Do not ignore your Hunch, Intuition or Gut feelings!

Phenomenology is the basis for knowledge, of a feeling or state of consciousness resulting from emotions. Intuitions are the ability to acquire knowledge without inference of analysis or reason. All these whether it is gut, feeling, hunch or intuition are perceptions or strong signals from our unconscious minds. All creatures, man, animals, cats, experience it, and there is no difference and these feelings are as dear to mute animals as it is to man. There is a misconception that only a higher evolved species can experience insight, noesis or spirituality. This faulty logic is arrived upon as these are subjective feelings, and we think only humans can translate it into the rich experience with prose. According to neurologists the most primitive portions of our brain- happen to be the spiritual and this hold true for all creatures. All sentient/ insentient beings have the ability and in some cases intuition is honed to a fine art. These are powerful signals telling us to avoid certain things or do some things. Transcendent feelings, intuition, insight, awareness or spiritual experience cannot be explained in language or words. It is a sort of meditation, finding your inner axis of the self and it plugs you into the universe enhancing one’s awareness and sphere of observation takes on a loftier realm. Some times instinct works and sometimes it goes terribly wrong. These are the primitive, dormant areas of yours unconscious mind- that have been unused for centuries. All animals and creature have similar mystical experiences, comparable to humans. –Vinay-

Mental Exile and a Partial Recall.

We are all prone to have reminiscences where certain incidents in our past stand out starkly amongst our youthful memory blocks. These memories are rather real, universal in a sense even though time has wrapped them in sepia tints textures. Memory isn’t a dream, it’s part of our past human experience which sometimes embraces us like a passing cloud. During my youth while growing into adolescence, I used to be very nervous before I made love– but when it was actually happening I enjoyed it. After the act was over I would almost collapse and feel a wee bit disappointed and wonder what happened. I had thought it would be more exotic ….. I felt let down. There was a mellow, elegiac quality in the life of the sixties and seventies – a period that has since been forgotten. People were always trying to find hidden meanings in their lives and would prod me to seek answers. If one finds out the meanings they would not be mysterious anymore. Ah! The sweet mystery of life. People try hard to find answers – even religion cannot answer these questions. Life itself is unstable and by its very nature mysterious. I am very happy with the way things are and do not want to find answers. It is more alluring and delicious that everything remains clouded in a cloak of intrigue. Who am I? Why am I here? What is my real purpose? Salvation/ redemption, how do we translate this into our daily experience? In the next world you will be on your own. –Vinay-

Lights Action Camera! Life is a Cameo.

The story of our lives from birth to death is like the invisible images of a movie, portraying the transitional desert in everyone’s life. Nothing is forever yet; you can somehow make things seem better than they truly are. Tired and disillusioned as we are by lost wars, revolution, and inflation, the atmosphere vitiated by our dreadful history. Traumatic events pile on to the next one, driven by what you gain. Broken honor, you came and you went, the journey disrupted by your destiny. We try to cherish ideas worth cherishing and to question ideas that need questioning. It’s hard, to know a little about this life and how it will end, we forget the meaning of genuine human kindness, but realize shortly before the end of our own tenure, that humanity is the most important part of life. We are just another crack in the wall, here with no love lost. We struggle in search of meaning from sunrise as the bright rays of the sun like a beam of light explores the earth, yet cannot throw light on our doubts, finally we end up watching the orange sunset that defines the end of existence and we understand that everything is ephemeral and this irony is understood only when we rest in the zone of eternal silence. –Vinay-

Rhythm of Life.

As long as the mind broods over material pleasures which it is not experiencing, renunciation is hypocritical. But if one is living life to the fullest, almost sucking the marrow out of life yet, defining his relationships with the material world, then we understand life and its limits. Attachment is a mode of exaggeration and destroys the harmony of life. Accept whatever happens to you and maintain a detached impersonal attitude. I am so engrossed in my worldly life and caught up in my work, passions and hobbies that I don’t feel the pressures of the world of Maya. Evolution is a natural process for plant, animal and humans, you are going to reach the ultimate point of evolution but it will take thousands of years. If we have the patience to wait then spirituality is not necessary – but man is impatient and wants to speed up things and arrive at the final point of his spiritual relationship with the universe. People have their own spiritual, religious or non religious attitude do not try to convert them. Everyone must follow their own beliefs and lifestyles and adjust to their own rhythms. Nature teaches us to appreciate the beauty of life, watch the stars, clouds trees, mountains, oceans and stop hurrying. Existence is joyful.

Crime does pay.

Thought it has been drilled in our head that the wages of sin are death and crime does not pay, in real life it is exactly the opposite. Recently in India Bhanot who was charged with corruption and siphoning money was appointed as the chief of the Indian Olympic committee. So too, many ministers’, politicians who were embroiled in corruption. There is a pervasive spiritual vacuity that has covered our nation with a blanket of moral blankness. Self deception and corruption are the ladders to success by which we mean wealth. All our institutions allow shareholders to enjoy the wealth which can only be created by unfair and corrupt means. Even ordinary mortals are caught in this vicious web and there is a moral decline due to our greed for profit. Every successful company has a scam in its cupboard, which is the quintessential yardstick of success -rich dividends and bonuses are the result of this theme. CEO’s are supposed to generate profit by hook or by crook. This is evident from the moneyed sleazy milieu of politicians, fat cat bankers and big businessmen all colored by then own caustic, corruptible, sensibilities. Just before the crash and recession the wave of money making touched all sorts of people and it combusted itself as conspicuously as possible, pouring into champagne filled parties in yachts, villas with Jacuzzis, taking flight in private Lear jets and helicopters with a complete loss of one’s moral compass. Being fair, ethical, charitable and humane prevented one from being rich. The God Mammon favored the sinner. In philosophical retrospect the saints will have a lot of disappointments, devastation and depression. Sometimes wonderful things do happen when you don’t get what you want if you were ethical.

Good, Bad and Destiny.

There has always been a widespread belief in fate, destiny or karma, the eternal inscrutable power which apportions definitive ends to both individuals and narratives. It is noticeable that sometimes the saint or good man fails and the sinner or unscrupulous man prospers – a fact which seems to put all moral maxims to the ultimate test. As the good results of righteousness are not rewarded but the unjust prosper. Thus a good man or woman is overcome with calamity. If the good Lord cannot be a knower how can he be a giver? Life is a great school for the development of character and all through strife and struggle – vice, virtue; success and failure are but the learning lessons of wisdom. Life is riddled with the fear of the unknown, constant transition and illusion. Our egos only help in giving vent to the stress of daily life. Prayer cannot change anything except make it a blessed sadness of misery. Accept whatever happens to you and maintain a detached impersonal attitude.The real salvation is from solitary intimacy with our inner selves that can extrapolate our destiny. So it is the change within that brings change without. Spirituality allows us to be more resilient to the stress of our times and not worry about the things we can’t control and live a life of harmony, a sort of training for the ultimate end- to leave the world with dignity, grace and at peace with ourselves.- Vinay

La Dolce Vita.

We all have aspirations, money is life, and the power to spend money is the power to live ……………those who lack the power to spend money become literally faceless. The glamour of those who have and can acquire anything they wish cannot exist without personal social envy being – a common and widespread emotion. Everyone is in pursuit of the good life, but what does it constitute of? Luxury yachts, Mansions, B M W’s, designer clothes, a beautiful partner etc -may bring joy ephemerally; but doesn’t make one contented and lead a fulfilling life? Happiness isn’t about money or success alone. Ignoring life’s myriad experiences is bereft of philosophical depth and material possessions will only succeed in lulling the soul into a forgetful sleep. People who enjoy close ties with friends and family are happier and more resilient to anxiety and cope with setbacks far better. Material possessions are not the only way to happiness. The intimacies shared with our closest companions keep us anchored vital, and alive. Like calories, friendships keep us warm, and serve as a badge of contentment; it’s the elixir of a happy life.One has to fully engage in life, not wasting time on stressful situations, doing all things that make you happy. It’s about living life on your own terms, not permitting external confirmation or perception to dictate your happiness. Do not bother about the things you can’t control, keep it simple, and seek calming pleasures to enjoy the present. Luxuriate in the hypnotic grandeur of nature. There is no time to lose, and no time to despair. So drink the nectar of experiences to the fullest which is what life is all about.