An Alchemist's Blog

The Age of The Flash Mob

Even as i write the title of this post, I am smiling. What joy to be alive in the age of the flash mob!

I recall the term 'flash floods' growing up and though i never experienced one, they sounded like an emergency  - life threatening and to be avoided at all costs. I recall signs like, 'Do not linger on this bridge - flash floods could occur at short notice.' and the like. I always wondered how quickly a body of water could gather so much momentum, that without warning a person could be swept away, compromising everything, including his life. It seemed bizzare, but i never wanted to put the signs and warnings to test. 

Then i saw the flash mob - and i understood.

I have never watched one live, but i have watched them alive. And they are something i dont mind being swept up by - and i do understand the speed of the swirling motions and emotions that it is possible to get caught up in. Searches on Youtube will throw up dozens of flashmobs all of a sudden. They seem to be the youth 'movement' of this day. And they are wonderful! They are a beautiful expression of our youth, their confidence, their grace, their love, pizzazz and passions. The songs may be well-known and popular - but the movements are all their own. Most flash mobs are choreographed with simplicity for the masses. They replace with impunity the complicated steps of Bollywood - aping those are so passe. I can imagine a spurt, not of Bollywood dance classes, but instead, Flash-mob Dance Classes. 'Mummy Mummy, I want to learn the steps of the Flash-mob on Senorita in Park Street, Kolkatta!' 'Yes darling, I will find out where they have a class for that.' Because whatever is popular sells - and the flash-mobs are definitely being watched and emulated - be it in our chairs or our drawing rooms, as we watch and enjoy them second hand. 

And the next time you watch a flash mob, just look at the faces. There is such joy and abandon and revelry in the actions. It is ultimate freedom. The pepper on the top comes from the cheekiness of doing something in a public place that stops traffic, turns heads and sets cameras whirring. Yes, it is over-age, under the radar, above board, below the noses of the authorities, dead centre, and on the right side of society.

Nowadays the flashmobs that are on Youtube come with full credits - that scroll over the screen at the end of the performance. Read the names - Kalra, Goyal, Khanna, Gupta, Dhanuka, Mishra, Kar, Agarwal, Jaiswal, Modi, Singh, Patel, Patherya, Gomes, Jain, Khan...and be amazed. The street is the equalizer and the flash mob the catalyst. Flash Dance India! Your volume's turned way up!

This was done during the Celebration Week on Park Street, Kolkata, India...turn up the volume http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZiD9LfXOx20 The song is from zindagi na milegi dobara – one of the hit movies of 2011

 

Ahimsa

Long before Ahimsa became a 'weapon' in the hands of Gandhiji with which he 'fought' our freedom struggle, Ahimsa was a part of Indian philosophical thought. Though now, if you think ahimsa, you think of Mahatma Gandhi, it may be appropriate to go back a few centuries to the Yoga Sutras written by Patanjali. He wrote of Ahimsa as a restraint principle to be observed - a Yama, making it a part of the first rung of the ladder called Ashtanga Yoga or the 8 step path to achieve the Ultimate. What is Ahimsa and why is it a restraint? Logically, we should practice ahimsa or non-violence, not be restrained about observing it. However, he does not refer to ahimsa in the logical sense. He has a more indirect way of teaching us about ahimsa. He really means us to restrain ourselves in everyway - be it our actions, speech and even our thoughts. By restraining the himsa (or violence), he wants us to reach a state of ahimsa. He knew that our thoughts are our bigger enemy - not just what we say and do. It is negative thoughts that send us in a spiral of non-restraint. Hence he wanted us to restrain our thoughts first and then everything else will follow. For Patanjali, even an uncharitable or negative thought amounts to violence. For you have violated another person or thing in your mind! And these thoughts are powerful as we all know. They fuel us and push us to do things we did not think us capable of. They make us do positive as well as negative things. So control them, Patanjali says! Be non-violent or restrained in your thoughts, not just your words, deeds and actions. If a man donates money to charity, but in his mind is thinking of embezzling his employer, or his state or his country, he is indulging in himsa. He is a himsak. Only if he truly restrains his every thought - making them pure and positive, he can be said to observe this first part of the first step towards realization of himself. 

Try it. Vow to restrain your unconscious negative thoughts and be a true ahimsakari. 

Random

Starting a blog post that is more like random jottings. Lets hope they are worthwhile..

I never hang up first when i speak to my mother. There may be something more that she wants to say...

 

I overheard a mother tell her young impressionable 4 year old that her 'hair would fall out if she told a lie'. I thought that was pretty silly, considering the mother was telling a lie. And what would the child think of her mother once she realized how crazy that statement was?

 

I realized how innocent my maid was when she commented the other day, 'Madam, i have heard that Chinese people eat Chinese food everyday'. This was while i was cooking a Chinese meal for dinner one evening. I said, 'Well, yes. Just as we eat Indian food almost everyday, they eat Chinese food everyday'. What was she thinking? That everyone in the world eats Indian food everyday??

 

I realize its difficult to write without emoticons once you start using emoticons (my fingers are itching to hit the 'tongue out' symbol right now).

 

I thought of adding to this post, but instead have decided to begin a new post...

 

A day spent with a Friend...Priceless

With due apologies to Visa for borrowing their 'priceless' concept, i begin my post.

Oct 15 is my dear friend's birthday - Deepa Soman to those of you who may know her. For years now, Deepa has asked for only one thing of me, that too for her birthday, that we spend a day together, chatting, laughing, reminiscing, doing whatever we please. This tradition we have now wholeheartedly observed for the last 4 years. Since it was that time of year again, after much calendar-matching etcetera that day was today. By way of an agenda we thought of visiting Ganapathi in Mahad, one of the 8 Ashtavinayaks closest to Mumbai. Deepa is an avid Ashtavinayak goer and it was with her and Milind's facilitation that i had done the pilgrimage earlier this year. This seemed like a perfect start to the day - to meet our favourite Lord and seek His blessings. I was on a spiritual / religious discovery, as it were, of this city we live in - Mumbai and this was exactly what i would love to do, especially with Deepa. There wasn't much else planned thereafter and a languid lunch in humid Lonavala over a couple of margheritas was as far as my thoughts had drifted. Not entirely inconceivable, as we had done this in the past ;-).

In reality, the day took a completely different turn. But i should have expected that! Nothing wonderful is ever planned - it just happens with inspiration from an unexplained source. First we worshipped in a full and moving manner at the temple in Mahad. We were going on the Tuesday, Vinayaka's auspicious day and Deepa confessed that in all the years she had been there, she had never ventured on a Tuesday, suspecting large crowds and whatnot. We were pleasantly surprised with an almost empty temple that thronged with energy and vitality at that early hour. This was just the first of many surprises. We shopped in the little temple street for prasad, bangles, idols, cassettes and all manner of small and amazing things. The shopkeepers were old bent women who spoke only Marathi, welcoming us as their first customers of the day. They exclaimed over the 'new' Rs. 2 coins i paid them with. Smaller, lighter, shinier and entirely fake looking, they rejected it first - pushing it back into my palm. Until one of their own confirmed it was indeed the 'new' coin and therefore valid currency. A crying baby with a scraped knee attracted our attention. Her face covered in white powder - obviously the end of her toilet for the day - was streaked with tears of anguish, but mostly anger at having taken a small toss. We commiserated and she was immediately mollified. We left her waving and grinning all over her tear-stained face. 

Where to now? This time our stomachs provided the inspiration. Ramakant's restaurant, famous on the old Mumbai-Pune highway, but now long negelcted due to the new expressway that by-passes it, came up as an option for lunch. It was immediately appealing as it would feed our nostalgia as much as our hunger. But we were so busy talking, we took a wrong turn and were soon heading in the wrong direction. However never challenge two women who have their hearts and stomachs set on something. We u-turned and were soon on our way there. Half an hour later we were there, much to our driver's amusement. 'You came all the way here, for vada pav,' he asked. 'It's priceless,' we told him.

After pet-puja we headed back towards home. On the way Deepa had a gift for me. A visit to the St. Jude's Home on the Tata Memorial Centre grounds in Kharghar. It is a facility where kids with cancer live with their parents while they are receiving treatment. Now think of such a place and what do you imagine? I will tell you what i did. Sadness, children suffering alongside their parents, small, dark and dingy rooms, maybe squalor, unkempt surroundings (after all who would bother with niceties when all your energy was being drained by your child's illness), cramped, overcrowded living conditions, the smell of medicines, fear and despair, and even surly staff alltogether spent doing their jobs. I gulped with trepidation. Was i strong enough for this? Deepa realized and tried to soothe my fears. But it was not until i got there that i truly realized what she meant. 

St. Judes was bright and cheerful as a play school. Colourful walls, tiles, play equipment and smiles. That's all i saw as i walked in. At every step Deepa was greeted like a celebrity she indeed was here. She had had a few interactions and obviously had won their hearts over as much as they had hers and were about to win over mine. The living was on the floors above the recreation and reception area. Each floor is a until of 16 dwellings. They was in fact cubicles with single beds, almirahs, a few shelves and a soft board each. Each one was as neat and clean and as freshly-minted as if it was pressed into service today. The floors were gleaming tiles that shone. The kitchen was spotless. The children walked around - comfortable and clearly 'at home.' The only thing that made it clear they were cancer patients was that most of them had lost all their hair, but this common denominator made then in fact un-inhibited and matter of fact. They greeted us with smiles and tugs. As the parents smiled and said 'namaste.' Deepa seemed to know most of them as she had interviewed several a few weeks ago. On all the 3 floors the story was repeated. An admin-incharge was present on each floor. I saw no desk, no paper - just a pleasing, comforting presence 24X7 from a dedicated staff member and care-giver. She quietly supervised the cleanliness and observation of the rules without being authoritative. The residents seemed eager enough to comply. This was their 'temple' they said. Their refuge. Their place of hope and happiness, even if for a few months. For some it could be the last few mnoths in the life of their child, but such sentiments were never in evidence. Instead I felt a deep sense of gratitude pulsing through the place. 

After such a visit what was there left to do? Nothing much - i had received more than i could ever imagine. I had received grace by observing how the children and their families were dealing with their lot. It was a beautiful if humbling experience. 

We traveled back to Deepa's office where i was further rewarded with a team meeting with her beautiful and talented gang of girls. They are simply the best people to be around - gentle, smart, hardworking, vibrant, positive and multi-faceted - many of them aspiring to be cast in Deepa's mould. We had some amazing exchanges over dry-fruit lassi - a most innovative drink-cum-snack. My day was done. But not until i had put it down so i could record how wonderful it had been and how extremely rewarded and rich my friend makes me feel. 

Har ek friend zaroori hota hai yaar ;-) (now with apologies to Airtel for borrowing their great line!)

Detachment vs. Karma

This is beautiful. I wrote the post on detachment vs. indifference and while i was writing it, i was thinking, but i must focus on action vs. non-action also. And i thought i would do so in the next post. And i got a beautiful reminder through a comment that this indeed needs discussion. Thank you!

There is a difference between detachment and not doing anything. We need to perform deeds in our lifetime - it is the very purpose for which we are born. This is commonly called our karma which in Hindi means simply 'karm' or deeds. We are the only living beings capable of performing actions in a mindful manner. Animals can perform actions (plants cannot) but animals rely only on instinct. Humans instead have instinct, intuition and intellect with which to perform actions. Hence action is an important and expected part of our lives. Action in turn should be determined by dharma or duty. I must perform those actions which are my duty. Duties are towards myself, my family, near and dear ones, work, society, nation and world at large. Hence karma follows from dharma and detachment flows from karma. These are the holy trinity on earth as far as we humans are concerned. Dharma, Karma and Detachment are our guiding principles. 

Once we have done our duty through our deeds, we can move to detachment. But never before! A simplistic example will help clarify. Should i be writing this blog? Yes! Because i deeply feel the need to and it is my karma. Should i be expecting followers and positive comments? No! That is detachment. But detachment could not come before karma or before i wrote the post! Then it would be simple laziness or indifference or tamas in my mind and body. That is not desirable in a human - because humans were born to act and perform duty. So in the end it is a beautiful circular argument. Like all things in life that are circular, the question becomes the answer and the answer the question and so on...! 

Its free

Its true, the best things in life are free. And let us begin with the thing that is most abundantly available and it is free - truly. This vital resource is the air. It sounds obvious and very basic but it is not something we usually focus on. We ignore the fact that we are surrounded by air all the time, yet we do not partake of its wealth. Air is within us as well - at a physical level for sure, but at a physiological level mixed in our blood and tissues. It is also there at the spiritual level - as in the 'space' within us. This inner space that we often hear referred to is nothing but air inside our minds. Some may argue this inner space is a vacuum with nothing inside it, but equally, i feel, in my experience, it is not as dead and inanimate as a vacuum which is in effect a lack of anything. Inner space is air for it is vital and life-giving. It nurtures our inner self just like the air outside nurtures our body. Therefore by deduction it is pure and energized air that we hold inside our spirit bodies.

But there is a difference - the air we breathe in through our nostrils changes subtly as it enters our body and then finally fills our inner spaces. The air becomes prana. This is the greatest alchemy taking place within us, everyday, every minute and second from the moment we are born until the moment we bid goodbye to our earthly frames. We are born alchemists! We did not need a master to learn this science from, we were born with this amazing capability. To make air into prana is the greatest alchemy of all time. For air is to prana as iron is to gold in the field of alchemy. We are literally breathing in something ordinary and making it into something super-extra-ordinary. This is no simple achievement! How do we do it?

We take in simple air - a mix of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and other gases. Some of these are harmful, no doubt, as there are pollutants mixed in the air. But let us leave that information aside for the moment, just to simplify. The air goes in through our nostrils. The first contact is with the inner lining of the nose. It starts to warm up or cool down as the case may be as it travels inwards and thus the alchemy begins! Next it travels through the wind pipe into the lungs. These large sacs are made to hold air. This is the final worktable in our body where the alchemy is completed. The larger the working surface, the more is achieved. Hence the objective is to expand the capacity of the lungs as much as possible. Indeed to expand the lungs themselves. Hence the result of all pranayama is to increase the size of the lungs and the capacity automatically increases. We do this by basically stretching the muscles covering the lungs. By breathing deeply in and out in a regulated manner the muscles first stretch then expand. The larger lungs can absorb more air through larger surface area. The life giving oxygen is absorbed in larger quantities and flushes, cleans, energizes, repairs, restores our health and physical well-being. This is a most wonderful phenomenon that occurs at every moment, in fact as you read this! Along with food and water, air is the only thing we need to keep our bodies functioning well. 

How the simple oxygen gets elevated to prana is another matter altogether. This happens in our mind or our consciousness. Our consciousness makes us view the simple act of breathing differently. Hence when done consciously (with awareness of what we are doing) the air becomes a positive force. It is mixed with positive thoughts, calmness, equanimity and a deep desire to change ourselves. This desire exists all the time within us, but we only focus on it when we are conscious of it. The desire to move ourselves forward brings prana into our being rather than mere air or oxygen. The prana then becomes the fuel of forward movement. A small step is achieved everytime we sit and breathe consciously, though we will not be aware or it. And every small step will eventually add up, that also is assured. 

So can you imagine what will happen if we breathe conscious prana into our bodies all the time? We will start to race forward! We will move at a great speed and with huge force. We will open and energise a small bit of our mind every moment and eventually a large conscious living breathing, aware mind will become available to us. We will literally breathe life into a sleeping mind one conscious breath at a time. There are not many people who do this, or we would all be racing forward on our paths and our journeys to achieve the ultimate goal. 

The message for us is nothing else except to breathe consciously. It needs little skill, even a minute old baby does it! So does an old man on his death bed! So why not you and me. Breathe and become the alchemist of your own life. 

Detachment vs. Indifference

Detachment is something worth striving for in life on this earth. It is detachment that will give us happiness in the moment. When we are not attached to our memories and possessions we become free to live unencumbered in the now. Many of us strive to be detached but in effect it is not so. We may be detached in words and even actions, but in our minds we are still attached, still hankering. We wait for our opinion to be asked, even if we do not volunteer it anymore. However in wanting to be heard we are still attached to the act of opining. Sometimes we may think we deserve something due to our position or station or status in life. We may not openly ask for that but we feel we deserve it anyway. Respect cannot be asked for or desired in the world. This is also being attached to the respect that we feel is our right. Is this truly detached?

Detached is the one who acts in the best interest of himself and others and then think no further of his words, actions or deeds. If they are accepted by others as wise and useful, it is fine with him. If they are shunned either due to misinterpretation or any other reason, then also it is fine. If people are indifferent, this also is accepted by the detached person. This is because he got so much satisfaction from the act of doing something that he does not desire any results in the future. His actions begin and end in the present moment and they cease to bother him in the future. He keeps no count of how many people liked what he said or did, followed his advice or recalled his actions. Detachment necessarily needs another companion - that is compassion. Only when there is compassion a detached person can forgive those who may wrong him. For example a person give some genuine heartfelt advice to another. The receiver rejects the words of advice outright. The giver of advice, if he is truly detached will not mind this. He will feel i have done my duty by giving the advice, now it is okay if it is not followed. However in addition he will also forgive the person who rejected his words. He will feel, he is ignorant, forgive him and may God give him wisdom to see what he is missing right now. He will actually pray for the salvation of such a person. 

Does this sound familiar? Is it coming down to the same principle? Yes! Detachment is really absence of ego. For when there is no ego there is no expectation of reward. The doer does and that is all. When there is ego, there is either anger or indifference. If someone does not follow our advice, we feel a sense of rejection followed by indifference or 'i don't care attitude'. Actually we care deeply. The indifference is just a mask the hurt ego wears. Inside it is smarting and waiting to be pampered. Indifference will never help a person achieve detachment. For a detached person will never stop doing. He will do because doing gives him joy, not the results of the deed. An indifferent person on the other hand will become bitter and upset. 

Once again the way forward lies in meditating, which will finally tame the ego. All the added benefits of love, compassion and humility will also flow in addition to detachment!

This Too Shall Pass (the TTSP principle)

The most empowering thought is that nothing is permanent and that everything passes. The world is constantly changing and moving forward. We are not the same person we were in the last minute or second. One thing is for sure, things will move in this world as we know it. 

We all recall the story of the King who asks his courtiers to bring him a single gift that had the power to make him happy when he was sad and sad when he was happy. The courtiers looked far and wide but could find no such thing. Finally an old man brought the King a ring with the simple words inscribed on them: 'This too shall pass.' This was the answer to the conundrum. When we are happy it is wise to remember that it is temporary and it will pass. Equally when we are sad we should think that we may soon be feeling differently or better. 

The only change i would make in the king's story is that i would say we need to come back to the centre from happiness and from sadness and not swing from happy to sad and so on. Being in the centre - at a point of equanimity and perpetual rest is the goal. 

Since it was the Buddha's birthday this week, it is worth recalling that he stood for the middle path. Amongst other things, he preached an abstinence from too much happiness and too much sorrow. We should always keep balance or perspective in the face of extremes. This is a learned or wise man's stance!

Angrrrrrr!

Today I dwell on the subject of anger! It draws an immediate response, a firm resonance, because of the simple fact that we all feel angry. The heat of May is friend to this emotion, too, overheating our heads and bodies and causing us to fall prey to bouts of sometimes unexplained anger, even rage! 

The first thing to realize is that this is but natural. EVERYONE feels anger in some way or form. Some may be good at hiding it, but they are suppressing it then. Anger however needs to be sublimated, not suppressed. Even Dalai Lama feels anger and he is Buddha! So ordinary folks are definitely subjected to this strong emotion. 

Once it is established that everyone feels anger and suffers, though not in equal measure, we can actually start to tackle the real issue at hand - which is anger itself. This is because now we would hopefully stop beating ourselves for being anger. 'I'm angry? No problem!' I hope, one day, to reach that state of acceptance! Let us call it the short term goal (each should feel free to define their own goals). Each time we feel able to accept that we are angry, we should consider it a step in the right direction. If we have not been able to accept that we are angry, we should just consider that we stumbled and fell and need to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves and start walking again. Never beat ourselves over a tiny stumble!

If we have accepted we are angry, it is still a far cry from resolving our anger. Remember it was the first step. However our objective is never to zoom in on a solution, but to enjoy the ride. If we accept and realize we are angry about something, two important things happen. Firstly, we are still angry. Accept that. We will still be boiling and seething about the subject or object of our anger. But there is a little tiny difference. Instead of the gas being on full flame, someone turned the button to 'simmer'.  So instead of boiling, now we are simply simmering. Enjoy and experience this sensation of simmering, too. Secondly, we created another person in the equation. Other than you and the subject or object of your anger, there is now a little observer. You watch yourself simmer. You have successfully been able to watch and accept yourself get anger and stay angry. This is the next goal or station. 

With the successful creation of the observer comes a moment or a gap when your reaction gets subtly altered. This is the all important change. Instead of a quick and fiery reaction, you have a split second to think before words or actions of anger are delivered or performed. The entire sequence of being struck by anger, accepting it, creating an observer, giving yourself a brief moment to consider your reaction and reacting takes place in a fraction of a second. Your mind has the capacity to do all this very quickly. 

The whole science of yoga, meditation and several other sciences and philosophies is to help create awareness (the observer) and to increase the gap between action and reaction sufficiently so that the reaction loses the power and grip over us. It is well known, a tornado loses its intensity over time - even nature is our teacher in this instance! When you have no control over nature, you just wait for it to pass. Do you question nature and ask but why did the tornado strike? No. You simply accept. And then you watch and observe as the strike reduces in strength and finally dissolves altogether. 

Final goal: Managing the strike: This is key to success in reducing the punch of anger on all concerned. First start with ourselves. Remember, the anger is in us, we are not in the anger. Anger and us are two separate entities. The divorce results in us feeling less responsible and therefore less affected. The anger will pass, we will remain (along with the people we are angry with!). Next we need to dissipate the anger as best as we can. There are several ways people use. One is shouting out loud. For example, if you are alone, just scream into a pillow or out of the window (if you don't have too many neighbours!) and the worst would have passed! With the huge release of negative energy that the scream involves, the 'bite' of the anger is dulled. If faced with an angry situation when you cannot scream out loud, try turning your thoughts inwards - to your breathing and start focussing on your heartbeats. You will immediately feel calmer. Or bring a positive image into your mind - a baby's face, wind flowing through the woods, a snowy mountain top shining in the morning light. Anything that distracts or is a discontinuous thought will do. You have to literally snatch your mind from dwelling on the angry situation and bring it to bear on more pleasant things. And it is entirely possible. However only you know best what restores you. So rather than look at lists of what to do when you are angry and be skeptical about them, start exploring yourself and facing your own issues. Once rationality is restored (and only you can restore your own rationality), go back to the anger, it's cause. But the effects have been taken care of already so your reaction is not really a reaction it is a new and deliberate action that you have rationalized and thought about! 

The more evolved we are the larger the gap between anger and reaction. There is a famous story of two monks who sat meditating on the bank of a river. After twenty years the one monk starts beating the other. The beaten monk is indignant and ask what was his crime. The other monk replies, 'When we began our meditation i was angry with you because you chose the better spot for meditation - the more comfortable spot.' 'But why are you beating me after twenty years?' asked the perplexed monk. 'I was not willing to break my meditation over you, i would have suffered the most if i had. So i just decided to wait!' 'But then why are you smiling,' asked the other monk, still taken aback. 'Because i am not angry with you anymore, its just that you deserve to be beaten up!' replied the monk. This story illustrates how, if we work on ourselves, we can have the right action, not just a reaction! 

On the techniques of dissolving anger, there is a lot to learn and practice. The roaring lion pose or simhasana of yoga helps to expel large amounts of unwanted, sometimes even unexpressed heat and anger. Certain pranayama heat up the body first to remove heat and disturbances even before they manifest themselves as anger and other negative emotions. In a sense it is heating up to cool down. We all follow our own techniques based on our beliefs and teaching. The important thing is to understand anger in order to overcome it. Keep smiling!

P.S. Confession - I wrote this story as a result of anger! I felt it so strongly that all I could do was express it in words. So another tip would be to turn to your passion when you are angry (writing, in my case) and the anger will retreat. It cannot stand in the face of a strong drive or passion. Or rather it is turning the negative energy of anger into the positive energy of creativity (both are energies after all!)

Parallel Universes

We are knowingly or unknowingly creating parallel universes all the time. (I highly recommend a recent movie on this concept called 'The Source Code'. It is an amazing dramatization of this idea of parallel universes).These universes spring from our thoughts and we have hundreds and thousands of them everyday. Each thought creates its own universe. From a single thought we begin to create a reality that imprints itself on our consciuosness and whether we realize it or not, we begin to believe in that reality or those universes. This is what Maya or duality is. It is something that does not exist. But the fake universes are so convincing that if someone told you they do not exist, you would never believe it. 

What is also interesting is that each of us have our own universes. So can you imagine the millions and billions of universes that exist with each of us carrying our 'set' like golf clubs in our heads! And we hit ourselves with these clubs everyday. One look in the mirror and we think how fat or ugly we are. This starts off a parallel universe without our realizing where we are unattractive and unwanted and we withdraw and hide away because that it the reality we created in that particular universe. Similary there will be other universes where we feel pain or rejection or anger or jealousy or some other strong emotion. Yes, there will be positive universes too, but they will always be fewer, because we think positively less often than we do negatively. 

It is also true that these universes are temporary. They begin with the thought but lose steam or power as the thought weakens. Only consistent thoughts create permanent (or semi-permanent) universes and if these are negative they become diseases of the mind - or psychological illnesses. These are obviously toxic conditions that affect the person adversely and over a period of time can be very destructive. But even temporary negative universes create an overall negative effect on us. Can you imagine always living in a room full of disease, toxic vapours and fumes, poor light and ventilation? That is, in effect, what we are doing, choking ourselves on our negative thinking in dark universes. What of the divinity within? How can it surface, when the conditions outside remain unfavourable all the time? It sits inside, suffocating in wait.

What is to be done? The thoughts that are the birthplace of parallel universes are to be reduced. If we can have a positive thought every now and then, it will help. Staying in the present helps because before the thought has a chance to become a universe, another thought comes in it's place and the universe is destroyed before it is born. Meditation is the way to remain in the present and to increase the gap between thoughts so the proliferation of universes in our heads does not take place. Breathing helps us to keep these mushrooming thoughts and universes under control as well. As i said before, to each his own way of thought control - many techniques are there and we need to experiment with what helps us individually. However one thing to know in common is that thoughts ballooning into universes of depression are not healthy for us. Let us just begin with this awareness and contemplate on it. Next time a thought gives birth to a universe in your head - just watch it. Or write it down. Follow the chain of thoughts that ultimately leads to the creation of a whole universe in your head. It will be the first step in arresting the demon.