Recently I was privileged to read two unique autobiographies of spiritual masters- the Gurus in real sense. One was autobiography of Sri M and second was of Swami Sri Rajashri Muni. Both living legends, gracing the world through their infinite wisdom and energy to bring about a consciousness change/ shift in the society. Immediately after that, I was reading a spiritual travelogue by Sri Amrutlal Vegad, called “Parikrama Narmada Maiya Ni”- the circumvention of river Narmada.
The profound insights from these books made me think of how these legends live in present. Living one day at a time, literally. Not only the Gurus, but also the tribal communities, sages, monks and others have chose to live in that way. They do not worry about the future, they do not store wealth for future- they live 100% in the present. Perhaps, living every moment to its depth and maxims gives the true essence of life.
Living in a daily compartments has also been suggested in a classic book by Dale Carnegie on “How to stop worrying and start living”. This made me think of how would I live, if I had to live in a ‘a day tight compartment’, meaning living each day as if it compressed all crucial aspects of life in 24 hours. Well, a little soul searching, and it was not very difficult to figure it out, what an ideal day for me would be, considering all practical aspects.
I would divide a day into four major parts:
1) 4 AM to 9 AM- Sadhana: Which would include meditation, a brief time for writing, walk or run and Yoga. Essentially, it would be “My Time” for my spiritual practice- Sadhana, which would be source of energy and guidance for rest of my day. This would also include well being for my body and mind with exercises, yoga, pranayama, walk/run and little bit of writing.
2) 10 AM to 4PM- Karma: This time would be essentially devoted to earn the living and well being of my family, relatives and friends. Office work, income generation, meetings, networking etc
3) 4PM to 6PM- Gyan and Seva: Basically, in this period I would like to contribute my skills, knowledge, money, assets and influence for betterment of society. It can be either by volunteering to some cause like environment, children or spirituality, which are my favourites. Also working, playing with children (the unprivileged ones), or donating to some cause. My personal learning is also enhanced in this time by reading books and contemplating on socially relevant topics. So this time is basically for compassion, service and capacity building to connect with society and contribute to its well being.
4) 7PM to 10 PM- Utsav- The celebration: At the end of the day, life should be celebrated. The spiritual masters of Himalalyas- especially from ‘Nath’ tradition, lit the fire (bon fire) every evening and sit beside fire, meditating, talking and celebrating. They call it “Dhuni” (in Gujarati Dhuni Dhakhavavi). The tribals, after a hard labourous day, get together at night under the open sky to dance and sing on the beats of music, forgetting their worries and pains. Ultimately, you have to end your day on high note of satisfaction and celebrate the existence. And in the process, be grateful to the higher energies for your life experiences.
Harder you work in the day, more you accomplish in the day, more is the satisfaction and bigger is the celebration. So its rightly said, “work hard, play harder”. Thus before end of the day, before I go to sleep and transit into another day, I want to celebrate life.
In nut shell, the sequence of the day compartments would be:
Sadhana- Karm- Seva- Utsav
This way, ‘a day’ lived will be full of life, engaging, enriching, nurturing and celebrating the process called life.
