Sri Bagavath Pathai Rajapalayam

01/07/2024

Free time, free mind, and In sha Allah!

Last week, I read a news report about a 128 year old man - a sadhu, performing yoga at a function organised recently in commemoration of the International Yoga Day, which falls on 21st June. The report accompanied his photo as well. When asked about the secret of his long life, the sadhu said that it was yoga and his Brahmacharya life.

We all want to live a long healthy life. But not everyone can adopt his lifestyle or philosophies. Besides, we all have our own convictions about health and longevity. The typical list will have items like regular exercise, balanced diet, good sleep, and good relations. But, there are a few less obvious - and often, overlooked, aspects to the promotion of health. Two of them are:

Free time

How time-rich we are might affect our health, at least indirectly. Anyone can fill her schedule just with work. But a busy schedule usually means not having time for physical activities, friends, domestic chores, books and newspapers, Netflix, family, fixing things, volunteering, and so on. And even if we carve out time for everything, we might still feel stressed out. I mean when we structure time it ceases to be free time.

Hence, the point is not about having time for everything but having “unstructured time”. For work, we can - and we should, structure. Because there are goals, deliverables, and the need for optimisation. However, structure is not important for life or health promoting activities. Doing so could prove to be counter productive.

There is no ideal ratio, but I personally strive to have 60:40 - structuring 60% of “productive hours” (say, 9 to 5), which is about 5 hours, and leaving the rest of the time (about 3 hours) loosely structured or totally unstructured. But if you like to try it, you will have to know how to say No (okay, politely) to any work that might take more than 5 hours of your working hours. The work and other obligations should be completed within this time. But this does not mean that you will have to be idle during all your unstructured time. Instead, you will spend it on unplanned but useful activities.

Free mind

The struggles of the mind happen mostly in two contexts: 1) when we are stuck with a problem that we cannot solve, and 2) when we start dealing with emotions that are best left to settle on their own. We can free our mind from these struggles when we understand the following concepts well:

Conscious mind and supreme mind

We all have these two types of mind. We have to use our conscious mind - the only mind we are conscious of, for dealing with something that is possible for us to do. When we are stuck, we should stop all our efforts. And leave it to the supreme mind (or God). It is like finding the answer for 1+2 all by ourselves, but using calculator to get the answer for 123 x 456.

Thought and thinking

We may want to forget something, but our mind may produce it - again and again. No matter, how much we try to stop the mind from doing it. But we have to accept that our mind is autonomous. It does not take direct instructions. In other words, thoughts are choiceless. We cannot choose them. We cannot time them. But what we can do is not convert our thoughts into thinking.
To be time-rich one needs to master the art of scheduling, and to enjoy a stress-free mind, one needs to understand the science of enlightenment. This art, this science can bestow us with a long, healthy life - In sha Allah!

17/06/2024

How Not to Miss Cashew Nut Pulav

My wife was so eager to take us—me and our two children, to Coutralam, a famous waterfalls, near our town. Last week, she chose a working day, as the crowd will be usually less. But her cherished plan didn’t materialise. My daughter said she was not coming with us because she had a lot of homework to do - and my son declared that he won’t join us leaving his sister. I wondered since when he became so inseparable with her.

Only I was ready for Coutralam. But my wife’s main agenda was taking the children out. Hence, she said she is dropping the entire plan. She did so not before deploying in full earnest different kinds of persuasive skills in her arsenal. As nothing worked, she felt totally dejected. She was keeping a long face throughout the evening. Not enough, she made a boring dinner as if it was for her inlaws. We still had it but it was so little that it could fill only three-thirds of our stomach.

But, the upma turned out to be a blessing in disguise. For, we could justifiably order from outside and relish our favourite ‘cashew nut pulav’ and ‘egg koththu idiyappam’. Unfortunately, my wife went to bed on an empty stomach, as she was determined to uphold her dejection—a dignified one at that.

Her fault was not her plan. Planning is a wonderful talent. Her fault was also not about getting dejected. Nobody’s brain gets flooded with dopamine when what they plan fails. But all of us are also endowed with emotional resilience. When we don’t feed our low mood with our skewed logic, we bounce back quite naturally.

We desire in two ways: 1) fantasise, and 2) visualise. Fantasising—some call it, daydreaming, usually begins automatically. Sometimes, we may contribute to our fantasies but only casually - or half heartedly or knowingly unknowingly. Besides, our fleeting fantasies could be immoral. But, we don’t have to feel small or guilty because of the fantasies. Because they are born of our independent mind. It is enough if we get out of the train of thoughts whenever we realise it is immoral or inappropriate or childish.

On the other hand, visualising is different. It is the stuff great achievements and creations are made of. It is quantitatively and qualitatively different from fantasies. Because visualising is a conscious effort. As ethical beings and socially responsible individuals, we have to consider the interests of others—the stakeholders, and desire something that can inspire everyone. Needless to say, visualising involves preparing to-do lists and getting our hands dirty.

So, desire is not the root cause of all evils. Sure, we suffer when our desires don’t materialise. And the failure rate in the natural world is of course so high. 1 in 1.2 billion, a fertility specialist knows. But it should not deter us from desiring more—for all. It is enough if we remember that we should not support—directly or indirectly, our sufferings from failures. When we don’t support, they don’t last.

To conclude, dreaming of a family trip to Coutralam on a weekday is life positive, but missing cashew nut pulav and egg kothu idiyappam, is life negative. There are enough weekdays left in the calendar.

09/06/2024

Last week, the National Testing Agency sent an email containing my son's NEET score. I didn't open it immediately because I wasn’t eager to see his score. Neither did anyone at home, including my son. He had made it clear that medicine wasn't his calling. He wrote the exam just for the sake of it - with zero preparation. In fact, on the morning of the exam, he was frantically asking everyone at home, “Where is my biology book?” so that he could have a quick look at “the classifications of the animal kingdom” at least.

It wasn't until the following day that I finally opened the email. He had scored 121 out of 720. I was sure that it was not a “passing mark”. But a neighbour informed me that it depends on the student’s caste. It appears that his friend’s daughter had scored only 120, yet she is on track to become a medical college student because she belongs to a certain caste and her parents were prepared to pay Rs. 2 crore as a capitation fee. I am not sure how true it was. I couldn’t help but think about the fate of the future patients of this student.

Anyways, India needs more doctors although according to most estimates, the country already meets the WHO recommended standard of one doctor per 1000 people. When it comes to specialists, I would say this young yet fast-aging country, often considered the capital of numerous stress-related ailments, particularly requires more psychologists. But I may be wrong. If increasing the number of psychologists leads to more prescriptions of antidepressants, then we actually need fewer of them - we should even cancel the licenses of as many existing practitioners as possible.

Instead, who we truly need are more enlightened individuals – perhaps one for every 1000 people. These are people who know fully well that unlike a physical ailment, a psychological issue does not belong to the realm of reality. They can reassure the psychology patients that psychologically they are not patients because even depression is natural. Unlike psychologists, the enlightened don’t prescribe pills to induce sleep. Instead, they simply awaken individuals to the reality that fears and anxieties, whether rational or irrational, are perfectly normal. They can also make them realise that it’s okay to get any thought at any time – whether appropriate or inappropriate, moral or immoral. The enlightened can remind us that only action matters. What we choose to do with our thoughts - whether we entertain them ("think for") or challenge them ("think against") - decides the quality of life. When the so-called negative thoughts come and if we do not take any action, the thoughts naturally fade away. Then where is the need for a cure or pills.

Fortunately, the opportunity to become an enlightened person is open to all. There’s no need to pass the NEET exam or pursue a five-year professional course. All that’s required is a bit of intelligence and an open mind to understand these simple and universal truths.

05/06/2024

I recently came across a BBC article on the best films of 2024 (so far). One of the listed films was Perfect Days, a Japanese language film. I read the synopsis and instantly liked the story. It was about a janitor, named Hirayama. The film shows how he enjoys life, even though his job is cleaning public toilets in Tokyo. The secret to his happiness is that Hirayama does his job with pride, and also pursues many other interests. He raises plants; reads novels, listens to American rock music and takes photos of trees, all with the same zeal.

The idea is fascinating: You can lead a happy, fulfilling life no matter what you do for a living! Nevertheless, the promotional lines of the film seem revolve around “imperfect” philosophies like “mindfulness” and “living in the present”. The official trailer shows the janitor mentoring a young girl with the philosophy of “Ima wa ima” (Meaning, “Now is now”). And the teen faithfully repeats “Ima wa ima” as if she was under spell.

I may watch the film soon and may find the janitor's life enjoyable. But I am not sure whether I can appreciate philosophical or mystical undercurrents - say, how the hero sweeps the floor "mindfully" or listens to American rock music "while fully in the present".
First of all, perfect days are born of organising ideas. That is, we should know how to spend our time on a given day. It is science or management. For instance, there are a few areas in life that none of us can afford to neglect. They include: health, relations, education, and career. We only have to decide the action items that contribute to these areas and also try to make time for them.

When I prepare my to-do list, I seek inspiration from the following twelve action categories:

Work
1) Who wakes up thinking about me (I think of customers who expect some deliverables from me for that day.)
2) Plan ahead / work backwards (Usually, customer projects)
3) Followup / Keep them posted
4) Jobs I can't outsource (Mostly, household chores)

Life
5) Rejuvenating rituals (Mine is reading newspaper, playing badminton, having a cup of tea twice a day)
6) Life goals / pet projects (Writing this Newsletter is one among them - though I don’t mind accepting subscriptions!)
7) Say Hi (Getting in touch with friends, relatives)
8) Recollect and reflect (Journaling or sharing the experiences of my day with someone)

Leadership
9) Go to school (Reading a book or watching a Coursera video)
10) Volunteer
11) Groom (especially, my kids. It sometimes involves reading a book section)
12) Pray / Thank people who make your day

However, these are just nudges. Not stable items. Somedays, I consider just one or two categories from the list; or pick up something that is not there in the list; or simply drop any idea of organising the day. I can still consider it to be a perfect day. For, the perfect days are made of both: yin and yang; chaos and order; striving and going with the flow, mindfulness and wavering mind; living in the present and living in the future, happiness and sorrow.
We need to stay clear of any philosophical myths that make us believe that cultivating certain mindset or mental practices can guarantee us round-the-clock happiness. For, the so-called spiritual practices - such as being grateful, mindful or experiencing a meditative state, deal with our mind. And mind is not under our control. Therefore, it is not wise spending time struggling with our own mind.

We can sweep the floor meditatively. Or do our work as if it is worship - even if it is about taking care of public toilets. But at best, these ideas can serve as nudges. It is impossible to incorporate them out of your own will. Not all the time. And that is not our failure.

Our job is only in the outer world: sweeping the floor and not sweeping the mind. For some reason, all we feel is frustration instead of gratefulness, it is still only natural. Similarly, if we feel distracted, while we really want to be focused, it is perfectly okay. Any state of mind is a perfect state of mind. In other words, we should not mind the mind. As far as the mind is concerned, sweeping is done on its own. We only have to let it happen, without interfering with it.
Cheers!

10/09/2023

A newsletter about Ayya's forthcoming event at Rajapalayam

When things go wrong, it is unnatural to remain calm. The solution is fear.

09/09/2023

காந்தி கலை மன்றம் - இராஜபாளையம்
ஸ்ரீ பகவத் ஐயா அவர்களின் அருளுரை
செப்டம்பர் 17, 2023 - ஞாயிறு; மாலை 6-8:30 மணி வரை.

இராஜபாளையம் மாநகரில் ஸ்ரீ பகவத் ஐயா அவர்களின் அருளுரை. நாள் செப்டம்பர் 17, 2023 - ஞாயிறு; மாலை 6-8:30 மணி வரை. இடம், காந்தி கலை மன்றம்.

நம் பிரச்சனைகள் எதுவானாலும், தீர்வு ஒன்று தான். அதுவும் மிக எளிமையானதே என்று தன் அரிய ஆலோசனைகளை நம்மிடம் பகிர உள்ளார், எண்ணற்ற ஞானிகளை உருவாக்கி வரும் ஸ்ரீ பகவத் ஐயா அவர்கள்.

நிகழ்ச்சியில் ஐயாவின் உரை மற்றும் அதனைத் தொடர்ந்து கேள்வி-பதில் நிகழ்ச்சியும் நடைபெறவுள்ளது. அனைத்து வயத்தைச் சேர்ந்த ஆண்கள், பெண்கள் மற்றும் மாணவர்களும் கலந்து கொண்டு வாழ்வியல் மற்றும் ஆன்மீக தெளிவை பெற அன்புடன் அழைக்கிறோம்.

ஸ்ரீ பகவத் மிஷன், இராஜபாளையம். தொடர்புக்கு: 9790276206.

தேநீர் மற்றும் சிற்றுண்டி வழங்கப்படும்.
ஐயாவினுடைய புத்தகங்கள் விற்பனைக்கு உண்டு.

03/03/2023

Welcome all to the March 23 satsang. You can find the basic details about the program in the image here.

03/03/2023

Welcome to the satsang of March 2023