Gudiya Ki Duniya

India has always been a land of deep spirituality. For centuries, we have built a remarkable culture of coexistence—where multiple religions, philosophies, and ways of life not only live side by side but enrich one another. This beautiful country gives every individual the freedom to worship in their own way. Here, divinity is seen in all forms: in animals, trees, rivers, stones. Name any form, and you will likely find a deity in India represented through it. Religion forms an importance part of this country's evolution and history. At its core, Religion is meant to elevate us - from weakness to strength, from doubt to faith, from hatred to love, from bondage to freedom. Since retreating to Himalayas to realize God is not everyone's cup of tea, practical daily rituals emerged over the years to make it easier for ordinary human beings to realize the ever present immortal Supreme. For example, Morning prayers help center the mind and give a positive start to the day. Offering gra...

It feels like ages since I wrote though I didn't miss much. Since the time I started writing blogs, it's been clear to me that I will not be writing for the sake of it. I will not write under pressure to create or be around in people's memories. I will write only when I want to write and when I have something to share.    It is perfectly fine if some of you have forgotten me 😀. As I grow old, I am realizing that I care less and less about people's views and opinions of me. Having said that, it doesn't mean that I don't feel hurt. I do. But I guess the maturity is to make ourselves aware of the hurt and then realize that the hurt is only an illusion of mind.  Which brings me to the topic of today's blog - " Mind ".  We have been told that we have a monkey mind (which is not entirely false). However, words matter. 'Monkey' is a negative adjective to describe minds. This needs to change.  Our minds are actually a powerhouse of thoughts. Among...

Have you ever asked this question to yourself? If you have, congratulations! You are on the path to some very interesting discoveries. However, if you have never bothered about this question and now this blog has created a teeny-tiny curiosity in you, then I will try to help you with some answers.  What is the purpose of life? Why are we here? What are we meant for?  I have pondered over these questions numerous times in my own life and in the process of finding answers, I became a seeker. I read a number of books, scriptures and also discussed this at length with some very learned souls around me. I seem to have finally found the answer. But I do want to specify that this is my conclusion and may not necessarily be yours. I truly believe that knowledge of existence comes to us when we are ready (both mentally and physically). Hence if this blog doesn't strike a chord with you then there could be two reasons - either I have not explained this with words as well enough as I hav...

I came across a very interesting story today. This is about Dr. Kim Ung-Yong, also known as a 'failed child prodigy'.  As a child, Dr Kim displayed extraordinary capabilities. He was solving complex calculus problems by the age of four and his IQ was an astonishing 210. He got a job in NASA as a researcher when he was all of eight years old. While in NASA, he was making some important contributions.  By all means, Dr Kim was being regarded as the next big name in the world of science. The science fraternity and many in South Korea (home country) were waiting curiously for a big bang discovery from this child genius. He worked in NASA for almost a decade, but then did something that shocked a lot of people.  He quit NASA and went back to Korea. He then enrolled himself in a local university to study civil engineering. Post completing his studies, he did a desk job with a corporation and a number of other such odd jobs. After a number of trials, he decided to beco...

Are you a dreamer? Do you dream and then dwell on the dreams? Do you remember your dreams? Dreams are as mysterious as the universe. Its surprisingly strange that humanity has not been able to dig deeper into this wealth of intellect. Our dreams are filled with mysteries of the mind that is yet unexplored. In fact, we don’t even know why dreams happen to us at all.  I have always been a dreamer. I am, sometimes, a lucid dreamer as well. In case you are wondering what a lucid dream is – it is a type of dream in which the dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming. I am most times able to remain aware during the dream which is both fascinating and scary.  However, this blog is not about my lucid dreaming. In this blog, I am going to share a very strange and a very rare phenomenon that I recently experienced. This incident shook me. It made me think that there is so much beyond our awareness that we just don’t know. So many questions that need answers... But first sharing the i...

Astrophysics has both baffled as well enlightened me. We all know that this universe is vast. In fact, vast may not be the right word as vast is measurable. This universe is infinite and ever expanding. We are part of the Milky way galaxy which is not the only one out there. There are countless galaxies like ours. Amazingly, we don't know yet the number of stars and planets in our own galaxy. We know a bit about Sun, our very own star. It is huge. Its diameter is 1.3 million kms and it can house hundreds of earths in its sphere! Thats mind boggling considering we find earth itself so huge. And then there are those millions of galaxies outside of earth and outside of our solar system. The question is what lies there and how far does it go? It is said that space is largely an empty dark matter. Except few incidents of stars collapsing or asteroids moving around when they lose gravitational force, there is not much daily action up there. Stars form and they can take billions of years ...

Minimalism.... I am sure you have heard this term. Nowadays, some people also call themselves a  Minimalist.  Let's explore this buzzword.  Simply speaking, Minimalism is  owning fewer things . Owning only the stuff that you  actually need.  The overarching idea is "Less is more". When I read about minimalism, I felt a sense of familiarity with this concept and the familiarity comes from my family. My mother has never been a hoarder. Since my childhood, I have been seeing her giving away stuff to people (both out of kindness as well as to de-clutter). I used to fight with my mother for giving away my clothes to people without my permission. The immature me did not realize that had she sought my permission, I would have never allowed to give away that shirt lying in the closet unused since past 3 years! Growing up, when I started living on my own, I realized that my mother's minimalism was not only environment friendly but also a necessity for me.  If y...

I started the year 2023 with a resolution that I will go back to doing what I love the most...... Reading . Since the start of the year, I have been on a Readathon . In the last six months, I have  devoured more than 12 books on various genres and I must say, the journey has been nothing but satisfying!  Not all books that I read were worth reading. Some were hits and some were a major miss. But I guess that's what I like about reading, the journey of discovering the hits and misses is more important to me than the end result.  But for you, my readers, I have curated a list of books that I personally found very enjoyable and would strongly recommend that you read them. Amazon links are also shared in case you decide to purchase: How do you Live? by  Genzaburō Yoshino : I wish I had read this book during my formative years. Nevertheless, it's never too late to read and appreciate the beauty and simplicity of this timeless Japanese classic. This book follows the s...

Let me start with a confession. I am a person who likes doing psycho analysis of people and forming an opinion on them based on my judgement. Most times, my judgement has not been wrong, barring the times when it has been wrong! 😁😁  On a serious note, it has been recently pointed out to me by a friend that I am a victim of adulthood. It has been noted about me that I tend to form an opinion pretty fast and stick to it for a very long time. I need to be more child-like and not overthink. I am not sure if you have felt the same way about yourself or about someone you know.  Well! Honestly, that came as a shock to me. In my head, I was always a perfect embodiment of mind and body😂. Seriously speaking, this was an eye opener for me. My friend gave me a few examples of how I have been too quick to make judgements recently. Also, the fact that I had too many 'nevers' in my life. Like, I would never want to be in a cold place, never want to drink that juice, never want to wear tha...

On June 3, 2023, I deleted my Instagram account. What a terrible waste of time...hard to believe that I wasted so many hours scrolling through that mindless s***.  As much as I want to, at the moment, I don't know what should be Instagram replaced with. I read, I write, I work out, I do almost everything that I embark upon. Then why did I delete the Gram? I guess I couldn't take it beyond a point. Like others, I am also putting up a face for the people to see. Only the side that they should see. How hypocritical. And also unfair on people.  But who are these people and why are they even important?  Its funny how we start attaching excessive value to humans and things that are least important in the real life. As Kendall Roy says in Succession "You have become too much of an online person. You have lost the context".  So yeah ...here it goes. Goodbye Instagram. And hello to the real world. However, this too is a bit hypocritical of me. I am saying hello to the real wo...

If you are someone looking to build a long term (fairly successful) career in corporate world, then this blog is for you. I have spent more than a decade in corporate life trying to build a career. Sadly, most of time was spent in correcting the past mistakes 😀. In the hope that you don't make the same mistakes, I am sharing below some of my learnings:  Passion is overrated: You may be very passionate about your job, career and even the company you work for. But the harsh reality of life is - you are just a number in their vast ocean. You would be replaced within a maximum of 90 days if you were dead today. So is it worth being passionate for your company? The answer is a Yes and a No. Let me explain. If you are passionate about your work, chances are very high that you would be exceeding expectations of the management and resultantly you can expect promotions, increments, etc. Here your passion plays a positive role in your success. Flip side is you are still a number and very re...

Since this blog post is essentially about time management, let me jump straight to the point without wasting any time 😃 Scrap To-do lists: Anybody who has been in the corporate life knows that the To-do lists are like endlessly busy conveyor belts. The more you clear, the more it builds up. Remember the popular example of King Sisyphus in Greek mythology. The King gets a punishment for life - he has to push a large boulder upwards only to see it rolling downwards again. To-do list is that big boulder. So please take my advice, tear it off or delete (if you work on a digital version). 

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।  मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥ You only have the right to action (karma) not the right to its fruits. Don't let the fruits be your motivation to perform action. Be attached to Karma, not to its fruits.  How could one perform action without expecting fruits. Let me try to explain why focusing on Karma (Actions) is the best strategy: Control is a delusion:  We are presented with numerous situations in life when we cannot control outcomes. Acts done with the best of intentions may also not lead to expected outcomes. You may go out of your way and lend financial help to a friend / relative only to realize later that you were being played. Does that mean you should not have been kind? No. Don't let the good Samaritan in you die but take the lesson from this and be smarter next time to not be played easily. In the end, we can't control the end result,  but we can control what we learn from the experiences.  You ge...

Most men are flummoxed with this question - What do women really want? Do women themselves know what they want?   To women, the question is strangely simple yet complicated. Let's attempt to instead understand what they DON'T want .... here are some pointers: Labels:  Don't get me wrong. Women love their fashion labels - they woundn't trade their Guccis and Diors for anything in the world☺. But the ones that the society generally put on their heads? Not so much. Bossy, bimbo, sanskaari , trophy wife, loud, bitch, gharelu , gold digger...the list can go on and on. Please understand that your woman can be a combination of all of this or none of this. She is probably too talented to be stuck with one label so please spare her the labels. Mansplaining: If you are talking to a woman and doing this, you are not only disrespecting her but also giving away an opportunity to learn a thing or two from her... which would be a pity isn't it? If you are wondering, what is manspl...

The term ' yogasana'  is traditionally referred to as a sitting posture during meditation sessions. However, in the modern yoga, this term more popularly signifies any type of body pose (sitting, reclining, twisting, etc.) during a yoga session. On this International Yoga Day, I want to share with you five simple yogasanas that you can incorporate in your daily exercise cum meditation routine. These are not only simple but also highly effective for overall mental and physical health. And if you are completely new to Yoga or any kind of exercise, these asanas will provide you the much-needed start to your fitness journey. Without further ado, let’s get started:  Anulom Vilom Pranayama (alternate nostril breathing):  Prana means “life or energy” and yama means “restraint/control”. Simply speaking, this exercise is all about breath control. In this asana, you breathe in from one nostril and breathe out from another. This beautiful asana will help you  d...