Happy New Year!

What an year 2009 was! Amazing.

There were struggles, accomplishments, answers, more questions, success and happiness. It was not really a roller-coaster in terms of what all happened. It was more subtle. Things happened on a different plane. The year rounded off beautifully giving me clear indications of my pursuing my next venture. The torch has been passed on to a prepared racer and the next years will tell how prepared he really was!

I wish you all a happy new year. The shape and scope of this blog will change as it grows along with me. I can tell you that 2010 will be really interesting for everyone who is connected to me in some way or other.

Happy new year 2010!

-Saran

Hard is easy and Vice-versa

Most of the times, I find that the hardest things are the easiest things to do. Other times, I find that the easiest things are hardest to do.

For instance, when I am talking to somebody who are friends/family, it is quite easy for me to be myself than put on a pretentious face. Honestly, in these situations, I don’t care if/how I get judged. Considering that one of the challenges many (whom I know) seem to have is to appear as who they think they are seen as by others, rather than their true selves. (Excuse the grammar in the previous sentence)

Similarly, I am so used to being myself that it comes easy for me. But, at work, you really cannot be who you truly are. That is the place where diplomacy is the way. It is a place where I need to maintain my reservations in terms of drawing a boundary around myself and others. That becomes hard and takes a considerable effort.

I just took a simple example. But, if you think about this in general, you will find that there are situations where things seemingly hard are actually rather easy and vice-versa. The beauty is that the nature of these things do not change as much as our perspectives.

Differentiating with thought

If you have read any great literature or short works (like James Allen’s “As a man thinketh” or Emerson’s essays), you must have come across authors who have attached prominent importance to the way we should think. Some of the literature’s greatest have been bold and harsh at times in giving the message that one controls their own fate by the manner in which they think.

So, what is the big deal anyway about thoughts? Aren’t thoughts situational? If I am in deep mess, how can I think well? Where will be the clarity? It is easy for anyone observing me to give their unwarranted advise, but nobody can be in my shoes and hence, they don’t know what I go through. Further, when I am in a mess and things are not going right, how dare you tell me to change my attitude and think positively. I am doing the best anybody can, and things are just not going well for me. This is case 1.

Why do bad things happen to me? It seems like I am a magnet for misfortunes. Things happen well for others, but not so much for me. I try to do everything right, like others do. But, why do I get tested so much. It is just not fair. I feel that god is being unkind. This is case 2.

Read the stanza 1 loud and you will feel angry. Read the stanza 2 loud and you will feel depressed or sad. We accept it or not, these two scenarios mirror closely the reactions of our hearts when things are not going well. Very few of us have the capacity to recognize it and even few, to act on it. Both anger and depression make our hearts wilt and how can this be good for us?  Do you recognize your state of mind when you spend time in a garden full of blooming flowers that dance in the breeze and bask in the sun? Do you recognize the difference when you walk by a cemetery or a barren land with not even a patch of life?

Firstly, the perception of how things are going in our lives is really a projection of our state of mind. If we are unhappy and worried, things never seem to go right. The best situations still seem the worst. It is again being in a cemetery. The cemetery can have the best landscapes, flowers and garden. But do y0u think, we can enjoy those if we have the misfortune of having to go there to bid final farewell to a friend or loved one? Probably, we won’t even notice the most beautiful flower waiting to be appreciated. That is the state of mind we unfortunately put ourselves in. We are overloaded with losses, mournings, unfulfilled desires and problems that we forget to see what things can be appreciated. We feel miserable, when things are really not that bad in reality.

Spend a day entirely with a child. Don’t question what he/she does. Just stay with them and observe. Try to see what they see. You will quickly realize that the biggest difference between them and us is that they see opportunities when we see problems. My wife once told me what she read – “If a log is lying down on the road, most of us will complain and grunt. Some of the conscious citizens might move it to the side. But a child, only a child, will jump over it without any worries. He plays.” What a beautiful story! And how true this is with the way we run our lives. What differentiates the adult and the child here – isn’t it just thought?

Just thought! How simple and yet profound! As we grow old, we are conditioned to think like “adults”. We are conditioned to think responsibly and start attributing values to our actions. Weights are attached to our actions and thoughts, and little do we realize that these weights are the baggage we carry with us the rest of our lives and make ourselves miserable. We are grown ups and our thoughts have so many variables like rationality and responsibility. And yet, we lack the simple thing a child prepossess  - clarity.

Update

Recently, I have been off my blog posts a lot! I know there are some of you who really look forward to my writings …So, for you, here is what I have been doing - I have been venturing shall I say, neck deep, in vedic astrology. I have been reading some great literature like the Brihat Parasara Hora Shastra, Varahamihira’s brihat jataka, Jaimini sutras, etc. Also, I had the opportunity and privilege to peek into the analytical minds of B.V.Raman and Prof. Suriyanarayan Row, and the ride has been amazing!

Sanskrit literature fascinates me. It overflows with knowledge. I had a chance to learn this language with my father-in-law was visiting us, but didn’t have the time to do so then. Now, I might start venturing out in that area. Honestly, it doesn’t seem that hard. For the time being, I am keeping myself content with the translated works in English.

Next in line are Srimad Bhagavad Gita (one more time), and Upanishads. I will try to post my understanding and interpretation somewhere in my webpage and put the link here.

So, what is my goal of reading these – The primary goal is to stimulate my mind with great literature and the secondary goal is probably to keep understanding myself more and more. It is an honor to be able to do that.

Astrology, Destiny and Heart

Why do some things come easy and some things don’t?
I have been trying to dig an answer to the above question for some time now. One of my ventures in this area is the mighty “Hora Shastra”, commonly known as astrology. One can look at the planetary positions in a birth chart and lay out the characteristics of the person. Astrologers go to the extent of predicting what event might happen at what time in life, which I am not horribly excited about. I think life should have an element of surprise and the will changes everything. However, this interesting field of study, gave me several pointers to the natural strengths and weaknesses of a person. I applied it on myself and several people I know and it was certainly very interesting.

That brings me to a point – Several times, we hear a voice in our hearts, which resonates with nature. It tells us what we should be doing. People who follow the voice of their heart become really successful in their lives. I was comparing several aspects of my birth chart to understand karmic destiny. I could see clearly the things that drove/motivated me. The funny part is that I have never looked or encouraged anybody to take a look at my chart. I have tried to listen to my heart always. And, what I have been working towards in my life is what I saw in my chart as my karmic destiny.

Nobody needs a birth chart to tell that. That is the way of nature/life. When we start listening to our heart more, we end up on the right path.

Philosophy of Matrix

Yesterday, I saw the Matrix movie again. The movie is philosophical but it never hit me so clearly until now. Borrowing from various eastern philosophies, Matrix is a treasure house of knowledge with a simple underlying truth – “Man needs to be free”.

What does he need to be free from? The entire world of illusions and the powers that govern the illusions (read maya here). It is a brilliant portray of a concept that has been preached by learned men for ages. When a man starts questioning his identity in this world or question his existence, then the journey begins. There is no peace without answers and now ignorance is no longer bliss. As his journey takes him into the realms of the world where nature is both the friend and foe, he now has to battle the powers that has created that illusionary world, which do not want to set him free. The Agent programs in Matrix are an example of how these powerful forces manifest in different forms to keep the man a slave if he does not question their authority, and keep him dead if he starts questioning.

As Neo struggles to make his way towards self-belief and knowledge, the final thing that sets him free is when he becomes one with his self and the nature. When he sees the external world as a manifestation of himself, there is no death for him. He is truly on the path to liberation.

I have never enjoyed watching a movie so much (after a long time).

No tinted glasses now.

Growth – More plateaus…

Personal growth happens in plateaus and peaks. If you had read George Leonard’s Mastery or some other books on self-development, you must be familiar with the following diagram/chart.

peaks and plateaus

The above chart is the chart of personal growth. I think it is universally accepted now that personal growth takes place in some way very similar to this. Normally, you practice/train towards your eventual goal and see a great improvement. Then there is a plateau before you see a next growth peak. The length of plateau might vary for everyone. Personally I have found that the length of plateau is directly proportional to the amount of restlessness you possess. If and when you start enjoying your time on the plateau, it becomes shorter.

A plateau is the real revealer of inner growth. The mindset and process you adopt on different plateaus will determine the grandness of the immediately following peak.

This had been a big personal challenge for me in my life’s lessons. I was a model for restlessness once. The plateaus were very long and made even longer by my restlessness. I was eager to see the peak and every time I did that, I was not seeing at all. Now, the plateaus are natural. They are more fun than the peaks because they define my personal growth. Some peaks have been really grand and some have not but one thing is for sure – the plateaus are fun now.

Read, always!

Read books by and about great people. Imagine them sitting before you and sharing their life’s learnings. You will not get that experience even if you are willing to pay several millions in dollars.

Imagine Gandhi telling you what perseverance means to him, Mandela telling what freedom means to him, Emerson breaking off into a powerful talk on self-realization or Frost singing a wonderful poem. And all this happens right before you in your study.

Imagine Vivekananda teaching you the secrets of life and Patanjali teaching you yogic disciplines. Imagine Enid Blyton letting you into her magical mind and Dr. Seuss in his magical world. And, everything happens in your study.

Chuck the TV. Dump the movies. Read anything and everything written by people whose thinking takes you beyond what you can imagine.

Intention

Intention does not mean anything unless it is translated into action. Action does not mean anything unless it is translated into consistency. Consistency does not mean anything unless is it is translated into enjoyment.

That is the hardest of all. Translating intention to enjoyment takes lot of discipline, understanding of one’s self and patience. It takes momentary letting go of dreams and focusing on the present. It takes  immense self-belief, full heart and a scarily empty mind.

Self-help?

Do we really need all the self-help books out there?

Honestly, what do they teach us that we already don’t know? If James Maxwell asks you to be positive or Anthony Robbins asks you to courageous, does it really help other than your adrenaline rising for that moment?

I don’t want to take anything out of all the self-help gurus out there, they are incredibly talented and they mean good. But, honestly, all these self-help books give you temporary comfort blankets that make you feel good about yourself.  And yes, that is the zeroth step. The that is all it remains – the zeroth step.

If you really want to find solutions to your problems, you need to look inside objectively. Know every aspect of yourself and study it as if you would study these off-the-shelf-make-you-feel-good books. Until you don’t understand the ins and outs of your reactions to your surroundings, how do you expect somebody else to help you?

It is scary and deeply humbling to look inside ourselves. When we really observe how we talk, walk and react to the things that keep popping up in our day to day lives, we will be surprised by the revelations. Once we understand ourselves, our problems will go away without a self-help guru.