Quality of our current life would be better

Joy of being: The Integral Yoga The Hindu LIFE & STYLE » SOCIETY MADURAI, November 1, 2012 R. DINESH
What is the Integral Yoga? Before understanding this, we need to go back to the basic starting point. Unless one defines a goal there is no need to change ...

Therefore, Life is all about oneself and what one can control. In all my earlier articles the central point has been the cause is by oneself and not others. For want of something better to do, we blame others but the root cause is our action or reaction. The real cause is that a choice to truly pursue one’s goal single mindedly has not been made. The faculties are happy giving reasons as to why one has to be unhappy (!) rather than doing something to rectify the situation. Therefore this solution of depending on third party(s) is at best temporary and not a solution. Then what does one do?

This is the path of Integration or looking at the whole rather than the parts. The ‘Integral Yoga’ will then have to start with a clearly defined goal of Happiness which is longest lasting (at least more than 90% say) if not permanent. The next step is to align the goals of each of our faculties. What does this mean? A rational analysis of the capabilities of our Body, Prana or Mind and even the knowledge part of ourselves which can be called ‘Intuition’’ has to be attempted through observation (not mental analysis) and once the goal is clear, effort would be made to ensure the capabilities of the faculties are built up to ensure success. For those who believe in rebirth, this process may require a few births but still one is steadfast to one’s goal of Happiness. Even if there is no rebirth at least the quality of our current life would be better.

See how the above is an exact reflection of how we can and must live our practical life. If one is clear what one wants and aligns all one’s efforts to achieve that, there is the best chance of success. Also see what happens when one is not aligned with one’s near and dear ones – fights, disappointments, disagreements etc. How can one hope to align with another when our faculties are fighting amongst themselves to show their superiority rather than aim for a common and overarching goal. (This is the second article of a four-part series on ‘The Integral Yoga’.) Feedback and questions may be emailed to joyofbeingrd@gmail.com (The writer is the Joint Managing Director of TVS & Sons Ltd., and MD, TVS Logistics.)

Seeking the Meaning of Human Life from Sri Aurobindo Studies Nov 2, 2012

Philosophy, religion and science all seek, in their own ways, for the meaning and purpose of our life on earth. The questions “why”, “what” and “how” are the basis of this existential questioning of our existence. Where do we come from? Is there life before birth? Is there any existence after death, and if so, what is it?

Even if we try to avoid these questions and live a practical life of survival, or hedonistic enjoyment, they continue to impress themselves on thinking humanity. In mamy cases, those who have spent a lifetime denying this search for meaning, come in the end, on their death-beds, to the ultimate question with fear, trepidation, hope and prayer.

Sri Aurobindo provides an answer which addresses the various issues that arise: “In the idea of evolutionary rebirth, if we can once find it to be a truth and recognise its antecedents and consequences, we have a very sufficient clue for an answer to all these connected sides of the one perpetual question. A spiritual evolution of which our universe is the scene and earth its ground and stage, though its plan is still kept back above from our yet limited knowledge,–this way of seeing existence is a luminous key which we can fit into many doors of obscurity.”

Sri Aurobindo places weight on the spiritual significance rather than the mechanical process. “The failure to do that rightly will involve us in much philosophical finessing, drive on this side or the other to exaggerated negations and leave our statement of it, however perfect may be its logic, yet unsatisfying and unconvincing to the total intelligence and the complex soul of humanity.”

The Foundations of Psychological Theory in the Veda, Contd from Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore - C. Krishnamurthy (chamathu2003@yahoo.co.uk)

Rig Vedic mystics realised that a human being performs an effective action only through the assistance he gets from the devas, where as his own contribution is nominal. In fact, even the greatest Vedic poets obtained inspiration from superior planes and their contribution was restricted only to transcribe the revealed verses. With this it is very clear that yajña is an activity recognising the collaboration between the deva and the human. The much later scripture ‘Bhagavad Gita’ specifically mentions the different yajnãs by name such as yajña of obtaining material objects, obtaining knowledge, involving self-study etc., 

The Varieties of Naturalistic Philosophy from Footnotes to Plato by Matthew David Segall

If a pushy philosopher were to back me into a corner and force me to choose one or the other, naturalism or supernaturalism, I would choose naturalism. But I’d find myself wanting to ask, as Socrates might, what is meant by “nature”? Physics becomes metaphysics as soon as the word–”nature”–is pronounced. The logos of language … Read More

A Response to an Anti-Naturalist from Larval Subjects

Over at An und Fur Sich, Adam Kotsko has written a response to my defense of naturalism and materialism (here and here), accusing me of everything from believing that science gives us unmediated access to reality, is capable of explaining everything, and seeks to reduce everything, to advocating totalitarianism.  Anyone familiar with what I argue in my ontology and epistemology will find this to be a peculiar set of charges, but so it goes… but I feel compelled to say something as I have difficulty recognizing myself in what is described in this post… In fact, the ontology and epistemology I propose, the opposite is entailed…  My central argument for the independence of objects– drawn from philosopher of science Roy Bhaskar –revolves around the experimental setting and how knowing requires us to carefully construct closed systems in which we perturb objects in a variety of ways to determine how they respond under these conditions.