Our Work in this Life

In honour of Swami Vivekananda, one of the greatest monks of India. I thought about him last night and it turns out that today is his 150th birthday.

Profound Yogic 'food for thought',
the following is an excerpt from the first book of Swami Vivekananda's teachings. It is about karma yoga, service and our work in this life. It is interesting because it completely turns the tables on what may be seen as achievement and is a helpful reminder to us to focus on living from our own hearts, in non-attachment, rather than perhaps comparing ourselves with others, especially in the area of spiritual work:

"... those who want to be Karma-Yogis must throw this idea of duty overboard. There is no duty for you and me. Whatever you have to give the world, do give by all means, but not as a duty. Do not take any thought of that. Be not compelled. Why should you be compelled? Everything that you do under compulsion goes to build up attachment. Resign everything unto God. In this tremendous fiery furnace where the fire of duty scorches everybody, drink this cup of nectar and be happy. We are all simply working out His Will, and have nothing to do with rewards and punishments. If you want the reward, you must also have the punishment; the only way to get out of the punishment is to give up the reward. The only way of getting out of misery is by giving up the idea of happiness, because these two are linked to each other. On one side there is happiness, on the other there is misery. On one side there is life, on the other there is death. The only way to get beyond death is to give up the love of life. Life and death are the same thing, looked at from different points. So the idea of happiness without misery, or life without death, is very good for school-boys and children; but the thinker sees that it is all a contradiction in terms and gives up both. Seek no praise, no reward, for anything you do. No sooner do we perform a good action than we begin to desire credit for it. No sooner do we give money to some charity than we want to see our names blazoned in the papers. Misery must come as the result of such desires. The greatest men in the world have passed away unknown. The Buddhas and the Christs that we know are but second rate heroes in comparison with the greatest men of whom the world knows nothing. Hundreds of these unknown heroes have lived in every country working silently. Silently they live and silently they pass away; and in time their thoughts find expression in Buddhas and Christs, and it is these latter that become known to us. The highest men do not seek to get any name or fame from their knowledge. They leave their ideas to the world; they put forth no claims for themselves and they establish no schools or systems in their name. Their whole nature shrinks from such a thing. They are the pure Sattvikas, who can never make any stir, but only melt down in love. I have seen one such Yogi who lives in a cave in India. He is one of the most wonderful men I have ever seen. He has so completely lost the sense of his own individuality that we may say the man in him is completely gone, leaving behind only the all-comprehending sense of the divine. If an animal bites one of his arms, he is ready to give it the other also, and say that is the Lord's will. Everything that comes to him is from the Lord. He does not show himself to men, and yet he is a magazine of love and of true and sweet ideas. 

"Next in order come the men with more Rajas, or activity, combative natures, who take up the ideas of the perfect ones and preach them to the world. The highest kind of men silently collect true and noble ideas, and others - the Buddhas and Christs - go from place to place preaching them and working for them. In the life of Gautama Buddha we notice him constantly saying that he is the twenty-fifth Buddha. The twenty-four before him are unknown to history, although the Buddha known to history must have built upon the foundations laid by them. The highest men are calm, silent, and unknown. They are the men who really know the power of thought; they are sure that, even if they go into a cave and close the door and simply think five true thoughts and then pass away, these five thoughts of theirs will live through eternity. Indeed such thoughts will penetrate through the mountains, cross the oceans, and travel through the world. They will enter deep into human hearts and brains and raise up men and women who will give them practical expression in the workings of human life. The Sattvika men are too near the Lord to be active and to fight, to be working, struggling, preaching and doing good, as they say, here on earth to humanity. The active workers, however good, have still a little remnant of ignorance left in them. When our nature has yet some impurities in it, then alone can we work. It is in the nature of work to be impelled ordinarily by motive and attachment. In the presence of an ever active Providence who notes even the sparrow's fall, how can man attach any importance to his own work? Will it not be a blasphemy to do so when we know that He is taking care of the minutest things in the world? We have only to stand in awe and reverence before Him saying "Thy will be done". The highest men cannot work for in them is no attachment. Those whose whole soul is gone into the Self, those whose desires are confined in the Self, who have become ever associated with the Self, for them there is no work. Such are indeed the highest of mankind; but apart from them everyone else has to work. In so working we should never think we can help on even the least thing in this universe. We cannot. We only help ourselves in this gymnasium of the world. This is the proper attitude of work. If we work in this way, if we always remember that our present opportunity to work is a privilege which has been given to us, we shall never be attached to anything. Millions like you and me think that we are great people in this world; but we all die and in five minutes the world forgets us. But the life of God is infinite. "Who can live a moment, breathe a moment if this all-powerful One does not will it?" He is the ever active providence. All power is His and within His command. Through His command the winds blow, the sun shines, the earth lives, and death stalks upon the earth. He is the all in all, He is all and in all. We can only worship Him. Give up all fruits of work; do good for its own sake; then alone will come perfect non-attachment. The bonds of the heart will thus break, and we shall reap perfect freedom. This freedom is indeed the goal of Karma-Yoga."

Artistic Creativity Along Sustainable Lines: A Look at The Rock Garden- One of India's Hidden Gems

                                

(This is an article I wrote back in June 2010)

By day he worked as a roads inspector, by night he illicitly created... a fantasy paradise garden!

This is the incredible story of Nek Chand and how following his inspiration led to the creation of the remarkable Rock Garden of Chandigarh in Northern India.

India can sometimes seem like one of the most bustling places on earth – a constant assault on the senses. As a white western woman I stuck out like a sore thumb when I visited in 2001, and it frequently seemed that there was no respite from the stares and experiences of men brushing up against me and nowhere (except for the hostel room) to get any peace, as paradoxical as that may seem given India's spiritual associations. I remember going into parks to sit under the trees in the shade to recover from the 50 degrees Delhi heat and soon there would be a crowd gathered around me just staring at me and the repeated requests for my photo would commence. It was hard enough just trying not to pass out in that heat, let alone having to fend off the milling throngs at the same time!

I would move somewhere else and then a while later another crowd would gather. Apparently this is a not uncommon experience for Westerners, or so I was told. I began to wonder whether this was how Jesus had felt! I don't want to give the wrong impression about India - we met so many kind and generous Indians along the way. One man was incredibly trusting and leant us what would have been an awful lot of money for most Indians when we ran out and could not get to a bank in time, not knowing whether he would ever see us again. The whole experience was a mixture of extremes, varying at times between being enthralling, exhausting, alarming and thought provoking, but often just very humbling for people like us who have come from a culture where we are used to fairly instant access to whatever we want and need.

As we travelled via the country's excellent railway network north of Delhi en route to the hillstation of Shimla in order to escape the heat, we decided to break our journey at Chandigarh. Our guide book recommended taking a look at this place called the Rock Garden developed by an unassuming Indian man called Nek Chand, who has been hailed a creative genius. It was said that his style was reminiscent of Gaudi's work, although apparently Nek Chand had never received any formal artistic training and had never even heard of artists such as Gaudi when he started his own work.

The garden was situated just outside the Le Corbusier-designed, award-winning city of Chandigarh (of an altogether different kind of style). The place sounded intriguing so we went along, not knowing what to expect. What we discovered there was an oasis of serenity and beauty that took our breath away and felt like the complete antithesis to many of the other parts of India we had just experienced. And best of all, it was mainly created along sustainable lines, using reclaimed and recycled items collected from refuse.

As we walked around the garden we came across landscape features of large swings, cascading waterfalls, pavillions, winding pathways and walled courtyards. The site featured some amazing landscape design which must have taken many man hours. As it was so intensely hot, I stood under one of the gushing waterfalls fully clothed, as many of the locals were doing. It was very refreshing and afterwards, within minutes of standing in the sun, I was fully dry again. I got a sense that most of the landscaping was designed to provide exhibition space and a grand stage for the various sculptures of people and animals who were to be encountered in prominent positions in all directions, as if on parade throughout the grounds.

The sculptures included many different types of animals as well as dancers and musicians. Many of these were made out of pieces of ceramic crafted together to form a mosaic surface to the creations. However, some of the characters who really caught my eye were the people made out of sparkly and brightly coloured sari bangles, making them appear very exotic. Other materials used included reclaimed bottles, ceramic tiles and pots, electrical materials and even sinks, sourced from both industrial and home waste.

What I found most inspiring and enduring about the place though, was the actual story of its conception and the lessons and hope this story may offer us. It all started out as a hobby for Nek Chand in the late 1950s who started collecting waste items and creating sculptures out of them in secret during his spare time away from work as a public roads inspector. Eventually (we are told around 18 years later) the authorities found out, at which point Chand's creations had already taken up acres of local Government land!

Despite the seeming audacity of Nek Chand's creative vision and the breach of use of the Government land, the enlightened decision was reached to turn the garden into a public space and continue developing it. Nek Chand was then given a salary for doing what he loved [what a result!] as well as a team of 50 helpers! In 1976 the garden was officially inaugurated and since then it has grown from 12 acres to over 40 acres and has become something of a landmark.

This story demonstrates well that beautiful and harmonious spaces can be created by reusing and redistributing resources, which can become places of community and inspiration to benefit the whole. Beyond this, it can serve to inspire us all to persist with dreaming and following our passions. In fact I feel it is our duty to follow our passions as this is our dharma, or life purpose. It is my instinct that we each have passions that will complement and blend well into the whole, creating more beautiful, natural and cohesive communities, if we heed our intuitions.

Conversely, the message I take from this story is; if we ignore our own inner callings then can we reasonably expect changes to occur in our societies as well as on a larger global scale? And! If we do not dare to create extraordinarily and outrageously beautiful homes, lives and communities, then how will any authority be convinced that such places can exist and that new ways of looking at society are necessary? Surely things will keep plodding on as they always have done, veering near to ecological disaster from time to time until people are finally ready to sit up, see the signs, hear their hearts and pay attention.

From India, a country of contrast, where not all worldly comforts are instantly obtainable, extreme resourcefulness and persistence can be seen and individuals daring to follow their dreams have made big changes. Gandhi demonstrated this and emphasised our need to "be the change we wish to see" and we can take heart that authorities and communities can be inspired by the acts of the individual, as Nek Chand's story has shown us.

Beautiful images of the garden can be found on this webpage: 
http://tricity-online.com/rock-garden-chandigarh.html#prettyPhoto