Ancient Indians – Satya Samhita

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Patanjali said that yoga is chitta vritti (citta vRtti) nirodhah.

Some scholars have translated this term as thought waves (or) disturbances. I have translated it as mental circles. But yoga requires us to stop them.

In my present mission, I have to interact with many different kinds of people of various levels of evolution.

Some are concerned and loving, some are rude, but almost all appear arrogant and idiotic.

Now when you get an opinion about the world that says, “everyone is ……….”, that’s a clue to a vritti. The blank could be filled with any word, cruel, silly, fun, untrustworthy, doesn’t matter.

It means that your attitude and behaviour is bringing that reaction from all around you.

What makes “everyone” look arrogant? What makes “everyone” look like an idiot?

Well, I think they are arrogant, because they speak “like wise men on matters they don’t know about”.

It really comes down to , ” they are ignorant and they don’t know they are ignorant, so they speak”.

Everyone speaks. All beings make sounds. Most sounds between species ensure the survival of the species. The sounds say, “food here”, “danger there”, or “let’s mate” and such like.

So intra-species communication is good. Speaking is good.

Human sounds also have a phrase, “look – truth here”.

Every human mind has been programming itself from birth to understand the world from its experiences and from the experiences of the others that it observes. It accepts into its programming the words of trusted others, family, teachers, books, media etc.

Every time it encounters another mind that says “i agree – truth here”, the belief in that truth increases.

In Indian society, post independence, material survival of you and your next 7 generations has reached fantastic proportions in importance and is now considered by many people to be an absolute goal. Such people are respected, admired and emulated.

Therefore if I say, “The highest goal for me is knowledge”, all the other minds look askance at me, and they react strongly often negatively. They think I am an idiot and I think they are an idiot.

Indian Society has had at the very least 6000 years of gurus tell us “this is the truth about God”, “this is the way to God”, “this is how the world came into being”, “this is the way to live”, “this is what the Vedas say”, “the Vedas are important”, “the Vedas are not important” ad infinitum.

Since many people are engaged in “material pursuits with a view to ensure survival”, they have no time or motive to understand and form an opinion from “a direct study of the Vedas or any other texts”.

If I say, “this veda mantra means this, they react and say, the vedas tell us to be good, we already know that, now dump them in the ocean”. “Why are you wasting your life on this?”

If I say, “this sloka of the bhavishya purana says this, they say please read this book written by x person that I like, come to a conclusion and tell me why he is right if right and wrong if wrong, OR learn from it and come around to my point of view”.

I like studying sanskrit texts. I like writing. I like doing what I like. That is all there is to me.

They like doing their jobs and reading books that I called second-hand books because they deal with some one else’s interpretation of the texts.

Obviously my readers, friends and relatives are the ones who are engaged in material pursuits, and reading other peoples’ interpretations. Else why would they be reading my work or talking to me? And was I not for two decades in that same state of one engaged in material pursuits and reading the work of Sankaracharya and Aurobindo?

And obviously the people I admire, value and allow close to me are those who “read the texts for themselves” (eg Kunda Miss, Leila) or directly observe the skies and learn (Lakshmi Prasanna). I also admire people when they talk about any matter on which they have gained expertise, experience and insights. I listen with great interest when people talk about any matter on which they actually know anything. And even strangers pour out to me the entire story of their existence. Which is of course why I like meeting new people.

So, people are not idiots. They just don’t understand, what I do, why I do it or what I say. What I do is against the conventional wisdom of our times .. so to them I do in actuality look like an idiot. For them to be convinced that what I do is right means giving up what they like. For them to be convinced that what I do is what I like and that it is right for me, is to realise that they are doing what they like and not what they must. They are pretending to themselves that what they like is what they must. They like that illusion. So they tell me, “everyone can’t waste their life like you doing what you like”.

So people are not idiots. They are differently motivated.

As you may have noticed, I have left the door open for comments again and I got a rather nice one yesterday : “Thanks for articulating an idea lucidly, which lay in us nebulously. I realise now that I have landed on an intellectual treasure.”

It will take me a while to learn the correct response to humans who make the sound, “Look-Truth here!”  But that response is not, “everybody is an idiot”.  May this vritti be now laid to rest.

Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula