Life

Stupidity is also contextual. If all except "one" in a village believe in some ghost and the "one" challenges the existence of the ghost, that "one" will look quite stupid. Similarly, if all but "one" believe that the Earth is flat, that "one" will appear quite stupid. If all except "one" believe that life on the Earth is the end of the universe, that "one" will look quite stupid. "Intelligence", where "stupidity" exists in abundance looks quite "stupid". In a well a colony of frogs, which has never come out of the well, suddenly meets "one" frog who has seen the open sky and the ocean. That "one" frog somehow got a chance to move out of the well and once he moved out and looked at the vastness of the world, he thought that he would go back to the well and tell everybody about the vastness of the world so that the frogs living inside the well get a chance to see the v...

 We teach students many lessons on morality and yet when they grow up, many of them turn into criminals, become greedy, and bully others. In fact, many of the well-known terrorists have been well-educated. The people who colonized the world were more educated than the native people. The well-read people turn out to be more selfish than the poor uneducated people. Where do we lose the track? Morality can't be imposed. Morality is a natural framework for an aware mind to operate. If we are aware that all living beings have genesis in the same consciousness, to manifest different possibilities, then why would we harm anybody? Why would one arm harm the other one? Why would one leg hit at the other leg? The moment we are aware that the accumulation of food makes our body heavy and reduces our capacity to walk and work, why would we accumulate weight? If we are aware that we are just a guest in this body for a short time to fulfill the purpose of this life, why would we be concerned abo...

 We often see movies where the hero of the movie is riding a horse in the most wonderful manner and when we visit a a film city, we realize that the hero was never riding the horse and rather that was just a toy horse fitted to a vehicle and the hero was just acting riding on the horse. We too try to photoshop the reality when we take a snap and crop the snap to narrow down the frame so that what lies outside the frame is not visible. We try to present the best version of ourselves. But the truth remains that reality does not change with photoshopping and it remains the same. We try to photoshop the reality in real life as well. We try to ignore the larger frame and make decisions in the narrow frame of life. All of us know that old age is a reality and everybody who survives will become old. Yet, we try to look young by coloring our hair, going to the salon to get different treatments done, and applying different beauty products. We crop the reality to a narrow frame that we like....

Thoughts are so integral to our lives that it is almost impossible to be thoughtless even for a few moments. Some or other thought always accompanies us. Mostly we are busy worrying about worldly matters. Even when we think of spirituality, whether we read spiritual books or meditate to examine the depths of our being, we are mostly busy with thoughts. Thoughts are so integral to our existence that there appears no difference between us and our thoughts. That is why breaking free of the frame of thoughts is almost impossible. In the deeper states of meditation, when our complete attention is on the breath and sensations in different parts of our bodies, there do come moments when thoughts disappear and we become a witness to our own body. In those moments we break free the frame of our thoughts. We happen to witness the relativity of our own thoughts. We get to witness this world and even ourselves from a very different perspective in those moments. The entire world appears to be quite...

I was once again watching the movie Jab We Met, in which a female actor named Geet runs away from her family to marry her boyfriend, and her boyfriend refuses to marry her. She decides to stay alone without informing her parents. She says that she will suffer the fallout of her decisions alone. Later, she listens to her heart and marries the hero of the movie Aditya, who helped her all the time, leaving her boyfriend Ansuman.  Ideally, all of us should listen to our hearts. But why does the brain take over and almost all our decisions are driven by the brain? Probably because all of us are fearful and for varied reasons. We have a fear of losing relationships, fear of the unknown, fear of losing what we have, fear of social disapproval, fear of loss of money, fear of being hurt, fear of saying, and so on. Our minds keep calculating the risks and rewards. Listening to our hearts is too expensive. It may cost us our health, relationships, and wealth. Eating what we want to eat may ca...

Running and walking are normal for human beings. We have been running for ages. However, think of a person who weighs 150 Kg. Running is a dream for such a person, and walking will also be quite difficult. What if the world is full of people with an average weight of 150 Kg? Talking of walking and running would be a utopia. Everybody would agree that we should run, but the moment someone starts running, one would fall flat on his face.  That has probably happened to spiritual talks. That's why people feel that spirituality is a post-retirement pursuit. Our lives are so full of fear and we have forgotten to live fearlessly. We instill fear and insecurity in the minds of young kids. We keep taking sessions of the young kids studying in 9th and 10th standard and students, in general, are so full of fear of scoring less in examinations. In fact, they are quite sure that such fear is essential for their growth. It's like somebody taking painkillers regularly and getting convinced th...

Krishna broke many rules. He asked Arjuna to hit Bhishma in the shadow of Shikandhi. He asked Arjuna to hit Karna when Karna's chariot got stuck, and he tried to take the wheel out of the mud. He also encouraged Bhima to hit Duryodhana in the thigh, which was not allowed according to the rules of battle. He is also called "Ranchod" because he decided to leave Mathura and shift his capital to Dwarka.  Rules do carry significance in our lives. Generally, rules are made to ensure harmony. If rules are followed, there would be no battle in the first place. There was a rule that the eldest of the brothers should become the king and going by that logic, Yudhistira should have become the king. But Kauravas broke all the rules and cheated Pandavas again and again to the extent of trying to murder them in Lakshagraha. Duryodhana also cheated Yudhistira in the game of Chausar and took away his kingdom of Indraprastha. Even after the Pandavas finished the term of their Vanavasa and ...

In one of the famous experiments in psychology, every participant is given money to make some drawings. Everybody makes the drawing happily. However, when the participants of one group return the drawings, they are dumped into the trash in front of their eyes and given double the money to make the drawing again. On the other hand, the participants in the other group are made to feel that they have done very important work and their drawing sheets are properly kept and they are again given the same amount and asked to make more paintings. The participants of the first group are utterly frustrated despite double the money they get for the next round of work. In contrast, those in the second group are quite happy despite the same remuneration. Human beings have been seeking meaning in life since perpetuity. Whenever they find meaning in something, they do not shy away from doing seemingly impossible work. Human beings have built the seven wonders of the world. They have made rockets and s...

While listening to songs on YouTube, the AI keeps suggesting the songs that we may like. In fact, nowadays, it makes a playlist of the songs we play often and keeps playing the same when we are listening to the songs passively. Sometimes I feel that the divine YouTube also works the same way. We make our choices between fear and love. Based on our choices, the divine AI keeps throwing suggestions at us based on the choices we have made so far. The more we fear the more our mind is filled with auto-suggestions that frighten us.  Fear can eat away our entire life and we may die without listening to the songs of love. Fear of clearing examinations, fear of losing friends, fear of not getting the partner of our choice, fear of not getting the job or losing the job, fear of loss of the investments or properties, fear of insult, fear of losing a relationship. There are infinite songs of fear on the divine YouTube. The more we listen to these songs and more of these songs will be suggeste...

 When Mahatma Gandhi was thrown out of the train in South Africa, the default option was that he would have accepted the insult as normal. Had he discussed with his colleagues and friends there, at best they would have sympathized with him and also narrated their own instances of such insults. Everybody would have shown helplessness and cursed the whites. However, Mahatma chose a different path. He came from a country that was not free. This was time for him to concentrate on his career and he could have easily become a wealthy lawyer. But what went into his mind? How could he put everything at stake and start fighting for the freedom? Where did that conviction to fight for freedom come from? Why is that conviction so rare? Leading neuroscientist V Ramachandran coined the concept of mirror neurons. He says that the human brain has mirror neurons that mirror whatever it sees. These neurons help us learn to walk and different languages. That is why we learn our mother tongues so natu...

 This world is the real testing ground of spiritual maturity. Whatever theories we read in the textbooks, the real test takes place when we go to the science laboratory and find that the chemical reaction is not taking place as per the textbooks or that the focal length of the lens, as per the experiment, is different from the textbook formula. We discover the impurities in the chemicals and lenses we have been provided and learn to account for the impurities.  This world too is full of all types of people. When we interact in this world, different types of emotions crop up. We feel cheated when we have certain expectations from people that they fail to fulfill those unable to realize that these expectations were the creation of our minds. We were not aware enough to recalibrate our expectations with the behavior change. Sometimes we feel sad about situations where people are greedy and their greed disturbs the systems and harmony. They jump the red lights to save a few minute...

The entire battle of Kurukshetra was fought due to Duryodhana's selfishness. Had Duryodhana given just five villages to Pandavas, the battle would not have been fought. The best of the realized souls, including Krishna himself, could not prevent the battle. Harmony and systems could not be established in a period when there was only one greedy Duryodhana. How can systems and harmony be established in a period when the world is full of so many Duryodhanas. Any greedy person, like Duryodhana, is very insecure and seeks control. Not so that Duryodhana would have had any discomfort by handing over five villages to Pandavas. But his mental obsession with the kingdom was so strong that he could not tolerate the thought of parting with a few villages. Buddha said that the most unfortunate human beings are those who have been bestowed with a lot of material possessions while have not matured spiritually. They are like the people placed in the best position in a limited frame, while unable ...

One of the beauties of this world is that we get to meet people of different types. A person's true character is revealed in moments of crisis, so crises are quite valuable. The sole quality required to see this "world of wonders" is to hold on to the safety gadget of "awareness" and one gets to enjoy the roller coaster ride.  The first wonder I experienced is that people tell lies so easily. The moment we are caught on the wrong foot, almost everybody tells lies at the drop of a hat. Our fears and insecurities of losing a particular position or relation are so high that we can't imagine a situation where we are deprived of these. Strangely we have gotten so used to lies that we have turned into habitual liars. We tell lies about the price of the dress we are wearing, the time we are about to reach for a meeting, our pay packages, our relationships, what we feel about others, and our life goals. In fact, due to these repeated lies, our entire life becomes ju...

What is inside us comes out in the form of our behavior. If there is love and compassion inside, that comes out in the form of care, concern, and passion. If there is fear inside, that comes out in the form of insecurity, jealousy, aggression, and exploitation. Somebody may try to manipulate his appearance by pretending. A Samel flower looks quite beautiful from a distance but as we approach the tree, we realize that the flowers do not have much beauty or smell and that is the reason why the flowers of samel are not used in prayers and decoration. The moment they get off the tree, they shrivel very fast and become useless. Similarly, the people, who pretend to be different from what they are, become quite inauthentic, and to hide their inauthenticities, they are always afraid to come close to any person and always maintain a layer of protection even in their closest of relationships. The moment the lid of their inner gutter opens, they smell intolerably foul. The inner fears come out i...

 In a strange world, almost everybody tries to control others. Parents try to control their kids and kids just wait for their turn to become parents to control their kids. Bosses try to control their subordinates and subordinates in turn try to control their subordinates. The husband tries to control the wife and the wife tries to control the husband. countries try to control other countries. On the other end pole of control is freedom. We hardly understand the meaning of freedom. That's why we are mostly unable to assert freedom even for ourselves and leave aside others. Some of the strings of "control" are visible and some are invisible and we keep dancing to the pulls and pushes of these visible and invisible strings. I feel that we can not understand "control" unless we understand "freedom". "freedom" is to break free of all the limited frames of life. It's a state where our understanding of life is not limited to what society has tau...

 There is an old proverb that  'गधों के सिर पर सींग नहीं होते," which means stupidity does not have a specific sign. Many people appear to be intelligent from a distance, and when we interact with them, we realize how foolishly they speak and how narrow their perspective on life is. When donkeys and horses are mixed, it requires great wisdom to identify the donkeys so that not much time is wasted trying to convince them of something wise.  I feel that this is one of the most critical skills in today's world. Not so that this skill was not important in other ages. Had Karna been aware of this and had applied little wisdom and discrimination, he would not have gotten trapped in Duryodhana's narrow frame of greed. Vibhishana could understand this and therefore he decided to leave Ravana. Earlier, at least people were not so deceptive. In today's world full of deception and identity theft, one of the most important life skills for our kids is to understand that cheater...

There are two fundamental frames, we all are caught in. One is the mind and the other is the body. Beyond these two frames lies the whole world of energy and consciousness that we are hardly aware of. While sitting in meditation, a few of us get some glimpses of that domain.  The entire world of thoughts operates in the domain of the mind. We are busy with thoughts almost 24/7. One after the other, they hardly leave us. Even while in dreams, these thoughts do not leave us, and the only difference is that they do not command our body while we are dreaming. Almost the whole day long, we are filled with different thoughts such as the pending work at the office, fast-approaching examinations, scheduled meetings, tours and travel plans, social functions to attend, health issues, needs of the kids, finances, properties, and office politics. There are hardly any moments in our lives where we are out of the grip of these thoughts. Fear, anxiety, depression, aggression, competition, pleasur...

If we look at life, from a little distance, like looks so interesting. Looking at any frame from outside the frame is so interesting. In fact, the meaning of all the proverbs becomes so clear. Sometimes we try to explain some very basic thing and that person refuses to understand that. The more we try and the more we get frustrated until we realize that it's like 'भैंस के आगे बीन बजाना'  and the moment we realize that we become full of gratitude towards the people who invented these proverbs to express the deepest truths of life and the human psyche in so simple words. Sometimes we see that few people are assigned a task that is beyond their capacity and they try to make all types of stupid endeavours to do that. The more they try the more stupid they look. Yet, they are fixated on the positions and glory of the assignment and do not get rid of these. Out of an inferiority complex, they become speechless due to fear in front of their superiors and become quite aggressive in...

One of the greatest messages of Bhagwad Geeta is to shift from seeking to being. However, it is quite contrary to the way we live our lives. Krishna says that He is the source of everything and since we too are part of Him, we are already complete and there can not be any seeking in a state of completion. An accomplished actor does not play on the stage for the applause of the spectators, rather he plays for creative satisfaction. To explore different possibilities of acting on the stage. Great scientists do not invest their time and energy to come out with some theory or invention that will appeal to the masses, rather they make efforts to unravel the mysteries of nature.  How are the actions of an accomplished actor or a scientist different from those of an ordinary human? The mind of an ordinary man is conditioned by society and that conditioned mind sets different goalposts in terms of what it already knows. Different people set different goalposts in terms of money, powers, re...

All of us are trapped in different frames of life. We keep passing through the moments of sadness, stress, and depression due to these frames and yet fail to break free of these frames. Sometimes we successfully break free of a frame and get trapped in another frame. People successfully get free of the frame of "family" and become "Sanyasi" and get fixated on the frame of being "owner of a math or ashram or organization". People break free of the frame of "pursuit of success" and get fixated on the frame of "becoming a philanthropist". People break free of the frame of "one relationship" and enter into "another relationship". People break free of the frame of "tasty food" and enter into another frame of being "health freaks". People break free of the frame of being "lazy" just to enter into another frame of being "super-active".  There are millions of examples where people have...