The obsolete consciousness IV

The picture top most was taken from Marie Claire (September 2010), a well known fashion magazine. The text to the right of the picture says:
Jacket, 1990$, by Oscar de la Renta;
top, 595 $, Phillip Lim;
pants, 147$, Plastic Island;
shoes, 1395$, Michael Kors;
ring, 280$, Alexander McQueen

The bottom picture is a child picking through trash at a garbage dump in Philippines (1990).

These huge differences are another sign of an obsolete consciousness.......

Education V

My friend A. told me that when his daughter was born he took her in his hands and thought: " There is intelligence already here"....

This morning I was looking to one of my 6 month old twins and I saw this intelligence in his eyes......

So intelligence is already there. We do not have to produce it by means of so called education. Actually it would be completely impossible to do it. It would be more difficult than creating a new organ, a new arm.....

So, if intelligence is already there, what are the implications for education?.....
Do we have to add or to remove layers that prevent its expression?
Is education a process of adding or of uncovering?
If it is uncovering, mainly, what does it have to be uncovered, and what is the covering factor(s)?........

The obsolete consciousness III

The Aral sea from space in 1985

The Aral sea from space in 2009

The Aral Sea was one of the four largest lakes of the world with an area of 68,000 square kilometres (26,000 sq mi), the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by the Soviet Union for cotton irrigation projects. By 2007 it had declined to 10% of its original size.

The region's once prosperous fishing industry has been virtually destroyed, bringing unemployment and economic hardship. The retreat of the sea has reportedly also caused local climate change, with summers becoming hotter and drier, and winters colder and longer.

The ecosystem of the Aral Sea has been nearly destroyed, not least because of the much higher salinity. The receding sea has left huge plains covered with salt and toxic chemicals – the results of wepons testing, industrial projects, pesticides and fertilizer runoff – which are picked up and carried away by the wind as toxic dust and spread to the surrounding area. The land around the Aral Sea is heavily polluted and the people living in the area are suffering from a lack of fresh water and health problems, including high rates of certain forms of cancer, lung diseases, tuberculosis and certain types of cancer. Infectious diseases are common ailments in the region and liver, kidney and eye problems can also be attributed to the toxic dust storms. Health concerns associated with the region are a cause for an unusually high fatality rate amongst children and pregnant women.

This kind of separation from Nature and this kind of interaction with the environment is another sign of this obsolete consciousness.......

Education IV

I was reading through the Chidaksha Geeta by Bhagawan Nityananda, and I found this entry about education:

"A man or women should be educated. What is education? Jeeva should know the secret that He is the Paramatman."

"Explanations (from the lady that collected these teachings, Tulsiamma): That which we get in schools and colleges is no real education; that by which we recognise the unity of Jeevatma and Paramatma is real education. That which we ordinarily get is called "Apara-Vidya" (Inferior Knowledge); that which we get from a spiritual preceptor is called the "Para-Vidya" (Superior Knowledge). Man or Woman must be educated in the spiritual education i.e. they must realise the unity of Jeeva with Siva. This is real education."

- Jeeva: a jiva is a living being, or more specifically, the immortal essence of an individual living organism (human, animal, fish or plant etc.) which survives physical death.
- Paramatman: the whole Universe

(Bhagawan Nityananda born November/December, 1897 in Kerala, South India – died August 8, 1961.
Nityananda gave relatively little by way of verbal teachings. Most of the time he was silent, though occasionally he would give teachings. A devotee named Tulsiamma wrote down some of his teachings and his answers to her specific queries. Later, these notes came to be known as the Chidaksha Geeta.)

If interested, you can download the Chidaksha Geeta in here.

parenthood

How do you know that you love your children?

When you became a father most things change. The first thing that changes is the (cherished) sense of freedom of going here or there, of deciding by yourself what to do....the being constantly around the newborn. The changes in how you relate to your friends. To live in a different place than the one you want. The impossibility to be quiet, to read. Sometimes they could drive you to your limits. The change in mealtimes, in sleep patterns.....

Trying to answer the question posted above, I think is when their happiness is more important for you than the troubles you are going through.....or to put it in another way, when their happiness is more important to you than your suffering......