Bucket List

Expressing life in terms of “Doing” is largely a Western thing whilst “Being” is largely an Eastern thing. However, as they say “grass looks greener on the other side”, the West has taken up Yoga/Zen/Tai-Chi seriously and the East has taken up chasing power/wealth/fame in terms of “development” seriously and the circus continues…

The concept of “doing” something before you die was captured beautifully by the movie “Bucket List” (Things you want to do before you die/kick the bucket) that was released in 2007 with brilliant performances by Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. Everyone must prepare a bucket list since it helps in lending focus to your energies for the remainder of your life and also reminds you that life has an expiry date that is unknown to you.

As you tick off the items on your Bucket list you realise that it was never about “doing” and that you are going around in circles and that is when you value “being” that is finding the “Stillness” within you. This is a process of maturity which can’t be hoodwinked – you have to go through “doing” and mature into “being” and there is no guarantee that you will mature in this lifetime – so whatever stage you are in, be in the moment and enjoy it

Find work that you can spend a lifetime on

Whatever you are chasing in the material world, you will eventually get only to know that it did not quench your thirst but only increased it…

The only rule that works here is “This too shall pass”…Then what remains? That which you were before you were born and that which you will be after passing on… Be that and all chases will drop…

Isha – The Supreme Will

Does God exist? Depends on what you refer to as God.

Is it a power/person sitting up in the sky controlling everything and keeping tabs on good/bad deeds?

Or is this God/ power within you?

Or there is no God/power and everything is simply happening…

You are free to choose your option but it may or may not be true, so what is true? That, my friend, has to be found out by yourself should you be interested in doing so…

We are born in a world of conclusions expressed by religions, enlightened beings or prophets. Due to the inherent limitations of words to convey exact meaning, there could be a variation in what is intended to be conveyed and what is actually conveyed/understood. To accept what is expressed in words at face value is just the beginning of the spiritual journey, to experience it directly is the purpose of the journey…

Disconnected World

If you read any newspaper on any given day there would be news about AI taking over human civilization, Statistics about % of people living below poverty line, Billionaires going on Space Travel, New Champion in Tennis/Cricket, New age Baba Wanga predictions of the world coming to an end in July 2025, Global Warming, Nuclear War, Third World War and other reports of murder, etc. What are we coming down to? Technology is bringing us closer and yet we are seemingly moving apart…There don’t seem to be any rational answers for what we are chasing and why?

We are living in an increasingly technologically connected yet psychologically disconnected world. Technology is taking its own course and giving power to destroy the world in the hands of unstable, even insane leaders. If they don’t kill us, global warming will…How do you find sanity in such insane situations? The answer is for all to find connection with the Divine within us and that is the only way of retaining your sanity and being connected with all again since we are all connected at Source.

Sattva

Our nature is brought out in every action we perform. We seem to be born with certain preferences, likes and dislikes, desirable and undesirable behaviours, etc. These are merely our personality traits and they can be changed 100% if we so wish since these personality traits are nothing but long standing habits that get passed on from one lifetime to another. A sum total of all die hard habits is called the nature of a person and is generally accepted as not changeable but that is not true, this can and should be changed if desired.

The will to change however depends on the acceptance of a person that something needs to change in him/her. Most people take the easier way out of simply blaming others instead of embarking on the path of identifying and implementing change which is a difficult process. The maturity to accept that change is needed usually comes either after the habit has already brought upon ruin or it’s too late.

For others it is the case of “Kalta pan valat nahi” (I understand but can’t seem to bring about change). Consequently, in a world where everything is impermanent, sadly your nature remains permanent. Hence the importance of good sanskars – which is not just inculcating good habits in children but also in ourselves. However what is considered good is itself confusing in a morally compromised world. So you have to find your own balance – that is the concept of Sattva in Yoga… It is not about balancing things in your life, it is about being a balanced person….

Moko kahan dhunro bande

Everyone is searching for something but in the wrong place. Kabir says – Mulla aur Pandit dohu raha na paye – Paani Paani ratte ratte pyaasa hi mar jaye…The answer lies beyond the rituals and dogmas of religion…

Most people are searching for something but don’t know what they are searching for. If you don’t know what you are looking for, how will you find it? And even if you find something, how will you know whether it was that which you were looking for in the first place?

Instead Kabir recommends bringing our attention back to the present moment, for that is where everything is. In doing so, you will discover that this moment is real(God), “I/Me/Mine” is not(Maya/Illusion)…

Conflict Management

Just asking who wants to eat what in a normal family would bring out a conflict since everyone wants something different. You are happy in your personal life but your boss isn’t…. There is a truck in the fast lane moving at 40 kmph when you are already late for office. You want a quiet Sunday but the neighbouring building is being redeveloped and you have to cope up with the noise…It is raining and someone has parked in your designated parking space…

Boom!!! Out comes the John Rambo hidden within you with all guns blazing aimed at whoever is in the way. Road rage is just a tipping point for people waiting to explode and teach lessons to those who are least interested in hearing what you have to say…

Conflicts are inevitable but combat is optional. You have to choose your battles carefully since every battle would extract its pound of flesh in terms of your peace of mind. So you have to decide whether it is worth it to combat or let go. Whilst there is no right or wrong answer for how you choose to approach this but being like the Sun in this old saying might help

“Sooraj ko dekh kutta bhaunkta hai.

Sooraj ko koi pharak nahin padta hai..

Phir kutte ko bhaunkte dekh sabhi kutte saath mein bhaunkte hain.

Phir bhi Sooraj ko pharak nahi padta.”

Your peace of mind is far more important than teaching lessons to others…

Harmony

If you were to meet an alien in space you would identify yourself as a Human Being from Planet Earth which is in a Solar System in the Milky Way Galaxy.

If you meet a foreigner you would use the following to introduce yourself with a combination of
Geographical Identity: continent, country, city, locality, building/flat, etc
Social Identity: family, friends, religion, caste, creed, community, status(financial or otherwise), etc
Individual identity:gender, qualification, achievements, interests, etc

Identity is simply a point of reference in interpersonal communication and almost all constituents of your identity can & will change(if you want them to).

The problem is that we have divided ourselves in so many ways that we don’t know how to reconcile these divisions in our own mind. The problem is not the division/classification, it is when you look at life only from one or few parts that limits and narrows down your perspective and makes you radical when you hold tightly to just one or few parts of your identity, missing the broader picture…

In order to live harmoniously, we need to find ways to unite not divide. Harmony begins in our own mind, that is why spirituality promotes dissolving identification…

War and Peace

The World Wars, if at all, have shown us that nothing is achieved by Wars and yet here we are at the brink of a war, which both nations can’t afford (One more so than the other) wherein the instigation is from terrorist outfits but the masterminds could be from across the world. There is no way that you can get to just the masterminds or the terrorists so there would be loss of innocent civilian lives in doing so…

There was an interesting situation shown in the last season of “The Wheel of Time” series on Prime Video wherein two boys are excommunicated from their tribe for resorting to violence to bring back their kidnapped sisters from some violent kidnappers. The tribe follows “The Way of Leaf” wherein violence in any form leads to excommunication. The boys don’t know what to do post excommunication so they say that they will protect the tribe from violent people using violence and allow the tribe to follow its non violent ways. It led me to think that is “Ahimsa” practical and possible at all in a world where violence is an accepted way of life and we already have mechanisms in place to deal with it – legislation(Civil and Criminal Laws), executive (Armed Forces, Police, etc), judiciary (interpretation of laws with respect to the situation), media (to report facts)… Whilst we may have our own views of whether the mechanisms are working at all or not, one thing is certain that violence is an accepted fact.

So do we start compulsory military training, like some nations that have accepted war to be a way of life, for all our citizens(25% or more of which are under poverty line) or do we give peace and religion a chance and create a safe place for people to live without the fear of terrorism/war, if so how? The answer my friend is blowin in the wind, the answer is blowin in the wind…

Ship of Theseus

Our body, thoughts, ideas about life change drastically as we age, so does the content of our lives, our possessions, our memories, our long standing habits (which can also be changed). We are much like the Ship of Theseus wherein all aspects of our lives seem to have changed and yet something remains the same which is the cognizing/witnessing aspect of consciousness that precedes “I/Me/Mine”, the lens through which we view the ever-changing world.

The body is born and will die but there is this element of eternity that precedes birth and survives death of body. You are that. This knowledge has to be directly experienced and the one who does that is “Mrityunjaya” – the one who has overcome the fear of death.