Write a New Note What am I doing with my life...??

I wanted to share my most inspiring incident which happened in my life 3 years ago. Thanks to my dear friend Becky, her enthusiasm to share has kindled this joy of sharing. I also happen to write this note with certain involvement as I am seriously thinking about my own life decisions like should I be in academic career or not etc.

I watched Hurt locker few days back and It made me think why the hell am I wasting life ???(like unnecessary watching YouTube videos or reading some random blogs) Do I realize something only when tragedy strikes !! I would definitely want to plunge deeper in life when everything is all right not when something goes bad. Thanks to Canadian winter (just vanished), am I really doing something sensible in life….?? I am concerned myself :)

Sadhguru at the prestigious "World economic forum"
He has been invited there for last 4 years and he is the only mystic or Yogi to speak at TED.

Sadhguru has always been and will always be one of the most inspiring people for me and I guess I was very fortunate to witness this conversation which happened near the velliangiri foothills. It was an unusual setting and an unusual program organized at the Isha foundation for the people from “world president’s organization” and some influential leaders who were considered to be an elite group and all of us in Isha were thrilled about this program. Because if these people are touched then it can have far reaching effects. The program happened sometime in early 2007 and I was a teacher trainee. We had to co ordinate lot of our activities and 2 days into the program we had a session of the program happening at the stream which is so close to ashram.

One of the participants was on the advisory board of National science foundation ( NSF) and owning a large technical industry ( damn I don’t remember his name :(. It was about to 25 participants and same number of teacher trainees and few volunteers to make sure lunch was served right and speakers, carpet, seating etc were right. Once the session was over some of the participants came near Sadhguru and they wanted to hear more. So after that wonderful session where Sadhguru spoke about the hills and its significance, one of the participants walks up to sadhguru and He brings up this very interesting question “Can some of the scientific truths be related to spiritual wisdom” ?? . I was fortunate to be close to them and what I heard was like truly inspiring and will be remembered by me forever.

Now I am all ears, I had never seen sadhguru speak about fundamental physics like quantum mechanics and theoretical physics so deeply. Now sadhguru goes deep into this and starts explaining how certain aspects of string theory are flawed and the man agrees..!! I am totally at shock. When he explained how quantum electrodynamics was successful to explain few aspects, I was wondering where did he learn all this…!!! Sadhguru starts explaining the behavior of sub atomic particles and what could be the solution for this flawed aspect of string theory and how this has been explained by Patanjali and some other texts of shiva sutra’s. The man is totally surprised to see sadhguru speak like this and I was already stunned. Sadhguru says “ In my perception , it is all there clearly but I don’t have the formal mathematical expertise or education to write down the solution in an equation form” . So the participant questions “well, how did he come to know this if he did not have formal education”. Sadhguru answers, once the perception becomes deep enough then it is possible to grasp the mechanism of physical existence to its minute level and briefly explains how certain practices in yoga are directed towards understanding the physical form of existence from its macro to its micro plateaus and what can be done with such level of mastery.

The stream near Velliangiri foothills where the incident took place... the photo is very close description of it....

( I do not remember the exact words but the whole conversation still gives me goose bumps which I think of it)


Then he questions the participant “why is that people have such huge aversion towards anything that is spiritual ?? why is that so-called spiritual people have made a parody of their lives and anyone who is little intelligent thinks spirituality is for the ones who are bruised by the process of life not for the ones who are in the prime of their health and life ??” he continues to explain unless this respect towards spiritual processes is not restored then humanity will miss something huge. Sadhguru explained the most pressing need of the hour is to establish individuals who are well rooted in their inner experience and are actively involved in the society and hold key positions. It is only out of this kind of action and compassion which will bring true well being.

Well this had a huge impact and his words “ if you try the grapple the problems of the world without necessary awareness then those problems will just consume you” always made me wary of my actions. Well my imagination ran wild and I started imagining what would be the effect if Warren buffet or Bill gates became realized people?

For me the whole conversation was very inspiring because a man who can meditate like Buddha and who can express his perception in the language of science is very very rich. He gets to live both the worlds (if there is a division at all). We need more physics teachers who have such depth of perception that when they teach quantum physics they know it by their experience and education is no more accumulation of just information and labeling.

Now I am pondering how do I make my career in a way that I can do this…!! One part of me says I like teaching and sharing , so be a professor ….while the other part says…. Whats the use of making money or becoming a professor when you do not know the simplest aspects of life?? Learn from a master who KNOWS…. Strangely I like this idea of living under the guidance of Zen master ( sadhguru).
I have been reading some of the works of Ramdass and why did he quit his professorship at Harvard and spent many years living with a mystic called Neem karoli baba?? Definitely Ramdass was not a freak and his book “Be here now” is soo good that even other professors like Dan Gilbert quotes them all the time.
How one can maintain this delicate balance between establishing himself firmly in the reality and then conduct his life well outside, this is a real challenge for me now.

With a bunch of fellow travelers who are truly fantastic ( my friends) I will be taking this journey and lets see and I hope I don’t end up like the guy “ one who can .. does… one who can not….. teaches…:) ) hahahahhah

The return of Ravi... - blog revival

10 reasons why I am reviving back my blog.

1. I find it extremely organized way of knowledge management as I use it as a tool to present the best of life happenings I come across.

2. I always wanted to establish links between the duality – technology / spirituality, science / religion, art/sport, music / dance, masculine / feminine way of thinking and many more. In every day life, we see apparent duality (day- night, male-female etc) they seem to be separate with distinct qualities but they form a very intimate relationship and are complimentary in nature. Therefore, my blog will act as one more endeavor to bring harmony to this cognitive dissonance.

3. It connects me to the other bloggers and establishes a strong network and a platform for mutual benefit and growth.

4. I have definite plans for small touring around and annual vacation to places like Himalayas, amazon, great barrier reef, Tibet etc . I can make it a travel diary and write my experiences.

5. Meet people of different background, interview them and make them a part of my life.

6. Blogging has therapeutic effects (like catharsis) and gives a thought process a new vibrancy and edge.

7. I come across some insightful stuff everyday and miss it just like that. It pains me a lot to see that I was so close and missed it. Therefore, blogging can help others and myself if I organize all the best thoughts I come across.

8. To make my daily life more fun.

9. Somewhere down the line when I meet my life partner , this can act as a tool to impress her ( inspired by Dr.randy pausch and jai love story , but I am not going to show stuffed animals :))

10. Whole lot of adventure :) and learning .





I could only find this photo to match my mood right now :) .... sun coming out from the backdrop of mountains.

Thought

You cannot be frightened of the unknown because you do not know what the unknown is and so there is nothing to be frightened of. Death is a word, and it is the word, the image, that creates fear. So can you look at death without the image of death? As long as the image exists from which springs thought, thought must always create fear.

happiness

What you know as happiness is nothing but a relative state.

Benson went to Krantz's clothing store to buy himself a suit. He found just the style he wanted, so he took the jacket off the hanger and tried it on.
Krantz came up to him. "Yes, sir. It looks wonderful on you."
"It may look wonderful," said Benson, "but it fits terrible. The shoulders pinch."
"Put on the pants," said Krantz. "They are so tight, you will forget all about the shoulders!"

One day I saw Mulla Nasruddin walking on the road in great despair, almost ready to burst out crying. I asked him, "What is the matter? Why are you so miserable?"
He said, "My shoes are very small -- I need two sizes bigger -- and they hurt like hell."
I said, "Nasruddin, then why don't you change them?"
He said, "That I cannot do."
I asked him, "Why can't you? You have the money."
He said, "I have the money, but there is much more involved in it. The whole day I suffer from these shoes, and when in the evening I go home, I throw these shoes away and I fall on my bed... it is such a relief, as if one has come to paradise! And that is the only joy in my life! I cannot change these shoes -- in twenty-four hours that is the only moment of joy. If I change these shoes, that moment will also disappear. Then there is nothing left."

What you call happiness is just a question of relativity.

An Englishman, a Frenchman, and a Russian were trying to define true happiness.
"True happiness," said the Englishman, "is when you return home tired after work and find a gin and tonic waiting for you."
"You English have no romance," countered the Frenchman. "True happiness is when you go on a business trip, find a pretty girl who entertains you, and then you part without regrets."
"You are both wrong," concluded the Russian. "Real true happiness is when you are home in bed at four o'clock in the morning and there is a hammering at the frontdoor and there stand members of the secret police who say to you, 'Igor Zhvkovski, you are under arrest,' and you are able to reply, 'Sorry, Igor Zhvkovski lives next door!'"

happiness is a relative phenomenon.