TWO-POINT FORMULA FOR HAPPINESS

 “Be ambitious”, the world goads us. 3bhk flat, row-house, bungalow, mansion, villa … when does the ambitious chase after the mirages of material pleasures end? Never. All that we get is endless labor and perpetual dissatisfaction. Worse still, we live tormented by anxiety because our self-worth (happiness?) depends entirely on unpredictable, uncontrollable externals. The neighbor gets a jazzier mobile than ours, the shares we have invested in crash…. And worst of all, struggling to achieve our self-created (“society-imposed” describes it better) goals leaves us with no time for our spiritual nourishment. Greed, stress, envy, worry, spiritual starvation – where is happiness?

To find real happiness, we need to recognize that all of us have two conflicting forces within our psyche – a centrifugal force that directs our quest for enjoyment outwards to the endless parade of sense objects and a centripetal force that directs us inwards to the all-attractive reservoir of all pleasure, God, Krishna, residing in our own hearts. In most people the centrifugal force is so overwhelmingly powerful that they their centripetal force becomes almost non-perceivable.

Our society - culture, media, billboards - continuously adds vectors to the centrifugal force already raging within us. Will we become happy by earning more and accumulating more? Never. Because, no matter how much we have, the centrifugal force will keep dragging us outwards to get still more.

To find satisfaction, we need to change our lifestyle from centrifugal to centripetal. The first step in bringing about this lifestyle change is education, spiritual education. The Bhagavad-gita (2.13) explains that our present existence is two-dimensional: we are souls, spiritual beings, animating material bodies, like drivers animating their cars. Ambassador, fiat, Maruti, Mercedes … are certainly different kinds of cars. But imagine two persons: One has a posh Mercedes, but is lost, not knowing there is a home even, and is spending all his time just furnishing and polishing his car. The other person has a simple fiat, but knows the way home and is heading straight there. Who’s better off?

To sustain the intelligence necessary for a centripetal lifestyle, we need to regularly associate with centripetally-oriented scientists – spiritual activists devoted to the service of God and the welfare of humanity - and to see for ourselves how less is more; how their seeming lack of external possessions is more than compensated for by internal enrichment. These spiritual scientists – the devotees of God –will offer us periodic centripetal pushes. The most sustainable centripetal propeller for our steady inner journey is the holy name like the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. The holy name not only effectively counters the centrifugal passions, but also efficaciously kindles our dormant zeal for centripetal research. This centripetal research culminates in the greatest discovery of our lives – the discovery of Krishna, the source of all happiness. And then we won’t need to demand the Nobel Prize to reassure ourselves of our success – for that will be another centrifugal illusion. Instead we will nobly share our prize with everyone by inspiring and guiding them to become centripetal millionaires.

Therefore as intelligent people, lets chose to be spiritually ambitious. Then we will rediscover our spiritual peacefulness and joyfulness, re-awaken our innate love for God and become truly happy -- in this life and the next.

To help us stay focused on our goal, the Bhagavad-gita (5.21) recommends, “Detached from external sense pleasures, concentrating on inner spiritual happiness, a spiritualist progressively becomes situated on the spiritual platform and attains imperishable happiness.” In our cultural context, this two-point formula means:

1. Materially see those who are below us, having lower salaries, smaller houses, lesser or simpler gadgets – and be satisfied with what we have.

2. Spiritually see those who are above us, investing more time in meditation and chanting of holy names – and follow in their footsteps.

from Spiritual Scientist

The Secret Of Fearlessness

Have you seen how peacefully a child sleeps in the lap of his parent, even in a noisy, crowded local train? The hustle-bustle disturbs everyone, but not the child – due to his implicit faith in the protection of his parent.

All of us strive diligently to overcome our many fears – financial, familial, social, academic and physical. However the necessary security measures like insurances, helmets, buzzer alarms, health checkups fail to free us from a disconcerting sense of insecurity within us. Why?

The Vedic texts explain that all fear originates in an unbalanced, unrealistic material conception of life. The material aspect of our life has its importance; we need to feed, clothe, house and provide for ourselves and our loved ones. However Krishna explain in the Bhagavad-gita (16.10) that when we seek our sense of identity, self-worth, security and pleasure exclusively from our material positions and possessions, we open ourselves to fear. Because the material realm is characterized by constant, unpredictable changes, which often threaten to destroy or harm whatever is dear to us. We prepare ourselves to face some of the small, predictable and controllable changes, but still we consciously or subconsciously dread the huge, unpredictable and uncontrollable changes. Is there any way to overcome this deep-rooted fear?

 The more things change, the more we need to embrace the things that don’t change. The Bhagavad Gita (2.14) describes, “Of the material, there is no endurance and of the spiritual there is no cessation.” Beyond the stage of material activity that preoccupies our mind lies a vast, unexplored realm of spiritual tranquility. We are spiritual beings, souls, originally from a spiritual world, the kingdom of God, who is our eternal loving father. Currently we are occupying material bodies and inhabiting this material world. The more we harmonize with our spiritual nature, the more we become fearless. Understanding that we are, at our core, spiritual and, hence indestructible, fills us with an unshakeable self-security; we recognize that worldly upheavals that affect our material assets have no power whatsoever to hurt us. Moreover, understanding that a benevolent God is ultimately orchestrating all material happenings helps us to see order amidst change, plan amidst chaos.

The most practical and potent technology to equip ourselves with steady vision of this spiritual reality is divine sound. By chanting the bona fide holy names of God like the Hare Krishna mantra, we progressively experience both our own spiritual identity and God’s the protective presence and guidance in our life. The more we enrich our faith by chanting, the more our devotion for Krishna increases. And when we make our life’s work a devotional offering for His service, we focus more on the object of our service – God and not its fruit – the immediate material result. This shift of focus releases large reserves of mental energy, which are choked by our worry about the future. Chanting gives us the calmness to see that almost all fears are more perceived than experienced. The more we become free from fear of the future, the more we can fully absorb ourselves in our present duties. Thus spiritual principles and practices empower us to access and utilize even our material talents better and execute even our material duties better. Ultimately spirituality is the only way to conquer the greatest of all fears – death. For a mature devotee, death is not a fearful termination of existence, but a joyful reunion with God in His everlasting abode. Therefore just as the child stays peaceful amidst chaos, let us become tranquil amidst ups and downs by empowering ourselves with spiritual devotion.

D-ANGER

The grand finale of the soccer World Cup: French star Zidane, playing like a maestro, leading his team to victory, in the last match of his career. Suddenly something snapped; “anger is momentary insanity,” said Horace. And Zidane madly head-butted the lanky Italian defender Materazzi. What was about to be the crowning glory for an illustrious career turned into a disgraceful ignominy. “Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame,” cautioned Benjamin Franklin.

Undoubtedly a tragic tale, but isn’t it a replay of what we have all seen in real life? Or maybe even experienced? A disproportionate explosion over a trifle. And a career is in jeopardy.

The modern media with its vivid depiction of violence portrays anger as a heroic quality, as the quintessential psyche of the macho man. But is it really? Most people recognize that in real life anger is not a pleasant emotion, yet they savor the violent scenes in the movies. And then, strangely enough, they wonder why they themselves, in fits of anger, speak such words and do such deeds which break the hearts of their loved ones and which they themselves bitterly regret later. Anger breaks hearts and wrecks homes. When enslaved by anger, people violently attack, wound and kill others – sometimes their loved ones. Violent heroism in the media thus breeds violent crime in society. Anger is also a known cause of a large variety of ailments ranging from high blood pressure to heart attacks. Anger can lead to all forms of conflicts ranging from petty quarrels to world wars.

Moreover depression, a rampant modern mental health challenge, originates in anger. When one is unable to vent out anger on the perceived cause of frustration, one vents it out on oneself by going into a self-pity and self-martyrdom mentality, which is typical of depression.

Thus anger destroys reputations, careers, families and lives. No wonder the Bhagavad Gita (16.21) calls anger one of “the three gates to hell.”

The Bhagavad-gita (2.62) describes the psychological genesis of anger. When our desires, plans and expectations for control and enjoyment are thwarted, the resentment and frustration expresses itself through harsh words and / or violent actions.

How can we deal with anger? Thomas Jefferson suggests, “When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, count hundred.” Consciously delaying action is useful in checking angry outbursts. And a spiritual transmutation of our emotions can completely uproot anger. We are all souls, spiritual and eternal children of God. Our heart finds fulfillment only when we make God our first love in life. Moreover knowledge that no material upheaval or upstart can threaten our inner wealth of devotion gives us an unshakeable inner security, which anger cannot shake. Even before we attain that tranquil state, devotion engenders spiritual maturity and stability within us. Forewarned is forearmed. Often we indulge in anger because we do not recognize the danger of anger. The ‘d’ that enables us to see the danger of anger is the ‘d’ for devotion. When we awaken our dormant spiritual devotion by chanting the holy names of God, especially the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, that devotion makes us strong at heart and wise at head. We develop the discrimination to pre-empt provocative situations, the open-mindedness to see the other person’s viewpoint and the assertiveness to present our viewpoint without becoming aggressive. The Vedic scriptures describe the story of an violent sadistic hunter Mrigari who would half-kill animals and enjoy seeing them suffering till death. But when he was enlightened by the great sage Narada Muni and empowered by chanting of the names of Rama, he became so self-controlled that he carefully avoided stepping even on an ant. Will our world not be a better place if more people were similarly transformed? Charity begins at home. Why not we begin with ourselves? 

Does God Exist?

THE UNPARALLELED SYMBIOTIC FACTORY

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, industrialists and scientists have fantasized about a symbiotic factory setup. Consider two hypothetical factories A & B. Suppose the two factories could be arranged such that the waste product of factory A would serve as a raw material for factory B and the waste product of factory B would serve as a raw material for factory A. Then the factory setup would able to run perpetually with zero expenditure and unlimited profit! However this has always been nothing more than a fantasy. The raw materials in every factory are quite expensive to obtain and the waste products are quite useless and expensive to even dispose off.

Amazingly enough, such a symbiotic factory setup already exists in nature: human respiration & plant photosynthesis. At every moment we human beings breathe in O2 & give out CO2. O2 is life-sustaining & CO2 is life-destroying, if present in excessive quantity. Therefore the human respiration by itself would diminish the supply of O2 & increase CO2 in the atmosphere soon making the atmosphere & the planet inhabitable for human beings and indeed all O2-breathing creatures. But there is a magnificent balance system in nature which exactly takes in the waste product of the human respiration CO2 & gives out the raw material for respiration O2 - plant photosynthesis. Isn’t it remarkable that what the best scientists on the planet could nothing more dream about has already realized by nature? Albert Einstein has remarked, "There are two ways to live life. One is to see nothing as a miracle & other is to see everything as a miracle."

DOES NATURE WORK AUTOMATICALLY?

Some people say that nature certainly works remarkably, but its working is automatic & more or less governed by chance. They argue that seeing any divinity or God controlling nature is just a sentimental longing coming from an unscientific mentality. However the word ‘automatically’ used in this context is somewhat misleading because it doesn’t indicate the absence of a controller, but rather the absence of the knowledge of the controller. When we say that a machine works automatically, what it means is that the machine doesn’t require continuous interaction with the operator. But still there is an operator who activates the machine and monitors its working. Is that the case with nature?

E.g. If you want to have fun with a child, than you might get an automatic toy i.e. either a mechanically or in some other way programmed toy. By staying out of view of the child, you release the toy & it comes moving into the view of the child. Seeing the toy moving automatically, the child becomes astounded and thinks that the toy is working by itself. But you a wise person will never be misled into the conclusion of an inexperienced child. You know that even if the toy is moving automatically, it is programmed by you.

Similarly the magnificent phenomena in nature are not just occurring automatically; they are working under the expert but remote and therefore invisible programming of God. Uninformed people, like the naïve child, may think that nature is working automatically, but wise people throughout history – religious and scientific – have always understood that there is a super-intelligent designer behind nature. Thus it is that the famous physicist Lord Kelvin has remarked, "If you think deeply enough you will be forced by science to believe in God." 

SILLY POINT

The promos of a movie showing a popular film star smoking have led to protests: “Why is smoking being foisted on impressionable young minds?”

The silly point is that we protest about the star shown as a smoker, but not about the star shown as a drug-dealing gangster, an underworld don. When movies blatantly exhibit sex, rape, addictions, crime, violence and murder, and when movie stars are today’s perverse role models, isn’t it silly to be shocked when the same happens in society? Not long ago, Indians were shocked by the news of a Mumbai schoolboy murdering his own mother – just to get money to enjoy like the hero of his favorite movie. Before that, Americans were aghast at a chilling real-life perversion of the violence routine in Hollywood - schoolchildren shooting their teachers and co-students. Movie-makers may rationalize that movies just reflect social trends, but can it be denied that they often initiate, perpetuate and aggravate the vicious circle?

The sillier point is that we long to believe what movies show and refuse to believe what life shows. We imagine “…and they lived happily ever after” – the utopian ending of most movies - will materialize in our lives, while reality glares at us all around - no one live ever after and no one lives happily. We dream of entering into the heaven of enjoyment shown in the movies, while the hell of suffering in the world around threatens to turn our life into a nightmare. We vicariously enjoy as the movie hero miraculously dodges every calamity and exults in his three-hour immortality, while we actually shudder as the daily news of natural and human disasters exposes our helpless mortality.

The silliest point is that we remember the people who never remember us – movie stars and we forget the person who never forgets us – God. We enthrone ephemeral heroes as the kings of our heart, while we banish the eternal hero Krishna from our heart. We find time to enjoy inane entertainment, but find excuses to avoid divine enlightenment. We fantasize about becoming invincible and immortal, but we reject the invincibility and immortality of the soul as fantasy. We blindly seek pleasure in our dying bodies, while we blind ourselves to the bliss of our eternal souls. We use science to create illusory hi-tech paradises in movies, but we reject the eternal spiritual paradise as unscientific. When we read about a half-man half-spider performing impossible antics in the comics section of a newspaper, we adore him. When we read about the half-man half-lion incarnation of God performing chivalrous pastimes in the sacred scriptures, we deride Him as mytho-logical. Are we logical? We search for the right things, but in the wrong places.

Its not just silly, actually. Its tragic. If we don’t give up our silliness, we will have to cry for it. Worse, we will have to continue our silliness – and its attendant suffering - for many more lives.

The Bhagavad-gita (15.1) explains that this material world is a perverted reflection of the spiritual world. The reflection contains no substance, but it indicates the existence of the substance elsewhere. All that we are looking for – love, joy, immortality, peace – are present in the spiritual world, and as beloved children of Krishna, they are all our natural spiritual rights. This world being a mere reflection, all these appear to be present here, and so we long and crave for them. We just cannot accept the fact that they are not present here and so we create a false replica of the spiritual world in the movie world. And we end up deluding and depriving ourselves - needlessly. 

Fortunately there is hope for us. Irrespective of how silly we become, Krishna remains our benevolent Lord unconditionally. So He gives us an easy way out - His holy names. Attentive devotional chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra empowers us with divine discretion, by which we can eschew the material reflection and rejoice in the spiritual substance.

Spiritual Scientist : Green Earth Needs Spiritual Humans

Did you know that science has found a quick way to solve all ecological problems? Annihilate humanity!

                                                                                                                        

Biologist E O Wilson, among many other scientists, has studied the complex interdependence among various species in the biosphere. He found that every species makes some constructive contribution – small or great – to the ecology of the planet. For example, if the vegetation – grasses and shrubs – decrease, the herbivores suffer. And if the herbivores decrease, the carnivores are affected. But he found that one species does not contribute to the ecology – the human species. If the human species became extinct, there would hardly be any problems for any other species or for the ecology. In fact, most ecological problems would be solved if humans became or were made extinct. Arguably humans constitute the most intelligent species on the planet. And yet science indicates that “intelligent” humans are nothing but a burden for the planet. Normally in a classroom the more intelligent a student, the more potential he has to make a positive contribution. Then why is it that the most intelligent species on the planet is making not a positive but a negative contribution to its biosphere?

The timeless Vedic scriptures – and in essence all the sacred scriptures of the world - answer: human potential is fully realized when they contribute to the planet at the spiritual stratum. When they function only at the material level, their potential is at best underused and at worst misused. The Bhagavata Maha Purana (1.2.10) gives the mission statement for human life, “Humans should function in the material realm only for maintaining existence, not for seeking enjoyment. For they will find real happiness only in spiritual realization and in nothing else.”

What is this spiritual realization? And what has it got to do with saving the ecology? Spiritual realization reveals to us that we are all children of God with nature as our mother, as mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita (14.4). In an ordinary family, the parents maintain the children. Similarly in the cosmic family, God, the divine father, and nature, the divine mother, maintain all living beings. And just as the children can live happily when they follow their parents, we too can flourish if we live in harmony with nature and God, the sustainer of nature. When the children run away from the protective embrace of the parents, they risk accident, kidnap and other dangers. The scriptural recommendations to practice physical restraint and seek spiritual fulfillment constitute God’s embrace. When humans reject God’s protective embrace and embrace materialism and consumerism instead, they experience stress, anxiety, violence - and ecological disaster.

Materialism and consumerism lead to greed, selfishness and exploitative mentality, which comprise pollution of the heart. These ideologies pervert the pure human desire to find immortal joy in loving and serving God into the polluted desire to seek flickering pleasure by exploiting nature. This pollution of the heart impels people to knowingly persist with activities that pollute the environment. For example, due to greed, industrialists avoid treating toxic effluents before releasing them into rivers. Therefore only when people learn to find happiness within and not without can we hope to avoid ecological apocalypse. The easiest and the most effective way of finding inner joy is chanting the Holy Names of God. When people chant, find inner happiness and become free from pollution of the heart - greed, selfishness and consumerism, they will desist from activities that pollute the planet.

Therefore to save the ecology there is an alternative to annihilating humanity: annihilate instead the ignorance that misleads humans into materialistic living.

From - Spiritual Scientist. 

Spiritual Scientist: Tap the power of thoughts

         If you think you can - and if you think you can't - in both cases, you are right. This pithy saying illustrates not just the power of attitude, but also a scientific and spiritual truth. One of the most significant scientific developments of the last century was the discovery of the mind-body connection. Medical researchers dis-covered that our thoughts can both hurt and heal us. Psychosomatic illnesses as well as phobias illustrate the power of thoughts to negatively influence the body. Positive thoughts have been observed to increase endorphin levels, which are conducive to vibrant physical health. Conversely, negative thoughts are seen to increase adrenalin levels, which sap bodily vigor. Placebo effect - the surprising medical observation that patients who believe that they are under proper medication recover even if administered just sugar pills - signifies that thoughts can activate healing. The upcoming field of psychoneuro-immunology is based on the correlation between mental strength and physical immunity.

Spiritually, thoughts don't just determine things; thoughts are things, albeit in subtle form. The Bhagavad-gita (8.6) declares that our thoughts determine our future - both in this life and the next. So scientifically and spiritually, positive thinking is desirable and beneficial. Is positive thinking an inborn trait or can it be cultivated? By genetic influ-ence, which is a result of good karma from past lives, some people may have a greater tendency to see the “silver lining in the cloud”, than others. But upbringing and associa-tion also influence our thinking abilities. And most importantly, our thoughts are deter-mined not as much by our conditionings or conditions as by our own choices. So all of us have the potential to tap the power of thoughts and become positive thinkers if we acquire the necessary knowledge and training.

Lets do a quick thought exercise: sit down in a peaceful place, breath deeply and observe our thoughts. We can classify the observed thoughts into four categories-

We will soon realize that our default thoughts often tend to be either waste or negative, resulting in absentmindedness or de-pression respectively. By vigilance and diligence, we can train ourselves to reject the negative and waste thoughts - or, better still, replace them with positive. If we consciously cultivate this habit, we will soon find ourselves mentally and physically stronger in facing life's ups and downs.

Spiritual thinking enables us to further tap the power of thoughts by raising our life to a higher, more empowering dimension. Positive thinking is very difficult when confronted with ex-tremely negative circumstances such as shattering of cherished plans or outrageous behavior of others. Spiritual knowledge enables us to go far beyond positive perception of reality to perception of positive reality. As long as we are spiritually unin-formed, positive thinking alone will fall short in tackling the nega-tive realities of life. Nothing illustrates this often-overlooked limitation of positive thinking more than the greatest - and the most neglected - truth of life: death. If a loved one passes away, will positive thinking bring back that person? If someone is afflicted by a terminal disease, will positive thinking save that person from imminent death?

Spiritual positive thinking enables us to understand and harmonize with the spiritual positive purpose of our existence. We are all souls, spiritual beings, beloved children of God and are entitled to rejoice in eternal loving exchanges with Him. The truly positive purpose of our present human lives is to awaken our dormant love for God, experience His unlimited love for us and ultimately returning back to His everlasting abode of ever-increasing bliss. Spiritual enlightenment blesses us with the vision to see all events in our life as expression of God's love for us. Spiritual empowerment enables us to choose our actions so that they become expressions of our love for Him. No wonder Jesus declared loving God wholeheartedly as the most important commandment. The very word Islam refers to loving surrender to God. The Bhagavad-gita unequivocally declares constant devotional meditation on God, Krishna, as the pinnacle in the evolution of human thinking. We can most easily and effectively experience God's love for us and express our love for Him by chanting His bona fide Holy Names like Jehovah, Allah and Krishna. God being omnipotent fully manifests Himself in His Names and gives us the strength to reject negative and waste thoughts and fills our mind with positive spiritual thoughts. Thus spiritual positive thinking enables us to live positively by harnessing our latent positive spiritual energy. And at the time of death, it will enable us to leave positively by opening the door to eternal life. Hence cultivating loving thoughts for loving God is the ultimate key for tapping the power of thoughts.

From -  Spiritual Scientist