Silence and Solitude

I have always enjoyed solitude and silence right from my childhood and this trait has been a part of my personality. But many people mistook me for ‘the proudest’ and some of my friends used to call me ‘a solo man’ during my collage days. I have no specific reason for this trait except that I was born with it. I do not regret it but I understand the negative side of this personality, especially when you have to freely move in a society and make new contacts and friendship to expand your circle for better prospects and future. This is especially true when it comes to business, trade and networking. The positive side of it is, I was able to focus my mind on research and development, innovation and it opened a whole range of new possibilities. When you are silent, your mind works fast and your imagination soars to new heights. Albert Einstein who I always admired as a scientist, once quoted, “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. I can certainly understand why he was walking in a pouring rain in the streets of Berlin, oblivious of his surroundings, while his mind was deeply contemplating about the theory of relativity. He was completely drenched and he did not realize that he was drenched in a pouring rain until his friends remarked about it. In a way he was a ‘karma yogi’ who dedicated his whole life in pursuit of scientific knowledge and unraveling the mysteries of the universe. Silence and solitude was certainly part of his personality. In fact, his parents thought he was dumb child because he hardly spoke to others during his early stages, but sat quietly in his backyard gazing at the sky and stars. Silence is something I always seek, because it helps me in my inward journey of contemplation and meditation. When you withdraw your mind from the external world of sights and sounds, there is so much to discover. It is like diving into a sea where you can witness amazing lives of plants, corals and colorful fishes. It is entirely a new world where one can search and discover pearls. But will the silence and solitude help you progress in your career and profession and achieve your goals of success? It is a question somebody asked Jesus Christ two thousand years before. He said,”You cannot serve two masters”.Obvisouly one has to choose either a prospective carrier and material wealth or choose a secluded life of silence and solitude and pursue your spiritual goals. I have always thought about these two conflicting alternatives and the path forward. I can now say in unequivocal terms that perusing spirituality is the right choice than perusing a success in this materialistic world. One has to only look at the history of so-called successful people who lived and died. Albert Einstein named as the man of the millennium, died as a lonely man, as a recluse, in spite of the pinnacle of success he achieved in science. Look at the kings, queens, presidents, business tycoons, scientists and Philosophers and the list is endless. What happened to their glorious past and memories? People do not remember even their legacies. Everything vanishes into a thin air. As Jesus was leaving the Temple, one of his disciples said,”Look, teacher! What wonderful stones and buildings!”Jesus answered, “You see these great buildings? Not a single stone here will be left in its place: every one of them will be thrown down.” Every beginning has an end, and every end has a new beginning. This is the law of nature. One can choose a path only by an discriminative knowledge and Jesus encouraged people “to seek to find”. After all, one can seek only in solitude and in silence. I do not regret my trait because it is my destiny that shows me a path for an eternal freedom called ‘salvation’.

Yoga and myths of modern world

Ancient Indian scriptures stipulated certain conditions for any new aspirants to practice Yoga. They described the type of country one should live, the food, the climate, the rule of law etc.They suggested that if these conditions were not met then, ‘practicing yoga’ was a futile exercise. The purpose of these conditions were based on the fact that yoga involves four stages of developments namely, moral, physical, mental and spiritual and the environment should be conducive to achieve these changes.Moeover, the yoga practice was an integral part of Hindu religion and it was based on the fact that human beings can achieve a spiritual integration with the universal creative divine force in a practical way. These may be viewed as ‘Metaphysical concepts’ by Western countries but those few yogis were able to transcend the physical body and achieve such integration. They were able to survive in ‘suspended animation’ for days together, which today medical world may not accept as a ‘possibility’. But these incidents have been observed by scientists and recorded. In ‘astanga yoga’ (eight stage yoga) the first two stages are moral, namely Yama and Niyma.This is the fundamental requirement for any aspirant to start the practice of yoga. The second stage is physical, Pranayama and Asana. The third is mental Pratihara, Dharna, and Dyana and the final stage is spiritual, Samadhi. Unfortunately, yoga has been interpreted in our modern world as a kind of physical exercise’ and ‘yoga institutes’ commercialized such concepts. In reality, it is only about ‘yoga asana’, the physical postures. Of course each and every asana posture offers certain health benefits to various organs in human body and longevity. But this is only small portion of the big story called ‘Raja yoga’. One has to go back thousands of years in history of ancient India to visualize the environment in which Yoga was practiced. Kings were ruling smaller area of lands (hundreds of kingdoms in ancient India), morals, ethics, rule of law, justice were matters of critical importance for kings and citizens. The population was very thin and the king had a direct access his citizens. They had small army; religious rituals and temple worships were practiced daily. Gods and Goddesses were the main focus of attention for all. The priests were treated with great respect and reverence. Mysticism was accepted as a part of yoga and revered. India was one of the richest and civilized societies in the ancient world. Indus valley civilization was known as the ‘cradle of civilization’ and Sanskrit scriptures opened ways for rise of religions like Buddhism and Jainism. In our modern scientific world, the concept of yoga has been completely misunderstood. For example, yoga stipulates strict vegetarian diet. I can hardly image how many people can practice Vegetarian in our modern life. But one can understand the value of vegetarian diet only by practicing it. My own experience shows that such a diet can completely change one’s personality over the years. It subdues ones emotions and instincts drastically and such as change will reflect in one’s personality. I always wonder how people are struggling with their weights, anger managements and behaviors in their everyday life. Diet, personality and behavior are closely inter-connected. A simple vegetarian food can solve the problems of obesity and anger management. This is precisely why Yoga stipulates certain conditions, because, one’s body, mind and spirit are inseperable.Only with a focused mind and dedication, an aspirant of yoga can achieve integration with divinity in real life. Questioning such integration with a rational mind is a futile exercise. To achieve integration, one should have faith and such faith can come only by practice and realizing its value. Once you realize the value then you have realized the truth of yoga and nothing will change you after. I practice science as well as spirituality, and I fully understand the clear demarcation between these two. Rational mind has its limitations and it cannot go beyond a point. But spiritual practice can take you where science fails to take. This is my personal experience. The reason why people are unable to achieve such divine integration in our modern world is because the first two aspects of yoga (Yama and Nyama) morals and ethics are not practiced. True yogis are ‘extinct species ‘in our modern world.

The observer and the observed

Buddha encouraged people not to accept any doctrine or dogma blindly, including his own teachings, but find out by themselves with their own knowledge and worldly experiences. His suggestion is based on two factors. Once you are born into this physical world with a physical body, then there is a purpose (past karma). This purpose has a past and your present is a continuum of such a past (reincarnation). Only you can find out this purpose by your own intellect and experience. Your knowledge of the past remains elusive, as long as the veil of Maya (ignorance) covers your intellect. Secondly, each individual is unique and they have to find ways and means for their salvation by their own ways, because, they are conditioned by circumstances of their birth, language, culture, relationships and beliefs. It is extremely difficult for an individual to break this mould of ‘conditioned world’ and think ‘outside the box’. Both Hinduism and Buddhism emphasize that ‘discriminative knowledge’ alone, is the key for such wisdom. Human brain is a very powerful tool by which we come to know everything in the world.Togather with knowledge and imagination; human beings have achieved miraculous things. We are able to probe deep into the past several millions years with Carbon dating techniques, and explain how the past existed. We are able to use our imagination and able to project the future, how human beings can achieve things merely by using their ‘thought processes’ using computers. We are reaching the pinnacle of science and technology. In spite of all these advancements, there are sufferings and pain everywhere in our everyday lives. Why this anomaly? The material comforts and scientific knowledge are not sufficient to alleviate our pain and suffering in our day today lives. They are not sufficient to bring our loved ones from their past death. They are not sufficient to mend our ‘broken relationships’. They are grossly inadequate because, we have mistaken material wealth for happiness; we have mistaken this temporary life for permenance.We has mistaken a temporary relationship for permanent. We have mistaken pain for pleasure. These sufferings are our own making by our mistaken identity. In an interactive world, we need two things. One is an observer and another is observed. When there is no observer there is nothing observed. When you witness a person suffering, who feels this pain? It is your body that feels the pain and not you. When you mistake your body for you, then there is a pain and there is a suffering. The purpose of ‘Yoga’ is to teach and train you, to distinguish between your body and you. In deep meditation of Yoga, your body disappears along with pain. Then you can see clearly who you are. You stand alone. Hinduism describes you as a soul; ‘it cannot be burnt with fire, moistened with water or dried by air’. When you identify yourself with body, then there is a pain. When you identify yourself with the soul, there is no pain. During Samadhi the individual ‘I or ego’ identity is simply dissolved into a vast ocean of universal force called Iswara (the creative force).