Incidentally, I was thinking about Samadhi in spiritual journey and was reading some text on spirituality when this incident of suicide case of one of the bollywood actor (Sushant Singh Rajput) happened. A thought struck inside me, how is Suicide different from Samadhi? In both the cases one chooses his time to leave for the heavenly abode.
The difference seems to lie in the way one leaves the body . The thoughts and process by which the yogis(enlightened beings) leave the body are very pious and the process itself is very scientific. They have mastered the process to leave the body and all this happens in a very peaceful and smooth manner. When a person commits suicide, he leaves the body with the thoughts of helplessness, dejection and the like. It seems he forces the process on himself.
It is always said in our spiritual texts, the thoughts with which we leave the body decides the future path for us. If anybody feels dejected by life, he can always embrace spirituality and reorient his journey. Why to abruptly end it in the weakest of the forms? Why not find strength with in him? Spirituality always leads to strength and inner calm. One can learn to enjoy one’s journey within.
May every human being find peace and bliss.
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Category Archives: WELL BEING
Mental health
Life has become so much dependent on technology that we delegate all our mental work which we used to do earlier on technology. With the advent of technology our brain is becoming less active and slow. So we can inculcate simple exercises for ourselves in our daily lives to keep our brain active like we can remember our OTPs and feed them when we are doing some transactions which I believe we are doing a lot now a days. This acts as a simple mental exercise for our selves. We can think of other activities of the like for ourselves where we try to remember small things that act as a good exercise for our brains. These small activities can go a long way to prevent and fight back mental slow down diseases like dementia that come with age.
Importance of Oneself:
Each one of us lives his life in myth , believing that he is very important to the organization to which he belongs. Organization can be an office, a home etc. The best way to see importance of oneself is to move away from the organization for sometime and see how many days or sometimes months it takes to refill your presence. The faster you are replaced the better judgement you can have of your worth.
Nothing is permanent in Life. Neither your position nor your being. Everything is ever changing. Leading a wishful Life , thinking I will do this so that I will be in good books of this person or that person is putting yourself into bondage. This bondage leads to unrealistic expectations. Unrealistic expectations always lead to misery.
Whatever one does should be done for the love it and not with the expectation that if I will do this I will be in the good books of somebody or my worth in an organization will increase. Both being in the good books of somebody or increasing of self worth of a person in an organization is temporary. Temporary things remain for sometime and vanish as the situation changes. Being attached to false image of self worth leads to pain and misery. Let us liberate ourselves from the shackles of bondage and lead a truly blissful Life.
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Inner Science Series – Part 2
Spirituality and Religion are two different streams.
Spirituality leads us to liberation while Religion leads us to bondage.
Religion is a closed ecosystem with certain set of rituals and belief systems to be followed.Spirituality is an open space allowing one the freedom to grow in ones own way. Spiritual growth leads to liberation of soul . As we grow in spirituality we feel light within ourselves.
Spirituality mitigates craving for things. Detachment is the by product of spirituality and not its focus.
Finally ,Spirituality leads to Enlightenment of Soul or Moksha .
Economically turbulent period in theWorld Economy and its effect on Families :
As an educator, I come in touch with children from various backgrounds . It is heart rendering to see how the economically turbulent times in the World and the National economy are affecting the families in India.
In the present century, most of the families in India are nuclear families. These families work as small independent units in their own way , lacking any support from extended families . Being independent a lot of responsibility comes on one’s shoulder. In the Indian family structure, mostly the fathers are the breadwinners and the mothers sit back voluntarily or take a break from their careers to take care of their kids and the family.
With the present turbulent period in the world and the national economy , it has become very difficult for the sole bread winner to secure his job. With the present economically tough conditions , companies are under stress of maintaining their profit margins and are not able to support the employees . We are constantly hearing of mass layoffs by private sector companies. These companies themselves have stressed balance sheets and are unable to bear the employee costs. But, what happens to either the people who are still working or those who have been laid off? The people who are still working, work under extremely stressful conditions. This stress comes from the insecurity of their jobs. They work under unnatural conditions, work overtime or work odd hours to secure their jobs. Those who are out of job are too under the pressure of running their families and maintaining their status quo. In both the cases , these breadwinners are under huge stress. A lot of unhealthy feelings such as anger, fear etc , enter inside these people. Whichever side these breadwinners are , stress is carried down to their families . The first people to bear with all these unhealthy emotions are their partners and their children. Constant arguments crop up at home with playing the blame game . The silent sufferers are the children who are caught in the crossfire that occurs off and on between their parents. Now a days , I see a lot of children becoming depressed and suicidal with all the disturbance going on at home.
Times are turbulent but, we need to find a solution to keep ourselves calm as parents . We can turn to spirituality to keep ourselves calm during these turbulent times. Spirituality offers a lot of insight into realms less trodden by us and leads to deeper understanding of the functioning of life. Here, we need to be very clear that spirituality is very different from religion. Spirituality is independent of any religion and is above all religions.
Reinventing Oneself
What is reinventing?
REINVENTING ONESELF MEANS CHANGING ONESELF COMPLETELY.
REINVENTING ONESELF IS JUST LIKE A TAKING A NEW BIRTH.
REINVENTION IS A COMPLETE MAKEOVER FOR A PERSON.
On death and rebirth of a person, soul is believed to leave the older body and enter a new body in a new environment. Reinventing oneself is the same intense change. Reinventing is not about small changes we bring about in ourselves. It is same as leaving the old “I and me “ and embracing a new “I and me”.
Reinvention is same as evolution of a species. Like human beings evolved with time to be what they are today leaving behind what was not required and not necessary and modified and enhanced what was necessary.
Who can think of reinventing?
When things are not working our way or when we feel nothing is going fine in our lives or in our careers we need to step back and take out a moment with ourselves .We need to think of reinventing ourselves.
Why should one consider to reinvent ?
Time keeps on changing and so do situations around us. We need to constantly reinvent ourselves to keep pace with changing times. People who do not reinvent , stagnate and are left behind.
When you stop swimming in a pool you drown.
How to invent oneself ?
• Feel the need for change
First step to reinvention is feeling the need to change oneself.
• Visualise the change
Second step to reinvention is to visualise the change you expect to bring about in yourself and in your life.
• Implement the change on actual grounds
Third step to reinvention is to start walking on the new path – The path of NEWER SELF and THE CHANGED SELF.
Note: As parents we can help our children to reinvent if we feel they are not succeeding by their way and the door in front of them is closed.
Self Expression is important for personal well being
Each one of us needs to find a way to express himself. Expressing ourselves has a lot to do with our overall well being.
Pent up feelings and unexpressed thoughts start becoming blockages in the path of our progress as well as our mental peace. When we are not able to express ourselves, we feel suffocated .We need to find ways in which we can express ourselves in a meaningful and positive manner. Outlet is very much required for our feelings and thoughts. Once we express ourselves we are at peace with ourselves and we feel very light within .This opens path for optimum use of our capabilities.
Expressing ourselves is as important for our living and leading a peaceful life as food is for our body, as sunlight is for plants, as air is for life.
Some of the Common Reasons for not expressing ourselves:
• Lack of Self Confidence
• Shyness
• Fear of non acceptance by others
• Circumstances don’t allow
• Lack of communications skills or lack of proper means of communication
Whatever be the case, we can always train ourselves to express ourselves in a positive and meaningful manner.
Various Ways of Self Expression that can be looked into are:
• Art and creativity is a good way to express ourselves. Great painters, sculptors and designers over time have been able to express their thought process through their art work. Whatever you feel can be put in the form of art.
• Writing is a very powerful tool of self expression. Writing is strongly recommended as a way to put your thoughts and feelings in words. Writing should become a habit for us. We can maintain a personal dairy where in we can write whatever we feel about.
• Dance is also a way of self expression. You can always express yourself through the form of dance.
• Singing is another way of self expression.
• Talk yourself out.
• Teaching can also be considered as a way to express yourself.
Remarks:
-> As parents you may look into helping your children in finding ways to express themselves.
->As a grown up you may yourself look into ways you can express yourself meaningfully.
->As a grown up you may yourself look into ways you can express yourself meaningfully.
Meditation in Motion- Part 3
Dance is another form of meditation in motion. While dancing you invoke the life force that is flowing through you. Dance is method of bringing inner stillness while moving.
Meditation means emptying of mind and entering a void space where our soul surfaces, bringing peace .In dancing we enter this meditative state or trans-state of mind but through rather a different door.
Dances were from days of yore associated with spirituality. They have the ability to take us to trans-state of mind if performed with focus on mental discipline along with physical movements. With practising of steps and movements dancers slowly move towards the fine balancing and grounding techniques. Dancing done with intention of attaining spirituality do lead us to meditative state. Thus, intention setting is very important step before one starts dancing.
•Sufi dance is well recommended dance for meditation. Whirling around takes you to a different plane of consciousness and makes it very easy for you to connect to higher self. Whirling can be associated with spinning of planets around the sun.
•Kathak Yoga is a new technique developed for mediation purpose.
•Qi Gong Fan dance is another form of meditative dance.
•Hoop dance is also now being used for meditative purposes as well.
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