On Spirituality and Privilege

Tags

equality, freedom, oneness, privilege, spirituality, vedanta

The tears came suddenly and as large droplets from my firmly shut and already moist eyes at the end of the morning meditation session; about midway through I had ceded any semblance of trying to get my mind’s thought pattern to calm down as the thoughts had somehow drifted to thinking about privilege by birth, and how much of it I enjoyed growing up in a middle class family in India.

The tears came as I thought of the one who probably saved my life when I was ten, as I lay bleeding and unconscious on a concrete floor, having fallen from about 20 feet high onto my left side from the first floor window. I had broken the raised bone in my left arm where it meets the wrist and bridge of my plastic glasses had embedded into my nose on impact, which was miraculously not broken, but was bleeding like the river Yamuna. She was the only adult in the house with all of us kids — the very dark-skinned South-Indian lady named Chalma who would wash dishes twice a day for three families of at least eight to ten people each who lives in a three-story home in a wealthy New Delhi neighborhood.

Her tools were used lemon rinds, and wood ashes that she brought from the remnants of the cooking fires from her home, and the husks of used coconuts that she used as a cleaning ‘sponge’. The family sized pots and pans of cast iron and copper were heavy; plates, spoons, glasses, knives were all stainless steel. One eight foot section of the granite kitchen counter top would be filled with the washed dishes after she was done. She wasn’t allowed to stand and wash in the marble sink next to the counter because the ashes would cause damage to the fine surface.

So, on the floor she sat cross legged on a small flat stool, with her frail frame bent over her kingdom of dirty dishes, coconut fiber in one hand, dipping it ever so often in the ashes sitting in an earthen bowl by her. In the morning, she did the dishes from last nights dinner. In the afternoon, she did the dishes from breakfast and lunch. Once or twice every day, she was chided by the lady of the home, not to let the tap of fresh water run so freely. Her job was particularly difficult in the summer when running water only came for an hour, twice a day — during the early hours of the morning and the late afternoon. If she missed that running water window because she was ‘late to work’, she would have to use water that we would have filled in heavy aluminum buckets the night before, and lined her workspace with in a quarter circle — water that she would treat like molten gold as she used it sparingly, and wash out thoroughly for the next day, after she had washed all the dishes…

And then there was the lady who would come and sweep all the finely crafted and smoothed concrete floors of our family’s 1500 sq ft home on the middle floor of the three story home. The ‘dry sweeping’ with the traditional broom was the relatively easy part. What was much tougher was the mopping that followed. It was done with a heavy cotton-roped cloth about two feet square, sitting on her haunches as she dipped the cloth with her bare hands in the water doused with phenylaline as a disinfectant, moving slowly, a few square feet at a time.

Her task was to remove the dust that is endemic in the oppressive summer heat of Delhi when the hot breeze called loo from neighboring Rajasthan brings hot sand with it and coats everything in its path — whether it be a shining, three story home in a wealthy neighborhood or the ramshackle tenement of the dish-washing lady who tries to feed her family every night with just enough money earned by washing dishes all day so that she can buy just enough wheat or rice filled with stones and dirt from the ration shop every week or so.

I have to admit that while all this was happening around me in middle-school, high-school and under-grad, I didn’t think about it much because it was considered “normal” for most middle-class families to employ multiple, task-specific maids. The maids and their families needed to work to live, and we were supposedly providing work, wages, an occasional cup of tea when they were done working — even a saree or some clothes for the kids on major holidays. It was a sort of unwritten societal labor contract — it was also a social network of ladies of the homes and the maids who worked through multiple homes every day.

For some reason, lately, I’ve been made aware of the privilege enjoyed by me in that contract, in painstaking detail. For me, the way out of that contract happened to be in coming to the USA for graduate studies. For them, the only way out of that contract, was perhaps death. For death does finally destroy all privilege accorded by birth, or does it?

I do remember talking to a teenage son of one particular lady who used to do the daily trash pickup and clean the bathrooms — the dish washing lady, the floor cleaning lady, laundry washing and clothes ironing lady, and bathroom washing lady were all separate — if he had ever considered going to school. I don’t know that he ever answered me directly except by saying with his brilliant smile and impish grin with slightly downcast eyes — bhaiya (brother), this is my life, and I am happy doing the work given me.

So, that is why all the tears came. His statement, which I never forgot, was such a simple reminder that “it isn’t the task that makes the person high or low — it is the manner in which it is done, that makes the person so.” The tears also served as a reminder of what I have read so often in two of my favorite essays delivered in London in 1896 — “Vedanta and Privilege”, and “Privilege” — both by Swami Vivekananda.

A quick recap may be useful. The Advaita (Oneness) philosophy of Vedanta says that for Oneness to be our truth, one needs to believe in Universal equality, in the fact that we are all manifestation of the One divine. Without that central belief and practice, our inner world is fragmented and we dwell in anger, hate, jealousy and all that which divides us. If we hold that central belief that we all have the same One light of higher embodiment, our inner world is united through an ever-flowing current of higher love.

So, what is it that destroys Oneness, ethics and equality?

“Everyone is the embodiment of Knowledge, of eternal Bliss, and eternal Existence.

The ethical effect is just the same, with regard to equality.

And yet, there is privilege – the bane of human existence. The privilege of the strong over the weak, of the wealthy over the poor, the subtle privilege of those who claim higher intellect, and the worst of all, because it is the most tyrannical, is the privilege of (birth and) spirituality – those who think of themselves as more (due to birth), or those who think they know more of spirituality (than others).” – Vivekananda

And so arise the questions in my heart-mind complex. What privilege(s) do I assert? Which privilege(s) have I inherited? What privilege(s) am I passing on in my legacy? How does privilege manifest in my actions and practices, my goals, my dreams and my aspirations? And perhaps most importantly, how do I break down the bondage of all these privileges that entangle me in the web woven by all my desires?

I don’t know. Perhaps I can begin by washing my own dishes, keeping my personal (office) space clean, and maybe doing (or at least folding) my own laundry. Or all of the above…

Kumud

P.S. Join our weekly chat, Sunday June 14 at 9amET/ 630pm India in #SpiritChat on Twitter. All are welcome. No privilege necessary to attend, to share some love with all. I will bring some questions, some tea and cookies to share, for that is the small loving privilege granted me by the community for that hour. Namaste – @AjmaniK

Spirituality by Numbers

Tags

mathematics, numbers, oneness, spirituality

The Big Numbers

If some of you are like me, then the month of April probably felt like it had much more than the normal thirty days. Some days  seemed like to run into another, and we would sometimes forget what day of the week it was. Some days even seemed to last longer or shorter than the usual twenty four hours depending on our frame of mind. 

So, it was a bit of welcome relief to actually see the calendar roll over from April to May. There was a sense of freshness about seeing the single digit, 1, in the calendar icon on my phone’s home screen. It felt like the universe was nudging me to begin anew and re-establish some sort of a normal schedule — whatever ‘normal’ even means or will mean any more. As I looked back at April, I couldn’t help but think about some numbers.

We dealt with a lot of really big numbers in April. Trillions, billions, millions, hundred thousands, tens of thousands. In various different contexts, these numbers with lots of zeroes attached to them, came into our awareness. Some of these large numbers  will perhaps remain in our awareness for a while, if not permanently. We may rarely ever again treat them as mere numbers, because they attempt to quantify the impact of Covid19 on our collective consciousness. 

However, numbers big or small, did not always a role, or any role in human life of the past. Humans only invented numbers a few thousand years ago. Before that, humanity led a life on Earth for a fairly long time without numbers. This doesn’t mean that the ancient humans did not know how to count – they probably didn’t use numbers in the way that we use them. Some of us humans like me, even get obsessed with numbers occasionally. 

Learning Small Numbers

One of the very first things we want to teach toddlers is the skill of counting. As parents, it is often a great moment of accomplishment and pride when our child can learn how to count from one to ten. It’s a milestone of sorts. If they didn’t learn  how to count, children would be greatly impaired to function in this world. The parents and teachers would be deemed downright failures. And yet, I would posit that counting, numbers and the ability to eventually learn mathematics is mostly a mental skill. 

So, I reflected on the question – how do we remove ourselves from our dependence on numbers, if only for a moment? Nature provides the immediate answer. Walking the forest trail, I have never counted the number or trees. I have never even thought about counting as I walk across a bridge, marvel at the river’s flow, watch the woodpeckers tap on the trees, get blinded by the sunlight streaking through the trees or watch new flowers springing before my very eyes. When the storm starts to build up over the lake and the clouds do their dance, numbers are erased from my consciousness. You get the idea.

To quote Shakespeare — “There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”. I would take some liberty and replace ‘philosophy’ with ‘numbers’ — particularly the really large numbers. The ones with all those zeroes, particularly those which quantify pain, suffering and death, tend to overwhelm the heart and mind. It isn’t that every single person’s grief and healing isn’t important. It’s that when we look at suffering in mass aggregates, we run the risk of losing empathy for the individual.

Spirituality and Significant Numbers

And yet, there are some numbers which are very important from the heart’s perspective, from the spiritual perspective. In the vein of ‘paint by numbers’, let us be creative and look at them as ‘spirituality by numbers’. I was going to list a countdown from twelve, but for the sake of brevity, I will limit it to five. So, let us begin. 

Five. The number five represents the elements, and our senses. Our body is considered to have ten (a multiple of five) doorways, through which we receive sensory input. It is the tenth, the invisible space between the eyes, the third eye, which is the most significant from a spiritual perspective. It is used by many as the doorway to travel within, and as also the seat of awakening. 

Four. The four quadrants of the heart space and the cardinal points come to mind with the number four. In spirituality, there are the familiar three — the heart, the mind and the body — and also an additional fourth, unexplored, unearthed dimension. Can you think of any more spiritual interpretations of the number four?

The number three immediately evokes the Trinity of Christianity. In Sanatana Dharma (hinduism), three represents the powers of creation, sustenance and destruction that govern the cycle of life. The notion of word, thought and action, all interconnected, represent the number three. There is no thought without word, and thoughtless action notwithstanding, there is no action without first being impelled by thought. 

What about the number two? The philosophy of duality follows from the notion of two. Man is created in the image of the divine. Man eventually merges into the divine. These flow from the ideas of duality, which are often the creators of the ego, which can be the cause of great pain and suffering. One proposed solution is to discard the notion of duality. 

Finally, we arrive at the number One. The idea of Oneness is very appealing to many, because it represents our Universal nature. If we can remember to constantly embrace our fundamental nature of Oneness, then the world would be one of infinite love. And yet, the practice of Oneness is a work in progress. It is a seemingly huge task and yet it can be accomplished if we begin by recognizing and experiencing our own Oneness with the divine. The heart is our instrument, our flute to the experience of Oneness — if we let the divine breathe the breath of love through it. 

The lesson for me from April has been that it is easier to focus on the small tractable numbers. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Learning to count, all over again. Not to be outdone or ignored, zero is possibly the most powerful number of all. Zero can take any number, no matter how big or small, and by multiplication. reduce it to itself. Zero can also take any number, big or small, and by division by itself, create infinity.

From zero to infinity. That is all the spirituality by numbers we will ever need in our new present, won’t we?

Kumud

P.S. Longest blog post ever, isn’t this? I get carried away by numbers. Thanks for reading. And join us for our weekly gathering of folks in #SpiritChat on Sunday, May 3 at 9am ET / 1pm UTC / 630pm India. We will talk about some small numbers over tea, coffee, fruit, cookies, and a few questions. Namaste – @AjmaniK

Sunset – Spirituality, beyond the Numbers

Possibilities of Oneness

Tags

diversity, duality, oneness, unity

In our a world that seems to be increasingly fragmented by the day, if not the hour, the notion of oneness may seem anachronistic and out of place. One may even question the relevance, the practical importance of the idea of oneness in today’s world. In addition, one may wonder – how are we to experience oneness with our fellow beings, or even with nature in our busy lives?

Let us try and first address the notion that oneness does not belong to our current time and space. What is oneness and what does it mean to us? If we can answer that question, we can then discern its location in time and space. Is it a senses of unity, of common ground with our fellow beings? Is it a desire to live in harmony with nature? Is it an acceptance of the principle that we all share certain unifying traits despite our widely varying differences? If so, what may some of these traits and principles be?

Let us now look at the relevance, the practical importance of oneness. Oneness is not to be construed as homogeneity of thought, word or action. Oneness that promotes unity of purpose, say on a team of diverse talents, is indeed relevant to the success of a team or community. In times of conflict, the ‘common-goal’ idea of oneness can be useful to quickly defuse egos and refocus our energies. Can you think of instances in your life where oneness served a practical purpose?

The third question is about experiencing oneness in our lives. Once we have had a personal experience of oneness with our fellow beings, with nature, or with divine energy, it is easier to integrate it into our lives. Personal experience turns oneness from an esoteric notion into something tangible. So, how may we have this personal experience? The Indian sage Patanjali offers us three practices that may help.

1. To be happy in their happiness
2. To be empathetic in their suffering
3. To be friendly in response to their friendliness

If we can practice any or all of the above, we open ourselves to personal experiences of oneness. The three practices seem fairly straightforward and easy to practice. However, they may not be easy to integrate into our interactions with our ‘enemies’ or those whom we strongly disagree with. How can we experience oneness with them, or can we? How will our world of possibilities expand if we were to find a thread of oneness with our greatest opponents?

I invite you to consider the three broad themes of oneness and some of the practices suggested above. How different would our lives be if we were to have a daily persoanl experience with oneness? Imagine the possibilities!

Kumud (@AjmaniK on twitter)

P.S. Join us in #SpiritChat on twitter – Sunday October 1st at 9amET/1pmUTC. We will gather to talk about the “possibilites of oneness” and what makes oneness possbile. Namaste.

The Spirit of Oneness

Tags

faith, infinite, joy, love, oneness

In his “Sadhana : The Realisation of Life”, poet, writer, nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore eloquently says..

“Within us we have a hope which always walks in front of our present narrow experience; it is the undying faith in the infinite in us; it will never accept any of our disabilities as a permanent fact; it sets no limit to its own scope; it dares to assert that man has oneness with God; and its wild dreams become true every day.”

-Rabindranath Tagore

As I read and re-read the above paragraph, so many concepts and ideas seem to speak to me. The idea of hope. The idea of undying faith. The idea that the infinite within us will never accept any of our disabilities as permanent. The idea that we, our spirit, our faith, sets no limit to its own scope. And, in a final, glorious pronouncement, Tagore concludes that we, our spirit, dares to assert our Oneness with God… and it is in this assertion, that our wild dreams become true every day. 

So inspiring, isn’t it? This idea, which is more than a mere idea – for when we meditate on it, believe in it, experience it, practice it, imbibe it into our everyday lives – it becomes a living, breathing thing. This idea of Oneness. This idea that is more than a dream – it is a reality. The reality is that there is more in common among us, among me and my fellow humans, among me and the billions of people that you and I have never met – or will ever meet. Yes, there is more than unites us than divides us. 

The Oneness that permeates us is perhaps what brings a smile to the baby’s lips as they sleep. The Oneness that permeates us is perhaps what gently closes our eyes, and takes us to lands of peaceful rest, and wakes us up gently when it is time to awaken. The Oneness that permeates us opens our heart to joy, to compassion, to service, to empathy, to sympathy, and above all, to Love. 

Even science is waking up to the realisation that it is Oneness that can tie the strings of all scientific theories together. In fact, Tagore had written further on in the same essay…

“Through our progress in science the wholeness of the world and our oneness with it is becoming clearer to our mind. When this perception of the perfection of unity is not merely intellectual, when it opens out our whole being into a luminous consciousness of the all, then it becomes a radiant joy, an overspreading love.”

-Rabindranath Tagore

Our intuition tells us that Science and Spirituality are not separate – it is a matter of perception and manifestation that they may appear to be separate – but, indeed they are tied together with Oneness. Science may look for the so-called “God particle” – and some may claim that it has already been found – but it is merely a matter of when and not if the final confluence will be confirmed by Science. We are not going to wait for Science to confirm this Oneness – are we?! Tagore encourages us – to go beyond Science, through science and the merely intellectual – to open our whole being into a luminous consciousness…

So, I invite you – those of you who have read this far, to join me and the #SpiritChat community in a twitter chat on Sunday April 27th 2014 at 9amEDT in a discovery, a celebration, an experience of radiant joy, an expression of overspreading love – of Oneness. 

Namaste,

Kumud

P.S. The entire text of the essay is available for free at ibooks: Rabindranath Tagore. “Sadhana : the realisation of life.”

P.P.S. The word sadhana is translated as “that which is attained or accomplished by devoted practice ; the act of practice"

//storify.com/ajmanik/spirit-of-oneness-spiritchat-summary/embed?border=false//storify.com/ajmanik/spirit-of-oneness-spiritchat-summary.js?border=false[View the story “Spirit of Oneness – #SpiritChat Summary” on Storify]

SpiritChat – On Slowing Down (Again)

Tags

discipline, freedom, oneness, prosperity, unity

As the month of July comes to a close and I look over the discussions over the past four Sundays, we seem to have covered a wide range of topics – freedom, prosperity, self-discipline and oneness (unity). For those of you who have been with the #SpiritChat community for more than a month, you know that the final Sunday of the month is when we “slow down” a bit. We “slow down” to review the month gone by, and try to tie together the threads of conversations from our weekly Sunday chats. We “slow down” to reflect, and plan our actions for the new month coming ahead.

So, this final Sunday of July will be not be much different. We will “slow down” to reflect on July, plan for August. We will reflect on the connections between freedom and prosperity. We will talk about the role of self-discipline in creating prosperity. We may also talk about freedom and the spirit of Oneness and unity. Above all, we will gather for an hour and say hello, listen to each other’s heart and spirit, build on our friendships and relationships.

For that is what #SpiritChat is all about. The camaraderie. The Alohas. The Mahalos. The Namastes. The Smiles. The “hello, how was your week”. The “it’s great to see you”. The “oh, it’s so wonderful to hear that”. The “enjoy your Sunday”. The “have a great week ahead”. It is about the knowing that there are real people, from across the world, with diverse social and ethnic backgrounds, different beliefs and religions – who can gather in a space and have a meaningful conversation about any spiritual topic.

It is the spirit of connection, with heart and spirit.

Perhaps that is why, as we complete our first year and I look back to July 31st 2011, the date of the first weekly #SpiritChat – it is perhaps appropriate that the topic was – “On Slowing Down”. I want to take the opportunity and express my gratitude to every single person who has slowed down to support #SpiritChat over the past year – you all know who you are. I hope that you have made some new friends and grown in spirit with all of us. I know for sure that I have gained tremendously in many areas of my life – so, I thank you all.

Join us in our weekly twitter chat (with hashtag #SpiritChat) at our regular hour of 9am ET on Sunday July 29th and share your thoughts about July, and plans for August. I invite you to come and “slow down” with us. Namahalo!

Kumud

The Spirit of Oneness

Tags

oneness, spirit, spiritchat, unity

In the last week of July of 2011, when I started the twitter chat with the hashtag #SpiritChat with the encouragement of a few good friends, the objective was to have a discussion of spirituality – beyond religion. The response of folks on twitter over the past year has been humbling, and ample proof that spirituality does go beyond religion. One reason for the response from the community is that, in fact, spirituality is based on oneness, and unity of our fundamental core values.

We may all look different and have varied backgrounds, follow different vocations and avocations and so on – but there is a thread of oneness, of unity, that binds us all together. In India (the country of my birth and where a grew up), one of the motto’s is – Unity in Diversity. I think the leaders came up with that motto to keep the fabric of the country, which has tremendous diversity (twenty-two official languages recognized in the constitution!), together in Unity.

I learnt a tremendous lesson about unity in diversity from my maternal grandmother when I was in fifth or sixth grade. I was visiting her and she must have gotten wind that I was having trouble getting along with a few folks at school. She invited me into her private kitchen (where you could only enter by invitation), sat me down and fed me one of my favorite parathas (flaky flat bread made on a griddle) stuffed with brown sugar and drizzled with ghee (clarified butter). Then, she raised up her hand, showed me her five sinewy fingers and asked – “do you see these five fingers? Do any of them look alike to you?”. I said, “no beejio” (term of respect for grandmother in India). She continued – “so which of these fingers, although they are all different, is not important? which one would of your fingers would you be willing to lose? You see, people are like that too. They may be different, but they are all important, have something in common”.

Needless to say, I still remember that “lesson” in unity, in oneness. I was reminded of this lesson recently due to the #leadfromwithin chat on “diversity”. And it brought questions with it. Is oneness really possible (the Higgs-Boson discovery notwithstanding) in the diverse world of today? If so, how? In what areas is oneness desirable? Does oneness have any disadvantages?

Joy is the realization of oneness, the oneness of our soul with the world and of the world-soul with the supreme love. – Rabindranath Tagore in The Soul: An Archeology

I am sure you have some views on oneness, on unity that you would like to share with the #SpiritChat community on twitter. So, I invite you to join us at our regular hour of 9am ET on Sunday July 22nd and share your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you…

Kumud

Update: Transcript link: http://bit.ly/sc-tr-0722 and questions asked during the live twitter chat –

Q1. What does the phrase "Spirit of Oneness" mean to you? Is it just an idea? Or more...  #SpiritChat 

Q2. What are some factors that disrupt Oneness - in our mind and spirit? How do we work with them? #SpiritChat 

Q3. What we can we learn from (internal and/or external) nature about Oneness? #SpiritChat 

Q4. With so much diversity in the world, is Oneness even possible or desirable? How? #SpiritChat

Q5. What is the connection between Oneness and inner peace? #SpiritChat 

Q6. How does the idea of Oneness of spirit get transformed into action/practice in the "real" world? #SpiritChat 

Takeaway. Q7. What are some ways that we can create more Oneness, harmony, unity online and offline? #SpiritChat