You don't need to be a monk to control your desire

While watching a movie over the weekend, this thought came to my mind and I felt it is so true. I saw a movie where the move showed how a monk finds it difficult to handle desire in spite of his best efforts. This made me think whether you need to be a monk to control your desires. We do it everyday, that's why we can live in this civilized world. Come to think about it, if we haven't been able to control our desires, this world would have been a jungle where the powerful overpowers the weak. It still happens, but then not to the extent one thinks if it was only on the power you have.

Human brain is a very adaptive and fast learning chip or microprocessor. It can differentiate between what is right and what isn't based on the education and upbringing we have been subject to. However, there are some qualities which we are born with and one of them is to care. Someone once said, there are always two dogs within yourself, a good dog and a bad dog. It depends on you which one you feed more. Your life, your nature, your existence gets shaped based on which dog is fed and which is starved. It's impossible for a normal human being to feed only the good and starve the bad, but we should try for it, try to make sure that the good one is always much much more fed than the bad one, else life would be tough for us.

Coming back to the monk, who is a monk? Some said he is who have denounced his desire for family, wealth and devoted himself to God and service of mankind. Do you really need to be a monk to do all this. Not at all, you can live the life of a monk without becoming one. A monk is one who feeds the good dog more and bad dog less. Just by following this principle you can be a monk, you can control your desire and you can be a better human being. Simple, isn't it..ya to say, but tough to do as most of us would put it.

However, if we aren't afraid to face ourselves in the mirror, if we aren't afraid about what people will feel like and just do the right thing, it would be tough, but not impossible to become a true monk even without denouncing anything at all. Just give more than you get, just offer more than you desire, just love more than you expect to be loved.

King of Good and Bad Times...

Always liked the tag line - King of Good Times associated with a beverage company as we grew up. However, thinking about it, altered it a little bit and made it of bad times too, that's what makes up a man. A man who is a king of good and bad times is a man by principle. It's perfect from the beverage guys when they encourage drinking during celebrations and not during funerals, but for a man to sustain and live in this world, he needs to be at his very best even during the tough times.

What makes it more tough is the fact that there are lot of hands around a man when he is in good times, so time is easier and happier to spend. However, when a man is in trouble, none but the shadows stay. Some even wait for the man to fall to take advantage of the same to meet their own self goals. Very few actually stand by and offer support to the man who once had supported them in need. People's memory is very short and they often forget when their world is all set, no one cares and life goes on.

Life is a like a journey into the sea, an adventure in the waters. One day, you will face the storm while some other day, you will hit upon treasure. A King of Good Times enjoys the treasure and a King of Bad times fights the odds, be it threat from nature or other fellow mates. In real terms, a king doesn't have much to loose, because whatever he has belongs to his people, he just administers them, that's a true king. If introspected, we all are kings relative to each other. When we came, everything we have today, wasn't with us and when we go, it won't be there as well. We just enjoy it for the time we are here, so we are a king for the world, and others are king for us, that's how the world is designed to be and that's how it works. Interesting, isn't it?

Hence, if we have to leave with nothing, get over the fear of loosing, life would be beautiful. It's the fear of loosing something that makes us insecure, then it makes us greedy and then we just feel like achieving it, something which is already ours, it's utter foolishness that we don't realize that if something is meant to be ours, it will be ours, and if something isn't meant to be, it is never to be, no matter how hard we try or how deep we dig. That's the true aspect of life.

So, being a King of Good n Bad Times is simple, be happy with what you got and thank god because you are better off a lot more people who really don't have a much compared to what you got...so cheer up, smile and rock !

Who's watching...

When we were kids, there was a story about a rabbit which used to think that if it closes it's eyes, no one can see it. It sounded awe fully funny at that point but then as we grew up and certain time end up doing things which we believe no one would see us doing. Recently over coffee an acquaintance was telling me the same thing and he told me how he thought that who's watching him in a place where he doesn't have anyone he knew. This made me think that is it true with most people? Do we have the 'who's watching' syndrome where we end up doing things which we really want to do but will do when we feel there would be none watching it. Isn't it crazy that we forget to realize that it really doesn't matter who's watching, it may not be something wrong at all, what matters is whether you get that feeling while you do it. If you do, then surely there is something wrong, something you are guilty about or uncomfortable about.

Decided to post it to some of my friends and most of them said, they would never do such a thing, but some did agree that they often end up doing the same in the absence of the person they want to hide it from. Like a friend of mine, she is fat, she eats ice cream whenever she is alone shopping but never would she have one if her husband is along with her and he offers her one. Isn't it strange, but this is true. It's like trying to put up a face or something when we are being watched and when we 'think' we aren't being watched we don't even care to reason whether whatever we are doing makes sense or not. It's human nature after all, not much can be done about it.

It's always better to be rational about something and do it regardless of anyone watching it or not, be true to yourself and true to the person you care. If you feel the persons won't understand it, you are mistaken. If they love you, care for you, they will understand you, else they are not the one you should be worried about. Always remember you can always run away from other's eyes, you can never run from your own. If no one is watching, you are watching yourself and you always want to be good in your own eyes first.

Started writing after months...feels good when I get a thought to write about. :-)