Sharon Maas's Blog, page 6

At first we seek out sattva in order to restore...

At first we seek out sattva in order to restore exhausted resources, but after a while of cultivating sattva a subtle change takes place:  we begin to seek sattva for its own sake. Put quite simply: sattva feels good. To consciously bring our minds to sattva is to come close to a most natural state of being: to be what we were meant to be. The sattvic mind feels nourished and whole. It feels rounded, and beautiful. It is happiness without an object of pleasure, for all too often what we call happiness is dependent on some exterior circumstance: we need props. The sattvic mind is happy within itself, a happiness that is self-maintained. The sattvic mind is free.But to arrive at such independence and freedom we first need to consciously foster sattva, and that means seeking out the circumstances that cultivate its growth. For in the beginning sattva is vulnerable, easily destroyed by outer influences, easily sucked back into rajas and tamas. Think of sattva as a tiny plant within us that needs careful nurturing in order to grow. It needs the right soil and water in order to put down roots, and fertiliser in order to grow shoots; it needs a fence around it to keep the goats from eating it, the dogs from digging it up, the cows from trampling it. It needs love and attention. But carefully tended one day sattva can grow into a tree to which you can tether that very same cow.For the beginner it might seem like an effort, and even a sacrifice, to deliberately turn to sattva, but in time sattva becomes self-propagating. The objects of desire that once seemed so attractive lose their pull; the mind wants to go home. And it seeks out activities and places and people that make it feel at home. For me, one of the first effects of Hatha Yoga was that I stopped drinking and smoking. Just like that, without effort. The effort I had to make was to join the Yoga class and participate fully in the practice, day after day. The result of that effort was that I felt so whole and good that my unhealthy cravings simply dropped by the wayside. They were no longer needed; they were merely compensation for a deeper need that had gone unfulfilled for years. They were ersatz-satisfaction. Once I had the real thing the very need for ersatz fell off like an old skin.

The Three Gunas, Part Two: the Interplay

Ii wrote the first part of this series on the gunas yesterday, in Part One.

We have all experienced all three gunas at different times in our lives.If you've ever been in a drunken stupor, incapable of speech or one sensiblethought, that was tamas. If you'veever felt sexual passion, or the overwhelming drive to accomplish a career goal, or put all your energy into a sport you love, rajas was the driving force. If you've ever gazed up at a star-scattered night sky andfelt yourself flooded by utter, overwhelming peace: that was sattva. Nevertheless, in most people oneparticular guna will be predominantas their everyday frame of mind, and the very first steps of a fruitfulspiritual path will be this: to become aware of, and then to work with, the gunas, with the object of cultivating abalanced state of mind in order to grow and flourish according to our life'spurpose and goal. In Yoga, that life purpose and goal is freedom from theboundaries imposed by mental attitude: in other words, freedom from the influenceof the gunas. The predominantly tamasic person needs a shot of mental adrenalin to get him going: aself-administered kick in the metaphorical backside. The primarily rajasic person needs to take a deepbreath,  relax, calm down, chill out. Andeven the sattvic person is notfinished, for sattva is not the goalbut only a by-product along the way; but we'll get to that later.In becoming aware of the interplay of the gunas we are not judgmental, neithertowards ourselves nor towards others. Endemic to the Western mindset is thepredilection to assign blame, and to feel guilt or shame when we have "donewrong", derived from the concept of sin and punishment.  It would be very wrong to apply thoseconcepts here. But it's hard to free oneself of the mentality of judging, andthe guilt that goes along with it. In Yoga there is nosin; there are only, on the one hand, behaviours and thoughts that bring us backto a state of supreme balance, and eventually to Liberation, or,  on the other hand those that take us furtheraway. Yoga means cultivating the former and  voluntarily abandoning the latter, withinreason and within the parameters of our personalities, our life duties and our goals. In becoming aware of the interplay of the gunas there is no pointing of fingers,no guilt, no shame, no beating up of oneself. No punishment. There is simplythis: self-awareness. Neutral observation. With self-awarenesssomething very radical occurs. At the very moment of becoming aware there's a separation between theobserver—myself—and the thing I am observing: the tamasic or rajasic stateI am in. And so at the very moment I am out of it, and can begin to understand,and to change: OK, so I'm caught up intamas. I've been lolling around all day in my pyjamas. I'm wrapped in sloth.What can I do? The answer might be very simple: go take a shower! The same with rajas. Rajasic energy isnot wrong. Unless you're a hermit orliving in a monastery or convent you need rajasenergy – it's what keeps the motor of society running.  It's the fuel that urges us to work for ourliving, , to be successful in life, to achieve our goals, and even to propagatethe species. It is not in any way evil or harmful or obstructive to spiritualgrowth. But unalleviated rajas, rajas let loose to run wherever it will,is not healthy. It drains the mind, and all our energy resources. It'simportant to replenish one's resources with sattva,not just once a year on vacation but every day, whenever it is needed. Sattva supplies balance. Without it ourbatteries run dry. To be in a constant state of drive, drive, drive might seem crucial to career success but anyonewho lives like that will, eventually, crash and burn. It's lack of sattva in our lives that leads tostress, burn-out, and a host of physical diseases. In fact, we cannot live like that; even people whothrive on rajas seek reprieve, butusually they do it through tamas: theyshut off the mind, either in exhaustedsleep or in drink and drugs, neither of which bring the true refreshment neededfor the next bout of rajasic energy. To lurch continually between rajas and tamas is to eventually deplete oneself of every last fibre of life.We may achieve our goals in life but we are somehow empty, exhausted, unable tobe happy because we have wasted all our vital force to achieve that end, andnever once refuelled. And we haven't refuelled because we didn't know how to. We made the mistake of trying to relax and refuel with tamas instead of with sattva.

The Three Gunas, Part One: Tamas, Rajas and Sattva

When I was 19 I travelledfor a year through South America with a couple of friends. Early in the journeywe spent 10 days on a rickety riverboat travelling up the Amazon from Manaus inBrazil to  the Peruvian border. The tripof a lifetime, you  might think, and in away it was, because it gave me a story I've told again and again wheneveranyone asks me why I don't eat meat.The meal plan on that boat wasas follows:Breakfast:  cafezinho(black, strong, sweet coffee)  and drycrackers. Lunch:  cafezinho, a slab of meat, beans, macaroni and farinha(cassava powder: pure tasteless starch)Tea: cafezinho andcrackers. Supper: cafezinho, a slab of meat, beans, macaroni and farinha.Every single day, forten days.In all those ten daysnot a single piece of vegetable or fruit touched our lips. By the time wereached Benjamin Constanze we were all gasping for fresh food like landed fishfor water. I can't speak for my friends but I felt as if a shrouded in a darkheavy cloak which only an orange or a slice of pineapple could remove. A short while later wearrived in Lima, and there we stayed with a Swiss guy who happened to be a Yogastudent on a vegetarian diet, a hobby cook. That first night he placed beforeus a dish of  brown rice, braised vegetablesbeautifully spiced, and a dessert of delicious, juicy fresh  fruitsalad. Just two days of this sort of fare and I was reborn. I danced on air; Ifelt light, lucid, jam-packed with energy and full of new life.I never ate meat again. Andwhen people ask me why, that's the story I tell. Mostly, though, I say I justdon't like meat, and I don't, I really don't; and it all began with that Amazon boat trip.Sometimes meat eaters try to trip me up, saying things like "vegetables arealive too!" but that's not the point.

The reasons most Westerners give for turning vegetarian are  usually one of three, or a combination ofthese three: I don't want to kill animals. Or, it's healthy not to eat meat.Or, the eating of meat is not environmentally sustainable.Indian vegetarians have a different reason, and it's anchoredin an ancient Hindu teaching cited in the Bhagavad Gita: the concept of thethree gunas. Guna is a Sanskrit term which can be loosely translated as "energy" or "modeof mind". According to Hinduism, the quality of our life on earth  is determined by the interplay of three distinct energies, or gunas. Part of yoga's goal is to go beyond the limits of seeing life merely as formsand concepts in order to sense and understand the underlying true quality behind those forms andconcepts. This requires the development of an inner sensor finely tuned to pickup energies not normally measurable. Left to itself, the mind is turned outwards, which renders it gross,crude, imprecise; it cannot perceive these energies. With training it can be made as receptive as a highlysensitive radar. By understanding and abiding by the principle of the gunas we learn to sensitize that inner radar; it's like having a map tonavigate one's way through life, for in recognizing which of these energies isat play in one's life it's easier to make the right choices, that is, choices necessary to bring about a state ofspiritual balance, and thus, happiness that is independent of outer circumstances, strength that comes from within. Yoga teaches that there are three gunas: Tamas, Rajas and Sattva. Thereis really no adequate English translation for the gunas, and so I'm going to keep those terms as well as theadjectives that go along with them; with use their meaning will become clear.The first guna is tamas: darkness, ignorance, inertia. The tamasic mind is dull and stubborn, in a state of torpor. It is heavy,lacks energy, strength and courage. It is lifeless. The tamasic person is oblivious to the needs others; he or she lives in acloud of selfish oblivion. Inthe Bhagavad Gita, tamas is describedthus: 14:8. Tamas, born of ignorance, deludes theindwellers of bodies binding them by negligence, carelessness, and laziness, Osinless one.The second guna is rajas: activity, restlessness, acquisitiveness, passion. The rajasic mind is turned outward, to theworld. It's the driving force behind Western capitalist, materialistic society:the need to achieve, to acquire, to conquer. Rajasic people are driven bytheir wants, thirsting for worldly enjoyment, fuelled by competition andambition. The Bhagavad Gitadescribes rajas thus:  14:12. Greed, anxiety, urge to act, restlessness,worldly passions — all these qualities arise from growth of rajas.The third gunais sattva: purity,harmony, bliss. The mind is in tune with its inner source, the Self; it ishappy, in balance, at peace. The sattvic person is calm, centred,compassionate and unselfish, filled with love and compassion to allliving beings. In the Bhagavad Gita sattva is described thus: 14:11. Whenthe light of wisdom shines from every pore of the body, then one can know thatin this person sattva grows.It's important tounderstand that the gunas do notrefer to this or that emotion thatmight be dominant at any given time; it's about the state of consciousness habitual to a person, the particular essenceor level of energy of that person. Weare all made up of different combinations of each guna, but at specific times of our life one guna or the other will be dominant, and a single individualcan pass through this or that guna ina single day. The goal is to be aware of their influenceand learn how to cultivate our inner lifeaccording to our roles, duties and goals in life. It means taking controlof that inner life through knowing which energy is currently at work. When webecome conscious of the dynamic interplay of these energies our lives take awhole new direction; instead of being swept along by mental or emotional powersbeyond our control we take up the reins of our own inner life, and thus of ourouter circumstances. 

And what has all this got to do with not eating meat? Well, I'll get to that later - stay tuned!

The Gunas, Part One: Tamas, Rajas and Sattva

When I was 19 I travelledfor a year through South America with a couple of friends. Early in the journeywe spent 10 days on a rickety riverboat travelling up the Amazon from Manaus inBrazil to  the Peruvian border. The tripof a lifetime, you  might think, and in away it was, because it gave me a story I've told again and again wheneveranyone asks me why I don't eat meat.The meal plan on that boat wasas follows:Breakfast:  cafezinho(black, strong, sweet coffee)  and drycrackers. Lunch:  cafezinho, a slab of meat, beans, macaroni and farinha(cassava powder: pure tasteless starch)Tea: cafezinho andcrackers. Supper: cafezinho, a slab of meat, beans, macaroni and farinha.Every single day, forten days.In all those ten daysnot a single piece of vegetable or fruit touched our lips. By the time wereached Benjamin Constanze we were all gasping for fresh food like landed fishfor water. I can't speak for my friends but I felt as if a shrouded in a darkheavy cloak which only an orange or a slice of pineapple could remove. A short while later wearrived in Lima, and there we stayed with a Swiss guy who happened to be a Yogastudent on a vegetarian diet, a hobby cook. That first night he placed beforeus a dish of  brown rice, braised vegetablesbeautifully spiced, and a dessert of delicious, juicy fresh  fruitsalad. Just two days of this sort of fare and I was reborn. I danced on air; Ifelt light, lucid, jam-packed with energy and full of new life.I never ate meat again. Andwhen people ask me why, that's the story I tell. Mostly, though, I say I justdon't like meat, and I don't, I really don't; and it all began with that Amazon boat trip.Sometimes meat eaters try to trip me up, saying things like "vegetables arealive too!" but that's not the point.

The reasons most Westerners give for turning vegetarian are  usually one of three, or a combination ofthese three: I don't want to kill animals. Or, it's healthy not to eat meat.Or, the eating of meat is not environmentally sustainable.Indian vegetarians have a different reason, and it's anchoredin an ancient Hindu teaching cited in the Bhagavad Gita: the concept of thethree gunas. Guna is a Sanskrit term which can be loosely translated as "energy" or "modeof mind". According to Hinduism, the quality of our life on earth  is determined by the interplay of three distinct energies, or gunas. Part of yoga's goal is to go beyond the limits of seeing life merely as formsand concepts in order to sense and understand the underlying true quality behind those forms andconcepts. This requires the development of an inner sensor finely tuned to pickup energies not normally measurable. Left to itself, the mind is turned outwards, which renders it gross,crude, imprecise; it cannot perceive these energies. With training it can be made as receptive as a highlysensitive radar. By understanding and abiding by the principle of the gunas we learn to sensitize that inner radar; it's like having a map tonavigate one's way through life, for in recognizing which of these energies isat play in one's life it's easier to make the right choices, that is, choices necessary to bring about a state ofspiritual balance, and thus, happiness that is independent of outer circumstances, strength that comes from within. Yoga teaches that there are three gunas: Tamas, Rajas and Sattva. Thereis really no adequate English translation for the gunas, and so I'm going to keep those terms as well as theadjectives that go along with them; with use their meaning will become clear.The first guna is tamas: darkness, ignorance, inertia. The tamasic mind is dull and stubborn, in a state of torpor. It is heavy,lacks energy, strength and courage. It is lifeless. The tamasic person is oblivious to the needs others; he or she lives in acloud of selfish oblivion. Inthe Bhagavad Gita, tamas is describedthus: 14:8. Tamas, born of ignorance, deludes theindwellers of bodies binding them by negligence, carelessness, and laziness, Osinless one.The second guna is rajas: activity, restlessness, acquisitiveness, passion. The rajasic mind is turned outward, to theworld. It's the driving force behind Western capitalist, materialistic society:the need to achieve, to acquire, to conquer. Rajasic people are driven bytheir wants, thirsting for worldly enjoyment, fuelled by competition andambition. The Bhagavad Gitadescribes rajas thus:  14:12. Greed, anxiety, urge to act, restlessness,worldly passions — all these qualities arise from growth of rajas.The third gunais sattva: purity,harmony, bliss. The mind is in tune with its inner source, the Self; it ishappy, in balance, at peace. The sattvic person is calm, centred,compassionate and unselfish, filled with love and compassion to allliving beings. In the Bhagavad Gita sattva is described thus: 14:11. Whenthe light of wisdom shines from every pore of the body, then one can know thatin this person sattva grows.It's important tounderstand that the gunas do notrefer to this or that emotion thatmight be dominant at any given time; it's about the state of consciousness habitual to a person, the particular essenceor level of energy of that person. Weare all made up of different combinations of each guna, but at specific times of our life one guna or the other will be dominant, and a single individualcan pass through this or that guna ina single day. The goal is to be aware of their influenceand learn how to cultivate our inner lifeaccording to our roles, duties and goals in life. It means taking controlof that inner life through knowing which energy is currently at work. When webecome conscious of the dynamic interplay of these energies our lives take awhole new direction; instead of being swept along by mental or emotional powersbeyond our control we take up the reins of our own inner life, and thus of ourouter circumstances. 

And what has all this got to do with not eating meat? Well, I'll get to that later - stay tuned!

Quiz: Identify Hindu deities!

This is a fun quiz -- see how well you do!


The thing to remember, though, is that in spite of all the gods and goddesses in Hinduism -- they are all only aspects of the One; the mind, being too gross and scattered to understand that One, likes to have a form and a name and tangible personification of that One on which to focus, and that's where gods and goddesses come in useful. By focussing on that name and form the mind grows subtle, and capable of more abstract understanding. That is what meditation is all about.

Celebrating the Very First Review!

A great review is now up on the literary site AuthorScoop, written by up-and-coming Simon and Schuster author Jamie Mason.

Sons of Gods: The Mahabharata Retold, by Aruna Sharan
Strictly speaking, AuthorScoop is not a book review site, but occasionally we'll come across something in our private reading that really calls for a crowing. As such, here I go. -Jamie Mason
I've always loved mythologies. Like most of my American contemporaries, Greek and Roman myths were part of our school curriculum. On my own, I sought out Native American and Norse tales. As I let them, they spilled the secrets of the forces and spirits that put color and flourish over the grey cogs of physics and rationalism. I've loved these stories for the freedom from the strictly literal that they offer; the chance to swim in what it says of humanity in the stories we invent to explain the universe.
I had certainly heard of India's rich fables and parables, particularly, the Bhagavad Gita. But I didn't know of its larger contextual epic, The Mahabharata. And I also didn't know that I was poorer for it.
I had read Sharon Maas (writing here as Aruna Sharan) several years ago. Her gorgeous and riveting, OF MARRIAGEABLE AGE, is a treasure to me, as it is currently (but perhaps not for long) out of print. I was delighted for the opportunity to read a new work of hers.
SONS OF GODS: THE MAHABHARATA RETOLD is kaleidoscopic in its beauty and intricacy. The hurdle of the tale's massive scope has always daunted translators, and the difficulty of prising the right tone from an ancient grand epic to suit a modern and Western audience has relegated it to largely academic obscurity.
What's saved it for us is that Aruna Sharan knows full well that love, betrayal, lust, envy, pride, devotion, and heroism never go out of style. SONS OF GODS is a literary soap opera with a soul that spans the full horizon.
Love for the panoramic story itself and the patience of more than three decades of careful crafting has solved the literary puzzle of how to present it for an audience in the digital age. Aruna Sharan is well-suited in both talent and passion to deliver a new classic for lovers of mythology.
The unique category of mythology also makes SONS OF GODS a clever fit for Amazon's Kindle publishing as a proving ground for its appeal. The price is incredible for a work of such excellence. Still, I hope for the day to hold it hardbound in my hands, as well. This isn't just a book, it's the Universe explained.
[image error]

Celebrating the Very First Review!A great review is now u...

Celebrating the Very First Review!

A great review is now up on the literary site AuthorScoop, written by up-and-coming Simon and Schuster author Jamie Mason.

Sons of Gods: The Mahabharata Retold, by Aruna Sharan

Strictly speaking, AuthorScoop is not a book review site, but occasionally we'll come across something in our private reading that really calls for a crowing. As such, here I go. -Jamie Mason

I've always loved mythologies. Like most of my American contemporaries, Greek and Roman myths were part of our school curriculum. On my own, I sought out Native American and Norse tales. As I let them, they spilled the secrets of the forces and spirits that put color and flourish over the grey cogs of physics and rationalism. I've loved these stories for the freedom from the strictly literal that they offer; the chance to swim in what it says of humanity in the stories we invent to explain the universe.

I had certainly heard of India's rich fables and parables, particularly, the Bhagavad Gita. But I didn't know of its larger contextual epic, The Mahabharata. And I also didn't know that I was poorer for it.

I had read Sharon Maas (writing here as Aruna Sharan) several years ago. Her gorgeous and riveting, OF MARRIAGEABLE AGE, is a treasure to me, as it is currently (but perhaps not for long) out of print. I was delighted for the opportunity to read a new work of hers.

SONS OF GODS: THE MAHABHARATA RETOLD is kaleidoscopic in its beauty and intricacy. The hurdle of the tale's massive scope has always daunted translators, and the difficulty of prising the right tone from an ancient grand epic to suit a modern and Western audience has relegated it to largely academic obscurity.

What's saved it for us is that Aruna Sharan knows full well that love, betrayal, lust, envy, pride, devotion, and heroism never go out of style. SONS OF GODS is a literary soap opera with a soul that spans the full horizon.

Love for the panoramic story itself and the patience of more than three decades of careful crafting has solved the literary puzzle of how to present it for an audience in the digital age. Aruna Sharan is well-suited in both talent and passion to deliver a new classic for lovers of mythology.

The unique category of mythology also makes SONS OF GODS a clever fit for Amazon's Kindle publishing as a proving ground for its appeal. The price is incredible for a work of such excellence. Still, I hope for the day to hold it hardbound in my hands, as well. This isn't just a book, it's the Universe explained.

[image error]

Where do we go next?

I've left this blog unattended for quite a while; what with starting a new book, travelling to England, bringing back my daughter and her boyfriend to visit me in Germany and driving them around the countryside, my schedule has been full!
But I'm back and have plans for it.
I think I've done enough to introduce the Mahabharata in general terms to those unacqainted with it, and to hopefully extend the understanding of those who already know and love it. If you're in the latter group and have not yet watched the Myths of Mankind series in the first few posts, I do encourage you to do so; interwoven with scenes from Peter Brooks' wonderful movie Mahabharata, those videos can only increase your love and reverence for the epic.

I'd like now to turn more to content; to discussions of some of the main themes arising in the story. Here are some of the posts I see coming up:
-- Caste: what does the Mahabharata say about it?
-- Mahabharata Women
-- Should Christians shun the Mahabharata?
-- Themes from the Bhagavad Gita: the three Gunas, right action, meditation.
-- What is Religion?
-- Science and Hinduism
-- Advaita: non-duality

That's a pretty good beginning...

In the meantime, another interview has been posted online on the literary site AuthorScoop.

Where do we go next?I've left this blog unattended for qu...

Where do we go next?

I've left this blog unattended for quite a while; what with starting a new book, travelling to England, bringing back my daughter and her boyfriend to visit me in Germany and driving them around the countryside, my schedule has been full!
But I'm back and have plans for it.
I think I've done enough to introduce the Mahabharata in general terms to those unacqainted with it, and to hopefully extend the understanding of those who already know and love it. If you're in the latter group and have not yet watched the Myths of Mankind series in the first few posts, I do encourage you to do so; interwoven with scenes from Peter Brooks' wonderful movie Mahabharata, those videos can only increase your love and reverence for the epic.

I'd like now to turn more to content; to discussions of some of the main themes arising in the story. Here are some of the posts I see coming up:
-- Caste: what does the Mahabharata say about it?
-- Mahabharata Women
-- Should Christians shun the Mahabharata?
-- Themes from the Bhagavad Gita: the three Gunas, right action, meditation.
-- What is Religion?
-- Science and Hinduism
-- Advaita: non-duality

That's a pretty good beginning...

In the meantime, another interview has been posted online on the literary site AuthorScoop.

Mentions!

This blog has been mentioned twice recently in other blogs: thanks to Western Hindu and The Accidental Hindu!
The latter blog featured my personal journey towards the writing of Sons of Gods, so if you are interested in me as author you can go there and read.