PebbleTrader wrote:When I first listened to the audio book of Eckhart Tolle "Power Of Now", I had to pause it constantly as I was either taking notes or deeply thinking about what was just said...
Eckhart Tolle references the Bhagavad-Gita a lot in this book...
http://www.asitis.com/
http://ebooks.iskcondesiretree.info/pdf ... _It_Is.pdf
This text is a summary of all (ancient) Vedic Philosophy spoken by Krishna (God) Himself and it is full of transcendental wisdom and spiritual bliss...
The premise of the text is a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna (a powerful warrior) on the battlefield before going to war with his family members... (sounds similar to what traders face each day)
Arjuna is feeling attachment to his kin and can't bring himself to take the life of his great teachers and he then seeks the council of Krishna who unbeknown to him is the Supreme Almighty God (He later shows Arjuna His Universal Form).... The conversation starts off like this
Sanjaya said: Arjuna, having thus spoken on the battlefield, cast aside his
bow and arrows and sat down on the chariot, his mind overwhelmed with grief.
Sanjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion, his mind depressed, his eyes full of tears, Madhusüdana, Krsna, spoke the following words.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the value of life. They lead not to higher planets but to infamy.
O son of Prthä, do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O chastiser of the enemy.
Arjuna said: O killer of enemies, O killer of Madhu, how can I counterattack with arrows in battle men like Bhima and Drona, who are
worthy of my worship?
It would be better to live in this world by begging than to live at the cost of
the lives of great souls who are my teachers. Even though desiring worldly gain, they are superiors. If they are killed, everything we enjoy will be tainted with blood.
Nor do we know which is better?conquering them or being conquered by
them. If we killed the sons of Dhitarastöra, we should not care to live. Yet they are now standing before us on the battlefield.
Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of
miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.
I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not be able to dispel it even if I win a prosperous, unrivaled kingdom on earth with sovereignty like the demigods in heaven.
Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Krsna, ?Govinda, I shall not fight,? and fell silent.
O descendant of Bharata, at that time Krsna, smiling, in the midst of both
the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: While speaking learned words,
you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead.
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings;
nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.
As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to
youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.
O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.
O best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness
and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.
Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent [the material body] there is no endurance and of the eternal [the soul] there is no change. This they have concluded by studying the nature of both.
That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible.
No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.
The material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living
entity is sure to come to an end; therefore, fight, O descendant of Bharata.
Neither he who thinks the living entity the slayer nor he who thinks it slain
is in knowledge, for the self slays not nor is slain.
For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come
into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is
unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.
O Pärtha, how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible,
eternal, unborn and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly
accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.
This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.
It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable and immutable. Knowing
this, you should not grieve for the body.
If, however, you think that the soul [or the symptoms of life] is always born and dies forever, you still have no reason to lament, O mighty-armed.
One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to
take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament.
- A simular story can be said for trading (not to trivialize this great piece of ancient authoritative wisdom which I encourage anyone and everyone to read). But we are all going into war as traders and there are sure to be losses along the way but if we are able to detach ourselves from these losses we can ultimately dispel all fear and grief. What you do with your winnings is then entirely up to you, but some guidance is also given in this book.
I often say that there are many paths towards spiritual realization just as water flows towards the ocean via many rivers and streams, the quality of the water stays the same as water is water, however water will always be purest at the source...