Connect the dots to enlighten!

     Wow, “Fear of unknown origin”, sounds like a plan. I think it is a disease or illusion but let me think as i am surviving another Friday evening. Yes, Its 7:00 PM and I grounded another difficult case. I did what I can do but still there is a fear on back of my mind that did I screwed more than what I think? I don’t know what that is but for now I would like to name it as, “fear of unknown origin.” My internal scorpion had already started chanting the tunes of denial in order to increase my level of confidence in this moment of quite. And, to distract myself from this, I started working on my Vedic learning task. I thought of searching online the relevance of Spirituality and economy. 

      …The Network of Spiritual Progressives defines spiritual people as “all those whose deepest values lead them to challenge the ethos of selfishness and materialism that has led people into a frantic search for money and power and away from a life that places love, kindness, generosity, peace, non-violence, social justice, awe and wonder at the grandeur of creation, thanksgiving, humility and joy at the center of our lives.”…

     …Philosophers learned from Kant that ethics is autonomous with respect to religion…

     …Plato created the figure of king-philosopher, combining power and wisdom as the excellent leader. Spirituality was for Plato an intellectual and emotional search for an inner enlightenment. A physical, mental and spiritual training was needed to reach enlightenment and to become a good leader…

     Have you felt that sometimes you are so much involved in minute details that you miss the boat? That’s what happening here. We know everything while knowing nothing and vice versa.

     Well, let’s try to connect the dots, my fear, definition of spiritual people & quotes from Plato and Kant as well as missing the main problem has one motive which inclines me to work more and more on our ancient literature. I am thankful to Nisarg for raising the question to involve Sri Suktam in our Monday learning. We need that enlightenment in the form of our remaining spiritual training so as to become king-philosopher.

     As per economy, ecology & spirituality: Toward a theory and practice of sustainability, there is a growing gap between rich and poor and accelerating environmental and social disintegration which offer powerful testimony to the failure of conventional development practice in countries of both South and North. This failure has given birth to a global effort to build commitment to an alternative citizen’s vision of human progress grounded in commitment to just, inclusive, and sustainable human societies. Most of the times we do things because someone told us, we heard or read somewhere. That means someone drives your life and not you. Yes, everybody is driving someone else. Countries are landing their products and money to other country for survival. And still we are having falling stock market, rising prices, layoffs and decreasing spirituality?

     Remember as Richard Saul Wurman well said, “Learning can be defined as the process of remembering what you are interested in.” Sri suktam brings spirituality and materialistic life together as close as anybody can get. So, what now? We need help and nobody is helping us. This situation requires self-learning and enlightenment. We think on materialistic life but forget our self and vice versa. Yes, we are so away from self that even while calling our own number from our own cell phone states , “ please check the number and dial again” or “ this number is busy please dial after sometime.” We have to call our self from our internal spiritual network as the outer cell phones (materialistic world) don’t connect us to our self before we leave materialistic world (die). Happiness is inside and we had to reveal and cherish that. More inclination towards the outer world causes loss of attachment of self and increasing confusions. And, that’s what the essence of Sri Suktam is.

     So, let’s gather on the common spiritual background of Vedic learnings and try to understand the maze of life, economy and spirituality with the help of Sri Suktam. 

     We invite your dear suggestions and warm critics.

~ Taral Sharma

-image courtesy: flickr

Ever since we were a small kid, we are ringing the bell in the temple as a ritual or an order from our elders. Do we know the meanings of it? Following are some of the quick guesses with explanations:

Is it to let the Lord know we have come? He does not need to be told, as He knows everything and that’s why we call him Antaryaami or Trikal-gyaani.

Is it to wake up the Lord? But the Lord never sleeps.

Is it a form of seeking permission to enter His precinct? It is a homecoming and therefore entry needs no permission. The Lord welcomes us at all times.

Then why do we ring the bell?

Well, actually the ringing of the bell produces what is regarded as an auspicious sound. It produces the sound Om, the universal name of the Lord. There should be auspiciousness within and without, to gain the vision of the Lord who is all-auspiciousness.

Even while doing the ritualistic aarati, we ring the bell. It is sometimes accompanied by the auspicious sounds of the conch and other musical instruments. An added significance of ringing the bell, conch and other instruments is that they help drowned any inauspicious or irrelevant noises and comments that might disturb or distract the worshippers in their devotional ardour, concentration and inner peace.

As we start the daily ritualistic worship (pooja) we ring the bell, chanting:

Aagamaarthamtu devaanaam

gamanaarthamtu rakshasaam

Kurve ghantaaravam tatra

devataahvaahna lakshanam

Translation: I ring this bell indicating the invocation of divinity, So that virtuous and noble forces enter (my home and heart); and the demonic and evil forces from within and without, depart.

Photo courtesy: http://www.sabaidesignsgallery.com/media/content/BigTempleBellWeb.jpg