Today we present contributions from three of our members, Suman Rao, R. Srinivasan and Naresh Jotwani. The common aim of these pieces is to bring out the fascinating relationship between the truths we seek within, and the lives we live in the world outside. We believe that sincere, first person accounts of good friends are at least as valuable as scriptures.

R. Srinivasan:

I learnt early in my school life that the aim of education is to make you think. The role of the Guru is to give you guidance to facilitate thinking, essentially by providing a reliable framework. I had a Geography teacher who would teach Geography by simply translating into English paragraphs from a Marathi book she would bring to class. The title of the Marathi book was Bhugol, while our prescribed textbook was Geography by Dudley Stamp. I was fascinated by that book, and would read up from it before attending the school teacher’s class. Since the teacher would say things which did not correspond to what I had learnt on my own, I would question her. This lead to her threatening to report me to the Principal; I challenged her to go right ahead. She then gave up bothering about me and continued ignoring my views.

I learnt then that once your mind is free to think, based on understanding, you need not be afraid of any authority. This became my main driver for the rest of my life, but it also precluded my ability to adjust working and living within the framework of any organization. So, after a few attempts to be part of corporate or academic world, I became a freelance consultant. I share this narration to show how learning can be adapted to life. Similarly, due to this ‘active thinking’ approach, I stopped memorizing anything I learnt and started using the first principles of any subject to build up my narration. This approach was particularly useful while learning Maths, Physics and Chemistry, which had too much material to remember. But this approach did not work with Biology, or with languages like English and Hindi.

The next major influence in my life is that of the Bhagwat Gita. In school, I learnt some chapters of the Gita as part of my Sanskrit class. The verse:

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते …

appealed to me very much, because I realized that I should not worry about results. As long as my actions were right, the results would surely follow. That is the causality of Karma. This attitude has helped me through every decision and action which I have taken in life.

Later, while working as a consultant in change management, I used the focus on process to interpret to clients this same verse from the Gita in this way: If the process is done right, the outcome will always be right. Believe it or not, in that business context, I equated process with Karma!

I can go on with many more examples of major crisis situations which I have faced over the years. By juxtaposing my understanding of Karma as cause and Karma as duty, I was able to handle these situations with complete composure. Even today, in the last stages of my life, as time is ebbing towards finality, I find that I am able to deal with situations with absolute calmness in my mind. I say to myself: ‘In the end, our souls have to depart this body one day. That is the only certainty’.

Suman Rao:

In the academia, one has an opportunity every day to influence others. This, as many teachers will agree, is the true joy of teaching. We had regular discussions on corruption, global warming and women’s issues; we also organized competitions, symposia, conferences and workshops.

At a music competition, just before the prizes were announced, the students clamoured for the judges to sing a line to them. One judge sang miserably, and the students did not hide their disappointment. They were on the verge of being rude, and we had to somehow cover up for the judge.

Later I explained to my students a lesson to be learnt from that incident. I told them that this lady was under treatment for blood cancer. When the health is below par, no one can perform. And students had almost ruined the name of the college by trying to behave rudely. By what right did they do that? Would they have liked it if their own mother were to be treated rudely at a public function? Did they know which guest had been through what kind of situations? Could they not think a little before acting hurtful to someone?

The story and my reactions were told and retold in subsequent batches; they also spread through the foyer among the divisions. Since then, there never occurred an incident of rude behaviour by a student towards an outsider. The power of a human interest story had been demonstrated!

An incident from the time I was in primary school comes to mind. We had an exceptionally rude teacher who would throw students’ notebooks out of the window! She would also make them stand out of the class for the smallest of reasons. She used to have red-rimmed eyes, but no one seemed to notice, and if they did, they were not intrigued by the sight. My classmates and I laughed heartily at her behaviour with students. Of course the teacher never saw the lighter side of her own eccentric behaviour. Our laughter was not infectious!

Once as I walked down Marine Drive with my parents, I was chagrined to see – guess who? It was the same teacher! She sat on a bench with a very good looking man beside her. She looked pretty and calm. My mind raced – oh, so a teacher could have a husband? The child that I was, this was a major discovery for me! I shyly bowed my head to her while lisping a greeting. She half smiled back!

The next day, she was back at school with her red-rimmed eyes! This time something prompted me to not laugh with the others as she went on with her eccentric and punishing behaviour. I merely gazed at her with sympathy. In my mind, some dots were getting connected. She instantly noticed the change in me. I don’t know why, but without anyone’s prompting, I began to show respect to her, no matter what she did.

Astonishingly, she reciprocated – and how! Her eccentric behaviour stopped. She became a bit considerate, although she was never humorous. Something clicked inside me. Was it just respect that she was missing in her life? Was she being beaten by someone, maybe her handsome husband? Was she being forced to drink at night? Why were her eyes always red?

Soon I had to leave school because my father was transferred to another city, but this learning lesson stayed with me. I realised how very hurtful ridicule can be, and that there are many reasons why people behave in an erratic and rude manner. They need kindness and counselling, not judgement. Above all, I realized that even children can perceive such things. How wonderful it would be if parents help their children to evolve by telling them these things.

Naresh Jotwani:

The drive along a state highway, from my village to where I teach part-time, takes about an hour. Very often, I find myself behind a truck with the following words painted on its back:

सोच के सोचो साथ क्या जायेगा

[Think carefully about what you will carry back with you.]

The message reminds me that philosophical speculation is never very far from the Indian mind. Of course truckers are also karmayogis. Thus, driving behind such a truck, I witness a combination of philosophy and action.

This specific message brings to mind Yudhisthir’s attempt, in Mahabharat, to take his pet dog with him into paradise. At the entry point, Chitragupta stood firmly by his standard operating procedure. Yudhisthir’s pleas fell on deaf ears. The dog would not be granted entry even if Yudhisthir qualified. Yudhisthir would have to send his pet dog back to the world of sorrows.

Evidently, Yudhisthir did not know that which truck drivers are sharing freely with us today. I used to wonder whether, in any other country in the world, you would be reminded of a profound eternal truth simply while driving behind a truck.

Around the same time, I also learned, during a Vipashyana course, that:

समता सुख ही परम सुख

[The only true fulfilment is a mind at peace.]

Only very recently have I been able to ‘connect the dots’, with my own effort, between these two profound truths.

Imagine if Yudhisthir had only समता सुख with him when he faced Chitragupta; no pet dog, nor any other possession. He would then be judged as having no possession at all, because समता सुख would not register on any instrument which the immigration officer Chitragupta might have. Therefore Yudhisthir would not be asked to leave समता सुख behind as he entered paradise. He could carry it with him into paradise!

That answers the question posed on the back of the truck, but immediately raises another profound question! If Yudhisthir had समता सुख at that stage in his life, why would he even seek entry into paradise? The meaning of परम सुख is that nothing in paradise would surpass that, right? Then why seek entry?

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Truth is indivisible. As a seeker experiments, and adapts his understanding to life, he experiences the truth and internalizes it. At some stage, he has the confidence and the urge to share it with others. In essence, that truth is the same as the truth we may find in an ancient book. One is not greater than the other.

In that spirit, readers are cordially invited to share vignettes from their lives which illustrate how truth takes a person to a better trajectory in life, with more satisfying outcomes.