Stay Hungry,Stay Foolish
I really like what he says about death.I quote :
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.
This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Everything else is secondary.
Peace Mantra …
The Shanti Mantra is chanted to invoke peace within and without so we can study,meditate or do something that needs to be done sans any disturbances.
पूर्ण मदः पूर्ण मिदं पूर्णात पूर्ण मुदचत्ये,
पूर्णस्य पूर्ण मादाये पूर्ण मेवावशिश्यते
ऊं शांति शांति शांति …
परिपूर्ण पूर्ण है पूर्ण प्रभु, यह जगत भी प्रभु पूर्ण है,
परिपूर्ण प्रभु की पूर्णता से पूर्ण जग सम्पूर्ण है,
उस पूर्णता से पूर्ण घट कर पूर्णता ही शेष है,
परिपूर्ण प्रभु परमेश की यह पूर्णता ही विशेष है।
This is absolute and that is absolute too
From the absolute is born the completeness
From the completeness,absolute reduces
leaving the absolute intact …….
May there be peace in my mind,my body and the environment around me.
~ Mantra from Ishavasaya upanishad
~ Hindi Translation by Mridul Kirti
~ English Translation by Aahang
Carmina Burana – O Fortuna
You love your desire more than what’s desired
Nietzcshe said ” You love your desire more than what is desired”
Jigar Moradabadi also echoed something similar.He says :
मिल के भी जो नहीं मिलता,टूट कर दिल उसी से मिलता है
That which I have but I don’t possess,My heart keeps longing for..
I have pondered over this for a long time and put it to test on several 
occasions in my life.It is quite a profound statement when critically examined.The object of our desire is more important or the desire itself ? If the object of our desire was the one driving our thoughts and actions then it should cease to fire our senses when it is not around or we have lost all hope of getting it.But it does not happen.
बेनाम सा ये दर्द ठहर क्यूं नहीं जाता
ज़ो बीत गया है वो गुज़र क्यूं नहीं जाता
This nameless pain has no end
It has happened so why I can’t get over it
सब कुछ तो है क्या ढूंढ्ती रहती हैं निगाहें
क्या बात है मैं वक़्त पे घर क्यूं नहीं जाता
I have what I want,So what Do I seek ?
I don’t know why I can’t go home On time
We continue to write sad songs in the memory of our beloved,we continue to sulk over the house that we could not buy ,we continue to feel bad about the business school we could not get into.Isn’t it rational for the mind to just stop thinking about something that is not there and does not even present an opportunity for it to be there in future.What stops the mind to be rational is its inability to distinguish between a world that is real and outside and the one which it has created for itself.
I have found that over a period of time it becomes a habit of the mind and it feels insecure about letting it go.”I think therefore I am” so if I stop thinking I may cease to be.Thinking and being lost in memories is minds favorite past time and it clings on to it as finding something new and fresh may require venturing new territories.The mind gets comfortable with the thought and then there are aids like Alcohol which make the longing even more pleasurable and effortless.
फिर वही शाम वही गम वही तनहाई है
दिल को बेहलाने तेरी याद चली आयी है
its the same old evening,the same old sorrow,the same old loneliness
Your memories are here to give me company …..
Another aspect of this behavior is that the anger one feels about having lost out helps in inspiring creativity.Look at poets,artists,painters and writers.It seems that as if they will let go of their desire they will not be able to create anything new.Their inspiration is the thought that I got a raw deal and therefore the anger and the pain.
Ultimately the mind becomes so selfish and addicted to pain that it starts to get a kind of sadistic pleasure in indulging itself in misery.Once it knows that from this dark abyss stems its ability to cull out gems of art there is no turning back.It starts feeding on pain.It looks forward to the lonely evening when it will be alone and by itself.
In the company of its best friends pain,anger,misery,loneliness it revels and dances in a kind of satanic abandon.And in this gathering there is place for no one else ..not even the one for which this festival has been conjured.
रंज से खूंगर हुआ इंसां तो मिट जाता है रंज
मुश्किलें हम पर पडी इतनी के आसां हो गयीं
When you get used to pain,it vanishes
When troubles are many, they stop to trouble
