Wishful desires

Living a life where you're constantly evaluated, compared & dissected w.r.t others in your category is no fun. But that's the sort of life most of us lead or are forced to lead. It's a rat race, especially in the highly competitive corporate world, where there's no altruism, hardly any friendship (really!) & a carrot hanging in the front & stick behind the back! I for one know in my heart of hearts (whatever that is!) that all I desire is a life of quietude with no responsibilities, no goals, living with nature & just experiencing the joy of being one with everything. I'm still waiting for that day, when I can break free of all shackles, though I'm very much aware every bondage is only in the mind. A life of renunciation from the world! Some call it escapism, but truly, there's no need to prove your so called 'self' (as in yourself), simply because most people aren't even aware of their true self, always mistaking the body-mind complex to be that! Besides, aren't we all escapists in some sense or the other? We're striving hard to escape from the troubles of living, be it noise, pollution, troubled relationships, financial hassles..always trying to move to a physical, emotional, monetary or other plane that we perceive to be higher than our present! Perhaps that's a negative way of looking at it, but it all boils down to a pain vs pleasure weighing act. What better escape is there than to break free from the notion of being an entity limited in time-space?! I now realize that's the very important goal of all difficulties...to know that there's a place where everything is you, nothing is desired, all is bliss, lasting forever...something the mind just leaps with joy even at the very mention of, but becomes sad thinking no such existence is even possible!

Moments...

The only way to live life,
Is moment by moment,
Making no comparisons,
Thinking of everything in life
As the best possible
For me at that moment!

All roads lead to...

There are many paths to the infinite (in reality there is only the infinite, no ignorance & no need for any of this. But the ignorant have a different perspective). Most well known among them are the bhakti, jnana and yoga margas. Bhakti is well suited for highly emotional people. Jnana follows the art of discrimination & constantly watching the mind. Yoga deals with controlling the mind through various psycho-physical exercises. It is not merely a matter of choice in choosing these paths, but rather, every individual depending on his tendencies at different points of time falls in line predominantly with one of these. It is hard to argue or compare benefits of each of these paths. But the result & goal of all are the same, to get beyond the mind & the physical and thereby realize that all is one. In yoga, one focuses on raising the kundalini to the sahasrara chakra. In bhakti one completely surrenders ones ego to a higher power. In jnana, one constantly discriminates between the real and the unreal. So here too, for instance on self enquiry, the kundalini would rise up, the ego gets destroyed, but the focus is not on these means! Some of the well known spiritual leaders who followed & advocated the bhakti path are Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Chaitanya & the followers of the various dieties like Krishna. Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj are the proponents of the self enquiry mode. The Yoga masters are numerous, such as Paramhansa Yogananda, Swami Vivekananda, AOL founder Sri Sri Ravishankar. What I've found is that Jnana or discrimination alone becomes too dry & unemotional while Yoga & Bhakti add a lot of spice or adventure to the process. This is in the form of visions, siddhis & such accompaniments. At the same time, both yoga & bhakti pre-suppose or force you to acknowledge & live in duality. There is then a constant anticipation that something has to be done to attain liberation! This sort of dichotomy alone accounts for ignorance. Also, yoga or meditation & prayer are usually time bound activities requiring one to dedicate a certain period for this. Discrimination on the other hand can continue during all sorts of normal routines. One may argue that only a clear & purified mind is capable of self enquiry or discrimination, which is quite true. Perhaps that is one of the main reasons bhakti & yoga are advocated for the corrupt kali-yuga! There is no debate or conclusion here, but personally, I prefer to stick to all the paths in some form or at certain periods. Once a deeper understanding is gained, it is seen that these are all complementary & not really competitive paths!