Business to the Buddha

Tag: I

  • How can I be liberated?







    The business of “I” is unique. We think that it relates to “me” but that the catch-22 situation. Whenever, I say this word “I” it reminds me of two consecutive chapters of The book of Mirdad. Mirdad is unique as his book, On one page he says – don’t use the word “I” it is forbidden word on the Noah’s ark; on the very next page he says “I” is the most creative word” (it is source and center of all things).

    When we say “I” it is largely the Ego talking, whereas when Mirdad says “I” (the creative word) it is the source of and frobuddhapixabaym the creator of the world. The question is – “Is ego ‘purpose of existence’ or a problem?”

    Here is what The Buddha told Sariputta on the same.

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    Sariputta came to Buddha.

    He asked Buddha, “How can I be liberated?”

    Buddha said, “Do not come to me, go elsewhere – because I cannot liberate you, I can only liberate you from this ‘you’.”

    Buddha said further, “‘I’ is never liberated. One is liberated from the ‘I’. So if you are looking for your liberation, go somewhere else. But yes, if you want liberation from yourself, you have come to the right place. I will make you free from yourself. So do not ask how you will be liberated. You will not survive in your liberation. You should ask how to be free from this ‘I’ – how to be liberated from this ‘I’.”

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    Liberated from what? If the “I” is dropped, the question ends, isn’t it!

    We can at most get attached to the actions we do, not the results. That is why I write about myself – “I’m passionate about my work and actions and empathetically careful, attached and committed to them.” Experts (read Lord Krishna) suggests do not even get attached to the actions! That is difficult, just imagine how difficult it is to detach from the “I”.

    Source – Osho, Finger Pointing To The Moon, Image source – Pixabay

  • Ego







    Two men in a room, room is in an apartment, apartment is in a building
    Building is in a locality, locality is in a city, city is in a state
    State is in a Nation, Nation is in a continent, continent is on The Earth
    The Earth is in a solar system, solar system is in the galaxy
    The Galaxy is in the Milky way…

    We are so small still we create TWO WORLDs in a single room!

    Me on the top of the world
    ‘Me’ on the top of the world

    When I was in school, I read this poem in Hindi in my course. It is very meaningful and important story of our life. We are nothing if we follow the trace suggested by the poet. Yet, we create our own world and cause problems in our surroundings, our near and dears life and life of our colleagues. All this for what – to manage, boost and nurture our Ego. If the ego goes beyond our near & dear and colleagues, it goes to kill people in the name of our belief system. Majority of the wars fought in the world are because of Ego.

    Alexander the great – why “the great” because he conquered the world – with sword! Cold war – why? To prove WE are better than YOU. MY country is superior than YOURs. This applies to the recent attacks in cities of Afghanistan, social unrest in the Middle East (suppressed ego of citizen and suppressing ego of the respective rulers) and Nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea. We see political, religious, cultural and regional problems because of Ego.

    At the same time, I am of the opinion that ego is not a problem, the manifestation of the same is a problem. Self respect becomes ego when it crosses a certain line. I see many solutions to this, one is when we start looking at ourselves through the lenses of the poet who wrote the above lines. We are tiny small creatures and there are many things beyond I and MY GROUP. For some, ‘I’ and ‘My group’ becomes purpose of existence. Second solution I see is through the eyes of Mirdad. Other is through the peaceful methods e.g. meditation suggested by spiritual masters.

    What say you – is ego ‘purpose of existence’ or a problem?

    Related blog based on The book of Mirdad – Forbidden word

  • The world is imperfect!







    When I was in my teens, I wanted to change a lot of things. The political system, the education system and even the social system of India. This was furthered by the program – the Big Fight of Rajdeep Sirdesai. Once my father told me – “world will remain the same, it was same at the time of the Buddha (people pelted stones on him, conspired against him), it was same at the time of Kabir. Jesus was crucified, Mira poisoned and so was Osho. The world still, is the same and would remain the same. Why do you want to change the world? Look at yourself and why do not you think of changing yourself.”

    My father is right the world is the same and will remain the same. The need of the hour is to change oneself, because everything starts with ‘I’ and surprisingly everything ends with ‘I’ (earlier blog on Forbidden word). Is not it an irony? I did not understand the deeper level of my fathers message for a long long time. Many ‘I” create the world, and each single ‘I’, has its own definition of ‘perfect’. Interestingly, the definition of perfect keeps on changing and therefore, the single definition of a perfect does not remain intact within the mind of ‘I’. This starts one conflict then the other and so on. The conflicts are -at least – as many as the ‘I’ in the world.

    The world is imperfect, the world will remain imperfect or perhaps we – as individuals – are not attuned to accept it and live with it. Effectively, perhaps we – as individuals – are not perfect. I think this is why we suffer and perhaps this is where the Buddha started on the four noble truth – there is suffering, there is cause of suffering, there is a solution and lastly ‘the path’. I believe, the suffering is not because of the world, but because we see things as we want to see and when something does not work according to our logic we feel the world is imperfect.

    Related blog based on The book of Mirdad – Ego and Forbidden word

  • Forbidden Word







    I was thinking about few things and somehow it boiled down to one of my previous blog – Life is… Simple. I was thinking – when ‘I’ (Ego) would not remain many of our problems would end. Because physical problems happen to the body; bigger problems occurs because those problems germinate from our mind, right? Life is simple, we complicate it. When “I” think, “I” create a world with “my thoughts” and that world would always be imperfect. There would always be disconnect between the world created in mind and the world mind sees. Either the mind should create similar world, accept the world as it is or mind should cease to exist.

    I remembered The Book Of Mirdad when I thought about “I”. This book is very well written. The first chapter of the “Book of Mirdad” speaks about the Forbidden Word – ‘I’.

    The settings of the book are as follows – i. location Noahs ark and ii. out of many things – using the word “I” is forbidden according to the rules set by Noah centuries ago. The book of Mirdad starts with two chapters on “I”. Quoting from the book –

    …Your eyes are veiled with far too many veils. Each thing you look upon is but a veil.
    Your lips are sealed with far too many seals. Each word you utter forth is but a seal…

    In my understanding – we see what we want to see (a rope looks like a snake) and we hear what we want to hear. All because the interpretation is done by none other than our Mind. Further, Mirdad says –

    …The eye can veil, but cannot pierce the veils.
    The lip can seal, but cannot break the seals…

    The book is profound because in the very next chapter, Mirdad makes a completely opposite statement which is completely opposite to the decree of Noah (about using the forbidden word – “I”). On one page he says – avoid using the word “I” in your speech because this is not true on the very next page it says “I” is a “creative word” (it is source and center of all things). The rider here is – “…say forthwith in your heart ’ God be my refuge from the woes of I and be my guide unto the bliss of I’…”

    Effectively, when we say “I” it is largely the Ego talking, whereas when Mirdad says “I” (the creative word) it is the source of and from the creator of the world… Stop using “I”, harping and harnessing “the ego” and when you do that – “life is – Simple”.