One magic bullet for all ills!

I have often wondered whether there is any single most important thing that can bring a massive change in the way we all live in. 
 

Let us analyze a bit. Do you realize that most of our decisions in life are driven by what others do? We rarely take decisions based on self judgment but depend upon ‘mass perceptions’. While this approach has lot of pluses to its credit, this probably is the single important cause of most perils, in my view.

One of my blog posts received highest views.  I was quite perplexed since the post does not have anything that makes it so popular. On some analysis I found that for whatever reason, once this post happened to get maximum clicks for some time and it reached top of ‘popular posts’. From then on, anyone who visited my blog was curious to know what this ‘popular post’ is all about and they clicked it. More people tried that, the post continued to remain on top and the cycle repeats!

I have seen authors who openly admit that they themselves buy their own books periodically, to keep the book on top of the sales ranking. Higher the sales ranking, more people will be tempted to buy it and the cycle continues! Same is the case with ‘sponsored reviews’.

On a larger perspective, most governments in many democratic countries come up not because the leaders have proven track record, but purely based on the mass opinion they have managed to establish. Especially in countries where political awareness is low, people vote a party not because they have full information about the leaders in that party but because everyone else does it!

So, what is the magic bullet? 

"Enable one to judge himself/herself rather than depend on other’s opinions"

That will be the single most important contribution one can make to bring in a phenomenal change.  Teach them to judge rather than to follow someone else.

Whither Yoga?

It is once again – Yoga day. Many of my Indian friends feel proud of the fact that the entire world has acknowledged India’s one of the greatest contributions to the world namely Yoga. 
 

But when I see how this word Yoga has been torn to pieces and made into a totally ill defined system, from what originally was a very well defined science, I feel sad.

Just the other day, I was talking to my Indian doctor friend. He is a highly qualified allopath, but nevertheless open to any system of medicine. I asked him why he does not try Yoga for his long time diabetic condition. One of the most popular Yoga teachers in India today, namely Baba Ramdev claims that he has recorded evidence of curing hundreds of thousands of diabetic patients just by making them do Kapalabhati – one of the ‘Yogic breathing techniques’ he has been trying to popularize. I asked my doctor friend’s reaction to these claims.

My friend simply smiled and said “in that case, Baba Ramdev should be awarded a Nobel!”

Very true. If curing diabetes were that simple, world would have been too grateful to him and got rid of one of the most menacing health problems these days. 

Baba Ramddev very confidently asserts that any disease can be cured or even prevented by simple breathing techniques he is propagating in the name of Yoga. The irony is that none of these techniques were ever talked about by the well known ancient proponent of Yoga namely Patanjali. But Baba Ramdev projects then as if they are part of Patanjali’s Yoga system!

Probably, there is a silver lining in the cloud. People like Baba Ramdev would help in drawing wider attention to Yoga from more and more people. More attention means more critical analysis sooner than later. Ultimately that would separate chaff from grain. Hope so.

Mysterious Experiences : A peek beyond the confiles of the Mind

 

This is a new book that discusses some interesting mysterious experiences. This book is currently available only on Amazon and kindle unlimited.  For a preview click

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GLJ2F92

Mere scholarship is not enough

I often come across highly qualified people falling an easy prey to fake Gurus or mysterious practices. There does not seem to be any relation between their scholastic achievements and their ability to judge things especially when it comes to so called spirituality. On the other extreme, I see self claimed Gurus who are apparently well read, failing to exhibit conviction and deeper insight.

 

The reason is – when it comes to spirituality, it is not enough to read. One needs to ponder over what is read, grasp the finer aspects of it and finally meditate on what is understood. Not only that, one needs to live a specific way of life. Only then one can get complete insight.

One step at a time

Many a time things look altogether formidable. What we try to do looks almost impossible. Right now I am trying to carve a life size figure of a monk. The log I am using weighs almost as heavy as me! It is quite hardwood. I may have to chisel out almost half the wood. All that I have is a simple chisel. Can I do it? I never tried a figure of that size before.

 

Based on my prior experience on similar occasions, I just concentrate on “now”. I tell myself – “I need to chip off ‘this’ small part of the log”. I go on doing it chip at a time without bothering about the complete task on hand. It works!

Simple approach. But it almost always works.

Does God exist?

I have a friend – a medical doctor – who firmly believes that God does not exist. Though she does not say it openly, she puts up a front that she is agnostic. She disagrees with me when I say that acceptability of any belief rests on its utility and not necessarily on its factual correctness. I have in one of my books (“How and why of Yoga and Meditation – Yoga Scientifically explained”) dealt in detail how devotional singing can be utilized to relieve one of mental stress. I have made it clear in that context that it works irrespective of the existence of God or otherwise. Just the belief is enough to make it work. I have also discussed some research findings in another of my book (“How does the mind work?”) where mere beliefs seem to bestow miraculous results. In either case, the factual correctness of the belief is immaterial.

Master, I bow to thee

This is my recent relief carving. Since the wood was brittle and of uneven grain, I designed this simple pattern. I just wanted to see how easy it is to carve this wood before trying something more complex. 

What I intended to depict is movement in otherwise static carving. Here a monk is shown to be gradually bowing down to his master in three steps.

Size: 3 ft X 2.5 ft X 2 inches
Wood : Some wild thorny tree
Stain: Teak wood
Finish : Polyurethane Matt
PS: The image is a bit grainy due to some problem in my camera.

Neurological basis of Yoga

A short article on neurological basis of Yoga is now available in Free PDF books (right column on this blog)

Enjoy but without over indulgence

An ancient Indian philosopher namely Chärväka is supposed to have said “one should enjoy at any cost, even by borrowing from others”
 

This seems to be our aim in life these days. Everyone wants to enjoy without bothering about the long term consequences.

Recently I was very much pained to know the death of three young brothers in my neighborhood. All three died one after another in short intervals of time. They were young, well educated and my interaction with them always gave me the impression that they were nice and well behaved. The cause of their untimely death was over drinking. They were hospitalized several times, the doctors had warned them in advance, and they themselves were intelligent enough to know their folly. But they could not give-up drinks.

It is not just drinks; our craze for enjoyment these days makes me wonder where we are headed to?

In this context, I remember another Vedic seer’s sane advice (in Ïshäväsya Upanishad)

“One should aspire to live and enjoy in this life for full 100 years. Protect yourself with detachment (never overindulge). Never covet other’s possessions. This is the only way to avoid wrong doing.”