Off late most of the articles I have come across have a
heading like, “10 ways to achieve….”, “45 tips for…..”, “33 sure methods of……” etc etc etc.
I think it started with round figure numbers like 10, 20, 50
etc. But over time the authors felt, they need to write something different to
be able to attract reader’s attention. Hence they resorted to odd sounding
numbers like 42, 33, 27 etc. So now every other article you pick up provides
‘x’ number of tips or ways or approaches to meet your desired goal. Some
writers get over-enthused by the idea, and end up listing 100 or more points.
But honestly I have never been able to read after the first few. Sometimes I
wonder, if people actually manage to think of or find so many points. Or if they
resort to their paraphrasing skills to make it look like a big picture. I am
not sure.
Coming back to ‘yours
truly’, I couldn’t prevent this new fashion trend from impacting me. And just
as a fashion freak starts getting restless till the time the new trendy clothes
enter her wardrobe, I had to have a blog starting with ‘x’ ways of blah blah
blah. And with this intention I started scouting for interesting lists or
topics to generate lists on, till I stumbled upon this……again managed to dig
out something from archives.
Warning: this is not statutory, but more of obligatory
warning. Those who have known me long, and are still reading this piece, you
may say, hay this is old stuff. I have heard this from you earlier too. But
buddy, please remember, mantras don’t change. Take Gayatri Mantra for example.
It has remained the same from last hundreds and thousand years. And normally
you wouldn’t look forward to hear a new Gayatri Mantra, every time you open
some meditational television channel. On the contrary, you may try to recite
the same thing again and again, multiple times a day, and multiple days in a
year. One may try doing its rapperization, “Yo bhur bhuva swaha”, but that
won’t be Gayatri Mantra anymore. Similarly these mantras of life can’t be
adapted. They can only be adopted.
Mantra 1 –
Solitude: the pleasant absence of
scrutinizing looks – the mantra to discover your true self.
You must have heard, read, seen or done all above, about Cinderella, and her
fairy godmother. However, if the fairy godmother was actually so magical and
powerful, why did she meet Cinderella when the latter was alone? Instead, she
could have forced the step-mother to allow Cinderella to attend the royal ball.
And could have also punished her for her misbehavior with the poor orphan girl,
giving the story a simple and plain ending. But I guess that wouldn’t serve the
purpose. Fairy godmother is just a representation of Cinderella’s internal
strength, and her realization of her inherent princess like virtues.
Mantra 2 –
Worst wars are wars within – the
mantra to be what you want to be. One of the oldest example of internal
conflict was that faced by Arjun, right before the start of the war of
Mahabharat. And such was the magnitude and relevance of these conflicts for
human race, that Krishna, his mentor, had to write (or historically speaking
recite) entire Bhagwad Geeta for Arjun to come out of that conflict, and face
his true calling.
Mantra 3 –
When you do it consciously, you do it
consistently – the mantra to reach where you want to be – I am sure all of us
have heard the age old fable of hare and tortoise. But have you wondered why
did the tortoise enter the race in the first place? More likely than not, he
must have been aware of his weakness. And I feel that this was his biggest
strength. He was conscious of his weakness, his objective & his need to
reach the finishing line. And this consciousness acted like an internal
inspiration, driving him to move consistently towards the finishing line.
Mantra 4 –
Life gives us very few reasons to be
happy, it’s better to find excuses – the mantra to live this life, wherever you
are, whoever you are – recently a friend initiated a campaign on one of
her social media account, named @100HappyDays. Here everyday, for 100 days, she
posted one good thing she saw, did or experienced. And at the end of the 100th
day, she reported these last few days as the happiest time of her life, as she
was forced to find good even from a mundane day. And on days that she couldn’t
find anything, she was forced to move out of her shell, and find something
good.
And I am sure you will ask me, so what happened to the rest of
the mantras. These are only 4. But you promised 365.
Yes I did. But again I have a different take here. I suggest
a 365 day repetition of these mantras. That’s what I try to do. And that’s
quite sufficient for me – to know myself, to know what I want to be, to
consistently strive to work towards it and then to be satisfied with whatever I
can reach. For me that’s quite a handful.
Its not that I have managed to master these mantras. But
then neither have I achieved nirvana………..
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