We are looking at the wrong balance

We always keep talking about the work life balance and how we have to maintain a certain work-life balance for the sanity of self and the overall workplace. There is no such thing as work life balance. It is actually a myth based on how the work environments are evolving/transforming. Either we have life or we have work. The only closest way to achieve this balance is to integrate work into your life. But the important thing is we are looking at the wrong balance. 

The real balance we all need to look into is the skills-ambition balance. If there is a work environment where the ambition far outweighs the skill-set then that needs to be checked. It is also a dangerous environment to be in, especially when there are no ethics in play. Work environments where skill-sets match ambition, that’s the kind of environments we want to be in. This balance definitely helps with maintaining the overall sanity of the environment. If we all watch our skills and our ambition and keep it balanced, that will definitely contribute to the overall well-being

The beauty of effort

 Effort has only two possible outcomes

- It gives the result

- It accumulates for a bigger result

If you are doing something and think that you are not getting any result, please understand that its accumulating

Karma - Its nothing but a Residue

This is the definition I have finally arrived. If we are doing any task, karma is nothing but the residual effect in your mind related to that task once its done. Thats it. 

For example, if you are doing any task and once it is done, if you start thinking that may be you could have done it better, or if you could have caused any harm to anyone, or if you have accumulated any guilt or even joy. It doesnt always have to be on the negative side, it can also be positive if you think that you have helped someone and you strongly feel about it. 

Sometimes, we naturally help people that we love without even expecting anything. You wont feel either good or bad after that. You will feel a sense of relief. That means some burden has been reduced from your brain. 

Knowing how limited I am!

When I first got in touch with Chat GPT. I felt like God stood infront of me and said I cannot give you anything, but I can answer any question you have that you can go ahead and use the response for whatever you want. It was such a tremendous feeling realizing that you have got so much power now but didnt even know what to do with it or how to use it. All I could ask is how to plan a vacation. That made me realize how limited I am that I even didnt know what to ask. 

Tree of life

I always had the question in mind if karma is pre-determined or is it a result of free-will. I always used to think that if its pre-determined there is no point for god giving us all this beautiful life with all the faculties that we enjoy or have at our disposal. There is another school of thought where if karma is a result of our actions, then the actions itself are pre-determined. Is it possible to break out of that?

If you observe a tree, it's very synonymous to our life. We always start at the root. They are no branches near the root. As our intelligence is developing (synonymous to we moving upwards along the trunk), the branches appear in the form of choices. Later on at every point in our life, we will be presented with choices about various aspects of our life. If we make the right choices and keep travelling along the trunk, we will reach the top. Every human being born is destined or is perfectly capable to reach the top. But somewhere along the way, because of the choices we make, we may end up in a different place on the tree.

But if you think about it, it is perfectly possible to find our way back to the top of the tree. Tree will teach us that possibility. Now the real question is how do we know that we are travelling along the trunk. The most fundamental thing to remember is that if you make a decision and be able to not remember anything regarding that ever again, then you can be assured that you are moving along the trunk and its just a matter of time before you reach the top. If not, we just need to deal with the after-effects of our decision

Letting go

Recently I had a chance to do snorkeling. It was a beautiful experience and it was scary as hell both at the same time. The snorkeling gear we had wouldnt let us drown and the ocean current was normal. You just have to trick your brain to get used to the gear. But there is one important thing I noticed, even though I have trained my brain with the gear, and even though I am perfectly capable of floating in the water, it was extremely hard to let go of the surfboard that brought us to the ocean.

This made me think about how much we are used to the things that we are used to and its not easy to let go of familiar things in the pursuit of new experiences

Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya

This is one of the very common and famous prayers in our scriptures which means "Lead me from darkness to light". I always have a problem with this line. When people say this line, I always used to argue what's wrong with darkness. Darkness did not do anything wrong. We always make our room extremely dark to be able to sleep properly. The movie theaters have to make it very dark in order for us to enjoy the movie. When we are really down, we tend to sit in dark places, because darkness is really helping us cope up with whatever we are dealing with in our lives.  So there is nothing wrong with darkness. Both darkness and light are equally important.

Most of the times, the meaning is not straightforward in our scriptures. Its hidden somewhere in the nature or other random places. We need to have the time and motivation to gain insight, otherwise we will end up with wrong interpretations. 

If you observe, the way we see the colors on a surface depends on what color the surface is reflecting. If we are seeing green color frog, the color we see is the light reflected off of the surface of the frog's skin perceived by our eyes. If we are seeing a yellow fruit, the surface of the fruit reflects the color yellow. If some surface absorbs everything, then we perceive it as black color (synonymous to darkness). If some surface reflects everything then it is perceived as white color (synonymous to light). So what this line is actually telling us is "Lead me from the state of absorbing everything to the state of reflecting everything", meaning, lead me to a state of being a witness to everything that's happening in the world. 

This is definitely a prayer that we all need