Of late, I've been in Gurgaon, which comes in the Delhi NCR region, and is swamped with a huge number of corporates. My job involves interacting with youth ( 18 - 30 to be specific ), so i've been meeting up with a lot of young employees at various call centres & BPOs. Infact I’m staying with one ( He was my room-mate at IIT).
I really pity, the way they are leading their lives. Their regular schedule is – say a 10 hour working day (which I feel would be the only worthwhile time), come back, watch T.V. or meet up with a friend over a coffee/meal/drink on working days. Friday and Saturday evening are for heavy drinking, and Sunday goes by, getting out of the hangover!
Such a dull, boring and monotonous life! It looks so juiceless! Even though seemingly there are all the material comforts, life seems to be so juiceless! Just waiting for weekends, where one could drink and get out of the monotonicity for a few hours. As soon as the alcohol is digested and the headache, or dullness gone, starts another week and the cycle continues!
We are so caught up in our own ‘vicious circle’ that we have really forgotten where are we really heading? What is it all for? Why are we here on this planet? Whats the purpose of life? Very often these issues come out as ‘discussions’ after a drink, or maybe even without a drink sometimes, but still as ‘discussions’. This is the first step. Very fortunate are those, to whom at-least this question dawns! Everyone who is at this step (or who is nodding in agreement through this blog) wants to come out of the cycle, but very few have the determination and courage to put in actual efforts!
The solution lies in taking action about it (not just reading this blog and forgetting it!). It lies in spending time with oneself to sit and ponder over these issues and meditate. It lies in going out and serving people. It lies in having more talks, discussions, and being in company of people with similar mindset. Guruji puts it in very simple words… “Seva, Satsang & Sadhana”. Seva – serving people without expecting anything in return. Satsang – being in the company of sat(truth) meaning hanging around/chilling out/spending time with people doing such activities. Sadhana – meditating, or spending time with oneself on a regular basis. These are the three pillars of growth that help us “wake up” in life!
I really pity, the way they are leading their lives. Their regular schedule is – say a 10 hour working day (which I feel would be the only worthwhile time), come back, watch T.V. or meet up with a friend over a coffee/meal/drink on working days. Friday and Saturday evening are for heavy drinking, and Sunday goes by, getting out of the hangover!
Such a dull, boring and monotonous life! It looks so juiceless! Even though seemingly there are all the material comforts, life seems to be so juiceless! Just waiting for weekends, where one could drink and get out of the monotonicity for a few hours. As soon as the alcohol is digested and the headache, or dullness gone, starts another week and the cycle continues!
We are so caught up in our own ‘vicious circle’ that we have really forgotten where are we really heading? What is it all for? Why are we here on this planet? Whats the purpose of life? Very often these issues come out as ‘discussions’ after a drink, or maybe even without a drink sometimes, but still as ‘discussions’. This is the first step. Very fortunate are those, to whom at-least this question dawns! Everyone who is at this step (or who is nodding in agreement through this blog) wants to come out of the cycle, but very few have the determination and courage to put in actual efforts!
The solution lies in taking action about it (not just reading this blog and forgetting it!). It lies in spending time with oneself to sit and ponder over these issues and meditate. It lies in going out and serving people. It lies in having more talks, discussions, and being in company of people with similar mindset. Guruji puts it in very simple words… “Seva, Satsang & Sadhana”. Seva – serving people without expecting anything in return. Satsang – being in the company of sat(truth) meaning hanging around/chilling out/spending time with people doing such activities. Sadhana – meditating, or spending time with oneself on a regular basis. These are the three pillars of growth that help us “wake up” in life!
21 comments:
Oh Vishal...thats the story of these times. people have started externalizing everything including themselves. there is absolutely no introspection.
its the race for money and security. its peer influence. its parental pressure. its lack of a guide. its weakness and laziness.
i wish your interactions with such youth helps them in finding some semblance of balance in their lives. and please keep writing such pieces because if not always but at times there is an impact.
Ya, i agree with you. People lead a monotonous life and the sad part is that they are happy with what they are doing. We have to wake them up from deep slumber.
Dear Vishal, though you have been tolerating these idiots (unfortunate souls actually), yet you have criticised just from the throat and not from the heart, at the same time being very authetic in your criticism. This is what I liked most. The entire article is devoid of feverishness...typical Vishal:-) And a nice short and sweet way to describe the 3 pillars. Precise and to the point post. Jgd Saleel
Hey vishal, its very true that people are leading a monotonous life...they dont know where they are heading in life..They are so full of dullness....no creativity at all...and i am sure courses like Yes+ and Yes can eliminate these problems.
And also in a very sweet and meaningful way you have described the 3 pillars Seva, Sadhna & Satsang...if you could also mention about Surrender...bcoz without Surrender all 3 would be incomplete.....right?? Think about it....Jai gurudev
hi guys...im actually one of the room mates mentioned in this article...let me give u a brief intro abt myself...im not
someone who is anti-spirituality..in fact i totaly respect the journey of self discovery..n believe tat every individual
should ultimately move on this path...n like one of u mentioned tat im deviod of introspection..i wud again disagree wid tat
woman..this is not true fr me..neithr is it true fr most of the ppl who have been refered to in this article..as bein
surrounded by monotonus routines...de problem actually lies in that fact tat u bunch of ppl hav glorified on thing over the
other...most of u ppl r hypocrites...n not true ascetics...u rarely practice wat u preach...u only preach what is taught to
u..ur introspection rarely brings out ne of the revolutionary ideas...my frnd vishal has been refering to various cases on
non-vegeterian food...alcohol...smoking...etc..in order to teach us de harmful impact of these activities on us as well as
the society...n we don't disagree...but then it is always easy to preach the good...its difficult to practice...leaving these
bad habits might not be difficult for many of us...but then...many of u hav lost ur basic human values....lyk respect for
othrs...u believe tat u hav become some superior race..who has the ability n the right to set us (inferiors) to the correct
path...n then once tat happens u enslave us..just lyk all of u became enslaved..while spirituality was perhaps ment to free
ur mind...open it to clear wisdom...n knowledge...values...whereas it seems it has just made it full of few case specific
studies..which can be broken through in less than 10 mins of any debate...since we have been talking in context of most of
the things vishal has shared ..let me share another piece where one ur own ppl has shown symptoms of jealously..n
ownership..most of u wud know 'bawa'...vishal had a plan to travel along with some swami jee...but wen he went to tell bawa
abt it..he stopped him because he thought he was losing one of his disciples to another guru...i might have misunderstood
here..but atleast tat is wat it seemed from vishal's reply...n den u say these guys dont feel jealous..dey say u belong to
everyone else...seems to contradicting here...
let me qoute another instance of vishal's life...i believe u wud agree tat one of ur goal as a human being at least(i dont if tat comes as a prime goal for aol as well)...is to help ppl stuck in trouble...once we went for a drive at night to our college in delhi...we just wanted to hang out in the campus for some time n have fun lyk old times...we parked at the gate n one of our frnds went to fetch a cigetterate from the other side of the road..n guess wat ..he sees 4-5 jaatts almost manhandling an old uncle...the reason...uncle had rammed the car of those jaatts...uncle was drunk..totaly uncles fault..in the entire situation...but den just a flip side...any one of us cud hav gotten into such a situation..god forbid..if it was ur uncle..or dad..(drunk/or may b not)...wat wud u do in such a situation?...we definitely wanted to stay wid uncle till the time the issue was resolved..just to protect him from ne form of abuse...but out of the three of us..only vishal pointed us to leave...n asked us to get back to where we were heading...dude is this wat u call lending ur help to troubled ppl..he said
he will be fine..leave him n lets go inside iit....wat can say.....
dude i have respected as a frnd...n i have respected ur choices...but then i do not want you to lose your sanity over them...spirituality is good, its gr8 infact...but wid this u hav lost ur basic etiquites of respecting individualism n for that matter...other ppls comfort..ur guidance has proved to be determental to some of the most beautiful relationships a few ppl cud have shared...everything u do is gr8..xcept for giving freedom to ppl arnd u..u hav forced urself n ur so called enlightenment on others...u can only be a good teacher if u let ur disciples think freely rather dan enforcing the case studies tat u hav learnt in ur teaching program...life is not a lesson from a book..its more of an experience....
hi guys,
Here comes another perspective this time from someone who lies somewhere inbetween. To introduce myself - I am Himanshu. Vishal, Abhinav and I were very close friends. I have been someone who for the last seven years has been experiencing a mixture of Vishal and Abhinav's life. I have been a keen student of Art of Living and at the same time I have tried it all -
Cigarretes, Alcohol, Crass Sex etc. etc.
Now, I would say I do agree with both perspectives put forth here.
True - Spirituality is a journey within and the ultimate aim is freedom
True - Art of Living has a lot of facets where for an outsider it seems like there is a complete loss of freedom
True - Life these days is really monotonous (its all abt money, sex and alcohol isn't it). There is not too much depth to it. I know for a fact that nothing in the world can equal the amount of joy that one gets in helping someone
What everyone of us (AOL guys and others) need to understand and this comes from my luvalbe Dad so dont hate me for being all preachy -
I don't think AOL is perfect, niether do I think that doing a course can make anyone perfect but you need to like it for the beautiful things it brings into your life. Abhinav, Vishal is just an ordinary guy who did a course and is following a path and feels really good abt that path. That is why he gets too preachy and intrusive at times. You have to realise that he is only human and just because he has done an AOL course he is not free of flaws.
Vishal, you need to understand what is Abhinav's calling, where is he currently and when the true Friend (Sache Patshah aka God) will call him he will be the first one to reach there.
Life has a lot more to the way we guys have been living it office, malls, booze etc etc. And to conclude with a beautiful couple from Sri Guru Granth Saheb -
Jeo Machli Bin Paniye Kyu Jeevan Paye (How can the fish survive without water)
Boond vihoon chatriko kyun kar triptave (Without raindrops how can the rainbird be satisfied)
We are all trying to find love and meaning in our life through some way or the other but without Sache Patshah's affection nothing can quench our thirst!
Vahe Guru ji ka Khalsa
Vahe Guru ji ki Fateh
JAi Gurudev
I just want to tell Diabolic that in each and every walks of life, be it spirituality or anything for that matter, there are poltics, jealousy and what not. The solution lies in not getting bogged down by such things and continueing with your work. Please dont tell me that there arent such things in your so called professional world. Anyway I'am not the final word, waiting for Vishal bhaiyya to reply on this.
vinay..dude..u got me all rong...n chuck tat hatred for professional world..without this life...thr wont be many things in ur life tat u can do...possibly sit on tree and shit/shat thr alone..commerce is important...only regret it has evolved with some side effects... the problem wid u art of living folks..is tat u glorify ur fraternity way to much...in fact to the extent of disrespecting others who are not a part of the same..look at this guy saleel in comment ..refering to us as idiots...n then he talks abt being non feverish..tone of his writing does not sound non-feverish to me...essentially thr is one word fr such ppl 'hypocrites'...only thing tat deserves glorification is someting which is flawless..n folks in aol still aint......
Diabolic,
True - Everyone who does the course becomes preachy.
However, I urge you to accept that no one who has done the AOL course is perfect and has a lot of shortcomings. Just respect it for the beautiful possiblities it brings to your life.
Others,
I urge you to maintain a degree of humility when you are trying to help someone through your advise. I agree that going through the TTC or any of the other courses does make you special but the rest of the world will judge you by your words and actions more that your beautiful inner self.
Ya i do agree, some people who undergo 5-6 courses at a stretch , they start growing horns on their head to a very great extent. I don want to generalize too much. Again, we have to accept them as they are and take necessary action ( in this case talk to this person, if he doesnt budge, its better to avoid such preachy people ) What do u say, Mr, diabolic?????????
A very valid point made by swara about not respecting ppl's choices! I realized that when one gets attached, one stops respecting ppl's choices. And that brings the "surrender" point that priyanka correctly mentioned and I had forgotten.
When there is surrender, there is no doership, no ownership and no attachment. Only in that state, there is no feverishness to correct the other person. Strangely only in that dispassionate state can one correct the other person! Only in that state can one respect the other's choices.
Wow this blog is true to its name " The Journey Inward" !
VISHAL...
Definitely a Journey Inward...
at times we fail to understand the difference between a preach and an opinion. And we assume that people are asking us to change while in actuality they are just expressing an opinion, a concern.
We are all individuals entitled to our thoughts and way of living. No one can decide for us or coerce us into doing something that we dont want to do.
i believe that despite living in the material world if we are able to strike a balance between dhyana and karma then life smoothens out pretty well...
DIABOLIC...
As long as you are true to yourself all will be fine. I wonder why you are taking all this personally...?
But if you dont mind me saying this... there is something to think about in this post. Try detaching YOURSELF from it and then reading it.
loved the post, Vishal bhaiya!
vishal thats was a beautiful post and the only reason why i want a six hr working day or part time job.. i hope Guruji is listening life is much more than a 12 hr work day in front of a 3d animation software... im sure with Guruji and youth like you around the planet has bceome a much better place for a lot of people.. already...oh and i like the way you describe the 3 pillars of knowledge.. sweet, nd simple ..
JGD vishal bhaiya!
whatever you wrote is extremely true.
in fact for this very reason i left the schooling, and am continuing my education from National Open School so i could get more time for myself.
recently i even have started writing my blog, and would love if you could give me some comments whenever you get time.
here's the link...
http://www.inexplicablyintoxicated.blogspot.com/
JGD.
Asmita
Glad to see that Merani, Swara and Kalra are still the same as they were 3 years before :)) !
Gubs
Merani, nice post. Great arguments going on here between the usual suspects: you, Abhinav and Himanshu. All three make great points. I can imagine the discussions you are having with Abhinav at home.
I just want to add this. Look, your core message of seva-satsang- sadhna is great. But just the choice of the tone derailed the response (from say, Abhinav).
I think choice of tone is rather important when conveying spiritual message. What you really wanted to say (i.e Seva-Satsang-Sadhna) got ignored just because of the other things you mentioned.
oh merani... such wise words from a guy i wish i had known better... i totally agree with your three pillars, but i just interpret them differently...
Seva - the joy of giving without any expecting to receive, for example unselfish sex, where you aim to please
Satsang - experiencing reality in the presence of others, for example rock concerts, or just sitting around with friends listening to music
Sadhna - finding and connecting with your inner self, for example the heightened state of consciousness when you take drugs
So for me Seva, Satsang, and Sadhna translates to Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll... it's heartening to see the ancient philosophies unite so clearly with those of younger generations...
Hahahahahahaha ! Whose that ? I wish I had know u better too :)...
We don't love ourselves enough.
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