About Life

We have no choice in life upon two things; the birth in this planet and leaving the same. The interim period between these two events is called “Life”. It is a collection of fleeting experiences which can neither be re-played nor stored. There are two paradigms about Life; one “it is a benediction to be a human” and another is result of “Karma” – the inevitable choice. The paradigms are the “Basic assumption” upon which all our beliefs and actions are based. Let’s examine the manifestation of these two basic assumptions.

When we come from the paradigm “life is a result of an inevitable choice” we tend to believe that our state of happiness or sorrow is decided by an external source. We tend to blame our parents for not sending us to a good school, our spouse for not supporting us and so on. In this state of mind one does not want to take responsibility for everything that is happening in their life. Once we blame external sources for our state, we have no responsibility to change anything. It is the best recipe to remain where we are. This state of melancholy is where many choose to remain and don’t want to rock the boat.

When we choose the paradigm of “It is a benediction to be a human”, we take life with a sportsmanship and play joyfully as play itself is the reward. In this state, we take charge of our life without blaming anyone for our progress or lack of it. We become the captain of our soul and steer our life for ourselves and the betterment of our fellow human being. People who lived with this paradigm have believed that in ultimate analysis “Nothing matters”. Think for a moment the anxiety our grand parents (who are in heaven now!) have gone through during their life. Does that have any meaning now? Similarly our concerns now will have no meaning later when we quit this planet. We will not be remembered as Jesus who is worshiped even after 2000 years of his earthly abode.

Alexander died at the age of 32, Jesus was in human form only for 37 years and Adhi Sankara lived only for 33 years in this planet. The foot prints these human beings have left are not erasable for many more millenniums. The contributions made by Edison by illuminating the world, Mother Theresa by bring smile in the face many poor, Mary Curie giving the great invention of radium and so on are the monuments of meaningful life lived by great people. All these people have come from the paradigm that “Life is a benediction” and “Nothing matters” which means that the doing is important rather than the fruits of action. If we are caught up with the fruit of action, we miss the target.

To summarize,

Life is a pair of opposites by design; hot & cold, happiness & sorrow, light & shadow and so on. If it is not so, one cannot appreciate the favourable ones. For example white cannot be defined if black is not there, light cannot be understood if darkness is not there and happiness cannot be recognized if sorrow is not defined. When we have faced ill health we have appreciated health. When we had headache we realized that we have something called head! It is like two ends of the same stick and trying to pick one without the other is foolishness. When we transcend these pair of opposites, we have arrived to our destination.

Life will be joyful experience only when we understand these realities of Life as a whole and live every day with a missionary zeal which will make our presence in this planet more meaningful.

Wish you a Great Life ahead.

Jai Gurudev

With Love

NC