I realized that blogging should not be taken more seriously than ones capacity because today I saw more than decent responses even for the latest blog I was seriously embarassed about. So one can be oneself, or occassionally pointless or even foolish and not have serious readers snobbishly rejecting ones writings and mental fitness for meaningful thought.

I am at peace and there is no masala to complain about. So this blog is dedicated to, let me see, Swami Anubhavananda. Of course I am totally unfit to do justice to a personality like his, but if I can atleast cast some pointers I would be happy, for as I have already stated, I am at peace, and am in no mood to prove anything or complain about anything.

He is a Swamiji, the kinds who wear 'ochre' robes and who people generally distrust. He is a product of Chinmaya Mission, well atleast studied there and was also the Acharya or the principal of their Vedanta courses for a couple of batches in Bombay, and is now no longer with the Mission, and has no intention of starting his own or maintaining 'chelas'. 

What makes him different is his lack of interest in pleasing anyone, his clarity, his command of his subject making complicated things seem simple, his sharp wit and sarcasm which he says is not pernicious and is not, but for those lesser beings who do like to hear only good things from holy people he is not as wonderful as I make him out to be.

Yesterday I heard a CD of his in which he was lecturing on a topic 'What is Spirituality?'. Having heard too many lectures by too many people and not reflecting too much on them later, I was quite curious about what his take on the subject might be. (The lecture was addressed to students, so dont expect the deepest possible explanation, you know the kinds he would save for his Vedanta students, or other people he would think are qualified and interested in knowing the deepest and ultimate truth.) He just explained that spirituality is focussing attention on who is the self that is experiencing the different experiences of life, and trying to keep that in good shape. Of course the way I put it sounds trite, but the sense with which I am writing is quite wholesome. And he clarified that religion, philosophy and spirituality are 3 things that have nothing to do with each other. So people on the spiritual path, or those who want to walk on it, should not get lost in religion and its implications. Just put it on ignore mode like we do some friends we dont like on our various messengers (this he didnt say) and not get confused. He says radical things like these quite easily, religion by its nature is divisive and creates separation, I guess he meant the dualistic approach propogated by conventional religion but also added, that the kind of fights that happen in the world because of religion, no other thing has come even close. This coming from a Swamiji is wonderful to the sensibility! Just to complete the contrast, he explained that philosophy is 'delayed wisdom' - the kind of understanding you gain after you have made mistakes in life is philosophy:) But spirituality is living with a dynamic, creative approach to life, in which you function with a clear understanding of your identity, without getting lost in the relativity of situations. You know, focus on keeping the mind healthy, and live happily. The only way to be happy is to start being happy, just like the only way to learn swimming is to get into the water and start trying to swim, just going for theory classes and practising on one's carpet will not help!

I am sure the way I have written it is not wonderful, and hardly come close to the scope of his explanation, so I will give links to his website so that I dont feel wholly responsible for belittling him.

http://www.behappyinc.org/

He also has a blog not maintained by him.

http://blogs.justbehappy.org/

Enjoy:)