On Fear

From SarvaShiva, Seattle

“What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it” – J. Krishnamurti

And empirical knowledge, with all assumptions carefully removed, is the antidote to fear. Reality cannot be escaped but with knowledge translated into skills reality can be livable, even pleasurable, and us drivers not pawns.

"I Am That" - Swami Ram Tirth

Courtesy SarvaShiva, Seattle

I have no scruple of change, nor fear of death,
Nor was I ever born, Nor had I parents.
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute,
I am That, I am That,

I cause no misery, nor am I miserable;
I have no enemy, nor am I enemy.
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute,
I am That, I am That,

I am without form, without limit,
Beyond space, beyond time,
I am in everything, everything is in me.
I am the bliss of the universe, Everywhere am I.
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute,
I am That, I am That,

I am without body or change of the body,
I am neither senses, nor object of the senses,
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute,
I am That, I am That,

I am neither sin, nor virtue,
Nor temple, nor worship
Nor pilgrimage, nor books.
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute,
I am That, I am That"

Swami Ram Tirth - 1873-1906

Very well could be an answer to, “Who am I”, so might as well get to know oneself.

Reason & Religion

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use" - Galileo Galilei

He stuck to his belief in Copernicanism supporting the heliocentric view despite bitter opposition from philosophers, astronomers and the Church, defying faith of his time.

Stephen Hawking said, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science".

We need Galileo, Gates, Jobs, (Ela) Bhatt, Mandela to inspire us to that higher place where human potential and innovation thrive, sitting cross legged chanting Om leads nowhere, neither does a jargon spewing Guru- successful life follows Galileo like pursuit of empirical knowledge.

An interpretation of Om

“OM, when considered as one letter, uttered by the help of one articulation, is the symbol of the Supreme Spirit. But when considered a trilateral word consisting of a, u, m, it implies the three Vedas, the three states of human nature, the divisions of the universe, and the three deities – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, agents in the creation, preservation and destruction of this world; or, properly speaking, the three principal attributes of the Supreme Being personified in those three deities. In this sense it implies, in fact, the universe controlled by the Supreme Spirit” - Raja Ram Mohan Roy