
UAE model and realizing God.

When I jog on the treadmill, I close my eyes for most
of the time (yes, I practiced it) and recite all the
Sanskrit slokas in my mind that my grandfather taught
me when I was 4-7 being aware of the meaning, solely in
gratitude and appreciation of the God. The key again is
NOT, being a hindu or being religious, but being
grateful, understanding and appreciating God. The 25
mins on the treadmill goes off in a wink this way,
without experiencing the pain of the jog. But
sometimes, when my mind gets caught up very badly in
problems that refuse to leave, I jog without reciting
the slokas and after 12 or 13 mins, I start to feel
tired and feel like taking rest for a while or giving
up for the day.

That's probably same with life too. To forget the pain
in life, our mind needs to be withdrawn from it, into
devotion, into love with the creator and His creation.
A very important thing to notice here is that devotion
is devoid of intention or "sankalpam" that's done at
the beginning of Hindu pujas. It is devotion that helps
us to stay detached from the pain. If we bring even a
single material thought into this devotion, it never
stops there - it becomes a "train of thoughts" and
spreads like a drop of poison in a bowl of milk. I
experienced this too, during my treadmill experiments.

But I do feel totally frustrated sometimes, looking for
absolute help. That's when my puja with sankalpam that
I do after taking bath comes in handy. That's when I
tell my problems to God, that also, exactly during the
sankalpam (like the "Aim / objective" section in our
science lab reports). Also, I make it a point to
remember in mind the meaning of as many words as I can,
that I utter during the puja - particularly the 108
names of the God of the day (Siva on Monday, Vinayaka
on Tuesday, etc.) in the ashtotharam. Most of them
describe the God and help in understanding and
appreciating Him. When I don't know the meaning, I just
picture the God in mind.

Why are there millions of personifications of God in
Hindu religion? I heard somewhere that it is because
the visionaries of Hinduism feared that the devotees
might get bored worshipping only one God all the time.
Remember the law of diminishing marginal utility, that I
mentioned in my first mail? It seems to apply here too.
Having different Gods with different qualities makes us
pray differently every day and worship the different
qualities. This vision is definitely working with me at
least.

I'm pretty sure all religions have something similar to
sing to the Glory of the God, understanding and
appreciating Him. Like I said, religion is just a tool
to understand and appreciate the God and his creation,
not the God in itself. Just like there are some mighty
people who can do things without the help of tools,
there are people who can realize God without the help
of religion - they are called atheists. But everyone
realizes God sometime or the other. Will tell you why
in just a bit.

Though religion prescribes this puja with sankalpam to
propitiate God to fulfill our wishes, believe me, God
in the form we imagine helps none. Not once did a
miracle happen in my life to fulfill my wish, in spite
of doing this puja in the prescribed manner for several
years. So, why then does religion prescribe such a
useless ritual that takes away about 30 mins of
precious time in the morning? This is the reason that I
can think of. Just like all the -ve qualities like
jealousy, hatred, anger, arrogance, and lust harm the
self more than others, +ve qualities like will
(intention or "sankalpam"), trust (blind faith in
something), modesty (by doing shodasha upacharas 16
services to God), appreciation (the 108 names we
recite) give immense power to the self.

In effect, we are praying to our own inner senses to
help us. That's why God is within us. "Aham brahmasmi"
- means "I AM the God", as the Vedas say. I heard Lord
Jesus also says the same: "There is no difference
between me and my father." Whenever we see the
qualities described by the 108 or 1000 names of the God
we recite, we are being God. When we are helping the
needy, we are being "Deenabandhu", when we are making
money, we are being "Srikaraha", when we show great
intellect, we are being "mahamanaha", which are
essentially the names of the God.

When we recite these names again and again, those
qualities get imbibed in us and come to our help and
others' help when needed. Isn't it a great, powerful
technique? That's why, whenever I get a chance, I try
to promote group recitals of the Vishnu Sahasranama,
Lalitha Sahasranama, etc., along with the shodasha-
upachara puja, and will gladly help you in this, if
interested. Another project I propose is to form
groups, particularly of kids to discuss and chant 5 to
10 names of the God / Goddess every day / week.

Another "maya" or illusion of God's creation is this
"ego". If ego hears the "I am God" sentence, it
misunderstands it more than understanding it. So,
unless we totally get rid of this "ego", we can never
realize that we are the God. Every person who realizes
his strengths actually is realizing God. That's why I
think atheists also realize God, but without the help
of religion. After all, we can do things without tools,
right? But we all know how tools help us in doing
things. Imagine cutting a pineapple without a knife.
God himself says in the Gita that whichever way a
person wants to realize Him, He will be realized in the
same way by that person, without bias or favour.
(Yeyethamam prapadyante, tvam..).

There is absolutely nothing supernatural in this world.
Even if God in the form we imagine comes down, he has
to obey the laws of nature. We already saw that in the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The puranas and Vedas may
have used several figuratives and analogies to the
supernatural in describing God, but their intent and
meaning is as clear as a crystal to the divine mind.
You are the God. All the good qualities in God will be
yours, if you think only about them and nothing else.
And that's the way Vedas are: cryptic. Probably, so
that demons will not be able to figure them out. I did
quite a bit of study of Vedic Mathematics and I can
tell you, it IS very cryptic. Until I did at least 5-6
iterations with this mortal mind, I couldn't make out
the true meaning of the sutra.

One of the ways to see through the cryptology and reach
divinity is to know (as 'veda' literally translates).
How do we know? It is by questioning, reasoning, and
analyzing. I'll give you an example of how I do this.
One of the many names of the Supreme is 'kukshi-stha-
akhila-bhuvanaya', meaning the one who holds the entire
universe in his belly (kukshi). How do we interpret
this cryptic name? How does this apply to the God
within us? When will anyone hold something in his
belly? When he digests it. So, any person who
understands every thing in the universe, as if he
digested it (like when we digest what is told in
classrooms) can be called by this name.

Once we understand something, like say a computer or a
baby, we can control it. The greater we understand, the
greater we can control. If we understood it to the
extent of digesting it, we can fully control it. That's
why God is called Narayana, the controller. That's why
we should try to understand as much as we can. Do you
see how all these names are related to one another and
how we can realize them in ourselves?

If what I say is really true (which, btw, I myself am
not sure), why isn't this info available in the public
domain? Why are such powerful and useful techniques
hidden from the common man? Precisely, because they are
powerful and useful. It could be disastrous if evil
minds gain access to such information. Mythology gives
many examples of such misuse - Bhasmasura, for
instance.

So, we should also ensure that we continue guarding
this kind of info from evil minds - only evil minds,
not others. We should not hoard this information or use
it for competitive edge. History already showed us the
repercussions of limiting this knowledge to select few
families. That's why I thought it fit to e-mail this to
like-minded people and am willing to help you in anyway
that's possible to me in these matters. Please feel
free to let me know if you need any help in initiating
group recitals or group pujas.

At the end of a puja, however long and perfect it was,
it is common to say, "pooja vidhim najaanami;
kshyamyatam prabho" (I don't know the correct way to
worship; please forgive me Lord) again and again. Even
traditional, expert priests say that. It may be true
that I'm showing more of my ignorance than my knowledge
in this mail. Like I said before, this is intended to
be a combined study, so please feel free to let me know
of any mistakes that you find in what I wrote.

Hoping to find more Bhakti Yogis this new year!
January 2003

Discussion on Simple Harmonic Motion

Greetings!

A good communication should never be one-sided.
I'm appending some interesting replies I got for last
weekend's mail which I thought would be useful to others
also.

One more point that I forgot to add in my last week's
mail is this: The swing stops because of earth's pull.
Life's swing from good to bad probably stops because
of God's pull. The stronger the pull, the faster it stops.

Ok, here are the replies with my thoughts too..
Responses I received are in italics and bold.
------------------------------------------------------
The life cycles have been well written in many
sanskrit verses too.

"Chakravat parivartante dukhanicha sukhanicha"
Happiness/Sadness change like a wheel

"Chakrara panktiriva gachhati bhgya panktihi"
Strokes of luck/bad luck goes like spokes of a wheel

I am sure many others too.


Thanks once again, Ravi for sharing the wisdom.
---------------------------------------------------------
...
just think of ahimsa kind of behavoir in workplace..
i think it is impossible even to keep a job, with
being so nice..
everyone takes advantage of u.


Here's what I think:

No principle, no faith teaches us to give up what
it demands for us to live and do our duties in this world.
One of the prices we have to pay for centuries of civilization
and evolution is to tackle unnecessary complications in very
indirect ways, every day. So, If our job demands shrewdness
as I understand some jobs do, we better be shrewd, but only
to the extent of the job and as a self defence. If we can't
live without being tough with the people around us, then we
better do what makes us tough. Even Buddha preached
this as is explained in one of his stories about a snake
who troubled the village.

Most of these good thoughts are certainly not the
'get-rich-quickly' kind. But these will definitely
help to lead a better life. The song clip from
the movie 'Pardes' goes, 'Jeene ka hai shouk tho
hoja marne ko tayyar'. These are some of those ironies
of life. If we want to gain money in stock market, we must
be prepared to lose money first, if we want to live
a great life, we must be prepared to die first. So they
may sound a bit absurd initially, but I think they are
profound truths.

There are many people who live by these principles,
knowingly or unknowingly, to some extent or to a great
extent. An example I can think of is Sri. PV Narasimha Rao.
To a great extent, he did what it requires to do his duty
without getting attached to the results. If you remember,
that's what made him win over Sri. Sharad Pawar in the
first place. Also, he never overreacted to anything during
his tenure. His critics may call it procrastination or
inaction, which may be true in some cases, but in most cases,
it helped - time solved his problems - all he did was to
co-operate with time.

In the cases it did not help, it must've been because of his
misjudgement. It happens with us also many times, like it
happened with Arjuna in Mahabharatha. We get confused with
what it takes to "co-operate with time". That mostly
happens when we get attached to the results, like Arjuna
did. One guideline I try to follow is go by what is liked
by time - that which finally wins. We all know, time likes
only that is good. Eventually, good alone wins. "Satyameva
Jayathe" (truth alone wins) is the motto of the
catholic-christian school in which I did the first 12 years
of my schooling.

We will know what is good and what is not, only by deeper analysis,
detachment, practice, maturity, and most importantly, by getting
a great teacher - a "friend, philosopher, and guide"
like Arjuna got. To me, the last one is the most difficult
of all. Fathers fit the bill in many cases and I lost mine
when I was 18.

I must also point out that what I'm attempting is more of a
combined study. I do not claim mastery on all the lessons that I'm
writing here. I did gain mastery over some and some others are my
intrinsic nature that I got by birth. But most others, I'm still
anlaysing, reasoning, learning, and practising.

For e.g., the "live by the moment" principle that I talked
last time, is presently the most difficult for me to implement.
It's the easiest to do when we are kids and the most difficult
to do as we grow older. I "lived by the moment" for most of
my first 18 years. I still remember how no one could win over
me in arguments; how "sharp" I was then. After my father's death
at 18, most of the time I had for myself was spent either in the
past or in the future.

I did not realize how much damage this caused me until I was 25,
when my "momentary" skills were put to severe test after a gap of 7
years. This time, I could not win over simple arguments
or tackle simple tricks that people played with me. And these people
were not any great - they're not even worth their salt. They
achieved nothing in their lives. But still they fooled me and tricked me
in unimaginable ways. I could never react to any of them
appropriately at that moment.

I always had to wait till the insults became past to recover
from them, because by then, I was only good at handling past
or future, not present. Ironically, the recovery was not by
correcting what happened in the past, but by trying
to forget or erase the past from memory. Unfortunately, the
great excuse people have to escape from their past is this
word "sorry". I'm sorry to say, "sorry" is the sorriest invention
of our civilization. People who are really sorry don't use it
so freely, as they do now. So, these people always got away
with a "sorry."

This went on until about a year ago, when part of
one of such arguments (or attacks, because over the years,
I started silencing myself during these "arguments" - that's
the best I could do, anyway) actually took place in front of
an elderly couple who were trying
to do some good in the world in their "akhari majili"
or "last stage", as told in their own words.

They opened my eyes. "We are easily able to see through
what is happening. You are so good in your academics but
you could not handle such simple situations and allowed it
grow to such extent?", they wondered, and
told me a few things that I could've said / done at that moment
to save myself. I realized that I could not say / do those things
later on.

There is nothing new in what they said. I always said
such things to myself, but hearing it from an external source
makes a huge difference. That's why the importance of a teacher.
That's why teacher is considered as "Brahma, Vishnu, Maheswara".
That's why we pray to the teacher even before we pray to the Lord
of obstacles. Those words were like a small stick that
an external person could pass on to someone getting sucked into
a muddy trap (i forgot what we call it - the more we try to
get out of it, the more we get sucked into it) to save his life.

That's when I started my introspection, this analysis,
and realized how important it is to live in the moment. After
spending over a decade and half in past and future, I'm now
finding it very difficult to focus on the present once again,
but am trying.

So, what I mean to say is, it is certainly not easy to practise
these good ideas. It will take time. Also, it is very important
to practise these ideas in full spirit. For e.g., if we try to
live by the moment without practicing to focus our energy on the
present, it could be disastrous. If I stop thinking about past,
future and just live by the moment with the same energy as before
(like how I failed in those arguments), I would be totally
invalidated.

So, I should first learn to focus more energy
on the present and slowly shed the passion for past and fear
for future, which I think will automatically happen. I always
tell people - to remove bad from mind, fill it with good - bad
will automatically go. That's the only way to get rid of bad.
Otherwise, if we keep thinking on how to get rid of bad, we
get attached to it more and more, instead of getting rid of it.
Remember the story of the monk and the monkey? This monk was told
a mantra and was asked to recite it in any state of mind, except
when a monkey came in his thoughts. In his anxiety to keep the monkey
away from his thoughts, the monk remembered only the monkey and
forgot about the mantra.
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Thanks, Sreekanth!
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Enjoyed your SHM reasoning. Where from u quote from Hindu
scripture to Japanese Reiki? I am sure this philosophical
bent of mind would have helped u a lot to come out unscathed
from all the problems.


I learnt about Japanese Reiki during my
visit to India. Most of the times I quote from
my memory, which, going by some of the feedback, has faded
quite a bit now. My apologies for that. The source of inspiration
for my forays into religion and spirituality are my grandfather
and his brother who was a noted religious poet. That's why I
always feel that the first 5 - 7 years of life shapes the rest
of it (my grandfather passed away when I was 7; how I wish he
lived longer to see how his lessons helped me in all the tough
times I faced). Incidentally, I heard that one of my close
friends in school, our batch topper, renounced the world and
joined Ramakrishna mutt after completing his MBBS.

Simple Harmonic Motion

World rocks - literally. Most of the world's
phenomena from electricity to life and death
oscillate in cycles. Life also rocks. Good and bad
are the two extreme points of these 'lively'
oscillations. There are good times followed by the
bad times and then the good times are back again.
We can see this in every aspect, the most
noticeable at this time being the economy.
American citizens have been experiencing the
cyclic economy for generations now. Could anyone
stop the cycle in spite of knowing it in advance?
Did anyone try to cause it?

We don't have to do anything. Just be part of
these oscillations and enjoy the free ride. It's
all in the game. Trying to resist this natural
oscillation results in pain, fear, anxiety,
unhappiness, and harm to the self, just like it
happens when a kid sits on the swing and tries to
get out of it when in motion. This seems to be the
fundamental concept which I think is explained in
different ways in different faiths.

The core concept of Hinduism, 'karma', as
illustrated in the Gita essentially boils down to
this - do your duties and the rest will
automatically follow. Don't try to think of the
results or try to manipulate them. The forces of
nature will automatically take care of the
results. The Japanese concept of 'Reiki', which
talks about energy flows, also seems to
essentially mean the same.

There is no point brooding about the bad or
cheering about the good. That'll only increase the
intensity of the oscillations, rather than slowing
them down. Just like the swing stops by itself
over a long period of time, I conclude from my
knowledge of the ancient beliefs that the
oscillations between good and bad stop when we
reach the point of 'salvation' or 'moksha' or
'enlightenment'. This is the point of equilibrium
- the point of lowest energy. That's when we don't
feel the pain of bad or the pleasure of good.

To reach that stage faster, we have to keep
practicing what we are going to experience at that
stage - not feeling the pain of bad or the
pleasure of good; lowering our energies when it
comes to feeling pain or pleasure and redirecting
them in making things happen. Just like we have
tricks to slow down the swing, this is one of the
tricks to slow down the swing of life. The other
trick is of course to lower our energies in
everything, including in actions, and redirecting
all energies to one single point of focus, the
process referred to as meditation, penance.

According to Hindu scriptures, the former
(focussing on action) is far superior to the
latter (going to the mountains and doing penance)
and I'm sure you would also agree with it. So, the
bottom line is to stay away from pain and
pleasure. If we start dissociating from pleasure
(one extreme of the swing), we'll automatically
dissociate from pain (the other extreme), because
the process has to be a Simple Harmonic Motion.
That's probably the reason why many faiths
prescribe abstinence as a way to life.

If you want to reason logically, by abstinence
from pleasures, our mind gets into the practice of
'dissociating' and dissociates with pain as well.
Everything above is very nicely illustrated in
Prabhu Deva's 'take-it-easy policy' song. As I
told last week, all the answers are all around us
- we only have to rediscover them. Examples in the
song illustrate abstinence from pain, but I'd say
that's same as abstinence from pleasure because of
the Simple Harmonic Motion principle.

Did you notice that the pleasure from our first
perceived success when young in life is many times
greater than the pleasure from the successes, say
in our 30s, however great they may be? To me,
nothing compares to the moment when I received my
first state-level medal on the stage in my 10th
class. That's because, in between, we feel pain
and learn to dissociate from the pain. Without our
knowledge, this in turn reduces our ability to
feel the pleasure as well. So, yes, we are getting
there - to the point of salvation, but the journey
is too too long, depending on the route we take -
measured in the number and quality of our births,
as believed in some faiths.

Just like people who can take it easy with pain or
pleasure can do the same with the other,
passionate people who take deeper pleasure in
things (like me :) should also be prepared to take
deeper pain when it comes. We'd have all noticed
that some people go through enormous amounts of
trouble but can still stay calm, whereas some
people get pained very easily. My S.H.M. reasoning
explains this phenomena too.

But the most important derivation from my S.H.M.
reasoning is the need to LIVE BY THE MOMENT, without
fear for the future and passion for the past. Just
like the kid sitting on a swing will feel dizzy and
uncomfortable when he looks back or looks to the ground
ahead, we will suffer if we live too much in the past
or in the future.

How is it possible, I asked myself and you may ask too,
to not to look back or beyond? After all, civilization
evolved by learning from the mistakes of the past and
planning for the future. It may seem like that, illusive
as this world is, but the fact is, people always learned
from the mistakes they did at that moment rather than from
mistakes done even days ago.

Similarly, we don't know how the future will unfold.
There is no point betting too much on the future.

That's why I always like A.P.'s Engineering entrance (not
even IIT JEE, which gives time to let mind wander) than
the 'take home exams' I took in USA. The former tests our
skills 'at the moment', under strict time constraints
rather than let your mind wander to find answers. That's
the kind of mind which will keep us happy, not the one
which wanders in the dust of the past and the dirt of the
future and spoils itself, confusing us.

Again, I must hasten to say that learning from past and
planning for future are very important. But we must know
where to draw the line between learning and brooding and
between planning and betting. If we think too much about
the past, learning converts into brooding and if we worry
too much about the future, planning turns into betting.
So the key is to remain unattached in our calculations
and stay focussed on the objective of learning or planning
(the actions, not results) and not to take side tracks
in the process.

Thanks for all your positive feedback from last
week. Frankly, I did not expect such a good
response. Good to know that people have quite some
interest in these "immaterial" thoughts. From the
feedback I received, I also realized that there
are pundits in the recipients' list who are better
than I am in our culture and tradition. For e.g.,
it was pointed out that the 1st line of the telugu
song is incorrect. That may be true - I heard the
song at least 7 years ago. It was also pointed out
that whatever was described last week is captured
in the ancient sanskrit saying, "अति सर्वत्र
वर्जयेत". That's true. As I said, all the answers
are around us, we don't even have to go to the
scriptures. We only have to rediscover them in the
present context.

Last week, we discussed the management of the law
of diminishing marginal utility. This week we
talked about the science of S.H.M. Next week,
it'll be time for some lab work. I'll tell you
about my experiments with the treadmill to give
insights into the reasons for my conclusions.
Until we meet again, let's learn to take it easy
with the results, live by the moment and have fun
in action.

If you like these thoughts and think that they deserve
a wider audience (or the other way round - a wider
audience deserves to hear these thoughts :-), please
let me know of any publishers or organizations in
India / USA who would be interested in hosting them.
It'll be even more helpful if you have some influence
on them. These days it is difficult to sell anything
on its own worth. We need pulling strings in addition to worth.
I'm not interested in ANY material gains from this.
All I want is to get a satisfaction of helping as many
as I can, in ways that are very natural to me.

PS: For those passionate people who like to go
even deeper in action, here's my wild guess. At
the point of salvation, Einstein's E=M*C*C applies
at a philosophical level and our material form
converts into energy (that means no more material
forms or "births") and dissolves in the supreme
("Narayana", as the scriptures call Him) as
described in the scriptures and depicted in the
movies as a flame moving into the God. So, after
that point, M=0 => E=0 and the state is in
equilibrium - the point of lowest energy.

Take Care,
Vishnu