Sandeep Mishra's Blog
May 24, 2018
Tussle at the Threshold
It’s a chilling winter afternoon and the mere thought of taking bath with cold water makes my spine numb. However I try to convince myself that it is the test of my will power and endurance. Of course deodorants make the hygiene factor out of question!! So here I go with confident strides towards my bathroom and I am there just beneath the shower. I haven’t turned the shower on and my will power has already become shaky giving me goose bumps. I take a deep breath and go for the kill, and turn the shower on. But my reflex wins over the stream of chilled water and I succeed in clinging to the corner making only my feet being electrified. ‘Loser’. It was my inner self’s voice. Suddenly I feel a rush of adrenaline and there I go right in the center facing those water bullets right on my face. Big deal or no deal once it’s done my steps back to my room is no less magnificent then the triumphant stride of an emperor. This episode might appear silly and trivial but I see my life an extrapolation of the same. Being an engineer studying for exams has always been a “one night stand”. And there exist my personal version of Murphy’s Law “Soporificity is directly proportional to the exam portion”. So the dreadful tussle is to sleep as soon as it starts overpowering or to prolong it. Most of the times I concede and procrastinate for the early hour study which eventually never materialize. This is not the end. There is one perennial tussle which bullies me every now and then. It is my weakness of finding it hard to say ‘No’. There are moments when I am prepared to say ‘No’ but when it’s almost there I falter.
Life is all about Lights, Camera and Action, but no retakes. Once your internal kick fails to take you off the hook, it’s gone forever. It has happened umpteen numbers of times before. The professor asks a question, I start thinking about the answer and then starts the internal tussle of answering or not. The tussle ends in the virtual clinching of my fist and the holy conscience whispering to myself “I knew that”. Though the reality is even if I would have answered something foolish it wouldn’t have changed my life. Sometimes the situation demands to act at the spur of the moment and in case you waver and stand perplexed, you lose it. Quiet often the prudence lies in squeezing the gap between the thought of taking a leap and actually going for it. You prepare day and night for an interview keeping yourselves in all the possible situations of being cornered. When the actual interview comes you are bombarded with questions you had never imagined. It’s only the spontaneity and your ability to churn the creative juices out of yourselves which can make you to still crack it. Preparedness can make you win the battle if things shape the way you imagined but the moment something unprecedented happens it’s the inner fire ignited by the heat of the moment which sails you through. My sessions of soul searching always ends with “would have”, “could have” and “should have”. I also know that it would be utopian to imagine a life without those three “have”. Nevertheless I keep trying!!
Life is all about Lights, Camera and Action, but no retakes. Once your internal kick fails to take you off the hook, it’s gone forever. It has happened umpteen numbers of times before. The professor asks a question, I start thinking about the answer and then starts the internal tussle of answering or not. The tussle ends in the virtual clinching of my fist and the holy conscience whispering to myself “I knew that”. Though the reality is even if I would have answered something foolish it wouldn’t have changed my life. Sometimes the situation demands to act at the spur of the moment and in case you waver and stand perplexed, you lose it. Quiet often the prudence lies in squeezing the gap between the thought of taking a leap and actually going for it. You prepare day and night for an interview keeping yourselves in all the possible situations of being cornered. When the actual interview comes you are bombarded with questions you had never imagined. It’s only the spontaneity and your ability to churn the creative juices out of yourselves which can make you to still crack it. Preparedness can make you win the battle if things shape the way you imagined but the moment something unprecedented happens it’s the inner fire ignited by the heat of the moment which sails you through. My sessions of soul searching always ends with “would have”, “could have” and “should have”. I also know that it would be utopian to imagine a life without those three “have”. Nevertheless I keep trying!!
Amidst Cosmos and Cosmopolitan
Almost a year back, visit to the Buddha Smriti Park in Patna had left me mesmerized. The Buddha Smriti Park is situated in front of the Patna Junction and the Mahavir Mandir. This beautiful multipurpose park has been developed by the State Government to commemorate the 2554th birth anniversary of the Lord Buddha. This park was inaugurated by His Holiness Dalai Lama on 27th May, 2010 (Buddha Poornima) amid the chant of hymns and in presence of many dignitaries, including Governor and Chief Minister of the State. He also planted two saplings, one brought from Bodh Gaya and another from Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, of the sacred Bodhi tree.
The Buddha museum in the park gives a detailed insight about Buddha, his life and his teachings. I felt a strange kind of mystic energy in the area as we strolled around. I was left with lots of unanswered question in my mind. A couple of days after the visit I still wondered if it is possible to attain enlightenment in today’s world or it was a prerogative of the Buddha era. Further I was baffled by the thought that do we need to give up all the worldly affairs and go to an ashram or into the wilderness in order to gain real knowledge and wisdom? Is spirituality possible in the contemporary world? What followed next was my internet search on these topics, and a read through lots of articles on spirituality and related videos. I realized lots of research and study has been going on in this area across the world. There are multiple theories and dimensions added by the scholars and researchers. One drop from the ocean in this regard is “Awareness”. What follows next in this article is my understanding and reflections on spirituality.
Awareness lies at three levels for any human being – body, mind and soul. The physical body forms the base for a person to exist and be aware. One cannot expect to deliver hundred percent with a dull and lethargic body. The mind which is at second level cannot function effectively if the body does not support it. When we wake up from sleep, our body contains toxins and has slow blood circulation leading to sleepy head most of the time. So we need to replenish the body and make it ready and hence aware to take up the day to day activities head on. To invoke the awareness at the physical or body level, one needs to stay fit and healthy. You need not have a six packs abs to develop the awareness at physical level. To follow a healthy diet and do some jogging, yoga or exercises is sufficient to take care of the awareness.
The second level of awareness is at the mind level. Our mind keeps on hopping from one thought to the other every second. Even when we try to do a task our mind toggles between various thoughts which are often unrelated at times. This is purely because of lack of awareness at the mind level. We all have witnessed situations in our college days when we could finish the entire syllabus in a day right before the exam. Ever witnessed from where do we get a sudden increased level of concentration? Is it the fear of the exam or the willingness to excel? The apparent reason could be either of the two but in reality it is the temporary elevated level of awareness of the mind that gives the results. My college-days story continued with the post exams analysis. I used to think if one day before the exam I could do so much with so much concentration then what greatness I could achieve if I study even for half of the time throughout the year. It never came to practice then, because every time I would sit with books my mind would wonder from the dinner menu to the new movie releases and to many more un-called territories. It’s not restricted to studies alone; we experience the same while doing any other task. Our thought process and our work are often out of sync and thus fail in bringing the best in us out.
The solution is within our mind. To make it aware about whatever we do, we need to keep reminding our mind until it gets into the habit. We should make our mind aware about everything we do be it as simple as climbing the stairs. Mind should be aware about only that particular moment and not go wandering at all. Many times people say that their work pressure demands them to do multitasking. Multitasking doesn’t mean doing all the tasks in a moment. It should be being aware about one task at one moment and when you switch task your mind should be switched it terms of awareness as well. Giving hundred percent each moment being completely aware is the key to perfection. The best example of this would be the Shooting Event at the Olympics. If we compare the skills level for the Gold medalist with the Silver or Bronze medalist, we won’t find much difference. Each one of them is equally good and gives their best but what matters in the end is how aware they are about the target at the final moment.
The third and the highest level of awareness are at the soul level which comes by meditation. This awareness is about the existence of the human being in this universe. This awareness is about the wisdom to understand that nothing is permanent in the materialistic world and our life is just a phase in our journey towards the divine power. The awareness at the soul level is about experiencing self and its unison with the ultimate power in the universe from where everything originates. It’s about the preparedness for detachment with the materialistic world. Every living creature in the universe gets life and energy from the ultimate power in terms of cosmic energy. When we meditate we make our body, mind and soul intact to experience the enhanced level of cosmic energy. This process makes us understand about the difference in our physical or etheric body and spiritual or astral body. This level of awareness requires a lot of dedication and practice as has been exemplified by some great personalities like Swami Vivekananda.
Awareness at these three levels will lead to a spiritual life within the mess of worldly affairs. If we practice being aware at these levels we are bound to be at peace and happiness. To stay amid a lot of distractions every day and still being aware is a challenge but is not impossible. All we have to do is to maintain a symphony between the cosmos and the cosmopolitan!
The Buddha museum in the park gives a detailed insight about Buddha, his life and his teachings. I felt a strange kind of mystic energy in the area as we strolled around. I was left with lots of unanswered question in my mind. A couple of days after the visit I still wondered if it is possible to attain enlightenment in today’s world or it was a prerogative of the Buddha era. Further I was baffled by the thought that do we need to give up all the worldly affairs and go to an ashram or into the wilderness in order to gain real knowledge and wisdom? Is spirituality possible in the contemporary world? What followed next was my internet search on these topics, and a read through lots of articles on spirituality and related videos. I realized lots of research and study has been going on in this area across the world. There are multiple theories and dimensions added by the scholars and researchers. One drop from the ocean in this regard is “Awareness”. What follows next in this article is my understanding and reflections on spirituality.
Awareness lies at three levels for any human being – body, mind and soul. The physical body forms the base for a person to exist and be aware. One cannot expect to deliver hundred percent with a dull and lethargic body. The mind which is at second level cannot function effectively if the body does not support it. When we wake up from sleep, our body contains toxins and has slow blood circulation leading to sleepy head most of the time. So we need to replenish the body and make it ready and hence aware to take up the day to day activities head on. To invoke the awareness at the physical or body level, one needs to stay fit and healthy. You need not have a six packs abs to develop the awareness at physical level. To follow a healthy diet and do some jogging, yoga or exercises is sufficient to take care of the awareness.
The second level of awareness is at the mind level. Our mind keeps on hopping from one thought to the other every second. Even when we try to do a task our mind toggles between various thoughts which are often unrelated at times. This is purely because of lack of awareness at the mind level. We all have witnessed situations in our college days when we could finish the entire syllabus in a day right before the exam. Ever witnessed from where do we get a sudden increased level of concentration? Is it the fear of the exam or the willingness to excel? The apparent reason could be either of the two but in reality it is the temporary elevated level of awareness of the mind that gives the results. My college-days story continued with the post exams analysis. I used to think if one day before the exam I could do so much with so much concentration then what greatness I could achieve if I study even for half of the time throughout the year. It never came to practice then, because every time I would sit with books my mind would wonder from the dinner menu to the new movie releases and to many more un-called territories. It’s not restricted to studies alone; we experience the same while doing any other task. Our thought process and our work are often out of sync and thus fail in bringing the best in us out.
The solution is within our mind. To make it aware about whatever we do, we need to keep reminding our mind until it gets into the habit. We should make our mind aware about everything we do be it as simple as climbing the stairs. Mind should be aware about only that particular moment and not go wandering at all. Many times people say that their work pressure demands them to do multitasking. Multitasking doesn’t mean doing all the tasks in a moment. It should be being aware about one task at one moment and when you switch task your mind should be switched it terms of awareness as well. Giving hundred percent each moment being completely aware is the key to perfection. The best example of this would be the Shooting Event at the Olympics. If we compare the skills level for the Gold medalist with the Silver or Bronze medalist, we won’t find much difference. Each one of them is equally good and gives their best but what matters in the end is how aware they are about the target at the final moment.
The third and the highest level of awareness are at the soul level which comes by meditation. This awareness is about the existence of the human being in this universe. This awareness is about the wisdom to understand that nothing is permanent in the materialistic world and our life is just a phase in our journey towards the divine power. The awareness at the soul level is about experiencing self and its unison with the ultimate power in the universe from where everything originates. It’s about the preparedness for detachment with the materialistic world. Every living creature in the universe gets life and energy from the ultimate power in terms of cosmic energy. When we meditate we make our body, mind and soul intact to experience the enhanced level of cosmic energy. This process makes us understand about the difference in our physical or etheric body and spiritual or astral body. This level of awareness requires a lot of dedication and practice as has been exemplified by some great personalities like Swami Vivekananda.
Awareness at these three levels will lead to a spiritual life within the mess of worldly affairs. If we practice being aware at these levels we are bound to be at peace and happiness. To stay amid a lot of distractions every day and still being aware is a challenge but is not impossible. All we have to do is to maintain a symphony between the cosmos and the cosmopolitan!
