Words are an inadequate means of conveying an experience regardless of how eloquently it is expressed. That is an inherent limitation of words. There is a vast difference between the actual experience, the words used to express them and the understanding of it by the listener. Its somewhat like Chinese whispers, the truth is lost the moment it is expressed and more so in subsequent stages depending on the understanding/intent/capability of the expresser to express and the limitations of the listener to understand what is being conveyed.

Experience is the only path and hence the importance of life itself, life is an opportunity to experience. Now what you want to experience is entirely dependent on your maturity in life. But one thing is for sure, the path towards Self-Realisation goes through direct experience. Hence regardless of how many books you read or Guru’s you listen to, unless the knowledge is converted from information to practical application in your own life, it is useless to your spiritual journey.

As Sri Yukteswar puts it beautifully: Do not confuse understanding with a larger vocabulary, sacred writings are beneficial in stimulating desire for inward realization, if one stanza at a time is assimilated. Otherwise, continual intellectual study may result in vanity, false satisfaction, and undigested knowledge.

We experience the world due to the cognizing, retaining, thinking, discriminating, willing and acting functions that are enabled by a Force that is within all beings. There is nothing else, the Force is the Guru and your work is simply to remove all the barriers that are not allowing you to experience the Force as it is. These barriers are the attachments to various things – people, emotions, ideas, possessions, etc that give you an illusion of duality in a world that is Advaita (Non-Dual) in reality. 

Masters through ages have pointed us in the same direction that is beautifully expressed by Sadhguru – “In is the only way out”. The Masters are pointing us to the right direction but are we truly listening?
I pray that we are blessed with the wisdom to accept the path and the sincerity to walk it. 

Happy Guru Pournima.

Space exploration, Wimbledon, Euro 2020, etc being tracked & enjoyed by millions at one end and on the other- Millions infected with COVID & other diseases, thousands dying of poverty, conflict ridden regions killing thousands, global warming/floods & other natural disasters killing thousands are bizarre contradictions that co-exist in our world. 

I recently shared a WhatsApp forward of a “circular logic” that stated “Pharma funds the media, The Media funds your fears, your fear funds your disease, your disease funds Pharma”. That Pharma has also contributed immensely to the betterment of mankind, is needless to be stated but sadly there also co-exists a profiteering element that is based on the greed of men…

How do we reconcile these contradictions that seem to co-exist in our world and we seem to be turning a Nelson’s eye to them? Since the world is merely a reflection of us, we need to get to the source of the problem which is that we want to view ourselves as pure and the problem as “out there” but in reality the problem is within each one of us being unable or simply unwilling to deal with his/her own Shad Ripu(six enemies of the mind) which are the seeds(and perhaps trees) of all contradictions we are witnessing in the world. We all know that we should refrain from the Shad Ripu-  Kama (lust), Krodha (anger), Lobha (greed), Mada (arrogance), Moha (delusion), and Matsarya (jealousy); but do we? Instead, we keep a curated front for others that purports to hide these but in reality we all have these in varying proportions and the reflection of this is in the world we experience. 

So as soon as we take responsibility that the problem is not “out there” but “in here” and cleanse ourselves from within by practicing virtues of Maitri (Loving kindness), Karuna(Compassion), Mudita(Pure Joy), Upeksha(equanimity), we also make the world a better place to live in.

People spend their live’s brooding about what they couldn’t / can’t do and create a habit of it, thereby not only screwing up their own lives but also the lives of others around them. Life is a gift and everyday needs to be lived as such. Either you can do something about it, then do it and if you can’t then simply let it go – no point wasting your precious time & energy regretting it…

This doesn’t mean that you don’t have wishes/expectations – it simply means that you don’t live your life from the lens of the unfulfilled ones. Certainly try to fulfil every wish/expectation that you have but for whatever reason if you can’t, don’t regret it. If the wish or expectation requires participation of other people then make sure that they have the same wish or expectation, if not then either you have to pursue the wish by yourself or let it go. 

A peace filled life is a choice that you have to exercise daily, 24*7. The moment you see yourself going down the regret lane or the fear lane, stop yourself and remind yourself that your freedom from regret/fear is in your own hands. Its you who is clutching on to regrets which is nothing but a memory of an unfulfilled desire and you are wasting your precious life bringing the regret in your present. Same is the case with fear – which is of the future, whilst all you can do is do what you need to in this moment. 

It’s your memories(of regret) and imagination(of a terrible future) that you are suffering, let go of them by being in the present and freedom is yours…

I was watching this video shared on WhatsApp wherein the speaker claimed that “Aadmi apni aukad tak hi paise kama sakta hai” (people can earn money only upto their value – capability/capacity) and if you want to improve your finances then you have to improve your Value – capability / capacity. What is true for finances is equally true of everything else in life. Only humans have the capacity to overcome their biases, prejudices, habits and transform their personality, no other creature even attempts to do it. 

Unlike potatoes & eggs that don’t have a choice to soften or harden upon boiling, humans actually have a choice of what they wish to be within – an egg or a potato. If we allow the situation to take control of us then when the situation boils, we become soft as potatoes and lose the plot, but if we take ownership of our response to the situation and respond as appropriate(instead of cursing destiny/  blaming others/ procrastinating/ etc) then we become hard as a boiled egg and eventually emerge rich in experience even if, and more so if the situation doesn’t go in our favour. 

The possibility of changing our response to any aspect of our lives is available every moment. It doesn’t matter whether you haven’t done it before or that you have always been a soft potato, the choice of turning into a hard boiled egg still exists at this very moment. Whether you choose to take up the challenge and ownership of your response to the situation is up to you.

The two most important days of your life are – the first when you were born and the second is when you choose to take ownership of your response to life…

Buddha’s saying “Aapo Deepo Bhava” – Be your own light, is the essence of spirituality, rest is just a process of living harmoniously with all sentient beings. 

The spiritual path is about dissolving your misconceptions about yourself – what you consider “I/Me/Mine” which is when you will experience Bliss or Unconditional Love. You would then be a guiding light for yourself and others.

Dissolution happens when your awareness deepens to a level wherein you realise that even your own “will/choice” is not yours but till you reach this stage you are still in the realm of “ego – I/Me/Mine” and think that you are making the choices that guide your life. If so then why not choose love for all as your intent behind each choice and make your own life and the life of others lovely?

We choose out of the multiple choices available to us every moment and the choice depends on ​our tendencies which are the product of our conditioning/habits. We are slaves to our habits, whether good or bad. We fancy that choice is in our hands but we relinquish control of it to our conditioning and put our buddhi on a “power save” mode, even though it doesn’t need power saving and consequently we are the products of our own habits that we keep repeating over the years and say to ourselves “well this is what I am”…

It is possible to change our destiny by changing our habits but the process requires effort and strength of mind which is where we falter and take the path of least resistance and allow our habits to take control. It is when we take ownership of our own conduct with ourselves and with others that our habits start changing. Of course this is a slow process but an essential one. This requires activation of “Buddhi” which is what introspection and reflection is all about. Aligning your misaligned habits with the concept of Sattva (Balance, Clarity, Goodness) is what Yoga is all about. If you simply reflect before taking any action whether you are headed in the direction of sattva and choose rightly, then your habits get aligned over a period of time with sattva.

The past is gone and you will not be able to change it but the future is what you make of it at this moment by aligning with Sattva. So no point blaming anyone or anything, your destiny is in your hands. As they say the weakest part in the car is the nut at the steering wheel, ask yourself who is the nut controlling the steering wheel of your life?

​There is a concept of “Ishwara Pranidhana” in Maharshi Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga which is one of the Niyama(Observance) and also an option by itself towards Samadhi/Liberation for seekers at all levels. Who is this “Ishvara”​ and how do we do “pranidhana” (surrender)?

Ishwara is the eternal being within you which is the substance from which this entire world is created. The form is the objects we see or for that matter even those that we don’t (air/space, etc). It’s like building figures out of clay/sand – the substance(Clay/Sand) is the same in all and yet we identify with the form.  

We are like these clay/sand figures and somehow live our lives identifying ourselves with the form, instead of the substance. This identification with form is “Ego” which is an acquired concept and we get so used to living through this form identification(ego) that we forget that in essence or substance we are the same. 

Dissolving this form or “ego” is the surrender or pranidhana. We then transcend form and realise the true substance. For this you have to simply let go of what you are not and see what remains…

All of us want our lives to be satisfying and that we try to achieve through pursuing a mix of duties and desires. By fulfilling what we consider “duties” and enjoying what we term as “desires” we feel that we can reach a level of “satisfaction”. However, if you observe, such satisfaction is but momentary and lasts for a very brief period of time post completion of “duty” or achievement of “desire” and then the mind craves for “what’s next?” and so goes on with our life in search of satisfaction again… We spend 99% of our time and energy to get that 1% moment of satisfaction.

The problem is our outlook to life and the thought that satisfaction is incumbent upon fulfilment of duties/desires. This is unfortunately how the entire society views life and that is the reason why we are unable to see otherwise. Now we have been in lockdown for a considerable number of days/months and this looks like a new normal till everyone is vaccinated or COVID finally decides to spare us by weakening itself. During these days of lockdown you are unable to pursue your “duties” and “desires” due to the restrictions imposed on movement/meeting/etc. Resultantly most people are frustrated/dissatisfied/angry that they are unable to get their dose of 1% satisfaction because of restrictions on being able to devote 99% time and energy to fulfil them.

The truth, my friends, is that satisfaction never left us. Our core being that we call soul is eternal and ever satisfied or always in bliss, the problem is we are living on the surface wherein we are viewing the world from our duties and desires. We are like the wave that thinks it is separate from the ocean. Enlightenment is when the wave realises that it is the ocean – that is bliss…Find it within you, devote 99% time and energy to doing so and be 100% in bliss forever…

Who is to blame that we are all under House Arrest?

COVID? The Government? Lack of discipline in people???

Is it any use blaming at all? 

We are all the unintended victims of the situation. Someone known is succumbing almost weekly, so many unknown daily…

What do we do? Stay locked in?At least for those who can afford to,  house arrest seems to be the only solution.

That you’re locked in with people you love, enough money to meet your needs and more. Many would call that a blessing and yet we view it as a curse…

Who is to blame? Is it any use blaming?And I hear that the lockdown is going to be extended post June 1st… 

Who is to blame? Is it any use blaming?

There is an opportunity hidden in every calamity and the opportunity here is to find yourself and the accompanying peace within…

No point blaming, no use either…