The Three Stumbling Blocks To Success

Despair is a major obstacle to progress. It scuttles the process of gaining success .“It cannot be done!” This sentence is a great stumbling block to any kind of success. It was my sutra, never to despair. Why should we think something cannot happen? When we believe that the soul has infinite potential, then, why should we think something will not happen?

The second stumbling block on the path to success is laziness, lack of effort. It can be done, but we do not do it. There are those who have the ability but because they put in less than the required effort, they are not successful. Therefore, build up your capacity to work commensurate with the goal to be achieved. Disappointment comes when we desire something, but do not work toward it or we have not built our capability to achieve it.

If you place hard work in front of you, and not destiny, then automatically, your hard work pays off and what it yields becomes your destiny.

The third deterrent to success is carelessness, negligence. It is alright, it will be done, it does not matter…this attitude hinders success. People work a lot but are not able to consolidate it because of their casual attitude.

These are three stumbling blocks to success: despair, laziness and carelessness.

Additionally, I had resolved that work should be executed with patience, for, hurry yields nothing. No work that is undertaken, goes waste, if you have patience. If you are impatient, then the unripe fruits that your work yields will be sour. A fruit is said to have come to fruition only when it is fully ripe. A ripe mango tastes many times sweeter than a raw one.

A young man asked Tolstoy, “How long to be patient. Can water ever hold in a sieve?” Tolstoy replied, “It will hold, be patient. When water turns into ice it will be held even within a sieve.”

Patience is a very great mantra to success…I have seen that those who remained patient have gone far ahead in life. Those who were impatient and restless got left behind, lost.

Another sutra for success is pleasant conduct. A person may be very knowledgeable, very wise but if he is not good with people, he is not able to achieve anything.

When does a person’s fate turn inimical? When he starts wishing others ill. My resolve was not to ever think ill of anybody. I do not remember ever having imagined anyone in poor light. All through over my nine decades I do not think I have done or thought ill for anybody.

I had one strong conviction: I should never let inauspicious or useless thoughts about anyone enter my mind. I should be able to respect everybody. Be he illiterate, knows less, whatever be the traits — I should not look upon them with any less respect.

I also thought it necessary to keep my emotions under control and did do so. In nine decades of my life if someone were to ask me how many times I got angry, I would have to think. I believe that a person who seeks success has to bring his emotions under control or else they might have to negotiate  a slippery ground. 

Users, Keepers Of Their Data

Privacy is finally getting the public attention it deserves in India. Spearheading this is the gatekeeper of all things telecommunicative, the Trai, which has laid down a core principle on digital data protection, coming in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on privacy being a fundamental right.

Consumers have been now pronounced as owners of their data. Telecom and internet service providers, mobile device-makers and other intermediaries transmitting, storing, controlling and processing consumers’ information have been rightly deemed “mere custodians and do not have primary rights over this data”.

Effectively, the user is the copyright holder of his content and data no matter what the platform or the service provider is. With such great power — the right of choice, consent and the right to be forgotten (the erasure of personal data concerning the use without undue delay) — comes great responsibility.

This requires India to enact its own data protection law, and set up an independent regulator to monitor the use of data and hold data-collectors to account.

The Justice Srikrishna committee, looking into data protection, will soon finalise the framework for legislative action. It should be in general conformity with the EU’s General Data Protection Regime that imposes debilitating (and, thus, deterring) fines on companies collecting or using personal data without the consent of users.

The writ applies to controllers and processors too, thereby making data security also their responsibility. But laws are limp if law enforcement is lax. A decade ago, resistance to the telemarketing onslaught forced Trai to start a ‘Do Not Call’ registry that was a disaster.

So, a data protection law must be accompanied by capacity building — vast skilling and technical competencies — to safeguard users’ interests.

Why Goals And Results Are Important To Us

Why is it that we seek results, goals? Why is it that the mind is ever pursuing an end? And why should it not pursue an end? In coming here, are we not seeking something, some experience, some delight? We are tired and fed up with the many things that we have been playing with; we have turned away from them, and now we want a new toy to play with. We go from one thing to another, till we find something that is entirely satisfying; and then we settle down to stagnate.

We are forever craving something; and having tasted many things which were mostly unsatisfactory, we now want the ultimate thing: God, truth, or what you will. We want a result, a new experience, a new sensation that will endure in spite of everything. We never see the futility of result, but only of a particular result; so we wander from one result to another, hoping always to find the one that will end all search.

The search for result, for success, is binding, limiting; it is ever coming to an end. Gaining is a process of ending. To arrive is death. Yet that is what we are seeking, is it not? We are seeking death, only we call it result, goal, purpose. We want to arrive. We are tired of this everlasting struggle, and we want to get there – “there” placed at whatever level. We do not see the wasteful destructiveness of struggle, but desire to be free of it through gaining a result. We do not see the truth of struggle, of conflict, and so we use it as a means of getting what we want, the most satisfying thing; and that which is most satisfying is determined by the intensity of our discontent. This desire for result always ends in gain; but we want a never-ending result So, what is our problem? How to be free from the craving for results, is that it?

I think that is it. The very desire to be free is also a desire for a result, is it not? We shall get thoroughly entangled if we pursue that line. Is it that we cannot see the futility of result, at whatever level we may place it? Is that our problem? Let us see our problem clearly, and then perhaps we shall be able to understand it. Is it a question of seeing the futility of one result and so discarding all desire for results? If we perceive the uselessness of one escape, then all escapes are vain. Is that our problem? Surely, it is not quite that, is it? Perhaps we can approach it differently.

Is not experience a result also? If we are to be free from results, must we not also be free from experience? For is not experience an outcome, an end? “The end of what?”

The end of experiencing. Experience is the memory of experiencing, is it not? When experiencing ends there is experience, the result. While experiencing, there is no experience; experience is but the memory of having experienced. As the state of experiencing fades, experience begins. Experience is ever hindering experiencing, living. Results, experiences, come to an end; but experiencing is inexhaustible. When the inexhaustible is hindered by memory, then the search for results begins. The mind, the result, is always seeking an end, a purpose, and that is death. Death is not when the experiencer is not. Only then is there the inexhaustible.

How to use Google Maps offline on Android and iOS

Google Maps are a lifesaver when it comes to commuting as it is one of the most reliable source of navigation. One needs a good and stable internet connection for the Maps to work smoothly. However, in our country we often face bandwidth issues which results in a patchy internet connection which often leaves us in the middle of nowhere. But, the navigation app has a solution for that as well. So, if you are packing up for a road trip or are travelling to another city, then you can use the offline Maps feature offered by Google. The feature enables you to download the map of any area so that you use it without a working internet connection. So, here is the guide to download the Google Maps offline both for Android and iOS users.

Download a map to use offline on iPhone and iPad
Step 1: On your iPhone or iPad, open the Google Maps app.
Step 2: Make sure you're connected to the Internet and signed in to Google Maps.
Step 3: Search for a place, like Bangalore.
Step 4: At the bottom, tap the name or address of the place and then tap More.
Step 5: Select Download offline map.

Download a map to use offline on Android device

Step 1: On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Maps app.

Step 2: Make sure you're connected to the internet and signed in to Google Maps.

Step 3: Search for a place, like Bangalore.

Step 4: At the bottom, tap the name or address of the place and then Download. If you 

Searched for a place like a restaurant, tap More and then Download offline map.

After you download a map, use the Google Maps app just like you normally would. If your Internet connection is slow or absent, Google Maps will use your offline maps to give you directions.

Feel & Show Respect

Respect is to never laugh at someone. Every one of us is unique. So be respectful keep yourself equidistant between strength and weakness. With a child, not saying you’re such a good painter, but just giving it paper and brushes with a child, not saying: you’re a hopeless painter, but just giving it paper and a pen instead. Never ignore weakness, for that is disrespect, just provide a different focus.

Where there is real respect, there is the understanding that talents are constantly changing and sometimes it is just a matter of where the light is falling and what is seen. Where the sun isn’t shining doesn’t indicate a gap only that something is resting in the shadows. You just never know what’s there, so it’s best not to categorize people.

Respect values space, for everyone needs a pause, a chance to breathe quietly, alone.

Where there has been disregard for anyone or anything, there is hurt. The repercussions are enormous. Where a person has been hurt, the rebound is often obscure and dangerous, hard to identify, because you can’t just say you’ve hurt me.

It’s hard to be direct, so someone walking by suddenly gets hit instead and a whole chain begins. Where a thing has been abused, disrespected, then it causes trouble.

Where there is respect, it is like forging a straight path through life, so that you can reach a point of stillness and then, looking back, see only light.

You’ve walked poised through life, observing the ups and downs with dignity. The result is that the respect you’ve given, comes back to you.

The Purpose Of Education!!!

Why are you being educated? Your parents send you to school. You attend classes, you learn mathematics, you learn geography, history. Why? What is the point of your passing examinations and getting degrees? Is it to get married, get a job and settle down in life as millions of people do? The whole world is questioning the basis of education. We see what education has been used for.

 Human beings throughout the world are being educated to conform, to fit into society and into their culture, to fit into the stream of social and economic activity, to be sucked into that vast stream that has been flowing for thousands of years. Is that education, or is education something entirely different?

Can education see to it that the human mind is not drawn into that vast stream and so destroyed; see that the mind is never sucked into that stream; so that, with such a mind, you can be an entirely different human being with a different quality to life? Real education means that a human mind, your mind, not only is capable of being excellent in mathematics, geography and history, but also can never, under any circumstances, be drawn into the stream of society.

 Because that stream that we call living, is very corrupt, is immoral, violent, greedy. That stream is our culture. So, the question is how to bring about the right kind of education so that the mind can withstand all temptations, all influences, the bestiality of this civilization and this culture.

Like a Train, We Are Always On The Move, Enjoy The Ride!!!

Have you ever watched crowded trains from a railway platform? The trains come and go, leaving a thousand of people on the platform and a thousand more inside.… This process goes on continuously, day in and day out.

This is so much like life. Like a train, we are on the move, running ahead, doing our duties. In the process, during the journey, life teaches us a lot; we gain different experiences in different phases. Some of those experiences enrich us and we carry them with us like the train carries its passengers to their destinations.

Other experiences are bitter ones and we try to leave those behind, just as the train unloads cargo at different junctions, to continue on its journey each time the whistle is blown.

The train or engine driver is a leader, controlling the vehicle just as our brain controls and directs our emotions and life. The guard of a train checks the tracks and gives the clearing green signal, just as our heart tries to find out if all is well or not before we resume our journey and gives us the green signal. When it senses something unusual, it sends out warning signals.

Once you have boarded the train of life, there is no option but to sit back and enjoy the ride, with all its ups and downs, stations and signals. Go with the flow. You just need to choose the right track to reach your chosen destination!

First, become a good human being👲👦

Be a good human first. This will help us overcome problems that the world is facing today. Cultivate strength to first be a good human yourself so that you can in turn create more good humans. No technique, guru, leader, social worker, nor healer can solve problems or work for common welfare unless change happens first in the individual.

Are diseases and other problems any less today than they were before? There is no shortage of healers, yogacharyas and gurus. Poverty continues unabated, incidents of disrespect towards women are increasing. There is no holistic education. This is because we have not created good humans.

To create a good human, first you have to become a good human. Only then can transformation happen. With good humans, earth receives good vibrations, and calamities are minimised. They happen only due to mind vibration, because we are empowering images such as – ‘I am the greatest social worker, i will get a big award, i will get a Nobel Prize. I am a great writer, i will get the Booker award’. These are all ego-driven, not conducive to creating a good human. I don’t deny that you have to make a living, but don’t forget that salt in vegetable is good; vegetable in salt is not good.

How do you define a good human? A good human is truthful, simple, does not snatch others’ things, nor does he step on other people to get ahead. He is content with what he has, and if he needs more, he works for it, and does not take shortcuts. He is not hungry for popularity. He is natural.

Life on earth is completing its cycle. A quantum leap into the next evolutionary orbit, like cell division, can happen any moment. Transferring from one orbit to another is not prefixed. Satellites in the previous orbit will disintegrate if they are not ready for the quantum leap. Planets travel in their own orbits at a specific distance without colliding with each other. With satellites departing, there is no change in the speed of that planet. Like orbit change could happen in the universe, so too with constantly evolving humans. When the time is ripe to step into another dimension, the consciousness of an evolved human enters into it by being in the same body or leaving that body (death).

Those related to this evolved consciousness have the same niyat, situation, as that of the satellites of a planet. Pure consciousness is welcomed into the new orbit by satellites of that frequency. The ones on the vertical path should not be vain or arrogant. Shastras say that when their collective good karmas are accounted for, they could fall from grace. When one is with a truly evolved human, akin to a manifest planet, it is your destiny to be in total surrender or else imbibe the core attributes of that evolved human so that when time elapses and you are not tuned to take the quantum leap with such a master into the new orbit, one can fill the vacuum left by such an evolved person and take the mission forward.

This is the dharma of a tattva jnani, knower of the essence, a spiritual mentor carrying consciousness of the age, as stated in shastras: ‘Yatha pindey, tatha Brahmandey’ – ‘as is human mechanism, so is the universe’.

Happiness in Life😍😍

Daily living has three aspects: 

1) Each individual has a particular situation; this means deciding what you want in a given situation and doing whatever you think you should do to get it.

2)What happens after is not in your control.

3) Thereafter, society accepts what has actually happened as your own action, good or bad, and you are rewarded or punished.

Reward has come to mean pleasure and punishment has come to be understood as pain, all in the moment. We have no choice but to accept if we want to continue living in that society.

This constitutes your happiness or unhappiness from moment to moment over which you have no control, nor can you know what will bring pleasure or pain, or know the total amount of pleasure and pain assigned to you during your lifetime.

Happiness cannot depend on what you experience moment to moment. Therefore, happiness must depend upon your attitude to life.

You cannot be happy unless your relationship with the other is harmonious. Being happy is to be at peace with yourself, that is, never to be uncomfortable with yourself.

You are not totally comfortable with yourself in your relationship with the other because the other will not always do what you want him to do, and, you cannot expect him to do that either!

Everything is a happening for which neither you nor the other can be blamed. So even if a happening hurts, you cannot hate anyone, neither yourself nor the other. With the total acceptance of this concept, in an instant, your load of hatred for yourself and for the other disappears.

Why Krishna is Called God of Love

Krishna’s love encompasses the entire gamut of this beautiful feeling – love for his foster mother Yashoda, for his brother Balaram, love for gopis and for Radha. Most commonly, love refers to an emotion, a strong attraction and personal attachment. Love in its many forms acts as major facilitator of interpersonal relationship; owing to its central psychological importance. Love is a common theme in the creative arts.

Krishna revealed pure forms of the many types of love to us – hence he is called the God of Love. Krishna is in love with life, poetry, music of life and dance. He is adored in three different ways: vatsalya bhava, madhura bhava and sakhya bhava. Radha adored him in madhura bhava, Yashoda and Nanda worshipped him in vatsalya bhava and the cowherds with sincere, loving hearts adored him in sakhya bhava, as a friend.

Love has tremendous power; in fact there is no greater power than love, it has the ability to heal the world. Love can heal old wounds and cleanse you of any negativity. Three things will last forever; these are, faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love. While violence and hatred are indulged in by weak people, true love remains pure, fair, upright and without lust, greed and selfish motive.

Power of love can be understood by the person who is full of love. It’s easy to feel the love rather than describe it in words. In the Bhagwad Gita, in the chapter on Bhakti Yoga, help is proffered and spirits are healed through love – through the soul’s love for that which is eternal and through the love of the eternal for each soul.

The path of devotion and love, Bhakti Yoga, is commonly associated with those who express themselves through music, poetry, dance and other fine arts and it is synonymous with a life of service, prayer and meditation, a life devoted to God.

The path of Bhakti Yoga unfolds spontaneously. For some, its appeal stems from an inherent attraction to God. For others, gratitude towards yoga matures into love and respect for a teacher, for a system of practice or for the natural universe.

Krishna says, ‘I am the same to all beings and my love is ever the same but those who worship me with devotion, they are in me and I am in them.’ All spiritual persons and saints always give the message of love. Power of love can be understood only by loving someone, only then we can realise how powerful this emotion of love can be.

According to Osho, the more loving you are, the less is the possibility of any relationship. The moment love becomes a relationship, it becomes a bondage because there are expectations and there are demands and there are frustrations and an efforts from both sides to dominate. It becomes a struggle for power. Question arises then, as to what is true love. The best example of true love is parent-child love. Love is internal, not external and it refers to a variety of that of a parent for her child that is unconditional.

Love enhances your inner strength. Love makes the person kindhearted, humble and helpful to others. Love is beautiful when it raises us to a higher level.

“Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”

Let Money Bless You

We are aware of the blessings of elders, teachers, gurus and spiritual ones, but never heard about money showering blessings on anyone. Money is perceived as a boon or bane and sometimes it can be both — but can it be ablessing also? Money is very important in our life but it’s not everything. As a means, it is a good friend, but as the only goal, it becomes an enemy.

Money is a good servant but bad master: it is useful to satisfy your need but when it feeds your greed, it will disturb your life. That is why Mohandas Gandhi said that nature has everything to fulfil one’s need but not to gratify greed. So, it is better not to get attached to money.

When money is paid to a teacheror guru, it is called ‘dakshina’, not expense. This dakshina comes back to us with blessings in the form of happiness, contentment and prosperity.

The investment is the intention with which you part with money. Respect money and invest it with sacred intention, not only as expenditure, every time for consumption. When you part with money for any goods or services, hand it over to others with a missionary feeling, saying, go, help others and come back after having served the needy. Goods or services once consumed are gone forever.

Spiritual investment comes back manifold with bonuses in the form of fullness of life. Live life comfortably and gracefully. In spirituality, giving does not mean losing. So, give generously and get enriched.

Life Filled With Love

A loving word, a compassionate look, a simple good deed — all these can bring light to the lives of the less fortunate as well as to your own. It is not what you gain, but what you are able to give that determines the value of your life. If you have been able to give happiness to a soul — even for a minute — it makes your life blessed. Love gives everything; there is no thought of receiving.

Love has no complaints; it accepts all. Love removes all fears; it transforms all ugliness into beauty. Because love is the real refuge, it is the beauty of life.

Love is the spring of life; it makes it ever new and fresh. Love is the expression of the Self. It is the thread on which all beings are strung. When love awakens in a person, the divinity in him or her also awakens for love is God; it is the manifestation of the divine.

How does love create oneness?

In love, there are never two. We feel a river to have two banks only because of the water in between. If the water of the ego dries up, only oneness remains.

When love awakens, the ego disappears. Then, human beings realise their oneness with each other. One realises his or her oneness with the whole of creation. Divine love is knowledge, liberation and bliss.

When we become filled with that divine love, we are able to see God in everything, and that itself is the ultimate fulfilment.

Meaning of Shivratri

Shivratri is an auspicious night when we receive something very special through the grace of Shiva, by chanting Aum Namah Shivaya. Actually, it does not matter whose name we chant, the main point is that we connect with God throughout the night.

When the moth has seen the light, does it go back into darkness? No, it would rather die at the flame. When we have cleansed the outside, our true Self reveals itself, and when this happens, the dissolution of your identity and of your mind occurs.

Why do we adorn Shiva with vibhuti? Just to remind us that everything is ash. This body is ash and it will become that ash. Shiva is a great Yogi, who is seated within each one. That’s why when we say Shivoham, we identify ourself with Shiva.

We say Aham Brahmasmi; I am Divine. I am Divine because this is the essence of human nature. When the outside identity is dissolved, the true identity, the Divine identity of who we are, is revealed. Shiva is sitting in meditation to represent that the mind has to calm itself.

As long as the mind is wandering around, there will be misery. But when you have learnt to calm yourself, then God will reveal himself. When we do abhishekam, we offer the panchamrit that represents the five senses that we surrender to Shiva so he can purify them. We offer flowers, we offer bilva leaves that symbolise the unity of the body, mind and spirit in one. We are offering it outside but in reality, we are asking Him to make us realise this unity of the body, mind and spirit.

How does one achieve the impossible?

Let’s begin by examining the concept of the impossible before trying to answer such a tantalising question. Some things are clearly impossible in a physical sense. A nonagenarian who hopes to qualify for the Olympics for high jump is clearly hoping for the impossible unless of course one has a seniors’ Olympic event in mind.

But when Napoleon said that the word ‘impossible’ is found in the dictionary of fools, then clearly, he did not have such impossibilities in mind. What he perhaps had in mind was that certain goals or accomplishments, which we normally consider out of reach, may be capable of being achieved if only one was daring enough to entertain them and determined enough to go after them. One might have considered it impossible of France to achieve the kind of military victories that Napoleon achieved for his country.

This idea of the impossible becomes even more relevant when we come to the individual, who might consider certain accomplishments impossible without realising that with persistent effort and determination they could be achieved. Perhaps, in such a context, the word ‘impossible’ is best understood as really denoting the improbable, which our imagination considers impossible. With these introductory remarks let us now consider what some sages have to say about achieving the impossible.

Swami Vivekananda met Sage Pavahari Baba of Ghazipur in the course of his wanderings across India. Vivekananda was so impressed by the Baba that he wanted to be initiated by him but whenever he resolved to do so, he was dissuaded by the appearance of an apparition of Sri Ramakrishna. Pavahari Baba later immolated himself upon being unable to bear the sufferings of his country in Kali Yuga.

Vivekananda, perhaps overwhelmed by the enormity of India’s problems asked Pavahari, “How does one achieve the impossible”?

Pavahari Baba replied: “By treating the means as the end and the end as the means.” One hesitates to offer an interpretation of such an oracular pronouncement and the reader may have his own understanding of it. But what was perhaps meant was that when we think of achieving something, we tend to focus on the end product more, rather than how that end product might be actually achieved in terms of the concrete steps required, to accomplish it.

So what the sage was perhaps suggesting was that we should focus our attention entirely on the means with the same passion with which we covet the goal itself. That would be one way of treating the means as the end. And then once such a concrete step is realised, similarly, the success we have achieved should be considered only a step in relation to what remains to be achieved to accomplish the goal. This would be one way of treating the end as the means.

St Francis of Assisi’s remarks do seem to shed light on the exciting question under discussion. He says that one should begin by doing the necessary; then one should do the possible, and then he adds that if one does so one would find oneself accomplishing the impossible. His remarks clearly bear a family resemblance to what was uttered by Pavahari Baba in response to the question put to him by Swami Vivekananda.

Balancing Life Budget

A life budget includes committing time to self, family, society and God. The lives of those who do this get enriched not just financially, but also socially and spiritually.

Many corporate executives invest all their time and effort in pursuing their careers and climbing the professional ladder. Is it at all worthwhile? Most discover that their victory is empty and that they won it at an irreparable loss to their health, family and psyche, incurring obesity, heart disease and fatigue on the physiological front; separated spouse, estranged children and uncared-for parents on the familial front; frustration, depression and stress on the physio-psychological front.

The World Health Organization predicts that stress will be the number one killer in the world by 2020. And stress is usually nothing more than an individual’s failure to balance his lifestyle. Living life in a healthy manner and living it fully means we have to maintain regular food habits and follow a sensible diet, regular exercise and rest, going out with family, working for charity and spending some time in reflection, meditation and prayer.

There is only one way to survive overwork or burnout: be brave and bail out or you will be a loser. Asage asked a prosperous king, “If you were about to die of thirst and starvation and someone offered you a glass of water and a loaf of bread in exchange for your wealth and kingdom, would you give them to him?” “Of course I would,” replied the king. “Then why,” asked the sage, “have you wasted your entire life amassing wealth when they are worth no more to you than a glass of water and a loaf of bread?”

A Tree is Your Life

Trees are our closest relatives. What they exhale, we inhale, what we exhale, they inhale. Trees keep our lives going, just like the outer part of our lungs. You cannot ignore your body if you want to live, and in no way is the planet different from this. What you call ‘my body’ is just apiece of this planet. And the very essence of the spiritual process is about just this.

When we say ‘spirituality’, we are not talking about looking up or looking down. It is about turning inward and knowing the nature of what ‘this’ is. The first fundamental fact of looking inward is always to see that you are naturally very much a part of everything around you. Without that realisation, there is really no spiritual process. That is not the goal of ‘spirituality’, that is the fundamental —that who you are, or what you think you are, is just a part of everything else.

Today, modern physics is establishing that the whole of existence is just one energy. Scientific evidence is establishing that every particle in your body is in constant communication with the whole cosmic space. The spiritual process is about enhancing one’s perception and bringing this into one’s experience. Anyway, what is a dry scientific fact that doesn’t change anybody’s life?

A tree is not a project for you; a tree is your life. It is an outside part of yourself. It breathes for you every day. It is more than your lungs; your lungs cannot do anything without trees. We need to make people understand this in very simple ways.

Nature of knowledge

There are two directions for seeking truth: one, of thinking, and the other, of experiencing. The path of thinking is cyclic.

There is movement but no destination is reached. You get trapped in reading, memorising, discussing, arguing and assuming. Opinion is different from truth. Opinion is an idea while truth is an experience. Thoughts lead to opinion and experience to truth.

You may collect others’ thoughts and present them in a unique style but there is no originality in them. Only experience can be original, because it is born out of one’s inner wisdom. You can realize the truth only in the space of consciousness, free from thoughts.

Thoughts are helpful in the field of science, but mere thinking cannot give the touch of experience of the supreme truth, the inner core. Our thoughts veil the truth and makes seeing the reality of the Self difficult. The human consciousness, when in association with the world, creates thought reactions and gets lost in them.

However, it is important to know that if you are free to bind yourself, then you are free to sever those bondages too. Awareness and silence supplement each other. Practice of awareness brings silence and practice of silence enhances awareness. In their absoluteness, the consciousness undergoes an unimaginable revolution.

With this, the aspirant gets established in the Self. He realises his Self as truth-consciousness-bliss. The immortal is experienced. The darkness dissolves and a true life begins; life becomes blissful.

First, become a good human being

Be a good human first. This will help us overcome problems that the world is facing today. Cultivate strength to first be a good human yourself so that you can in turn create more good humans. No technique, guru, leader, social worker, nor healer can solve problems or work for common welfare unless change happens first in the individual.

Are diseases and other problems any less today than they were before? There is no shortage of healers, yogacharyas and gurus. Poverty continues unabated, incidents of disrespect towards women are increasing. There is no holistic education. This is because we have not created good humans.

To create a good human, first you have to become a good human. Only then can transformation happen. With good humans, earth receives good vibrations, and calamities are minimised. They happen only due to mind vibration, because we are empowering images such as – ‘I am the greatest social worker, i will get a big award, i will get a Nobel Prize. I am a great writer, i will get the Booker award’. These are all ego-driven, not conducive to creating a good human. I don’t deny that you have to make a living, but don’t forget that salt in vegetable is good; vegetable in salt is not good.

How do you define a good human? A good human is truthful, simple, does not snatch others’ things, nor does he step on other people to get ahead. He is content with what he has, and if he needs more, he works for it, and does not take shortcuts. He is not hungry for popularity. He is natural.

Life on earth is completing its cycle. A quantum leap into the next evolutionary orbit, like cell division, can happen any moment. Transferring from one orbit to another is not prefixed. Satellites in the previous orbit will disintegrate if they are not ready for the quantum leap. Planets travel in their own orbits at a specific distance without colliding with each other. With satellites departing, there is no change in the speed of that planet. Like orbit change could happen in the universe, so too with constantly evolving humans. When the time is ripe to step into another dimension, the consciousness of an evolved human enters into it by being in the same body or leaving that body (death).

Those related to this evolved consciousness have the same niyat, situation, as that of the satellites of a planet. Pure consciousness is welcomed into the new orbit by satellites of that frequency. The ones on the vertical path should not be vain or arrogant. Shastras say that when their collective good karmas are accounted for, they could fall from grace. When one is with a truly evolved human, akin to a manifest planet, it is your destiny to be in total surrender or else imbibe the core attributes of that evolved human so that when time elapses and you are not tuned to take the quantum leap with such a master into the new orbit, one can fill the vacuum left by such an evolved person and take the mission forward.

This is the dharma of a tattva jnani, knower of the essence, a spiritual mentor carrying consciousness of the age, as stated in shastras: ‘Yatha pindey, tatha Brahmandey’ – ‘as is human mechanism, so is the universe’.

Ego and humility

Ego gives us our identity: “I am an Indian. I am a businessman. I live in Delhi.” From ego stems pride and vanity: “I am learned in the shastras and so I am superior to others.” Such aperson is vain. A true spiritualist is humble.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said that a true spiritualist is as humble as a blade of grass—no matter how many people trample it, it remains unaffected. Cultivating humility is to see the Supreme residing in each and every living entity and to treat everyone equally.

Adi Shankara, the proponent of advait Vedanta, showed his greatness when he not only admitted his mistake in having chastised a sweeper but accepted him as his guru. One day, while making his way to the Sri Vishvanatha temple at Kashi, he saw a sweeper, broom under his arm, coming from the opposite direction along the same path. Succumbing to long-standing tradition, the Brahmin in Shankara spontaneously called out to the sweeper, “Move away. Move away.” The sweeper, however, stood his ground and gently asked Shankara, “Is there difference in the space in a golden pot and the space in a mud pot? Is there difference in the one Consciousness (God) that is in the hearts of each living entity?”

Shankara understood at once that the sweeper was reminding him that within the chaste Brahmin and the sweeper resides the same Brahmn and, therefore, Shankara was, in reality, the same as him, the difference being only in outer appearance.

Make Life Meaningful !!!

Spending life in the service of mankind, thinking that one’s deeds are nothing but the will of the Almighty and considering them to be the command of God is what makes life meaningful.

Even a short life spent this way is worthwhile. But even a hundred years are a waste if one spends them in pursuit of selfish interests.

Admitting the supremacy of God’s will does not mean that we become fatalistic. The purushartha for achieving desired goals becomes more meaningful if one thinks of them as the will of God. For, it takes away the sense of sorrow and unhappiness if one fails to achieve one’s goals or fulfil his expectations. As a consequence there is no sense of dejection or depression.

 Second, it takes away the sense of ego, or ahamkara which is likely to accompany success, making our life miserable by limiting our personality and stunting our growth at the individual, social and spiritual planes.

Every artist puts his signature in a corner of his painting, his own creation. God who has created the entire universe has not put His name to it. Hence the mystery surrounding Him.

We search for Him but only a few experience Him. They are those who have completely surrendered their will to Him, giving up all ego and sense of ‘mine’ and ‘thine’. In the blink of an eye flowing water changes.

This is what prompted Heraclites to remark: “You cannot jump into the same river twice.” He implied that change is the only reality, everything else is an illusion.