Aging and Maturity

 

Ageing Is Inevitable; Decaying is not! - Maturity Is a Choice.

One of the most misunderstood ideas in life is the difference between ageing and maturity. Many of us assume that as we grow older, we naturally become wiser and more mature. However, the reality is, almost always, the opposite.  

Ageing is biological—a process that happens to every living body. From the moment we're born, we’re on a journey towards becoming old. It happens without any effort from our side. It’s passive. Time moves, the body changes, and age catches up.

Maturity, on the other hand, is not automatic. It’s not guaranteed by the number of years we have lived. Maturity is an inner evolution. It’s a product of conscious living, of being present in our experiences.

We can go through life in two ways:

• Unaware, as if hypnotised—merely reacting to events, happening in our life, without truly experiencing them. Things keep happening to us, but we remain to be absent. The events pass through us, leaving no mark/ impact, us failing to learn from the lessons evolve out of the events etc., We might remember the events, but they don’t become part of our wisdom. They say, we all learn from our mistakes. We do not have enough life to make all the mistakes and learn. So, we have to learn from others mistakes too! Alas! we do not do that. That’s just ageing.

• Aware, with mindfulness and presence—when you fully live each moment, reflect on it, and extract meaning from it. You become a participant, not just a passenger. That’s how maturity is born.

Every emotion, every experience—joy, sadness, anger, love—can be a teacher, but only when we’re attentive. Take anger, for example. If we keep getting angry over the same things, making the same promises to change but falling back into the same patterns, that’s just killing the time. That’s ageing.

But if we truly experience anger with full awareness, we begin to see its futility. We understand how it poisons our peace and harms others. That moment of clarity becomes transformative. Next time, we respond differently—not because we forced yourself, but because something in us has shifted.

Maturity doesn’t need resolutions. It doesn’t need us to vow, “I’ll never do that again.” When we live with awareness, each day shapes the next. The way we live today decides who we become tomorrow.

In short:

Ageing is inevitable. Maturity is intentional.

Ageing adds years to our life. Maturity adds depth to our soul.

Here comes the real question: No, it isn’t how old are we but it is: 

How awake are we?

Osho...

Who is a Karma Yogi!!

Do we ever realize that most Westerners are Karma Yogi’s par excellence! They may not be aware of the subject meaning of the word (or the word “Karma Yogi” itself) ... Yet they have practiced and followed Karma Yoga since times immemorial, not willingly but inherently. They were not even aware of the purport of it! To be or not to be is not the question but inherently following a form of Yoga best suited to needs of today, what more could a person of the present Materialistic World ask for!!

Karma Yoga stands for doing your duties towards your own self, family, society and masses without a feeling of doubt, obligation or lust but as a duty one has to perform in the service of God. Karma denotes one’s capability to think (invoke positive or negative thoughts) followed by action (thoughts in crystallized form). None can perform even a single act without a thought preceding it! Can you?

The correct approach towards the path of Karma Yoga is living in the present. The fleeting seconds passing by are the true actual moments within your grasp. You have absolutely zero control over the past events. You can exercise 100% control over the future by controlling your present!!.

Yoga denotes trying to communicate with the almighty through various means. Means or paths are only three ... Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga or Karma Yoga. When you try to follow the Karma path ... you are called a Karma Yogi for, in fulfilling the requirements of self, family and society you are doing an act of his (God). Satisfaction obtained by such deeds is thus, a prayer completed!!

Those who make prayers as their only solace of life like Priests, Swamis, Sadhus and Munis etc. ... are called Bhakti Yogis. Those who embrace Jnana as their chief aim of life ... through introspection and Self-Realization reach their destined goal of life are followers of the Jnana Yoga path.

The path of karma Yoga is simpler and easy to follow for you neither have to leave your family and more so enjoy all comforts of life but via this path you can never reach the goal in one life span (Who knows what we shall be in our next life! It is always desirable to divert ourselves from the path of Karma Yoga to Bhakti Yoga or Jnana Yoga in this very life).

At every stage of life you also invariably follow the path of Bhakti Yoga while making your prayers (though inherently). Bhakti Yoga alone is capable of taking you towards God but in Jnana Yoga you have the added advantage of solving all your queries before you realize God. A Jnana Yogi is competent enough to guide the whole Humanity towards the Ultimate goal of life ... The culmination of all your prayers ... God - Realization!!!

The Ego is needy, but never the soul

The person who has acquired the qualities of the soul, lives for universal expansion; only giving - like Nature, without asking for returns.

Ego is knowing and believing what you are not. Use ego as a driving force for growth but not for the pride of 'doer-ship'. When inertia, hurt, anger, depression, pain, violence dominate us then we are not in the right state of being. Some other self comes in between our true self and divinity.

That is Ego. Ego is a weakness; it limits growth and creates stagnancy. It seeks constant approval from others and is energy consuming in it maintenance.

But the person who lives in the attributes of the soul and has acquired the gunas or qualities of the soul, her existence is for universal expansion, just giving and giving like Nature, without asking for returns.

Such a person’s karma is to spread joy. She does not aspire for any sort of approval and is beyond all worldly demands. This happens due to a supreme state of non-attachment. In this state a form of sacred love comes into force which is above all mundane worldly selfish motives.

The desire to control, possess, resent or use disagreements to trigger off personal imagination or opinions never reflects pious love. It gives rise to attachment. In attachment, needs cover the soul. It creates layers of ignorance which hampers growth and blossoming into our true self.

The soul is above fear and attachment. It has an eternal quality of spreading truth, love and light.

We have trouble letting go of things and happenings due to the ego of doer-ship, little realizing that separation is not something to be feared. It is a test of time given to us to realize how strongly we are connected to our true self.

The state of being away from our soul surfaces in separation, and the pain experienced is attachment. So it is also a form of fear. The soul is above fear and attachment. It has an eternal quality of spreading truth, love and light for which it requires no external support.

If we are out of doer-ship and ego then we are centered in our true self and no fear can affect us, we stop analyzing others whether they live up to our expectations or not, resist to control situations, correcting others mistakes and advising and instructing others. This is the first step towards realizing the guna s of the soul. So leave the desire to control and aspire for freedom. Resentment arises with a need to control, letting free or letting go is love.

This is the truth.

Energize Yourself Every Morning

Morning is the best time for all meditative methods. It is the time when the whole existence is waking up and one can try different methods. It is the time when the whole existence is waking up and one can try different methods of meditation.

The moment you wake up, get connected with your being. And the best way to get connected is to become aware of your breath. Watch your breath – coming in, going out. Watch it. Don’t breathe, just watch. Passive watching. Listen to the soft and subtle sound of the movement of your breath.

Listen to the birds chirping outside your house, sound of breakfast being made in the kitchen. The newspaper boy has dropped the paper outside your door. You can hear the sound of vehicles on the roads. These are situations you have no control over. You can listen passively and there is no need to get involved with them or judge them. Just listen to them in their totality without choosing anything.

This can be the best method of relaxation and acceptance. Later in the day you can stand somewhere on the footpath and watch the constant traffic go by. You have nothing to do with the traffic. So many things are happening and you are not involved. You are simply watching.

Now doing the same passive listening in the morning in your bed is a good start of the day to experience relaxation. One develops patience and slowly and consciously you will be free from any kind of rashness or roughness in your behavior.

Listening passively in all its totality – the sounds coming from kitchen and street, the aroma of food being cooked, everything is reaching your senses. This something that you have not created – it is just there. You can just accept it without any involvement.
Now move the arrow of your consciousness within. There is traffic of all kinds of thoughts. They are there. You have not invited them.

They are not your consciousness creation. As you watch the traffic on the road by standing aloof, watch these thoughts too, but don’t get involved. Your mind is broadcasting thoughts. You can hear them, they are so loud, and they have their own sound and visuals. Just watch and listen to the talk going on inside your head and look for the gaps. You will notice the small gaps in between.

Be alert and stay in the gap, it may not happen on the very first day. It might take several days to find gaps. But there’s nothing to worry about and no need to get impatient. Just enjoy this passive listening and watching and stay in your being.

Now, after this you can get up and walk to your bathroom. Remember to remain inside your body with full awareness when you get out. Stay tuned as you walk. In the shower, let every cell of your being feel the wonderful sensation of water. Be a child, play with water, but always remain alert inside.

Let water fall, alternatively on different parts of your body. Feel them tingling, refreshed! And then finally let there be a feeling of liveliness in your whole body.

This feeling is not only delightful, it is divine. Remember to enjoy this whole exercise. Be playful. Being playful is part of meditation.

The Three Laughing Mystics Of China

In one of his discourses, Osho tells a remarkable story.

I have heard about three Chinese mystics. Nobody knows their names now, and nobody ever knew their names. They were known only as the "Three Laughing Saints" because they never did anything else; they simply laughed.

These three people were really beautiful - laughing, with their bellies shaking. And then it would become an infection and others would start laughing. The whole marketplace would laugh.

These three people were really beautiful - laughing, with their bellies shaking.
When just a few moments before, it was an ugly place where people were thinking only of money, suddenly these three mad people came and changed the quality of the whole marketplace. Now they had forgotten that they had come to purchase and sell. Nobody bothered about greed. For a few seconds a new world opened.

They travelled all over China, from place to place, from village to village, just helping people to laugh.

They travelled all over China, from place to place, from village to village, just helping people to laugh. Sad people, angry people, greedy people, jealous people - they all started laughing with them. And many felt the key - you can be transformed.

Then, in one village it happened that one of the three died. The village people gathered and they said, "Now there will be trouble. Now we have to see how they laugh. Their friend has died; they must weep."

But when they came, the two were dancing, laughing and celebrating the death. The village people said,

"Now this is too much. When a man is dead it is profane to laugh and dance."

They said, "The whole life we laughed with him. How can we give him the last send-off with anything else? We have to laugh, we have to enjoy, we have to celebrate. This is the only farewell that is possible for a man who has laughed his whole life. We don't see that he is dead. How can laughter die? How can life die?"


Then the body was to be burned, and the village people said, "We will give him a bath as the ritual prescribes." But those two friends said, "No, our friend has said, 'Don't perform any ritual and don't change my clothes and don't give me a bath. You just put me as I am on the burning pyre.' So we have to follow his instructions."

Laughter is eternal, life is eternal, celebration continues. Existence is continuous, it is a continuum.

And then, suddenly, there was a great happening. When the body was put on the fire, that old man had played the last trick. He had hidden many fireworks under his clothes, and suddenly there was a festival! Then the whole village started laughing. These two mad friends were dancing, then the whole village started dancing.

Osho concludes by saying that it was not a death - it was a new life. He says:

Laughter is eternal, life is eternal, celebration continues. Actors change but the drama continues. Waves change but the ocean continues. You laugh, you change - and somebody else laughs - but laughter continues. You celebrate, somebody else celebrates, but celebration continues.


Existence is continuous, it is a continuum. There is not a single moment's gap in it. No death is death, because every death opens a new door - it is a beginning. There is no end to life, there is always a new beginning, a resurrection.

If you change your sadness to celebration, then you will also be capable of changing your death into resurrection. So learn the art while there is still time.