Human beings want more and more of everything. Bigger homes and goods, larger TVs and mobiles, faster cars and bikes, heftier bank accounts, richer life style, fancier pet breeds, longer than 15 minutes of fame and so on.
While there’s nothing wrong with aspiring for more (wonderful beings like Robin Sharma will be jobless otherwise), what they don’t realize is craving for more often leads to less. Paradoxical, but true.
Choiceless means no choice left, not less number of choices. Hobson’s choice is the choiceless choice. But Life is full of choices and one must take the chance to pick a choice!
All those electronics superstore ads (IPL, May day, Summer vacation… pretty much any day is a good day for offers and freebies) woo you to upgrade your TV to an 85” 4K TV. 0% EMI makes it even more tempting. Other you’re your better half’s raised eyebrows (and a potential dinner and post-dinner cut ;), nothing’s going to stop you from acquiring your latest and greatest gadget. But the moment you land in that swanky superstore, you see a million choices in front of you, teasing and taunting you to try and buy. Making a choice becomes so hard that you may end up making your better half happy! Even if you made the choice – informed or otherwise, you’ve to also buy missile proof armour to protect yourself when that TV gets delivered at home. Hmm.. how nice it would’ve been to be choiceless and settle for that home cooked dinner!
Voiceless means no voice, not less voice. The voiceless can speak of course, but their voice isn’t of any value.
Those of you who’ve cowered at that raised eyebrow and the prospect of not getting dinner may be called voiceless by those who make a lot of noise about anything. That smug smile on your face after a sumptuous dinner tells a tale, eh?
Careless means doesn’t care, not less care. If you’re habitually careless, others will stop caring about you!
One must be careful while acquiring anything as the world is full of fake or not-so-good imitations of the really good stuff (invariably more expensive), which boast of the same kind of firepower as the exalted brands. Being careless can actually put a big hole not just your wallet but also in that funny thing called ego.
Reckless means hasty, rash and irresponsible, not less (w)reck. It’s another matter that reckless behaviour invariably leads to some form of a wreck!
It’s quite normal for humans to be reckless based on assumed knowledge about anything and everything, due to their overrated sixth sense. But some wreck or other faithfully follows recklessness like a dog following its master.
Pointless means there’s no point in trying hard, not less points for either being reckless or obsessively aiming for perfection in everything – by the self or others.
Perfection is a mirage, for we’re all imperfect creatures, whether we like it or not. So, what’s the point in pretending to be perfect in whatever we do?
Tasteless means lack of taste, not less taste. And being tasteless has nothing to do with food, but with pretty much everything else in Life.
Eggless means (for the gastronomically oriented Annamaya kosha beings!) no egg, not less egg. Speaking of eggs, the next time you gobble up a half-boiled or an omelette, you might want to remind yourself that they’re none other than aborted life forms, that which could’ve been a chicken, but aborted well before they were born! We know how the mother of an aborted baby feels, don’t we? That’s pretty tasteless for someone who boasts about having one more sense than that poor eatable 😦
Senseless means total lack of sense – common or sensory ones. Being senseless can be construed as lack of sanity as well. Or as nonsense, which isn’t any different from no sense, whatsoever.
Human beings are sensitive creatures. At least many are. But if we limit ourselves to being sensitive about self-preservation only, then we’re missing the whole point about Life, the way it is. That would be a pretty senseless way to live this precious Life!
Breathless means out of breath, not less breaths. We’re breathless whenever we’re choiceless, voiceless, careless, reckless, pointless, tasteless and senseless. Which is pretty much all the time!
Have you ever observed your breath when you’re upset about your…
- Inability to make a choice or raise your voice – like when you’re in front of your boss, at home or work?
- Incredulity at the disastrous result of being careless or reckless – like when you met with or witnessed an accident?
- Insensitivity about doing something that’s senseless or tasteless – like those pointless weekly BAU meetings you attend without fail?
In all such situations, if you cared to observe your breath, it’ll be much faster than your normal breath. Well, probably not the last one, as you might anyway be half asleep (the pros will be fully asleep, with their eyes wide open)!
When you breathe faster, you age faster. Perplexed? It may be worth remembering that your lifespan is nothing but the number of breaths, not the number of years or days you live.
Dogs and Cats breathe faster. Their lifespan is short – just about 12-14 years. That includes your cuddly pet with adorable almond eyes and fluffy tail, with very few exceptions.
All the big cats breathe faster, especially when they hunt. They live just twice as long as dogs.
Alligators live as long as humans, as they can remain still in water waiting for pray for a long time, when their breath naturally slows down.
Elephants breathe much slower. Their long breaths result in a longer lifespan – longer than average humans. It helps that they’re usually sedate and remained vegetarian!
Tortoises and Swans live twice as long as humans, which is in direct correlation to their breath. It helps that they’re slow and elegant, not putting themselves under pressure, which typically is brought upon them by none other than the two legged beasts called humans!
So the secret of a long lifespan is to manage, regulate and control one’s breath.
Ouch, there goes up in the air all those cosmetic nips and tucks, special potions and diet fads!
There’s a whole science called Pranayama to do just that. It is said that sages lived for many hundreds of years. That isn’t baloney for they truly have mastered their breath and ate natural food, frugally to stretch their lifespans at will! And they’ve also managed to shed the other life limiter called ego.
Egoless means absolute lack of ego, not a little less of an all-encompassing mushroom cloud like monster ego. Letting go of that cloud that shrouds reality is the first and most important step for self-realization.
All the self-realized Sages, Mystics and Yogis have managed to do that and meditated for long periods in silence to still the mind, which keeps fanning the ego fire tirelessly!
Noiseless means silence, not less noise. Silence is the most powerful sound as AUM, the origin of everything, came out of absolute silence.
Life came into being when the sacred sound manifested from the unmanifest. Only in silence, one can converse with the true self. For seekers who strive to experience and live Life the way it is, Silence is the way!
We always breathe more, speak more and think about ourselves more. Is it any wonder that we also worry more and thereby reduce our Life to a wreck? A clear case of more leading to less!
The way to a joyful, healthier, longer and more fulfilling Life is to breathe less, speak less and think less about ourselves. And that’s precisely why Less is More!
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Swamystery 
Wonderful post, Swamy. it initially looked long (and thats why i kept procrastinating thereading of this) but once i got to it, the floww was smooth and seamless and i didn’t realize that i’d reached teh end of the post! Beautiful and ChanceLESS!!!
Thanks MM. This was supposed to have been an even shorter post (see my response to Ekanth)! Eventually the aim is to write posts with just Kural/Tweet size sentences (A-Z of Life is indicative of the ‘turn’ that Swamy’s taking – all 26 of them have also been published as Sweets 🙂
Very useful & informative post. thanks. eager to know what prompted you to realise there are much more to life or human being to understand which are permanent than material things and not permanent
One word – Guru! Life changed when my Master’s grace descended upon this self B:)
Cool post Prakash! I loved it because it was light and yet very impactful. The way you have clarified the meaning of choiceless, voiceless, careless, senseless, etc is amazing 🙂 Many of us are actually clueless about these things but you have thrown a huge 1000 v light on these dark (or semi-dark) areas.
I enjoyed the part where you have equated life to the total number of breathe in breate out cycles we are gifted with and I will try to regulate the same consciously at least few minutes a day.
BTW, what triggered you write this post? Any specific incident?
Thanks Ekanth. Tried following the KISS principle I’ve been telling everyone about. The final version is actually longer than I intended it to be! 2 triggers – 1st is the post title I’ve jotted down a while ago (which can still lead to another post 😉 and 2nd is the practices I’m going through, preparing for Samyama 🙂
I guess your Samyama experience is actually going to transform a lot more people than intended to through your words & experience sharing… Really looking forward to grasping as much as possible from you experience!