Being alone scares a lot of people since they have based their happiness on being “together”, so company is constantly craved. Solitude and loneliness are both a result of being alone, the only difference is that you are comfortable with it in the former whilst in the latter you are uncomfortable. 

For any Sadhana, long hours of dedication to the skill/art you are practicing is essential but these are days of collective ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) Syndrome thanks to a small black screen in everyone’s hand and the compulsive need to check it every minute. If not the mobile screen, it’s the TV Screen or the computer screen – it is a pseudo company since real company takes effort to cultivate and maintain. The result is obviously, we are a generation of lonely, attention deficit people, with many friends on social media but with poor real relationships. 

The root cause of this is the inability to be by yourself which leads to a compulsive need to be in touch with others which is not bad, only the direction is wrong. You are already connected with everyone/everything, more than you know. You just need to devote the same time that you devote to the screen/s without, to the screen within and realise that the screen within is a far better pursuit than the screen/s without. To give up on the screen/s without is the journey from loneliness to solitude, towards being comfortable being alone. 

The irony is that you have to read this message of moving away from a screen on a screen. 

Attention is everything. Essentially you are nothing but attention, having the tools of body, mind. What you are attending determines the content of your life and how you are attending to it determines the quality. But remember you are neither the content nor the quality but are attention itself. We tend to forget this in the chase of content/quality making the chase a “purpose” of life. 

If you observe deeper, this attention is also not what you can call yours, it’s the same attention in everyone. Then you try to define yourself by making yourself somehow different from others in terms of the tools provided – body, mind and/or the experiences these tools gather, again forgetting the fact that we are all the same Source expressing itself in different forms.

Realising this is the beginning, aligning our intent and actions to this realisation is the journey. This transformational possibility is for everyone at every stage in life if only you pay attention to it…

It’s your life, you needn’t justify it to anyone nor live up to others expectations of you but unfortunately that is exactly what happens to most people till they choose to take ownership of their life, actions and most importantly, the consequences of such actions and align your actions to the middle path (Sattva)which will eventually liberate you…

This is conscious living, the sooner you start, the better.

As Sadhguru beautifully puts it:

Choice is the greatest human gift;

Freedom is the great human possibility…

Environmentalists are crying hoarse about environmental degradation, social workers don’t have means to carry out their work, but who cares? As long as I, Me, Mine is comfortable, who cares how the rest of the world lives or dies? 

The haves are unwilling to share since their existence is based on “having”, the have – nots don’t have opportunities and yet are better sharers than the haves since they know the pain of being have-nots. The haves are a miniscule percentage of the total population and yet control almost all wealth, power, fame. This is an unfortunate reality of today’s world and we are busy chasing “having” more instead of sharing.

Who bells the cat? We have inherited this mess, it is our responsibility to clean it and not pass it on as a legacy for the coming generations. We all know what is to be done for improving the environment/society but we are not taking action on it thinking that it is the Government’s job to do so and we are paying taxes. Is it working? No! Then? Take ownership of small positive changes in society/environment, whether the change will make an impact on the society or environment is besides the point, it will make you a sharer which is what the world needs…

Indian Wisdom (Dharma) had prescribed 4 age based stages of maturity of a human life along with the relevant Purushartha (Duty)

– Brahmacharya (student – Till 25 years) (Dharma), 

– Gṛhastha (householder – 25 to 48 years) (Dharma, Artha, Kama) 

– Vanaprastha (retired life/forest dweller – 48 to 72 years) (Dharma and Moksha)

– Sannyasa (renunciate- 72+ or anytime) (Moksha)

but this concept has been overtaken by the new age wisdom of YOLO (You Live Only Once) and hence the resultant chaos. The rites of passage are not happening smoothly for most. Dharma is almost forgotten in all stages and the inability to move away from Artha/Kama at the right time is evident.

Then again, maturity is an individual process and letting go is the path of maturity. He/she who understands this taps into the infinite wisdom within and matures, who doesn’t remain craving for that which never was his/hers…

The problem is that you think you have time, which is why you keep postponing that which is important to you. 

Just list out what you really want to happen and then ask yourself what items on the list would be possible if you were to live for 3 years, 1 year, 1 month, 1 day… You will see the list crash as you reduce the timeframe and bring you to that which is truly important to you. If you are not already doing it, what are you waiting for? This exercise just prioritises that which is important to you, nevertheless it is still just a list of things to be done and results to be achieved in future but that is also postponing your joy/peace to a future time/event which defeats the purpose.

Joy/Peace is in acceptance of the moment unconditionally, joyfully which is the choice you should make every moment.

Start SIP – not in mutual funds but in life – Stay in Present

This day 5 years back, as google pictures keeps reminding us, I was reminded of the mortality of the human form when I received a call in Bengaluru that my father had passed on in Nasik. And thus was an abrupt end to a foundational pillar character of my life.

There were so many things left unsaid, despite both of us being articulate enough, I don’t think we ever said “I love you” to each other, it never occurred to us nor was it felt necessary. Love is after all just a word, what action the feeling generates is what matters. The feelings and actions between us were much beyond what the word “love” can convey, again reminding me of the insufficiency of words to convey the underlying state or situation.

Mangoes are sweet and so are watermelons, musk melons… but each of them have their unique sweetness that you can relate to only if you have experienced eating them. My father was a mixture of sweetness that had to be experienced and no words would be able to convey it, so I wouldn’t even try.

He believed that excellence is a journey and not a destination and hence started Purushottam Academy to help people on the path of excellence of whatever they chose to pursue. It started with sportsmen but then extended to people from all walks of life. On his death anniversary, I will share one of his most important teaching:

Choice of focus: He maintained that regardless of the situation you are in, you can train your mind to focus on things that you want it to focus on. The mind usually throws up all kinds of memories, the good and the bad, but we choose to focus only on the bad and that is what happens like a self fulfilling prophecy. You can train yourself to choose to focus only on the good that you have done and that would again act like a self fulfilling prophecy and take you towards success.

The 3 practices recommended were Circle of Excellence, Tratak and Nyaas. 

Should you be interested in knowing more about them, I will be glad to share them to assist you in your journey of being “Purushottam”

Life is a journey in simplicity

from being mindFULL to being mindful 

Simplicity starts where the chase stops

of dependence on something external to bring you peace

It is a journey from dependence to independence to interdependence 

To truly understand what is enough and live in Grace

As Kabir has beautifully put it. ​

Sai itna dijiye, ja mei kutumb samaye,

Main bhi bhukha na rahu, sadhu bhukha na jaye

There is only life. There is nobody who lives a life.

You are complete here and now, there is nothing that time, space, word, atom can fill. Incompleteness is an illusion to be transcended. 

This truth has been expressed in a Shanti Mantra of Ishavasya Upanishad

Om Puurnnam-Adah Puurnnam-Idam Puurnnaat-Puurnnam-Udacyate |

Puurnnasya Puurnnam-Aadaaya Puurnnam-Eva-Avashissyate ||
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||

1: Om, That (Outer World) is Purna (Full with Divine Consciousness); This (Inner World) is also Purna (Full with Divine Consciousness); From Purna is manifested Purna (From the Fullness of Divine Consciousness the World is manifested),
2: Taking Purna from Purna, Purna indeed remains (Because Divine Consciousness is Non-Dual and Infinite),

The clock is ticking and life slipping away, it urges people to rush to complete their unfulfilled desires, create bucket lists, etc. It is like a bottomless pit, as many desires you fulfill it never gets filled and you remain craving for more… This craving arises from the fact that you think you are incomplete and that fulfilling desires will somehow complete you. Regardless of how many years you have lived fulfilling desires, the craving for more remains and then you seek peace of mind without realising that you are the one agitating it in the first place by holding on to desire fulfilment as the mode of living.

You can choose to live life from the sense of being complete (being)or the sense of being incomplete and chasing things/people (doing) in order to give you a sense of completion. Needless to say, which one brings peace… 

The journey from “doing” to “being” is one of maturity, acceptance, letting go that only a few are interested in pursuing and even fewer accomplishing it. However, “being” is the essence of living – knowing that you are complete here and now and there is nothing to be “done” in order to bring happiness to you. 

As Horace puts it “that best of blessings, a contented mind”….