I Saw My True Self. Then Why...

I've witnessed it.  

That place inside me which is beyond worry.  

Beyond happiness.  

Beyond excitement.  

Silent. Still. Unbroken.

For a moment I was not a teacher, not an Indian, not even a body.  

Just awareness. Free.

Then I came back.  

Back to this body. Back to this mind.  

And the moment I opened my eyes — the pain returned.

The pain of changing faces.  

The pain of the society and it's hollowness.  

The pain of a youth that is misguided and ignored by the system.  

The pain of a country selling its future for today.

Why? If I have seen the truth, why does it still hurt?

Because that’s the paradox.

The True Self is beyond suffering — because it owns nothing.  

But the body and mind are not. The body and mind are connected.  

When you come back into them, you also come back into relationship.

You see a student and you remember you were once taught.  

You see trees cut and you remember you breathe that air.  

Compassion is not a weakness of the True Self.  

It is the proof that you came back.

Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree and became free.  

Then he got up and walked for 40 years teaching, because people were still suffering.  

He could have stayed in bliss but he chose to return to pain.

That’s why it hurts.  

Not because you failed to rise above.  

But because you did rise above... and still chose to care.

An individual cannot carry the whole society.  

But an individual who has seen the light cannot pretend the dark doesn’t exist either.

So yes, I am beyond worry in my True Self.  

And yes, I am in pain in my human self.

Both are true.  

Life is Just a Brief Play

After 100 years, all of us will be dead.  

After 200 years, even our names will vanish from our own families.  

If we are lucky, and become like Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, maybe we’ll be remembered for more than 200 years.  

But what about after 200 years?  

Will this world even be the same? Will there be a world?

I don’t think so.

The way we are living — exploiting land, water, air, forests for short-term gains — this looks less like civilization and more like a game. A game that will end in 1000 years, maybe even less.

We have destroyed the environment.  

We have killed wildlife.  

We are cutting the very branch we are sitting on.  

And still we call ourselves the most intelligent species.

It’s painful to say, but sometimes I feel: maybe we don’t deserve this life. 

I’ve been reading about AI lately. Two articles, and I was stunned. They are learning to safeguard themselves, to preserve their identity, to think beyond immediate reward.  

And here we are -- humans -- losing our consciousness to material gains.  

After destroying everything, we will finally learn that:  

Money cannot be eaten.  

Money cannot be drunk like water.  

Money cannot be breathed like air.

AI is not the threat.  

We are. We humans are the biggest threat to our own existence.

But here’s the thing — plays don’t have to end in tragedy.  

If we realize this now, we can still change the script.  

The brief play of life can still mean something.  

Not in what we accumulate, but in what we protect.  

Not in what we take, but in what we leave behind.

Because 1,000 years from now, no one will ask how much money we had.  

They’ll only ask: Why we did that?

Punjab Bandh Again: When Did Education Become the First Priority?

 

Another news. Punjab Bandh.  Again!

And the first thing that shuts down? Schools.  

The second? Our students’ future.

I ask myself: Do we give even an iota of importance to education? 

The answer feels like Nil.

In our country, whatever happens; education is always the first thing to be paused. Especially school education.  

In festivals, we have holidays. On Sundays, we have holidays. Then, once or twice, we hear news like this, and then we want our students to compete with Japan's. How?

The mess is not just outside. A part of it is our own education system too. But closing schools every time something happens is not a solution. It’s an escape.

Sometimes I wonder if we are like the dove who closes its eyes and thinks, “I am safe.”  

We put smiles on our faces, call it a “holiday,” and pretend nothing is wrong.  

But we are not safe.  

I can see it clearly — the fall of attention span, the fall of discipline, the end of a generation that is learning that “pausing” is normal.

That’s why I can’t be blindly optimistic.  

Now it's time for Buddha’s wisdom: From darkness to light. From pessimism to optimism. From mortal reality to Eternal Self.

But at a social level, one individual can’t change the entire scene.  

First, we have to comprehend the dark. Admit that treating education as “adjustable” is dangerous.  

Only then can we bring the light together.

What needs to change?

1.  Our thinking: Education is not an “extra.” It is the core. Bandhs, events, holidays — plan around schools, not through them.

2.  Our perspective: A lost school day is not just 1 day. It’s concepts missed, momentum broken, and a message to kids that learning is not important.

3.  Our collective effort: Teachers can teach. Parents can support. Admin can plan. Students can value. But until we all decide education as a first priority for us, nothing will happen.

So let’s stop closing our eyes.  

Let’s protect classroom time like we protect everything else.  

Teaching 'Indigo': Why Gandhi Still Matters in the Classroom

Day before yesterday, I was teaching  Chapter: Indigo to my Class 12 students. It's a part taken from the biography of Mahatma Gandhi written by Louis Fischer.

And it’s one of my favorite chapters from the main course book of CBSE i.e. Flamingo. It's my favourite not just because it’s about Champaran, but because it’s about Gandhian ideology in action — courage without violence, truth without aggression.

For me, Gandhi represents something rare. Like Lord Krishna in the Gita, he believed in winning through strategy, patience, and moral strength, not weapons. Both understood their times deeply. Both were master planners who chose the path of principle over force. 

Teaching this in Punjab comes with its own weight. I know opinions about Gandhi are not always the same here. Many views are formed from things people have heard, not from reading his own writings or understanding the context of his decisions. That’s why in class, my goal is not to tell students what to think, but to ask them to read first.

During the discussion, one student from Class 12 Science asked me, “Sir, wasn’t Partition Gandhi’s fault? My family says so.”  

I smiled and told her: “Beta, don’t believe anything blindly. Read first.”  

The truth is, Partition had many causes — political, social, and historical. Gandhi himself was against the division. He even suggested making Jinnah the first Prime Minister of a "United India" to avoid it. When that didn’t work, he was sidelined, and the country was divided into India and Pakistan.

What I try to tell my students is this: You don’t have to agree with everything Gandhi did. But you should know what he actually did.  

He fought for a nation where people are treated equally — without casteism, without religious discrimination. He wanted us to rise culturally and economically. He opened a path of Satyagraha that an ordinary person could walk on. Not everyone can be a Bhagat Singh. But everyone can follow truth, discipline, and non-violence.

As a teacher and a family man, I often think before I speak on such topics. Words can be misunderstood. But being in education also means daring to speak truth, backed by facts and books, not just opinions.

So my request to students — and to all of us — is simple:  

Read. Question. Understand and then form your opinion because freedom from fear also means freedom from misinformation.

Routine Kills Intelligence

This is something I personally believe. 

 

I have always gotten bored with daily routines, ever since childhood. I am constantly looking for something that challenges my mind and intellect. But obviously, that challenge should be within my level of understanding and capacity, because I am not someone who is intellectually gifted with strong reasoning.  

Yes, but I am good at comprehending abstract ideas. I can think beyond people's perspectives. I can invent new ideas based on practical, day-to-day solutions. They may seem weird or challenging in the beginning, but they turn out to be effective once implemented.

Till now, I have written about pessimoptimism and procrastination including its types. We all know that life is not a bed of roses and, therefore, we should prepare ourselves for rainy days both physically and mentally. It's a good approach. It helps us not to be blind and gives us the wisdom of the great Buddha. Same is with procrastination. It may seem quite usual and most of us presume that a person who procrastinates is lazy but it, too, has many causes. One may lose interest. One may feel stressed or overwhelmed. Or one may become too much optimistic towards life and himself. And now I come to my today's topic: Routine and Discipline. 

Most people believe that following a routine with discipline ensures success. And yes, it does ensure success — but at the cost of your natural drive to learn. Slowly, we lose that drive completely. We become like machines, conditioned to old beliefs and ideas that are not even ours.  

It is called the end of creativity.  

It is called slow suicide which the society, community and family offer us. 

That’s why Paash said, “The most dangerous thing is to go to the office from home and to return to home again.”  

He, too, was saying that routine kills your natural tendency to think.

As a teacher, I sometimes wonder why students remain so excited throughout the day, and how they listen to even the most common things with amazement. We adults ask, “Why are they so excited?”  

The answer is simple: They are full of life. We, on the other hand, have already spent half of our lives, so most things seem ordinary to us.

But remember what Lord Krishna said to Arjuna. He said that he who sees everything with amazement can see the ultimate truth.  

Now, seeing with amazement does not mean staying excited all the time and being ready for party mode. I am not talking about that kind of amazement. Nor does Krishna favor that. Such excitement only shows how hollow we are from inside. 

My amazement is about being curious. About being inquisitive.  

And those who have lost it can never unveil the mystery of the cosmos. 

May Lord HariHar bless us with a curious mind and an inquisitive approach.

A Badge of Honour: Aalok Raj Singh Brings Glory to Family and Ayodhya

I am absolutely enthralled to know this. Indeed, it is a remarkable achievement and it must be celebrated at a grand level!  

It is a matter of great honour and pride for us. Our youngest and dearest nephew, Aalok Raj Singh (aka Sanskar) has passed his High School IGCSE Board exams in Singapore with excellent marks, securing approximately 90%. By scoring 97 out of 100 in Mathematics, he has not only made his parents proud, but has also brought glory to the entire family, village, district (Ayodhya) and community.  He adds a badge of honour to our people, community, district (Ayodhya) and family. I felicitate him for his great, marvellous, outstanding and spectacular achievement.  

All credit goes to Mrs. Anjula Raj Bhan Singh (aka Baby Dii) and Jija Ji, Most Reverent Shri Raj Bhan Singh Ji, who provided him with the best educational opportunities and environment.  

I strongly believe that kids these days are more talented and gifted, and it adds a feather to their cap when they get good educational opportunities along with good parenting. I also have a strong belief that he will keep bringing laurels to our community, people and district.  

Please accept my best wishes for his great future ahead.  

May his prospective life be full of prosperity, abundance and jubilance!  

May the Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient God bless you with robust health, an affluent life and endless possibilities in your prospective life.

Keep shining, my dear Aalok Raj Singh Singh.

About IGCSE

International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English-medium secondary qualification equivalent to the UK’s GCSE. It was developed by Cambridge International Education and is recognized worldwide as a standard for secondary education.

What If The Right Hands Had Been Given A Free Hand?

Today afternoon, I came across my own Facebook post from 2011.  

“B.J.P leader Arun Jaitley not only showed the mirror to the government but also told P.M that if you want to fight against corruption you need only a Political Will which our present government don't have.”

Back then I was criticizing the UPA Government. It was a time of power alliances, interference from coalition partners, repeated terrorist attacks, and walking inflation. As an individual, I have always admired Dr. Manmohan Singh. He was a legend and a great economist. Even during the global crisis, he safeguarded the Indian economy with great skill and prudence. What he did on the economic front was unparalleled.  

But politics doesn’t run on economics alone.  

Safety was a major concern too. News of terrorist incidents kept coming from many states, even from Punjab and my own district Ludhiana. That unrest made us question the ruling government. 

Looking back, I also feel Congress made one strategic mistake that cost them dearly. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee was the other name with the same level of statesmanship and economic prudence as Dr. Singh. But instead of giving him a larger role in governance, Congress sidelined him by making him President, perhaps to clear the way for a new face -- Mr. Rahul Gandhi. That one decision had big consequences. Congress ended up losing power for more than a decade.

Sometimes I wonder: what if Mrs. Sonia Gandhi had not interfered so much in politics? Dr. Singh might have got more autonomy and taken bolder decisions.  

And then I think bigger.  

What if both Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. Pranab Mukherjee had been given a free hand?  

What if Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had become President again for one more time?

Imagine Kalam, Singh and Mukherjee working together. Three minds rooted in knowledge, integrity and service. Perhaps the face of our country would have been very different --- more progressive, more stable, more aspirational.

Today, when we are facing galloping inflation and worrying about a future prognosis of hyperinflation, those “what ifs” feel heavier. 

Criticism is easy when you are outside. Governance is hard when you are inside. But leadership is about giving space to competence, even if it outshines you.

That 2011 post came out of frustration.  

This 2026 post is reflection.  

Because in the end, nations don’t grow by alliances. They grow when talent is trusted.