A story: Division on the basis of races

Once upon a time, there was a shepherd, who had many sheeps. A person from a distant country came to visit him, and wanted to know about his sheeps.
He asks- "How much do your sheeps eat in a day"
Shepherd: "I have so many sheeps. Which ones you want to know about - white ones or black ones?"
Person: "White ones"
Shepherd: "exactly 3.5 pounds a day"
Person: "And back ones?"
Shepherd: "3.5 pounds a day"

The person is perplexed. He asks : "How much do your sheeps travel in a day"
Shepherd: "Which ones - white ones of black ones?"
Person: "Lets say white ones"
Shepherd: "I have measured it, and they exactly walk 6 miles a day"
Person: "And what about the black ones"
Shepherd: "They also do 6 miles"

The person gets more perplexed. He asks: "How much wool do your sheeps produce in a season?"
Shepherd: "Which ones - white ones or black ones?"
Person: "Lets say white ones"
Shepherd: "I have measured it, and they produce exactly 6 pounds of wool in a season"
Person: "And what about the black ones"
Shepherd: "They also do 6 pounds"

The person gets irritated and asks - "First I ask you a question and you ask me whether I want to know for white ones or black ones. And ultimately you tell me same for both of them. Then why do you ask whether it is for the white ones or black ones?"
Shepherd: "There is a reason behind it. It is because I have raised the white one. I have nurtured them."
Person: " Ohh I understand it now. And how about the black ones?"
Shepherd: "Actually, I have raised them too!"

The moral of the story is that there is actually not a difference in the white ones and black ones- it is we who make difference in our mind by dividing things on the bases of colors. Eseentially they are all same.

All have the same soul, and their form is not that important. While what we look at is just the form and keep dividing on the basis of back, white, mexican, colorful etc. And on the basis of caste - brahamin, kshatriya, vaishya, shudra. Or Jain, Hindu, Sikha etc. Or man, woman, animal etc. Essentially all of them are same souls.

(Inspired by a lecture of Wayne Dyer)

Cooperation vs Competetion

(Inspired from book- 'You'll see it, when you believe it' - by Wayne Dyer. Page 26)

We have this desire to be better than others. And this desire stems from the fact that we care what others think of us. Lets see why we do that.

We are mix of our natural self and unnatural self. Natural self is our inherent properties like Gyaan, Sukha etc. And Unnatual self is our anger, our knowledge acquired in life, our looks, our possessions etc.

A Gyaani identifies himself with his natural self and an agyaani identifies himself with his unnatural self. A Gyani wants to achieve spiritual qualities and therefore want to attain Moksha. On the other hand an agyaani wants to attain the best 'unnatural qualities to soul' which are considered great worldly. If he can not achieve best then he wants to best in his local community. And if he can not be best in his local community, then he wants to atleast maintain an average standard locally. And this gives him a sense of relativism- and ignite competetion in him. Also he like to laugh at the bad qualities of others because that gives him a good feeling.

On the other hand for a Gyaani- he wants to attain spiritual qualities, and since the goal is Moksha- being good locally does not give him satisfaction. 'Relativistim' does not exist in his dictionary, since he has absolute goals to achieve moksha. When he look at others- he look at their 'goods' to follow, and look at 'bads' as compassion.

To summarize:

• Gyaani believes in co-operation while agyaani believe in competetion.
• Gyaani believes in compassion while agyanni believes in thinking about bad qualities of others and hate them.
• Gyaani corrects others if they go on the wrong track, while agyaani makes fun of them.

Cause and Effect relation in between soul and body

Here are the cause and effect relations in between soul and body as per Text Moksha Marg prakshak Ji, Page 80-81, Chapter 4:

1. Knowledge: As windows helps us know what is outside. Similarly senses and Mann helps the soul gain knowledge.
2. Making voice: As a flute guy pumps out air, and the flute makes sound, similarly soul does the motion and sound comes from body.
3. Motion in body by soul: As a driver moves his hands and legs, and accordingly the car moves. Similarly soul moves and accordingly body moves.
4. Motion in soul by body: As the car moves by quake outside, and the driver moves. Similarly soul moves by the movement of body by external causes.
5. Body's response to soul's emotions: When soul does emotions, the body responds accordingly. When soul has anger, the eyes turn red. When soul is happy, the face smiles etc.
6. Souls pleasure/happiness with bodily changes: With heat or cold, the body temperature goes up or down. And soul gets happy/sad with changes of temperature because of Moha.
7. Changes in body with age: As age increases, the body expands or contracts.

Analogy with driver and Car:

• Color: As someone drives a red car- it does not mean that the driver is red. Similarly, if a spirit is in a red body, it does mean the spirit is red. So it mean I am neither black of white.
• Weight: As someone drives a small car sometimes, and othertimes drive a heavy truck. It does not mean the person gets light or heavy. Similarly, the spirit does not have a weight- it is the body which has the weight.
• Kula: As someone goes to a Toyota showroom, and buys a toyota camry car. After 2 years he junks the car, and then go to a Honda one and buys a Honda accord. And after 5 years he junks the Honda one, and gets a Ford one. It does not mean that he belonged to Toyota lineage, and then Honda and then Ford. Similarly, a spirit gets a body from varous families. That does not mean the soul gets the kul of Brahamn, Kshatriya etc.
• Disease: Lets say the car break down on the Freeway and you can not move because of it. Does that mean you are broken down? Similarly, a disease happens in a body- that does not mean the car is diseased.

Analogy with bike:

• Male/Female: There are two kind of bikes- one is male and other is female bike. If a man rides a female bike, does that mean he will become female. Similarly, a soul does not become male or female with the kind of body it rides.
  

Desire to be better than others

We have this hidden desire to make ourselves feel better than others. This desire comes from the 'Maan and lobh Kashaya- emotions of pride and greed'.

This desire manifests itself in various ways :

• We like to listen or talk bad about poeple around. Because internally it makes us feel good because it satisfies our desire to be better than others. This behaviour is against the 'Upguhan' guna of Samyakdrishti.
• We get fond of praise from others. Since we want to feel better- praise is something we really like. And we do so many things to get the praise from others to make ourself feel better.

Mera pana (My-Ness)

What do we mean when we say - "this is mine"

The work 'Mine(mera)' is used in two contexts by an Agyaani:
1. Ownership: When we own something. Example: my money, my son etc
2. When we have 'sanyog' with something. Example: my country, my caste etc

Lets think- what do we mean by ownership. When we say - that we own something, it means I can make decisions for the thing. For example if I own my house - it means I can change my house according to my will. And if I say I own my wife- it would mean I can make her do what pleases me. If I say I own 20 crores, I mean I have the money at my disposal and I can do what I want.

However, this is a wrong belief. Because I do not own things- I can do what I want until my antaraya karama kshyopksham and sata vedniya are favorable. When they are unfavorable, the same object cease to remain in my control. Therefore my expectation from the object does not hold, because my control only possible if favorable karma is there.

The favorable karma is there for some amount of time, and this makes one think that he owns stuff which is actually wrong.

Analysis on 'Body is mine':
Ifr we just think that I have physical attachment with body, then it makes sense. But if I start thinking that i have control it in the future also and I can make it do what I want, then I am wrong.

Because of favorable Karma, I may have some freedom to do things as I want. However this does not mean ownership.

When one knows above fact then he gets detached with body and object around. Since the attachment was there when he had expectations and therefore desires.

Bollywood spoils us

Bollywood shows us a good image of materialistic world. And makes us feel that is the right thing and this inspires us set goals towards that. And that spoils us.

Problems which money can't solve

We pile up money. So much that we think we are secure. But unfortunately even from worldly point of views, the money does not solve so many problems for us. It just solves us the problem of basic necessaties and satisfying sensory pleasures. It can not help solving my bad relations with my friends or siblings. One can not choose his kid with the help of money. One can not bring satisfaction, perservance and other good qualities with the help of money. Then why the heck one spends so much effort in piling the money which is not needed.