Catharsis/Character-conduct workshop

By: Himanshu K. Gandhi

This is a step on to a journey to search within... to solve problems without. We all are starkly aware about abhors outside. Let's start inward and be brave to cure our own shortcomings. We are a fellowship, each one will support another. Our primary purpose would be to not stray from principled path in spite of daily travails and mercantile tendencies that we all are susceptible to. We resolve to introspect, practice true humility, promise to be selfless, truthful (without deceit) and inspire everyone in our circle of influence to do the same. The workshop is meant to be a critical introspection led confession, in secure settings, of ones own shortcomings, as measured by own self against guiding principles of a code of conduct available in any faith of his/her following.

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We all strive to be 'deliberate/purposeful'; about some activity, or some thing, or some goal in worldly pursuits that consume most of our available time, space, thought and action. And, often get involved in pursuits beyond our own, to those of our family and growing circle of influences. Eventually when one realizes that all these deliberate worldly pursuits have never ending cycle, we come back to the core... on path of self emancipation... where confluence of all emotions cease to matter, and we work towards equanimity with every being, increasingly unperturbed by every action around us.

One humble approach in this endeavor is ‘Character-conduct Workshop’. It will strive to embolden participants to share their experience, strength and hope with each other… that they may solve their own problem, and help themselves & others to strengthen character & conduct, in path towards observance of vows of one’s faith. And in doing so, lessen layers-on-layers of karmic dirt attached to our soul, or bring about catharsis of our soul.

General framework for ‘Character/conduct workshop’:

a. We are a fellowship, each one will support another. Each participant will take time to deeply introspect and gradually ferret out his/her own shortcoming as it relates to observance of the vows of own faith. This will mature towards bold but dispassionate self view and commentary. Each participant makes an honest attempt to look inside, identify his/her own short-comings, confronts it and exhibits courage to ferret that out in open, eye-to-eye with other fellow participants with a view to atone for his/her sins and create a situation where by, in future, he/she does not embroil himself/herself in those.

b. Basic qualifiers/pre-requisites for all participants:

1. We have made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

2. We have courage to admit to our fordmaker (Jina or God or Allah or Waheguru or Bhagvan or Buddha), to ourselves and to other human being, eye-to-eye, the exact nature of our wrongs.

3. We are in for same reasons and will respect each others privacy. Personal disclosures made herein are to be treated as pious and strictly confidential, permanently. Disclosing of any bit of discussion, even to a close kin/spouse, out of the confines of workshop will be akin to a theft from a place of worship.

4. Place principles before personalities; that we have renounced personal glorification in public and that we will practice true humility.

c. One of the ways participants stay on the path towards observance of vows of own faith, is by helping other brethren achieve the same. While a participant is expounding and introspecting on his/her own shortcoming fellow participants maintain supportive and attentive calmness which allows each of them to reflect in themselves. As he/she may have had similar transgression or realizes that he/she is susceptible to similar transgression. And, becomes more aware and thereby builds refrain against such. Thus allowing each participant to mutually and beneficially support each other and gain.

d. Participants will only voice their own short-coming without proscribing any remedy or solution or repentance for any other person.

e. Each participant declares his/her resolve to be on track of right conduct and in doing so establishes a symbiotic relationship with other such compatriots to create a cohesive, supportive and sustaining "ecosystem".

f. Workshop will be in secure setting, either in closed door or in open vast expanse of nature with no interference with or from outside world. There will be no written documents about ones short-coming shared or discussed, nor will anyone record or scribe any notes during the sessions. It will be pure simple self, confronting its own reality and allowing for solution to come from own self.

g. Supportive/fellowship setting will allow us to ‘let go’ of our outer charade and ‘to get’ glimpse of inner self, as we give light to layers of past deeds in action, thought or speech. These short-comings could be from past day, week, year, or several decades back. It will be pure simple self, confronting its own reality and allowing for solution to come from own self. The participants will only act as humble enablers to each other in the process.

h. Each Participant after expounding on his/her short-comings will dwell into how he/she dealt with those, or is atoning for those, or working on ways to de-bridge himself/herself from such thought, speech or deeds, or avowed resolve to reduce the gap.

i. One can use any guiding principles of code of conduct available in his/her faith, for instance Mahavratas or Anuvratas in Jainism. As long as a goal is identified one can then look inward and measure up against the same, with a deep resolve to close the gap and atone for each and every of his/her shortcoming.

j. Participation in the workshop is open to mature individuals from all walks of life. It will be in form of small groups of four to eight each, with women and men in separate groups. It will be open to all who satisfy pre-requisites & completely embrace the framework.

k. Every participant in workshop is an active participant… there are no passive observers.

l. This is a fellowship. There are no monies exchanged or fees charged. Each participant supports other in a self sustaining symbiotic relationship. The place for meeting of workshop can be one of the participants home, or a place of faith, or just an open expanse of nature.

It will require immense courage to venture into the act of "self-critic". Just as it is more difficult to commit crime in broad day light, it is extremely difficult to come open and accept in front of others. No one claims that ‘tapasya/tap’ (penance) is easy. We can view this "very humbling exercise" as an extreme ‘tap’, to lessen the burden of karma. Just as light eases out darkness, we will strive to revive our baby innocence. With our fellowship, we will endeavor to let go of our outer charade and to get glimpse of inner self.

As per Narendra Nandu (Mumbai), as we embark on this exercise, we should be aware that our past shortcomings or karmas are like a weed. Uproot it out and it is gone. But if we let that be, it will spread and grow. And, it will manifest itself in some way either in this life or down the cycle.

Confessions are antithesis to glory. We need to "let go” of glory. To "let go” is the most difficult act for us all, as we have grown to learn ways and means of accumulating. And, during this "humbling exercises" we will be forced to "let go" of our ego, which will allow for inflow of ‘vitaraga bhav’ (being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in ‘atma’/Self)

As per Manish Modi (Mumbai), this exercise is akin to "khara pratikaman” (true introspection).

As we gather courage to participate in this exercise, in complete and humble sense, we hope to see a positive change come about in ourselves… because, now we are not afraid to confront the truth. And, by doing so, we believe, our fordmaker will help us win over our kashayas (passions) of ‘krodha’ (anger), ‘lobha’ (greed), ‘mana’ (ego) and ‘maya’ (deceit).

Belief is, when one makes an honest attempt to look inside, identifies own short-comings, confronts it and exhibits courage to ferret that out in open, eye-to-eye with other fellow beings, he/she has already done the most difficult part, akin to the big thrust that a rocket needs to push itself out of the earths gravity. And, in doing so, the solution for repentance will naturally flow to him/her. Additionally, at a minimum, an acute resistance will gradually develop against embroiling in such or similar acts in future, to eventually control his/her own kashayas.

Knock off the pretense!!

… and face your shortcomings head on.

Lay bare your motive to free your soul

... and unearth layers of past misdeeds

You, my friend, now, have the power to set

… On to the path laid out by the realized ones.

About the author: Himanshu is based in Boston, MA and is an avid follower of Jainism. He administers a Facebook group ‘SSS… Solution Starts with Self’, where his effort is to support thoughts that enrich the base ethos of simple, straightforward and honest conduct, to break the pace of greed and vice, everywhere we see. To join the group or any comments email him at h.gandhi@samved.com.

To Catch a Roach
By AIDAN FOSTER-CARTER

It’s 1:30 a.m. I’m in Geneva at a major global conference on security issues. As I head bedward, bleary-eyed after too long online as usual, suddenly I’m jolted wide awake. For I am not alone in this room.

Some hotels put chocolate on your pillow. Well, it is small and brown, but it’s a cockroach.

From that instant, choices kick in — and I make all the wrong ones. Or maybe first reactions are purest instinct. Several people told me later they wouldn’t have slept a wink after that.

Whereas I laughed. Whatever else, this was funny. Also outrageous, of course. Not what you expect in one of Geneva’s ritziest hotels, whose posted rack-rate is a staggering 925 Swiss francs per night. That’s over a thousand dollars! You can fly to Australia for less. And back.

It helped that this was quite a pretty cockroach. Small, not like the three- inch monsters which came twitching out of the woodwork in Tanzania, or covered every surface of a paddle steamer on the Congo river in 1967. Closer to home, Oxford had its share. One such night visitor to Balliol junior common room in revolutionary 1968 met a cruel fate, crushed between the pages of the suggestions book, above the caption: "Do something!”

Nonviolence was more my bag, then and now. Call me sentimental, but I stayed my hand. Some guys — most people? — would have squashed the intruder on the spot. Sure, it had to go; but humanely. The Geneva convention, if you will.

Still, I hadn’t booked double occupancy. Nor was it 925 of my own hard-earned Swiss francs, or I might have felt more cross.

Probably as startled as I was, the little bug proved dead easy to catch. I simply cupped a glass over her — no, I can’t sex cockroaches, but somehow she seemed female to me; did that make me softer too? — then inverted the glass, covering it with the paper cap it came with. Bingo.

What next? I toyed with marching down to reception and plonking glass and contents on the desk. But it was nearly 2 a.m., I was tired, and I doubted I could work up the faux rage needed. (Fact is, I was still giggling.) And anyway, only the night staff would witness my histrionics.

It could wait till morning. So I left Ms. Cockroach running around in her glass (which maybe wasn’t so humane of me), used a different pillow, and slept soundly.

Come the dawn, cockroach gawn. I blinked, but no doubt about it. There was the glass, with the paper cap still on it. But no cockroach. I rubbed my eyes. Definitely no roach.

I kicked myself. In last night’s doziness, I never thought to invert the glass. Right way up, the paper cap must have been a pushover for Ms. Roach to push up. Neat on her part, and a lamentable lapse in operating response procedures on mine.

That ruined everything. My inner imp had fancied taking my new captive to breakfast in her glass cage, pour épater la bourgeoisie.

The fantasy ballooned, as fantasies will. I imagined a groveling manager soothing my hurt — and buying my silence. A free weekend stay with your family, m’sieur?

But now I had nothing. No cockroach, no evidence. I might have made up the entire story, out of spite, or just for laughs. Maybe I dreamed the whole thing? Memory does play tricks.

Yet I didn’t have nothing. This is a true story and stories are for telling. And tell it I did. I told people at breakfast, who were suitably shocked. I did tell the hotel, or at least two young ladies at reception. They were aghast, even contrite, but no free weekend was offered. (My fault entirely, for I still couldn’t keep from laughing.)

Last but far from least, I told the final conference plenary. For the frisson, but more because Ms. Roach had given me a precious metaphor for a conference on security.

Terror is real, yet fear of it can cloud judgment. A scorpion in the bed, or a cobra: that would have been a clear and present danger. A cockroach is not a threat. We should beware mistaking a cockroach for a scorpion, let alone turning one into the other by overreacting.

Roaches will always be with us. Risk and repulsion are not the same. I was never at risk. And I’m still laughing.

Meanwhile, if you happen to bump into my little brown friend or one of her kin in Room 804, say hi from me. Then trap her properly, and demand a refund.

Aidan Foster-Carter is honorary senior research fellow in sociology and modern Korea at Leeds University.

 With all the corruption looming around and getting unearthed with ever greater voracity, both here and at home, it is about time we (JAINA and Jains) took lead in espousing ‘Charitra' as a Critical Asset to Restore, Build and Preserve. I believe this should be in line with our mission to bring values of Jainism for the betterment of masses and make it count as important as our cause of Ahimsa or Jiv-Daya.

Charitra, I believe is the greatest challenge of our times and is evidently less appreciated as such. Every failure of human capital has had roots in the lack of good Conduct. Corruption is but just one of the more visible failures of Charitra. We need a grass-roots movement to take it head-on. Let every one that joins in take on a promise to be selfless, truthful (without deceit) and inspire everyone in their circle of influence to do the same. Nothing less then that will ever be a challenge to the core ethos of mass politic in our nation, and every where else, where greed resides.

Jainism's virtue of Samyak Charitra, in its most basic form, is the most common trait among all of the world religions, and yet least celebrated as the most unifying facet of all faiths. JAINA can leverage the same more explicitly in it's Inter-Faith platform. We all have to seize on that and build on a popular movement, each small step at a time, in the direction of Right Conduct, in our thoughts and our deeds. And in doing so, we will bring forth the message to the betterment of our home, neighborhood, society, nation and the world at large.

We have all witnessed recent activities in Tahrir Square; a movement against the oppressor and we are all emboldened by it. Yet, the bigger devil within us remains to be humbled. As we strive to take the message of Right Conduct forward, I believe, the virtue there in will sink and imbibe within us at a greater pace.

Further more, I believe, of all the challenges that we face in the conquest towards Right Conduct, the singular and yet the most galvanizing force is that of absolute celibacy. It is one step in the direction of Right Conduct that leaps oneself miles forward, to help tune out the cacophony of much of the virulent forces within us.

On Jainism and Social Justice

 As Jains around the world meditate and reflect on the final day of Paryusan, the events of this day nine years ago give us further pause of Jainism’s meaning and message. Our prayers and thoughts are with the families of those souls whose lives were taken on that terrible morning. We all mourn those who perished and, in our mourning, must reflect upon how such awful deaths can be prevented. One could argue that acts of terrible violence on the scale such as the attacks of September 11th, 2001 renders the non-violence philosophy of Jainism at best impotent and at worst irrelevant to modern international relations. What does Jainism’s principle of ahimsa (non-violence) really have to say vis-à-vis atrocity, aggression, and violence? Genocide in Sudan. Nuclear threats in North Korea. Extremism in Iran. Militant xenophobism on the rise in Europe. Continued civil conflict in many parts of India. Persistent unjust military action by the United States in several corners of the globe. For those of us who care about social justice, we cannot sit idly by. The politics and economics of power lead in one direction: violence, disease, and suffering, most often towards the poor and most vulnerable members of our society. We must fight against atrocity and aggression, and we must win. Neutrality is not an option; though we directly may cause no violence, by allowing—and in fact indirectly benefiting via the global economy—we are all culpable. It well beyond my scope here to discuss whether Jains should support military action in Iraq or Afghanistan or Kashmir or Sudan. That is far too deep and difficult a question for the present moment. A broader caveat I should make now is that my understanding of Jainism is limited to the last ten years of my life. A slightly more approachable question is the role of ahimsa in the battle against militarism. And while it is true that Jainism is perhaps the world’s only major religion on behalf of which no wars have ever been fought, that fact does not bear too heavily on the power struggles of the present day. Here the most important figure in my mind is Shrimad Rajchandraji. The Jain philosopher and disciple of Mahavir, born two years prior to Gandhiji, was one of the single most important philosophical influences on the Mahatma’s life. They were close friends through the end of Shrimad Rajchandraji’s life, and exchanged a series of letters that would bear heavily on Gandhiji’s later political actions. The British Raj was a devastatingly powerful and violent empire and yet it fell ultimately to the hands of a largely non-violent struggle. Gandhiji’s brilliance was that he engaged and intertwined spiritual and political matters, arguing for Indian internal self-reliance, simplicity, and detachment while fighting politically for dignity, self-governance, and freedom. There are three primary threats to global peace and security: militarism, materialism, and religious intolerance. I have spoken above about the Jain’s response to militarism: ahimsa (non-violence). To materialism, Jainism says: aparigraha (non-possessiveness). To religious intolerance, we say anekantvad (non-absolutism). In my reading (again with the caveat that I have only begun my own learning process), these three Jain responses—ahimsa, aparigraha, and anekantvad—to the earth’s most pressing problems—are not merely natural arguments that flow from Jain’s philosophy but rather they form the very core of Jainism itself. Jainism seems to me to be at once a spiritual and political philosophy, and that is the fundamental reason why Jainism remains relevant to modern societies. Now, materialism. So engrained is materialism in our society that it has become cliché to even lament the materialism. The reality TV shows. The soul-less, aesthetic-less odes-to-concrete strip malls. The disregard for environmental justice. The 220 million tons of garbage each year that the EPA estimates our country generates. On a personal level, vegetarianism and attempts to limit personal environmental impact and waste, driven by Jainist philosophy, are important. But doing our own parts does little to prevent the strip malls. To fight materialism at a broader level, we need to succeed in inculcating our institutions and businesses with Jain principles. This is intensely practical as well as spiritual, as Gandhiji states about Rajchandraji in Experiments in Truth, "People normally believe that truth-telling and successful business never go together. Shri Rajchandbhai on the other hand firmly believed and advised that truth and honesty were not only useful but essential to all good business. Morality is not packed within a prayer book, it is to be practiced and lived in all stations of life. Religion and morality sustain both good life and good business.” This notion will appeal to young Jains who are driven by their parents and society to succeed. The question is, can we succeed at business and work in a way that furthers our spiritual development and that drives social justice? The answer to me is yes, but it does require work. Big business these days after all make huge profits on environmental degradation, violence towards impoverished workers, cigarette smoking, guns, alcohol, and fast food. The way to win this fight is not through withdrawing from the marketplace, but rather by entering the marketplace giving consumers better products. Religious intolerance is a mainstream, dangerous force throughout the globe. The use of the proposed Islamic cultural center a few blocks from Ground Zero by right-wing politicians to inflame Americans’ suffering from the twin tower attacks was but the most recent example in American political life. In India, violent groups under the guise of the Hindu religion continue to threaten the very fabric of Indian secular democracy. From Al-Qaeda to the present Iranian government, militants defile the name of Islam for their own gains. There are countless other examples throughout the globe. Jainism’s view of anekantvad stands strongly against such absolutist thinking, and argues that the heart of all religions is the stewardship of the soul. Taking this spiritual view, the trends towards militarism, materialism, and religious intolerance are symptomatic of an underlying disease process: our global society’s losing touch with our souls. This is where the depth of Jainism can help us all. Indeed, if ahimsa, aparigraha, and anekantvad are the central motifs of Jainism’s spiritual and political philosophies, then the supremacy of the soul is the religion’s essence. In Gandhiji’s words, with concepts heavily influenced by Shrimad Rajchandji: "Religion is the spiritual quality of the soul. It is embedded in human nature in visible or invisible form. By religion we are able to know the duty of man, by it we are able to know our relations (or kinship) with other living beings. But all this requires the capacity to know one’s self. If we do not know ourselves we cannot know others rightly. By religion one can know himself.” Today, we can communicate across the globe literally at the speed of photons, but the neurons in our brains are so inundated with extraneous (mis)information that we easily are led astray. Increases in the incidence of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, violent video game addictions among children, and motor vehicle accidents caused by texting are three public health symptoms of this phenomenon. The deeper meaning of these symptoms is that, despite the remarkable, wonderful democratization of knowledge, we and our children are at greater risk than ever of not knowing our own souls. There are no simple solutions here, other than study, meditation, reflection, persistence, and faith. Faith in ourselves and in others, that belief in the veracity of our souls, is something that I have seen to be engrained among my new family members who had the fortune of growing up Jain. This faith provides resilience against the distractions of the modern world. Interestingly, the single most important principle that my father a passed on to me was this very point, summarized in one of his more memorable teachings: "I am that I am that I am that I am, and so it is”. Today I was reminded of this when we repeated "So hum” during Pratikraman. I feel that Jainism should permeate our work and personal lives and not only be present when we decline meat or take samayik or go to temple. If we are to make Jainism relevant to the world, if we as Jains are going to fight for social justice and against disease and ignorance and violence and environmental degradation, we need to incorporate Jainism into the institutions that we are a part of. This in my mind is also how we will make Jainism relevant to our children. There are only ten million Jains around the world, but the story of Shrimad Rajchandji and the birth of a free India is testament enough to the insight and impact that Jainism can have on the broader world. And so, on this last day of Paryushan 2010, coinciding with nine-year anniversary of the deadliest attack on American soil, we mourn those who were lost, and in their memory, we reflect upon how we can work towards a more peaceful world. I firmly believe that Jainism has much to offer to achieve this vision.

Michhami Dukkadam, Duncan

 
The following discussion took place on JainVegans@yahoogroups.com

 

The current global flu we are witnessing, is but the latest in a series of global diseases produced by the grossly unnatural concentration of animals (pigs, chickens, cows and  in massively dense, constrained, dirty conditions. This for the sole purpose of mass production, to provide cheap meat for human consumption.
 
Animals suffer massive pain, anxiety, breathing problems and skin infections (to name just a few) in these factories of industrial death. Picture the conditions in which millions of Jews were kept in the mass scale concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Or, the slave ships which brought tens of thousands of Africans at a time to the shores of Britain and Europe. Well, the animals suffer exactly the same distress and pain, bringing the same mix of faeces, urine, perspiration, infections and disease across their numbers.
 
The global meat eating obsession, is responsible for this 'swine flu', just as it was for 'Mad Cow Disease' (BSE) in the 1990s. Human obsession with unnatural produce, at an unnatural rate, in unnatural conditions, is the cause of much pain to humans, animals and the planet. The global meat industry is happy to feed the global meat demand, with cheap, squalid, pain-ridden animals. Just like the historic slave industry was happy to supply millions of African slaves kept and transported in squalid, disease-ridden, cramped conditions, deprived of food, water and hygiene. As experts quietly confirm, all meat and dairy, however presented in clean, glorious packaging, is intrinsically diseased. 90% of food poisoning in the UK is directly attributed to meat consumption. Meat eaters enjoy your meat, and the pain and disease that comes with it. It will deservedly consume you aswell!
 
 
"In nature, cattle eat grass <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass> . In modern industrial cattle-farming, various commercial feeds are used, which may contain ingredients including antibiotics <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic> , hormones <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormone> , pesticides <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide> , fertilizers <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer> , and protein <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein>  supplements. The use of meat and bone meal, produced from the ground and cooked left-overs of the slaughtering process as well as from the cadavers of sick and injured animals such as cattle, sheep, or chickens, as a protein supplement in cattle feed was widespread in Europe <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe>  prior to about 1987."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy
 
 
See the following article in the current newsletter of the Ecologist:
"Animals kept in industrial conditions, crowded into small pens next to each other, fed unnatural diets, and kept ‘healthy’ with a regime of veterinary drugs, will have greatly weakened immune systems and will effectively act as living Petri dishes in which this virus and others may combine and recombine to become unique strains that, in theory, can also be uniquely virulent.
 

Should an intermediary vector be involved, such as the flies that reproduce in the pig faeces which quickly builds up on the grounds around large hog raising facilities, this will make the swift spread of the disease to humans much more likely. There are a number of these types of facilities in the Mexican state of Vera Cruz, where the outbreak is believed to have originated."

http://theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=2407
 
Sick as a Pig:
http://theecologist.org/pages/ecologist_media.asp?podcast_id=108
 
 
jagdeesh singh
www.sarbat-da-bhalla.blogspot.com <http://www.sarbat-da-bhalla.blogspot.com>
PEACE: People...Earth...Animals...Collective...Existence