Tag: journey

Bhagavad Gita: Significant Changes In My Life

The author writes how the Bhagavad Gita is changing this life and how a healthy level of doubt is necessary and alright.

I’ve been reading the Bhagavad Gita and I already see changes in my life.

Bhagavad Gita : Story Time

I recently started cooking lunch and dinner. 

Earlier me and my sister used to order lunch and dinner from restaurants.

But now I cook them.

Although I order the curry and side dishes, I prepare the main staple dish.

I cook rice or rotis. And order vegetable or chicken curry.

And I also know that my psychiatric medication has a big part to play in this.

But I also think the Bhagavad Gita definitely has a part in causing these changes in my life.

I feel more grounded and am sleeping better.

I’m having less problems waking up early or sleeping early.

Religion

The Bhagavad Gita is a Hindu scripture. But I’m not a Hindu, I’m an Adivasi(Saridharam- truth religion).

But I find that reading the Bhagavad Gita helps me a lot.

I can relate to Arjuna from Chapter 1 itself.

Doubts

Sometimes I doubt if indeed the Gita is the word of God. Or whether Gita is true.

And I think it is good to doubt to some extent.

I don’t need to have blind faith. I need to challenge the Gita and experience its truths for myself in real life.

Conclusion

I need to treat it as a manual but the real realisation would only be possible if I act and actually “assemble the parts” or “attain spiritual realisation” or “moksh” by following it.

So yeah I’m reading the Bhagavad Gita and this journey never ends because unless one attains “moksh”, there’s no stopping.

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

Home Is Where The Heart Is: A Journey Back Home

Me, my mother and father arrived in Bangalore yesterday, and the weather is fine here. Much cooler than Kolkata’s weather. The journey is cozy.

There was a lot of traffic congestion on our way from Howrah to the Dum Dum Airport. 

But we reached just in time.

Overall I think my visit to Howrah from Bangalore was successful.

I went to give puja at the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple. And I voted.

I also met many of my relatives and cousins. 

And I’m grateful to God for these experiences. 

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

Say “Yes” to Life

The author writes why saying “Yes” is as important as saying “No” to life.

Daily writing prompt
How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?
View all responses

I don’t usually say “No” but I wish I had said it more.

I think I’m not clear about what I want.

Sure I want to buy a house, buy a car, a bike, and have a certain net worth. But I don’t think I’m clear on my purpose in life.

I mean I don’t value money or any kind of scarce resource more than time. 

I value relationships, time, people, etc. more than money.

In fact I say “Yes” more than I say “No”.

I want to meet more people, have more interactions, go out more, read more books, learn more courses, etc. 

I don’t want to work more to earn money. I want to do what’s best for me.

And earning money isn’t the only thing in the world.

It is important but it’s not everything.

I think being a good human being is what’s most important. And to be a good person, we need to interact more, talk to more people, understand ourselves, write more journals, etc.

So yeah I don’t say “No” much but I do say “Yes” to things that might interfere with my goals.

I mean what is life more than a journey towards your goals. 

And if you say “No” to the things that would enrich your life in the journey, there’s no point in living such a life.

So I say “Yes”.

Thanks for reading this line! It means a lot.

My Personal Mental Health Journey

It started with me thinking like everyone was looking at me and thinking bad things about me.

I was 15 in 2015 and extremely self-conscious. I did not know what was happening. So I went to the one plan where you can get all answers free of cost- Google.

After researching google for a few hours that afternoon I read the text “Social Anxiety Disorder”. And when my mother arrive home from work, I told her about it.

She knew what it was because she had it when she was young.

But all I could think was it is the worst thing that can happen to a human being. I won’t even wish it on my worst enemy because I knew even at that time that social anxiety is worse than death.

Eventually I begged to my parents to take me to the doctor because in India mental health is still a stigma. And most people think that mental illness happens to only those patients who are in the mental asylum.

I went to the National Institute of Behaviour Sciences in Kolkata and they made me see the psychologist. But I refused to see the psychiatrist and decided to not medication.

Long story short, the psychologist and I had a disagreement. His techniques did not work or at least it did in his textbooks and he probably said to me, I don’t remember the exact words, I had to do those techniques in order to get better. Then I started seeing other psychologists.

Then my parents took me to the Apollo hospital in Kolkata. This time also I refused to take medication. But he recommended a psychologist near our home in Howrah.

The new psychologist explained to me why I had social anxiety. She told me it was because of my parents marital conflict. But her solutions were like the previous psychologist-same textbook solutions that never works for me.

The solutions like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy don’t work for me. I am depressed and I don’t need more depressing stuff like CBT.

So the same conversation happened that her solutions were not working. And I started seeing other psychologist. Or at least I wanted to but I felt so hopeless that I did not see other psychologist and turned to religion.

I real the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita and meditated diligently for 20mins everyday and in between I missed school and played Fallout 4 and other shooting games all day and I failed in class 11.

Then I joined an new school that I hated and I started to feel frustrated with myself. I stopped going to school for a few months and my plan became to meditate and dissolve my “ego”. I didn’t even know what that meant.

It turned out to be very dangerous for my mental health and I developed insomnia and psychosis. And I had to go to National Institute of Mental Health And Neurosciences and I had to take medication.

At this point of time my parents were very supportive. My sister was also very supportive. Most of my relatives were also supportive despite not understanding what mental health issues was.

At NIMHANS I met many new people and made some friends. And although it gave me a new insight into my problems through the regular therapy and careful medicine prescription at NIMHANS, I did not find the solution there.

When I came back to Kolkata, I was more depressed than ever. The psychosis and mania and insomnia occurred again. So we went to the SSKM hospital in Kolkata.

I still haven’t found the solution. What I mean by solution is mental peace.

Meditation does not have it. Psychologist does have it. I am also doing reiki healing. I think reiki works but I think what I am looking for outside me is already in me. But I don’t know how to use it.

Life is not perfect. It is an ongoing struggle. But there is hope.

I am 22 and I still have to go to therapy, get reiki healing, take medication,etc.

Do I have to feel handicapped?

No I don’t. I know that I am equally capable as everybody else. In fact I as a person can do more than others. In an internship training test I was the best of 400candidates my age not few days ago. I don’t blame mental health issues for anything. It is a part of me. If I can accept my good side I need to accept my bad side. There is no place for blaming in my life.

Do I feel like I could be more successful without my mental health issues?

No I would be less successful if I did not have the mental health issues.

Do I love myself?

I love myself and something I feel angry at myself but it’s all a learning process.

So I think you get the picture. It’s not a success story yet. It’s more like a mundane story.

Stay tuned for every Mondays when I surely upload blog posts. And have a great day dear amazing readers!