Do You?

Do you keep your faith

When you encounter a wraith?

Or do you turn back and run,

Leaving all work undone?

Do you see light

At the end of a fight?

Or is it the pain

Causing all disdain?

Do you bring change to behaviour

After learning from failure?

Or you cry for a day,

And go the old way?

Do you dream of good

And make its success your food?

Or you let them pass by,

And feel your time fly?

Do you try to stand

And make a mark on this land?

Or you wish to follow

And live with sorrow?

Do you live your life,

Vanquishing every strife?

Or you merely cry,

And prepare to die?

To Search or to Seek?

A stranger once told me that if I search but not seek I shall not find anything. I did not understand why he told this to me. I was merely standing at the metro station, waiting for the metro. Furthermore, I did not understand what it meant. To me search and seek meant the same thing. I thought about it for a while but then the metro arrived, and I forgot about the stranger and his advice.

Months later, I was trying to find the answer to a particular question in a newspaper article. The question intrigued me. It was a simple question. “Do you know who you are?” Of course I knew who I am. I am Anuraag Baishya. Engineering Student, Writer, Poet, Philosopher, Lyricist, Rapper, Composer, Blogger. (Okay, somewhat all of that.) But then I thought, do I really know myself? Do I know the value of my existence? Do I know where I stand in the sea of humanity or do I even stand anywhere?

I decided to search for the answer. But I did not where to start from. How do I find out something about myself? Do I ask my parents? Do I ask my friends? Do I do a Google search? And then all of a sudden I remembered the words of the stranger.”If you search but not seek, you shall not find anything.” I had to seek the answer to who I was, and not search for it.

The difference between searching and seeking is very delicate. The only way to understand that difference is to experience it. We search every day. Sometimes we search for objects we have lost, sometimes we search for objects to buy, sometimes we turn pages in our textbooks to search for the answer to a problem, and mostly we Google Search. But we never seek. We do not seek because we give up when we cannot find what we are searching for. Ask yourself. Have you always found what you looked for? You might have always found the lost objects, or the solutions to the textbook problems, but have you ever found peace, happiness, and tranquility? You may have experienced them when you came across them, but the probability that you found it by yourself is less. And if you have, congratulations, you have learnt the difference between searching and seeking, even if you learnt it unknowingly.

You search for things, objects and materialistic pleasures, but when it comes to things that affect you, you never find them till you seek.  The answers to all your problems, great or small (No, not textbook problems. Those are answered in the textbook.) always lie deep within you. You have to find them by seeking and not by searching. You have to go deep within yourself and try to answer the question “Who am I?” The day you learn who you are, you shall understand the difference between searching and searching, you shall find happiness, peace, tranquility, you shall find what your soul desires, you shall find that elixir that will sustain your life, you will find the purpose of your existence. So go ahead. Ask yourself. “Do you know who you are?”

~If thou hath not sought, thou shalt not find~

Solitude: A Companion for the Lonely

What do you do when you are absolutely alone? When you have no one to talk to or no one be with? When all around you is filled with strangers, who you did not know existed? Do you panic? Or do you close your eyes and hide in a corner till someone comes to your side?

What you should do is you should make solitude your company. As strange as it sounds, making solitude your company is not difficult. All you have to do is let go of that hold which stops you from embracing solitude as a friend. We humans are social beings, we tend to fear being alone, but trust me, if for some reason, you are left alone, let the solitude be by your side, instead of trying to run away from it.

The reason I ask you to do this is simple. Solitude is one of the best listeners. It will silently listen to whatever you have say. It will keep your deepest secrets and let you purge your soul of all emotions which you have suppressed within because you are afraid to let them out to someone. Solitude is a great teacher as well, solitude never solves your problems, it allows you to analyze the problem, think upon a solution and gives you the courage to implement the solution. Solitude is the perfect partner to think with. It will never disturb you or make you feel its presence, but it will always be there, shielding you from external distractions.  Solitude also plays the role of a guide. It guides you to do what you always wanted to do, but haven’t been able to do because of various factors. When you are alone, and you have nothing to do, then your subconscious will automatically direct you towards what you have always wanted to do. We humans always tend to need a push to do something. And solitude always gives us that push. And the best part of solitude is, the moment you want it to go away, it goes away.

What we humans lack is the ability to comprehend the benefits of having solitude as a companion. We fear that solitude may engulf us and we shall not be able to escape its clutches, but that is not the truth. Solitude will not dominate over you till you let it do so. The problem lies in the fact that we are scared to enter into a state of solitude, but when we are compelled to enter, we fear risking a step out of solitude.

What I intend to say is simple. If you are alone and you have nothing to do, don’t waste your time complaining about it. Utilize that time. Do something productive. And if you feel that solitude is beginning to engulf you, there are always people around you. They are strangers today, but if you approach them. they will be friends tomorrow. Solitude is an entity which if utilized in the right way can bring about changes of epic proportions. We humans just have to understand its true potential.