Mera Bharat Mahan 14: Never hurt the ego of a person three times in a row

Dr K K Aggarwal

स होवाच पितरं तत कस्मै मां दास्यसीति ।
द्वितीयं तृतीयं तँ होवाच मृत्यवे त्वा ददामीति ॥

sa hovāca pitaraṃ tata kasmai māṃ dāsyasīti ।
vitīyaṃ tṛtīyaṃ tam̐ hovāca mṛtyave tvā dadāmīti ॥

"Dear father, to whom will you give me away?"
He said it a second, and then a third time.
The father, seized by anger, replied: "To Death, I give you away."

— Nachiketa, Katha Upanishad, 1.1.4

Commentary

One must learn to manage and control the ego. Controlled ego is the need but an uncontrolled ego can cause devastating effect on the body and the environment.

In Katha Upanishad, when Nachiketa hurts the ego of his father for the third time in a row, his (father’s) ego went out of control.

The Vedic message is if someone’s ego gets hurt just say sorry or change the topic and come out. Even if you hurt the ego twice it may still be ok but not the third time in a row.

Anger is like benign postural vertigo, which lasts only for few seconds for up to a minute (average 10 seconds). If you can control your anger for 10 seconds you can control your ego.

In Sunder Kanda, when Hanuman meets Sursa (ego) on his way to Lanka, he wins her by humility (becomes small) and not by confronting her.

Dr KK Aggarwal

Padma Shri Awardee

President Elect Confederation of Medical Associations in Asia and Oceania (CMAAO)

Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications

President Heart Care Foundation of India

Past National President IMA

Wish you a Happy and Healthy Adwait Holi

The story behind the festival of Holi is familiar to us all.

It begins with Holika, the sister of Hiranyakashyap, who was the father of Prahalad. Hiranyakashyap had declared himself as God and wanted his son Prahalad to worship him and not Vishnu. When Prahalad refused to do the same, he was made to sit with Holika in an open fire. Holika had been granted a boon that she could not be burned even if she was on live fire. When she was made to sit with Prahalad on the live fire, the opposite happened. She burned to death but Prahalad came out unharmed and alive from the fire.

This is not just a story; it has a deep spiritual meaning.

Hiranyakashyap represents “ego”, which when takes control, makes one forget about his own consciousness, so that the person starts thinking himself as the supreme power. The same symbolic representation is seen with Ravana in Ramayana and Kansa in Mahabharata.

Prahalad represents a person with self-realization, who is in touch with his consciousness. The consciousness cannot be burned, cut, dried or made wet by anything. It is imperishable and everlasting.

All those people who have acquired self-realization via Bhakti, Karma or Gnana path are in a state of God acquaintance and nothing can destroy them.

The obstacles to the pathway of self-realization are “attachment, anger, desire, greed and ego”. When all these negative factors overpower any individual, it leads one away from self-realization or away from consciousness.

Holika represents the sum total of the negative forces in the body, which can kill you or harm you, if not controlled in time.

Getting attached to any of the five senses results in a vicious cycle and one can get burnt in this ‘chakravyuha’ of attachments. If you are truthful, and have attained a state of one-point contemplation on a known truth, all the negative forces will stay away. All such negative forces if repressed within the body can burn you out over a period of time and this is one reason why all negative emotions should never be suppressed or repressed.

The practice of burning Holi a day before the festival of color signifies burning of all negative thoughts or emotions embedded in the mind and also to neutralize all the poison arising due to the negative feelings. 

As soon as the negativity is removed from the mind, the spiritual vision opens up or the knowledge of the consciousness is attained. Once this is done, only the positive thoughts remain, which is celebrated as sharing and loving each other, the next day.

Sharing love is most important in removing all the above mentioned five obstacles to self-realization. Spreading love reduces anger as well as desires, detaches one from various attachments, reduces greed, and brings humility in a person. Burning ego and other negative qualities also burns the ill feeling amongst each other and makes everybody a friend.

During Holi, the practice therefore, is to visit and meet not only your friends but also those who you are not friendly with. The festival therefore, is an opportunity to spread brotherhood and happiness in the society.

WHO defines health as not mere absence of disease but a state of physical, mental, spiritual, social and environmental well-being?

Holi, therefore, is a classic example or a custom to create “social healthiness” amongst the general society.

Playing Holi with water also has a deep spiritual meaning. It basically means removing dirt from each other. Dirt here does not mean bodily dirt but mental dirt, which once removed leads to spiritual cleanliness.

When you lovingly smear ‘gulal’ (colored powder) on others, they reciprocate with doubled love and affection. 

Similarly, always think of good things about people. Express your positive thoughts about these friends loudly, not only in front of them but also in their absence.

Therefore, the entire essence of the festival of Holi is not to just play Holi superficially or meet each other at a superficial level but to get rid of the negativity at the level of the mind as well. 

There is no point in celebrating Holi and meeting people unless you remove your negative thoughts about them from the mind

Dr KK Aggarwal

Padma Shri Awardee

President Elect Confederation of Medical Associations in Asia and Oceania   (CMAAO)

Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications

President Heart Care Foundation of India

Past National President IMA

Understanding the importance of Agni

    

In Hinduism, Agni or fire is worshiped in all rituals like havans, yagnas, ahutis, sankalp or seven pheras of walking around the sacred fire in any wedding.

    

Externally the fire burns and converts any matter into an ash or bhasma. Ash is the essence, purest form and once formed contains no trace of original matter.

Internally, Agni symbolizes burning of all negative desires, expectations, ego and anger in the fire of knowledge by surrendering ego and egocentric desires into the fire of knowledge or spontaneously let it burn in meditation. The result is a pure mind devoid of negative thoughts and desires. Only a purified mind is able to meditate because while prayer is talking to God, meditation is listening to God. Meditation is the path to self-realization and controlling anger, greed and other negative tendencies.

    

In the Kathopanishad, in a conversation, Yama taught the importance of internal fire or internal churning and called it Nicheketa fire.

The internal Yagna thus is the churning of any information in the fire of knowledge and converting it to wisdom. Adopt the essence and implement it in day to day life to achieve self-realization. Once knowledge has been converted into wisdom it is of no use unless it is made use of in day to day practice.

Burning of all our thoughts, desires and expectations in the fire of knowledge or agni and accepting the resultant ash is the mantra.

Dr KK Aggarwal

Padma Shri AwardeeVice President CMAAO

Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications

President Heart Care Foundation of India

Immediate Past National President IMA

Vahans (Vehicles) in Mythology

In ancient era, knowledge was imparted through verses or songs or “geet” (Gita), folktales and short plays (puranas) and epics.

The depictions in puranas of Gods and Goddesses was probably to convey some meaning for examples, the vahans or vehicles used by Gods and Goddesses symbolize tendencies, which need to be controlled.

The deity or God denotes positive behavior. According to the Advait philosophy, the deity represents ‘you’ and the vahan denotes the control. Gods and their Vahans represent the path to control the animal tendencies and live a more positive life.

Following are a few examples.

·         Lord Ganesha rides a Mouse. Mouse in mythology denotes greed and Ganesha as ‘vighnaharta’, the one who removes obstacles. This means that one should learn to control greed to tackle obstacles in life.

·         Lord Shiva rides Nandi. The bull symbolizes uncontrolled sexual desires and the duo signifies that sexual desires must be first controlled to learn meditation.

·         Saraswati (the Goddesses of knowledge) sitting on a swan symbolizes viveka, which means that one must learn to control the power of discrimination or viveka to acquire knowledge. A swan can drink milk and leave water from a mixture of milk and water.

·         Indra (the one who has a complete control over the intellect) riding on the elephant Airavat symbolizes that for its development the intellect (Indra) requires control over masti and madness (elephant).

·         Durga (the perfect woman) riding a lion symbolizes that to become a perfect woman, she must learn to control agitation or aggression (lion).

·         Lakshmi (wealth) rides an owl. In mythology, owl denotes ignorance or foolishness. This means that to earn righteously, these owl-like characteristics within us must be controlled.

·         Lord Vishnu (the doer) riding the eagle or Garuda means controlling your desires to eat an unbalanced diet. Eagles are opportunistic predators i.e. they eat almost anything they can find.

·         Krishna riding five horses indicates the need to control our five senses. The five horses are the Indriyas or senses, such as sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.

·         Peacock is the vehicle of Kartikeya; it represents conquest of one’s ego or pride (vanity).

·         The vehicle of Goddess Kali is a black goat. Agni rides Mesha, a ram. Kubera, the God of wealth, also has a ram as his vehicle. A ram is an un-castrated adult male sheep. Goat also signifies uncontrolled sexual desires but to a lesser extent than the bull.

·         Yamraj rides a buffalo, which is known for its rampant destruction. Lord Yama or Yamraja is referred to as the God of death. He is the twin brother of Dharma Raja, the God of justice. Justice can be done only if one has control over anger and aggressive behavior.

In mythology, apart from Vahans, animals are also shown to be sacrificed, which means to kill the animal tendency within ourselves. In Kali Pooja, a buffalo is sacrificed, which again means that in extreme situations, you may need to kill your ego or anger.

Dr KK Aggarwal

Padma Shri Awardee
Vice President CMAAO
Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications

President Heart Care Foundation of India

Immediate Past National President IMA

The Science Behind Birth Of Krishna In A Jail Of Ignorance

Krishna represents Brahman or God consciousnesses or consciousness- the self. The birth of Krishna is synonymous with the process of self-realization.

 Normally desires and negative thoughts core our consciousness with ignorance. The journey to self-realization involves removal or shedding of this ignorance which can only be done by the eight spiritual principles as described by the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

 And these are Yama (self control); Niyama (self-discipline), Asanas (bodily postures); Pranayama (control of breath), Pratyahara (withdrawal), Dharana (one pointed), Dhyana (contemplation) and Samadhi (self-realization).

 These eight limbs or eight steps signify the journey of eight days after full moon falling on Rakshabandhan, a day celebrated to control one’s lust.

 Ignorance is symbolized by a PRISON, which represents darkness; narrow-minded approach (small entry gate) and limitedness to everything (small room). The chain in the prison means the bondages to lust, greed, desires and ego.

 Birth of Krishna in the prison means ‘self-realization out of ignorance’. It can only be acquired by adhering to the eight principles of Ashtang Yoga with Tapas (Abhyasa) or hard work.  Krishna, born, as the eighth child of Devaki, represents tapas of eight limbs of yoga. The self-realization can only occur after the seven strips are successfully negotiated and the mind is purified in the process.

 In the state of Samadhi, there is spontaneous birth of the self. In this state (sama = equal; dhi – intelligence) one controls equality and balances between good and the bad.

 The symbolization is that, as Krishna was born, the chains that bound his father fell off; the doors that had been bolted flew open and the prison guards immediately went into sleep. Then Vasudeva, the father took Krishna and went to Gokul, by placing Krishna in a basket and walking across the Yamuna river, where at the same time Yashoda, consort of Nanda, had given birth to a female child.

 The ‘chains’ here mean the bondage to the external world and the five senses. A self realized person is free of these bondages. The opening of gates symbolizes control over lust, desire, greed and attachments. Sleeping of the guard symbolizes, that in a self-realized state, one is totally cut off from the world. Everything else perishes and one gets detached.

 The thunderstorm, the rain, and the fire, all represent the internal turmoil of uncontrolled desires and hatred. The moment Krishna’s feet touch the turbulent water, everything settles. The spiritual lesson is that by turning inwards and towards one’s pure consciousness any turbulent state of mind can be controlled.

 While acquiring all that, one must control the ego and keep the desires inwards and not have egocentric desires. Controlling the ego is depicted as a snake sitting over the basket and guarding Lord Krishna.

 The baby girl born at Gokul represents the Mayashakti, which was killed by Kansa (the ego of the body).

 Controlling the desires and attachments is easy but controlling the Ego is the most difficult. That is what is represented by the fact that at the time of birth of Krishna, Kansa still remained alive. It took many years for Krishna (self realized state) to kill the ego (Kansa).
 Acquiring a state of self-realization should not be the ultimate goal in life. After self-realization, if the ego is not controlled one can misuse one’s spiritual powers. The ultimate aim in life should then be to kill the ego, which is what Krishna ultimately did.

 

How can ego be managed?

In Indian ancient Vedic literatures Snakes symbolizes Mind and Naga (Cobra) the Ego.  

The mind symbolizing Snake represents the duality and unpredictability of the mind, which can only be controlled by consciousness which is depicted by Lord Krishna not killing but controlling the mind (Kalia).

Ego is depicted in Vedic literature by Naga and is an essential component of ‘who you are” (mind, intellect, ego and consciousness).  

Ego is an essential part of life but one should learn to be ego fugal and not ego centric.  That means learn to have your ego in and not ego out.  There are certain Vedic principals for controlling ego.

Always control your ego by directing it towards consciousness.  You should be egoistic about your dharma and fulfill the values of life.  

Directing the ego towards consciousness is depicted by Sheshnag in the neck of Lord Shiva; Sheshnag protecting Krishna at the time of birth and Sheshnag protecting Lord Vishnu when sleeping in the ocean.  

Directing the ego towards consciousness shifts one from disturbed to undisturbed state of consciousness.

If one cannot control the ego then one must learn to kill it.  Ego cannot be killed by mind but can only be killed by taking conscious based decisions.  In Vedic language, Rama (consciousness) can only kill Ravana (ego), and in Mahabharata, Lord Krishna (consciousness) can only kill Kansa (ego). Lakshman (focused mind) cannot kill ego (Ravana).  Ego will always overpower the mind. 

 

Never hurt somebody else ego

It is also a Vedic saying that if you hurt somebody else ego, he or she will never leave you.  The festival of Nag Panchami is observed in the month of Shravan for the same reason.  

In Hanuman’s journey to Lanka, when Hanuman meets Simhika (ego) he could overpower her by observing humility which means he became smaller in size and came out of her mouth.  Humility therefore is the answer when somebody is in egoistic attack.  

In Nag Panchami, we worship Naga and offer milk, which again indicates learning and observing humility in front of egoistic behaviors. 

Following are the situations where you can hurt somebody else ego. 

1. Allegations of financial embezzlement

2. Calling a man as impotent.

3. Calling women as old.

4. Alleging somebody as a person of bad character.

5. Talking ill about the caste.

6. Talking ill about the religion.

There is an ancient saying that if you kill male Naga, the female Naga captures your picture and will always take revenge.  In terms of Vedic saying, it indicates that if you hurt somebody else’s ego his feminine ego will always keep it on the priority list in the mind and will take revenge at the earliest instance.

Emedinews: Why do we offer milk to snakes?

The "Naga" is the divine aspect of the cobra found in both Hindu and Buddhist traditions. The word ‘Naga’ in Sanskrit means "serpent". In Hindi it is called ‘Nag’.

In mythology snake means duality of mind which needs to be controlled. In Srimad Bhagwad, Kalia the snake was tamed by Krishna and not killed. The right age for taming is when one enters school. Taming of mind is done by consciousness (Krishna).

“Nag” in mythology means ‘ego’. Sheshnag represent a ‘Nag” with 5 heads. The five heads represents the five senses. Sheshnag therefore represents the one who has learned to control his ego and the five senses will automatically come under control. In Bhagwad Gita, Krishna says that “amongst the Nags I am Sheshnag”, which again means that I can be in touch with consciousness only by learning to control the ego and the five senses.

“Nag Devta” in mythology means the one who has learned to control his mind and ego.

The description of ‘Nag’ also comes in reference to Lord Shiva wearing it around his neck, Krishna being protected by him at the time of birth, Vishnu being protected by him when he is sleeping in the ocean. In all these situations, the ‘Nag’ is shown with the mouth turned inward.

To acquire spirituality one must control the ego and keep the desires inwards and not have egocentric desires. Controlling the ego is depicted as a snake sitting over the basket and guarding Lord Krishna at the time of birth.

Krishna controls Kalia. Here ‘Kalia’ represents the disturbed duality of mind. To control the mind Krishna has to win over Kalia, and this he does by dancing over its head.

The ‘Nag’ around Lord Shiva’s neck means to keep your ego under control. Same is true for Lord Vishnu being protected by Sheshnag when he is sleeping. The message is very clear we should keep our ego under control.

Nagpanchami is another festival that tells us how to tame the ego. Here ‘Nag’ (the poisonous snake) represents ego. In Chaturmas, when the festival is observed, chances of becoming egoistic are high as this is the most negative period of the year.

We can only face ego with humility (namrata and madhurta). Ego cannot be faced with ego or it will end up with destruction. Giving milk to the snake means feeding the ego temporarily and nor running away from it and not confronting it. One cannot ignore a person who behaves in an egoistic manner nor can one confront him or her. In both these situations the egoistic behavior can turn into aggressive destructive behavior.

Krishna is depicted as a person with blue skin (everything is possible), yellow skin (I can do it) and a flute in his hand (egoless behavior). It symbolizes that one can do anything in life provides he learns to control the ego and practices humility.

Hanuman’s journey to Lanka is another example which signifies this. On his journey to Lanka, Hanuman faces Sursa the snake woman. She had a boon that everybody who comes before her must pass through her mouth. However, when she wanted to swallow Hanuman, he became bigger and bigger so she also had to become bigger and bigger. Then Hanuman suddenly became very small and went in through her ear, coming out of her mouth, thus fulfilling the boon.

This depicts that if you get egoistic thoughts during meditation you should face them with humility and they will disappear. (Hanuman ki adhyatmic yatra).

In Ramayana and Krishna Lila, Ravana and Kansa respectively represent ego. Ego cannot be killed my mind. Lakshman cannot kill Ravana. It can only be killed by consciousness (Rama or Krishna). Ego cannot be tamed it can only be killed. Ravana and Kansa will have to get killed. Ego cannot be killed in one day. It has to be an effortful activity. In both Ramayana and Krishna Lila it took time for Rama and Krishna to kill Ravana and Kansa.

To kill ego one has to learn to take control over the mind and the intellect first. In Ramayana to kill Ravana Rama had to first befriend Hanumana (controlling Prana Vayu to control the mind) and Sugriva (controlling intellect with one point concentration).

In Krishna Lila too, Krishna had to first control the mind (Tame Kalia the snake) before killing Kansa and win over Indra (Govardhan Pooja with one point concentration).

Emedinews:Nag Panchami and Health

Nag Panchami is celebrated in the month of July. On this day, snakes are worshipped. People observe a fast one day before the festival and also on the day of the festival. The tradition is not to eat till evening on that day.

In Hindu mythology a snake represents ‘ego’. A realized man is the one who has concurred or mastered ego unlike hostile people who are constantly victimized by the demands of the ego. Practicing humility is the way to concur one’s ego. On this day, therefore, everybody practices humility so that it becomes a part and parcel of his or her consciousness. Ahankar, vanity or egoism is one of the five obstacles to internal realization.

Ahankar or ego is normally a part and parcel of subtle mental layer. The subtle body consists of mind, intellect and ego.

Without ego also, there is no life but the abnormal exaggeration of the ego faculty is what is called vanity or egotism. Ego is therefore nothing but a mistake of the intellect and behaves like a cancer.

The Chief action of ego is to block the path of truthfulness. It works like the bosom friend of an error. It prevents people from accepting new things. Ego works on the assumption that; “I am the only one who is right and anybody who opposes me, I have the right to destroy him”.

Egoistic persons only want to defend their own rights. Ego works hand in hand with anger. Classically a man under the influence of ego can be described as a person who is advertising his virtues by pointing the faults of others. He basically advertises his own shortcoming. In meetings, such type of persons can be seen to attract the attention of others by making a noise or imposing their opinion on the others.

He frequently interprets others while they are talking. He likes to make speeches. He wants his name to appear in the print. He makes it a point to be known to everybody for every bit of charity done.

Humility is the virtue to be practiced to control the ego. Humility can be acquired by spreading the message of love, and practicing “giving”. Calling everybody with respect, wishing everybody early in the morning, respecting the seniors, bowing and taking blessings from the teachers and the elderly, asking for forgiveness, showing appreciation and concern and having the same thought in the mind, speech and action etc are a few of the examples of acquiring humility.

Matthew once said “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use and persecute you”.

Nag Panchami is also celebrated in monsoon season as snakes come out in rain and most of them are non poisonous and one should not unnecessarily kill them.

Also Nag Panchami comes in Chaturmas, a period of negative state of the mind. As getting egoistic is common in these months one must learn to practice humility in this part of the season.

Snake in mythology is also depicted by Sheshnag protecting Krishna at birth, lord Shiva wearing a snake in the neck and Lord Vishnu sleeping with the snake with inward mouth protecting him. All these festivals also occur in the Chaturmas month and means learning to control the duality of mind and taming the ego.

Taming kalia in Krishna Leela as described in Srimad Bhagwad also indicated taming the duality of mind and not killing it.