IT'S OK

The inspiration to write about this piece is an audition that I saw in America Got Talent, of a very talented cancer battling young singer known as Nightbirde, who sang her own composition ‘It’s OK’ and got a golden buzzer from Simon (my favourite judge!!). This piece may be tilting towards being a little 'heavy', but I hope you will find it bearable.

One of the things that I have realised (and still am) about myself is that I seem to have so many contradictions. My interest, priorities and tastes keep varying, largely influenced by situations, mood and the people and places that I am with. On reflecting back over years, depending on the place, phase and pace of my life, my behaviour seem to have been changing. I make rules for myself and break them in no time. I try to setup a standard routine, but am not able to adhere to it. While I love discipline, I don’t seem to be happy when I try to follow one. I seem to question my own sense of judgement many a times. I also wonder if this never ending struggle and a complex sense of dichotomy is really worth it? Where will it lead to? Am I a defective ‘piece’, with my views being neither black or white, but only shades of grey.

On questions like Favourite colour, Favourite car, Favourite place or food, I seem to have a reasonably fixed answer. Other questions like who is your most favourite person? Who do you love the most? Favourite religion?View on Sanatana Dharma, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism & their teachings? On views related to politics or religion or morality - I have no one fixed answer. But I know this - anything that upholds the positivity in humans and humanity in general, I am a great subscriber to that. As always, for any of my lingering questions, I try to find answers in the ancestral wisdom of Vedas and Upanishads. ( Please note, I have been associated with these scriptures growing up and hence, my reference. I, for one, in no way doubt the authenticity of ancient scriptures from other geographies/languages/religions. In fact, from my little exploration, I have found a ‘striking’ similarity across all of them).

In Rig Veda, there is a very meaningful and relevant shloka/verse which says “Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti” which means “One God Is Worshipped In Different Names”. The enlightened sages, thousands of years ago, have very clearly stated that the path to self-realisation could be many. Some may need God worship, some may attain through deeper knowledge, some through rituals, some through self-less service and few others, through meditation. The God or the supreme self can be Brahman, Father in heaven or Allah or Bodhi Satva. For those who don’t want to do God worship, it can be supreme consciousness. All these serve as outer shells for your inward journey. The outer is not so important as inner. When the outer becomes more important, then we are ‘stuck’ in our spiritual journey. The shell should never be more important than the essence. I always wondered why we have started giving so much priority to ‘religion’ and ‘rituals’? These are supposed to help us accelerate our journey inwards. While we are all in a race in the external world with a single minded pursuit for ‘happiness’, we seem to have forgotten turning inwards with the same gusto. I know the topic is getting a little heavier now. Guess, it is because of the Sufi songs that are playing so early in the morning on my AirPods, making me heady. :)

On this journey of life, while all of us seem to be stuck in a rat race, very few self-realised ones are able to attain - “Anandoham” state, which translates to “I am bliss”. In the path of spirituality, this is the penultimate state that you attain when ‘individual’ (this) is connected to ‘universal’ (that). (Hmm…I may need to note this sentence of my own :) to write a separate blog, at some point in future.)

But, for most of us, we may not be able to get the feel of ‘eternal happiness’ - how much ever we try to accumulate and hoard materialistic things, be it money, cars, castles, intellectual knowledge, girlfriends/boyfriends, jewellery, social status, displays of charity and benevolence and many more. We may feel guilty of our own acts or angry at times, as things don’t go per our plan. However, our ‘supreme self’ realised ancestors are very forgiving. These wise men say through scriptures that IT IS OK. ”You seem to have erred today. But, It's OK, you have another chance. You seem to be lost a little, but so are most others. Don’t beat yourself. Don’t be lost on the past. There is always a today and maybe,a better tomorrow. Take the experience from yesterday and move on, to become an evolved version of yourself. Every wrong is an experience and every right is a guiding light in this journey. As long as you have realised it, both RIGHT and WRONG are GOOD and necessary in your journey.” Wow....What a clear affirmation of compassion, humanity and hopefulness. Remember “Vasudaiva Kutumbakam” - from my earlier blog? Take a bow, to the ancient wisdom of collective mankind, ever relevant and always accommodating!!!

Take a few minutes to soak in the above thoughts and then, pen down your views through comments. As always, I look forward to them. I like reading each and every one of them, gives me a view of the world from your window too :)

P.S :- 1. Trivia - OK is the most frequently written and spoken word on the planet.
2. Do note how I intentionally omitted the word ‘soul’ and limited the word ‘God’ in this blog. Something more ‘profound’ to come from Guru? Wait and watch :)
3.Though Nightbirde got a direct entry to SemiFinals through Golden Buzzer, she couldn’t make it to future episodes due to her ongoing cancer battle. She breathed her last on Feb 19,2022 - aged 31.
Her last video before she passed on (for the curious kind) :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naYMfPe2-kw