Reflections

‘Staying happy’ or ‘moving to a happy state’ are the two states of being. All efforts are directed towards either of these two goals. Aspirations there may be many in our lives but it all leads ultimately to being in a happy zone and if already we are, to continue being in that state. The progress towards clarity and understanding of life came with introspection, deeper introspection. Much before these questions could cloud the mind, there was a chaos of different kind. Cacophony arising out of worries and fears that were non-existent in hindsight. For most of the early years, there was this state of fearing the worst possible outcome. What-if questions used to stymie the vision. With introspection came clarity. Clarity that happiness is the answer for all situations in life. It was that state of mind which could resolve any adversity that a person could possibly face. How to achieve this happiness was the next question? Having a sanguine view of thinking only about the posi...

A ge is not a factor when it comes to vying for appreciation. An infinitesimal chunk of humans have overcome the lure of this approval. Even the ‘enlightened’, ‘intelligentsia’, the humans labelled as ‘good’, ‘bad’ and ‘ugly’ by the first couple of categories, look around for admiration in one form or the other – some veiled, some normal and some brazenly displayed. A nod, a smile, a pat, some kind words and of late, a smiley or an emoticon evoke exhilaration of varied degrees. This sense of feel-good is an inbuilt system – human nature, as we are wont to say in colloquial parlance. Nothing wrong with that! What happens after the feeling ebbs? ‘Doer’ship takes a predominance in the thoughts. Craving for more such pleasure is sought. How is it satiated? The “act” is replicated again and again to get a similar result. Does it happen always that the replicating process produces the same result when repeated? For putting the act together are we the only doer? When the spectacles of ...

S eeking union with God, seeking to feel God, seeking to see God, seeking to touch God, seeking to be with God, seeking to know God. Different spiritual aspirations that we have as we progress through different stages of life. Genesis of these aspirations are influenced by a multitude of factors. To define all these factors is almost impossible but try we must. Our childhood impressions of God, spirituality and religion define these spiritual aspirations as we start seeking – sometimes very early in life – as innocent queries directed at grandparents, parents, teachers, siblings, family members. Sometimes earlier in life in adolescent years when mind is at its peak of inquisitiveness and we have a friend or someone who has spiritual leanings. As an adult, every person goes through varied degrees of spiritual queries – for some as just a brush-off, for some as a set of logical questions, for some as an intellect-stimulating exercise, for some a deep-dive and for a very minuscule b...