Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram

Satyam, Shivam Sundaram

Satya literally means truth, reality. It also refers to a virtue in Indian religions, referring to being truthful in one's thought, speech and action. In Yoga,satya is one of five yamas, the virtuous restraint from falsehood and distortion of reality in one's expressions and actions.^[6]It is a Sanskrit word that is also interpreted as "absolute truth".

Shivam, means virtue – all that is good, all that is valuable, all that is the most precious in you, the ultimate good. The man who comes to experience the truth starts living the truth immediately. There is no other alternative. His living the truth is shivam. Shivam means truth in action, truth in your life, truth in your love, truth in your friendship, truth in your eyes, and truth in your heart. Shivam is the action of truth; truth itself is the center of the cyclone. But if you experience the truth, the cyclone around you becomes shivam. It becomes pure godliness. A man of truth is the only proof that the world is divine. No argument can prove that the world is divine.

Sundram means beauty. So this is the mystic trinity: satyam, the truth; shivam, the good, the divine;and sundram, the beauty.
You have seen the beauty of the flowers, you have seen the beauty of the stars, you have seen the beauty of a bird on the wing, you have seen beauties upon beauties of sunsets and sunrises.
But the greatest beauty is to see the totality, the intensity of the mystic. That is the greatest flowering in existence of consciousness itself. It is available only to those who are humble enough to receive it, who are not living a closed life of fear, of paranoia, but who are living a life of love, with all the windows open, and are ready to go with life wherever it leads. These receptive souls are the only real seekers in the world. These receptive souls are blessed with their experience of sundram: the beautiful rose that is opening in the heart of the mystic. These three words are so unique, so incomparable, there is nothing parallel to them.

Truth is the experience, shivam is the action that comes out of the experience, and beauty is the flowering of consciousness of the man who has experienced truth.

As I read this, for me applying it to OD (organization design) or in systems it translates to

Simple, Smart, Safe.

Truth has to be simple, ingeniously simple. If a design is too complicated it cannot have the properties of Satya. Whether it is the strategy of the organization or its values, or the work process or management processes or policies that are in place the satya must be simple, easily understood. Truth is, that most strategies are not clear, not understood, vague and as a result lose out in its essence of Satya.

Shivam is the smartness with which systems and processes and people work together. A great example of Shivam is my apple laptop. It works of the simple design so smoothly and seamlessly. It is very intuitive and one does not need a user manual. Hence it is very easy to move quickly and effortlessly around the various modules. Unless the design is built around the user interface then only can one experience Shivam.

Finally, to pull it together the design has to be inherently attractive. It must be exciting, engaging in use. The parts must connect with the whole. Then the product gives a total experience, a fullness of outcome.

Sat-chitta-ananda’ has the same meaning as ‘satyam shivam sundaram’. Sat is truthfulness, chitta or Shiva is consciousness and ananda or sundaram is the inner happiness.

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Extracted from Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

Pirsig examines the modern pursuit of "Pure Truths", claiming it derives from the work of early Greek philosophers who were establishing the concept of truth in opposition to the force of "The Good". He argues that although rational thought may find a truth (or The Truth) it may never be fully and universally applicable to each and every individual's experience. Therefore, what is needed is an approach to viewing life that is more varied and inclusive and has a wider range of application. He makes a case that originally the Greeks did not distinguish between "Quality" and "Truth" – they were one and the same – and that the divorce was, in fact, artificial (though needed at the time) and is now a source of much frustration and unhappiness in the world, particularly overall dissatisfaction with modern life.

Pirsig aims towards a perception of the world that embraces both sides, the rational and the romantic. This means encompassing "irrational" sources of wisdom and understanding as well as science, reason and technology. In particular, this must include bursts of creativity and intuition that seemingly come from nowhere and are not (in his view) rationally explicable. Pirsig seeks to demonstrate that rationality and Zen-like "being in the moment" can harmoniously coexist. He suggests such a combination of rationality and romanticism can potentially bring a higher quality of life.

Search for Xanadu

In search of Xanadu

Bliss is neither happiness or misery. It is the absence of both. 



Happiness is the attachment while misery is the repulsion. Our brains are wired for either reward or punishment. It inherently carries incentive salience, as reward and pleasure pathways in the brain reveal under research. Indeed, behavioural economics is now clearly revealing that economics is the study of Incentives, rather than rational choices, which was what was earlier understood. 

As Desmond Morris argues Happiness is not achieved when there is contentment, far from it. Happiness is a transient stage when 'things are improving for the better'. The desire for happiness arises from the mind of the idealist. It is future oriented. It is a goal to be sought for. What is, is not good enough. What could be, and its possibilities is what is sought for. In this lies the 'living trap'.  We go on looking for the myth of happiness. What we have we do not value, and whatever is given is only transient, then it no longer satisfies. Nobody really seems to be able to give what we want, and we are not sure really what we want to. 

Happiness is just one side of the coin: buy one and you get misery free. All happy states comes to an end and misery sets in soon after. Think of a time when you have been intensely happy. How long has that period lasted, and after that? Think of something you thought would make you happy, but now no longer does. Happiness is an experience - enjoying a sony walkman, a ride in one's motorcycle, for example for me. 

Happiness is desire fulfilled but for a moment. 
Yet, desire can never be satiated. Desire is like oil that one pours into a flame. The intensity only grows. While with an increase in income, misery is lessened, the state of happiness remains stagnant after a while. Remember, Bill Gates happiness is similar with many others, though it does not seem like that for many.

This desire for happiness needs to be reexamined itself. Is it a goal worth having? 

When one truly realises that one is attached to desire and it is this desire that creates suffering. Buddha calls this 'Dhuka" often translated as misery. Perhaps, we should reexamine it as 'unsatisfactoriness' or distress over something. Gautama Buddha argues that the Middle Path is the way. Neither chase desire or abstain from desiring. Instead drop desiring itself. What otherwise is referred to as attachment. This non identification with objects of desire is what needs to be interrogated. Also, to remember there is NOWHERE to go, as in mind wandering, but to stay NOW HERE. A wandering mind gathers anxiety. A visualisation of happiness does not make lasting happiness. Research has established that mind wandering is a cause, not a consequence. Yet, happiness is most when one is in flow. In the moment, in full rapt attention to this moment.

"It’s so much better to desire than to have. The moment of desire is the most extraordinary

moment. The moment of desire, when you know something is going to happen, says Anouk Aimee.

that’s the most exalting". Truth does not cause pain no matter how significant it is what is revealed. The pain comes from resisting the false self, the pretence we have so carefully protected. It is this persona that which we refuse to let go, that causes the pain. All changes take place when there is a personal crisis, when the self realises that what has been held so dearly is a hypocrisy that he/she would now have to drop. It is this reluctance to drop, that is indeed painful.

Just as a pendulum swings to one direction it is gathering the momentum to swing to the other side and vice versa. So it is with all emotions. The two sides are counterpoints: they exist together. Friendship invites hatred. Happiness invites misery. Life invites death. Strength invites weakness. Understand this. If you are attached to one the other is also an attachment. 

Just love is total freedom. Love creates the poetry. The soul emerges, the ego dies. But examine what you now call love.

All that you love is often a source of hatred, fear and anxiety. This is the mind that creates the false notion of love. It is but a notion, a thought, the mind continues to exist. True love is total surrender. True love is intelligent. It surrenders what does not exist: the false self, the ego. Love is a continuous present verb, not a noun. Either you are loving someone or you are not. So why do we say, we love our spouse? We love our work? Why the doubt? 

You are loving. Loving is you. It is your existence. Your very being. What is the focus of your love is your essence. Your essence is your expression of your essence. It is your own decision. 

Likewise non love is also you. It is your existence. Your very being. What you focus with your non love is your essence. It is your decision. 

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We are complete, all that is our essence comes from our within. Everything is your decision. Your entire life is your decision. Your choices. Take responsibility for it. Don't play games with your freedom that is you. Truth liberates. Remember that you are free. Freedom is you.

There can be everlasting bouts of bliss to one who is a meditator who has long practised and by rigorous discipline  and training, but many may advocate that this may be pointless when so much joy exists in the world outside, why forego it for serenity within. They would rather prefer the passions of living to bliss within.

In the meanwhile, we go on looking for Xanadu, the promised Utopia for happiness. If not in this world then the next. 

Read also two related article on happiness, As long as the other exists', and 'what ensures success' in a previous post.                                                       

http://stevecorrea7.blogspot.in/2014/12/as-long-as-other-exists.html
http://stevecorrea7.blogspot.in/2012/10/0-0-1-1792-10217-steve-correa.html
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Here are Summary points on The Nature of happiness written by Desmond Morris

Herein below are some ways which make us happy....

1.     Target happiness as a result of successful efforts to achieve a specific target. (Fiero - German)

2. Competitive happiness as a result of winning a struggle against other people. In the most extreme

form, this is the happiness of the sadist and the torturer. (Schadenfreude)

3. Co-operative happiness as a result of helping other people.

4. Genetic happiness as a consequence of reproducing ones genes by falling in love, pair bonding,

giving birth and successfully rearing the offspring. (Naches)

5. Sensual happiness as a result of hedonistic experiences like eating, drinking and sex.

6. Cerebral happiness as a result of intellectual activities like playing games, artistic creativity and

scientific research.

7. Rhythmic happiness as a result of activities like dancing, music, singing, aerobics, gymnastics

and athletics.

8. Painful happiness as a result physical or mental masochism, like self-chastisement or the

masochism of puritans who deny themselves every pleasure in life.

9. Dangerous happiness as a result of taking sensational risks as in gambling and in such extreme

sports as mountain climbing and parachuting.

10. Selective happiness as a result of ignoring reality and concentrating on one's own emotions, like

Nero fiddling while Rome was burning.

11. Tranquil happiness as a result of meditation.

12. Devout happiness as a result of worshipping, like in Lour-des and Mecca.

13. Negative happiness as a result of eliminating or dealing with specific causes of unhappiness, like

dressing entirely in black for the rest of one's life after the death of a child.

14. Chemical happiness as a result of taking drugs, alcohol and smoking.

15. Fantasy happiness as a result of daydreaming, supported by books, films and television.

16. Comic happiness brought on by humor and laughter.

17. Accidental happiness as a result of good luck, if your suitcase comes up first on the carousel after a long and tiring flight on a jumbo jet.

Other material related to this can be accessed on Ted Talks. Few examples

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy?language=en#t-9258
https://www.ted.com/talks/matthieu_ricard_on_the_habits_of_happiness
https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_killingsworth_want_to_be_happier_stay_in_the_moment?language=en

summary: In conclusion, a human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind.The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional

cost.https://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_etcoff_on_happiness_and_why_we_want_it?language=en

Your Original Face

It seems to me we live our lives curiously and unfortunately not optimally enough. We know not ourselves (as much as we need to), nor does the ‘other’ know us. We have at best faces (persona: aka Greek masks), suitable for each occasion, each one carefully crafted, well learnt, through painful experiences. 

What we were, was ‘not good enough’ then. Frowned, ridiculed, and dismissed (at some primary stage of our growth, with the best of intentionality by those we loved, and those that loved us), we went through that 'AWWW' moment ( the opposite of the Aah moment), resolved that we would ‘never again, never again’ find ourselves in that situation. Through grit, pain and effort, we  re-crafted our paths, to avoid future similar occurrence. The ‘other’ around us acknowledged this growth, but substituted this with ‘another herculean mission’. And so life goes on, a heroine in search of battles.

Seems we have always been on a voyage of adventure, through trials and tribulations our lives have unfolded, and we have watched this unfolding, often not fully comprehending, the choices we make, the roles we have taken, the actions we have by default embraced. This sets up either a vortex of fear or pride.

Negativity or positivity that later sets us up for failure or success.  Then the design is complete: the program written up. The robotic in us plays up. We perfected the design which plays out our lives.

We really do not know ourselves. Never did, but we could. We have a face that is not masked. We have an ‘original face’. That face that existed when we were in the womb, and even before, and that same face which will endure even longer: timeless and eternal. 
We see but a glimpse, and at times. A dancing wave, upon the ocean. Perhaps a river, flowing over a cliff, breaking into drops, till it re forms back into a river below the waterfall. Our face is eternal, absolute, indistinguishable , inseparable from the other. Our life is but an ephemeral moment, a debris when matter and anti matter collide, and completely annihilates. In a gap, we exist. Like the gap in our breath – breathing in, breathing out. Life (prana) being created and Prana moving out (demise). The absence of breath is death – that force that excites life.  We spring from 'nothing' (shunya) and to shunya (emptiness) we return. For dust thou art and to dust thou shall return. And as Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

When we are rooted and anchored to our ‘beginning’, and in full awareness, and when we are fully cognizant in all our actions, about our endings – awareness springs. Then we are realized in our actions and responsive in our moves. 

However, when we miss the linkage to our beginning, and our endings, what remains in the middle is ‘unreal’ false and illusion. Like a dream, living in the middle till you wake up. Then you see the dream, the myth you live.
read more - Jung Archetypes.
http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/tp/archetypes.htm

Studying Human Behaviour, unique to other studies...

In most subjects, as you read up and practice more, it becomes easier to understand. 
In contrast , the study of people and organisation becomes more complex as you dive deeper, the mystery deepens and the wonderful potential of human process leaves one even more wonderous with infinite possibilities. Such it is with individuals and so it is with teams. 

The amateur is pleased with the steps he has gained in this journey, the practitioner alert to new possibilities, and for the master, his journey has just begun, as he says unto himself, "ah, only now I am beginning to understand". 

For only he who knows, knows that he knows not. He realises that there will always be the known, the unknown and the never known.

Dialogues on Personal Leadership

Steve Correa: 

The true leader has no rank. He is beyond compare. He is just one's own potential in full flow. He is alive to his child like spirit, celebrating this moment. He is spontaneous to the moment. He is a leader to every event.

He is responsive to every moment. He resonates to the situation: then he makes no choice. He simply responds from his awareness. Then as a plant that responds to sunlight he responds naturally. There is no judgement, no analysis, no decision.

He is as ordinary as three pounds of flax. Just do it!

      

XXX in reply to Steve

·This sounds more like an enlightened soul than a leader who is one amongst us.

Steve Correa 

Well, not exactly. The true leader must live in the market place, not away from it. The market place is the circumference on which he operates, his social area of karmic action. Yet, at the core is his centre: his true mindfulness. In top class leaders in their field of work, be it musicians, actors, poets and leaders, he remains but the channel for his work. Compete focus and full awareness is an invitation to all of us to awaken our own leadership within.

It is attainable. There is no path, no gate. It is a gate less gate!

YYY in reply to Steve Correa

 I agree that everyone has leadership qualities and it is for the individual to realize the same and respond to situation and circumstances appropriately, It is like a leader without a title.

ZZZ in reply to Steve Correa

Very True, We should simply remember that no matter what our position within any organization and no matter old we are or where we live throughout the world, we have the power to show leadership. And no one and nothing can ever deny that.

QQQ in reply to Steve Correa

I agree ! As said " He responds from his awareness" - I would add on that a Leader responds from his awareness of his strengths" . If one can play to his / her strengths - leadership will come naturally - leadership styles may differ!

Steve Correa 

Awareness is an insight to one's completeness. All that is, is perfect. His so called weakness is as perfect as his so called strengths. Like wings they help him soar - together they help fly to one's potential. They is no need to add, no need to drop. Just acceptance of who one is. Then there is no journey, no path. One passes through the gate less gate. The destination reached all at once, there itself. When one drops the disease for the wish to be perfect, when one accepts that one is just perfect and unique. Then true existence begins, the maya drops. Life is lived. Celebrated.

Steve Correa in reply to Steve Correa

A few more builds: There is no right or wrong, no good or bad qualities, no bad or worse: the qualities you have is just you. Accept your human instincts as they are, don't fight it. Deploying these instincts with true insights is total awareness. Over time leadership is the capacity to move from pure instinct to true insights like a slide, the latter development which become the beacon to guide us. Through experiencing traumas and abandonment and abuse in earlier primary systems tends to split this progress to usual maturity. Looking within not outside for truth is the way. Leadership is then acquired as an art, through personal development. Being aware of one's patterns, and side stepping it to make new choices, new actions, new meanings is your potential. We all have this inate freedom. As Buddha said, be your own light. We are our own laboratory, there is no truth outside. Through one's experimentation with oneself (Vedanta) discover your own truth. Then Act and respond with personal insight. Trust your own experience, your own insight: discover your own personal leadership.

I repeat there is no good or bad, no right or wrong, no bad or worse. No strengths or weaknesses. 

·SSS in reply to Steve Correa

Strengths and weakness makes you what you are! Your weakness which are perceived as weakness makes you unique and different.

Steve Correa in reply to Steve Correa

Well said SSS. I believe you have experienced that yourself. :)

The other who perceives 'weakness' knows not herself, how would she assess you, except for her own befuddled lenses. While the blind steer to appropriateness, the one who is guided by one's own insight steers to responsiveness.

SSS in reply to Steve Correa

SSS: Yes I did . Thanks

TTT in reply to Steve Correa

Before any great achievement comes the acceptance of your particular reality and then you learn to adapt to it, to use it to excel and fly

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Steve Correa 

Go straight on. Keep Walking. Not to achieve something out there, or to despair what is here. There is no better or worse, nor good or evil.

Go straight on, is the commitment to the journey itself. Not to reach a destination. Not to remain and stop and stand still to one's own potential. Not to compromise oneself by agreeing to what is. That's it. Not say, "I will accept no more growth". 

Go straight on, is to move despite faltering, failing, stumbling. The journey itself is the destination. And the self unfolds even more to infinite possibilities. The acceptance you refer to, must be the 'remembering' to keep walking!