Continued From The First Part
What Is life ?
Life is a continuous flow of experiences. The successful life is that in which the man has good number of successful and happy experiences as even the life of failure has a lot of sorrowful experiences.
When we say we are alive, we mean we receive the stimuli and respond to them. When any organism or individual stops to receive the stimuli or stops to respond to the stimuli, we say it/he is dead. The father is lying in the bed. The son calls 'Daddy, Daddy' but the father does not respond, for he has not received the call.
Therefore we say the man is dead.
Now analyze please. Who is dead? We find that when anybody is dead, the physical body is lying there. No part of the body has gone. The same body is lying there which was lying before the death. Then we ask who is dead. It is said "Mr. X". We find that the mind and intellect which was receiving the stimuli and was responding to them has left the body. But he cannot be the body because it is lying there, even after death. Hence we conclude that "l or Me " is other than the body. Though the physical body is lying there, the mind and intellect has left it.
This physical body is made of five elements: space, air, fire, water and earth. It is the nature of the physical body to merge back with the same five elements when it is dead, meaning when the mind intellect has left it.
So, I am not the body. I am the possessor of the body. I am the Dweller of the body. Body is just like the tenement for which I pay rent in the form of food, three to four times a day. If I forget to pay rent you can imagine what a tragedy I will have to meet with.
Therefore, body is an instrument through which I express in the world outside. If my car is destroyed why should I think that I am destroyed. I am not the car. I am only the owner of the car.
Similarly if the body is destroyed, I am not destroyed. I am other than the body. I am the owner of the body. Eyes, nose, ears, tongue and other organs are my instruments only through which I receive the stimuli.
Therefore, it is the mind-intellect which is the real individuality of the man. When we say we must develop personality we mean that it is the mind and intellect to be developed. Really a cultured or civilised man is he who has a sharp and wise mind and intellect.
Due to our unintelligent ways of thinking, we do not look beyond the body. When one loves his beloved, looking at her white skin only and not beyond it - her thoughts and ideas - it is only "Cinema Love". The real love goes far beyond the body - to her emotions and thoughts.
To be continued
About the author
swami chinmayananda
swami chinmayananda the great master's lectures were an outpour of wisdom. He introduced the Geetha Gnana Yagna. He wrote a lot of books on spirituality, commentaries to Vedantic texts, children books etc. He then started spreading His teachings globally.....
What Is life ?
Life is a continuous flow of experiences. The successful life is that in which the man has good number of successful and happy experiences as even the life of failure has a lot of sorrowful experiences.
When we say we are alive, we mean we receive the stimuli and respond to them. When any organism or individual stops to receive the stimuli or stops to respond to the stimuli, we say it/he is dead. The father is lying in the bed. The son calls 'Daddy, Daddy' but the father does not respond, for he has not received the call.
Therefore we say the man is dead.
Now analyze please. Who is dead? We find that when anybody is dead, the physical body is lying there. No part of the body has gone. The same body is lying there which was lying before the death. Then we ask who is dead. It is said "Mr. X". We find that the mind and intellect which was receiving the stimuli and was responding to them has left the body. But he cannot be the body because it is lying there, even after death. Hence we conclude that "l or Me " is other than the body. Though the physical body is lying there, the mind and intellect has left it.
This physical body is made of five elements: space, air, fire, water and earth. It is the nature of the physical body to merge back with the same five elements when it is dead, meaning when the mind intellect has left it.
So, I am not the body. I am the possessor of the body. I am the Dweller of the body. Body is just like the tenement for which I pay rent in the form of food, three to four times a day. If I forget to pay rent you can imagine what a tragedy I will have to meet with.
Therefore, body is an instrument through which I express in the world outside. If my car is destroyed why should I think that I am destroyed. I am not the car. I am only the owner of the car.
Similarly if the body is destroyed, I am not destroyed. I am other than the body. I am the owner of the body. Eyes, nose, ears, tongue and other organs are my instruments only through which I receive the stimuli.
Therefore, it is the mind-intellect which is the real individuality of the man. When we say we must develop personality we mean that it is the mind and intellect to be developed. Really a cultured or civilised man is he who has a sharp and wise mind and intellect.
Due to our unintelligent ways of thinking, we do not look beyond the body. When one loves his beloved, looking at her white skin only and not beyond it - her thoughts and ideas - it is only "Cinema Love". The real love goes far beyond the body - to her emotions and thoughts.
To be continued
About the author
swami chinmayananda
swami chinmayananda the great master's lectures were an outpour of wisdom. He introduced the Geetha Gnana Yagna. He wrote a lot of books on spirituality, commentaries to Vedantic texts, children books etc. He then started spreading His teachings globally.....
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