Memories are cosy. Mind racing into the past feels like homecoming. Who doesn’t cherish meeting people from the past in an attempt to relive it. Like a child, reluctant to go to his first school, leaving behind the cosiness and familiarity of home, one clings to the memories for comfort.  There is a point in time when one wishes to go back to either reengineer or experience once again those moments. 

A chance meeting with someone after decades , fills you with joy now. You once passed by  the person every day but didn’t care to extend enough courtesy , since you were in a hurry to be somewhere to find something. But now you stop and greet him with an open heart , leaving aside all urgencies.   

“Oh ! That was so not complex ; he had a heart of gold; her smile was infectious; food never tasted the same again ; those mornings were so carefree ;  there used to be something in the air as it exuded a pleasant warmth; those eyes spoke million words when they met mine, why do they look like a wall now?” Nostalgia has no bounds.

Ever revisited those places that had started to feel forbidden overtime as circumstances drifted you away, only to find that  no one you knew lives there anymore? There are younger faces going about their lives , walking through the same streets you once frequented. No one knows that it was you who they had replaced, that you were there even before they existed. Now it is their world and you are redundant. There are strange faces staring at you , greeting you as if you were a stranger. You are the forgotten past so blurred  and they are the living realty.

The regrets can be gut wrenching. I wish I never had taken that decision, my life would not have been this. Why me god? I wish I had known her better and not let her go. The overconfident person who I was , underestimated everyone else ? Now you see they are doing so much better than me. I wish I had seen this coming.  You lived in victimhood , feeling like the lowest in the rung of the ecological chain, but seriously you  weren’t that bad either. You wish you had discovered yourself sooner , what can be done now?

Did you ever try to recreate the moments gone by; met old acquaintances, friends , neighbours, a lover you deserted or vice versa, in the hope that you may once again see the same familiarity in their eyes and immerse yourself in  those forgotten vibes and emotions that made you to laugh and  cry once upon a time? Alas, you  will neither get back the comfort of the familiarity nor the  same laughter or the tears . People move on, circumstances transform them into their newer versions, unknown to you. Once again you watch everything move past you without realising that time raced and you too moved on, however for a moment your mind stood still seeking what was.

Why does mind trick us into constantly seeking that which is out of sight, creating desires  and keeping us in a constant state of yearning, while making us oblivious about what is here and now? Things far off appear beautiful, both past and the aspired future. 

Here and now is mine, so I take it for granted but I don’t treat with same indifference the years gone by or the future which I have yet to see. My next-door neighbour will perhaps get my warm greetings, when I meet him by chance somewhere unexpectedly,  after having been separated from him for years. 

Khalil Gibran says, “It is said that before entering the sea  a river trembles with fear. She looks back at the path she has travelled, from the peaks of the mountains, the long winding road crossing forests and villages. And in front of her, she sees an ocean so vast, that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever. But there is no other way. The river cannot go back. Nobody can go back. To go back is impossible in existence. The river needs to take the risk of entering the ocean because only then will fear disappear, because that’s where the river will know it’s not about disappearing into the ocean, but of becoming the ocean.

“The deer wanders in search of  the fragrance produced by the musk which lies in its own naval. It wanders through the forest , chasing the scent, thinking it is outside. So do we seek gratification from people, and objects that surround us. It is insane , laying high stakes on something that is ephemeral.

What is everlasting then, something to hold on to, something that promises eternal bliss ? 

Arthur Holly Compton, a Nobel Laureate in Physics once said that the entire universe and the existence of humans is strangely planned. The universe is not random or chaotic , It follows a pattern, structure, and laws. Such planning , suggests the existence of a supreme intelligence – God!

The idea expressed by Arthur Holly Compton finds a deep resonance in Indian philosophy. The Upanishads describe this universal intelligence as Brahman, the ultimate reality that pervades and sustains everything. Within each individual resides Atman, the individual  consciousness, which is not separate but a part or more accurately, an expression of this universal consciousness ( Brahman). As individual self-awareness evolves, they begin to recognise their individual consciousness as  intrinsic to the universal consciousness. The awakening dissolves the illusion of separateness and reveals the inherent divinity within oneself. It is this realisation, captured in the mahavakya “Tat Tvam Asi,” that leads to a profound sense of unity, inner freedom, and ultimately, a state of enduring bliss  or Ananda.

In simple terms, when we truly accept that everything around us is impermanent, and learn to detach ourselves from the worldly temptations triggered by the senses, we develop a sense of equanimity—the ability to embrace both positive and negative experiences, joy and sorrow, success and failure, with equal ease. This inner balance liberates us, ultimately leading to  true freedom and eternal bliss.   

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