Business to the Buddha

Tag: live in present

  • Slingshot

    He was playing with his slingshot. When he released the sling, stone fell down. He tried the slingshot again, failed again. Kunal came to know, he asked me why the slingshot is not working? I looked at the sling where stone was held leather pad. There was some sticky material, mostly a used and thrown chewing gum attached to it. We removed it and Kunal happily started playing with the slingshot again.

    Playing Slingshot (गुलेल) / Catapult, is an immense learning. You pull the stone back with a sling, take an aim and release. You wait for some time until the stone touched / reached the target. There is an interesting analogy in this.The sling is like your present action, preparation and “now”. Your leather pad is like your past experience, your mind (where many things are held). The aim and trajectory is like future. The better control you have on everything, good it is for your life.

    Kunal’s slingshot gave me another insight. The past / mind, if spoiled with a memory that may hurt your present and future, you are putting everything that you have at a stake. In Kunal’s case the pad had a chewing gum – a kind of adhesive. If you stick to the past – mostly not to an inspiring past memories, you are more likely to be stuck in life. Such things bring you down. Have you ever thought of a moment when you were involved in something wholeheartedly? Did your past experiences interfere your present actions like that gum of Kunal’s slingshot? You were focused on the activity – like pulling the pad back, possibly the size and weight of stone and your aim (target) was clear. There was no confusion, no fear and no blockage. You just did what best you could do – living and enjoying the present moment.

    Image source – Pixabay.

  • Signal and Noise

    In Engineering I studied Signal and Noise, their ratio and results in communication engineering. I am not going to bore you with the math of probability and Signal to Noise we studied in Engineering. Though, before we move to the point, I will try to explain it in laymen’s language. Signal to Noise ratio means how much is the strength of a Signal Vs the noise on the background. If strength of Signal is more than that of noise, communication can be comprehended. A simple case is tuning radio in your Mobile.

    Well, beyond the laymen definition, I am here to share an observation. In our daily life we are so busy that we are overwhelmed by the noises around us. At times we miss on the signals, these can be premonition too. My personal experience is, we miss many things in extreme emotions – joy or sorrow. Yet mostly, the signals can be of the burnouts we are facing, frustration or not even stopping to think why am I running like a headless chicken? In some cases the signal can be to sit back and relax. The signal can be to find purpose of life. Honestly, this purpose of life point sounds lofty to me. My logic of purpose has slowly become (not lofty) very small and unimportant.

    Many a times we define the purpose as some grand goal. Having a grand goal is wonderful. I too have such goals, not just one, a couple of them such as for personal life, professional life. However, when I say small and unimportant, these are living life in small bits and pieces such as spending time with Adviti – even if very small. Some purpose can be insignificant such as going to a grocery shop. The point is – when I am doing such insignificant or unimportant tasks – what is going on in my mind? Is the mind wandering somewhere and the task – that I intend to do – is secondary? That is where Signal and Noise comes in play. Noise is the distraction from your primary activity – focus or goal.

    Just-be

    We went for a vacation last month. There I was lying down in bedroom, relaxing. Mind always needs some activity – so my ears were listening to the wall clock – tik-tik. My wife entered the room. She switched on the fan, this noise of fan reduced clarity of the activity – listening to the wall clock tiks. My eyes were closed, attention still on the faint sound of tiks. Soon I lost the Signal of the tiks to the Noise of fan. Whether you call it awareness or time pass, that is subjective. However, this small incident made an impression, in our day-to-day activities we encounter such noises. We miss the fun of the Signal tik-tik to the noise of fan. At times, the noise is nothing but the grand goals or self importance we have created for ourselves.