Why worry kills

It8217;s important that we don8217;t just chew unthinkingly on Upanishadic cud but see how we can make those grand concepts relevant in practical terms. The arguments for equal rights to opportunity, education and social freedom are all present in the Upanishads. Except, we never knew them! The only verse that seemed to have been widely used from Hindu scripture was the infamous one on caste in the Purusha Sukta though the Constitution, in intention at least, is a glorious redemption.

Anyhow, here8217;s a personally applicable concept that western science has established only since the birth of psychoanalysis, which the Prashna Upanishad spelt out gently a couple of millennia ago. This was the situation: Sukesha, son of Bharadwaja, Satyakama, son of Shibi, Gargya, grandson of Surya, Kausalya, son of Asvala, Bhargava of Vidharba and Kabandhi, son of Katya, were a group of bright young men who wanted answers to important existential queries. After much study and reflection, they realised they couldn8217;t hack it on their own with the available book knowledge. They set off to look for an empowered teacher. They approached Pippalada the Preceptor, bearing sacrificial fuel as an offering, hoping he 8216;8216;would explain all to them8217;8217; esa ha vai tat sarvam vaksyatiti. The seer told them to live in his ashram for a year in austerity, charity and faith. If they passed this test of patience with good grace, he would answer their questions.

This, incidentally, seems the way gurus do things: all the Sufi masters, too, didn8217;t just hand out knowledge the minute someone asked. The point here, which we lost in our anxiety to redress the past: democracy and meritocracy need not be mutually exclusive. When the time comes, Kabandhi, son of Katya, leads off: 8216;8216;Venerable Sir, where do all the creatures on earth come from?8217;8217; to which the Preceptor says that the Lord of Creation created matter and life. Bhargava next asks how many powers support this created world and which of them is the greatest. He is told that the elements and the senses sustain this existence and life breath is the greatest power of all.

It is Question Three, by Kauslaya, that concerns us here on the life of a person and what makes it happen. The preceptor says, 8216;8216;The way one thinks is the way one lives life. Your life combined with your natural energy leads you into whatever world you fashion for yourself by your own thought.8217;8217; In personal terms, doesn8217;t this mean that it8217;s our own attitude, positive or negative, which defines our individual existence? It8217;s like the old argument between chita funeral fire and chinta worry on who is stronger. Chinta wins with the point that chita can only kill a person once, while chinta can kill many times. The Upanishad8217;s point: Don8217;t worry, be happy!