Foreigners who visit ashrams take a liking to these places and periodically visit the place. The rare few choose to stay. Robert Macfarlane was raised a devout Catholic who came here in 1970 and remained for seven years.
Determination is a mental act of one's will. The Mind has two parts, Knowledge and Will. The Will can execute while Knowledge cannot. Knowledge can enlighten the Will when it has decided to act. Such a state of Mind is described as decision. The Will of the Mind informed by knowledge can arrive at a decision. Mind's knowledge can rise to a conviction if the knowledge carries clarity. Hence the value of clarity. Knowledge leads to decision in the will. Conviction of the Mind converts the decision into determination.
Those who are sitting at the computer know all the steps needed for opening it and the series of steps needed to close it. We see children of 5 or 6 opening the instrument and using it very well. We also see adults unable to open or shut it properly as the manual requires. Even if it is improperly shut down, the computer still works, but it chooses different paths, it acquires a temperament. This is true of all walks of life, but computer is new. There it can be readily seen, not in our old ways of life such as shopping.
Failure is as common as success. In a poor society, it is more common. In upper middle class families, we rarely come across children who are not graduates. Failure there is failure to reach a mark in the profession. In the lower middle class families, most do not complete a degree. One or two do. In the well-to-do families sometimes children decide NOT to exert themselves and live by their existing resources or reputation. Especially sons-in-law play that role. One father-in-law established his eldest son-in-law in six successive ventures. All failed. Finally, he turned him out.
Realism is for life. Idealism is for our adoration. Idealism never succeeds in life. The world has not thrown up a practical idealist who is a success. Our tradition is to shun life. Therefore, our lives are poor. Christians know they have only one life. Therefore, they have developed the work ethic. They do not shun life. They are materially successful. It may be one of many reasons for their success; but it is one contributing to success. It is also true, that in spite of shunning life, there were long periods - centuries - of affluence in India.
The author of The Vital Difference during a conversation, came to a list of indispensable disciplines. He found cleanliness on the top of the list and said, "The importance of cleanliness cannot be over-emphasized. I have heard enough." Whatever Mother's devotees know or not, they know the significance of cleanliness. Most of them follow it seriously. It is always seen that cleanliness defies perfection at many points. We give in. That is the point that decides whether we go to the next level of life or not. In India, we are proud of our influential relatives and friends.
A young man was voicing several complaints in his life to an elderly man. When the long list of complaints was over, the other asked, "Young man, do you digest your food, and how do you sleep?" The boy's digestion was good and he slept soundly. If these two things are all right, one shows the boy's health is good and the other indicates there is no real issue in his life. The rest is fanciful. It is the quintessence of age. Sleep nourishes when one sleeps peacefully and wakes up fresh. Not all people sleep well. Some have disturbing dreams, others toss and turn.
We Indians believe in astrology. The Westerner believes in the doctor. A rich industrialist had hired an astrologer permanently to take care of his moves. His elder brother who was an M.P. who had made his horoscope was also a serious believer in astrology. The industrialist found that his horoscope had been drawn up in his young age. It stretched up to age sixty and stopped. At the age of sixty, he suddenly awoke to the unspoken fact that his life might end at sixty. It was a shocking revelation.
A journal studied life in small towns of India and reported their new-found lifestyle. Bombay, Delhi, Madras and similar towns numbering twenty are classified as metros. Next in the list comes Belgaum, Mangalore, Trichy, Dehradun, etc. under the title of small towns. Below that is the description of rural towns. Fashions begin with Bombay and Delhi and slowly spread. Bombay is a glamorous city, said one who had lived there all his youth. Cities are the cradles of civilisation. All great lifestyles find their origin in great cities.
Memory is an interesting topic that can engage a group of people in spellbound attention when discussed at several levels. Napoleon was known for it. When he visited some insignificant place and saw three cannons, he said, "There were four cannons here when I last came here twelve years ago." While young, a person is overflowing with energy. It expresses as enthusiasm. He has no inclination in life for memory or anything. He simply enjoys life. His memory is geared towards what he enjoys and how he can get more of it. After forty or fifty years, memory acquires a premium.