SELF REFLECTION

and
COLLECTIVE REFLECTION

Varun Vidyarthi
 PRESENCE
• “I’ll never forget one particular interview I had with
a senior executive. As our conversation progressed
and he opened up more and more, he began to talk
about all the compromises he had made in his life in
order to ‘climb the ladder’ in the corporation. He
hadn’t really thought a lot about it at the time; it
seemed that he was just doing what he had to do to
be successful. He said exactly the same thing; that
he had totally lost his capacity to feel and sense.
Eventually he just looked at me and said, ‘I don’t
really like the person I’ve become.’”
 PRESENCE
• “If you asked any of us, if we actually want to destroy species
as a result of our purchasing decisions, we would all say, ‘No,
of course not!.... or if we wanted to prevent people in
developing countries from gaining access to clean drinking
water because it’s owned by soft drink producers whose
business expands because we buy their products?
• Yet this is exactly what’s happening. Our purchasing
decisions are mediated through the network of institutions
that span the world to bring us the goods and services we
buy. We’re just doing what we think we need to do to be
successful, and I suspect if we could really see the
consequences of our actions, we wouldn’t like ourselves very
much.
 PRESENCE
• We’re all in the bowels of this giant machine, the
modern global economy, being used as instruments
to serve its ends. We create the machine collectively,
but we feel trapped individually. We’ve shifted the
burden so much to the machine that we don’t see a
lot of options, even though they may really be there.
We can’t go off into the woods and live happily off
the land anymore. So we ‘deep-freeze’ our ability to
sense what’s actually going on. We deny the larger
consequences of our way of living.”
 CHALLENGES
EXPLORING BASIC QUESTIONS

LIVELIHOOD FOR A LIVING,

LIVING FOR WHAT PURPOSE
Nardananda
SOME INITIAL QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED

"Is my job giving me the fulfillment I seek?"

"Am I relating to the people in my life in a way

that contributes to their happiness and
mine?"

The immediate answer will be “Of Course”.

Think about it honestly.

Spiritual intelligence is about our growth as a

human being. It is about having a direction
in life and being able to heal ourselves of all
the resentment we carry.

It is about pondering over life's purpose.

Interestingly , a purposeful life tends to be full
of struggles. (Examples)
Generally speaking, the most common ideal is to be born in an
environment comfortable enough to avoid too many difficulties in life, to
marry someone who won't give you too much trouble, to have healthy
children who grow up normally again to avoid trouble and then a quit and
happy old age and not be too ill, again to avoid trouble. And then to pass
away when one is tired of life, again because one does not want any
trouble.

One lives from day to day the events of each day when one is very young,
one thinks of playing, eating, and a little later of learning, and after that
one thinks of all the circumstances of life. But to put this problem to
oneself, to confront this problem and ask oneself: "But after all, why am I
here ?" How many do that?

There are people to whom this idea comes only when they are facing a
catastrophe. When they see someone whom they love die or when they
find themselves in particularly painful and difficult circumstances, they turn
back upon themselves: "But really, what is this tragedy we are living, and
what's the use of it and what is its purpose?“
The Mother
 VIGILANCE
• Vigilance means to be awake, to be on one's guard, to be sincere- never to
be taken by surprise. ..At each moment of your life, there is a choice
between taking a step that leads to the goal and falling asleep or
sometimes even going backwards
• There are two kinds of vigilance, active and passive. There is a vigilance
that gives you a warning if you are about to make a mistake, if you are
making a wrong choice, if you are being weak or allowing yourself to be
tempted…. there is the active vigilance which seeks an opportunity to
progress, seeks to utilise every circumstance to advance more quickly.
• There is a difference between preventing yourself from falling and
advancing more quickly.
• And both are absolutely necessary.
SRI AUROBINDO’S THOUGHTS BY A.S.
DALAL

Vigilance is the way that leads to immortality (or Nirvana).

Negligence is the way that leads to death. Those who are vigilant
do not die. Those who are negligent are dead already.

The Dhammapada
THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF LIVING
The inner law, the truth of the being ……… should be the
master and guide of our life. When you acquire the habit of
listening to this inner law, when you obey it, follow it, try
more and more to let it guide your life, you create around you
an atmosphere of truth and peace and harmony which
naturally reacts upon circumstances and forms, so to say, the
atmosphere in which you live.

..this inner attitude, the more sincere and total it is, the more
it reacts upon the external circumstances; not that it
necessarily diminishes the difficulties of life, but it gives these
difficulties a new meaning and that allow you to face them
with a new strength and a new wisdom.
THE MOTHER
 BEYOND THOUGHTS
In Buddhism, thinking is like a waterfall. . Our minds run so rapidly
that we perceive our thinking as if it’s waterfall. But if we are aware, if
we’re able to stop, we know that thinking is just tiny drops.

Thoughts pass one, one, one, like that. Embedded in this steady
stream of thoughts are habitual thinking patterns that shape our most
basic beliefs, including our standard notion of self. We take this
concept of our self as reality.

But ‘Thoughts’ are not a person. Thoughts change all the time. When
the mind becomes truly calm, we begin to see ‘the life process at
work’

According to The Great Learning ,

When we penetrate through everyday thoughts to our deeper
experience “You get rid of the habitual view of the self.”
 STILLNESS
• Learn to sit in a quite and calm place every day at the same
time with determination. Learn not to move, yet remain
comfortable. There should not be any strain or rigidity in it.
You will find that you are able to easily arrest the twitching,
tremors, and jerks of your body.

• Keep your head, neck, and trunk straight, and then gently
close your eyes and mentally observe the stillness of your
body. Your body may begin tilting forward. Your inner
feelings and frustrations cause your body to move.

• The first few days you should learn to watch the stillness.
Enjoy the stillness. Great joy will spring out of stillness.

• Power is in stillness as much as in movement.

There is nothing that mind can do that cannot be better done in the
mind’s immobility and thought free stillness.
Sri Aurobindo
 ASSIGNMENT
• Sit in silence at a convenient time when you are
feeling free from the day’s routine. The purpose
would be to gradually arrive at a state of
thoughtlessness. Do not worry if you do not
succeed in first few attempts and keep practicing .
• In the state of silence, identify your behavior, habits
or biases that affected your peace that day. This is
not easy. You have to be very honest.
• Consider making changes in your work priorities,
engagements, habits, where needed. Write them
down.
• Write down your idea of your goal in life.
COLLECTIVE REFLECTION
 COLLECTIVE REFLECTION
WITH PROFESSIONALS / STUDENTS

Dialogue on Individual Practices & Beliefs

Sharing Mistakes, Weaknesses, Learning
Reflection on Goals and Direction
Discussion on Issues of Common concern
 COLLECTIVE REFLECTION
WITH DISADVANTAGED GROUPS
PROCESS

• Usually organised in a small

group (so that everyone
participates )
• Facilitated by a trained person.
Encouragement given to deep
reflection
• Helpful to start with meditation
or prayers as per culture for
positive thinking
• Clarification and Cross questions
among participants encouraged

HAS DEEP IMPACT ON

PARTICIPANTS
 COLLECTIVE REFLECTION
WITH DISADVANTAGED GROUPS

COLLECTIVE APPRAISAL
COLLECTIVE VISIONING
WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO ACHIEVE ?
 LETTING DOUBTS EMERGE
 ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO
DISCUSS THE ISSUES WITH
FRIENDS OR RELATIVES AFTER
MEETING
 USING PRA TECHNIQUES, IF
NECESSARY, FOR BETTER
UNDERSTANDING OF REALITY

A participatory appraisal method

MANAVODAYA
 COLLECTIVE REFLECTION
CHALLENGES

 DIALOGUE OFTEN HIJACKED

o Who is talking ? Where are we sitting ? How are we sitting/talking ?
o Are we enabling empowerment and control or are we giving sops ?

 DIALOGUE OFTEN BEGINS WITH MUTUAL MISTRUST

 Mistrust is natural. Based on past experiences, prejudices, biases
 Initial rejection by community is common. It is a not a negative sign

 TENDENCY TO FOCUS ON PREDETERMINED AGENDA

 Implies insensitivity to conditions and needs of the people
 Leads to artificial dialogue

MANAVODAYA
 ASSIGNMENT 2
Organize a collective reflection session with your friends, colleagues or
students. For collective reflection you may
• Enable the group to start with silence for a few minutes.
• Introduce some profound learning or quotation from well known
luminaries/enlightened persons, share your practical experience on the
subject and ask others to respond.
• Facilitate experience sharing by group members. If there is a negative
comment, ask others to respond.
• Be willing to share your mistakes, follies, limited understanding or
weakness related to the subject and how you overcame your weakness.
• Facilitate the discussion to arrive at a consensus or agreement where the
group shows a high energy level or a willingness to act.
• Keep notes of all important discussions, positions taken by participants
and agreements. TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS
• Share your notes with your comments for the benefit of others.