Blessed to be a Human !

Most of the time I write in order to get back to my normal self when I face deep disappointment and when everything around looks gloomy. Today I am writing in order to get back to my normal self from the feeling of being overwhelmed with happiness. I want to contain the feeling of overflowing excitement and optimism. This is the excitement of a happy realization of the state in which I am. It is the state in which we all are. The state of being a Human...!

Being Human is a Blessing because we truly have immense possibilities and  enormous potential. Just take a moment and ask yourself when was the last time that you had an opportunity to change things for better ? The answer is ...it was the last moment of time when you just thought about bringing the change. :) Your thinking already starts a process and your efforts decide how fast will you get it done. It is really that easy!

Imagine how blessed you are to get a new day in your life. Imagine how happy and content you will be when you go to bed knowing that you have leveraged the day to the best of your potential. When you look up to each day with excitement, is when you "live" in real sense.

If we were here to simply earn and spend money, to eat and sleep and just have leisure... we wont have been humans. Humans who have done things in life that are beyond the above activities are the ones who are truly remembered and have become immortal. To do the best that you can, to be the best in your job and your role and to be a compassionate person is the highest form of service to humanity.

Die Enormous

Waves of shock and despair spread across the globe as a devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.8 hits Nepal. The mighty Mount Everest stands and shivers helplessly as Mother Earth shakes her head in rebellion.

Time and again we humans feel the burns of Mother-Nature's rage and are reminded how tiny and insignificant we are. It reminds us of the delicate balance in this universe on which we gamble each day. The Earth's history has seen enormous devastations in the form of natural disasters. They make us sit back and rethink about our social, moral and even ethical responsibilities and question ourselves... are we doing our bit of duty as earthlings?

I take a look at my surroundings, I see the bustling streets and the crowd. I look further up there and I see the vast sky. As I close my eyes to visualize this earth hanging in this galaxy with a billion other ... supposedly lifeless objects, I get overwhelmed.

I am forced to take a moment out and contemplate on what I am doing on this earth. I feel great thinking how lucky I am to be where I am. All the feelings of greed, hatred and envy just look meaningless in the awe of the universe I belong to. The latest scientific study inspired by self-help author Mel Robbin's Ted Talk says that the way we are born, in the given point of earth's time-frame, and at the given place is an incidence counted as one in 400 trillion. Yes... that is like 4 multiplied by 10 for about 14 times! Isn't that a miracle? It is extraordinary and as the famous motivational author Robin Sharma rightly says.. "Today" is a Miracle.

In a civilization, we count ourselves as commoners and give power into the hands of those who have the most to serve and deliver. The person with highest power has the most responsibility. Realizing the fact that we are one in 400 trillion, I understand, we humans are not just special, but we are extraordinary, having got so much of power within us...!

The question is... are we living a life that is worth the power we are bestowed with? Are we serving and delivering our duties to our giver... to our Mother Earth? Its time we stop and see where we are going and ask ourselves these questions. I can only recall JayZ's famous words as I ask myself these questions... but "I choose to rather Die enormous, than Live Dormant". This is life... visibly tiny and potentially enormous.

Thank You In Advance...

Thank You In Advance... sounds like an ideal concluding line of a formal conversation. We are taught to say 'thank you' since our childhood as a part of our etiquette lessons. Our elders put it quite simply and tell us to say thank you in return of some help that we receive.

However, what used to intrigue me is when people say Thank You In Advance. It is like I am asking for something, I don't know how I am going to get it but I have a wild imagination that says my work is already done and I express my gratitude in advance! More often, this phrase goes like a million mindless things that we say everyday but we never really feel it. The question is, is there more to it?

Lately, a friend of mine asked me to watch the Divine Matrix by Gregg Braden. Honestly speaking, neither the name nor the length of the video pushed me to watch it in the first go. But being labeled as a life changer video by him, I watched it. Almost within the next two days, during a casual conversation with my uncle, he recommended me to read The Magic by Rhonda Byrne. Both these things said quite the same thing and the mystery was now completely unfolded. I learned that what has happened, is happening and that which will happen already exists. Its just that we need to attract it and we do so at different times of our life and name it as our past, present and future. For example, my dream job already exists, its just that I do not have it today but there is every possibility that i can have it soon. How? There lies the answer... by saying Thank You in Advance. Yes, it takes time and time tests you and your beliefs every time; nothing comes for free. But given the impatient person I am, I did something to test this little magic.

Two days back I lost my pen-drive that had all my important files. I was tensed and confused. I must have searched every possible corner of my house and recollected every possible place in the college where I went but in vain and gave up when even my mom couldn't find it. I soon realized that worrying isn't helping me. I sat down, stayed calm and tried to get over my anxiety and sense of loss. I closed my eyes and imagined that I opened my bag, reached my pouch and took out my pen-drive like its already there. Simply thinking about this made me so happy and so relieved that I spontaneously said Thank God. And it struck me why not do the magic test and explicitly, I said thank you in advance and left for my college forgetting that I ever lost my pen-drive. In the evening before leaving for home, a student out of nowhere came upto me and said, "Hey, I saw you in the lab the other day, you forgot your pen-drive it seems." I couldn't believe my ears. 

All I could say is 'Thank You' form my heart. It is the power of belief and of gratitude and it is no magic. Whenever in a problem, my mom always says, think positive and believe and say that good things will happen. I would always argue and say I am not being negative, I am only being practical. Now I feel she was always right, as if she knew this little secret of life! Say Thank you in Advance and your preparation meets the opportunity earlier than you could expect. It is true and has given a whole new meaning to my life. :D

It happens only in...Movies.

The first breeze of love in air brings in butterflies in the stomach of every normal being. It gives the best adrenaline rush ever and never let's you stay still. Needhi is high school student, not so popular but definitely talented and studious. Sitting on the first bench...her eyes found something more interesting than the blackboard and the equations written on it...Its her Crush... ;) :D

And while the classroom turned into a garden with waterfalls and violins played in air, she gathered all her courage to get up to reach him and said. "Listen, open your ears and mind and get it for once that from now you are mine....blah blop blap...Aa...." What's happening...!!! The class is noisier than a fish market and she woke up to reality to find neither violins and nor waterfalls. It happened but only in Needhi's head. "Alas...", she said to herself, "It happens only in Movies." and pensively looked away outside the window at a woman sitting alone in the park on a bench.

This is Laura,a business woman, a wife and a wonderful mother as well... Its 5pm and she is overjoyed to see the husband Daniel coming to her... not as tired as usual, but dressed up well, looking fresh and probably hiding something behind... what is it? Her mind thinks of so many possibilities..." Is it a big rose like the one he gave me the first time we met..." she said to herself, smiling wider than usual. "All this, at the same place; it would be so romantic like a flash back ! Or may be there is this entire bouquet of my favorite yellow flowers just like the evening he had proposed me here..." And while she was done with her over thinking and speculations, Daniel stood before her and placed a cellphone over her face...Whaaat.....Laura is so confused... the harsh ringing cellphone.....blah blop blap.... Its her cell phone ringing and its Daniel calling...

As she picked up the phone she spoke hurriedly..."Dear...I am on the same bench where would always meet during our college... How can you take so long to find it ...Come fast..." And Daniel on the other hand lost even the two minutes that he had borrowed to speak and hanged up the call on the order of his boss...leaving behind an auto-message....Call me later? Busy in a meeting. Laura sat still, dispppointed, a bit angry and wondered "Happy Marriage Anniversaries only happen in Movies... sigh..."

As she sat in dismay, an old couple walked by. They looked calm and held each others hand...

It was like an ultimate symbol of content and peace...Utter bliss...but only until another old lady confronted the old gentleman and screamed. "Gattu !!! you better don't forget your specs before taking me for a walk next time."  Grandpa hurriedly took his hand away and did the rightful...apologized both the ladies. :D

Relationships are weird...but beautiful in their own way. Some like Needhi need Courage...Some like Laura's need Time and some like grandpa...well,  he just needs to carry his specs, right?! :D Yeah...and while the  reality v/s expectation check is almost always disappointing, the best thing to do is not imagine and expect. For example, Needhi might be missing out on another guy who might be secretly falling for her instead and Daniel might have just planned a surprise dinner back home while Laura sat disappointed in the same old park...Well, for things to happen in real...we first need to live in the real world which is why it is apt to live the moment... :D Stop Expecting and Start Living. Look around and you will find a reason to smile :)

Let GO...EGO!

Ego is...thinking of self as a creator. Creator of joy, money and sometimes even life. The number of times we say 'I', 'me', 'myself' is a simple measure of our ego. It is like considering oneself responsible for the consequence of something. However we ourselves never really do anything. We are just an aggregation of energies that are held together in a constructive way.

 

Which is why people and their thoughts affect us and the environment around us. Nature by itself has certain characteristics i.e gunas and our act is a product of interaction of our energies with that of natures'. Taking a credit of an achievement or for that matter even a blame of a mistake on just ourselves is hence not justified. We often relate the quality of ego to the riches who are too proud of their wealth.  However a person who works hard in life and rises up gradually the ladder of success may secretly be too proud of having made it to the top. This is also forms ego. And in neither case does it do good to the respective persons.

Irony is... we do require ego in order to stay alive. Because we work to earn and feed ourselves and this is not possible without that pinch of ego. It is like the pinch of salt that is absolutely essential for a tasty meal. But too much of it is far from fit to eat; forget taste. Krishna, before reciting the famous Bhagwat Geeta to Arjun, had said that in order to take in knowledge, we need to empty our minds of ego and make space for the needful. Centuries later great Scientist Albert Einstein said something similar like the one seen here.

Easier to understand... yeah :P ... Coming back to our tasty food with the pinch of salt we know that food without salt is still eatable and probably more healthy. And on similar lines life is also possible by completely dropping ego. It is possible by doing our work without the expectations of enjoying the delights of its fruit. Whether or not you get the fruit is a different story. But the idea of selfless act is a definite step towards living a life without ego. You work for the love of work and not for the salary you will be getting in the end of month...which you will get anyways...isn't it!  In fact when you do not expect anything and get something, it comes to you as a surprise ... And who does not love surprises. ;-) Realize this and understand the hidden message "GO" in the word EGO itself. It quite tells you what you are supposed to do with it :D Lets all head-start this amazing year with a small commitment of doing smart, sensible and "selfless" work :D