The Fool on the Hill, and Karma Yoga

Day after day,
Alone on the hill,
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still,
But nobody wants to know him,
They can see that he's just a fool,
And he never gives an answer,
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning 'round.

The Fool on the Hill - The Beatles

The reply to juggler's comment in the previous post got me thinking more about detachment. A few years ago, I had an incredible urge to renounce the world, go off to the hills and live as an ascetic. But circumstances changed and things had to be done. Anyhow, I started work here, but was confused at times between "making money" and "self discovery". The fool on the hill is perfectly happy, and I would have been too, following a path of introspection and self discovery. Making enough to survive is really not that difficult.

On my recent trip to Spiti Valley in the Himalayas, I went to Kibber, a village which (somewhat dubiously according to the Lonely Planet) claims to be the highest village in the world. (The photo by the way is not Kibber, but Chandratal in Spiti). I met a Kibberite there and asked him how many people stayed in the village to which he quickly replied '420'. After a moments thought, he apologised and corrected himself saying there were only 418 people in the village. He said he had a family of four and around 1 1/2 acres of land where he farms peas mainly. (An acre of land there costs about Rs. 30,000/- he said). From that, he earns enough money to feed his family, pay all the bills and send his kids to school. He works for only around 4 months in a year during summer. I'm not saying that by having nothing you can be happy, I don't know whether he was happy.

Anyway, making enough to survive, I could have lived happily in contemplation. Since people who have "everything" are sometimes not happy, and sometimes people who have very little or nothing are happy, you can easily infer that happiness must be from within. Even in day to day life, things which make us feel happy or elated at a particular time might fail to do so the next time. So establishing that happiness is from within, then all we need are our physical needs.

So why does a person, who can easily have everything he needs to be happy, go out into the world? Why do we complicate our lives with all these things? Whatever the root cause was, we are now in a "material" world. It is impractical (and indeed impossible) to tell everyone to give up everything and "run to the hills".

This was obviously a dilemma faced by many people over many ages. The answer lies in Karma Yoga, the yoga of work. It basically says that to be an ascetic is relatively easy. It has its place in society, some people, at stages in their lives need to turn to that. But the most difficult yoga to practice is karma yoga. To live in the world, and yet live above it, not get dirty from it, to float like a lotus which grows in a muddy pond. It is pointless to say that we will live in the world and not use a computer or a tv, but one should see them only as tools, and not get attached to it. One can use all the luxuries in the world, but should be as happy if they are taken away the next second.

Krishna expounded the theory to Arjuna in the Mahabaratha. Arjuna was confused as to why he should engage in battle against his cousins. Krishna explains that one must do what one is called for. I believe this also to mean that one person should do what he has the skills to do. Arjuna had skills to be a great warrior, and he had a duty to his citizens to defend them. The Law of Karma, in my understanding, is exactly analoguous to Newton's Third law of motion; "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction". The Law of Karma states also includes a desire as an action. A desire sets the wheel of Karma turning and it goes on, through several lives if needed, till it meets an opposite reaction or fullfilment of the desire. Krishna advices Arjuna to disassociate himself and his efforts from the results of the action, thereby acting only out of compassion for his fellow beings, and not from any desire for a particular result. The end result is God-given and one has no control over it. This teaches acceptance.

People have a misconception that Karma is just an excuse to make up for failure and that people use bad Karma from past lives to explain if bad things happen to them. I however feel that rather than being an escapist's approach, Karma Yoga teaches you to not get stuck in the past, to learn from your experiences and move on, without brooding over spilt milk. This prepares one to confidently handle any adversity.

After looking after the entire operations of the company I feel that any businessman has a responsibility to society. He is creating employment and generating wealth, as well as paying taxes for the development of the country, and looking after the welfare of his employees. I slowly understood the social responsibility of running a business. Further, competition has a role too, in ensuring that consumers get the most out of their money. I found I could reconcile my beliefs with my actions and felt much happier. I feel that if a person has a "skills" as a manager, then one should utlise it to serve society and help his fellow man. I'm not saying everone should start a charity, but do what they're best at, and be true to themselves.

I try to detach myself from the results of my actions by not feeling elated with "successes" or sad with "failures". Everything has taught me something, and in the long run there are no successes and failures, just experiences. I still obviously have a long way to go, perhaps several lifetimes, but its not just about the destination, and I enjoy the journey as well.

(Disclaimer: I'm not some kind of hardcore Yogi or anything, I have intellectual conviction and am working, sometimes haphazardly, towards being what I believe)

Teachings of Flu

Don't worry, I'm not turning this blog into a religous blog and Flu is not an ancient Chinese Scholar.

Anyway, been down with a mild flu for the past two days. Luckily it kicked in just the day Beks got back so it also gave me an opportunity to be exceedinly needy. Anyway, am stuck at home with nothing to do. No energy to really think creatively (a.k.a. finish my essays) and at the same time, not sick enough to just pass out the whole day.

Since I had mentioned that every experience teaches you something, I was wondering what (if anything) a flu teaches you... What can alternate bouts of shivers and sweats teach you about life? Perhaps patience, perhaps boredom, dunno really. At least if you're in school, or working for somebody else, a fever can be a couple of days to stay at home, watch movies and so on. Btw, I watched Almost Famous today morning. But right now, the flu is equivalent of getting sick during summer holidays for me. I'm going to try and finish my Lord of The Rings marathon, finished the first two, and now onto Return of the King. Got the special edition DVDs from a cousin and each movie is around 45 mins longer! Thats a total of 6 dvds for the entire series.

The last time I got the flu, in Feb, a week in bed, and much higher fever and severe chills somehow gave me the confidence to decide to close down our company. The decision was something the whole family had been too nervous to make, not sure how it would turn out. I'm not sure how the flu helped me in making the decision, but at some point between the half sleep and continuing dreams, I saw very clearly that it was the right choice, and that it could be done. Anyway, waited till I got healthy again before telling my father about it, so that he wouldn't take it just as a sick persons ramblings or fears. At first he thought that I was making the choice because he was putting too much pressure on me, and my uncles suggested that we run it in an even smaller scale, but I decided firmly that we would close down, and that it could be done. Anyway, we never thought things would work out quite so well, but it often happens that things thought to be huge problems are not so, and some things we dont think about at all, actually turns out more difficult. Anyway, having said that, let me also mention that I don't believe in problems: just situations, whether you see it as a problem or not is up to the observer.

Freedom of Choice, and Fear of Death

Beks and I watched "The March of The Penguins" last night. Anyway, for those of you who haven't seen it yet, these penguins brave like severe winters and 70 mile hikes in absolute darkness and freezing cold to have progeny. After the mother lays the egg, the father then looks after the egg for like 2 months of the harshest winter ever while the mother goes back into the water to feed. All the fathers then huddle up together to try and sheild themselves from the cold and protect their eggs, without eating anything for like a 120 days. Many of them lose their lives to the cold.

Anyway, animals do all this out of instinct. I don't think they consciously make a choice that they want to have offspring, it is imprinted into them. I don't think a male penguin will say "Bollocks to that, I just wan't to stay here and have some good food, or try to swim to warmer places". Jonathan Livingstone Seagull is just a story.... If there was a particularly harsh winter, I doubt whether the next year whether the number of penguins deciding to risk it and mate will decrease.

Freedom of choice is "God's greatest gift to man". Free will is what separates us from animals. But it also brings a whole lot of other problems. So many times in my life, I have thought it would be just easier if we didn't have to choose, if it was predetermined and we had no other choice but to do things in a particular way. I think the biggest obstacle which arises from free will is our clinging to life. The penguins try to protect themselves and their young from predators but I don't think they really "fear" death as we do. They understand that death is as natural as life, and even if they lose an egg or an offspring to the cold, they don't get tied down by it and move on with their lives, continuing the same process next year.

I find this clinging to life, and fear of death is a paradox. Especially since most people (i'm not sure of the statistics here) know that they are not just the body. Since every observation needs a subject and an object, and since we can observe the body, we know we are not it. The same logic also tells us that we are not the mind, that we are something beyond it. Anyway, so why do we fear losing something which we don't even believe is "us". Why do we grieve for those who die? It is only attachment, and we don't really grieve for the dead but for the loss we feel.

The Roller Coaster Ride

People enjoy roller coaster rides. They like the slow climb up and the huge fall down, the loops, and occasional splashes. Imagine if while on a roller coaster, you fall into a dream; you are driving a car, trying to steer it. You plan to take the highway, the faster route. You think you have control but the car goes on completely unexpected turns, drops and climbs. You feel exhilarated at times, but more often you feel anxious, nervous, scared and worried about the next curve.

Life is like the roller coaster. However, most of us dream we are driving. To be more precise, life is actually like a roller coaster park. You can choose between different models, some high risk big thrills one and some which look relatively less scary or bumpy. The only condition is that you always have to be on one or the other.

Whichever model you choose, and whichever path, profession or option you choose, it will invariably have highs and lows, ups and downs. There will also be plenty of turns and loops you never saw when you chose the model from the catalogue of rides. If you think you are in a car, there’s bound to be frustration, uncertainty and fear. If you realize that you are in a theme park and these are all rides, and accept that you have to be on a ride, you can enjoy yourself. You will still be on the same rides but you can take the ups and the downs, comfortable and safe and calm and happy.