god Archives - Hope With Anirban

Ishq! Ishq! Ishq!!! (Love! Love! Love!!!)

The author writes about a poetry show he and his sister went to see the previous day. It was quite an unique and a great experience.

I just can’t get yesterday evening’s “Ishq Hai” poetry show by Priya Malik out of my head.

Story Time: Ishq Hai

So yesterday my sister and I went to HSR Layout in Bangalore to attend a poetry show by Priya Malik that we booked on bookmyshow.

A group photo with Priya Malik(3rd from the left) and Tanmay(4th from the left)

And it was a good decision. In fact it was a great decision.

I still can’t forget that experience.

The show wasn’t just about “Ishq” or love, but it was about the subtleties of love.

How “pyaar” is different from “ibadaat” and how there are 7 levels of love and how the former six are different from “Ishq”, which is the seventh level.

And I realized yesterday that I have only ever had infatuations and that I had never felt “Ishq” for anyone.

It made me feel quite hopeful instead of sad.

At least now I know where I stand.

I also love the story of her life, the story of her and her mother.

How she would say “kuch nahi” when her mother asked her about her day. And how that changed. (don’t want to spoil too much for future audience members)

Priya Malik said that it is the distance from and absence of a thing or a person that makes us realize their value. I don’t remember the exact words though.

But I think these positive feelings of bliss and gratitude will last for days. And that’s also great for my mental health.

Why I Attended The Show

So my sister and I went to the show yesterday after my sister’s duty at NIMHANS.

At first I was hesitant but then I thought “What the hell! Let’s try something new.”

Because generally I go to music concerts and action movie screenings. But this was the first time I went to a poetry show on “Ishq Hai” which is an emotional experience.

There’s nothing to think or analyze like I do with my data analysis career.

All you have to do is open your heart and feel.

Yes! That plain old “feeling” in this age of AI.

And after watching the show we had dinner at Leon’s Burger.

Then we returned to our rented place.

So yeah yesterday evening was filled with blissful thoughts and intense feelings.

And I’d never want to forget yesterday evening even if the photos get lost.

Also Priya Malik did a “meet and greet” and we got her autographs and clicked a group photo.

Conclusion

And yeah! That was quite something!!!

One thing I learnt from this experience is that everything happens for its own good. There’s nothing to worry about.

God is there and things will happen at the right time.

All we need to do is surrender to God!

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.

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

10 things that inspire me that might inspire you

Here are 10 things that inspire me that might inspire you-

Leaders (because it shows me that one man can change the world). For me it’s Gandhi and Dr. B R Ambedkar,etc. For you it may be someone else.
Parents’ love (because it’s truly selfless and unconditional)
Wild and stray animals (because it gives me hope. Why do stay animals strive for survival even though they don’t have much intelligence, no plan for life, no careers? Maybe because they aren’t or can’t suffer in thought obsessively like us.)
Doing what I love (because it gives me joy. I love reading novels, writing blogs, learning stuff,etc. And it gives me joy.)
Realizing my mistakes (I am open to learning my mistakes and I am flexible to learn my mistakes. Maybe that’s my gift. But it inspires me because it makes me grow as a person.)
Being grateful (because it is one of the truths of existence. “You haven’t created the air that you breathe, so stay humble because someone else did it for you to be alive.” which is something a person I know said to me.)
Overcoming fear (because it makes me grow as a person and allows me to do things I can’t do or haven’t done before.)
Doing something creative (because it gives me self-knowledge and the pleasure of helping people feel good from my creative work gives me joy.)
Accomplishing something difficult (because it gives me a sense of accomplishment and pride.)
Praying to God (because it feels good. I’m just like the average person who prays to God for a salary hike next quarter. But I feel it’s my duty to pray to God for no reason.)

There are other things that inspire me but here’s the top 10.

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

Forgive yourself

When you meet a stranger and based on their first impressions you judge them and think maybe they are rude and you are innocent, remember that they also might think the same about you.

You judgement that they are rude and judgemental is your judgement. And they aren’t necessarily true.

So stop judging and be happy.

We all are equal. And we must respect ourselves and each other.

Forgive yourself and forgive them and forget.

I’m glad you’re reading this. 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!

Why It’s Ok To Not Be Spiritual

In this blog post, I write why it’s ok to not be spiritual.

I will write my opinion here and it’s not necessarily correct or scientifically verifiable.

Why I Am Not Spiritual

I was listening to Ramakrishna Mission’s Swami Sarvapriyananda’s talk on focus, self-confidence and selflessness yesterday and I felt inspired by him. I got so inspired that I studied my academic books for a long time yesterday.

Today I was listening to his talk on Brahman. And I remembered that I get scared when I listen to and think about these spiritual topics.

I think this happens because I have some psychological trauma or neurosis that triggers fear in me. I don’t know if this is scientifically true.

So I am not spiritual in the sense that I don’t meditate, read scriptures, or do any kind of yoga. But I have faith in God.

There may be many people who are not spiritual. Maybe they don’t have the time or they don’t prioritise it or maybe they have fear in their minds like me.

And it’s OK. It’s totally fine if one doesn’t do spirituality or believes in it.

I believe that spirituality is about being yourself. It’s about realising your faults and blessings and becoming a good human being.

A good human being in behaviour and thinking in every aspect of life and with all human beings and living organisms and the environment.

A big part of being spiritual in my opinion is to realise that you are not perfect and that you can be a better human being. It’s about prioritising “self-realisation” and by that, I mean realising your highest good nature.

Example of Addiction Recovery

Suppose you are a substance addict. You clearly are not being yourself and not being a human being you can be proud of.

In that case, you need to go to the doctor and go through the addiction recovery process. And you will become a better human being in that process.

In this way, you are (self-) realising your potential goodness to reality. I think that in the first step of the twelve-step program by Alcoholics Anonymous, one needs to admit their problems honestly.

twelve-step program
a distinctive approach to overcoming addictive, compulsive, or behavioral problems that was developed initially in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to guide recovery from alcoholism and is now used, often in an adapted form, by a number of other self-help groups. The twelve-step program in AA asks each member to (a) admit that he or she cannot control his or her drinking; (b) recognize a supreme spiritual power, which can give the member strength; (c) examine past errors, a process that is carried out with another member who serves as sponsor; (d) make amends for these errors; (e) develop a new code and style of life; and (f) help other alcoholics who are in need of support. Variations of this model also exist for drug abuse and addiction, gambling addiction, and other problems.
APA Dictionary of Psychology[1]

So what’s that? That’s realising your faults. That’s moving towards self-realisation.

You don’t need to read spiritual books to be spiritual. You are spiritual by your very nature.

But in the common sense of the word, I think it’s not necessary to be spiritual. And it’s Ok if you are not.

Even though I am not spiritual, I will probably listen to Swamiji’s talks on non-spiritual topics. And continue occasional deep breathing relaxation techniques when necessary.

Maybe the thing is my time hasn’t arrived yet to dive into spirituality. Maybe that’s the case. Who knows? I will just have faith in God and do the right thing now and when the time comes.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this blog post on why it’s ok to not be spiritual. Please comment- Are you spiritual? You are also welcome to explain why you are or aren’t spiritual.

References-

APA Dictionary of Psychology -Twelve-Step Program, https://dictionary.apa.org/twelve-step-program

3 Things I Am Grateful For

Here are 3 things I am grateful for and why I am grateful for them is given below. No big deal, just 3 things:

The first thing is miracles.

I am grateful for miracles. Miracles that give us hope, a sense of wonder, and a sense of gratitude itself.

A story I would share with you about miracles is finding amazing friends.

I had the opportunity to make friends who are like me.

When I was in the mental health hospital for my psychosis treatment, when I was in high school when I was in my happiest and unhappy moments.

I think friends are miracles. What a concept the thing is- FRIENDS! Some person whom you can be yourself with, outside your family!

So when I was in the mental health hospital, I met a person M, who helped me get through all those days. I was playing badminton one evening, and she asked if she could play too. I said “Ok”.

The next day we chatted and became friends very quickly.

But I was having problems with my mental health. She was there to talk. I was also there to support her.

I mean to say that before this I used to believe that I couldn’t make friends because I was an introvert. But I realized that friends exist like a handful of people made in heaven for us.

I used to think that I was forever doomed to be depressed and that I was indeed in deep depression. But friends made me realize that miracles exist.

The second thing is my privilege.

I am very privileged. My parents have money, and I am loved and I am intelligent enough to read dense philosophical books, I also have ambitious genes, I can introspect, I am a sensitive person, I am a Libra, and my parents own their flat, etc. I am born in India where great leaders like B. R. Ambedkar, Sidhu and Kanu, Birsa Munda, Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, etc were born.

I am very privileged.

The story I want to share for the privilege is of my sister. She always put the right thoughts in my head. I am a naive person. And she always inspired me. She is a true leader and she taught me to be grateful for my privileged.

One day when I was young about 15 years old many years ago(I’m 22 now), I didn’t know much about the #metoo movement. I made a very rash statement to her about #metoo. And she scolded me and told me the facts.

I learnt to respect women and have a realistic perspective from my sister. I told you I was privileged. I am truly lucky!

The third thing is God.

I am listening to a song called “I Bet You Don’t Curse God” by Christina Grimmie right now. It’s a beautiful song!

Through thick and thin, through my psychosis, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, etc. God is the reminder and fact that kept me going.

This story is about my philosophy tuition teacher madam R.

On the first day of my philosophy tuition year when I was in a Philosophy course in college, she asked me if I believed in God? I at first said a diplomatic answer, neither yes nor no.

Then she asked me this. “What is God to you?”

I still remember what I answered.

I said,” I think God is what remains when everything is stripped from existence and nothing remains. Then what remains is God.“

What I meant when saying this, I don’t know to date. Because it’s a feeling to me.

Madam R said,” You alone deserve to study Philosophy.”

What I meant to tell you through this story is not to brag about me. But to tell you that God is the reminder and the fact.

It doesn’t matter what religion you belong to. What matters is faith.

I am naturally more of a doubt guy than a faith guy. But life has reminded me to have faith over and over again.

I still get frustrated when something bad happens to me. But I also always look for the feeling when I say “I think God is what remains when everything is stripped from existence and nothing remains. Then what remains is God.”

By the way, I stole the idea from a song from the music “Kun Faya” from the Bollywood movie “Rockstar”. I don’t want to take credit. But I say it only because I strongly believe and feel its truth and that’s what happened when I said it to madam R.

Conclusion

So to summarize, the 3 things I am grateful to God for are:

1. Miracles

2. My privilege

3. God

So thank you for reading this blog post. A question for you: What are you grateful for today? You don’t have to tell me why. Just mention three points.