Yaksha Prashnam Questions 85 - 88

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/03/yaksha-prashnam-questions-80-84.html

What is tapas? What is dhamam, patience and shyness?

What is tapas?

Yudhishtirar said that following ones duty properly is tapas. As women are assigned the duty of caring for their families they are exempt from fasting during Ekadashi. Their duty is to take care of their husband and to make sure he is able to fast on Ekadashis. Similarly students are exempt from fasting as their primary duty is to study. Abandoning the primary duty in order to take part in religious activities like Ekadashi fast is not acceptable.

What is dhamam?

Dhamam refers to controlling the mind. Mind is the captain among the senses. Proper sense control could be achieved only if the mind is controlled.

There was a rich land lord who managed the local temple. He provided a bowl of rice to everyone who worked in the temple. There was an old man who did nothing. He sat inside the temple gate all day. The landlord out of compassion also provided a bowl of rice to this old man. One day the land lord’s son took over the management. He had graduated from the top business school. He wanted to minimize waste and carry out “lean execution”. He did an audit and found out that the old man was receiving a bowl of rice without performing any task. The new landlord stopped everyone from providing rice to the old man unless he helped out with the temple work. After a week the new landlord enquired if the old man had started working. He was shocked to learn that the old man didn’t do any work and continued to sit in his usual spot. The new landlord visited the old man and was amazed to see the old man look happy. The old man did not feel bad for losing his bowl of rice. The new landlord felt sorry for the old man and asked him to do at least a small task. The old man replied that he did not need rice. The landlord asked why the old man sat doing nothing all day. The old man mentioned that it is not easy to remain static all day. The landlord challenged the old man that he can sit like the old man without doing anything. The old man accepted the challenge and asked the landlord to remain static for just five minutes. After five minutes the landlord replied that it was very easy to remain static. To this the old mentioned that the landlord had only remained static physically while his mind had been wandering musing about his upcoming court case and then mentally visiting his sister. The landlord was astonished by the old man’s reply.  He wanted to know how the old man had been able to read his mind. The old man replied that he had complete control over his mind because of which he could read the landlord’s mind. The landlord accepted defeat and continued to provide a bowl of rice to the old man.

The following two question and answers are not from the notes taken from the upanyasam.

What is patience?

True patience is enduring the misdeeds committed by others towards us due to enmity and still forgiving them.

What is shyness?

True shyness is exhibited when a person withdraws completely from worldly desires.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/03/yaksha-prashnam-questions-89-92.html

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Based on, Yaksha Prashnam - A discourse in Tamil by Sri U.Ve. Karunakaran Swamy
(Any errors or inconsistencies in the following series are due to the mistakes I made while taking notes. ) 

Copies of the CDs can be obtained from Sri Karunakaran Swami’s website http://www.nadadoor.org/ . This series is for the benefit of people who do not understand Tamil. Those of you who understand Tamil very well must definitely obtain a copy of Swami’s Upanyasam. You can do so by contacting Nadadoor.org. Swami also renders discourses in English but I am not sure if Yaksha Prashnam discourse is available in English.  The experience of listening to Swami’s upanyasams could never be obtained by reading the following series. I have done my best to take notes with due diligence. I apologize for any errors that I have made while writing this series.