Spreading Positivity

  What happens when we stop being curious? I have heard that curiosity is the most powerful thing you own. After dealing with 35 years of practice and meeting ample people, I always feel curious to know why, where, what, which way, when and how something happened, and it gives me clarity about why people behave in different manners. Many times I feel that for a normal person, raising normal children is much easier than raising special children, but still we don't understand and value that. So many parents of normal children feel that it is so difficult to deal with today's generation because even to have faith in God, we have to give explanations to them; it doesn't happen naturally. For this, we are only responsible. We follow a spiritual path nowadays because other people are following it, but not because we truly believe in it. Information on social media has become our guide, so we have stopped applying our own mind and being curious. Recently, I visited one place where...

Value Your Relationships ... Every relationship has its own value. What matters is how we value it. It may be the relationship between God and a devotee, parents and children, family members, couples, a company owner and employees, friends, or even between a person and their pet animals or birds. A relationship survives when there is respect, understanding, mutual confidence, sharing, and forgiveness. But today, why are people increasingly choosing to keep pet animals or birds at home rather than having a partner with whom they can share their life? Perhaps because there is no complicated communication required, no arguments, no questions, and no thought process about how to value the relationship. Pets are gentle. The moment you take care of them and pamper them, they respond with love and affection. But why can't the same love and pampering be given to another human being who is there with you, sharing your life and your emotions? Is it because we are slowly moving towards a worl...

  Is Convenience Making Us Less Capable? ... Science and technology have made a huge difference to our lives. Life has become easier, and we have facilities today that earlier we could not even imagine. But somewhere, we need to ask ourselves whether all this convenience is also affecting our ability to think, remember, explore and do things on our own. Earlier, when we travelled to a new place, we would explore it with our own knowledge, ask people for directions and discover things along the way. Today, GPS tells us every turn, the route to take and even how much time we will take to reach. It is certainly convenient, but sometimes going without complete knowledge and exploring a place has its own joy. There is something beautiful about discovering things ourselves instead of having every answer ready before we even begin. Even in hospitals, technology has transformed healthcare. We have advanced machines, monitors and equipment that help doctors diagnose and treat patients. Thes...

  Can Artificial Intelligence Replace Human Wisdom? ... It is often said that a loving heart holds the truest wisdom. But can Artificial Intelligence ever truly understand what a loving heart feels? Can technology replace human wisdom, emotions, empathy and the willingness to help someone in need? I recently experienced something that made me think deeply about this question. I had travelled out of town for a conference, and on my boarding pass it clearly mentioned Terminal 3 for departure at Delhi Airport and Terminal 2 for landing in Mumbai. Somehow, either because of my hurry or my own carelessness, I did not notice this important detail. When I was about to enter through Digi Yatra, I suddenly realised that I was at the wrong terminal. I had only about an hour left. I panicked and wondered, “What do I do now?” Just then, a taxi driver came towards me and noticed that I was anxious. He asked if he could help me. I said yes, but I needed to reach Terminal 3 very quickly. He took ...

  Drive Your Brain Before It Drives You ... It is said that it may not be easy and it might take sustained effort, but we have the ability to remodel our brains at any age, which helps us to function better. This is very much true. We work with paralytic patients who lose their speech and become paralysed in the physical movements of their hands and legs. If they are diagnosed well and receive the correct line of treatment, we see spontaneous recovery within 3 to 6 months. Those patients who have good willpower and positivity towards whatever has happened and what can be overcome are often able to recover and rewire their brain much faster. Those patients who look for pity and sympathy, start getting pampered by people around them, do not make efforts and give up, really take more time to recover. After some time, their recovery can reach a saturation point, and then it becomes difficult to rewire the brain. When I see faster rewiring of the brain in such patients, I feel that even...

  Why Children Need Conversations More Than Screens ... Recently, I attended a beautiful event based on the Vaishnav tradition in Hindu Dharma, where there are eight different darshans of the deity throughout the day. Each darshan had its own soulful song and its own bhav. Mangala Darshan begins with the Lord waking up, preceded by the sound of the shankh to invite Him; Shringar Darshan is when the Lord is beautifully adorned; Gwal Darshan depicts Lord Krishna going out with the cows and playing with His friends; Rajbhog is when He has His meal of the day, followed by His afternoon rest; Uthapan Darshan is when He awakens and is lovingly pampered by His devotees; Bhog Darshan is associated with makhan and misri; then comes Sandhya Aarti, followed by Shayan Darshan. Listening to these soulful songs describing each moment so beautifully, I could see how deeply people were immersed in prayer. It made me think about the power of conversation. A conversation with God, in the form of pra...