Life -An Indian Perspective Continued

Humans are normally happiness seekers and constantly searching for it .Most us get momentary,temporary or short lived happiness.We never achieve permanent happiness or peace.In modern world most us are highly educated and have good knowledge in our subjects of interest.We may have high qualifications and certifications in Engineering,Computers,Accounting or Medicine but these are not capable of giving you ways to succeed in practical life .These will give you high jobs and a lot money but incapable of giving you happiness and peace for ever.

 

To cross the river of life which is full of storms and challenges we need the practical skills for it .If you want to cross a river you must know swimming ,you may know all about the river , the amount water it has , types of fish in it , the source of the river but if do not know swimming you may not able to cross the river .Like wise you need the practical knowledge to cross the river of life .

 

How to remove ignorance and get true knowledge which help us to realise our true nature and help us to achieve permanent happiness is been told to us by our great masters .But today these teachings are being used for selfish gains and fame.Most of us are ignorant of this and seek temporary happiness by visiting the modern day masters and seek their blessings.

 

Only when you know your true nature ,The Atman, you will achieve permanent peace and happiness. Meditation will help us in this quest .Will discuss more on this in the next post

Life -An indian Perspective

Gautama Buddha is one of the greatest spiritual leaders the world has seen. His life and teachings are of profound influence and inspiration for millions of people all over the world even today .The relevance of his teaching are increasing day by day in this violent and chaotic world .Given below is one of the many stories he has told during his life time .It is said that he used to narrate stories from his previous many births .

Once a merchant was  travelling through a forest .While walking he came face to face with a tiger , terrified he ran for his life with the tiger giving him a hot chase .Running blindly he reached  the top of a mountain .The tiger was closing in , there  was no place to run , the other side of the mountain was a deep gorge .He had no idea what to do now ,he looked a round and  saw a tree at the edge of the mountain .Looking closely he found the there was a big vine of the tree hanging down the gorge.H e caught hold of the vine and started climbing down the gorge .The tiger reached the top of the mountain and was looking at its prey and  waiting .The merchant was relieved as he escaped from the tiger and continued his climb down. Then he looked down and saw that horrific sight , a bunch of poisonous was waiting for him to climb down , terrified  he just hung on the vine.On the top the tiger waiting and down there are snakes he had no idea what to do .Suddenly heard a sound from the top, he looked up and saw two mice ,one black and another white ,eating away the vine .The vine will break at anytime and he fell in the midst of the snakes .Terrified he cried out loudly opening his mouth wide,at this time from the beehive that was on the top of the tree a drop of honey fell into his mouth .He forgot everything about his terrible situation in life and tasted the honey and exclaimed : what a sweet honey "

This story describes  the situation of a man of no knowledge (ajnani) .This describes the life and life experiences of this man.The mountain and the gorge described represents the world we live in ,the tiger and the snakes are the two ends of life ,birth and death.The vine represent the life span of the man .It is been eaten away by two mice ,white represents day and black represents night,which symbolishes the passing of time .The life of the man can end at anytime but even in this critical stage of his life ,he forgets his actual status and find happiness in food and other unimportant ,temporary things and says life is so sweet.

This story describes the state of life for most of us today .. will discuss in detail about this in the next post

 

Reflections

It has been sometime  that I was thinking about the future and the way of life currently lead by us .Being a part of the rat race always on the run ,your life is constantly compared with others .Victory or  success in life is measured by the amount of money you earn or the no of houses you own in comparison with other .There will never be an end to it .

 

Most of the time is spent on gadgets once you get up in the morning ,check the phone ,go to office spent the whole day staring at the laptop,spending time with people most of them are fake and appears friendly ,always looking forward for to way to cut you down and jump ahead .The bosses heap false praise on you and if you ask for something genuine they will come out with a list of policies how it cannot be done ,but they have done the same for their own sidekicks .we do not enjoy the days anymore .Time spent together with family is less, talking to each other is less ,most of the time spent on watching TV and watching videos on the net .it has become difficult to cope with all this ... thinking of way to come out of it ..try to find real joy in life and family ,enjoy your days ,spent time happily together ..determined to find a way out ..will do that in the near future while the reflections on life will continue everyday now