Instinctive decisions

Instinctive decisions can cost a lot, whether its suddenly buying something expensive, booking Movie tickets online just because you wanted to try out a new app, or an imaginative thought leading to some instinctive decision making.

I got to be watchful and mindful of these tendencies as I observe this tendency in me during the past week
downloaded bookmyshow app and ended up booking tickets to watch tintin 3d, it was'nt planned but happened in the spur of the moment.

The ego : ahamkara

The ego still has lot of issues with it. It just realized that it has no right whatsoever with whomsoever in future to criticize.

It has the tendency to behave instinctively if the opportunity presents itself.

Beware ! You may have very high regards about yourself and strong beliefs about yourself and what you stand for. This you is the ego or the Ahamkara in Sanskrit.

Given the opportunity the instinctive mind can "take over" your system. This taking over is what is termed as lack of self control in English. The soul inhabits the human body in this life time. After living through many many bodies of various species this body has been awarded to it governed by karma for further evolution. Due to this living in so many lives in animal bodies the basic instinctive tendencies which are : desire for food, attraction to opposite sex, shelter, fear of unknown or darkness is very much prevalent in it. It's these tendencies that are extremely hard to overcome not as a repression but through understanding.

Observing ones ego at all times reveals just how much the mind seeks pleasure and tries aversion from pain in day to day life

Detachment from the ego

As mentioned by Patanjali, ego is when seer identifies himself with the instrument of seeing.
The practice of observation and contemplating in the 'I am not this'  detaches oneself quite well. The first observation which I had when I tried this today is the ego ofcourse.

• I am not this which fears the unknown.
• I am not this which gets irritated if someone is not doing what they are supposed to do properly, whether its attending an important call or not attending it.
• I am not this which gets upset if people take things for granted.
• I am not this which fears loss of career advancement
• I am not this which resents someones attitude
• I am not this which likes to deliver the best.
• I am not this which thinks its doing good.
• I am not this which watches favorite TV shows.
• I am not this which relishes in blogging such thoughts.

Thanks Ramakrishnanada for the beautiful podcasts. Its so clear to me now the underlying human qualities are all the same. Aversion from pain and attachment to pleasure.

Mark zuckerberg

One thing I have observed about Facebook, whether it's features or the way they provide help for common questions and the way they approach problem solving : one thing is evident : in everything he / Facebook does try never lose sight of the goal in mind and they carve a simple solution to complex problems. Be it a user list, like status, friend suggestions, simple messages, chat windows, wall subscriptions, notifications etc. They just know how to find an area of the screen to craft a solution to the users needs.

Whoever is working on these in Facebook whether its mark zuckerberg himself or his colleagues from Harvard, Stanford or Berkeley : they have a fine sense of attention to detail without getting bogged down by details. They probably are doing this by focussing on one problem at a time and crafting the solution for the same in the present. 

It's just a matter of ' Looking ' deeply into the problem, in such a way that the solution shows up by itself.

Nobody has been able to give a good user experience and user interface as classy as Facebook. Google+ interface didn't amaze me at all. Twitter is ok but addresses a different need altogether.

Much can be achieved in the external world with a good observation coupled by willpower.

The Mind and its Ramifications

I've been observing my mind over past 2 days. It does exactly what patanjali discovered & mentioned in his yoga sutras.

1. Seek pleasure
2. Aversion from pain

Either one of the above leads to the opposite feeling. Continuous seeking for pleasure makes the mind ramified. As the mind tries to seek satisfaction fails in every attempt, contentment is lost. Lack of contentment leads to pain.

Aversion from pain, if there is a job which the mind doesn't enjoy doing : it postpones the same. This is a temporary escape and aversion from pain. Temporary because eventually the more you try to escape from pain, the more it haunts you.

Patanjali says do not get attached to pleasure or avert from pain, but observe the mind on how it reacts on both situations. Observe, observe, observe.

My guru says when you begin to stop thinking and start knowing you are in a state of meditative contemplation. This knowing is what is carried forward life after life across reincarnations. This knowing is what makes the old souls different from the young.

Aum Namah Sivaya