Simple Life

I have always wanted a simple life. A no hassle job. Small but loving family with simple needs. But what does simple mean?

The very moment I say job, it comes with a position, an office setting and the career rat race. Can it be simple. Sure if you are sitting sipping coffee after work with a friend you can talk your head off how simple you want things to be. But the moment you set foot in the game, you want a double digit pay rise every year, that bonus and that corner office with big window and a sofa. And does it stop when you have all that, no, because still there will be people to compete with, still there will be targets to achieve. How can all this happen if you want to keep things simple. Would your ego let it all pass laying down. Of course things will be simple again when you want them to be... but the simplicity come with a cost. A cost that cannot be seen or defined but only felt.

If I really want to make it simple and I mean it, then everthing else becomes small. My work becomes important only to me and that corner office does not appeal any more. I can feel complacent about my acheivements and possessions then I can keep it simple. I can just keep myself to perform the task in hand and not set myself up. Keep it simple stupid (KISS) is what heard somebody say and KISS I will.

Family.. is similar. If I can define my needs and things that I like without over committing myself than I can keep it simple. That dream house or that red sports car, if it stretches my mortgage or bogs me down in commitments I cannot keep then I cannot keep things simple.

I really need to set expecations for myself and my wife and kids, only than it will be simple enough for all of us.

But then, does it make the life turn boring. Where does it leave me then? Just chugging along for 3 square meal, clothing and a house. Is there more to life than just keep it simple?

A simple life makes it go far but is it worth it? Everybody needs a little spice sometime or other. Lord Krishna also talks about the importance of constant work. I think its the expectations from work and family that start to complicate things. It is simple until you define what needs to be done and keep to it. Once you start having expectations from your wife, son, daughter, co-workers and your boss, that's when the simplicity of things start to whither.

Mantra is to keep things simple and remain stupid about it.

Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam

I had this thought in my mind for quite a few years now. Putting it to black and white, still seems difficult. Nevertheless, I want to try and blog away.

I don't want to profile myself but I should say, I am a Hindu. I follow Hinduism. I am not a religious person though. I am not sure if I can call myself spiritual. I definitely am a Hindu, because I follow Hindu way of life and lead my life on principles laid down by my forefathers. How many of them are actually in ancient scriptures, I don't know. I don't even intend to find that out.... yet.

What i have gotten to understand about being Hindu that it is beyond just a religion. It is a full blown institution, it is a way of life. From birth of child till passing away it is a guiding force. Letting yourself not only live but live healthy, wealthy and wise.

Unlike other contemporaries, Hinduism is not in a book. It did not even come from a teaching of single person. It is most ancient and yet most modern because it is adaptive and it is self correcting. All ancient Gurus and Preachers made it better by studying the "Desh, Kaal and Paristhiti" at that time and added their research element to all the Hindu teachings.

All this brings an interesting questions... If Hinduism has been so adaptive, is there a place for ultra-conservatism? If I call myself Hindu than am I not Secular? Well, the answers lies in the teachings. Being Hindu is being secular because the teachings are about respecting other views, being adaptive to the place, time and the conditions one is in. Adi Shankracharya had debated lot of scholars in his time and they became his disciples... not by force but because they agreed to the view put forth.

Aggression comes because of oppression. If you force the idea on somebody, its very nature of the person to recoil and create a shell and not let anything penetrate. People become Conservative when they feel threatened. One must be so sure of his ideas and his principles that nothing should threaten him. There should be no need to stress and say that I am a Hindu to the world to prove and protect oneself. Nobody can snatch my principles and my ideas from me.

Being Hindu has taught me to consider the whole world my family hence "Vasudhaiv Ktutmbakam". My beliefs and my principles are with me. I am not out to prove my heritage, my culture and compare it with anything. I am here to expand my family and be part of this extended family not afraid to lose my identity, not fighting to preserve it but, just be. And I am sure life will be easy.