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Mind Development

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sravna

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In my previous thread on mind development, I was talking about ways to handle pressure. I would like to digress here and talk about the insight I had while developing study material for the reasoning exams. It seemed logical to me that developing standardized approaches to answer questions in reasoning exams would be of immense help to the students. It looks like, standard approaches can be developed to help in reasoning on all the existing knowledge . In other words when what we want to reason on, is based on what is fully known, standardized approaches can be developed.

Now comes the interesting part. Should we extend this logic to say, in our interactions and relationships with people? Actually that is the way the world is going, led by the West. Our interactions seem to be more and more phony, canned and predetermined. We seem to be getting so much obsessed with the need to control things that we want to predetermine everything .

What does this lead to? I would say eventually to emptiness. The real fun and purpose of life is gone. Contrary to what is ideal for logic, based on the known, logic on the unknown or real life logic has to be spontaneous. I believe ideally one should never plan on something like a relationship . One can of course have objectives but the finer print should unfold spontaneously. The real idea is one should not plan to predetermine what a person would say or do and should not control others mind, though it is ideal that we should be able to precisely formulate physical laws.

The question that will now arise is how can we be spontaneous ?

Can anyone think of an answer?
 
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Since nobody has answered the question of how can we be spontaneous, let me give my view. The best way to be spontaneous is to not harbor ulterior motives. It takes a lot of efforts to do that since it essentially means one has to care as much about others as about self. Balancing one's interests and others interests is a great panacea to almost all the problems.
 
Dear Sravna Sir,

Sorry for the late reply!

There is one expression in Tamil, 'ALaik kaNdA samudhdhiram', (in our family, we refer to such persons as A K S). This person

will act as the greatest friend, when meeting us in person and forget us very soon! I have met with many persons of this category

in my life, in relatives and friends circle. When they are approached for any help, the answer would be mostly negative! :sad:

We rarely see persons who are spontaneous and also care for others like themselves! They are the gems. :)

P.S: A few who acted as a great friend, can turn out to be the greatest hater and show it several times too!
 
Thanks Smt.RR for your views. The question now is once we understand that balancing of one's and others interests is important for quality life and I bet it takes a lot to understand that, but taking it for granted, how can we actually incorporate it into our life philosophy?
 
Once we are able to understand a right life principle, one is on the right path to realizing it though still very arduous. Understanding is the easier step though it is still formidable for many.
 
There are many who understand, for example, that it is wrong to lie or to be rude but mostly fail to uphold that principle when they are personally affected. Of course there are others who do not think it is wrong to lie or to be rude. They are either yet to achieve even the understanding of the right principles or their understanding is blinded by the reality of the times.
 
Let me focus on those who understand the worth of good principles. A lucky very few are able to practice them. But many people may find it difficult to practice them either because of ego or because of environment.
 
One common impediment to practicing time tested principles is due to the modern refrain : "Question the accepted norms and do not follow them blindly". I agree that one should not follow norms blindly but one should also not rebel against all the norms blindly. Start with acknowledging them because that way you are respecting the wisdom of those who created them and contributed to them.

Many traditions may not be in tune with the times. This is where one has to show sagacity to decide what to accept and what to reject. Almost all traditions are based on principles which are put into practice. Principles do not change with time but they can be unsound. Nothing wrong in rejecting traditions based on unsound principles. Practices mostly may have to adapt with time. I think there is nothing wrong in that as long as the spirit of the tradition is maintained.
 
Most of the supporters of modern views oppose tradition based on its irrationality or its incongruence with time or on the existence of multiple traditions.
 
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I find the irrationality argument very unconvincing. It is based on what the modern knowledge considers rational. The knowledge of science seems to conflict with many concepts of spirituality. So granting superiority to the rationale of science , spirituality is dismissed as irrational.

Of course there are ideas that are prejudiced which have crept in along the way and have survived. These ideas can easily be dismissed based on the right principles of tradition. They do not require scientific or any other modern rationale.
 
Dear Sravna Sir,

In each family, there will be only one, who will go out of the way to help others - be it relatives or friends.

They are always taken for granted by others and expected to extend the helping hand, in every situation.

My dad used to say, 'Don't worry if you are taken for granted; it shows the trust people have in you!'. :thumb:
 
Dear Sravna Sir,

In each family, there will be only one, who will go out of the way to help others - be it relatives or friends.

They are always taken for granted by others and expected to extend the helping hand, in every situation.

My dad used to say, 'Don't worry if you are taken for granted; it shows the trust people have in you!'. :thumb:

Yes Smt.RR very much agree but the alarming truth is that people who think like your dad are non existent. Thinking has become so shallow to the point that it routinely seems stupid.But I believe people are not basically stupid but their intelligence is veiled by a cloak which acts as their intelligence and which gives importance to all that is shallow, transient and meaningless in the long run.
 
Dear Sravna..I follow my heart these days..cos the heart goes by intuition.

The mind on the other hand is too caught up between right and wrong..good and bad that it forgets to hear the heart.

I do not pay too much attention to dictates of anything.

True freedom is to let thoughts flow without categorizing them into various shades.

I do not strive to make everyone good or make everyone bad cos the human eventually chooses his path to address issues best known to him.

The mind does not need another to develop it.
Nature designed every mind to function in its own way.

Thinking too much to make everyone good and right only would reveal that we are contemplating only on the bad.

So try to take just one step back and witness everything as happenings.

Help if its an emergency ..otherwise lead your own life and let others lead theirs.
 
Dear Renuka,

Dont you think the world is pretty much in a state of emergency? That is when others step in to contribute to the betterment of the situation. If people's actions do not harm others, as you say, there is no need for intervention.
 
The best way to respecting and caring for others interests as our own is to give greater importance to relationships that connects you to others than to the persons in the relationship. The various connections may be mother-son, husband-wife, brother-sister, friendship, fellow human etc. When you understand that the relationships stand above the persons involved in the relationship you tend to forget and forgive. At the most general level one has to respect others as fellow humans.

But we can foresee some complications in applying this general rule. What if the other person is my competitor or belongs to an enemy country?
 
The best approach in such contradicting situations when your own welfare may be at stake because of the other person, is to step up your defence system to the required level and then try to convert the inimical relationship into an amicable one.
 
So we see that a potential panacea is in enhancing one's defence to any external attack
 
That way is a lot more effective and the defence is permanent than when you try build your muscles or learn karate or arm yourself with weapons
 
The word self defence can be literally applied to one's own body because when there is spirituality in your body you are immune to diseases and you produce an aura that people dare not attack you. Of course this is when the level of spiritual energy is really high, high enough to overcome any physical force.

But to build that level of energy, it does take a lot of time, almost impossible to attain within a life span. But one can still attain enough spiritual level to be healthy, peaceful and happy.
 
So to argue my case of spirituality being a great self defence, I start with the premise that spiritual energy in a person can be increased. In reality once the attitude of a person changes towards the spiritual, the spiritual energy automatically increases. But I want to make it sound that spirituality is not only an attitude but also a real tangible existence in a person as measured by spiritual energy.
 
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Physical energy is something which stops at the physical level of a person. It cannot influence anything at the mental or spiritual level.
 
But the aspects one need to work upon for real self improvement are at the mental and spiritual levels.
 
Improvement in spiritual aspects makes you complete. You are never in excess of or deficient in anything. On the other hand improvement in mental aspects may mean excesses in some but deficiencies in other. Spiritual aspects always act in cohesion, but mental aspects may act against each other. If you are more intelligent you may be fearful of something and if you are more courageous you may become foolhardy.

But the path to become spiritually complete is by first developing the mental aspects.
 
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