पहले पैसा फ़िर भगवान

These are Osho's views on God & Richness . Enlarge the image by clicking on above.

THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS

    Kapil was looking visibly upset today. I thought it better to let him speak on his own so I kept mum. I knew that it was difficult for him to remain silent for long. He waited till we got seclusion at our workplace. He started at once.

Sir ! I want to ask you a personal question.Please answer it honestly .
Kapil , you are like a Betaal from Vikram & Betaal Stories , whose every question has to be answered by Vikramaditya. So, feel free to ask any question Mr. Betaal ! As for the honesty in answering is concerned, it has to be evaluated by you. Any way , what is your question ?

Sir , I rarely find you worried even during crisis , while I remain worried about smaller things in life all the time. Then , I seek your help to resolve them. Since morning , I have been thinking on this , then I decided to ask you directly the secret of freedom from worries. Please share your secret with me .

" Kapil ! You have raised a very fundamental question, which is also the oldest dilemma of mankind !There is one fundamental difference between animals and mankind , called Mind . Because of this , human beings get new problems and are also able to solve some of them . Each problem , until it is solved , causes worry to mind, rather we can say that , worry forces mind to find the solution.

Nature in its constant churning , gives mankind its daily stock of problems , worries ,new questions and paradox etc. The human mind in its constant endeavour to overcome them thinks, imagines, theorises its solutions, resulting in the development of science, technology, religion, literature, philosophy etc.

The relatively fast development of so many systems to tackle various basic issues related to human existence in last two centuries led to an unfounded belief that man can control almost everything in nature . But , every person at some point of life, is compelled to think that against the forces of nature , the man made systems are nothing more than castles of sand and life has more miseries than happiness. The Tsunami disasters in south east Asia in December 2004 and then in 2011 in Japan with nuclear disaster, record breaking floods everywhere and frequent Earthquake in many parts of world, are examples of this.

To answer this basic dilemma, that , who is more capable human effort or somebody else, every society got its own theories. Most of the philosophies ended on accepting the existence of a supernatural power which controls entire nature and its habitat including human beings. This supernatural power is called GOD in all religions. Except perhaps Buddhism, all religions believed in existence of God. And all religions developed their own system to deal with eternal problem of worrying human mind through this concept of God.

Sir, that I understand , but I wanted to know in a very simple way the secret of being free of worries.

Kapil , I was coming to that point but before that I wanted to stress the complex nature of your question. Let me make it simple. The freedom from worries is commonly interpreted as PEACE (शांति). Since eternal time, people have been searching this PEACE OF MIND. You cannot find it in any market. Further , even my telling you about peace , will not bring  peace to you or anybody else.

The ancient Indian literature describes PEACE as SHAANTI (शांति)  , which is loosely translated as the state of equality Sama(सम) and the reverse state is known as ASHANTI (अशांति) meaning Turbulence . Now , all of us know that this world is full of ASHANTI everywhere. The Indian religious literature simplifies it in this way , ASHANTI does include SHANTI , only prefixed A is to be removed.

Suppose , you need a glass full of water to quench your thirst, but you find yourself sitting near the sea-shore, wondering what to do with immense saline seawater within your reach but no potable water being available nearby . You need to first remove salt to make it worth drinking. Once you know the method to separate the clear water from seawater, your worries for clear water are over , not for once but for forever, because you found an unlimited water source.

In the same way, every ASHANTI has hidden in it an equal source of SHANTI which needs to be separated from its packing. Just as you are not going to use a soap without unpacking it , similarly Shanti or peace is to be found only from the packet of underlying worry or Ashanti only.

You may also understand it as a duality of electron & proton or coexistence of hydrogen and oxygen in water molecule , which require special efforts to exist independently. Further , peace has to have many forms just as worry has.

Is it not ironical that worry is a state of mind and so is the peace also and both exist together in the same mind ? That is why, like worry ,peace also has some adjective with it like world peace,peace of mind , internal peace, planetary peace( Grah Shanti) etc.

Therefore, you can understand peace in as many forms as you or anyone can think. Further one person's peace may be another's worry e.g. drinking wine, listening loud music, strengthening of army etc."


O.K. Sir, now I got your point. You want to say that to be at peace depends on one's individual attributes. In other words, every person has to find his kind of peacefulness by exploring into the causes of his worries. And nobody can help in this private matter , because peace lives alongside worry in the same mind. I also feel that one cannot follow the same path to attain peace as followed by somebody else. But still I would like to know from you how I can attain my peace .

" Perfectly understood Kapil ! The way to attain peace always goes via equally deeply disturbed state of mind and there are various examples of this, including the famous case of Lord Buddha. When worries attack you from all sides on a grand scale, you are bound to get the similar magnitude of peace also later on. It is said that the lasting peace is born from the womb of war only. We have example of Second World War , most ferrocious war in human history, resulting in the longest global peace period of 66 years till now and still continuing...

There is one more mathematical truth related with peace. Just as proton and electron are equal in an atom the peace or SHANTI period is almost equal to ASHANTI just as day is equal to night . These are just two facets of the time. Therefore , deep peace is attained only after undergoing deep turmoil of the similar magnitude. And after deep peace, the turbulence has to follow again in a cyclical manner."


Sir, that means that even trying to achieve peace is equally a futile exercise. It will come on its own at its destined time in magnitude equal to the turmoil preceeding peace. Do you agree with me ?

Absolutely agree with you Kapil ! Just as any kind of attempt to get Sun Rise before twelve hours from Sunset is useless, in a similar way , the peace cannot be attained forcibly before its scheduled time.


But Sir , intellectual people and many institutions go on attempting to bring peace in world . Why they don't understand the futility of such attempts ?

In our example of Sun-rise and Sun-set , the duration is small and every human being has seen it happening it thousands time , so nobody will believe in an early Sun rise. But the cycles of War & Peace are of long years , the minimum cycle being 30 years and its multiples, therefore, a person does not have much chance to experience it many time in life. That way , the authentic information on such cycles is not available , so people go on trying all the time . And when peace arrives at its designated moment, people say that it was brought by their efforts. It is like conducting an 11 hours-ritual after sunset to get a sunrise !


Then Sir , Is there any way to know the timing of peace and turmoil for human beings ?

Yes ! But now we end our discussion at this point. We shall deal this issue in next sitting .

What is missing in Management Education (II) ?

     The Indian philosophy believes in the duality of Maya and Bramha  ( माया और ब्रम्ह ) e.g. the body  and the soul or say electrical appliance and electricity or say motorcar and its driver. It says that one cannot work in isolation to another and both of these should work in tandem to be of some significance.   

  In my previous post , I had raised the issue that something is missing in management education. The word management includes MAN . Unless the management  theories take care of this MAN in his all manifestations , they cannot be effective. 

   Let me  explain through an example. An average Indian citizen is least bothered about the cleanliness and sanitation in public places. All management theories imported from West failed here to ensure it. But , everybody knows that there is also an exception to this. The temples,mosques and churches are cleaner in India than any other public place. Because India has a  legacy  of  a God-fearing country.

   So, when ceramic tiles with images of god and goddesses are placed in public place stairs , people would not spit Paan-Peek पान पीक   . Somebody told me that it still happens if light is not there. Further, we  Indians cannot organise for any important issue , but millions will gather for one month long Kumbh Mela without any cost implications, just for the sake of God. 

   Therefore, the MAN in Management is to be understood in its three dimensions of Desh, Kaal and Paatra ( देश , काल और पात्र ) translated as place,period and person. An Indian citizen responds to religious significations more than atheist western management theories. Since the world class IIMs  and IITs treat these issues as taboos in their curriculum, these institutions have not been able to make noticeable difference in Indian society's functioning and its productivity level.

   It is unfortunate that while practicing western secularism , we abandoned the positive attributes arising out of God-fearing mentality. We abandoned the religion , which resulted in elimination of God-fear ( the supreme of all positive fears ) and that has caused an overall chaos and crisis in every field of public and private life in India.

   So,  it is my firm belief that in Indian context, unless god-fear ( irrespective of which religion you belong ) is instilled in our teachings from nursery to Ph.D. level again , every type of education is to resemble a beautiful mummified deadbody without soul and hence ineffective in making any dent in Indian scenario.   

   I will write  an interesting personal experience on this issue in my next post.    

How Varaha Mihira got his name "Varaha" ?

The importance of Varaha Mihira warrants a brief biographical sketch. The date of Varaha Mihira is controversial, some say circa 100 BC others 500 AD. The date is unimportant for presenting an episode from his biography. The following adumbration from Life of Varaha Mihira, by Suryanarian Rao gives many salient qualities of Varaha Mihira.

   Mihira was a Brahmana, the son of Aditya Dasa, from the region of Avanti, near present day Ujjain, in Western India. He was instructed in astrology by his father and was a devout worshipper of Surya Narayana, that is, Krsna who manifests as the Sun. By performing severe austerities to please Surya Narayana, Mihira got blessed with knowledge of ganita, hora, and samhita.

   Mihira was one of the Nine Gems, navaratna, in the court of the great king, Vikramaditya of Ujjain. He was greatly honored by the king for his vast learning and correct predictions. Once, after the birth of the King's son Mihira was asked to make predictions about the prince's future. Going into meditation after studying the chart Mihira "observed that a serious and irremediable danger beset the path of the longevity of the royal child and that he would be killed by a varaha, or boar, on a particular day in a certain month of his 18th year and no human remedies could save the prince from the jaws of death."

  Having learnt of this danger to his son from his most reliable of court astrologers, Vikramaditya consulted with Bhatti, his Chief Minister. It was decided that a special palace would be constructed with stupendous walls 80 feet high. Ten thousand elite troops would patrol both inside and outside the property as well as in the palace. Such careful watch was taken of the palace that not even a cat or rat could enter the compound what to speak of a wild boar. 

  Every precaution was taken and the prince was under constant guard and practically under house arrest, he was not allowed to leave his compound for any reason. In fact he was ensconced on the seventh floor and not allowed to go to a lower floor. The precautions were so thorough that they boasted that the prince may die but certainly not by the agency of a varaha.

   After such security measures were put into place Mihira was asked if he would like to reconsider his former prediction. He emphatically stated that there was nothing that could save the boy. As the date grew near he was again asked to reconsider, and again gave the same reply. 

   Tension began to mount, not so much for the sake of the boy but for the reputation of Mihira. His detractors thought that Mihira's reputation exceeded his ability, and though the boy might die, the possibility of it be caused by a boar was so remote that Mihira would be publicly disgraced. Even his friends, who had implicit faith in him and knew of his great abilities, had doubts as to how his prediction would be successful, because it was impossible for even a rat to move about undetected in that palace.

On the fateful day Vikramaditya held court. Reports were brought to him every hour on the safety and health of the Prince, now 18 years old. All the chief pandits were assembled as well as the navaratnas, the nine greatly learned men, of the King's court.

   The whole city was waiting for the result of Mihira's prediction. Would it come true or not? The time of death had been fixed at 5:00 PM in the afternoon. The King, though a great admirer of Mihira, was beginning to doubt Mihira's abilities. With a condescending smile he addressed Mihira, did he still want to maintain his previous prediction that the boy should be killed by a wild boar this afternoon. Did any new calculation possibly change his mind, would the child just die, this was possible, but death by a wild boar would be impossible. 

   The King suggested that Mihira gracefully back down from his former stance, without losing face. The King vowed that if the impossible happened he would give Mihira the highest honor and bestow on him the golden and be-jeweled Royal ensign or emblem, the Varaha, wild boar, that was currently on his crown and transfer it to Mihira's head-dress and that for posterity he would henceforth be given the title Varaha Mihira. Everyone applauded the King.

   All eyes focused on Mihira. He rose and gave a speech in which he deprecated his own learning, that unfortunately no great rishis such as Vasishta were present to reverse the karma of the Prince. He took a vow that if his prediction failed he would never practice astrology again, he would never enter the court of the king, and indeed, would leave Ujjain altogether and go deep into the forest to practice tapasya, austerities, till his last day. But Mihira stated that indeed the death would come true as predicted, there could be no thwarting of fate and the Prince would be killed by a boar. He then calmly sat down.

   In the afternoon at 2:00 PM the King again convened his court. Senior military commanders came every half hour with news of the Prince. He was hale and hearty. Everything was going smoothly. The King had given orders that the guard be on the highest alert and was confident that no harm could befall his son. But Mihiracarya was totally calm, how could this be so, in only a few hours his prediction would be proven wrong, yet he was still placid. Time went on, a half hour after the appointed time of death a guard reported that there was no disturbance in the Prince's palace.

   Mihira calmly told the King that the boy had already died at the appointed time and they should go see for themselves. Just then another guard came to report that all was still peaceful in the palace. On the way to the palace other guards confirmed that all was quite and calm at the palace. It was now about 6:00 PM and the King told Mihira that his prediction must have been wrong because nothing at all wrong had been reported, he couldn't believe that his officers were liars.

   Mihira replied: "Victorious Monarch! the prince has died at the hour, minute, and second, I have named and none of your watchmen has noticed it. It is a sad event no doubt but it has happened and your son is lying dead in a pool of blood, unnoticed by his watchmen and personal companions, and you will see the truth of my prediction. Let us go and examine."

   On entering the palace they noticed on every floor that peace and calm prevailed. On the 7th floor they found a dozen or so of the Prince's friends engaged in assorted games such as chess. When the Emperor made inquiries about the Prince, they all replied that he had been playing with them a little while ago and that he was quite hale and hearty and that he had just gone out to take some air on the open terrace of the 7th floor.

   Mihira said: "The Prince must be lying dead in a pool of blood caused by the injuries of a boar, and if you go to the terrace you will be shocked to find him dead as predicted by me. This wonderful prediction is not mine. My knowledge is too humble and too limited to make such inconceivable and surprising predictions. I have made all my predictions under the guidance of Surya Narayana. Could such predictions inspired under His grace ever fail?"

   They all went to the terrace and saw with horror and sorrow the Prince lying dead on a cot in pool of blood. He was disfigured by the iron hooves of the artificial boar-the Royal Emblem-that was attached to the flag staff. Everyone was thrown into simultaneous gloom and ecstasy by the successful prediction. Vikramaditya awarded Mihira with the Royal Emblem and he was hence forth called Varaha Mihira.

    The Prince's death had transpired in the following way. At about 4:00 PM, the Prince, who had been playing with his friends, began to feel a sort of oppression in his chest and giving over his cards to a nearby friend asked him to play in his place. He then rose without complaint and went out to the terrace. A tall flag staff, emblem of Royalty, rose high in the air, it had an artificial boar attached to its top.   As this emblem of royalty was affixed to all important turrets and towers of all the Emperor's palaces no one took any notice of them. Near the flag staff was a cot with soft cushions for the Prince to take rest whenever he felt fatigued. The Prince feeling tired while playing games with his friends came to lay down in the cool air.  

   At 5:00 PM precisely, a very strong gust of wind knocked loose the iron boar. This fell down onto the Prince who was lying on his back. The hooves struck severely against his breast and stomach and the tusks struck his head and mouth. The Prince lost copious amounts of blood and died immediately. The mattress on the cot absorbed the sound of the crash so no one heard it fall. And as the Prince would often go to the terrace, and as the game was very absorbing, no one noticed the Prince's absence.

( Courtesy  : shyamasundaradasa.com )