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Forgotten Essence of Life: Reconstructing the Narrative

In an era of competition we live in, not just in the form of a competitive market economy but in smallest aspects of life. As humans grow rapidly in terms of science & technology, are we forgetting the meaning and essence of life itself ? If so what is the essence of life ? Let us try to answer these puzzles by exploring the current happenings around us and compare them with our idea of life itself.




Life=Career/Money?
There is absolutely no denying the fact that money and a source of earning is essential for any human being, but the question I would like to raise is quite different. Is the whole point of your college life and everything you do for the purpose of filling up your CV? Has the whole idea of education shrunk into securing a ticket at an MNC? Now this is not applicable to everyone, but the truth is you come across many people who believe in the above. Now the important question I would raise here is beyond criticizing the attitude of few people, but questioning the direction of a section and the reason forcing them to do so. I would go to the extend and call this as just an extension of the age old attitude of our society which judges students based on science,commerce or humanities streams. I am not denying the huge importance of job-oriented courses or professional education but trying to make it clear that arts education is equally or at times even more important. As they say the 3 levels of understanding go from 'knowledge' to 'opinion' to 'critique'(Not going in detail, can have a whole blog on this topic).

 Coming back to the issue of over importance given to CV and placements, it is a flawed idea, because at the end of the day long term success belongs to the better developed 'human being' and not to a 'human machine' with a CV longer than the Ganges! 

Ask yourself, 'what is the essence of your life?'

Magic of Life and The forgotten Responsibility
Today as you read through this blog in a world of comforts, we still live in the same world as the people who don't get a day's meal. Now the sudden rebuttal to this comes in the form of few questions such as : "What can I do"?  "How am I responsible?". Now I would like to try answering these questions reminding the privileged few about the forgotten responsibility. The Mahatma once said that poverty is the worst form of violence, so is't it a moral responsibility of everyone to end the worst form of violence in this world? Firstly answering this question from a purely materialistic and non-religious, non-spiritual manner: Every child born in this world, equally has a right to live, but these income disparities exist in our civilizations because of complex historic reasons. So from a pure humanistic and moral view point, each one of us have a responsibility to make sure that we become part of a historic correction process. For the ones who believe in a supreme power, whatever name you may like to call it, you must take each privilege in your life as a tool of empowerment given by the supreme power to empower your brothers and sisters.  

  Life is like the magical scroll unfolding in front of our eyes, but think about the ones who can't enjoy the intellectual magical scroll because of empty stomachs! Make it a point to commit yourself to any cause you feel close to, make it a point to use your skills for the society and trust me the sense of fulfillment from that shall be greater than the oceans of happiness you get from the most expensive products! 


Nature: The forgotten Mother

From philosophy to philosophy, from places to places, from eternity man has searched for God! Obviously I don't have an answer to that question but I can tell with greatest conviction that if there is an expression of God, that is the Nature around us! 

Our life and every form of life exists as a part and parcel of the life-force called nature, since when did our life have a direction separate from the nature? Why is it that conservation of nature a separate discussion when we ourselves are a part of it? We have forgotten our mother nature, and worse we have started to take her for granted! I know, you might be thinking why is it important to talk about nature in a blog about life, because there is not life separate from nature and our downfall started the day we started to think we have one. 

From the smallest plant to the most richest human being, we are all part of the beautiful song composed by nature known as life! 


Striking the right Balance
The word that has become alien to many in today's popular narrative is 'Balance'. Sadly the popular narratives are filled with two opposing ideas without striking the necessary balance. We live in a world where irresponsibility and ignorance for some reason is seen as being cool by a section while on the other side jokes and fun living is seen as silly by the elite intellectual base. 


The truth is a fun filled, joyful life is the need of every human being, they realize it or not, and at the same time for the fulfillment of ones potential a focused and self analytical life is also important. Now the million dollar question is can both be done together? And the answer is YES! The idea put into your head by our society that in-order to be successful, you have work 24*7 is nothing but non-sense. Similarly on the other side the silly idea given by that one friend who says life is all about partying and chilling is absolute non-sense too. Now the challenge is in balancing both and I bet look at the most successful people in each fields and they will the ones who mastered the art of balancing. There are no hard and fast rules in life, it all depends on You!. There are people who work an hour and still succeed and there are people who may work 24*7 and fail. 

Don't blindly swallow what the society throws at you, analyse and take a stand! Build the life you wish to have! You are at your best when you are yourself! 


Need for Being Human beyond everything!

"Who are you?"
"Name"
"Place of birth"
"Religion"
"Language"
etc etc etc
"What were you really born as beyond all these categories?"
"Human!"

The above is the most important understanding required for all human beings! At the end of the day we are all humans beyond all divisions and this needs to kept in our mind always! No division is more important than the ideology of 'being human'. (Not the brand :P). This is the single most subtle and important message of this blog! 


In the lap of mother nature,
beyond the tall mountains,
as the ocean waves kiss the sand,
mighty winds sing the song of life,
may the narrative of love rise,
above the narrative of hatred,
remembering the essence of life,
may the ideology of love triumph! 


Now as I conclude this blog post, you may agree or disagree with the viewpoints expressed above, but be a seeker and don't have judgments. Be open to new ideas, keep exploring life and as far as you do so, you shall never forget the essence of life! 


Thank you for reading, and all opinions welcome!


The revolution of love shall win!


-Sreeesreshta Nair (SN).





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