Friday 29 December 2023

" Our effort to fit into the value system is consuming a tremendous amount of energy. " - UG




Human journey is all about negotiating the 'biological' and the 'mental' worlds. 

The tremendous biological apparatus with its built-in hardware, software and 'flash memory' ( the components of 'animal cybernetics') has the capability to deal with any physical functioning and survival challenges. 

No wonder humans can thrive anywhere and everywhere - snowy mountains or dark caves, wild jungles, dry deserts or remotest islands. Yes, handling physical threats or challenges for the body is relatively a simple affair.

Mental journey, on the other hand, is a lifelong journey of 'compliance.'

Complying with the incompatible, the unnatural 'cultural norms' or fitting into society or the value system is an exhausting journey. 

The family and its logical extension, the society form the very basis of this rich 'mental world.' 

The idea of 'family' is central or core to our day to day existence. Together with its patron society, it places never ending psychological demands, duties, obligations and  exhausting responsibilities. 

The social challenges of acceptance, compliance or compatibility are all in the doamin of the 'mental' and cause huge amounts of friction guzzling huge amounts of energy and biological resources, leaving us drained, dazed and exhausted.  

UG makes us see this reality here in its simplest and most naked form.

Thursday 21 December 2023

" The question HOW is adding momentum to knowledge...You are a product of that momentum. " - UG



UG narrows down the scope of self-inquiry, strips it down to the nuts and bolts of self-formation, self-sustenance or self-continuity.
UG tears apart the needless complexity or abstraction surrounding the 'self' and calls into question the deep-rooted cultural mechanism behind the build-up of the 'self'.
Our knowledge-based, knowledge-driven psychological existence is exposed or revealed with these four pithy statements:
One, " 'Self' is nothing but 'the movement of knowledge' "
Two, " Experience strengthens knowledge and knowledge strengthens experience"
Three, " 'You' as you know yourself is a product of the momentum of that knowledge passed on to us "
and
Four, " The 'How' adds momentum to the acquired and accumulated knowledge passed on to us.

Who we are, or who we become is the work of culture. Like cattle branding, cultural branding is a proof of ownership. With its humungous repository of knowledge culture molds, shapes and owns Rama or Radha, Saif or Sarah, John or Jane.

Tuesday 19 December 2023

" The Mind Is Interested Only In Sensuality " - UG



Every moment there is craving for some experience or the other. It is the most direct and immediate form of 'self'-validation and 'self'-continuity. Our only insurance against self-doubt or uncertainty.

UG points out that craving in any form - intellectual or religious, corporal or social promotes sensuality.

Sensuality or pleasure of experience 'simulates' the 'self' or the psychological beast while sensation 'stimulates' the biological beast to act for survival.

Friday 8 December 2023

" The demand to change is born of your isolation " - UG



Unlike rest of creation, humans are culturally programmed and forced to bear the 'cross' of an artificial 'identity' or a societal 'badge'.
There is a premium on the 'badge'. More shiny the 'badge', more the recognition, repute and reward.
Given this societal construct and lure, comparison and competition become inevitable, performance is judged at every level, making life increasingly stressful.
UG's 'back to basics' exhoratations highlight the absurdity of becoming someone. He boots out the cultural complexity, the burden of pretension, releasing tonnes of bottled up energy to help us lead simple, uncomplicated, beautiful lives.

Thursday 30 November 2023

" My path can never be your path " - UG



The real guru or the sage frees you from himself. He refuses to become a puppet of those who receive his wisdom and benefit from it.


It takes real guts and gumption not to succumb to sentiments of gratitude, adulation and affection that could easily sway and enslave an ordinary, attention-seeking, crowd-gathering guru who actually ends up as a follower (puppet) of his own followers, dancing to their tunes.

UG rejected reputation and following, a rare individual who walked the talk.

Thursday 16 November 2023

" If you try to copy them (models), you are lost..." - UG



With UG, all man-made models lost their meanings. He made us breathe freedom, freedom from vicious clutches of imposed models and goals.

He made us realise how societal impositions and goals could become addictive, burdensome and debilitating.

Thursday 2 November 2023

" Religious thinking has no answers for our problems today." - UG





UG emphasised that the so called solutions have created problems in every walk of life. Solutions that are inadequate, incomplete propogate more problems.


On the otherhand, UG laid emphasis on technology as the hope for many of our stubborn problems. Technology and not Politics, nor Religion holds the key for overcoming many of our problems.

The prudent application of frontier technologies like the AI, ML, IoT, Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, 3 D Printing, 5G Networks, Blockchain, Bio Synthesis etc. could drive innovations that could 'provide more with less' and solve the nagging problems of hunger, nutrition, education, health, medicare etc through their phenomenal reach, access and affordability.

Agri Tech, Food Tech, Process Tech, Precision Agriculture, EduTech Bio Tech, Med Tech, Pharma Tech etc. are indeed game changers that need to become part of the curiculum and pedagogy of every school and university.

" You have to live in this world " - UG

Many of us deem 'enlightenment' as the silver bullet, the cure-all, the ultimate panacea for  all our mundane problems or the proble...