Control of Thoughts and Beyond

Since the beginning of recorded history in India, there has been a considerable discussion on the perception of reality  - what this term means, how does it get manifested and how to respond to it. I am quite sure, other cultures across the world may have also contemplated their views on this topic. We need not go that far to understand the crux of the issue that is being discussed.

We need to only consider our own thoughts that arise in our minds every second of our life. We need to observe and see what effect those thoughts have on us and why and how do we seem to get affected? We need to observe how thoughts seem to change with the passage of time, with the changes in our body, mind and the circumstances around us. We need to ask ourselves the following question: do we generate thoughts or are they generated by circumstances? There seems to be a ‘visual’ objective reality out there – in front of our eyes. However, what goes on in our minds by encountering this objective visual reality – is what defines our experience (or notion or perception) of that reality. Thus, for any given visual objective external reality, there are billions of notions regarding the same, formed by people who are a part of that reality. Thus, who is to say what is right or wrong? The entire idea itself is so relative, that myths, superstitions, rationality, logic, feelings, emotions – all these have a valid purpose in their own way and all these inform our notions of reality. Modern times make us believe that ‘rationality’ is the ONLY reality that should be considered valid by all. I think that is a very feeble statement to consider. The important question to consider is : what is the definition of ‘appropriateness’?

Having articulated the scope of perception above, we should look closely at the nature of perception that we create for ourselves. What does this consists of?

The main ingredient is the perception of ‘survival’ (being bounded by demands of the body, mind and time). With this come a billion series of thoughts and most of them involve following notions:

1. Attachment: Preferences, prejudices, fears, insecurities, wordly love and affection of place + people + time. In fact, I may say that ‘thought’ itself is a reflection of staying attached to the notion of ‘individual’ bodily existence. We choose certain ideas, certain people, certain events, over something else. We create memories, the idea of present and a notion of future based on our tendencies to be attached to certain ideas, events, people and so on. What we choose to be attached with, creates a given nature of thoughts (and thereby forming a habit and leading to some actions). Attachment is something that is linked with our survival as a living entity. The need to be attached to something will persist as long as we live or conversely, as long as we are attached to something, we exercise our need to live! Scary of course, since it presents a possibility that the moment the notion of attachment goes away, we may not feel the need to live! The process of aging and gaining ‘wisdom’ is actually the process of increasing our level of being non attached to circumstances around us – to the point that we sense that ‘we’ are not the creator of our thoughts – they just happen. In ancient terms that meant ‘enlightenment’ or attaining ‘Nirvana’. And it again is extended to the possibility of the idea of reincarnation or rebirth – as long as we feel attached to our thoughts.
2. Point no. (01) means that we are the creators (or directors) of our own reality. The reality is not absolute (same for everyone) but is highly relative. It is only true for the person. Thus, who are we to judge other people for their actions and consequences? Who are we to proclaim the definitions of right or wrong? Nobody. Acceptance of this fact of life brings a lot of tolerance within us – as a human race. Each one is entitled to form his/her own definition of life, choose friends, a place, get married or stay unmarried move fast or slow or whatever he/she feels is right for him/ her. Let them do it. That also goes on to imply that people’s comments cannot be applicable for your own views and concerns about life. You may consider their opinions, but not necessarily follow them. So disagreements need not be taken personally.
3. Control: It is a human tendency to achieve a good amount of control over circumstances. What one means by ‘control’ is actually control over our thoughts. There are two ways of looking at this. If one is viewing the definition of ‘control’ equivalent to pursuing a given sequence of thoughts on a lifelong basis, then that’s not possible. Thoughts are bound to change –whether one likes it or not. There is no use in trying to achieve staticness or stability of thoughts. Thoughts can’t be caged. They will come and go, they will make you experience a lot of things – good as well as terrible things. Thus, there is no point in ignoring or running away from those thoughts that seem to cause pain or turmoil – you can’t avoid any of them. Our mind records everything and you cannot cheat it. Thus, pain is inevitable. So is fear and insecurity and worry. This we need to understand. We need to be watchful when pain strikes, when we worry or what causes fear? We need to understand how are we “structuring“ our thoughts, when we feel such terrible things? By observing the structures of thoughts we tend to create (that cause negative emotions), we create the possibility of modifying the structure in a way that suits us much better. This is what is meant by changing the perception of events as deemed fit. This is no doubt a very difficult process, since it is not easy to slow our thoughts and observe what are we creating. Initially, before we realize, we may have already thought a billion things and caused a great deal of internal mental harm to us. But by practice of observing, we become aware of the dicey structures and we are able to change the course of our thoughts the moment they tend to inflict an injury. This requires practice. Despite doing this, we may still end up being disappointed, but at least the occurrences of mishaps may get reduced.
4. The much more evolved part of (3) is to be non attached to any kind of thought, thereby diminishing any notion based on the idea of thought. That does not mean eliminating thought. It means to be aware of an Experience, that is universal, omnipresent and beyond thought. Having such an Experience, gives stability and control.
5. Thoughts, by nature, are not stable (do not last long) and are prone to change. It means the definition of ‘absoluteness’ of thought itself is subject to debate. Thus, everything may be regarded as the truth AND false AT THE SAME TIME. This means that the idea of life is notional and absolute as well. There is no truth in whatever we do and there is truth in whatever we do! This is depressing to digest, absolutely depressing. I need not elaborate further regarding a serious level of self doubt that can penetrate in our mind, if we continue to persist in these thoughts. Ram was depressed and so was Arjun. And not just once, but a couple of times in their lives. It means that such thoughts and realization of this fact is bound to hit each one of us time and again. When that happens, it is a sure knock off. Having passed through this phase at least once in my life, I can say that such experience could not be avoided (it was inevitable) and retrospectively it is good I had it – it is a part of our evolution as human beings. It just goes on to say that there is a complete Higher Form of Order for which we have no control and we nevertheless, have to put all our faith in our actions. This is extremely volatile situation to be in. I have been in this phase for 2-3 years and it is unnerving and suicidal. But, it has to be overcome. Realization and completion of this phase makes you aware of limitations of all notions we have created as human beings. However, for our survival, we need to maintain such notions. That, is perhaps, the dance of ‘Shiva’!

Okane

“Bai” nahi ali, Light gele ahet, tu sataat radatoy, loka signals palat nahi, loka ugaachahch chid-chid karataat, khuup kaam asata karan dusarejan kaam karat nahit, kaam chor ahet sagale, banka aaj banda, schools/ rickshaw/PMT/duudhwale/bhajiwale strilewar gele ahet, bhaji kiti mahat ahe hi, dudhachi pishawi kunitari palawun neli, dudhachi pishawi manjarine phadun dudh pyayala, tu whatsapp baghat nahi ani reply karat nahi, tu “like” karat nahis, tu nusata badbad karato, tu gadi fast chalawato, kuthalya tukar serials TV warati lagataat?, kasala bogus movie ala ahe, kiti he jahirati, flatschya kimati kahichya kahi zhalya ahet, kasala to nach ani kasali ti gani, kapade gyayala ani kapataat kombayala wel nahi, aajkaalchya mulanna kahihi kalat nahi, 5 wajale ki pencil theuun mula baher undarayala mokale, tyani paisa kiti khalala bagh, rajakaran nako re baba, te flyovercha kaam kiti diwas rengaltay, attach rasta kela hoto mag parat ka ukhadala, kon rastyawarti tamasha karun traffic adavatay…..

Ajun kahi rahila ahe ka “okayala”?

Kadhi bolayacha aapan satwik vicharanbaddal??.....

Illusion

Let’s try to deconstruct the term – ‘Illusion’, in a philosophical sense. References to Indian mythology is taken. The term used in Indian scriptures is  - Maya. It is difficult to understand what this term means. Referring to illusion as just ‘false appearances’ doesn’t do much justice to us – and that too in an age where we try to cling fiercely to our thoughts like never before! To tell a normal person that his/her thoughts (and life by extension) are all false is quite frightful or blasphemous. How are we to relate to this concept? And what good does this concept hold for us? I have tried to understand the essence of this concept in following ways:

The basic question to be asked is – how is ‘illusion’ expressed? How can it be explained? We may be able to understand the concept of illusion, if we understand the idea of ‘relative’. Illusion can be seen in the following ways:

1. Scale of existence, life cycle and perception of time – The perception of ‘time’ for a fly, a tree, a human being, a planet, a Sun, a galaxy is different. A fly exists only for a single day (life to death, including pregnancy, offspring, adulthood, retirement and death). We humans exist for maybe 70 years and trees much more than that. The Sun lives for a billion years or so and thus, the rate of forward movement of life for all these life forms is different. Rate of Life movement has a relation with our thoughts and the sense of Time these thoughts generate. Hence, we humans see and feel Time in a different way as compared to others. In other words, Time is perceived relative to the rate of life’s speed. 
2. Same life form but at different stages of life cycle – Our perception of Time is related to our age. We seem to have ‘more’ Time when we are young and have very less Time as we age and reach adulthood. Again, as we age and grow old, our perception of Time again undergoes substantial changes. Each perception of Time is an indication of the nature of our thoughts present at that stage of our life. Thus, Time is perceived relative to the age of Life form. That also goes on to say, one must accept one’s natural pace of going through life. It is also an indication that one generation can’t quite understand another generation completely, since they perceive life on different terms. Climax is achieved when we grow old and perhaps start to realize that the concept of forward Time itself has limitations. Most of our notions about life fall apart in this stage of ripening. Although this is a separate topic, the more we are aware of the relativity of Time, the better we become equipped to witness the twilight years of our lives.
3. Nature of thought – Any thought can be considered absolute OR relative. By this, I mean, thoughts continuously change and so does our perception of life. What we may have believed for some years, we reject after some time. What we felt as nonsense, may become true for us after some time. No one can guarantee our own state of mind as Time goes by. And thus, the life we believe to be true – is only true to the extent of thought itself. Life is therefore regarded as an ‘illusion’ in an absolute sense. Things change, thoughts change, perceptions change. So why cling on? Or is there any point in clinging? And if we develop this understanding of being in some kind of a trance, what we may see? We may experience the phenomenon of ‘Timelessness’ – something beyond the boundaries of Time we ourselves have created. This is the stuff of our Universe.
4. Within one Universe - universe consists of various countless phenomena of various magnitudes and scales and movements occurring simultaneously. If each phenomenon is regarded as an Entity, the nature of Time operating for that given phenomenon will be different. This is in continuation of point (1), but at a universal scale of events. Hence, Time itself is not absolute across the Universe.
5. Multiverse – Quantum mechanics is warming up to the idea (in recent years) of multiple universes existing simultaneously and may have different laws of existence. I was amazed to read that this concept was voiced in Indian mythology (Puranas) about 2000 years ago! (Ref  given by George Mitchell –author of The Hindu Temple). How did people know this back then? I can only guess this answer, but we would be deviating from the main topic, if I give an explanation. Anyway, point (5) can be seen as an expansion of point (4) equal to the number of universes present in a given instant!

Considering above arguments, it makes sense to at least consider the idea of ‘illusion’ acceptable. The tougher task is to agree with this notion and continue to carry on with our lives with full enthusiasm!

Volume Zero

Mysterious, Wishful, Gut filled, Intuitive........

Precedent, No Past, Fresh, Alive, Beginning.......

Unpretentious, Untamed, Unstained, Unbounded......

Decoded, Deconstructed, Unwrapped, Dismantled, Unveiled.......

Possibilities, Potentials, Interpretative, Multivalent, Transformative.......

Acritical, Unassuming, Organic, Indeterminate, flexible, Unfiltered, Uncaged, Unshackled........

Chaos, Disorder, Challenging, Shocking, Unnerving.......

Confusing, Unpredictable, Unguided, Uncontrolled.......

Non conformist, Non repetitive, Non negotiable, 

Lambi Race Ka Ghoda.....

I think the whole emphasis of being in some kind of a race (horse or rat – you choose) and always trying to be efficient at everything is a completely nonsensical way to live life. And that seems to be the problem with today’s world that lays emphasis on speed, accuracy, efficiency and uniformity and perfection and management and planning and so on. What we end up doing is to create zombies – the Living Dead – unconcerned about the quality of life around them and just walking on a path without any hope or compassion or a sense of wonder. Why create such a scenario? Why the hurry? Why so much anxiety, apprehension, worry about the future? Why so much emphasis on performance and perfection? Why so much intolerance? 

It is a difficult cycle to break, but the crux of the issue is with our interpretation of what we consider to be the nature of Life. (I sometimes hate to use the word ‘purpose’ – thoroughly misused, over used and abused – as if a person needs to only have one purpose in life and the rest is useless!) I don’t support the idea of single minded pursuit of some purpose in life, where everything else seems to be a distraction, even though the distraction may be momentarily. We are not machines. We have feelings, emotions and we are messy. Although a routine involves and endorses the required discipline and direction to our aimless existence (whatever that is), it needs to be flexible enough for us to take a pause, relax, perhaps move sideways, make new bonds, create memories, shed tears, realize the depth of learning and move on. It is important to ‘discover’ and allow us to evolve with time. 

Evolution, in highest form, means to shed all fears related to our existence. Running around and being efficient does not necessarily guarantee this state of mind. Having fat bank balance, a home, a car, food and a stunningly beautiful spouse does not guarantee this state of mind. Neither does any material consumption. Nor does any craving for any kind of situation or a thought. Neither does clinging help nor does erasure of memory help. Perhaps this state of mind can’t be an aim in itself – it maybe a by product that develops with ‘wisdom’. Thus what is this wisdom?

Knowledge of our nature is extremely important – and that concerns our life and death. Exactly what is born and what gets dissolved needs to be understood. What is thought and how does it affect our perception of reality needs constant watch and awareness. If thought is everything in life, then we need to be concerned about what we are thinking at the moment and how it leads to a situation and generates an action. Fear is nothing but a ‘type’ of thought – just like love and billion other emotions. Why does fear generate? What is Unknown? And if something is unknown, how should we hope to proceed ahead? 

Above questions lead to the concept of ‘faith’ and ‘surrendering’ to the Will. Surrendering does not mean forfeiting choice or control over our life. Surrendering means to generate a smooth flow of our thoughts without clinging onto any kind of a thought. In other words, it is an indication of dissolving of the individual ego. It is to realize that thought, although supreme, is the penultimate state of mind. A state exists beyond thought itself. An experience of this state results in removing the fear in our minds. And we are then able to break from the cycle of ‘race’ and ‘performance’. 

Does it have to be so difficult? Is it really difficult? Probably no. It requires patience and a watchful mind. Is it possible? Yes, otherwise how would such states of mind be described by Seers around 3000 years ago?