Showing posts with label Philosophy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philosophy. Show all posts

Friday, June 29, 2012

Blowing Your Own Trumpet!!


Being good at your work counts but being able to showcase that work is equally important too. This is especially true when your job is your art or vice-versa – your art is your job.

Consider an artist who creates mind-blowing work in a dungeon but never displays it to anyone. If that art is also his livelihood he will never sell anything and soon run out of money and possibly cease to exist and so will his art.

Compare this to a scenario where a person creates good work (not low quality) and knows how to sell it. The good worker may get only half of what a mind-blowing artist would get (if he sold) but he will live to create more art, learn and improve upon it.

Not trying to undermine the importance of great work, but showcasing your work is part of the Genius. You may create the sharpest knives in the world but if you are not able to convince somebody to use them they will eventually rust and become useless.

The Genius not only does great work but takes pride in showcasing it equally well.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The Pursuit Of Happiness...


Well yet again it happened, what started as an innocuous chat went haywire and we got entangled into life, existence, happiness, spirituality et all and in the end left me with a question to ponder over as to what constitutes true happiness? What is the best and sure shot way to the pursuit of happiness? But first the chat :) :


Me: hi

MyDearFriend: hi, whassup??

Me: not much, u tell me?

MyDearFriend: m fine


Me: how is your work n all?

MyDearFriend: ok …how r things at ur end?

Me: Fine...u starting to explore some new area?

MyDearFriend: no

Me: or just sticking to what u currently doing?

MyDearFriend: m bored with life…m just reflecting and thinking how much is too much in life??

Me: ha ha ha.. its never too much dost…life goes on…

MyDearFriend: and is there anything beyond sex and money, marriage and profession?? Who we really are and what we really need in life?? Also why r we here??

Me: If you think that much you are getting into trouble…great thinkers have spent their entire lives looking for answers...we should not follow in that trapt..

MyDearFriend: I know same age old questions. Which disturbs every wise and rational Man...? lesser minds don’t go to that level.

Me: I would suggest breaking away from all this...you have a chance and the resources why don't u try ur hands at some new business... that will keep u busy also and may be u'll get answers to ur questions as well...if you think that much u’ll end up getting depressed only...you have XYZ’s business experience at your disposal… try something new

MyDearFriend: ab kissi cheez ki ichha nahin ho rahi life mein (I have no more desires left in life)

Me: woh coffee shop wale idea ka kya hua (What happened to that coffee shop idea?)

MyDearFriend: I donno why

Me: abey chup saale (Shut up a%*&^^*!!)

MyDearFriend: feeling dispassionate with life

Me: what’s your age?

MyDearFriend: 29

Me: then!! Consider your self a kid…

MyDearFriend: yeh bhi nahin pata ki yeh Meri sahi age hai ki nahin (Don’t even know if that’s my correct age)...I donno how many births I ve taken previously...and in what forms and how many further births I ve to see

Me: achhaa ek suggestion aur deta hun (OK…one more suggestion)....this might be helpful...

MyDearFriend: somehow feel like renouncing everything every thought, desire, need

Me: pickup a good camera...pick a good bike ...do a road trip...8-10 days...this might give u a new perspective

MyDearFriend: I don’t ve bike

Me: get one na

MyDearFriend: kuchh nhin badlega in sab cheezon se (Nothing will change with all these things)...the questions remains we r just moving in space and time

Me: Even the greatest thinkers have got enlightenment when they have broken the mould of their daily routine...I would say take a break…no harm in trying...

MyDearFriend: I m on break already

Me: No not at home… go on some trip alone for a few days

MyDearFriend: to Himalayas with saffron clothes, trishul and damru

Me: ha ha ha…not necessarily; it’s not about appearance it’s about ur mind

MyDearFriend: u know u don’t need to go anywhere...one needs to go within...settle deep in urself that is the real journey

Me: hmm

MyDearFriend: this whole world is projection of ur mind one needs to go within practice silence appreciate nature renounce desires practice detachment and perhaps continence what u say

Me: ladke u should think about these things when u are 60 is what I feel.Did u think like this when u were a kid? No...Right??

MyDearFriend: that’s why in first place I asked how much is too much

Me: because u were too occupied learning and exploring new things

MyDearFriend: at 60 u will say lets think about it at 80 at some point sooner or later u ll ve to drop everything


Me: then probably it’s too unimportant a topic to spend your valuable time

MyDearFriend: rightly said...earlier I was busy exploring and learning new things. But we never explored and learned to go within

Me: see neither do I know that I had a life before this nor do I know there will be one after this one? So I don’t worry so much about spirituality…

MyDearFriend: don’t u think this is a new thing I was talking to XYZ today. That the most strangest thing or person u ve ever met or seen is ur own mind it is so fickle, we can't trust it sometimes it likes something other times it hates same thing feelings emotions on which so called human life is based constantly change. I don’t say that one should not ve feelings emotions but relying on them is not wisdom and 2nd thing that i was saying to XYZ is everything is transient in this world even this body is what do u say? May be I ve lots of time to think these things? But at end u can't get rid of this questions even if u get rid it will be 4 even if u get rid it will be 4 sometime these questions will come to haunt you at some later stage of ur life

Me: Maybe they will I 'll cross the bridge when I reach the river

MyDearFriend: hmm...everybody needs to cross

Me: ladke I have a Meeting for which I need to prepare...but u have given me a good topic for my blog...maybe I 'll think over and write my opinion ....

Well call me an escapist if you like but I believe the more you think about life, spirituality etc the more trapped you get…it’s like a blackhole that sucks you in and there is no way out. Too many people have already spent their entire lives searching answers without getting anything back concrete, of course some like Gautam Budhha have succeeded and have paved the way for enlightenment. But if you are not happy with a situation and that is leading to these thoughts, then it only leads to depression. And I feel there is a certain time to do that and people my age are too young too inexperienced even to attempt that. When done at the right age it leads to self realization.

Even Bhagavad-Gita says human life is meant for self realization. And for that to happen the complete life is divided in 4 parts. Bhamchariya (celibate student), Grahastha (married life), Vanaprastha (detached life), Sanyasa (renounced stage). By following these 4 stages of life one is assured to be elevated to highest spiritual platform and at the end of the life person goes back to godhead, in the spiritual world. Well, in my opinion most people my age are in Brahmcharya or Grahastha stage and should reserve the detached or renounced stages for later life when they have successfully completed the Grahastha stage. Attempting detachment or renunciation before completing other stages is akin to trying to get to the 3rd and the 4th floor of a building before even climbing the first two - a near impossible situation and even if you try to jump too high you are bound to land flat on your face.

Now back to the pursuit of happiness, how do you find happiness? I believe if you are in a situation when you are not happy you should change something. Nobody is immune to depression or negative thoughts but what is important is how soon you break it. It’s like a cobweb the more you delay the more entangled you get.

I found this incredibly simple flowchart to attain perfect lifetime happiness.



Photo credit: FlowingData
The flowchart is little incomplete as an arrow from “Change Something” to “Are you happy?” would have completed it.
But alas, nothing is simple in this complicated world, so somebody decided to add more variables to it and look how complicated getting happiness looks.



Photo credit: FlowingData

And I believe that is how it is in the “real” world, it’s your perspective that decides how simple or complicated it is for you to attain happiness. I have known people who have limited means to sustain and yet go through their lives with a smile on their face. And there are others who are bestowed with all the luxuries in life and yet they crib and frown about everything. But the good thing is as humans we have an ultimate gift – the gift of “choice”- you can choose your happiness and as well as the method you want to employ to achieve it.

Let me know your thoughts, what you think defines true happiness and how we can achieve it??

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Status, Status everywhere and lots of lines to think..

The title is inspired from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s classic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Status messages have become such an integral part of our lives. A substantial part of our time daily is spent on updating our 'Status’ on Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Buzz, Orkut and what not?? We humans are social by nature (as I read in textbooks during school days J ) and not so long ago people were complaining that the internet is isolating people and killing the very social fiber itself. But, like all great things, internet did its own thing, evolved its own solution to the problem - the Social Media (SM) tools and right now is flooded by them. And at the very core of this SM phenomenon is the ‘Status’. People update their status, look for other person’s status, comment on it and love being commented upon. So everybody has something to say and everybody has a 'Status' message.

You'll find lyrics of popular songs, lines from some poem or famous quotes from somebody as the status for most people. I, myself often, use them to share the links to the new posts on my blogs apart from sharing other messages which can at times be "just utter nonsense". Then there are status messages that want you to listen to a song, watch a video or read some interesting article on some random website. Well, I like most of them, but what I find interesting is the way people use the status messages to share the mood or the state of mind they are in. I am pretty sure that most of the times the status reflects the mind frame of that person, even if it is not in plain words. The more artistic ones choose a line from a song or quote or poem while others just mention a few words and leave the rest to your imagination. With due respect to all my friends, sample a few status messages on Gmail chat for some of my friends at this time:

"On iPhone with IM+"


“Time and Tide waits for none”

"RANJHA RANJHA kardi ve main aape ranjha hoyi" –lines from a popular Hindi film number.

"I believe I can fly....I believe I can touch the sky..."

"Work, work n more work"

"where the hell is my status message.........."

"There is no point in living if you cannot feel alive!!"

"ek simple si coffee bhi kick deti thi, tere sang..." –lines from a popular Hindi film number.

"Why is God after my life????"

Note: For all my friends whose status I have mentioned here, I took the liberty of using these without permission because most of them are not original in the first place J. And for the ones which are originals, they are meant to be shared.. right?? I just shared them with a few more people, knowing that you all are my good friends and won’t mind the "free publicity" a bit ;)

In my personal opinion and with all due respect and love, I like the bottom half in the list more for the simple reason that they generate a curiosity and prompt the readers to initiate a conversation. Conversation is what we crave for; the need to vent out the feelings. Just go through each of the status messages once again and try and figure out the state of mind of the person, I am sure you will make many interesting observations J

OK..so how many times has it happened that a simple status message on your Gmail chat window or your Facebook homepage has lead to an interesting conversation with a friend? In fact, most of the times I start the conversation by saying something relevant to the status message of the person. Recently I had one such conversation, most conversations are interesting but this one took an unexpected turn. It was simply innocuous and never intended to go in the direction it went and even ended abruptly but I wish we can pick up the threads someday and continue from where we left J. It has been mentioned below; I hope you find it interesting too. Also, please do share any incidents where you had a similar experience; I am sure it happens a lot of times to each one of us.

DearFriend’s Status: I am what I am.

me: I know  what u are J

DearFriend: you know me as **********. I am more than that

me: hmm.. for example

DearFriend: To you My “ I” could not be more than a friend. My "I" or close buddy but My “I” cannot be more to you

me: see there is nothing kept in these topics close your eye(I) and just remember God ;)

DearFriend: if ever get a chance i would like to recommend a book "I am That"

me: aur main kehta hun ki “that is me”. its all perception :)

DearFriend: perception is a term when we tend to look at others and compare...there is nothing more than I. so where this perception could exist

me: wrong! perception is what we perceive, it's “my” vision it has 'I' written all over it that's why i said that is me :)

DearFriend: :) so whats your me ?

me: The world is how I see it what I see is what I am :)

DearFriend: thats so true

me: If all I can see is wrong then something is wrong in me If I see good there is something good in me :)

DearFriend: but there is something beyond  that as well. who is judging ... right or wrong. to you .. drinking may be bad.. for me its good

me: there is no judging everything is relative, relative to what I am :)

DearFriend: i live by one word.. experience..whatever comes

me: correct!! when a child comes to this world he is blank, he has no sense of right or wrong, his experiences make him draw his line of reference from which he measures right or wrong

DearFriend: i asked a prostitute.. what is love.. she said. its fucking Rs 1000 per hour.
correct ? right or wrong??

me: depends who is deciding. what his/her line of reference

DearFriend: you just use experience to avoid what you have already faced and didnt like.  but accepting that its all experience and keep on moving, that is what brings you closer to your SELF

me: sorry..I am enjoying the conversation ..but need to take a break..getting a call

DearFriend: same here. need to take offshore call :( cya later

me: tc bye :)

Note: Due permission has been taken from the person involved in the conversation before mentioning it here.