Enjoy Life in Abundance

 

Photo Credit: Brianna Wilkerson

Enjoy Life in Abundance

Modern life is full of extremes particularly when it comes to the rat race that we find ourselves in, in an all or nothing world! We work excessive hours for those extra corporate bonuses regardless of the effect that it has on our personal lives. To take care of the resulting stress we go on extended holidays to break away from it all; we end up eating junk food resulting in bad health, then we go to the other extreme and revert to severe detox regimes. Then are those people who burn the midnight oil six days in a week and try to balance things out by resting for the whole day on Sunday. If you listen to modern conversation, that too is in the extremes – it is either “super awesome”, “fantastic”, “amazing” or “the worst thing ever”, “the shit has hit the roof”, “have hit the bottom of the pits”, etc. And then we have the internet, which drives us to extremes, we now have FB live shootings, suicides and what have you. Looks like life is full of only extremes – extreme frugality, extreme vacation travel, extreme workouts, extreme diets!

One should try and practice living on the middle path – like Oscar Wilde said, “Everything in moderation, including moderation”. There is nothing wrong with frugality, traveling, staying fit or dieting. In moderation all these activities help you lead a healthy and joyous life. When we live a life of conscious moderation, we are actually living with restraint, avoiding excess and extremes and practicing prudence. I have spoken in another blog about Buddha’s 8-fold path which he has defined as the middle way of moderation – between the extremes of indulgence and self-mortification. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad verse 5.2.3 defines a well-developed person as having the characteristic of moderation or self-restraint apart from compassion and love for all sentient beings along with charity.

Modern life is so tempting with material things available so easily that it is very easy to be consumed by our desires. We want more gadgets, more food, more this and more that. If you observe that the gadgets which we get helps us do all our physical and mental work – in the past when we did this by ourselves, we would naturally maintain our physical and mental health in just doing day-to-day activities. We don’t cook healthy food any more, we buy it without really knowing whether that food is really healthy or it is healthy because some celebrity endorsed it!

Moderation really does not mean abstinence – it is knowing how much is good for you rather than relentlessly spending life in the pursuit of ‘more’. Moderation actually means the ability to savour pleasure – intensifying its sensation – by shunning excess thus enjoying what we have that much more. Life is about choosing quality over quantity.

When we tread the spiritual path, practice meditation, we naturally tend towards the middle path, and as we get centered in our own self, all our extreme desires fall away and we begin to live a balanced life without missing out on anything. The best way to taste the joy of life in abundance is by focusing on striking a balance between extremes.

Forgive Over and Over Again

 

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Forgive Over and Over Again

In 2014, the year my mother passed away, I had seen her just staring blankly out into space with a kind of frown on her face. I asked her what’s wrong and then told her to forget the past and forgive all those who had hurt the family. I guess I hit a raw nerve, because she snapped back, “I have not taken any Guru, I cannot and will not forgive.” The words were so intense that I let go and did not push her. These incidents had happened more than 40 years ago but I guess they were imprinted in my mom’s psyche and every memory recall opened the wounds afresh. The only way one can get rid of such intense hurt is if we learn to forgive over and over again – every time the memory comes up we should consciously forgive all the players in that particular drama of life!

In Vedic literature, ‘Kshama’ describes the concept of forgiveness, and is combined with ‘Krupa’ (kindness), ‘Daya’ (mercy), and ‘Karuna’ (compassion). At the very root of forgiveness is the concept that the person who does not forgive carries a huge baggage of memories of the wrong, negative and harmful feelings of anger, hate and unresolved emotions that affect such persons both in the present as well as in the future. Not only should one learn to forgive others but one should first learn to forgive one’s own self – because if you cannot forgive yourself there is no way that you can forgive others! Also, if you feel you have wronged or hurt someone else then you should not hesitate to say sorry and seek forgiveness, regardless of what your ego tells you to do!

Some people consider saying sorry or apologising to be a sign of weakness, this is certainly not so, because being humble and saying sorry for a wrong which you know you have done is a sign of strength and a display of a solid character. This is a skill which is very difficult to master as it comes from higher levels of consciousness. It is always a mental battle to apologise as you have to rise extremely high to attain a neutral state in order to forgive. Undoubtedly, forgiveness is one of the most powerful tools in the world to heal yourself as well as to progress spiritually. The Bhagwad Gita (10.4) states that forgiveness is associated with other divine qualities such as knowledge, freedom from delusion, truthfulness, control of the senses, equanimity, contentment, fearlessness, charity and austerity.

When we hold a grudge against someone, we are bound to that person emotionally and we give him a place of residence in our ‘agya chakra’ (brow chakra). By forgiving we release that person from the rent-free accommodation given to such person till that point in time after which we clear our agya chakra.

To conclude - a quote from Greek philosopher Epictetus, “When you learn to forgive, others and yourself, and let go, you will be surprised to discover the lightness and freedom that unfolds thereafter within you. Forgiveness will not necessarily erase all your pain, but it does mean that the pain is no longer center stage.”

Solution for Most of our Suffering

 

Photo Credit: Steven Webb

Solution for Most of our Suffering

I remember when I was about 12 years old, I had joined a library – I was a voracious reader even then – and one book a day would not satisfy my appetite for reading. So, I had started taking two books, one officially and one hidden inside my trouser. I would come the next day and return the official book and while looking for new books, quietly remove the second book and put it back on the shelf – this went on smoothly for about a month or so. Then one day while I was slipping the second book into my trouser, I got a very strong sensation in the small of my back that someone was watching and my inner voice telling me not to take the book. But I didn’t listen and went to the counter for signing the official book I was taking – the man at the counter asked me to step back and I had this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach – he asked me to raise my shirt and when I did the second book was visible, the guy slapped me so hard across my face that I wet my pants. The strike was so sudden, there was nothing I could do. I was banished from the library as the guy thought I was stealing books whereas I was only satisfying my urge to read more. But of course, that did not wash and no explanation was being accepted. I stopped visiting that library and started sourcing books from another library! That day I realised I had a very strong sixth sense and not listening to it is foolhardy! I accepted the result because I knew I had been cheating, and by putting myself in the library guy’s shoes I too would have assumed that the customer is stealing!

I remember this saying by Reinhold Niebuhr, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Life is unpredictable. We desire a lot of things in life, but we do not always get what we want. Many things will happen in life that will transform who we are and have an impact on our life. When we accept this, we create the ability to accept whatever life throws at us and also embrace it.

Life will bring many challenges, it could be job related, health related, untimely death of a loved one and it is not easy to accept them when our mental state is that of suffering and wishing that those things would never have happened. But from the moment we decide to start cultivating acceptance in our lives, we are more than likely to cope with future crises in a harmonious way and view such events from a highly evolved perspective.

Acceptance does not mean that you have hung up your shoes and resigned to fate by just putting up with things! It definitely does not mean resignation, failure or agreement. It simply means accepting the truth and letting things be as they are, it simply means going with life’s flow! You cannot change reality, however much you try! The only thing you can do is accept the reality and cope with it the best you can. There is no point in burning energy in trying to open a closed door in front of you, better to start looking for other windows that could open to shed light in your life. Life has a funny way of unfolding not as we will, but as it wills at His will. When we accept ourselves and our situations with all the flaws and aberrations, we create a real sense of peace and calm and learn to let go of the suffering.

Let me end by quoting Rabindranath Tagore, “Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart to conquer it.”

How to Remain Calm in Tough Times

 

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How to Remain Calm in Tough Times

Bhagwad Gita (2:48) says – ‘Be steadfast in the performance of your duty, abandoning attachment to the rewards of actions while steadfastly remaining equipoised in either success or failure.’ I am sure all of you have seen jugglers in a circus – someone is throwing them balls, plates, knives and what have you, they catch one throw it, and so on, when the number goes beyond a point then the juggler has to either ignore the object or catch it and gently place it aside; in doing so he remains focused on his act, if his attention is lost even for a fraction of a second, he will drop or miss his object thus ruining his show! This act of his requires focused attention just as it does in real life situations. But we don’t work in circuses and don’t juggle objects for a living, hence practicing to do this is not on.

A person with an equanimous nature can help cultivate the presence of mind to juggle objects or to tackle life’s challenges without being disturbed or losing one’s cool. A person with an equanimous nature is a person who maintains his/her calm and composure, especially in difficult, tough, challenging situations. We all at varying points in our life feel pleasure and pain by experiencing happiness and sorrow, respect and disrespect, interest and lack of it, cold and heat and so on. When we are confronted by such conflicting emotions and we still manage to live in a spirit of harmony and peace with a balanced mind then we are said to be equanimous by nature.

There is a Buddhist saying, “If your mind becomes like a rock and no longer shakes, in a world where everything is shaking your mind will be your greatest friend and suffering will not come your way.” Meditation helps us achieve this goal of equanimity where we live life in a constant, calm and content state. It helps us remain balanced and focused without letting the waves of daily life throw us off our boat or allow the emotions of others around us destabilise our spirit.

Equanimity protects us from the 8 worldly winds as defined in Buddhist scriptures – praise, blame, success, failure, pleasure, pain, fame and disrepute. When we become attached to or are excessively elated with success, fame, praise of pleasure we unknowingly set ourselves up for suffering when the winds change direction! We need to understand that our sense of inner well-being is not dependent on these winds; once we understand this then our equanimity is assured regardless of the wind changing direction.

Most of the time, most of us are not wired to remain in this equanimous state and it is hugely difficult to get rid of emotions of ecstasy and misery! When we walk the spiritual path, we learn that everything is transitory and both the good and the bad times will pass – time takes care of everything. But, maintaining equanimity is a very individual thing that each one of us has to learn to adopt, because that is what will help keep us sane in an increasingly insane world.

Like Krishna told Arjuna as we wade through the ocean of life, it throws up all kinds of waves that are beyond our control. If we continue to struggle to get rid of negative situations there is no way we can get rid of unhappiness. If we learn to accept both the good and the bad in everything that life throws at us with equanimity -  just like the master juggler – without sacrificing our best efforts, that will be truly blissful for us!

Kindness Stems from Unconditional Love

 

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Kindness Stems from Unconditional Love

I was having a discussion with a friend who mentioned that if people can’t get into a meditative state, then what is the other way to progress. He said that Swamiji told him that the alternative is unconditional, selfless love. This morning during meditation I was ruminating on kindness and I got the sense that the source of kindness towards one and all originates from the feeling of unconditional and selfless love which is created from within. Again, the question is how does one develop this sense of unconditional and selfless love!

For the last several years I have been praying to my soul to develop unconditional love within myself and that the same should flow continuously from within me. The reaction of people who have come in touch with me during this lockdown phase have expressed that they feel very nice and good while talking or discussing things with me. I personally feel that this has happened because of the prayer which I offer every day during meditation. This prayer has also brought about a feeling of well-being and goodness within me. The feeling of selfless love is a condition of the soul which gets developed over a period of time – some of us will probably be blessed with this sense right from birth – but this will happen with those rare few who have embarked and traveled a great distance on their spiritual quest in the previous birth!

There is one problem with being kind and that is of being consciously aware that there are people out there who will try to take advantage of the goodness of your heart! This is a kind of protection that one has to develop by oneself by taking one’s soul into confidence and submitting to the soul for guidance. Your inner voice will always provide guidance, you just have to be alert to receive it and abide by its guidance. With complete awareness you can take care of such people by politely bypassing their efforts without hurting them. Each situation being different – you will always get guidance to suit the occasion!

Kindness manifests in different forms and when it manifests selflessly it is a booster for one’s spiritual progress. Kindness manifests as empathy, thoughtfulness, acceptance, an act of kindness without any words, expression of unconditional love, being graceful and nice in tight situations. There are infinite ways in which one could be nice. And to do that we need to develop the sense of unconditional and selfless love within us. When this happens everything else falls into place – you yourself get this feeling of blissful well-being and contentment which arises from deep within yourself.

Being Kind is God-like

 

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Being Kind is God-like

There is a saying by an unknown author – ‘In a world where you can be anything….be kind’. There is nothing which can beat kindness, it gives you such a good feeling about yourself that I am sure most of you would have experienced it. Human nature is basically steeped in kindness, and as we go through life’s experiences and its ups and downs, this basic nature gets hidden under layers of bitter and bad experiences.

One of my best memories of kindness was when I was bringing my ailing grandmother home from my uncle’s house in Thane about 25 years ago. It was late, past 9pm and it was raining cats and dogs, maybe elephants and rhinos – you know how heavy Mumbai rains can be. When we came near Sion hospital the right rear tyre got punctured. I got out of the car, took the jack and placed it beneath the car, I took the wheel-spanner and tried to turn the bolts – no luck, the spanner just kept turning it wasn’t catching its grip. By this time, I was soaked and in despair – there were no cell phones then! I tried to wave some passing cars no one was stopping – this was Mumbai – and then to my utter surprise a car pulled over and a gentleman got out. He asked what was wrong, I told him my wheel spanner wasn’t working. He got his spanner out, I took it, and removed the bolts and he helped me fix the spare tyre. It took all of ten minutes and he helped all the while. I thanked him from the bottom of my heart – for me that night he was God! Mumbai does have a heart. It was as if God heard a silent prayer and came to the rescue!

Once during a lecture, Warren Buffet was asked what was his definition of success. He replied, “When you get to my age, you will really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you….That is the ultimate test of how you have lived your life. The trouble with love is that you cannot buy it….The only way to get love is to be lovable….The more you give love away, the more you get.” So, for a man as wealthy and successful in life the ultimate measure of success was not any of his material accomplishments but the quantum of selfless love that you receive – that was his true wealth! And the way to that wealth is kindness, this is fundamental to human existence. We experience kindness from birth itself as we are cocooned in the arms of our parents who nurture us as we grow and shower us with love and affection – it just goes to show kindness is sewn into our DNA.

To be kind one does not have to work hard, it is the easiest to execute any random act of kindness everyday – do it and see for yourself how much joy you give and get with such acts. Every act of random kindness creates a ripple effect that spreads from person to person with no end in sight. Kindness originates from the simple act of not harming others. Kindness is also a reflection of the empathy you show others during their tough times, when you treat others the way they deserve to be treated and when you appreciate others for their work and last but not the least when you forgive others for their mistakes. Be kind…..be God-like.

Black Swan

 

Photo Credit: Quora | Do Black Swans Exist?

Black Swan

When we think of swans, we picturise a very graceful, huge, gentle bird which is pure white and it is also considered to be an epitome of love. The black swan was discovered in Australia in the late seventeenth century and till then the black swan was just a myth. A black swan is a metaphor that describes something rare, impossible or non-existent. Now, if we consider human beings in comparison with the size of the Universe – would we then call ourselves Black Swans? It is said that there are more than 2 trillion galaxies in the universe, there are about a 100 billion planets our Milky Way galaxy, Earth is just one of those planets, there are 10 million species of life on earth and the human population is 7.6 billion!

Just being alive is a blessing, a rarity when you compare it to the vastness of the universe. So, considering the above as Taleb in his book ‘Black Swan’ said that all humans too are black swans. This is because in the universal scheme of things we are less than the tiniest speck of dust, we are so insignificant that it really does not matter. As Taleb writes in his book, “Imagine a speck of dust next to a planet a billion times the size of the earth. The speck of dust represents the odds in favour of you being born; the huge planet would be the odds against it.”

After billions of years of evolution, we need to sit and introspect on how we actually got here. Humans do not show gratitude for even being alive, which itself is the rarity. We rarely express gratitude or remorse, taking life for granted – this shows up in different ways in our life – complaining bitterness, jealousy and discontentment. What is worse is that this jealousy and discontent is passed on from generation to generation – we have witnessed this throughout history even though gratitude has been given primacy in all religious and philosophical theories. Despite its known importance we forget to express our gratitude and over time, unknowingly we are weighed down by our problems and our troubles, which then begin to define us.

Albert Einstein said, “The value of a man resides in what he gives and not what he is capable of receiving.” Be grateful for what you have and can give. Remember the universal law, whatever we get in excess is meant to be shared with those who do not have it. We can start giving more the moment we change our mindset from ‘I need’ to ‘I’m grateful for….’. Once you start becoming grateful it changes the way you see the world and your place in it. The effort to change the mindset is minimal but the effect is disproportionately monumental and beneficial. Remember that you are a Black Swan – very rare – make use of your life on earth to share joy, love, happiness, peace and kindness – the more you give, the more you get – a cardinal principle of karma.

Changing the World

 

Photo Credit: Pinterest | Paramhansa Yogananda

Changing the World

We have read and continue to read a lot about people who are trying to change the world. The world which is so diverse having people of different, cultures, races, religions, ethnicities, languages and so on – if you ask me this is well nigh impossible. Can we change the world to become a better place to live in, or is it like Steve Jobs says, “The ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do?” What Steve Jobs is referring to is changing the lives of people through technological innovation, basically it is about making life easier and dumber to live – but is that really making the world a better or a more peaceful place to live in? Na!

Swamiji has explained this beautifully – when we talk of changing the world, all the Masters referred to changing our own world, that is our own energy body which we carry around with us 24x7! We can only do this through our own spiritual practice of meditation. After meditation transforms your life, you will see that your ‘world’ has changed – the people who bothered you no longer do so for whatever reason, people who are more tuned to your frequency come into your life, your life becomes calm and peaceful. When people see the change in you, they too want to try whatever worked for you – it works for some and does not for others. With every additional person who joins the world of meditation and makes a positive change in his/her life, the circle of positive souls increases – the aura of each person is that person’s world, and that always remains peaceful and calm. You carry that world with you wherever you go.

As you live your life with love and compassion, you start affecting and changing the life of others. Be a good friend and surround yourself with good people. Work on becoming trustworthy – give up your self-importance and practice selfless generosity of ideas, time and spirit. Make things better just a little bit everyday in your own inner world. You may be a tiny bit of the global jigsaw puzzle – but you will become an important piece of the puzzle that is working for global peace! So, no matter what you accomplish, even though your impact is insignificant you can still make the world a better place by recognising that you are a part of the whole and by simply being a better person every day. It is an inside out job!

Remember the more we give of ourselves, the more we receive and as our lives get inter-twined, we nurture happiness for our own sake, as well as for those whose lives we touch. When you light a lamp, you multiply the light – that is how you change the world – one lamp at a time, take your lit lamp close to another and light it with your flame. Change the world one lamp at a time, one life at a time!

What goes Around comes Around

 

Photo Credit: SoulVeda | Breaking the Karmic Cycle

What goes Around comes Around

I am sure everyone is aware of the Zig Ziglar saying – ‘Life is an echo, what you send out comes back to you, what you sow, you reap, what you give, you get and what you see in others exists in you’. Right from our childhood we are told to be good, do good so that in return the same happens to you. In many ways this is true and is similar to Newton’s third law of motion that states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The Law of Karma is somewhat similar.

Karma is a Sanskrit word from the root ‘kri’ which means to do or to make. It also refers to the principle of cause and effect where the intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect). Good intent and good deeds contribute to your good karma while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to your bad karma. Most people think that karma is akin to fate, actually it is not – it is instead a beautiful concept which state that your actions determine your future destiny. Basically, we are responsible for our own future which is based on today’s actions.

Swamiji has told us time and again that all religions tell you to do good and not to do anything bad. When we start meditating all this comes into far more clear focus, because we learn to identify with all creatures, love and compassion for all beings is created deep within us – being kind and loving becomes our nature as our soul only allows us to do good and takes us away from anything bad!

When we develop a sense of awareness in us it becomes our second nature to observe our thoughts, speech and action. A completely awakened and aware person will have all three in alignment, because karma is created, whether you like it or not, when even one of the three elements is not in alignment. All you have to do is practice these three throughout your life consistently and you will definitely find yourself in a good karmic space. If you consider life to be a field then karma is your seed – and what you sow is what you reap! The karmic law is very just, it treats everyone in the same manner and it puts a person at the centre of responsibility for all his or her actions and for whatever is done to him/her.

If you actually see the whole world is nothing but the principle of karma. All our reactions are like echoes of our previous actions the fruits of which are inevitable. Life is like a boomerang – what you give is what you get; and as the saying goes karma never loses its address! Like Swamiji says create your own aura through your meditative practice and then nothing bad will ever happen to you. If you live your life the way your Master does, then you are well on the way to liberation.

Succeed or Fail but Try you Must

 

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Succeed or Fail but Try you Must

Within all of us lies the story of mankind – vast experience, deep-rooted fears, anxieties, sorrow, pleasure and all the beliefs that man has accommodated through the millennia – you are that book – Jiddu Krishnamurti. He has summarised the substance of human existence so beautifully. There are all kinds of people in the world – those who work hard, those who hardly work, those who prey on other people’s work, those who do nothing and so on. But whatever you do or don’t do – there are always those who will criticise you.

Look at the modern world – whether it is politics or any other field – criticism both warranted and unwarranted is offered by those people who themselves cannot stand the fire of criticism – but that is the make-believe world we live in today. If one has to achieve any level of success in life it cannot be done without putting in an honest effort! It is definitely not the critic who is important; the credit belongs to the person who tries, who stumbles, who falls, who fails, who sweats, who bleeds, who gets up, who tries again and then ultimately succeeds. There is no effort without error or shortcomings, the person who acts and does the deeds to the best of his ability and knowledge spends time in a worthy cause – this person at the end knows high achievement if he succeeds or feels pride that even if he failed, he did so while daring to do something which others did not even think of! This is so much better than those timid people who do not try anything and thus can never know victory or defeat!

Everyone has faced criticism – no matter what you do someone or the other will always be dissatisfied, offering you advise, telling you where you went wrong, what you could have done better! Listen long enough and you will start being weighed down by the criticism and the negative energy being directed towards you. A continued barrage of criticism will make you feel useless and it won’t be long before you start internalizing the criticism to your own detriment! Just remember that when you take risks, it is you who is putting everything on the line – small and petty minds will criticise, let them, ignore them just the way we ignore dogs that bark and don’t bite. Like Steve Jobs said, “Your time is limited….Don’t let the noise of opinions drown out your own inner voice….have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Similarly, while living a life of mindful awareness, people who do not understand will criticise you, try to point you in different directions, but your inner voice will always be there to guide you – you just have to tune in to listen to it – and that voice is never wrong, it is your best friend and guide by far! Remember you will succeed, if not right now or right away, but eventually!

Life is Uncertain

 

Photo Credit: Readbeach | Uncertainty Quotes

Life is Uncertain

If life had a monotonous quality to it then we would all most certainly have gotten bored to death! The beauty of life is that it is uncertain. If you look back at 2020. who would have guessed that a virus which is 1000 times smaller in diameter than a human hair would have brought the whole world down to its knees! Our best laid plans for that year went out of the window with a whooooshhhhhhhhh! Things we think that should happen – often do not and those that shouldn’t happen, do happen. This is the uncertainty of life – and the good thing about it is that it teaches us patience and provides us with the ability to become better at dealing with – guess what – uncertainties! Lolz!

If you look back at evolution – we have come a long way from the cave man – our genetic features have changed over centuries and our souls have survived multiple shocks and succeeded over thousands of years and here we are today mindful of the past and completely unaware of the future! Uncertainty in many cases leads to stress and to manage stress we resort to exercises to make the body and mind stronger, and in the process, we gain the ability to take more physical stress. For managing mental stress, we usually try vacations in hill resorts, beach resorts etc, but wherever we go our mind goes with us – so also the stress. We may get temporary relief, but a more lasting relief is possible through meditation and mindfulness practises.

We live in a world of instant gratification and comfort. We want things yesterday and get upset if things don’t happen the way we want them to – life’s uncertainties you see! The best way to manage this is by ensuring that we do not depend on others or other things for our happiness. We need to learn to be happy with just our self. If we can be happy and content with our own self, then we gain the ability to manage anything that life throws at us – that is the beauty of being at peace with yourself.

When this happens nothing that life throws at you will upset you – you know that it is just a part of the universal plan for you as a person. A higher perspective of life which you gain through meditation, gives you the realisation that this whole life is a mirage and we are just actors on God’s stage. We play our roles and once our time is up, we just move on.

The Brain is like an Attic – Protect it

 

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The Brain is like an Attic – Protect it

Our brain contains so much of information, most of it useless, which we absorb through the five senses that it assumes the role of a mental attic! When I was growing up, we went to nursery school at the age of 5, today in India, children are bundled off to play school at 1.5 to 2 years. They are being literally deprived of the fun years and parents too are losing out on watching the child grow, its reaction when introduced to new stuff, its love, its tantrums, etc – I personally feel that the growing child teaches us a lot more than we can teach the child.

When your mind is filled with useless information it starts overflowing, the compartments in the brain get stressed with information overload – the best way to get rid of it is to put in a mental filter to chuck out unimportant information. As Charles Hannel said, “The subconscious mind does not engage in the process of proving. It relies upon the conscious mind, ‘the watchman at the gate’, to guard it from mistaken impressions.” It is critical to understand that it is not important how much you know, rather than how skilled and adept you are at acquiring the right knowledge and keeping it inside your head.

Your subconscious works on information which is stored in your attic at the material level and in your chitta at the subtle level and then gives you the optimum solution and guidance, provided of course you are at a level where you are in a position to listen to your subconscious mind. As a child the subconscious mind is in regular touch with ‘you’, but as you grow up and with increasing ‘education’ the brain is overloaded and slowly layers of muck of useless impressions start building on your soul and subtle mind that its sound gets more or less permanently muted. It does not ‘talk’ anymore!

It is extremely important what kind of information you store in that attic for quick retrieval in critical times, else that information takes a long time in coming out as you rummage through loads of useless information! Today’s world is in the information age – print, TV, social media – you are being bombarded with all kinds of news, fake, managed, agenda driven – and all this at the cost of truth – because today truth is what the people in power want the people to believe!

Just as we use firewalls to protect our computers to keep them safe from virus attacks, strengthen your mental defences by installing firewalls against corrupting your mind from useless noise and information that the media perpetrates. Meditation and mindfulness practise helps you in keeping the mind quiet and building the necessary firewalls to protect the brain. Awareness helps you in keeping your mind empty and focused on useful information as and when you need it. Stay balanced, stay focused, firewall your brain and thereby enjoy the peace and silence away from the ‘continuous noise’ which is out there!

Be Mindful Daily

 

Daily Pioneer | Of Spiritual Mindfulness

Be Mindful Daily

Why do we do anything? Have you asked yourself this question? Most of us run through life with our daily routine which becomes so monotonous that we end up looking for means to break the monotony. This invariably leads to shortcuts to obtain highs – drugs, tobacco, drinks and what have you. The more adventurous think of outdoor sports or adventure sports which take them into nature. We all find ways to break the monotony – some negative and some positive. The thing is that the positive acts to break the monotony can happen only sometimes during the year because none of us can find time regularly to go out and do what we love because of our job and business commitments!

But those indulging in vices for breaking their monotony can do it every day, because such intoxicants are available freely. But what if we can learn to live our ‘monotonous’ life without doing either of the above? Confucius had said, “We have two lives, and the second begins when we realise that we have only one!”  When this realisation dawns on us we start looking for something to live for.

If we learn to do all our day-to-day activity with complete mindful awareness, being conscious of every act, word, taste, smell that we take, we will learn to start living in the moment. Our daily activity should give meaning to our lives – they could be the simplest of things, it does not matter what, just do it with awareness and find joy in its simplicity. Life is actually very simple; we just love to complicate things!

Asking ‘What is the meaning of life?’ sounds serious. Most people would find this question too complicated to warrant an easy response. The answer actually is not too difficult – the meaning of live is what makes you feel alive. Anything that gives you joy – dancing, sports, mountaineering, paragliding, walking in nature, writing, serving others – anything that makes you feel vibrant and alive. Facing life’s adversities full on and overcoming them with resolute courage and forbearance, stepping away from one’s comfort zone and exploring the unknown is what brings us real joy.

When we start exploring our inner world – we are stepping away from our comfort zone and moving into the unknown zone. With a realised Master as our guide, in time, with regular practice of meditation we start diving deep into our consciousness and start experiencing the divine – God lies within us – this becomes our reality. With this realisation, our daily mindful living gathers more meaning as we start feeling the vibrations in such activity and get inner guidance on whether our path is the right one or not.

Make Meditation your Hobby!

 

Photo Credit: Discover a Hobby

Make Meditation your Hobby!

‘Football, Tennis, Basketball’ – all these sports bring a glint into your eyes, and if your favourite team or player is in the fray, your blood races with excitement and anticipation. Even though you may have never participated in any of these sports, nevertheless you do participate when you watch the sport live in a stadium or on TV – even though that participation is vicarious! You do it because you have a love for it, a passion for it and it makes you feel good. If your team wins you go into an emotional high and if it loses you are down in the dumps! But that is the beauty of sport, you always live to play another game, another day!

When it comes to yoga and meditation, we tend to put it off to another day. Who wants to wake up early, let me sleep some more, I’ll get up in ten minutes and start – and by the time you actually wake up it is too late and you decide to start the next day and so on! But like Swamiji says if you treat meditation as a hobby, then you do it because you enjoy the practise. Make meditation your hobby, get up early and do it because it makes you feel good, it gives you the experience of the deafening silence early in the morning. Do it for the experience, for the bliss, for the peace, for the beauty of silence and deep introspection.

Like Shunru Suzuki said, “Just to be sincere and make our full effort in each moment is enough – there is no nirvana outside practice.” There is a story of a musician who was visiting Carnegie Hall for a performance and was just getting out of a cab. A pedestrian asks him how to get to Carnegie Hall and he responds, “Practice”. Observe that he did not say ‘talent’ or give directions, but he said ‘practice’.

When you have the backing of a spiritual Master, your practice is important for your own last mile connectivity, the Master has shown you the way, it is up to you to reach your destination – because each individual has to travel to his own abode, that journey is his/hers alone, no one else can do it for you. Remember, you cannot become anything that you want, but no matter what your age or situation you always have a degree of control over what you can get good at doing. That is the magic of deliberate, mindful practice. Most of your material dreams can be fulfilled this way. By making meditation your hobby, by enjoying the journey and by becoming the journey as well as the destination – you will feel the joy, bliss, peace and oneness with the Self and the Universe. You are the journey, you are the destination, become it and enjoy it!

Life's Short

 

Photo Credit; Pinterest || Life is short, heaven is forever

Life’s Short!

I had seen a video which showed earth as a part of the universe and how insignificant the planet earth is in relation to the vastness of the universe. As individuals too we are so insignificant in relation to the size of the earth and we might as well not exist when compared to the vastness of the universe! But we are part of the same consciousness that pervades the whole universe and we live in complete ignorance of this reality. When we take birth with the purpose of attaining moksha or liberation, we have a fixed amount of time at our disposal. As Jack Kornfield said, “The trouble is you think you have time.” More than a third of our life is spent in sleeping, what we do with the remaining two-thirds will decide on whether we set ourselves free or remain bound to the chains of the birth-death-rebirth cycle!

There are 86400 seconds in a day and with each passing second, that time becomes history, it is gone – so, like Osho said – we are all progressing towards death as we age – so, how best to make use of the time for our own awareness and inner peace. This is the direction we should be taking, and when we have that deep inner desire for knowing the ‘ultimate truth’, we find ourselves invariably being drawn towards spirituality. The universe conspires to point us towards our realised Master and once the Satguru enters your life, life itself changes completely.

No more are we worried about our day-to-day tribulations, our family, our work, our friends all remain in the framework of the main painting and we become a part of the canvas which is now being painted with our spiritual journey. For the lucky one’s their family and some friends too who are ripe for the journey, become a part of your own canvas, as they too embark on their own individual inner journey.

None of us can hold on to these seconds as they pass by, not even the richest or the most powerful persons on earth can buy you an extra second! Life is short and it could end any moment, we should learn to live with full awareness that if we don’t wake up the next morning the canvas of life which we were painting would remain incomplete, unless we spend what little time that we have for achieving a state of living death. This can only happen when we live our life with detachment, without ego, with love and compassion, meditating regularly, living mindfully, joyously and in self-contentment.

I would like to end this with Eric Hanson’s quote – “There is freedom waiting for you, on the breezes of the sky. And you ask, ‘What if I fall?’ Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?” On this note, it would be best if we learn to fly as we meditate, become light as the breeze and surf the cosmos within our inner consciousness.

People are Verbs not Nouns

 

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People are Verbs not Nouns

Osho had said, “Life is a verb, life is not a noun; it is really ‘living’ not ‘life’. It is not ‘relationship’, it is relating’. It is not a ‘song’, it is ‘singing’. It is not a ‘dance’, it is ‘dancing’. See the difference, savour the difference.” If you really decide to think about what Osho said, you could find yourself going deep within yourself trying to find out exactly who you are! In our spiritual quest can we just be what we want to be or instead of restricting ourself can we be anything that life offers?

This is a fundamental question. If our parents say we should be doctors, engineers, accountants, lawyers, etc. – this is like a thought is put in our mind and we are working towards that whether we like it or not. Knowingly or unknowingly we now have blinkered vision. We are on the way to ‘becoming’ someone as defined by someone else. We generally should keep our options open and become what we want to become, or what life wants us to become. Universal consciousness has the road mapped out for you if you just learn to go with the flow.

When we embark on our spiritual journey – at any point in our life – we learn to go with the flow, because once you learn to go with the flow life’s orchestra becomes visible, the music that God is playing becomes the rhythm of our life. We play and perform to His tune and when that happens life becomes joy, bliss and peace. Things that we start out to do start happening with such ease that it appears that we are being carried by some unknown power – whatever we do is selfless – there is no personal motive, it is all surrendered to a higher power. Doing things for others without the feeling of being a ‘doer’ gives your act the power and energy of the divine. Selfless acts of love and compassion become your way of life and you don’t even realise it – that is the beauty – you think that what you are doing is normal!

This happens because we give ourselves the permission to ‘do’ what brings us the greatest joy and by doing this we find the satisfaction we are looking for. When was the last time that you made a sincere and honest effort which went unacknowledged by others? Were you frustrated?  Most definitely – because we depend on others’ approval of our efforts. Indifference puts us off – but like a ‘flower’ keeps ‘flowering’, a ‘river’ keeps ‘flowing’ our lives are a continuum. We need to flow and flower and not stagnate and wither.

We can never come to a full stop – we have to keep flowing and going deeper and deeper – the journey is never ending because the act of meditation and diving deep within one’s own consciousness will ultimately help us become one with universal consciousness – the merger extinguishes our identity and as Nisargdatta Maharaj said – “I am that”, becomes our reality!

Preserve the Good Moments in Life

 

Photo Credit: Speaking Tree || Childhood Memories

Preserve the Good Moments in Life

We all live our life more or less on our own terms, and as we set out on our journey, we choose to remember mainly the scary and traumatic moments which we come across during this journey. Why is that? This, I feel, is because our minds are trained and attuned since childhood to remember and to preserve deep within our consciousness all the bad incidents and people that we come across in life. Some of the memories come from past life experiences – some of the phobias for instance – past life regression techniques help us get over such phobias and deeply entrenched memories.

If we want to progress spiritually, we have to surrender all these bad memories at the Lotus Feet of our Satguru if we have one, or to any higher power whom we believe in or to nature – basically giving back to nature what we got from it. The tribals performed all their healing in nature itself, and in many remote parts of India, continue to do so even today.

My eldest brother fell seriously ill recently and coincidentally he started meditating seriously during the past 4-5 months. Swamiji has explained that for some people who start meditating and have accumulated karma of this birth – these karmas start unfolding at an enhanced rate and the logical mind attributes this to meditation and then some people who cannot endure the real-life bad incidents which start happening give up on meditation! I told my brother to just endure the illness, nothing will happen and he should be fine and to continue meditating. He is getting some beautiful spiritual experiences. It is all about faith and samarpan!

We all get beautiful experiences and spend some really joyous moments with near and dear ones – these could be with family, friends, colleagues – anyone – learn to preserve these memories in your chitta and whenever any untoward incident happens recall these joyous memories and tide over the current experience. You will find that recalling joyous experiences alleviates the pain of the current bad experience, uplifts your spirits and gives you the fortitude to face your current problem It’s just a trick we have to play on our mind which invariably brings up the bad experiences, to stop doing that and recall the good moments. With awareness practise you can train your mind to do this, then you will never be in a traumatised state even when ‘bad’ things happen.

With time, with regular meditation, after cleansing of all your chakras and meridians, you will notice that the bad memories do not come to the fore anymore, and even if they do, they just come as memories without any emotional trauma attached. So, to conclude, I would say just remember the good times, stay in the moment, and enjoy life to the fullest.

Life without Meditation is Useless

 

Photo Credit: Pinterest || Osho Maitri

Life without Meditation is Useless

Gurdjieff had said that if you don’t meditate you will die a dog’s death. What did he mean when he said that – what he implied was that your life is useless, it is wasted without meditation. We spend time and think a lot on the most useless of things. We plan holidays, we think a lot and spend sleepless nights on which car to buy, time is spent on decisions to buy a new house, in short, we are directing our attention outwards to indulge ourselves in things which are so impermanent and which will give us happiness for the moment only. In fact, we go to the extent of borrowing money to indulge in our desires. While doing all this we are absolutely unaware that with each passing day, nay, with each passing moment we are approaching our physical death. What use is all of this if we are to die without being able to enjoy any of our material belongings?

We all live our life moving from one goal to another, from one desire to another, from one love to another without any clue as to where we are actually headed. We are all taught from our childhood on what we need to do to achieve a good status in life – good education, good job, good salary, etc. – but nobody tells us that this is useless when it comes to our real life’s goal! In fact, we don’t know our life’s goal. Maybe 1 in 100000 people really know what their life’s goal is and they work towards it! So, while living life in the material world chasing all our worldly desires, we are doing nothing but wasting our time chasing impermanent happiness – meaning happiness which is based on material desires and wants which all die along with us. What does not die is our soul!

We should all be chasing permanent happiness which can only come from realising our soul. This happens only when we meet our spiritual Master or Satguru who helps awaken our soul – once we get the realisation that we are a soul, with meditation we commence our real journey towards permanent happiness and bliss. Of course, once this happens and we start our inner journey we start becoming witnesses to our life in the material world. We start living our day-to-day life with detachment – we perform all our roles – husband/wife, son/daughter, business person/professional, etc with the same level of efficiency and professionalism as earlier, but now we are not emotionally connected to any of these roles.

The inner journey makes us realise that ‘life’ has a far more profound meaning to it than that of living a dog’s life! We realise that our purpose of taking birth is liberation and we set out on this goal with renewed purpose. The inner happiness which stays with us all the time now becomes a part of our personality, it reflects in our radiance and aura. We have found our goal and are well set on the journey to reach it!