Many people, goals, desires come into our lives and go away,

what was/is the purpose of life that binds you? 

It is possibly to know that you were/are always free…

But who knows?

Where do you go after you die? 

The same place before you were born? 

But who knows? 

You have to make peace with inevitability,

What has been born will surely die,

The elements will fold into their own and that which was born will return home…

But who knows? 

What will happen, no one can tell, 

But the body will die, that everyone knows and yet we live in the hope that today is not the last…

But who knows?

Will there be someone with me when I pass?

Holding my hand and saying it’s OK,

For those who love you are on both sides….

But who knows? 

It is senseless t​rying to make sense of the crumbling world order(if there was one to begin with). When what a madman in another part of the world does, begins to affect your life realtime it is a matter of concern. There are many unanswered questions besides the most significant philosophical inquiry “Who am I?” For instance –  How does my grocery bill increase because of sanctions imposed by some nations on another nation?  Why in the age of AI are Gold and Silver(Old age currencies) prices skyrocketing instead of the new age Bitcoin? How is de-dollarisation going to affect me? What if there is a third world war? and many more…There are​ simply so many ​ununderstandable, uncontrollable factors affecting your life that it is impossible to stay away or insulate yourself from it.

To understand the answer, entails not only knowing how the diverse systems work but also how they contradict each other and if you are somehow able to get the knowledge of everything and try to make sense of it, it doesn’t.  

In my view, whether it be politics, economics, social issues, etc, it all boils down to the same old human weaknesses: greed and fear that results in stupidity and we haven’t been able to overcome it till date…

Who knows what is enough and to share what is more than enough? Who accepts that there is enough and more offered by nature, if only we live harmoniously? And so the circus continues…letting go​ is no longer a lifestyle choice but a psychological necessity for maintaining your​ sanity…

It’s easy to sit back and criticize the situation, other people, destiny​, etc. If it’s done in a funny way it becomes a stand up comedy and in a serious way it becomes a debate but the underlying issue possibly remains the same.  

The AQI is worsening, corruption is increasing, polarization is deepening,….Yes there are millions of things wrong with the world but unless you do something about it, it is just a statistic. Who will make things right? On the day of elections this seems to be a relevant question​ to ask ourselves. The answer is – The Wo/Man in the mirror. Once you take ownership of yourself and your actions you would be contributing in whatever little manner in bringing about a world that you would like to live in.

Despite that, a million things would still be wrong which you would have to accept for your own peace of mind since that is the nature of human civilization – it will perpetuate itself till the time it either matures completely or destroys itself completely. It seems like the latter is winning but who knows? So “Some ​days we make compromises, some days we have gin​”

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​If only Self Realisation could be attained by reading holy books/accounts of Masters, then there would be millions of Enlightened Souls. But simply knowing it from books or other Masters is not enough till you don’t walk the path yourself and experientially understand what they are saying, so knowing is just the beginning of the journey at the intellectual level, to convert the knowledge to daily experience is the path and the understanding/acceptance/maturity that comes out of this process is Self Realisation which is also a journey not a destination.

If you remain enamored with the sensual/egoic delights that the mind is attached to, then there is no inspiration for moving away from them and you remain in the attached state of duality. Only when you transcend these attachments can you experience Advaita. Bhakti, Jnana, Karma, Kriya, Raja Yoga are the paths to transcend them – just knowing them is not enough, you have to walk them as sincerely as you can and Self Realisation would unfold itself and reflect as wisdom in you. 

Reminds me of Swami Vivekananda who was once asked, “What do you gain by Prayer and Meditation?”
To which he answered, “I gained Nothing, in fact I lost Anger, Depression, Jealousy, Irritation & Insecurity.”

It’s once again the time ​of the year to review the year gone by, to​ reflect on whether to correct or accept but what are the​ parameters to review and what is the scale? ​Well that depends on what it is that you hold important in life. Achievements in chosen professions, vocation is usually what most people would consider important, but what is the quality of their life in the bargain is mostly glossed over in this chase. 

To my mind there is only one parameter that is important and that is bliss/peace of mind, everything else is incidental to the process of life. There is no scale to measure bliss, it is available freely at this moment provided you are able to let go of your worries, tensions, stress and trust that “Jisne choch di hai dana bhi wohi dega”. Work hard in whatever you choose but don’t make your bliss/peace of mind dependent on it and there is only one person who can do this – You!

Moving fast means nothing if you’re headed the wrong way.