nirm.al

My Website
Log | Files | Refs | README | LICENSE

interview-with-annamalai-swami-by-jim-lemkin.html (4471B)


      1 <!DOCTYPE html>
      2 <html lang="en">
      3   <head>
      4     <meta charset="UTF-8" />
      5     <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
      6     <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/img/favicon.png" />
      7     <title>Nirmal Kumar R - Interview with Annamalai Swami by Jim Lemkin</title>
      8     <link rel="stylesheet" href="/style.css" />
      9   </head>
     10   <body>
     11     <a rel="me" href="https://ieji.de/@mysticmode" style="display:none;">Mastodon</a>
     12     <a href="/" class="header">
     13       <div class="logo">
     14         <img src="/img/garden.png" width="70px" />
     15       </div>
     16       <p><img src="/img/nirmal-banner.png" height="50px"></p>
     17     </a>
     18     <nav>
     19       <a href="/">Home</a>
     20       <a href="/blog.html">Blog</a>
     21       <a href="/poems.html">Poems</a>
     22       <a href="mailto:hi@nirm.al">Contact</a>
     23     </nav>
     24     <section class="content-wrapper">
     25       <div class="title">
     26         Interview with Annamalai Swami by Jim Lemkin
     27         <span class="date">[2020-11-10]</span>
     28       </div>
     29       <div class="content">
     30         <p>
     31           <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbd85YItR-E" target="_blank">YouTube link</a>
     32         </p>
     33         <p>
     34           One of my friends whose name is Hari Krishnan had shared me this video
     35           today morning. Like me, he was interested in searching for the truth,
     36           or maybe we could say as a spiritual wellness. I told him that I had
     37           his final talks edited by David Godman as a book. He had come to
     38           notice this video interview on YouTube and he shared it with me. No
     39           doubts, I was delighted and thanked him.
     40         </p>
     41         <p>
     42           So, I just watched the whole video. What Annamalai Swami talks in this
     43           video is very simple. But maybe I could say, my mother tongue being
     44           Tamil could be a reason for this.
     45         </p>
     46         <p>
     47           What the interviewer and the interpreter could try to ask makes much
     48           more sense to me, they were trying to see and perceive what made a
     49           Jnani like Annamalai Swami could delve into the self and how did they
     50           continue to stay there in that state their whole life.
     51         </p>
     52         <p>
     53           Interviewer seems to be an American trying to perceive that how could
     54           we live such a life say for example living in New York or Los Angeles.
     55           Where people constantly looking for the other way which is an
     56           illusion. By which I mean, the materialistic life in this samsara.
     57         </p>
     58         <p>
     59           I was taught in an English medium school. And I came to be in touch
     60           with many people from western countries for the last 10 years by being
     61           in ashrams and traveling around. I particularly or firmly established
     62           myself in their way of thinking to achieve something which was - I
     63           need recognition from this world. That said, I don't want to say this
     64           is the fault of the westerners. This is of myself. Maybe I could say I
     65           was thinking I'm the mind and I'm the body as Annamalai Swami puts
     66           constantly in this video.
     67         </p>
     68         <p>
     69           Annamalai Swami asks, when you are in a deep sleep, do you know who
     70           you are? Then the conversation goes like this, we don’t - So, we are
     71           not the mind and we are not the body. Who else then? The Self which is
     72           known as Atman is a revered word in this philosophy. I cannot say it
     73           clearly because the irony is that – I'm like that interviewer who
     74           sometimes can feel that but it fades away because of this society that
     75           we are living in.
     76         </p>
     77         <p>
     78           One more important question regarding the point I’ve mentioned above
     79           which is fading away, Swami says that constant inquiry is Jnana which
     80           resonates with me deeply.
     81         </p>
     82         <p>
     83           It seems like reading, watching and understanding is all few
     84           percentages but the thing is we need to stay there and inquire
     85           ourselves the question that Swami says.
     86         </p>
     87       </div>
     88     </section>
     89     <footer>
     90       <hr />
     91       © Nirmal Kumar R. All original text, is licensed under a
     92       <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.
     93       Source code of this website can be found
     94       <a href="https://github.com/mysticmode/mysticmode.github.io">here</a>.
     95     </footer>
     96   </body>
     97 </html>