Spiritual Professional Life

Who are you? This is one of my favorite questions. I think one can experience bliss by pursuing this question in a certain way. Let me try and do that- to take you through this question in that certain way so you could experience the bliss. There is a deeper bliss for grabs if one can let others experience this bliss. Wait, do I smell Blissoception here- bliss within bliss within bliss, may be!

So when I ask "who are you", what comes to your mind? Your name? But what if you change your name? Your profession? Your family? Do you recognize that possibly every cell of your body changes during your lifetime? So your DNA is you? What if your biology completely changes? So would this answer be outside biology? People around you could change, so the answer could be outside your sociology? But there is something about you, something which is invariant.

Would this invariant be tricky if you are person who evolves a lot? Look at Valmiki, he starts as a hunter and transforms into a great writer who gave us the Ramayana. Or look at Siddhartha who became Gauthama Buddha. How about Steve Jobs 2.0 or Arvind Kejriwal 3.0 who doesn't shout at people! Would you have one core idea of these people. Can you find consistency within those inconsistencies? Or order within chaos? Nonlinear dynamics seems to do it in a completely different context. So can we then speculate such an idea in this context?

Some people say Adi Shankara or Swami Vivekananda are avataars of Shiva, would that sound crazy? If I tell you that Rama, Krishna, Varaha are avataars of Vishnu would that sound crazy? Rama and Krishna are two different individuals, so how can they be the same? Understandable, they are human, but how can you say Varaha(pig), Matsya(fish) are same as Rama? Can you say Apple and Amazon are same? Can you say they are different avataars of AI? Does this go back to speculative human mind's ability to see similarities to learn from a different example?

So we conceptualize the idea of a soul. Soul is that DNA of you or that identity or that software of you. Soul is not a static piece but a dynamic evolutionary software which is basically a summary of you. Soul is to the body what juice is to a fruit. One may provide several such examples since the idea is quite abstract. This is mere speculation and if one asks if it is true, the answer is that is just an idea which gives perspectives. Soul gives qualitative perspective of things while material explains the qunatitative perspectives. So Soul is you- your cognition + your emotions + your matter.

Now that you define your soul, you can then start nourishing it. You nourish your soul by nourishing your mind, body and heart. You nourish your body with exercise, mind with reading/brainstorming and heart with social work/art - experiences of emotions. Your soul emerges from these three and is particularly connected with your values and sense of goodness. Your mind, body and heart in unison give you reasons to see an incompleteness within you and a sense of completeness outside.

Sodium needs to lose electron. Chlorine needs to gain an electron. They can do an exchange, but they would have extra charge and this brings instability. So they form a cage structure and guard each other. The sodiums repel a positive charge which pursue chlorine and chlorine repels negative charge which pursues sodium. So there is a sense of incompleteness which leads to instability. This is resolved by seeing stability outside the atoms, in the molecule world. We see lack of satisfaction with ourselves and thats when our social life begins. We stopped being individuals and became specialized interdependent folks in society. We are incomplete without the folks who made the phone, the ones who grew the food and so many more. So your soul finds completeness in humanity.

These qualitative aspects helps you be at peace with yourself, helps you escape dichotomies, to source new ideas. But this is speculation and we could be wrong. So we need science to rigorously probe the ideas sourced by spirituality. So does science have to clash with spirituality? If spirituality is defined this way, then may be not. Creativity source of qualitative ideas and the ability to stay humble and keep claims grounded can exist- science and spirituality.

Now, that we understand the soul, can we have a speculation of what to expect by understanding the soul

1- Do we compete?
If we all have different makeup within our souls, why would we compete? Is Gauthama going for the same currency which Steve Jobs is going for? If all our souls are busy shopping for something else, how are we competing? We may be going for coming items at times, but our paths will split soon. We are on a different journey, so we don't compete, we do it differently and try to survive. This ideology helped Steve Jobs build amazing products. Can we explore this as a business strategy?

2- Is there a universal emotion?
How can I be a rockstar? If everyone is different, how do I sing something which everyone likes? Is there universality in emotions? Do all souls have something in common? Why do all souls feel proud on seeing a proud? Why do all souls feel the same on seeing a baby cry? Why do all souls feel good when a poor woman eats? Why do all souls share these primitive emotions? Evolutionary reasons? Can this help in producing art with universal appeal?

3- Enemy versus "agree to disagree"
If someone does something which is opposite to me, do I see that person as an enemy? Or do see scope of enrichment? Do I see scope for the soul to stumble upon things which she couldn't get so far? Does this help me entertain thoughts without having to accept them?

4- Empathy
Does my soul respect the other souls? Does my soul see the spirit of namasthe- I have a soul in me and you have a soul in you, your soul and my soul are different, so we are equal because we can never the same. So I am neither inferior to you nor am I superior to you, so we are equal and my soul greats the soul in you. If this sense of respect is ritualized everyday, wouldn't we feel so good? If you see everyone else as a reflection of you, wouldnt you find yourself everywhere and feel happy? Can you find happiness outside yourself? Wanna explore?

5-  Randomness
If I face uncertain situations, does it enrich my soul, does my soul have a qualitative perspective of things? So would I enjoy uncertain situations because I am adding more liquid to my reservoir? Would this help me face life better? If life is uncertain with me, why should I be uncertain with life?

Once I can design my soul and control my soul, wouldn't I be able to change my life? Wouldn't the impossible be possible? Can I rewire myself? Are these mere speculations? If they are so nice to hear, how would they feel after execution? Should we give it a try?

Jai Shri Ram

Respect, Anoint, Mirror

He is the simple one, an ordinary one,
He has skills, archery, he strikes gold,
He lacks super-powers, he is one among us,
He rose above us, a civilization adores him!

He epitomizes respect, shows the other side of status-quo,
He is the role model, for the one running a system,
He led a life with so many positives, with perseverance,
He led a life with few dark spots, urging us to reflect!

He was born with a silver spoon,
He saw it as an opportunity, to serve,
He didn't take his royal birth for granted,
He worked his way, and shines as a role model,

He mastered the skills, being a sincere student,
He won his people, being an obedient young man,
He meditated on thoughts of justice and ideal,
He was anointed, remembered, by a civilization

Status-quo, coronation, seem very feudal,
they make way for democracy, for true equality,
but few odd stars shine, in the darkness,
this man exemplifies a great king, a feudal lord!

I have no extraordinary to write about him,
but if you look at his wide-reaching appeal,
look at the chants of Jai Shri Ram,
he has been hijacked, his ideals are nabbed,

But then, see his reach, his ideals are forgotten,
his name is remembered, he is owned up as face,
even by some of the worst of crooks, he has few flaws,
He can save anyone, he inspires everyone,

Think deep, his story is a mirror, is not glamorous,
but this myth challenges all the myths around us,
that you needn't do anything extraordinary,
to work your way up and to rise above us

We all have some privilege, much like his silver spoon,
but can we emulate his respect, his commitment to the opportunities,
do we lament our privilege, or do we leverage and democratize?
Can we get an entire civilization to remember our ideals?

Can we look into the mirror called Ram,
Can we reflect ourselves, setting ourselves up,
to reflect on our ideals, or do we just find his flaws?
Can we see why he was anointed? Is it aspirational?

He was an obedient boy, obedience can hurt,
one may have to challenge the status quo,
one may have to challenge patriarchy,
some say he doubted his wife, the scars are here to stay

Can we reflect, can we imbibe humility,
but can we see why he was anointed,
do we establish ourselves? plant ourselves?
Or do we work our way up? Acceptance?

Is it time to redefine Jai Shri Ram?
Is it time to democratize, to break feudalism? Jai Shri Ram?
Is it time to embrace all religions, all castes? Equality? Jai Shri Ram?
Is it time to respect women? Is it time to condemn the bad? Jai Shri Ram?

He came from the palace, but emerged as people's leader,
is the cry, the chorus, which few leaders garner,
he was anointed, not by the throne, but by the people,
he was anointed, not by status-quo, but by the people!

It is possible to be the ordinary,
It is much easier to perform magic,
But this path wins hearts of generations,
This is a tale to reflect on! Jai Shri Ram!

The superawesome dude

The Superawesome Dude

He is one the one,
the one and the only one,
The first one, the cool one,
The one from the Himalayas,

He is the angry one,
The one with the third eye,
The no nonse guy, who can,
destroy the old, for renaissance

He may not be as glamorous,
He may not be the peoples God,
He may not appear like a rockstar,
His energy may not be palpable,

But, he is the achievers' God,
He is the powerful people's God,
He is the 10Xer God,
He is the stretch goals God

He is the Adiyogi, Adinath,
He is the first Yogi, the first dance,
His damru gave us Tamil and Sanskrit,
He taught us meditation, focus

He is the aggressive one, he may repel,
One may have to put effort to understand,
He is worth it, he is worth emulating,
He is the pinnacle of human achievements,

He is multi-faceted, has many angles,
He is Manjunatha, Chandrasekhara, Trinetra,
Bholenath, Tarun, Gangadhara, Dakshina Murthy,
He encourages us to emulate, Hara hara mahadeva,

He is the achiever, the humble one, the kind,
His humility is different, his kindness is different,
He is the deep one, he is the one can push all of us,
He tells we are all god Hara Hara Mahadev!


It took Sati to understand him,
She becomes back as Parvati,
She overcomes hurdles, the rules, Daksha,
Can we break rules too, understand him?

It took a powerful Sati to understand him,
The destroyer bows down to Sati, the power,
Can we take the inspiration and induce it within,
Can we be the ultimate combo?

He is not the one, he is not the only one,
Several stories were blend into one,
Into one Sadashiva, Adi Shankara, Vivekananda,
He is a quality, a role model, a story

Do we take inspiration from a person,
What if the person is flawed,
Do we then abandon the virtues
Why not create a near perfect role model?

He is that role model, that worthy being,
So we reflect upon and take a leaf,
From his page and extrapolate to our life,
He is the chill dude, the cool dude,

He is the super intellectual dude, the science dude,
He is the emotions dude, language dude, the arts dude,
He is the physical dude, the yoga dude, the sports dude,
He is the spiritual dude, the meditation dude, the values dude

He is the advertisement of Indian thought,
He blends IQ, EQ, SQ into one - human,
He combines mind, body, heart and soul,
He shows how nurture them all,

He is the all rounder, he shows how to lead life,
He is the rebel, he fought for his girl,
He fought for the world, the progress,
He can be blunt, he is the super awesome dude!