A Little Indian Philosophy 4 - Holy Cow

Today, I have a cattle farmer on one side and two Hindu Indian vegetarians on the other. This sounds like a meeting of opposing forces, but far from confrontation, the latter is even helping the former to set up the farm.

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"Isn't this difficult?" I asked.

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My Indian friend smiled and replied calmly that he separates business from personal beliefs. Naturally, religion is a personal commitment and cannot be imposed on anyone else. 

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"In the end, it is all about atma..." he continued.

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In Hinduism, 'atma' is one's true self beyond identification with the phenomenal reality of worldly existence. So even plants, for instance, have 'atma', only that they don't have the nervous system to experience the kind of pain as we know it.

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What amazed me was that the vegetarians did not look down on the cattle farmer, something I find increasingly common and disturbing these days. While vegetarians believe in vegetarianism, they should allow others free to walk their own spiritual journey - only then would their journey be meaningful beyond the compulsion and rigidity of dogma.

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Lest you may be tempted to think cattle farming is much about killing cows, there is a spiritual lining to this one. In the end, I think all businesses can be spiritualised - even cattle farms. Read here for more.

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A Little Indian Philosophy 3 - Seeing the Light

Found an impressive videos on Youtube, from Petronas. It is self-explanatory...
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Little Indian Philosophy 2a - Doing Our Part

,,, continued from previous post
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My wise Indian neighbour gave me a further insight into Arjuna's confusion, she emailed me the following...
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"There was a lot of valid reasons why Arjuna was despondent...

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In olden times everyone lived together.. He was one of the best in archery trained and guided by the elders (his relatives) some of them who always wished him well.. they always paid due respect to the elders and held them in high esteem for their knowledge and wisdom and life's experiences.

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It was because of circumstances that those same elders who were paramount in his growth as a person and those who wished him well ended up on the Kauravas' side in the battle (Arjuna was on the Pandavas' side).
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Now that being said it was very difficult for him to kill his own kin in spite of the situation... and that is understandably so.. that's where the Bhagvad Gita comes in.. And Krishna talked to him at length about how one should operate with focus on a 'greater good' in life.. And that is the Bhagavad Gita.. thats what finally made Arjuna do what it took for the greater good.. be it killing your own kin or anything for that matter.

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It's very profound actually."

Past post: Little Indian Philosophy, Little Indian Philosophy 2 - Doing Our Part

Little Indian Philosophy 2 - Doing Our Part

Had this chat with a few Indians a few nights ago at a Roti Prata joint at Changi Village, in Singapore. This amid the warm tropical breeze with smell of curry in the open air.

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We were saying that as long as everyone do their part in the bigger process, then everything will be alright. This even extends to the soldier in a war. As the war has been decided and started, the role of the soldier is to fight, much as the role of the teacher is to teach. In the midst of war, the soldier cannot lay despondent. He will have to fight until the next stage of the process comes about. If he wouldn't have to fight, that would have been decided before the war, not during the war.

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In the Bhagavad Gita, it says that Ajuna was so despondent to have gone into the battlefield against his relatives, that he said that it was better for the enemy to kill him unarmed and unresisting on the battlefield, and so he cast aside his bow and arrows and sat down the chariot, his mind overwhelmed with grief. In confusion he started a long conversation with Krisna - a profound and interesting one moving on what I think are symbolic to the dilemmas we face in our lives.

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I shan't speak so much about the Gita now as I am still reading it and trying to understand it. May be more later. :)
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Past post: Little Indian Philosophy

Little Indian Philosophy

Went for a haircut in a charming barber shop in Little India and found some inspiring messages in a leaflet...

"Special message: the way God grants grace:
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Do not expect God to appear before us and help us upon our call.
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God will create circumstances and situations and lead our life in a pleasant way.
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'Circumstances' and 'situations' are not in our hands and it is there the God plays his role."
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