Life 04 (Aug 09 - Sep 09)

[winston]

What are the obstructions of the present, that we should be vigilant against?

The obstructions to the present are of the four types:
1) Attachment to sense objects,
2) Cynical criticism,
3) Dullness of understanding and
4) Absurd conceit.

The first is the cause of attachment to the objects that attracts the senses.
The second makes people discover wrong meanings in the teachings of Spiritual Teacher.
The third causes confusion, because the teachings by the spiritual teacher are not grasped at all. The last attraction makes one feel that one is a great scholar, pundit or ascetic, mistaking the body and the senses for the higher self.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Life is an Internal Event

Life is an internal event, expressed externally. It's a series of internal experiences projected outward.

It's like a film projected onto a screen. Too often we mistake the screen for our lives, we begin to feel as though what we see out there is what makes up our lives. We set about trying to change it by changing the images on the screen instead of going to the source of the images and changing the film itself.

Your life is not what happens to you; your life is what happens from you. And beyond that, life is what happens through you.

Source: followyoursoul.com

[winston]

This faculty will gather momentum

The more you are aware during the waking hours, the less dreams there are. Dreams are indications of thoughts-feelings, actions not completed, not understood, that need fresh interpretation, or frustrated thought-hope that needs to be fully comprehended.

Some dreams are of no importance. Those that have significance have to be interpreted, and that interpretation depends on your capacity of non-identification, of keen intelligence. If you are deeply aware, interpretation is not necessary, but you are too lazy and so, if you can afford it, you go to a dream specialist; he interprets your dreams according to his understanding.

You gradually become dependent upon him; he becomes the new priest, and so you have another problem added to you. But if you are aware even for a brief period, you will see that short, sharp awareness, however fleeting it be, begins to awaken a new feeling, which is not the result of craving but a faculty which is free from all personal limitations and tendencies.

This faculty, this feeling, will gather momentum as you become more deeply and widely aware so that you are aware even in spite of your attention being given to other matters.

Though you are occupied with necessary duties and give your attention to daily existence, inward awareness continues; it is as a sensitive photographic plate on which every impression, every thought-feeling is being imprinted to be studied, assimilated, and understood. This faculty, this new feeling, is of the utmost importance for it will reveal that which is eternal.

The Collected Work vol III, pp 219- 220

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

How can we overcome the obstructions of the present?

There is no obstruction that cannot be surmounted. Attachment to sense objects can be removed by developing purity, self-control, withdrawal of desires, and the ability to suffer.

Dullness of understanding can be removed by listening again and again. Constant meditation on things heard will abolish the habit of cynical criticism. All absurd conceit will vanish through the teachings one imbibes.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Exposing the contents of the unconscious

Why do we give such deep significance and meaning to the unconscious?—for after all, it is as trivial as the conscious.

If the conscious mind is extraordinarily active, watching, listening, seeing, then the conscious mind becomes far more important than the unconscious; in that state all the contents of the unconscious are exposed; the division between the various layers comes to an end.

Watching your reactions when you sit in a bus, when you are talking to your wife, your husband, when in your office, writing, being alone—if you are ever alone—then this whole process of observation, this act of seeing (in which there is no division as the observer and the observed) ends the contradiction.

The Flight of the Eagle, p 28

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

What are the important speed breakers in life that we must adhere to?

If you continue to imitate others, your own strength will gradually diminish. Therefore, do not imitate others.

Observe restraint. For example, the lion attacks the animal only when it is hungry. It does not go about killing every animal that it comes across. Thus even a wild beast like the lion has the capacity to restrain itself. Hence it is necessary for every human being to observe restraint and certain limits.

Do not utilize your strength and power indiscriminately. Trying to amass wealth and being over-smart will only lead you to danger. Limitless ego, anger, and desire will only lead you astray.

You have to divert your mind from such a situation and follow the noble path so that you do not cause harm to others nor do you suffer in the process. .

- Divine Discourse, Aug 29, 2009.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

The state of attention

One begins to discover that in the state of attention, complete attention, there is not the observer, with its old conditioning as the conscious as well as the unconscious.

In that state of attention, the mind becomes extraordinarily quiet. The brain cells, though they may react, no longer function psychologically, within a pattern; they become extraordinarily quiet psychologically.

Talks in Europe, 1967

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

The world is so full of deceit. When those who we believe are good turn out to be bad, how can our faith grow?

Believe in yourself first. Then believe in the Omnipresent Divine.

When you have faith in these two, neither the good nor the bad will affect you. When one is deluded by the mere external world and when one does not attain success in external desires, the faith in the Divine diminishes.

So, give up such desires. Desire only for the spiritual relationship. Then you won't become the target of doubts and difficulties. The important thing for this is faith in the Divine. Without Faith, you start doubting everything - big and small.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is thinking?

All our activities, all the products of our imagination, all the things written down in the Upanishads—or whatever the religious book—are put together by thought.

Architecture, the technology in the world, all the places of worship, whether they be the temple, the mosque or the church, and the things that are contained therein, are the result of thought.

All the rituals are invented by thought: the puja, the worship—everything is based on thought. All our relationships, all our political and economic structures are based on thought.

Our national divisions are the result of thought. You see, we have always inquired about external things, but have never asked ourselves: What is thinking? What is the root and consequence of thinking?

A Timeless Spring, p 161

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

The Only Thing That Really Matters by Alexander Green

Why do some folks look back on their lives in old age and say they wouldn't change much... or anything?

Is there a formula - some mix of love, work, habits, or attitudes - that offers the best chance of experiencing the good life?

Believe it or not, researchers at Harvard have been examining this question for 72 years, following 268 men who entered college in the late 1930s through war, career, sickness, health, marriage, parenthood, grandparenthood and old age.

Their discoveries about what constitutes a well-lived life might surprise you.

Just listen to Dr. George Vaillant. Since 1967, the Harvard Medical School professor has dedicated his career to following the men of Harvard's "Grant Study," named after its patron, the department-store magnate, W.T. Grant.

Vaillant's specialty is the longitudinal method of research, the comprehensive study of a small number of people over a long period of time.

His subjects were never a representative sample of society. They were all young men, Harvard students, from relatively privileged backgrounds.

Yet Vaillant's findings offer profound insights into the human condition. They have universal applications. And they illuminate the one single factor that correlates most highly with a positive life assessment in old age.

So let's take a closer look...

From the beginning, the Grant Study was meant to be exhaustive. Harvard researchers assembled a team that included medical doctors, physiologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, anthropologists and other specialists.

Over more than seven decades, participants were monitored, interviewed and studied from every conceivable angle, including eating and drinking habits, exercise, mental and physical health, career changes, financial successes and setbacks, marital history, parenthood, grandparenthood and old age.

They were subjected to general aptitude tests and personality inventories, and were required to provide regular letters and documentation.

Many of the Grant Study men achieved dramatic success. Some became captains of industry. One was a bestselling author. Four members ran for the U.S. Senate. One served in a presidential cabinet. And one - JFK (we now know) - was president. (His files have been sealed until 2040.)

Some of the subjects were disappointments, too. Case number 47, for example, literally fell down drunk and died. (Not quite what the study had in mind.)

Most of the participants remain anonymous, although a few, like Ben Bradlee, the long-time editor of The Washington Post, have publicly identified themselves.

Over the last four decades, the lives of the Grant men were Vaillant's personal and professional obsession. In his book, Adaptation to Life, he writes, "Their lives were too human for science, too beautiful for numbers, too sad for diagnosis and too immortal for bound journals."

Yet more than 70 years of data and analysis enabled Vaillant to reach some broad conclusions.

He found seven major factors that predict healthy aging, both physically and psychologically: education, stable marriage, healthy weight, some exercise, not smoking, not abusing alcohol and "employing mature adaptations." (Vaillant believes social skills and coping methods are crucial in determining overall life satisfaction.)

However, his most important finding was revealed in an interview in 2008 when he was asked, "What have you learned from the Grant Study men?"

Vaillant's response: "That the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people."

The Grant Study confirms what the wisest among us have always known, that a successful life is not about the grim determination to get or have more. Nor is it about low cholesterol levels or intellectual brilliance or career accomplishments.

It's about human connections: parents, siblings, spouses, children, friends, neighbors and mentors.

Without them, life quickly loses its flavor, whatever material successes we enjoy. Lasting satisfaction is rare outside of meaningful, human relationships.

Look back at your life and you'll almost certainly find that the most significant moments were births, deaths, weddings and celebrations.

Your most profound moments? When you touched others... or they touched you.

In times of suffering - loss, sickness, death - it is not prescriptions, formulas, or advice we seek, but the healing presence of another.

When we forget this - when we think only of ourselves - we choke the source of our development.

Real meaning comes from taking care of those you love, letting them know how you feel.

Fortunately, we have countless opportunities to give a bit of ourselves each day through a thoughtful act, a word of appreciation, or a sense of understanding.

As Dr. Vaillant concludes, true success "is more about us than me."

Source: Spiritual Wealth