Where God lives ?

When the master was studying the tradition of his people, one of his friends said jockingly.
"I will give you one rupee if you can tell me where God lives."
"I will give you two rupees if you can tell me where He doesn't live." replied the master.

Maktub - It is written

When I wrote in my second post "It is only to make me remember how dreadful it is to lose your peace of mind." , I had a specific reading in my mind. It was from a book called Maktub by Paulo Coelho. You can download the book from the link. It is a beautiful book of short spiritual stories. Each one is very simple yet very effective. Here is the one that inspired me...

During the period when the wanderer was practicing Zen meditation, his master, one day went to one corner of the dojo (the site where his disciples congregated), and returned with a bamboo switch. Some of his students -- those who had not been able to concentrate well -- raised their hand. The master approached each of them and delivered three blows with the switch on each shoulder. When he saw this for the first time, the wanderer regarded it as medieval and absurd. Later, he understood that it is often necessary to transfer spiritual pain to the physical plane in order to perceive the evil that it creates.

On the road to Santiago, he had learned an exercise that involved the digging of the nail of his index finger into the skin of his thumb whenever he had thoughts that were critical of himself. The terrible consequences of negative thoughts are perceived only much later. But by allowing such thoughts to manifest themselves as physical pain, we are able to understand the damage they cause. And then we are able to banish them.

Happy reading...

- Uday

Pain Pain , What is your gain ?

Recently, I got one dental surgery to remove two of my wisdom teeth. The first one was easy to remove but second one took more time and effort. They had given local anesthesia but it still gave great pain. (The applied location for local anesthesia is very important. If it is altered a bit, anesthetic effect becomes less). In fact, it was the worst pain I had ever felt. I was literally praying for the surgery to get completed soon. After the operation, I was little irritated and negative. Then I thought: let me know this pain…

Lord Buddha gave four noble truths to this world.

1. There is suffering
2. There is cause (origin) of suffering
3. There is the end of suffering
4. It is the Noble Eightfold Path, that is to say: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration , to end the suffering.

Suffering or pain plays very important role in one’s life.
What is pain ? Pain is an energy entrapped within which if not treated properly can harm the bearer. Every pain has the potential to transform the person carrying it. But how to transform ?

First and foremost thing is to be aware that there is pain. Sometimes, we are not even aware that we are in pain. When we feel it, look close about its origin. Don’t look at outside. Look inside. How it was created ? Who created it ? If somebody created it, it can not be my pain. Only I can create my pain. This is the first understanding.

When you become enough aware to find out the cause of pain, your horizon expands. Now, that you know the cause, know also that it can be ended by non other than you.

First, don’t let pain energy convert into negative energy. Most of the times, it is the case. We unconsciously become negative, frustrated, irritated with pain and tend to transmit this negativity to others. This can be avoided. Having moments of peace in spite of the pain is a great transformer because such time usually subsides the ego at least momentarily. Here, you resolve your pain energy into the expansion of your peace. You are in pain, but that is no longer a sufficient reason to loose your peace!! In fact, no reason is.

As jay says:

"A sleeping person is more likely to notice someone pinching him/her rather than vague noises in the room. Situations being perceived as problems indicate sleep.

The victory of the inner battle is to understand that it is pointless and that it’s the mind fighting from both sides. You are not even there. If we strip the situation of its specifics, it is just a collection of mind impulses. If we are not aware of how they operate, then we just give a programmed response (e.g. getting angry or irritated if our (mind's) needs are not met.)

if we can become aware, its a chance to explore a new dimension........a dimension free of mind's preconditioning.......a real beginning of choices.....

So it is not so crucial how a situation ends, but it is crucial how we are at the end of it.

After all, Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional."

So, what is your perspective of pain ?

- Uday

Some thoughts on "Right, Wrong or Peaceful ?"

I was expecting some good thoughts after posting my last post. And I was not disappointed. Here is a thought of Puneet.

"The flipside to notice here is if they had accepted your documents after you got angry, would you still be writing this blog the way you have written, would you still be wondering about peace of mind.

Sometimes a situation like this makes us think about peace and personal benefit rather than monetary but if you change a few parameters in the entire situation, you don't know if you would have thought and felt the same.

In your own words "Things are the way they are if you understand(accept) them. Things are the way they are even if you don't understand(accept) them""

A very accurate observation ! yes, I might have not got these thoughts had they accepted my documents. That is why it is said, each incident offers you one opportunity to improve yourself. Sometimes, we need harder ones to give us the wisdom we seek. Somebody had said :" No pain, no gain". I may put it in these words: "There is no such thing as problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts" (from Illusions - Richard Bach)

Hope, we all can reach at the stage where, we don't need any particular event to understand the truth lying beneath...

- Uday

Right , Wrong or Peaceful ?

Recently, I faced one difficult test. The story goes like this.

In my company, salary includes one component called FBP (Flexible Benefit Plan) in which we need to provide bill receipt to claim the reimbursements. I declared my FBP with telephone bills. After 2 days, my company got converted into public limited. so they asked all to fill FBP in four days to claim the reimbursement. After that, they were not going to process it. Now, before one day of deadline, I got my application back, because I had attached wrong form (my form carried more and all details than the asked form.) I filled that form and sent it back. After four days, it came back again asking to submit original bills ASAP , as receipts were not accepted. The mail came late on friday (6:13 PM to be exact) . I sent bills on monday. Didn't get any reply. So thought everything is fine. Then, on next friday, I got my FBP. Telephone reimbursement ? 0.

Why ? I asked. They said I didn't submit my bills on or before sunday. I said I never knew that sunday was the last date. You asked me to submit it ASAP so I sent it on next working day. They said they could have considered it even on monday. I said I have sent it on monday only. They didn't get any !! Or they lost it ?

I asked them why didn't they asked me to submit bills early ? They asked me why didn't you submit your FBP earlier in the last 4 months ? I asked them to consider it as special case and do the process. They said they can't. It is frozed. What if everybody comes and asks for the same ? I told them they should do this because it was not my fault. I was new to this company and didn't know the process-flow. And there was no help on this either. They said now its almost 5 months. you should have known all these things. Finally, I asked: "do I have any hope of getting it ?" they said: NO.

I was definitely angry. I even became rude with that person. I shouted on him. He was calm. I thought definitely, what was he loosing ? I thought he could have done it if he wanted to. But he didn't. I lost peace of my mind.

Then, after some moments, I thought :" Is it a question of right, wrong or peace ?" I lost my peace believing I was right and other person was wrong. I thought I should not tolerate this injustice. I must act against it. Otherwise I am also taking part in this system. But isn't being peaceful all the time is more than being just (relative) right ? When I lost peace of my mind, the battle outside was already over. Now, it was all inside.

Things happen and are generally out of our control. We can however, control our mind participation. I firmly believe - whatever happens, you can keep your peace of mind. When you loose it, you loose all. In normal circumstances, we easily follow it. But when you think you are right and you have been treated badly, you tend to forget it. The real "TAPA" is to easily pass into such situations.

Then what should be my reward ? First, Be Alert - Be witness - Stay present.
Two, I am not claiming any telephone reimbursement for this year. Well, there is no ill-will or over-reaction. It is only to make me remember how dreadful it is to lose your peace of mind.

So, Right or Wrong ?
Aha, finally it just is.

- Uday

Welcome back , on the old voyage !!

I have always been a true admirer of literature. I started writing letters at the age of 8. I started writing Haikus and poems at the age of 13. I started writing diary at the age of 14. And in last few years, I have written extensively. Diaries were like my alter ego. want to know me ? Read my diaries. But all these faded away in my two years at IIT Guwahati. It was not that there was no thrust or motivation for writing, it is only that I was practicing another discipline.

There are few thoughts I intend to write on this blog. This will not be a blog of my daily routine descriptions or acts. It would be about my inner strenth and weaknesses. It would be about my journey as a seeker and the challenges that I face on the path. It would be about my being me and my being mind. It would be about me and me...

Let us all know our true self.

- Uday