Life

How is Krishna not attached to anything and yet so decisive? He will not be shaken by the Chirharan of Draupadi or the Lakshagraha episode or by the death of Abhimanyu. Not so that he will not be affected, but he will be able to maintain his equanimity so that he may take action at an appropriate time. It is because his focus is always on the larger. Krishna is omniscient, and he knows the past as well as the future and is therefore able to connect the dots. He can see that post-Kurukshetra, the rule of Dharma will be established. What about the ordinary human beings, who are not that aware? How can they stay calm in tough situations? How can they not get fixated? How can Bhima not get so agitated with the insult to Draupadi as to take a vow to kill Dushasana and drink the blood from his chest? But will Bhima be so agitated when Duryodhana does the same thing with any other woman? When Arjuna is thinking of running away from the battlefield after looking at Bhishma and Drona fighting f...

Everybody wants to be sure. It looks very nice to win the debates and to prove our points. It looks very attractive to be sure of what we do in life. To be confident of our viewpoints. Firm belief helps us move fast. While driving on the road, it helps if we are sure of the destination. We set the map in Google Maps and keep following the directions. There is no confusion. What if we are confused about the destination? We will reach nowhere. That's why the whole of the world tries to give certainty to the traveller. I recall the following few lines from Madhushala, written by Shri Harivansh Rai Bachchan: मदिरालय जाने को घर से चलता है पीनेवाला,  'किस पथ से जाऊँ?' असमंजस में है वह भोलाभाला अलग अलग पथ बतलाते सब पर मैं यह बतलाता हूँ -  'राह पकड़ तू एक चला चल, पा जाएगा मधुशाला। This is another way of seeking certainty that whatever path you take, you will reach the destination. But what if we are sure about the destination and reach there fast, but after reaching the destina...

 पृथ्वी, जल, अग्नि, वायु और आकाश ये पाँच तत्व संपूर्ण सृष्टि के मूलभूत घटक हैं। हम इनकी रचना को अनेक रूपों में देखते हैं। कुछ रूप हमें भयभीत करते हैं, जबकि कुछ रूपों से हमें प्रेम हो जाता है। हम समुद्र तट पर शाम का आनंद लेते हैं, धीमी हवा के बीच समुद्र के पानी को निहारते हैं। लेकिन अगर हवा तेज हो जाए और तूफान या सुनामी का रूप ले ले, तो वही पानी और हवा बेहद खतरनाक हो जाते हैं, और हम उस जगह से भागना चाहते हैं। हम इसे आपदा की श्रेणी में रखते हैं। सतह के नीचे थोड़ी सी अधिक ऊर्जा सभी इमारतों को हिला देती है, और हम इसे भूकंप कहते हैं। हल्की बारिश देखने में बहुत सुखद लगती है, लेकिन जब भारी बारिश होती है, तो वह बाढ़ में बदल जाती है। जो देखने में बहुत आकर्षक लगता है, वह इन तत्वों में से किसी एक की थोड़ी सी "शरारत" से आपदा में बदल सकता है। लेकिन साथ ही, अगर हम ब्रह्मांड का अध्ययन करें, तो नए तारे और ग्रह हमेशा उसी "शरारत" का परिणाम होते हैं। जो हमें आपदा प्रतीत होता है, वह वास्तव में नई सृष्टि के लिए प्रकृति का तंत्र है। हमारे भीतर भी वही पाँच तत्व काम करते हैं। हमारे आकाश मे...

The five elements Prithvi, Jal, Agni, Vayu, and Aakash are the fundamental components of the whole of creation. We encounter their creation in so many different forms. Some of the forms frighten us, while we fall in love with some of those forms. We enjoy an evening on the beach, looking at the ocean's water as the wind blows slowly. But if the wind blows fast and takes the form of a hurricane or tsunami, the same water and wind become quite dangerous, and we want to get out of the place. We categorise it as a disaster. A little excess of energy below the surface shakes all the buildings, and we call that an earthquake. Drizzling looks very pleasant, but when it rains heavily, it turns into a flood. What looks very attractive can turn into disaster with a slight "mischief" from one of these elements. But, at the same time, if we examine the cosmos, new stars and planets are always the result of that "mischief". What appears to be a disaster to us is actually nat...

So many battles were fought in India and other parts of the world. What was so different about the Battle of Kurukshetra? Battle of Kurukshetra was a Dharamyuddha. Why? Because the Pandavas fought the battle under the guidance of Krishna himself to establish Dharma. Unlike other battles, it was not a battle fought for greed or dominance. It was a battle for the larger interest. When the battle started, Arjuna wanted to run away from the battlefield because he did not want to fight his own cousins and teachers. Arjuna felt that it would be better not to fight the battle rather than take the blame for killing his own grandfather Bhishma and teacher Drona. Then Krishna told him about the real form of Dharma. He told the entire Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna. He said that all living beings and also non-living things have taken birth from Krishna and will merge back into Krishna. That's why truth and only truth shall be the guiding force behind the decision to fight or not to fight the battle....

According to Hindu mythology, there are 4 Yugas: Satyuga, Tretayuga, Dwaparyuga, and Kaliyuga. We are currently living in the Kaliyuga. Mahabharata took place in Dwaparyuga, and the Ramayana in Tretayuga. There are many stories of Satya Yuga, not with a specific hero, but with so many heroes.  In Satya Yuga, the centre of our life was the truth. Actions were guided by purity, and therefore, when we listen to the stories of Satya Yuga, even the slightest impurity of thoughts is not tolerated. People would perform tough penance whenever their purity was disturbed. Even if greed enters a corner of their heart in disguise, they will feel very bad about it. Since truth prevailed everywhere, the relationships were very fulfilling, and people lived their lives based on their passion. People lived meaningful lives since there were no manipulations and pretensions, and therefore their energy was not wasted on frivolous things. Then came Treta Yuga. Treta means the third, and it also represe...

There may be two different approaches to life. First, we know, and we try to achieve the best based on the information available to us. Second, we acknowledge that we know very little and try to explore the unknown. While following the first approach, we may set different targets in this world. Someone may feel that more money brings more happiness because they can buy a good home, luxurious cars, branded clothes, and travel in luxury to different parts of the world. Somebody may target powerful positions and feel that once they reach these positions, they will get respect from society and VVIP treatment from everybody around. Somebody may set a target around knowledge because he feels that, with knowledge, he will be able to get both money and power. Somebody may keep the target around some spiritual experience because he may feel that spiritual experience is above all these worldly experiences. Whatever the target, we feel that we will be happy after achieving that target. We have t...

How will we rate a home that is very dirty inside, while the gate and outer walls are spic and span? We would be quite impressed at first, but as we enter the house, we will immediately realise the reality. A fruit looks very tempting at first, but as we cut it, we find that it is rotten. We meet many people in our lives who look impressive at first sight, but as we interact with them, we get to notice the fears and insecurities inside them. Some of them may have a very strong external support system in the form of powerful positions, networking, and wealth, but from inside, they are very hollow and weak. I wonder why we concentrate so much on our outer appearance while ignoring the inner strength? Is it laziness? That's difficult to believe because many people work quite hard to improve their outer appearance. Then what? I think that the answer lies in the Ramayana. Lord Hanuma had all the strength and energy to do miracles. However, in his childhood, he did not meet Rama, and the...

There is a very strange characteristic of fear. When we are afraid, we try to take shelter in something that makes us secure. Some mental story, belief system, community, position, or money. Over time, we become quite fearful of losing that shelter. We are afraid of dying, because death is a reality of life. We take shelter behind the concept of "X" or "Y" or "Z" God. We start believing that nothing will go wrong to us and that God will take care of us. Then somebody points out that the God we believe in is just an image that many fearful people have created together and planted in our minds. We get frightened by this. How can somebody dare to shatter the image of God that gives us so much security? We start disliking that person who shows us the mirror. In life, so many ups and downs come. We pass through crises, and as and when a crisis comes, doubt enters our minds about our own defence system. Then the cunning mind thinks whether the psychological defe...

When we look at children on the street with no resources, all of us feel like doing something for them. When we go to a hospital oncology ward and see the patients fighting cancer, we feel as if we could do something for them. When we see the rotten systems all around us, we feel as if we could do something to set them right. When we see the rivers so dirty, all of us feel equally desperate to clean them. Then? We get busy with our family. We take our attention away from those children, patients, rotten systems, and the rivers, and just focus on our children. Somehow our conscious mind rationalises that too much sensitivity is dangerous. We shift the focus to two children, or a few more.  Buddha's father tries to keep him away from reality. He would not allow young Siddhartha to meet the old people, go to the crematorium, or meet poor people. He would try to fill his life with all kinds of wealth and pleasures. Yet, young Siddhartha was so sensitive that a few incidents of contact...

I don't think that there is even the slightest doubt that we feel happy when we are free to explore. When we love and are loved. Exploration expands us, and love makes us merge. Love and exploration also go hand in hand. We can't explore something or somebody unless we love that thing or person. Einstein can't explore Quantum Physics so deeply and with so much dedication unless he is deeply in love with the subject.  But biology plays its own role. We feel vulnerable. We want the company of somebody who can take care of us when we fall ill and when things do not turn our way. We form many different relationships in search of security. Give and take is the basis of most of these relationships. We become ambitious and feel that "X" amount of money and power will make us secure forever, which never happens. Probably, intelligence demands that we take stock of the actual needs for survival so that the time and energy spent on these things may be minimised, and we get ...

It appears to me that the root cause of inauthenticity is the caging of truth. Trust is like light. It can not be confined to a cage. That's why whenever there is an effort to cage the truth, we end up living with inauthenticities. We define certain behaviour as unacceptable in society, and there is a lot of taboo around it; therefore, people hide it. We set similar boundaries in relationships, especially in marriage, and therefore people often surreptitiously cross these boundaries. We set boundaries around our children: they will not use mobile phones or laptops, and will not have girlfriends or boyfriends. Then they do it without telling us, and we feel there is a lack of integrity. If society makes admitting the truth so difficult, people will definitely try to find workable solutions. People will be inauthentic. They will say something they actually don't do or don't believe. That is the reason why we have crises in parenting and relationships all around us. People wi...

मुझे लगता है कि बनावटीपन की जड़ सच्चाई को पिंजरे में बंद करना है। विश्वास प्रकाश के समान है। इसे पिंजरे में कैद नहीं किया जा सकता। इसीलिए जब भी सच्चाई को पिंजरे में बंद करने का प्रयास किया जाता है, हम अंततः बनावटीपन के साथ जीने लगते हैं। हम समाज में कुछ व्यवहारों को अस्वीकार्य मानते हैं और उनसे जुड़े कई सामाजिक निषेध हैं; इसलिए लोग उन्हें छिपाते हैं। हम रिश्तों में, विशेषकर विवाह में, इसी तरह की सीमाएँ निर्धारित करते हैं और इसलिए लोग अक्सर चुपके से इन सीमाओं को पार कर जाते हैं। हम अपने बच्चों के लिए सीमाएँ निर्धारित करते हैं: वे मोबाइल फोन या लैपटॉप का उपयोग नहीं करेंगे, और उनके कोई प्रेमी या प्रेमिका नहीं होगी। फिर वे हमें बिना बताए ऐसा करते हैं, और हमें लगता है कि उनमें ईमानदारी की कमी है। यदि समाज सच्चाई को स्वीकार करना इतना कठिन बना देता है, तो लोग निश्चित रूप से व्यावहारिक समाधान खोजने का प्रयास करेंगे। लोग बनावटी हो जाएँगे। वे ऐसी बातें कहेंगे जो वे वास्तव में नहीं करते या जिन पर वे विश्वास नहीं करते। यही कारण है कि हमारे चारों ओर पालन-पोषण और रिश्तों में संकट दिखाई देते हैं। लोग...

 It is strange to see that most people are silent in society when there is so much exploitation all around. Why would millions of Indians keep quiet when they are being enslaved by the British Empire ? In organisations, when an employee is being bullied , why would others keep quiet? Probably because the foundation of society as a whole is fear and isolation . All of us are individual units, fighting against each other for the maximisation of pleasure , and actually, there is a zero-sum game . The profit of one company is the loss of the other.  What if a person tries to treat the maid at home on par? If somebody asks what price he will charge for the same type of work and what conditions of service he will demand, I think he would immediately understand what's happening. However, the question is quite uncomfortable, and that's why we brush it aside. I once asked a relative, who is an industrialist, whether the labour class is getting its due share of the profit he earns, and...

It is difficult to drink milk when you see that there is a fly in it. People often say that we eat at some restaurants and eateries because we have never entered their kitchens. Once we happen to see the kitchens and see how dirty they are, it will not be possible for us to eat food in such restaurants anymore. The taste of the food covers so many impurities because we are not able to dissect the food. We are not aware of the dirty conditions in which it has been cooked. What if we happen to see the pretensions and greed in relationships? What if we find out that we are being used? Even worse, what if we realise we are using others? All these realisations are not easy to handle, and most people try to sweep them under the carpet because they do not want to let go of life's pleasures. At max, they will switch over from one object of pleasure to the other. One relation to the other. Inquiring into the depth of relationships is quite painful, and most people do not want to be in pain....