MEDITATION.... SAGES THRU THE AGES

SAGES THROUGH THE AGES

A saying goes something like a merry heart goes all the way. While scientists and psychologists may be working overtime to see why this is so we the ordinary people who have seen this know that it works and do not need any extra proof.

Naturally if a person gets some kick out of what he is doing then he or she is likely to keep at it. Even if it does not work once in a while he is still going to continue with it. With continued practice he is going to get better and better at it. Malcolm Gladwell writer of Outliers says that if you spend huge amounts of time (10,000 hours) at anything you are likely to excel at it. As a matter of fact the way he puts it is that it is not possible for the outcome to be otherwise. According to him the performance is likely to be world class once a person puts in those many hours.

 As gurus tells us that if getting there is not half the fun then perhaps it’s not a journey worth undertaking.  It follows from this logically that if getting there is not any fun then pursuit of that destination will be given up at the slightest of hindrances.

Take also into account the fact that we do not wish to be grumpy old men and women when we finally get to the destination or the pinnacle of our ambitions.  

If we fight our way to our dreams and have little positive passion or love for what we do then we will all be very boring old people or grumpy old people. Boring because we would have killed our spontaneity no ends and grumpy because most of us would not have made it the way we wanted to and hence the bitterness.

So the best possible way to get to the destination is by learning to smile along the way and that can only happen if

 (a) enjoy ourselves en-route

 (b) if we learn to have the courage to face setbacks.

The intelligence of a man is duped by avarice and spite. As long as these two are active intelligence cannot evaluate options and alternative courses. It is only when the mind is playing the role of a neutral umpire in the scheme of things that the mind gives its best performance. To keep the mind engaged as a neutral umpire one has to meditate and learn to observe one’s own chain of thoughts.

In western culture too phrases like to have a handle on one’s thoughts etc point in the same direction.Meditation and the way of the learned gurus is the path that leads to this. Therefore we must meditate and learn to observe our own thoughts or learn to observe ourselves.

This is something that sages all through the ages have been saying. Be it the west or east it has always been said.  Just as Alexander Pope said in the early 18^th century and he again was only paraphrasing what Socrates had said in the 3rd century B.C.

Know then thyself presume not God to scan

The proper study of mankind is man