Philosophy, Psychology, Positive Thinking and Ageing

Contrasting topics!

This week has been strange for me. Generally I like reading business and management; this week I didn’t even touch my favorite Economictimes in the morning. I was completely shut down from business news all the week.

I started thinking about this, about my psychology, and why I am feeling so. There were many thoughts came in; maybe I was tired, maybe I had too much of business reading last week, maybe I was thinking negative, maybe I was philosophical where I started feeling there is no truth in material world? (I know it’s true early for me to feel thatJ) And found out that there is a connection between all the reasons I thought about.

Though the above topics look contrast to each other in the first place; in Indian context there is a perfect connection and they are very tightly integrated.

Indian philosophy is nothing but psychology. In the olden India there was no subject called psychology. Indian philosophy itself was psychology. The steps we see in our rituals, the scriptures, the essence of Vedas everything revolves around mental elevation of human beings. Just think about some of our morning rituals; be it getting up early in the morning, be it doing morning prayers, be it listening to light music or be it respecting elders and getting blessings; it all has a connection to psychology, pure psychology.

Our ancient Indian scriptures give lot of assurance about life, about wellbeing, about ‘God’ taking care of all the things. This is nothing but pumping energy and thereby making us to think positive. Indian philosophy never says to leave your normal duties to attain self-knowledge. It says one must mentally purify oneself by positive thinking and having a stronger mind.

There is much detail knowledge in our scriptures as how we can train our mind to elevate ourselves. It is said that our mind is our stronger friend when you train it and otherwise it can become a great enemy.

Lastly ageing, it is now proven that having a balanced life and positive thinking increases your immunity and one can live longer!! Our ancestors thought about all this and put these rituals in place which elevated us psychologically, trained us in positive thinking there by living longer/happier.

Such great is the knowledge of our ancient culture is that it draws a parallel between how we live and what we think. It is amazing knowledge but it’s so sad that we are not aware of what we have.

Stages of Spiritual Life

Indian philosophy is about pure psychology and the entire vedic procedures are aligned towards giving a great amount of mental strength.

The entire spiritual journey, as per the ancient Hindu scriptures; is mental elevation of human beings. And one such example is 6 stages of spiritual life.

Krishna in Bhagavad-Gita explains that there are 6 stages of spiritual life.

1)      Stage 1: This is elementary stage, where we all believe this material form of body is one in all and we don’t go beyond this material state of mind. This is kinder garden definition of life.  

2)      State 2: This is slightly elevated state where a human being starts thinking about existence of soul and the relation between body and soul. This establishes the fact that the soul inside me is an eternal truth and is responsible for all the activities of this physical form of the body.

 

3)      Stage 3: This is the stage where one starts understanding the existence of different gods or devatas who will be responsible for each and every organ of the body. Like, Sun god for eyes, Moon god for listening etc. Though we feel we are in full control of our body organs actually it is not right. Even if we feel we don’t want to see a particular scene our inner voice wants to see it, thus it is evident that these organs operate as per instructions of devatas. The third stage of the spiritual life is this where we understand that we actually don’t have control on our own body.

4)      Fourth Stage: If the body parts are being governed by different devats, there has to be a binding force by which there is a perfect coordination between different parts of our body. When in fear our legs start running, when something comes on our way hands automatically come in between to block it. This is the stage where we understand the existence of ‘Paramatma’ or ‘Super God’ who is responsible for all activities of my body, mind and soul. Who is a super power who controls entire working of my body.

 

5)      Stage 5: This stage is extension of knowledge of stage 4 to the entire universe, in other words the relationship between ‘Paramatma’ and this universe. While we establish the relationship between super god and this universe, we also understand our position in this whole universe. This is the stage where we understand what is the role of ‘Paramatma’ in running this whole universe and as how entire system is interdependent and interlocked.

6)      Stage 6: This is the last stage, where one understands the true meaning of ‘Karma’. Since we have understood the meaning of ‘Paramatma’ in stage 4 and extension to the universe in stage 5, it gives a different platform for Karma at this elevated state. This establishes the true sense of Karma where one starts thinking that what all happening here is as per instructions of ‘Paramatma’ and there is a cause/reason in this universe for all our actions. This stage truly burns down our ego as we come to believe that we are not responsible for our karma and neither have we own the outcome.

It is truly amazing to notice as how these stages gradually train us in our real life; to face life, to be a stable minded and to lead a life with full of purpose, energy, positive sense and meaning.

Incredible India!!

During my recent Norway trip, during a dinner and casual talk one of my client asked me about the safety of tourists in India. His point was towards Delhi gang rape case and also series of rapes on foreign tourists in different parts of the country.

The question was, is it safe to travel to India as a tourist?

This kept me thinking.

Recently I read a piece of news where Ministry of Tourism has expressed concerns about reducing the number of tourists visiting India. This is really a thing to worry.

Tourism is a best platform for establishing a healthy relationship between two countries if tourists go back with a positive mind. In India we don’t put effort to attract tourists and on top of this whoever comes, we treat them bad. This is not going to help at all.

We all need to focus on building a service mindset when comes to tourists and build a positive image about the country.

I believe that is true Incredible India!!