Brings out how we can live in harmony with Nature ... by looking at life as it really is ...rather than what we want it to be.

1. Looking at Life
differently p l dhar

2. Looking at Life
differently p l dhar

3. Why this topic ?
• इस शहर मे हर शख़स परेशान सा कयोঁ है ?
• Stress, confusion arises from living life
“unconsciously” …. Looking at life very
superficially
• Living “Consciously”, looking at life deeply,
with insight reduces confusion and stress .

4. Conscious vs Unconscious living
• Unconscious living : following the rat race
Default world view : hedonistic – materialistic
world view
– Happiness lies in sensory pleasures obtained
through things, power, name, fame, ….
• Its consequences :
– Cut throat competition, acquisitiveness,
consumerism, aggressiveness, strife, stress,
continual dissatisfaction, ecological and moral
disaster

5. Conscious vs Unconscious living
• Let me decide what I should be doing ?
• What do I need to “feel good” ?
– Money
– Career growth
– Name and fame
– Using my skills for betterment of society
– Understanding the phenomenon of Life
• How do I prioritise these objectives ?

6. Prioritising the Objectives
• Analyzing our experiences
– Competition vs cooperation
– Grabbing vs sharing
– Self-centered vs altruistic actions
………………
– Anger vs forgiveness
– Jealousy vs joy at others’ success
– Deceit (smartness) vs truthfulness
– Attachment vs dispassion
– Pride vs humility

7. Analyzing our Experiences
• We get much greater joy and longer lasting
satisfaction in actions motivated by compassion,
altruism, self-less ness, detachment, humility ……
• Actions motivated by pride, selfishness, jealousy,
attachment give momentary excitement but leave
us tense and apprehensive
All Humanity is One in these Conclusions

8. Analyzing our Experiences
• Handling difficulties
– Failure, loss
– Injustice, betrayal, blame
– Bereavement
– Aging, chronic (terminal) illness, death
BMW syndrome & anguish WHY ME ?
Understanding the
Phenomenon of Life

9. Understanding the Phenomenon of
Life
• The wisdom of impermanence
– Even this will pass away

10. Who upon a signet ring,
Carved a maxim strange and wise,
When held before his eyes,
Gave him counsel at a glance,
Fit for every change and chance:
Solemn words and these were they: “Even this will pass away”
Trains of camel through the sand
Brought him gems from Samarqand;
Fleets of galleys over the seas
Brought him pearls to rival these,
But he counted little gain,
Treasures of mine or main;
“What is wealth?” the king would say, “Even this will pass away”

11. Mid the pleasures of his court
At the zenith of their sport, when the palms of all his guests
Burned with clapping at his jests,
Seated midst the figs and wine,
Said the king: “Ah, friends of mine,
Pleasures come but not to stay, Even this will pass away”
Woman, fairest ever seen
Was the bride he crowned as queen,
Pillowed on his marriage bed
Whispering to his soul, he said
“Though no monarch ever pressed
Fairer bosom to his breast,
Mortal flesh is only clay! Even this will pass away”

12. Once a javelin pierced his shield.
Soldiers with a loud lament
Bore him bleeding to his tortured side,
“Pain is hard to bear “, he cried,
“But with patience, day by day, Even this will pass away”
Towering in a public square
Forty cubits in the air,
And the king disguised, unknown,
Gazed upon his sculptured name,
And he pondered, “What is fame?
Fame is but a slow decay! “Even this will pass away”

13. Struck with palsy, sore and old,
Waiting at the gates of gold,
Said he with his dying breath
“Life is done, but what is death?”
Then an answer to the king
Fell a sunbeam on his ring;
Showing by a heavenly ray, Even this will pass away”
Theodore Tilten

14. The dawn of Wisdom of impermanence
marks the beginning of
Looking at Life differently !

15. Due to the lack of this wisdom
(avidya) we get attached to
-our body
-our thoughts, views, name and fame
-sensory pleasures & sorrows
-relationships
and suffer !
Humanity is ONE in this suffering

16. Getting established in this wisdom
we understand :
-Sensory pleasures CAN NOT give abiding
satisfaction
-Grasping / resisting sensory stimuli are the
real cause of suffering
We

17. Getting established in this
wisdom
we “see” the path to freedom :
Thoughts, emotions are also evanescent
& would cease naturally provided we do
not interfere
If we train our mind to merely observe
whatever arises in the mind or body we
become more and more Tranquil and
Equanimous … at peace with ourselves
and the world. We

18. There are no problems in
Life……...only situations
Respond unwisely : suffer
Respond wisely : grow

19. Wise response
is….
Accepting what we can not change,
changing what we can, and
knowing the difference between
the two ! {pragmatism}

20. Wise response is...
• every situation conceals
an opportunity to evolve
by reducing Clinging,
Aversion and Ignorance
• No impulsive reaction to
situations : we ACT
Consciously - we gain
response-ability

21. As we sow, so we shall reap
we get what we give
As C A I reduce we gain
Insight into the Laws of Nature

22. We are not distinct
differentiated individuals …
But intimately interconnected at the body
level & the mental level with the whole cosmos
…..We realize

23. Imbued with such wisdom we can
easily prioritise our Objectives
Money
Career growth
Name and fame
Using my skills for betterment of society
Understanding the phenomenon of Life
…… and be more happy and peaceful !

24. Examples of a few people in
modern times who looked at
life differently

25. Albert Einstein
• A human being is a part of a whole, called by us
‘universe’, a part limited in time and space. He
experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as
something separated from the rest... a kind of
optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting
us to our personal desires and to affection for a few
persons nearest to us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison
by widening our circle of compassion to embrace
all living creatures and the whole of nature in its
beauty.

26. Victor Frankel
• “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing:
the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's
attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose
one's own way."
• "'He who has a why to live for can bear with almost
any how.'"
• "When we are no longer able to change a situation—
just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable
cancer—we are challenged to change ourselves"
• "Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under
such circumstances, decide what shall become of him
- mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human
dignity even in a concentration camp."

27. Morrie Schwartz
• This disease is knocking at my spirit. But it will
not get my spirit. It will get my body
• Aging is not just decay once you understand
you are going to die, you live a better life
because of that
• When people say , “ oh, if I were young again”
…You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied
lives. Unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven't found
meaning. Because if you’ve found meaning in
your life, you don’t want to go back. You want
to go forward.
• People haven’t found meaning in their lives, so
they are running all the time looking for it.
They think the next car, the next house, the
next job….

28. Morrie Schwartz
• I delight in being a child when it is appropriate to be …
I delight in being a wise old man when it is
appropriate to be…….
• I believe in being fully present. that means you should
be with the person you are with. I try to be focused on
what is going on between us. I am not thinking about
something we said last week. What is coming up this
Friday..
• When some one wanted to go ahead of me in traffic, I
would raise my hand, wave and smile. You know what,
a lot of time they smiled back.
• Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When
you do, you won’t be dissatisfied, you won’t be envious,
you won’t be longing for somebody else’s things. On
the contrary, you’ll be overwhelmed with what comes

29. Facing the Future
Every journey begins
With but a small step.
And every day is a chance
For a new, small step
In the right direction.
Just follow your Heartsong.
I want people to know
my life philosophy,
to remember to play
after every storm
Mattie Stepanek
(1990-2004)

30. Looking at Death differently
What the caterpillar calls the end of the world,
the master calls a butterfly.
-Richard Bach

31. Thank You !
Talk given in IITD in 2007