ATMANUBHAVA - The Question of Personal Adequacy

[Guest guest]

The Question of Personal Adequacy

 

 

 

Dear Benjaminji,

 

Many thanks for your note of Sunday’s :

 

‘ It is great to hear your enthusiasm …..’

 

You have been kind and compassionate and have motivated me no end.

 

You have perceptively caught the undercurrent of a feeling of inadequacy. It was

only when I re-read my posting that I realized that the word ‘ adequate’ occurs

twice ! It was a revelation !

 

But I want to talk about something else. You have provoked a chain of thought

and I have to express it before I can go back to advaita !

 

This relates to your mention , in your first response, ‘ I am an ex-Christian

….’ And your comment in this latest posting,

 

‘ rather than getting obsessed with “sin” and personal inadequacy, as

Christianity and Islam often do …’

 

 

 

I go back to 1955 when I had just joined Madras Christian College. I was a

product of suburban life, not exactly rural, but certainly small-town. Madras (

now called Chennai ) seemed a huge metropolis. And the company I had in the

hostel ranged from clear headed Syrian Christians from Kerala, athletic fellows

from Ceylon ( now Sri lanka ) and a group of princes from the state of

Hyderabad. They all seemed so much more competent and knowledgeable in almost

every field, whether it was studies or sports or cultural activities. I think I

wallowed in a feeling of ‘ personal inadequacy ‘ for some time.

 

Then , one day, in Madras City, I discovered a magazine, which was published in

England, called the ‘ Psychologist’. That magazine which I devoured every

fortnight opened my eyes to a new perspective. The message was , ‘ Once you

become aware of something, then it is your responsibility to take action; you

have to stop blaming others’

 

It was during this period that I discovered American writers. The books were

called ‘ Cardinal’ editions and were priced at Rupees Two each. It was well

within my means and gradually the trips into town to get the latest

‘Psychologist ‘ magazine got me a new book. I devoured a lot of American

writings, Ernest Hemingway, Pearl S Buck, and so on. And one day I discovered

Lloyd C Douglas.

 

 

 

This man really transformed my life. I rapidly went through his novels , ‘

Magnificent Obsession’, ‘ Dr Hudson’s Secret Journal’, ‘Green Light’, ‘Forgive

us our Trespasses’, and finally ‘ White Banners’. All his books were based on

one or the other of the injunctions in the ‘ Sermon on the Mount ‘.It is only in

1998, on the web, that I found that Douglas was a Pastor at a church in Akron,

Ohio.

 

The book ‘White Banners’ elucidated what Douglas called ‘Personal Adequacy’!

Even today, when I want to have a break, I pull out my tattered copy of ‘White

Banners’ and look up one or the other perorations of the main character ,

Hannah, in reality Douglas speaking. I came to believe that Jesus gave strong

tips for ‘ Personal Adequacy’.

 

 

 

It was during this time that I also read Norman Vincent Peale and Dale Carnegie,

both of whom talked and taught only ‘Positive Affirmation’. My wife and I sought

and discovered the church where Peale preached in NY, but it was closed when we

reached it, and I just slipped my visiting card under the huge oaken door

scribbled with the words,

 

‘ A devotee of Norman Vincent Peale from India !’

 

 

 

Sectarianism, ( the various denominations in Christianity , and the various

‘sampradayas’ in Hinduism ) , with the specialized, sometimes narrow

interpretations of the teachings of the Masters or the manner in which rituals

are to be performed, has more often than not, diverted attention away from the

truth of the teachings of Jesus or Sri Krishna or Shankara.

 

This is the reason why I was confused when the chap confronted me at Madras with

the question, ‘ Are you not a sinner?’. The Upanayanam ceremony and the tutelage

of my father’s elder brother for a year gave me something to hold on to. It

could never negate Douglas or Peale. My faith in the ‘ Personal Adequacy of

Jesus’ or ‘ Tough-minded Optimism’ of Peale never waned.

 

Familiarity with my ‘sampradaya’ or ‘roots’, in fact, strengthened the feeling

of

 

‘ Personal Adequacy’.

 

I have gradually come to believe that accepting one’s ‘sampradaya’ nourishes the

roots of the inner self and makes a person ‘ wholesome’ or ‘integrated’.

 

As you have stated elsewhere, it is easier for the ‘integrated’ person to view

the world of objects and detach and withdraw within to discover the truth for

himself.

 

 

 

With the support of my wife ( or is it the other way !) , I have tried to guide

my children to understand, accept and benefit from ‘ sampradaya’…. Not to be

upset by any narrowness of interpretation or practice ( which they have had to

face in their life ) … but to be clear inside the self … that is what is

important. The external acts, whether of social conformance or apparent

acquiescence are not really important. It is the internal conviction which is

critical.

 

Even though they are married into families with their own individual views of

‘sampradaya’ or ‘tradition’, it is heartening for me when they put up a small

Christmas tree or visit a Church to hear carols each year… and welcome the New

Year with a thought for Jesus.

 

 

 

How strange ! But I get quite moved nowadays when I come across people who are

either impatient with their ‘sampradayas’ or have become ‘ disillusioned’ with

social observances and formalities, and give up their tradition.

 

 

 

Tradition is the basis of culture. Culture is the sine qua non for a peaceful

life. And a peaceful life is the pre-requisite for contemplation and the

discovery of Parabrahman.

 

I believe that Sri Sankara’s chief mission was to rekindle the faith in what he

calls

 

‘ agama sampradaya’ … in his times there was no Christianity or the dualists ….

But his mission is as much relevant in a more comprehensive context today with

so many more sects etc.

 

 

 

It is your kind responses which have impelled me to share this ‘anubhava’ with

you, and through this group, with many others.

 

Warm regards and pranams

 

Mohan

 

 

 

 

 

India Education Special: Study in the UK now.

 

 

[Guest guest]

Namaste Mohanju,

 

You clearly like to write at length about matters related to

spirituality. You are in good company here. There are not many

other such lists which manage to rise above the trivial.

 

One thing I would like to correct is an appearance of bias against

Christianity which I may have given. Of course, Christianity can be

a beautiful and inspiring religion, with much emphasis on love and

service. But it is also true that Christianity and Islam have a

tendency towards exclusivism, the belief that only their dogma are

true. You surely know that colonialism was partly justified as a

Christian duty. On the other hand, I think those Indians are wise

who learn from all the great cultures of the world, including the

English-speaking nations, without feeling resentment. You are

clearly in this category.

 

Another problem I have with Christianity and Islam is the excessive

emphasis they place on particular events and people, namely the

prophets. Personally, I have some doubts about all avatars. For

example, it turns out that there were a variety of religions in the

ancient Roman world where some mythical 'god-man' was murdered and

resurrected, with spiritual overtones of redemption for the

followers. This leads me to suspect that Jesus may have been another

such myth, based no doubt on some real and inspiring individual.

However, I also think it is too narrow-minded to simply reject all

'myths' as pure fiction. They evidently fulfill some deep spiritual

need, and in that sense they are 'real'. They express something

about the spiritual evolution of some group of people at a particular

stage in their karmic development.

 

Anyhow, I am attracted to the Eastern religions because they seem

much more philosophically satisfying. I can much more easily believe

in 'enlightenment' and 'higher states of consciousness' than in myths

based on 'godmen'. Also, I can believe that Consciousness is in some

sense the foundation of reality, so that reality is fundamentally

spiritual and not material.

 

However, I also realize that all this is far too abstract for most

people, and they will need religions based on human-like figures with

divine attributes.

 

Anyhow, I think it is marvelous that a faithful Hindu such as you

could also benefit from those American Christian authors. You are an

example of how true it is that India, at its best, has been

open-minded towards whatever wisdom may come from other parts of the

world.

 

>Tradition is the basis of culture. Culture is the sine

>qua non for a peaceful life. And a peaceful life is the

>pre-requisite for contemplation and the discovery of

>Parabrahman.

 

These words are very wise. A rationalist such as myself, who cares

only about the direct experience of enlightened consciousness,

hopefully to be achieved in meditation, would do well to remember

that society needs its myths and traditions for spiritual support,

just as you say.

 

Also your emphasis on culture is exemplary. This reminds me of the

spiritual devastation of Communism, which, while proclaiming

equality, goes about destroying all culture except its own dark and

ignorant kind. I can understand how poor people may think that the

material reality is the only reality, and are thus vulnerable to the

materialistic ideology of Communism. However, the fact is that good

politics and prosperous economics flow from a spiritually healthy

society, in which all people are honest and enlightened and do their

duty. Most of the economic problems in poor countries have their

roots in bad politics, which in turn are the result of mass

ignorance. Communism and the darker side of Islam feed off of this

darkness.

 

Hari Om!

Benjamin