Its Simple!

"Simple", the sound of this word is so pleasing, so liberating, isn't it? It removes the clutter, helps us think better and clearer. It even lets us know whether we really need to think at all in some situations. As I have grown in Life, I am happy about one thing, I have learnt the value of keeping things simple when it comes to attainment of happiness and bliss in Life. Creating a company and products which are simple has been an agenda, I won't say I have been entirely successful in it in world's eyes, as for that to happen the key people need to appreciate "Simplicity" and weave it into the DNA of an organisation or product. I am not a great entrepreneur, just a learner!

"Evolution is complex outside, a restart from within is always simpler!"

Now, so many books, articles, lectures, even thesis have been published on these so called ever prevalent and perturbing questions:

How to be happy?

How to find the right path?

Is their a destiny?

How to get enlightened?

How to discover the Buddha?

How to keep everyone happy?

And the never ending list of questions and ever piling stock of knowledge, but to no avail. Apart from some books, I have not been a fan of many authors because they self contradict, many thinkers do. They teach, preach but can never follow and imbibe, so don't inspire. Hypocrisy might be used to describe them, but who are we to judge that. At least they share the right thoughts, we need to understand them in a simple manner. Thats our prerogative. 

Lets take a simple Q&A exercise on self. Here, the worldly me is questioning myself and the real me is trying to answer. 

Q. I want to be happy in Life, how?

A: Be. Simple. 

Get rid of the word relative. Happiness is absolute!

Q. How can I keep everyone happy?

A: You cannot. Simple. 

Care for people if you wish to, give, don't expect!

Q. How to get enlightened?

A:  Go to the mountains! Meditate! Go to the gurus! Light the bulb!

Just kidding! Don't give such words too much importance. Its simple. Let the mind relax, let it be free of expectations from people, even from yourself, take in the beautiful scenery of nature and life, slow down, take it easy, its not a race. Life is for doing things you love to do, finding time for them and accepting your limitations, super hero is a comic concept! Read it, enjoy it, don't be too serious about it. 

Enlightenment is for others, Spiritual Life is a distant oasis in desert of Life! False!

Q. How to be successful?

A: Stop! Please stop! Your definition of success is skewed by your surroundings. And it can engulf many years of your life. Take a step back, define success for yourself, don't get biased by what others do. I am sure it will be simple. Is it? No? Definition of your own success is the biggest success!

Success is an overrated, utterly relative concept! 

Q. But I want to earn a lot of money? Keeping things simple may not allow me to do that you moron!

A: Okay mister. Happy complexity! I wish money had all the answers. You go your way, I will go mine. I will earn peace, some money will do. Peace will help me do better things, if they earn me more money, well, I won't mind I say!

Money, concept created by us, screwing us!

Q. I want to be a winner! How to attain that glory?

A: Hmmm, now we are talking. Play a game of cricket, try and win, is that fine? Oh no, what happens if you lose? Depressing thought! I will give you a simple suggestion: Just play the game, enjoy and give it all you have, and you are a winner! Don't go by the Gamification rules that others have set. 

Glory is in being yourself, being at peace with yourself, right now!

Well. Thats it from my side for now. If I go any further, I may get trapped by the thought of making this blog post too attractive, too philosophical, a literary work of the great…well I am not one. Sorry to disappoint! 

Cheers!

Saurabh

(Thanks to de bono's book on simplicity for some inspiration on this topic, but I must say, the book was a bit too complex!) 

The Marvel of Nothingness!

While reading a book I realised something which was obvious and mind boggling! We, humans, the so called intelligent species on our planet, spend most of our lifetime in trying to understand those elements of Life and the Cosmos that constitute a infinitesimal percentage of it. In doing so, we wade through the tidal ups and downs of our thought process, get entangled in it many a times, even diving into the realm of madness, and on hitting the bottom, seeking a way out of it.

Lets revisit the atomic structure that we all have studied or the structure of the cells that is all we are. Ask yourself a simple question: "What component occupies the maximum percentage in these cells, atoms or of our body consequentially?" Whats the answer. Yes, its "nothing". The space in between the working components is vast and if I ask myself, that is what we are. Isn't it amazing? Even the most compact structures around us can be practically approximated to space, absolutely nothing. 

This makes me wonder, why is it so? And what kind of role does this "nothingness" play when it comes to my daily life. I understand it on a cosmic level, but again, we are a part of cosmos, although to me, humans and Life sometimes seems to be nothing but a cosmic error! But now that the error has occurred and the cosmic powers want us to live through it, how can we deploy this wonderful component of space for our well being? Its a question that I am seeking an answer to. 

What happens when we spend an entire day in meetings, the extremely engaging and brainy conversations, deploying our energies to win some arguments or take a few decisions? Basically, we drain out. At the end of it, we stand up, rush outside and seek….again "blankness". We want silence all around and when we really want it, sometimes we attain it, we try to be still, to be silent, ignore the voices and the noises of the world and desperately seek our own corner space of well being. We try our best to evade thoughts which is nothing but the manifested self and try to merge into the not so obvious but the peaceful inner self. 

How many words do we speak in a day? Or better, how much time do we speak, and how much time are we silent? Silence wins hands down, although, mentally, we might be talking or thinking a lot. But even between those thoughts, those words there are those vital spaces without which ay language, thought or conversation would not be able to convey any meaningfulness to the listener. Talking about the Listener, how well can we listen entirely depends on how silent and still can we be while trying to focus on what are we are listening to, taking our attention to the words, but mostly to the gaps between them. When our loved ones speak,  what they don't speak coveys much more than what they actually do. So what matters is the emptiness, stillness of a communication more than the linguistic fabrications that our mind is so fond of. But they are important as well, taking nothing away from the mind!

Everyone of us comes to a stage where we start wondering what is it that constitutes the inside of me? How can be more connected to it and be at peace with it even while doing my daily tasks, howsoever physically tiring or draining they might be. Lets try and follow any meditative discipline, feeling the breath, feeling the consciousness of our body, organs and most of all being in still mindset and identifying with the "field of the inner self". The presence of a stronger and ever relaxed inner being which is always in touch with the cosmos. And after some repetitions we will develop a habit of being in touch with our inner space and that is where, the real self or the "nothing" exists!

Even the most famous of thought leaders, philosophers, artists etc spent most of their time in this inner space at complete peace and only then they were able to come out with the wonderful creations which extended their knowledge across the generations. More important than the knowledge that there works conveyed is the knowledge that they didn't. If mind is noise, the inner self is the silence that we seek. 

Mind is not Life, but Life is what emanates from deep inside through the nothingness. And through the silence and stillness, we can keep the mind in check and evade what is unnecessary and be engaged in what is absolutely important to us.If we can gain that knowledge, we can explore our inner self, the amazing beauty that we are, the wonderful but tiny part of the cosmos that we are, to the fullest, we would be able to live happily and do justice to whatever error the cosmos committed!

(written at Kolkata Airport, 19 Feb '13)

  

The Time Warp!

"Whats the time now? Oh, is it 8 PM already. I couldn't finish today's targets man, I will have to work from home, or work till late night, or come early tomorrow morning. Yesterday wasn't good either." Someone says to his colleague in the office. How frequent are these statements in our Lives today. How often are we worried about a bad yesterday or an upcoming worse tomorrow? And in these worries, we go home soaked in anxiety, we drive without keeping our focus on the vehicle or on the road, we reach home, and with us, a negative vibe enters the environment and our close ones start feeling it as well. Then, incomplete sleep, bad dreams and early morning hassles, all in a crazy loop. 

Imagine now, that you are drenched in the calm waters of the ocean, at one of your favourite beaches in the world, be it a place in Thailand, or Goa or the Hawaii, and you are looking at the setting Sun and the birds flying across the fading horizon. Breathtaking, isn't it? Suddenly you transcend into a different world, a world of timelessness and your mind becomes blank, your face wearing a smile so majestic that people might think that you are the most peaceful person around. You don't want that moment to end, you rejoice seeing the nature at its best, Life as a marvel, so much so that your heart aches of it, because the present will be lost soon. 

It happens with everyone of us, so don't worry, you are no exception. But the timelessness of our tryst with nature has a deeply embedded soulful lesson for us. Lets not miss it, lets just not enjoy that moment like an escapist and then dive back into our daily lives, enjoying work for a few days, then again start waiting for similar moments. Because, Sun sets everyday, it rises, birds fly, wind blows, the cool nights arrive, we love our partner, our kids and are blessed with love in return, we do work that can be enjoyed, we drive our favourite car, we listen to music...endless moments of joy float all around us,just that we turn blind towards them in some misleading sense of self righteousness. 

We all have ambitions, targets to achieve, milestones to cross in our journey, which is fine. Life would be so pointless if we don't strive to make something worthwhile out of it. Some of us study a lot, some work and target lead positions, good salaries and some become entrepreneurs. We all are forced to think that money is very important, which it is for sure, but  no education tells us how much is enough? For many of us, our work, business etc start becoming a source of money and the enjoyment levels start dripping down. The enjoyment and passion transform into a quest of power, money and of trying to prove something to oneself or to the world. And that is when we enter a world full of sense of time. People teach us that Time is important, and one should worry about it but my simple question is, why should you worry? 

I ask so many people what they want to do after they would have earned a lot, proved a lot? The answer is bewilderingly common. "I will travel, write and relax" or "I will spend time with family" or "I will play my favourite sport" or "I will just laze around and fulfil my desires" All of these so called desires are booked for the future. Sadly, that future doesn't arrive for many of us. Because there would never be a day when we will quit the routine life and set on a dreamy journey (some of us may take the path of renunciation but very few). The reason being that journey is in the present, its still alive and kicking, we are driving too fast to see the beautiful surroundings, the small lovely moments coupled with immense peace and joy. 

Try a simple experiment. If you get an evening "free" by chance, sit down in at a quite place and close your eyes, and try to spend time with your being keeping the mind away for sometime. What will be the result? It would be so tough to sit like this for 5 minutes, as your mind will bombard your being with clutter of thoughts and to-dos and you will stand up and will start doing something else, as you will feel time being lost. 

Who has defined time? And how precious is a moment and our targets when compared to the scale of the cosmos? Why we worry so much when time passes? Why can't we stay in a moment, relaxed, at peace with oneself and enjoy whatever we do, be it work, hobby, even planning for near future, discussions, a drink with a friend, a moment in the ocean etc. I am not suggesting that we should not set targets, all I am suggesting is that we should not worry about them, we should keep doing what is necessary, find joy in it and strike a balance between the various elements of our being and Life. If you are doing anything with a feeling of sacrificing something else, you will do justice to neither and the time warp will engulf you further. 

In Life, there will be tough situations, struggles, sorrows in addition to the positive things but important thing is to remain in equilibrium with oneself for the majority of the moments. Even if there is a disturbance, slowly we should tend towards the state of equilibrium, where there is peace with oneself, calmness of the mind and happiness for what Life is! We have been gifted with Life and most of us who can afford a comfortable Lifestyle, should feel fortunate about it and live in the moment. Time, will take care of itself. Keep doing what you feel is right for the moment and be honest with yourself, without being anxious about the future, because future has no existence, it will never come and so is with the past. So why worry about them? Close your eyes, and try listening to the music of the nature, its all around us, we don't need an iPod for that. Life is not a race friends, its a beautiful journey, and a journey is all about the present moments. Lets be alive, detach our being from negativity, rejoice this moment and be free from the Time Warp!