Ignorance is a choice

"Ignorance is Bliss." 

This proverb resembles " What you don't know cannot hurt you." It figures in a passage from "On a distant Prospect of Eton College." by the eighteenth-century English poet Thomas Grayso.

How many times we have heard people say this i cannot even count that much. Indeed to be ignorant of many facts is bliss as we don't want to destroy our illusions. But then who is any one to be wise or ignorant other than the person themselves. I somehow feel a wise person is someone who understands the boundaries of their ignorance and instead of trying to be google of information "knowledge", learns to move around the capacity of ignorance to lead a life.

But then how many of us can really survive in this world with our illusions playing with our mind and we calmly sway with the ignorant mind? Sometimes the boundaries merge between ignorance and conscientious stupidity and is the end result bliss for who??

Driving in India is a nightmare, somehow the concept of traffic rules seem to elude the population and even the traffic cops. At times on a one way street you find people coming from the opposite end and then .... kindly adjust is the driving mantra. At times one gets confused that are we a right hand drive country or a left hand drive. I mean you loose track when people want to drive on both opposite ends. Parking is normally rules and common sense. But then again in this country one can park any where or stop car in the middle of the road to ask for directions. Again Kindly adjust or face the road rage / violence of the people. Obviously the dangerous ignorant person is in bliss here while a traffic nightmare for ones who follow the rules.

As rightly said by Emma Goldman " The Most violent element in society is Ignorance."

Education can give us the wings of imagination and rationale. But sometimes the innocence which exists in the eyes of the ignorant is beautiful. Why do we have to judge every one? Why do every one have to be street smart? Why can't we have innocence also co existing? A stranger helping a stranger without any expectations. Its hard to believe that we have no time for anything other than satisfy our selfish needs and desires. I work because i want money, status, my family to be taken care of, house, ..... etc etc. I do not work to give 50% of my wealth to the poor. Off course not how can i give my hard earned money to a poor stranger? The question which arises is does that someone have equal opportunity like you to be educated and be born in an environment to actually have a career? Well my ignorance of not understanding the situation of the other person puts me in my perspective of what i believe in. Therefore the huge gap which is forming between Have's and have's not is a sore truth to who we have become.

Philanthropy is for people who understand the journey within. From nothing we make everything and go back to be nothing. So my desires and my wants are fulfilling this moment, beyond this moment they have no value. But if i can help people to have a good education and basic necessities then all my moments have a purpose and value. This is a very personal choice yet something to ponder for everyone.

I don't know how to cook. Yes i have never enjoyed being in kitchen to cook. The way to my heart is not by cooking for me. For this i have hired an excellent housekeeper who is also an amazing chef. Therefore i am ignorant to the art of cooking. The upside to my handicap is when invited to potluck parties, i usually am excused from making a common menu and then to make my speciality. Yet i make the best contribution to these parties - I bring booze.  Sometimes the Unexpected virtue of ignorance is good too!

Often i feel our perception about intelligence, knowledge, ignorance or stupidity is based on our standards of what an individual should be. Now that's a very tall order for 7 billion plus people to meet. Not all of us think alike, even in close knit families you find people with different view points trying to co exist with each other. 

From here where do we go?

Forgiveness _ I am Human, Born to make mistakes

"To err is human, to forgive Divine".

Is it really for us to bind anyone with our anger and hurt? Am i a better human, if i learn to forgive? And exactly , who am I, to even tell a person i forgive you?

Is my forgiveness going to make the other person repent? or treat me better? What is such a big deal about forgiveness. I have been struggling to find answer to the questions and till date what has come back to me is in simple crisp words : I am human, born to make mistakes. So who is forgiving me for my actions and who am i forgiving for their reactions or actions?

Now the question which comes to my mind is, in the eyes of God there is nothing right or wrong. So what forgiveness can we ask the universal consciousness who believes everything is right and every action has a predestined purpose.

Spirituality is confusing, plays with our mind and eventually we, who come from nothing, go back being nothing. The whole tryst is while we live, we need to live by the rules of the society. Its inbuilt in us, the right and wrong. Ethics, character, upbringing, culture etc etc... wow heavy words, wonder we don't weigh down by just listening to them. But hold on, this is what makes us the good human beings. Abiding by each and every rule and asking for forgiveness if we break any one of them.

Yet we human's expect apology and want to boost our ego by saying the magic words " I forgive you" or act like slaves and ask "Please forgive me"

Forgiveness! music to my ears, it can make lives and it can break homes. In today's fast paced lifestyle, people are changing. You see more promiscuous people than they were a decade ago. It's not that they have just emerged, but by changing lifestyles and active social platforms, now you see more than there were before.

"Sorry" the most abused word of today's lifestyle. 

"I am sorry, it won't happen again. Please forgive me." This is todays mantra. Many people let go for small things. But when you need to let go and forgive someone for a major mistake, thats when you suddenly realise that we don't have it in us to forgive. We all have distinct character and we all strive to be who we are eventually. Truth and trust is something which comes in small doses. It a refection of what we believe in. My truth can be your lie too. But people don't see it that way. When it comes to forgiveness then there seems to be only one absolute truth and one absolute lie. What happens to all the white lies, which again have become our lifestyle and we all indulge in them. What happens to shades of grey in truth, which are very good argument and discussion points , as reminded by many while losing and not getting forgiveness. At that time, the heart is aching and we only see the absolute lie disguised as absolute truth.

There is a forgiveness meditation which i teach. It helps us to forgive ourselves first, then anyone who has knowingly or unknowingly hurt us and then we ask for forgiveness from any who we have knowingly or unknowingly hurt. This meditation sets us free from the baggage which we seem to be carrying. In this meditation, the intent is to forgive ourselves from our mindset and accept what has happened in our life knowingly and unknowingly. Our life is the sum total of what we feel. And many times we keep feelings hidden deep down in our sub conscious mind and it keeps emerging somehow somewhere and we keep repressing our feelings and make same mistakes again n again till we don't learn to let go.

So i ask again : Who am i, to forgive anyone other than myself? 

I am only Human, born to make mistakes and i forgive myself.

Journey between breath and name.

When a person is born, the person has breath but no name, and when the person dies, the person has name but no breath. The gap between this breath and name is Life. (author unknown)

I somehow have got stuck on this meaning of life, its simple yet it says more than words can say.

This gap is what interests me, i am amused by people who forget that what ever we do in this world in the end we take nothing. Our name is only remembered by our family and friends , our work if helpful to society on large is remembered by many. So my journey can be for millions of bucks and property left to my family or my journey can be to create a sustainable environment and help to millions when i go. The choice is always ours.
My whole life i have wondered , what's in a name. Is name more important than deeds done by unknown people? I do know few philanthropists, who would never divulge their name when they are helping the under privileged. I also know people who donate to charity to get tax redemption, then there are people who donate and want their name put in bold letters that they are the reason to either donate money for hospital wing/ library etc etc. I personally like people who privately, without any noise and ego boasting donate.
There are entrepreneurs who have radically changed our entire thinking and mindset by their inventions and innovations. They have created cults which are very difficult to break till the next big wave of innovation does not come through. Was it name? fame? or to do something which would help society at large made these entrepreneurs create such innovations?
But then we are 7 billion plus different ego level human beings residing on this tiny planet, so probably everyone has a difference in opinion.
There is one meditation i reckon for people to try in the morning, Death Meditation. Imagine its your last day in this world. What will you do today? What you had planned or  you create something by which you leave your legacy behind?



Steve Jobs for 33 years did this meditation every single day.

We live in moments of choices and once a person understands that we are created from nothing to achieve everything to once again become nothing. The whole world looks beautiful and becomes our playground for us to create a life with meaning.




So whats the legacy you want to leave behind?

Reflection leads to opportunity

"Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action." as said by Peter Drucker.

My life is my choices, some were good and some were my mistakes, which lead me to be who i am today. Will i make those mistakes again, or will i like to go back in time to make changes in my choices for me to be ... where?

This question has many possibilities of different answer's overtime as i reflect back in my life. Could I, should i have, maybe, probably.... all voices which give me answers to what i want to hear at the turning points of my life. But my growth if i may say has been due to reflecting on my choices and mostly on my mistakes. I have learnt more from my failures than winning and getting things right in first go.

As rightly said by Henry Ford " Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently". 

We all have faced our mistakes in our faces, fallen down, bruised our ego's and yet again stood up to try once again. Only the next time we don't make the same mistake twice, we find new ones. We try till we succeed. Our mantra of success  is looking at our failures and ensuring our goal is yet achievable and we strive to hit the bulls eye, if not today, then definitely tomorrow. 

All of you will say been there done that. But how many really made their dreams come true? I mean literally facing the failures, not letting anything come in between, beating the odds, strategically ensuring that the moves are correct for you to meet your goal. How many did not give up in between and focused on something else? 

I gave up in between on my dreams. I felt i did not have it in me to be an entrepreneur. Started couple of times in my life but in between when the going got tough, gave up and took a job. I was somehow more secure in getting my pay check on first of every month. No stress, no hassle and my bills were getting paid. Even if the price was letting go of my dreams. I tried thrice lost money thrice and then decided this is not what i can do. I actually let myself believe that i was not good enough to run my own business. Yet i was able to run other person's business and live other person's dreams. How could i have so little belief in my ability? Life at times is a horrible joke and we don't realise that the joke is on us. Life is teaching us, nudging us to move from our comfort zones, expand our horizons and follow our dreams.

If i look back, i realise my heart was not there in the ventures i had very excitedly thought of creating. I never wanted to own an event company, and three times i tried was to have my own event company. Work i enjoyed doing but would i make my this passion my business, many would think i am talking nonsense, off course your passion is the best business one can get in. To me it was my passion not my legacy i wanted to leave behind.

My failure in this was my biggest strength / opportunity  in pursuing my dream - Soul Studio. Creating a platform for people to talk about wellness, fitness, mind and soul. Not just spiritual but instilled with logic and taking the journey within to be just ourselves. I suddenly realised i am creating one of the biggest event platforms, my passion and dream fused together to create an event which could/may/should help people. The dream was always there, its how to implement it which has taken me 3 failures to understand.

Silence is deafening. As it is said, the voices which you hear inside, us reflecting on our actions, not something which we all enjoy doing and many of us would prefer to push this voice away. Its true there is no where in this world or universe we can run away from ourselves. Accepting who we are is what makes us who we are. Our failures and reflecting on them objectively, gives us strength and opportunities which our mind cannot fathom till the time we don't come to terms with our failures. Many of us try shifting the blame on some one else for our mistakes. It's common and we being human with large ego's we prefer to live in denial, than accepting our failures.

Once again i say "Still your mind" meditation helps us understand our deepest fears, which directly helps us understand our addictions and mindsets. From this arises our strength to be ourselves and accept our failures. 

Failure is not opposite of success, Its part of success.

Everything happens for a reason and that reason is us trying to be human. I am... who i am and that what matters to me.