Boredom

- Ritvvij Parrikh
Mumbai, India

Whomever I talk to these days… talks about boredom. I have nothing to do. I am bored man. Life is meaningless. And to get out of this boredom, we watch movies, TV, play games, read books, go for a drive, sleep … and what not.

This friend of mine – a college dropout now… recently went to Russia for experiencing zero-gravity in an old Soviet Training Center at Star City. He flew the Sukhoi and jumped out of another Transporter Class Aircraft. And all this because he was getting bored here… Nothing to do!

Let’s say some day you are bored and you go for a movie. The movie lasts for three hours. And you come back home. And voila… again you are bored. There is no end to this boredom. You cannot live with your own self. People buy things to get out of boredom. I have this friend of mine who shops to get out of boredom. Another eats to get out of boredom. This guy who already had a disc man, bought an iPOD… “why?” I asked him. He replied – “It shows videos too, now I will be less bored.” Great! Just some time back , the disc man was supposed to kill the boredom an now…

For every positive there exists a negative and for every negative, a positive. We humans can get bored because we have the capability to laugh. You will never find an animal or tree laughing. And again you will never find them getting bored.

There are two reasons why we humans get bored:-

REASON 1 : We think a lot.

The higher the intellect, the more he will get bored. Because the higher the intellect, the more reasons he will search and he will be more logical. And jokes are not logical. And if you use your intellect continuously, the mind suffers and you can’t laugh. The more you think, the more hope, reasons, decisions, if and buts, the more comparisons… will arise. And from them will arise… complexes – inferiority and superiority. And the cycle will continue… People who laugh the most try to seek as little logic as possible. Laughing and boredom are faculty of the mind. The people who don’t ask the purpose of life… never feel meaningless. Try to dissect a joke and a frog, and both will die. And again there are smart jokes and illogical jokes. Most people today are searching for smart and witty jokes. They laugh… but only for a second. Senseless jokes are losing their value. Witty jokes satisfy the intellect. They please but don’t make you feel happy. Most people don’t laugh on dumb jokes because they try to search for reason in them. So smart people will always more bored. Why do you laugh when to listen to jokes? Simple… because it increases your consciousness. You are focused on the joke… all your senses are on the joke. The only thing on your mind is the joke. As someone says a joke… the expectation is rising… there is a climax. Logic is aggressive and argumentative… You are violent. You are speaking form the intellect. And enjoying and laughing happens in the mind. So you can’t laugh. Hence I say… nonsense in fact has a lot of sense within it. Have you ever found Charlie Chaplin talk sense? Forget that... have you ever heard Charlie Chaplin TALK? Because logic comes in with words… So if you want to stop getting bored and want to enjoy life… Stop finding reasons in everything.

REASON 2 : We can’t live with ourselves

Siddhartha Gautama lived in the present-day border area between India and Nepal in the 6th century before Christ; Seers predict that Siddhartha will either become a Universal Monarch or a Buddha. His mother dies seven days after the birth. Siddhartha spends his childhood in the palace of his father. In his early childhood, during a ceremony, Siddhartha makes his first unprecedented spiritual experience. As a young boy he learns the skills of a warrior, including the technical and athletic skills of man-to-man fight. Siddhartha is trained in spiritual disciplines and becomes proficient in the art of archery. At the early age of sixteen, he marries his beautiful cousin Princess Yasodhara, who is of equal age. The young prince spends thirteen more years together with his wife in the royal court of his father. Three palaces are built for him, one for the cold season, one for the hot season, and one for the rainy season. Siddhartha enjoys the lavish court life while his father is trying to screen him from all troubles and worries. A son is born when Siddhartha is in his late twenties. Despite of the amenities of life, Siddhartha is not satisfied with the mere enjoyment of fleeting pleasures due to his inquiring and contemplative nature. It is one thing to be wealthy and another to be a person with peace. Material Peace does not ensure Mental Peace. Don’t just blindly run after money! It won’t give you mental peace. THE house IS SO FULL OF THINGS that THE master HAS NO SPACE TO LIVE IN. LEARN TO LIVE WITH YOURSELF ALONE!!!! We are searching for happiness and pleasure outside us… Remember my friend who went to Russia. Kill the positive and the negative disappears. This is what most monks and saints have done… Kill the want for laughter and the feeling of boredom will disappear. This can be done by learning to live with oneself and within oneself. You will never be able to kill this boredom till you are one with yourself!

Another way is what many masters have already used. It is similar…

Zen Buddhists are known to have told their disciples to clean the floors of their temples day in and day out. Remember BRUCE ALMIGHTY, a movie in which GOD himself has been shown cleaning the floor… day in and day out. Another master Gurdjieff, was known to tell his disciples to dig a hole throughout the day and fill it up the next day. The next day you have to dig up the same place… and so on. Why 30-40 days approx for the initiation? Religiously and historically speaking… Even the Bible considers 40 days as enough time for initiation. Noah’s life was transformed by 40 days of rain. Moses was transformed by 40 days on Mount Sinai. David was transformed by Goliath’s 40 day challenge. The idea is finish up with all your feelings of frustration and helplessness. All the anger will be vented out. The idea is also to dry up your intellect of all possible questions and answers. The idea is also to teach you patience. And at the end of it, what will finally remain is YOU! The moment you will stop asking questions… You will start trusting and you will become more receptive and open to whatever is being taught. The fight between laughter and boredom.. is the same fight as the one fought between intellect and belief!!

And this battle has not started today.. or yesterday..... It has been waged from time immemorial.. Remember Adam and Eve.. Adam and eve lived in the Garden of Heaven until they ate a forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and God threw them out... Now intellect had taken over BELIEF!! God dint like that... They started asking questions like Why are you so powerful and we are not so?.. An environment of doubt was created... and the heaven where everything was good... had ceased to exist.! I have often heard and read that there is always a logical answer to everything. All that is illogical is false. Everything has sense… and life is logical. NO! There is in fact NO sense to life. Wherever there is sense.. then it is nonsense
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For once record the conversation of 2 true lovers... They will always talk nonsense... For better still... they wont talk only.. just keep staring at eachother. The guy says - I ll break the stars and get for you...
Can he break the stars?? Balls!! Probably he cant even break an apple from a tree...
But the idea being that true feelings have no words... because again words are a faculty of the intellect and intellect is not pure.. Its corrupt!!!!!!!