Why do all of us end up so anxious, fearful and slave like?

Why do all of us end up so anxious, fearful and slave like?

All of us are born as the reflection of pure Bliss, the One, true happiness, with the potential to live like Kings.

But yet all of us end up like petty puppies. Driven by various lusts and petty obsession.  Living in constant fear of loss of present or imagined circumstances.

How did this happen?

Let me take you through the logical succession.

When you were a child, your needs and wants were limited. Dry diaper and food. If that was absent you cried, otherwise mostly you laughed and frolicked. Not one anxiety or obsession to allow your mind monkey to frolick and mess with.

This wasn’t a happy state for your inherent Ego. So it put its slave, the Mind, to work on you.

Mind is for analysis, but it can also be used for hyperanalysis (Pishtpinjan as we Gujjus call it or baal ki khaal nochna.) and it can also be used for dreaming and imagining.

So the mind started imagining scenarios for you and the Society helped. You were taught that nakedness is shame-shame. You were taught that dancing constantly to music was wrong. If you loved to play and race around, you were told that isn’t the only thing in life, so study. If you read a lot, you were told there is a life outside books, to go and play. If you painted a lot, you were told this wont earn your two meals a day with this art-shart stuff. If you loved martial arts, you were told – our family doesn’t encourage goondaism. Why were you told this? Why were you told stuff that curtailed whatever you thought was happy?

Because Society (including parents) is afraid of 2 things : (1) Someone who is ready to step out of the boundaries, as it is a blow to the norms and the set rules of the society….You are an outcast (2) Genuine concern for you, but by projecting their own fears and fears arising out of their experiences, on to you.

So slowly, you too started falling into the ‘Rut’…the norms. For everything that your heart said yes, there was a following argument why it shouldn’t be done.

This was the start and the end of your domestication. Till date you are afraid to cross the line, redefine the boundaries. And your patent excuses are : (1). What about my security?............ What about it? If you roof and 3 meals are secured then what are you constantly lamenting about? (2) What about my family and child’s future?.... Come on, come up with a better excuse…. You haven’t been able to even make yourself secure and you are dreaming up your future generations security?

With this brilliant start of your domestication, you started to bow down to each and every threat, as it might ‘rock the boat’ that you are currently in. You started to say small lies, you started to listen to a rude boss, you started to stop paying attention to your role in the society, you started to give in to rowdy elements in your area, you started to bend rules to your benefit. You became a domesticated cow.

With the faculty of soul, all of us posses 5 organs through which we perceive the world. Sight, smell, touch, taste and sound. With this we have the special faculty of Mind and choice.

When we are born, all these 5 organs are under “input control” of someone else. So we just leave worry to someone else and gurgle and play with imaginary friends and our feet and our hands and laugh and smile.

But as we grow up, the 5 sense organs kick in. Suddenly a lot of input (most of it useless) is being driven into our memory, our brain, our Mind. Till it is just a sensory input, it is just harmless data. But the Mind kicks in and gives the sensory input the attributes or tags of :: like, super like, dislike, abhor tags to data.

Whenever you attach an attribute ( a like or a dislike) to a sensory input, it gives the mind monkey one more toy to play with and skitter around.

That is why the ‘learned Gurus’ always tell you to either reduce your sensory input or atleast to take utmost care that whatever sensory input enters you is pure/ beneficial/ of no harm to your mind and of no harm to society. Absolute gem of an idea.

Now if we were to remain child like then we would always remain happy. And this is your Soul responding. Where there is Soul there can not be Ego.

But the Ego is fed into your Souls memory through the likes/dislikes and impressions your mind has created. And once the input starts, the memories kick in and impressions reform. Fears come in. Emotions start to resurface.

Whereas, the key to a peaceful and happy life is moderation.

Hence reduce the ‘impressions’. Reduce the unnecessary sensory input. I mean sometimes we behave like such idiots. Of what use is it if your child knows or doesn’t know the rabi/khari crops of USA and Australia.? Of what use is it for your child to learn stupid chemistry formulae and principles (beyond basics)? Yes, in future if the child shows interest in a particular branch, the topic can always be explored more. But for some reason all of us attach a lot of importance to the word of rote, to mugging up and vomiting in exams.

And eventually if all your education is only for sake of making a better pay packet, then it is a total waste. ….to put it crudely, even street walkers earn money.

The education and learning is of use if it makes you a better human being, a more understanding person, a yearner for the Soul.

To put it in short: We are born free and happy. It is all the play of the Ego and mind that puts fears, anxieties, suppositions into a journey of some days/years called as life. So much ado for a journey from nothing to nothing.

Some day the One shall shine through.

The Promise of the Soul Healer.  

Why is money condemned & perceived as root of evil?

Money is an inanimate object…To condemn it or perceive it as evil is just stupidity. It is the mind behind/ in possession of the money that would have attributes.

Money is a necessary tool of exchange. In olden times barter used to work. Now it is outdated and so a tool of exchange, currency, money is created. Very frankly, it is just a piece of paper signifying one man’s faith in another. That, upon the presentation of this tool I agree to present you with necessary goods and this act shall be repeated when I present this forward.

So money is a very useful tool. Very necessary for procuring the goods of your need. Your wants could be endless. Your needs ‘have to be’ fulfilled. So first define your ‘needs’. Definition of your needs will allow you to define yourself as a human being.

Lets start with me: My needs are a decent house, 3 square meals a day, some good clothes and shoes (brand is immaterial), my books and paints and music to keep me happy, an AC for summers…… I think that’s it. And i can even reduce this if necessity arises.

My wants would include a farm house , because I love to grow plants and trees. Some dinners outside every month, an endless supply of books, …. I really cant think of anything more.

My luxuries would include another farmhouse, a horse.... a yearly vacation to a nice place... That does it.

What are your needs and wants?

So I need money to satisfy my basic needs and once in a while some of my wants. My luxuries, I leave to fate to surprise me with once in a while.

So lets say, I need one million a year to take care of my needs and some wants.

After that cut off figure, extra money is meaningless. It is just a figure in your bank, which you greedily look at every day and do mental masturbation. That figure in the bank does not increase your appetite, or your inherent spontaneous happiness, or even your sex drive, nor does it make your partner more attractive. It does not allow you to even eat one more bread beyond your capacity.

Let us suppose you become obsessive about your wants, and money supplies those too. But again, after that it is just a figure in the bank.

So do you see the paradox? Money is just a tool, and that too effective only upto a certain  level of satiety of needs.

It is the idiotic & stupid craze and obsession of man that makes him want to collect more and more of money.

So you are spending more and more of your youth, precious time, peace of mind just to collect some figures in the bank? Doesn’t that make you silly?

And try to just look back. You bought many luxuries, big and small, with your money? ......So are you permanently happy now?

Those goods bring you a temporary high, a temporary state of happiness. But eventually that charm & obsession of the new toy/ book/ watch/ phone/ pad/ boyfriend wears off…. The 'thing' gets subjected to wear & tear and gets old. It doesn’t seem so enticing anymore. Or you may even start to see some flaws in the ‘object of your desire’.

So the flaw, the evil wasn’t in money. It was in you. You allowed the greed/ obsession/ craze to overpower your good senses. You allowed an inanimate object to take possession of your mind. (And the mind monkey always needs a new toy). You allowed yourself to be so degraded and  stupid, that you started doing mental masturbation over a figure in the bank.

And you allowed yourself to become so crazed that you were ready to give up your happiness to get more happiness. You allowed yourself to become a slave to the craze of collecting money. You were ready to lie, cheat, obfuscate, demean a fellow human, plot, demean yourself to collect more and more money.

So coming back to the oft repeated, but permanent truth, reduce your needs, curb in your wants and clearly delineate what is luxury. Apply rules of Yama-Niyama (Do and Dont) to your needs and wants. Keep your inner eye open. Be strict with yourself.

And to quote the oft repeated saying: If you thought money brings happiness, just look at the people who God gave it to.  

I also firmly believe that objects/ money/ energy flows more to the person who acts on behalf of Nature and distributes it around….. Try it out.

Lastly, all happiness got from impermanent objects is impermanent, illusory and obsessive.

Look for ‘permanent happiness’. Try to analyse where is the fount of happiness in you. If you come up with the answer more money, don’t worry, get more of it ….. and eventually get over it.

Then your journey to the One will start.

The promise of the Soul Healer.

Signing off with wishing you all the Happiest and Brightest Diwali…. May the light of the One permeate your homes… the impermanent ones and the permanent One.

Why is “work life” or “career” perceived to be so miserable?

Why is “work life” or “career” perceived to be so miserable?

As I have said before, we arrive naked, die naked, with nothing to take along…. then why so much angst for the interim journey?

We are ‘made to’ attend school, classes, tuitions and all the while the idea is drilled into us that if we don’t study and ‘become something’ we have wasted our life…… What life is wasted? That rotten, naked to naked journey?

We are pushed into a guilt complex that if we don’t become a Doctor, Engineer (Computers) or a CA our entire life has been worthless. (Or atleast that was the view in India some years ago)….. Come on, the above guys make up at most 1% of the world’s population....... So don’t the rest ‘live’?

And we are first made to think that if our life is not enhanced by a Smart phone, a Tab, a wired and enhanced Hub, a router, lights that turn on upon entry, music that plays as we saunter through rooms, then we have not ‘made it’. And then we become such slaves to these gadgets, that life without it seems handicapped.  Lastly, if we decide to not be a slave to these gadgets, either we are made to feel inferior or ‘lacking’.

Why all this furore? Because, your mind monkey fears your freedom. So this enslavement of your thoughts and enhancement of your likes and dislikes.

Not once are you allowed to think: naked come , naked go, let me enjoy the journey.

Not once will you be allowed to say, by the society: I shall be the monk who sold his Porsche.

So all of us are forced into a Job pattern approved by the society. A Job which involves a lot of money maybe, but not exactly what you dreamt of when you were a kid.

When you were a kid, you dreamed of becoming a pilot, a train engine driver, a fireman or postman.

And what exactly do you do just now?

Push some papers around, up and down the ladder, with your signature and ‘remarks’. Papers that imply some exchange of funds (on paper) from here to there, or some assets (on paper) from here to there. Papers that imply some sales figures of having sold some Tablets or some BlueBerries.

Or if you were one of the really ‘lucky ones’ your job involves holding ‘figure crunching’ and ‘pep session’ meeting everyday….. Meetings which involve words like: thinking out of the box/bracket, comprehensive team push tactics, simultaneous client-seller synergy !!!! ………. What goobeldy gook, what utter crap with words……. A straightforward business involves selling to a buyer, what he needs, in the most ethical way, with a profit for yourself.

It does not involve constant talks of ‘profit margins’ and ‘sales incentives’.

It does not involve fooling someone else.

But most of you know that your job is just that.

And so you hate your job. Because you inherently know that your job has no purpose, it is useless. You are just doing it for the fat pay packet it gives you. You are doing it so that you can now ‘maintain’ the lifestyle of Pods and Pads and Tablets and Hubs and Bose sound and Mercs and cooks and maids…. With a Mahabaleshwar vacation…….. hahahahaha…… You pimped your own self.

Honestly….. tell me one answer straight… does your job make any practical difference to anyone’s life anywhere? …….Seriously, even the slightest, practical positive difference?

If your answer was No……THAT is why you hate your job….. You didn’t drive the trains that you dreamed as a kid, you didn’t save someone’s life….. You are just pushing paper.

Do something, some activity that adds a sparkle to someone’s life, preferably a stranger. DO some work that involves physical activity and enhances the life of fellow human beings.

Then you wont hate your ‘work’.

Or better, learn a education that allows you a work and career that enhances the life of humans beings, your fellow beings.

I did. I save eyes everyday, I restore vision everyday. I do most of it without any monetary consideration. I love what I do, all day long. This is what I dreamed as a kid.

Learn a work that you love and enhances lives of others. You will start loving your job.

 

The promise of the Soul Healer.  

What do you mean by: ‘Detached Attachment’?

What do you mean by: ‘Detached Attachment’?

To a normal thought process, each of us is either attached or detached. Both states in within their pure meaning are fine.

But we are humans. We have corrupted everything in within our reach. We have corrupted these pure states too.

We either love some person/ object/ relation/ passion to a degree of obsessive attachment. OR. We become so aloof/ detached/ averse/ uncaring that it almost borders on neglect or hate.

These are extremes of emotion. Extremes of anything is bad. Moderation is the key word to a stable, calm and composed life. Moderation is the key to the journey of the Soul.

Yama – Niyama…… Why do I go on repeating the Law of the Do and Don’t ? Because a rigid law of what is good and what is bad is the key to building the character. What is your worth or even self worth without a good character?

If you enter the armed forces, they make you exercise, revise, exercise, revise, exercise, revise…. So that when the opportunity arises, the mind isn’t allowed to think… it reacts as it is trained to….. Yama-Niyama is the same rigid training of the character.

We should love our family, our friends, our social circle. But some of us become so obsessed with this relation that it becomes a chain around our heart. The smallest adverse reaction by these people, not expected by us, and we feel hurt. We feel slighted. Or we get an unexpected compliment/ hug/ gift from a loved one, we start mooning like a puppy. We like our drink and good food, but we become so obsessed with it, that on the rare occasion when we don’t get our desired food, we feel depressed. We love a car and wish to own it. After a while it becomes such an obsession that we start feeling unhappy in our present car. We become so obsessesed with the love of our girl friend that if due to any reason we have to separate, our world shatters. We become so obsessed with our teenage love that we act like lovelorn puppies. We become so obsessed about the pair of jeans we saw in the store yesterday, that we think about it every moment till we can go and buy it……. Really?  You going crazy over a pair of jeans? Or a Car? Or a puppy? Or a lover? What about your love for yourself?…….. Or your commitment to yourself? …. Moderation is the key word.

Or take the other extreme. Detachment. You have a life, a wife, a family, parents, your duties (which you bloody took on voluntarily). But when the bug of religion / detachment strikes you, you start talking about leaving everything, going to the mountains or an ashram, doing meditation all day long. Good idea all by itself, but who shall take care of all the responsibilities that you took on your shoulder? Who shall take care of that early marriage you did because your loins were aching? Or when a loved one or relation starts to withdraw from us (due to any reason…. don’t judge) we also allow our Ego to raise its head and we too withdraw. When a loved one seperates/ leaves/ dies we act as if life should stop and play violins for our grief. When our car is scratched, we act as if someone’s life was scratched. When a job is lost we act as if our world has ended. We live in a manner as if we are so attached to each other, that the other person’s life will stop if we die.

These are extreme emotions. These lead to instability of your Soul. These lead to extreme upheavals in your mind. And the Mind monkey starts prancing again.

So learn “Detached Attachment”.

Be calm and serene in your nature. Be stable in your actions . Be reserved in your reaction. Be happy for that moment and in that moment. Do not go on pulling that happiness or the moment like a chewing gum . Do not over reach in your happiness or grief. It is the law of nature and life that people come and people go. It is also the fact of life that people forget their grief in a little while. Be happy in that moment of pure joy, enjoy it to the fullest. Forget it tomorrow. Grieve in the moment. Learn to move on tomorrow. It is the law of nature that everything in your posession goes through wear and tear.

Because in the end, all of us are just bones, blood, piss and excreta in a bag of skin and hair. Do not become too attached to this body of yours or to the body of your lover.

Again, do not misinterpret my words.

I am asking you to live more fully. But IN the moment. I am asking you not to dream in the future or wallow in the past. Live this moment as it should be, and then let that moment pass.

If there is anything to be attached, it is the Soul, the One. If you want to show attachment, show it for the One. Love it with so much intensity, the same intensity with which you pine for the embrace of your lover.

IF you love the Soul with that passion, it has to but reveal itself to you.   

The promise of the Soul Healer.  

Soul Healer. Where do we start.?

Let us start with the perennial question of existence: Why this Grief, why this anxiety, why this feeling of incompleteness.? What is it that keeps man unhappy inspite of multiple achievements and possessions.

Firstly, let start with rock bottom fundas.

All of us are born naked and shall die naked and shall depart into next life/ coffin till resurrection or judgement day or be disposed in a dump. We shall leave without a shred of the wealth that we spent our life, time, morals, peace and happiness to amass.

So much anxiety for just the journey?

Secondly, all of us live our lives too afraid of what life will present us with. We are too afraid of the surprises in store for us, the odd averse circumstances, the rare calamity. Why? Because we have put ourself/our mind into a comfort cocoon. Anything outside that and our anxiety, grief and blood pressure rises.

Remember the stories in the first post of Soul-Words.? Our bare basic necessities are 2 or 3 square meals a day and a small roof over our heads to protect us from natures elements. Everything else…..everything is just a luxury that your mind went on adding while you grew up.

What if I walked up to you and said “I will guarantee you a roof and 3 square meals a day, for lifetime”? Most of your anxieties and fears would drop away. You would start living as the King that you were born as. Your actions and reactions would not be dictated by fear, wants and anxiety. ….. So what is stopping you just now? Most of us have a basic roof and 3 meals coming to our table. Live free and fearless and act out of the strength of knowledge and love.

Stop that Pad, that smart phone, that diamond encrusted watch, that fancy luxury sedan (that also tells you the temperature outside and inside), that person, that house from becoming your want, then your lust and eventually your obsession.

Reduce you needs, check in your wants and analyse your luxuries.

And do not take my words wrongly. If you get occasion to use them, do so with unmitigated joy and excitement in the moment. Live for just now, in this moment.

Learn to enjoy the luxury whenever presented to you. Stop losing your sleep over it. Learn to enjoy everything in life with “detached attachment”. Be it material possessions or human relations.

Seen a small child.? Naked, cannot move from where its mother has put it. And yet happy and carefree. Gurgling, laughing, thrashing its arms and legs in the air, playing. We too were born like that, but then our mind started putting in imagined needs, lusts, fears and anxieties.

Let the “Child” in you come out again. See and live each moment with amazement. You plan too much for 20 years down the line. Who knows you may not live for the next 20 minutes.

Let the “King” you were born to be dictate you life's actions, out of love and strength.

Live this moment, enjoy whatever life presents you in this moment. Live with “Detached Attachment” to this moment.

Live knowing the Soul Healer shall hold your hand through all of your anxiety, grieg and turbulent days. The promise of the Soul Healer.

Why do you always say: “Fool” the mind?

As I always go on repeating you are the One, you are the ‘diamond’, you are born a King. You are absolute happiness ......Sat-Chit-Ananda.

Then why aren’t we aware of it.?

You aren’t aware of your Soul, your happiness, because (1) Your analytical mind and your Ego are afraid of the calmness /silence it will bring with it (2) You are over indulging in sensory input: with too much sound, visual input (sometimes very bad), constant taste trip, sexual perversion. (3) You are afraid of the change it means eventually. (4) Your threatened Ego is sending its pet monkey, the Mind to distract you

The Ego is afraid because the pure Soul and Ego cannot exist at the same time. Rise of Soul means eventual death of Ego.

To recognize your Soul you require a pause in the sensory inputs. Why? Because they make the Mind monkey dance. You require to be restrained in your words and action. You need to think before acting. You need to eliminate pervert sensory input. Very simply, the rules of Yama – Niyama apply here too.

Now if you want to argue for sake of argument and ask me why this and why not that. I have a simple answer. Do not do anything that you would want erased from your cupboard/ computer/ office desk when you die + Do not do anything that you wouldn’t do openly in front of your child and family. This will answer 95% of the people, except the ‘special 5%’ who I would have to meet personally !!

Also too much sensory input creates (1) too much useless memory + work & open playing field for the Mind monkey (2)  leaves you little time for contemplation (3) Instead of  making you more stable in your own self, it creates more likes and dislikes.

When your daily journey towards One starts, the polishing of the ‘diamond’, slowly your wants, your needs, your lusts, your demons, your desires, your Ego will start reducing and then dropping off. Your mind Monkey that has been conditioned by Society is fearful of this ‘detached’ attitude. So it will go on producing excuses for you to not go on this path. Your Ego and Mind will fight you fiercely. This will be your toughest battle, and also the place where maximum have succumbed. The Ego will fight so hard that you will call yourself a eunuch, a pantuji, a dork. You will have to persevere through this.  

Lastly, and I say this with a lot of confidence, your Mind is your biggest enemy and adversary on this journey towards One.

Want an example: Read this paragraph, close your eyes, think about what I tell you, Hold the thought and open your eyes after 3 minutes and tell me all your thoughts in a row. Ok? Ready?

Australia.

3 minutes? What sequence did your mind show you?

I will tell you what my mind showed me : Australia….. Kangaroos, Fosters Beer, ……Beer I love….. here in India I drink Kingfisher……. my weekend trip with my buddies……. we are going to Karjat….. I like Karjat but I don’t like eating there…… There shall be a lot of mosquitoes at Karjat this time….Hmmmm mosquitoes… I cant risk Dengue… If it killed Mr Yash Chopra what are we….Mr Chopra’s movie… who will complete it… but I wont see it as it seems a silly movie… which remind me my TV isn’t working… I need a set top box.

See: where did I start? I was supposed to hold the thought : Australia. And I thought 10 different things in the interim.

This is the random nonsense of the Mind which I mentioned in my previous post.

This is the perfect example of the Mind monkey. You mind is a monkey, skittering here and there, never silent, never stable. Because in the pause of your mind, you will see your Soul. Whenever your mind pauses, in whichever situation or setting, your Soul will show.

Hence learn to ‘fool your mind’.

How?

Firstly learn to control and ‘observe your breath’. Since breathing is so essential to all life, your mind will not be able to escape. And yet it will try. Gently bring your thoughts back to observing your breathing. Breathe in deeply, hold, breathe out.

If you want a demonstration of the fact that your mind will be controlled when you observe your breath, just hold your breath for a minute.......... Your mind will dare not wander, as your life is at stake....... The only thought in you in that one minute will be your breath.

Stop your mind from wandering. Hold a thought. Tie your mind Monkey to any object. The favorite object world over is God. Concentrate on your favorite God. Don’t let the mind wander. Bring it back to the object as it wanders.

Meditate.

Learn to smile a lot. Even falsely, in adverse circumstances. This shall fool your mind into reducing the stress and anxiety. The mind will remain happier.

Learn to reduce you needs. Do not let your wants become your needs, or worse your obsessions. Learn to curtail your luxuries. If you want to search the One, decrease your sensory inputs. Apply Yama – Niyama and character to your sensory inputs.

Rein in your Mind monkey. Your mind has to be fooled into inactivity, into subservience of the Soul.

Your journey to the One is well on the way.

The promise of the Soul Healer.   

So what do we do?

So what do we do?

So we have understood that “we” ourselves are the key to our happiness/ our salvation/ the termination of our anxiety.

So what do we “do” to now become more happier, more content, more at peace?

Nothing.

You already are the One. You already are the Soul, unsullied, unblemished, true, shining, pure, love, peace.

You just have forgotten over your many births/ weeks / months (select whichever suits your faith or beliefs) that you are the One. Your “mind” has surrounded your “soul recognition’ with imagined anxieties, fears, plans, expectations, burdens….. or just random nonsense.

My favorite allegory.  A Diamond. It is so pure, radiant, shining, sparkling, precious. Then you throw it into the street. Mud, grime accumulates over it. Then it rolls into the gutter. More sludge encompasses it. Anyone seeing it doesn’t recognize it as a diamond. They see a rock or worse, a sludge. Slowly even the diamond forgets its diamond attributes. But inwithin, the diamond is still present. Someday shall come a deluge of rain, wash away most of the sludge. Then a jeweler will pick it & polish it, and the diamond will shine again. The Diamond that always was there. You are the diamond. You are the One.

So knowing we are the ‘diamond’ do we just sit around? And wait for the ‘enlightenment’ to happen?

Yes, you could….. but then the time period to your becoming a ‘diamond’ prolongs.

So follow a good set of Yama and Niyama. Do’s and Don’t’s. Inherently all of us know what is good for us and what is bad. So I wont sit here and pontificate.

Just follow the set of rules good for you….. For example, if eating only Vegetarian food keeps you healthier and fitter, follow that strictly, your Niyama. If you always make an ass of yourself after drinking, follow the Yama of not drinking at parties (anyways, its bad for your liver and your brain cells).

Secondly, exorcise your personal demons. It may be anger (commonest), jealousy, gossip, small thievery, bad tongue, perverted sexual desires….. Whatever..... The list is endless.

My personal flaw is my hair trigger anger with a chip on my shoulder. And that I don’t tolerate fools easily. Now in my profession I meet atleast 100 new people everyday. Everyone from different backgrounds, upbringing. My attitude, with the above flaws, wont do. So my first Niyama is to talk softly to everyone. My second Niyama is to never reply fast, always think the answer in your head, reply after a pause. Yet, usually everyday, my irritation for some silly patient always surfaces.When that happens, i use my favorite trick, I close my eyes and imagine my favorite God (Mahadev/Maa Durga) or my favorite person sitting in place of that patient. Immedeately a smile lights my face, anger melts and I talk to the silly patient with utmost love and compassion. That is My personal ruse to exorcise my demon. But slowly my anger has started reducing, it doesn’t rear its head too often. You find your ruse.

Lastly, analyse your personal demon. Think why you are doing this. Why are you acting or reacting like this. Why are you having this bad trait.

Usually it is our inherent feeling of superiority over someone else and our being judgemental. We are very judgemental about the beggar at the crossing, the man who doesn’t vacate seat for old people, the unbathed villager, the unmannered worker.
You were lucky to be born in a good house, to good parents, 3 square meals, an education, have your luxuries. What can you even guess about how those people grew up, through what poverty, through what tribulations, through what abject dreariness?

When you judge or snook your nose at them, remember - they feel the same emotions you do, the same wants that you do, they would love the things that you take for granted.

Mellow down. See the world a little more softly, with pink shades on !!! The world is filled with love, happiness, laughter.

Stop being a grumpy, hoity-toity, angry, judgemental prig. Loosen that silly tie you hang around your neck, remove your shoes, walk on the beach with naked feet, see the sunset with its myraid colors, eat a cotton candy/ gola……. Share it with a stranger if you can.

Slow down your life and its pace.

And learn to polish the “Diamond”….. It isn’t a one time thing, it is a daily grind… a daily process ….. some days shall be good, some days bad…. Hence the immutable Yama - Niyama….. They form the basis of a good character…… Of what use is all your education, your hoity-toity ness, your suit and tie, your attitude if you cannot stick to a simple promise to yourself of not smoking?……….GO… Don’t eat my head.... Eat your own Head..... Polish the ‘diamond’ everyday... Not for me or some Guru, for Yourself.

Some day the One shall shine through.... it may not be a small journey...It may be a tough journey, depending on the "grime and sludge" covering your Soul and your will to 'polish' it........So what?...... it is Your journey..... Journery on proudly... Happily..... One day the One shall shine from you.

The Promise of the Soul Healer.     

What is happiness?

What is happiness?

Happiness is what you are. Happiness is the state of your Soul, your being, the One.

That is how all of us are born. No worries no tensions, no wants, no anxieties. That is why you see a baby and you feel unalloyed happiness. And that is why all of us loves a baby, because, here we see in front of us this being that is unadulterated joy. The state all of us aspire to. And yet somehow it eludes us.

Why?

Before we go into the academics of it, let us hear a story.

A man went to Kashmir. Saw its ethereal and eternal beauty. Then he rented a houseboat on Dal lake. Was further impressed with the joy of natures beauty. He looked at the boatman, lounging around in the sun, chewing on a lotus stem and looking at the mountains on the horizon.

So the man went up to the boatman and said: “Beautiful view, isn’t it?’

“Hmmmm”

“Kashmir is heaven on earth, rightly said, isn’t it?”

“Hmmmm”

“You own a houseboat in paradise, but you aren’t working hard enough.”

“Hmmmmm”

“You should build a web site, post pictures, have a feedback mechanism.”

“And then what”

“That will attract more tourists, especially foreign tourists and educated tourists.”

 “And then what”

“That will bring in much more trade, much more work, you’ll buy more boats, maybe have an office, some staff”

“And then what”

“Then you’ll have a Vacation Company, some charters, lots of business.”

“And then what”

“You’ll earn lots and lots of money.”

“And then what”

“Then you’ll be able to take vacations in Switzerland, Alaska cruise, see the most beautiful places.”

“What exactly do you think I am doing just now?”, said the boatman and went back to his lounging and lazy munching on the lotus stem.

Happiness is here and now. In this moment. All of us, not aware of how much will we live and what will be our future, plan too much for it. Let me work hard just now, do these business trips just now, do this 14 hour day just now, do these yearly target drives just now……. I will play with my son tomorrow. I will hold my wife’s hand and watch the sunset tomorrow. I will have a vacation with my far off cousins the next year. I will learn painting later on, when I have the time. I will watch my daughters kindergarten play the next year. I will take a walk on the beach everyday from next year. ……. You plan too much, as if you want to live forever or that you are going to live forever.

The only moment in your control is here and just now.  What you can change is just now.

If you sit back just now, for the next 5 minutes and remember…..the best moments of your life didn’t involve too much money or luxuries or yatches or parties. Your best moments were the ones spent holding a toddlers hand, running after your child, holding your beloved hand, trekking that mountain with your buddies, lying on your back and looking at the stars at night at your family’s ancestral home.

Then why all this heartburn, this drive, this work, this lack of timeless perpetually? So that you have a better pension?  So that you have a bigger home, when old?  So that you may have a car when old?

You may have all that. But you wont have the time? You wont have your loved ones by your side. They’ll have moved on. Or maybe some circumstance, some calamity will take away all that you planned for, all that you worked your ass off for.

The only moment in your control is here and now.

And if you think hard, your fears, your anxieties, your troubles are also all in the future. In this one microsecond, one moment, while you read this- you are free, doing what you love, of your choice.   

And do not let me define your happiness for you. You know inherently what makes you happy. It may painting, it may be doing social service, it may be reading books or it may be making music.

Also we are impressed /anxious about and allow Society perception to define our happiness. "If i feel happy in travelling by train and not taking a plane, i must be perceived as middle class". "If i feel happy by listening to Classical music and not rap, my friends may perceive me as not hip". " If i feel happy being nice to people who serve me, i may be perceived as too tacky"....... See, there itself, your happiness is being constrained.  

Happiness is in your control, here and now. In this One Moment you are free, unsullied, unattached……. You are the One.

The Promise of the Soul Healer.

Why the Grief?

Soul Healer.... Where do we start.?

Let us start with the perennial question of existence: Why this Grief? Why this anxiety? Why this feeling of incompleteness.? What is it that keeps man unhappy inspite of multiple achievements and possessions.

Firstly, let us start with rock bottom fundas.

All of us are born naked and shall die naked and shall depart into next life/ coffin till resurrection/ judgement day or be disposed in a dump. We shall leave without a shred of the wealth that we spent our life, time, morals, peace and happiness to amass.

So much anxiety for just the journey?

Secondly, all of us live our lives too afraid of what life will present us with. We are too afraid of the surprises in store for us, the odd averse circumstances, the rare calamity. Why? Because we have put ourself/our mind into a comfort cocoon. Anything outside that cocoon/zone and our anxiety, grief and blood pressure rises.

The root cause of our grief is our "expectation from the future".  

Remember the stories in the first post of Soul-Words.? Our bare basic necessities are 2 or 3 square meals a day and a small roof over our heads to protect us from natures elements. Everything else…..everything, everything, everything is just a luxury that your mind went on adding while you grew up.

What if I walked up to you and said “I will guarantee you a roof and 3 square meals a day, for lifetime”? Most of your anxieties and fears would drop away. You would start living as the King that you were born as. Your actions and reactions would not be dictated by fear, wants and anxiety. ….. So what is stopping you just now? Most of us have a basic roof and 3 meals coming to our table. Live free and fearless and act out of the strength of knowledge and love.

Stop that Pad, that smart phone, that diamond encrusted watch, that fancy luxury sedan (that also tells you the temperature outside and inside), that person, that house from becoming your want, then your lust and eventually your obsession.

Reduce you needs. Check in your wants. Analyse your luxuries.

And do not take my words wrongly. If you get occasion to use them, do so with unmitigated joy and excitement in the moment. Live for just now, in this moment.

Learn to enjoy the luxury whenever presented to you. Stop losing your sleep over possesing it in the future. Learn to enjoy everything in life with “detached attachment”. Be it material possessions or human relations.

Seen a small child.? Naked, cannot move from where its mother has put it. And yet happy and carefree. Gurgling, laughing, thrashing its arms and legs in the air, playing. We too were born like that, but then our mind started putting in imagined needs, lusts, fears and anxieties.

Let the “Child” in you come out again. See and live each moment with amazement. You plan too much for 20 years down the line. Who knows, you may not live for the next 20 minutes.

Let the “King” you were born to be dictate you lifes actions, out of love and strength.

Live this moment, enjoy whatever life presents you in this moment. Live with “Detached Attachment” to this moment.

Live knowing the Soul Healer shall hold your hand through all of your anxiety, grieving and turbulent days.

The Promise of the Soul Healer.

Learning to Blog

I am learning to blog.... hence the mistakes, the varied color schemes, the dull background..... Bear with me... i am a Genius... Gods favorite child.... Hold my hand... I shall master this too, soon. ...And thankyou for reading my Blog

Soul Healer

Soul Words of the Soul Healer…… What is this Blog?  …. Why these words?.... Are they the answer to all your questions, quandaries, soul-searching, musings, heart ache, grief?.... Are they answer to mine?.... Seriously? … The answer is I don’t know.

But some years ago, very incidentally, nothing planned, my heart started asking questions. My soul started yearning to fill some emptiness in my heart. It was as if no luxury, no joy on earth could satiate the hunger in my heart. No excess of the flesh and luxuries could bring a happiness to a yearning mind.

But those questions also started bringing with them a calmness, a wider perspective to my world. The luxuries, the needs, the lusts started slowly falling away or atleast started seeming inconsequential. The needs were still there, but the frustration on not being able to fulfill them started to fall away. The love for entire humanity started expanding. I stopped being judgemental and started to understand a person and his perspectives. What were needs started to become luxuries, to be enjoyed if there, but not to be pined or lusted for.

And if I am making it seem as if all of this was and is easy, then it is my mistake. It is still a struggle between satisfaction and lust everyday. 2 steps forward 1 step back is my daily story. And many a days I totally forget my good side and let the beast loose…. And the next day my journey starts afresh, without regret, but maybe with fresh perspectives…..

I know it’s a long journey, but its ok. Because I don’t exactly know what the destination is. So I am enjoying every step of the journey. And it is as if it is a very very large puzzle. One by one pieces are falling into place. Somedays I see shimmers of the larger picture, then it vanishes again. So I am believing in seeing the larger complete picture some day and enjoying the game, the journey meanwhile.

I hope you did notice that in all this preaching and rambling I did not use the word God or religion once. And nor did I start to disprove God and religion. To each his own. Whatever makes you a better person, for me, is your God. Whatever method inspires you to become a better human is your religion. Religion is a system of beliefs. Faith is the non-commutable, constant, One thread in all human beings.

Now before I proceed further and further, let me tell you 3 stories which form the main stay of my strength in weak days.

It was a dark stormy night.
Deafening thunder rent the dark skies.
And it was raining in sheets.
Like a waterfall from the skies had opened up.
On the thicket of bramble bushes, the beggar woman had spread out her tattered saree. Under it, in her exposed body, she sat hugging her 4 year old son. The saree above provided some respite from the watery deluge. And yet the stubborn water would drip through the cloth, and the tatters. All that she could do today to protect herself and her precious child from the deluge.
And yet they found comfort and warmth in each others embrace. Mother and child watching, from under their dripping canopy, the naked watery dance of raw nature with interspersed thunder.
Suddenly, the child picked his small face up from the crook of his mothers neck and asked "Maa, what must the really poor be doing in such rains?"

Alexander the Great was marching on towards India. On the borders of the then Hindustan, he heard of a very great & learned Pir. So he sent his generals to invite the Pir to visit Alexander. 4 Generals decked up and went to meet the Pir. They told him “Baba, we are Generals of Alexanger”. Replied the Pir “Alexander who?”. “Alexander the Great, he has marched from Greece, through all of Europe and now on the brink of India”. “Oh, seems to be quite a big man. Do convey him my regards… and regrets too, but I don’t go anywhere from my small hut, my world.” The Generals were baffled, but dare not take the Pir forcibly, as Alexander had sent them to invite the Pir. So they went back to Alexander and conveyed the Pirs words. Amazed, Alexander asked them: “You did tell him it was Alexander?” “Yes, sire.”. “Alexander the Great? Ruler of the world”. “Yes, sire”. “And yet he refused?”. “Yes, sire”. “Well, then we shall go and see him personally tomorrow” …… So next day, Alexander, resplendent in all his gold armour, with his Generals and a large battalion set out to meet the Pir. When he reached the small hut on the hillock, the Pir was sitting outside the hut, basking in the sunshine, playing a flute, his mangy dog lolling besides. Alexander said: “Greetings Baba”. “Greetings son” “I am Alexander, the Great”.. “Oh, so you are the man,… your men told me yesterday”. “Baba, I too have heard things about your greatness”. “All dust, son, all dust”. “Baba, is there anything at all that I can do for you?”. “Nothing son, I am content”. “Anything at all , Baba? I can build a palace for you here, leave you some slaves to cook and clean for you, a battalion to tend to your fields and garden? Anything at all that I can do?”…. “Hmmm, so you really do want to give me something?”. “”Yes, Baba”. “Hmmm….. ok, then you shall surely oblige me by taking a step top your side and let the sun fall on me”……Saying this, the Pir again began to play his flute…… (The story up to now was a fact, now is the supposedly fiction part) ….. Hearing this Alexander realized that how could he ever be able to rule such a land where such teachers reside. And he and his armies turned back  towards Greece.  

 A poor man decided he needed to ask his king to give him a gift of some money, in his dire need. Deciding that prayer was a good time to approach as it may put the king in a better mood. So he reached the palace at prayer time. He say the king kneeling in prayer and asking God for victory over foreign lands, more lands, more money, more power…… And the man turned back to his small incomplete life.

This formed the base of what I shall write from now on. I shall never judge or pontificate. Never shall I try to give you your answers. I shall only help you to ponder, request you to ponder on my words, my stories.

And I promise to hold your hand while you do so…. It may be dark and stormy, but I promise to hold your hand….. The Promise of the Soul Healer.