Human Intellect

 The fall of Human Intellect

Reading this book by Swami Parthasarathy. Presently in in the initial parts of the books.

Some notes to self as of now:

Use intellect, to control/restrain/moderate your actions in the right manner.

Unrestrained indulgence actually makes one lose the charm of the "enjoyment".

Restrain/control makes the experience more joyful.

A paradox of life is that it turns out that short term pain can lead to long term happiness. For eg., eating junk food is attractive, tasty in the short term with ill consequences in the long term. Lazing on the bed for hours feels fine in the short-term, but cause lifestyle issues later. Discipline and regular exercise is tough in the short term but good in the long term.

In investing too, short-term pain can cause long-term gain. Have a long-term view.

Mind can wreak havoc. Learn how to control it.

Body -> Perception, Actions

Mind -> Emotions

Intellect -> Thinking (thought): Gross (general Material thoughts, like Science etc), Spritiual (Divine thoughts)

Intellect is missing mostly in all but humans. Even if some animals have some intelligence in terms of gross intellect with some reasoning/thinking capability, they lack spiritual intellect ( the thought to question our very existence ?)

Thought on life

 Picked up the below thought from the web ( https://darwintomunger.wordpress.com/2024/09/07/thief-of-joy/ )

"“True wealth lies not in material possessions, but in rich experiences, deep relationships, and personal growth. Investing time and energy into these areas often yields the deepest and most lasting satisfaction.”

Tattva Bodha - 2nd Sept 2024 class

 Arunaji (our guruji) mentioned the following:

• Have clarity in life. Know what you want to do and what you do not want to.  Same applies even more strongly in your pursuit for Moksha
• Always have an attitude of learning. There will be people who crib all the time. That doesn't help. Instead see what you can learn. Finding an opportunity in a distress situation. Taking every situation and making it an opportunity to learn, will help.
• Have keen observation. Be conscious of the various things around you.
• Nithyam, Anithyam - Viveka. We need the intelligence or the ability to discriminate between what is Nithyam (transient) and Anithyam
• Like Munger's rule of inversion or the Mathematics proof of contradiction. Basically, we are advised to being conscious of what is Anithyam. As you keep discarding one thing after the other as Anithyam, what you'll end up with will be Nithyam
• Ananda Vairagya
• There are various types of Vairagya which are not true Vairagya (detachment, dispassion). Ananda Vairagya is the Vairagya which is full of Ananda, bliss. Vairagya is not that you have to leave out everything. It is about having an observer-observed status. It is about going about doing things in a detached manner.  Like in the Gita, do your duty and leave the rest to Lord.

92

I still fondly remember, how she would prepare Dosas or Upma for us, when mom was out of station.
I would often go to her room after school and play with her. For some reason, if I would cry, she would blame bhai. Not that she didn’t like bhai, but rather out of concern for the youngest one in house.

Life is cyclical.

We have seen different phases of life through her. She was generally a strong willed and assertive woman. She loved travelling with us and dad would try his best to take her along. She relished good food and fruits. She enjoyed the choco-bars that bhai would lovingly bring for her.

Later, she developed back pain and her movement was kind of restricted. Only to rise as a phoenix. She somehow lost weight and again became pretty mobile. She could go to the terrace, 2 floors above using stairs at the age of 92 years. Commendable, ha.

She was very particular about her clothes, room and items. However, later it became the opposite. She paid no heed to the clothes she wore. Sometimes, I would tease her for not keeping herself clean or not going to the bathroom to attend to nature’s calls, only to realize that it was very foolish of me. Why to blame her? Will I want others to mock me, when I get old ?

She instilled the quality of patience in us. I would see mom taking good care of her patiently and tell myself, when mom is so patient with her, can’t I be so, as well.

As dad says, no young ever thinks that he’ll become old one day.

One day, she suddenly fell down on floor. The two second-gen daughters-in-law, rushed to assist her. The kids had no idea what happened to her. There was commotion. Anyway, somehow, that day she got back to her feet and things were as usual.

But not this time. The time had come to bid her adieu forever. May her soul rest in peace.
I know she will shower her blessings on us, wherever she is.

My lovely Nanamma.

On 16.09.2016, Smt. T. Sundaramma attained heavenly abode.

Notes to myself:

1.       Live life the healthy way

2.       Cultivate hobbies that can last life-long. Grandma didn’t quite have any hobbies 

3.       Try to be useful to people around you. The moment you are perceived as not “useful”, people may not care much about you.

4.       Lucky to have grown up with at least a grandparent around. So much to see and learn.

5.       Life is sum total of these experiences.

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जीना इसी का नाम है

अपनों को छोड़ आये हैं |
हसीन फूलों  को छोड़ आये हैं |
दुःख  तो  है, पर क्या करें ?
ज़िन्दगी  के जो नए मोड़ पे आ खड़े हैं |

अब इस आस के सहारे जी लेंगे,
 कि फिर मिलेंगे, जल्द ही मिलेंगे !


~ अविनाश पात्रा

Dover

I bet.

I'll make you soar up in the sky,
Dive into the deep blue water,
Roll in the green misty grass,
Climb up the chalk-white cliff,
All at the same time.

With love,
Dover


You bet, you did.

Life was on the edge,
Gasping for breath.
Yet, you teased me,
With your lighthouse.
I didn't mind.

Instead, I shared
Some lovely moments with friends.
Captured you in silicon,
And now I'm back.

Back I'm, but with a void.
You make me cry.
I don't mind.
For I feel the warmth of Your hug.
You make me smile.

Have I left a bit of me up there ?
Or have you decided to be with me ?

With Love,
A mortal.

~ Avinash Patra

खूबसूरत

खूबसूरत वह है,
      जिसके चेहरे पे हंसी,
      बातों में मिठास
      और स्वभाव में नम्रता है |

खूबसूरत वह है,
      जो सीना ठान के जिए,
       जो बिना छूए भी सबको छू जाए |

खूबसूरत  वह है,
      जिसके दिल में खुद पर्वदिगार समा जाए |

~ अविनाश पात्रा

जन्नत को हकीकत  में बदलना हो तो कुदरत से मेल बनाओ,
आँखें खोल के तो देखो, क़यामत खड़ी कर देगी |

 ~ अविनाश पात्रा