Doing Your Thing

Doing Your Own Thing
Current mood: contemplative
Category: Religion and Philosophy

This is an important point you raise, about the homeless man who could not paint that well but did it because that was all he could do.

There is a saying, "If something is worth doing, it is worth doing poorly (badly)." Not that we should not give everything we do our best effort. But we should not be discouraged and stop jogging or practicing the violin, or singing, simply because we are not at Olympic/Carneige Hall/Julliard level.

I am also reminded of a passage in the Bhagavad-Gita which states that it is better to do your own dharma imperfectly, than the dharma of another. Oh gosh, now I have to come up with an explanation of "dharma".

Google brings me to World Religions: An Introduction for Students
By Jeaneane D. Fowler
page 209

There is a UNIVERSAL dharma, satanadharma, the cosmic norm, to which everything is subject.
For any individual there is svadharma (one's personal dharma), which is the result of all present life and past life karma. To go against ones personal dharma path is to be adharmic, which will cause negative karma in the future. Sitaram thinks of svadharma as the knitting needles we receive to undo the knots in our karma. We could attack this Gordian knotwith violence of the sword, but that is not what is needful.

Back to the passage in that text book:

which then quotes the Gita, "Better one's own dharma, devoid of merit, then the well-discharged dharma of another.Death in one's own dharma is better; the dharma of another is fraught with fear.

Now, the ultimate goal is not increasing good karma, but achieving moksha, reuniting with Brahman like a river which merges into the sea. Since the inner atman, which must merge with Brahman, is beyond dualities, it is beyond both good and bad karma.

I once read that "the desire for liberation itself, that very desire, is an impediment to liberation." (Liberation being moksha).

There are edition of the Greek Orthodox philokalia which show monastics ascending a ladder to heaven (John Climacus, John of The Ladder), and as the ascend higher and higher towards saintliness, some are falling from the ladder because they succomb to pride.

Once there was an old monk in a Russian monastery, who seemed so meek and long suffering. The other monks were always picking on him. A priest questioned the old monk, as to how he endured such things, and the old monk answered "they are simply dogs nipping at my heals." But, you see this remark revealed the underlying pride of the old monk, who endured by means of the thought that he is superior.

I work for a man who comes from a wealthy and powerful family in France. He is totally optimized in his personality to be a successful entrepreneur, and break into an existing market place which is dominated by giants. His optimism is boundless, even in the face of circumstances which might discourage others. He takes bold and daring risks which might terrify others who are more conservative in nature. If he is ultimately successful, he will succeed precisely because of all these characteristics which are part of his svadharma. He usually converses in French, and assumes I do not understand anything of what he is saying. I once heard him say of me, "ah, he is nothing but an intellectual, but in the end I shall have the last laugh and achieve wealth and success."

Yes, he is correct. I am an intellectual. But, I am what I am, not because I woke up one morning and decided to be an intellectual, rather than an entrepreneur. It was in my nature from my infancy. Yes, I did make conscious choices to pursue and exercise those "talents" which are innate within me. I recognized what my own dharma is, and I surrendered to it. That did not make me the best intellectual, or some olympic champion in a world hall of fame. I had the opportunity to "become" what I "am" and, in my case, to write about it. Perhaps a few of my thoughts shall survive on in the world, or perhaps not.

All of this makes me think of President George Bush. Every little boy in American has been encouraged at some point to proclaim "I want to be president when I grow up." I feel deep in my heart there there was something in this world, some path, some svadharam, at which he would have excelled. Even fellow former president Jimmy Carter exclaimed that Bush is perhaps the worst president in history.

The New Yorker Magazine once published a cartoon of a frustrated clown, seated in front of his dressing-room mirror, emoting, and reciting Shakespeare. The clown was a good clown, but hankered to be a Shakespearean dramatic actor. We see the same thing in "The Simposons" cartoon, where Side-Show Bob yearns to be taken more seriously.

Here is some correspondence I had in 1999:

8-3-99)

(correspondence from Andre)

Hi Sitaram

My belief structure is based on the Law of One and I would greatly appreciate if you could put words to an emotion, a feeling I know and yet cannot summarize in a sentence.

What knowladge can you share with me regarding the question - What is soul ?

Thanx for a great site

Love and Light

=======================

Hi , nice to meet you.....

Excellent question....

Quickly, off the top of my head so you will have some kind of answer (for there is no easy answer to this)..... in Old Testatament, Hebrew word for Soul is Ru-ah (which I believe means somthing that flows, or blows like the wind). In New Testament, of course, we have the word Psyche for soul, but we have Pnevma for spirit, which also means wind or breath. Then we have, in Isaiah book of Old testament,... God saying.... "As high as heaven is from earth, so high are my ways from your ways, my MIND from your MIND (or My thoughts from your thoughts)"......

What I am driving at is the Hindu notion that the soul, atman, jiva, is a spark from God, who is brighter than 10,000 suns (phrase from the Gita).

In Hinduism and Buddhism, and other religions, it is CONSCIOUSNESS ITSELF which is divine, sacred, non-different from the Divinity.

Perhaps we could look at the words of Jesus "The Kingdom of Heaven is WITHIN you" which might also accurately be translated "The Kingdom of Heaven is AMONG you"..... and also where Jesus says "In my Fathers house, there are many mansions, I go there to prepare a place for you."..... well, in the COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS of the Divinity there are many individual personalities, souls, jiva,.....

I suppose one could also see this concept in the Christian teaching that the people of the Church are collectively THE BODY OF CHRIST.

But do re-read page 2 of my website which quotes the thoughts of Meher Baba on the relationship between God and individual souls..

I hope this will give you some food for thought.....

============================================

Andre, your words: { a feeling I know and yet cannot summarize in a sentence. }

remind me of the verse from the "Way of the Tao" by Lao Tse,

The TAO which can be spoken is not the TAO.

and also,

He who KNOWS does not say, and he who SAYS does not know.

Also a hymn by Shankaracharya of India in the 8th century C.E. which begins

"Oh Thou from whom all WORDS recoil...."

(in otherwords, the Divinity is ineffable, much like the APOPHATIC {speaking AWAY from} theology of the early centuries of Christianity..... in other words we cannot say what God IS, we can only say what God IS NOT)

an also, pay particular attention in the website to the Jain religious term

ANEKANTAVADA, which means "No one view", also called "Doctrine of Manifold Aspects"..... it means that every attempt at verbalization of reality is but a partial truth of reality from only one of an innumerable number of aspects....

====================================

I was listening to an interview on Television regarding the works of the now deceased author, Jennifer Lash, who wrote "Blood Ties".

One of her daughters read an excerpt from one of her mother's novels (I did not catch the title).

In the passage, some people enter into an abandoned church. A large white owl has become trapped inside the church.

As they watch, it frantically flies back and forth, dashing itself into the walls.

There are holes in the roof which would afford an escape, but the owl is too panicked to find them. The woman in the church who recounts this scene cannot bear to stay and watch the owl destroy itself while they stand by, helpless, watching.

Later in the day, that woman recollects the scene, and thinks to herself,

"Suppose the SOUL is like that owl, trapped in the mind, dashing itself frantically, injuring itself, destroying itself. There are exits, escapes, ways out, but the soul cannot see them. And God watches helplessly (I suppose because of the inviolable sanctity of the soul's free will). What anguish might that be for God, watching?"

===============================

Another thought which comes to mind (I dont know where I heard or read this)

"Man is Matter which contemplates Itself"

Carl Jung wrote a small monograph entitled "On the Nature of the Psyche (Soul)"

It is rather difficult reading.

In it, he states that MATTER has a PSYCHOID nature. In other words, matter STRIVES to evolve into CONSCIOUSNESS. Consciousness, conversly, has a MATERIAL nature (sort of like Freud's Death Wish, or Death Instinct). Consciousness is wounded by feeling, and secretly yearns for NON-EXISTENCE.

One striking statement which Jung makes in that monograph is the following:

"If the time ever comes when mankind builds a rocket, strikes Mars with the rocket, and causes damage to the planet Mars, it will certainly be accurate to say that Mars was damaged by the 'Psychoid Nature" of Matter, since matter evolved lifeforms, and consciousness, and the human consciousness invented the rocket and aimed it at Mars."

=====================================

(correspondence from Siddhartha)

Hello,

I visited your site. It was very informative.

I have a question. Do you have any idea as to why the Supreme Brahman bothers to project the material universe from within itself?

I have been pondering the question a lot. A Gaudia Vishnava (Hare Krishna) said that the spiritual realm is timeless (fair enough) and then the Supreme Brahman projected the material realm from itself. Why is my question?

If you have an answer, could you point me to the scriptures that inspired that answer.

Your assistance is appreciated.

==========================================

Sitaram,

I read page 2. It was very nice but the passage mainly talks about how everything aspires to realize Brahman. And not about why God bothered creating us and the Universe.

I have heard the quote u mentioned, i.e. about even Brahman not knowing from whence it came but... that makes me feel very scared. EvenGod does not know :(?

Maybe I should tell you why this is so important for me. This may seem childish... and I am a child as far spiritual matters are concerned. I am 20 years old now. Ok I aspired to be an Astronaut (told you it's gonna be childish) because I believed that I would find God up there. I have enrolled in Aero Engineering at my University. I am an average student. I believed that my path toward God would be through union with the Mechanical aspects of the world. But as time has passed I have immersed myself in nationalism and politics (it is written in my Jnamakshar that I would be a small time politician). I have strayed from what I believed to be my path to God. Ok, then now the real thing. See if I know why God bothered to create the Universe then I would know if it is worth striving for union with God. In other words, is it worth uniting with him at all?

I hope you humor me and help me.

On Thu, 15 Jul 1999 SITARAM wrote:

one of the best answers i have encountered, was a little passage written by Meher Baba, which I reprint on Page 2 of my website..... have a look at that page 2 dialogue.... and then we can talk some more..... these are not easy questions, and I certainly do not have all the answers, anymore than anyone else does..... what was that passage in the Upanisads which said,.... "Perhaps Brahman knows, or perhaps Brahman is unawares..... " it is the first page in my paperback edition of Bramhasutras translated by (i think) Sarvapali Rhadakrishnan, I dont have it in front of me at the moment... it is such a startlingly openminded and honest point of view in an ancient scripture....

============================================================

You said:

SITARAM: for some reason... God creates Other... Separation... and part of God becomes that Other... and suffers SEPARATION... but ... learns something in the process... and ultimately REUNITES with the source "

What is that reason for God to initiate separation? See Judiasm and Christianity have creation defined in Genesis but I feel that makes Earth far to "speacial." I believe there is other life or universes. And the concept that God created the Universe for his pleasure-well I have one word if that is why God created us-sadist. And that u go to heaven and feel no sorrow blah blah if you are good is so childish, like u get candy if u r good

The problem with hinduism is that it dwells on the path to unity but doesnt seem to bother with do I want this unity with God? And for me it directly ties in with why God created the Universe?

I know I am flooding you but I am kinda... deperate.

============================================================

Thanks. I will do so.

Can you tell me when you are online for chatting and (I read in one page that you are usaully on @ 6am) and what chatroom you are in. I wish to stay in the background and just read and learn.

On Thu, 15 Jul 1999 SITARAM wrote:

regarding concept of "only one universe".... look at page entitled "Black Holes, Lord Krsna's Pearls "

======================================

I was talking with a friend a while ago and asked him this same question regarding creation and he said the even Brahman must do karma and he said that there was proof of this in a verse in the Gita when Krishna is in Virat-swarup and tells Arjun that even Brahman must do karma and thus he creates and destroys. I looked for the verse in the copy of the Gita I had and could not find it. Maybe I have a bad translation or did not look carefully enough (I have that problem-too much skimming)? I will look again.

You speak of our souls being "sparks" of Brahman, I loooooooooove that. Then my question is... why does Brahman frizzle and crackle :) (partly j/k) I understand that is hard to answer.

That karma applies to Brahman is nice. Since we are part of God and we are bound to do karma so even the Supreme should be bound by that. But one attains, jivanmukti only when the karma they do has no consequence (u know I do not understand the idea of an action having no consequence, do you have a webpage on that?). So I would think Gods karma has no consequence.

Any thoughts?

================================================================

Ok, so Brahman is beyond karmic consequence... but he does perform karma right?

But still, why bother creating... sometimes in your webpages you talk about a causal universe and at other times about spontaniety-i.e. sparks. If I were Brahman, in supreme bliss and absolute equamity with good and evil, truth and untruth, all duality, why would I want to exert a part of me and makea part of myself not realize this equamity and engrain this part with an urge to evolve, to look for this equamity and eventually return to my Supreme self? Do I not know that I am in perfect equamity that I must go through this process?

On Fri, 16 Jul 1999 SITARAM wrote:

I suppose i could offer you a typical Vaishnav answer from Srimad Bhagavatam,..... sort of a Hare Krsna answer.... namely, that the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Primal Lord, (Krsna), is beyond karmic consequences, and there are passages in Gita which indicate this.... but that other Demigods like Indra, Bramha, etc.... are Dieties who are subject to Karma.... there is a story about someone experiencing a vision of millions of ants,.... passing through a palace, and it was revealed that each of those ants had, in a previous birth, been Lord Indra, and "in charge" of a universe.....

====================================

I just read your page-"A hard day online" :o) You are GOOD man. Haha. But I learnt a lot. My roomate in college 1 year ago is christian, I dont know whether protestant, I had asked him what demonination and he told me something real long anyways one day he mentioned out of the blue... "jews are bad, they smell they dont take baths." I was surprised. Now that comes to my mind again after reading your page.

You mentioned on that page that it is a thankless job and someone has got to do it. Well, I am sure many have said this but, thank you. Thank you very much for what you have done.

Regarding what u wrote below. A circle is perfect because it has no jagged edges? I dont know. What do you mean by "Why did it set out in the first place..." ?

On Fri, 16 Jul 1999 SITARAM wrote:

if a perfect circle returns to the point from which it started, why did it set out in the first place.... and why is it "perfect".....

God is an infinite circle, whose center is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere

===========================================

I have decided to think about what you said before responding in anyway. I am going to go through some webpages, look for that verse from the Gita and look at the verses in the Rig Veda on creation (Purusha and Prakriti sacrifice). I have to get a better understanding of Maya for I have a feeling that this Universe is Maya and since my concern is with the creation of Maya (for I am comfortable with the idea that we are part of the Supreme). Now, why create Maya and we get separated from the Supreme, I want to concentrate on Maya for a while.

I was supposed to write a profile on Keshab Chandra Sen, social revolutionary in India born in 1834. He was very attracted to the west and was blamed of being too sympathetic toward Christianity. I also have to go to a info session on Kashmir tomorrow.

=================================================================

On Fri, 16 Jul 1999 SITARAM wrote

Why does Brahman cast out the phenomenal universe, as a spider castes out its web..... only to draw it back to Himself, and what does He catch in this web of Maya?

And what does the circle enclose?

The reason I can see is that Brahman wants the sparks that have left Brahman to return. Does this make sense?

Then the question I asked in one of the previous emails, why does Brahman crackle and fizzle and give out these sparks?

Please help... ============================================================

In a message dated 7/19/99 11:20:05 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Siddhartha writes

{ The reason I can see is that Brahman wants the sparks that have left Brahman to return. Does this make sense? Then the question I asked in one of the previous emails, why does Brahman crackle and fizzle and give out these sparks? }

=============================== (my reply)

I have been thinking about your most excellent question, namely, why does ANY OF THIS take place to begin with.... or... as you put it... why does Brahman "crackle and fizzle and give out these sparks"......

Of course, you are asking about the very fountainhead of all CAUSALITY.

I recently read that Physicists have discovered sub-atomic "EVENTS" which are PURELY SPONTANEOUS, i.e., have no other cause, but are CAUSELESS.

Of course, I am neither a physicist nor a mathematician, so I must take the word of documentaries regarding such discoveries.

But it is interesting that scientists have found in Nature what truly seems to be CAUSELESS sparks or events.

Funny how the word "causeless" makes me think of Lord Chaitanya's words "Causeless Mercy" in Vaishnav writings.

The only other help thing I have found concerning the reason for this "crackling" and "fizzling", is on page 2 of my website... the words of Meher Baba which I quote....

I enjoy hearing from you....

Please do write again, even if only to tell me news about your life and thoughts...

Not everything that we write has to be of a profound religious or philosophical nature.

========================================

It is your very words below that I echo back to you when I speak of the circle, why does it set out, if its nature is to return to itself?

{ But still, why bother creating... sometimes in your webpages you talk about a causal universe and at other times about spontaniety-i.e. sparks. If I were Brahman, in supreme bliss and absolute equamity with good and evil, truth and untruth, all duality, why would I want to exert a part of me and makea part of myself not realize this equamity and engrain this part with an urge to evolve, to look for this equamity and eventually return to my Supreme self? Do I not know that I am in perfect equamity that I must go through this process?}

Why does Brahman cast out the phenomenal universe, as a spider castes out its web..... only to draw it back to Himself, and what does He catch in this web of Maya?

And what does the circle enclose?

================================

if a perfect circle returns to the point from which it started, why did it set out in the first place.... and why is it "perfect".....

God is an infinite circle, whose center is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere

=======================================

I suppose i could offer you a typical Vaishnav answer from Srimad Bhagavatam,..... sort of a Hare Krsna answer.... namely, that the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Primal Lord, (Krsna), is beyond karmic consequences, and there are passages in Gita which indicate this.... but that other Demigods like Indra, Bramha, etc.... are Dieties who are subject to Karma.... there is a story about someone experiencing a vision of millions of ants,.... passing through a palace, and it was revealed that each of those ants had, in a previous birth, been Lord Indra, and "in charge" of a universe.....

==========================

one of the best answers I have encountered, was a little passage written by Meher Baba, which I reprint on Page 2 of my website..... have a look at that page 2 dialogue.... and then we can talk some more..... these are not easy questions, and I certainly do not have all the answers, anymore than anyone else does..... what was that passage in the Upanisads which said,.... "Perhaps Brahman knows, or perhaps Brahman is unawares..... " it is the first page in my paperback edition translated by (I think) Sarvapali Rhadakrishnan, i dont have it in front of me at the moment... it is such a startlingly openminded and honest point of view in an ancient scripture....