The 5 Senses

The 5 senses are the cause of all our fun, failures and frustrations. BTW the 5 senses are sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing. You must be wondering, this has reached its limit, this is crazy, come on talk some sense......

YOU are kind of right, however it is only when you become crazy that revelations happen and you start thinking freely. You can let your thinking wander freely, you can let go off those invisible fences and boundaries. It is a wonderful experience. If these 5 senses did not work for me everything will be invisible to me. What a crazy notion. It is not crazy let me try to give an example.

If I say car, immediately visual images of various types of cars flash within you. Then if I say Maruti, immediately all other models except that of Maruti stay in the flash. Now among these models of Maruti the very latest or very old models which you have never come across are not seen in the flash.

The above example may not sound or feel very intriguing, but this is what happens every second or less as soon as any of our five senses counter something. Which means that every action that we do are based on the analysis our brain does with the available stored information. That's a reason why it is so difficult to unlearn something. It is so difficult to change a habit.

The other insight in our above example is that the there is a memory within us that records everything, irrespective of what we like or dislike and also tags them. One more insight, when we are faced with a situation we are almost always presented with the negative and/or frightful and/or painful scenarios!!

The other day I was watching a program on Discovery, wherein they were showing how our brain assumes lot of stuff and a lot of times forces us to read stuff wrongly. I believe this is true with all of our 5 senses.

I will stop for now....

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Is 24hr enough?

"I wish I had a couple of more hours and I could finish this work today..."

Before I get into the above statement, I will like to take a different perspective of things. Here is a scenario.

Generally when a grownup meets a school going child(lets assume that the child is in class I) here is a how the conversation goes : Grownup: Hello, how are you, beta? (here beta does not necessarily mean a boy child!) Child: I am fine. Grownup: So beta, do you go to school? Child: Yes, "xxxxx"(school name) Grownup: Which class are you in? Child: Class I Grownup : Do you come first in class ? Child : Grins :) Grownup : So beta, what do you want to become when you grow up; Doctor or Engineer ? Child: Pauses before responding and responds with one of the given options?

A harmless conversation! Well not really. Two inputs got embedded in the child's unconscious mind. First, about comparison and competition; Second there are only two serious career choices - Doctor or Engineer.

The first input is the source of our day-to-day issue of no time and being too busy.  We are always trying to get ahead of our nearest competitor; and this competitor can be even our near and dear! My question to all is are we also trying to get ahead in who dies first? ----- "Food for Thought"

Has anyone seen nature speeding up its processes. No, right, or maybe we never had the time to notice! The sun does not rise early and set late. Trees and other living things still go through the same time for their life cycle(unless externally induced by man). So where are we running and what are we trying to achieve. Even if we achieve what we desire, is there a cost attached, after all there is no free lunch. And in this entire universe, creation is always the result of a destruction.

If only each of us could take 10 minutes of our extremely busy schedule to sit back and ponder(as a neutral person) over a recent accomplishment. Did we really achieve what we think we achieved or was it just food for all or some of our 5 senses(sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing)?

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No Time, Sorry I am busy!

Does this statement sound familiar; I guess it does. Each of us have heard this at sometime or the other or probably everyday and we have also said this many times ourselves.  Off late I am avoiding this statement as far as possible. It is not easy believe me, It is very difficult, because in some situation it is actually no time, but then I have taken a vow to not blame time for not being able to keep with a commitment.

Now have I gone crazy to take such a decision. Not really, but I am sure that if I do not stick on this I will go crazy, because every time I say "No Time, Sorry I am busy!", I am telling my brain that this is the easiest and convincing excuse to use. Again making excuses is a natural defense mechanism, and is often the primary cause of not meeting and accomplishing goals. I have started noticing that time is always there if we really want to do something, what I mean is that if we need to start believing in our own capabilities. We need to take failures with a pinch of salt. In every failure there is a hidden success which we never try to see! This is a one aspect that each of us needs to explore and sustain. We can actually start this as an experiment. Explore another person's failure at something and discover the hidden success story. Then share it with that individual. Do this a couple of times and you will be able to do the same to yourself!

PS: All views and thoughts expressed are my own.

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An important lesson for today’s world

 

An excerpt from The GOSPEL of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa…..

How to deal with the wicked

A DEVOTEE: "Sir, if a wicked man is about to do harm, or actually does so, should we keep quiet then?"

MASTER: "A man living in society should make a show of tamas to protect himself from evil-minded people.  But he should not harm anybody in anticipation of harm likely to be done him. 

Parable of the snake

"Listen to a story.  Some cowherd boys used to tend their cows in a meadow where a terrible poisonous snake lived.  Everyone was on the alert for fear of it.  One day a brahmachari was going along the meadow.  The boys ran to him and said: 'Revered sir, please don't go that way.  A venomous snake lives over there.' 'What of it, my good children?' said the brahmachari.  'I am not afraid of the snake.  I know some mantras.' So saying, he continued on his way along the meadow.  But the cowherd boys, being afraid, did not accompany him.  In the mean time the snake moved swiftly toward him with upraised hood.  As soon as it came near, he recited a mantra, and the snake lay at his feet like an earthworm.  The brahmachari said: 'Look here.  Why do you go about doing harm? Come, I will give you a holy word.  By repeating it you will learn to love God.  Ultimately you will realize Him and so get rid of your violent nature.' Saying this, he taught the snake a holy word and initiated him into spiritual life.  The snake bowed before the teacher and said, 'Revered sir, how shall I practise spiritual discipline?' 'Repeat that sacred word', said the teacher, 'and do no harm to anybody'.  As he was about to depart, the brahmachari said, 'I shall see you again.'

"Some days passed and the cowherd boys noticed that the snake would not bite.  They threw stones at it.  Still it showed no anger; it behaved as if it were an earthworm.  One day one of the boys came close to it, caught it by the tail, and, whirling it round and round, dashed it again and again on the ground and threw it away.  The snake vomited blood and became unconscious.  It was stunned.  It could not move.  So, thinking it dead, the boys went their way. 

"Late at night the snake regained consciousness.  Slowly and with great difficulty it dragged itself into its hole; its bones were broken and it could scarcely move.  Many days passed.  The snake became a mere skeleton covered with a skin.  Now and then, at night, it would come out in search of food.  For fear of the boys it would not leave its hole during the day-time.  Since receiving the sacred word from the teacher, it had given up doing harm to others.  It maintained its life on dirt, leaves, or the fruit that dropped from the trees. 

"About a year later the brahmachari came that way again and asked after the snake.  The cowherd boys told him that it was dead.  But he couldn't believe them.  He knew that the snake would not die before attaining the fruit of the holy word with which it had been initiated.  He found his way to the place and, searching here and there, called it by the name he had given it.  Hearing the teacher's voice, it came out of its hole and bowed before him with great reverence.  'How are you?' asked the brahmachari.  'I am well, sir', replied the snake.  'But', the teacher asked, 'why are you so thin?' The snake replied: 'Revered sir, you ordered me not to harm any body.  So I have been living only on leaves and fruit.  Perhaps that has made me thinner.'

"The snake had developed the quality of sattva; it could not be angry with anyone.  It had totally forgotten that the cowherd boys had almost killed it. 

"The brahmachari said: 'It can't be mere want of food that has reduced you to this state.  There must be some other reason.  Think a little.' Then the snake remembered that the boys had dashed it against the ground.  It said: 'Yes, revered sir, now I remember.  The boys one day dashed me violently against the ground.  They are ignorant, after all.  They didn't realize what a great change had come over my mind.  How could they know I wouldn't bite or harm anyone?' The brahmachari exclaimed: 'What a shame! You are such a fool! You don't know how to protect yourself.  I asked you not to bite, but I didn't forbid you to hiss.  Why didn't you scare them by hissing?'

"So you must hiss at wicked people.  You must frighten them lest they should do you harm.  But never inject your venom into them.  One must not injure others. 

"In this creation of God there is a variety of things: men, animals, trees, plants.  Among the animals some are good, some bad.  There are ferocious animals like the tiger.  Some trees bear fruit sweet as nectar, and others bear fruit that is poisonous.  Likewise, among human beings, there are the good and the wicked, the holy and the unholy.  There are some who are devoted to God, and others who are attached to the world. 

 

If you want to read more http://belurmath.org/gospel/

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