Theos-Talk Archives (August 2004 Message tt00478)

Hello Raghu,
I know the Gita discusses the importance of non attachment.
Some people may think this means not to express emotions.
This however I feel is a mis-understanding of non-attachment.
Feelings or emotions are what help us become sensitive to our
environment and those around us.
If we didn't show our feelings we'd be like robots using purely cold
logic.

Anger is a 'negitive' emotion, however it may come from a sense of
injustice or from frustration ect. or it may come out of our own
thrawted ego.

Higher emotions like feelings of love and sympathy help us turn our
anger into empathy and compassion and can guide us to think of how we
can help those who may be causing us to feel angry.

It's good to laugh & its great to cry if need be.
Crying can be a sign of strenth and compassion not weakness.
Some people tend to see a strong person as someone who dosn't show
emotion but this can be a repression.
Emotion is dual in nature and so like all things it can manifest in
either a negitive or positive fashion.

My understanding of the theosophical path is that through selfless
concern for others our "lower" nature (kama) can settle and allow the
subtle energies of love and compassion to filter through.
As we think so we create.

Regards

Perry

The below passages may be of help:


Voice of the Silence:

"Shalt thou abstain from action? Not so shall gain thy soul her
freedom. To reach Nirvana one must reach Self-Knowledge, and
Self-Knowledge is of loving deeds the child.

Have patience, Candidate, as one who fears no failure, courts no
success. Fix thy Soul's gaze upon the star whose ray thou art (17),
the flaming star that shines within the lightless depths of
ever-being, the boundless fields of the Unknown.

Have perseverance as one who doth for evermore endure. Thy shadows
live and vanish (18); that which in thee shall live for ever, that
which in thee knows, for it is knowledge (19), is not of fleeing life:
it is the man that was, that is, and will be, for whom the hour shall
never strike."


also-

Thou seest well, Lanoo. These Portals lead the aspirant across the
waters on "to the other shore" (7). Each Portal hath a golden key that
openeth its gate; and these keys are: --

1. DANA, the key of charity and love immortal.

2. SHILA, the key of Harmony in word and act, the key that
counterbalances the cause and the effect, and leaves no further room
for Karmic action.

3. KSHANTI, patience sweet, that nought can ruffle.

4. VIRAG, indifference to pleasure and to pain, illusion conquered,
truth alone perceived.

5. VIRYA, the dauntless energy that fights its way to the supernal
TRUTH, out of the mire of lies terrestrial.

6. DHYANA, whose golden gate once opened leads the Narjol* toward the
realm of Sat eternal and its ceaseless contemplation.

[*A saint, an adept.] 

7. PRAJNA, the key to which makes of a man a god, creating him a
Bodhisattva, son of the Dhyanis.

Such to the Portals are the golden keys. 




>From the Gita :

KRISHNA:

"A man is said to be confirmed in spiritual knowledge when he
forsaketh every desire which entereth into his heart, and of himself
is happy and content in the Self through the Self. His mind is
undisturbed in adversity; he is happy and contented in prosperity, and
he is a stranger to anxiety, fear, and anger. Such a man is called a
Muni (4). When in every condition he receives each event, whether
favorable or unfavorable,with an equal mind which neither likes nor
dislikes, his wisdom is established, and, having met good or evil,
neither rejoiceth at the one nor is cast down by the other. He is
confirmed in spiritual knowledge, when, like the tortoise, he can draw
in all his senses and restrain them from their wonted purposes. The
hungry man loseth sight of every other object but the gratification of
his appetite, and when he is become acquainted with the Supreme, he
loseth all taste for objects of whatever kind. The tumultuous senses
and organs hurry away by force the heart even of the wise man who
striveth after perfection. Let a man, restraining all these, remain in
devotion at rest in me, his true self; for he who hath his senses and
organs in control possesses spiritual knowledge.

"He who attendeth to the inclinations of the senses, in them hath a
concern; from this concern is created passion, from passion anger,
from anger is produced delusion, from delusion a loss of the memory,
from the loss of memory loss of discrimination, and from loss of
discrimination loss of all! But he who, free from attachment or
repulsion for objects, experienceth them through the senses and
organs, with his heart obedient to his will, attains to tranquillity
of thought. And this tranquil state attained, therefrom shall soon
result a separation from all troubles; and his mind being thus at
ease, fixed upon one object, it embraceth wisdom from all sides. The
man whose heart and mind are not at rest is without wisdom or the
power of contemplation; who doth not practice reflection, hath no
calm; and how can a man without calm obtain happiness? The
uncontrolled heart, following the dictates of the moving passions,
snatcheth away his spiritual knowledge, as the storm the bark upon the
raging ocean. Therefore, O great-armed one, he is possessed of
spiritual knowledge whose senses are withheld from objects of sense.
What is night to those who are unenlightened is as day to his gaze;
what seems as day is known to him as night, the night of ignorance.
Such is the self-governed Sage!

"The man whose desires enter his heart, as waters run into the
unswelling passive ocean, which, though ever fall, yet does not quit
its bed, obtaineth happiness; not he who lusteth in his lusts.

"The man who, having abandoned all desires, acts without covetousness,
selfishness, or pride, deeming himself neither actor nor possessor,
attains to rest. This, O son of Pritha, is dependence upon the Supreme
Spirit, and he who possesseth it goeth no more astray; having obtained
it, if therein established at the hour of death, he passeth on to
Nirvana in the Supreme."

Thus in the Upanishads, called the holy Bhagavad-Gita, in the science
of the Supreme Spirit, in the book of devotion, in the colloquy
between the Holy Krishna and Arjuna, stands the Second Chapter, by
name -- 





--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "Raghu K" <raghu_k@a...> wrote:
> 
> 
> Expression of anger is prohibited as per Brahminism !!
> 
> 
> 
> Is it not anger within, that is dangerous ? Yes. But, once the
feeling gets
> generated, is it not pertinent that u express the same and keep your
slate
> of mind, clean of dusts of feelings and sentiments. I was once
saying that
> Buddhism is yin to the brahminism yang - Brahminism is more Buddhism
than
> Hinduism. But this culture of not allowing free expression of
feelings is
> inhuman. Ain't it ??
> 
> 
> 
> In a way, these people are just slaves of norms and circumstances. 
They get
> dictated easily and end up with low self esteem, the effects of
which are
> more dangerous than a war. Some even opine that norms are laid out
by
> persons of low self esteem only & a person of high self esteem will
care a
> hoot about these bozo norms !!! It sort of ends in a chicken and egg
story,
> in itself. Is it because of norms that one ends up with inferiority
complex
> or because of low self esteem that one phrases norms of dignity /
high
> esteem ??
> 
> 
> 
> Well, feelings / emotions / complexes occur in self attached humans.
For
> them to maintain a clean mind, it is pertinent that it is cleansed
on a
> regular basis.
> 
> 
> 
> For people above these silly things, who are not attached to
something,
> well, there is no problem, at all – because the root cause
itself is not
> going to be there – the feelings / complexes / emotions !!!
> 
> 
> 
> There are people who try to make u self attached by asking
"Ain't u
> ashamed?" , "Don't u have any sense?"… Beware
– not of such guys –
but of
> such statements, which make u an egotist, low self esteemed bozo in
the end.
> 
> 
> 
> For some persons, the first impression is what it is – both for
self and
> others. He will not change nor will allow others to – because
change
is a
> symptom of the weak. Look at the bias – if u r wrong in the
beginning, u got
> to be so till the end !!!
> 
> 
> 
> Other biases : Valour – violence, yelling… weakness –
patience… &
other bozo
> norms !!
> 
> 
> Any comments ??
> 
> 
> 
> Raghu
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]