Digital Banjara

Courage. The coward within us.

Courage

Courage.

Courage means everything. Yet, it means nothing.

We fool ourselves into believing that we are brave. But in reality, we are afraid.

Afraid to let go. Afraid to take a step into the unknown.

Afraid to make a change. Afraid to accept it.

Afraid to accept another’s point of view, for fear of losing our own.

Afraid of tomorrow… and what it may bring.

Afraid that today might not work out the way we planned.

We base our judgement of today and tomorrow, on happenings in the past.

We are afraid to take a decision… at the same time, we are afraid of the consequences of not taking one.

We claim to be above pettiness, yet we fight inconsequential battles in our minds every day.

We claim that we have planned our futures. Still, we have no clue what tomorrow may bring.

So we wallow, suffer, and stay undecided.

We run from challenges. We avoid decisions. We avoid doing what needs to be done… because we are afraid.

We are cowards.

Yet we claim to be full of courage.

Courage

Courage. The coward within us

The truly brave know that taking a leap of faith is the only way… for every time a door closes, another one opens.

It is only when destiny and fate push us into a corner, that we realize the many options available to us.

But till we cross that bridge, we live in the illusion of comfort, pacifying ourselves with the motifs and totems of the known and familiar.

Have the courage to break free. Take the leap. Make the change.

Tomorrow will be new, tomorrow will be happy, tomorrow will be an adventure.

Don’t worry about whether you are deciding wisely.

For there is no such thing as a right decision, or a wrong decision.

 

To quote spiritual Guru Deepak Chopra,

“If you obsess over whether you are making the right decision, you are basically assuming that the universe will reward you for one thing and punish you for another.

The universe has no fixed agenda. Once you make any decision, it works around that decision. There is no right or wrong, only a series of possibilities that shift with each thought, feeling, and action that you experience.”

This article first appeared on http://digital-banjara.com Reproduced with permission.

 

Image © Digital Banjara Media Pvt. Ltd.

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Mahasweta Mitra

Karma… Of cause & effect

Karma - The Charmer

What does Karma really mean?

Here is how I have described Karma to many…  Karma is cause and effects… it is a pattern we are going to go through again and again (abandonment, betrayal, jealousy, rejection, etc.) and will continue for the rest of our life as this is what we are born to see through in this lifetime.

The cause we have no control over, it is a life pattern we are born into.  The effects, however, we can control.

How we react every time the cause is presented to us in our lives is what effects are about, that is what the pattern is and we can choose to see through this and go beyond it… and once we have  gone beyond it (where there is no reaction to the cause), we have let go of that Karma.  The cause may repeat, but when the conditioned reaction is not there, the effects are gone… and Karma needs both sides, cause and effects, to be a “thing”.

No one can point your patterns out to you… I mean they can, but till you “see” it for yourself, it won’t make any sense…

The idea is, you dig, dig and see how each one of those incidents like, “let downs”, “break in trust” etc. have made you feel, what did it add to your being, that has made you who you are today. Every tiny piece of “you”, you have created… the idea is to unravel and unwind those threads that have control on you, that when xyz happens and that string is pulled, it will make “you” react (dance in) a certain way without fail.

Things like “let downs”, “break in trust” are just the lila (drama) that is going to repeat in your life… the hurt/reactions are what make you “you”.

It’s very simple… if any other person is let down, s/he will not react as you do… that’s because they may not be affected by it (not one of their patterns for this lifetime) or will react completely differently, one person may clam up and another lash back and become vengeful, while another becomes a victim and goes into a “poor me” space…

But what blocks (hurts) you add to reinforce “You” are unique to you as are your reactions to these stimuli.

You have to find those… those are your building blocks… when you find one (there are many many building blocks)… you genuinely accept it as “this is me” (no excuses or hiding, nothing to be ashamed of… don’t let your ego tell you otherwise)… once you “see” it and accept it… you can then make an intention to let it go.

Depending on how deep the conditioned reaction goes, it may be a quick one to let go, or it may take a few turns (but with each one you will see it gets easier to let go).

How do you know when the pattern is gone? Life will not spare you, just because you have seen it and let go… it will happen again and again… but it won’t affect you the same way anymore… you won’t react to it anymore… you have gone past that karma.

Sharing my painting Charmer . This painting has many meanings… but one is that of a snake charmer… the one who creates (cause) and pulls the strings to control the “effects”.

Karma - The Charmer

Charmer – the one who creates “cause” and pulls the strings to control the “effects”

 

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Digital Banjara

Spiritual Awakening. A matter of perspective?

Spiritual Awakening – a matter of perspective

This morning I woke up to the sound of a Cuckoo bird singing.

I have never heard one in our neighborhood before. Yet, there it was, clear as a Swarovski crystal.

Was it because it was new?

Or was it because I wasn’t listening for it before?

Our lives center around our thoughts. Our minds rule our actions.

When we are preoccupied with one line of thought, we tend to overlook things that aren’t related.

Spiritual Awakening – a matter of perspective

Spiritual Awakening – a matter of perspective

In Psychology, this phenomenon is called Selective Perception.

Many experiments have been conducted in this domain. With interesting results. Proving that when you are busy doing something, you miss things that are obvious and in the face, only because you were just not looking for them.

Spirituality, in my experience, follows exactly the same pattern.

The inner self, with all its peace, bliss and ecstasy has existed within us from the day we were born. Yet, we have never noticed it.

So we spend our lives chasing goals that we think will bring us happiness and peace.

Religion, idol worship, materialistic pursuits. Gadgets. Cars. Money. We build our lives around these pillars of man-made joy.

This continues unabated, till there is a spiritual awakening in us.

Trust me when I say this… the day there is a spiritual awakening in you, you’d realize the futility of chasing these shallow dreams.

That’s when you realize that you don’t need to be rich to be happy. You don’t need to pray for external intervention to get something you desire. If it is preordained that you should have it, you will. And no amount of praying will change that.

Spirituality gives you a new perspective on your life, because you no longer spend your days worrying about what may happen. You spend your days living what is happening.

Once you cross the bridge, you would realize that all the happiness and bliss you have searched for, your entire life, is already in you.

You just weren’t looking for it before.

This article first appeared on http://digital-banjara.com Reproduced with permission.

photo credit: D.Munoz-Santos via photopin cc

 

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Digital Banjara

Tourist or Traveler?

Tourist or traveler? Which one are you?

Tourist or Traveler. Which one are you?

There are two kinds of people.

The first lot believe in traveling to destinations across the globe and staying at some of the top hotels there. They are clear that they want to experience the best that is on offer, from luxurious beds, designer upholstery, fine dining and the best of wines. There are many people who really appreciate and enjoy this kind of a holiday. In this case, the hotel and the luxury attached to it, is the memory they take back. Yes, of course, they still do a little sight seeing, visiting some of the tourist destinations at the location. But they hurry back, to ensure that they fully enjoy the luxury at the hotel, which they’ve paid for.

Then there are those who believe that they are traveling to experience the destination. Here the hotel is not important, the location is. They don’t mind staying anywhere, for they believe that they only need a bed to crash for the night, before they head out the next morning to explore more and more of the holiday destination. They soak in the ambience. They experience the place, not just visit it. They live as locals. They take back amazing memories of their holiday, though they may not remember a thing about the hotel they stayed at.

The first lot are tourists who expect the destination to adapt to their needs. The latter are travelers, who know that it is they who need to adapt to their destination.

Life is quite like this.

Tourist or traveler? Which one are you?

Tourist or traveler? Which one are you?

We have all started at the same place and will all end at the same destination. The journey in between is what we call our life.

Most of us choose to build fortresses of familiarity around us. We toe the line. We play safe. We tread carefully over well used paths, which have been defined by society as ‘normal’ and ‘expected’.

We live happily in our comfort zones, sticking to our routines & our jobs, playing our part in a scripted existence, getting a shallow high from gloating, with a false sense of pride, over our material achievements and possessions.

We blend in. We never stick our necks out. We live in fear of rejection. We live in fear of failure. We live with a constant need to be reassured that we’re doing the right thing.

Most of our lives, our reactions to the problems we face are so intense, that we cannot see beyond them. It is what consumes us. It drives us. And defines us.

But take a while to look back at your life. Things that were immensely important to you when you were younger, will seem frivolous today. Matters of life and death in those days, fade away into insignificance when you see how far you’ve come and how you got there.

And that is when you will realize that you can live in the foolhardy belief that you control your destiny, but what’s meant to happen… will.

That’s when you stop being a tourist and become a traveler.

That’s when you realize the frivolity of the ‘norm’.

That a job is just a means to an end. It is a means for you to live your life. It is not your life.

That all the designations, wealth, possessions and admiration count for nothing in the larger scheme of things.

That to be successful, you don’t need to have material achievements or possessions. You need peace of mind.

That the happiest person is one who believes in living each day as it comes. Happily accepting and enjoying whatever comes their way. By choosing to do so.

After all, life is only a series of incidents. It is your reaction to these, which defines whether an incident was good or bad for you.

You can choose to spend your life within the walls you have built for yourself. Or you can breach that wall and embrace this miracle called life, stepping out of the familiar, enjoying the uncertainty and exhilaration of conquering new summits.

Some day you will be old and wrinkled. What would you reflect on then? The fact that you worked at the same place, doing the same insignificant job for a majority of your life? Or that you lived a life full of rich experiences, which still bring a twinkle to your eyes?

Remember that you were born alone. You will die alone too. All you can hope for is to live life to the fullest, realizing your true potential, and leaving this world with no regrets.

Tourist? Traveler? Which one are you?

 

This article first appeared on http://digital-banjara.com Reproduced with permission.

 

photo credit: BLM Winter Bucket List #23: Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona, for Spectacular Geologic Features and Superbowl 49 via photopin (license)

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Digital Banjara

The Journey

The Journey

Three friends met at the bottom of a mountain, to trek up a path to its summit and meet the wise old man, who resided there.

They had all heard that he held the answer to everlasting happiness and peace.

It was a long walk and it took them the entire day to complete.

When they reached the top, they were greeted by the wise man, who welcomed them and offered them a meal. While he prepared the meal, the three looked around. They were stunned by the panoramic, breathtaking view. The freshness of the air, the beauty all around and the feeling of having conquered the summit, made them feel ecstatic.

By then the wise man had returned. After setting out food for the trio, he turned to them and said, ‘What brings you here?’

‘We wanted to ask you about the secret to salvation.’ the first exclaimed.

‘We want to know how we can find true happiness’ the second said.

‘We want to know how one can find everlasting peace’ the third added.

The old man pondered over their questions and replied ‘I will give you the answer to your questions, if you can answer one of mine first.’

The Journey

The Journey

Looking at the three he posed the question ‘How would you describe the journey you made, to reach me?’

The first friend eagerly replied ‘I was amazed at the fact that we walked almost 5 kilometers up such a steep path. There were times when the path looked so steep, that I was quite sure we wouldn’t be able to make it. But I am proud of the fact that we managed.’

At this, the other two showed surprise.

‘That’s not what happened.’ the second friend said. ‘This journey was not about the distance travelled. It was about appreciating the views all around us. There were mountains, cliffs, ravines, springs and brooks. Then there were millions of flowers, in every hue and color, multi colored butterflies, thousands of bees, the lady bugs, the birds in the shrubbery… I was amazed at the scenic beauty all around us.’

‘You are both wrong.’ the third friend then spoke. ‘When was this ever about distances and views? This journey was all about the beautiful sounds that accompanied us through it. The birds chirping in the trees, the bees buzzing around us, the soft whispering of the breeze as it rustled through the leaves. The sound of gushing water, while we crossed little rivulets and waterfalls along the way. I was amazed by the sounds of nature.’

Each friend was adamant, that his perspective was right. They argued and argued till it was dark all around them.

Their argument eventually turned acrimonious and they parted ways, each calling the other unworthy of being heeded.

Very soon their personal perspective and belief on the path became their version of the ‘truth’. The truth, that their path was the only path to the summit.

People close to each of these erstwhile friends (now enemies) sided with their perspectives. Each one’s entourage swelled in numbers. And as heresy took over, so did intolerance. The belief that ‘either you’re with us, or against us’ prevailed. Stories were concocted to support each perspective or debunk the others. Hordes of people took on the responsibility to outshout and outdo the others, spreading their perspective on the truth.

And all the while that people were busy arguing, fighting or waging wars, the old wise man on the summit was neglected and forgotten.

One day, the three decided to put an end to it once and for all. ‘Let’s visit the old man on the summit’ they said ‘he will give us the definitive answer as to whose path is correct, and whose isn’t.

When they reached the summit, the old wise man welcomed them back.

‘I was waiting for this day’ he said. ‘It took longer than I expected, though.

And to answer your question about who is right or wrong I have only one thing to say… 

You are all right and you are all wrong.

For acknowledging one view over the other, is grave injustice.

To find true happiness, peace and salvation, learn to accept this… that though the perspective of others may differ from yours, it doesn’t mean that they are wrong.

Every person is entitled to believe in what they perceive to be the truth. Each one of you has perceived what is important to you. That doesn’t mean that what the others saw did not exist or was wrong.

What you noticed, is your own perspective on the journey. It is not the only perspective on it.

Yet, you spend hours trying debunk their beliefs.

Proving to others, that you are right and they are wrong, means that you are missing the point. The point, that though there are many paths, the destination is the same.

People who spend their lives trying to prove that their path is better than the others, never reach the destination. Because in the obsession to prove their point, the journey itself becomes their destination.

If you wish to find happiness, peace and salvation, focus on your own journey. Make your journey worthwhile. For it matters not what others feel about your perspective on the path. It matters what you learn from it.’

Silence and calm followed as the three friends reflected on what they had just heard.

They realized that true happiness, peace and salvation comes from living life focused on one’s own path, experiencing and enjoying the journey, learning from it and evolving themselves, rather than comparing their journey with others and trying to prove that one path is better than the rest.

They now realized, that to experience change in the world, they needed to begin by changing themselves.

That their journey… was not their destination.

 

This article first appeared on http://digital-banjara.com Reproduced with permission.

 

photo credit: Una de mis mejores fotos del 2010 Atardecer y Mar de Nubes via photopin (license)

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