Mother Poem based on Jeevan vidya in Hindi & English

Birth - Death

Birth and death are two important events in life. Both are necessary for every human being.
All of us here right now have already taken birth. Death eventually will also come to everyone. So many births and deaths are seen happening in the world every day.
Now that we already born, there is nothing we had to do for it. And since it is impossible to prevent death, there is nothing we need to do for that either.
When, where and in what way the death may come to anyone, nobody will ever know. Death can come to anyone, at any time, at any place, and in many different ways. Birth and death are both inevitable events. Such is the law of nature.

Existence in itself is only auspicious. Every event that takes place in the existence is an expression of auspiciousness. Therefore, death must also be an auspicious event.
People have all along come to see birth as auspicious, but no one is yet prepared to see death as something auspicious. Since birth and death are mutually complimentary, both must logically be equally auspicious.
When a person's age approaches hundred years, death is generally accepted much more readily. Nevertheless, the news of even such a death is considered as sad one, implying that the family has lost something precious.
Death at a relatively younger age is considered inauspicious by everybody. Yet the possibility of anybody dying always exists. There is a common deep-rooted belief that the body must stay healthy up to the age of hundred. But beliefs are one thing and the reality is something else.
Keeping the ailing body alive by any means does not appear to serve any purpose. The thing to remember is to take good care of the body and make the best use of it as long as it lives. Therefore, rather than worrying about how much longer one lives, it would be more meaningful to take care of the body so that it remains fit to fulfill its purpose of being here.
With this perspective, when I look at my own life, I find myself thinking,
(a) How do I make the best use of my body's remaining time on earth?
(b) How do I take good care of this body during this period?
The real meaning of the second objective lies in the fulfillment of the first. It is meaningless to worry about the well being of the body while paying no attention to fulfilling its purpose. Thus taking care of the body makes sense only when it can be utilized for its intended purpose.
I am a human being. My main purpose in life is to know the truth and teach it to others. Therefore, I make the best use of this body when:
(1) I constantly keep on studying to quench my innate thirst for knowledge of reality,
(2) I express, share with others, and live my life according to that understanding,
(3) And keep my body fit for achieving the above goals.
Just as birth, death is also an inevitable event for all humans. Everybody appears to know this truth and only to remind us of this fact death of someone or the other keeps happening everyday around us. We ourselves talk about such happenings from time to time. At such occasions, people often reflect on their own lives and realize the futility of many of their deeds and emotions. But soon they forget all this and revert back to their old way of living. One person once said to his brother while cremating the dead body of a loved one on the bank of Yamuna, "I have been to these cremation grounds hundreds of times before. When I am here I constantly think what this life is all about; but as soon as I leave this place, I forget and start to live my life, as if nothing has happened." We can all relate to having similar experiences ourselves.
We remain speechless about those who cast their bodies and leave us and after expressing our grief only for a short while we go back to our business as usual. Seeing this time and time again, many saints and wise men have repeatedly exhorted us to always remember that death may come to anybody at any time. They often wondered why people, even after seeing many such dreadful instances, continue to behave as if nothing will ever happen to them.
Of course the question then arises as to what is the use of remembering such painful experiences anyway? Should people keep on dwelling on such dreadful events as death? And should they keep on crying and feeling helpless and miserable all the time? This, of course, is not what we are to do. We are here to live our lives so as to best express the innate beauty of the life within us in all our daily activities.
……From the diary of late Sri Yashpal Satyaji
Translated by Jaipal Rathi

जनम-मरण

जनम और मरण आदमी के लिए दो घटनाएँ हैं | ये दोनों घटनाएँ हर आदमी के लिए जरूरी है | जितने भी आदमी हैं उन सब का जन्म तो हो ही चुका है | उन सबका मरण भी होगा ही | संसार में बहुत सारे जनम और मरण नित्य होते रहते हैं |

हमारा जन्म हो ही चुका है | इसके बारे में हमें कुछ करना-धरना नहीं है | मरण न हो ऐसा हो नहीं सकता इसलिए मरण न होने के लिए भी कुछ करना-धरना नहीं है |

मरण कब, कहाँ और किस तरह होगा इसके बारे में कोई जानकारी मानव परंपरा में अभी नहीं है | किसी भी पल किसी भी जगह पर किसी भी प्रकार से किसी का भी मरण हो सकता है | जन्म और मरण दोनों ही निश्चित घटनाएँ है | ऐसा ही प्रकृति का नियम है |

अस्तित्व स्वयं शुभ ही है | अस्तित्व में होने वाली हर घटना शुभ का ही प्रकाशन है | इसलिए मनुष्यों का मरण भी शुभ ही घटनाएँ हैं |

जन्म को तो मनुष्य शुभ मानते ही आए परन्तु मरण को शुभ मानने को तैयार नहीं हैं | जन्म-मरण तो परस्पर पूरक हैं अतः दोनों ही शुभ है |
शरीर की आयु सौ साल के आस-पास हो जाए तो मरण की स्वीकृति सी लगती है फिर भी ऐसे मरण की सूचना भी "शोक सन्देश" के रूप में दी जाती है तथा कहा जाता है कि इस मरण से परिवार और समाज ने कुछ खो दिया है |

शरीर की आयु सौ साल से काफी कम होने पर मरण हो जाने को सभी अशुभ मानते हैं | आजकल किसी भी आयु में किसी के भी मरने की संभावना बनी ही रहती है | उधर मनुष्यों में यह मान्यता गहरी बनी हुई है कि सौ साल तक शरीर का स्वास्थ्य बना रहना ही उचित है | मान्यताएं अपनी जगह हैं और घटनाएं अपनी जगह |

रोगी शरीर को केवल केवल जिन्दा बनाए रखना तो कोई कार्यक्रम नहीं हुआ | विचार करने का मुद्दा यह है कि जब तक शरीर बना हुआ है तब तक इसका सदुपयोग और इसकी सम्भाल कैसे की जाए ? अतः कितनी आयु शेष है के बजाए यदि यह विचार करें कि जो भी आयु शेष है उसका पूरा-पूरा सदुपयोग किया जाए और तब तक शरीर का उपयुक्त पोषण और संरक्षण किया जाए तो सार्थकता है |

इस दृष्टि से अपने बार में विचार करता हूँ तो-
(क) मेरे शरीर की शेष आयु का सदुपयोग कैसे हो ?
(ख) इस दौरान शरीर की सार-सम्भाल कैसे हो ?
पहले बिंदु की पूरकता में ही दूसरे बिंदु की सार्थकता है | शरीर की केवल देख-रेख होती रहे और कोई सदुपयोग न हो ये बेकार की बात है | शरीर का सदुपयोग होता रहे इसके लिए उसकी देखभाल जरूरी है |

मैं मनुष्य हूँ | वास्तविकता को समझना व समझाना ही मेरा मुख्या कार्य है | अतः सदुपयोगिता के रूप में यही निकालता है कि-
(१) जो जिज्ञासा है उसे तृप्त करने के लिए अध्ययन करता रहूँ तथा
(२) जो समझ में आ गया है उसका प्रकाशन करता रहूँ, व्याख्या करता रहूँ और उसके अनुसार जीता रहूँ |
(३) उपरोक्त कार्य के लिए शरीर की श्रेष्ठतम स्थिति बनाकर रखूँ |

जन्म की तरह मरण भी सभी मनुष्यों के लिए जरूरी घटना है इस सच्चाई को सभी जानते हैं और इसकी याद दिलाने के लिए रोज हमारे चारों तरफ किसी न किसी के साथ मरण की घटना घटित होती रहती है | हम सब तरह-तरह से इन घटनाओं को वर्णन भी करते रहते हैं | इन अवसरों पर प्रायः मनुष्य अपने-अपने कार्यों और भावनाओं का अवलोकन भी करते हैं तथा उनकी निरर्थकता को मानते हैं परन्तु शीघ्र ही पूर्ववत जीने लगते हैं | एक भाई ने एक बार यमुना किनारे चिता जलाते हुए कहा था कि मैं सैकड़ो बार शमशान घाट आ चुका हूँ | यहाँ आकर बहुत कुछ सोचता हूँ परन्तु लौटते समय ऊपर सड़क पर पहुँचते ही पूर्ववत ही जीने लगता हूँ | इसी से मिलती जुलती घटनाएँ सबके साथ बितती रहती है |

जिनका शरीर छूट जाता है उनके बारे में हम कुछ कह नहीं पाते हैं जो रह जाते हैं वो थोड़ी देर के लिए अफसोस करके पूर्ववत हो जाते हैं |

अनेक संतों और विद्वानों ने इन घटनाओं के आधार पर विभिन्न प्रकार से मनुष्यों को चेतावनी भी दी है | और किसी क्षण भी मरण हो सकता है इसको याद रखने के लिए आग्रह किया है आश्चर्य भी प्रकट किया है कि क्यों मनुष्य मरण को देखकर भी अनदेखा करते जाते हैं |

प्रश्न यही उठता है कि याद करके भी क्या करें ? क्या मौत के दिन जैसा सन्नाटा बना कर रखें ? क्या निरंतर रोते और पछताते ही रहें ? ऐसा तो हो नहीं सकता | कार्य तो हमको जीने के लिए और जीवन को अभिव्यक्त करने के लिए ही करने हैं |

श्रद्धेय स्व० यशपाल सत्य जी की डायरी से

Do flowers Fly?

WORK AND COMFORT by Late Y. S. Satya

WORK AND COMFORT

Y.S. Satya, CES, IIT, Delhi

Context

Place: a classroom in IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Delhi, India

Time: 3-4pm

Activity: 1^st tutorial exercise of EEE (Environment, Ecology and Energy) class, a discussion

Objective:

1. Clarification of certain ideas,

2. Maitri (friendship) between students and teacher

Topic: Progress

A Dialogue

Student: Man has made so much progress

Teacher: What is progress?

Student: More comforts

Teacher: What is comfort?

Student: We want to do less work

Teacher: Comforts refer to our body

Student: Yes

Teacher: That means keeping the body fit

Student: Yes

Teacher: How can the body remain fit? For this, fresh water and air are required. Proper temperature, humidity, pressure, light, sound and airflow are also needed. This is ENVIRONMENT. Flowers, butterflies, chirping birds, trees and animals also help keep our body fit. This is ECOLOGY. We also need nutrition for growing and maintaining our body. This is ENERGY. Thus, fresh environment, rich ecology and bountiful energy are, of course, required. To keep the body fit we also need to do work. What work?

Student: Work to strain our body muscles e.g. exercise and games

Teacher: Yes, so that our muscles remain active and do not degenerate. Let us think of some experiments. Suppose you are asked to lift a stone, take it there, bring it back and so on, just strain your muscles. How long can you do it? How much do you like it?

Think of another activity, which gives enough strain to our body and also is Meaningful and Creative. Will you like to do such a work? How much? How long?

Obviously, we like to do meaningful work. We don’t want to do useless work. Meaningful work we like to do more and more. In fact, continuously. The only limitation is our body strength it gets tired. It needs rest. Okay, we take rest, we sit, lie down, and sleep. Once the rest is complete, we again continue doing meaningful work. How long? Forever. In fact that is what we want to do. Only meaningful work.

This also defines the fitness of the body. A body is fit as long as it is useful for a meaningful work. It is unfit if we cannot use it for meaningful work. Without this meaningful work, “Keeping the body fit” cannot be defined.

In conclusion, it turns out that we want to do more and more work; we take rest only due to body limitation. A healthier body means the capacity to do more work.

Nobody wants to do less work. Less work implies either the body is not fit or we do not find meaning in work. Let us think of another experiment. In good health and fresh mood, take a day’s leave and decide to do No Work. Just don’t do anything. Say to yourself, “I want less and less work, doing less work is comfort. Let me do no work today”, that is, let me to remain most comfortable.

This experiment will reveal that no healthy and fresh person wants to do NO WORK, nor wants to do meaningless work without interest. Therefore it is a misconception that progress and comfort implies doing less work. In fact PROGRESS could and should only mean doing more and more meaningful work. What is the MEANINGFUL WORK? Yes, that is THE QUESTION? And this has nothing to do with physical comfort. In fact, physical comfort and in turn, body fitness and for that clean environment, flourishing ecology and rich earth (energy) could be defined only if the above question is correctly answered.

Obviously this question does not pertain to physical body only. The work MEANINGFUL refers to the human mind. We shall call it Jivan (self) because the word mind is not sufficient. Mind of course is included in Jivan (self).

Thus, Jivan needs the MEANING. It explores meaning in harmonious evolution for the entire nature including all human community.

There are these five meaningful questions:

1. How can I, as an individual, remain continuously satisfied, full of happiness and enthusiasm?
2. How can I be well behaved and responsible in my family? How can my family be always rich (Prosperous) and loving?
3. How can my family and I participate in National Affairs? How can this entire world remain problem free and full of happiness for all?
4. All these animals, plants, insects, water, air, soil, etc. (Nature) can be bountiful and beautiful?
5. What is this entire existence (Astitwa)? What is this purpose and meaning in it (Prayojan)? How is this achieved? How do I relate to all this? Do I have any real freedom? What for and in what form?

All these five types of questions have to find mutually consistent and complementary answers.

All the students went into deep thought and left for the next class as the time for class was over.

Methodology in Education

- Understanding, learning and doing (implementation and practice)

- Not emphasizing the question of ‘how’ to do (DOING aspects) but proposing to encourage to explore/investigate to know ‘why’ & ‘what-is’ (BEING aspects).

- The process is one of self-exploration and self-investigation, rather than giving lectures or stating dos & don'ts. Whatever is found to be a reality may be stated as a proposal and students must be able to verify it in his/her own right.

- This process of self-exploration/investigation takes the form of a dialogue between the teacher & students. This process is ultimately to ensure resolved thoughts of one's own (rather than imposed thoughts) and living without conflicts/contradictions

- To encourage children to look within. The emphasis is on authenticity while encouraging self-exploration and self-investigation for child’s originality.

- Acknowledging what children already know- Learning from what children already know about the topic and build upon their knowledge. Examine various dimensions and angles from which the topics can be explored)

- Teaching through the local context:

§ Choosing topics from the children’s daily life – both cultural (e.g. festivals, customs, lifestyle, methods of cooking and food habits, manner of farming etc.) and physical (trees and shrubs, local crops, a busy street or a market place, any local issue, home, school etc.)

§ Integration of subjects: Teacher weaves in the subjects rather than teach subjects and then apply it to real life situations. Understand real life and bring in the required subject whenever needed.

§ Teachers create the space for discussing socially and environmentally relevant issues with the children. The discussions give an opportunity for debates, listening, speaking, articulating, questioning and writing. Teachers can provide reading materials to enhance the level of discussion

§ The children learn through real life situations by formulating and asking questions, interviewing people, documenting, collecting information, seeking out knowledge from observations, examining patterns in situations and learning from them. Students develop strong communication and listening skills in the process.

§ The teacher’s role is more that of a facilitator and co-learner. The teacher needs to be aware of where & how he/she weaves in the subjects in the process.

Teacher and Teaching/Learning in Education

- The role of a teacher as a facilitator: Teaching and learning are inseparable. The teacher and child may learn different dimensions or they may learn the same thing but they both learn.

- Effective Communication- The process of communication differs from speaker and listener. The process of communication of the speaker moves from reality to meaning to word (speaker), while the listener moves from word to meaning to reality (the listener). There is a need to recognize the importance of listening in teaching/learning. Understanding and agreeing – are distinct from each other. Understanding is the most important aspect of education, not agreeing and disagreeing.

- The difference between seeing and observing; between hearing and listening; between talking and communicating. The importance of noticing (paying attention) in learning, seeing and observing: the difference lies in noticing (paying attention). The teachers role is to draw students attention to reality

- Observing how education leads to imitation and (hidden) assumptions about who and what is ‘forward’, who and what is ‘developed’ and who and what is ‘backward’ etc. symbols.

- Investigating how textbooks create myths and assumptions in a hidden manner

- Importance of teaching from reality (which the child knows already) to meaning to word (that she/he is familiar with) and finally the alphabet.