The first time I bet on my favourite horse at the Derby the odds given to me were 1:0.22 and after having the joy of winning and collecting Rs.122, the bookkeeper said that the bet was not worth the risk (I win only Rs.22 but am risking Rs.100) and that I should consider the risk reward ratio in future. Of course the joy of winning outweighed the risk but when I reflected on it later it made immense sense and has served me well in investing in the stock market. If the RR is not favourable, then however good the company is, the bet is risky and to be avoided. 

The Risk Reward ratio affects all other aspects of our life as well, the only thing is that we don’t have the tools to evaluate our emotions/feelings. What is the risk of working overtime for money you don’t need vs spending quality time with your family or your own hobbies? Unless you figure this out for yourself, you may succeed in your profession but will fail in life. And then there are those who have retired and still try to cling on to roles that give them money, power, fame since that’s the paradigm they have lived their lives by. 

Living a rich life has nothing to do with wealth, being powerful has nothing to do with power, being famous means nothing in an impermanent world. 

The day you realise this your life’s Risk – Reward Ratio will align automatically. 

As we cremated the mortal remains of my Dear Aunt yesterday, the inevitability of all of us ending up there one day was a grim reminder. 

“Aaj jawani par itaranewale kal pachtayega. 

Chadhta Sooraj Dheere Dheere Dhalta Hai Dhal Jayega

Tu Yahan Musafir hai yeh sarah fani hai.

Chaar din ki mehemaan teri zindagani hai”

It really doesn’t matter what you do/have done(achievements), it matters how you were in every moment that you lived and was there love in it. Love isn’t something you get, it is something you give and it is your job to clean away everything that is keeping you from experiencing it but you are too busy chasing things that really don’t matter. It is never too late, start from wherever you are….  

​Laziness is a curse that we have to deal with on a daily basis. We are actually working towards making ourselves redundant, in that we already have – workerless factories, driverless cars, programmerless programs, waiterless restaurants/stores and soon we will gift ourselves a humanless world since humans will only park themselves in front of a TV/Mobile/Laptop Screen watching content created by AI…A frightening prospect unless good sense prevails on us…

Reminds me of a story narrated by a dear friend of his first trek in Uttarakhand wherein in the middle of an arduous trail there was a person selling chai and it was obvious that he had trekked up all the way from the base village to set up his makeshift tea house. He charged a very nominal amount for the chai, wherein my friend remarked that he should charge more for all the trouble he has taken and people would be glad to pay. To which the tea vendor replied -“What use is of the money to me here even if I make it? I will only get lazier since I will think about stocking provisions, hiring some other people to work for me, etc…I trek up and down to my village daily and carry only as much as I can and I need to – It gives me enough money to keep my home fire running and more importantly keeps me fit.” 

If a simple tea vendor has this wisdom to live his life by, what has happened to ours? Why are we making ourselves lazy and chasing/automating more than we need? But then who decides what is needed and what is excess? And so the circus continues…

If you observe any culture it has an idea of God, a Prophet/s who is/are better connected to God and miracles surround them as proof of that connection and finally the believing masses who don’t have either the time or the luxury of exploring whether God actually exists in the manner that they have been led to believe or they are simply not interested in exploring the idea but follow some book/rituals that is a tick in the check box that if one exists then s/he is doing her/his bit for being in the good books of this God. This is religion.

You are then branded as a part of a particular belief system and that is used as a basis for classifying you into ours/not ours and its consequences. This is politics.

In all this, one wonders, where is God? God seems missing in our lives that has to be led amidst uncertainty, volatility, hate politics, money making by custodians of religion because if God were there none of this would happen…

So you have to set things right by yourself, for yourself by doing the right things with the right attitude, perhaps that was always the idea of God that has been lost in translation…

I had to get my car AC repaired yesterday and replace parts that I didn’t know existed in the first place but somebody did and he was able to identify/replace the parts and lo! the AC started working. I was thinking to myself how blissfully unaware I was of what is under the hood of the car that I so enjoy driving. Same goes with the body/mind that I use daily and know so little of.

What I don’t know far exceeds what I know or want to know. I also realise that even to know one segment of known knowledge is impossible even after you spend an entire lifetime. But then I ask, is it even necessary to know everything? No. In fact, “less is more” works when it comes to enjoying life. The craving for knowing everything is what may keep you busy but it is inversely proportional to leading a satisfied life. Ignorance is bliss…

So don’t stress yourself trying to be busy, take time to step out, enjoy the rains, watch the sunset, be with your loved ones…that is where life is. Simplify your life mercilessly.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Most people are led to believe that practicing Yoga Asanas is Yoga, however it is but a part of the journey in Yoga. If achieving complicated contortions of the body was yoga then all the accomplished gymnasts/athletes across the world would be Yogi’s. Are they? What is different about a Yogi? A Yogi is equanimous, non craving/ detached and an epitome of peace.

Trying to achieve this state only through Asana’s and Diet is like a tail trying to wag the elephant- wherein the tail is the body/diet(visible) and the mind(invisible) is the rest of the elephant. Aligning the body will make your physical form supple and attractive but what about the mind? The mind is restless like a monkey with its tail on fire and the only way it can be calmed down is through Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi which is Antaranga Yoga. So just don’t stop with practicing Yoga Asanas, extend your practice to observing silence, practicing meditation(be a witness to the dance of the mind) and doors to inner peace would open by themselves.

Happy Yoga Life 

In the quest for modern amenities/progress have we gone too far to a place where it can’t be reversed? We are all feeling the heat, literally. Rains are delayed, Water bodies are running dry, forests are thinning, all the signs of natural disasters are showing up – El Nino, etc. What is our response to it? Artificial intelligence? 

I remember Gabbar Singh’s dialogue from Sholay “Agar tumko Gabbar ke taap se koi bacha sakta hai to woh hai khud Gabbar”. In real life we are Gabbar Singh and we are screwing up nature and the only ones who can save ourselves. Nature doesn’t need any help to restore balance, remember it was here before us and it will be here after we are gone. We just don’t have to interfere in its workings or make things difficult for it to maintain an equilibrium that is sustainable for humans.  

How do you do that? The answer is simple – finding balance in our own lifestyles and choosing nature(natural living) but execution is almost impossible. Nevertheless it is worth thinking about and implementing changes in our own lives however small they may be because it is a step in the right direction…