POWER OF CONSCIOUS LIVING

POWER OF CONSCIOUS POWER OF CONSCIOUS LIVINGLIVING

Read aloud the sentences

• Below are nine dots arranged in a set of three rows. Recreate these dots on a separate sheet of paper. The challenge is to connect all nine dots, using four straight lines, starting from any dot, without lifting your pen or pencil from the paper. Lines may cross, though you cannot retrace any lines. Lines must pass through the middle of all the dots, and each line must start where the previously drawn line finished.

The story of Cliff Young

Summary: Exercise1

• We miss what is there because we are conditioned to assume what must be written

– Unexamined assumptions, instead of facilitating our understanding of reality, serve as a barrier to a fresh experience of reality

Summary: Exercise2

• Most assume that the solution must lie within the dots-as if there is some boundary around the nine dots

– Some problems impossible to solve within the framework of our assumptions

– This is what most Institutions and Companies are looking for

Summary: The story of Cliff Young

• Was Cliff thinking inside the box?• Was Cliff thinking outside the box?• For Cliff there was NO BOX!!• This is what being unbiased means.

Shapes

• Add the three shapes to form a single easy describable shape.

Barrier of belief• Roger Bannister breaks the four minute mile!• Within a year thirty-seven runners had done

the same; • Within two years 300 runners had

accomplished this feat. • The barrier was not physical. It was a barrier

of belief.• Many things in this world require a leap in faith!!!

1968 80% of global profits, 65% market shares

1978 Shares dropped to 10%

1981 50,000 out of 65,000 work-force disbanded Most of the market share went to Japan (negligible

entity in 1968)

Swiss watch makers

Refused to accept the “change” looming around the idea of “digital” watches

Against their success formula!

Just too “different” for them to accept

Do you have any belief barriers?

• Barriers that prevent full achievement• Remember the principle of creation

– Things go from subtle to gross– E.g.: Any invention begins subtly, with thought

• “First comes thought than organization of thought into ideas & plan, then transformation of those plans into reality, the beginning is in Believing”.

• French novelist Marcel Proust:– "The real act of discovery consists not in finding new

lands but in seeing with new eyes .

• “Forget all the reasons it won't work, and believe the one reason why it will.”

• Generally speaking, beliefs are the mental constructs that underlie one’s values, choices and actions.

Types of Belief• Negative Belief (viz. I can’t do)

– Based on past unhealthy experience– Seeing other’s failure.– Hearing from others.– Fear of losing• Blind Belief (viz. B’coz he can do, I can also do)– Herd mentality.– Unrealistic assumptions.• True Belief– By understanding the need & relevance of the activity.– Looking at a bigger picture.

Conscious Living• Expanding boundaries and challenging self-

imposed limitations in order to become effective

• “We fear things in proportion to our ignorance to them.”

• Stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone.

• Examining assumptions about ourselves, our relationships , abundance and every aspect of existence

• Mark Twain: "It's not what I don't know that limits me. It's what I know that ain't so."

Advantages: Conscious Living• Awareness of self-limiting assumptions

– weakens their ability to run our lives, – and creates possibilities for breakthrough results

and experiences• Can translate as

– Results that we did not consider achievable. – Relationship satisfaction that we did not consider

possible, – Facility we didn't believe to be available, – A level of health previously thought unattainable

or– unimagined spiritual fulfilment.

Advantages: Conscious Living• Being conscious of our assumptions helps

us – Take responsibility for changing them,

or – Purposefully utilizing them

• ..............Rather than letting our belief systems determine our lives from beneath the conscious surface

• “You have suceeded in ur life when things u want are the things you actually need”

-Vernon Howard

Conscious assumptions thus far...

• Principle of creation that things go from subtle to gross.

• We are inherently spiritual persons whose nature is to serve.

• Each of us possesses the capacity to handle his or her life with a high level of effectiveness

What is it thatAwakens or

Enlightens?

What is the self that improves?

Open Question

Nature of The Conscious

Consciousness is a state of knowledge or cognizance or awareness.

• ‘Know your surroundings ≡ Being conscious of your surroundings’•Thinking, Feeling, Willing, Intentionality

It’s a state that has no separate existence, on its own. It has to be attributed to something.

• ‘Water is liquid : Living being is conscious (of …)’

1) Whom to attribute consciousness?• Eyes/Ears/Tongue … or• Body as a whole, or• Beyond bodily sense perception

2) What’s nature of The Conscious – one who possesses consciousness?

Drama observed by a panel of Judges

Drama recorded by Video Cameras

Eyes of Judges Lens in the Camera

“Experience” Elation, sorrow, anger, etc.“Able to judge”

No “Experience”No “Emotions”No “Judging”

Beyond Body

My conscious assumptions on consciousness based on the Bhagavad Gita

EarthWaterFireAirEther

Gross Body

MindIntelligence

False Ego

Subtle BodySubtle Body

Consciousness – Symptom of the thing that thinks

Beyond Body

Different although identical !!

Becoming conscious of The Conscious

Sat - Eternity• Medicinal science is trying to eradicate diseases• Through anti-lock brakes or thermonuclear devices, much

of our energy is employed in eluding death• Principle of self preservation

Becoming conscious of The Conscious

Cit – Knowledge or Consciousness

• Each of us seeks to expand our consciousness, perhaps through a study of history, philosophy, the politics and economics of the day

• Animals survey their territory for food and security

Becoming conscious of The Conscious

Anand – Happiness• We strive for happiness,

knowledge, and eternity in so many ways.

• Shreyas and Preyas

Focal point for personal growthbased on CONSCIOUS LIVING

• “The greatest danger, that of losing one's own self, may pass off quietly as if it were nothing; every other loss, that of an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc., is sure to be noticed.”

• (Danish Philosopher and Theologian, generally recognized as the first existentialist philosopher. 1813-1855)

Gasoline for car, food for body......

What is the driving force for the conscious being

Winning the Race?

Pulling each other’s leg?

Other’s misery = your happiness?

Go into isolation?

Artificial lifestyle?

Philanthropy?

THE ULTIMATE GIFT

The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring. 

~ Oscar Wilde

Where there is LOVE there is life.~ Mahatma Gandhi

‘Dharma’ means ‘that which cannot be given up’ or ‘that

which is a constant companion.’

Sanätana Dharma

Sanatana-Dharma, essentially, means to follow one’s eternal duty, which is to search for and understand our original identity, and then to learn to live according to those eternal characteristics, especially by one’s own concious realizations.

This is also the purpose and mission of the Vedic philosophy and culture..

Water and liquidity cannot be separated.

Sugar and sweetness cannot be separated.

Fire cannot be separated from heat and light.

What is characteristic to the conscious

being?

‘to render service’

Everyone has a purpose in life ... a unique gift or special talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals. ~

Khalil Gibran

No one can live without serving someone else

Complete service to anyone entails Service beyond the body to

the conscious self

• Computer can accomplish much more than stopping a door

• Could we use our bodies, mind and intelligence more effectively beyond.....

Eating SleepingMatingDefending

Complete and satisfying service-Vedic Version

Inspiring oneself and others to reach their full potential in service of a particular goal

Complete and satisfying service

Spiritual growth is not an exercise in self-absorption

Spiritual core == root

Physical

Intellectual

Emotional

Social

* Is it incorrect to consider all religio-spiritual activity to be the pastime of the elderly, or those who have time hanging heavily on their hands? 

* Are you drawn towards places of worship (temples, churches, gurudwaras, mosques, etc.) quite often?

* Do you have a prayer room, or a place of prayerful focus, say an altar, in your home, where you devote some time to Communion with the Higher Forces?

* Do you feel the need to seek guidance and Blessings from God whenever you are at the threshold of an important event in your life?

EVALUATION OF SQ

* Do you feel the inner need to be with Nature to calm yourself and commune with Natural phenomena? 

* Do you feel the urge to pick up books, or articles, on religious, spiritual or metaphysical subjects, whenever you see them?

* Do you feel the urge to ask God's help, whenever any situation in your life seems to be out of your control?

* Would you like to go on a holiday to a place of pilgrimage to provide joy to your mind body and spirit, in a composite manner?

EVALUATION OF SQ

EIGHT SIGNS OF HIGH SQ

1. Flexibility

2. Self-awareness

3. An ability to face and use suffering

4. The ability to be inspired by a vision

5. An ability to see connections between diverse things (thinking holistically)

6. A desire and capacity to cause as little harm as possible

7. A tendency to probe and ask fundamental questions

8. An ability to work against convention

To develop high SQ, each person needs to approach the task according to his/her personality

How to develop High SQ

A high SQ is the best predictor of

•happiness

•serenity

•good self-esteem

•and harmonious & loving relationships

Importance of SQ

Can a person learn how to become more spiritual?

Can they develop and "raise" their Spiritual IQ?

YES, they can

One of the ways isThree fold path of : •Shastra•Sadhana •Seva

Need to be adopted

Immediate gains are :

•Greater serenity

•Better self-esteem and

•Increased satisfaction

Synthesizing....

• "First say to yourself what you would beand then do what you have to do."

– Epictetus

BEsHAVEs

DOs

The three modes to which consciousness clings

• Permeate all facets of existence, from psychology to diet, from work to recreation

• Have-Do-Be• Do-Have-Be• Be-Do-Have

PhD thesis of Dr David Wolfe entitled “The Vedic Personality Inventory”`

Have-Do-Be

• Tamas or the mode of inertia• "If I could just have $100,000 in the

bank, a nicer car, a job with paid vacation, then I could do what I want to do, and then I will be happy, satisfied, appreciated, vibrant."

• "If I had a nicer boss, then I would be content and peaceful."

Do-Have-Be

• Rajas or the mode of agressiveness• “If could just do what I want to do, then I

will have what I want, and then I will be free, strong, giving and vital”

• "If I could just complete my To Do list, I would be peaceful, content, and satisfied."

• But in reality, we are neither Human doings nor Human havings!

Where to cosciously focus?

Circle of Influence = BEs

Circle of Concern = HAVEs and DOs

Be-Do-HaveHuman BE-INGS, DO-INGS or HAV-INGS?

• Sattva guna corresponds with enlightenment and assertiveness

• We are human BE-ings. • Experiencing strength, beauty, balance, security,

intimacy, warmth, and freedom is not dependent on doing or having.

• I don't need to do or have anything to experience satisfaction, aliveness, courage, and clarity-because these qualities are who I am. They are my essential nature.

• Discalimer: Do not lack doing and having though!!

HAVEs and DOs i.e. comforts and enjoyable things, and doing pleasurable things ==> 000...00000

BEs i.e Living from the inside outwards, from our spiritual core ==>1000...00000

683 basic colours Braided rope

Effective Principles based on Conscious Being: SERVICE TO ALL

Philosopher Paul Tillich once remarked that the first duty of love is to listen

väco vegaà manasaù krodha-vegaàjihvä-vegam udaropastha-vegametän vegän yo viñaheta dhéraùsarväm apémäà påthivéà sa çiñyät

A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind's demands, the actions of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is competent to render service all over the world.

Effective Principles based on Conscious Being: SIX PARADOXES [Upadesamrita]

Enthusiastic but PatientDetermined but not FoolhardyConfident but HumbleRegulated but FlexibleGoal Oriented but not Attached to ResultsSurrounding yourselves with good advisors,

creating the right team

Effective Principles based on Conscious Being: PRINCIPLE CENTERED LIVING OFFERS

• SECURITY• GUIDANCE• WISDOM• POWER

[Also confirmed in the Seven habits of Highly Effective People]

So choice is ours:

Be conscious and be empowered to do what we want to do (and be really happy) OR

be unconscious of our very being and do someone else wants us to do.

“The Gita is not a justification of war, nor does it propound a war-making mystique .... Arjuna has an instinctive repugnance for war, and that is the chief

reason why war is chosen as the example of the most repellant kind of duty. The Gita is saying that even in what appears to be most "unspiritual" one can act

with pure intentions and thus be guided by Krishna consciousness. This consciousness itself will impose the most strict limitations on one's use of

violence because that use will not be directed by one's own selfish interests, still less by cruelty, sadism, and mere blood lust. (p. 20)”

Effective Principles based on Conscious Being: Win the war within

-Thomas Merton, from his essay "The Significance of the Bhagavad-gita":

Thomas Merton was a 20th century American Catholic writer, poet and social activist

•As stated in BG and agreed to by Plato in “The Republic”, as well as by Pythagoreans, there exists a 4-fold Varnasrama System.•Arjuna was a ksatriya

War to avert a war

abhayam sattva-samśuddhir

jñāna-yoga-vyavasthitihdānam damaś ca yajñaś casvādhyāyas tapa ārjavamahimsā satyam akrodhastyāgah śāntir apaiśunamdayā bhūtesv aloluptvammārdavam hrīr acāpalam

tejah ksamā dhrtih śaucamadroho nāti-mānitā

bhavanti sampadam daivīmabhijātasya bhārata

Fearlessness; purification of one's existence; cultivation of spiritual knowledge; charity; self-control; performance of sacrifice; study of the Vedas; austerity; simplicity; nonviolence; truthfulness; freedom from anger; renunciation; tranquillity; aversion to faultfinding; compassion for all living entities; freedom from covetousness; gentleness; modesty; steady determination; vigor; forgiveness; fortitude; cleanliness; and freedom from envy and from the passion for honor — these transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata, belong to godly men endowed with divine nature. BG 16.1-3