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Here’s a super quote from Jerry Seinfeld:
The secret of life is to waste time in ways that you like!
If that isn’t a lovely 2025 resolution, then what is!
Happy new year folks, and best wishes to your and loved ones.
Praying the year brings unprecedented happiness, harmony and health to each of you!
Leave a CommentWhat needs to be done, needs to be done. “Just do it.”
Is a simple adage. But so hard to follow.
Everyone knows they must do the right thing.
Yet doing it is so difficult.
Why?
Maybe because of the want of a better solution. A more sophisticated solution. A dazzling answer. A cool answer.
Not the simple stuff in the Gita.
The more complex it looks, the better it might be?
Hardly the case with spirituality!
Leave a CommentThere’s one very common question from spiritual seekers.
That they know what’s good and what’s not.
That they know exactly what they are supposed to do.
They know they need to practise self-discipline, truthfulness, austerity, sacrifice, charity – you name it.
And yet, they just aren’t able to do this.
What’s the solution, they ask! And here, they = me!
Funny question no?
And still, here it is. Why? Concluded tomorrow!
Leave a CommentIs religion then just about chanting mantras and performing homas?
Can’t be, can it? Else everyone performing these would have attained spiritual greatness already.
So what then is religion? According to Swami Sivananda:
"Religion is life. And life is sacrifice."
Further:
"Real religion is the religion of the heart. The heart must be purified first. Religion is in the living, not speaking or showing."Leave a Comment
Is it at the altar at home?
Is it at the feet of the deity at the neighborhood temple?
Or is it at the hilltop of Tirumala?
Surely it has to be one of these?!
Swami Sivananda says sublimely, “True religion begins where the intellect ends!”
What more is there to say, except to nod in amazement!
But wait, that isn’t all.
Concluded tomorrow!
Leave a CommentWe may all be sacrificing something or the other for someone or the other.
Like sacrificing some of our time or money or knowledge for our parents, siblings, kids, relatives, friends, colleagues and so on.
And some of these may be great sacrifices.
But you know who owns the title of the greatest yajna?
None other than the Creator Himself.
Because he has given Himself to create each one of us, as well as everything around us. And he’s constantly ensuring that everything works to perfection.
Nothing else can ever come close to being the greatest yajna!
Leave a CommentA very nice incident narrated by Swami Tejomayananda ji:
A boy once approached me and asked, “Swami-ji, I have heard that those who went in search of God left all their worldly worries behind. They never thought about where they would get food or drink. They simply kept going, and somehow, they always found something to eat and drink. Is this true?”
I replied, “It is absolutely true.”
He then asked, “So, if I go in search of God, will I get food?”
I said, “No.”
When he asked why, I explained, “Because you are going in search of food, not God. You are already worried about whether or not you will get food and drink if you leave.”
Lovely logic, isn’t it?
Leave a CommentSo much of body shaming happens to so many people at so many levels.
Is it even warranted?
Why are people so shallow?
When we view the body from a deeper perspective,
We realize there’s nothing worthy of attachment.
It’s made up of blood, flesh, and waste—
None of which are pure or beautiful, simply necessary.
But the outer appearance deceives us
And is perhaps the root cause of much evil.
Leave a CommentThe great Swami Chinmayananda once said:
"Disappointment comes to those who make appointments with the future!"
Outstanding quote, isn’t it?
If we’re forever focused on the future, brimful of desires, of course we can never enjoy the present.
Which also means, the future is likely to be quite disappointing!
Leave a CommentTrue wisdom demands humility. Arrogance blinds us, while openness reveals profound truths.
As one Sanskrit saying goes, Prajna vinamrast—wisdom is humble.
Defeated on the battlefield, Ravan’s wisdom still shone. Ram, embodying humility, sent Laxman to learn from him, showing that wisdom knows no boundaries—not even enmity.
Wisdom is foresight, rooted in humility. A farmer respects nature’s cycles and plants before the rains; a sailor bows to the wind’s power and steers carefully. Their success lies in surrendering ego to higher forces.
The essence of wisdom lies in transcending ego and embracing the truth, no matter the source.
Only by seeking with humility can we unlock its infinite depths.
Leave a CommentPatience is awesome, and totally needed.
Every successful person talks of needing patience.
Of putting in the effort for incredibly long periods of time, before even faintly tasting anything remotely close to success.
But from a spiritual point of view, it’s not success in the material realm that’s really important.
What matters more, is our behaviour during the period of patience.
Are we level headed in this tough period of full effort and no result? Or are we shattered and frustrated, and desperate to get to the end of the tunnel?
Leave a CommentMany boast of charity, yet remain bound by ego.
Donations of wealth may soothe, but seldom transform.
Judging others for giving less reveals one’s own smallness.
True charity begins with dissolving ignorance within oneself.
Self-realization uplifts not just one life, but all around.
The greatest gift isn’t gold, but rather awakening to the Gold within.
In that awakening, even creation’s deepest needs are met.
Leave a CommentShould one have only one Guru? Or multiple Gurus?
There’s plenty of Gurus out there today.
Some are genuine, and some are scamsters.
And of course many Gurus for various arts and sciences.
Theoretically, anyone who teaches us anything is a Guru in that field.
But the true Guru?
Can only be one.
Because s/he will be the one that dispels the veil of ignorance, and helps us on the path to moksha.
Leave a CommentCame across this deadly line, from purportedly the great Swami Vivekananda.
"And if this Maya is so beautiful, think of the wondrous beauty of the Reality behind it!"
What more to say?!
Leave a CommentIs there merit to rising beyond pleasures?
Pleasure begins with the senses—raw and primal, like an animal savoring its meal.
As intellect awakens, sensory pleasures fade, replaced by the joys of thought.
The higher one ascends, the subtler the delights are said to become—intellectual pursuits overtake base instincts.
Yet, even intellect is eclipsed when spirituality dawns, revealing bliss incomparable to all else.
Every new spiritual aspirant’s dream is to get mantra deeksha. Meaning, their Guru initiates them into some specific mantra, which they chant, and then get magical superpowers, levitation and stuff!
Although these may be popularized in various tales, none of this is necessary, nor sufficient, for the true goal, ie moksha.
Here’s what Swami Sivananda ji says in his outstanding book called “Bliss Divine”:
Initiation does not mean reciting a Mantra into another's ears. If Rama is influenced by the thoughts of Krishna, the former has got initiation already from the latter. If an aspirant treads the path of truth after studying the books written by a saint, and imbibes his teachings, that saint has already become his Guru.Leave a Comment
Everything is uncertain in life except death and taxes. We all know this aphorism.
But what if death itself really is access. Access to the next stage of evolution of the soul.
This is what our scriptures tell us.
Death is not the end point. It is simply a pit-stop on the way to the ultimate finish, ie Moksha.
If we do good stuff in this life, we get to move up the proverbial ladder.
At some point in time, with the grace of the Divine, we will find that the soul merges with the Brahman.
Then there’s no more Maya and confusion and suffering. Only bliss. Is what the realized souls tell us.
Leave a CommentWhat would we do if we are really sleepy during the day?
Sleep, right? But then sleep at night would get impacted.
So we then try to delay the sleep during the day, just so that we can get a full night’s rest.
But interestingly, this doesn’t work for babies. Restricting their sleep during the day doesn’t mean they will sleep for hours and hours at night. They actually end up getting crankier and overstimulated without timely and periodic sleep intervals.
Almost like spirituality is to grown ups. There’s no chance that spirituality works “at the end”, “once and for all”.
It needs timely and periodic practice.
Leave a CommentCame across this awesome post on X.
The best "energy drink" is 3L of water.
The best "focus drug" is 8 hours of sleep.
The best "antidepressant" is 45 minutes of exercise.
Nothing to add!
Leave a CommentWhat is the Guru needed for?
Only to indicate the way to liberation?
Is this some magic road?
A pointer to a coiled snake in the mooladhara?
Jumpstarting the kundalini to the upper echelons?
Or is it mainly to hack away at our defects?
Deep down, we are all Pure Consciousness.
So who better than the Guru, to remove the defective layers on top?!
Leave a CommentLife is not a linear path but a rhythmic dance of cycles.
Like waves, it transforms with every stroke, always in motion.
The sun meets the sea daily, no matter the storm or calm.
Success isn’t foreseen; it’s built, step by step.
And then it looks like great achievements, but only in hindsight.
Each day, we reflect on our progress—small acts to build great legacies.
Leave a CommentCame across the life story of a Mira Kulkarni today.
Maybe you haven’t heard of her. Neither had I.
But the billion dollar luxury ayurveda brand she created, called Forest Essentials, surely is ubiquitous!
Did success come easy for her? Not at all.
At 28, she lost both parents, and her marriage failed, and she was left alone to look after and raise two young kids.
From there, it was pure grit and gumption.
The takeaway is, that if we are pushed hard and our backs are against the wall, that may not be a bad thing after all. As long as we are able to take it positively.
Leave a CommentA man free of desires never fears death.
For he clings to nothing, bound by no chains.
His soul embraces the eternal, untouched by time.
Death holds no power over the one unattached.
In desirelessness lies liberation, the truest life.
Leave a CommentScience and spirituality aren’t that different.
Dig deeper, and richer truths reveal themselves.
A true seeker, whether spiritualist or scientist, never rests, always goaded and guided by inner fire.
Because each discovery whispers of an even greater one.
At some esoteric level, perhaps both science and spirituality are the same.
Leave a CommentThe math prodigy Ramanujan claimed he saw various equations and formulae in his sleep.
And said that the Divine Mother revealed these to him.
And that none of it was his own creation.
Should we believe him?
Well apparently even till today, many of his theorems have not been solved.
Despite being in the age of AI.
Do we know everything about this world and universe we inhabit?
If we don’t, then why can’t what Ramanujan said be true?
Leave a CommentJamie Dimon once said, “Being fired impacted my net worth, but not my self-worth.”
This came after his ousting from Citigroup, a moment most would call catastrophic.
Yet, Dimon saw it as a new beginning.
True worth isn’t tied to a paycheck or title.
It lies in resilience and self-belief.
Life’s setbacks are often setups for greater comebacks.
We must hold onto our self worth, no matter the storm.
Leave a CommentWho wants to be an Entrepreneur? Everyone, especially after watching a few episodes of Shark Tank!
And why?
Just for the sake of perceived freedom!
No one wants to work for a boss. But it is delayed realization that even an entrepreneur has a boss. If not his shareholders, then his customers for sure!
Why do we all crave this freedom?
Because deep down, we are all Atman. The Atman is the inner ruler, as well as the fulcrum and source for the entire universe.
Of course it craves freedom!
Leave a CommentLife mirrors the Mahabharata battlefield, a war waged within.
Ignorance, like Dhritarashtra, blinds us, while the soul, as Arjuna, struggles to act.
Our body is the chariot, senses the restless horses, often misled by cravings.
Enemies like lust, pride, and greed challenge our inner equilibrium constantly.
Krishna, is not just a Hindu god, but symbolizes the Inner Reality guiding us beyond duality.
Leave a CommentEveryone’s a foodie today. Especially on Instagram.
And it’s considered super cool to stack photos upon photos of food of all kinds.
But what is this food doing to us really?
What we eat, is quite literally, what we become.
So by eating junk, what do we become?
Weirdly enough, more and more people are dying from overeating (leading to various complications), rather than because of starvation!
The wrong food is poison, but the right food can be medicine!
Leave a CommentGod works on supply-demand dynamics. Truly want Him, and voilà!
No PhD or MBA (or AI prompt engineering quaki9these days!) needed—just faith, purity, and devotion.
The Divine connection needs zero tech and has infinite bandwidth, aka supply!
Leave a CommentHe narrated to me that when he’d almost given up hope, one chap came out of nowhere, approached my uncle, and asked him why he was just sitting there.
My uncle recounted what had happened, to which the man said, “Oh don’t worry, I have exactly two blankets with me, one of which is for you!”
My uncle was shocked. But then the man proceeded to massage my uncle’s legs for some time, after which he started feeling much better.
The man also spent the night, right there, with my uncle. Next day morning? Of course, in the wee hours of dawn he was gone as quickly as he’d come by.
Who was this man? Surely not someone ordinary? For my uncle who has been a Sabarimala pilgrim for years, could it have been Lord Ayyappan himself – who comes to the rescue of his devotees?
