check for Drift and Procrastination !

Check drift and procrastination

Posted on January 24, 2011 Author: K Vijayaraghavan View 10
Truths that are only too obvious to common sense are not often given their due attention because this ‘common sense’ is not always that common! Simple issues stand out, as if calling for attention — attainment of good physical health and fitness too; being aware of conflicts within and thus commencing one’s journey to harmony; learning to be consistent and focused; pre-empting the fallouts of past bad karmathrough the power of present good karma; obtaining the habit of right speech and also divining when to be silent; realising that ‘minutae’ are vital and also that small things ‘add up’ to contribute finally to highly significant end results.
The above are the overall principles on which guidelines abound to guide one on, by application depending on each person’s individuality, even if the process be only gradual and in stages (shanaihi, shanaihi). Nevertheless, true completion to one’s quest is obtained only when certain other specific and vital issues are also attended to. One such is that involving drift and procrastination. Adi Shankara in his Bhaja Govindam laments such a state of drift into aimlessness. He points out how childhood is spent in play and youth in sensual longings. Middle age is spent in making a living and for accumulation. Old age, thus, has to be spent only in repentance! Patanjali in his Yoga Sutra (1,30) lists pramada (procrastination) as one of the 10 obstacles to yoga. Modern management concepts too warn of this ‘thief of time’ (to use the phrase of Edward Young). Living in the dynamic present is the way to ensure that one takes lessons from the immortal lines of John Dryden in his poem, Aurangzeb, where he notes how the hope that “tomorrow will repay” finally proves to be illusory as this ‘tomorrow’ is often “falser than the former day”! Supreme pieces of wisdom evolved through observation, analysis, inference and application are available for all those who are eager and open minded. These serve finally to reveal the state within, through awareness of the infirmities within and realisation of the inadequacy of the approach adopted thus far. Acquiring this seeking and abiding self-honesty itself is more than half the battle won. True change management naturally follows and the obstacles, including drift and procrastination, cannot only be minimised but also reversed!

Clarity within & Time Management

Clarity within and time management

Author: K Vijayaraghavan

Drift and procrastination and the consequent listlessness and drag can be counted as the major causes for poor time management. Often, this state within manifests without as hurry, frenzy and busy-bee living.

The concerned persons constantly complain of the problem of "no time". Some even go to the extent of finding alibis and excuses for inaction in the claim that their "commitments" and "problems" are more than those of others! Such exhibitions are classic examples of drowning oneself in mere "activities" instead of doing so in real "action"!

Analysis of such pathetic state of affairs would reveal the causes of this malady. These would vary from case to case.

Tendencies to escapism from having to face oneself square on; morbid obsession to impress others by becoming a "workaholic" through managing to find something to be occupied with always; lack of assertiveness, ending living by others' priorities, trying to please all, though, finally ending up pleasing none; inability to plan, organise, control and review the list would go on thus.

The unfortunate victim would be afflicted by one or more of such "bugs"! In short, the situation is that of three ‘Cs’ within (confusion, clutter and conflict), which invariably lead to three ‘Ds’ (drag, delay and deferment). Healthy and frank analysis and synthesis would enable the seeker to apply brakes when and where necessary, weed out those needless issues, not necessary for his own pursuit and thus focus only on those which matter.

This, truly, is the process of casting away too many "irons in the fire" and thus arriving at the answer to the inner query, "Quo Vadis?" and in consequence, progressing to knowing one's work upon this earth (swadharma).

This process, when persisted with intelligently, would lead, naturally also to that supreme freedom that freedom from the three "Cs" and the three "Ds" and various other afflicting aberrations.

The Bhagavad Gita, referring (2,45; 5-3, 25) to conflicts (dwanda), also conceives (5-27, 28) of being thus liberated (mukta) from various "enemies within".

This liberation and clarity also lead to the portals of those virtues of briskness, efficiency, effectiveness and joie de vivre. In these lie the capacity to pack much real work into one's limited time. This joyful clarity, and this alone, is worthy time management!

seeing beyond colours : hearing beyond sound

The subtlety of seeing and hearing
Transcends mere colors and sounds.
The whole affair functions
Without leaving traces,
And mirrors without obscurations.
Very naturally mind and dharmas
Emerge and harmonize.

- Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–1157)

The Soul Journey - interconnectedness of all things

Interconnectedness of All Things

Soul Sign

Soul perception enables us to see the interconnectedness of all things, and to know that no existing thing has an independent existence.

Reflection

Our physical senses are designed to give us the perception that things exist independently and separate so that we can focus on particulars and specifically ground the universal energies for practical living. The particulars are expressions of universal realities. But without the soul perspective of universal interconnectedness we lose the meaning of the specifics and have no sense of priorities based on universal values.

Examine some aspects of your life that seem isolated or meaningless, and meditate on the truth that these aspects are part of the oneness of life. Let this reflection reveal their meaning or purpose.

Nature of Buddha mind

Buddhas don't save buddhas. If you use your mind to look for a buddha, you won't see the buddha. As long as you look for a buddha somewhere else, you'll never see that your own mind is the buddha. And don't use a buddha to worship a buddha. And don't use the mind to invoke a buddha. Buddhas don't recite sutras. Buddhas don't keep precepts. And buddhas don't break precepts. Buddhas don't keep or break anything. Buddhas don't do good or evil.

- Bodhidharma (d. 533)

Worlds in a small hut

In this small hut
Are worlds beyond number
Living here alone
I have endless company
Already I have
Attained the essence
How could I dare
To want something higher?

- Muso Soseki (1275-1351)

Value of Ego

The ego for what it’s worth

There’s probably no word in the entirety of religious teachings or spiritual literature which is more looked down upon, considered base or reviled than the word ‘ego’. Very quickly we learn that it’s the principle cause of all suffering, the fount of human frailty and pride and something that stifles any move towards greater worth. The ego prophesies negative futures, the ego wants to feel superior and special, the ego has to be right all the time and, what’s more, the reason it’s a continuous hindrance to any spiritual development is because it obscures the true quality of consciousness like a veil. Even evil seems to pale in front of it. How difficult is it to see then that the ego has to be done away with and demolished as soon as possible?

The overwhelming majority of animals, however, have no such problems to contend with because there’s no awareness in them of any distinct self; an ‘I’ that resides and operates independently from somewhere inside . And although a lot of them possess a fair amount of brain, there’s little evidence of a mind there that’s capable of differentiating one brain from another to cause any particular animal to believe it’s unique and separate from another of the same kind. In fact, we like to think they can’t even think of such things. Are they the lucky ones who are already on the road to self-salvation ?

On the other hand, it has come to light in recent times that there are some species such as bottlenosed dolphins, apes, elephants and the European magpie that also possess a sense of personal identity like we do; who are aware of themselves as separate and exclusive beings . For, unlike other animals who, when confronted by a mirror image, believe the reflection is another animal and become hostile, affectionate or indifferent, these animals start preening and grooming themselves. So, should we think the dolphin, for instance , to be also on the road to perdition unless it starts undertaking the long and arduous process of getting rid of its nascent self — it’s emergent ego?

Perhaps we need to revisit the ego and find out how it came to be and what its purpose is, if any.

If life is existentially meaningless then this quest is obviously meaningless too but if our being in the world is a directed instance then something must have a reason for allowing such a seriously flawed attribute to permeate us with the potential to impede any self-enhancement.

' When Spirit is Willing ! '

When the Spirit is willing
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Posted on January 7, 2011 | Author: Mukul Sharma |

Spirit is one of two small wheeled robots sent to Mars in 2003 to explore its surface and search for clues to past water activity. Its expected lifetime was supposed to be about three months but it's far exceeded this limit with 2011 marking the seventh year on the Red Planet.

And even though Spirit is stuck and seems to be out of power, handlers think it can still be used. Spirit was also supposed to travel about a kilometre at most but has logged nearly seven till date.

Beth Meleski is a self-admitted stay-at-home mother of three who writes about education, politics and the people in her neighbourhood on her personal blog. Using Spirit as an example she's managed to create a fusion of science and humanity by showing what we can learn from its journey.Early in 2006 Spirit's right front wheel developed problems and ultimately stopped working.

Engineers overseeing its operations on Earth however developed an ingenious alternative solution: make the machine travel backwards. It worked for three years without a hitch. Moral of the story by Beth Meleski: "When you can't go forward anymore, try turning around and backing up."Not only did the technique work but the new driving method became auseful if unexpected tool.


The dragging effect of the unusable wheel abraded the surface and exposed underlying areas of the Martian soil that would otherwise not have been accessible for study, including large snow packs that once existed for long enough on Mars to dissolve certain minerals.

Moral: "Unexpected circumstances can lead to great outcomes".Finally in 2009 Spirit got stuck in sand and couldn't extricate itself despite all efforts. Yet there's hope. Scientists have determined that Spirit's instruments and engineering cameras continue to function and it could in future be used as a stationary laboratory.

Moral: "If you're stuck in one place, do what you can from there."And finally Meleski writes: "About nine months ago, Spirit stopped transmitting data… In the meantime, it seems that when energy is low, the only sensible thing to do is to shut down and take a snooze".

Her moral: "Sometimes, it's best to just take a little nap".The latest is, with spring on Mars in full swing Nasa is taking advantage of the Martian season's ever-longer periods of daylight to try to reawaken its stuck rover after months of silence. For although it's dormant, the Spirit may not be dead.

interlude meditation site : work as mediation & mindfulness !

About interlude meditation. About work as meditation. On how to bring quality of attentiveness to work and daily chores and mundane activities.

Source : This link was first posted by Jon Kary on Facebook. One of the benefits of Facebook.

http://www.interluderetreat.com/meditate/chop.htm

Home page of the same book.

http://www.interluderetreat.com/index.html

This one has thought for the day. Archieves on thought for the day. Weekly meditations etc.

Visit in fursath. One of your top priorities.

Flip side of bad faith

The flip side of bad faith

Posted on December 31, 2010 | Author: Mukul Sharma |

Reputed scientists sometimes conduct some seriously problematic and borderline ethical experiments too.

Little Albert for instance was only eight months old in 1920 when the renowned behavioural psychologist John B Watson tested him to see if a baby's innate fear of sudden loud sounds could be generalised to otherwise benign objects.

Earlier, Pavlov had already demonstrated that dogs salivated not only on the appearance of food but with any associated stimulus which preceded it such as a bell being rung.

Accordingly, Watson first exposed the infant to a white rat, a rabbit, a dog, a monkey, masks with and without hair, cotton wool, burning newspapers, etc. Albert showed no fear toward any of these items.

Later, however, every time a white rat was placed next to the child and he was about to reach for it, Watson would make a loud sound behind his back by striking a suspended steel bar with a hammer just as the baby touched the rat.

This would, of course, startle the kid and it would cry out in distress. After a period of repeated pairings of rat with sound it was found that the baby would cry out in distress even when the rat was presented without the sound being made.

Not only that, thereafter its fear became generalised to several furry objects such as a dog, a sealskin coat and even when Watson appeared in front of him wearing aSanta Claus outfit.

Apparently Watson had planned to desensitise Albert and see if he could be made normal again but that never happened since the child had to be taken away after a few months.

Knowing how early experiences of childhood trauma can often leave significant subconscious traces, it’s not unreasonable to assume that Albert might have been left deliberately handicapped with a set of irrational fears for the rest of his life.

Does an experiment like this (and there have been several some far more shamelessly unethical) erode the spirit of technology or the core values of science in general?

Does it diminish the discoveries and inventions made by scientists that have enriched the lives of millions and given us prosperity?

Do a few charlatans, hoaxers and phoney godmen busy bottomfeeding in the name of religion detract from the faith of the rest of the believers who find solace and justification for their ‘unscientific’ existence which to them would appear meaningless otherwise?

Some meeting grounds begin with a negation.