A Desire to get rid of all the Desires

#MyTakeaway 

This line brought a 'wow' effect in me, because it helped me understand the nature of desires. 

Whether it's good to have desires or not is completely upto us. We should just understand the nature of desires. What it does to us! It's a feeling that 'Present is not alright' it is a feeling that takes you away from the present moment into the future. When we know joy is right in the present moment, it's worth pondering do desires really bring joy? Or they create an illusion of joy. 

Yes, I agree that desires bring a motion. They give a direction. The world moves ahead because there is a desire to get up from the bed. None of the achievements would have been possible had it not been for the desires. But then it's important to become aware of what desires do to us. How long do we wish to stay in those emotions of unhappiness, anxiety etc? What is the return on that investment? Is it worth it? 

Gurudev says all of this can be achieved without desires as well. Just keep an intention. Intention is desire minus the feverishness attached to it. Intention helps us move forward, we get a direction. And yet it doesn't pull us away from the present moment.

Desires happen naturally. I don't think we can avoid them. But however, just becoming aware of the nature of desires, will help us bring down the negative effect it has on us.

Jai Gurudev! 

Living Inside a Living Organism

It was our last leg of the honeymoon. We were standing on the top of Baiyoke Tower. It is the tallest man made structure we have ever been to. Meaning it is the highest urban place we have ever visited. From there we could see the entire Bangkok. 

I gazed into this amazing maze of concrete jungle separated by thin tar lines upon which flowed the golden river. The golden river was essentially the headlights of cars in line zipping past rapidly over the state of the art roads in the city. From this height it actually looked like molten gold flowing through the city.

I pondered what if this is the blood of the city. At granular level, the cars are the cells (like the RBCs). The driver of the car is the nucleus driving the cell. This car is headed towards some building. All these urban structures are like organs on the body. The roads are like veins that facilitate this flow of blood. In these organs some of the cell material gets offloaded while some gets loaded. 

Sometimes these roads lead to some dumping ground which can be the colon and the rectum. The dumping ground is the anus. 

All of this makes the city a living organisms. An epiphany was striking me. We are all Living inside a living organism. This organism is growing in size. It heals itself, it destroys itself just like we heal and harn our own body. 

The mayor's office can very well be the brain or this organism. So each urban structure has a specific purpose. Just like every organ has its own specific purpose. 

No wonder ancient people had appointed a gram devata. It was a God for every village / city that takes care of that place. I felt that this gram devata is nothing but the collective consciousness of the people living in this city, that makes this organism. 

The idea that we are living in an organism may sound ridiculous, but it is nevertheless fascinating. I bet the bacteria living in our gut finds it fascinating to know that s/he is living in an organism. For the the gut is their world. 

Now allow me to take this ridiculousness to next level. This one organism is connected to another organism through a similar vein like structure. So all these organism are essentially the part of a much bigger organism. So in retrospect the whole nation is one organism. And to pull the concept further the whole world is one big organism. 

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji once said that the world is one organism. Only life can support life. Maybe we aren't sensitive enough to fathom the living nature of this supposedly non living object. 

Now today I read a blog where this person was pulling the concept further. Imagine the sun is the nucleus and the whole solar system is just a cell that belongs to this organism that we call as The Universe.

Now have you ever wondered what God can be? 

Nurturing Growth Through Mindful Choices

Embarking on personal yoga has shown me the value of investing in well-being. While some expect yoga to be free, allocating resources to our health and happiness is crucial. Our investments determine the returns we receive. Investing in junk food leads to unhealthy outcomes, while investing in positive aspects like health and education nurtures personal growth. 

Money acts as a catalyst for growth and shouldn't be mistaken as an indication of growth. 

Growth lies in how we invest our time, money and effort. By investing in skills and well-being, we unlock career growth, happiness, and even fame. Reinvesting our resources into positive endeavors allows positivity to flourish. 

Without financial investment, our growth relies solely on time and effort, slowing its speed. 

By making mindful choices and investing in our well-being, we cultivate a cycle of growth and positivity in our lives.

How to Stumble into Infinity?

#MyTakeaway 

Let's say you are a scientist. You have a bunch of equipments that you need for your research. Would you allow any Tom, Dick and Harry to be around the equipment? You would care for those equipments more than you care your toothbrush right? 

In India we tend to worship all such equipments. The idea is to create the sense of sacredness around our work objects. Wherever there is sacredness there is honour and respect. Whatever you respect you care for it more. This feeling allows you to dive deeper into whatever you are doing. 

More than the rituals behind the worshiping, it's important to understand the reason behind those rituals. Otherwise even rituals can become a mere checkbox and not bring in the sense of honour, respect and gratitude. You need not do puja in traditional manner. Even if you do anything that honours your study and work material, you will still be able to dive deeper into your own work, allowing you to create better results. 

When you respect your elders, you take care of them with all your heart and then that helps you take better care of them. It allows you to go deeper into their needs. When you take care of them just because you have to, the quality of that care goes down. 

While I was watching The Crown on Netflix, I noticed that there are so many rituals to coronate the queen. She just doesn't sit on the throne the next day with a crown on her head. Had it not been for those rituals the crown would have become a hat. But since people have faith in God and those rituals link the Divine to the crown, people automatically start having faith in the crown. They start respecting the crown. And respecting the crown is very essential part of running the kingdom. 

This is applicable to our regular practices too. If we meditate as a 'checkbox' activity it won't have depth to it. If we treat our practices with honour and respect then we dive deeper into Self.

Maharshi Patanjali says this in Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 'सातो दीर्घा काले निरंतर सत्कार सविता दृढ़ भूमिः'. Anything you do for a long period of time, without a break and with respect and honour becomes firmly grounded in you. If you want to learn a language, keep learning for a long period of time, without a break and with respect and honour, that language will be firmly grounded in you. Let's say you want to learn how to sing, keep practicing for a long period of time, without a break and with respect and honour, the quality of your practice will enable you to go deeper into the Art of singing. 

Similarly, if you are keen to know more about yourself, take a sankalp for a long period of time, without a break and with the due respect and honour towards your practice. You will realise that you can go deeper in your meditation. 

Also know that Maharshi Patanjali has not asked you to do it forever. Because when you say "From today, I will meditate everyday" the resolution will crumble down after some time. Hence take a sankalp for a long period of time. It can be 30 days, 40 days, 90 days etc . It can vary from person to person.

Whatever you do do it with respect and honour. You will start noticing the difference.