FAITH/RELIGION
Faith is discerning, not blinding;
liberating, not binding.
Nov 23, 2006
We need God for here and now, for
transacting business in this world.
God’s guidance comes. It is
palpable, though subtle.
God is in the seen, but unseen.
God is intelligible to the
innocent, not to the intelligent.
Religious experience is as valid as
any other to the experiencer.
Mythology is more useful than
history to mind.
That faith is inferior, which
claims to be superior.
Soul is like electron. It is elusive if you try to fix it.
June 7, 2014 ·
I met God and asked him, 'Who is
your authentic representative on earth?'
He said, 'I have not appointed
any.'
May 29, 2014 ·
God is not the unknown, but the
truth and substance behind the known.
May 29, 2014
To believe in God requires just
faith. To assert that there is no God requires प्राज्ञता
(total knowledge).
December 26, 2015 ·
If you want to know god, do not
read books, much less scripture. Look at nature and life. If you can lose
yourself in its immediacy and intimate connection, you have realized god.
If religion is 'pleasant illusion' (Russell), agnosticism is intellectual
pleasure. Neither may matter for living.
Not only the intelligence of a genius, but also the stupidity of an idiot, is
the creation of god and with his grace.
The highest superstition is that
rationalists live a rational life. The biggest fraud is self-proclaimed godmen.
April 7, 2015 ·
Nature is god’s language and the
only devabhasha. God is neutral to the languages human beings have developed
for communication among themselves.
"God is beyond the senses, not
beyond sense."
June 9, 2016 ·
To a samsari, god appears as the
world. To a sanyasi, the world appears as god. The key word is 'appear.'
Religion and rituals are creation
of man, and can help genuinely, like so many other ideas of man enrich his
life.
Science and religion have both
sprung from the same human minds. There is no way to tell that science can give
us all the answers we are looking for. There is no way even to tell that the
answers we have got are final.
20/8/18
We must give up the idea of god’s
curse. One who curses cannot be god.
8/5/18
Who is the most unenviable
scapegoat?
GOD!
No wonder that he is ever in hiding.
A Bhaktha identifies God with what he does not understand, a
jnani by what he understands or rather by the simple experience of understanding. Afool does neither.
Let us not go to God as escapism or for wish fulfilment.
Dec 25, 2004 Tsunami
Neither nature nor God can be called kind. There is no explanation for the havoc. One sufferer goes about visiting shrines (Velankanni) in gratitude for getting a son
only
to lose him to the waves. Nature is neutral across religions.
Jan 28, 2005
I consider all scriptures as products of human origin and as evolved over time rather than as revealed at a time. They contain both grand and silly ideas.
My life is adequate to believe in god, I do not need any evidence from outside.
God is love and love is God. A
person full of love is love and hence God.
17/12/2012
We must stop reasoning if we want
to understand God.
Hinduism and Samskrtam have been
intertwined with Tamizh and Tamizh culture for all known history.
Mixing faith and business lowers
the sanctity of faith.
God, a much bandied word
I have reason to believe in god. I
have no sense of mission to convince others about it, or the need for others to
approve it
I am a Hindu. I am proud to say
that. I believe in God as being, knowing and wanting nothing, not even our
glorification and prayer.
Miracles deny a straightforward and
reasonable god.
June 27, 2018
It is strange that people invent
god to justify morality and then believe that god will pardon their immorality
if prayed to!
May 1983
An atheist is emphatic that God
does not exist, for, that which he does not understand is
non-existent. A theist believes in God for the same reason. What we
cannot understand ought not only to exist but also should be infinitely wiser
and more powerful than we are. Agnostics think they are the cleverest because
they claim that they do not know.
Peace will prevail if the abrahamic faiths accept each other and stop
propaganda for conversion.
It is not only the most brilliant,
but also the most stupid, that receive god’s grace. Like sunshine it is
availbale to all.
Atheists are more bigoted than
believers and more intensely desirous of converting believers to atheists.
7/2/2003
Virtue and worship only can lead to
God realisation.
SPIRITUALITY/VEDANTA
Spirituality is not about
continuity into the future, but contentment in the present.
Advaita mediates, as it were, between atheism and implicit faith.
Our dreams and our progeny as
toddlers hold a mirror to who we are.
4/11/18
I feel that there is a whole that
appears to human intellect and mind in several ways like space-time,
mass-energy, matter-spirit continuums. It does not care for insignificant things
like human beings which are a flash in the pan.
Individual soul is an illusion. It
does not make sense to think of eternity for an illusion.
Separateness from the world is an
illusion.
I exist.
I know that I exist.
That is bliss.
(sat-chit-anandam)
Individuality is a myth. We are
part of a system like family, nation, and are tethered to their poles.
There are no final answers to basic
questions.
TRUTH
April 25, 2016 ·
Truth is everywhere.
16/8/2003
The whole truth is beyond us though
within us.
Truth, strangely, is like a thief.
It does not give out itself easily, whether in worldly 15/4/2001
It is the artist, the poet who
grasps Truth, not the philosopher. The philosopher destroys truth by dissecting
it.
The easiest way to Truth is to
forget altogether the consequences of finding it or living it.
matters like crime and
responsibility, or in esoteric matters like what reality is.
All are capable of arriving at
truth, but lies are charming and seductive.
LIFE
Oct 12, 2000
Let us understand life. After-life
will take care of itself.
Accept what IS. That is PEACE.
Our life is incomplete as long as
we believe in miracles. Dependence is the basis of life- its pleasures and
sorrows. Freedom is the basis of Ananda.
Life is meant for idle pursuits. We
struggle unnecessarily.
Life is neither a race nor a
business.
29/7/2001
Life is more chemistry than
mathematics or physics. It is more emotional than rational. It has more to do
with trial and error than planning and perfection.
There are two mysteries still: LIFE
and CONSCIOUSNESS.
We have both. Let us
celebrate.
Suffering is the price for
being virtuous. (A variant of 'virtue is its own reward!)
5/7/18
Struggle is not just inevitable,
but necessary for life.
April 14, 2014 ·
The wisdom of life appears to be:
Just be.
Be yourself.
March 15, 2014
Go beyond language to meaning, and
beyond meaning into life.
September 6, 2015 ·
Life is not a puzzle to solve; it
is an opportunity to experience.
June 6, 2015
I wonder whether life is not
possible without questions (I do not say ‘shut out curiosity’), morals (I do
not say, ‘be immoral’) and judgment (I do not deny the need for values).
November 26, 2015 ·
Life evolves to preserve itself.
The justification why we live is we
want to live. Any other reason is unnatural.
April 16, 2015
Inequality is the driving force of
life.
13/5/2003
Our desire to live permanently is
killing most of us.
April 1, 2016 ·
Each life is a miniature universe.
October 22, 2017
As I see it, there are just two
ways of coping with life. The first is to pray for and hope that that which is
good happens to us. The second is taking all that has happened as for the good.
Life is a lot of fun one way or another.
We must be who we are and at what we are doing. That is the only lesson worth
learning and giving if asked.
3/12/18
Life is not about logic, law or
contract.
If we keep seeking truth in
whatever we are engaged in, it is joy and makes us free.
We lead life not on evidence,
reason and proof, but on hope, trust and faith.
5/7/18
Struggle is not just inevitable,
but necessary for life.
28/6/18
Excessive concern for future may undermine it by endangering the present.
September 9 ·
Life is about experience or
reminiscing it.
What about dreams? They are the
best experience.
13/10/2011
The past is not relevant except to
the extent it is already imbedded in the present.
Success can never be the basis of
life. In our adult life, our journey is a search for truth in all that we are
engaged in.
Oct, 2004
Our life is incomplete as long as we believe in miracles.
All evidence needed for life is
before us. We should not look for evidence, message or revelation secretly
delivered to others, or divine incarnations unknown to us. God is broadminded
and would deal directly with us. He has no sole or multiple selling agents.
Grace, restraint, memory of the
good, and cheerful good wishes to all - are unmistakable signs of maturity.
Everything is in movement about
itself and in its sphere. This movement follows a rhythm and is life.
Biological life is an offshoot of it.
Dependence is the basis of life- its pleasures and sorrows. Freedom is the basis of ananda.
Life is meant for idle pursuits. We struggle unnecessarily.
7/2/2003
Life is a mystery. Science tries to
find it out. Religion pretends to have found it out.
Renunciation is misunderstood. We do not renounce the world.
How is it possible? We are here. We renounce desire,
and action based on desire.
June 26, 2005
Mere existence and awareness is joy.
Life is one per cent sense and
ninety-nine per cent nonsense and fools stick to one per cent.
Life is rich. One is rich not by
possessions but by attitude to life.
Comfort of existence is not the
same as vibrancy of life.
We are here by choice favoured by
chance. Life is about choice and chance.
This life is the only and one-off
gift of god.
To live with a pure conscience is
dharmam.
To live in (/as) pure consciousness
is satyam.
August 4, 2018 ·
No matter how good a life one has
led, at the end it is declared as some failure.
November 25, 2015
Life evolves to preserve itself.
The justification why we live is we
want to live. Any other reason is unnatural.
Each life is a miniature universe.
3/10/2000
This life appears to be complete in
itself.
September 12, 2015
Life is more chemistry than
mathematics or physics. It is more emotional than rational. It has more to do
with trial and error than planning and perfection.
Dec 26
There is no greater purpose of life
than living it. Or, more aptly, there is no other purpose of life than living
it.
The whole universe throbs with
life, biological life being a differentiation.
A robust seed when planted and
nurtured yields multiple seeds. Life is a robust seed. If fortified with faith
and nurtured with effort, it will blossom forth and yield multiple fruits.
This life is sadgathi. I feel no
need for, or possibility of, any other.
WORLD/NATURE
20/9/2000
The hurt we send round comes back
to us well nourished and grown up.
The world may be perfect; what is
imperfect may be the way we look at it with wishful expectation from an
anthropocentric perspective.
February 2, 2014 ·
Disorder is the order of the world.
- Second Law of Thermodynamics.
NATURE
August 20, 2016 ·
There is no intention in nature
that man should know everything.
June 10, 2016 ·
Nature does not follow reason. It
chooses convenience. Human beings are part of nature and behave like nature
does. The only difference is that they invent reason for what they do.
Mistakes make the world possible.
MISCELLANEOUS
Sep 9, 2000
All our problems arise when we look at others. We get justice, happiness when we look at ourselves.
Nothing is a miracle; many things
are beyond human comprehension.
Any truth is alloyed when it comes through human mind.
August 6, 2014 ·
I am not the body, but I am nobody
without the body.
September 4, 2018
The mind doesn’t understand the
limitations of the body.
2007
நீ உடம்பு இல்லை என்று உற்று உணர்ந்த ஞானியர் சொன்னார்.
உடம்பை ஜாக்ரதையாகப் பார்த்துக்கொள் என்று உற்றாரும் மற்றாரும் சொன்னார்.
'You are not the body' said realised jnaanis.
'Take care of your body,' said relatives and friends.
July 3, 2014
Everyone, howsoever high, has a
right to stupidity. Under this rule, everyone has a right to question others'
stupidity.
June 11, 2014 ·
You are rich not by what you have
but by what you spend.
April 27, 2014 ·
Ultimately, we do not matter. But,
that does not matter now.
April 5, 2014
Creation seems to be a split second
affair. Big Bang took a tiny fraction of a second. Evolution thereafter took
ages. So with reproduction.
January 27, 2014 ·
Hospitals charge for treatment, but
give infections free.
September 12, 2015
One day I was thinking about having
the toilet inside the house. Then it occurred to me that anyway we carry it in
our body all the time.
17/5/2010
Dating, mating and parting seems to
be the crux of life and novels in USA.
October 16, 2014
The idea to pair is imbedded in us
since the time a pair got that idea.May 3, 2015 ·
Marriage is a human institution.
Heaven is in no way concerned with it. (Unfortunately, pun intrudes into my
writing).
22/5/18
Love creates a bonding, marriage creates a bond and often married life boils
down to a bondage.
23/8/2003
It is difficult to find a man not
ruled and overruled by a woman.
February 26, 2015
Some people have a deep sense of
mission about what other people should do.
Wisdom is in silence, in the silence of the wise not of the fool.
25/10/2003
Wisdom helps in coming to the right
conclusion.
Wisdom is in not coming to a
conclusion.
Wisdom is not a function of age,
but of sensible and consistent experience.
One is not wise by what he says,
but by what he is. Actually, a wise one seldom speaks.
October 10, 2015 ·
Frankness is not uttering what
comes to mind. It may be rubbish and may not be of interest to others.
Frankness is being honest in what we have to say. The golden rule is silence
and not outspokenness.
June 7, 2016 ·
A man may cook and do many things a
woman does at home, he can break a home, but he can never make a home.
January 25, 2016 ·
My experience is real, but not
sacrosanct. It is contextual, conditioned and passing. So it is for others. If
I develop this good sense, I will enrich my life sharing from others'
experience.
April 27, 2016 ·
Tradition serves a purpose; it imparts stability and continuity.
Tradition is like a moving average.
It is not fixed at a distant past.
Dec 10, 2000
We can manage only simple things.
Complex things are either involuntary or evolutionary.
December 3, 2015 ·
We must know what we know; more
importantly, we must know what we do not know.
March 4, 2015 ·
We have an opinion on almost
anything as we have an infinite stock of ignorance.
15/10/2000
April 14, 2016 ·
We form opinions faster than we
accumulate knowledge.
April 14, 2016 ·
In a world where everything passes,
let not our mind stay fixed. When the mind moves on to take the new experience,
life is rewarding.
January 4, 2016 ·
Action is not necessarily the
result of knowledge, but of the want of body and mind.
October 23, 2017 ·
Just as our senses are outward
looking, our action is future oriented.
30/9/18
We should never argue with the wise
or the foolish. If we argue, the wise will think that we already know, and stop
sharing their wisdom. If we argue with the foolish, they will think that we do
not know, and will start sharing more of their foolishness. I have made it
clear where I belong!
26/9/18
Diligence matters more than
intelligence.
Many think that our using English
is a token of bondage to colonialism.
September 25 ·
Each one of us is unique and
one-off.
July 14, 2018
A human being has the opposites in
him as the world has the opposites in it.
August 2, 2018
We should not fob off socially
undesirable things as divinely sanctioned.
Stories are written in third person
and sometimes in first person. Both are stories.
Age
Age is a question of control. Youth
knows no control. Maturity is in control. Old age is when control is lost
involuntarily.
It must be possible to relate with
Reality, but not to relate It.
5th Oct. 2010
There arise from time to time men
who make us believe in the importance of virtue, avoidability of sin and
advantage of faith. We are drawn to them and we respect them and we even
canonize them, do anything but follow them.
Apl 2010
Not that I know to talk less but I
know less to talk.
Jul 2010
To be sure, the cynic has a place
in the world. But being a cynic, he may not find it.
24/3/2011
Gossip…Hear it, but do not act on
it or form an opinion based on it. All of us are prone to uttering a comment or
two here and there, which rather reflects an opinion carried to us than our
own.
2007
News: 'Millions of bacteria live in our gut..in human encasing.'
Maybe, they think that God has created such a fortified and cosy structure for their living.
8.4.2008
Before retirement, work used to
come in between worrying. I am now free to worry without hindrance.
31/8/2001
13/9/2002
Nothing has validity beyond the axioms and first principles from which they are
derived and built. It all boils down to: Is anything true in
absolute sense? ‘Yes’ says religion; ‘can’t say’ says science and ignoramuses claim
‘No’.
Beyond that, to be rooted in the past entirely will be a grave error.
The modern man is a vastly improved and revised edition of his early ancestors and it will be suicidal to revert to a primitive stage.
The due process of law leads to
undue delay, even denial, of justice.
Faith and family act as anchor to
life.
A perfect state is where no action
is needed. It is an idle state.
13/9/2000
Freeing oneself from
responsibilities is different from fleeing from them.
15/4/2001
Face the world, do not flee from
it. There is nowhere to flee.
20/9/2000
This world is imitative and
reciprocative. The good we do comes back redoubled.
21/9/2000
Association often produces an
attachment which may not be explained by values and virtues.
25/9/2000
To be able to create is the best;
not being able, to enjoy another’s creation is the best.
3/10/2000
We are ethically disturbed. Not
that we do not have enough, but that others appear to have more than they
deserve. We apply ethics to others which we ourselves do not follow.
7/10/2000
I must be clever. I write down
thoughts that are likely to put me in good light in one way or the other. Do I
write down all my thoughts- if it is possible?
15/10/2000
Man is not a rational animal, but a
rationalising one. He clutches at reason when reason is on his side.
29/7/2001
Some people appear to be in command
of their actions and destiny; some others appear content to be part of a
current.
31/8/2001
We learn when we teach.
We learn a lesson when we try to
teach a lesson.
2000
Aug 19
Why look at a man what he lacks
unless to fill his needs? Why not look at him what he has that is pleasing to
share without his ever wincing a bit?
The flower in the shrub, the shrub
in the woods and the woods in their isolation give greater joy than when man in
his selfishness wants to possess it as his exclusive property.
10/9/2000
The only use of wealth is ability
to promote welfare of those who wield it but also many others. Otherwise it is
canker.
Certain things can be understood
but can never be proved. How do we prove the intention of a person?
1/11/2000
Science has knocked the bottom out
of science.
Religion has knocked the bottom out
of religion.
Language has knocked the bottom out
of language.
17/9/2001
A secret has no charm when you
can’t say it to another person; it ceases to be a secret when you tell it.
23/9/2001
We sacrifice our future by trying
to defend our past.
We strive in vain to preserve a
past that is gone for good.
Let not the past as a drag. No one
or nothing is the same for ever.
The best way to help others is to
help yourself and act fearlessly.
Hurt is caused by hurt and ego.
13/5/2003
Our desire to live permanently is
killing most of us.
We try to live through our children.
1998
1. Life may
become extinct if everyone follows a policy of no killing.
2. At a
fully rational level there will be no justification for life as we live it
normally.
3. Life
is a journey on the wheels of emotion. Ego, ambition and desires provide the
motives for action.
29.3.99
To see others happy is the best way
to be happy.
12.1.2000
A decision is not ‘yes’ or ‘no’. It
is a commitment.
May 31
Conviction leads to action.
Sometimes action may lead to conviction.
Jun 30
We are marked by the choices we
make not by the results.
Oct 12, 2004
Let us understand life. After-life
will take care of itself.
Our life is incomplete as long as
we believe in miracles. Dependence is the basis of life- its pleasures and
sorrows. Freedom is the basis of ananda.
Life is meant for idle pursuits. We
struggle unnecessarily.
Trust but not blindly, and check at
random unobtrusively.
Give benefit of doubt if there is
doubt.
Take a total view in a calm moment.
Skill depends on attention and
retention. Attitude depends on culture and upbringing.
We should not fall into the false
notion that we should grow out of being a child. A child enjoys simple things
and is spontaneous, unreserved, innocent and non-discriminating.
Listen to others, but follow your
judgment.
Whatever idea you get, you will
find that it had been stolen by someone or other before you were born!
Putting the loved one before self
is love; not putting before all others in public space.
Dreams and our progeny hold a
mirror to our personality.
Expansionism is bad, be it in
territory, religion or language.
Sanctity of liberty is subordinate
to sanctity of nation. If nation is considered a notion, so is liberty.
Neither is Hinduism a religion nor
India a nation. Both are loose conglomerates.
When two civilisations clash can
either of them be called a civilisation?
*Head, like father, sends
instructions and controls all limbs including heart. Heart, like mother, sends
oxygen and nourishment to all limbs including head, and protects.
Most of us are literate, many
numerate, a few educated.
It is satisfying to think that I am
a fresh mistake rather than a carry-over mistake.
People pay heed to biological needs
rather than to scriptural injunctions.
Subject income of all godmen of
whatever hue to some public audit. There is nothing holy in money.
Politicking on rapes is as great a
crime; so is media competition for visibility.
We are one with what looks to be
outside us. Caring for what looks to be outside is caring for ourselves.
We should not harm any being or
thing as far as possible.
It is important to be right rather
than try to prove to be right. In conventions, beliefs and etiquettes, ususally
it is a matter of conformity as they are arbitrary.
A good answer is often one that is
shorter than the question. The more detailed the answer, the more questions it
raises.
Liberalism loses face when it discountenances
an opposite opinion.
The biggest disease is the constant
feeling of lack of something.
ABC law is for choosing what to do.
All chosen things need the same intensity of attention.
All hatred is bad including brahmin
hatred and modi hatred,
Civilisation is glorified
exploitation, the privileged exploiting the poor as slaves or cheap labour.
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