Be Aware Of Your Mortality

“The blessed life must be lived to the fullest before it is engulfed by the whirl of time.”

Why did Swami Vivekananda, Albert Einstein, Thomas Alva Edison, Sir Isaac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci, Adi Shankracharya, Ramanujam etc. could accomplish many great achievements in their short lives and others could not …?

It is because they were constantly aware of their mortality. Life is the sum total of each and every moment. They knew the importance of it and decided to spend their each and every moment in thinking and doing something great rather than dissipating their energy and time on something insignificant irrelevant.

Our life is not different than what we think and do at any point in time. If we think and act like great people, our life is going to take the shape like them, if not, we are going to be the same frustrated person year after year.

A realistic plan cannot be delineated without associating a realistic deadline against each item. The same is true about our life. Our life is associated with a definite deadline which nobody can alter. This is not a new information, many people talk about it, but very few people truly understand and implement it in their lives. Those people can be counted on the fingers.

Those few people understand their life, not because they are very intelligent and others are not. They understand their life because they are constantly aware of their mortality.

When we get the sense of mortality, we will never think to waste our time on something which are irrelevant to our existence, you will not allow ourselves in any immoral things and thoughts which bring distress in our life,  rather we will use the time and life force on our set goal and its achievement. There would be more warmth and vibe in our life.

From Kankar to Shankar

The same stone (Kankar)can be used for the different purposes. The value of the stone depends how that has been carved and where that has been placed. The internal composition of the stones is the same. But, one sort of stone is worshipped and others not.

The same stone is used to make the temple, the same stone is used to make the stair of the temple, and the same stone is used to make the image of the gods or goddesses.

The stone which is used to make the image of the gods and goddesses is placed at the most sanctified place of the temple before whom the visitors bow down and revere.

Every piece of the stone contains a beautiful image in it. And that image comes to the surface and becomes visible to all when that is properly carved. Not only one sort of image, any image can be carved from a piece of stone. It depends - which image one wants to carve from that stone.

If the same stone is used to carve a beautiful image of gods and goddesses, it is placed in the sacrum sanctorum of the temple and worshipped. If the image of the Shaitan is carved from that stone, the same stone is despised.

If the same stone is not carved, that is used for the stair of the temple where people place their feet to climb to reach to the carved stone and bow down.

The same is true with our personality. Everybody`s  internal composition is the same. But one person is respected and valued wherever he goes and others are discarded. It is because, one person has put his effort and hard work to find out his personality and carved that accordingly. His carved personality is visible to the people and hence, he is respected and valued.

On the other hand, the people who have not carved their personality, they do not do anything significant, but become the stair for the carved people and help them to attain their higher position.

Shankar is the carved image of Kankar (Stone). Anyone can be respected and revered like Shankar, if he can carve his personality accordingly.  

Initially, all are the same like an uncarved stone. But, the one who carve their personality, become Shankar and others who are uncarved became of the staircase which are used to reach to the carved one. It depends on the individual`s commitment and determination what kind of personality one wants to carve and where wants to place.

Brahma, Vishnu And Mahesh In Our Daily Life

Lord Brahma as a creator of the universe created an elegant universe where everything runs very precisely, even a little digression in placing of the celestial body and their speeds can cause the complete annihilation of the universe. He must be appreciated for his great creative power. 

But, only creating a grand universe is not sufficient, it must be maintained prudentially to sustain its spender. Lord Brahma does not maintain it. He is just a creator. Maintenance requires a different skill and temperament. For this work, Lord Vishnu was chosen.  He has the right kind of skill and temperament to work with different kind of people and maintain the universe.

Lord Vishnu`s eyes are always wide open, it is the indication of his being perpetually vigilant. If anything happens anywhere, he immediately takes right action in order to continue the sustainability.

At the end of every Kalpa, the created universe  is dissolved. For that, Lord Shiva is chosen. He has right skill and temperament of executing this task. He is found sitting in a meditative pose in a secluded place.  It indicates that – he observes and analyze the entire activities  at the end of Kalpa and when he feels this universe cannot be sustained further, his destructive force destroys this universe in order to create a new one.

Let us see how this story of creation, maintenance and destruction is related to our daily life.

Every day is an opportunity for us.  Let us create a beautiful day like lord Brahma in the form of an exquisite plan as what we are going to achieve today end of the day. Like lord Vishnu, smartly, maintain and execute that elegant plan to get that materialized. And at the end of the day before you retire for the day, like meditative Shiva, analysis your work and achievements for today.  Keep your lesson learned from today`s plan and execution, and dissolve today`s plan, and again the next day like lord Brahma create a more elegant and pragmatic day in the form of an executable plan by keeping in mind the previous day lesson learned points.

If that is maintained, any one can be the master of his destiny, he will achieve more than other people. People are not respected - their achievements are revered. And the person who include this method of creation, maintenance and destruction like Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh in their daily life will grow and achieve more in their life, and hence would be respected and revered like  Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh.

A Curious Mind Can Do Miraculous Things

Newton was sitting under an apple tree and saw an apple falling. The falling of an apple was not happening first time. That apple did not have any motive to show Newton how that falls. This is a normal thing. It happens since this planet came into existence.

Undoubtedly, many people from many generations would have seen apple falling from the tree. But Newton became the first person who observed that very carefully and was passionately curious to know why apple or any other objects from height falls down only, what that does not go up, or any other direction. If the apple is falling down, then why the moon is not falling down…? What is the reason …?

He tried to find the answer to these questions from various sources, but nothing worked. Then, to extinguish the fire of his curiosity, he started working on it by himself. After his years of hard work and research he found the reason of falling an apple down that is – gravitational force.

Science does not believe in anything until and unless that is proved mathematically. To prove his gravitational hypothesis, he required strong mathematical formulas. But, at that time, there was no advance mathematics which can be sufficient to prove his hypothesis.

Without proving it mathematically, any hypothesis is nothing but a myth story. In order to prove his theorem, he started working on getting a strong mathematical formals for his theorem. In this way, he developed Calculus to prove his theorem.

Whether Newton discovered gravitational force and told to the world or not, it was there, it is and  it would be. It was working in the same way, the way it is working now, and it will keep working in the future too. What benefit we got?

His discovered gravitational force and Calculus gave a different dimension of science. Behind most of today`s cosmic achievement is his given laws of gravitational force and Calculus. Sending rockets to other planets and the cosmos is not less than a miracle, and that miracle happens because of his discovered gravitational force and Calculus.

Many discoveries, research and inventions are the products of the curious mind which have made humans the ruler of this planet over other creatures.

There are many things which are yet to be discovered which can give a new dimension to the science and humanity.

 There are many things happening around us which appear so normal that we do not pay attention to. The people with great observing power, observe those and with curious mind they work on that and consequently, they give many amazing  inventions and discoveries to the world.

That is why - Einstein says– “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious”.

Rama`S Sita And Krishna`S Radha - One In Marriage And Another In Love

When we talk about the ideal couple- we talk the companion of Sita Rama and Radha Krishna. One is a married couple and another is love couple. One is bound by visible thread of marriage which society approves and another is bound by the invisible, but strong threat of love without any social approval. Both couples are adored. We find many temples dedicated to them. However, there are lots of differences and challenges in both kinds of relationship.

Sita was not picked by Rama freely. There was condition involved in getting the hands of Sita in marriage.  Radha was picked by Krishna without any condition and pressure of anyone. That infers that Rama`s love for Sita was conditional, and Krishna`s love for Radha was unconditional.

Sita always checks validity of Rama`s love for her, and Rama suspects Sita`s intention. Nothing happens like this in the relationship between Radha and Krishna. They have utmost trust in each other.

The basis of Rama`s relationship is social custom and tradition. If anything goes against the set custom and tradition, he abandons her.  Krishna breaks all custom and tradition for Radha. Maryada Purushotam Rama keeps the norms of the society on the top of his relationship, and Krishna does the reverse.

Sita and Rama were married in front of society – social acceptance is important for their marriage. Radha and Krishna did not marry – no care for social acceptance.

Sita during forest exile becomes obdurate to get the golden deer skin, which was nothing but a deceive, and argues with Rama when he tries to make her understand about the reality of the golden deer skin. Sita does not believe in the strength of Rama. Sita asks and chides Laxman to help Rama when she heard a mimic voices of Rama from the Rakshsa in the form of a deer. Rama also does not believe in Sita and takes “Agni Priksha”.

Radha and Krishan do not have such kind of trust issue. Radha was 12 years elder to Krishna. Age, height, color, etc, do not matter for their relationship of pure and pious love.

The relationship of Sita and Rama was not a happy relationship.  They spent most of their time in the separation and suspicion. The relationship of Radha and Krishna was a happy and satisfying relationship, they enjoyed each and every moment of their companion to the fullest.

Rama is considered an ideal husband, not because, he kept Sita very happy, it is because, he did not marry with another woman and followed all the norms of the society. The behavior of Rama satisfies the ego of society. That is why, the society has a great praise for the relationship like Sita and Rama.

Sita and Rama went for a forest exile because of the compulsion, no one was happy with that. But, Radha and Krishna goes to the forest (Vrindavan) in the midnight away from the bondage of the society by their own and spend their time together in utmost bliss – they sing, swing and dance in ecstasy.

Rama is seen with a serious face and Krishna with a mystic smile.

Our society glorifies the amazing love of Radha and Krishna, but do not approve that if someone wants to be in a relationship like Radha and Krishna in our society.  Despite various difficulties in the relationship of Sita and Rama, our society considers this couple an ideal couple and approves this kind of relationship and marriage in our society.

It is clear that our society does not care for a happy and satisfying relationship like Radha and Krishna, they just care whether their set social norms are fulfilled or not, their egos are satisfied or not…it does not matter to them at what cost...at the cost of someone`s happiness or life…!!

How Can You Keep Your Boredom Away…??

Boredom is  a very serious matter. If it is not checked, it can spoil the beauty of our life. And It can be checked only when we will understand the reason and mechanism behind it.

When we are excited to achieve something in our life, we put our strenuous effort for that, we work day and night, we do not leave any stone unturned for that. After few years of achieving that, we start getting bored with that. It may be our dream job or something else.

Gradually, we start losing our interest in that profession. Whenever we lose our interest in something, no matter what that is, becomes a burden for us. The same profession or wealth or luxury or relationship for which we have put so much effort, do not keep us engaged much.

The majority will leave or change their profession after few years of their joining, if they get another opportunity or financial security. We even get bored when we listen to our favorite song repeatedly. Nothing can be carried happily and comfortably, if we lose interest in that, it does matter, that is easy or difficult.

Why this happens…? Why we get bored with something…??

There is no issue what you have and what you are doing. There are many people who are excited to get those what you have and you are doing.

The boredom happens because of our mind. When we do not understand the mechanism of the mind, and keep it engaged the way it is designed, it denigrates our life.

Our brain does not complain and get bored of those things where there is learning opportunity of some kind. When the learning opportunity ends, the mind starts losing interest in that.

Our mind is designed to learn something new on a daily basis. New learning is the real food for the brain. And a curious and creative

mind keeps us excited and propel to learn something new and grow faster than being stagnant and complaining, carping and criticizing.

Most of us do the repetitive work for our survival. After some time, in that repetitive work, our mind does not find any excitement and learning opportunity and hence, the boredom starts. That boredom does not only disturb our profession, but our life too.

The best way to keep our mind engaged is to keep learning something new on a daily basis. If the learning opportunity is not available in your daily repetitive work, then prepare your mind and learn something advance to go to the next level of your career.

You can learn music, new language, you can strengthen your word power, you can set a  goal of reading new books, learn new technology or domain, develop a new skill, you can engage your mind in investigating new aspects of your life and so many things are there to be learnt and explored.

Whatever it may be, keep learning something on a daily basis to make your mind fresh and healthy and to nullify negativity and boredom from your mind to experience the vastness of your life.

The Simple Way to Peace and Happiness

When we take birth, the first thing we do is breath in, and when we die, the last thing we do is breath out. And in the middle of birth and death, we continually do breathe in and breath out. Our body is nothing but the community of cells. The cells of our body will die if we try to breath in only not breathe out or breathe out only, not breathe in or holding the breath for long.

We have to breathe in and breathe out in a regular and rhythmic way to sustain our life. Our respiratory system is designed in this way. Playing with its basic design can snatch our life away.

Similarly, when we involve only in the accumulation and acquisition and not in giving out or only in giving and not taking in or acquiring something, in both extreme ways we create suffering and trauma. And eventually we extinct.

Donating or giving something is not confined to wealth and money only. Whatever we have or acquired – that may be specialization in some particular area or life experience, knowledge of some particular subjects or anything which can bring the positive changes in the life of others and society, must be contributed. At bigger level or smaller, it does not matter, at what level we can contribute, we must do that.

 Many of us may think- what my small contribution can do for the society, and we may not take the initiative in contributing whatever we can do at our level.

As Bhagavat Gita (2: 41) says – no effort goes in vain.

Our contribution and effort may not be visible, but it makes the differences.

We always ask for more and more. By doing so - we never feel abundant and fulfilled. The more we get, the more we want. This spectrum of vacuum inside us keeps increasing the more we get.

In this contrast, we start feeling a sense of contentment and fulfillment, the vacuum inside us start filling with love, compassion and joy, the moment we start contributing the society. It gives us immense joy of becoming a donner. In that state we do not feel less than an emperor.

For living a life like a king – we need not to have all the wealth and power of the world, but we must have an attitude of helping people who are in need and a heart of becoming a donner whatever we can donate or contribute for empowering the world.

That is true that whatever we give that comes to us in multitudes in one or other form and time.

We have today improved infrastructure, technology, documentations and books on various topics, etc. these are existing before us because of the contribution of the people of the past. Whatever we have got today, we have got from this world only, and at the end of our life we have to leave everything back here only without any idea what would happen to our earned resources.

Before reaching that stage, we must consciously use those resources in contributing in building a stronger society. This is not only our responsibility, but obligation also to contribute something positive for the contemporary people and coming generations. This is the only way by which we can have contentment, peace and happiness.

Remember, no one can be happy and fulfilled by turning away from their responsibility and obligation, no matter how much wealth he has generated, what post and position he is holding, what educational degree he has, how many books he has read, how many times he goes to the religious places and bows down, what the belief system he has etc.

The simple way to peace and happiness is to give back what you have received from this planet in one or another form before you leave this planet forever. It is not only confined to the materialistic things, but also your soft skills and vast life experience.

Why Hanuman Was Not Given Any Army To Lead…??

In the Ramayana, Sugriya was given an army to lead, Anghad was given an army to lead, Jambvant was given an army to lead, Nal and Neel were given an army to lead. But, Hanuman, despite being the most powerful among them, was not given any army to lead. Why …?

Did Rama not believe in him or Hanuman did not have the required leadership quality to lead an army or Rama knew that Hanuman as an individual contributor can perform the most not as a group or a leader, or Rama did not want Hanuman to dissipate his energy in regulating and controlling the people rather than utilizing his energy and power for something else…?

In Rama`s team, different people had different expectations, and value measuring factors. Many people fighting for Rama`s cause, because they were obliged to help Rama. Sugriva was fighting for Rama with his army, because, Rama had killed his brother Vali who had removed Sugriva from his kingdom. For that, Sugriva was indebted to Rama.

Anghad and Jambvant had no choice but to help Rama as Sugriva was the king of KishKanda after the death of his valiant brother Vali, so were Nal and Neel. Anghad, Jamant, Nal and Neel were living in the kigdom of Sugriva.

Sugriva was in constant fight with his brother Vali for his right in the kingdom of KishKanda. He had a desire for rulling the kingdom. So, he was given an army to lead. His value was in that.

Anghad was the son of Vali. He was a prince. He wanted to lead an army. That was given to him. Jambvant was an elderly person, his suggestions and advice were always required, to give him value and take the advantage of his experience, a leading position was given to him.

But, no leading position was given to Hanuman. He remained an individual contributor. Whatever the assignment was given to him, he was executing that only without question. All the hard work and mission impossible were given to him only. And he was accomplishing those for the sake of Rama.

Hanuman was not obliged to anything or anybody. He had just promised to help Rama in finding his wife, Sita, and he was just exercising his promise without expecting anything in return.

When that was discovered that Sita was kidnapped by Ravana and placed in Sri Lanka. For locating Sita in Sri Lanka, a sea was to be crossed. Everybody gathered there to discuss how to cross the sea. Everybody gave many suggestions on the basis of their assumption, perception and understanding, but when the time came for implementation of their suggestions, no one came forward. Then Hanuman was remembered. Everybody made them realize his potential to cross the sea, and he accomplished that. 

Many of them who were leading the army were the suggestion givers, not the solution givers. Hanuman was not the suggestion giver, he was the solution giver. He was the real implementor. He was the real problem-solver for Rama.

Hanuman had potential to do all most everything, but he needed to be reminded about his potential. He was unaware of his own potential. Hanuman does not take part in discussion, that is done by others. But, whenever something impossible occurs, only Hanuman is remembered for the practical solution.

When Laxman was injured on the battlefield and was about to die. There was only way to save him to bring the herbs (Sanjeevani Butti) from the far away mountain and give him before the sunrise. No one but Hanuman did so.

Hanuman was not holding any position in Rama`s army, but Rama was always keeping Hanuman near to him more than anyone else in the army. Even general of different sections of the army were not as close as Hanuman was. Rama knew the true potential and intention of Hanuman.

Hanuman was not working for getting anything in return. He was just working for Rama and his trust in him. He accepts any work as a challenge and a service of Rama. Whenever Hanuman takes any assignment in his hand, he closes all other options of returning back from the set mission irrespective of any amount of difficulties.

Surgriva, Anghad, Jamabvant were generals, they got the respect from their army, they were giving orders to their armies and their armies were following them. But Hanuman was an order taker, not order giver.

The great generals of Rama`s army are respected for their contribution, but Hanuman is worshipped. He emerged as a real hero without any title. He is not worshipped because of any title, but because of his unprecedented and selfless contribution, courage and commitment to his master and work.

A person in the post and position is remembered and valued till he is holding the position, but a problem-solver is always remembered and valued even without any post or position or title.