Character Building

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam:

Observation is the ability to look closely at situations, objects, people, or self and find details. It is a skill that can be developed. We all know good observers who say, "Did you see (hear) that?" when we missed the entire thing. (At least this happens to me.) The opposite is inattentiveness, where we don't really notice much.

Personally, I have discovered that its really related to the amount of talk one does, whether mental or with others. The more silent, the better the inner watcher is. I can still go to malls and sit and watch. In Mauritius, Boss and I would sit on the beach or at a temple and just watch. Amazing what you can see.

Certainly I admire others with this character trait. It helps a lot in the understanding of individuals and circumstances.

Aum Namasivaya

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam:

Orderliness is the ability to stay orgnized, whether it is with time, or with things. An orderly person has a neat shop, garage, or kitchen, whereas a disorderly person has the opposite. An orderly person gets things done while the opposite type spends a lot of time thinking about what to do next.

Personally, I found it easier when I worked, because somebody else, namely the schedule, an external influence, helped. Now that I'm retired it doesn't matter so much. So I have to use more will because there is no time schedule. I'm working on it. But it takes will, which is a key for this one, perhaps all of them.

If you rely on a disorganised person to do things for you, like if you ask a small favor, after awhile you just don't bother asking, because you've learned that that person can't be trusted even with small things.

I have two thoughts on these character traits, something akin to Believer's personal thoughts. One is the ego saying, "This is too simple for me. I want high philosophy. Who cares about these simple things?" Well, I disagree with this view. It's precisely the simple things we need to be working on some days. Being on time to our sadhana, being kind. This stuff is the prerequisite for intuition to work, for dharma to be lived. If a soul doesn't have these basics, well.. go figure. Let's bounce hither thither. because we don't have a well balanced home base of common sense.

At a satsang in Mauritius, we went around the room, and each person of 20 people there spoke about how easy or difficult applying a particular character trait was. Nobody in that group thought this stuff was 'below' them.

I remember a childhood friend of mine meeting my Guru some 30 years ago. Gurudeva often read people and gave personal instruction. My friend wasn't a clean person. He figured he only needed to bath a couple of times a week. For some reason he hadn't learned basic hygiene. He could discuss philosophy, was well read, had a keen intellect, and did well in school. Last time I heard he was really into chess. So guess what? Gurudeva's instructions were to have a shower once a day. Well, my friend rebelled at the thought. His ego wouldn't allow it. "Nobody's telling me what to do." The irony was that he was only there in the first place to impress a certain girl, and the instructions would have helped him out with that too.

The other thought is how quickly this kind of stuff is seen as rules by the western mind. Rules? Who needs more rules? Well, sorry, Hinduism isn't about rules. Its about guidelines. So if you're going to react to suggestions on how to live with rebellion to rules, well, we don't have much more to say, do we?

Sorry for the rant.

Aum Namasivaya

[ShivaFan]

Namaste Eastern Mind

QUOTE EM: "Orderliness is the ability to stay orgnized, whether it is with time, or with things. An orderly person has a neat shop, garage ..."

You have inspired me to clean up my garage (I have been out there this morning doing so!), my garage is a slob and mess of power tools and hand tools, nails, screws, bikes, boxes, old shoes, old clothes (including old saris hanging on metal hanger racks that roll), canned vegetables, bird seed, peanuts in the shell (for me!), jars of all sorts of Indian spices, huh... it's bad. Real bad. Not to speak of the water heater, and the washer and dryer which take up one corner and really are the only things neat and clean thanks to my wife.

I am a failure in garage orderliness.

But I am starting today to change myself, in fact - I had this super happy moment, when, while trying to get control of the mess, I was listening to something on the satellite radio by someone I believe called Mishra Vyas, and suddenly I had this super happy lighting bolt go all over me and around me. Seriously, I was very happy. But I am pretty happy anyways, but this was super happy.

I am inspired to become more orderly!

Om Namah Sivaya

[ShivaFan]

... I should add to that, dumping things. Throwing away things. It is really liberating actually, almost "religious". Throw away this things from the past!

[Eastern Mind]

... I should add to that, dumping things. Throwing away things. It is really liberating actually, almost "religious". Throw away this things from the past!

Vannakkam: Thanks for the funny posts. I'm not a hoarder, either, but I give credit to my father, not my religion. He was an extraordinary minimalist. But yes, I like to get rid of old things ... from the mind too. Nostalgia is a thing for me. Like some old used car that hasn't run for 20 years, rusting away in my back yard. Don't most Gurus talk about living in the present?

Aum Namasivaya

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namast�



Character building (sthāpatya svabhāva)


IMHO I am not fond of ~building~ per se, but think character building is that of unfoldment. The same way a statue is relvealed by the sculptor, he chips away all the pieces of the rock that is not the final piece of work. It suggest the statue was always there , in its fullness,it just needed to be revealed... a process of elimination vs. addition.



I am of the firm belief we too as humans are the rock and stone... and we need to chip away at all that is really not us. This by default ~builds~ the character that is really us.





iti śivaṁ

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam Yajvan: Yes I agree. That is an excellent way to view it... ridding oneself of the dross. Either way, you end at the same place.

Aum Namasivaya

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam:

Patience is the ability to remain calm during trying circumstances like flight delays, long-winded explanations by people, watching kids, waiting for one's own effects of sadhana to happen, etc.

The opposite is freaking out over little things. The cashier's machine breaks down, there is a traffic jam, and you go all ballistic.

I think most of us value this. Reflecting on our teenage years, I so admire my parents now. I think its either age, or a growth personally, but I feel more patient than I used to. It seems I don't get upset much, or it takes more to get me upset. I also think it takes practice. The other day we had a nasty snowstorm here, I had to pick my daughter up at the airport, but traffic wasn't moving at all. I spent about 3 hours to go a kilometer. Good time to practise some Sanskrit, which is what I did for some of it.

Any hints for cultivating it? Any techniques?

One thing that works for this personality I'm inhabiting is to keep a log of stuff. Like if I want to practice something, keep track. I don't know why, but it works for me. Another thing is to rarely bite off more than I can chew.

Aum Namasivyaa