As years pass you by, you realise that it is the small things that matter, the sounds of the birds at dawn, the laughter and camaraderie with friends, the caring of loved ones, helping someone without expectations, etc but by then you are already so used to chasing the big things that you have no time for these small things. Unfortunately “Success” is defined in achieving more, having more – so the chase for accumulation is only what is learnt and practiced but joys of life are in sharing the little things which is possible if you let go of your grip on achieving big things…

When is the last time that you truly smiled/laughed your heart out? If it is a long time ago then why are you denying yourself the joys of life which are not based on what you have or what you achieve, it is based on enjoying the small things.It is not difficult for you to be so but it does involve getting to know what matters to you/makes you joyful and make time for it by letting go of whatever is holding you back.

Redefine success – Be simple, be joyful. The one who can place his/her hand on the heart and say that I am truly joyful is the wealthiest wo/man on earth.

S/he said this about me, how could s/he?, how dare s/he?

I was not asked/invited/consulted about……

And so on and so forth, the game goes on…  

As per Sant Kabir “Forgiveness is a symptom of greatness and quotes an anecdote to emphasise – In folklore it was said that Maharshi Bhrigu was testing the quality of mind of Gods by provoking them by insult and kicked Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu instead of being provoked responded by asking him “hope the kick didn’t hurt you?” In other words, there was no ego which is what a God would/should be, which is a possibility for each one of us. But…

Petty minds find ways of occupying themselves and hold grudges for lifetimes and pass it on to next generations to carry it on. Most of the religious/political/caste, etc conflicts span generations. People are angry about something that happened hundreds of years ago for which they behave inhumanly today. Ridiculous! but that’s what is happening. People are unable to let go of this pettiness since they are reinforcing their identities of nation, religion, city, club, company, group, family…. and can’t get themselves to accept that they are merely humans placed in different situations. Underneath all that “Identification” lies flesh and blood and a mind capable of thinking rationally but…  

You cannot transcend pettiness and experience compassion or true forgiveness until you realise what life is all about. You are pure consciousness experiencing life through body and mind, unless you realise the Self, the mind will remain conditioned with pettiness and you would miss life itself, completely…. 

Hence Self Realisation…

This 8+8+8 formula seemed interesting to me in that it does give a framework of what one could do with the given time. You are just a temporary phenomenon and have an uncertain amount of time to spend in this lifetime. If you spend each day in a balanced way, the days that add up to what you term as a lifetime would be a balanced life. 

But who wants “balance” is the main question in today’s “Dil maange more” lifestyle. The race is the accumulation of wealth, power, fame and “honesty” is neither essential nor looked for in this pursuit, in fact it could hamper your chances in the race. The strange part is there is no winner in the race – even the wealthiest, most powerful, most famous keep craving for more…

Get rid of this craving and give yourself an opportunity to experience balance. For this you have to stop, reflect, meditate… 

“In is the only way Out”

​”_____Saheb Vadhdivsachya Hardik Shubeccha from _____” Big Posters being put up everywhere to convey birthday wishes but then if you look at the trend setting senior politicians rushing across the country to inaugurate highways, bridges, trains, etc just to ensure that their name and picture is engraved in the stone foundation of the property, then you realise that the wannabes are just following the trend setters. 

“Jo dikhta hai woh bikta hai” is being taken too seriously by everyone. If it isn’t on social media it hasn’t happened is a dangerous trend that has come in. Even companies respond to complaints quicker if it is on social media since it affects their image. Eyeballs are everything – some people shed clothes to get them, some print their images on certificates… Welcome to a vain world where form/image (fame, power, wealth) is more important than substance/humanity. 

It is never late to be human again by realising the folly of vanity which is just one effect of “I, Me, Mine” 

The wise destroy vanity through humility, seva and gratitude. Sharing a lovely poem by Baba Bulleshah.

फकीर बुलेशाह से जब किसी ने पूछा कि आप इतनी गरीबी में भी भगवान का शुक्रिया कैसे करते हैं तो बुलेशाह ने कहा..

चढ़दे सूरज ढलदे देखे,
 बुझदे दीवे बलदे देखे ।

हीरे दा कोइ मुल ना जाणे,
खोटे सिक्के चलदे देखे ।

जिना दा न जग ते कोई,
ओ वी पुत्तर पलदे देखे ।

उसदी रहमत दे नाल बंदे,
पाणी उत्ते चलदे देखे ।

लोकी कैंदे दाल नइ गलदी, 
मैं ते पत्थर गलदे देखे ।

जिन्हा ने कदर ना कीती रब दी,
हथ खाली ओ मलदे देखे ।

कई पैरां तो नंगे फिरदे,
सिर ते लभदे छावा…

मैनु दाता सब कुछ दित्ता,
क्यों ना शुकर मनावा…

“Dalai Lama is our living God” said a practicing Buddhist to me. Sadly even Gods aren’t spared of controversies anymore. So all the good you’ve done through your lifetime is completely erased by one alleged incident?
It set me thinking of how easy it is to malign a great personality but how difficult it is to be one.

The spiritual guidance that the Dalai Lama has provided for millions of people across the world, is forgotten in a second and people don’t stop for a moment to doubt/malign. Such is the fickle condition of the human mind, we cannot differentiate between what is to be focused upon and what should be let go. It’s a choice, you see. If you focus on the good and filter out the bad, your mind will benefit from the goodness.

Sharing some wisdom of the Dalai Lama that should help us navigate this world of fickleness

True change is within;
Leave the outside as it is.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

I accept everyone as a friend.
In truth, we already know one another, profoundly, as human beings who share the same basic goals: We all seek happiness and do not want suffering

We can deny everything,
Except that we have the possibility of being better

It is the enemy who can truly teach us
To practice the virtues of compassion and tolerance.

In order to be happy, we must first possess inner contentment
And inner contentment doesn’t come from having all we want, but rather from wanting and appreciating all we have.

Because we all share the small planet earth,
We have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. That is not just a dream, but a necessity.

Mind arises in consciousness but it is habituated to look outside through the 5 senses to lend meaning to life when the biggest meaning lies within. The moment you understand this is the beginning of your Sadhana/practice/journey and when you are established in the practice is the destination. 

Unless you remind yourself of this fact every moment that you are the eternal witnessing the temporary through your body/mind, your attachment to worldly things will not reduce.

That’s what Sant Kabir says in this Doha – that turning the beads of a prayer mala is what the world is doing and yet the delusion/attachment of the mind doesn’t reverse. Turn the mind/ attention inwards and know the Truth/be liberated

Nisargadatta Maharaj – A simple man believing in the words of his Guru did just this and was enlightened. No need for complicated processes, rituals, reading scriptures, praying to various Gods, none of it is essential… 

This is also the message of Ramana Maharshi – enquire into “Who am I” and you will get to the Source…

We are all caught in our self created trap of “Identification”, we have identified ourselves with our body, mind, thoughts, emotions, possessions, titles and cling on to them with dear life even when we know that nothing is permanent and everything changes. This attachment is Maya and the only way to overcome it is to get a direct experience of the Source/Brahman. 

“So – Hum” (repeated with each breath reminding yourself every moment “I am that”) is one of the paths to a Direct experience wherein you realise the essence of Advaita Vedanta that is beautifully summarised as –

“Brahma satyam jagat-mithya jivo brahmaiva naparah”: Brahman is the real reality (cf. SAT), the world is deceptive because its apparent reality is superimposed on Brahman. The soul / life form(Jiva) is no different from Brahman.

Wisdom has existed in human societies for ages and passed down either through stories or through scriptures. They are mostly attempts to guide in terms of peacefully co-existing with fellow sentient beings and to show the path to the Divine. The sheer number of scriptures that exist is overwhelming and yet there is no change to the general wisdom quotient of most societies. It is not that people don’t read scriptures and agree with them, the problem is no one wants to change their ways of life despite agreeing to such wisdom. 

​The challenge is not in finding wisdom, the challenge is in living upto it since it is your own nature / ego / habits that you need to change/let go of. To overcome that is an uphill task, it is like swimming upstream against the current. However, the only person who can do so is YOU. Once you understand this and take ownership of changes to your habits and follow through consistently, is when you can term yourself wise…

​In Ashtanga Yoga the fifth element is “Pratyahara” – Pratyaya (Means objects) Ahar (means Food/inputs), so literally it is controlling what you choose to take in as input through your tools of body (food/drinks/air) and mind (desires, thoughts, ideas, emotions)   

This is considered to be a bridge between Bahiya Yoga(attention drawn outwards) – Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama and Antar Mukhi Yoga (Senses drawn Inwards) – Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi Yoga. Regulating to the extent possible the inputs that you choose not only in terms of food/drinks but also in terms of thoughts/ideas received is very important since the objective is to make the body and mind calm to move towards deeper states of meditation which won’t be possible by agitating them by consuming excitable inputs. This is a very difficult control especially in recent times since we live in an agitated society and yet it is an essential control to progress in Yoga, hence Shanti Mantras are recited as a prayer to bring peace to all sentient beings since only then can we ourselves be in peace to pursue higher states of Dhyana and ultimately attain Samadhi which is the goal of Yoga.

Pratyahara has to be so deeply established that urges(thoughts/ideas)are stopped from arising at Source itself which is what Maharshi Patanjali termed as – “Chitta Vritti Nirodha” which when sustained for a long time is Samadhi