Life

The whole world is wishing a happy New Year to each other. I wonder whether we actually know any of these words. What is happiness? Most often, we feel "happy" in the domain of the known and "old". We like to have food that suits our taste buds, meet people we know, continue with the old job, and like to continue with our old beliefs. We are not born with any of these things, but acquire them as we grow. However, somehow, we become clingy, maybe due to the addiction to their pleasure or fear of losing them. Some things form our core, and we are not happy with any "newness" therein. The tighter we hold on to our beliefs and possessions, the more difficult it is to be happy about something new. There is a constant fight between our survival instinct and exploratory drive . Survival instinct helps us survive. We try to strengthen our existence. A plant also tries to strengthen its existence by having deep roots. Otherwise, it will not be able to survive the ...

We often experience the fear of the known. As children, we were afraid to go to a dark room when there was a power cut. We all recall having butterflies in our stomachs before examinations. We feel jittery when we go to the podium to address a gathering. We feel uncomfortable when we take up a new assignment. We are on our toes when we settle in a different country or town. We are comfortable with the known. The familiar food, the comfort of home, the company of familiar people, working at a familiar workplace, and exploring places that have been explored by others and received 4 or 5 stars. Why are we so uncomfortable exploring the domain of the known? Probably because that requires us to be attentive. The brain wants to preserve energy, and that's why it makes us feel comfortable when we are surrounded by the known. We can afford to relax, we can plan according to our wishes, and things are predictable. We feel in control of things. Given an option, we would like to live a life o...

Today, I attended a lunch organised by a senior. It was so good to be a witness to the love and compassion showered by Sir and Ma'am. His love and compassion were reflected in every gesture. Sir would take the plate of snacks in his hands and serve each one of us with love. He will offer the plates for lunch to everybody with his hands. He would specifically direct each one of us not to bring even flowers, and then write beautiful lines about each one of us and gift us perfectly framed. Each action is so full of love. Love makes everything so beautiful. I wonder why the whole of the world is not like that. We go to the schools and meet children and discuss with them, and it appears that the children are so burdened with the expectations of their parents. It appears as if they have taken a loan from their parents, and they are desperate to pay the original with interest. Their shoulders are burdened with the expectations of their parents. We see the same burden in the relationships ...

Each one of us lives in a unique universe that we have created for ourselves. Each one has a very different mindset. The same event is understood by all of us in so many different ways. We all will have different thoughts in our minds when we go to the cremation ground . For some, it is an investment to ensure that when such an incident takes place, others stand with him. For some, it is very uncomfortable to be there in the cremation ground, and they just want to rush back home to get the comfort zone. For some, it is time to mourn the departure of a near and dear one. For some, it is time to reflect on the true nature of life.  It seems strange that all of us are the "sky" and yet we have a great desire to have " Mutthi Bhar Aasman ". The all-powerful consciousness builds our bodies. The meeting of one sperm and one ovum can't create this human body. How can the two cells turn into a full-fledged human body, having such complex machinery that even the science...

Most of us would have listened to the story of Prahlad and Hiranyakashyap . Prahlad was a devotee of Lord Vishnu , and Hiranyakashyap was his father and an arrogant demon. Since Prahlad refused to accept Hiranyakashyap as God, Hiranyakashyap tried to kill his own son, Prahlad, using different ways and means. Finally, Lord Vishnu took the incarnation of Narsimha , half man and half lion, to kill Hiranyakashyap.  Was it beyond the capacity of Lord Vishnu to change the mind of Hiranyakashyapa? Why did he take incarnation in the form of Narsimha to kill Hiranyakashyap? He could have easily changed his mind and made him His own devotee. Why did Lord Vishnu take the incarnation of Rama to kill Ravana ? He could have changed the mind of Ravana and made him His follower. Why did He take the incarnation of Krishna to kill Kansa ? Is it beyond the capacity of the lord to change the mindset of these demons?  Probably both darkness and light can not coexist. However dark a place may be...

Countless interactions with different people over a period of time have made me realise that everybody has some or the other reason for grief or fear. But there is one common thread. We are afraid to lose what we like. We like to live, and therefore everybody is afraid of death. We like comforts, and therefore, we are afraid of losing both the comforts and the people who provide them. We like being cared for and, therefore, are afraid of losing anybody who cares. We cling to what we like, and the same clinging becomes the root cause of our suffering. It is so obvious. But why? Why do we like? Why do we seek? After all, that provides us with a purpose in life. We like comforts, and that's why we make efforts to earn money so that we may buy the objects of comforts. We appreciate being cared for, and that's why we invest in relationships that show us care. These likes and seekings give us a purpose in life. We make efforts. Had these likes and desires not been there, we would hav...

I recently visited Banaras for sessions on mindfulness for the children of a government school . The city of Lord Shiva revealed something profound to me that I was reluctant to see for quite a long time. Two incidents took place. First, while returning to the hotel by auto, the auto driver started talking to us about his marriage. He said that he is very disturbed with his wife and feels like killing her. We asked why. He replied that his wife started a job without his permission, and he feels let down due to her decision. He can not answer his community that teases him constantly for not being able to control his wife. He kept repeating constantly that his wife should not have done this. We asked him why he is so disturbed, and in fact suggested that he should be happy because the money his wife brings home will help them financially. We also told him that in the present-day world, everybody works. He had no logical reply and kept repeating that his wife should not have defied his ...

The chain of thoughts continued from the previous post, " Love in relationships " https://observationwithawareness.blogspot.com/2025/12/love-in-relationships.html What is the source of the purpose? Is it coming from "I" or "You", or is it coming from a land far distant where "I" and "you" have never travelled? Both "I" and "you" will have thousands of experiences. Each one of them will have their unique childhood conditioning and experiences. They would have created hundreds of mental stories around the meaning of life. Each one would be very convinced of their mental stories. If the purpose of life comes from the life experiences of mental stories they have told to themselves, then the strength of the relationship will just depend upon their common conditioning. The more they have in common, the childhood experiences, the mental stories, the way they look at life, their motivations, ambitions, and life goals, the ...

Thousands of books have been written about love, and yet it is such a grossly misunderstood phenomenon. The phrase "I love you" is so common. People often use and misuse the same. Can "I" ever love "you"? "I" can love "you" when either "I" drops or "you" drops completely. Then only, there can be a merger of "I" and "you". Now, if "you" drops completely, that's like the merger of a small country into a bigger one. The small country loses its identity and gets the protection of the bigger country. Can we say that the bigger country loves the smaller one? Can we say that China loved Tibet and that's why it merged Tibbat with itself? Definitely no.  On the contrary, "I" and "you" can merge when "I" merges with "you". Then again, it will mean the same thing. "I" will lose its identity. So, if love is a merger, that merger would mean th...

I was further contemplating why some people face more turbulence, as compared to others. Just a chain of thoughts from the previous post " Turbulence in Life ": https://observationwithawareness.blogspot.com/2025/12/turbulence-in-life.html I was watching a video of Nick Vujicic , who was born with no legs and no hands and is today a well-known motivational speaker. Someone who could have very easily turned into a person fully dependent on others for care is taking care of so many people. Someone who could have easily felt deprived of love can spread love to so many people. https://youtu.be/6F8zK57Wa0A?si=Nof2dQARiDrRrViR On the other hand, we see so many able-bodied people around us who just keep complaining. Keep making complaints all day long. Keep making you realise that you have not done anything for them. Keep playing victims. As if something very bad has happened to them, as if the whole of the universe is conspiring against them. You can listen to them the whole day and...

 I was contemplating certain life experiences, and suddenly a thought came to my mind, "Why is it happening to me?" I entertained the thought for some time, and then chains of thoughts started. Thoughts of blaming others, and at the same time feeling guilty. The entire world seems to be such an unfair place. A feeling of running away from the world, breaking free of the same, and saying no to constant mental torture comes to mind. Then, suddenly comes a realisation that all these are just thoughts and not me. These are just like the winds and the clouds are the empty space that is "me". The space is visible when the weather is clear. Though we may be lost in the material world even in those times, there are greater chances to see the sky. The sky is clear, and if somebody is not so occupied with home, office, or any other activity, whenever he looks at the sky, he will be able to experience the vastness of the sky. However, in times of turbulence, it is difficult to...

Space remains unaffected by the winds and the clouds. A low-pressure zone attracts the winds from the mountains nearby. Breeze flows from the ocean to the land in the evening. Clouds come and go with the winds, and sometimes rain also. The weather keeps changing, but the sky remains unaffected. We, too, are like the sky. Whenever there is a low-pressure zone, because there is some space , as the thoughts we were holding on to get dropped, we invite new thoughts from the people we come across, the new YouTube videos we watch, the new experiences we encounter, and the new books we read, and all these new thoughts come like a breeze in our life and redefine us. Along with the thoughts come the water vapour that gets condensed as it gets favourable conditions, and we experience rainfall. We, too, undergo many experiences of pain and pleasure throughout our lives. But the sky is unaffected by all these experiences. There may be rough weather in some places, and it may be bright and sunny ...

 Human beings are thinking animals. There would be hardly any time when one or the other thought does not keep us engaged. Our minds have millions of thoughts during the day. We think of our past and future. We keep recalling the past events and make plans for the future. Beyond the conscious mind , which is constantly busy thinking, we have the unconscious mind . The latest research in neurology shows that the unconscious mind's memory is stored in the body's cells. When we undergo any traumatic experience, these emotions stored in the unconscious mind get triggered and recreate that traumatic experience again.  When the conscious mind undergoes any experience, it results in the secretion of different hormones, and the body undergoes certain experiences. For example, when we feel threatened, the body undergoes tension because the mind prepares the body to be ready for a response. To fight or flee. If there is a severe threat, for example, we have a free fall of the lift, or ...

It is difficult to examine oneself. The same mind that wants to find out the truth behind one's actions is busy justifying the same. That's why there is a conflict. It is difficult to play the game and be a spectator at the same time. One can, at best, watch one's game after recording it. We, too, watch our actions in a flashback. Flashback of our memory. However, while watching ourselves in the flashback of memory, we may justify our actions to prove ourselves right, or we may critically examine ourselves. Quite often, we end up justifying our actions rather than examining them critically. Why? Because we consider ourselves to be " ego " or "separate from the rest", and therefore have a strong survival instinct. That's why we have a very strong instinct to prove that we are right. That's why it is very difficult to shift to a larger framework of life. If we are convinced in our present frame of life and keep justifying the same, it will be quite...

 I visited a restaurant yesterday. It is a lovely place to observe. Some people drink, some make a video of the place, some have a gup-shup with their friends, while some enjoy the food. Everybody is lost in one or the other pleasure. On top of it, there is loud music so that we are completely cut off from the outside world. It appears as if everybody wants to run away from the routine. The restaurant offers a space where we can forget what happened during the day and indulge in some pleasure.  The world is full of escapes. But why do we need escapes? Children study the subjects they are not interested in because their parents have chosen a career for them, which is " lucrative " in terms of money. The passion of children does not matter in the decision-making matrix of the parents. That's why children feel burnt out so early. Why would the children feel burnt out if they study the subjects they are interested in? Do we feel burnt out when we do what we love? Do we feel b...

 What is the purpose of life? Marrying someone we like, having kids, marrying them to the person they like, and helping them build a career they want? Going to social functions dressed beautifully in branded clothes as a piece to display the unique clothes designed by a designer? Reaching the top of an organisation with hard work? To become world-famous and build a huge fan following? To have a say in the society we live in, so that our words carry value?  Does any of the above make life fulfilling? No. What is the purpose of a tree? To give oxygen without the calculation as to who takes that. What is the purpose of a flower? To bloom and spread the nice smell around. What was the purpose behind the life of Buddha ?  To understand the truth and spread awareness about the same in society? The purpose of any and every life is to do " Swadharma ", and while doing the "Swadharma", he will take from society whatever is necessary to function. The central theme is to use t...

 At the quantum scale, the double-slit experiment has always fascinated me. How can an electron behave like a wave until and unless observed, and behave like a particle with observation? That's quite strange. That means an electron is full of all kinds of possibilities unless observed, and becomes fixed with a linear possibility as soon as it is observed.  What applies to the electron may also be the universal rule. Why do some human beings on this Earth explore far more than the rest of the people? Probably because they do not get fixated on their beliefs. Our society, parents, and peers judge us from the beginning. They tell us so many things about us. If parents have two kids, they will keep telling their attributes to everybody. The elder one is intelligent, while the younger one is not. The elder one is sincere, while the younger one is not. They observe the child and assign certain attributes to the child. Since that thing is repeatedly told to the child, he also som...