Monday, April 28, 2008

Overcoming Depression

I get depressed for various reasons…Sometimes it is because of the weather conditions.Constant sunshine cheers me up.So when I stayed at Texas for the past two years it was really nice.Even if I was terribly depressed …the nature around me lifted my spirits.I cannot bear cold/freezing/rainy/hailing/snowing places…They make me gloomy.As if fate wanted me to learn a lesson ,I am working at a place which hardly sees the sun.There is sunshine for only few hours in a week at the maximum…To make it more pleasant for me , this year my place is skipping summer.

There are lot of ways to overcome depression.Most of them are external stimuli given to you in a nice package.I have followed lot of these techniques to get out of depressed states.Only two good solutions have worked out for me.First is community service.When we see others suffering …our suffering looks so tiny in comparison.The second method is the "stupid method".Love depression and stay clam.It will leave you eventually.Either depression leaves or your body leaves.(Inappropriate joke!!! )

If you are the kind of person who has seen intense depression then it is evident, that our mind goes in predictable cycles.We get bogged down for some general scenarios.For me it is moral/ethical/justice oriented values.If I am stuck in a problem in which someone else does not take a right moral stand ..it makes me deeply angry.In the same way , I guess everyone in the world has something which turns them off.But if you are served the same scenario with different people and few more complexities added in ..we get vexed and then ultimately slip into depression.There are also other reasons for depression ..like death,financial crisis,spiritual crisis,boredom,loneliness,too many people around to bug you…etc..

To raise higher than our thoughts/emotions is a very difficult process.To reach a level where we neglect our thought process is even more difficult.This is the reason why positive statements don't make us very happy when we are depressed.It helps you a little bit by giving hope but it does not cure you.Positive thoughts are fed to the mind and we can train the mind to be positive for a while but once the mind gets de-hypnotized it slips back into a depressive state.The only thing which helps us is Action.You may have a thought which says that you are worthless, but then again you can act your way towards success. The body cannot take severe emotions.It gets agitated and becomes weak.We can get affected by severe diseases and sometimes even tumors/cancers are a result of deep depression.(Subject to speculation…All medical studies are bound to change every two hours)
Mental analysis rarely cure depression.If they could cure, then psychotherapists would have been billionaires.(they have become millionaires!!!).I don't see any reason why we have this ideal in our head that life one day will be without problems.Even Buddha made it clear that "Life is suffering" and the only way out for him was meditation and acceptance of impermanence.The only foolproof way to combat depression is to work diligently even when we are not depressed.To constantly check our motives and our expectations.To let it go when the time comes.No regrets, no grievances.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

My blog

I thank everyone who take the time to read and comment on my blog.If anyone looks at the series of the posts it revolves on the following themes..
1.Birth/Death
2.Desire
3.Thought/Knowledge/Emotion
4.Devotion/Service/Realization
5.Practical Implications of Advaita Vedanta/Buddhism
6.Social Issues(Dealing with India)

The theories of Advaita and Buddhism may look contradictory.Adviata hits directly on the issues of Moksha whereas Buddhism deals with the issues related to the body/emotions/thoughts.
All paths lead to the truth.Anything which is false ...will fall away eventually.I wanted to honestly write about what I feel/believe/imagine...In no way ...I say that, I have knowledge about scriptures of any religion/path.What I write should always be taken as spiritual entertainment.
I have no strong hold on the English vocabulary/grammar..most of my posts will have huge errors..Language is always a barrier and so are words...Words have no use...As is the case with silence...

Old age/death

Its so amazing how we think and plan for the future as if we are going to last forever.But the truth is any moment we may leave away everything.Sometimes this truth deeply sinks into me and I start grabbing all my ambitions and try to calculate what I have done.But death is the best remedy for all of us.It wipes our slates clean.To think about future for me looks like a pain because I am constantly aware that death sits on my shoulder.It may look like a pessimistic view on life that I associate my future with death.But it occurs at so many levels...Only thing is our society gives so much importance to being young...that we forget death...
In ancient times death/old age was given its due respect.In Indian tradition we respect every old person as a wise person..even if he/she is a beggar/cheat...I find stillness and divinity in older people faces.Its quite opposite to popular culture ...that I find old people faces attractive.Starting from my grandmother,I used to feel each wrinkle on her face is a testimonial of the hardships and the joy she has seen in her life...Old is always gold...

Absence of Emotions

Can we lose the ability to have simple emotions.Is emotional deadening a mark of a evolved person.Most of the religious/spiritual books do tell us how everything related to emotion is useless.Our jealousy,pride,sadness or happiness is the same.Sometimes I cannot feel any emotion.My body becomes like a machine reacting and acting towards external stimuli.Does that say I am in a better state than before?

The Ignorance of Knowledge

Knowledge is seen as power.We use this power in lot of hidden ways.The moment we feel we have acquired some knowledge…we need to use it.We use it by making it show our greatness by making others feel lower.We ask stupid questions and go around in circles so that we can satisfy our own puffed ego's.We aim for greater degrees and lesser use.I think Mahatama Gandhi was right when he spoke of the nation's future is in the hands of heartless intellectuals.Knowledge if true should attempt to destroy the shackles of ego.It makes you more humble.The aim of an individual should be to provide a balance between sound judgement and love .Absence of emotion should not be the result of knowledge.True knowledge makes you treat everyone in the same way as you would treat your loved ones

My mind is like a monkey

The problem with my mind…sorry all minds…Is they keep jumping around…we like to make problems ,we like to analyze and we like to find solutions…and frame new questions…But trying to quieten... is not a natural process.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Destruction

Whenever you think of progressing on the path of higher consciousness there is a lot of destruction.We have to be ready mentally and physically ... all things will get badly affected.Mentally we may sink into depression which may last sometimes for years until we get adjusted to the growth.Physically the intense self search gives rise to increase in severe body aches and high fevers.All relationships go for a toss because we are not interested in anyone other than ourselves and our search.When the divine self becomes more important somehow the worldly occupations don't seem important.May be that is the reason various orders of monks/spiritual institutions were formed to give support for people who are in the seeking mode.Personally I feel we need support ..but this should never make us a parasite.Take help so that you can stand on your own two feet.Some of the scriptures write that once we start to seek ,the karma starts evaporating quickly and we may have very painful things happen to us.But all these occurrences are quite common and they should not push anyone to take extreme measures.If you are truly committed to the search then you will hold the body and use the body to achieve realization.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Desire

Desire is the same..It creeps in and makes us very desperate.All the theories of illusion and reality may exist.But none of them have any practical use to the society in general.The world runs with the principles made by foolish men/women.How can you live in the world and stay as if you are not going to act through any of the world principles.Its like a game you are playing....and you have to follow the rules to be in the game.
If you exist on the planet then you have to belong to a country.You are not going to say that i don't belong anywhere.Even if the earth is not flat ... it gives a impression that it is flat .Thats the reason we use 2 dimensional maps.It makes life easier to have the illusion that earth is flat.A 3 dimensional map will surely confuse you to no end.Coming to the ever lasting question of enlightenment ..If it has to happen and there is a need for it ...it will happen on its own way...
Thats what I have realized ...No need of breaking your head on stupid analogies.But if you have a desire to follow a particular method then i don't think its good to suppress it.Any method like devotion,yoga or meditation....let it act and nature will take its course...It will ruin you and at the same time your desire will get extinguished.

Having no Expectations

Having no expectations is a unreal state.I tried so hard not to have any attachment to the results.I have never succeeded in it.All the holy books can say and tell us to remain detached but to me that is not working.I am a first grade sinner and I agree to it heartfully.My mind always is greedy and it only aims for things which can satisfy my ego.People,things,ambition all are useful to me only after I have analyzed what I can obtain from them.In my whole life I have never committed any action for the heck of it.Its always like an economic transaction.I need to know what I can obtain and then I move forward.

The only way I could remain detached was when I never gave a damn about the action itself.So when I performed something and let it go …it was only because my mind got involved with something else.Some thing ,some desire…clouded my eyes so much that I forgot to sit and think about the result.So my conclusion about the detachment theory is that we have to use child psychology on ourselves.If you are with a child and you give them candy they would never think about other things .Same way you don't want to think about result show yourself some religious/spiritual/materialistic candy and your mind will never think of the result.You can float in your divine world thinking you achieved a new stage of greatness…but the truth is just that its "child psychology" performed on adults..

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Lust

Lust is the most common emotion I guess we all feel.I mean till the day you are going to die... you have lust of differnt intensities.Lust has always been seen as something very negative and the society tries to paint bad pictures about the most evident emotion we feel.When you are attracted to a person it should be clear on what basis the foundation of your felling is based.Physically we are attracted to a person and we may dream of having a pleasurable relation.Mentally we get attracted,Spiritually we get attracted , all these things are the same thing.How can we rate and say that the physical is the least,then comes mental attraction and then spiritual attarction.
Most of the time the physical attarction fades away..so does the other mental and spiritual attarction.The problem is not with the other person ...the problem is with our minds.We always want some pleasure ...we hunt for pleasure...in every way ..in every person...in every opppurtunity...
If you lust for a person ...please go ahead and say it loud..that you do..you are human ...and thats why you feel it!!!

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Just some random thoughts

Our present self is a creation of our own ideas of what we want to be.All the ancient texts have thrown light upon the fact that we are what we think and imagine.Everything is a repetitive process.Knowledge itself can be a mere illusion of someone else.Starting from when a kid is taken the first steps into school,we program ourselves to be able to function well as humans.All knowledge becomes unnecessary when we realize that in some way or another the laws formulated don't work.Everything has a limitation and is subject to change.The answer of permanence and of unification theories of science have never seen the light of day.If one parameter is changed ..all the parameters change with it naturally and a constant system can never be obtained.So to give so much importance to mind games and assimilation of knowledge will be foolish.But then again how do we define our natural inclinations.As a person we are inclined to certain areas in our existence.Prodigies can never be explained.Deja-vu's cannot be defined by any common theory.Reincarnation cannot be a good solution.Life cannot be explained…words cannot define it.If life alone can never be explained, then how can death be explained…Sometimes I feel getting scared of death is like getting scared of our own shadows.Shadows exist as long as the person exists.As long as light shines on us and blinds us..we see our own shadows and get scared.If this explanation I have given can take out the fear of death ,then everything would be just great.But this does not happen …as the fear continues..Its not the fear of death…but fear itself!!!!