That all rivers eventually meet the sea, is the fate of the river,

How much time and what route it takes is its destiny,

To see the river in the sea and the sea in the river is a higher consciousness(of a Master)who experiences everything as the manifestation of the Advaita(One)

This is the company(of the Master) that one should seek that can liberate you in one glance.
Swami Chinmayananda who had the great fortune of such a glance of Ramana Maharshi

Reminds of another story that emphasizes the same point:

Saint Kabir was invited by the king when all the kings attempts of experiencing liberation had failed,The Kings High Priest had tried many rituals, performed poojas but none of them had given the King the experience of liberation.

Kabir put a condition that the king had to agree to everything that Kabir says, the king acceptedUpon hearing this Kabir asked the priest to tie the king to one pole and thereafter he tied the priest to another pole

Then Kabir asked the priest to free the king, the priest said how could he when he was himself tied downKabir asked the king to free the priest, the king said he couldn’t since he was himself tied down

Kabir then said
“Bandhe ko bandha mile choote kaun upaya. Seva kar nirbandh ki, jo pal me let chudhaye”
Meaning: An attached (bound) person cannot free another attached person. It takes the Grace of a liberated Master to liberate a Bound person in a moment… 

You have to face what you must and things will come to a pass when they must, that’s fate. But how you face things is not fate, that is something you can choose and change. Unfortunately we do just the reverse, we try to change fate(beyond our control) and keep our response(habits) to everything the same.

If you want to transform your life don’t focus on the content(what), instead focus on the context(how). It’s not what you do that matters, how you do it gives you the experience. Irrespective of what you do, if you are relaxed, focused and joyful whilst doing it then the quality of your life is completely transformed. Remember you can’t change what life brings your way but you can change how you experience it.

Meditation, realigning your attitude towards being relaxed, focused and joyful in your intent, thoughts, words and actions and above all cultivating tremendous patience are things that would stand in good stead in improving the quality of your life.

Focus on the context(quality) and lead an amazing life regardless of what you do (content)

As we sadly see the “Black lives matter” protests spread across the world with incidents of violence increasing and the administrative system being unable to contain it, it’s a sad reminder to us for being unable to uphold human values. Closer home, it is the issue of migrant labourers or discrimination against specific minorities, etc. The issue world over is the same, we are not able to uphold basic human values and we’re bearing the brunt of it for ages.

Jesus, Rama, Krishna, Mohammad, Buddha, Moses, many prophets arrived and showed us the way but we simply are unwilling to listen. So what should one do being born in such a chaotic world? It reminds me of the AA Serenity prayer – God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t change, to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference between the two. We can change only that which we can control and change always begins with self. So one needs to change oneself first and foremost. As Jesus said to the crowd wanting to throw stones at a woman blamed for misconduct, that let him throw the first stone, he who hasn’t sinned… The crowd dispersed, there wasn’t a single man who hadn’t sinned. It’s the same today, whatever issue we want to protest against, we need to look within ourselves and see that before we throw stones at others, whether we ourselves are upholding basic human values and cleansing ourselves of our sins.

An eye for an eye will only make the world blind, that’s what is unfortunately happening. Reactive behaviour is easy, it is responsible behaviour that’s difficult.
Violence and immorality is easy but non-violence & morality requires certain level of maturity which needs to be reflected by all of us by upholding a moral & ethical framework by ourselves. We need to be patient with those who don’t and are yet to mature but keep inspiring them with our maturity. 

The personal slogan, if at all, for all should be “All lives matter”.

As we(in Western India) face an Act of God in the form of the Cyclone – Nisarga, the US is facing the brunt of Act of Man in the form of violent protests, arson, looting happening across the Country in protest of the death of George Floyd. In both cases, COVID has been relegated to the number 2 position in our minds. The point I’m trying to make is it’s possible for us to shift focus from one thing to another if we have to. This can also be possible if you train your mind in “choice of focus”. How?

Mind is our most powerful ally or enemy, depending on how you train it. It can be the cause of your greatest joys or worst suffering. Train the mind to respond positively to every situation and that training is possible by the practice of Raja Yoga which comprehensively exercises the body,  prana, thoughts, emotions (and opens up the possibility of Self Realisation). The more you practice the more you are freed of negative tendencies of anger, greed, lust, etc. So whilst you will still not have any control of what challenges life brings to you, you will have full control of how you choose to respond to them, with equanimity. 
Control the controllable, accept & face the uncontrollable. The learning and practice of Raja Yoga is within your control, it will strengthen your mind & body to respond better to any situation, do it. The situations of C19, Cyclone, Riots, etc are not in our control do accept and face is the only choice we have.

Those interested in learning Raja Yoga could start off by reading the exposition of Raja Yoga given by Swami Vivekananda and thereafter learning directly with a Master. It would certainly transform the quality of your life thereafter.

A recently shared article by an IAS officer expressing anguish on the current situation evoked mixed responses from people I had shared it with. Some agreed with the views, whilst some didn’t. I suppose that is the case with most things in life, there would be people for and against almost anything and everything in the world. This also set me thinking that whilst we share views and express our opinions on it, are we doing enough?

Irrespective of our views, the fact is clear that people need help, who doesn’t? How are you willing to help is the limited participation in the solution that you can contribute to. For some people the trauma of going through this lockdown by itself is enough, for some doing something to help others is enough, for some nothing is enough…So what is ‘enough’ is very subjective since no one has defined ‘enough’.
In my view, every situation could be looked at from a half glass full or a half glass empty perspective. There never was, is or will be any time when enough has been done, there would always be something remaining, that’s life, it’s a continuous series of activities with constantly changing goal posts, when you achieve one, the goal post moves further….

In this ever-changing world we must have a half glass full outlook when we are considering ourselves and what we have got from life. We must have a half glass empty outlook when we think of what others have got and try to fill that glass with as much as is possible given our capacity with utmost love.

Be satisfied with what you have- half glass fullBe eager to fill others empty glass with love-  half glass empty
In doing so you would have your glass & life full, always

Judge nothing, you will be happy. Forgive everything, you will be happier. Lovingly share everything, you will be happiest

Recently I read a quote that said Corona did not break the system, it only exposed a broken system. This is so true. 

The evolution of mankind has not given due importance to wisdom, instead it has rewarded & upheld intelligence that accumulates power, wealth and fame. There is a wisdom crises in the leadership which is only a reflection of the a wisdom crises in the masses.

By resuming normalcy, we mean we want to go back to the broken world where poverty & many other social inequities are claiming more lives than COVID ever could. But it will give us back our illusion of life.

There is a need to reset the foundational parameters of our society to uphold wisdom, balance, peace. Power, wealth and fame can, at best, be means to an end but not the end in itself, as it unfortunately is today. 

How do we do this? We need teams of people across the globe to start thinking in terms of a vaccine that would work against human greed & create a system that upholds wisdom and we should be as eagerly waiting to get vaccinated against greed, as we are waiting to be vaccinated against COVID.

Who will do this? If we don’t, who will?

Published on 12th May 2020 on the 3rd anniversary of my father passing on

There’s nothing in the world that he can’t do, I thought proudly as I(when I was 8 years old) saw him swim with his hands and feet tied at the Police Aquatic Games.

“You should do what you can” was the counsel this Karma Yogi gave & lived up to, whenever a needy soul came for help.
Never did I meet a person who was not touched by his kindness, nor did I ever see him back off from helping someone in need.

“Impossible is a word in the dictionary of fools” was a quote from Napolean Bonaparte who he studied deeply and admired. How could someone accommodate Napolean, Patanjali, Vinoba Bhave, Ghalib and Counter Intelligence of IB in the same brain and yet display the qualities of maitri, karuna, mudita, upeksha, is something that would possibly remain a mystery.

It was this very day 3 years back that his death did us apart but my Guru, loving father and friend, a true Purushottam remains etched deep in my heart.

And I still think proudly – There is nothing in the world he can’t do. He lived his life in a manner that convinced me that this is actually true. What more inspiration do I need?

You gave meaning to the word “large hearted” and living life King-size,

We were fortunate to be in your company and walk a few steps together.

You will be missed in person but would always remain in our hearts as an inspiration to remind us that if life gives you lemons, you make lemonade (and have it with beer)

You lived life on your terms completely uncompromising, God knows we need more of such souls down here but I guess God also needs them up there..

So farewell my Lionheart brother. Keep the beer chilled and heart warm as always, to welcome us when we meet next

RIP Joe Menezes

Do we lift the lockdown or do we continue- both have serious consequences. Is like being caught between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Everybody seems to have an opinion on the subject but the burden of decision is on the powers that be…
The answer lies somewhere in between, how do we balance the trade off between risk to life by COVID and risk to life due to Economic Crises.

There are times in everyone’s lives wherein you are put in situations wherein deciding either ways is painful. What helps us in such situations is the concept of balance – It’s like the tension on the string of a bow or a sitar- neither should it be too much or too little, it should be just right. This comes with experience and maturity.

The balance of Hosh(Conscious considered action) and Josh(Impulsive, gut based action) is something that each one of us has to exercise since like it or not COVID is here to stay (at least till the vaccine is found)and we have no other choice but to live with it. So the best way of responding to it is with balance. Just because we’re bored of sitting at home, doesn’t mean that we throw caution to the wind and move out. Neither does it mean that we are over cautious and lock ourselves at home.
We have to figure out a new normal that would balance both ends. Yes it will expose us to some risks qua COVID but it would also allow us to mitigate the economic risks.

The problem isn’t that the Authorities don’t know this, I’m sure they do, but given the experience with people who act on Josh, the relaxation of the current lockdown may have an adverse effect. The actual challenge is how do you infuse discipline in people who are unwilling to be disciplined. The sad answer is you can’t. So it only increases the risks in either decision which we have no choice but to accept….

Prayer that everyone sees the same picture and help each other out by reducing the risks to the extent possible is all we can do….

One wonders why aren’t Spiritual Masters intervening in this crises which reminds me of an incident from the life of Sai Baba. He was asked to resurrect a dead woman devotee, he asked to get water from a house where no one has ever died, indicating that death is a natural process that has to be accepted. He did revive the woman for sometime but clearly did not want to intervene in a natural process. The point is not whether Masters can or cannot intervene in natural course of things, the point is should they?

Every Master says that each person has to work out his/her karma and that they can transcend the cycle of life/death by following the spiritual path. The potential of achieving enlightenment is in everyone but whether they choose to work on it is a question that each one has to answer for himself/herself. This is  possibly what Buddha meant by “Aapo Deepo Bhava” – be your own light.

On Buddha Poornima, let us remind ourselves that the potential of Buddhahood is in each one of us and that this life is an opportunity to reach that potential.
Buddham Sharanam GacchamiDhammam Sharanam GacchamiSangham Sharanam Gacchami
I surrender to the BuddhaI surrender to Dhamma(teachings of Buddha)I surrender to the Company (of people on the path)