Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. We assume various roles in our daily lives and we play them seamlessly like accomplished actors. Are we consistent in our responses? Do we respond in the same way to everyone/everything? No. We behave differently with people/situations of significance or value in our lives and differently with others. We maintain a private face and a public face and in doing so lose the essence of our true being…

Equanimity is when you have established yourself in a state that you no longer have to behave differently in different situations or with different people. You can be equanimous if you realize your true nature as a direct experience, equanimity cannot be faked. When you realize that there is nothing to be got or lost, you automatically are at peace with everything/everyone.

Observe this role playing in your own life, you would be amused/surprised to see the different ways in which you respond/behave with different people/situations. This continued observation itself would give you the reflection of your nature which when deepened would give you a perspective of the Self underneath. Equanimity/peace then would be a by-product of the process of observation and the consequent awareness…

2020 brought us a lot of pain

but then, learning is a painful process…

No pain, no gain…

Sharing a few learnings to carry over to 2021…

“Caring” is essential for our own soul…

“Sharing” was how life was always meant to be…

“Daring” is a must, to accept and make changes…

“Letting go” is the path to freedom not accumulating…

Remember the past is not to be forgotten, it is to be learnt from…

Wishing you and your loved ones a joy filled 2021

Finally it is happiness that all of us seek. We adopt different​​​ methods of getting it but the goal remains the same. The mistake we make in the pursuit of happiness is that we consider it to be an individual pursuit. As the pandemic has reminded us, we cannot truly be happy or at peace unless everyone around us is happy and at peace. 

We are so bothered with having happiness for ourselves that we tend to overlook at what cost it is coming to us. We make ourselves believe that we are working hard and that we deserve the indulgences that we term as happiness. It is true to a certain level that you are entitled to the results of your efforts but also give a thought to the ones who have not been privileged or deserving or simply don’t have the means to obtain the opportunities that we have got.

As we celebrate Christmas Eve today let us imbibe the teaching of Jesus Christ and open our hearts in making opportunities available to others less fortunate. In giving is living. Only then can we be truly happy & peaceful.

Sharing a profound learning for Universal peace as translated by Master Nan from Confucius’s “Great Learning” essay.

The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the world, first ordered well their own States.

Wishing to order well their States, they first harmonized their​ ​families.

Wishing to harmonize their families, they first cultivated their​ ​persons.

Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts.

Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in​ ​their thoughts.

Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the​ ​utmost their awareness.

Such extension of awareness lay in the investigation of the​ ​underlying matrix of mind and matter.

The underlying matrix of mind and matter being investigated,​ ​awareness becomes complete.

Awareness being complete, thoughts then become sincere.

Thoughts being sincere, hearts then become rectified.

Hearts being rectified, persons then become cultivated.

Persons being cultivated, families then become harmonized.

Families being harmonized, states then become rightly governed.

States being rightly governed, everything under heaven then comes​ ​in balance. ​

Life throws myriad challenges at everyone and there is no choice but to face them, more so in the present situation. To be able to see the bright side of things despite almost everything going wrong, is an attitude to be cultivated. 

If you notice your discussions during the day and analyse it, you will find that quite a substantial portion of the day is spent in complaining about problems, whether your own or observed in others. What this does is it simply sharpens the ability to observe negatively and takes your mind down a negative spiral out of which it is difficult to emerge, consequently you have negative experience of life and share it with others as well…

A simple habit of writing down 10 good things that you do/observe on a daily basis can change this carefully cultivated habit of negativity. Also whenever you speak, observe whether what you speak is just negatively stating your own situation or the situation around you, if so refrain from doing so, instead do something positive to rectify the situation, if you can’t then simply accept it, complaining about it won’t help.

Accept it, change it or leave it….

Aasman ko zamin ye zaroori nahi jaanle,(the sky doesn’t have to meet earth)Ishq saccha vahi jisko milti nahin manzilein…(only the love that doesn’t seek/find a destination is true love)Lyrics from a song recently released that point in the direction of unconditional love… 

I love ____ person, ____ thing, ____ idea is an expression of our preferences that could change due to time and circumstances. ​Love as a state of being that was experienced by Radha / Meerabai / Kabir is completely different from love for people/things/ideas. Love as state of being can be experienced only when you dissolve all identities that you have built around yourself – as in the words of Rumi – Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

Dissolving identities is a path of Bhakti Yoga – it is recommended especially for people who are very emotional. There is no structured approach to dissolving identities since you are the one who has created them and holding on to them. Another method is that of Gnana Yoga for people who are inclined to experience life from an intellectual perspective. In the words of Sherlock Holmes, a character created to be a great logician, “when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth….This is a method of using intellect called “Neti” (Not this) which involves observing yourself and letting go of who you are not and then what remains would be who you truly are – your state of being of which love/bliss is a quality experienced….

“It is illusory to think that a person has one mind, good or bad. There is no single mind but many; we are a coalition, not a single person.
People can consciously redirect their minds, but, like learning to read it to do math, this ability doesn’t come naturally. It has to be nurtured. We have to know who is in there to order around.”Robert Ornstein- PhD Psychologist UCLA

Knowing the mind is key to life itself. Mind is the intangible part of our existence whilst Body is the tangible part. We readily accept to address the tangible part body by diet, exercise, rest but don’t do much about the Mind which is actually controlling our life itself. 

Which method you choose to know your mind is up to you. Psychology and Psychiatry are the scientific disciplines that are attempting to know the Mind. Philosophy is a metaphysical approach towards knowing the mind. Yoga is a practical way of experiencing the mind and its various dimensions that ultimately leads you to Samadhi which is a state of Still Mind in which you transcend duality and experience the very Source of Creation – Advaita…

Sharing this note to self circulating on WhatsApp that rings so true. I was prompted by google photos about this day last year and saw a dear friend in it who passed away earlier this year and it reminded me of the uncertainty of how much time we have left to do what we choose to do with it.

As the lyrics of a famous Beatles song goes – “there’s no time for fussing and fighting my friends…” , there is only this moment at your disposal, live it as joyfully as you can, sharing that joy with others around you, there’s really nothing better. 

Look at what you are chasing or what is bothering you and simply let it go to be in this moment in peace. As a famous zen saying goes – a man was running as he crossed the Buddha and Buddha asked him “Why are you running?” and that was the man’s moment of enlightenment, the man stopped and returned home…

Remember after the game is over, the king and the pawn return to the same box… 

All of us pray and have our own methods of doing so. Prayer, in my view, is a form of auto – suggestion that expresses your intent or statement of purpose. It could be in any language, mantra, chant, the important thing is you understand what you are chanting/reciting or the import of the prayer. Once you have expressed and reminded yourself of your intentions through prayer, it is most important that you execute the intent through the day as sincerely as possible. Most of us do the first part of the prayer of expressing it very well but whether we actually bring to action what we wish for is what is doubtful.

Prayer is not sufficient unto itself, it needs the wheels of effort to make it come true. Who is going to make the effort? We wish to outsource our effort to some entity called God and wish that it happens. What we forget is this God is within us and wants to see the prayer accomplished but we need to take efforts to accomplish it. 

Examine/Re-examine your prayers, make it as simple and understandable to you as possible, but above all put efforts behind whatever it is you pray for… Sharing a lovely prayer that I came across of St.Francis, who also took the efforts of actioning his prayer and actually walked his talk…

For as long as space exists

And sentient beings endure,

May I too remain,

To dispel the misery of the world.

Lord make me an instrument Of thy peace,

Where there is hatred, Let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant thatI may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we Are pardoned,

and it is in dying

That we are born to eternal life.

Almost all crackers are banned this Diwali due to the increasing air & noise pollution levels, so what do you light up this Diwali? The best thing and in my view, the first thing to light up besides your homes and environment, is the light of Sattva within. 

Sattva is stillness of mind. In ayurveda the mind is considered to be the sixth sense that controls the other five senses. The pure state of sattva where the mind is considered one with the Soul is the true state of awakening. Sattva brings about goodness, truth, compassion and peace. A disturbance to the balanced state of sattva by indulging in excessive action (Rajas) or excessive inertia (Tamas), is the cause of most of the problems we face in life whether physical, mental, financial, relational. Bringing back the balance by realigning with sattva is the best gift you can give yourself and others.

The more you align with sattva the clearer your mind becomes, your faculties optimally aligned, you then know what true clarity & joy means. Light this light of sattva in you and be a clearer, lighter & better balanced person – that is true celebration. 

Happy Diwali.

Regret, remorse, guilt are indications that you are suffering your past memories. Worry, fear, anxiety are indications that you are suffering your imagination. Both memories and imagination are faculties provided to us for navigating our way through life but if we make them the source of our suffering then who is to blame? 

Yes, you should learn from your past(Using Memory) and also plan ahead(using imagination) so that you don’t repeat the same mistakes or do repeat the right conduct but flogging yourself for not doing something right isn’t going to help. Do something now, if you can to rectify the situation, if there isn’t anything that can be done then simply move on enriched with the learning that now you know one more thing you shouldn’t do. Wallowing in regret, remorse, guilt or worry, fear, anxiety won’t help, instead it will only create psychological trauma that would manifest as a psychosomatic disorder for you, so stop the habit.

Attention, focus on the moment you are living in is a Sadhana to overcome this suffering of memories/imagination. The Power of Now.