Post No. 12,454
Date uploaded in London – – 22 August, 2023
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‘Don’t Chase Two Rabbits’: Paramahamsa and Confucius (Post No.12,454)
Great men think alike! It is very true with Hindu saint Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Chinese philosopher Confucius. Though they lived 2500 years apart and 2000 miles apart , their thoughts are same. Focus is the point they emphasize.
Confucius says,
“The man who chases two rabbits catches neither.”
– Confucius
In fact, Harvard Business School strategy guru Michael Porter says that:
“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”
This is another quote on Focus. If your attention is distracted you cant reach your goal. If you chase two rabbits at the same time, you won’t catch either one because they will pull you in different directions.
It is very important in leadership development and spiritual progress. Chasing two rabbits is no way to live and no way to lead.
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Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says,
“A man began to sink a well, but having dug down to a depth of twenty cubits, he could not find any trace of water there. So he gave up that site and selected another spot for the purpose. There he dug still deeper, but even then could not find any water. So he selected yet another site and dug deeper than before, but it was also of no avail. The total depth of all these three wells was only a little short of one hundred cubits. Had he the patience to devote even half of the whole of this labour to his first well instead of changing the site again and again, he would surely have succeeded in getting water. The same is the case with men who continually change their faith”.
Here we can replace the word Faith with Focus.
It is very essential for common man as well. Many of us dream about lot of things at the same time. One wants to be’ this ‘or ‘that’ or ‘all’. But never goes in one direction; never targets one particular thing. One day we pursue a particular thing. Very next day we change our mind. If that is the case we would never achieve our goal. We will stay where we started.
If you want to succeed in life or want to achieve what you aim at, then do this:
Get really specific. Write all of them down on a sheet of paper.
How many rabbits are you trying to chase?
What would it be like to chase one – or at least those headed in the same direction?
Then choose one rabbit. When you catch it, go for another rabbit.
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Focus in spiritual field:
It reminds us, one of Upanishads saying,
Nethi, Nethi, Not this, Not this
In Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 800 BCE (Satapatha Brahmana of Shukla Yajurveda), the two terms “neti neti”occur, and Brahman is described as satyasya satyam (the truth of truth).
Neti neti is a Sanskrit expression which means “not this, not this”, or “neither this, nor that” (neti is sandhi from na iti “not so”). It is the method of Vedic analysis of negation. It is a keynote of Vedic inquiry. With its aid the Jnani negates identification with all things of this world which is not the Atman, in this way he negates the Anatman. Through this gradual process he negates the mind and transcends all worldly experiences that are negated till nothing remains but the Self. He attains union with the Absolute by denying the body, name, form, intellect, senses and all limiting adjuncts and discovers what remains, the true “I” alone.
Neti neti negates all descriptions about the Ultimate Reality but not the Reality itself. Intuitive interpretation of uncertainty principle can be expressed by “Neti neti” that annihilates ego and the world as non-self (Anatman), it annihilates our sense of self altogether.
Adi Shankara was one of the foremost Advaita philosophers who advocated the neti-neti approach. In his commentary on Gaudapada’s Karika, he explains that Brahman is free from adjuncts and the function of neti neti is to remove the obstructions produced by ignorance. His disciple, Sureshvara, further explains that the negation, neti neti, does not have negation as its purpose, it purports identity.
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Source: A World of Yoga: Hinduism
Neti-neti means “not this, not this.” Whenever a thought or feeling which is not the goal of the meditation — that is, which is not the soul, the inner self — occurs to the mind, the meditator simply says, “Not this, not this,” and dismisses the thought, image, concept, sound, or sense distraction.
Any thought, any feeling, is discarded — patiently discarded — again and again if necessary, until the mind is clear and the soul is revealed.
(For more on this go to Wisdomlibrary.com)
Xxxx subham xxxx
Tages: two rabbits, Confucius, Paramahamsa, Digging well, Focus, goal,
Tamil and Vedas 