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Forever Happy Now! Posts

The Middle Path

The Middle Path

Published May 5, 2020

Hardcore atheists and theists are at two extremities. One doesn’t believe in a higher power, while the other submits entirely to it.

Looking back at everything that we have experienced in our lives, is it possible to completely deny the influence of anything except ourselves? My teachers influenced my education, as did my mentors my career.

Conversely, is it possible to leave everything to a higher power? I wouldn’t even get off the bed then!

We keep blind faith in our drivers (a quick snooze at the wheel?), barbers (one knife swipe when our eyes are closed?), pilots (we don’t check their flying capabilities before belting up) and countless others (in math, we started with let’s assume x=1).

We would do well to apportion some faith to a higher power, and some faith to our inner power.

Vedanta teaches us that in reality, there is no difference between the two powers.

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Spiritual Qs

Spiritual Qs

Published May 4, 2020

Should a spiritual person not strive to earn more money? Should his demeanor always be nice and friendly? Should he always give up or give in? Do spiritual people finish last?

The answer to all these is a big fat ‘No‘!

As the great Swami Vivekananda said, a householder who does not strive to earn wealth is immoral. He further added that it is also immoral if this wealth is not shared!

Spirituality is not divorced from common sense and practical application. Spirituality is not in outward garb (ochre robes) either.

One can certainly hiss and roar, but doesn’t need to bite or fight.

Spirituality is a state of mind. One that is internally calm, in spite of the uncertainties of external life.

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No-cost ammo

No-cost ammo

Published May 3, 2020

We all have a gun called the tongue. It comes with a variety of ammunition. Most guns only shoot anger, pain and hatred.

My favorite type of ammo is praise. It costs nothing, works at all levels (senior, middle, junior, even kids!) and has infinite return on investment for everyone involved.

The ideal praise-to-criticism ratio for high performing teams, according to a study cited by Harvard Business Review, is 5.6 is to 1, i.e. nearly 6 positive comments for every negative one.

As author Dale Carnegie of the bestseller How to Win Friends and Influence People puts it, “Criticize in private, but praise in public.”

Let us strive to praise lavishly. Whether at home or with friends or at work.

There is no downside, only upside.

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The six-pack

The six-pack

Published May 2, 2020

Can we have a world with only good and no evil?

Asked another way, if we put only good, kind and loving humans on a new life-supporting planet, would that be an end to all of humanity 2.0’s problems?

Hardly.

The reason? Our minds.

Hindu scriptures characterize the mind as having six enemies viz. lust, anger, delusion, greed, jealousy and pride.

As long as the mind exists, these six villains prevail. Which is why, one needn’t go far in search of trouble – they exist in our own homes, and within ourselves too!

Is the solution then to get rid of the mind? No, that is not pragmatic.

The six enemies spring forth from self-centeredness. Lust is to satiate physical desire. Anger is from unfulfilled desires. Delusion is from self-aggrandizement. Greed and jealousy come from discontentment. Pride showcases a (k)no(w)-it-all, and goes before a fall.

Moving the attention of the mind from ourselves, to the needs of others, can obliterate the six enemies in one fell swoop.

Once these inner enemies are conquered, no outer enemies remain.

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I, Me, Myself

I, Me, Myself

Published May 1, 2020

A woman and her 5-year-old son visited a saint. “Sir, I have told my son many times, but he just does not give up eating sweets. I would be forever indebted to you if you could cure him of this problem please”.

The saint remained silent.

The next week, the woman came back with the same request. The saint was silent again.

This repeated for 4 weeks.

On week 5, the saint told her that he would speak to her son. The woman asked him in surprise why it had taken 5 weeks for this. The saint replied, “It took me the last 4 weeks to give up sweets myself!”.

Who are we to pass judgements on others, when we have so little control over our own actions? The focus has to be on our own transformation, not others.

Let us strive daily to be the better husband, wife, mother, father, daughter, son, brother, sister, relative, friend, colleague, boss, employer, employee, teammate.

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The Balancing Act

The Balancing Act

Published April 30, 2020

Rich industrialist, or poor farmer. We didn’t choose the family we were born into.

It must be pure chance – an arbitrary allocation.

But if so, would we be happy with such a code of justice, when applied to all aspects of our lives? Surely we do not want the results of our hard work to be arbitrarily assigned to someone else.

The ancients teach us, that life works on the principle of karma.

Karma is any (and every) action. Karmic law is action = reaction, i.e. a balance.

The pleasures we enjoy today – good health, a job, business, money, house, family, food, education – did we really do enough in this life itself to deserve any of them?

We are constantly taking. But it is giving that will (begin to) restore the balance.

The best things we can give? Our time, our wisdom (if any!) and our love. And none of them even cost anything šŸ™‚

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The Greatest Leveller

The Greatest Leveller

Published April 29, 2020

It is said, that death is the greatest leveller. Poor or rich, makes no difference, when one’s time has come. But of what use is getting level, posthumously?

Spirituality is truly the greatest leveller. Poor or rich, the impartial and universal Spark, lies deep within.

It is too easy to get, and yet almost impossible to attain. No amount of money will suffice, yet freely available to all.

If only we tap into this infinite resource. And channelize the greatness, when still alive.

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B-C-D

B-C-D

Published April 28, 2020

Life is short. But it can also be too long. Especially at a crossroads, when discrminative (good versus bad?) ability becomes hazy. The mental agony can be excruciating.

Is this right? Or is that? Should I choose this job? Or that? This college? Or that? Arranged marriage? Or love marriage? The paths are myriad.

In life, we are handed the B and the D. The Birth and the Death. In between is the C, for the Choices we make. There is free will.

But there is no right or wrong Choice. And each Choice heralds its own Consequences. We must learn to live with them. Choose well.

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The right time

The right time

Published April 27, 2020

A Guru was sitting on a rock on the banks of a river. As he stared intently into the flowing water, a few disciples came to him and asked “Guru ji, you have been staring at the river for hours. What are you upto?”. The Guru replied, “I am waiting for all the water to finish flowing through so that I may cross over to the other side.”. The disciples mocked him “Don’t you know that will never happen? How can you be so silly? You need to swim right now if you want to reach the other side!”. The Guru exclaimed, “Exactly, my dear students, think about that, when each day of your lives, you postpone the important, and focus on the unneccesary”. The disciples understood their lesson.

We cannot change the past, nor the future. We can only influence the now. Let us do now, what we have always wanted to, but never did.

There is no need to search or wait for ‘the right time’ to come to us. The right time is now.

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The Happiness Toggle

The Happiness Toggle

Published April 26, 2020

No better way for me to start, than by being grateful to everyone and everything that has brought me to this point. If you are reading this, you too need to be grateful. Why? Because we are lucky to even be alive! So many babies didn’t make it past the fourth month in the womb. But here we are. Our organs are working, and limbs are fine, and we can see and hear and talk and laugh.

Sure, this is common across most other human beings you say – so what? So this, that the more we crave for something we don’t have, the more the anxiety and unhappiness.

Flip that around. Where does the happiness lie. In the object? Or inside us? If chocolate (the object) makes us happy, then why does that happiness not linger?

We do not need anything else. We are already complete. Let us strive to help others, instead of focusing on ourselves all the time. This happiness toggle is in our minds.

As the Buddha said, we don’t need money, to give. We can give compassion with our eyes, sweet words with our mouths, warmth from our touch, a listening companion with our ears and serve with our bodies.

Forget what society wants us to be. Let us be ourselves. If we want to be great, let us start by being grateful – let us be forever happy now!

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