Two Viewpoints of this Manifested World

[Guest guest]

Two Viewpoints of this Manifested World

 

First time when I heard that our sympathetic nervous system fights

with the enemies on our body I felt uncomfortable. I felt like they

are army. I was wondering why should you call the functioning of eyes

as seeing, ears hearing, tongue tasting, and stomach digesting, etc

why should we call sympathetic nervous system as fighting while we

use fighting as a bad thing in outside world. Parasympathetic nervous

system now fights with the sympathetic system.

 

I am not a student of medicine- do not even have a basic knowledge of

anatomy or physiology. But I try to feel from my heart what I come to

know.

 

Similarly when I was hearing about the theory called survival of

fittest of Darwin I had similar feeling of non-acceptability because

I always feel nature works in harmony. Nature does not work with an

agenda if something is weak, so it should be eliminated because there

is no `utility of it by its survival'. As if utility is the basis of

creation!

 

I would like to share some of the ideas in this regard. Not that I am

very clear with the entire picture but this appears to be due to the

influence of some notions which may be baseless on the theories man

creates. The nature has its own way of functioning. We only label it

so that we can be guided by our understanding. That influences

further our thinking process.

 

There are as I see basically two world views. One is that the world

is bad and the journey in this world is full of hurdles and we need

to be very careful and keep fighting all the time. We need to have

this awareness and caution in order to fight and succeed, without

which you are no more. We need to struggle all the time. Life is a

battle field.

 

The second view is that the creation is basically good and is from

god and it is his freedom and his choice of `one to become many' that

He has become many in the form of various animals and birds trees and

rivers sky and the beautiful clouds and all. The manifestation is a

beautiful song and the living is a festivity. Every breath you take

is a celebration every step you take in walking is a dance. And

finally the basis of the creation the divinity hidden in the creation

is the harmony which keeps the creation intact.

 

I am comfortable with and I feel our scriptures have always taken the

later view as spiritual view and that is why we have such prayers

samno mitrah sam varunah etc. or saha na vavatu etc. and I was trying

to find out what could be the origin of the second view of the nature

namely fight is the essence of existence.

 

When I think I feel the origin for the first way of thinking has been

developed as follows.

 

In certain parts of the world, mainly in the west, man had to

constantly fight for his survival. He had to fight the nature's

vagaries such as extreme cold conditions and extreme hot conditions

when he did not have the facility like what man has today or he did

not have the defense system like animals have. But he is having

intelligence so that he could develop his skills and technology for

his safety. This same argument he brought in all his activities and

in explaining every thing he came across in the creation. In order to

fight he has to first of all convince himself that it is enemy and it

is bad, and given a freedom or if he slackens the whole creation,

particularly the animals are there to destroy his very existence.

 

But the reality is that the animals do not attack unless they are

hungry and they find food in front of them; unless they find that

their life is threatened they don't attack. May be they sense that

man is much more capable than them in terms of their intelligence so

it looks like they are afraid of man much more than they are for any

other creatures. Actually these days so much of research is done in

the area of animal behavior. They even say that the animals are not

violent just like that. They may just be playful some times.

 

I was watching an animal channel. A tiger was lying after having a

meal. A deer was grazing at a couple of feet away not noticing the

tiger. The tiger just opens his eyes yarns and goes back to sleep.

The commentator says that the tigers are not violent. They eat their

food.

 

Even though such kind of research shows that animals are not

basically violent, we have not yet revised our opinion regarding

human being who is supposed to have evolved from animal and the human

being continues to be violent. Violence is not his basic nature

because even the primary assumption that animals are violent appears

to be wrong.

 

First of all it is assumed that the fighting is or aggression is the

essence of creation, and several aspects of creation are explained

based on this aspect of aggression. Recently my friend in Germany

said that they are taught from the childhood this concept, `Homino

homini lupus' which basically means, he explained, man is a wolf for

another man. It means man is always waiting for an opportunity how to

cheat how to deceive and how to destroy another human being. Wolf is

believed to be an animal not only just kills but it is very violent

and destroys its pray. In other words man is a pray for another man.

This means man is there to destroy the success or existence of the

other man. This is mirroring the idea that animals are violent and so

is man. Now when you look at how all the other ideas emerge out of

it. When you question why man is like a wolf, the answer arbitrarily

given I think is, because man is originally a sinner. Therefore the

concept that man is a sinner is to justify the original idea that man

is wolf of another man. So a strong man subdues a weak man!

 

The same theory has been applied to all other creatures as follows.

It is not only man but the whole creation is like this. That is why

it is hypothesized that a strong animal tries to destroy the survival

of the weak animal so the law of creation is `survival of the

fittest'. To what extent the fight is going on or when it is going

on? The answer is it is going on in the creation all the time. Taking

the same clue the activity going on in our body is also explained in

the same way. In our body we are fighting all the time in the form of

the sympathetic nervous system fighting the external aggression.

Fighting is a way of life.

 

Extending this concept of violence to the work place the work that

you do in the office is also psychologically explained as fight. That

is why the work place is like a battle field. The whole market is a

big company has to eat up the weak company. The big industry has to

wipe away he weak industry, which in sophisticated language we call

as expansion or merger. Where we can get more for less we are smart

and intelligent. It is not only in our own country but in the

countries where the labor is cheap go there and exploit them. That is

why these days the cry called the out sourcing. Working even at the

individual level is like a fight and we need the respite from this

fight. That is why we need a vacation from the work. You can see the

expression on the faces of the people who go to the work, which it is

some thing unwanted, like.

 

 

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When the society believed in the theory that every body is a wolf of

other, then naturally every one is fighting with the other and every

one is looking for his pound of flesh. In such a society what the man

required is the simple law of mutual survival. In order to prevent or

reduce the exploitation, laws are created, rights are fixed. This is

your right and this is his right. Nobody should violate other's

rights. Father has a right mother has a right- child has a right

adult has a right. Adults' rights are much wider so every child wants

to become an adult as early as possible. People are given rights and

rulers have rights.

 

Things like love your neighbor, don't steal other's wealth etc were

good enough for people to be so called spiritual. So the spiritual

laws were mainly the laws of being good and doing good. Therefore the

message of being good has been the core message of spirituality.

 

On the other hand a society and culture which is totally wedded to

the idea that the creation is from god and it is his play and

basically man is good and only we need to remind him, these people

have a different approach in life. These people worked in trust of

other and also trust about the other creatures on the earth.

Aggression was not necessary in life. Being good is an ordinary thing!

 

The first view point namely that we need to fight and survive there

is a very strong ego in it and it has to be nurtured. In order to

fight we need ego and stronger the ego greater you are. The character

of the ego has been only in the form of violence. It is this ego

which says that the whole world is created by god for his enjoyment.

He has every right to plunder with this creation!

 

One who has no ego can not be considered as successful. Ego is not

only of the things what you have, such as beauty or wealth,

intelligence or knack, smartness or aggression, these things not only

we have to have it but we need to exhibit too, we need to let others

know about it. To project it also is very important, to advertise

becomes very important. There is not only no value for humility but

it is actively condemned. Ego is the achievements of out side and it

looks like we depend up on more and more outside because we have less

and less inside. We have nothing realized inside so we tend to look

out side.

 

 

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Showing off the supremacy over other creatures has been recreation

and pass time. That is the way the bull fight, WWF or similar things

have significance. For a mind which does not see point in this kind

of philosophy, these fights look as very barbaric and sinful. One

wonders how these things can be enjoyed or why such things are not

considered as crime.

 

We also meddle with the creation for our advantage. Keeping the

chicken in closed cages and putting powerful lights day and night so

that they do not sleep and in turn they give more eggs or pushing the

animals mercilessly through the slaughter houses can not fit in any

stretch of imagination as the leaders of creation which we claim to

be!

 

This violence has percolated in every aspect. Even yoga is practiced

as fighting with the body. All the definition of the asana given by

the scriptures and all the definitions of yoga are kept aside because

they do not satisfy this basic aspect of violence. So these days even

yoga is practiced with no mercy on the body. Even if you have mercy

on your body the teacher will not have. There are such quotes `no

pain no gain'.

 

Fasting was suggested as a wonderful spiritual practice by our

ancient scriptures. It is not to punish the body or to be violent

with the body but essentially to develop the control over the mind

which is following the vasana forces. But today even the fasting is

like punishing the body and the gentleness is disappearing in the so

called spiritual aspirants. Bhakti-way of looking which means looking

with love and compassion and having an attitude of pardoning has been

replaced by policing and fault-finding.

 

True Indian philosophy has nothing in the form of violence. Every

thing is to enhance or manifest the harmony or divinity. Our medicine

is not to fight the disease but to help health. Practice of asanas is

a way of satisfying the body so that body will be peaceful. Satvic or

right kind of food is that food that doesn't leave body fighting with

the food. Fasting is also to fight or punish the body. It is a way to

give rest to the body or to give such training to the body that body

will learn to slowly develop satisfaction with any kind of or no

food. It is again and again emphasized that if you develop no

aggression inside you will be able to manifest aggression outside

also. What is there inside comes out from us and we manifest that

quality. That is why this society is never a conqueror yet survived

ten thousand years if not more and is still vibrant! It is in this

culture where the lord Krishna advises Pandavas, who were extremely

good yet, face all kinds of hardships that they should not invite

fight or war but when war comes they should not hesitate! Here is the

case where even war is used for the sake of peace! This is a culture

to please fathers desire son leaves kingdom and goes to the forest,

or son gives up marriage including the kingship and serves the

kingdom. There are cultures where one after the other son killed his

father to occupy the kingdom! That fits very clearly the

concept `survival of the fittest'.

 

NV Raghuram

vkyogas

www.nvraghuram.org

[Guest guest]

Dear Raghuramji,

 

Namaste. I had goosebumps upon reading your mail because this was

almost exactly the subject matter of a discussion we were having with a

few revered monks of the Ramakrishna Mission just yesterday. Thank you

for sharing your views.

 

Could you kindly give me permission to circulate your mail among my

friends? You have written beautifully and with great feeling. I do not

want to disfigure the spirit of the post by summarising it in my own

words.

 

Regards,

Jagannath.

 

ayurveda, ayca1201 <no_reply> wrote:

> Two Viewpoints of this Manifested World

>

> First time when I heard that our sympathetic nervous system fights

> with the enemies on our body I felt uncomfortable. I felt like they

> are army.

[Guest guest]

>

> First time when I heard that our sympathetic nervous system fights

> with the enemies on our body I felt uncomfortable. I felt like they

> are army. I was wondering why should you call the functioning of eyes

> as seeing, ears hearing, tongue tasting, and stomach digesting, etc

> why should we call sympathetic nervous system as fighting while we

> use fighting as a bad thing in outside world. Parasympathetic nervous

> system now fights with the sympathetic system.

 

dear NV Raghuram

 

i thought i might help to clear some things up, and take this

opportunity to add a few of my own comments

 

given that you have little training in anatomy, i thought i would first

clarify the issue of nervous function

 

for the anatomist, the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system

actually refer to an arrangement of nervous tissue in the body that

tend to have somewhat opposite effects

 

due to its anatomical arrangement (i.e. long preganglionic fibers), the

effects of the parasympathetic system tend to be highly specific,

affecting a small part of the body such as a portion of the digestive

tract - in contrast, the sympathetic nervous system is arranged so its

response is diffuse (with short preganglionic fibers), affecting almost

the entire body

 

the sympathetic nervous system is often called the "fight or flight"

response, and the parasympathetic the "rest and restorative" response -

in actuality, this is an over simplification

 

nonetheless, we could generalize and say that there are two components

of nervous function, described above: one to stimulate a response, and

one to inhibit it

 

in this respect, both aspects function to maintain normalcy - if you

are about to step off the curb and you see a bus about to run you over,

a surge of adrenaline from the "fight or flight" centers courses

through your body and you quickly respond by getting out of the way -

afterwards, you may feel the effects of this event: your pulse rate may

be elevated, your heart is pounding, your pupils dilated and your

breathing a little hard - but i think you would agree that it is a

small price to pay for saving your life

 

some people have tried to equate the nadi system with the "fight or

flight" and "rest and restorative" responses of the body - in the yogic

tradition a preference is generally given to the ida nadi, representing

the rest and restorative response, to facilitate a deeper awareness and

to correct the imbalance that occurs with living an active,

externalized life - some might consider the ida nadi to be more

sattvic, however, the flow of conscious energy within the nadis still

represents our dualistic state

 

the chinese believe in the divine attributes of yin and yang

for the chinese sage, the "feminine" or passive influence of yin is the

greater of the two, and the true source of power, but recognizes both

as emanations of the tao, or the "way" of life

 

similarly, ayurveda recognizes both agni and ojas

agni, which destroys and denatures the food, and ojas, which feeds the

body with energy

both are required, both are partners in the play of life

 

>

> I am not a student of medicine- do not even have a basic knowledge of

> anatomy or physiology. But I try to feel from my heart what I come to

> know.

>

> Similarly when I was hearing about the theory called survival of

> fittest of Darwin I had similar feeling of non-acceptability because

> I always feel nature works in harmony. Nature does not work with an

> agenda if something is weak, so it should be eliminated because there

> is no `utility of it by its survival'. As if utility is the basis of

> creation!

 

unfortunately a feeling of "non-acceptability" is not sufficient to

counter decades of research into biological evolution - if my reaction

seems at all strong, it is because evolution has become a hot button

issue in the united states, where a feeling of "non-acceptability"

means that many students now learn biblical creationist theory as

another kind of "science"

 

(to this end, the term vedas as "science" is a mistranslation - it is a

"divine science" - divine in the sense of revelation, but at least in

terms of ayurveda, put to the test as an actual science or method that

can be demonstrated empirically - in contrast, biblical creationism may

be divinely revealed, but has nothing empirical behind it)

 

i would also like to point out that your use of the term "weakness"

with regard to the theory of evolution is highly subjective - the core

of darwin's theory was "adaptability" under change - a creature that

can adapt to change is more likely to succeed - this might involve

changes in behaviour or actual physical changes - plants and animals

that cannot adapt to change become less and less successful over time

as the environment around them gradually changes, and may eventually

become extinct

 

to me your idea of creation is something that is static, that does not

change, but if you look at it more closely it is a concept that runs

counter to experience - change is the constant - there is no thing, no

rock, mountain, tree, animal, or season that does not change

 

lord buddha stated that a failure to recognize the nature of change

gives rise to dukha

 

thus the wise direct themselves to the observance of change, to observe

carefully oneself and the world we live in, to become more flexible and

adaptable to circumstance, and thus live in harmony with creation

 

 

> There are as I see basically two world views. One is that the world

> is bad and the journey in this world is full of hurdles and we need

> to be very careful and keep fighting all the time. We need to have

> this awareness and caution in order to fight and succeed, without

> which you are no more. We need to struggle all the time. Life is a

> battle field.

>

> The second view is that the creation is basically good and is from

> god and it is his freedom and his choice of `one to become many' that

> He has become many in the form of various animals and birds trees and

> rivers sky and the beautiful clouds and all. The manifestation is a

> beautiful song and the living is a festivity. Every breath you take

> is a celebration every step you take in walking is a dance. And

> finally the basis of the creation the divinity hidden in the creation

> is the harmony which keeps the creation intact.

 

in my opinion life is both things, not one or another

the glass is neither only half full or half empty - it is both

 

sometimes we need to marshall ourselves like a warrior, to generate the

"tapas" needed to overcome obstructions in our life (e.g. bad habits,

hard work, and other external influences) - the danger of course is

that we may begin to see everything as an obstruction, and thus do not

know how to make peace (with ourselves and others) and lay down our

"weapons"

 

at other times we need to be more receptive, to allow energy to flow

unobstructed - the danger here is that we become too comfortable and

lazy, and allow external circumstances to lead us down an unconscious

path to ruin

 

the true challenge is to know when to bite through an obstruction, and

when to wait for it to dissolve on its own

 

in the chinese tradition the masters of old studied the law of change

(the tao) and adapted themselves to it, thus knowing when to act and

when to rest, all for the purpose of maintaining harmony

 

best...

 

Caldecott

todd

www.toddcaldecott.com

[Guest guest]

to ayca1201 Have you read the Bhagava Gita? It is part of the Mahabarata a

book describing a great battle of. In the midst of the battle God in the

form of Lord Sri Krishna conveys the science of yoga/self realisation.

I am playing devils advocate here but it is intersting that a most wonderful

scripture was given to the world during a battle of which the world hasnt

seen on such a scale.

Peace.