Living in Freedom

I am like an image on a screen looking at other images on the same screen. I have a choice - either to identify with my constantly changing image or with the unchanging screen lending existence and life to the image.

When I identify with my image, it becomes alive and so do all other images on the screen.

Now, I am subjected to all sorts of experiences born out of my interactions with other images. I get angry with one image, happy with another, jealous of yet another, depressed with criticism, swelled with praise, and so on.

However, when I identify with the screen, then I am instantly free of all such experiences. I can now see the same screen behind every image - whether of beings or things. Any interaction with any image is essentially now interacting with my own Self in form of the screen. 

I can now choose to play a variety of roles through my image on the screen, doing what is ought to be done by that image in any situation. The moment I sense a danger of getting trapped by any reaction from other images in the drama called "Life", I safely retreat in my identity of the screen - never forgetting that I, as the screen, support all other images.

How can I now get affected by my own Self in any way? This, I believe, is 'living in freedom'.

You have a choice - Suffer or Enjoy

According to Advaita (non- dual) philosophy, everything appears in your consciousness and nothing exists apart from your consciousness. Can you experience anything, including yourself, without the consciousness? Therefore, you must necessarily be the consciousness as you can't deny or doubt your own existence.

The matrix of Time, Space, Causation and everything bound by this matrix, including your Body, Mind and Intellect, are nothing but your own projection in your own Self. You do this every night while dreaming. In the dream, don't you project a universe of things and beings, including yourself, moving around in the matrix of Time, Space and Causation? What happens to this universe when you wake-up? Doesn't it fold back into your own mind? Don't you dismiss it as illusory upon waking? Your suffering starts when you identify with your projected individual Body, Mind and Intellect as the only existence. You thus lend reality to such illusive identification. Instantly, everyone else and everything around you also become separate and real for you.

You have a choice to remain that way and suffer or realise your original nature of pure consciousness (having infinite potential to project anything) and see everything appearing in you as your own reflections. How can you now suffer from your own reflections? How can you harm, hate or get annoyed with any reflection? You will only get amused by what you perceive as a play of your own consciousness, just as a child enjoys viewing various colourful patterns changing continuously in the Kaleidoscope.

Beyond Experiencing Experiences

Life is a continuous stream of experiences. We experience a variety of things in and through whatever we do in life. Indeed, we are driven to the world for experiences. What is the significance of this experiencing? Is there something beyond this experiencing experiences? Let us investigate.

Every act of experience is based on three essential conditions: the experiencer and the experienced object both must exist; the experiencer must be conscious of both oneself and the object; and the experience must produce either a happy or a sad emotion in the experiencer. If we dive deeper, we will find that existence of the experiencer, consciousness of the experiencer and an acute awareness of one's own emotions are prerequisites for any experience. Without these prerequisites, there is no possibility of an experience even if the object of experience is available. These prerequisite attributes of the experiencer do not change from one experience to the other. Variety of experiences are, however, produced by the interaction of these constant experiencer’s attributes with the changing variety of experienced objects. In other words, the experiencer does not change, while the objects of experiences change.

These constant attributes of the experiencer act like a blank screen on which variety of objects produce variety of images. Just as changing images have no effect on the screen, these experiences also have no power to affect the experiencer. However, our current life experience does not agree with this finding. This is due to our involvement in the experiences. It is as if the screen develops liking for an image being projected. Now the screen will experience happiness so long as the image lasts and then will cry for it when it disappears. It may also start fearing those images that it does not want to be projected. It starts defining itself through these images. The screen has now forgotten its original nature possessing those changeless attributes.

While experiencing happiness or sadness, we too have forgotten our original nature of beingness, consciousness, and unbroken emotional awareness. We are now involved in each of our experiences. We define our identity through these experiences and suffer. We feel helpless and accept this way of living as our destiny.

Fortunately, there is a way out of this trap. We may start using each experience to remind ourselves of our essential nature and its attributes. I am experiencing this experience because I exist, I am conscious, and I am constantly aware of all my emotions. This practice with time will shift the focus from objects of experience to the experiencer. The shift may be gradual depending upon the sincerity and consistency of this practice. The quality of life will also improve accordingly. Success and rewards would become unintended side-effects of this process. And, we will start going beyond experiencing experiences.

 

खुद की खोज

बाहर की भटकन खूब हुई

आओ अब खुद की खोज करें 

पैदा होना जीना मरना

सुख दुःख की लहरों पे बहना

क्या और भी है कुछ जीने में

आओ अब इसकी खोज करें

 

तन से बढकर है मन का सुख

मन से बढकर है बुद्धि का

क्या इससे भी बढकर सुख है

आओ अब उसकी खोज करें

 

धन दौलत और पृतिष्ठा की

है चाह नहिं किसको जग मे

पा कर इनको है कौन सुखी

आओ अब उसकी खोज करें

 

जब दुख के बादल घिरते हैं

मन ब्याकुल होने लगता है

है कौन जिसे यह होता है

आओ अब उसकी खोज करें

 

जो दिखता है वो सच है क्या

या फिर कोई छलावा है

क्या बात है ये क्या भेद है ये

आओ अब इसकी खोज करें

 

मैं कौन हूँ क्या है काम मेरा

जग से है क्या नाता मेरा

क्या सत्य है जो परदे मे है

आओ अब खुद की खोज करें

Relax at the point of contact

“The time to relax is when you don't have time for it” says Sydney Harris. ‘Ju’ in Japanese Judo means gentle. A Judo practitioner is advised to completely relax his body and mind at the point of contact with the opponent and use opponent’s force to topple him. Resistance causes energy loss. You are less efficient in facing your opponent with depleted energy. Resistance also causes stress. You are more likely to lose the fight. However, learning to relax in such a situation is not easy. But once you have mastered the art of relaxing, you start enjoying the fight and least likely to lose. In other competitive sports too, the first thing a player learns is the technique of falling safely. Again, the essence is to offer no resistance while falling.

In life also, we are constantly faced with problems and issues appearing as opponents / enemies. Our normal reaction is to deny what has appeared by asking ‘why me’ or ‘why now’? We start resisting the problem. We don’t realise that such questioning or resisting will not make that problem disappear. In fact, by asking such questions, we provide more power to the problem. This denial causes stress, anxiety, depression, anger, or fear. We become more vulnerable. We are not at our best in such a situation.

We can use the technique of relaxation to face any challenge in life most effectively. Everything in the nature happens easily and gently. Flowers bloom gently, seasons change slowly, and a child grows in no hurry. ‘To be at ease’ is our original nature. When we deviate from this ‘ease’, we become ‘diseased’. We are at our best when we are at ease. When mind is at ease and body is relaxed, we can see many more options to deal with the challenge at hand. We develop clarity to choose the best response required in that situation. Indeed, only the best response spontaneously comes out of this state of being.

Any stress is first registered in the mind. If it is allowed to stay even for a short while, it will start impacting the body making it weaker. We can use the first sign of any mental stress or anxiety or even a slight irritation as the leading indicator of oncoming challenge. We need to be alert at all times to notice this. This alertness will also help in reminding us to immediately accept what has appeared before us without unnecessary questioning.

As soon as we notice any irritation, we need to stop doing whatever we are doing at that moment, including any form of thinking. This pause will keep us in the present moment and stop from reacting impulsively. This pause will also open door for seeing available options for proper response. During this pause, we should switch to deep breathing with full attention on the breath. This will further calm the mind and provide clarity to select the best option for responding to the challenge at hand.

Many minor issues would simply drop in such a state of alert relaxation, while proper response would effortlessly emerge for the other major issues.  So many things that regularly cause frequent irritations to us would start disappearing from our life. With constant practice over time, we will start enjoying every challenge coming our way, just as a sportsman enjoys every move made by his opponent. Life will become a game where every challenge provides opportunity to grow and enjoy.

Regaining Mind’s Control

Imagine that you own a house in another city where you do not live. This house is kept vacant under the care of some part-time person hired by you. A very good friend of yours want to visit that city. You offer him your house to stay and write a note to the caretaker to allow him there. He goes there and presses the doorbell. A hefty fellow comes out and stares at him. Your good friend gives him your note. But he tears the note into pieces and barks at him to get lost as that house belongs to him and he does not know who you are. It turns out that your house has been taken over by a local hooligan in your absence and you have no control over him.

This is the situation of our mind. We have left our mind unattended for a very long time. During this time, thoughts prompted by nasty desires have accumulated and taken control of our mind. Now when we want to entertain a spiritual thought in our mind, it is not allowed to enter, and we don’t seem to have any control over our mind. Even worse, we don’t have control over our senses which are continuously tempted by a variety of things and beings in the world. No amount of collecting spiritual thoughts and attending Satsang seem to help.

To cope with such a situation, we need to start with strengthening our Intellect, which will work like a tiny hook (ankush) used to control a huge elephant. Intellect can be strengthened by reading/listening works of higher values, including spiritual texts, and reflecting on them through sincere inquiries. As the conviction on higher values in the life deepens, intellect gains power. With this subtle power of intellect, we need to train the mind slowly by instilling new habits. We may use WOOP (make a Wish, visualize the Outcome, identify Obstacles and Plan ways to remove the obstacles when they appear) technique, among others, to achieve this. Simultaneously, we need to gradually withdraw our senses from their objects of temptations. This practice must be carried out consistently according to one’s capacity. With time we will gain control over our mind and senses. We can, then, direct them towards our intended goals in life.

Watch WOOP explanation

The Energy Play

The growth of human civilization is inherently dependent on managing available sources of energy, while discovering new ones. Until the dawn of twentieth century, our growth was very slow due to limited sources of energy. But the advent of oil and electricity accelerated this growth like never before. However, we have made many trade-offs along the way. People switched from ‘wood’ to ‘coal’ to avoid deforestation, but the very coal is now a threat to forests because of acid rain. Also, oil saved the whales as people switched from whale oil to Kerosene. But, now the very oil is a threat to whales due to pollution of sea caused by offshore activities, shipping and plastic dumping. Yesterday’s solution has become today’s problem. Therefore, we need to be extremely cautious on selecting today’s solutions, as some of them could become tomorrow’s problems.

Energy is the insignia of life: “No energy, No life”. The entire universe is pulsating with one or the other form of energy. Quantum physics has also confirmed that only energy exists at sub-atomic level. Our evolution from the stone age has been powered by the discovery of new energy sources and the energy will shape our future generations and prosperity.

According to Michael E. Webber (“Power Trip – The Story of Energy”), there are six demographic trends, three technology trends and one overarching environmental trend that would affect the future energy system.

Demographic trends:

1. Population growth: Each person requires food and water to live. Energy is required to gain access to these resources. World’s population is set to rise from 7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion by 2050.
2. Industrialization: Industrialization requires energy and makes many more people rich. Developing and underdeveloped countries would continue to increase their industrialization.
3. Economic growth: There are still more than a billion people without access to electricity, piped water, or sanitation. Also, rich people consume more energy than poor people.
4. Urbanization: Rich people move into cities, buy cars, and electrify various activities of their lives.
5. Motorization: Economically developing countries see rapid adoption of automobiles as a status symbol.
6. Electrification: Electricity is the preferred form of energy because of its convenience and cleanliness inside our homes and businesses.

Technology trends:

1. Efficiency: Use of less energy to achieve the same purpose. Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) running on gasoline (fossil fuels) are becoming more fuel-efficient and less polluting. This trend is set to continue with all energy appliances.
2. Information-intensive: Due to rapid deployment of widespread sensors to collect data and continuously decreasing cost of computing, we will have more data, which will change the way we interact with each other, appliances and structures. More data will help in driving energy efficiency. Advances in Digitalization is driving improved operational efficiencies and better returns on investment. Data from IoT devices and AI-assisted analytics will lead to cost reduction, enable predictive maintenance and boost efficiency.
3. Decentralization: Power generation will move from a few large power plants far away to many on-site micro plants (e.g. roof tops), thus cutting on transmission losses and transient outages. Manufacturing will move from far-flung factories to individual consumer sites with 3D printing (mass customization versus mass production). Mass transit systems will be replaced with micro transit giving point-to-point service (e.g. Uber).

Environmental trend:

The UN Environment Program’s (UNEP) own emissions gap report, released just prior to the COP25 in Madrid in Dec 2019, showed the stretch 1.5⁰C goal of the Paris Agreement is “slipping out of reach”. Even if existing climate pledges – countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs – are met, emissions in 2030 will be 38% higher than the required target, the report concluded.

While the six demographic trends will drive the shift in the amount and type of energy we consume, the three technological trends will make our energy systems smarter, faster and cheaper. Combination of these trends will also help us manage the trade-offs between upsides and downsides of different energy systems.

Decarbonization in parallel with increasing energy access is the defining challenge of the 21^st Century. It is now a widely accepted fact that decarbonization is critical to avoid the worst effects of climate change. It is also recognized that we need to increase our access to energy to satisfy the growing needs of increasing population and energy demand.

According to OPEC’s World Oil Outlook 2019 launched in Vienna last year:

• Total primary energy demand is set to expand by a robust 25% between 2018 and 2040.
• All forms of energies will be required in the future to help to meet expanding demand in a sustainable way, balancing the needs of people in relation to their social welfare, the economy and the environment.

The Noble Laurette Dr. Richard Smalley (who gave the world his list of 10 grand challenges) says: We need to do three related things to solve our energy problem:

• Inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers to find new sources of energy
• Develop energy supplies that won’t run out, and
• Solve global climate change.

We need a combination of new production, increased energy access, smarter solutions, and a cultural emphasis on efficiency and conservation. While developing the cleaner forms of energy (e.g. solar, wind, nuclear), we also need to clean-up conventional forms (coal, oil) with carbon capture and scrubbers.

Co-existence of different forms of energy is the reality of the foreseeable future.

We also need a paradigm shift in our cultural understanding of the energy consumption, if we want to succeed in our endeavors. Michael E. Webber (“Power Trip”) suggests paradigm shift in the following areas:

Economic sense:  More expensive, efficient, cleaner items usually reduce operating costs (Total Cost of Ownership). On the other hand, use of cheap and dirty options cause pollution that makes people sick impacting their productivity and costing them medical expenses – thus inhibiting economic growth.

My Backyard: We often don’t think beyond our own home’s backyard and try to keep it safe and clean. In reality, we should consider the entire earth as our backyard. Pollution caused in one corner of the earth has potential to pollute the entire earth. Every occupant of the earth is a stakeholder of this challenge.

Nature (ecosystem) doesn’t need us; we need the nature for our survival. Nature is also forgiving up to a point. Beyond this point, we must pay a heavy price for our follies. Nature is inherently designed to correct itself through unexpected storms, earthquakes, tsunamis etc. If we exploit the nature for our greed, nature will ruin us to restore its balance.

Emerging IR4.0 technologies will take away many jobs currently performed by humans. Our day-to-day activities will be performed by various gadgets. We will have a lot of free time to do whatever we want. The question, then, is: “What would we want to do in the future? Would we allow the technology to steal our free time through unproductive distractions?”

The famous historian and philosopher Dr. Will Durant, along with his wife Ariel Durant, said in their best-known work (The Story of Civilization): “World has progressed in terms of ‘means’ not in terms of ‘ends’. Human’s basic desires are still the same, while the means to fulfil them have progressed.”

We should strive to rise above this state of mere fulfilling basic desires. We should find new ‘ends’ to our living. We can start using nature’s resources, including energy, responsibly. Energy saved is energy produced. So much energy can be saved by simply focusing on our essential needs. We can choose the freely available muscle energy in preference to energy-hungry gadgets to perform many routine activities that will also keep us in good health and save medical bills (e.g. cycling short distances rather than using cars, climbing stairs rather than using elevators, walking to colleague’s desk in the office rather than using phones). We should use a gadget or an appliance only to achieve a meaningful objective or goal. Most of all, we should spend more time in the nature contemplating on life’s meanings. Let’s step into the future with a resolve to work in harmony with the nature. The bounty of nature is waiting for us.