BVF: Tattva-Darana

(isavasyam idam sarvam)

Oct. 2011: Vol. 1 No. 3

No More Identity Crisis

Mayank Goel CESP, SSS, JNU mayankgoel90@gmail.com Is our identity our institution, passport, pan card, belief, religion, caste, mind or even our body? We have so many identifications that it sometimes becomes difficult to recognise which is our original identity. Pause for a moment and think do we actually have these many personalities or it is mere lack of knowledge or illusion or ignorance that makes us think in this way. It is really strange to know that our identity is changing. Change in personality defeats the notion of identity because if we try to perceive, identity is something which has to be specific, should always hold true, and remains unchanged after any transformation. This definition holds true irrespective of the subject in which the term identity is dealt with. This then raises the obvious question what our real identity is? It is in fact a million dollar question. There are two views to answer the same question. First, material sciences or material theories that are based on direct perception and inductive knowledge. These definitions usually fail to answer all the questions and do not give an understandable picture pertaining to identity because they are confined to external environment which is nothing but matter. Matter is anything which is inactive, limited and temporary. Thats why all our senses which are nothing but products of matter are limited can see, feel, smell, hear and touch only in a range. The alternative to material science is spiritual science. We instantly become sceptical on hearing the term spiritual. This is our biggest folly because one certainly needs to taste honey to know its sweetness. Any speculation wont suffice. The identity crisis occurs because we are not empowered with the real knowledge of the self. We tend to identify ourselves with our designations, positions, or the state of being. All these portfolios keep on changing. We tend to associate our identification with something or the other, overlooking the fact that all the positions are ours but this is not what we essentially are. In a similar fashion, we find ourselves one with the body. Just like we are not our hands but our hands belong to us, this body, made up of matter belongs to us. It is due to misidentification of considering body as the self that we are surrounded by an ocean of problems, tensions, frustration and mental breakdowns which reaches its heights when someone dear to us passes away. We, having a higher consciousness should then ponder; who was there who passed away? If the body was the self, its still there! It is the soul that passes away. This knowledge of self or the soul is the base of spiritual science, knowing which the air

becomes clear and everything seems so simple in life. This is our real identity. We are spirit souls, indestructible, unborn, eternal, unchangeable and immutable; beyond the concept of matter; that pervades the material body through consciousness. All our relations to people and material things are important due to the presence of soul. As soon as the soul leaves any living entity, that relation subsides. So it is the soul which is more important around which everything should be centred. Those who are in full knowledge of the bodily conception of soul and who know that bodily desires are the results of being influenced by the illusion, do not become addicted to the body and its pleasure. They know that just as the fire which burns and illuminates, is different from firewood which is burnt to give illumination; similarly the soul, the seer within the body, is separate from the material body. The planet where we live does not allow us to be isolated like islands. One lesson, this school of life on this planet forces us to learn, is that when we come together willingly to communicate with a positive purpose or to pray together and to unite for the good of the whole, then harmony and peace can exist. Unless and until we make this, the centre of our existence, world peace and harmony will remain a Utopian world because it is essentially this unity that brings forth the spiritual vibration emanating from the Supreme. This vibration is of spiritual love which is not based on bodily relations or mutual attraction but is necessarily one in spirit. It is then we all will realise that even though we look so different on the platform of body, language, religion, caste, etc., we are all alike and expansion of the same energy. This is the real oneness, real unity in diversity arising from our real identity. We need to realise how similar we are in order to expand our hearts and hands to others we may have previously rejected. This is how love and understanding will dissolve boundaries that keep us stifled as a society and individuals and keep us far from entering higher dimensions of consciousness. A lack of love for us reflects lack of love for Godhead. We are not our beliefs, religions, castes, identity proofs, institutions, minds or bodies. We are all divine souls on a wondrous journey. It is essentially this unity between us with Godhead as the centre that can give us the real happiness and satisfaction we search everywhere and in everyone but fail to achieve. We, absorbed in bodily consciousness believe in survival of the fittest and thus do not worry how we harm others in this rat race to eat, drink and be merry. Claiming our forefathers to be apes, the origin of this beautiful planet to be a big bang, we cannot imagine ourselves to be more than a bunch of chemicals or atoms colliding with one another both inside and outside. Such a blunt, blind, superficial outlook renders life meaningless, making the world purposeless which is neither useful to us nor to others. We, the youth need to think twice is this what it is? Is this our identity?

BVF: Tattva-Darana : monthly journal published by BACE Vedic Forum, JNU, New Delhi

The Vedic life that centres around the real identity of individuals as souls and our loving relation with Godhead and His creation; empowers us to consider another mans wife as mother; other peoples wealth as garbage, and to wanly treat others in the way we want ourselves to be treated. Thus, spiritual life arising out of our real identification is based on the firm foundation of co-operation of all, welfare for all, proper utilisation of God-gifted resources in a sustainable way and freedom from selfishness. This is the world that we should not only conceive but work together to make it a reality.

CORRUPTION Why? How to overcome?

(A Vedic paradigm to fix the root-cause) BACE Vedic Forum bacevf@gmail.com Generally, people need incentives to work. Most of us perform actions with some goal in mind. We want to achieve the end result in the best manner and thereafter claim the fruits of our effort. Better are the people who perform their actions and work without any vested interests and personal gain, i.e. those who consider work their duty and responsibility. They follow the principle of sarva jan hitaya, sarva jan sukhaya. But, unfortunately there also exist a special, smart and intelligent class of men who want to achieve everything without putting in proper effort. These people claim the fruits without working and this is indeed corruption. Corruption is a welfare loss in general. Economically, it leads to leakages and conspicuous consumption which is very problematic to the social strength of any economy because it marginalises the poor. The burden of this corruption falls straight on the poor. At the personal level, it degrades the consciousness. There develops a tendency to further cheat or bribe as we are lured to follow this short-cut method to achieve our goal. Especially in our country, corruption has translated itself to unprecedented levels so much so that the whole country is unanimously fighting to root this out. Corruption is the fallout of the development process. With the development, structures, institutions and systems expand. This leads to de-centralisation of power and opportunities for the intermediaries to manipulate in between. Historically, any system or government tried hard to do away with corruption through a framework of rules and regulations but did not succeed. The prime cause of this had been faulty implementation of plans and secondly, avenues for the corrupt persons to escape again through illegal means (bribing the judiciary). Corruption has now become an integral part of the system. Any external force no matter how strong is not sufficient enough to break the system until there are endogenous forces integral to the system that work against its stability. Thus, the focus of any effort to stabilise any system should not be mitigating the external forces but resolving the opposite forces in the system. However, we can clearly assert that government focused on external forces by imposing rules and regulations. To solve, we must know the problem. Today, the problem is not corruption. It is simply a form which has manifested itself

externally. The real problem is the tendency to cheat. Our body is made up of matter which is limited and temporary. Thus, we can sense everything only in some range. Due to this, our senses are often illusioned. This illusion makes us commit mistakes and to cover up our faults, we resort to lies and in the process deceive others. These are also the four fundamental defects of living entities. But, this does not mean that we are bound to live in such a system. The solution to this has been given by many personalities like Chanakya, but the perfect insight is found in Bhagvad Gita. It says that because we perceive ourselves to be bodies, we hanker after bodily pleasure arising out of the contact of senses with sense objects. This creates an attachment for the sense objects that makes us very passionate to work and the same time very possessive in nature. In the process, if we succeed in achieving the desired sense objects, we further become attached and if by chance we fail, then it makes us angry (B.G. 2.62-63). Both these acts make us lusty and greedy by taking away our intelligence. This further entangles us in bodily pleasure. Human life is simply not meant to run after sensory or carnal pleasure like a mad elephant. Animals have low consciousness and cannot understand the purpose of life. Animal life is definitely unregulated because they have no notion of morality and social welfare. But, human life means regulated life based on the principles of austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness. If we analytically see animals do not possess any of these virtues. Following these principles intrinsically implies condemning those activities that degrade them. Intoxication, illicit sex, meat eating, and gambling are four activities that completely destroy these injunctions; commonly found in animals. Unfortunately, instead of demolishing them, it is being promoted on a massive scale because they are high profit-low investment ventures. This has in turn increased conspicuous consumption. In todays society consumption of wines, prostitution, slaughterhouses, casinos and short term speculative activities are increasing day by day and it is being legalized also. The tendency to enjoy has escalated exponentially but the incomes have not gone up in general. People are therefore compelled to resort to usurious and illegal means of earning money to satisfy their urge of consumption. All this is happening due to lack of spiritual insight. However, these principles are part of any religion as they are part of the human society because without them humans are no better than animals. If we do not focus on the real problem it is almost impossible to get the desired result. On one hand, we are promoting conspicuous consumption by increasing their production while on the other trying to achieve a corrupt-free nation. There is an integral contradiction in the formulation of such a system. Such practices can go on forever but will definitely fail to eradicate corruption unless these four principles are strictly established in the social and economic system through the intervention of the political systems BACE Vedic Forum, organizing certificate course on Bhagavad-Gita, for details: Contact : 9818934336/9910963165 Email Blog : bacevf@gmail.com : http://bacevf.blogspot.com/

BVF: Tattva-Darana : monthly journal published by BACE Vedic Forum, JNU, New Delhi