I have heard many times this. Mother tongue is the best medium for a child's education. I don't have any shades of doubt about this. However, in the name of promoting a native language, the language fanatics take it too far to denigrate other languages including English and eventually end up forcing this down the throat of some one to compulsorily hold onto one's native tongue.
I have seen this with eminent poets and writers in at least the few Indian languages I have been exposed to like Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam.
These writers and poets have ulterior motive I feel when they insist on native languages. It is also understandable. As most of them have their daily bread and butter (now it is towards Merc and villas) pinned down on people reading and writing in these languages. Obviously if their market share goes down with people taking to English or others because that gives them the opportunities, then how do they survive? I may be criticised for this view but I would like to point out that their view of the world is also quite narrow and the fact that most of them have rapport with the ruling politicians, who then blindly insist that Tamilnadu for Tamils and Kannada nadu for Kannadigas or Kerala nadu for malayalees.
I feel this kind of soft insistence finally leads to a divided society. Because general public does not have the time to think deeply and they rever these local heroes, their words become so important. When you keep dividing the people, one day you may have to face the division within your own community and family between you and your son and daughter.
A divisive mind does not foster an environment of empathy and love for fellow beings. Instead it frowns upon the existence of others as being a threat to you. I don't say that you speak English and worship it dropping whatever your mother tongue is. I am only telling you to clearly identify these people who create divisions in the society in the name of a language because they have certain gains to make. I also say that there are really good guys out there in the literary circles who are with a broad mind and who are well read and are very clear in their head about larger goals beyond the constraints of a language.
If you enjoy learning a language do it. But not under any one's compulsions. It should be done out of your own will. Whenever you see a trend where you suspect the motive is to divide people, never support it, for it will backfire on you one day.
Ignore people creating divisions and look out for such people in every Indian state.
Try to learn whatever you feel is good for you. If you enjoy the rich literature of a language enjoy it. But don't take it beyond that. After lot of time thinking about what is in a language, I feel the native language or mother tongue sort of becomes the first and easiest language for you as it is imbibed in you when you had nothing else in your head. But remember that blindly sticking to it because you find it easy and you can express yourself means you are not exploring the richness of thoughts in some other language. That also does not mean that you waste your life learning all possible languages. The rule of thumb I have is, if I find something interesting, I don't mind learning it, no matter how hard it is. Irrespective of which language a thought was born, we should be able to have a look at it.
People fear that if they stop speaking their mother tongue, then it will die and with it the whole race can extinguish. Every language ultimately gets its due share I believe. Sanskrit died in the spoken world because it probably was not a easy language to use and speak by majority. However, the richness of sanskrit in terms of literature and the vedas or upanishads have not died. It is living and have been migrated into various other languages of the world. Now as long as the essence of the thoughts that originated in the days of vedas has survived, it is only a desirable thing that the language that was used to convey such refined thoughts also survive. But if it did not, then what can you do about it? You cannot force people to learn and speak it. It is not possible.
English as a language has taken within it a lot of others and especially the modern day aspects. It never rested with the Shakespearean literature. It has evolved and adapted because the people of that language transcended beyond it and tried to understand other cultures. The language also expanded with it. This shows that the need to be 'listening' to others and expanding on one's own language to incorporate new thoughts will go a long way in surviving a language.
Again this does not mean, literally translate everything in English to native language. This is what the French do and probably others like Japanese. I feel the English though they had conquered most countries in the world, had some eye for detail into each culture, documented, contributed and enabled the exposure of the gems in those languages to other cultures because they were being the connecting points by virtue of their conquests. A job probably being done by internet to some extent and I feel it will only increase as internet expands to include more of native languages and by improvements in language translators. This could be a very subtle thing that happened, because the English are not emotionally tied to their language unlike Indians are.
If you drop the emotional tag on the language and start using it to expand your and other's knowledge with it, language is a very powerful tool that can change the history of man's existence. However, with emotion, it leads to fanning of egos and aggression on other cultures who don't speak yours.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Conversations in modern office environments
I happen to stumble across different types of people in my long career working in software companies. I always had indirectly looked at the ways people converse with others. Being good at communication means different things to different people. I give my observations on this below.
I have seen most of the Indian engineers whom I have worked with are generally far less communicative than their western counterparts. One hindrance is still English being a non-native language. But language is only one aspect. There are several aspects to relaying your thoughts in a crisp and clean way so that the other person exactly gets your intentions.
Beyond the structure and semantics of what languages offer, there is the subject of your communication. You don't need to be flowery on your choice of words. Just getting the point across with the right level of emotion needed is an art.
Some times, I have tried to sound angry when things don't seem to go the right way in projects. But the words that I choose to convey will still convey the right things. I feel it is important to reign in your emotions and be able to express it in a tone that does not spoil what you would have ultimately wanted to convey.
Imagine this, when some one bangs your car on the road, will you still be able to get the facts across that the other person did the wrong (I am talking about Indian roads..). ?
I doubt you will be able to show controlled emotion and choice of words here. I am obviously contradicting myself between the last bunch of statements I make.
I guess the situation, people etc. makes this difference. In office, surrounded by colleagues, a mistake done by some one can still be dealt in a way with the right choice of words. If there are repeated occurrences, then office procedures are always there to take the action. So, here it is still valid.
However, some one unknown on the road who inflicts a injury to you or to your asset, you still need to react what you feel absolutely. Does not mean you can be violent in your words or deeds still. Remember again your long innings of 80+ years and this is just a passing thing. So, if you do that long shot thinking, this is not worth spending all your energy and going bonkers over it. So be cool always, as much as possible.
Coming back to conversations, I used to ask my fellow engineers whom I am guiding on design or programming to spell out what they understood. I have seen some repeat like a parrot without thinking. Very few get a summary understanding of a long conversation. It is easy to isolate the people who understood from who have not. Nowadays this is important with engineering degrees being a commodity churned out with the net result of a person standing in front of you with absolutely no clue of what he is supposed to know.
Many books say a good conversation is always levelled. With both the parties listening and conversing in equal measures. But I feel it need not be. Many a time, I have found that simply listening fully and being able to spend all your attention to understand the fellow being, even if you have your opinion, may often find that what the other person is talking exactly reflects your opinion. So no need to waste time enforcing it. If one of the parties take this stand, it saves time and makes your life easy.
However, I find one exception to the above rule. When the other person whom you are talking to is mostly on a subject that is very light, more for entertainment purposes or a casual conversation without a goal to achieve like in a official environment, it is better to follow the rule of maintaining a equal level. Allow them to talk and at the same time find your points through or try to meet your points by interjections, agreeing nods and so on.
The biggest problem I see in most offices are the time spent in making each other known of what I am doing. This has become such a pain that it affects all the time you have to work on your stuff. It is crazy many a time that people come to meetings with less preparations and with a view of just sucking all what some one else's has done putting in hard work and on top of it question them without sufficient thinking just to highlight their knowledge of the subject. These are dangerous as it will set a very bad outlook on your other colleague who has painstakingly prepared to be there. I see this especially when there are the so-called experienced managers who does absolutely nothing....yes I mean it and they simply by the sheer weight of their mostly useless experience tend to absolutely hijack a junior's conversation without understanding what he or she is trying to come out with and instead start concluding on what needs to be done.
Many MNCs have many such folks who have absolutely no clue on what they are there for. But comfortably positioned to execute the orders of their higher ups with no sense of understanding why such a thing is needed and how it really affects the business. This is how the growth of a company shields inefficiencies and over time there are very few who steers the company with so many hanging by the side and the whole thing navigates towards doom.
Every ones position, work and achievements should be under constant scrutiny, not by another person, but by themselves. What is the value Iam adding ? How does it help the business? How am I helpful in my role to my fellow workers? Honestly, I have always had these questions with partially convincing answers most of the time I had spent life in MNCs.
Big companies should still work like a large assemblage of start-ups I feel. This way the purpose will be very clear. However, I do think, biggies don't have great innovations and instead they bask in the glory of what they have innovated in the past. This means the work is pretty much mundane and why put pressure on things which can be achieved with less pressure and mediocre minds?
See Iam contradicting my own theories here again...
thats what should be a healthy conversation in my opinion again!
I have seen most of the Indian engineers whom I have worked with are generally far less communicative than their western counterparts. One hindrance is still English being a non-native language. But language is only one aspect. There are several aspects to relaying your thoughts in a crisp and clean way so that the other person exactly gets your intentions.
Beyond the structure and semantics of what languages offer, there is the subject of your communication. You don't need to be flowery on your choice of words. Just getting the point across with the right level of emotion needed is an art.
Some times, I have tried to sound angry when things don't seem to go the right way in projects. But the words that I choose to convey will still convey the right things. I feel it is important to reign in your emotions and be able to express it in a tone that does not spoil what you would have ultimately wanted to convey.
Imagine this, when some one bangs your car on the road, will you still be able to get the facts across that the other person did the wrong (I am talking about Indian roads..). ?
I doubt you will be able to show controlled emotion and choice of words here. I am obviously contradicting myself between the last bunch of statements I make.
I guess the situation, people etc. makes this difference. In office, surrounded by colleagues, a mistake done by some one can still be dealt in a way with the right choice of words. If there are repeated occurrences, then office procedures are always there to take the action. So, here it is still valid.
However, some one unknown on the road who inflicts a injury to you or to your asset, you still need to react what you feel absolutely. Does not mean you can be violent in your words or deeds still. Remember again your long innings of 80+ years and this is just a passing thing. So, if you do that long shot thinking, this is not worth spending all your energy and going bonkers over it. So be cool always, as much as possible.
Coming back to conversations, I used to ask my fellow engineers whom I am guiding on design or programming to spell out what they understood. I have seen some repeat like a parrot without thinking. Very few get a summary understanding of a long conversation. It is easy to isolate the people who understood from who have not. Nowadays this is important with engineering degrees being a commodity churned out with the net result of a person standing in front of you with absolutely no clue of what he is supposed to know.
Many books say a good conversation is always levelled. With both the parties listening and conversing in equal measures. But I feel it need not be. Many a time, I have found that simply listening fully and being able to spend all your attention to understand the fellow being, even if you have your opinion, may often find that what the other person is talking exactly reflects your opinion. So no need to waste time enforcing it. If one of the parties take this stand, it saves time and makes your life easy.
However, I find one exception to the above rule. When the other person whom you are talking to is mostly on a subject that is very light, more for entertainment purposes or a casual conversation without a goal to achieve like in a official environment, it is better to follow the rule of maintaining a equal level. Allow them to talk and at the same time find your points through or try to meet your points by interjections, agreeing nods and so on.
The biggest problem I see in most offices are the time spent in making each other known of what I am doing. This has become such a pain that it affects all the time you have to work on your stuff. It is crazy many a time that people come to meetings with less preparations and with a view of just sucking all what some one else's has done putting in hard work and on top of it question them without sufficient thinking just to highlight their knowledge of the subject. These are dangerous as it will set a very bad outlook on your other colleague who has painstakingly prepared to be there. I see this especially when there are the so-called experienced managers who does absolutely nothing....yes I mean it and they simply by the sheer weight of their mostly useless experience tend to absolutely hijack a junior's conversation without understanding what he or she is trying to come out with and instead start concluding on what needs to be done.
Many MNCs have many such folks who have absolutely no clue on what they are there for. But comfortably positioned to execute the orders of their higher ups with no sense of understanding why such a thing is needed and how it really affects the business. This is how the growth of a company shields inefficiencies and over time there are very few who steers the company with so many hanging by the side and the whole thing navigates towards doom.
Every ones position, work and achievements should be under constant scrutiny, not by another person, but by themselves. What is the value Iam adding ? How does it help the business? How am I helpful in my role to my fellow workers? Honestly, I have always had these questions with partially convincing answers most of the time I had spent life in MNCs.
Big companies should still work like a large assemblage of start-ups I feel. This way the purpose will be very clear. However, I do think, biggies don't have great innovations and instead they bask in the glory of what they have innovated in the past. This means the work is pretty much mundane and why put pressure on things which can be achieved with less pressure and mediocre minds?
See Iam contradicting my own theories here again...
thats what should be a healthy conversation in my opinion again!
Friday, June 1, 2012
Be Naked!
Right now, after I quit my job I was doing with an MNC, I feel my life is back to me to live. Iam ashamed to say that this has happened after probably my early childhood. Thats roughly 35 odd years. Imagine how it feels to be imprisoned for such a long time? Nelson Mandela comes to my mind for one of the longest prison stints. But mine is not any less...
Yours may not be any less too..
Why the world does not let you be what you are?
Partially, I feel we are responsible for this misery. While 50% is dependent on your parents who decide your fate, the remaining is your own. You hang on..and on working for X and Y thinking that that is your life. And then you start getting this nagging feeling that there is nothing going on much in life. And then these talks of work-life balance....I feel like laughing. You work or you live I feel. It cannot be both. You can do only one thing at a time. You cannot work and also have a life. Thats something that takes a while to understand. Many don't until the time comes when they can no longer work. Working for some one robs your life from you.
Whatever you do after work does not have your heart in it.
When you do something (I am not calling this work) on your own , whatever it may be, you taste freedom. Freedom is beautiful. It cannot be compared to the misery you undergo in the name of work. Freedom makes you grounded. You no longer fly on this and that. Fly on someone's triggers. You are on the ground, you feel the living.
Do something which you have thought is of importance. If you dont have such thoughts start to question you. You must be happy already in a golden cage thinking that the end of the universe is the bars in the cage and they are not bars but the gold you have always wanted to have.
You create the world. When you do that, you live your life. Every one has the full potential to create what they think. Try to get there at least. Dont be a piece of some one else's thought no matter what it holds for you.
When you are naked you see the truth!
Yours may not be any less too..
Why the world does not let you be what you are?
Partially, I feel we are responsible for this misery. While 50% is dependent on your parents who decide your fate, the remaining is your own. You hang on..and on working for X and Y thinking that that is your life. And then you start getting this nagging feeling that there is nothing going on much in life. And then these talks of work-life balance....I feel like laughing. You work or you live I feel. It cannot be both. You can do only one thing at a time. You cannot work and also have a life. Thats something that takes a while to understand. Many don't until the time comes when they can no longer work. Working for some one robs your life from you.
Whatever you do after work does not have your heart in it.
When you do something (I am not calling this work) on your own , whatever it may be, you taste freedom. Freedom is beautiful. It cannot be compared to the misery you undergo in the name of work. Freedom makes you grounded. You no longer fly on this and that. Fly on someone's triggers. You are on the ground, you feel the living.
Do something which you have thought is of importance. If you dont have such thoughts start to question you. You must be happy already in a golden cage thinking that the end of the universe is the bars in the cage and they are not bars but the gold you have always wanted to have.
You create the world. When you do that, you live your life. Every one has the full potential to create what they think. Try to get there at least. Dont be a piece of some one else's thought no matter what it holds for you.
When you are naked you see the truth!
Monday, January 16, 2012
C'mon, Quit your job guys!
This is just a thought and a little serious one lingering in my head for a while. Surely some of you might have done this or thought about this.
When you are in your forties, assuming you have done the standard things, you would be at the peak of your career, got all the best things in terms of pay or incentives and more money does not seem to be doing anything to you other than building a worry on how you would invest it with less tax implications.
Assuming the wife or kids are not in any way making you shudder, thats well out of the equation.
Assuming you have a house to live and a decent bank balance to take care for at least the near future, I tend to ask this question
What is making you get up in the morning, rush through your purification process and then appear in the so called office space to see the same other faces with the same smile or frown and think of getting that extra unwanted salary for that day and month and year?
If you do this, either you dont know what you want in life OR you know and you have resigned to fate OR you are a great cheater that you tend to like this and whatever ....
I would say, the joy of quitting one's monotony and just immersing in a new life where you suddenly have that "precious" commodity called "Time" in your hands.....My God, just the vision of it makes me like a new born!
When you are in your forties, assuming you have done the standard things, you would be at the peak of your career, got all the best things in terms of pay or incentives and more money does not seem to be doing anything to you other than building a worry on how you would invest it with less tax implications.
Assuming the wife or kids are not in any way making you shudder, thats well out of the equation.
Assuming you have a house to live and a decent bank balance to take care for at least the near future, I tend to ask this question
What is making you get up in the morning, rush through your purification process and then appear in the so called office space to see the same other faces with the same smile or frown and think of getting that extra unwanted salary for that day and month and year?
If you do this, either you dont know what you want in life OR you know and you have resigned to fate OR you are a great cheater that you tend to like this and whatever ....
I would say, the joy of quitting one's monotony and just immersing in a new life where you suddenly have that "precious" commodity called "Time" in your hands.....My God, just the vision of it makes me like a new born!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Anish's question on Non-doing
Following the last blog, Anish asked 'how do you achieve non-doing?'
My thoughts are,
You don't do 'non-doing'. Non-doing is not a doing. It is a state. It is not an action. Being in that state means you will just be a watcher. Watching as thoughts cross your mind to stimulate you to doing something. I guess the more you go into the state of watching, the less you do. Or put it other way, you still do something, but not any more without your permission.
I have found many times, that I need to fill up my day with several things - doing this, reading that, watching that movie, talking to some friend, going somewhere......And over a period of time if I look back, I have done a lot of these again and again like a machine. Who was wanting all these? If it is me, then nothing of that seem to remain NOW in me, except those memories. But at that point in time, I have always believed those things are so important to make my day. Now I think I can be without any of those. I have seen my readings have considerably gone down, my watching has gone down...you may say this is out of boredom. But it is not. If I am bored of watching a movie, I would have probably filled it up with another doing , like say a hobby. I now feel I am OK without any of those. But then who is this person without any shades , without any color, without any identity?
I don't know. I know I am on the path, but the way is far and I am not there yet. You need to believe that you may find IT ultimately. I guess you will find the REAL you.
My thoughts are,
You don't do 'non-doing'. Non-doing is not a doing. It is a state. It is not an action. Being in that state means you will just be a watcher. Watching as thoughts cross your mind to stimulate you to doing something. I guess the more you go into the state of watching, the less you do. Or put it other way, you still do something, but not any more without your permission.
I have found many times, that I need to fill up my day with several things - doing this, reading that, watching that movie, talking to some friend, going somewhere......And over a period of time if I look back, I have done a lot of these again and again like a machine. Who was wanting all these? If it is me, then nothing of that seem to remain NOW in me, except those memories. But at that point in time, I have always believed those things are so important to make my day. Now I think I can be without any of those. I have seen my readings have considerably gone down, my watching has gone down...you may say this is out of boredom. But it is not. If I am bored of watching a movie, I would have probably filled it up with another doing , like say a hobby. I now feel I am OK without any of those. But then who is this person without any shades , without any color, without any identity?
I don't know. I know I am on the path, but the way is far and I am not there yet. You need to believe that you may find IT ultimately. I guess you will find the REAL you.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Stop DOING you moron!
Inside me there is a voice right from the time I spring up from bed in the morning. It constantly tells me what I should be doing next. One after another, I create Karma in a day, across a week and over years. Do, Do and Do. Do something all the time.
Why is this constant penchant for Doing something or the other? This thought came to me strongly when I was meditating today. Unlike today, the other days when I meditate, I do some surya namaskarams, I become impatient because a thought came to me about a person I deal in office to whom I should have sent a email. Then I invariably hurry up my yoga and meditation - not a possibility when such "Do this" thought come to me.
So today I was contemplating on this question suddenly. I asked myself, who am I if Iam not doing any of this? Its pretty blank. The reason why Iam maniacally driven into "do something" is because I dont want to feel this blank. More because I dont know what it is. And no one around me seem to be visibly doing less. They all do more and they seem to do all the time something.
I feel in some sense the concept of 'time' is created within you when you "Do something". If you practice non-doing (How do you do that?) may be there is lot of time for obvious reasons. For example, come December and I have to plan on my vacation somewhere with my family. Then it creates a mountain of things to do before you go in a short span of time.
Why am I not fine as is? Why should I do something to know Iam there. Yes, the 'I' gets created and often grown by this doing. If I do nothing, then there is less of what I have created as myself in the view of this world. There is a craving in every one to show to the rest of the world some identity of him. All these seem to be intricately woven and entangled.
Drop the doing , you drop the I and you drop the misery you undergo. You have more time to watch and decide on what really gives you the pleasure in life and do that fully. Most of us are fortunately indirectly guided towards something worthy of doing. But this is very less and a large part is filled with rubbish.
Next time when the voice comes in you "Do this" or "Do that" , pause and reflect and most of the time you may end up leaving it for better ones.
Why is this constant penchant for Doing something or the other? This thought came to me strongly when I was meditating today. Unlike today, the other days when I meditate, I do some surya namaskarams, I become impatient because a thought came to me about a person I deal in office to whom I should have sent a email. Then I invariably hurry up my yoga and meditation - not a possibility when such "Do this" thought come to me.
So today I was contemplating on this question suddenly. I asked myself, who am I if Iam not doing any of this? Its pretty blank. The reason why Iam maniacally driven into "do something" is because I dont want to feel this blank. More because I dont know what it is. And no one around me seem to be visibly doing less. They all do more and they seem to do all the time something.
I feel in some sense the concept of 'time' is created within you when you "Do something". If you practice non-doing (How do you do that?) may be there is lot of time for obvious reasons. For example, come December and I have to plan on my vacation somewhere with my family. Then it creates a mountain of things to do before you go in a short span of time.
Why am I not fine as is? Why should I do something to know Iam there. Yes, the 'I' gets created and often grown by this doing. If I do nothing, then there is less of what I have created as myself in the view of this world. There is a craving in every one to show to the rest of the world some identity of him. All these seem to be intricately woven and entangled.
Drop the doing , you drop the I and you drop the misery you undergo. You have more time to watch and decide on what really gives you the pleasure in life and do that fully. Most of us are fortunately indirectly guided towards something worthy of doing. But this is very less and a large part is filled with rubbish.
Next time when the voice comes in you "Do this" or "Do that" , pause and reflect and most of the time you may end up leaving it for better ones.
Friday, November 11, 2011
fear tags
When you are afraid of something, you become weak. The powerful mind which can think becomes numb and dumbfounded. Thus you end up making wrong decisions and waste your life energy on contemplating and correcting them.
Fear need not be caused only by objects that may be direct like a Snake. Large part of the fear in you is caused by people whom you interact with on a day-to-day basis. For example, let us say you are building a house and have a contractor do the job for you. If he delays the work and you have overpaid him for what he has already done, then you become scared whether he will complete the project and worried that you have already paid more. This will make you suspect him, even if he had some genuine reasons for the delay and make you blurt out when you talk to him, may be spoiling what otherwise was going fine. Just an example. In the job, you have the fear of some one taking your work away by shooting down your ideas. You wait for approval nods even in a small conversation and feel no good if people around you are disapproving. I guess fear is the reason why people keep checking emails or their mobile phones..in some sense.
All these are a result of fear that follows you like a shadow wherever you are and whatever you do.
I feel thats the reason why Shiva wore a snake around his neck?? To show that the fear is always there with you symbolically, may be...
You live with fear and I feel to overcome it is not so easy. It is there all the time. It comes many a time because of the fact that you always have 'expectations' on the outcome of something and then a fear gets 'tagged' to it automatically. Will the expectation be met? Will those people allow this to happen?....all these automatically and very subtly get added and haunt you without your knowing.
So I feel the first thing to sharpen your mind....this is a separate topic. I will talk about this in another post. However, assume you have a razor sharp mind which is trained to be in the present. Again, this is the toughest part. And remember this also sets a goal and hence a fear tag.
The point is, a sharp mind and intellect makes you to be aware of whats happening around you all the time and be present. This means, you cut down lot of thought flow that goes back and forth about people, about things and you have less fear or eventually nothing at all. You just live now and here. This is very hard to achieve and you cant measure it. When you measure, it is not there. So, it is something that may happen to you like a satori if you keep practising something.
I feel 'Belief' is a great remedy. You can start believing in people, things around you. Remember your child. He trusts you and is fearless. He is so comfortable living with people. As you grow, trust deficit grows. When you are with people whom you love, you dont have fear. Love is a great remedy again. Belief, Love etc. all help you overcome fear. Also, the fact that you love and believe, you automatically stop differentiating YOU from some one else. Every one becomes part of you.
But you may ask how do you love?
I would say 'Unask' - your basic condition was that.
Go back to basics!
Fear need not be caused only by objects that may be direct like a Snake. Large part of the fear in you is caused by people whom you interact with on a day-to-day basis. For example, let us say you are building a house and have a contractor do the job for you. If he delays the work and you have overpaid him for what he has already done, then you become scared whether he will complete the project and worried that you have already paid more. This will make you suspect him, even if he had some genuine reasons for the delay and make you blurt out when you talk to him, may be spoiling what otherwise was going fine. Just an example. In the job, you have the fear of some one taking your work away by shooting down your ideas. You wait for approval nods even in a small conversation and feel no good if people around you are disapproving. I guess fear is the reason why people keep checking emails or their mobile phones..in some sense.
All these are a result of fear that follows you like a shadow wherever you are and whatever you do.
I feel thats the reason why Shiva wore a snake around his neck?? To show that the fear is always there with you symbolically, may be...
You live with fear and I feel to overcome it is not so easy. It is there all the time. It comes many a time because of the fact that you always have 'expectations' on the outcome of something and then a fear gets 'tagged' to it automatically. Will the expectation be met? Will those people allow this to happen?....all these automatically and very subtly get added and haunt you without your knowing.
So I feel the first thing to sharpen your mind....this is a separate topic. I will talk about this in another post. However, assume you have a razor sharp mind which is trained to be in the present. Again, this is the toughest part. And remember this also sets a goal and hence a fear tag.
The point is, a sharp mind and intellect makes you to be aware of whats happening around you all the time and be present. This means, you cut down lot of thought flow that goes back and forth about people, about things and you have less fear or eventually nothing at all. You just live now and here. This is very hard to achieve and you cant measure it. When you measure, it is not there. So, it is something that may happen to you like a satori if you keep practising something.
I feel 'Belief' is a great remedy. You can start believing in people, things around you. Remember your child. He trusts you and is fearless. He is so comfortable living with people. As you grow, trust deficit grows. When you are with people whom you love, you dont have fear. Love is a great remedy again. Belief, Love etc. all help you overcome fear. Also, the fact that you love and believe, you automatically stop differentiating YOU from some one else. Every one becomes part of you.
But you may ask how do you love?
I would say 'Unask' - your basic condition was that.
Go back to basics!
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