In a world where half of the population is eating just to survive, working long hours just so that they can earn a square meal, the other half of the population lives so that they can eat. I guess I fall into the second category, not that I live solely to eat but the fact is that I enjoy food, in fact I consider it one of the most enjoyable things in life.

Food for me is a magical world, the entire process of choosing the ingredients, thinking up of a recipe and pouring all your love in the dish that you are cooking and then finally being able to enjoy the smell and the taste of that food is quite amazing. It is a creation unlike no other, it is an art form that people seldom recognize.

For me, my love affair with food started when I had been just a child. Over the years that I spent staying alone and fending for myself, I came to love food all over again. While the other people my age were too busy enjoying themselves at cafes with friends I used to derive a pleasure like no other when I was at a bustling vegetable and fruit market. The sights, smell and sounds of the market engulfs you and transports you to a whole new planet. I remember my endless trips to these markets where I would just stand at a corner for a few minutes to take it all in, the shining vegetables in all their glory.

It is almost that the vegetables and fruits told me their own story. I could take one look at them, feel them in my hands and smell them to know how they had been grown and if any love had been invested in growing them. As I would see these different items on sale my mind would start racing and images of the food that I could prepare using them would flash in my head.

Another place that I have always loved visiting has been the spice markets. There is nothing comparable to a spice market anywhere. The pungent smells of different spices mingling with each other and their explosive colors was nothing less than a visual art. Spices are the kings of any cuisine, they have the strength and the capability to overpower a dish and take the center stage, the flavors bursting in your mouth and taking over your senses.

When I say a spiritual approach to food, what I really mean is exactly that- a spiritual approach to food. I’d just been speaking to a friend recently when he put up a question to me about which I’d never really given serious thought, “If people in India spend hours making their food everyday from scratch, why do they just spend 5 minutes after eating their food?” I didn’t really know the answer.

The fact is that food has the capability of connecting you to the person who prepared the food on an emotional and spiritual level. I’ve tried it and practiced it myself and so I know. When a person cooks a dish a part of his/her energy, emotions and thoughts will flow into the food on its own and when you eat the dish it will be transferred on to you. Just close your eyes while you eat your food and drive away all of your thoughts.

When you do this your mind will be clear enough to dissect not only the different tastes of the food but it will enhance the flavor of the food too. “Mindful Eating” it can be called I guess, but when you take your time to think about nothing else and just enjoying every bite of your food you can even tell a lot about the person who has cooked the food. It is easy to tell what the person had been thinking and what had been the ruling emotion while cooking the food, had it been love, anger, hatred or frustration.

Food conveys a lot on its own, it is a medium in itself and can tell its own story to the one who enjoys it. Every time I cook for myself and eat it, I get to learn a little detail about myself which I’d never known before. It is for this reason that I’ve come to love food in the real sense. I try to savor, enjoy and understand every bite that I eat.

Take your time and enjoy the food, it doesn’t matter what you are eating, a simple or an elaborate meal, every bite has a story to tell if you are willing to listen to it!

I’ve been maintaining silence since quite some time now, well, not literally but when it comes to blogging. There are many reasons for it, first of all is time. I’ve been busy working really hard and since I’m a writer and spend hours everyday writing, at the end of the day I can’t really write anything on my blog.

Anyways, to get back to this post… I’ve been intrigued about one particular topic. Renouncing v/s embracing the world. I’ve met quite a lot of people recently, most of them trying different ways in which they can be happy and can spiritually progress in life, including myself. There are many people I know who believe that you can only progress spiritually when you renounce the world.

By renouncing the world I mean several different things, giving up on sex, giving up speech, giving up certain food items, sleeping only for limited hours etc. I’ve also read about many who believe that if you really want to gain the realization of knowledge, and not just bookish, but REAL knowledge you must renounce the world. Sadhus have done this for centuries, they give up living in the society and head off to the jungles where they stay in solitude and meditate for days. Do they gain what they want? Do they all gain siddhi or enlightenment? I don’t think so.

On the other hand, can’t you do what you’d do in a jungle or on top of the Himalayas while you’re still living in society? What about embracing the world? Embracing food, embracing relationships, embracing sexual desires and natural instincts, embracing your feelings, embracing beauty, embracing sorrows, embracing everything that makes us who we are. Can spiritual progress only happen when you give up things? I don’t think so. It isn’t easy to renounce the world, cut off your connection to the world and head off towards the closest jungle and it is even difficult to stay in the society and still try to maintain your cool and try to progress.

The world and all the elements in the society were all made for a reason; the good things and the bad things make up a total of the world as we know it today. We can stay we are and embrace what we are given and accept what we aren’t given. We can stay in this world and still gain the wisdom that the sadhus try to gain in the jungle.

Spiritual progress has nothing to do with where you are, it is much beyond the realm of physicality. It doesn’t matter where you are physically, what matters is where you are mentally. Progress can be made, in any field, spiritual or otherwise no matter what you are. Whether you renounce the world or embrace it, what matters is how well you do it.

Before I begin, I’ll have to give you all a little background on what this is. A couple of days ago I had an interesting and rather a weird dream. The dream and what I could make out of it is as given below.

 

Shiva and Parvati were at their home in the Himalayas when they ended up getting into an argument and it went on to become a full-fledged fight. Shiva got irritated with Parvati and decided to move out, he left Parvati on the Himalayas and sought refuge on a different planet somewhere in this galaxy.

Shiva, the creator and the destroyer of this universe is also known for his frightening temper. He was angry with Parvati and decided to teach her a lesson. He launched an attack on earth. Parvati, who is kind, gentle and protective; is deeply attached to earth since that is after all her home. Shiva attacks earth with fire balls that were powerful enough to burn the earth to ashes (this part of my dream was complete with video-game style 3-D effects and several slow motion sequences!). Parvati does everything she can to protect the earth, she dodges every single fire ball that Shiva flung her way and did everything she could to protect it. Never did she attack Shiva, not even once, not even for defense.

After a few days of this massive attack and frustrated at not being able to strike earth even once, Shiva decided to make peace with Parvati. He returned back to their home in the Himalayas and said “Now you know who the powerful one in this relationship is.” Parvati just smiled at him and said nothing.

So this was the dream, and this is what I learnt from it:

• The protector is always more powerful than the attacker.
• It is essential to take control of your anger, when angry we end up hurting the ones we love the most.
• Be gentle, understanding and respectful like Parvati. Shiva was her husband; she loved him and respected him. No matter what he did, she never struck back, never attacked, never showed her anger or irritation and never lost her cool during the entire event.
• Shiva and Parvati are the two halfs of the same person. Only when both parts are combined can a person be complete. If we combine the gentleness of Parvati and the power of Shiva, the humility of Parvati and the confidence of Shiva, we can be unstoppable.

 

P.S.- I totally respect and admire both Shiva and Parvati, so this was in no way meant to be disrespectful.

Of late, I have been facing a lot of fears in day to day life. The biggest fear that I’m facing is the fear of knowing myself, this has all but halted meditation practices for me; just because I’m scared of what I might find within myself. I’ve handled quite a lot of fearful situations in life with quite ease and grace, and maybe with time I’ll come over this fear as well.
Several times we come across situations in life where the only fear we feel is the fear created by our minds, to create a hurdle in our mental and spiritual developments.
I believe that with time I would be able to cross this hurdle, it is only a matter of time. As long as we dont give up hope, everything is possible, every dream is achievable and every fear can be tamed.

I’ve been spending quite a lot of time recently giving thought to a lot of things in life. I’ve never really thought it was important to spend time with myself; I was spending most of my time trying to know others rather than first trying to know myself. There are certain events in life that propel you to just stop for a moment amidst the chaos that your life is and do nothing other than just contemplate on who you are and what your life has been till now.

On one such contemplation sessions I was forced to think about something, is it really true that what goes around comes around? Because if it does, I’d be in deep trouble. I’ve done quite a lot of things in life which I’m not really proud of, and in the process hurt others too. I started thinking that if it is really true than I should be really worried because sooner or later there would be a payback time.

I don’t know how many people really believe in the Law of Karma. The Law of Karma states that whatever your actions are, there would be a reaction to it that would have to face either in this life or the next. Now I don’t really know if I believe in the next life or not, but the Law states that whatever you did in this life, you would have to take a rebirth to face the consequences of it. If the Law of Karma was really true then I don’t really know how many times I would have died and taken birth on this earth again.

The Law of Karma again got me to another line of thinking. During one of my sessions I thought back to the way my life has been taking shape so far, I admit I’ve made quite a lot of mistakes but yes, I’ve paid for them too. And no, my punishment never came from the ones that I hurt. My punishments were dealt to me by my own self. I remember the number of days I’d spent repenting and regretting the wrongs I had done in life, the agony of it burning my heart for days at end.

I can’t really change what I’ve done in life, but I’ve paid a price for it. What goes around does come around. The only thing is if you are expecting God to come down to earth and give you a punishment, or if you are waiting for the mysterious Law of Karma to work its way and make you pay in the next birth, you are wrong. More often than not we punish ourselves, whether we know it or not.

So what am I doing differently now? Nothing much, just that I think twice before I do anything. I stay aware of myself, others, my actions and their consequences. I think about the price of what I do before I do it.

Neither is there Bodhi-tree, Nor yet a mirror bright; Since in reality all is void, Whereon can the dust fall?….Hui Neng (638-713).

When girls first dream of their knights in shining armor they get their first romantic novel. There’s something about romantic novels that attracts every girl when they are on the threshold of puberty (and some guys too), but then as they grow up they start frowning upon these same books. Suddenly, it becomes so uncool to read such mushy books.

Now let me tell you something, I have been through that too, I read tones of romantic books as a teenager and then I frowned upon them when my friends did the same. But, somehow I just couldn’t get rid of them completely. Secretly, when I thought nobody else was watching I’d try to sneak in a little fairy tale type romantic book and spend hours in my room reading it.

I still keep dozens of these novels hidden in my drawer somewhere and whenever I get a chance I read them and get lost in a world where miracles are possible, where love exists and where there is always a happy ending. So how can a romantic novel be a self development book?

The answer is simple. And my question is, what do you expect out of a self development book? You would want a good self development book should be able to uplift your mood; it should be able to lift you up from the dungeons of self despair and bring a little sunshine of hope in your lonely life.

A romantic novel does all these things. It always manages to make me smile and it always makes me believe that love still exists in the world, no matter how hard it might seem to find it. It makes me believe that there can be happy endings.

There is no bad day that a romantic novel cannot improve, and there’s no heartbreak that it cannot help heal. So why be ashamed of being fond of reading mushy romances? If you are interested in reading a hard core psychological self development book that would give you a truck full of advice on how to live your life, go ahead and be my guest. But if you just want something that would make you feel good about life, then grab one of these romantic novels!

Most people at some point in their lives wonder what their purpose in life is, why they are here and what is the purpose behind everything that they do here? We all feel disoriented at times, not knowing what our goal in life is. We either just continue with our efforts in a half-hearted way or abandon our efforts all together simply because we are confused.

There isn’t anything to be worried about; everyone faces this at some point. What is important is that we take matters in our hands and do not let this confusion hamper our lives. To be successful it is important to know first of all what our purpose in life is. A purpose is a long term goal towards which all of our activities and efforts would be directed. For example someone’s purpose in life might be to become a great musician. Someone might have the purpose of being a great philanthrophist. Our purpose should be something that we passionately care about, something that we have a burning desire to accomplish. Do not have a purpose just because you think it is a practical goal, a profitable one or because someone tells you that it is should it your goal. Find your own purpose and once you find it nothing and no body should come in the way.

Several people find this first essential step quite difficult since they cannot tell if something is really their passion or not. The below mentioned steps might help you to identify your purpose.

• The first step is to know what is it that you want your future to be like and what do you really enjoy doing as a living.
• The second step would be to understand if you would be able to stick to your purpose long term or not.

One important thing we should know is that when we work towards our real purpose in life it would be effortless, it wouldn’t feel like work at all and working towards that purpose will provide us with a happiness that is incomparable to anything else. When working towards something actually feels like a lot of work then it is not really our passion.

Once we have a well defined purpose in life, everything else just becomes clear and smooth running. We would have a clear picture in our mind of where we want to be, and it is this mental image that would motivate us and drive us towards working hard to make that picture come to life. When we are well motivated to do something in life all the hows and the wheres automatically find their answers. We find ways on our own to make our dream come true and work towards it.

Having a well defined purpose in life will lead us to the next stage where we direct all of our energies and our efforts towards one single thing, achievement of that goal. Everything that we do must be with a single purpose in mind and when we do that, we are bound to see great results. There are no circumstances, no bad lucks in life that can keep us from achieving our goal in life if we really work hard towards it and give it our all. The reason why certain people like Bill Gates and Mozart were so successful in what they did was because they had a very clear goal in mind and they worked ceaselessly towards it.

However, having a well defined purpose and working hard towards it doesn’t mean that we neglect everything else in life. Balance is the key here, like everything else in life. We would only be able to work hard and give it our best when we are well rested and stress free, balancing work with leisure can make everything easier.

 

I recently read Paulo Coelho’s “Veronika decides to die”. Now I’m a big Paulo Coelho fan, have read almost all his books and have loved something about each one and this one was no exception. For the benefit of those of you who haven’t yet read the book I’ll give you a little background of the story line without revealing too much.

Veronika decides to die revolves around the character of Veronika (obviously!) who decides to die(obviously!) but unfortunately the sleeping pill overdose doesn’t really work and she lands up in a hospital meant for the mad and the mentally ill people. She learns that her heart has suffered a major problem and she would die within a week’s time and she is happy about it.

During the story when she lives among the mad she tries to understand the difference between the sane and the insane world which is as different as night and day sometimes and sometimes the line dividing both the worlds is very thin.

She meets a lot of patients, the so-called insane people and learns a lot through them. The ultimate bottom line here is that sometimes it’s not so bad to be insane. Being insane gives a person the chance to do what he/she wants and loves without having to worry about the opinions of others.

Sometimes it is those who we consider insane that are truly wise, and they are the ones who know how to live life to the fullest. Don’t be afraid to be different than the rest, being different would mean that there would be a lot of raised eyebrows and a few “he/she’s mad” comments but who really cares? What matters in the end is YOU and what YOU like to do in life.

Life is short so live it the way you want to; don’t be scared to follow your dreams even if everyone else thinks they are absurd, if it gives you happiness then it’s all worth it.

Zen quotes help me a lot to keep me motivated at times when I’m feeling low. Here’s a selection of some of my favourite zen quotes of all times:

• Externally keep yourself away from all relationships, and internally have no pantings in your heart; when your mind is like unto a straight-standing wall, you may enter into the Path.
• Neither is there Bodhi-tree, Nor yet a mirror bright; Since in reality all is void, Whereon can the dust fall?….Hui Neng (638-713).
• All conditioned things are impermanent. Work out your own salvation with diligence….The Buddha’s last words.
• Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation….Tibetan Saying.
• We cannot see our reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.
• Although gold dust is precious, when it gets in your eyes, it obstructs your vision.
• You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.
• If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are.
• Ride your horse along the edge of a sword; hide yourself in the middle of flames
• The reverse side also has a reverse side