/////////////////////////GOBARDHAN BROWN
///////////////////////UKIND QNTUM DUALITY
//////////////////MISSING BLOG-12 TO 19 SEP 07
//////////////////////NASH-LIVER DAMAGED BY WHITE RICE,WHITE BREAD AND POTATO
/////////////////////UFTOE BANG
//////////////////////////GLAUCOMA GENE- trabecular meshwork protein (TIGR).
///////////////////////////////////////////TUROK-COLD SPOT-SPACE -TIME TWIST
///////////////////While Homeopathy Faces Enemies In The UK, It Booms In India Editor's ChoiceMain Category: Complementary Medicine / Alternative Medicine NewsArticle Date: 16 Nov 2007 - 0:00 PST email to a friend printer friendly view / write opinions rate article newsletters
Visitor Ratings: Healthcare Professional: General Public: >> rate this articleA two-part special report explains how homeopathy faces growing pressure in the UK, while it enjoys an remarkable boom in India. The first part of the Special Report, written by Udani Samarasekera, The Lancet Senior Editor, writes about the anti-homeopathy movement which seems to have been gathering pace in the UK over the last couple of years. Anti-homeopathy campaigners are irritated by a symposium which will take place in London, on December 1st; it is looking at the role of homeopathy in HIV/AIDS treatment and is organized by the Society of Homeopaths. Michael Baum, professor emeritus of surgery, UCL (University College London), a well-known critic of homeopathy, suggests that homeopaths are becoming overconfident. "People say homoeopathy cannot do any harm but when it is being promoted for HIV then there is a serious problem," he said. Baum, and UCL colleague David Colquhoun, among others sent a letter to all Primary Care Trusts in the United Kingdom expressing their concerns about homeopathy gaining a footing as part of the NHS (National Health Service). The anti-homeopathy campaign appears to have had an impact. The Tunbridge Wells Homeopathic Hospital, one of five hospitals that provided services on the NHS, stopped receiving funding. There has also been a drop in referrals to the London Homeopathic Hospital. The public, however, comes in growing numbers to homeopathy. In 2007, the UK market was estimated to be worth £38 million ($76 million) - by 2012 it is expected to reach £46 million ($92 million). According to Baum, this success is because the public mistakenly believes homeopathy is an herbal medicine. "Although many herbal medicines are unproven, they, unlike homoeopathic remedies, have scientific plausibility." A meta-analysis in The Lancet in 2005 and four other large meta-analyses have shown that the clinical effects of homoeopathic remedies are placebo effects. While some commentators feel there is a future in prescribing placebos if they make people feel better, Baum feels this would be "unethical and patronizing," he explains. Surprisingly, and to the dismay of several UK doctors and scientists, homeopathy received some unanticipated support. The MHRA (UK Medicines and Regulatory Agency) decreed that manufacturers will only be required to provide safety evidence and data on what the homeopathic remedy is traditionally used for - this is not the case with conventional medicines. In Baum's view, NICE (National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) should assess homeopathy and issue guidelines. According to a communication from the Department of Health to The Lancet, NICE already considers complementary therapies alongside conventional treatments when developing clinical guidelines - however, none of NICE's current clinical guidelines recommend homeopathy for any condition. Raekha Prasad, a journalist, writes about the booming homeopathy industry in India in the second part of the Special Edition. In India 100 million people depend exclusively on homeopathy for their health care. Prasad refers to the case of a man who sold his tractor worth 150,000 rupees (£1,800, $3,600) in order to purchase a miracle homeopathic cure for HIV. Unsurprisingly, the 'cure' had no effect and his condition worsened. According to SP Singh, Indian Ministry of Health, homeopathy has no side-effects. He added that a small amount of medicine can help a large number of people. He adds "Homoeopathy has a biological effect..all homoeopathic medicines are therapeutically proven." This is despite the fact that most evidence points the other way. India is in a tiny minority in its recognition of homeopathy as a legitimate system of medicine.
Visitor Ratings: Healthcare Professional: General Public: >> rate this articleA two-part special report explains how homeopathy faces growing pressure in the UK, while it enjoys an remarkable boom in India. The first part of the Special Report, written by Udani Samarasekera, The Lancet Senior Editor, writes about the anti-homeopathy movement which seems to have been gathering pace in the UK over the last couple of years. Anti-homeopathy campaigners are irritated by a symposium which will take place in London, on December 1st; it is looking at the role of homeopathy in HIV/AIDS treatment and is organized by the Society of Homeopaths. Michael Baum, professor emeritus of surgery, UCL (University College London), a well-known critic of homeopathy, suggests that homeopaths are becoming overconfident. "People say homoeopathy cannot do any harm but when it is being promoted for HIV then there is a serious problem," he said. Baum, and UCL colleague David Colquhoun, among others sent a letter to all Primary Care Trusts in the United Kingdom expressing their concerns about homeopathy gaining a footing as part of the NHS (National Health Service). The anti-homeopathy campaign appears to have had an impact. The Tunbridge Wells Homeopathic Hospital, one of five hospitals that provided services on the NHS, stopped receiving funding. There has also been a drop in referrals to the London Homeopathic Hospital. The public, however, comes in growing numbers to homeopathy. In 2007, the UK market was estimated to be worth £38 million ($76 million) - by 2012 it is expected to reach £46 million ($92 million). According to Baum, this success is because the public mistakenly believes homeopathy is an herbal medicine. "Although many herbal medicines are unproven, they, unlike homoeopathic remedies, have scientific plausibility." A meta-analysis in The Lancet in 2005 and four other large meta-analyses have shown that the clinical effects of homoeopathic remedies are placebo effects. While some commentators feel there is a future in prescribing placebos if they make people feel better, Baum feels this would be "unethical and patronizing," he explains. Surprisingly, and to the dismay of several UK doctors and scientists, homeopathy received some unanticipated support. The MHRA (UK Medicines and Regulatory Agency) decreed that manufacturers will only be required to provide safety evidence and data on what the homeopathic remedy is traditionally used for - this is not the case with conventional medicines. In Baum's view, NICE (National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) should assess homeopathy and issue guidelines. According to a communication from the Department of Health to The Lancet, NICE already considers complementary therapies alongside conventional treatments when developing clinical guidelines - however, none of NICE's current clinical guidelines recommend homeopathy for any condition. Raekha Prasad, a journalist, writes about the booming homeopathy industry in India in the second part of the Special Edition. In India 100 million people depend exclusively on homeopathy for their health care. Prasad refers to the case of a man who sold his tractor worth 150,000 rupees (£1,800, $3,600) in order to purchase a miracle homeopathic cure for HIV. Unsurprisingly, the 'cure' had no effect and his condition worsened. According to SP Singh, Indian Ministry of Health, homeopathy has no side-effects. He added that a small amount of medicine can help a large number of people. He adds "Homoeopathy has a biological effect..all homoeopathic medicines are therapeutically proven." This is despite the fact that most evidence points the other way. India is in a tiny minority in its recognition of homeopathy as a legitimate system of medicine.
/////////////////////Remember the bad-
//////////////The way things are now may seem better in the light of bad memories. Don't forget the bad things that have happened, the contrast may encourage gratefulness.
//////////////The way things are now may seem better in the light of bad memories. Don't forget the bad things that have happened, the contrast may encourage gratefulness.
/////////////////////HANDHI-PASSIVE AGRESSIVE?
/////////////////////////////////////Insist on yourself; never imitate.~Ralph Waldo Emerson~
///////////////////LEGAL(LETHAL) INJECTION
//////////////////////LIST UNIVERSE=Top 10 Amazing Facts About Dreamsjfrater09:01 am96 Comments
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This afternoon I had a (very rare) nap. During that nap I had a lucid dream (most of which I no longer remember). As I was waking up, I was thinking about my dream and thought that it would be a great idea to write a list about dreams for the site. So, here are the top 10 amazing facts about dreams.
10. Blind People Dream
People who become blind after birth can see images in their dreams. People who are born blind do not see any images, but have dreams equally vivid involving their other senses of sound, smell, touch and emotion. It is hard for a seeing person to imagine, but the body’s need for sleep is so strong that it is able to handle virtually all physical situations to make it happen.
9. You Forget 90% of your Dreams
Within 5 minutes of waking, half of your dream if forgotten. Within 10, 90% is gone. The famous poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, woke one morning having had a fantastic dream (likely opium induced) - he put pen to paper and began to describe his “vision in a dream” in what has become one of English’s most famous poems: Kubla Khan. Part way through (54 lines in fact) he was interrupted by a “Person from Porlock“. Coleridge returned to his poem but could not remember the rest of his dream. The poem was never completed.
In Xanadu did Kubla KhanA stately pleasure-dome decree:Where Alph, the sacred river, ranThrough caverns measureless to manDown to a sunless sea.[…]
Curiously, Robert Louis Stevenson came up with the story of Doctor Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde whilst he was dreaming. Wikipedia has more on that here. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was also the brainchild of a dream.
8. Everybody Dreams
Every human being dreams (except in cases of extreme psychological disorder) but men and women have different dreams and different physical reactions. Men tend to dream more about other men, while women tend to dream equally about men and women. In addition, both men and women experience sexually related physical reactions to their dreams regardless of whether the dream is sexual in nature; males experience erections and females experience increased vaginal blood flow.
7. Dreams Prevent Psychosis
In a recent sleep study, students who were awakened at the beginning of each dream, but still allowed their 8 hours of sleep, all experienced difficulty in concentration, irritability, hallucinations, and signs of psychosis after only 3 days. When finally allowed their REM sleep the student’s brains made up for lost time by greatly increasing the percentage of sleep spent in the REM stage. [Source]
6. We Only Dream of What We Know
Our dreams are frequently full of strangers who play out certain parts - did you know that your mind is not inventing those faces - they are real faces of real people that you have seen during your life but may not know or remember? The evil killer in your latest dream may be the guy who pumped petrol in to your Dad’s car when you were just a little kid. We have all seen hundreds of thousands of faces through our lives, so we have an endless supply of characters for our brain to utilize during our dreams.
More after this message...
5. Not Everyone Dreams in Color
A full 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white. The remaining number dream in full color. People also tend to have common themes in dreams, which are situations relating to school, being chased, running slowly/in place, sexual experiences, falling, arriving too late, a person now alive being dead, teeth falling out, flying, failing an examination, or a car accident. It is unknown whether the impact of a dream relating to violence or death is more emotionally charged for a person who dreams in color than one who dreams in black and white. [Source]
4. Dreams are not about what they are about
If you dream about some particular subject it is not often that the dream is about that. Dreams speak in a deeply symbolic language. The unconscious mind tries to compare your dream to something else, which is similar. Its like writing a poem and saying that a group of ants were like machines that never stop. But you would never compare something to itself, for example: “That beautiful sunset was like a beautiful sunset”. So whatever symbol your dream picks on it is most unlikely to be a symbol for itself.
3. Quitters have more vivid dreams
People who have smoked cigarettes for a long time who stop, have reported much more vivid dreams than they would normally experience. Additionally, according to the Journal of Abnormal Psychology: “Among 293 smokers abstinent for between 1 and 4 weeks, 33% reported having at least 1 dream about smoking. In most dreams, subjects caught themselves smoking and felt strong negative emotions, such as panic and guilt. Dreams about smoking were the result of tobacco withdrawal, as 97% of subjects did not have them while smoking, and their occurrence was significantly related to the duration of abstinence. They were rated as more vivid than the usual dreams and were as common as most major tobacco withdrawal symptoms.” [Source]
2. External Stimuli Invade our Dreams
This is called Dream Incorporation and it is the experience that most of us have had where a sound from reality is heard in our dream and incorporated in some way. A similar (though less external) example would be when you are physically thirsty and your mind incorporates that feeling in to your dream. My own experience of this includes repeatedly drinking a large glass of water in the dream which satisfies me, only to find the thirst returning shortly after - this thirst… drink… thirst… loop often recurs until I wake up and have a real drink. The famous painting above (Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening) by Salvador Dali, depicts this concept.
1. You are paralyzed while you sleep
Believe it or not, your body is virtually paralyzed during your sleep - most likely to prevent your body from acting out aspects of your dreams. According to the Wikipedia article on dreaming, “Glands begin to secrete a hormone that helps induce sleep and neurons send signals to the spinal cord which cause the body to relax and later become essentially paralyzed.”
Bonus: Extra Facts
1. When you are snoring, you are not dreaming.2. Toddlers do not dream about themselves until around the age of 3. From the same age, children typically have many more nightmares than adults do until age 7 or 8.3. If you are awakened out of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, you are more likely to remember your dream in a more vivid way than you would if you woke from a full night sleep.
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This afternoon I had a (very rare) nap. During that nap I had a lucid dream (most of which I no longer remember). As I was waking up, I was thinking about my dream and thought that it would be a great idea to write a list about dreams for the site. So, here are the top 10 amazing facts about dreams.
10. Blind People Dream
People who become blind after birth can see images in their dreams. People who are born blind do not see any images, but have dreams equally vivid involving their other senses of sound, smell, touch and emotion. It is hard for a seeing person to imagine, but the body’s need for sleep is so strong that it is able to handle virtually all physical situations to make it happen.
9. You Forget 90% of your Dreams
Within 5 minutes of waking, half of your dream if forgotten. Within 10, 90% is gone. The famous poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, woke one morning having had a fantastic dream (likely opium induced) - he put pen to paper and began to describe his “vision in a dream” in what has become one of English’s most famous poems: Kubla Khan. Part way through (54 lines in fact) he was interrupted by a “Person from Porlock“. Coleridge returned to his poem but could not remember the rest of his dream. The poem was never completed.
In Xanadu did Kubla KhanA stately pleasure-dome decree:Where Alph, the sacred river, ranThrough caverns measureless to manDown to a sunless sea.[…]
Curiously, Robert Louis Stevenson came up with the story of Doctor Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde whilst he was dreaming. Wikipedia has more on that here. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was also the brainchild of a dream.
8. Everybody Dreams
Every human being dreams (except in cases of extreme psychological disorder) but men and women have different dreams and different physical reactions. Men tend to dream more about other men, while women tend to dream equally about men and women. In addition, both men and women experience sexually related physical reactions to their dreams regardless of whether the dream is sexual in nature; males experience erections and females experience increased vaginal blood flow.
7. Dreams Prevent Psychosis
In a recent sleep study, students who were awakened at the beginning of each dream, but still allowed their 8 hours of sleep, all experienced difficulty in concentration, irritability, hallucinations, and signs of psychosis after only 3 days. When finally allowed their REM sleep the student’s brains made up for lost time by greatly increasing the percentage of sleep spent in the REM stage. [Source]
6. We Only Dream of What We Know
Our dreams are frequently full of strangers who play out certain parts - did you know that your mind is not inventing those faces - they are real faces of real people that you have seen during your life but may not know or remember? The evil killer in your latest dream may be the guy who pumped petrol in to your Dad’s car when you were just a little kid. We have all seen hundreds of thousands of faces through our lives, so we have an endless supply of characters for our brain to utilize during our dreams.
More after this message...
5. Not Everyone Dreams in Color
A full 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white. The remaining number dream in full color. People also tend to have common themes in dreams, which are situations relating to school, being chased, running slowly/in place, sexual experiences, falling, arriving too late, a person now alive being dead, teeth falling out, flying, failing an examination, or a car accident. It is unknown whether the impact of a dream relating to violence or death is more emotionally charged for a person who dreams in color than one who dreams in black and white. [Source]
4. Dreams are not about what they are about
If you dream about some particular subject it is not often that the dream is about that. Dreams speak in a deeply symbolic language. The unconscious mind tries to compare your dream to something else, which is similar. Its like writing a poem and saying that a group of ants were like machines that never stop. But you would never compare something to itself, for example: “That beautiful sunset was like a beautiful sunset”. So whatever symbol your dream picks on it is most unlikely to be a symbol for itself.
3. Quitters have more vivid dreams
People who have smoked cigarettes for a long time who stop, have reported much more vivid dreams than they would normally experience. Additionally, according to the Journal of Abnormal Psychology: “Among 293 smokers abstinent for between 1 and 4 weeks, 33% reported having at least 1 dream about smoking. In most dreams, subjects caught themselves smoking and felt strong negative emotions, such as panic and guilt. Dreams about smoking were the result of tobacco withdrawal, as 97% of subjects did not have them while smoking, and their occurrence was significantly related to the duration of abstinence. They were rated as more vivid than the usual dreams and were as common as most major tobacco withdrawal symptoms.” [Source]
2. External Stimuli Invade our Dreams
This is called Dream Incorporation and it is the experience that most of us have had where a sound from reality is heard in our dream and incorporated in some way. A similar (though less external) example would be when you are physically thirsty and your mind incorporates that feeling in to your dream. My own experience of this includes repeatedly drinking a large glass of water in the dream which satisfies me, only to find the thirst returning shortly after - this thirst… drink… thirst… loop often recurs until I wake up and have a real drink. The famous painting above (Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening) by Salvador Dali, depicts this concept.
1. You are paralyzed while you sleep
Believe it or not, your body is virtually paralyzed during your sleep - most likely to prevent your body from acting out aspects of your dreams. According to the Wikipedia article on dreaming, “Glands begin to secrete a hormone that helps induce sleep and neurons send signals to the spinal cord which cause the body to relax and later become essentially paralyzed.”
Bonus: Extra Facts
1. When you are snoring, you are not dreaming.2. Toddlers do not dream about themselves until around the age of 3. From the same age, children typically have many more nightmares than adults do until age 7 or 8.3. If you are awakened out of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, you are more likely to remember your dream in a more vivid way than you would if you woke from a full night sleep.
/////////////////////////////////////WE ARE NEARER AFRICAN APES THAN ASIAN APES
////////////////////COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS-PISTOL-RMEMBER MAN WITHOUT LEGS ANECDOTE
/////////////////////Poem: "Beside the Point" by Stephen Cushman, from The Virginia Quarterly Review: Spring 2006. Reprinted with permission. Beside the Point The sky has never won a prize. The clouds have no careers.The rainbow doesn't say my work,thank goodness.The rock in the creek's not so productive.The mud on the bank's not too pragmatic.There's nothing useful in the noisethe wind makes in the leaves.Buck up now, my fellow superfluity, and let's both be of that worthless ilk,self-indulgent as shooting stars,self-absorbed as sunsets.Who cares if we're inconsequential?At least we can revel, two good-for-nothings,in our irrelevance; at least come and makeno difference with me.
////////////////////////We seek "marriage" as though that quasi-legal institution were the same thing as a worthwhile human relationship.
///////////////////////According to Fukuyama, in the move from industrial to informational society, intellectual ability came to be more highly valued than physical capacity, changing the nature of work and resulting in the need to mobilize larger pools of workers, particularly women. This affected men in lower-skill occupations in particular, driving down their average earnings as labor competition increased primarily in non-manufacturing sectors and contributing to the erosion of the traditional male-head-of-household model. Lower fertility rates and higher divorce and single-motherhood rates also reflected increased pressures on the family as women entered the workforce in greater numbers. Higher earnings among women promoted their independence in terms of the traditional marriage contract, further eroding the social norm of male responsibility that easy access to birth control also threatened.
//////////////////////http://www.goiena.net/blogak/kingstonhiria=great MUSIC
/////////////////////
Ego, the False Me
Swami Atmananda
Ego is our second hand identity. A relative identity brought about by what people around think about me. Ego is our identity in relation to our position, status, capacities, knowledge, lineage, caste, country, and so on. It has nothing to do with my truth, but is all about what others and subsequently I too, think, imagine & project about myself - it is the false me. Ego is therefore always very concerned and bothered about what others say & think about me, because its very existence depends on what others say & think. Others can make or break the ego, because it is their creation.
A child coming into this beautiful world is ignorant about everything, everything is so new. With its wide eyed innocence it stares the people & things around. The child is ignorant not only about the world around but also its own self & existence, about which, however, he is hardly bothered at that time. Child has an unconditioned & clean slate, yet his or her wide-eyes reveal that he/she wants to know. The flowing love of his mother, the care, the embrace, the attention, the importance, all begin contributing in the process of the crystallization of his or her identity. The smiles & squirms, the love & hate of people around, all slowly & steadily contribute to the formation of an identity, positive or negative. This relative identity thus formed on the basis of the extraneous experiences & knowledge, is called the ego. Ego is inevitable too, after all, I will be called an Indian if I am born in India. The entire legal system too hovers around these extraneous factors. My family, caste, tradition, etc, all are a fact from the worldly point of view, so we will inevitably have an identity viz-a-viz these things.
What others think about me is one thing, and this inevitable identity, as I appear to others, should never be too much of a problem, however that is what it comes to. Almost all the religions of the world motivate us to go beyond this ego-centric existence, because most of the time this 'ego' becomes a synonym of bondage, suffering, seeking and grief. The reason of this is that not knowing our true self, we hang on to this relative identity as our real self. Ignorance brings a void, and it is filled up by what is the best available around. It is this ignorance and the subsequent error which is the cause of all our sufferings and not the ego per se. Even God cannot help, if the people around brand him as white or black, north or south, brahmin or kshatriya, right or wrong, etc., and mind you there is no problem in this too. Projections & imaginations never malign the object about which imaginations are being made. The truth remains untainted and unaffected, pure & immaculate. What the truth is, is one thing, but what I see & believe it to be is another. Our joys & sorrows depend on our perceptions are, so what we see is more important that what the truth is. So if we take ourself to be this ego, then we certainly have one of the most profound crisis of our life - the identity crisis, which is the cause of all the seeking, envy, imitation, blind following etc. The identity brought about by ego is always limited, it is continuously changing, and this is all very contrary to what our truth is, so we are never at home with all these untruths. We constantly strive to be bigger, greater, happier and so on, and all this just because we have erroneously taken ourself we be this relative, second-hand self.
Once we take ourself to be the ego, there is no breaking the shell of limitation. Whether we attain the most scintillating pleasures & joys, or get recognition, we remain what we have taken ourself to be, a limited fellow. No pleasure or pain ever helps us to go beyond the imposed limitations. Whether we do some dynamic activity or keep all actions aside, yet we do not transcend the ego with these acts, of pravritti or nivritti. Irrespective of what we seek, sacred or secular, we continue to remain a seeker. The ego can never ever go beyond its suffocating sense of seeking. Ego-fulfillment can never be the way to efface or transcend the ego, it rather makes our abidance in the ego more firm. The more we seek, the more we seem to go further away from our goals, and the desperation and pain continues to increase. What is the way out of this mire? Vedanta reveals that we need to enquire and question the very individuality, rather than taking it to be real, and keep building our plans on the edifice of this relative imaginary identity. It is the very knowledge of the truth of ego that liberates us from the ego, rather than some unique or specialized kind of seeking of & by the very fellow which needs to be effaced. Any seeking is only after taking this ego and all its limitations to be real.
Every 'goal' of the ego is a projection of all that which the fellow sees that it doesn't have. Experiencing a sense of limitation, we keep the limitless as our goal, which is seen to be something which is far away at some different time or at a different place. Experiencing the sorrow, we project a goal which is an embodiment of joy. The story in short is that, first we imagine things about ourself, and then based on this imaginations, we imagine that which is free of all this, and then pursue that projection (read goal). No wonder we continue to remain a seeker, inspite of all achievements. No effect ever effaces its cause, so also no seeking ever effaces the ego. Interestingly the ego visualizes a goal, has clear notion and understanding about it, and then prays to attain that goal. Whatever we project we may experience, but whatever we experience is nothing but our projection. All projections are limited, they are objectified and perceived by the mind. Clearer the goal, clearer is the objectification, and thus we first entertain a notion that we know, and then strangely say that we dont know and also want to know. A person who thinks he knows, knows not, because our real essence is not something which can be imagined or objectified by the mind. The truth is that which this very ego veils by its very existence, just as the imaginary snake veils the proverbial rope. Whoever seeks the truth away from himself is on an endless delusory trip, the so called samsara. When we see all this game clearly, and realize the baselessness of such a relative identity and his seeking, then this seeking stops & drops. There is no effort even to stop seeking, it stops at that very moment of realization.
We need to realize that the ego is a second-hand identity about ourself, and thus seeing this trick of the mind, we stop associating ourself with it. We need to stop bothering too much about what others say about me, and become more concerned by what I see and discern about our self. The moment we dissociate from ego, that very moment the ego stops becoming our identity, and that very moment we are free of all its limitations. When the very limitations are not there, there is no need to project any goal far beyond the horizon, there is no question of any seeking. All limitations, all seeking's immediately come to an end. It is this realization of the false as the false which frees us, and not any effort of the ego to be free. This is what is meant by the statements of vedanta that it is the knowledge of self which frees us and not any action of the ego.
A simple exercise for you. We may be so & so with reference to people, achievements etc around, but please ask yourself as to 'Who are you' when none of the things outside are present. You, not with reference to things around but you by yourself. What is your identity - not relative but absolute. Its indeed a priceless question, which has the capacity to liberate you from all the superimposed limitations & bondages. That alone is true Self-Knowledge.
Ego, the False Me
Swami Atmananda
Ego is our second hand identity. A relative identity brought about by what people around think about me. Ego is our identity in relation to our position, status, capacities, knowledge, lineage, caste, country, and so on. It has nothing to do with my truth, but is all about what others and subsequently I too, think, imagine & project about myself - it is the false me. Ego is therefore always very concerned and bothered about what others say & think about me, because its very existence depends on what others say & think. Others can make or break the ego, because it is their creation.
A child coming into this beautiful world is ignorant about everything, everything is so new. With its wide eyed innocence it stares the people & things around. The child is ignorant not only about the world around but also its own self & existence, about which, however, he is hardly bothered at that time. Child has an unconditioned & clean slate, yet his or her wide-eyes reveal that he/she wants to know. The flowing love of his mother, the care, the embrace, the attention, the importance, all begin contributing in the process of the crystallization of his or her identity. The smiles & squirms, the love & hate of people around, all slowly & steadily contribute to the formation of an identity, positive or negative. This relative identity thus formed on the basis of the extraneous experiences & knowledge, is called the ego. Ego is inevitable too, after all, I will be called an Indian if I am born in India. The entire legal system too hovers around these extraneous factors. My family, caste, tradition, etc, all are a fact from the worldly point of view, so we will inevitably have an identity viz-a-viz these things.
What others think about me is one thing, and this inevitable identity, as I appear to others, should never be too much of a problem, however that is what it comes to. Almost all the religions of the world motivate us to go beyond this ego-centric existence, because most of the time this 'ego' becomes a synonym of bondage, suffering, seeking and grief. The reason of this is that not knowing our true self, we hang on to this relative identity as our real self. Ignorance brings a void, and it is filled up by what is the best available around. It is this ignorance and the subsequent error which is the cause of all our sufferings and not the ego per se. Even God cannot help, if the people around brand him as white or black, north or south, brahmin or kshatriya, right or wrong, etc., and mind you there is no problem in this too. Projections & imaginations never malign the object about which imaginations are being made. The truth remains untainted and unaffected, pure & immaculate. What the truth is, is one thing, but what I see & believe it to be is another. Our joys & sorrows depend on our perceptions are, so what we see is more important that what the truth is. So if we take ourself to be this ego, then we certainly have one of the most profound crisis of our life - the identity crisis, which is the cause of all the seeking, envy, imitation, blind following etc. The identity brought about by ego is always limited, it is continuously changing, and this is all very contrary to what our truth is, so we are never at home with all these untruths. We constantly strive to be bigger, greater, happier and so on, and all this just because we have erroneously taken ourself we be this relative, second-hand self.
Once we take ourself to be the ego, there is no breaking the shell of limitation. Whether we attain the most scintillating pleasures & joys, or get recognition, we remain what we have taken ourself to be, a limited fellow. No pleasure or pain ever helps us to go beyond the imposed limitations. Whether we do some dynamic activity or keep all actions aside, yet we do not transcend the ego with these acts, of pravritti or nivritti. Irrespective of what we seek, sacred or secular, we continue to remain a seeker. The ego can never ever go beyond its suffocating sense of seeking. Ego-fulfillment can never be the way to efface or transcend the ego, it rather makes our abidance in the ego more firm. The more we seek, the more we seem to go further away from our goals, and the desperation and pain continues to increase. What is the way out of this mire? Vedanta reveals that we need to enquire and question the very individuality, rather than taking it to be real, and keep building our plans on the edifice of this relative imaginary identity. It is the very knowledge of the truth of ego that liberates us from the ego, rather than some unique or specialized kind of seeking of & by the very fellow which needs to be effaced. Any seeking is only after taking this ego and all its limitations to be real.
Every 'goal' of the ego is a projection of all that which the fellow sees that it doesn't have. Experiencing a sense of limitation, we keep the limitless as our goal, which is seen to be something which is far away at some different time or at a different place. Experiencing the sorrow, we project a goal which is an embodiment of joy. The story in short is that, first we imagine things about ourself, and then based on this imaginations, we imagine that which is free of all this, and then pursue that projection (read goal). No wonder we continue to remain a seeker, inspite of all achievements. No effect ever effaces its cause, so also no seeking ever effaces the ego. Interestingly the ego visualizes a goal, has clear notion and understanding about it, and then prays to attain that goal. Whatever we project we may experience, but whatever we experience is nothing but our projection. All projections are limited, they are objectified and perceived by the mind. Clearer the goal, clearer is the objectification, and thus we first entertain a notion that we know, and then strangely say that we dont know and also want to know. A person who thinks he knows, knows not, because our real essence is not something which can be imagined or objectified by the mind. The truth is that which this very ego veils by its very existence, just as the imaginary snake veils the proverbial rope. Whoever seeks the truth away from himself is on an endless delusory trip, the so called samsara. When we see all this game clearly, and realize the baselessness of such a relative identity and his seeking, then this seeking stops & drops. There is no effort even to stop seeking, it stops at that very moment of realization.
We need to realize that the ego is a second-hand identity about ourself, and thus seeing this trick of the mind, we stop associating ourself with it. We need to stop bothering too much about what others say about me, and become more concerned by what I see and discern about our self. The moment we dissociate from ego, that very moment the ego stops becoming our identity, and that very moment we are free of all its limitations. When the very limitations are not there, there is no need to project any goal far beyond the horizon, there is no question of any seeking. All limitations, all seeking's immediately come to an end. It is this realization of the false as the false which frees us, and not any effort of the ego to be free. This is what is meant by the statements of vedanta that it is the knowledge of self which frees us and not any action of the ego.
A simple exercise for you. We may be so & so with reference to people, achievements etc around, but please ask yourself as to 'Who are you' when none of the things outside are present. You, not with reference to things around but you by yourself. What is your identity - not relative but absolute. Its indeed a priceless question, which has the capacity to liberate you from all the superimposed limitations & bondages. That alone is true Self-Knowledge.
///////////////////////"It is the truth that frees, not your effort to be free."J. Krishnamurti
////////////////////So one must learn to retain ones cool in the midst of challenges and problems. Bigger the problem, greater is the necessity of retaining our balance. A person who retains his or her samata in the various ups & downs of life, in fact gets connected to God himself, and God himself prompts the person with right ideas & noble thoughts. Equanimity indeed pays, not only for our worldly well-being, by finding our way out of any problem, but also spiritually, in various ways. A person who doesn't react alone realizes the truth of the world & his self.
/////////////////////"Most of us want to be distracted; most of us are tired out with incessant conflict, and distractions become a necessity, they become more important than 'what is'."J. Krishnamurti
///////////////////I think there is a difference between the human being and the individual. The individual is a local entity, living in a particular country, belonging to a particular culture, particular society, particular religion. The human being is not a local entity. He is everywhere."J. Krishnamurti
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Understanding Expectations
Swami Atmananda
Humans are social beings. We live together in groups, relate to various people in different ways, serve them and also get served by others in so many ways. Every relationship is all about give & take, this is natural and normal too. There is nothing wrong with this whatsoever. In all these interactions, expectations from others are very natural & inevitable too. We cant dream of a relationship without expectations. In fact all our joys & happiness are all about fulfillment of our cherished dreams and expectations. It is not only our joys which are connected with expectations but our self esteem too; we consider ourselves successful etc only when we have achieved something in life. Nevertheless, there is another side of the coin too.
It is also a fact that expectations alone bring all sorrows & heartbreaks. Moreover, a spiritually awakened one is described as one whose all expectations have totally ceased. Bhagwad Gita describes a Man of Knowledge in this way alone when it says that 'A Sthitha Pragnya (Man of Steady Wisdom) is one who revels in him self by him self; and whose all the desires whatsoever, have dropped'. Time & again Lord Krishna motivates us to live a selfless life and do selfless karma. It appears logical and is validated by our experiences too, that it is indeed the shattering of our expectations which is sorrow. So in order to be really free from all sorrows we need to discover that unique nature of relationship where were we relate with others all right but have no expectations. Is this possible?
Well, effacement of expectations basically implies that 'May there be predominance of what you give rather than what you get & take'. This is naturally so in all relationships of true love. We certainly get love and so many things from so many people, right from our parents onwards, in fact if we can keep aside our 'expectations' from others around us, then we shall see that we are getting showered by love etc of others so much that we don't even deserve, we start feeling indebted. This is the first problem of expectations, it doesn't let us 'see' that we are getting love etc from others. When you expect that others 'should' give love, respect, care, facilities etc to you then what you get is seen as something very normal & obvious, nothing unusual about it. So expectations deny us the very experience of love etc. When we have airs about ourselves, then getting something from others is seen in a different light all together. They have to do it, must do it etc, and if at all they don't then it rather becomes a source of grief or even heartbreak for us. If someone has, because of any reasons, given less, then also we are unhappy.
In a relationship with a predominance of expectations, it is grief & pain all the way, whether it is fulfilled or not. When the expectations are fulfilled then we see it as a normal thing and it doesn't give any kick, or it can even bring about arrogance, that 'I have done it'; and if they are not fulfilled then we are aware of all the stress, tension, grief etc which we face. Expectations are not only a source of bondage for our self, but are even for the others. Our expectations bind others, create bondage in them. When we expect something from others, then obviously they are expected to do that, and if we are in a position of power, then others bloody well do what I want & wish, or they have had it. Sensitive people are constrained to voluntarily keep aside their feelings & thoughts just to appease the endless expectations of others. They sincerely wish that one day this will end, but alas, it is a never-ending game, and on top of it the other fellow is never happy too. It is indeed a pain to be related to someone who has lots of expectations. You cant live your life as you wish thereafter.
So keep aside your expectations from others and enter a new world. You will be surprised to see how much a person is getting even when there are no reasons for me to get. To come to think of it, Why has the God created me, given this beautiful human life, a great planet to live, air to breathe, water to drink etc. Did I or you do anything for the creator, or are we doing anything right now? Nothing. Yet we are being showered. To experience this showering, just keep the expectations aside. Never take anything for granted. This simple & singular act will change our lives. It will start a new chapter, wherein we see ourselves as bountiful receivers, and now we just have to give and give, serve and then serve more. That's love, that's a life which is called as free from expectations. This is what Karma Yoga and its Nishkama Karma is all about.
Understanding Expectations
Swami Atmananda
Humans are social beings. We live together in groups, relate to various people in different ways, serve them and also get served by others in so many ways. Every relationship is all about give & take, this is natural and normal too. There is nothing wrong with this whatsoever. In all these interactions, expectations from others are very natural & inevitable too. We cant dream of a relationship without expectations. In fact all our joys & happiness are all about fulfillment of our cherished dreams and expectations. It is not only our joys which are connected with expectations but our self esteem too; we consider ourselves successful etc only when we have achieved something in life. Nevertheless, there is another side of the coin too.
It is also a fact that expectations alone bring all sorrows & heartbreaks. Moreover, a spiritually awakened one is described as one whose all expectations have totally ceased. Bhagwad Gita describes a Man of Knowledge in this way alone when it says that 'A Sthitha Pragnya (Man of Steady Wisdom) is one who revels in him self by him self; and whose all the desires whatsoever, have dropped'. Time & again Lord Krishna motivates us to live a selfless life and do selfless karma. It appears logical and is validated by our experiences too, that it is indeed the shattering of our expectations which is sorrow. So in order to be really free from all sorrows we need to discover that unique nature of relationship where were we relate with others all right but have no expectations. Is this possible?
Well, effacement of expectations basically implies that 'May there be predominance of what you give rather than what you get & take'. This is naturally so in all relationships of true love. We certainly get love and so many things from so many people, right from our parents onwards, in fact if we can keep aside our 'expectations' from others around us, then we shall see that we are getting showered by love etc of others so much that we don't even deserve, we start feeling indebted. This is the first problem of expectations, it doesn't let us 'see' that we are getting love etc from others. When you expect that others 'should' give love, respect, care, facilities etc to you then what you get is seen as something very normal & obvious, nothing unusual about it. So expectations deny us the very experience of love etc. When we have airs about ourselves, then getting something from others is seen in a different light all together. They have to do it, must do it etc, and if at all they don't then it rather becomes a source of grief or even heartbreak for us. If someone has, because of any reasons, given less, then also we are unhappy.
In a relationship with a predominance of expectations, it is grief & pain all the way, whether it is fulfilled or not. When the expectations are fulfilled then we see it as a normal thing and it doesn't give any kick, or it can even bring about arrogance, that 'I have done it'; and if they are not fulfilled then we are aware of all the stress, tension, grief etc which we face. Expectations are not only a source of bondage for our self, but are even for the others. Our expectations bind others, create bondage in them. When we expect something from others, then obviously they are expected to do that, and if we are in a position of power, then others bloody well do what I want & wish, or they have had it. Sensitive people are constrained to voluntarily keep aside their feelings & thoughts just to appease the endless expectations of others. They sincerely wish that one day this will end, but alas, it is a never-ending game, and on top of it the other fellow is never happy too. It is indeed a pain to be related to someone who has lots of expectations. You cant live your life as you wish thereafter.
So keep aside your expectations from others and enter a new world. You will be surprised to see how much a person is getting even when there are no reasons for me to get. To come to think of it, Why has the God created me, given this beautiful human life, a great planet to live, air to breathe, water to drink etc. Did I or you do anything for the creator, or are we doing anything right now? Nothing. Yet we are being showered. To experience this showering, just keep the expectations aside. Never take anything for granted. This simple & singular act will change our lives. It will start a new chapter, wherein we see ourselves as bountiful receivers, and now we just have to give and give, serve and then serve more. That's love, that's a life which is called as free from expectations. This is what Karma Yoga and its Nishkama Karma is all about.
//////////////////COPING WITH JEALOUSY-TOLB-THEN YANBG
///////////////////////Give up all these paths and struggles. Do thou take refuge in Me. I will take thee to the other shore, be not afraid." Bhagwad Gita
BT PANTHEIST GON
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