RESPECT- Do we practise inside-out

Respect is one of the key four fundamental principles of natural laws (inherent values) of life, it plays an important role in building a character-based personality in pursuit of a balanced and an enjoyable life.

 Right from our childhood we are told to respect all human beings, parents, teachers, elders, nature, the laws, the state, the nation and the constitution. Maybe we are not taught, thus we do not understand and consciously nurture this ability into practice.

Respect means differently to each individual or a thing, thus could be any of regard, heed, attention, aspect , reference, politeness, consideration, admire, esteem, revere, show concern and  gratitude, all these words are nouns as well as verbs thus apply to things, place and person as a noun and have to be demonstrated by action(acted up-on) as they are a verb, too.

Respect is a way of treating yourself, someone or something, differently as above, based on the intrinsic values attached to each of them, thus different strokes for different folks. Simply put, we must first learn self-respect which then enables & empowers us to duly respect others and in turn earn respect from them.

A person who desires to live his life respectfully lives his life based on the natural laws of respect, understanding, love and evolve. He uses these inherent values as a continuous process in his way of life, a laborious and lifelong project but enjoyable to improve your self-belief and boost the self-esteem to become a worthy person.

A self-respecting person having learnt to treat himself well based on this process shall always treat others the way he likes to be treated himself thus respect for others for him is natural as he has internalised the habit of respectfulness. This knowledge of what to do, Why to Do and How to Do, inside-out becomes a practise.

The personality ethic based focus on just the outwardly behaviour and manners to show respect may look good but will be inconsistent, artificial and will not develop self-respect in you, whereas the cultivation of these four principles of natural laws to build an inside out character is a continuously strong, lifelong and evolving process.

Once you are on a path of building a self-respecting personality, all the virtues of honesty, consideration for others, tolerance, forgiveness and accepting things as it is, are by-products. The emotional and reactive outbursts are always bound to happen, but a self-respecting person also then develops a habit to realise them, forgive and improve in an upward spiral growth of his own development.

Today, it is a sad reflection all around us, we find disrespect as a norm, respect is reduced to just a noun and is rarely seen as a verb and practised because the role models were based on personality based ethics and not the character based. Time to introspect and create awareness to build a character-based society, respectfully.

The task is laborious but worth it, practise to evolve as respectful human beings.

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

Life: A divine work in progress

We as humans are just a tiny part of this lovely creation all around us of atoms, molecules, organisms, ecosystems, planets and of course the whole universe. Our own life is just a microscopic part of this divine creation where everything is happening all the time. In order to survive, where change is constant, our life must keep evolving to stay ahead and in tune.

Life is a divine and continuous living process, 24/7 in action throwing challenges at us all the time, what we make out of them, how we take them on, it is always our call to make or mar the most of it. This phenomenon is happening all the time thus it is vital that we accept the same as it is, understand the working and enjoy the twists & turns of the whole process.

The process happens within our body, mind, spirit and the soul and we can choose to ignore and fail to understand thus end up living like a creature and become a victim or a beneficiary of instincts or choose to just be a party to it, live aimlessly and become yet another one in the world, in the bargain may even harm its longevity.

Gainfully, we can choose to be a witness and a facilitator for its smooth functioning and lead a balanced life. A step further, with due awareness of the process, proper understanding of its use and benefits, we can explore the immense potential of these four faculties and use the process properly to lead a meaningful and enjoyable life.

 

To put it simply, we all as human beings get life as a divine gift, which is basically a golden goose that can lay golden eggs. By choice, we may remain ignorant of its capabilities thus lose any benefit, with carelessness lose its capacity to be productive, with lust we may go for the overkill and ruin the capabilities or with greed we may even kill the goose itself. All Lose-Lose propositions.

A grateful person shall respectfully understand the importance and value of the goose, its capacity to produce golden eggs and the eggs. He shall focus on proper nourishment so that the goose lives long and nurture the egg producing capacity to maximum, to ensure that the golden eggs are laid regularly and over a long period.

Thus, if we want our living mechanism (body, mind, spirit & soul) to produce golden eggs and improve its productivity we need to focus and work on following aspects-:

Body: Give proper food, rest, regular exercise and meditate for its growth and vitality.

Mind: Feed information, convert it into knowledge, constantly upgrade and keep balance.

Spirit: Cultivate mental awareness, consciousness and reasoning for actions.

Soul: Seek to know the truth, enjoy the life and share love with all.

Once you are on this path of Life-management, it is an upward spiral growth which leads to a meaningful and enjoyable life. In this process name, fame, shame, recognition, wealth, success and or failure are all by-products so do not get carried away or fall to their lure, very often most of us end up pursuing by-products as life and get disillusioned, we must let them come and go in our lives and continue to focus on the main product i.e. the process.

Life is always a divine work in progress, thus you must enjoy the work, so that the progress is a happening thing, for you as well as for people around you, too.

Satish Shitut                                                                   

Jai Bharat

Frame your own “Constitution”

Frame your own “Constitution”

Since late 2019 we all hear about our constitution in danger, right from an ignorant child to an old uneducated lady to a so called activist are misled and willing to give their lives to save the same, at the behest of few pseudo intellectuals, liberal columnists and dubious political leaders. To uphold the values of our constitution there is no need to fight for the right instead frame your own “constitution of my life” and enrich yours as well as others lives as follows-:

Preamble

I, the responsible owner of my personal life, wilfully and solemnly resolve to do justice to my body, mind, spirit and the soul towards the harmonious growth of all towards achieving a purposeful balanced lifestyle and humane social behaviour.

Fundamental rights

I must protect the fundamental rights as below of the four integrated constituents of my life.

Body: The right to be given proper food, rest and regular exercise for its growth and vitality.

Mind: The right to get information and be used to convert it into knowledge & proper usage.

Spirit: The right to cultivate mental awareness, consciousness and reasoning for actions.

Soul: The right to know the truth, enjoy the life and seek liberation.

These fundamental rights shall be duly exercised and protected by me confirming to the model directive principles for a balanced growth with due discharge of my duties as follows-:

Physical growth: Develop and ensure proper maintenance of a fit & healthy physical body.

Mental growth:  Learn, develop & nurture the brain to convert information into knowledge.

Financial growth: Apply the knowledge & skills acquired to seek financial stability & growth.

Spiritual growth:  Live life moment by moment to attain a peaceful, happy & soulful attitude.

Both these rights and duties shall be implemented, executed and maintained with the enforcement of natural laws of life to promote a harmonious & balanced growth of my life-:

Directive (Governing) principles of Life.

Respect myself, family, others, nation, environment and practise it in my social behaviour.

Understand the importance of a conscious approach towards the need of a balanced growth.

Love is the most essential part of life to be nurtured and demonstrated in all my actions.

Act upon above principles as a habit to keep evolving into a responsible human being.

As I am the executive as well as judiciary, due diligence and introspection of above aspects is required regularly to make amendments as and when deemed fit for an equitable growth. Once the life is in balance, it is easier to deal with emotions, stress, upheavals, ups and downs positively and strengthen the spirit towards a harmonious and peaceful state of living.

The current situation all over the world with protests, violence, state atrocities, racial abuses, rich poor divide, corruption and religious hatred is a mix of lost values, materialism, selfish and misplaced priorities. What goes around comes back thus if everyone follows “my own constitution” and shares with others, we shall not only save constitution but whole humanity.

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

Keep the child in you kicking and alive “New normal”

An act of love between a romancing couple, seeking to give and get pleasure from each other, sows the seed of love as fetus in the womb of a woman, the would be mother then carries the baby in the womb for almost nine months. She joyously goes through the aches, agony and finally the intense labor pains to give birth to a child of love and hold in her arms.

This bundle of joy, a naughty and adorable source thus enters the lives of many and unknowingly all those who are close to the child start laughing, singing, dancing and enjoy those moments of unconditional love. The child throws tantrums, cries and puts innocent demands from them and they willingly try and go all out to please the child for that one smile and have fun.

As the child starts with a clean slate in the mind, of course except the transmissions given through the mother in womb, ignorance is bliss which makes the child curious about everything around and the search for knowledge starts by trusting people around. The fearless Child is playful and imaginative enough to enjoy the process of explore, innovate and learn. A genius by nature.

The quality of accepting things as they are and forgiveness helps a child make more friends and they often play with each other even to lose for fun. With enough time on hand, no responsibilities and or worries for money, a child makes the most while sun shines and enjoys the life to its fullest.

Sadly, during this growth, We initially start telling the child to behave, later behave like a grown up child, in the teens is told to behave like an adult, in the adulthood cannot be childish, childlike behavior is taboo in middle age and the worst is in old age when it is termed as infantile behavior.

This parenting, schooling, social norms and office or business environment compels us to start thinking and behaving in a certain fashion as per our age and stature in the society, which in turn restricts our behavior within those accepted norms and we start thinking only inside that box. In the process we lose the maverick child in us who can think outside the box, to be a problem solver.

Over a period, the matured adult replaces the pure and curious child and we forget the art of having fun in life. The materialistic and competitive world with added responsibilities too starts weighing in our search for a big ticket to success, to the extent that we forget to find joy in small measures and moments. Sadly, the right way to live a childly life then become just fond memories of childhood.

All play and no work during the Lockdown, the child in me came alive and now I am relearning the best way to live which I had forgotten. This child has not only helped me overcome the fear but also helped me to forget all the material losses, too. I am laughing again and become playful, now I live in every moment and am curious enough to explore the inner potential in me to bring that smile back on my face and around.

 I am now born again, more aware of the child in me who appreciates little things in life, makes friends easily, neither bothered about what world says about me nor worried about the worldly things. I now laugh when my child tells my so-called matured adult to behave, asks him to keep the greed, rudeness, obsession and I know all attitude aside and enjoy each moment of life, as it comes.

I am living and loving life again, thanks to the long-lost child found again. That is my “New Normal”.

What is your “New Normal”

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

Self-Righteousness versus Self- respect

Self-Righteousness versus Self- respect

Whether Parbramha or Lord or Allah, God is one and Righteousness is a word attributed mainly to him and his chosen ones. His incarnation Ram was called Maryada Purushottam an embodiment of all good virtues, Son of God Jesus the righteous servant of god and Mohammed the messenger of Allah. Righteousness is doing what is right in sight of god and the qualities of being morally right and correct. The demands for a moral and ethical conduct are so great that no man can ever achieve in this world.

Righteousness

In religion right and wrong  has moral overtones, in Societies and cultures it is defined by the practices followed, theologists consider it as a quality or state of being morally correct and justifiable, spiritualist say that god is everywhere thus all are righteous so they search within, The literal meaning is to be right in a moral way. These different perspectives, views and beliefs create confusion in our minds and instead of following a path of virtues we get into the business of right or wrong. Mr. Righteous in a way ends up Mr. Confucius.

Self-Righteousness

In trying to be righteous, this confusion more than often leads us to behave morally superior to others and develop holier than thou attitude. It does also lead to a thinking that my belief and conduct is more virtuous than others. A belief that I know all and I am always right is dangerous for your relationships, inhibits your communication skills, team spirit and is a socially disapproved behavior. Best example is the character of Ravana in the epic Ramayana who had all the virtues but had to pay the price for his self-righteous ego.

Sadly, in modern world too, this attitude of I know all and I am right has bred many corporate honchos, religious bigots, political anarchists and social activists who perpetuated downfall of those corporates, religious wars, vote banks, stalled developments and chaos in the society. Similarly, the racist supremacy of these self-righteous characters had resulted in caste wars in India and now the current arson and looting across United states of America.

Self-Respect

Basically, right and wrong as well good and bad is all in our mind, both God and Devil also reside within each of us. To put in scientific terms both positive and negative energies exist in all of us. Thus, it is better to focus on immense good potential within us and consciously try to become a selfless and self-respecting person, the virtues then are a byproduct of your goodness and this continuous process helps you to evolve as a good human being.

A self-respecting person will always respect others views and their lives, empathic awareness in him seeks to understand than be understood. Developing a selfless approach from within helps him to reach out to all irrespective of caste, creed, race, religion and overcome the rich poor divide. This compassionate and tolerant attitude helps in sharing ideas with others either for cooperation or for mutual agreements and or agree to disagree.

In this materialistic world, where morals and ethics have gone for a toss, it is a big challenge to guard against self-righteousness as it breeds arrogance, ego, sins and falsehood which is very dangerous to the society. Thus, educating more individuals to become respectful, caring and understanding citizens of the country may not stem the rot but at least minimize the damage and succeed eventually for a better world to live in harmony with nature.

Most of us have forgotten that Love is the essence of life, it is all pervasive and helps us to win many and loose none. Cultivate it so that the Peace be upon all of us.

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat