Hari
Om
Each 'Choose-day' we will investigate the process by
which we can reassess our activity and interaction with the world of plurality
and become more congruent within our personality.
The next text which will guide the
Choose-day posts is "Tips for Happy Living - jIvnsUÇai[
/jiivanasuutraani", by Swami Tejomayananda (Guru-ji). Choose-days writings
are here to prompt deeper thinking on the choices made on a daily basis and
seek to provide prompts for raising the standard of one's thinking and living.
This text composed in format of Sanskrit traditional teachings, speaks directly
to this purpose. As ever, the full text may be obtained from CM Publications - or your local centre
(see sidebar).
After
the introduction of what to expect and draw from any suutra, we now enter the
Jiivanasuutraani proper.
Aw
jIvnsUÇai[ àStUyNte.1.
Atha
jiivansuutraani prastuuyante ||1||
Now the aphorisms on life are presented.
A
simple enough start, you may think. All things of worth must begin somewhere
and that too with some level of announcement to enhance auspiciousness. At the
temple, pujas are heralded with the blowing of the conch, church services are
usually announced with the tolling of bells. Sanskrit prayers all begin with
OM, Western prayers always address the Lord. For non-worship specific
scripture, the Sanskrit tradition is the word 'atha', used in the same way that
'now' is used in English at the point when a teacher wishes the students to pay
attention.
As
has been mentioned before (and no doubt will be again!), Sanskrit has a complex
structure which does not merely convey messages of communication, but also
implies the philosophy within each word or combination of syllables, which in
turn conveys the essence of the culture which underpins Indian society.
This
text is essentially a self-help text but there is an element of humility from
the author. Often if we pick up such books from Western authors, it will be
written from the personal point of view and the personal pronoun "I"
will appear quite often as the author seeks to present the case for their
methodology according to their own personal experience; the idea to be that the
reader is meant to feel some kind of empathy.
Here though, no such thing is offered. Rather the reader is expected to
take on their own responsibility for absorbing the message. Self-judgement
ought to be that alone, and not by comparison to another. Thus the presenter
simply states, 'Now..'; here it is about to be laid out for you, a method of
helping yourselves.
Helping
in what?
yJ}aTva_ySy
c jIvn< suoay _avit.2.
Yaj-jnatvaabyasya
cha jiivanam sukhaaya bhavati ||2||
Knowing and practising which, life becomes easy and
happy.
A
straight-forward message again. This text is here to help us make better
choices in life in order to decrease the stresses and strains and thus
increasing the level of happiness. It is a paradox that, at school, we have to
learn lessons and then take a test, whilst in life, we are tested and are
expected learn the lessons! The best we can do, therefore, is look to our
elders and teachers for clues as to how best to prepare. We cannot always be
certain how we will handle any 'test' which comes our way, but we can do our research and take up some training
with a view to minimising impacts.
With
this suutra we are therefore given a clue to another 'aphorism'… life is what
you make of it. Three people can come into a room and be faced with a puzzle to
solve. One may scratch their head and think that it is difficult and have no
idea how to approach a solution. Another may think that it is difficult, yes,
but in accepting that begin to work on a solution - which may be equally
difficult. The third may look at the puzzle before making any decision about it
and then think of it as simply something to be solved and set about doing that;
quite likely coming up with a simple solution. What makes the difference
between the three is not the situation, which is the same for all of them, but
that each have a different mind-set. Our point of view - which is based upon
our experience coupled with tendencies supplied from the vaasana store - is
what determines the choices we make and how we tackle the various situations of
life. Thus, if we are finding life difficult or hard graft, it surely would be
a wonderful thing to work on improving our outlook and moderating our behaviour
in order to improve outcomes.
Learning
from our own experience is one thing, but if we know that others have faced the
same sorts of issues, it is surely wisdom to find out how others managed and
learn from their experience also. Additionally, we must listen properly so as
not to misinterpret. Guru-ji gives the example of the teacher putting worms in
a glass of alcohol and they all wriggle and die, then she says to the class
"what is the lesson we learn from this?". A boy at the back who had
been twiddling his pencil at the start when the teacher had been warning of the
risks of drinking pipes up "yes, if we get worms we must drink a glass of
alcohol!"
This
happens all the time in life and even on the spiritual path; if we only listen
to half the teaching, or interpret from our viewpoint without approriate
thinking, we can end up causing more harm than good.
We
must also remember that knowing and doing are two different things. We can know
lots about swimming, but until we get into the water and work our limbs, the
knowledge means nothing.
SAADHANA
Think
on the choices you make in life and how the effect the next part of life. Are
we contributing to making life better for ourselves and others? Do we somehow
land in 'hot water' on ever second move? Are we the 'complicator' or the
'simplifier' or the 'it is too hard why bother' type? Self-honesty is the
biggest step to making changes.
