Life

People often go to the Astrologers for predictions as to whether their times to come are good or bad. Often many money-minded Astrologers use these opportunities to instill fear in the people's minds so that they become their regular customers. Once fear takes over, such people approach the astrologers again and again to find the right time to start different activities, find Muhurats, wear the stones, and do the "Totkas" told by the Astrologers.  It is not that Astrology is not accurate, but the way it is used by some Astrologers to make money is really sad. I have been doing research in Astrology for the last 14 years. It helps us understand how the forces of nature operate inside our bodies. The right understanding of Astrology is quite helpful in spiritual evolution. It makes us realize and see the temporariness of this entire world with our naked eyes. We can see that when Lagna is afflicted and the Dasha of the planet afflicting Lagna approaches, how a person faces ...

There is a very famous proverb in Hindi " घर का भेदी लंका ढाए". This proverb has its genesis in Ramayana. When Rama attacked Lanka, Vibhishana tried to convince Ranava that he should return Sita to Rama. But Ravana was very arrogant and did not listen to Vibhishana. Ravana's level of awareness was quite low. His "ego" made him very limited. Vibhishana has a far wider awareness and knows that Rama was the incarnation of Lord Vishnu and when he realized that Ravana had closed his ears to the truth, he decided to leave him. He told the secret of Ravana's death after that Rama killed Ravana and made Vibhishana the king of Lanka.  Thus, it was not so that Lanka was destroyed by Vibhishana. The reality was that the people of Lanka also shared Ravana's ignorance. Had most people objected to what Ravana was doing, Ravana probably would not have become so arrogant. Each and every person living in Lanka was responsible for the deterioration of Lanka. Vibhishana wa...

 "Social approval" is one of our primary needs. Since childhood, we get used to seeking social validation. We want people to approve of our actions. As kids, we want to be good boys and girls and a favorite of our parents. We want to become the best students when we go to the school. The need for social approval continues throughout our lives. We want to become good husbands, sons, daughters, parents, and employees. We want to gather medals and rewards to demonstrate our approval by society. People spend money to get their names imprinted on the walls of temples and benches in the park as donors. Desire for name, fame, and validation is intrinsic to our existence. The root cause of this strong desire appears to be rooted in "mirror neurons". Since human beings started living in societies, our brains evolved to mirror our ecosystem. Genetic mutation is quite slow in human beings as compared to viruses and bacteria. We recall the COVID-19 crisis wherein the virus gene...

There is a beautiful story of Narada in which Narada grows arrogant of being a devotee of Vishnu and Vishnu sends him to the Earth to get a glass of water. When Narada reaches a village, he sees a beautiful girl and falls in love with that girl. They decide to marry and have kids. Then Narada faces great financial difficulties and fights with neighbors and when he becomes quite sad, he recalls Vishnu and suddenly Vishnu appears and asks him for the water, Narada was supposed to bring. This is such a powerful story that depicts the nature of perspective. This often happens to us. An infant has no fear of examination. However, as kids grow, their minds are primed for competition. Their life's purpose is defined in terms of success or failure in the examination. The innocent minds of the kids accept the worldview presented to them by their parents and societies. Since their vision of life becomes limited, they develop ambitions for getting admission to the best colleges and at the sam...

There is a famous YouTube video "Cosmic Eye" which zooms in and zooms out. The video is available at the following link: https://youtu.be/8Are9dDbW24?si=BuaSGYm7tzXtrMBC The reality is always so grand. However, will a bacteria lying somewhere in a part of our body be able to realize the vastness of reality? Would a cell forming part of one of our body parts be ever able to realize the vastness of reality? Would human beings ever realize the vastness of the cosmic reality? The universe itself is expanding at the speed of light and even if we can make some spaceship, traveling at the speed of light, we can't be able to travel the boundaries of the universe. The diameter of the known universe is 94 billion light-years meaning thereby that light itself will take 94 billion years to travel across the universe.  We can't zoom out to the reality. We can neither zoom in to quantum reality. The strongest of the microscopes in this world are electron microscopes which can zoom ...

We get to meet different types of people in our life. Some are like cotton. We feel so light after meeting them. There are hardly any traces of ego and they have such a wide vision of life that we feel enlightened after interacting with them even for a few moments. On the other hand, some are like stones, lying in the abyss of ignorance due to their own weight of ego. Not so that cotton has no weight, but density is probably what matters. The "cotton" like people have such vast awareness that the little weight of ego is not felt while the "stone" like people have such a low awareness that the weight of their ego gets condensed and looks like a stone. God has been kind to make me meet people with extreme density and a very low density of ego. On the one hand, I had few opportunities to meet Mingyur Rinpoche who, after becoming a famous author of many books and after having a fan following of millions decided to disappear leaving his monastery for 3 years just to test...

Sometimes we get to meet some people and interaction with them even for a few minutes sucks our energy for the entire day. They are so grossly unreasonable that probably our body and mind get shocked at the gross unreasonableness and they take some time to recover from that shock😉. I wonder why these people become so unreasonable. Probably, it's a deadly mix of incompetence, a very low level of understanding of life, and also a chance to occupy high positions of authority. Ravana was very unreasonable but he too had only two of these factors. He occupied a very high position of authority and had a very low level of understanding of life. But he was quite competent and occupied the position of authority by his competence. Since he did hard work for that he appreciated the people who had the capacity and could do hard work. Similarly, Vali too was highly competent and occupied the position of authority by his competence.  People who occupy the highest of positions by sheer luck or m...

 We face various conflicts in our lives. Whether to play with friends or concentrate on studies is one of the most common conflicts of the students which has now been replaced with a conflict between the concentration on studies and spending time on social media and mobile. Adults often have trouble establishing a work-life balance. These conflicts are the reflection of the ongoing struggle between comforts and ambitions. We get some comfort due to the stars in our horoscope, we are born with, or our past efforts. Some choose to enjoy these comforts and pleasures while some delay gratification, constantly move along the X-axis, and have a very linear view of life. Others choose to work hard for their ambitions and give away the pleasures and comforts, move along the Y-axis, and have a "two-dimensional view of life". They grow in worldly terms and that is the reason why they occupy the best of positions, become industrialists and intellectuals, and develop the capacity to look...

While swimming in a stream, we do not stay aware of what is happening on the different parts of the Earth and while living on Earth, we do not stay mindful of the forces that are acting on the Earth. Similarly, while stuck with a thought, we lose awareness of different sensations in different parts of our body. We also lose awareness of the various forces working on our bodies. Mindfulness is all about being aware of the whole of the reality. There are so many sensations present in different parts of our body which are a product of the memories stored in the unconscious self. For example, if we have a bad colleague who uses foul language that we do not like, the moment we encounter him, our body will be full of unpleasant sensations. Similarly, if we have ever encountered a free fall in a lift and have been injured in such an accident, every time we get into the lift, we will have unpleasant sensations in our bodies. The body has a memory of its own. Like the weather system of the Eart...

We come across many people who deliberately harm others and use others as a tool to achieve their selfish interests. However, it is also true that all people have a sense of goodness within them. Then why does it happen that some become demons while some become angels? It appears that it depends upon the "level of awareness" and "competence". By "level of awareness", I mean the dimensions of life, we are aware of. Some are at a very low level of awareness, and remain concerned about the "survival" only. For survival, they can steal, murder, kill others, and break the rules of society. Some have a larger awareness about the existence of others and society, and yet their obsession with self is quite strong. They pretend to be concerned about the larger society and surreptitiously keep pursuing their self-interest. Some have still larger awareness and actually try to improve the lives of everybody around them and invest their time and energy to brin...

We can watch many great movies where the best actors have played villains. Based on the script's demands, the director decides who will play a hero or villain. The hero and the villain fight when the director announces action and appear to be the biggest enemies and as soon as the director announces cut, they become the best of the friends. It is because they remember that the role they are playing in the movie is just a role and off screen they are different than the role they are playing. If the actors lose awareness of the fact that they are just playing the role of hero and villain in the movie, they may kill each other while shooting. Is that is what happening in this world? Has the director created this grand illusion of death that nobody can see through? Is death tantamount to that "cut" and birth like that "action" between birth and death the entire movie is shot where the hero and villain have both lost awareness of the fact that they are just actors? I...

 Science fiction movies like "Jurassic Park", "time machine", "avatar" etc are big hits. Even people who have no interest in science watch these movies. It is because these movies catch their imagination. They show a story that people can relate to. The frames move very fast, there is a lot of suspense, and the script is full of surprises. Nature reveals its secrets very slowly. In the last 30-40 years, there has not been any major breakthrough in quantum physics. We have still not been able to understand the deeper mysteries even inside the core of the Earth leaving aside other solar systems and galaxies.   Moreover, reality is complex. Once I bought a book written by Roger Penrose to understand quantum physics and cosmos better. However, I realized that the mathematical expressions he used in his book were beyond my comprehension. That too when I did 12th with Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics as subjects. Calculus seems to be a distant dream now. As w...

 We human beings are great believers in stories. Each culture and civilization has its own stories and all the civilizations believe in their stories equally strongly. Some believe in capitalism and some in socialism and both have equally strong beliefs. Different people believe in different Gods. Strangely, if a child born in a Hindu family is brought up in a Christian family, he would be an equally strong believer in Christ. It appears that we have a very strong network of mirror neurons and tend to mirror whatever we see around us. That's the founding pillar of the society. Societies are formed when people believe in a common story.  One person wishes a birthday or puts a congratulatory message in the group and all of us start putting the same message in the group. A video goes viral and everybody starts watching the same as if the critical mass of an atomic reaction has crossed and the reaction is out of control very soon. Societies and communities have a tolerance range f...

 In any game or sport, the goalpost is quite clear. A bowler knows that he has to take the wicket by giving minimum runs, a batsman knows that he has to make maximum runs, and a footballer knows that he has to hit the goal. However, life is a game where there is no fixed goalpost. We set the goalpost of scoring 100% in the examination and suddenly we meet an accident and the entire goalpost shifts from best performance to just passing the examination. Some "unlucky" people set a goalpost for their life and life never brings situations to force them to change that. However, many "lucky" people have to change their goalpost. Tulsidas changed the goalpost of his life when insulted by his wife and so did Kalidas. Valmiki changed the goalpost after being imparted wisdom by the saints. King Ashoka changed the goalpost from a brutal warrior to the "messenger of peace" after coming into contact with Buddha. I have seen both types of people. Some have become very f...

Astrology gives us good insights into the nature of self. There are 9 planets based in Astrology which may be divided into 3 categories. 3 planets Mercury, Rahu, and Ketu are mental planets. 3 planets Jupiter, Mars, and Venus are energy planets and the rest of the 3 planets Moon, Sun, and Saturn are causal planets. The 9 planets represent the 9 forces of life and different combinations and permutations of these 9 planets and 12 houses (representing different aspects of our life such as personality, family, education, etc) culminate into so many different types of people we have on the wonderful planet. The mental planets reveal the nature of our mind. While Mercury represents the logical and intellectual mind, Rahu represents emotional aggression and thinking about the future, and Ketu represents rumination and thinking about the past. Depending upon the placement of these planets in our horoscope and the dasha we are passing through, our thoughts keep changing. We can notice the same ...

Buddha left home to search for truth. He had a wife and a young son when he left home. Was it an act of selfishness? Rama left home to honor the words of his father. He was newly married, and so was his brother. His decision had implications for Sita, his brother Lakshmana, and his wife. Lakshmana and Sita stayed with him in the forest for 14 years while Urmila had to stay alone for 14 years. Krishna also left Brij when he decided to fight against Kansa and never came back to Brij where all his friends lived. Were these decisions driven by selfishness or sacrifice?  I feel that it all depends on our mindset. If we introspect, we will be able to see the true cause behind our actions. If Buddha went to the forest to run away from the world, probably that's an escape. If he went to get some siddhi, that's an act of selfishness. So far as I have read about the life of Buddha, he had a very strong desire to know the truth. He asked the truth behind life, death, disease, and old age ...

  "सुखिया सब संसार है, खायै अरू सोवै। दुखिया दास कबीर है, जागै अरू रोवै ". This is a famous quote from Kabira. Why would such an enlightened soul be sad while the whole world is happy? Why was Duryodhana so certain and happy while Arjuna was so confused that after going to the battlefield, he refused to fight the battle at one point in time. It is quite counterintuitive.  It's quite interesting to see the replies of the young kids. They are quite sure of almost everything. You ask them, who is their best friend and they would not take even a minute to tell that. We may ask about their favorite food or toy, or whom they love the most, and they would be very quick to tell that. However, as we grow up, it becomes quite difficult to answer these questions. Not only these questions but also any question. It is because in childhood, we have quite limited awareness and within that limited frame of life, we are quite certain of the answers. A few centuries ago almost all the peop...

The world is a battlefield, and every day we have to fight one battle or another. We can't fight every battle. There is an ongoing fight inside our bodies where the immune system is constantly battling against the microbes that continually attack us. The heart constantly fights against the force of gravity to pump blood to different parts of the body so that the organs can function well. The army on the border is consistently defending against the enemy to keep us safe. Our parents continually fight battles to ensure we receive a steady supply of resources to survive. We also choose our own battles every day: some consciously and some unconsciously. In cold weather, getting up from the bed is the first battle. We choose whether we want to invest time in our hobbies and health or prefer the comfort of a blanket and our bed. As the day begins, there is a battle of priorities. We have office meetings, invitations from friends, and social obligations to attend, and we must prioritize. ...

We have often heard the stories of cunning wolves in our childhood. A wolf is typically an animal from a family of dogs. The typical attribute of wolves is that they are low in capacity like dogs and unlike lions and tigers. Dogs realize their capacity and therefore live in human colonies and survive on whatever is offered to them (though it is a different thing that some dogs get better treatment than many human beings get from society). However, the wolves have high ambitions, which are often not commensurate with their capacities, and therefore, cunningness is their winning formula. That's why wolves are more dangerous than lions and tigers. If a tiger or lion is not hungry, it will not attack us. But the same is not true about the wolves. Because they are so low in capacity, they made cunningness their winning formula and may attack for no reason.  In a society that is full of cunning foxes, jackals, and wolves, the poor deers and rabbits too have to find ways and means to surv...

We often come across people in this world who are really intelligent and impressive yet very narrow in their outlook. How can intelligent people refuse to grow and remain narrow? Ideally, any intelligent person would have the intelligence to understand the meaning of life and death, the meaning of life, and relationships, and would keep growing. Why would an intelligent seed remain confined to the soil? Why would it not grow into a full-fledged tree taking sunlight and turning that into food to participate in the play of nature?  It seems strange that many intelligent people remain so constipated and constrained in their lives. I feel that "intelligence" as we understand is overrated. Our understanding of intelligence is confined to logical and reasoning skills. Logic and reasoning are always within a frame. For example, some "intelligent" people may use their logical and reasoning skills to build their profile get the best out of the assignment, and earn a lot of m...

Mohammad Tughlaq decided to shift his empire's capital from Delhi to Daulatabad. The decision was apparently foolish. Not so that Mohammad Tughlaq was stupid. But his conviction and inability to listen to the experts made him stupid. Each one of us behaves stupidly at one or other time in our lives. We get so convinced by our perspective that we close our minds to alternative perspectives. This happens more with intelligent people because they often encounter narrow perspectives. The people around them fail to logically challenge them and they get so convinced of their logic and perspective that occasionally when they get to listen to a different perspective, they reject the same without examination. Probably that's an "Achiever's paradox". The Achievers become achievers because they had the capacity to reject the mass opinions. For example, it's a normal belief in the students' communities that qualifying for civil services is a very big task and it is a ...