Within Us

 Is happiness perceived or felt? This is a question that has been daunting me for a while. The question becomes does one need to perform actions in order to perceive happiness in life? Is inaction the answer to perceive happiness as opposed to performing actions in life?

Everyone agrees that it is impossible for anyone not to perform actions as one is born to do actions in life. There is no purpose in resisting actions as it is equivalent of opposing dualism when the entire premises of creation is based on dualism. Without dualism, the world ceases to exist. We have to dance to the play of the Creator by performing actions and only thing we can do better is to perform actions that would help us to overcome the dualism. Similarly, everyone agrees that there is nothing wrong in seeking happiness as it is the purpose of life. When doing actions becomes a must and seeking happiness becomes essential, one is confused that performing actions is to perceive happiness. They are not interconnected.

When one is loved by the family, one gets emotional satisfaction, one obtains a job that meets the expectations, one gets intellectual satisfaction, one gets a social status, one gets psychological satisfaction and one begins to understand the strengths of the Self inside, one gets spiritual satisfaction. They all appear to be different according to several Western writers but in real terms, they all arise out of emotions of human beings. It is one’s own emotion that makes a person seek all these satisfaction. They still stem out of self-gratification aspect of one’s mind and one misconstrues them as the purpose of life.

The real Self-satisfaction comes only when one enjoys giving everything one possesses. It is difficult to get rid of emotions but it can be converted into Self-satisfying from self-gratifying. For that one should experience the emotions of giving. When one rules the country or a state, one should have the mind set of giving services to the humanity and even one who is interested in helping the people in need such as elders, children and poor, one should develop a mindset of giving selflessly. When someone demonstrates unconditional love to the fellow beings, the Self-satisfaction one derives is infinite.

 When one attempts to give love and possessions with pure heart, automatically the attitude of possessiveness and attachment disappears slowly from the mind. The difference is when one does self-gratifying action, the happiness is perceived from outside and when one perform selfless actions for the benefit of others, the Self-satisfaction is felt inside and it stays permanently.

It is important to feed the senses to the extent needed as it is difficult to starve the senses completely. The survival of the senses is essential for someone to perform actions.  One has to realize that happiness perceived by the senses are unreal whereas what is felt by the Self is real.

There is a subtle difference between appreciation of the art as opposed to creating one. Deriving self-gratification or seeking happiness from outside is like appreciation of the art that stays with us only for a while whereas Self-satisfaction is like creating it ourselves and it stays with us forever. The one who approaches the life with an attitude of gratitude such as appreciating the nature, seeing the good in everyone and doing actions for the common good, feels it inside. Most importantly, this attitude helps one to get rid of desires and develop detachment.

Recognizing the oneness of all is true happiness and it can be felt only inside of us.

Nandini Mithun 

Skin Color

 Last week i was out with my family and was casually checking out the earrings and there came a lady with a bottle in her hand, and she told ' ma'am you should use this lotion to look fair, and young.

I however smiled and refused the offer. Why should i look fair, why cant i look brown, tan, black, red or any other color??

Whats with being young always, well i am a mere mortal who is born and will age and die one day.

Colour discrimination has been a large part of society for far too long.  Embedded deep in our culture, it is not only disguised in our daily interactions but also etched into our subconscious. 

There is a huge demand for fairness products, these brands fill these gaps. It gives people the choice to make their skin look the way they want.

Yes, one shouldn’t be denied the right to their choice of skin colour. However, it is important to understand where the ‘need’ comes from? Is it rooted in the social belief ‘fair is beautiful?’

When a brand provides something that the consumer wants, desires, or needs, consumers emotionally connect with brands. This emotional bond makes people believe the narrative that a brand creates. Thus, it is important for brands to be responsible about the message it propagates. 

This gives rise to another very important question, as a society should we only rely on a brand to change or influence our perspective? What about social reforms? Bias towards skin complexion starts at home, school and later society.

What do Indian beauty cream ads portray?

For men: having difficulty finding girls? get fair and you will get girls. 

For women: having difficulty With respect to man/career/writing/commentary/radio /cooking/ Kids/ and lets dig at every other insecurity you face—> get fair and you will succeed. 

Always remember: a person who judges you by your appearance, their whole education and so called modernity is a waste. An educated and moreover a good person would never judge anyone on the basis of external cues. The problem is with THEM and not your colour. 

Your skin color doesn't represent your success. 

Nandini Mithun 

Race

 There is an ongoing race in our overpopulated day of innumerable commitments. The question plaguing us is what is the future going to be like? Aren’t we in such a hurry to find out from astrologers, soothsayers et all and sundry. Why? Especially when we are depending on the viewpoint of another human being? Does an astrologer have perfect knowledge and can enable us to act in certain ways to resolve our problems and influence our world?

Nowadays, one finds healers, astrologers, hypnotherapists, card readers, crystal therapy experts and what not at every nook and cranny. Is it stress that makes people seek these alternative therapies which may or may not work? Or do these have a placebo effect only? Sometimes they are like counsellors who give a patient hearing with a few inputs here and there. Is it really possible to resolve deep-seated karmic patterns with superficial, external help?

A quick fix is what we want, more like an instant 2 minute noodles, hmm these days it is instant vaccination. 

The beauty of the world is lost in front of the pressures mounting up. Instead of going beyond the immediate gratification of all five senses, we are simply looking for validation from our partners, children, bosses and from the world all around

If we are weak and unstable emotionally, we do become victim to the negative forces and can complicate our situations from bad to worse. On the other hand, if we have the strength to look in the mirror, accept the problems and start solving them one by one, it is surely possible to fit the pieces of the puzzle into a beautiful picture of a joyous, value creating life.

If we can inculcate the spirit of contribution by way of our thoughts, words and action, we can live a life of divine radiance. Then, the universe takes on a different hue and speaks to us in myriad ways. Radiance in the world we find as in ourselves. It is really our choice to pay heed to the inner voice or remain lost in the endless race for contrived glitter. Choose Well!

There exist unknown planes which we hear about during various meditative practices. And we wonder do they really exist? Do we have eyes that can see beyond the immediate? 

Is there more to what we see. 

Nandini Mithun