|
|
 21 Feb 2002 @ 01:37
It is very pleasant today. Drizzling and light snowier. How delectable is a drizzle after sizzling heat! I its the nature of weather to change . Something it is hot , at other times cold. Nothing in the world is eternal; everything undergoes a change. Man to is sometimes calm, at other times inflamed. Such is the inevitable law of change. Everything changes. Our thoughts too change. some people say that thought is eternal. There is a contradiction here, for thoughts and eternity do not go together; no thought lasts for ever; it can not stay for long; it gives way to another. It is variable and what is variable can not be constant.
Change and fixity may coexist in matter, but whatever is in motion cannot be stationary and what is stationary cannot be motion. What is eternal is not subject to change, and that which is subject to change cannot be eternal. Thought is inconstant, ever on the move. It is said that a particular man has changed his mind. There is nothing surprising about it. On the contrary, it would be surprising if the mind did not change. It is the nature of mind to change. The reigning idea of yesterday gives way to some new thought. The present conception will not last till tomorrow. If a man clings to one idea all his life, he is said to be a fanatic. It is a nature of thought to move constantly, to be variable and transient. Some people accept a belief and stick to it for life. They even feel proud of it, saying to themselves. "I am a man of strong character. I don't change. I stick to my view at all costs." Such people think they are being very wise; however it is foolish to be so rigid. A stone is hard, not pliable, and one's bones too may grow rigid and hard like stone. In this is involved great danger. If the bones are flexible, a man keeps in good health: it is a sign of ill health when the bones grow rigid. The more pliant one's bones the healthier one is. The hardening the spinal cord signifies loss of health. So clinging to one thing may be sheer obstinacy. In the absence of right thinking, one cannot differentiate between right and wrong. What is right appears to be wrong and vice versa. Some people never discover that they have been behaving foolishly all through.
A young wife said to her neighbor, "Many women these days find fault with there husbands. This is wrong. One should not critics one's husband before others. My own husband is a lazy lubber, a thought good for nothing. He is also very foolish, but I never talk of it!"
The field of thought is grossly perverted. A man goes on committing one folly after another, without once realizing that he is being silly. On the contrary he seeks to justify every action of his, even thought it be riddled with all sorts of contradictions and incongruities, rank foolishness often appearing in the grab of wisdom. No such thing in the inanimate world.
There are three different states of thinking-(i) Irrational (ii) Rational and (iii) Supra-rational. The state of irrationality is that in which an individual is simply incapable of thought. Sub-human creatures know not how to think. Even among humans there are idiots-these do not know how to think; they are simply incapable of thought. More >
|
|
|
|
 18 Feb 2002 @ 23:11
The sweltering summer! The scorching sun! In the hot season, one' brain to get heated up. For right thinking, however, one must have cool brain; a fervid brain hinders thinking.It also creates a unnecessary problems which invariably result in immoderate action. One chief sign of good health is that one's feet remain warm and brain cool. But with most people the reverse is the case: the brain gets heated up and the feet grow cold. If the brain keeps tranquil, a man can live for a long time. Established in peace, he lives with zest. One objective of deep breathing in to keep the brain cool.
Today's scientists are busy in developing the new technique which could enable man to live for 500 or even 1000 years. This is a technique of refrigeration,of deep freezing. A man is frozen cold. For 10 years he remains inert. Then he is exposed to heat and he gets up alive. The scientist experimented on ants and froze them alive.All the ants became dead and cold.After 10 minuets they were warmed up and they returned to life.They restarted their activity.We often see that flies and ants are fallen into cold water and appearing as dead. But a little application of heat resurrect them life.
If a man could be so frozen, he cold be live for a long time. Not to speak of the whole body, if only the brain can be keep cool, man's longevity would greatly increase. Untimely death occur most often in youth, the chief reason being the frequent heating up of the brain. A young man flares up too soon and too often: the frequent heating up destroys the brain cells.
Our brain cells is constitute the basis of our life. As long as these cells are alive and active, a man does not die even if his heart stops breathing.It has been observed that a man declared dead by the doctors, was found to be alive after some time. Occasionally, a 'dead' carried on the bier to the funeral ground and laid down on the earth for cremation, with firewood ranged all round ready to be ignited, comes to life and rises yawning on the pyre making the piled blocks go scattering. People mistake him for a ghost. But infect he never died. He was alive all the time. Only the doctor had declared him dead. Actually his brain was active-it had not died, and as long as the brain dose not die, a man cannot be said to be dead, despite heart-or pulse-failure.
The brain is the seat, the fundamental basis of life. The cooler the brain, the more wholesome one's life, and the more constructive one's thinking. Indeed, a cool brain is the essential pre-requisite for wholesome, constructive and balanced thinking. From this point of view, the second criterion for right thinking is weather thinking is being done in a state of frenzy or in a state of tranquility. Agitation renders thinking defective. Thinking done in a state of turmoil can never be wholesome, right balanced or constructive. It can be constructive only when the mind is not agitated. Thinking must be based upon the facts for only factual thinking has any utility. Where the fact become secondary and emotion reigns supreme, thinking can never be practical or sane. The thinking of an individual who doe not practice meditation and who has no control over his mind, whose mind is not tranquil and balanced, is ever abrupt and emotional-such a person is incapable of right thinking. More >
|
|
|
|
 14 Feb 2002 @ 01:45
Rene Descartes, the famous French philosopher said, "I think, therefore I am. That 'I Think' proves that 'I exist' - I exist because I think."
If I were to put it in dialectical terms, I would say, "I exist, and since I possess I developed brain, therefore I think."
Thinking does not characterise the brain; it is only a function and hence cannot be a characteristic feature. Our existence and our consciousness transcend thought. Thinking is merely is a spark of light, not the entire flame. Freedom from thought is total illumination.
Through the practices of meditation (dhyana) we attain a higher level of consciousness which transcends thought and were the direct experience begins. In the presence of direct experience, thoughts loses its raison d'etre and spontaneously comes to an end. Every thinking then become crystal clear because there is direct cognition. We see things as they are. There is no necessity for thoughts whatsoever. Where their is direct cognition, their is no thinking intrudes, there can be no perception.
There are three way of experiencing - to know, to see and to think. Someone asked:
"Has your servant perform the task entrusted to him?" The master said "I don't know. I shall find out and let you know." Thinking is irrelevant when an event concerns another person.
To another query, "Have you got such and such article in your house?", the master said, "I don't know. I'll see if its is there." Here too there is no room for thought. The first question elicited the answer. "I'll find out", the second drew forth, "I'll see." To know (to find out) and to see require no thinking. The necessity for thinking arises only when 'knowing' and 'seeing' are possible. What ever is hidden, not evident, about which is not possible to say anything with certainty, necessitates thought.
Thinking is a function of cerebral consciousness. It is thus a mere ray of light, not total illumination. When, in the clarity of perception, one attains a direct vision, all thought stands transcended.
The objective of dhyana-sadhna (training in meditation) is to help the sadhak (spiritual practitioner) achieve direct experience. When there is direct experience, thinking comes to an end and knowledge in its wholeness is born. However, as long as the individual is bound to his body, as long as his is tried to cerebral consciousness which preoccupies him wholly, and until transcend-dental consciousness is awakened in him, thoughts has its utility, and it is not possible to do away with it altogether.
Two kinds of people are free from thinking. One who attain direct perception, dose not have to think because he clearly perceives what is. The idiot or the foolish person dose not know how to think; he s simply incapable of thought.
The master said to the servant, "Here are two tins of vegetable oil. Hide this oil some where in the garden." The servant took away the tins and returned after some time to say, "Master, I have hidden the oil in the garden; now where shall I keep the empty tins?" The master explained , "what are you talking about? How and where did you hid the oil?" "Master! said the servant, I dig a pit near the tree and poured the oil into the pit and cover it with the earth. It is perfectly concealed; no stranger would be able to discover it. Now, what am I to do with the tins?"
The man who dose not know how to think, one who is totally devoid of the faculty of thought, is a perfect idiot - he can pour the oil into the pit, but he can never utilize it. He can hide the oil but not know where to hide the tins.
Thus two kinds of person enjoy the freedom from thinking - the enlightened one and the ignoramus. What a juxtaposition! And yet some juxtaposition do occur. Only two kind of persons are remain unmoved by honor or disgrace; the entirely wise (who has freed himself from all passions) and the perfectly foolish. One wonders how the two can have anything in common. In a person freed from all passions, all disparities crease; his whole disposition undergoes a transformation. On the, other hand the idiot has no capacity to discriminate between honor and disgrace; he just cannot distinguish between these two. Therefore he likes the wise one but for a different reason, remains unaffected. What an irony! what a remarkable coincidence! More >
|
|
|
