Mind Is The Enemy

 "I think and think and think, I've thought myself out

of happiness one million times, but never once into it"

- Jonathan Safran Foer

"Aham! Brahmasami!"  - I am Brahma, this is very fondly used in the Indian mythological stories and even folk stories. The very being is me, yet not me, the audacity to think that you are the one, the one above all is the root cause of all the problem rich fruit's that our tree of life bears but on the parallel, this very same belief is what brings peace, nurture and harmony to the way of life.

I sympathize with people who are either over practical, analyzer's and planner's, look at the finance guy's around you - you will surely find their eyebrow's kissing each other on the forehead, I am not saying everyone in that field is the same, many I know, elder's too, have found an equilibrium amongst the chaos, their work is to worry of the future, the worry is the collateral they pay for the amount's they are invested with, but either way you are holding the same ear, doesn't matter if its with your right hand or left, you are too practical and analytical of everything around you and life itself.

Over the period of time, considering the day you took your first steps as your first day of having your own mind up to now while you are reading this. Think how you were and what you have become? Remember how care free and liberated you were compared to being now encased into a box filled with worries, turmoil's, vivid thoughts, goals and targets, loss, remorse and so many other feeling's suffocating you while you are continuously getting depleted of your oxygen - 'Happyness'.

What if I Told You It's Illusion?

The horrendous image that just got created in your mind, must have made you feel suffocating and congested suddenly, right?  You felt claustrophobic and fatigue at the same time, but how that can be? You are openly sitting somewhere, probably the favorite cafe, your favorite corner of your home, how can it make you feel that way? well, you related to it, you are or were at that place in your life that made you experience it and that is what you are relating to, it's a knee jerk reaction your brain always triggers, always, it's the brain, your mind that just now created and illusion of you inside a box even though you are free externally, a moment before you were free from it all, suddenly you are now slave of yourself and you didn't even realize it, matter of fact - this happens almost every day, every time you are overwhelmed.

What does it mean? Your mind is the enemy, not your situation, not your status, not your current state of being but the mind, the gray matter that sit's high on the thrown above all sensation's that the body feels below it, consider it as the apex ruling over you. 

You need to realize immediately and put it into action, you shouldn't believe everything your mind think's, mind is a network of thoughts and previously gathered experiences and emotion's, not just of this life of you but believe it or not it is coded with generation's of data accumulated into the DNA, it is the source code that keeps on reading and referencing from, no matter how good or bad, its the central command center, the invisible shield generator around you - aura - and majority of the time it will only take consideration from the bad, uncomfortable, hurtful experience's of all the nodes the DNA has gathered. But there is a savior, will let you know shortly.

You have to know that the brain is designed to protect you and the body, why do you feel nauseated before an exam or interview, why do your legs feel weak and stomach feels like the 'Laurentian Abys - deepest part of our earth, when you walk on a glass floor or stand on a ledge, its all the defense mechanism to keep life itself alive, the race alive from doing something stupid, something so injurious that is threat to its existence. Consider it as a big parasite, breeding inside you, sucking the very joy of life from you just so that it can stay alive, you can stay alive, no matter what condition the outer body feel, your inner 'Jiva' feels, how the whole experience feels, it just wants to survive at all cost - how egoistic and self centered it is. So it's not you. 

Mind is designed to protect you from going through something so painful, that it will try and predict any feeling or decision in so many forms and parallel time lines that it is almost interstellar, you cannot stop it, but it has one goal only, keep the senses and body chemical's at par level and let it hype, its like a pressure valve that triggers before the breach point is reached

Each new painful event or memory get's encoded within, such that you can make a decision that get's super computed in a fraction of second in the apex and is resulted in your action by either words or behavior - this almost happens every time instantly and again taking no consideration of what the outer body or within feel's, what the soul feel's, its an irony sometimes that it generates it own negative feedback loop due to this very same reason and keeps on getting encoded again and again with no command to stop it, its involuntary, you wont be able to do anything about it, 

It is such a complex algorithm within each one of us that feed's on emotion that is generated from these very feedback loop's - its a huge maze without a map and many get lost in it with no way home.

Consider The Jiva:

For every evil there is good created, for every Chimera, Bellerophon is there on a winged horse to end it, for every brain there is a heart created.

Remember how I earlier said that I sympathize with people who are too practical and analytical, they always take calculated decision's, life for them is solving a Rubik's cube, set of decision = set of results, where is the fun in that, the very thought of this is boring, frustrating in its own way, their emotion's are calculated - biased and bifurcated for those they value and for those they don't, how judgmental that is. They are contradicting their very own creation. An irony.

The real freedom is living from within - living with Jiva. Considering and accepting that life is an constant flow of space, time, energy and multitude of emotion that result in experiences and not vice versa. What's there to calculate in living? breathing? enjoying every moment for as is?

The difficulties start to arise when you start going against the flow of life. When you stop considering the Jiva, the soul within you. You might be of certain age right now with experiences and emotion's you gathered from this walk of life, you have now a set forms of reaction's and thought process for said events and happening around you, probably you don't care for either or you are maintaining a stature to not be in aghast but do not forget that the soul within you is very ancient, far more experienced than you are, it has seen and felt time's and emotion's, its so well trained and 'lived' that its been cursed to not speak loudly. But the brain is inexperienced, it only knows this walk of life, it considers this life as a absolute data point which puts you in a frenzy, it has been blessed to be the loudest part of yourself that only you can hear in secrecy yet you act publicly, vividly. 

Remember this to the relation of what you just read "Empty vessel's make more noise!"

If you keep considering and listening to your mind as your friend then believe this "You will technically be an intern forever in this corporation of life".

Why do you sometimes feel strongly about something positive or ill? we call it the 'gut feeling', and most of the time it is correct, that's your soul - your Jiva talking with you, did you ever hear yourself or anyone saying "I had a mind feeling" , that is so stupid, never, but "I had a gut feeling" is experienced by us all. When it come's true it almost feels like a divine blessing, a supernatural guidance that your brain must had never computed from all the data point's it takes reference from. It simply cannot.

Understand this, start considering your Jiva, whenever and however you can, go with the gut feeling or what your heart feels best in the moment, the mind will always put you in a comfort zone which deprives you of new positive experiences, it will eventually lead you into the negative feedback loop.

The word Jiva - means life, a soul within you. Answer this do you love someone with brain's or heart? The most beautiful thing in this life that can happen is love - the love for your partner, friends, family, nation, motorcycles, cars, even for people with OCD - you love keeping things clean, perfectionist love to have their task completed with 100% accuracy, but why? the whole thing is love. Loving what you love. Your brain will never comprehend that, it will deprive you of that same thing for the sake of existence. It doesn't like to be in an uncomfortable state - its technically a coach potato!

Whenever in life you are on the fork in the road, try considering what your heart say's, what your gut feeling says, I am pretty sure a beautiful experience is waiting for you ahead because the soul has been through time and have a zillion times stopped at these so called fork's in the road and it knows what is best, not for you specifically but in overall experience. Life.

Stop surviving (brain) - Start living (soul).

For all the time's you feel restless, underachieved or just find your self in a well of ill emotion's yet cannot talk yourself out of it, consider this, stop going against the flow of life, there is something you are trying to do beyond your reach but the mind is creating an illusion that you can do it anyhow, well, don't force things that are not happening, that are not going your way, believe it - it is going where it has to go, you can't divert the flow of life or destiny, as they say what will be - will eventually be no matter how hard you try to avoid, delay or make it go your way, that's how life and the energies work - they are always in a constant flow.

Remember, life is like a flowing river, it has beautiful and rocky patches along its journey but eventually all rivers are going to meet their ocean's and sea's. Don't swim against the current - start flowing in it and you will find yourself at so much ease and feel weightless that you would eventually realize that you were restless without any reason, in an illusion of control, there is no such thing. Enjoy as is. It's all temporary anyways, the worst would be something didn't happen, the best would be you gained experience. 

When you feel like a kite in a storm do these simple steps, doesn't take much time and you will see the change:

1) Start deep breathing for 2min - focus on your breaths going in and out.

2) Take a knee - sit - close your eyes and let your emotion's and thoughts just flow, don't befriend them, just let them come and go, like train's on their stations.

3) Say a small prayer to yourself - "I have done this manier times, I will get through this, I can do it!"\

4) Drink a glass of water, calmly.

5) Don't take it personally, its all temporary.

I hope this help's you and find's you some peace, for rest all - ' Que Sera, Sera!"

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(Image is AI-generated digital art depicting the flow between human mind and soul, chakra's – on Jiva and life balance.)

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Man Made Marvel: Exploring Wanakbori Dam & World’s Largest Aqueduct in Gujarat | RoadsterRides Travel Blog

 WORLD'S LARGEST AQUEDUCT

The sheer will, ego and pride of man, can manier times default the time and the test's of nature that follow behind in it's wake. God created us in his image, but there are far more times we have seen wonder's, jaw dropping architecture's that send's ripple's across the fabric of the creation itself, man sometimes create master piece's from muds and stone's that for generation's is cherished, preserved, protected and even awarded as being the evidence that man once or does exist beyond the trials of time and nature.

One such hidden gem, a silver ore of architectural marvel, subtly endures such a test - constantly, amidst the dry, arid region of Balasinor near Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The only time it is enveloped in a more habitable, lush green canopy of tree's and shrub's is the romantic and paint brush mood of the almighty - Monsoon!

  

It was a few day's ago, I was scrapping through the map of my state and trying to find something unique, something historical, a place where you don't leave behind something for once but you take back something to cherish for years to come and share the experience with your viewer's, friends and family, I was almost about to give up, but India will never disappoint you in whole, you need to believe that because at this particular fork in the road where I had to decide either to give up the search or wait for an epiphany, I struck a eureka moment.

It was right there, sitting, for years, 2 places stacked up one upon each other -12km's apart, The Wanakbori Dam and Mahi Sagar Aqueduct. Both standing fast with valor against the frost of the nature, continuously bashing it with massive hydraulic force coming from a catchment area of more than 20.82 km². That is in itself huge, sheer nature's majestic raw form, hiding amongst the calm flowing river.

Recently there has been lot of rains in the region, turning the melodious river chimes on the bed rock into a thunderous roar that one could hear from the entry point of the dam, I was drawn to it like the opposite poles of the magnet, my steps hurried towards the roar and it dawned slowly in a near distance. By the time I could digest the view I was quickly stopped by a crew cut hairstyle officer, the first glance at him, I knew I was in trouble, the officer strictly said to me "Hey You! How did you manage to come inside, the dam is closed for visitor's, vacate the premises immediately!" and the only word I could say in the moment was in complete surrender "Ok Sir I am leaving!" I demanded no explanation, the officer's tone and pitch level was self explanatory, he was concerned and displeasured by me - a civilian, on the premises he is responsible to safe guard.

With the same hurried step that I came in, I was going back out the same path, with a walk of shame and a guided escort by the officer himself. He made sure I was outside the gate and made me delete the recorded footage, well whatever few second's I was able to record before I was thrown out, but he saw me for a second and felt my eagerness to see the dam and with a soft tone said "Boy!",  while I was walking towards my motorcycle, "There is a small gate up ahead, go there you can safely see the dam from there" and he vanished back into his duty.

Safe? yes! because of the heavy rain's there have been incidences beyond human control, floodings and cloud burst's that make the river's unpredictable, untamed, all of sudden, out of nowhere. So he was right to guide me out while indeed the river was bit flowing high that time. But it's the thrill that we chase and manier times valor filled men, responsible one's, get thrill seeker's like me out of such uncanny situation's, so did this time.

Brief About Wanakbori Dam

This man made marvel bathe's in the river named Mahi which mouth's into the Gulf of Khambhat, Coast of Gujarat into the Arabian Sea while its source origin's from a village named Minda in the Indian State of Madhya Pradesh, neighbor to State of Gujarat. The river itself is alive, as it tread's upwards, to northern state of Rajasthan and dive's down inside Gujarat and into its final destination of Arabian Sea.

The dam has a design of 'Overflowing', where the water is slowed down but not completely stopped but rationed into further village's, feeding their farms via help of canals and a Hydro electric plant that lighten up's the near by home's.

It is spanned across 796 meters across the river and has an estimated submerge value of 24 village's out of 74 villages it cater's. The water is used to irrigation purpose and power generation through the Wanakbori Power Plant (1MW) which is just up ahead the river from the dam.

Inaugurated in 1958, the dam has 33 Hydroplus Barrage Fuse gates, at a height of 25meters leading to storage capacity of approximate 42 million Cubic meters.

The gates itself is a marvel as it collapses automatically in times of flooding not to stop but to let go of excess water in times of natural forces in play. I found this very interesting.
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After basking in the mild setting of the sun that day, I stayed there for a while, hearing the water made me somehow stop and pause, amidst the sound of water crackling on the bed rock I found a tad bit of void, some kind of solace I must say. I snapped back into reality as the sun pinched my skin and I rustled my backpack with my camera and water bottle, saddled it onto my motorcycle and made headway towards the next destination, I was on the clock as it was the weekend ride and needed to come back home before the sun sparkled into its full glory in the noon.

The back road's is very scenic, from my experience of riding in my state - I have come to believe that the back road's are much fun then the traditional highway's that make the journey quick, these road's have the hustle and bustle of a typical village life, a kind of chaos you would love to be in just because it's peaceful at the same time with the camels, chicken's, manier times cow's and buffalo's running across the road's or just vailing away time standing right in the middle with no care of the moving world around them. 

Probably something they already know, they are in on a secret but are blessed to not be able to talk about it, yet they want to share it by their behavior is what I feel. Stop - Pause for a while and see around for what life and nature has to offer you while giving away few minutes to this exercise that they want to share will not be in vain but something definitely to gain, something to take back. 

I manier times see these animal's on my ride's and try to mimic them, taking a few minute's off my ride and it automatically changes into meditation - for say, the thoughts tend to be calmer, wider, imaginative while I pause beside or behind them while the chew their favorite grass just like a man enjoying his evening whiskey with a cigar. That's the secret I guess they want to share, pause.

Well, cornering through the village roads and its pollen filled air, I quickly made way to a canal, not far, that hugs to a side road with a canopy of lush green trees, just like best friends holding hand to a corner food joint on a cool summer noon. The only hinderance to the world's largest aqueduct was a rail track right on the bridge before, but luckily my cruiser crossed over a make shift stone path that was probably made by the local villager's for their cattle's to cross, well it worked.

On the first glance you can miss it very easily, its so well camouflaged to look like a normal cross over bridge for vehicles, but when you stop 25 meters over the Mahi River and take a peak over its walls, you would see the crossover of 2 rivers, one flowing below naturally and one man made marvel carrying the Narmada river with speed bypassing the rustling nature and right into the city, its a massive network that intercepts at this particular point, spanning across 700m over the river, feeding the water for irrigation purposes. Its a part of a long chain of Narmada River flowing effortlessly for more than 140km's.

Small idea to how majestic this place is, there is a competitor in the world for this place in Great Britain, it is home to the worlds longest aqueduct, namely Pontycysyllte Aqueduct, which is even the highest aqueduct in the world and a protected UNESCO Site built from 25th July 1795 to 26th November 1805. Would love to visit this place one day.

To understand much better with visual reference, you would love this vlog of mine when I visited this places over the weekend: Wanakbori Dam & World's Largest Aqueduct

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Few Pictures More:

Mahi River Bed, 25m Above, Thermal Plant In View.

                           Over World's Largest Aqueduct, Ferrying Narmada River Water