Under the load
of wisdom
we miss insights.
Under the load
of solitude
we miss love.
Under the load
of illumination
we miss the now.
Under the load
of driving
we miss moving.
Under the load
of deadlines
we miss the divine.
Under the load
of water
we miss the waves.
—Thus spoke the drunken monk.
We choose to behave differently with a lot of people. Over time we split our individuality into bits and pieces, spread across all the social relationships and people we have had interaction with.
And because of this people also have a different perception of who you are. And when this image that they created about you based on your act before them breaks when you function differently and contrary to what they expected, conflicts arise.
People try to revert back to this false image by convincing or apologizing to them instead of honestly communicating who and what they are and the kind of values they stand by.
Go slow. Reduce the pace.
The only thing you are rushing towards is death. Nothing will change that.
The speedy showers, hasty dressing up, and the gulping down of coffee to save microseconds won’t matter in the end. Take a chill pill.
All scholarly tongues are silent,
And all the well-read pass the buck
if asked to define India.
Cultures are made anew every morning
Religions redefined again in the afternoon
And spirituality altered for every new moon.
Every street has a fresh social norm
and it’s own intricacies.
Every bystander a philosopher.
And every cow is holy in some sense.
Rivers, trees, stones,
snakes, eagles, dogs,
earth, water, soil, air
all worshipped and none left
in this land.
Snowy Himalayas try to offer truth,
Monasteries, a bit of solitude
and a Gandhi statue non-violence
amidst a billion-plus population.
Modern men and women
carry ancient tags of caste
and millennial identities
in the same bodies.
The threads of
Past, present and the future
bind together
to create a land of no time.
Fate aligned to karma.
Justice tied to power.
and liberty hand in glove
with money.
Politics performing sorcery.
Economy doing yoga.
Science flirting with customs.
Technology with Jugaad.
Administration to connections.
And sports — running between the wickets.
but this is just
one India,
in so many other Indias
in India.
A forever plural nation.
The
What-ness
Why-ness
Where-ness
How-ness
of it all
is breathtakingly
unusual.
The problems that you encounter more or less define where you are in life. If the delay of Amazon delivery is your biggest problem to worry then it shows our priorities and the state of our living. Bigger problems put you in a different plane which in turn puts us in a different direction and path. Petty problems, petty life. It’s that simple.
The more we live in our heads, the more reality gets twisted and frightens us. Practicing presence and mindfulness helps us witness a less scary and terrifying world. We feel much lighter if we can leave the mind world for a bit. Treat your mind like a gym where you need to go to do some work and after that leave it and lock the damn door.
Mind chatter and your pampering of it trap you and create problems that never existed in the first place.
As we accumulate grey hair, we should also get multiple interests/hobbies/likings/things we love to do/engagements/pastimes/fancy amusements to make life more interesting, or else couch sitting or armchair thinking will surely prepone death and dullness. If you are passionate about music/poetry/movies/old coins/stamps/documentaries/books or anything else of that sort by 60-70 and do something about them then surely life will have more vigor and passion.
Else we are lost in the gossip of the neighborhood, meaningless political debates, and involved way too much in the lives of grandkids.
Culture, conditioning, and childhood. These are the three things that a man carries throughout his/her life. Any possible freedom in mind begins only with their annihilation. Our reality, reactions, and responses are their prisoners, and cleaning our mental slate is almost next to impossible as one or the other influences our thought processes, actions, and resultant circumstances. The whole edifice of our karma is their blessing or curse.
Sometimes the price that you pay outweighs the benefits you get in return. The 18-hour work for extra dollars and the 3-hour internet searching for coupons and discounts for saving a few pounds belong to this category. We plan exotic trips to god-forsaken places but the long flight journeys, visa issues, and poor accommodation make the fancy beach and unique flora and fauna pointless. The promotion might be good but sadly the trading off of family and personal time might not be.
Closeness is always dangerous and threatening for people. The fantasies, mirages, and appearances that they created will falter and break away when there is less gap. That’s why we are scared of love and avoid intimacy with friends and partners. And being distant from everybody, for this reason, calls for an inauthentic living, lies, and fake lifestyles. This eventually creates a distance within yourself with yourself and alienates you from a sense of purpose and meaning in life. Being tightly knitted is chilling but it is honest and perhaps simple.
Thy Vox 