Tag: consciousness

How My Illusions of Anger and Misunderstanding Are Removed By The Bhagavad Gita

The author writes about how reading the Bhagavad Gita helps him overcome the illusions of emotions like anger, misunderstanding, etc.

The Bhagavad Gita helps me overcome illusions of anger and misunderstanding and more.

Yesterday I was very angry with my sister. 

I was feeling angry because she comes to my bedroom and sleeps in it because it’s tidier than her bedroom.

She goes back to her bedroom at night but yesterday I felt very possessive of my bedroom.

So I felt angry even minutes after she went back to her room.

But then I started reading the Bhagavad Gita.

And I read a couple of chapters, and my anger was dispelled fast. 

Because when I read the Bhagavad Gita, it reminded me of the real goal of life.

It gave me clarity and I felt balanced and calm.

I also performed some of the psychological and breathing techniques that I learnt from NIMHANS.

And it helped me.

But the Bhagavad Gita was a real help.

My anger and possessiveness were illusions. They were not real. They were born of misunderstanding.

Sometimes I wonder why I didn’t read the Bhagavad Gita earlier.

Because if I had read it earlier, I would not have dropped out of the science stream after school.

But now there’s no point regretting it.

I need to use everything I have and not feel sorry for myself.

It’s never too late to change. 

And now that I have the dispeller of all illusions — The Bhagavad Gita, I can relax.

I am thankful I read Bhagavad Gita.

Thank you for reading this line! It means a lot.

Expressing My Gratitude To God(part 1)

The author writes a short gratitude letter to God for being there with him ALWAYS.

Dear God,
I refer to you with many names through many religions. I remember you through my heart. And I want to express my gratitude through this letter.

I’m reading the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, etc. and I am in love with you. I want to thank you for everything that you’ve given me in this life.

And I don’t know if there is rebirth or not, I just know that this present moment is all I got. There’s no past, no future, only this moment.

Thank you for this moment, for being with me for the times I can and can’t remember. 

Thank you for giving me loving parents, good siblings, good friends, good education, good health, an intelligent brain.

I don’t know if good things will continue coming to me in the future but I know you’ll always be with me.

I want to thank you for my seeming weaknesses because they taught me to go to you for strength.

Thank you for my natural strengths because they taught me to believe in myself. 

God, you are great. This creation of yours is amazing. Earth is amazing.

All the good things, good people, nature, etc. are beautiful.

Thank you for creating the ugliness in the world because they teach me to remember you for hope.

I want to express my gratitude to you for being there with me ALWAYS.

And thank you reader for reading this line. It means a lot.

Yours loving,
Anirban

Read This If You Feel Hopeless About Life

The author writes about his experiences with spirituality to persuade readers to have hope about life.

When I was 16 I started meditating daily. 

I read books on spirituality and religion.

I even watched YouTube videos of spiritual gurus who talked about God, the nature of reality, truth, etc.

But I didn’t understand most of it.

But what little I understood was that there is something beyond what we see in life.

All the money, fame, success, pride, etc. is only temporary.

What’s more permanent can be found through spirituality.

So I started meditating. 


Although I messed up big time trying to meditate without guidance, I think what it taught me was more than any course or book could teach me.

That teaching is that normal life is not as bad as we think.

I learnt from meditating wrongly that meditation isn’t necessary to attain nirvana or moksh.

What’s necessary is self-honesty and good behavior towards others.

If you can be honest about your intentions and behave well to others in a way that is just, I think that’s a good start.

So as you might know I had to go through a few episodes of psychosis as I wrote about it in my other mental health blog posts, that’s a topic for another blog post.

What I want to tell you through this blog post is that there is hope. 

Mundane life isn’t all that there is. There is a truth beyond life that can set you free.

It can make you realize the divinity that lies within you and all other beings.

I like to ask myself this question,” What is God?”

We might think we know what God is- a supreme godhead, or an impersonal power or absolute infinity or nothingness.

But I just like to think that I don’t know what God is.

This lets me think beyond the preconceived ideas of other people about God.

So yeah there is hope. 

I’m not asking you to believe in God. But I’m asking you to ask yourself what’s beyond all this.

Thanks for reading this line! It means a lot.

What are my thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?

I think being satisfied is more important than the age you are at.

I think the question of living a short or long life comes up because when we grow older we become weak and various diseases affect our health.

In short, it’s not pleasurable to live a long old life.

So if I write “Life should be lived now to the fullest rather than waiting for a day in the future when we would have ‘enough’ money for retirement”, I would do injustice to the fact that irrespective of whether you live now or later, the most important thing is to be content and be satisfied with what you already have.

So if you are young and trying to enjoy life now, but you still want more, more of everything, then you’re not living life.

And if you are old and have enough money for your retirement, but you hate every moment of your life and have a lot of regrets because you lost your youth and good health, then you’re also not living life.

The truth is you can enjoy your life at every moment of your life if you are content and happy with what you have.

Believing in a higher power may help to have such a tranquil mindset. 

So be grateful for what you have. Be content and satisfied with what you already have.

Thanks for reading this line. It means a lot!

I wish

I wish I had the courage to tell her

That I think about her

That I care for her

That I don’t want to lose her

–

I wish I had the intelligence to understand her

To feel her pain

To let her make mistakes but

To let me feel her pain

–

I wish I was closer to her

To protect her

To be by her side

Even when she didn’t want me

–

I wish I could be someone she prefers

Someone she thinks is handsome

And be hot and cool

And everything she adores

–

I wish I could tell her

That I love her

That I just want her soul

That I just want to be there for her.

–

Anirban Saren

Where does God live?

God lives in places where we fight for justice.

God lives in mass protests.

God lives in the struggle for the right things.

God lives in conflict.

God lives in hard work and difficulties.

God doesn’t live in the temple or other religious places.

God doesn’t live in some saint’s heart.

True saints teach us to fight for justice.

God lives in science.

God lives in the most practical reality.

If you are meant to find God, it will be through practical applications, science, fighting for justice.

God doesn’t just live, he fights for our existence.

God cannot be found by praying at home.

God can only be found while helping people, caring for the right things, and fighting for justice.

-Anirban Saren

Your thoughts make you unique

Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?

It’s not about your personality, nor is it about your looks.

It’s your thoughts that make you unique.

Thoughts shape your reality.

Also your experiences shape how you think.

But I’d say it all starts in the brain.

Experiences are outside our control.

But you can control how you think, what you think.

You can change your thoughts and your future experiences or destiny will change.

So thoughts can be made better by getting diverse experiences in life, reading good books, a good education, a good environment, prayer, etc.

So your thoughts make you unique.

I’m glad you read this line. Thanks a lot!

All Is Vanity – Sab E Maya

Daily writing prompt
What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?
View all responses

I want a tattoo that says “All Is Vanity” and I would put it on my right arm.

Christina Grimmie

I would do this because I’m inspired by my favorite singer, Christina Grimmie.

She had a tattoo exactly like this and I want to remember her every day through this tattoo.

She loved Jesus and she cared for her fans(or “frands” as she called us).

We had a ritual. Instead of saying “Team Grimmie Rocks” she would say “Team Grimmie Rawwks \|/”.

But in June 2016, she was murdered and we lost an angel.

She was a good person, she achieved quite a bit of success with over 3 million subscribers on YouTube and success in “The Voice” TV music show.

But God took her back.

In these moments we start to question “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

But the truth is we must trust God’s plan. God’s plan is greater than our plans. This was said in Christina’s Memorial Service as on YouTube.

But we still have her music and we must share it. So I’m sharing it with you.

Please subscribe to her YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@christinagrimmie

I believe listening to Christina’s music will help most people find inner strength to fight life’s challenges and find hope.

My Understanding

Other than that, from my humble perspective the meaning of the tattoo is beautiful.

I’m not a deeply religious person, but I care about God and love God.

I believe that serving mankind is serving God. God lives in each one of us.

So if we serve others, we are serving God indirectly or rather more directly than praying in a temple or a church.

But from the context of this tattoo “All Is Vanity”, I know a term “Maya”.

In India we say “Sab e maya”. “All is illusory”.

Maya means illusion in the most basic sense.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I understand that God is the ultimate reality.

Whether you call it God, or Brahman, or Paramatman, it doesn’t matter.

There is this realization. I don’t know what this realization is.

But it is the realization that changes everything.

This realization is the realization of the Truth, God, the Ultimate Reality,etc.

And all the temporary achievements we have and all the attachments and desires are all maya, an illusion.

Conclusion

I’m glad that you are reading this line. Thanks a lot!

Met Sri M in Kolkata many years ago

A few years ago, I met Sri M who is a spiritual teacher, social reformer, educationist, author and global speaker.

Here’s a brief introduction of Sri M-

https://satsang-foundation.org/the-founder-sri-m/

He came to our city for his book release. The book’s name is “Shunya” which in English means Zero or Nothing or No-thing.

We went to the auditorium and we watched discussions and classical Hindustani music show I guess.

Then there was a Q/A round.

I promptly went ahead and asked my question.

But I thought the question was dumb.

I was about to ask “How to find God?”

But I couldn’t ask that question.

Because I thought it was not my duty to find God.

I have more important duties like taking care of my parents and getting higher education.

So I asked the question, “Sir, when I read the book I felt unconditional love. Is the book about unconditional love?”

Now this was an even more stupid question.

But Sri M said,”Maybe you feel that way because you yourself have unconditional love in you.”(there may be a slight difference from the actual words but it doesn’t change the meaning)

Now this is something.

Then we took Sir M’s signature on our copies of “Shunya” and Sri M blessed my mother and me. And he, we and everyone else left the auditorium.

This was something unreal of an experience.

I still can’t believe that all this happened that day.

Well it’s something to meet realized beings.

When I met Sri M, I had met a lady in a train who claimed to have seen God.

And she has helped me and advised me since on life’s problems and spiritual realizations and we’re still connected.

She asked me what I felt when I met Sri M.

I said that I didn’t know because I think I am not so spiritually advanced.

As I write this, I realize that I need to be more mindful during my spiritual meetings.

And it is one of my dreams to visit Sri M’s ashram at least some time in the future.

I’m happy that you’re reading this line. Thanks a lot!

No Hell No Heaven – An Original Poem

There’s no hell or heaven
Outside yourself
In the afterlife
Nor in other people’s mentalities.

Hell is when don’t understand the reality
Heaven is when you seek to see what they see
Hell is ignore-ance
Heaven is acceptance and empathy.

People fight outside my house
But they’re not other than me
They are just like my mother, my father, my friends
I choose to not ignore and feel their place of pain.

Pain is real, pain is there
People don’t go to hell
We, You, I am already in hell
Trying to make it heaven piece by piece, brick by brick.

Next time when you pray to your God, say
“I don’t want heaven nor hell.
I just want to see the truth, your face
No matter how ugly or beautiful you might be.”

-Anirban Saren