Peace

People are chasing myriad ways to lengthen their lifespan, without finding peace in the present moment. Then what’s the point?

The principles of finding peace are simple 1. To know that everything is impermanent – which can be simply observed and 2. To develop an attitude of compassion in everything you do. Knowing this is easy, living it is difficult. Hence the people able to do the latter are called Saints, who are far and few.

If your spiritual path is not making you a humble, compassionate person, rexamine it and make a course correction.

Happy Dussehra

Dussehra is when you polish and worship your weapons to enable Good to triumph over Evil but the dividing lines between the two have blurred so much that it’s difficult to distinguish…

There is evil in all of us in the form of kama, krodh, moha, mada, matsar, which is metaphorically referred to as Mahishasur or Ravan, but there is also good which is the faculty of conscience that is Ma Durga or Lord Ram that guides us to steer away from these demons that reside within us and to uphold good in the world.

Pray that you are granted the courage to uphold your conscience in every situation. That is the best offering you could give to Ma Durga/ Lord Ram

Happy Dusshera

Happy Independence Day

Independence day reminds us that there is no freedom without struggle. Attachment/Bondage and freedom are in & of your mind. When will you struggle to free your mind? This one is a personal battle.
May you find the strength to walk the path till you free your mind of attachments, that is true freedom🌻

Purpose and energy audit

Do you know what you want from this life? If yes, are you spending 8 most energetic hours a day chasing it? It’s your life after all, don’t you think it’s good to know and make course corrections instead of being comfortable in your routine(comfort zone)

Most people don’t know what they want from life so the ones that are hyperactive by nature try to cram in more activities under the name of “time management” but actually it is FOMO “Fear of missing out” and create a busy routine/comfort zone. The Lazy ones simply don’t venture into the dangerous area of finding purpose lest they have to work and life goes on…A few blessed ones know where they’re headed and devote their energies to their purpose. You can be blessed as well…

Do a purpose and energy audit of your own lives. What do you seek from life(purpose) and where are you expending your energies. Keep a journal to note where you are expending energy and review it weekly to know whether it is aligned with your purpose or not, after all you are the Architect of your life…

They say what you don’t know doesn’t hurt you but in fact what you don’t know could be hurting you most…

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…

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.

Emptiness is valuable

Intellectuals try to fill the mind, the wise try to empty the mind.

It is in emptiness that true creativity happens, everything else is just a rehash of something learnt earlier.

The Source lies beyond both filling and emptying and is not concerned with either and yet it is the cause of everything. It can only be reached in complete silence which is also the way of emptying the mind

Humility

Humility is a sign of spiritual progress. Pride is a sign of ego.

Ego driven/Intelligent people are able to glibly rattle off verses from Holy Scriptures and assume that they are in a position to guide others on the spiritual path but they forget that they cannot share what they have never experienced.

Hence look for humility, silence in Guru’s. Such Guru’s(Ramana Maharshi, Buddha, Nisargadatta Maharaj…)would encourage you to practice silence, being in the moment as a witness and find out for yourself. If you can’t find one then it’s better to walk the path alone….

Your direction is more important than your speed. Look inwards in silence

Yoga

Most people think that Yoga is performing some body twisting exercises to improve flexibility.

Yoga is not only about flexibility(Asana), else every Gymnast would have been a Yogi.

Yoga is not only about breath control(Pranayama), else every endurance athlete would have been a Yogi.

Yoga is not only about maintaining a code of conduct(Yama/Niyama) nor only about withdrawing your attention(Pratyahara) nor only about sitting in meditation for long periods of time(Dharana/Dhyana)

Yoga is all of the above till you realise that life is not about seeking/doing but about accepting/being…(Samadhi)

Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodha

Die empty

Don’t wait, fulfill all desires, is a message that most authors influenced by the Western materialistic thinking will convey, either through a story or through a self improvement book…

Whilst most authors influenced by Eastern Philosophical thought would say desires are the very cause of your suffering…

Both seem to be right in their own ways but who do you follow?

Desires, by their very nature, are endless loops. You fulfill one and another replaces it, perhaps the same one with greater intensity. You then are a monkey in the desire fulfillment circus and you think that life is meant to fulfill desires and nothing could be far from truth. You are not born to fulfill desires, you are born because you have desires…

Liberation is not achieved through accumulating (whether material things or experiences) since you are dependent on the object being accumulated. Liberation is achieved through letting go and being independent… So the key to dying empty is not to keep chasing desires but to rise above them through meditation and experiencing the essence of “this too shall pass”…