Does a stitch in time always save nine?

Proverbs are some of the most powerful collection of words in any language, and one good example of such a proverb is, "A stitch in time saves nine". The literal meaning of this proverb is that if there is a small cut in a piece of cloth, getting it stitched as early as possible prevents the cut from getting bigger and requiring more number of stitches. But the actual intended meaning is that if there is a problem, fixing it early prevents the problem from growing bigger and getting worse. Now, if its just about a cut in a cloth, the problem is easy to identify and equally easy to fix. But, for good or bad, real life problems are neither so easy to identify nor to solve. And many times, if one person identifies a particular problem, not everyone around necessarily agree that the problem exists. And even if they agree, they may not agree about the extent of the problem and the need for an immediate solution. And sometimes the justification for this is another equally important proverb, "Time is the best healer"! The idea is that some problems may actually get aggravated by human intervention and are best resolved on their own. For example, if we get a mild fever, its sometimes better to allow the fever to subside on its own rather than popping a pill as soon as the thermometer crosses 100.

Managing the Academic Phase Transitions

Most of times, life feels like a continuous process going from one point in time to the next in a smooth fashion. However, there are several points in time when this smooth flow is broken and one has to go through very discontinuous jumps or phase transitions. These transitions bring in many unforeseen challenges which one is usually not well prepared to handle. These jumps can be heart-wrenching for those who are unable to handle the new situations, but can also be a great opportunity for others who were lagging behind in the previous phase of life. There are many people who do well in the early stages of life but loose out over time, and one of the main reasons for this is their inability to maintain success across various phase transitions. We should not assume that what made us successful in one phase of life will naturally lead to success in the next phase. It is very important to prepare ourselves accordingly and acquire new skills as and when required. In life outside college, these phase transitions can be quite unpredictable and so that much harder to be prepared for. But within the academic system, these phase transitions are actually quite well defined upto the senior professional level.

The first phase transition comes after 10th, when most good students are expected to start working towards cracking a professional examination at the end of their 12th class. Then the next phase transition is from 12th to college life, where often there is too much freedom than what one can handle. For most people, academic life ends with a bachelors or masters degree but for those who choose to pursue a PhD, thats another huge academic phase transition. A PhD is nothing like usual academics pursuits and requires a totally different approach. Most people who complete a PhD naturally look for faculty positions, but are again seldom aware of the totally new set of challenges it brings along! We will take these four major academic phase transitions one by one and try to analyse how one can be well prepared to handle these.

How to handle spiritual depression?

Like all other human endeavours, spiritual journey is also filled with its share of obstacles. In verse 7.3 of the Bhagwad Gita, Krishna says that among many who strive for spiritual perfection, only a few reach the final goal. One of the reasons which makes any material or spiritual endeavour especially difficult is that there are long periods of time when the journey seems too tasteless and even painful. Some people choose to change track during such times and pursue greener pastures, which may not be such a bad thing in some cases. But some get really depressed since they still have faith in the chosen path, but don't know how to get over the rough patch they are going through. In spiritual pursuits, this may manifest either in the form of an unwillingness to carry out the practices  (sadhana) for an extended period of time or as a lack of special experiences even after doing the practices sincerely for a long time. 

Caste System, First Borns and Technology

India is one of the most diverse countries in the world with a very rich cultural and philosophical heritage. It has also been making notable contribution to science, mathematics and medicine since ancient times. But as they say, one bad fish can spoil the whole pond. And in the case of India, that bad fish is the caste system. It is quite unfortunate that many of our intellectuals see ancient and medieval India primarily through the looking glass of caste system, and often ignore other aspects that will make any human feel great. There are some who are genuinely perturbed by the prevalence of social ills like untouchability and there are others who find vilifying India as a road to acceptance among other intellectuals who think that way. It is very strange that so many intellectuals in India take great pride in having read Plato and Aristotle, but feel no need to read Vivekananda and Aurobindo. Isn't that another form of caste system and untouchability? Vivekananda once said, "The caste system is opposed to Vedanta. Caste is a social custom, and all our great preachers have tried to break it down. From Buddhism downwards, every sect has preached against caste, and every time it has only riveted the chains. Caste is simply the outgrowth of the political institutions of India; it is a hereditary trade guild. Trade competition with Europe has broken caste more than any teaching."

What was Sri Ramakrishna’s message?

One distinguishing feature of almost all Indian spiritual Gurus is that they were all great poets. A poet is not necessarily someone who has a great command over a particular human language or someone who uses very flowery language in his/her writings and sayings. A poet is one whose words carry very deep spiritual meanings which keep evolving over many centuries and millennia to come. This is very important for conveying spiritual truths since, unlike mathematics, their meanings are very subjective and heavily dependent on time, space and situation. There is an element of objectivity present since the words spoken are still valid, but the meanings are subjective. It is like the eternal relation between Purusha and Prakriti. One aspect of reality is changeless and another keeps changing at every moment! Spiritual groups and organizations, which stick to the literal meanings of the words spoken by their Gurus, are often found to deteriorate quite quickly. Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has rightly said, “There is only one way to put mystical experiences into words, and that is poetry.”

Guidelines for Preparing the Personal Yoga Cocktail

In Yoga philosophy, there are four major paths available for spiritual progress: Karma, Bhakti, Jnana and Kriya. Bhakti Yoga proceeds through control and channelization of emotions. Karma Yoga proceeds through unselfish service of society. Jnana Yoga proceeds through intellectual discrimination between real and unreal, usually accompanied with a deep study of the scriptures. And Kriya Yoga proceeds through refinement of the gross and subtle energies. Each of these four paths is said to be capable of taking the spiritual aspirant to the highest state of enlightenment. However, it is not possible for a human being to follow only one of these four and exclude all others. Human existence is a mixture of all these aspects and thus, a good combination of these paths is required, somewhat like a cocktail. The primary difficulty here is that there is no simple formula available, which can help us in deciding which combination to follow. Pursuing the path of Yoga is a bit like consuming alcohol. It tastes bitter in the beginning, but then slowly one starts appreciating its deep flavours. And mindless over-consumption of both results in severe problems! But just to avoid misconceptions, please note that consumption of alcohol is generally not conducive for progress in Yoga.

What does the Taj Mahal stand for?

The past millennia or so of Indian history is largely a painful story of invasions by Mughals and Britishers. The Mughals (and other Muslim invaders) left no stone unturned in destroying our sacred monuments, universities and libraries. And the British had a more devastating effect by directly tampering with our education system which led to a severe erosion of our culture and social fabric. Of course, one could argue that the British also brought in many things modern, without which Indians would have been left behind by several centuries. However, when we look at the Mughal period, there is nothing much that they did which could have contributed to India's advancement, perhaps except for the Taj Mahal! It is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful monuments not only in India but over the whole world. But what does the Taj Mahal stand for? Some would say it stands for our slavish past. Others would say that it stand as a sign of the deepest love that a man can have for a woman. Yet others would say that it stands for the exquisite skill of Indian artisans of those times. But is there another perspective we could have on this that perhaps connects the Taj Mahal to the deeper dimensions of Indian history and culture?

Academic Institutions and Spiritual Organisations

Among all things that influence a human's life, the most important one is perhaps education. And, broadly speaking, education has two roles to play. One is to empower humans to earn his/her living and live in a respectful manner in the society. And another is to help humans in the process of spiritual evolution. These two roles are not disconnected from each other and, for most people, actually go hand-in-hand. It is not an either-or situation. Most human beings need to sustain themselves respectfully in the society as well as make spiritual progress. And in ancient India, both these roles of education were played by the same centres of learning (called gurukul). The teacher who taught economics also taught the art of inner well-being. And in fact, all the branches of learning, be it economics or music or sword fighting or anything else, had spiritual progress as their end goal. As Aurobindo once said, "Everyone has in him something divine, something his own, a chance of perfection and strength in however small a sphere which God offers him to take or refuse. The task is to find it, develop it & use it. The chief aim of education should be to help the growing soul to draw out that in itself which is best and make it perfect for a noble use."

Preventing Student Suicides

Youth is supposed to be a time of maximal exuberance. When a person reaches late teens, s/he starts breaking off the limitations of childhood but is yet to form the barriers of adulthood. It is a time to enjoy life in multiple dimensions and also acquire the skills that will be useful for later life. This is also a time when a human being is supposed to enjoy the best health conditions, both physically and mentally. But unfortunately, over the last decade or so, the problems of adulthood have started plaguing human beings during their days of youth. Diabetes and heart attacks are no longer the problems of old age and have taken hold over many people in their 30s and 40s. And so is the case with mental ailments. Stress and depression have become almost as common as cough and cold. And these problems have also led many students to take the extreme step of committing suicide. And this is not just at ordinary colleges but at the most premier of our institutions. Many of our best and brightest are suffering from these problems at very acute levels. 

Sound and Vibration in Vedanta

Recitation of mantras plays such an important role in Vedanta that the path of realisation prescribed by it can also be called Mantra Yoga or Nada Yoga. Even the Sanskrit language, in which all the Vedic verses were composed, bears a clear testimony to this deep connection between Yoga and sound. In the Vedic tradition, a lot of emphasis is given on the rote learning of the hymns with the main purpose of making the students properly learn the phonetics of each mantra. It is often said that the sounds produced by properly chanting the mantras are much more important than the meaning one may associate with it. Meaning is a mental construct which may vary from person to person, but sounds have an objective reality to them. It is even said that this whole world is created out of sound. As Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev says, "When unmanifest existence - often referred to as space or silence - began to reverberate, the first manifestation was sound". This thought also finds mention in some of the western philosophical traditions. For example, the Bible says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God".

Some scientific questions for mystics

1. It is often said in Indian mysticism that the universe is created out of sound. Physicists believe that the universe is created out of vibrations. Accordingly to mystics, what is the difference between sound and vibration? In physics, propagation of sound requires a material medium to exist whereas vibration is a lot more subtle. 

2. Several mystics have claimed that Indians knew about the value of speed of light long before its discovery by modern scientists. Though this could be true, modern physics goes much further and says that nothing in this universe can travel faster than the speed of light in vacuum. In fact, all theories of modern physics are based on this key assumption. What does mysticism have to say about this? In the physical dimensions, can something travel faster than light? 

3. String theory predicts that our space has many more dimensions than the 3 that we normally perceive. How are non-physical dimensions, that mysticism often refers to, different from these additional physical ones? Are non-physical dimensions also governed by objective laws? 

4. The process of consecration is said to be about a certain kind of energisation of mundane objects. But the physical energy of the mundane object does not seem to increase in the process as it neither starts traveling faster nor does it get hotter. This means that, according to mysticism, non-physical energy can be bound to physical dimensions without any net transfer of energy. But is it also possible for energy to be transferred from non-physical to physical dimensions? If yes, this would violate the physical principle of conservation of energy. 

5. Is there any physical basis for the origin of the primordial sound AUM (or, OM) or does it originate in the non-physical dimensions? Does the sound AUM have any physical properties that make it so special and unique? In other words, if we record the sound AUM uttered by a perfect being, will we get an audio signal with some unique statistical properties?

Summaries of Discussion Group Meetings : 2016-17

Free-will and Destiny

1. Is it necessary that at a fundamental level reality is either about 'free will' or 'destiny'? Can't both be equally valid concepts? May be we have free-will to take individual decisions but there is perhaps a cosmic intelligence that guides us towards certain outcomes taking the role of destiny.

Does suffering cease after self-realisation?

In a very interesting TED dialogue on Nationalism vs. Globalism, the historian Yuval Noah Harari said, "I think we don't need to find our role in the universe. The really important thing is to liberate ourselves from suffering. What characterises sentient beings in contrast to robots, to stones, to whatever, is that sentient beings suffer, can suffer, and what they should focus on is not finding their place in some mysterious cosmic drama. They should focus on understanding what suffering is, what causes it and how to be liberated from it." That is a very powerful thought and, in some sense, has been the central theme of almost all spiritual teachings across the world. Many of these spiritual teachings, specially those that originated in India, offer great philosophical insights into this fundamental question and also show the path that eventually leads to end of suffering. The most iconic story in this regard is perhaps that of Buddha who was so moved by the suffering of other people that he gave up all his royal pleasures to search for an answer and eventually propounded an eightfold path to liberate people from their suffering. The final step in this process is an experience of samadhi or self-realisation after which the individual is claimed to be finally free from all suffering. Whether it is humanly possible to reach such a state of meditation is a deep question in itself, but even if a person is able to achieve that state, does it really lead to an end of all suffering?