Positive Thinking 07 Get the IDEA Identity, Divinity, Eternity, Activity

Previous talk: Positive Thinking 6 – Don’t just see reality positively – see the positive reality

Next talk: Positive Thinking 8 – I of IDEA – Understanding our identity boosts our positivity

List of all talks on Positive Thinking

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
welcome back to our discussion on positive thinking we are discussing now positive thinking get the idea in the previous talk we discussed about how we need to not just think positively about the reality but we should think about the positive reality that is the positive reality is the spiritual reality the reality which is beyond the mortality and the misery that characterizes the material level of reality so how do we move towards that positive vision for that we need spiritual wisdom texts just as when you want to study physics we have to refer to books authoritative books in physics when you want to study mathematics we look at authoritative books in mathematics and similarly we need to if you want to know about spirituality we need to study authoritative books on spirituality so among the there are various great theistic traditions there are various spiritual traditions in the world and they have many sacred books among these books the books in the Vedic in the yogic tradition they are special in that sense that they describe the spiritual systematically cogently coherently comprehensively so we will discuss the essence of their teachings through an acronym IDEA I-D-E-A identity divinity energy and activity eternity and activity so before we go into the discussion of these lets first get a perspective of what the Vedic texts contain so here we have a quote from Henry David Thoreau he says that whenever I have read any part of the Vedas I have felt that some unearthly and unknown light illuminated me in the great teaching of the Vedas there is no touch of sectarianism it is of all ages, clans and nationalities and it is the royal road for the attainment of the great knowledge Thoreau is considered to be one of the founders of modern America and the foundational American thinkers he and Ralph Waldo Emerson were known as the American Transcendentalists and Thoreau famously went and lived in a secluded cottage as described by Walden and there he studied various wisdom books and the Vedic corpus of literature was among the primary books that he studied at that time so here he says there is nothing sectarian about the literature so usually in the world that we live right now whenever we turn to any books that are associated with some religions immediately the concern comes that we want to be secular we want to be non-sectarian so another concern comes up but what about science? we want to be scientific yes we would want to be secular and scientific but that doesn’t mean we have to be non-spiritual and certainly not anti-spiritual we are ultimately human beings we are neither scientists nor secularists we are human beings and for us whatever system of knowledge enables us to make sense of life whatever system of knowledge enables us to grow in our life we can acquire that so just as if science helps us to make sense of certain things we can adopt science and if some spiritual texts help us to acquire make sense of certain things, then why deprive ourselves of that? it is not that spirituality is non-scientific or anti-scientific, it is trans-scientific science deals with the material level of reality and spirituality deals with the trans-material level of reality science is about physical reality spirituality primarily focuses on metaphysical reality so as far as the concern of secularism is concerned secularism doesn’t necessarily mean atheism secularism means that we shouldn’t have the ideology of one religion being imposed as mandatory on people of other religions, but certainly there are universal human values that are enshrined in the wisdom literature of various traditions various religious traditions also and there is no need for us to deprive ourselves of those insights just because those insights are present in some religious texts so the point is that by learning to glean these texts and see how they add value to our life, how they help us to make sense of life and become empowered for dealing with life’s inevitable struggles and battles we can look for that kind of wisdom over here and if we turn towards the Vedic literature, another concern that comes up for some people is that these literature are sometimes thought of as pessimistic as world rejecting as negative however the point is not that these are pessimistic, they are realistic, we discussed earlier the difference between optimism and stupidism, calling empty glass as full is not optimism it is stupidism it prevents, that delusion prevents us from realizing from actually taking endeavors to fill the glass so similarly when the Bhagavad Gita when the Vedic literature talk about certain principles universal principles their point is not to necessarily their point is not to to imbue us with perpetual pessimism they want to educate us about the nature of reality just as when a person is diagnosed with a severe disease, somebody is diagnosed with cancer now that diagnosis can be devastating and the doctor who is delivering the news, the patient may say, oh you are such a negative person, you are such a pessimist but the doctor is not pessimistic the doctor is actually being realistic and if the doctor along with describing that devastating diagnosis also tells about the feasible treatment and especially if that cancer is in early stage where it is still curable through treatment then information about that disease is not at all pessimistic the overall message will be optimistic, yes there is a negative reality, there is a big problem which we have to deal with but we are capable of dealing with it by trying to have an ostrich like oblivion towards the problem we don’t do anything to deal with it similarly, say for example the Bhagavad Gita says it says that janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi so birth, death, old age and disease dukkha-doshya-anudarshanam one should systematically see these as miseries these problems, these are problems of material existence and one should seek a solution to these problems so this seeking of solutions to the problem of material existence that is a primary purpose of the spiritual wisdom of the Vedic literature of the Bhagavad Gita itself so the point of the Bhagavad Gita is to enable us to first of all get the diagnosis, to inform us of the sobering reality, now our mortality is an undeniable reality by turning a blind eye towards it we are not going to escape from our mortality but if there is a spiritual dimension to our side and if that spiritual dimension is eternal and by giving due attention to that spiritual dimension, if we can attain eternal life then why should we deprive ourselves of that opportunity by being blind to the temporal, to temporality of our present existence so the overall message of the Bhagavad Gita is eminently positive its positive message is that there is reality, there is life in the dimension of eternity and we can experience the higher fulfilment, the positivity of that dimension of eternity even in this life, even in the here and now, so this positive message of the Bhagavad Gita can be summarized in these four elements, idea i-d-e-a so i is identity identity means that we are one of the fundamental teachings of Bhagavad Gita is that we have a spiritual dimension to our being we are not our perishable bodies but we are eternal souls and d is divinity that this world is not a place of chaos actually it is a manifestation of divine intelligence and there is a divine being who is our who is the maintainer of the order in this world and e is eternity so eternity means that apart from the temporal dimension of life which we are experiencing presently there is an eternal imperishable transcendental dimension of life and that reality, that eternal reality is our essential reality and we can experience that reality not just by transferring ourselves to the eternal realm but also by connecting with that eternal realm even now through ectopic spiritual practices and a is activity so activity refers to ultimately that we can right now choose actions by which we can experience our eternal side positive thinking is not just a matter of thinking it is also a matter of living to the extent we live to that extent our lives are harmonized with spiritual principles our lives are in tune with spiritual reality to that extent we can experience the solace, the strength the satisfaction of spiritual reality even now so this idea this essential message this idea identity, divinity, eternity, activity this is an eminently positive message and by understanding these four aspects of spiritual wisdom we can perceive the positive reality and that positive spiritual reality can be our foundational reality and with that foundation whatever we need to do in our life we can do it securely confidently and successfully thank you