There were several aspects of Swamiji’s teachings that had an impact on me. There were some about which I had not given much thought till now. There were some small earthen pots and some plastic grapes kept on Swamiji’s table. Session after session I was curious to know why they were kept there. After the second session break on the first day, I approached one of Swamiji’s followers. I asked him about what I had observed. His answer was very informative. It was the concept of ‘Drishtaanta’. If one teaches about earth (clay) by showing a small earthen pot, the disciples can easily discern about a pot of any size because the same attributes and behavior apply to a bigger pot which may not be present in the immediate vicinity.
Swamiji used the concept of Drishtaanta all through his discourse. His teachings were crisp and clear distillations of profound philosophies in the form of allegories and fables. In a similar way, the values that we imbibe by means of little habits can cumulatively give shape to our larger philosophy towards life.
I have always believed that happiness is not the absence of problems. It is the ability to deal with them. To that end, what Swamiji taught had a deep impact on me. The synthesis of his discourses was the concept of a happy ‘self’. Swamiji explained that if we take away the happiness from ‘self’ what remains is nothingness. This is because, all the success in the objective world comes to a zilch when the ‘self’ is not happy and does not have the ability to appreciate it.
The harmony between the material and spiritual sides of a person is also something that Swamiji helped us understand. The drishtaanta of the ‘blades’ of a fan representing the matter and ‘electricity’ representing the spirit very vividly explains how both are required to make the fan run smoothly. That is when the full potential of the fan is realized. Thanks to SPJIMR’s Gita Shibir, I am now able to appreciate and understand these aspects of my life better.
Cheers,
Ganga
2 comments:
Hi,
Where's Praveen?? Is he toooo Busy?? Ask him to check our chennai blog...
Thank u.
:)
ASP
Dear Ganga,
Since eons, mankind loved symbols and used symbols in every aspect of their lives.
your curiosity about those small earthern pots and grapes ...is shared with equal awe by me!
earthern pots....b4 what they r now...were just mud and water...the human touch gave them a meaning...the human touch gave them a purpose to contain whatever we chose to keep in them. they are strong enough to hold them..yet are fragile enough when we lack care...so may be they r like our dreams...which can contain all that we want to and yet are very ...fragile...for if we dont choose to remember them, nurture them and work hard and smart to turn them to reality, they just break away..! Dreams need the warmth of Life to fructify...just like the earthern pots need the furnace heat to become ready for use!......Ganga, i think..now one can go on and on here...but these few words may be can help us attribute a meaning ..to the earthern pots kept under focus!
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