Dhanyoham asmi (I am thankful)

Some four years ago I had accompanied a close friend to the local police station when she had to file a complaint of marital harassment. As we sat in the parking lot I made a statement that could have been considered insensitive, "Everything we get, good or bad, is what we have desired for..." Most surprisingly, my friend looked at me and said, "That is so true...whatever has come my way is what I have worked to get into my life..."

My friend is by no means a psychotic. On the face of it she did not desire the marital harassment she had faced for over ten years. So, why was she agreeing with me instead of asking me to get out of the car and walk home for making rude and insensitive statements...

Over the last few weeks as I have faced some of the strongest work related pressures I have known, once again something has opened a vein within me. In 1995, for the first time in my life I lost a job. At that time, Deepak Chopra's books came into my life, and, also simultaneously the work of Ramana. In 2006, I had work related pressures pounding at my career and the work of my good friend Srikumar Rao in the form of 'Are you ready to succeed ?' came my way. This time, the Secret...In fact, a lot of what the Secret says is material that Srikumar has said in language understandable to those brought up in the Hindu/Buddhist cultures...I was going to ask Srikumar about the similarity, when I remember Srikumar's opening remarks at the seminars he holds, "If you have anything to argue about the ideas I am going to present, please remember that none of these ideas are mine. They have come from beings who have evolved themselves to a much higher stage of awareness...so really there is no quarrel you have to pick with me..." Generally this leads to much better discussion, and, the Secret opens in the same vein.

The principle is very simple, everything is out there in the stream of consciousness, like a magnet you attract to yourself to where you position yourself. This is fairly simple and obvious for the good stuff you attract to yourself, the wealth, the name, the fame etc.

Very difficult to see how you attract the bad stuff, the failures, the illnesses and all the stuff you don't want. Brought up with the theories of Karma it is easy for the believer in reincarnation to putting down your stomach ulcer to the fish you baited with fish hooks a few lives ago (an elder relative's explanation of his stomach ulcer to me...)

I have been a very reluctant believer in linear reincarnation, for the simple reason that there is nothing permanent to reincarnate. The theory of there being a flowing stream of consciousness which attracts things like a magnet is a more acceptable theory (emphasis on theory) to me.

Coming back to the Secret it seems to open up very clearly why we attract the 'bad' things that we do to ourselves. It is what we are scared of and constantly think about...the illnesses, the pains, the aches. In 1985 when I was living by myself in Bahrain, I remember reading a survey that in 8 cases out of 10 individuals who go through a major prolonged family separation come down with some major illness. Pronto, by end 1985 I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. Of course, the diabetes was also brought on by genetic factors and 35 years of eating starchy foods...what was important was that the news item triggered it off...for years I have known that reading that news item almost literally switched on the diabetes switch...I can talk of several such switches going on in my life, and, one that I recently switched off...

I could go on. I don't plan to. Is there an antidote to all this assuming that one needs an antidote ? Ramana (Maharishi) may not have needed an antidote and I remember talking to my wife about this...these pleasures of the bodily world made no attraction to the Ramanas...it was like having a plate of Hyderabadi lamb biryani cooked and kept on the table...would never attract me because I was not on that frequency...no reflection at all on the lamb biryani, it is just as beautiful a creation as any in God's world...Ramana was on a different frequency, and, like the Hyderabadi lamb biryani holds no attraction to me, the pleasures and otherwise of the world held no fascination for Ramana which was why he could stare ahead with equanimity...I leave it to you to decide if his state was an evolved state...

For those of us for whom the pleasures still hold an attraction, self very much at the top of the line, the first step is to give thanks. Very difficult when the chips are all down. I remember the story that Rajneesh used to tell. An old Jain sadhvi who was travelling came to the outskirts of a city only to find that the gates of the city had shut for the night. As she settled down to spend the night alone by herself she could start hearing the jackals baying, fear set in and she could not fall asleep. Then, she caught sight of the full moon and she suddenly realized that she had never seen the full moon in all its glory. The cool, calm light of the full moon in autumn (sharad jyotsna shubram Sankara described it as and it also features in his verse 'drisha drageeyasa...) lulled her to sleep. She awoke in the morning with thankfulness. Dhanyoham asmi, I am thankful, is the expression Sankara often used. Look around and in the darkest night when the wolves bay you will always see a full moon...you just need to look for the full moon, not the wolves...

And finally, the words of my good friend and mentor, Baba, Dr Phadnis. In the tradition of Vipassana there is a practice called Adittana, where you sit a full hour without movement of any sort. In the words of Baba, "If at the end of an hour's adittana sit you feel that you have accomplished something, then the whole practice is lost..." There is nothing "I" achieve. It is just being in the dance of the Divine Leela, for, as Ramesh says, "everything that the mind conjures up is a concept..."

If all this makes no sense and sounds like the words of a confused mind needing help, just listen to this song. MS Subbulakshmi, the well known Indian classical singer used to almost always sing it as the last song in her concerts. Essentially it says, "I have no complaints...You have given me everything..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKdHPCw3K9c&feature=related

One of my favourite visualizations is to exit life listening to this song. So, for those who maybe near and around at that time, try and have a copy of the song ready -:))