Reinvent The Self!

We all have our own set of expectations, beliefs, assumptions about the life. Our own “life is like that” and “life is not like that” fundamentals. We want or expect something in our life and we often get something else. We always think we get lesser than what we wanted. But do we ever look at what we got instead of what we wanted, let alone looking at what we actually needed?
In my case, I always thought, I could have learned more like doing my masters. I could be richer than what I am right now. I could be having a bigger home in better locality. I could be more famous, I could be this and I could be that. The list is literally endless and more importantly meaningless! I have never thought about what I got in my life, what I needed in my life.
My revered Guru, Ms Sunandatai Mulay, always tells me, that there’s a huge difference between two words, needs and wants. The irony is oftentimes, we don’t even know what we need, despite that we wantmany things. We think we need them. Many of us don’t even know their true worth, still they think they deservemore. On the contrary, there are someones who also don’t know their true worth and think they got much more than what they deserve. Is it not true?
Instead of contemplating on what I got, what could it be for, I often contemplate on what I did not get and where did I fail. The focus instead of being on have’s, actually is on have-nots. Instead on present, it is on future. I always wanted more than what I was getting. As soon as I got it, I wanted something better, something more. I don’t have time to enjoy my possessions. The rate of obsolescence of the pleasure of have’s is very high. Sublime.
It’s true that evolutionary biology says that humans are evolving because they always are in pursuit of pleasures. This pursuit of pleasure drives most of human decisions and thereby evolution. This epicurean mindset is the basis of human evolution. In sanskrit it’s called suruchi! The Altruism, on the other hand, tells us to be exactly otherwise, that is to be moral, to surrender and get rid of all the desires, to remain in the state of Being. In sanskrit, it’s called suniti! Sanskrit is really a wonderful language. These two things suruchi and suniti seem to be exact complements of each other, mutually exclusive. Don’t they? Then I often wondered what is right? To be an suruchi or to be a suniti?Evolution is blind to what will happen in future. It just follows the time. And hence it is ultimately purposeless. It’s true that life is based on the principle of scarcity. There are few things and many takers. “Survival for the fittest” or “Jeevo Jeevasya Jeevanam” may be or is the way of life but it certainly cannot be the ultimate purpose of life.
One should be focused towards achieving what he wants, but at the same time, more important is he should be focused on enjoying what he has. There’s a saying in the Management, that goes “A place for everything and everything in its place”. The pursuit of pleasure surely has its own place in life. Otherwise without pleasure, life would again become meaningless. Life is not a penalty after all. But suruchi is certainly of the lower rank than suniti.
Epicurean lifestyle teaches you why to live, while Altruistic lifestyle teaches you how to live! And both have their own merits. The purpose of Epicurean life is Pleasure (Bhukti) while the purpose of Altruistic life is Enlightenment (Mukti). There’s a very good book called “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” which describes the life very beautifully. It says, the purpose of life is Freedom but at the same time, most important thing is you have to take all others with you. Life is not a private journey. Sacrifice, surrender, selflessness do form the most meaningful parameters of life.
Revered Saint Shri Sai Baba says, samay se pehle aur bhaagya se adhik kisi ko kuch nahi milta (No one gets anything more than his fate and before the appropriate time)! Then why crave for something? Better to enjoy the present state. The state of Blissful Existence (Ananda)!