The Controls for Equilibrium (Equilibrium 6)

It is important to know what are the pitfalls possible in a spiritual search and the pitfalls are to be studied in the seekers who visibily faltered. I was really impressed by some of Osho Rajneesh’s teachings that I found in the net. I saw a discourse by Osho on dance meditation, in which he says (in essence) that spiritual experience can be achieved through dancing (after meditation) where we build up our energy , spiral it up to a climax, an experience similar to orgasm; and as we stop we draw in that energy into us, we let it engulf us, descend down upon us, into us. He spoke elsewhere that perversions arose when one indulged in desires in mind rather than in real life, and he seemed to be much against perversions from what I could gather. Then what happened? Why and how did he go so wrong as to become just a manipulator and not a real practitioner of his teachings. I read that he amassed wealth, had strange fears, wanted to be known as enlightened above all others, became a slave to desires instead of being liberated from them.

Osho believed in spontaneity and allowed each person in his gathering to follow his or her spontaneous mind. He encouraged indulging in desires and other tendencies like anger, violence, etc and believed it to be the way to be free from them. Is there really such a path? J. Krishnamurthi advocates becoming aware of one’s feelings and emotions as a witness and not suppressing them. But he does not at the same time mean deliberately indulging in them. It means that if emotions come, 'accept' them (rather than suppressing or denying them), it does not mean 'act' on them.

Spiritual experiences are possible with an external aid like a sexual partner. Tantra advocates meditating before and after sex, to use the high energy state arrived through sex to connect with the higher powers.(a corollary is that, if the high energy state is not pulled up through meditation to clear the whole channel, then the lower chakras may gain over activity and make a man more and more lustful and worldly. I would even say it is very important to meditate post sex to remain a balanced personality) Sometimes even drugs are taken to initiate into the spiritual highs. But these paths if not carried with right minds have the dangers of making you dependent on them for your experiences.These paths may lead one to explore only the highs and forget about the reason for having reached the high, that was to invoke and connect to the higher power. When the purpose becomes the "high" it can become an obsession and instead of liberating, it can make one a slave of such highs. This is a very tender area and definitely not for all, as its path is beset with dangers of becoming perverted especially when explored in a group. In fact, many of Osho’s followers have been known to have become desperate to keep the “highs’.

On the other hand, the path of detachment and turning inwards is free of such dependencies, but detachment as an approach for the beginning seeker can often lead to disinterest in life or depression. So to avoid the dangers of both, the midway of cyclic attachment and detachment can be practiced by a beginner.  The cyclic approach also has the advantage of never loosing sight of the objective, of achieving that equilibrium state where the internal powers are opened up and sustained to the optimum.

Nuclear power if harnessed with necessary controls gives us usable energy whereas uncontrolled it leads to explosion and destruction of everything that had been intended to benefit from the energy. By the same token, if the spiritual search is carried out in a controlled way, it leads to drawing in of controlled energy and leads to spiritual growth, but if we pursue it without the necessary controls, there are dangers of affecting the mind negatively, like becoming incoherent, antisocial, perverted, depressed or even an extent of madness.

Osho was also known to be proud of his so called awake state and was self promoting. Osho’s teachings(not all his words) that I have read indeed seem sound. It is said, however, that his teachings are actually influenced by lot of other philosophers. That is possible and, realistically speaking, is not a matter of concern. Where things go wrong is when there is lack of faith and practice of one's own words. Faith in one’s own words or any teaching can come only when it is an experiential understanding and not merely a read understanding.

While such experiences as Osho advocated are true and seem to have come through an experiential understanding, what went wrong, I would say, was his pride that there is nothing more to learn, that there is no more of “waking up” to happen. He faltered in his pride and disbelief in God. His pride made him conclude that he is awake and others are not, be it any other religious figure. In so doing he closed himself to lessons from the universe. If he had not closed himself to God he would not have blindly followed his theory of giving in to desires. If he had believed in God, a power that knows more, that knows all, then that humility and belief, would have led to the universal power directing his life in a way that he would have eventually learnt (and taught) that the path of exploring desires is to be matched by a phase of abstinence from desires to find the equilibrium where one no longer is slave to desires, parking eventually into the more stable and peaceful state.That if the path sought is of spontaneity, then it is a personal path to be practiced alone (with a requisite humble heart subject to a ‘higher’ God's will, phased with abstinence); and not in a group of varied minds where everybody’s spontaneity without any checks could lead to corruption of the susceptible and collective human minds.

Cleaning the mind of evil thoughts and pride, liberation from sins, faith in a God and lack of fear are the essential controls to not lose the equilibrium. This is an unavoidable first step before invoking the inner power. A group or gathering of seven days as of a Christian retreat involves first a reflecting on what are our sins and enables repentance. Next step is confession of sins and becoming clean and then the third step is invoking the spirit. In this the cleaning provides for the necessary controls to make the incoming energy beneficial for the growth of the spirit. Without this necessary cleansing, evil minds corrupt the energy by their negative intents. Even during the invocations, those who get filled with the spirit are protected by the priests with the drawing of the cross on the forehead. A faith in a protector and a consequent deliverance from fears is another necessary control to the search for the spiritual experience. Faith in a benevolent God is necessary as in a spiritual experience we are drawing in more of the spiritual connect into an instrument called the body which has its limitations which should be respected. It can only take a controlled amount of energy. An excess can damage its faculties. Faith and focus on God provides an absence of fear which is a vital control. These controls provide the necessary equilibrium inflow of energy and spirits without the damages that evil intents and fears can bring in.

But energy uncontrolled and set free to spontaneity and that too in a large gathering without an innate faith in a God, and a consequent excess of pride, is uncontrolled energy. This uncontrolled energy can be like a nuclear explosion in its aftermath. It can corrupt the human mind leading it to unreasonable fears and unaccountable acts, which is what happened eventually to Osho.

“Adhigam Amritam Vesham” An excess of good is evil. Therefore everything in moderation, including moderation”

“The Secret” called Duality. (Equilibrium 5)

My father in law kept saying every time we have met since the last two years, ‘Jerly get me notes or any explanations about the concept called duality’. He had given me a paper cutting but I grasped very little. Yin yang, light dark, good evil. So? I was not clear what he wanted to comprehend. Duality? I thought each time and left it at that. Two days ago in our train trip together, I was disproving his belief that ‘we wish circumstances into our life’. As I spoke out my arguements, he grasped duality! I realised that unknowingly I had been stressing to him about the truth to duality, the very thing he wanted to comprehend through me!

In the trip I gave him the book on “The Secret” power of belief, (that I had actually given him to read two years ago as well and both of us forgot!) telling him that belief power as given in the book is truth "but not the whole truth". Life had come full circle as we met again with the same book and brought in the same concept of duality that was enquired about when the book was first exchanged. I realized he had put in a question in my mind and my life circumstances had brought to me the answer over the ensuing years and even created a situation where I answered the question he had put to me! All unknowingly…

The "whole truth" as I can state it now in a word is ‘duality’- “there is positive in negative and negative in positive”.

As I completed reading the book “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne, just before I gave it two days ago to my father in law, I was thinking the same thing I thought when I began reading the book …in April 2010- 'Why would I wish for positive when there is so much to gain from negative in terms of growth, spiritually and as an individual?’ I had clean forgotton that I had reached this same conclusion before! But intuition pushed me today to read my own posts on EQUILIBRIUM for no real reason and I discovered that I was only rediscovering my own earlier thoughts. (It reminded me of the earlier exchange of the book that I had forgotton…)

“The Secret” says, “we create our lives by our thoughts, so think positive, believe that you have money, joy and all the good things in life and you will attract them. And if you have negative in life then you thought them into your life, so (moron) start thinking positive” 'The Secret' is written with the assumption that positives, like Money, Joy, Success are desirable whereas; negatives like Lack, Pain, Failure etc are undesirable. Why and how do we decide that Lack, Pain and Failure are undesirable?

(Karma and its consequences can be overcome by the power of belief in a saving God. But what about collective consciousness/ thoughts of a group of related people or whole humanity(remote past or present thoughts) which often is said to be responsible for the future events? An individual's positive thought may be drowned in a collective negative thought pattern, or vice versa. Moreover some future events can be devined in what is called premonition. It would bring in the question of whether the egg came first or the hen. All this is not incorporated in a simple 'belief = reality' equation of "The Secret".)

Honestly there is power in belief but where the “cut and paste” simple truth of ‘ positive thinking’ calling in the positive circumstances fails is…in answer to questions like, ‘ what when one asks for something like wisdom; what would you expect as circumstances in such a persons life?’ Wisdom is seldom encountered on the easy path, so if your souls yearning is wisdom then do not fret if your belief in so called “good things” in life is never fulfilled. Sometimes thinking and wishing for something positive can bring in negative as circumstances. One cannot gain wisdom by merely reading theories, one gains wisdom by reaching to the same conclusions in life. So as long as you have negativity in life use it, as it is your tool to the wisdom you were calling. (refer EQUILIBRIUM 1) And do not be troubled by “The Secret” blaming you for all the negatives in your life! You wished for happiness but your soul yearned more strongly and it yearned for wisdom. No book is complete in itself and depend on your intuition more than any book in the world be it scriptures (Refer chapter 2 The Thomases Road)

This world is a duality; there is a blessing in a curse and a curse in a blessing. Why should a man then bank on his own limited understanding of what is good for him? He should know that whatever he may get in life, can have an element of blessing in it. So he should rather pray “God, give to me in life that which you feel is good for me” And then if it is suffering then face it gladly for blessed is the man who trusts in the lord and all things work together for good of those that love God.

Some choose to be dull but happy while some choose to be wiser and bear the sorrows of being able to see the truth. Jesus chose to die on the cross, Mary chose to become a virgin mother and bear the sufferings from the role God was calling her to; keeping aside her own womanly dreams to fulfill the dreams of God. Some wish to live for the one who is their creator as nothing about the world attracts them to wish anything for themselves; or they love and trust God the creator above everything else, above their human minds wishes, above the so called positives in life.

This does not mean we cannot ask for what our human mind is asking. Jesus prayed to God “ Father, remove this cup (of suffering on the cross) from me; but not what I will but what You will(be done)” So like Jesus allow your physical self to ask whatever it hopes for and let your spiritual self draw what still it wishes to draw. For we are both the body and the spirit.

“Give to ceaser what is ceasers and give to god what is gods” We have to take care of our bodily needs alongside of taking care of our spiritual needs for we cannot ignore any aspect of our self. So believe in the power of thought and ask with your body and ask with your spirit…. and hope that both wishes could converge more often! And do not blame yourself thinking, "Oh I have not transmitted my wishes correctly, my transmitter is faulty for I am asking one thing and getting another” Those whose every little material wish is fulfilled, the chances are their transmitter is controlled only by the body whereas if your belief is not bringing things you asked for, the chances are, you as a body are controlled by a very powerful transmitter called your soul which selects that bodily wish which matches its own purpose of existing in the body. So wait patiently for God to reveal your reward, for with God’s rewards there is often delay and a test of patience.

Believe in the Secret surely but when things don’t go as per the secret power of belief believe in the duality. Negative is positive and positive is negative. Good is not in the positive or the negative, good is in the equilibrium, the midway between positive and negative which is optimum for growth of the duality that we are, the body and the spirit. So you could ask and pray most aptly for “healthy and flourishing Growth” , the very basic function and purpose of every life.

My father in law, my cotraveller in the search then agreed to all this, saying,” Sanmanas ollorku samadhanam” “the good in heart is at peace no matter what”

Love and other Lies

I heard, that the movie "The Dirty Picture" had good ratings and I was curious enough to read the review of the movie. The story line, to my surprise, was really good and agreed with my thinking, so much so that I wanted to see the movie! It is that old paradox, men want women to give them sex, but the woman who fulfils this basic want gets in return... disrespect. She might be pursued and showered with attention and care but only till she gives him what he wanted following which the man ignores her needs, puts her down in front of his family or friends and so on.

The natural make of a man is such that for him being a son or a friend may be about caring, about loving, but having sex is about dominion, about insulting, about sadism. Man’s instincts make him negative to the object of his lust, that is why the paradox that the woman who fulfils a mans lust gets nothing of his love but rather gets everything in the contrary.

I read somewhere a question- Why do people like love and hate death? Answer- People like love and hate death because love is a lie and death is a truth...
The truth is that, truths are more painful to live with so the world lives by lies. But sometimes it is good to know the truth, especially if the knowledge of truth doesn’t stop you from being yourself, rather helps you understand the real world. One big lie is Sexual "Love" as sex has basically nothing to do with love. The purpose of nature is sustenance through procreation and nature can do anything for it, even hypnotise... All life is hypnotised by a lie called sexual love to serve natures agenda. For procreation, in human terms, man has to have a need which should be prime, like an obsession. For that men have to be basically obsessive and often that is why they are prone to various obsessions, cars, money, power etc. Therefore there is no one and only true sexual love for a man as it would go against nature’s drive of procreation. Men are attracted to all women, and the act of sex being basically an act of dominion, is sadistic and can evoke even scorn and disgust in him. That is why women in marriages often become the punching bag of the man, an object to take out all his problems and issues on. "The paradox of relationships is that men cannot imagine having sex with a women they respect too much as a friend; whereas women want as a sexual partner one who respects her and is a friend!"

'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' Matthew 19:5. In marriage, the lust and associated issues is sanctified with the demand that the man should consider his wife more important than even the oldest relation in his life of a mother and a father. Since sexual act is basically an act of dominion of man over woman, this dominion can be nullified only when it is in exchange of submission of the man to the needs of the partner in terms of giving more priority to the partner than any other relation, however much older. Women become vulnerable if they have bowed down to a man, given him sex. They are at the mercy of their lover and need reassurance that the dominion is in exchange for all of the attention and love of their man. But of course this does not often happen as instincts win over marital vows.

“Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other” This is what St. Paul says in Galatians 5: 16-17. Love of flesh and love of god cannot coexist. Despite the fact that there is something called spiritual sex and though it can unlock our bliss centres, but still it requires two participants on an equal plane of existence loving each other in spirit and not in body. This, if not possible, is not so favourable as two sexual partners are more intensely affected by each other's actions. Two people can rarely grow together in spirituality at the same pace all through their life. One may be spiritual but if the other oscillates between the material and spiritual planes, it affects the other partner more intensely as both "are one". Spirtual awakening through sex is more possible for women who unify love and sex, but as mentioned it has its risks and vulnerabilities. For the majority of the world "where sex is, there is no love"; it is blind to the other and is selfish and so "where love is there can rarely be place for sex".

That is why spiritual men (and even women) often prefer to approach spirituality by abstaining from sex. Men have to get over lust for lust is blinding, it does not see the person it only sees the body and is hypnotically blind to the needs of the person and aware of only the selfish needs of the flesh. This is the reason behind why evils abound in the world all revolving around the harm done from the obsession for the flesh.

What then is love? Have you heard of the musk deer who searches all over for the source of a wonderful smell when all the while it was emanating from its own navel? The search of love is not for something outward, we have to unlock love in ourselves realising that love is not the nature of the world we see. Love is the nature of the unseen which we have to unlock, not in others but within ourselves. It is the nature of loving even when you do not get love in return, it is giving even when you get nothing in return. One of the lies the society promotes is “Do good and you will get good in return.” In the real world the giver is scorned, the cruel respected” The giver is taken advantage of and the fear induced respect is the trophy of the cruel. If you give your portion of food to your house help, there is much likelihood that you are the one whom she will be comfortable dumping when you are ill and need more help. If you help someone with money, there is more likelihood the other will start assuming all your money is theirs for the asking. If you have a habit of giving then better know the truth and get used to suffering for the good you do, or get smarter and draw limits so you do not get abused for this habit of giving(for you have to love yourself too!). The dirty picture of love and sex is the same. "The one who gives sex is scorned, whereas one who ignores this need in him is respected and loved ....by the Man."

Also read on sacred sex in Towards building a relationship with God
instincts in sex in men-women

The Grapes were Sour...

I happened to revisit the story of the fox and the sour grapes, more than once in close succession, and each time I picked again a casual thread of reflection, till the vague thoughts of my mind gave way to something vivid.

A fox was hungry . She saw a bunch of grapes. She jumped to get them. She jumped again and again but could not get them. She went away saying that the grapes are sour.
The moral being- It is easy to despise what you cannot get.

We have been brought up thinking how wrong the fox is. The grapes need not really be sour after all. So wrong to scorn, to revile something.

But does it matter if the grapes were in fact sweet? It was really sour for the fox! Something that could not remove the hunger of the fox definitely left a sourness in its heart. The grapes were sour...

Well, if the fox did think so while going on its way, it definitely would have become easier for her to make peace with unfulfilled wishes and move on to new hopes.

Each Blessing has its Curse

Is not it true, that attached to each blessing is a curse?

For example, you might be blessed with beauty but can you be sure all the attention you get is real love? It could just be more of a desire to pluck, than to tend; leaving you with a wound to nurse. Many who are beautiful get cutting remarks and often feel hated for no reason they know of. Beauty is often cursed with undeserved hate and hurts.

Feeling love is a blessing but it often brings in possessiveness, insecurity and the likes which are horrible feelings and which make you wish you wouldn't have loved. It can gift you the worst heartache and the most terrible period called break up...Love is cursed with pain.

Talent is a blessing but cursed with loneliness. Highly talented people often don't find similar minds or understanding friends. They may find an aspect to themselves that compliments every different friend but there might not be a friend who could find a side which is able to understand or sync in to their complete self. They are cursed with loneliness in a crowd of friends.

Fame is a blessing but cursed with fake friends. People flock to those who are popular and claim them when fame knocks up to them. They may get praises and appreciation and are applauded, but they can never be sure the sources are true to them. The famed are cursed to a fake world.

You can add to this list and see the curse attached to each blessing. However, when plagued by the curses,you can  remind and console yourself with the knowing that "It is because I have/had a blessing" and so ignore the side effects or  downside. What is more, every curse can turn to a blessing...Pain can often be the best fuel to creativity, insights and higher wisdom.

On the other hand, if you don't have these blessings, you feel just a regular person with nothing much going for you; then look again! Quite possibly you have been blessed in life "with all that really matters"- such as good friends who stay by you through thick and thin, and perhaps even true love"!

Unlike the gods or angels in forever bliss, being human, we have the privilege of being able to experience various kinds of joy in innumerable aspects of what we call life. However, it comes with the promise of  being able to suffer just as much. But then, every suffering comes with the assurance of precious lessons, of a meaningful life. Just look closer......and deeper...

Life is an inseparable duality. Accepting both - 'so called' blessings and' so called' curses -with equanimity, is the only escape.....

Lighting a Candle

'Gloom' itself the night, to which I suddenly woke
Fearful the sounds that crept up close,
mingled with the thump of my very loud heart;
Which sang of a terror with a thundering force.

Wet went my palms with all that I feared
I trembled and cursed until thoughts cleared;
Wasn’t there a candle and match I could find?
But the dark ate at me as the distance sneered.

I stumbled through the distance but, did find my way
I did light the candle and it leapt bright and gay!;
that the shadows that threatened were now the scared
as they fled from the fear of the truth spreading ray!

With a candle I could see all for what it was
Now nothing could pretend to be something it was not;
The ghost at the window was just a hanging branch!
And the threat at every step was merely my thought

The light that I lit was 'sight' new to see
A strength to my heart, a guide to my feet.
Lighting a candle is all that it took,
to tick at the truth and cross the “could be”...

(Topic from Roy Durham...What does the light of one candle mean to you)

Rising above... On Track...

Recently, I saw the movie "Soundtrack", a remake, an inspiring story about a musician who loses the power of hearing and then makes even more amazing music than he ever did when he could hear....The philosophy that struck me most in this movie is “First accept your situation, and then discover another beauty to the world from this situation where you are” . It reminded me of what a friend said to me “zindagi jeeni hai, jaisi bhi hai”.That is, Life is to be lived however it is. You cannot choose to live only the good part” And when we live the bad part, accepting the situation it places us in,and work “with it ” that is when we discover that life has become more beautiful now, than it could have been had life been going the way it was before...

Each situation in life has a potential and the situation itself arises from our soul calling out, seeking to escape the dip it has set into. It calls out to the universe for an upheaval, something that would rouse it and liberate it from the accumulating dust of daily living. Of course “every situation can turn for good only when we make the effort to rise above it and not get washed away with it”. So don’t give up just yet, look around..the world may be changing.

How worse is your situation? The worst is you might be feeling lonely in the world. You might have been consistently abandoned always by people you depend on the most, ignored whenever you called in your need, left alone, but just check out your inner world after you accept that you are meant to depend on no one..that life intends for you to depend on yourself; you might realize that your inner strength has grown so strong that you don’t need anybody.. it couldn’t have surged out unless you experienced abandoning from every person you relied on ...Surged out because it owes you love and support.

Have you been the leaning sort by nature? Would you have ever discovered this power within you if you had found someone you could always lean on? Maybe you were meant to discover your inner strength and your trials were meant to lead you to your profound self. Just look inside you, your power might be surging and rising after each disappointment, a power that is self sufficient, a power that is complete in itself, a bliss, that needs no one to fulfill it.