As another calendar year draws to a close, most of us are wont to making resolutions, looking back wistfully (or dreadfully) at the recent past, or thinking deeply about what to make of the time yet to come. Somehow, the turning of the clock at midnight, when one year melds into another, makes us do something to mark the occasion (as if a calendar year is the perfect way to divide time into significant periods :)
So here's my own little contribution to this gigantic, collective effort of humankind. What follows are some selected thought-bubbles, aphorisms as some would call them, from my book, Strings of the Soul (you can buy it for Kindle app or device here.) It is a little volume about a few things in life that really matter - Love, Truth, Childhood, Wisdom, Happiness...
Hope you'll enjoy reading this post and, if you are kind enough to make a purchase, the whole book. Here it goes:
Our own heart and mind is the best place to escape all the wretchedness of the world.
Diseases are the unwanted weeds in the fragrant garden of our body; nasty thoughts, the drops of poison in the nectar pond of our mind.
There are countless parts to us, both visible and invisible. But there's only one us. One I. One You. We are truly healthy when we can really feel this one single wholeness of ourselves.
Meditation takes you away from the torrent of oppressive thoughts into the inexplicable joy of stillness.
Even though a child cries during birth, the only feeling it knows is joy; everything else is inflicted by others.
The mere thought of children puts a smile on my face, a song in my heart and a supreme sense of blessedness in my soul.
As long as children have the ability to love unconditionally - no matter how much the grown-ups tamper with that - there's hope for all of us.
The child inside man never dies;
Only, more and more silent grow her cries -
Of joy, of pain, of wonders infinite...
Ah, won't we be child again if time would permit.
Whether we choose to live on for something or die for a cause is not important; what really matters is the spark of optimism in our choice.
The distance between despair and hope can be a leap of faith or a chasm of doubt.
Adversity can get us depressed. And sustained troubles can keep us down for long periods. But bad times often strengthen our optimism: things have to get better, is the message that floats up from the bottom of our heart.
Hope is the daughter of tomorrow that is forever youthful, forever chaste, forever attractive.
I have often tried to define love – and failed. But each time I failed better than before.
When our heart is too much full of love, we must pass some around; when it’s too empty, we should try and get a refill.
Sex is an act; love is a process.
It is not the truth that is ugly; it is our reluctance to face it.
Higher truths do not reside at high mountain peaks; they are nestled in the greater depths of our hearts.
All of us know the truth but most choose to believe in what is untrue or, worse, tell lies to cover the truth, to bury it deep down from where no one can discover it. Ultimately, though, someone always finds it – or it comes floating unaided on an ocean full of lies.
Lies are like flies: they hum and swarm and tend to spread the muck around. Truth is like the turtle that must find the most appropriate time and place to lay its eggs.
Truth is like the perennial river that keeps flowing past the silt of lies it gathers in its course.
It is impossible to be alive and vibrant and not appreciate art. Feeling good about art runs in our blood: it is engraved into the innermost nerves of our brain, painted on every tiny speck of our body and infused into each and every breath we take.
We did not create art; it was art that first created us.
The progress of humanity is not possible without the progress of art. Because at the core of art is what it means to be human. Humanity and art feed on each other in their evolution.
A well-sculpted mind is a work of art, but a loving heart is an instance of divinity.
Having faith does not mean we do not ask questions; it means being sure that we’ll finally get answers.
A silent spell of gratitude is worth a thousand words of prayer.
I often hear the lament: “Why do we have so many religions?” To me, the problem is not one of multitude but one of harmony. When our minds are not in harmony, it doesn’t matter which gods we worship, what languages we speak, what foods we eat…But when our minds are in sync, we can peacefully have more religions even after we have had a thousand.
Each pilgrimage to God's temple begins in your own heart.
If looking at the smiling face of a child does not convince you of the existence of God, nothing else will.
In any age there are true gurus who can show us the path to God and there are the frauds who feed on the blind faith of the masses. If we cannot find the real guru for us, the failure is ours.
What if the current configuration of the world does not permit of a true guru? Who says YOU can't be your own guru? The inner voice that speaks to all of us can also be our guru – if we let it be.
Balance is the essence of sustainability. Something that makes things go on in the universe. Without the balance of gravitational and other forces of nature among celestial bodies, the earth wouldn’t exist. Without the balance between the ecological and geological components that make up the earth, the life forms wouldn’t remain alive. And without the balance that exists in a food chain hierarchy, we wouldn’t have the diversity of life among the living.
Beauty is not lack of ugliness. For even an ugly thing in one situation can be beautiful in another. Beauty is the hidden virtue in what is ugly otherwise; the moment the virtue becomes visible, the erstwhile ugly turns into the here-and-now beautiful.
Beauty can make us laugh with pain; it can also make us weep with joy. Isn’t it remarkable that this is not a stark contradiction but a unique human experience?
Of all the relationships humans have forged, friendship is truly special. It contains the distilled best of all other relations and the worst of none.
We often forget that being connected is more about listening than talking.
It isn't always necessary to wish for change; sometimes, we must change what we wish.
Kindness of the heart is directly proportional to broadness of the mind.
Time flies
But tomorrow never dies;
It merely frolics in the lap of eternity,
Unfettered in the boundless skies...
An irony of our time is that nobody knows where they are going, but everyone is frantically trying to get there.
To cry sincerely is as important as to laugh freely. Perhaps more.
The quality of our laughter reveals the constituents of our character.
Wisdom is the knowledge that at any given moment, the right choice is the one that helps the most number of conscientious creatures. And what separates wisdom from mere knowledge is the courage and humanity to make that choice.
Knowledge has to be acquired; wisdom comes.
I may be wise or I may not be. But if I profess to be wise, I might actually be a fool.
The mind is the master of knowledge, but wisdom owes its allegiance to the heart.
When you think of wisdom, there's a warmth in your mind. When you speak wise words, there's love on your tongue. When you do something wise, there's a silent applause all around you.
Wisdom is inversely proportional to Ego.
A lot of deep, reflective thinking goes into filling your cup of wisdom. But this thinking cannot be forced, only attempted from time to time. And only when it is mixed with personal experience and empathy does it become a few more drops of wisdom. No matter how much we work at it, the cup is never full and seldom empty. Thankfully.
Thank you for reading this post or visiting the Strings of the Soul link. Wish you all a Happy Happy New Year 2016!
So here's my own little contribution to this gigantic, collective effort of humankind. What follows are some selected thought-bubbles, aphorisms as some would call them, from my book, Strings of the Soul (you can buy it for Kindle app or device here.) It is a little volume about a few things in life that really matter - Love, Truth, Childhood, Wisdom, Happiness...
Hope you'll enjoy reading this post and, if you are kind enough to make a purchase, the whole book. Here it goes:
Our own heart and mind is the best place to escape all the wretchedness of the world.
Diseases are the unwanted weeds in the fragrant garden of our body; nasty thoughts, the drops of poison in the nectar pond of our mind.
There are countless parts to us, both visible and invisible. But there's only one us. One I. One You. We are truly healthy when we can really feel this one single wholeness of ourselves.
Meditation takes you away from the torrent of oppressive thoughts into the inexplicable joy of stillness.
Even though a child cries during birth, the only feeling it knows is joy; everything else is inflicted by others.
The mere thought of children puts a smile on my face, a song in my heart and a supreme sense of blessedness in my soul.
As long as children have the ability to love unconditionally - no matter how much the grown-ups tamper with that - there's hope for all of us.
The child inside man never dies;
Only, more and more silent grow her cries -
Of joy, of pain, of wonders infinite...
Ah, won't we be child again if time would permit.
Whether we choose to live on for something or die for a cause is not important; what really matters is the spark of optimism in our choice.
The distance between despair and hope can be a leap of faith or a chasm of doubt.
Adversity can get us depressed. And sustained troubles can keep us down for long periods. But bad times often strengthen our optimism: things have to get better, is the message that floats up from the bottom of our heart.
Hope is the daughter of tomorrow that is forever youthful, forever chaste, forever attractive.
I have often tried to define love – and failed. But each time I failed better than before.
When our heart is too much full of love, we must pass some around; when it’s too empty, we should try and get a refill.
Sex is an act; love is a process.
It is not the truth that is ugly; it is our reluctance to face it.
Higher truths do not reside at high mountain peaks; they are nestled in the greater depths of our hearts.
All of us know the truth but most choose to believe in what is untrue or, worse, tell lies to cover the truth, to bury it deep down from where no one can discover it. Ultimately, though, someone always finds it – or it comes floating unaided on an ocean full of lies.
Lies are like flies: they hum and swarm and tend to spread the muck around. Truth is like the turtle that must find the most appropriate time and place to lay its eggs.
Truth is like the perennial river that keeps flowing past the silt of lies it gathers in its course.
It is impossible to be alive and vibrant and not appreciate art. Feeling good about art runs in our blood: it is engraved into the innermost nerves of our brain, painted on every tiny speck of our body and infused into each and every breath we take.
We did not create art; it was art that first created us.
The progress of humanity is not possible without the progress of art. Because at the core of art is what it means to be human. Humanity and art feed on each other in their evolution.
A well-sculpted mind is a work of art, but a loving heart is an instance of divinity.
Having faith does not mean we do not ask questions; it means being sure that we’ll finally get answers.
A silent spell of gratitude is worth a thousand words of prayer.
I often hear the lament: “Why do we have so many religions?” To me, the problem is not one of multitude but one of harmony. When our minds are not in harmony, it doesn’t matter which gods we worship, what languages we speak, what foods we eat…But when our minds are in sync, we can peacefully have more religions even after we have had a thousand.
Each pilgrimage to God's temple begins in your own heart.
If looking at the smiling face of a child does not convince you of the existence of God, nothing else will.
In any age there are true gurus who can show us the path to God and there are the frauds who feed on the blind faith of the masses. If we cannot find the real guru for us, the failure is ours.
What if the current configuration of the world does not permit of a true guru? Who says YOU can't be your own guru? The inner voice that speaks to all of us can also be our guru – if we let it be.
Balance is the essence of sustainability. Something that makes things go on in the universe. Without the balance of gravitational and other forces of nature among celestial bodies, the earth wouldn’t exist. Without the balance between the ecological and geological components that make up the earth, the life forms wouldn’t remain alive. And without the balance that exists in a food chain hierarchy, we wouldn’t have the diversity of life among the living.
Beauty is not lack of ugliness. For even an ugly thing in one situation can be beautiful in another. Beauty is the hidden virtue in what is ugly otherwise; the moment the virtue becomes visible, the erstwhile ugly turns into the here-and-now beautiful.
Beauty can make us laugh with pain; it can also make us weep with joy. Isn’t it remarkable that this is not a stark contradiction but a unique human experience?
Of all the relationships humans have forged, friendship is truly special. It contains the distilled best of all other relations and the worst of none.
We often forget that being connected is more about listening than talking.
It isn't always necessary to wish for change; sometimes, we must change what we wish.
Kindness of the heart is directly proportional to broadness of the mind.
Time flies
But tomorrow never dies;
It merely frolics in the lap of eternity,
Unfettered in the boundless skies...
An irony of our time is that nobody knows where they are going, but everyone is frantically trying to get there.
To cry sincerely is as important as to laugh freely. Perhaps more.
The quality of our laughter reveals the constituents of our character.
Wisdom is the knowledge that at any given moment, the right choice is the one that helps the most number of conscientious creatures. And what separates wisdom from mere knowledge is the courage and humanity to make that choice.
Knowledge has to be acquired; wisdom comes.
I may be wise or I may not be. But if I profess to be wise, I might actually be a fool.
The mind is the master of knowledge, but wisdom owes its allegiance to the heart.
When you think of wisdom, there's a warmth in your mind. When you speak wise words, there's love on your tongue. When you do something wise, there's a silent applause all around you.
Wisdom is inversely proportional to Ego.
A lot of deep, reflective thinking goes into filling your cup of wisdom. But this thinking cannot be forced, only attempted from time to time. And only when it is mixed with personal experience and empathy does it become a few more drops of wisdom. No matter how much we work at it, the cup is never full and seldom empty. Thankfully.
Thank you for reading this post or visiting the Strings of the Soul link. Wish you all a Happy Happy New Year 2016!
