The tower had collapsed. All the hard work done by everyone involved was now useless. The king was furious. My vision of building the tower that will take me to the moon has been destroyed he thought. He had to find a scapegoat.
You workers did not do a good job of construction! roared the king. But sire we are the best and the most passionate workers in the entire kingdom said the workers. How can we mess up the best work we ever got? May be the problem was with the material we used. But oh king I imported the best material in the world from the neighboring kingdom. May be the problem was with the mixture created to hold the material together. No that can never happen I used the best techniques to verify that everything was right. May be the problem was with the guards who did not guard the material right. Well, we have served the kingdom even at the cost of our lives. How can we do such a thing? May be the architecture of the tower was not right? The architecture was the best that could ever be. You can check with anyone in this world. May be the problem was the ground that was chosen to build the tower. But that is the hardest ground in the entire world and we have treated it likewise. May be the problem was with the feasibility study that we did. We did the best study based on the data available to us. We also did a new discovery on the way that people find it difficult to breathe after reaching higher altitudes.
All of this was true thought the king. So where was the problem? Then one citizen got up and said may be the root thought of building a tower to the moon was wrong in the first place.
- Root thought is like the foundation of a building.
- If the root is incorrect any thing built on top of it will fall.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Root I: Getting to the root
The Vindhya range geographically separates the country into northern and southern part. The two villages at the foot hills of the Vindhya, one on the north and other to the south, have been inhabited from times immemorial. They have been friends, enemies and rivals at different points in time in the history.
Today the villagers like to talk about the golden past. One story that is often repeated is that of a hero who despite all odds defeated a demon with infinite heads. As in all the stories the hero cared for the people while the demon troubled everyone. But the catch was that the hero had finally killed the demon, when the demon had kept its weapons aside and was drinking water. We heard this story from several people and each of them had a different interpretation of it.
Interpretation 1
Demon troubled everyone. It's fair to kill the demon in any manner. The hero was from our village. The demon was from the other village.
Interpretation 2
Hero defeated the demon in an unjust manner. The hero (who is actually the demon) was from the other village. The demon (who is actually the hero) was from our village.
Interpretation 3
This was just a story to show the contemporary world of the win of good over evil. Look at our contribution to the world. Such nice literature.
Interpretation 4
Don't believe in the story. It does not hold in today's world.
Interpretation 5
Who cares? See the state of our villages today. We like to live in the past and that is responsible for our downfall.
Interpretation 6
Let's use the principles of this story to make progress. If we could do it in those times then we can do it now.
For the next few days we were intensely debating on what was the right interpretation. Based on the features of the demon we can identify the village one said. But the village that was powerful at that time might have changed the story said the other. Demon had to be killed to bring peace to the society said one. But unjust killing is not right said the other. Good won over evil said one. Hero was as bad as the demon. Look at the way the hero killed the demon said the other. It was a never ending debate.
With our discussions in full flow we entered a dimly lit hut where we were invited for dinner. An old woman was cooking on a cook stove (chulah). We had not noticed any of it as we were engrossed in our discussions.
As the dinner was served the old woman asked us a few questions.
1. Can the hero still be a hero for everyone although he had committed the sin of killing? No way we said. A hero should always do all things in the right way.
2. Can the story be a win of good over evil for everyone? No way we said. Hero was worse than the demon at the time of killing.
3. Can the story hold good for everyone today? No way we said, there are too many differences in opinion even among us.
And then in a very low voice she thundered. What if the hero and the demon were one and the same person? What if hero represented the good thoughts of the person and the demon represented the bad thoughts that keep arising no matter how many times you try to kill them? What if the story is a struggle of that one person to cleanse the internals?
Then how does it matter if good thoughts kill the bad thoughts in any manner? Isn't the story good for all now? We did not have any answer.
Messages presented in this post:
- Stop looking externally. Turn inward.
- Simplifying will take you to the root. Going to the root will simplify.
- Going to the root is like peeling the layers of onion.
- Root is the foundation on which other layers are built.
Today the villagers like to talk about the golden past. One story that is often repeated is that of a hero who despite all odds defeated a demon with infinite heads. As in all the stories the hero cared for the people while the demon troubled everyone. But the catch was that the hero had finally killed the demon, when the demon had kept its weapons aside and was drinking water. We heard this story from several people and each of them had a different interpretation of it.
Interpretation 1
Demon troubled everyone. It's fair to kill the demon in any manner. The hero was from our village. The demon was from the other village.
Interpretation 2
Hero defeated the demon in an unjust manner. The hero (who is actually the demon) was from the other village. The demon (who is actually the hero) was from our village.
Interpretation 3
This was just a story to show the contemporary world of the win of good over evil. Look at our contribution to the world. Such nice literature.
Interpretation 4
Don't believe in the story. It does not hold in today's world.
Interpretation 5
Who cares? See the state of our villages today. We like to live in the past and that is responsible for our downfall.
Interpretation 6
Let's use the principles of this story to make progress. If we could do it in those times then we can do it now.
For the next few days we were intensely debating on what was the right interpretation. Based on the features of the demon we can identify the village one said. But the village that was powerful at that time might have changed the story said the other. Demon had to be killed to bring peace to the society said one. But unjust killing is not right said the other. Good won over evil said one. Hero was as bad as the demon. Look at the way the hero killed the demon said the other. It was a never ending debate.
With our discussions in full flow we entered a dimly lit hut where we were invited for dinner. An old woman was cooking on a cook stove (chulah). We had not noticed any of it as we were engrossed in our discussions.
As the dinner was served the old woman asked us a few questions.
1. Can the hero still be a hero for everyone although he had committed the sin of killing? No way we said. A hero should always do all things in the right way.
2. Can the story be a win of good over evil for everyone? No way we said. Hero was worse than the demon at the time of killing.
3. Can the story hold good for everyone today? No way we said, there are too many differences in opinion even among us.
And then in a very low voice she thundered. What if the hero and the demon were one and the same person? What if hero represented the good thoughts of the person and the demon represented the bad thoughts that keep arising no matter how many times you try to kill them? What if the story is a struggle of that one person to cleanse the internals?
Then how does it matter if good thoughts kill the bad thoughts in any manner? Isn't the story good for all now? We did not have any answer.
Messages presented in this post:
- Stop looking externally. Turn inward.
- Simplifying will take you to the root. Going to the root will simplify.
- Going to the root is like peeling the layers of onion.
- Root is the foundation on which other layers are built.
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