pinaki

From the Upanishads.. some brain storming while surfing for the context of EGO of oneself and how that has been explained. There are two selves, the separate ego and the indivisible Atman. When one rises above I and me and mine, the Atman is revealed as one's real Self. (Katha Up. Part 2, 3:13, p. 97) Like two golden birds perched on the selfsame tree, intimate friends, the ego and the Self dwell in the same body. The former eats the sweet and sour fruits of the tree of life while the latter looks on in detachment. As long as we think we are the ego, we feel attached and fall into sorrow. But realize that you are the Self, the Lord of life, and you will be freed from sorrow. When you realize that you are the Self, supreme source of light, supreme source of love, you transcend the duality of life and enter into the unitive state. (Mundada Up. 3:1-3, p. 115; also compare Shvetashvatara Up. 4:6, p. 225) When identified with the ego, the Self appears other than what it is. It may appear smaller than a hair's breadth. But know the Self to be infinite. (Shvetashvatara Up. 5:8-9, p. 229) Now let me try to crashland onto reality in todays context of Indian society. Starting all the way from the politicians and statesmen, to a mere farmer in some remote village in the deepest corner of our country - showing off ego, taking things in charge to establish his/her views by impulse, justifying one's actions and refraining from contemplating the implications are shameless examples of our inherited culture and social upbringing. Upbringing in the context of current environment. With such a long history of our religion, society, heritage.. can we ignore the impact of our history of people?.. the history that defined our present behaviour of pompous, hypocritical, impatient, and non appreciation. And then if religion or the practice of religion has been holding us together through the chains of time.. arent these chains turned into shackles under the preposterous explanations and justifications of Hinduism?.. I wonder sometimes, why are we so insecured in our perceptions of anything...? Going back to the Upanishad's explanation of EGO.. it seems we are way off from even the earliest interpretation of the real fundamentals of human nature. what a waste in between .. around 5000 years !!

oops suryaz.. that was a severe mistake on my behalf ... yes.. thanks for the clarification

Thanks guys for ideas and thoughts.. Lately I have purposefully involved myself into debates about the viability and the legitimacy of the fact that RELIGIONS WHICH ORIGINATED THOUSANDS OF YEARS BACK CAN JUSTIFY THE DYNAMIC GLOBAL CHANGES IN ONE'S LIFE AND PERCEPTIONS IN THE CURRENT SITUATION. Thats quite intriguing if we just ponder over the idea of a dynamic religious concept that fits itself with the requirements and the challenges of not only current day-to-day lives but also the implications and ramifications of one's actions in other's life. I percieved that religion and its concepts should be like a fluid sphere trying to fill itself in any hole .. but sometimes (or most of the time) it acts like a square with sharp corners. Whenever I start talking about this, end up pulling up a socio-religious and a socio-political twist to my presentations. From a layman's perspective it is a quite formidable challenge to maintain a standpoint without being snubbed by some agent (humans ofcourse) when he/she communicates with millions around him/her. This eventually may frsutrate him/her. Amazingly these feedbacks define his daily life and that what he clings on to as a doctrine of life. An average Indian going through the hardship of everyday hardly asks his religion every hour WHAT IS THE SOLUTION TO THIS?... and I think it goes for all humans in general. But the interesting part is, if he or she faces a threat to his own actions, then tries to defend that with social norms derived from hinduism or ancient social and religious sayings and scriptures. How Hypocritical..!!!.. So here the religion or faith in a way is failing to resolve the cause and trying to defend the effect. Well, religion by itself never tries to do anything, but the people who practices it proposes and imposes. Then the point arises: CURRENT HINDU RELIGIOUS CONCEPT/FAITH HAS GOT ITS HEAD IN THE 21ST CENTURY AND THE TAIL IN THE 15TH CENTURY </P> May be I am being too harsh.. or am I?

Its amazing how the Hindu society in India encapsulates millions of minds with a strong faith of existence in both spiritual and material contexts but apparently overlooks or trenches itself from resolving the social issues of negative attitude arising from frustration among the souls. Such a vast population and hundreds of tangible and intangible parameters that influence our lives .. and in a way defines subtely our rules of engagement in different routine or unexpected wars while walking through life. The interesting aspect that I have experienced again and again among a typical Indian soul which has experienced from the long run (I mean a old person like grand father or aged father or mother) is their utterly strong inclination towards beliefs and faith without a liberal mind of rational. I may sound somewhat skewed towards generalizing the fact, but in a population of 1 Bil there have been ample examples that made me believe that it has something to do with the rigidity of our faith or somekind of hipocrisy during the inherent perception in one's mind. I believe that a faith which is based on strong fundamental elements of trust, honesty, truth, sincerety, diversity, and appreciation for worldly views and which tries to resolve both spiritual and materialistic matters in light of the reasoning has more to offer than just blind justification of one's belief. I am a young soul with millions more to witness in life, but what intrigues me is that why old people with such a vast knowledge and experience from life tends to culminate every reasoning to the context of "rules as they have been". Why do we just falter in asking the question to ourselves - "Why is it so? and why it has to be my way? Is there a better way?" Is it somekind of complacancy or superiority complex that develops from age? One example might be the oldest family member makes a rule in the house for everyone to return before 9:00 pm by the day's end. Any reasoning against that might lead to a severe altercation or contention without a proper debate and reasoning. Thats what sometimes frustrates me - why our religion and our socio-religious doctrines of life fails to answer this? And above and all, why is there such a small room to challenge our own thoughts or beliefs? Change has always been threatening to establishments. But how come a fundamental religion like Hinduism cant appreciate change by reasoning and still be robust in its practice with the wheels of time. Will appreciate some thoughts.