Happiness comes with a balanced life. The more extreme waters one dives into, the more is his probability of being unhappy, until and unless one is extraordinarily dexterous diver, the skill which often comes with rigorous practice and good experience and is measured in terms of some previous visible results.

But then there are Human passions, to rise up to the sky and to aim for the stars. The passions which makes the Humans, the more passionate human beings. So what life should one live… The life of simplistic mediocrity or the life of brisk passions aiming at the mountain paramount.

This choice differs from person to person. While some may choose the happy mediocrity the others may choose the anxious extraordinariness. The former choice is less risky and the benefits drawn from this choice is often fair, not too big neither too meagre. The latter choice is risky, it is win or loose battle for you. You bet a lot on it, you either increase your possessions multifold or you loose them all at once.

So what leads to happiness, mediocrity or going for extraordinariness!! Mediocrity appears simplistic and happy venture but if you realize you have some greater potentials and have courage to go after that religiously, the path of mediocrity will fill you with dissatisfaction of your potentials not being utilized fully. Your life turns boring and sense of hollowness in life enlarges, which ultimately leads to a unhappiness.

Now the big problem is realization of one’s true potentials. The Human being is a superior species, and the superiority complex never totally goes away. From time to time, in ways innumerable, it dresses itself neatly and reflects in our activities and decisions. So deep down we all have a sense of feeling that we have a remarkable potentials but the game of potentials is very tough to judge since it is at constant flux with the process called life.

Potentials are not inborn, they are acquired in life. They are acquired through actions, through efforts, through clear thinking and through the grit to excel in desired field. They are built and sharpened by the constant practice and smart hardwork.

So if we all have capabilities to attain extraordinary potentials and we all understand this fact well, why does it happens that only few really excels and rest all keep sailing round the muddled waters. The reason is simple, The ACTIONS. You are rewarded for your actions and your results, not for your words and thoughts. Words and thoughts can temporarily fill the void, can propel actions, but it’s ultimately the disciplined actions that counts and which makes you achieve what you desire, in turn leading to happiness.

Does chasing the extraordinary always brings happiness. The answer is NO. There is lot at stake, It’s a risky enterprise but still one should not step back from delving into the venture if he takes a very calculated risk and understand the intensity of his aspirations well. Also one should not forget that life changes continuously. Nothing is constant in life except change itself. When life situations changes, aspirations also changes and passions also undergoes a shift. Nothing is everlasting, not even your thoughts and passions.

To sum up, don’t go for extremities, follow the middle path. Realize your potentials, work well to build them up. Realizing your inherent nature and true potentials, aspire for whatever you desire, mediocrity or extraordinariness, anything which can fetch you happiness in long run. The life is yours, live is well like a winner.

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When madhushla book was released it was highly criticized by the people that it encourages the people to get drunk. Bachchan tried multiple times through multiple ways to make people understand that he used madhushla, hala, pyala and saki as the metaphors in the book to explore the new dimentions of the life and express his understanding of the life by using these as the mere symbols. But a big population of the society of that time was not mature enough to understand his great philophical vision and they kept on attacking him for the same. The matter got so worsened that the book was on the verge of getting banned and The Mahatma Gandhi called Mr Bachchan to explain what he actually wanted to convey through his book. Fortunately Bachchan was able to convince Gandhiji what his real intentions were while he wrote this book. After that the book sailed through and went on to become one of the finest bestseller poetry book every written in hindi literature.

To be continued….

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युँ तो बहुत समय बीता बनारस हिन्दू यूनिवर्सिटी की  लाइब्रेरी में, पर वहाँ बिताया गया वो पहला दिन सबसे यादगार रहा| वो सर्दियों का दिन था, प्रथम वर्ष का दूसरा सेमेस्टर नया नया प्रारंभ हुआ था, पढा़ई का बोझ भी कम था| सूर्य की किरणें मन को प्रफुल्लित कर रहीं थी और एक अजीब सी बेफिक्री मन पाँव पसार रही थी| यह सोच के बीएचयू में प्रवेश लिया था कि आगामी चार वर्षों में साहित्य का रसास्वादन तो करना है, लेकिन कैसे करना है इस बात पर आकर बात अक्सर ठिठक जाती थी| इसी बात को आकार देने उस दिन पहली बार कदमों ने रुख किया था केन्द्रीय ग्रन्थालय का|

एक बडा़ सा सेन्ट्रल हॉल, सुव्यवस्थित कुर्सी मेजें और वहाँ की फिजा़ओं में घुला एक रूहानीपन, किसी भी नए व्यक्ति को आकर्षित करने का और उसमें सकारात्मक ऊर्जा का नवप्रवाह करवाने का संपूर्ण सामर्थ्य रखता है|

मैं हिन्दी स्टैक सेक्शन गया , वहाँ किताबों का हुजूम था एक , काफी वक्त दुविधा में रहने के बाद अंतत: एक किताब चुनी- ‘नीड़ का निर्माण फिर’| यह श्री हरिवंशराय बच्चन की आत्मकथा के चार भागों में से तीसरा भाग था| दसवीं में नीड़ का निर्माण नामक एक कविता स्कूल में पढ़ी थी, जिसने उस वक्त मुझे बहुत प्रभावित किया था| इसी लिए इतनी सारी पुस्तकों में से इस किताब ने विशेष ध्यान आकर्षित किया|

दोपहर के 12:30 बज रहे थे| मैं पुस्तक लेकर बाहर हॉल में आ गया और पढ़ना प्रारंभ किया| लगभग ६-७ घंटों में एक लय में पूरी पुस्तक पढ़ डाली| इतना एकाग्रचित्त होकर शायद इससे पहले कोई पुस्तक नहीं पढ़ी थी| उस पुस्तक को उस वक्त पढ़ने का जो अहसास था, वैसा ही अब भी हो, इसकी उम्मीद कम है| उस दिन खुद को भूलकर कुछ घंटों के लिए हरिवंश राय बच्चन जी के जीवन सफर को जिया था मैंने| बेहतरीन हिंदी भाषा में लिखी गयी एक उत्कृष्ट पुस्तक थी ‘नीड़ का निर्माण फिर’| बच्चन जी की लेखनी में जादू था एक, हिप्नोटाइज़ कर लेते थे अपनी लेखन शैली से वह| ज्ञान, मनोविज्ञान, अप्रतिम शब्द संरचना और मार्मिक भावावेग का प्रफुल्ल संगम था उनका लेखन संसार|

रात के ८ बज रहे थे| एक सफल और जीवन पर्यन्त याद रहने वाला दिवस, अपने अन्त को आ रहा था| छात्रावास को लौटते हुए, कुछ पंक्तियाँ गूँज रही थी अंतस में, ‘नीड़ का निर्माण फिर फिर, सृष्टि का आह्वान फिर फिर…”

On the dreary day,
Trudging the lonely path,
I saw the tamarind tree,
Underneath which,
I took a little pause.

The sun was on its high,
winds were swirling slow,
I felt the desires within me,
Still in the rhythmic fashions,
grow and grow and grow.

Long seemed the path,
Which I had to tread on,
My heart to me whispered,
Be patient and toil on and on.

The brooks of passions,
That runs through the veins,
must flow with evolving spirits,
Coz they slay the hurdles,
And turn on blissful rains.

Travellers we all are,
We have our own paths and seasons,
Some have freezing winters within,
While some faces scorching summers outside,
Walk with grace,
Whatever be the season in and out,
You will see your springs blossoming,
That’s sure without any doubt.

Some say World cannot live peacefully without religion, Some say the religion divides and spreads hatred, from what little I have experienced of religion, I say it is not as simple as that.

It is our approach towards the religion which decides wheather it will holistically establish the peace in human souls or it will end up being a tool of massive destruction of human rationality and conscience. 

Religion is like an idea, indeed a novel idea, the implications of which on being adopted, can be both wonderous or gruesome, and that depends on adoptor not solely on idea itself. A person who adopts this idea with a bindfolded mind, recognising his idea as the most sacred and superior one and considering every other idea as the ruthless shit, has a huge probability of creating the gruesome impacts.

Religion can not be forcefully imposed on any individual, the vibes should come from within, to make its purpose meaningful and to feel its real essence. A athiest can never be a thiest when he is told or compelled to be so.

Those who argue against religion must know that not any single thing in this world is completely free of vices. Perfection is ideal and ideal conditions don’t exist in reality. Similarly the idea of religion also has a vices and imperfections associated with it. But blindfolded and numb minded is the one, who is not able to see a single virtue in religion.

Religion should be a private affair. The one who follows religion without harming the others anyhow, is never wrong. The need of the time is to open mindedly understand the philosophy of religion, completely disregarding those ideas portrayed in the religion which one considers irrational or unjust and imbibing deep within those positive preachings from it which have a potential to contribute in betterment of mankind.