Lazy brain bird: and the art of uselessness

Was reading a scholar's take on the Gita recently and realized that scholars sometimes miss the point in all the clutter they bring into their scholarship. The Gita has a powerful yogic message. Like all messages which are special, it gets to be interpreted in many ways. The yoga path of Gita is very clear and pure. And on that, those of us in the state of mumukshutva have no doubt. Others, wishing to impress upon the world with their scholarship, I fear often miss the wood for the trees. But they do not have this craving and therefore their one desire, to impress, often suffocates the more subtle but equally intense mumukshutva. Often, when I read scholars writing on philosophy, it is very clear to me, that many have become egotistic and have completely missed the point. This is true, even of those who claim extreme feelings for a subject.. somehow, the ego appears to take over, even over the subject, as if they wish to dominate to the exclusion of everything, including the topic.

Here, there is this beautiful, tricky Tao idea about uselessness and usefulness.

Hu Tzu said to ChuangTzu --Tell me about the useless.

Once you understand the useless, that's when you're ready to start talking about the useful. For example, heaven and earth are expansive and huge everywhere, but any individual only takes enough to put his foot on.If however, you dug deep right around someone's feet reaching all the way to the Yellow Springs  would the spot still be useful?
No, it would be useless.
So, in this case, the useless greatly clarifies what it means to be useful.
(From the Chaung-Tzu,The Tao of Perfect Happiness.
Translation and Annotation, by Livia Kohn)

(The image is from this http://theplayfulom.com/tag/chuang-tzu/)

 

Feng Shui for your mind:)

I have always sniffed at rituals, but am a bit more humble towards things I do not know much about, these days. So, with this struggle with maintaining an open mind (because I used to think ritualistic people are really very rigid people, with set beliefs) I was intrigued to find Harish Johari, whom I respect a lot as a great yoga master, in his book Tools for Tantra suggest that rituals actually regulate and tame the R-brain in us, the ancient mind that is serpentine. That is a powerful suggestion. There must be something there.

So, while browsing through this book on Feng Shui, I find that you can create your spiritual space with care too and make your mind more keen with that sort of awareness (in fact, Swami Sivananda also suggests that the place where you meditate should be exclusive and not open to anybody, even family).

So, this Feng Shui book suggests tha t your
*revive stagnant chi by opening it to sun or wind
* chants are good to move the chi in
* vertical plants create a dynamic chi
*clear clutter
*Clarify your thoughts and remember what you think permeates your space. Have clean thoughts:)!