आत्ममंथन (Introspection)

This is a Hindi poem on introspection, life and self-knowing.

बस कल्पनाओं में

जान लेते और मान लेते

किसी को समझने के पहले ही

क्यों रिश्ते तोड़ने की ठान लेते।

छोटी सी जिंदगी में

इतना अहंकार पाल कर

जाने कौनसी मंजिल की तलाश में

जीना तो पड़ेगा संभाल कर।

हर जगह तुलना करके

हासिल भी क्या होता है

मुस्करा के जिए जिंदगी वो धन्य

वर्ना यहां, हर कोई रोता है।

सहज रहने को प्राकृतिक हम

छोड़ो प्रपंच सभी

थोड़ी गणना तो कर लो

बाकी बची ही कितनी,उम्र अभी।

अशोक मादरेचा

विश्वास या भय ( Faith or Fear )

जीवन में कई बार ऐसी स्थितियाँ आ जाती है कि हम किस तरह जी रहे है और हमे किस तरह जीना था उसमें अंतर नही कर पाते। ज्यादातर लोग तो इस फर्क को समझ ही नही पाते और जो लोग जब तक समझ पाते, तब तक बहुत देर हो चुकी होती है।

इसी संदर्भ में आइए, हम जीवन में भय और विश्वास के बारे में कुछ जानने की कोशिश करते है। मेरे एक मित्र है जो नियमित रूप से किसी धार्मिक स्थान पर जाते है एवं उनकी मान्यताओं के अनुरूप पूजा-पाठ इत्यादि करते है

मेरे मन मे भी उनके प्रति बड़ा आदरभाव है। उनका हमेशा ऐसा मानना है कि धार्मिक क्रियाओं से व्यक्ति में अच्छाइयों के संस्कार आते है और काफी हद तक यह ठीक भी था। एक दिन किसी कारणवश वो अपनी इस नियमित क्रिया को कर नही पाये ओर योगवश उसी दिन उनके घर मे कोई बीमार हो गया। अब बीमारी कोई पूछकर तो आती नही पर मेरे मित्र के मन मे यह बात घर कर गई कि धार्मिक क्रिया नही की तो ऐसा हो गया। 

यहीं पर हमें सतर्क रहने की आवश्यकता है। हम श्रद्धा और भय में अंतर नही करते और अपनी कहानी को ओर दुखद बनाने के सारे प्रयास करने लग जाते है। अब बताइये उपरोक्त अवस्था मे श्रद्धा कम थी या भय ज्यादा था। सचमुच सोचनीय विषय है। न तो हम श्रध्दा ओर न ही भय के अस्तित्व को पूरी तरह नकार सकते है। आपने कई बार ऐसा सुना होगा कि ऐसा नही करोगे तो ऐसा हो जाएगा। ऐसा करोगे तो बहुत अच्छा रहेगा। प्रश्न उठता है कि यदि मनुष्य या जीव कर्मो के अनुसार फल पाते है तो समाज में इतना भय कौन फैलाता है। सीधी सी बात है कि ये सब वो ही लोग करते है जिनको इन सबसे सीधा फायदा पहुँचता है। ये फायदा सिर्फ पैसों का ही नही वर्चस्व, नाम, और स्वामित्व के रूप मे भीे पहुंचता है।

हर एक व्यक्ति अपनी शुद्ध आत्मा के साथ इस संसार मे जन्म लेता है और अपने प्रारब्ध के अनुरूप जीवन जीता है। हँसने वाली बात तो यह है कि जब बहुत से लोग किसी बात को सत्य मानने लग जाते है तो उस कथित सामूहिक सत्य को सरल स्वभाव वाले व्यक्ति शंका तो नही करते बल्कि उसे और फैलाने लग पड़ते है और फिर शुरू होता है उनको फंसानेका खेल। विश्वास करना चाहिए पर यह अंधा विश्वास नहीं हो इसका सदैव ख्याल रखना चाहिए।

हम कोई कार्य विश्वास से प्रेरित होकर रह है अथवा सिर्फ किसी ज्ञात या अज्ञात भय वश होकर कर रहे है इसका ज्ञान जरूरी है वरना आपको भटकाने के लिए पूरा जमाना तैयार खड़ा मिलेगा। अपना अनुभव और उससे उपजा विश्वास (trust), श्रद्धा ( faith) इन दोनों के फर्क को भी अच्छे से समझना चाहिए। इसके बाद डर (fear) और मान्यताओं (perceptions) को पहचाने। इसमें भी व्यक्तिगत और सामूहिक मान्यताओं को अलग अलग करके देखे तो आप समझ पाएंगे कि यह उल्लू बनाने का उद्योग कितना फल फूल रहा है। यहां मेरा यह आशय कभी नही है कि आप धर्म के विमुख बने, मेरा तो बस इतना मानना है कि कही सामुहिक मान्यताओं के चलते कहीं हम वास्तविक स्वआत्मा के विरूद्ध तो बर्ताव नही कर रहे, इसका भान सतत रहना चाहिए। हमारी धार्मिक साधना पद्धति भिन्न हो सकती है परंतु मन और ह्रदय दोनों जागृत रहे ऐसी अपेक्षा है।

Accompany Whom You Need To

Life is a continuous management work. Sometimes we have a choice and sometimes not, so we must know what kind of people we should be surrounded. It's very important that to whom we accompany and who are our companions. Generally people of similar wavelength are friends, but sometime situations make people friendly, this may be due to commercial or other compulsions. Those who can differentiate between commercial and natural friendship are smarter than others. An individual and a family as a whole may need different kinds of friends, but one has to strike a balance.

Now, why this talk is going on. Our friends and people who are in regular contacts, affect us tremendously and I would say, constantly. One has to be very vigilant while adding someone in their contacts.

If more positive people are in our touch, we are less exposed to get affected by nervousness and conversely if we are surrounded by people having a negative mind-set, it is bound to affect our mentality too badly.

We must understand it properly that what kind of company we must keep and nurture it too. I have seen many people who don't own even minimum endurance and they are suffering a lot. What I mean to say here is that, a person develops his endurance too learning from people he accompanies. Similarly, we should also learn what kind of people makes us more resourceful. What are the resources, is an individual choice.

Our kind of friends can tell lots of things about us. Companionship is a very respected word, but we rarely review, how deeply it's affecting us. We really need to know, who should accompany us and whom should we.

Short Quotes on Life 2

Short Quotes About Life 
by Ashok Madrecha

Responsibility, Updated Skills, Timely proper communication and Integrity are the four pillars on which job safety and progress both are assured.

Separate your thoughts from breathing and see the miracles of meditation.

My perceptions, memories, observations, apprehensions and experiences all these builds my belief but thanks almighty, I am still aware about this.

When we do something for own, we connect with world but if we do something for others, we connect with universe.

Nothing is coincidence, everything happens well planned and decided by destiny but destiny is our own Karma (past actions) and by knowing this we can increase our acceptance level resulting to lower stress in our life. Be happy.

Shortcuts are addiction, they lead us to resort unfair practices and thereafter a miserable life. Choice is yours.

Broaden your vision, probably you will forgive all your enemies, opponents and it will give a chance to peace.

Know the power of feelings, understand to control emotions and most important , where not to react at all. All these will certainly make you a good leader and best achiever.

I wonder, how much I resisted doing new things but most of the time it was a great experience and learning too.

for more such quotes visit here

Stay Focused

While accomplishing a task or otherwise, always there is a possibility of losing our focus and indulging in unwarranted activities. We go for buying vegetables and we start discussing politics. Guests visit our home and instead of focusing on hospitality we suddenly start talking about religion which probably we don't follow in our routine. We attend so many meetings and at the end we feel outcome is far less as compared to our expectations. There are many such instances and the list goes on.

Constant self vigilance can be achieved by practice and that is the only way to see our thought process and control it to keep desired things in loop and focus. Many time we assemble to meet with preset agenda and by some influence or otherwise we leave track and see whole agenda itself is hijacked by others.

The simple reason for all this is having an ad hoc approach which makes us ineffective while dealing with different situations. Compare a text message with an other text message having some meaningful picture, I feel the other one would be far more effective. At the end of each day if we start counting that how many times we talked non sense and irrelevant things, we would start laughing at ourselves. It is bitter truth and we must accept it for striking right balance in life.

The severity of our unfocused approach is not immediately known. Ask a person about his feelings who missed choosing a right career at the start or anyone who missed on saving while he had very good earnings and they won't even be able to have proper words to express their repentance.

The moot point we should know is whatever we do, we don't have unlimited time so do the right things at right time with right and judicious use of resources available with us.

Have Some Spiritual Touch

Life is not a destination, it is always a journey having different milestones for different people. While moving ahead everyone gets tired sooner or later. All are never satisfied with their pace or achievements but there is a great need of spiritual touch in everybody's life. 

One may ask what is this spiritual touch. Each one of us may follow any religion but spiritualism should essentially put us more in our very own soul. It should make us feel free from inner self. It enables us to communicate with our inner self. There are different way to get spiritual. One should have a divine touch of spiritualism on daily basis. We may find it by meditation or going to particular religious place for prayers, helping others and so on. Even looking peacefully at some clean and calm water in a lake or observing stars at midnight may make us feel spiritual. There are different ways but one should follow the real spiritual feeling . It gives us required pauses and recharge our inner system with positive energy.

Life finds its balance if there is some spiritual touch in it. If our energy gets scattered, It provides the requisite focus. It is not necessary that one should spend long hours to get spiritual. Even a daily 20 minutes time too can make a lot of difference. Practicing it regularly is essential. I followed it and suggested to many. The result was quite amazing. There were paradigm shift and people stopped complaining about availability of right resources and presence of wrong circumstances. Initially they all started with dual mind-set but those who were consistent, they are now clear about it and enjoying higher consciousness in their life. The spirituality is not the only means and the way, just to fulfill a wish.This is not a spirituality. It is something else and one should not get confused with it. If understood properly spirituality may change your life completely so let us have a spiritual touch.

Life - Stuck up or Straying ?

Dealing with Feelings of Stagnation and Wandering

Most of us occasionally find ourselves feeling bored or experiencing a significant decline in enthusiasm for life. If this feeling persists, it’s important to take it seriously and assess whether you’re stuck or simply straying off course. Life presents us with many questions—some have straightforward answers, while others do not—and it’s often these unanswered questions that leave us feeling this way.

Life is full of ups and downs, but those who possess clarity and the ability to overcome indecisiveness can better manage their state of mind and navigate life’s uncertainties.

Symptoms of Feeling Stuck or Straying:

1. Aimless Wandering: Some people frequently go out without any specific purpose. This might also include taking unnecessary leaves from work without any real reason.

2. Irritability: Their behavior becomes more irritable, especially towards family members and close friends.

3. Procrastination: Even when there’s work to be done, they delay it. This procrastination is a common symptom, reducing their overall effectiveness.

4. Excessive Use of Social Media: They become addicted to social media, spending hours updating their status and chatting with people who aren’t significant in their lives.

5. Increased Consumption of Alcohol and Drugs: To escape their feelings of being stuck or lost, some may start drinking more or even resort to drugs.

6. Seeking Happiness in Strangers: Interestingly, such individuals may look for happiness in strangers rather than in their trusted friends or relatives.

7. Irregular Eating Habits: Their eating patterns become irregular, leading to a decline in their overall health.

8. Lack of Interest in Work: Even if their job is secure, they lose interest and start applying for other positions.

9. Sudden Aggression or Depression: Their reactions become unpredictable, with sudden outbursts of anger or bouts of depression.

10. Seeking Unnecessary Approval: They may lose confidence in themselves and start seeking approval from others for every little decision.

11. Blaming Themselves and Others Without Cause: They may start blaming themselves or others for no apparent reason, and this habit can become ingrained over time.

How to Overcome These Situations

If you notice these symptoms in a friend or relative, it’s important to take steps to help them. While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, here are some strategies that might help:

1. Be Practical: Practicality is key. Whether it’s work, goals, or other aspects of life, everything should be achievable and realistic. Often, things don’t work out because they aren’t practical, which leads to feelings of being stuck.

2. Avoid Negative People: If someone is already struggling with indecisiveness, being around negative people will only make things worse. It’s better to avoid such influences.

3. Consult a Trusted Mentor: If you have a mentor you trust, seek their advice. Share your feelings and symptoms with them.

4. Engage in Creative Activities: When all other avenues seem closed, turn inward. Creative activities like gardening, painting, writing, or reading poetry can be very therapeutic.

5. Refresh Your Goals: If your current goals seem out of reach, reassess and create a new list of goals that you truly want to pursue.

6. Evaluate Your Direction: If you’re feeling stuck, make sure your efforts are aligned with the right direction. Reassess your path and start anew if necessary.

7. Start Small: Begin with small, manageable steps. Expecting major results immediately is unrealistic.

8. Know Your Limits: Understand the resources available to you and set your limits accordingly. Knowing your boundaries can prevent feelings of being stuck.

9. Read Inspirational Books or Watch Motivational Movies: Inspirational content can be incredibly uplifting. Seek out books or movies that provoke thought and offer motivation.

10. Change Your Environment: Spending time in a serene, natural environment with close friends or family can rejuvenate your spirit and bring new energy to your routine.

11. Keep Your Hopes Alive: Above all, maintain hope. Remember, nothing is permanent—neither the good nor the bad. Challenges are opportunities for growth, and something new and better may be on the horizon.

It’s important to understand that feeling stuck and feeling like you’re straying are different experiences, though they can happen simultaneously. The key is to recognize your current situation and take steps to overcome it. By following the suggestions above, you can gain clarity and regain control of your life. If the issue involves another person, consider the situation from their perspective as well. What seems right for you may not be the same for them. Stay positive, and work towards making your life more balanced, lively, and vibrant. 

Ashok Madrecha

How To Stay Happy

When somebody asked me "How to stay happy" I took risk to reply such question which is generally asked to some Saint or spiritual leader, I explained it as under:

Whole human life is chasing something , getting something, having something or maintaining something. The person was not satisfied and he insisted to explain it further and I had to elaborate my reply and the question and concept implied in it both were manifest.

In this world we are mostly busy in four type of activities:

1. To make or get money and wealth,
2. To have name, fame and be influential.
3. To love and get loved
4. To keep up all the above three in favor on sustained basis.

We can notice well that almost everybody is busy with the above four kind of activities. Level of busyness might be the different person to person depending upon his or her priorities. Now coming on the question "How to be Happy", the point here is that if we are in these four activities only than our happiness would be limited to our needs. In other words, if my need of wealth is acute than it would give happiness to the extent the money and wealth I can consume, the moment the need gets satisfied, happiness will start finding new definition in another activities and it will shift its focus to other activities and this shifting becomes a habit. In this process the real happiness is never finding its value and due importance too. So what to do ? simple answer is that if we can spare part of our time for any such activity which does not fall in these four activities than happiness starts coming in.

To make it simple, such as if someone draws a picture , sing a song, plays piano, walks in a garden, looks at beautiful stars in night, observes sunrise, listen music, meditates, prays, forgives, studies positive thoughts, involves in good sports, supporting others and so on. All these should not have any motive which if eventually leads to the four activities than happiness would be artificial and not the real. In simple words if we start involving in any such activities which is not categorized as part of the four mentioned above than most probably there would be happiness and balance in life too. Those who practices it well, would know it better.      

Exploring Options

Process of achieving any goal essentially travel through various options. We as human being knowingly or unknowingly creating or finding options and sometime it becomes a habit which affects our decisions leading to severe delays totally uncalled for.

 

Exploring options is a good process but it should have some limit and at certain stage one should strive to come out of options and settle somewhere within his or her limits. This applies to any field, be it carrier, study, education, a particular situation or relationship matters. While exploring options several facts come up on surface and that gives clarity about practical side of all the options available to any one. One has to see carefully all the facts about an option and that too from different point of view and then reach to a logical and practical conclusion without being affected by emotions attached to it. If there is confusion one can list out all the positive and negative side of an option and then filter out the points which are most suitable and applied to her or him to reach a conclusion.

The principle of calculating highest loss in any decision is applicable while an option is shortlisted for action. One must question himself both side, What if I go ahead and what if don't. Make honest comparison and the picture would be clear. Sometime the third option is available and that is "Don't go for any option" but generally such situations are rare. One should stay rational and take enough care that it does not make him or her regressive.

 When an option is opted, focus emerges, freedom to work is decided, direction gets defined and results too follow early. Crux of the matter is that  one has to go through the process of options but coming out of it is essential to move forward and striking right balance in life.        

Relevance of Time and Success

In simple words I would like to say when something is not succeeding just see whether the time element studied is well while charting out a course for action. Time is vital to every spheres of life. practically what happens many time that we plan success as object and act so without giving much importance to time. Lets have an example, a person aged around 61 years who is very skilled in a particular profession and one fine day a friend trusted to him came with a proposal to set up a new venture in an area which is totally new to him but sounded high profitability. How should he react to this proposal. There could be varied answers for this as per his priority. He studied the proposal and decided to enter into it. They started well and the venture turned out to a success story in terms of profit and turnover too but the Old man was not happy and the reason was that he became so busy and his personal freedom was compromised. At the age of 61 he dreamed of a very peaceful life full of privacy and enjoy but it happened just opposite because of the reason that while entering into the venture he ignored the time element. He should have thought that was it the right time he should have started the venture for him which will need that much personal attention and energy. He simply chased the success and the time started punishing him though the so-called success was with him. 

Every decision if tested on the ground and within boundaries of time which controls all then it would be far easy to filter out our priorities and the compulsions too in a particular period. Yes there may be situations where time may not allow us to do something but at the same time if we change direction than time too changes and it extends favor to move ahead. if something is coming our ways we should ask ourselves :

Is this relevant to me now ?

Is it what I dream upon ?  

Is this time is suitable to act upon ?

Is it the only option left now ?

how aggressively I should act to make something ?

What is the time left upon to go for something ?

If I opt to go for it, is it worth for me at this time ?

These questions may help us to realize rationality of any decision in our life and thus we gradually start living our life with balanced relevance of time in our mind.