Paradise is...

I ended the previous article by saying that "the paradise that I have regained isn’t?just?in the *package* and the *title* that I have today; it is in so many other things that I got in the process of losing and regaining paradise." Here's what those other things are...

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Nearly 150,000 people die every day. Assuming that 50 people considered each one of these as a loved one, 7.5 million people in the world (~ 0.1% of the world population) lose a loved one every day. So Sadhguru says, “If you wake up in the morning and all your loved ones do too, that in itself is enough to be happy, content, and peaceful.”

Paradise is in knowing that what he is saying is true.

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About 15 years back, Marcos Baghdatis beat Lleyton Hewitt in the quarter finals of the 2006 Wimbledon Championships. While running to the net to shake Lleyton’s hand, he looked up to the heavens, kissed the cross at the end of the gold chain that he was wearing, and smiled. In the next match, he lost to Rafael Nadal. While running to the net to shake Nadal's hand, he looked up to the heavens, kissed the cross at the end of the gold chain that he was wearing, and smiled!!!

If you make a video of the above two scenes, it won’t even be 15 seconds long. But it is enough to completely change your life because it embodies the attitude that is required to be happy, content, and peaceful. After the quarter final win, Baghdatis was thanking the Almighty not because he won but because he was healthy and therefore able to give his best that day. After the semi-final, Baghdatis was able to give his best as well and therefore he did the same despite the loss.

Here’s another story that reinforces the same point. I got term life insurance recently. As part of the process, I had to answer many questions: 1) Do you have any chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes? 2) Do you have any heart condition? 3) Do you have any renal problems? 4) Do you have any liver problems? 5) Do you have any pulmonary problems like asthma, bronchitis, or COPD? 6) Do you have any problems of the joints? 7) Do you have any autoimmune diseases? 8) Do you have cancer or have you ever had cancer in the past? 9) Have you ever had any surgery? 10) Have you ever been hospitalized for more than 7 days? And so on and so forth.

I could answer no to all the above questions.

Paradise is in the knowledge that if you are healthy and can give your best to whatever it is that you are doing, you are luckier than tens of millions of people in the world, who suffer from all kinds of health problems.

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Due to the coronavirus pandemic, more than 80 million people worldwide lost their jobs! Assuming that each job loss affected five other people, this pandemic has wreaked havoc in the lives of half a billion people! That’s one out of every 15 in the world!

Paradise is in the realization that if you have a job and are getting three square meals a day, you are lucky. If you have a good job that pays well, you are really lucky. If you got a raise last year, you are privileged. If you have anything more than that, you have absolutely nothing to complain about; you should be counting your blessings instead!

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There is a very famous shloka in the Bhagvad Gita which says, ??????????????????? ?? ????? ?????. It means you have to keep performing your duties without expecting the fruits. Essentially, it’s advising us to be connected and detached (having a distance between one’s emotions and the results of one’s actions). But CEP (Mr. C. E. Potnis, the Founder of Nitor Infotech, and a gem of a person) once told me, “Many people are disconnected (having a distance between one's emotions and the process of doing one’s actions) and attached, which is the exact opposite of what they should be!” He went on to add, “That is a recipe for disaster and unimaginable suffering.”

Paradise is in the knowledge that paradise is not a place but a state of mind, where you are where you want to be, doing (out of your own free will) what you are good at.

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Hell, on the other hand, is the opposite of paradise, when you are where you don’t want to be, doing what you don’t want to do. But sometimes you can make peace with your surroundings, and find reasons to not hate but like what you are doing.

If a change is required in the external world, who’s stopping you from bringing about that change? Many people who chose to do that are the ones who ended up making history. Here is a list of 17 people who have changed the world as we know it . But apart from these famous people, there are countless other “regular” people who choose to do this on a daily basis, are able to bring about some tangible change in their surroundings albeit on a much smaller scale (which is why we never hear about it), make a positive impact on their lives as well as the lives of others, get a tremendous amount of satisfaction in the process, and therefore lead fulfilling lives.

Paradise is in knowing that sometimes a slight change in your attitude can help you take a giant step towards paradise. It is also in knowing that if a change is required in the external world, you can make it happen because you are not powerless. All you have to do is remember that every journey, no matter how long, challenging, and daunting, starts with a single step and then take that first step.

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Most people think that you have to do something first and then you will feel awesome / happy / content / peaceful. In other words, the question that everybody is trying to answer is, “What do I have to do to unlock the doors to paradise?”

Paradise is in the realization that the doors to paradise are wide open! All you have to do is walk in. And then you start doing awesome things.

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This article is part of a series of articles on self-improvement for working professionals .