Life

A few decades back, community rules were primary, and individual freedom always used to take a back seat vis a vis the community rules. Almost every decision used to be based on the acceptability of the community, Youngsters would not dare to drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes before their parents or elders. Times have changed significantly and no individual gives a damn about the society. However, this individual freedom may be like nuclear energy, which if used without awareness, may turn into an atom bomb and may damage and destroy the individuals. The fast-rising cases of drug addiction and crimes among children indicate that somehow, we as parents have failed to educate our kids as to how to use the newly acquired freedom. One significant fallout of the latest developments is that the top level of the "purpose of life" has disappeared. Earlier, there were individual goals in life such as getting higher education, getting a good job, and creating wealth, but there was also...

Krishna is one person who chooses to fight battles constantly. He fought battles with Kansa, Jarasandha, and the battle of Kurukshetra, the battle of minds. He always had an option to live in peace and avoid the battles, but he chose otherwise. He could have lived in Brij ignoring what was happening in Mathura and definitely, he could have decided not to participate in the battle of Kurukshetra. But in that case, Krishna would not have been Krishna.  Whether we like it or not, we too always make similar choices. Getting up in the morning is a choice between two voices within us, one saying that let's take some more rest and the other one asking us to get up to exercise, read books, or take a walk. Every morning, we make a choice to have a healthy or unhealthy breakfast and there is a battle between taste and health. In the office, there is a daily choice between an easy path of doing whatever is directed from the top or taking initiative and extra work and responsibilities. Similar...

"Ego" tries to protect our limited identities. For example, we identify with the body and we try to protect our body by staying fit and fighting against diseases. We identify with our ideas and opinions and ego tries to protect that in discussions. If we do not agree with certain views that do not conform to our ideas and opinions, we disagree and sometimes disagreement takes the shape of arguments and debates and even fights. We identify with our families and communities and our ego tries to protect them.  There is no doubt that ego has a role. It acts as a self-defense mechanism. If we do not identify with the body and make active efforts to protect the same, bacteria, viruses, and vultures will eat us away. In fact, it would not have been possible for human civilization to survive had our self-defense mechanism not been so strong. However, the same self-defense mechanism has to take a back seat when we go for vaccination and surgery. We trust the doctor and if he causes a ...

Sometimes, sadness sets in when we see people in important positions who do not take a stand for systems. Such decisions are motivated by different considerations, such as either wanting to be in the good books of their bosses or having personal ambitions to become larger than life or their petty interests, such as earning money, favoring somebody known to them, or retaining control. In either case, systems get compromised. The potentially best products get converted into sub-standard products.  Such people probably feel that the cost of intervention and stand is quite high. When they get fixated on a narrow frame of life, all these problems naturally arise. They identify with a few things and such identification is repeated again and again and therefore that is quite a strong identification. Generally, most people around them are also equally fixated, and we all keep approving each other's fixations. Society, in general, also supports these fixations. That is how these fixations b...

Just a few hundred years ago, we all were living on our own continents. People living in Asia did not know about the USA or Europe and the people living in Europe did not know about Asia or the USA. We were living in our continents as if living in our own islands unaware of the larger world. It took the courage of a few explorers who had the courage to venture into an unknown world and enable people to navigate across continents. In India Mythology, Hanuman entered Lanka by crossing the ocean that was unknown to the army of Surgiva and Rama before that. Buddha also set on such a journey of the exploration of truth and wisdom. The science of the day is also exploring what exists beyond the known world and they are sending expedition missions into space and also trying to explore the realities of the quantum world. It appears to me that all these explorations have something in common. I feel that all these explorations have certain prerequisites. First and foremost is "awareness of ...

 Life is full of infinite possibilities, yet many of us spend our entire lives being aware of only a fraction of them. Does life discriminate or do we choose to remain limited? I feel that at any given moment, there are broadly two reasons why we miss these possibilities: external and internal. External reasons vary from society to society. Some societies are quite loud and condition the minds of people quite young in age. These societies have very strong fixed linear views of reality and force these views upon young minds with huge force. Since young minds have yet not developed the capacity to question these views, they get caught and live their entire lives believing these beliefs and dogmas to be correct. On the other hand, some societies are open to different possibilities and therefore the people therein are also open to new ideas, opinions, and thoughts. Thus, loud voices attract our attention easily and unless we develop the capacity to mute the loud voices, we can't hear t...

Yesterday, we visited an initiative for the kids created by two young enthusiasts Ashish and Taukeer. It was wonderful to see their commitment. They have been trying to provide integrated learning to the kids, while at the same time preserving the traditions and local knowledge that have been gathered by that community while roaming around in the forests.  Some of the activities of the kids were also captured over the camera: In a society that is so doomed with divisions around religion, caste, and nations, it's so good to see such initiatives. While interacting with the kids, we realized at least two things. First, kids have an immense capacity to learn new things. We told them the right badminton technique, and they picked it up very quickly. We asked them so many questions and they could answer very well. I feel that all human beings have an immense capacity to grow and that does not depend upon our age, experience, culture, or exposure. That capacity to grow is innate to us and...

Changing the frame is not easy, primarily because we cannot see what lies beyond it. All of us live within the frame of society that provides great comfort to us and that's why social validation plays such an important role in our lives. Being a part of society gives us a lot of comfort and safety. We get sick, and we have people to take care of. We have people to share our thoughts with. We have festivals to celebrate. We have common beliefs and have common rituals. That makes our life comfortable.  However, there are movies across the world on the theme of love. When a person falls in love (or grows in love), he gets the courage to look beyond the limited frame of society. In Hollywood, especially, so many movies have been made around the theme. People from one religion marry the people of other religions. People marrying across regions, communities, social strata, and so on. It's not an easy decision because it forces all the family members to expand their frame of mind. The...

Probably one of the strongest frames, we all are tied to, is the frame of morality. This frame is so strong because it gets support from not only the law of the country but also the social conventions and religious texts. The frame of morality has the oneness of life at its center. Probably that is one of the widest frames possible but the problem lies in its selective interpretation. Somehow, we tend to divide this framework into pieces and pick a piece of the framework to suit our purposes. For example, the framework of morality is based on the concept of the larger good, and therefore our actions should aim at the larger good. But all of us have been using natural resources indiscriminately. We have been traveling for fun making the air polluted, throwing so much water every day into the flush, using different industrial products made by the industries that are polluting the air and water, and using pesticides and insecticides without awareness of the violence. How can the "mor...

Nowadays, we see neatly maintained gardens that look quite attractive. The plants are well shaped and the grass is neatly cut. Similarly, we see some modern cities such as Paris where all the buildings have symmetrical architecture. We see many townships where everything is so well maintained, including the roads, lawns, clubs, and gardens. Harmony attracts us. Similarly, systems attract us. They make everything quite predictable. We walk on the road and if there is harmony in the traffic, we will see all the vehicles following the speed limit and traffic lights. It would make us feel safer to drive on the road as against a case where people are jumping traffic lights and violating the speed limits.  On the other hand, we have organic growth, say for example, in the forest. In a forest, there is no law. Some trees grow extraordinarily strong while some plants are very tiny. There is no fixed law in the jungle or the jungle has its own law. There is a struggle at every stage. Strugg...

We often seek instant solutions. In this age of Zomato and Blinkit, Facebook and WhatsApp, UPIs, and Net Banking, everything has become quite instant. We do not have the patience to wait for the delivery of the goods we ordered. Gone are the days when one had to stand in queues to pay the electricity bills and not the bills that could be paid with just a click of a button. Suppose we want information on anything in this world, the same is available in a customized form as presented by Google AI. Probably, we have got so used to these quick solutions that we want the solutions in the spiritual world too instantly. That is why the entire business of Babas and spiritual products is at its peak. So many products are being sold in the name of spirituality. YouTube is full of devotional music. The market is full of different types of idols of God. There are so many Babas in the market and some of the parents have gripped the pulse of the market and have branded their young kids as babas who ...

There are two sides of every coin. We notice only one side of the coin out of foolishness and keep suffering our entire lives. For example, there is no doubt that money is very useful in this world and we can buy almost everything in this world with money. That is why there is almost a race to earn money in the society. The billionaires are the new role models of the new generation. While doing a session on mindfulness, we asked the students about their dreams and we were shocked to see that one student said that "becoming the son-in-law of Elon Musk" is his dream. Most of the career options are being decided based on the potential package. However, in this mad race, we tend to ignore the other side of the coin. From a different perspective, we have limited time and energy and when we allocate these limited resources disproportionately to earn money, the rest of the things suffer. In some cases, we fall ill due to work pressure and end up spending the money we have earned wit...

We get different teachers in our lives at different stages thereof. There are three types of Gurus we get in our lives, if we are ready to receive them. The first ones are the gurus that teach us the ways and means of doing what we are doing presently. the teachers at school teach us different subjects such as languages, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, etc. In the higher standards, teachers tell us more nuanced subjects such as medicine, engineering, accountancy, auditing, law, etc. Rama also got such a teacher in the form of Vishwamitra and skills taught by Vishvamitra helped Rama at every stage of life including while fighting against Rakshasas and when he attacked Lanka to fight a battle against Ravana. The skills taught by these teachers help us at every stage of our lives.  Second are the teachers that teach us to grow within a fixed frame of life. Rama got such a teacher in the form of Vashistha. When Rama was confused about the meaning of life, Vashistha helped him...

Just observing the acts of pure charity in this selfish world fills us with so much energy. Yesterday. I visited Ashadeep, a school for special children having difficulty in hearing, speaking, and also having certain cognitive issues. It was wonderful to meet the management as well as the students. The management is comprised of retired people from different government departments and banks. The school comprises a staff of around 20 people and 50 students. They are running this school with limited resources they have, charging very nominal fees from the students, which is also exempted in many cases. By and large, the school is running on donations. I met some of the students who have difficulties in speaking and listening and their young teachers. I was fascinated by at least two things. First, these kids have been given a frame of life that has few limitations and yet they were so full of enthusiasm to develop a new frame. They are learning their own language quite enthusiastically a...

There is a huge resistance to growth in society. People become comfortable in their frames of life and resist to grow. I have seen many bureaucrats who did their graduation from the best of the colleges in India and outperformed so many for that but after coming to the service, they just refuse to grow. As if they have done hard work for their entire life. I think the worst frames are the ones that have social approval. For example, in the Academy, there was a narrative among the probationers that Keen Type Probatoners, called KTP sarcastically, do not know how to enjoy their lives. This was an extension of the narrative I faced during school time where the kids who have decided to do their traditional business, which does not require much skill set, will make fun of the students who work hard. They are so fixated on their limited frame that they can't see any value in the larger framework of life. Those people could not see life beyond the easy choice of continuing with the tradit...

Yesterday, I once again watched the movie Aradhana. Something in that movie attracts me to watch it again and again. Probably the love of a lady for her husband and son. A silent rebellion against the society. The courage to stand the test of time. Love and gratitude for everybody around. Something echoes with me so deeply that I get moved after watching the movie. Love is always absolute and no division exists in love. Vandana loves Suraj, his son, and the daughter of the jailer, who makes her his sister and takes her home. She is equally concerned about their well-being. A loving person will love everybody. When we tune in to the frequency of love, we tune in with every person who tunes in to the same frequency. At the same time, a loving person gets the courage to even kill the people who are obsessed with their identity and hellbent to disturb and damage love and harmony. Such actions are guided by their absolute love for humanity. Rama got the courage to kill Ravana, and Krishna t...

We often get confused while making choices. Which subject to study, which organization to join, whether to marry or not, whom to marry, whether to spend weekends for office work or not, where to buy a home, and so on. There is confusion at almost every stage of life. Arjuna is also confused while entering Kurukshetra's field. He wants to fight the battle but feels that fighting the battle against the Kauravas will be against the social norms. He feels that this will not have good results. Probably all these confusions arise due to the headless framework of life. Somehow the understanding of of society about the purpose of life is quite shallow. We have discarded the grand ancient wisdom of life considering that to be a post-retirement hobby and unfortunately, we are not willing to retire till the last breath. We always want to remain young and keep running away from the reality.  Each one of us has a three-level hierarchy of goals. At the top comes the purpose of life which is expl...

There are infinite possibilities for growth and exploration in this world for everybody. However, we keep denying these possibilities to ourselves. A few lessons from an airplane may be helpful. An airplane needs three things to fly: A structure, engine, and fuel. We too need three things to explore and grow: a growth mindset, capacity building, and resources. In most cases, we miss on either one or more of these elements and therefore settle for a sub-standard life, a routine life.  The first thing an airplane needs is the structure. A Ferrari may have the same engine as that of an airplane. It may run on the road as fast as an airplane but it can't take off because it lacks the wings. There are so many people in this world who have immense capacity to work but their framework of life is quite materialistic. They use their capacities to achieve their worldly goals and do it beautifully. However, when it comes to shifting the frame, they are clueless. They have never imagined their...

Bhakti flows in India's blood. We have so many sweet bhajans of Shiva, Krishna, Rama, Hanumana, and almost every God that we almost feel like merging with God the moment we listen to them. But our fixation on the frame of life we live in is so strong that listening to these Bhajans is just used as a sort of painkiller to give us some instant relief when we are unable to bear the pain of our own greed and ambitions. When external situations do not support us in our endeavor to achieve what we want we pray to God so that he may listen to our prayers and bless us with what we demand.  A student who has not been able to prepare well for the examination prays for its cancellation. Before an interview for a job, we pray that we get the job we are being interviewed for. We pray for the well-being of our kids, for good health, to get the assignment we want, to get promotions, positions, and so on. We pray for everything that we want in life. However, if we pray while being fixated on the f...

I don't know why but probably the most inspiring stories in this world are all about the shifting of the frame or about the breaking free of frames. The story of Mahatma Gandhi is so inspiring because he decided to become an advocate and when he was thrown out of the train by a British officer in South Africa, the frame of his life underwent a significant change. He decided to fight for the oppressed and exploited and stand for them. That shift in the frame changed his entire life. It is difficult to believe what Mahatma did can be done by a single person in his life. Sri Aurobindo was living the life of a freedom fighter. He was imprisoned by the British Government for his involvement in the freedom struggle. He was kept in solitary confinement. While inside the prison, he underwent certain experiences that made him break free of all the frames of life. He underwent a lot of experiences and wrote many of his experiences in his wonderful books like "Savitri", "Life D...

 So many parents complain of mobile game addiction among their kids. Some parents deprive their kids of their mobile. However, since the schools have also shifted their communication systems to WhatsApp groups, it is often impossible for them to keep their kids away from the mobiles. Once kids lay their hands on mobiles, they naturally get attracted to the games. What is so fascinating about these games?  I feel that two crucial elements make these games so addictive. First, they offer instant rewards in the form of points. For example, if someone plays a game like Heyday, we see on the screen of the mobile our farm growing bigger and if we play for a few hours, we may become the owner of a big farm, with so many chickens, big fields, can start trading our wheat, and buy ship and trucks. Second, there is very little effort in the process. We can win all these rewards with little effort of the finger. It seems almost magical that we can sow the seeds with a little finger slid...

 What if somebody develops a mobile game and starts playing the game. Gets so obsessed with the game that winning the same game becomes his ultimate life goal. Probably we will call that person stupid. He has the capacity to design and develop many more such games and yet his obsession makes him not only look stupid but also takes away so many possibilities from him. Are we not doing the same as a society?  Money is one such game designed by human beings. Money per se has no value and the entire value lies in the minds of people. If society as a whole decides not to give value to money, money loses its entire value. For example, what is the value of Bitcoin? Nothing if people stop trading in Bitcoin and stop accepting the same. The dollar may lose its value if different countries of the world come together and decide not to accept the dollar as a mode of exchange. This may happen to any currency of the world. It is interesting that we all keep accumulating money in our bank ac...