Asteya : Tapping into Creativity

It was 6.30 pm. The sun had just set and unlike other days, everyone in the office was in a hurry to leave. A quick glance at the calendar was enough to tell that the rush wasn't unusual; a long weekend was about to begin. Our manager had already vacated his cabin and had assigned some of his work to his deputy, who was going through the files hesitantly, while texting someone whom he was supposed to meet after the work. Soon, it was just me and the deputy manager in the office. At 7, I was done too. I gathered my belongings and headed for the door, when the deputy called me out loudly and said, "Hey, what's up? Is everything okay?” I nodded awkwardly. We had hardly talked before, so this seemed out of the blue. “Didn’t read anything new on your blog for some days now. Have you stopped posting your poems?" he continued. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the question because only my close circle of my friends from work knew that I wrote. "I didn't get time to write, but thanks for asking. I’ll let you know when I write one," I replied. "You write very well. I wish I could write like that too," he said. "I’m honored by your compliments. But I'm sure that you're good at something else as well," I said. Even though I pretended to be modest in front of him, I was really thrilled by the fact that I was finally getting an audience. And on my way back, I couldn't stop humming my own poem.

The weekend was fun and as usual, it got over much faster that I thought it would. But before it got over, I managed to write and post a new poem on my blog. As I entered the office on Monday, I saw our manager standing next to the deputy, engaged in a casual conversation. While passing by, I overheard him telling the deputy that he should consider poetry as an alternate career and that the poem which he recently posted on his page was really awesome. I immediately stopped and asked the deputy, "Wow, you already wrote a poem?" Before he could react, the manager exclaimed, "He's been writing for years, haven't you read them? Here’s the link.” Suddenly, the deputy got up, said that he remembered some important work and dashed out. His body language indicated that something was wrong.

When I searched the link given by the manager, I found my own poem on the blog, but it was not credited to me. In fact, the deputy had written his name below the poem. I scrolled through the blog in disbelief. There were over a hundred poems on that blog, which included some of my previous poems and many more from others, presumably stolen from other blogs. After that day, we didn't talk. At the meetings, he would avoid sitting next to me. He knew that he was caught, exposed and could no longer boast about the poems, at least till either of us were there. He even stopped posting new content for some time, until he moved to a different company, where he again safely resumed his practice of plagiarizing. 

Later I figured out that he had this weird, unending desire to be famous and creative, which he couldn’t satisfy otherwise. When he started posting poems again, I just couldn't stop thinking how disgusting this guy was. And it didn’t just stop at him. I felt as if I was surrounded by these thieves everywhere I went. Not all of them were interested in my poems, but each had his own craving. And you could feel them lurking around like vultures and hyenas to steal a little bit of creativity to liven their dull minds.

But the day I found out that I too was a part of them, I was horrified. There was a difference -They did it directly, I did it indirectly; but I was copying as well. I dressed like someone, talked like someone, went to gym like someone, flirted like someone and always aspired to be like someone. I was so engrossed in getting people to like me, that I didn't ask myself what I wanted to be. And everyone else seemed just like me. It felt as if we were a generation of thieves. Seriously, what was wrong with the us?

My urge to find out the origin of this madness led me to Indian philosophy. While going through the five principles of Yoga, narrated thousands of years ago by Patanjali, I came across the principle of Asteya or Non stealing. Asteya was later also embraced by great thinkers like Vardhaman Mahavir, Thiruvalluvar and Mahatma Gandhi. From what I found out, the thought behind this principle was, ‘Accepting non-stealing as a way of life, because stealing thwarts one's intellectual and spiritual progress.’ These thinkers also talked about how a steady practice of Asteya can bolster one’s creativity, which is otherwise weakened by greed. 

Unfortunately, as the years passed, our desire of achieving quick success became predominant and Asteya took back seat. We forgot how stolen things, even if we assume them to be our own, never last. And that, only a life perfectly established in Asteya is capable of leaving a long lasting impression on this fleeting world.

Outside In

Once upon a time, there lived a man, who was the epitome of all the good values that earthlings could imagine. He had spent years learning the wisdom accumulated over ages. He was generous, benevolent and diligent. He spoke right, behaved well and was loved by all. Yet, he was not happy. Something ailed him, and he couldn't figure out what. He felt like an old painting in a golden frame, kept at a safe distance from the visitors in a decorated museum. They could see him from distance and praise him, but they couldn't cross the line to touch him or feel him, and how he wished they did that. Something deterred them. Years passed and his prominence grew, but so did his agony. And one day, it became so intolerable that he fled. He ran for miles, crossed states, but the frame followed him wherever he went.  
  
Tired, both physically and mentally, he felt like he had reached his nadir. He couldn't summon the courage to walk any further or to take up a new challenge. Lost, he sat on the bank of a river, away from the hustle of the town. As he was engrossed in his own nothingness, an old man, poor and wearing tattered clothes approached him and asked if he could give him something to eat. And even though he had a limited food supply left for himself, he spared some of it, cause his values didn't allow him to do otherwise. "You're a generous person, god bless you," said the old man. And he simply couldn't take it anymore. "There's no use of this generosity. I've just reduced the hopes of my survival by sparing you that meal. I don't know if anyone will spare their food for me when I'm hungry. I hate myself for this, but I'm compulsively doing it. I've no other option," he lashed out. The old man was taken aback by the outburst. Then he shaked his head, smiled and held the hand of the young man and asked him, "Do you know, what your problem is? I'll show you." 

And he took the young man near the river. "Look in the water and tell me what you see." Puzzled, the young man looked in the water. "Fish, stones, plants..." he muttered. "Don't you see the most magnificent thing? It is you," said the old man. "And your perception of the river shows that you care the least about the most important thing. The reason why you look so ruffled is that you've no respect for the values that you hold so dear. People love you, but you don't accept their love. You're constantly chasing their approval, but are least bothered about the approval of your own mind. Look inside and love yourself first," he said, and walked away. And in that moment, the young man felt as if someone took a huge load off his mind. The curse turned into blessing, and he lived happily ever after. 

So many times in our life when we feel like we're dragging ourselves, it is because we are not accepting ourselves. We are scared to admit that we're wrong somewhere, or that someone else is doing better than us or something is not meant for us or sometimes the opposite, that we are actually doing very good, better than the expectations of other people. The reason why we are still able to survive, despite lying to ourselves so many times, is because the capacity of our mind to forgive us is vast. But it isn't infinite. A nurtured and loved mind is able to love everyone and more importantly accept the love from everyone. Whereas, the deficient mind finds it difficult to accept that love is everywhere and when it reaches its nadir, it starts hating itself.

Many will say that loving yourself completely could be like stunting your own progress. Yes, if you blindly love yourself and object everyone questioning your behaviour, there is a risk that you might not reach your full potential. But that is not what loving yourself means. It is actually about accepting that you're a person with some strengths and some weaknesses. It is juggling with the bullets of criticism without letting them penetrate you. It is working to make yourself better without exerting you. It is spending some time alone, listening to your inner voice. Surprisingly, loving yourself is the most selfless thing that you can ever do because it will not just enrich your life, but also the life of those, who come in contact with you. Be selfless.    

Juxtaposed me 2

I have tried so hard to fit in a group. I have tried so hard to appear and sound 'cool'. I have tried so hard to show that I don't care. And this is not the first time I have done it. Through adolescence, my efforts to fit in have created a conflict of interest with my dreams, my aspirations. When I contemplate, I find my behaviour to be juxtaposing.

When I was 8 years old, I wanted to play cricket with guys who were15. When I became 15, I wanted to have a girlfriend like those 20 year olds and at the same time, I was jealous of the kids who were carefree. There have been many eerie moments, where I tried not being myself, where I tried to shift the camps, but to no avail. An important lesson, which I learn at the end of every academic year and forget by the time next academic year starts, revolves around this principle of acceptability. 

“The friends that I make intentionally are highly unlikely to stay in my life beyond a few months.” Naturally, accidental friends, with whom I don't have to strike up a conversation, stay with me. Other than this, awkward silence is the most natural (?) thing that occurs to my mind when I force myself to make a conversation. I don't belong to the social strata that demands conversation. I belong to a place, where silence is not awkward.

People that I sometimes intentionally try talking to are reflections of my hidden desires. Their parties, their gatherings, their outings, their profile pictures are cooler and their lives are desirable. But why should they invoke the inferiority in my mind, I keep asking myself. My reality is what I have around me. It includes the clothes that I wear, the places that I can afford, the food that I eat, the perfume that I wear, the public transport bus that I travel in and the friends that I have.

I will emphasize the importance of 'Friends that I have' one more time. Because, this blog is essentially about them. It is about them because they are not ashamed of my flaws, my limitations. They are not intimidated by my personality, by my qualities. It is about them because I don't have a lukewarm relationship with them, and because they don't praise me 24/7.

I have read many books including How to make friends by Dale Carnegie and 1000 ways to communicate and blah blah blah. But they did not help me as it is impossible humanly to inculcate all those things. In Journalism, they say, one good source can make your career. And yet, a journalist is never satisfied with one source. He keeps running to validate his information. This so called inquisitive or adventurous nature has kept me away from people that I should be with. But now, I want to fill up that space honestly. Because I've understood one thing, my charger is in their hands.

Why so fragile?

Why do we crave for power so much?  Have you ever thought about it?
When we feel that we are losing control over something or someone, we get frustrated. 
To hide the fragility of the mind, we seek power. We think that being powerful can fulfil our desires.
Our intuition is right, but interpretation is wrong. What we see as power, is in reality the absence of it. We are fooled by our impulses & our emotions. 

If you are mature enough, you should know by now that, we can’t change the world, but we can change ourselves. The transformation takes place within us & it is mimicked by the world.
Moving ahead with this conclusion makes it obvious, that we can’t force our power on the world.
If you’ll try to do it, the world will force its power upon you. And you will be absolutely demolished.  Therefore, a wise person will never force his opinions, his views & his decisions on the world.

The power is to gain so much control over yourself, that your every action, your every word gets noticed. It is to become so absolutely certain & precise about your decisions, that you will command the respect of others. The more we try to force our power outside, the more vulnerable our situation becomes.

How many times have you noticed yourself getting angry or scared or jealous? How many times have you given the control of your life to your mind? How many times have your desires embarrassed you? And finally, how many times have you given yourself an excuse or worse, justified your mistake? We are scared to change ourselves. We fear the inward flow of the power, because we know that it has the potential to change us drastically.
The change, which might not be acceptable to our mind. The change, which might not be our idea of happiness. The change, which we are refusing, to be the source of the Power.

I believe that sacrifice of the urge; is a way to gain the power. How many times have you preferred silence over a pointless argument? There are a thousand questions like this, which we can ask ourselves. We need to observe our behaviour. We need to understand, that mind is not divine. Mind is not the source of the power. It is merely a laboratory. You can refuse the order of your mind, if your conscience denies it. Having interest in our own actions is important. We are responsible for our behaviour, because our behaviour is going to shape the world, at least the world; we are concerned about.

In Geeta, Krishna consoles Arjun who is unwilling to kill his own relatives in the battle. The words by Krishna are beautiful & they define power dexterously.
“The battle is not for you. Neither it is by you... Know this & you’ll fight without anger, you’ll kill without hatred.”

Conditions of the unconditional love

I’m sure almost all of us know the importance of love. Thinking about all the good changes that love brings in a person’s life; reading about the fantastic stories of innumerable authors & seeing all those happy couples around, you are bound to feel alone somewhere, sometime.
But the truth is, irrespective of our socio-economic status, we are responsible for that situation.

Love is available in abundance. But we are reluctant to accept it. We accept the love according to our needs. When we feel alone or rejected, we go for the love that is secondary for us in nature. And when we’re happy, we completely ignore it & go back to our primary needs of love.

Even if, thousands of reasons are there around us to love or to be loved; we stick to our ideas of love.
We accept the love, which we think we deserve. That love, which we falsely believe, doesn’t bring any change in our life; we reject it. When we are with our friends, we reject the love of our parents. When our wishes are fulfilled, we reject the love of God also.
And it does not happen subconsciously. It takes place at the level of full knowledge, which tells us that we are in no danger of losing this love.

Love is meant, to spread everywhere in the world. We concentrate it on a person or a thing. And wait for it to come back from the same direction. And when it doesn’t, we feel inferior & lonely. But in that state of our mind also, love doesn’t close its doors for us. Because, love doesn’t know any duality, we do.

We think before we love, when we are supposed love before we think. The segregation of love starts with a criterion, a human to love or to be loved. Then comes the nationality, then race & then the financial status. We put so many barricades in the way of love.
And the love which tries to cross these barricades, we reject it. We ignore that love. Our selfish nature makes us dumb enough to reject our own happiness.

Why do we reject love? Are we afraid of loving? Are we afraid of being loved? Are we obsessed with our social image? The answer of all these questions is assertive in different degrees for all of us.
Love is flowing. It is flowing on the streets, in the gardens, through the trees & the animals & the people around us. We just need to go outside & give away some of it. It returns to us in the multifolds. So from today, let us accept love, because we deserve it no matter where it comes from. It deserves us, no matter where we come from.  :)

 

Thy-self

What is the self? Most of the people are deluded about this question. Some say, our thoughts & actions are driven by the self. Others say, it is the ability to differentiate between Good & bad. But if it is done by the self, what does our brain do?
The question still remains, the curiosity still gets provoked. But, a few days ago, I read a quote from Geeta, which tried to explain the characteristics of the self. I have heard a lot of stories, read a few books, but nothing could explain it as good as this shloka (quote) did.

 “Senses are superior to the Objects; Mind is superior to the Senses. Intelligence is superior to the Mind & superior to the Intelligence is the Self.”

The answer of the question reveals itself in-front of us through this shloka. If the pedals of a bicycle are rotated in the opposite direction, will the bicycle go ahead? Obviously, it won’t.
Similarly if all of our attention is on the Objects, which are not superior to anything; how can we find the self, which lies at the top of the pyramid of existence?

Today, Objects have become our first priority. In the cities, the needs are fulfilled a long time ago. Now, the race is on for the wants. Everybody craves for a luxurious lifestyle.
Our consumerism has destroyed thousands of happy moments. We fill our minds with the wants. The mind, which interprets the signals of our senses, should be as clear as the mirror.
But we hardly get time to analyze our thoughts.

The intelligence, which is gifted to humans, has been insulted by humans for hundreds of years. The ability to choose between the good & the bad, the instinct to differentiate between righteousness & falsehood; we have lost that. We fail to think beyond the personal interests.
Every now & then, we just chase objects.

If we can’t get out of the first phase, how are we supposed to find the self? The self, which controls all the senses & the mind & the intelligence, is unknown to us. And that is why we begin to question everything. This desire to get what you want, which is impatient in nature, leads to delusion & frustration. The person, who can’t conquer his senses, therefore keeps running away from the truth.

To be in the search of the self, is the highest challenge according to all the religions of the world. The complexity of the illusion leaves us dumbfounded. But if the determination & the love are present in our minds, nothing is impossible. We have to control our desires in order to achieve the goal of reaching the self.

If you ask a fish, what is water, the fish will not be able to answer. Because, the water is too close to the eyes of the fish. Similar thing happens with us every-day, when we question our ‘self’.
If we can ignite your ‘self’, why will we need any object to be happy? Let us know ourselves :)

The Green Identity

There is always a happy you outside yourself. You may not recognise it, if you’re content with your own identity. There should be a strong urge to search that other identity.
This identity hustles through trees, flows through rivers, rattles with the wind, makes noise with the raindrops. I could not understand the meaning of the word ‘soul’ until I saw the dazzling beauty of the nature. The liveliness which is ready to pour itself in your existence, is calling you, always.

Every time, I walk down the road in front of my apartment, I feel the trees of various shapes & colours are looking at me. When I’m happy, they laugh with me. They try to cheer me up every morning.
Ruskin Bond, a famous author wrote in an article, “I left England & started living in the mountains of Mussoorie, where nature began to play a greater role in my stories & writing.”
He further says, “For me, nature is very personal & mountains are in my blood. It is like living the bosom of a strong, sometimes proud, but always a comforting mother.”

I was so relieved, when I heard this explanation from Mr. Bond. My curiosity & love for the nature was not a secret anymore. A baby feels comfortable with his mother. If we call our planet as Mother Earth, we are ought to feel comfortable around her, with her.
Answers of all our questions are out there. We just have to go out & watch carefully.

A stream, a cloud, a bush & even a tiny blade of grass tries to interact with us. But, we are too busy with ourselves. Near my apartment, there is a hill. Almost every day, I go there, and sit near an old temple. There is a small pond in front of the temple which attracts different birds & animals. Through-out the year, I have seen variety of birds singing happily. I close my eyes & listen to them.

I have experienced various shades of the sky sitting in the same place. The beautiful Sunrise which clears the fog over the city, the amazing Sunset that lights up the sky with dim Moon & stars, the breeze in the winter that plays with the clothes, and sometimes; the peace that runs silently in the sky. I have observed it all sitting in front of that old temple. I have seen the love in my mind, spreading its fragrance all over the nature. And I have also experienced the grief getting dismissed by the touch of a rain-drop.

Everything, in nature, has a voice. Everything has a colour. Everything has a smell. But, you’ve to get in touch with your own other self to experience that. Start treating the nature as your best friend. If you have a tree in the backyard, consider it as your closest friend. Hug that tree every day, share your secrets with that tree, and take good care of that tree. Start developing a relation with that tree. And through that tree, you will be able to connect with everything else. Even with the humans around you.

Whenever people disappoint me, I always ask nature for the support. And it always responds.
And I want to suggest everybody to do the same. If you’re living in a city, at least spend a day in a fortnight in the company of the tranquil nature. It will refresh you.
Sometimes, we tend to ignore the things that come to us without costs. In this money-oriented age, we have lost our belief in the free service concept. But, fortunately, nature did not forget it. So, not only enjoy the service of nature, but also serve the people around you, like nature does. Be happy & make others happy :)