Education and Civilization

I walk on the path made by mankind, I step over the smooth surface, I step over the rough. I read a chapter on contentment and compare in my mind, but the wisdom is hardly lodged, though I claim that I understood the chapter to full.

This is the pattern of modern education, well versed in extinguishing the man razed wild fire with help of technologies and equipment, yet at grass root level on the wisdom why we shouldn’t raze that beautiful forest (just an example). I came up through the process of education which taught me to become a doctor, an engineer, a pilot, an electrician, but not yet an intrinsic human. I learned the pleasure of luxuries, but not educated on the pain of pleasure. Education has reached people to the moon, stars, but not yet the ground of humanity. I see all these forms of education as more of wants than needs, whereby the true needs of the education may lie in finding the peace in oneself, in one’s environment, people, animals and all forms of the surroundings. Is it true my friends? Or if you find it controversial, why not we turn around and see, the wars, destruction, fighting for power, position, inheritance, etc, etc. None of these ideas might have come from the mind of blind, or illiterate, or to the people who are not exposed to any form of education, be it religious, cultural or modern.

Our lifestyle is so entrapped in the experience of past and future that we fail to rejoice the moment now, which has the potential to explore all the beauties of this world. This is not included in any form of education that a child is born and brought up into. When I say I am my environment and not the true self, it means that our life is dominated by the sense of beautification, competition, luxuries, etc, which incurs huge chunk of mind energy in the form of mental poisons, such as desire, anger, hatred, jealousy and so on. A person remaining within the boundaries of four walls physically and mentally have least to compare with the world, against the one who has already put himself amidst competitions and selective livelihood.

How can we inculcate such habits of discovering the peace and contentment, going through the current form of life and education? Such findings and theories needs to be incorporated in modern education from the basic, at par with the one that demands competitions for survival. Comparing the life process, survival of the fittest, from a single celled organism which existed as the only living form at the time of evolution, we see now diverse forms of existence as per the environment they got and type of adaptation they developed for survival. This teaches us that, the kind of world we are living now, kind of environment we have around us is all made by ourselves, which has in turn made us.  

Such environment further decides us as to what kind of human will be born in future to adapt with the situations available then.

Some of the religious views say that our world has entered the phase of degeneration, and it is high time that we start developing the sense of responsibilities in creating a healthy and peaceful environment for our own betterment. This really strikes in my mind when I look at our environment, our societies, relationship and all other forms of existence. How ignorant it is that we betray the law of cause and effect as coined by one of the greatest scientists; every action has its equal and opposite reaction, or, as you sow, so shall you reap. Doesn’t it apply to each and every one of us? We mayn’t fight against the natural calamities such as Earthquakes, volcanoes, etc. But we have the power to fight against wars, hatred and destructions or so since all these comes from lack or inappropriate form of education that we receive. Just for instance, during our primary or medium education, we end up mugging diverse forms of subjects and chapters such as history, geography, English, but at par, I feel it is highly important to incorporate the education system on humanity. A student who has streamlined his profession into medical or engineering has least to do with his primary school subjects, but as much we give due preference until he/she chooses a profession, that person should be receiving equal education on the science of good human behaviour and practices so that the wisdom gained benefits at all level of profession and livelihood.

 When I think of my age about 50 years later or so, I assume my environment a very different one, with all my responsibilities handed over to the upcoming generations. But how they will take charge is what we inculcate in them now, the wisdom we generated from our elders now. But if we ourselves are not well seasoned with right guidance and environment, what good will my generation gain from me? and this is how the things go on degenerating. To supplement with few words from my poem- water fall the comfort, if I sum it up in one sentence, comfort drags us into further comfort, which thus the comfort we got yesterday turns insufficient tomorrow. Then we are dragged down towards seeking more comfort, more luxury, where we end up being just the lump of flesh and blood, with no vigour to deal with the system of nature.

So to produce a genuine human, we need to step forward very carefully as we are the messengers between past and future, so we be assured that just the cream is handed over.

To conclude, rather than claiming to be the follower of perfect religion, culture or holding a high lineage, what is more important for us is to become a good human, accumulating right wisdom and leading a right livelihood.

PARENT HOOD- ITS WISDOM BEHIND

I have become the father of first child and he is few months old. With the days pass by, I experience the level of responsibilities, the level of attachment and love that swirls within unknown spaces of my body and mind. The infinite, unfathomable depth of the sense of belonging, my child, my own flesh and blood puts me into inexpressible joy and happiness, which has bestowed me with a wisdom one step forward.The wisdom of Transitory existence strikes on thinking where, I was a child in the lap of my parents yesterday, but today myself holding one on my lap.

This feeling is what I believe my parents might have expressed same on seeing me or thinking of me from the day I was born. This opens my eyes to the fact that our parents are invincible, they are the Universe of one's existence, and the source of all love and care. So they deserve more (at least equal) love as what we feel for one's siblings.

But we come across many people who ignore their parents, disrespect their existence, considering them no better than one's power and position, or even fighting against them at times, in favor of one's sibling's happiness, prosperity and rights, which i now recognize as a sheer insane. The service of one's parents should never escape out of one's heart so that we teach the same lesson to one's siblings and reap same fruit.

So it is of paramount importance that we respect the cycle, which all of us are bound to experience and pass by.

Speech presented during SAARC Sufi Festival, Jaipur, India, 2015

ACCEPTANCE- THE CULTURE OF HUMANITY

Now, if I say we should not harm others, or we should protect our environment, which religion should I belong to and what should be my background? I believe it is independent of any religion or culture, rather, genuine responsibility of a conscious human being. But most of our current societies are already tightened by some of the mental hurdles strongly ingrained in mind from generations, such as hierarchy; cultural, societal, blood, and so on. This in turn traps our mind into boundaries and restriction with discriminative thoughts, polluting one self, being the source of pride, fear and attachment. I believe, our religion or culture alone will never suffice to bestow us direct eternity and prosperity which most of the societies claim so, otherwise there should have been no one born on earth as diseased, addicts, poor, rejected, etc. being descended from one or the other religious and cultural groups. Further, we should also realize that, in almost all the societies and religious groups there are equally millionaires, there are philosophers, or poor and diseased too, all born from one womb, the mother earth. This is very evidence in itself to prove of equality. Never the less, it is not to blame our faith in divine forces, rather some weaknesses in human race, either through dilution of the truth over time or failure to apprehend its absolute essence. Just to take example of our mental poisons, anger, desire, hatred, etc which are the source of suffering for self, and suppose, if I harbour all these, then my blood line or the social status can’t do anything, even my religion can’t help me, and all efforts to its counter play should come from myself, witnessing my own progress, such that if someone suddenly starts to assault me and yet I am calm and composed, then at least I am free from the pain of anger, which could otherwise haunt me more than the physical pain of being thrashed, or I might lose my life trying to reciprocate with same emotion. Similarly, if my mind is occupied with ego on the power and status I own, then I shall suffer more when someone overtakes my position. So looking into these factors, I believe that if we are not able to achieve inert purity/subtle purity, then supposing to achieve physical purity through classification and differentiation with our mother planet and its components in the name of culture and religion will never suffice to bring peace and prosperity, rather than just creating barriers in achieving smooth livelihood, alike boulders and rubbles which creates hurdles on smooth flowing water.

To remind of few things passed down, some societies believe that the cow sacrifice is sin, while goat or chicken sacrifice seems acceptable, some practice killing specific animals as the demand of certain festivals or culture. There are societies who consume dog, horse, or so on, which some of us might find it disgusting. All these trends simply exist as a cultural inheritance from the parents, or the societies. But I believe that as a conscious being of one blood line, we should see all living beings as having one thing common; the feeling of pain and pleasure, composed of flesh, blood, emotions, etc. To share an experience, it was in 2010, while I was on tour to a place called Bumthang, half way drive up the hill, I noticed a calf running to and fro, bellowing with very unusual and frightened behaviour. It was midsummer and that slope was fully covered with bushy grasses. On closer watch, I saw a cow, supposedly his mother strangled with tethering rope, fallen inside the thick meadow, struggling and almost dead. Jumping out of my car, I climbed into that bush and immediately loosened the rope, providing support until she could wake up, where that calf just stood by my side with utmost silence, watching my progress of helping his loved one. Thereafter they started licking each other, in human term, hugging and embracing each other. Seeing diseased or dead isn’t uncommon, but the expression of that calf made me speechless, clouded with love and emotion. This is one example how every living being have the heart to love and care each other, no different from what I would have felt if my mother was in such trouble. Having come across few more of such incidences, I committed to become vegetarian thereafter, placing animals at the level of my heart, no matter whether my culture allows sacrifice of some or prohibit others, because the sentiments are same with all these animals, alike mine, or any one of us. Even the religious views of sin or the law of cause and effect is also more of self interest that I don’t want to suffer later. But respecting other’s rights, considering their pain and pleasure same as one’s own is a genuine wisdom and compassion, and this defines the humanity.

Genuinely speaking, if our mind is pre-occupied with negative emotions, then we should realize its breach that could be consequential to our micro and macro environment. By birth a child is not criminal, neither so good, he is innocent. But with time and understanding, his innate habits increases- tendencies for good or bad, pulled by his environment, which includes his parents, friends, culture and the society. When my child first picks up the language I speak, then he will also learn to do what he has seen me doing. To quote few of such inheritance still circulating in the societies, the culture of child marriages, the gender discrepancies, or some beneficial act either and this is how the social or anti-social activities gets inherited and passed down. Repeated exposure to such practices could lead to development of confidence in adopting next bold step, going to the extent such as discarding female births, murders or relevant social crimes, and from my careful analysis, one origin of such confidence could be the easy exposure and comfort seeing animal sacrifices and abuses happening everywhere, combined with untamed anger and wrong notion of the difference between self and others, not realizing that we all are the blessings on this earth where every individual has the right to live a life of his own accord, without fear of Earth asking anything in return.

Thus I believe that the only culture that will prevent future wars and destruction will be the culture of Humanity, and the epitome of this culture is the ‘acceptance’ against stubbornness of seeing differences in the name of religion, caste, wealth, status, etc. which has already destroyed most parts of our beautiful mother earth. Acceptance here doesn’t necessarily mean to adopt them all, rather appreciating its existence, or to the least refraining from viewing it negatively and making baseless interventions, as quoted by one of the greatest philosophers, HH the Dalai Lama- if you can’t benefit others, at least do not harm them. In the sense, suppose if we can’t provide livelihood to a beggar coming to doorstep, at least do not undermine their existence.

Only through proper analysis and understanding of all these truths, that we can expect societal harmony, regional harmony, or bringing peace in the world.

To conclude, if we sow the seed of a medicinal herb in a pot of optimum conditions and nutrition, the herb will sprout to an adult plant and benefit world. At the same time, if we sow a poison, that poison too would grow and fruition from the same base of nutrition, but with harmful impact to the environment. Our body is like that pot and the plant growing in it is like our mind. This same body has the capacity to either nurture the mind of humanity and benefit world or become a beast, irrespective of one’s background.

HAPPINESS

HAPPIEST WOULD ONE BE IF HE IS VIGILANT OVER HIS DESIRES,

 AND

SORROW SHALL BREED IN HIM WHO FALLS PREY OF THE ENVIRONMENT FOR ITS EVER CHANGING TASTE AND AROMA

Laziness- What we lose

Let me talk of myself, how I gained control over laziness. Not to justify that I rank myself to the perfection, but manageable within a restorative trace. And the fact, whether we are good or bad we are always overcome by doubts upon oneself, and craving for the next step.

The question first started from the praying habits and time, whereby I initially spent hours sitting, reciting and contemplating, but then the things changed slowly, not immediately. I realized shifting of my set timing; it is okay, will just stop here and do the full tomorrow. That night before going to the bed, will have a little fear in my mind, oh, tomorrow I have to make up by any means, so will wake early. Next morning, the lazy heart again gains an excuse, humhh... okay whatever I gain through, and I will guarantee the completion this evening session. Continued...

Similarly, when my wife was out of station, for kitchen works, a gush of energy propels me up to the kitchen, fresh and enthusiastic. I do my cooking and other accessory job with full determination, not letting in any shadow of laziness. After eating is done, then I start piling the utensils in the basin for cleaning. I touch one or so for cleaning, then a little shadow creeps my mind, and my hand gets little heavier. I drop the utensils softly onto the same basin, not finished even applying the detergent; oh it is okay, I will do in the evening when I come for preparing my dinner, casual but carefree, my attention realized, yet without realization - the person then and in the evening will be no different than myself. That time, I strongly remember a proverb often recited by my parents- preserve food and it goes to others, preserve work and it comes to yourself, but this all goes in vain again, no vigour to withstand the height of laziness.

Forgetting all, I quickly rush out of kitchen, getting refreshed and directly go to the sitting room to relax, pulling remote for browsing some interesting channels. That ends the pain of piled work until next visit. But I never get lazy to snip into my blankets before 9:30 pm, with strong determination that I will have to wake up early. It was even at 4 am or so that I was disciplined to wake up and sit for prayers and visualizations when I first joined my station at Zhemgang.

Early next dawn, the same habit continued, somehow managing myself with whatever was on my way. With repeated triggering factor in my brain, first for the laziness, and then for what makes me lazy, one day, I had a chance to ask one of my friend, a Buddhist practitioner, what exactly is this so called laziness. He explained so, in a very simplified but effective way- it is all your negative energy, playing with yourself, and for this, no external force can help you, rather you have equally strong positive energy within you, just recognize that and let the two fight, but you keep vigilance over both and come out with your own conclusion, and remember that both of these energies are none other than your own self, so you choose yourself which one should be in your favor. I realized then, that I wasn’t wrong to say I was wrong, and with same continuity, I am right to say now that I am right. Just means that comfort is not to be favored so much, as it has the intoxicating agent on its head to drag us along and put into habits, and the other, to fill my stomach i have to eat myself, seldom would my belly fill with food eaten by others.

What was interesting thereafter, I started focusing on more than what was said, started digging out its meaning; suppose, I want to see some beautiful things again and again, I wanted to listen the soothing music again and again, on the other hand, laziness sufficed me to be a pseudo comforting friend every moment, I then recognized myself through proper analysis; what kind of emotion is the laziness, is it sweet, bitter, pleasant, so on. And suppose I couldn’t do the set work then and there, will that comfort remain tomorrow as well? It wasn’t so, today’s comfort or discomfort lasts for today only, and the tomorrow comes with the fresh one, to say that habit remains to bring in same emotion.

I started committing to do all the activities then and there, completing everything, slowly gaining comfort over it.

Finally, supposing to be having the charm of gaining laziness is not going to favor us tomorrow, but will come in the form of habit, worsening oneself, and for addressing such issues, we need some strength to ignite the energy of enthusiasm time and gain so that it too becomes the habit.

Now I rejoice being myself.

Epic of compassion- my approach towards Vegetarianism

It was in 2010, while I was on tour to a place called Bumthang, half way drive up the hill, I noticed a calf running to and fro, bellowing with very unusual and frightened behavior. It was midsummer and that slope was fully covered with bushy grasses. On closer watch, I saw a cow, supposedly his mother strangled with tethering rope, fallen inside the thick meadow, struggling and almost dead. I climbed into that bush and immediately loosened the rope, putting support beneath her body until she could wake up, where that calf just stood by my side with utmost silence, watching my progress of helping his loved one. Thereafter they started licking each other, to express in human term, kissing and embracing each other. 
Seeing diseased or dead isn’t uncommon for me being an animal health worker, but the expression of that calf made me speechless, clouded with love and emotion. I don’t know how much they might have thanked me, and had they been humans, I would have heard their speech of thankfulness. This is one example how every sentient being have the heart to love and care each other, no different from what I would have felt if my mother was in such trouble. Having come across few more of such incidences, I committed to become vegetarian thereafter, placing animals at the level of my heart, and it is over five years now, no matter whether my culture allows sacrifice of some or prohibit others, because the sentiments are same with all these animals, alike mine, or any one of us. Even the religious views of sin or the law of cause and effect is also more of self interest that I don’t want to suffer later. But respecting other’s rights, considering their pain and pleasure same as one’s own is a genuine wisdom and compassion, and this forms the basis of humanity.

DISCRIMINATION AND DOMINANCE- A DOWNFALL OF HUMANITY

This is a short abstract from my book ‘Earth- Neither start, nor the end of life, a blend of Science and Philosophies’. 

When a child looks at a sword without manipulated mind, he shall see just an object. For him, that sword bears neither the properties of benefit or destruction as its inherent quality. A man with his positive attitude sees same object as a machine to ease his work of chopping wood or clearing bushes on his path or to save someone, such as a strangled cow on a slope with her own tethering rope. Meanwhile, a murderer sees that same object with properties of his benefit for harming his enemies or some innocent beings.

Though inherently it is a mere metal piece without any separate appearance, yet it develops qualities as per viewer’s choice and discretion. Thus, all these functional differences are created by individual’s views and attitude towards environment, towards oneself. Similarly, to be a responsible citizen, one need not hold noble post, nor an ideal place to serve, but with one’s positive attitude and behavior, one’s humbleness towards micro and macro-environment.

In the cycle of Eco-system, discrimination and dominance is an animal behavior, but these behaviors have become part of human culture too. At present it has become strongly engrained in societies, whereby the child born yesterday knows about whom to be regarded and whom not. Owing to our own ignorance we tend to forget that we all are the blessings on this Earth where every individual has the right to live a life of his own accord without fear of Earth asking anything in return, but we are our own obstacles, barriers in achieving peace and prosperity, in achieving freedom.

If we consider all the varieties of living forms at the level of primordial energy, the consciousness, there is no difference between man and any other living creatures, which are merely classified on the basis of physical appearance, thus no reason to live at the cost of others’ lives, other than through mutual benefit. This mental stigma due to lack of understanding of the oneness has been one of the reasons for disharmony amongst human and societies, leading to serious problems like world wars, which is ultimately the destruction of our own race; the race of one blood line and the mother planet as a whole and this is the cause of down fall into the sorrowful end.

HUMAN AND RESPONSIBILITIES

As the purpose of a ruler is to safeguard his country and ensure happiness, the purpose of all human beings is to safeguard this mother planet and all living forms. Because, in the hierarchy of existence, we are the rulers and all other living forms are like citizens of the country whose happiness depends on that ruler. We are the only conscious beings to realize, analyze and actualize the pros and cons of every move that we undertake in the journey of our lives.

It is the responsibilities of every individual to feel the pain first on oneself before inflicting harm onto the other as every creature is found to fear death. If we consider our own feelings, we all would like to die a natural death, not inflicted by any kind of illnesses or injuries, which could be understood from others’ angle of perception too. Even the ant on his way has his own purpose of moving- to feed himself, to feed or get food for his siblings or to find a better home, which is no different from our own hopes and fears that we generate in mind before setting out for any purpose.

Not only the living forms but every component that exists as part of our Eco-system needs our genuine protection and care, which are our intimate friends and partners for survival by benefiting one another. Inevitably, even at the cost of others’ lives we survive at times when no alternatives are available, but not joyfully into our wants and demands. This constructive guilt if all of us adopted, shall reshape our world tomorrow into a better place for our future generations to live, a better culture for them to uphold and pass on.

So to understand others’ pain and pleasure, to protect and uphold others’ happiness and cause of their happiness are our responsibilities, if not also, we should understand, as someone rightly pointer out- ‘if you cannot do good to others, at least do not harm them’.

In short, it all means to respect the world and benefit oneself by benefiting others so that the Earth’s process of ageing is not enhanced by our presence apart from natural process, which shall in turn help our Earth to give us better livelihood for longer than expected period of time.