A question haunts me ever since I developed enough brain cells to think on my own and neglect the advice of those around me. The question is ‘What do I have to be?’

While in school, I wanted to be an engineer. Once I passed school, I wanted to be a musician, wrote songs, sung them among friends who liked them too. Few years later, I wanted to be an accountant because earning money was the top priority in my life, then I wanted to be a businessman because I figured out that a salaried person cannot become financially free but money was the main topic of concern even then.

It was when I started living alone, in 2007, I came face to face with the magna-level vastness of this simple question ‘What do I have to be?’ Being rich seemed so small, being successful didn’t even matter. I was clueless about what I wanted to be. Being unsure about one’s own vision about life should be considered as a mental illness. Science says only 10 percent of human brain is active during our entire lives. The phenomena which is not understood by the brain is put into the categories such as super-natural incidents, near death experiences, after life etc.

If the human mind is divided into ten parts, it will appear that one part of it is conscious while the remaining nine are unconscious. Nine parts are in the dark unconscious; only a small portion, one
tenth of the mind, ten percent of the total mind is awake. It is this conscious mind that doubts, thinks, ponders. If this conscious
mind is somehow put to sleep, then the remaining nine parts would become totally active and miracles will take place without any questions being asked, without any doubts being raised. We do not dream when we are awake, dreams happen when we are asleep and the active mind is a little less active than it  normally is.

There is a very confusing quote, as it appears to me, it goes like “Our mind is like a parachute, it works best when open.” The confusion is that to achieve something one has to concentrate and works towards his goal with all the will and positivity. The mind has to be singled out to achieve an objective. But, when we are single minded, we are one dimensional. Our mind becomes narrower and narrower and remains focused on one point. This is concentration. If one has to learn the art of shooting or archery, single-mindedness might work. Remember how Arjun was just seeing the eye of the fish while practicing bow & arrow along with all the Pandavas & Kauravas? That’s concentration.

Therefore, a question that arises in my mind is that scholars have always told us to have an open mind, but when mind is opened up, that’s spacing out, the narrow vision of concentration has to be lost. An open mind becomes a wandering mind. If you are cutting onions and thinking about a person, there is a big chance of getting your finger cut, which is harmful and which would happen because of your lack of concentration. It is dangerous, you are not where you are supposed to be, you are not what you are supposed to be and you are not doing what you are supposed to do.

An idea struck me while writing ‘To Be, Or Not To Be’. I thought of starting a writing series on ‘being’ and not just ‘being’ but ‘being someone’ that we already are but are not aware of, or are not giving our already present being enough space to grow and get noticed. Being is unique for each one, each human being, each animal, each bird, each grain of sand, each moment that exists is unique. Uniqueness is nature’s habit. Nature never repeats itself, that’s its beauty and its creativity. Human beings are not produced on an assembly line like cars, where every minute one car comes out just the same. The predecessor was the same, the successor is going to be the same. Machines can be the same, man cannot be.

The most important aspect of being is that we should never try to be somebody else. From our very childhood we are being conditioned that we are good for nothing, unworthy as we are, that we have to prove ourselves be becoming someone, that being what we are is just not worth it. In my childhood I was never an obedient child, and I am glad I have remained the same. Now nobody gives me orders, so my disobedience has no way to express itself. People accept us the way we are after a while, but first we need to accept ourselves and stop trying to change ourselves.

I am not saying be disobedient to everything. Try to use your intelligence. If it is worth obeying, if it is according to your intelligence, your feelings, your heart, then you are not obeying anybody else; you are doing your thing. If it is against your reason, your intelligence, your being, then whatever the cost, disobey it. I am not special, people who try to prove themselves are special, they become successful, they are recognized, they are remembered. If I ever get a chance to choose between being me and being special, I would choose being me and a specialty will automatically get attached with me.

I plan to write on ‘Being Series’ for the next few months, I am trying to create a pattern for the readers of muktimantra.com. The day we decided to launch muktimantra.com, we decided that we will not write the regular stuff, we will not write about the current affairs or the ipl or the politics, we decided that we will write with a level of great maturity and with the kind of feedback we receive everyday we are grateful and thankful to each and every reader who has read any article on muktimantra.com even once. Maturation is an ongoing process. There is no full stop, not even a semi colon anywhere, it goes on. The universe is infinite, so is the possibility of maturing. Remember, we are not the containers, we are the content. Forms and appearances might change but its our being that shall remain the same.

Thank You and Happy Reading!