Rig Veda Says – Live Together, Learn Together, Progress Together Spiritually
Posted: Friday, February 25, 2011
by Drunken Mystic
http://drunkenmystic.wordpress.com
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I am back to my pedagogic ways. I don’t know why I love talking about philosophy so much, but the ones interested out there, I thank you for reading my article with patience. I just realize that these principles are so beautiful that my personal experience with practicing them have given me wonderful results although, I love breaking rules all the time. I have already been accused by a fellow countryman and he even rated and measured me with an inch tape and said that he “thinks” I don’t practice any of the basic laws from the Yoga Sutras.
Samgachchatwam, Samvadatvam, Sam Vo manaamsi, Jaanataam|
Devabhagam, Yatha purve Sam janaana Upaaasate||
- Rig Veda
I would like to share one small example which I noticed once when I was travelling through Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir. We had visited Tso Moriri Lake and planned to stay there for about a night. This is one of the most remote regions of India where there is no electricity and no clean sanitation facilities. The Tibetans have made possible whatever they could by investing their hard-earned money to construct rooms for rent on top of their homes and many travel agents from Leh, pitch tents for tourists.
All the food supplies get transported from Leh town to all the remote areas of Ladakh. Also, the main supplies are transported from New Delhi and it is a tedious journey for 18 hours from New Delhito Ladakh. There are restaurants in Tso Moriri Lake but the food is very expensive for backpackers. The next morning we just took a walk by the lake and got back in time for lunch. There was a small eat out right in front of the Buddhist Gompa (monastery).
Both of us were very hungry and we ordered Indian Rotis and Dal and we wanted to eat a heavy meal. Probably, we would have eaten about five rotis each and till then, they said they had no more to give. We were perplexed at this as we could see that they had enough wheat flour stored but refused to offer us more only because we had the power of “money” to pay and afford. I understood immediately, that they were storing the food for the rest of their village members who would also be stopping by to eat.
This is how they stood together and supported each other. No matter they earn money or not, but supporting each other by sharing what they have and not looking to serve selfish motives needs a lot of determination. I had a first-hand experience of this when I saw them use their discrimination to look after the needs of those people who will be hungry. The attitude of caring for others is rarely noticed. Tibetans stand united no matter what happens to them.
In other cities, towns and villages, the attitude is different and I know this happens in many countries. People in general, once they start getting successful with their businesses and go higher up the ladder of monetary success, immediately tend to develop arrogance and even forget their close friends. They start giving more importance to the rich customers and when it comes to the poor and needy, they just get treated like worms or mosquitoes.
The general monetization of the society has led to this anarchy where man values another man only in terms of money. If money is going to be the deciding factor for every human to gain access to food, water, shelter and clothing, there could be nothing more degrading than this. The basic necessities of life are being decided by certain means which are nothing but the ends to die for.
I can simply say one thing that ever since the industrial revolution took place, it induced further greed into mankind. The man who thought could run a factory “conceived” the idea how he could enslave human beings and make them work for pittance and make huge profits out of it. His neighbour saw how he could compete with him. The third man from another city noticed this development and thought, “I have the resources. Maybe, I can draw a boundary and claim ownership rights and hold them at ransom. This would bring me a lot of money.”
The original inhabitants of the land of these natural resources were soon kicked out and all the corporate industries, bureaucrats, politicians and governments – the rich and powerful started kicking these minnows wherever they tried to settle down and accumulated maximum possible resources only for themselves. Human rights – What are human rights? One man attacks another’s rights to expression and even after attacking them, claims to have motivation for human rights. I would say he says, “I have the motivation to claim that I have all the human rights to attack another human’s rights to express. That’s the spirit of human rights I want, to spread in the society and inspire young individuals to follow. ” - “Applause & Whistles”
Today, all over the earth, every bit of natural resource or reservoir of resources has been claimed to be a property of the government or processing industries which leaves the common man nowhere but to hanker for a job, break his bones, sweat his blood out for a few pennies so he could afford something for his family. Is this right living? All, the economic boom, rising
The rich wants to earn more and gain higher success by bouncing off the next man who aims to do something equally good or opposite to what Mr. Rich has attained. As I stated the Rig Veda here, the world seems to be completely opposite of what it states. Putt one another so you can stay on top. Chop another’s head so you can prove yourself tall. Funnily, this attitude has been there in religion, but it has stepped into the spiritual world as well. When “guru A” starts to talk wisdom and sees another “guru B” rise up to fame, guru A immediately criticizes guru B and tries to defame him and pull him down so he can draw all the crowd to his party and make more out of donations. Even the self-professed spiritual guru feels insecure to lose money and fame.
This article may not sound all that interesting, or I may not make too much sense over here, (insecurity seems to get over me as well) but all I want to say is, it is time that we wake up, realize what the essential need of the hour is. We hardly realize what is more important. Is it important to look after one another’s basic needs or ignore the dying and keep on accumulating wealth? The arrogance of wealth, societal status and position has taken its toll on the human principles of civilization and has even destroyed the core of education system.
Walk together, hold your hands, smile at each other, lend a hand to the one who cannot stand, be compassionate, say a few words of love to the one who is in sorrow, give bread to the one who is starving, if you see one in need of money, don’t fear to lose your wealth but rather be fearless to share, never feel ashamed to say that you lack knowledge, but rather feel proud to say that you want to learn because you don’t know. Above all, if we see that somebody is not able to progress at our speed, then help them and support them till they can catch up, but don’t ignore them and put them through turmoil.
We need a new world order! (Do I make sense?) - Blah...blah...blah...!
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)The human race, rather the different sections of it, wherever the first groups started from, did exactly what DM has pointed out - lived, hunted and cooked together, later on sowed and ploughed together - in short worked and cared for the other ones.
However, since by Nature all are not equal, there were some stronger than others, some cleverer compared to the rest and still others more intelligent than the fellow humans. Here started the rise of some and the others were left behind.
Today this has grown into disproportionate proportions and hence the unrest we see boiling all around us.
There are only two ways out of this - by no means I want to stop individuals from growing and enjoying the fruits of their hard work or higher intelligence - the better off humans should care more for the others by sharing their prosperity and caring for the needy. But this is just a hackneyed statement which I am ashamed to bring up for the zillionth time!
Even better would be each one of us moving at all times at the same pace as the others - after all we all have to hold hands. Avoid amassing wealth and comforts. Don't run too fast, don't climb mountains quickly - these only result in producing the gap. We see big business house executives granting themselves huge pay cheques and bonuses while almost 50% of the world is going hungry.
All I want to say - as the London Tube station announcements warning the passengers sound - "Mind the Gap!". In other words,however clever, intelligent, powerful each one of us are, let us not use them to run away from the others. Maintain the same pace as the rest!That was a wonderful comment Mohan. Thank you and you have summed it up perfectly.
You make a lot of sense :)Thank you Jennifer. Finally, I did..Ha ha!
The Golden Rule is applicable regardless of location, culture, or belief system. We all benefit from treating others as we would like to be treated. Thank you for reminding us, Mystic.Thank you very much, Danny sir. Is it a reminding or is there something that needs to be really done as we already would like things to be? It is there within us if we want to see the change. I just hope to keep the fire burning.
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