Saturday, March 31, 2012

Outcomes of action

Determining outcome  The Bhagwad Geeta says “Thou hast power only to act not over the result thereof. Act thou therefore without prospect of the result and without succcumbing to inaction " What the divine scripture alludes to is  being dispassionate about the outcome and not assigning  a  personal  pleasure  pain  verdict. A pleasure pain based assessment of the outcome  bears the  seed  of  despondency , dejection  along with  euphoria  and  elation. One has to however keep an eye on the outcome of ones efforts. A circumspect impersonal appraisal of the outcome is critical in determining the future course of action.  An  accurate  impersonal  reality  check  of  the outcome of ones efforts  lends a vector attribute to direct  subsequent efforts. A vector approach is one  which is    well  directed   calculated and  targeted  , a sincere  genuine effort sanctified by direction. Adequate concern  and analysis about the outcome of ones effort  "vectorises" future endeavours. Often times, when the task to be achieved is monumental, and  distant,  reaffirmation of  the  trajectory  remains  the  only solace and succour  to cope with the trials and tribulations  of  the arduous journey. This essence is captured very well in the  story of two monks in steadfast  penance ,meditating under a peepul tree. The Lord is appeased and asks both of them what they are seeking. The first one asks the Lord " How  many more births to go take before I attain salvation ?" The Lord replies " Six more births" The reply saddens the monk and crestfallen, he continues his penance with a heavy heart. The second monk asks the same question to the Lord to which the Lord replies- " You will have to be reborn as many times as the number of leaves this peepul tree has" On hearing this the monk  is elated, overjoyed and thanking the Lord  restarts his penance in all earnest. The first monk  is  puzzled and asks  him the reason for his celebration despite  knowing that he has  so many more births  to  reach salvation.   The monk replied " I celebrated because I  was assured that I am on the right path. How long it will take is no concern  of mine. When I am sure of the direction and the road I am walking on,  there is no doubt about reaching the destination  and  i can focus on enjoying  the   journey ." Every endeavour  has a scalar  element  of  physical  hard work , sincerity,  commitment and  dedication .  This  tangible element is  largely   common  in most  instances  of genuine  effort.  The  vector dimension  is  about  working smart  in addition to working hard  and  is  what decisively  impacts the outcome. The sacred scripture alludes to the realisation of not being in any position to  encertain the outcome of ones  endeavours to remain undeterred  in the event of  momentary setbacks.  Statistically it stands to reason that all cannot succeed. Success and failure  typically complement one another, as do all other positives and negatives. Ability to control the outcome would make the art of trying very unromantic. It's  the possibility of failing that lends sweetness to success.  A Guarantee of the outcome makes the journey  merely a function of time and  would obfuscate any dexterity  and  resilience of navigation. The perspiration inspiration combination vitally needs navigation to complete the triad  that  heightens the chances to succeed. Enjoying the journey  and not worrying about the destination is all fine and romantic  but  such indulgences cannot be afforded at the cost of ignoring the trajectory. After all, the journey however one enjoys it has to end and it would be all the more enjoyable with " all is well that ends well" Dr Deepak Ranade 

Sunday, March 25, 2012

There's nothing personal about ...........

Interaction with people is an inevitable part of life consequential to man being a social animal.  This interaction  becomes a  complex interplay of emotions as it serves to establish a  hierarchal structure  Very often, when this interaction results in feeling slighted, one of the convenient conclusions is " this person can never understand me " This statement actually means - " the perceived identity that I have about the person did not connect with the perceived identity the other person had of me."    It is an interaction of perceptions .The  identity and ego of ourself is merely a perception and is imaginary. The very fact that it could be slighted or elated implies that self esteem is a variable, modifiable and mutable entity. It is not fixed. We  generate a daily report of self esteem much like the weather update. Anything that has a variable value can't have authenticity.  While we are quick to conclude that the other person cannot understand us, do we really understand ourselves?  The identity or ego is totally speculative and construed.   Most often, interaction with others is what lends meaning to life. Finding a purpose of life in relationships. This approach, stresses the relationship as it becomes exacting and demanding. No one other than the self  can lend meaning to ones existence. Using relationships as an emotional mirror to assess and evaluate ones own identity  will only generate newer identities each time. Having multiple identities and assessments  make it very difficult fir the people we interact with. The other person has to keep groping to determine our mood, which is not fair to him.  Surrendering the  control of self esteem to another causes the  wild vacillations our self esteem.  Approval seeking behaviour that craves for appreciation and recognition becomes a form of self abuse. Such behaviour is at the cost of total disregard of ones own self.  One need not be contemptuous or completely disregard  others opinions, but neither should  they  become the driving force of our life. A stoic self assessment that is not finicky and fluctuating lends a great degree of security and reassurance in any interaction or relationship.  A very fluid and tentative self assessment can be the substrate for a constant sense of  persecution that can destroy not only the relationship but the person as well. It is incompatible for a sustainable rewarding relationship. There has been a lot of talk regarding out of body experience, but in a more practical setting, taking an impersonal, birds eye view of the situation is more useful  and realistic than making a personal, restrictive, judgemental assessment that distorts reality.  The apparent improper behaviour of a person is strictly as viewed from our perceptive frame, andMisunderstandings are commonplace and can prove to be very expensive. Interactions/relationships  pursued with an expectation of appreciation, or gratification of  the ego are cursed from the very beginning. Our own convictions should not preclude receptivity to the other persons opinions and views. Interaction / relationships  are meant to evolve  rather than assert oneself . Deepak Ranade 

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Of Memory Templates And Free Will


DEEPAK RANADE, Sep 12, 2007, 12.00am IST

Thinking seems to be a constant involuntary drone in our waking state. Thinking often is also the root of many psychosomatic ailments. The process of thinking is essentially quasi-voluntary and spiritual seekers aim to reach a state of thoughtlessness.



There is no specific centre in the brain that has been identified as the originator of thoughts. It would be absurd to conclude that thoughts arise empirically and randomly. Logically there has to be some cause-effect basis of thoughts arising.
Perception of the outer world lays the substrate for thoughts, responses and actions. Hence perception and thought initiation must have some source code which is unique for every individual. Since computers closely mimic neural networks, we could analyse their functioning to shed some light on the working of the human brain.
The computer's Read Only Memory or ROM is a preset programme which cannot be modified. ROM has the blueprint of basic operations as well as anagrams for processing data. It ope-rates and controls vital processes. The computer also has a Random Access Memory or RAM, which is a storage device for data that can be erased and modified. Every human being also comes with an inbuilt ROM programme. This is the database of all past karmas and vasanas. Vasana is unmanifest thought; it is the substrate of thought. It pre-empts all thoughts and actions.
Thoughts are constructed on the infrastructure of vasana. This data is not deletable. Every individual is born with a unique ROM that contributes not only to thought initiation, perception but also to programme the responses of the individual. This explains why each individual reacts differently to the same external stimulus. The varying reactions are therefore also a function of the operative system. Every individual is also provided with a RAM, which records all events as they take place. It serves as input for subsequent encryption into ROM. ROM is then subsequently formatted onto the hard disc of the individual in successive births.
Vasanas precede thought and thought precedes action. Action thereafter generates further vasanas and this cause and effect cycle generates karma. So we are now dealing with an operating system that has an inbuilt programme, an encryption of all previous karmas and vasanas. However, we also have free will to ignore this inbuilt programme. We could script a new programme which subsequently gets transferred to the ROM. Free will represents the ability of each one to rebel against the inbuilt programme. Science could determine the past as it may have the ability to access the ROM, but no science can predict what is going to get written in the RAM.Mind is the effecter of ROM.
It generates all thoughts as a function of the unique source code of ROM. Unbridled execution of ROM results in impulsive actions. But volitional control can help us overcome the diktat of ROM. With intense determination and control, it can be forbidden to enforce the encrypted script. If efforts are not taken to counter this preformed template, life travels along the uncontrolled path determined by the sum total of the past. To script a new ROM is the aim of all sadhana, discipline and meditation. Life vacillates between surrendering to the programme and endeavour to exercise the free will.



Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Consciousness becoming conscious of consciousness

Consciousness becoming conscious 

The first line  of  Dnaneshwari., a commentary on Bhagwad Geeta by Saint philosopher Dnaneshwara contains the word " swasamvedyaa" and " aatmaroopa." They are   very eloquent and  profoundly  express the ultimate truth  about creation and it's purpose.
" Swasamvedyaa"  contains two parts-  "Swa"  and    "Samvedyaa"
Swa means the self. The "Swa"  in the term does not treat the " self" as  a subject .
It indicates the   totipotent, attributeless   (tatva) , the  unmanifest formless essence. It is a state of beingness,   formless  beyond  any spatio-temporal grid.  A   "singularity"'  with the potential to manifest . A quantum superposition. 
                 "Samvedyaa "is a complex word that  has shades of   awareness ,sensitivity and  compassion.  Our understanding of this manifest world is based on a  Cartesian duality .  It is based on a subject object duality, and so our understanding  of the  word  "consiousness" is the verb that links a subject to the  object. I (the subject) am conscious of  something (the object).
This term  expresses consciousness  as a qualia, between the subject and object. It would be  incomplete  to merely say  "I am conscious" without a reference to an  object.  
           " Swasamvedya" is  the unmanifest  essence  becoming conscious of  itself.  Consciousness becoming conscious of itself. The quantum superposition collapsing as   creation by emergence of an observer.The "big bang" becomes  a manifestation rather than creation. The emergence of a witness. The unmanifest  becoming manifest to become aware of itself. It  is not a chronological event in space-time.Time and space are co-ordinates  fabricated by the formless essence. The words eternal and immortal are relevant only in the construct of this spatio temporal frame of reference that is necessary for manifestation of a  form.  The form is a  transient  impermanent (anitya) expression  of the eternal formless ( nitya ,nirgun , niraakaar )That could perhaps explain why scholars  like Einstein  interpreted time as a fourth dimension. Space time are perceptive threads to  weave the fabric of creation.
In a state of formless awareness eternity has as much meaning as thickness has to a two dimensional shadow and immortality makes as much sense as a child of an infertile couple.
                    The " nothingness" or "shoonyavaad"  refers to this  unmanifest state  where there is no subject object dichotomy. Who  is going to be aware of what ? It literally means "No Thing", or devoid of  subject and object. 
For our understanding in a  Cartesian space time frame, nothing  denotes  the absence  of content in a containing entity.Nothing  becomes a subject and containing entity the object.
This state of nothingness has no negative connotation but merely dissolution of subject object in formless consciousness. The perceiver of nothingness remains, with nothing to perceive. Satchitananda is the trinity of  beingness, consciousness and bliss that defines  Brahma. The state of bliss     reaffirms a state of causeless happiness, that again transcends  the subject object paradigm. Causality abounds in the  spatio temporal distortion which breaks the symmetry of oneness into subject and object.  Awareness, compassion and bliss ,in the self,of the self,by the self and for the self, best denotes the democratic matrix of monarchal unity. " Swasamvedyaa therefore represents  blissful compassionate awareness that is entirely in the realm of non-duality, or Adwaita, that chooses to  manifest as  plurality. Experience   of bliss , compassion and an impersonal awareness  in the manifest duality  are glimpses of the   unmanifest unity.
Realisation is a state wherein  consciousness  becomes  aware of it's own nature . Aatmaroopa.  The  elimination of this spatio-temporal parallax, induced by itself to experience itself. 


Dr. Deepak M. Ranade ( the author is a consultant neurosurgeon- deepakranade@hotmail.com)

Don't take interactions personally

Don't take it personally

Interaction with people is an inevitable part of life. It's the fallout of man being a social animal. This  interaction becomes  a  complex interplay of emotions and ego as it serves to establish a heirarchal pattern that social structure mandates.
 Arguments,misunderstandings, humiliation are unavoidable outcomes of this " Brownian movement "of  ' Egocules",
This unpleasant interaction results due to  - " the perceived identity that I have about the person did not connect with the perceived identity the other person had of me."    Interaction  is of perceptions .The  identity and ego of ourself is entirely  perceptive  and  imaginary.
The very fact that it could be slighted or elated implies that ego  is a variable, modifiable and mutable entity. It is not fixed. The identity or ego is totally speculative and  a dynamic variable. We  generate a daily report of self esteem much like the weather update. Anything variable can't be authentic and absolute.  While we are quick to conclude that the other person cannot understand us, do we really understand ourselves? The self that we commonly assume ourselves to be is a database of memories with a conviction of having a unique discrete identity .. This unique identity is a composite of the impression we have of ourselves and the impression we feel others have about us. The former is a complex of the id and the ego whilst the latter reflects the superego. Interaction with others nurtures the superego, lends  a meaning,   to the script of  life. It  simultaneously  generates a hierarchal coefficient, starves for recognition and  desires to dominate. It's assertiveness stresses relationships as it becomes exacting and demanding in an attempt to establish it's position in social hierarchy. Looking for a meaning for ones own existence   in relation to others. Ironically,none, other than the self  can lend meaning to ones existence. Using relationships as an emotional mirror to assess and evaluate ones own identity  will only generate a chaotic  plurality of  identities  and  a waxing and waning  self assessment.  Stress arises out of our efforts to build and maintain the image we want others to have of ourselves.
This  reaction based self-esteem is susseptible to  wild vacillations .  It triggers  approval seeking behaviour that is directed  towards   appreciation and recognition.  This sort of behavious  is a form of self abuse. Putting others evalution ahead  of what we truely want for  ourselves . One need not be contemptuous or completely disregard  others opinions, but neither should  they  become the driving force of our life.
A stoic self assessment that is not finicky and fluctuating lends a great degree of security and reassurance in any interaction or relationship. A non-leaning interaction, between two erect individuals  only  can support the beautiful edifice of a  meaningful  relationship. Leaning on  one another to a point  can never support the superstructure of a sustainable relatioship.   A very fluid and tentative self assessment is  the substrate for a sense of   persecution that can destroy not only the relationship but the person as well. It is incompatible for a sustainable rewarding relationship. There has been a lot of talk regarding out of body experience, but in a more practical setting, taking an impersonal, third person  view of the situation is more useful  and realistic than making a personal, restrictive, assessment that distorts reality. Misunderstandings then become  commonplace and can prove to be very expensive. Interactions/relationships  pursued solely with expectation  or gratification of  the ego are cursed from the very beginning. Every relationship has rights ad resposibilities as two sides of the coin. Asserting only the former works to  the detriment of any interaction.
Relationships  are meant  to aid the search for our true self, and merely an accessory for survival. They  must help  evolve  the self  rather than assert oneself .
Deepak Ranade