Decoding 'Unconditional Love'

#MyTakeaway 

When there is no freedom, love is stifling.

The need for freedom is sometimes from external source, and sometimes from within. Sometimes we get caught up in our own expectations. We have certain preset ideas and principles about certain relationships. They limit our experience of love. Dropping expectations, being open to all possibilities enables us to overcome the internal struggle to experience freedom. 

Lack of freedom also leads to feverishness. We communicate this feverishness through our vibes. And going by Newton's law, similar reaction stems from people around us stifling us more. This viscous circle of negativity doesn't allow love to blossom.

I am guessing the key here is to let go. Give freedom to others and be free from within too. 

Jai Gurudev 

How to connect with people around?

#MyTakeaway 

Gurudev once said love is not an emotion. All emotions are forms of love. Greed is love for objects. Fear is love towards life. Anger is love for perfection. Any connection that you have with anyone is a form of love.

So when you don't feel love towards someone, it's not that you don't love them. Love is our existence. It's You in the purest form. So what happens when we don't feel love? It means there is some other aspect about ourselves that we love so much that we don't want to let it go. It can be some identity that we love about ourselves. Or it  can be a habit, or it can be inner freedom.

Maybe letting go of these identities about ourselves will help us connect better with the people around. 

What do you think? 

What is enlightenment?

#MyTakeaway 

Enlightenment is not gaining anything. It is dropping everything that is counter productive to establishing the universal connection and being in unconditional love. Universal connection from my understanding is feeling connected with even the most uncomfortable event, most frustrating person or most averseful object. It is also feeling connected to people we don't know. And unconditional love is that of a love of a mother. It's loving without having any expectations. 

So achieving nirvana, moksh, enlightenment etc has nothing to do with settling down in the Himalayas. But it has most certainly something to do with loving the person who is bothering you right now. It has something to do with not running away from a situation that makes you uncomfortable and it has most certainly something to do with caring about everyone as if they are a part of you.

What do you think? Please do let me know in the comments section below. 

Jai Gurudev. 

Let's Make Some Noise About Peace

We were enthralled! We were blessed! We couldn’t believe what we have just heard. It was live, right in front of our eyes. Vikram Hazra on his electric guitar and his troupe on percussion and flute together created energy in the audience that is rarely experienced. I knew that it is not just music that he is playing but also the way he is involving the audience in the music that is making the difference.

It was a collective effort of each and every soul in Yogi Sabhagriha that I felt, that one cannot have this experience by choice. One needs to be blessed to experience this musical phenomenon.

Then Vikram Hazra took the microphone in his hands and said, “Imagine the energy created by just 3500 people …” and he paused. The audience started laughing and applauding to his way of bringing the WCF topic. “Imagine 1000 such musical concerts happening in parallel. Imagine the noise of those 3.5 million people and imagine the silence of those 3.5 million people.” We held our breath for a moment.

What a vision H H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has! It is phenomenal. We generally struggle to get an audience of 20000 for any major event. He envisions creating a stage for the capacity of 20,000 people. 

How many countries participate in FIFA? We had 43 nations participating in the 2014 world cup. In which event do we have people from 155 countries flying in to celebrate humanity, to celebrate diversity and work towards the direction of world peace?

If you still haven’t understood the gravity behind what World Culture Festival is going to do, let me tell you what Guruji said in UN during the World Yoga Day last year. “The term religious tolerance is of the bygone era. 

You tolerate something that you don’t like. Now the time has come for everyone to celebrate diversity.” Imagine 3.5 million people who would assemble in Delhi carrying this vision ahead. I believe that this one thought can prove path breaking. When we start appreciating each other’s cultures, we start appreciating the goodness in every part of the world. There blossoms hope for us to be comfortable with each other, to belong to each other despite of the differences.

I wonder how come such event was not organized by UN all this while! Especially in the world ridden with terrorism, events like these sow the seeds of hope. Be a part of this hope. I urge each and every soul on the planet to be a part of this event in whatever way they can.

Let us make some noise about peace 

Jai Gurudev!

Celebrating #35YrsofArtOfLiving - Pursuing Happiness

Pursuing Happiness

- Aggremma Sethi

Happiness is not momentary, rather it is a constant. At least that is what I have come to believe since a while now. Happiness is not just an emotion, but a way of life. I consider myself very fortunate to have come across this knowledge at a young age.

It was in the summer last year that an opportunity came knocking at my door literally by chance. My parents were both associated with Art of Living. I grew up in a household where ‘kriya’ was an often  used word, Bangalore Ashram was a dream destination, and my younger sister was put to sleep not by lullabies, but rather the lyrical bhajans my mother used to sing to her. So, having already done the Art Excel course years ago, it was now time to do the Happiness course as soon as the opportunity came along, at least that is what my mother hoped for.

I on the other hand had way too many things on my mind to bother about this; after all I was finally enjoying an extended summer break with no school to go back to! But as they say all things destined to happen will find a way. A small leaflet came in with the morning paper one day, announcing an upcoming happiness program. I took the paper to my room and without noticing the leaflet was soon engrossed in the world of current affairs.

My mother happened to come to my room looking for something and spotted the piece of paper that had unwittingly fallen from within the sheets of the newspaper. She let out a gasp sure enough to pull me out of any political drama I was busy catching up with (this might be a bit more dramatic in my memory, I agree!) and went on to tell me about ‘being aware of my surroundings’.

Long story short, two days later I found myself in a Happiness Program along with my mother.

Anybody who has had the experience of attending an art of living course knows that the hours fly by way too quickly. Not only did I look forward to attending the next session, I also started feeling like the duration was a bit too short! This six day journey was as blissful as it could be, and it’s after effects were even more satisfying.

Not only had I learnt the art of calming my mind with just having control of my breath, I had also become a part of a community of happy and contented people who worked towards spreading this cheer all around. It was in this happiness course that I found a rare friendship with someone I would probably have not had the chance to meet otherwise, and an ever increasing family that formed connected by just one man, and three little words “jai guru dev”.

The continued works of seva, and regular satsangs, were all I needed to keep myself happy. I realized  that taking out just 20 minutes of my day to do ‘kriya’ not only made me more calm and stress free, but also increased my capacity of working drastically. No longer did I need an hour of afternoon naps to replenish my energy but just 20 minutes in the morning dedicated to myself were enough to keep me going the whole day and longer!

I came to realize that stressing about something does not make it happen any faster, rather keeping your head clear and working towards it does. This six day happiness program gave me all as promised on the leaflet, and a lot more. I still feel grateful every day for having been brought onto this journey.

I don’t know if it was my mother’s wishes, my teacher’s last minute efforts, or some cosmic play of both, but whatever it was, I am utterly grateful.          


Courses done: Art Excel course, Happiness program, DSN course, and Sehaj Samadhi Meditation
course.

Sex and Spirituality

I was once going through a knowledge sheet where H. H. Sri Sri Ravishankar (Guruji) talks about love and lust. In love he says, even an object gets life. We name our vehicle, we talk to our toys, children draw sun with a smiling face :) . And in lust he says, even human beings become objects. Such a wonderful description of why lust bothers some people? Here I am not staging a dharna against lust. I believe that every aspect of humanity has its place in the creation. And food and sex being the most common impressions among all the species, lust has definitely played one of the most significant role in the way our world is designed today.

But what does lust really give you? Osho once said, "Is it sex that gives you the pleasure? Think about it. I do not want you to give up on sex. As a matter of fact, I would say meditate on sex." While I am yet to come  to a level where I can understand how to meditate on sex, I certainly loved to contemplate on what he said next. "Think about it, is it really sex that gives you the joy or is it the moment of completion of a desire that gives you the joy?" And I tried to relate it with every desire that I had so far. Is it my degree that gave me the joy or the moment of completion of the desire to graduate? Is it Rasagulla that gives me the joy or the moment of fulfilling a craving that gives me the joy? So while attempting to understand what he said, maybe this kind of material joy is simply filling up of a crevice or a craving.

So is it possible to live that crevice-free life? Is it wrong to have lustful feelings? I think it is perfectly normal to have these feelings. In fact if you are lust free then quite possible that there is some hormonal imbalance and you need some medical check up. But in such a situation how to keep a check on that craving? Is that craving really bad? Is it wrong if I crave for sex?

I am no guru to answer such questions. And most certainly sex is the only contributing factor for the survival of life on this planet (and I can fairly assume elsewhere too). Sex was never a trouble for mankind. It is sex that ferments into lust which eventually takes form of violence that create issues where people quit their day's work and come on streets hampering law and order. It is this form of violence that has the power to destroy generations of the victim's family. Well of course I agree that not everyone is curious to rape women. But then lust in milder forms encourages forced flesh trade where millions of girls everyday are crushing their hopes, aspirations, dreams and most importantly their self respect to satiate a man's uncontrolled desire.

Again agreed, it is certainly not that easy to curb your desires. And I am not even going to encourage that here. But I would certainly like to share certain insights that I have got in my spiritual journey so far. There are certainly spiritual ways in which we can keep a check on that energy. The life force energy entering into various chakras of our body vibrates our body into different emotions and feelings. One of these feelings being lust. Breathing techniques and meditation certainly help to channelize this life force energy in and out of various chakras. And from what I understand, a person meditating for many years gets a say over the flow of this energy. Imagine where you get to decide, what emotion should you be in rather than the situation dictating your emotions. Among various simple techniques that Guruji has suggested, one is taking cold water bath. Try it out, certainly helps.

What helps further is understanding lust from a broader perspective. Certainly lust is an unfulfilled desire. Once Guruji said, every desire eventually ferments into a botheration. And similarly, an unfulfilled desire of sex dwells into lust. Where does this desire come from? From a feeling of lack, from a space of 'I don't have something'. This feeling of lack gets one into grumbling mode. Isn't it? Do we like grumbling people around us? Do you think anyone would enjoy your company if you are in a grumbling mode? Hence certainly if someone is full of lust, s/he automatically exudes repelling vibrations. And then we have youth grumbling upon, "I don't have girl friend." "I am 20 and still a virgin." Why would someone like to get close to a person with such vibes? So what is an antidote to this unfulfilled desire?

Take your mind to the time when you had complete gratitude. Maybe for your parents, your teachers, your friends who helped you in a dire situation. If you cannot find such moments, think harder. Still if there is no trace of a single moment, then we certainly have a problem that needs quick attention. When we are in the moment of gratitude, we are full. We are complete. We notice no lack. There are no desires and hence no crevices to be cemented. It is this feeling of gratitude or contentment that empowers us to get over any negative feeling. It is indeed our way to tackle the Dermentors (Yeah! Harry Potter geek). So how to be in this energy of fulfillment, contentment and gratitude? Just keep counting your blessings. Be happy about the people in your life, the events that brought smile to you, the situations that made you brave. I would certainly encourage you to experiment on this and discover if there is any relation between this act and your unfulfilled desires.

My idea of h@ppiness

"Live life as an expression of happiness and not in the pursuit of happiness" stated Bawa in my first yes plus and I was blown away by this line. I so admired the movie 'In the pursuit of happiness' But somewhere I pondered is this state of frustration, agitation mandatory on the path to success? Why am I really here on this planet if I am supposed to go through that agony?

Everyone is doing some or the other thing for happiness. Some struggle to get decent job while some struggle to excel in it. Some strain hard to have a perfect marriage while some strain harder to get out of it. Some prefer to sit in the Himalayan cave while some prefer to booze in an urban cave. Rather every activity of the human race is in the pursuit of happiness. Sri Sri goes ahead in saying that every creature on this planet craves for happiness and peace. He chuckles further, "Those who want happiness, pray. While those of who forgot to pray invented alcohol." We pray for a variety of things. But those who pray for happiness and peace know the true essence of the being.

But this prayer also comes to soothe an agitation in our minds. So does this mean that life is journey of agitation? Because this agitation doesn't settle down until either our desires get fulfilled or the desires become insignificant. And by the time this desire settles in, a new desire takes up the space of agitation and frustration.

"What do you mean by that of course I am happy many a times!" I know this thought would pop up in your mind. You would naturally tend to think that your life is not as miserable as I am putting it here. Rather let's assume that your life is not miserable at all. Are to you smiling right now? When was the last time you had a hearty laugh! When was the last time you danced like crazy and sang irrespective of whether you have audience! When we laugh without reason, dance as if there is no one around and sing as if this is the last chance to sing we get in the state of natural self. If we meditate, we can harness that natural self. With meditation we get to comprehend our natural being. And as Sri Sri says, happiness and peace is the state of our being.

So while we look for happiness somewhere outside, happiness is actually deep within us. Thus meditation is the most reliable way to remain happy. When we are deep in meditation, we get close to what our true self is. The joy in meditation can only be expressed in gratitude people have after meditation. Happiness index is scientific term to quantify how happy a person is! And the person highest on this index so far is a meditator practicing meditation since past 30 odd years. Hence Sri Sri says joy is in this moment.

Coming back to the movie 'In the pursuit of happiness' Chris Gardner finally experienced the tears of joy at the end of the movie. It took him a long struggle to finally reach that state of mind. If he were meditating, he would have been smiling all through his path of success. Being happy brings equanimity in mind and balance in our thoughts and decision. We seldom need frustration to pump our efforts to get out of a miserable situation. But we certainly need joy to get out of misery. And where is joy? With you right now. Then why live life in the pursuit of happiness? Be little smart and live life as an expression of happiness.

An Infinite Moment Passing By

Let us take every morsel with the taste,
Let us make every move devoid of haste.

Let us revere life in every breath we inhale,
Let us surrender worries in our every passing exhale.

Let us discover music within the noise around,
A symphony of various instruments limitless & unbound.

Let us listen to everyone with care and concern,
Let empathy dawn as their life we learn.

Let us lighten our thoughts as the future worries float goodbye.
Let us loosen our fist so that past regrets heave a relieved sigh.

Let us smile back to every moment of anger and fear,
Let us fight back lethargy while keeping our intentions clear.

Let us feel divinity in every stranger we meet.
Let us experience the infinity in every moment we greet.

My Major Take Away From Ashtavakra Gita

Disclaimer1: This blog is meant only for those who have completed Ashtavakra Gita. For those who haven’t, please go through the discourse of H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Ashtavakra Gita before reading this blog.

Disclaimer2: Ashtavakra Gita is not Bhagwat Gita.

“Music is harmony in sound” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

When there is no harmony in sound, it simply becomes noise. It is the tune that brings this harmony in sound. The way the sound goes high pitch or low pitch, you can virtually draw a graph in air as your favorite song beats the speaker. This graph basically comes from the fact that the song is jumping up and down over few notes. In Indian classical singing, these notes are Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa. So you take any Indian song, it is basically permutation combination of these 7 notes or Sapta Suur as we call them. The other day after we completed one of the pieces of Ashtavakra Gita, this aspect just struck me very hard. Whether we like a particular song or not, whether the song is comedy, tragedy, romantic, blues, classic or whatever genre it may belong to, it is finally a composition of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa. At the root, it is nothing but Sapta Suur. 

When I tweeted this piece of realization, Ajay replied, "Nimish, knowledge oozing out?"

For those who couldn't relate well to the above example, here is another realization that dawned on me few days ago.

Remember the birthday song we sing, "Sagar me ek leher oothi tere naam ki"

Let us take a dive in this Sagar. Nice blissful ocean with amazing flora and fauna right within. The flora and fauna in an ocean differs from the flora and fauna in the river. Reason being, the water differs from the ocean to river. We generate tons and tons of salt every day from the great ocean and yet it generously produces salt again and again for our sake.This level of salt differs from ocean to ocean. The salinity in the Bay of Bengal is lower as compared to that of the Arabian Sea. So if you take a bowl of Arabian Sea water in one hand and a bowl of Bay of Bengal water in another hand, you'd agree that the waters are different. What would happen if both of them go through distillation plant? Now try to compare both the bowls, its no rocket science that the distilled water is just the same. So what differs the Arabian Sea water from the Bay of Bengal water is the salt and mineral content or anything which is not water. Let us call this "anything which is not water" as impurities. So if we are able to remove the impurities from both the sea waters, there is no difference in any of these oceans.

I can see few nodding their heads and few smiles by now, as this is something they can relate to.

Now think, why is it necessary to do Sudarshan Kriya daily and advance courses regularly? What sort of distillation we go through when the master says, get back to your source? Why do we feel blissful and pure after every advance course? And what is that purity?

It is the impurities that create distinctions. So imagine, tomorrow a bucket of water from Bay of Bengal flies to the Arctic Ocean and says, "The water there is very hard in nature. It is very stubborn." A bucket of water from Hawaii flies to the coastline of Mumbai and says, "The water there is brown in colour." In all these comments, is it really the water that's being judged? No, water is always H2O. Poor water gets the attributes of its impurities.

"Love is not just an emotion, it is your very nature. Just like this table is made up of wood, our body is made up of flesh, we are made up of a substance called love." - H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

A Moment Before the Send Button …

She paused when she read he is typing,

Words found way on the other end of chat window,

Hear beats raced on both the sides,

But then he hit the backspace key and let the fire mellow.

_______________________________________________

“Let’s meet up buddy for our old time’s sake

Forgetting our recent past.”

A cancel button later that stamped on this initiative,

And the sms lay unnoticed in the inbox draft.

_______________________________________________

“It has been long since we have talked

And I thought an email would be a good start”

A pause after this beginning and he hit the backspace key,

And his dad missed the chance to write his part.

_______________________________________________

He reached his idol’s twitter handle,

To convey his gratitude, poured out his feelings.

Closed the window since the message was too clichéd.

Seldom reached the words that were genuine, that were healing.

_______________________________________________

Dwelling in inhibitions, living on assumptions,

Think ‘grapes are sour’ and join the fleet.

Let’s take our chance to express ourselves,

So that fate declares the status as ‘Connection Complete’.

Om Shanti Shanti

I hear people give up on religious beliefs in the interest of preventing terrorism. It seems they take the lines by Colonial Cousins 'Religion is the reason, the world is breaking up into pieces ' too seriously. But honestly, the world will anyway break into pieces. If not religion there will be something else to take care of that aspect of human evolution. We need a paradigm shift in our understanding of terrorism.

Paradoxically, hatred is an emotion that people love to nurture. Add to that our daily encounters of fear, anger and jealousy that creates a pool of sewage where we sink our tender hearts . Then eventually comes one intellectual with amazing oratory skills and mind blowing convincing power, that points finger to a section of community while belonging to another particular section of community thus channelizing this sewage into that direction. So whether it's religion or something else depends upon the 'leader', and his/her oration. Hitler channelized this hatred against Jews, Osama Bin Laden channelized this against Americans, Hafiz Saeed channelized this against Hindus while L. K. Advani channelized this against Muslims, Rahul Gandhi used this against the saffron clad sadhus, Digvijay Singh against the anti-corruption lobby, Maoists against the capitalist government, KCR against non telangana brethren and Raj Thackeray did the same against north Indians giving equal opportunity to Sanjay Nirupam against Marathi people. What we need to understand here is what is at the core? Is it religion or is it a philosophy? If you look deeper you will understand that it's human emotion given a shape of philosophy that eventually vents into religion, caste, nationality, community et al . And the opportunity for such philosophies to crop up is plenty because the breeding ground of anger, jealousy and fear eventually leading to hatred is bountiful with our minute to minute encounters.

Our leaders have a hobby of collecting such pieces of hatred and then channelize them with their convincing power. "You see that fellow is going ahead of you killing your opportunity to progress" thus blossoming jealousy into hatred. "You see the way so and so religion is growing? They will soon eat up our space on this planet" thus allowing fear to rise into hatred. "You know why you were late for the interview? Because chaps from the unwanted community have occupied all of our public transport leaving no space for you to travel and breathe", sculpting anger into hatred. All these "leaders" need is; to nurture hatred in us which coincidentally turns out to be our favorite hobby. The argument they make to convince us seem plausible, since it is something we can relate to and is served to us in oration at its best.

Try to look little deeper, in their arguments; it's not the solution of the problem, but but it is our emotion of hatred that gets pumped up. And what is missing in all of the scenarios mentioned above is understanding of human values.

There is a very valuable quote from H. H. Sri Sri Ravishankar that says "Fanaticism flourishes when religious concepts are kept before human values." And there lies the solution to our problems. Understanding the depths of human values is what can help us get rid of these emotions.

I am not in denial of the problems people face. With increasing population and limited resources to live on, our socio-economic fabric is bound to go through the acid test. But we tend to find out solutions in philosophies that promote hatred, and probably because that's an easier way out. When it is hatred that we need to get rid of, we struggle to get rid of a particular community or religion. Who imbibes this hatred within us? Is it religion? No, it is a philosophy without the background of human values. It is religion without the spiritual essence.

Sri Sri has the perfect metaphor in this context, "Religion is the outer banana skin, while spirituality is real banana. People stuck on religion chew on the skin while throwing out the banana." What really is this word spirituality? Sri Sri puts it up simply, "Spirituality is nothing but caring & sharing ; offering oneself in service." When we are in service, we end up taking a voluntary responsibility, thus committing ourselves to be the social change agents, attempting to build an ideal society through love and compassion.

So changing our religious beliefs will not help since the trend says that our "leaders " always have some agenda to make sure we nurture hatred for the sake of their power in our society. Society changes, ideologies change, philosophies change, beliefs change, what remains the same is the "leader " with a pointed finger, with new ideology, new belief, new agenda to nurture hatred so that s/he can securely fasten the seatbelt of power and enjoy the ride while we juggle the tower of our principles and religious beliefs on the tune of those new philosophies. Whether it's the way Muslims say Aamin, Christians attend mass prayers or Sikhs sing Ek Onkar every religion in its every prayer harbors peace and happiness in our hearts. Observe the way Jews greet, Buddhist meditate, Jains live their lives and the Hindus end their sessions.

Loka samastha sukhino bhavantu,
Om Shanti Shanti Shaaantihi

(Let there be happiness everywhere.
Om peace peace peace)

Dipped in love ...

Love is what attracts the electrons to a positive charge,
Love is the umbilical cord that connects a foetus to the life at large.

Love is the force of earth that holds you abreast,
Love is ur relationship with the air till in peace you rest.

Love is in the comfort of the warm hug at night or in rain,
Love is in the faith that the sun will rise again.

Love is in longing to meet that kills you inside,
Love is in the smile in your eyes that reside.

Love is in the sense of belonging towards your old scooter,
Love is the magic that protected Harry Potter.

Love is in the white flower presented to sentries,
Love is in the music that dissolves the boundaries.

Love is the feeling of Oneness that syncs the universe with thee,
Love is what connects you and me.

Happy Valentine's day.

Nimish.

posted from Bloggeroid

Innocent Anxiety

She was a toddler that could only falter without grasping her mother's finger. Her mother helped her trek the stairs of the immobile bus to the top of which the girl saw me seated right at the first seat. One cute smile and she guided by her mother proceeded to take an adjacent window seat. Sooner the mother left to get down from the bus and worried toddler followed her mom. The mom said something in Tagalog, but there are times when communication doesn't need words and I could feel the lady's instructions, "Do not get down from the bus, wait right here. I will be back." The obedient little child stood right at the doorway clutching a side bar firmly while giving some space for the new passengers to usher in. The tumult for me dissolved into a picture taken about 22 years back when I as a kid was holding the bar at the doorway of the train with expressions calling out to someone while my mother right behind me, making sure that I don’t get out of the train held me tightly. I was trying to reaching my dad.

It was the narrow gauge train to Matheran that is often referred to as the "Toy Train". Built during the British imperial times, this train travels at the speed of a centipede thus lagging behind a strolling human. But the sheer size and the charm of this train has a tourist attraction to it even today. I was way too small back then to have a clear memory of the trip, but certain incidents stay vivid. I and my parents got into the train and then suddenly my dad left his seat to disembark from the train to take our picture. My anxiety about him coming back to his seat could not smile for that picture. The wheels of the train then yanked into the motion and the train at the top of the hill began its journey. Worried I ran at the doorway while the uvula at the back of my throat kept shouting in pleads for my dad to come back on the train. The incident remains afresh in my mind since it was accompanied by a pinch that pricked me with a feeling of losing a parent. The tender brain back then had little intelligence that it is less than a child's play to get back on that crawling train. So although the incident enriched me with the knowledge of speed and relativity, the worry that hovered upon me for certain time made a timeless space for itself in my mind. And today makes me realize about all the sleepless nights that I have given to my parents while they stood at the doorway waiting for me to come back home.

Here the girl obedient to her mom’s instructions didn’t step down from the bus and anxiously kept waiting at the doorway while grasping the bar tightly. She was patient with her actions yet anxious in her expressions. And with every pair of shoes entering the bus that didn’t resemble to the ones her mom wore, her anxiety took her to another level. Soon the bus got into motion and yet the girl stood there clutching the bar even tightly. Finally to her relief, her mom got into the bus set in motion with a glass of juice for her daughter. The child all happy then went back to her window seat and smiled happily at every passing car. With a complete and secured feeling she didn’t budge her mom once while enjoying the breeze from the window and sipping the lovely cold juice from her mom’s hands. I was appalled by the strength this girl had while waiting for her mom, there was trust in her actions that said her mom will fulfill her promise to come back, but it certainly accompanied the worry in her eyes that left her insecure. Perhaps this is love …

Zeitgeist - The Spirit of the Times

"So what do you do for living?" is generally the one of our FAQs when we get introduced to someone for the first time. Well ponder a bit at the object of the preposition - "living". It is a concept accepted by the world that we do something for our living and then we do something for our liking. Which means that the activity that we do for our living needn't necessarily be same as the one we pursue as our hobby. Imagine a world where you just pursue your hobby where all of your living needs are being taken care of by technology. Imagine living in a world where technology is the driving force and you are greasing the wheels of human progress by just doing what you like to do.

What would you like to do say entertainment - love to act? So pursue it until you get bored of it. Who will pay you for that? No one. Sounds weird right? If no one is going to pay me, how the hell do you expect that I would be feeding myself? Well, the answer lies in technology. Just like you are passionate about stage performance, there are a bunch of geeks who are passionate about lab performance. They would be the ones inventing robots and machines and automating the world that would help you make your own food. So right from purchasing goods - well wait a minute, lets hit the backspace key; so right from procuring goods to processing them and then finally serving a delicious dish on your table, everything will be done by technology.

"Buddy, robots working for me? I don't have that kind of money." Again, why did we hit backspace? Because in the Lotus Project of the Zeitgeist movement, no one pays for anything. They intend to remove the concept of money from our system. So you do not pay for robots and the scientist working in the lab doesn't pay for your stage performance. Sounds like a barter system isn't it? Well it does to me to. So let us dive ourselves a little deeper into this concept.

"Why is air free and water so cheap?" asks the video documentary of the project. Well we all know the answer that it is available in abundance. No one would really be spending a rupee or a cent for a cubic meter of air, because it is available for free and in abundance. Now air is not available in water asking divers pay for the oxygen cylinders. So what do we do to make sure that the food we talked about short while ago, comes to my table for free? Well, that's right, you know the answer - make it available in abundance. How to do that? The scientists of the lotus project believe that technology has answers to all these questions. And honestly, this doesn't seem impossible from my perspective too.

Again, little difficult to digest right? Let us consider wikipedia's example. Remember the times when we used to spend thousands on the stack of world books occupying an entire wall of our living room! Wikipedia was kneering on you and it said "Ha!". Today we have the best of the knowledge about our world available on internet and that too free. How was it made possible? Well, technology did it, didnt it? Well I would like to rephrase the sentence, 'Effective use of technology did it.' People who are passionate about their own subjects scribble on this online forum where information is validated by people themselves. Who pays all these goons? No one. And yet they do it because they love doing it. There are millions of programmers publishing their codes online. Why do they make it all available for free? Because they love that work. So today, coding is not really a rocket science, because most of it is available online. Then programmers build something over this free code and erect another beauty on it. Together we create marvels in the computing world and device something like Java, Linux or Android. Zeitgeist movement's 'The Lotus Project' is basically transitioning these already achieved benefits in the online world onto the real life. And 'yes' they say, it is possible.

Now consider a nice house on the sea-shore where you can lay on a rocking chair reading your favorite book in the verandah while the sound of sea waves soothe your senses. Who would not like to live that life? So there are tens of thousands of people who would like to own that place. You cannot make such places available in abundance, can you? This is a place where demand will always succeed the supply and then you hit a barrier of economics where you need money to decide a price on the property. "Well I agree", explained Eric - an active member of 'The Lotus Project'. "I agree that our system is not foolproof. All we are saying that this is an initiative and there are good chances that we can come across a good way of living if all of us work in this direction. There are certain loopholes that we would want to plug. But we believe that technology has answers to all of these questions." So that means that the egg is still incubating. We cannot hatch it now.

"I want to cite another example. Talent is rare. You cannot have that in abundance. Everyone plays cricket, but Sachin Tendulkar comes once in a lifetime. Everyone works in science, but Einstein is born once in centuries. How do you encourage the talent if there are going to be no incentives? Today Sachin, a guy brought up from a middle class family would aspire to own a Ferrari and rightfully desire to have a plush bungalow in one of the most expensive places in Mumbai. How can you give him an incentive to play?"

"Well we think that talent doesn't need incentive. We believe that people would pour out their devotion towards their field without any of these incentives." Eric answered although not entirely convincing me. Even the zeitgeist videos about religion and the conspiracy theories are nothing but a mere entertainment they do not convince me.

But looking at the broader picture, I think its worthwhile to keep a tab on this movement so that the next time we meet, I can just ask "So, What do you do" - removing the "living" part from it.


(Image courtesy: BP.blogspot)