Hari
OM
Story-day is for cultural exploration, puraanas and
parables and finding out about leading lights in spiritual philosophy.
Some
folk wonder at the point of contemplation. There can be a tendency to think
that those who favour the contemplative life are, in fact, lazy, or avoiding
life in some way. Those who have a strong drive to be active (rajas), struggle
to appreciate the activity within contemplation (sattva); those who are
genuinely of a lazy temperament (tamas) also struggle in the contemplative
life, for they discover there is work to do after all!
Within
every philosophical discipline, secular
or religious, there are a few folk who can genuinely apply themselves in the
purely contemplative activity. Withdrawal is required. Those who are this way
in the academic world are often accused of sitting 'in ivory towers'. Perhaps. However, many of the great understandings and advancements for society come from those very towers! Some
religious structures do not encourage (or actively discourage) monasticism, but
will still have their advanced scholars who need to contemplate and eulogise
upon the words of their scriptures and teachings and make sense of them for the
rest of society. Those who follow the inner urge to understand more deeply, to
see more keenly, and to connect more profoundly with the meaning of life are
said, in Sanskrit, to be of Brahmin temperament. This applies to everyone in
the world who leans towards the academic and contemplative… not just in India
and not according to family lines. It is a great injustice that the description
of personality types, abilities and talents became so mutated and abused within
India's history. We will look at 'varna' more closely in due course. What
it is important to understand today, is that we all have to find the key talent
we have and work that to the very best of our ability, for it is given to us to
play our part in society. If we are good strategists and organisers, then let
us be the soldiers and managers of the world (Kshatriya); if we see the beauty
or the sorrow and can express that in words or pictures or other creative way, we can aid others' healing (sub-Brahmin); perhaps we are good at production
(farming or manufacture) and sales - very necessary in society (Vaishya); or we
may even find that we are excellent at the tasks of life which are avoided by
others - the cleaning, the labouring… (Shudra). In Western society, the lines
are a little more blurred; sometimes we have to be all these things in one
person - but few can truly be so.
Everything that we do, done with conscious awareness and capital 'ell' Love in
the heart and mind, contributes to the
positive energy of the community. This includes those who withdraw and
contemplate on the higher values and the nature of 'God'. Almost without exception, if asked, every
successful sadhu, bhikku or monk who takes up the monastic path will say that
the life came to them - that there is a sense of being taken there rather than
actively making the choice to enter such a life. Being in it, however, they
immerse themselves completely, surrendered to the will of a power mysterious.
They are not running from, but running to something.
Here
is a short film about such a group.
