Hi reader,

Namaskaram! If you are reading this, you and I have something in common. Reading! However, there is a difference between reading and comprehension. So, if you understand my blogs, we have another thing in common, our belief in Vartamanah! We believe in the principle of living and being in the moment. 

This common belief brings me to introduce another blog to you all.

सर्वभूतस्थितं यो मां भजत्येकत्वमास्थित: |
सर्वथा वर्तमानोऽपि स योगी मयि वर्तते ||

Bhagavad Gita: Verse 6.31

If you don’t understand this, don’t worry, we will talk about it.

If life is music, a symphony, then all the people around us, who we meet, knowingly or unknowingly, the ones we spend time with, the ones we share our emotions with, who are they in our music? It might sound like a philosophical question, but if you have any musician friends, ask them this question.

Yes, I know some of you might be asking me this question, and I will answer, but ponder over it, you will be intrigued. Think about the people in your life, your parents, gurus, siblings, life partner, friends, teachers, managers, and colleagues, think about them, what are they in your music? Take a pause here for a minute, and just picture them in your mind, slowly, think about them, and notice the emotion arising with each persona. Hold on to that emotion before picturing the next person. Breathe in, Breathe out!

Thank you, for being with me, taking a moment out of your busy lives, and remembering your loved ones. 

Here, I want to take this moment to express my gratitude, for reading and expressing your thoughts on my previous blog, the Lasagna of Thoughts. All your messages were so lovely and motivated me to keep going.

To answer the question, for me, the people in my life are like instruments, musical instruments, and no one is the same instrument. At one moment, someone is like a Piano, which plays such a melody that soothes life and flows it calmly, and at the other moment, they are percussions, beating life in a tempo. One moment, someone is like a violin, and ignites the emotions, sometimes joy – sometimes sorrow, and in the other moment, they become the synthesizer, inspiring the innovation. When articulated together, they could be as critical as a classic orchestra or can be as expressive and groovy as jazz. However, in these forever-changing roles and instruments, one thing they always make sure of is, to keep the music playing. 

In our life span, we meet a lot of people. Some of them stay, while the others just get tuned out. You might have heard people saying or even experienced, with some people we gel so easily that very soon we read each other’s mind. We don’t even have to speak. Some even say their frequencies match. And then there are people, who even if we not only speak but even explain things in 20 different ways and even pen down everything, still don’t get it. The same frequencies now don’t match, and we start making the perception that we can’t gel with them, and either of us starts to keep a distance that with time turns into a void. 

If you talk to or notice a musician (maybe someone who plays a string instrument like a guitar or violin), you would see them tuning their instruments like loosening or tightening the strings of their instrument, so that the group can perform in tune with each other and be in harmony. Do you know of someone who tuned their frequency to match someone else’s? If the instruments can be tuned why not the people?

This is the time, where I go back to the quote I shared in the beginning. This verse comes from the Bhagavad Gita (Verse 6.31). You can easily find the translation over the internet, which goes like this:

The yogi who is established in union with Me, and worships Me as the Supreme Soul residing in all beings, dwells only in Me, though engaged in all kinds of activities.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says that he resides in each one of us, as the supreme soul. We keep searching for the almighty in different corners of the world, over the mountains, along the sea shore, and atop the volcano, but do we recognize him as the supreme soul in each of us? Do we identify him in ourselves? Do we identify him in others? (He is there, not just in humans, but in every species of the world) If I have the same supreme soul as the other person, why can’t I tune my frequency to match with others (now since we both have the same supreme soul)?

It is naturally understandable that matching the frequencies with everyone isn’t as easy as it sounds. However, the major challenge is not whether we can match or not, but do we want to match or not. 

I always wanted to share a recent incident from my life. At my workplace, I was nominated for a training program designed to nurture emerging talents in the organization. The thought of such a training was so motivating, however, when it was all starting, there were 25-30 unknown people. The people who I don’t know, and who don’t know me either. Yet, there was one thing in common, which we all knew, that all of us are talented. As the training progressed, and the ice broke, the training sessions got better and better. Each of our trainers wasn’t explaining to us anything new, but what they tried was to facilitate an environment, where a group of talents in a room, are talking to each other. On the last day of the training, I remember we had developed such faith in each other that we were talking about our problems and helping each other solve them. A group of people unaware of each other’s frequency, aligned and created the symphony. 

When such things happen naturally, they happen so beautifully that at times they don’t feel real. Just like those amazing people, there are many other people who I met, physically as well as virtually, who never fail to inspire me. I know about the people who have faced such storms in their lives that no one would wish for. Someone does the poetry, someone plays piano and the Mandal art. Someone is a fitness freak, yet they never let the music pause in their life. 

Till now, we talked about the music and putting the effort to match the frequencies, but what happens when you tight the string too much? They break apart! So does the relationship. Nothing can be sustained in the universe if there is no balance, even the music. Claude Debussy said, “Music is the space between the notes.” The silence between the notes, allows the emotions to be expressed with their true potential. 

At times, we try so hard to tune the frequency, that we miss out where we should actually stop. We start feeling low, devalued, and for granted. We start believing we are not worthy. This leads to situations, where we even stop tuning the frequencies where we actually should. This is where Vartamanah comes into the picture. To be mindful about the moment, of what we are doing? 

From the same training, we learned about the technique of Zoom In, Zoom Out! If you ever feel dubious while tuning your frequency, always zoom out and see the situation from a different pair of eyes, and then decide whether you want to tune in or not. And in case, you are unsure of who the other person is, zoom in, like we did in the training, to each other’s life and try to know each other better. Understand where they are coming from, and then decide if you are ready to tune in.

With this thought, I hope you make a beautiful symphony for yourself! Yet, before I sign off, I leave you with the same question,

If life is music, a symphony, then all the people around us, who we meet, knowingly or unknowingly, the ones we spend time with, the ones we share our emotions with, who are they in our music?

Wishing for your everlasting laughter and joy,
– Navneet