AKHAND-JYOTI

Recently, in one of my contemplation sessions, while I was trying to figure out the purpose of my life, I stumbled upon an interesting situation. I came across a thought, or an idea, that I should write, as I am borne to write. As a consequence, the following series of questions arose in my mind: What kind of writer should I be? What will I write about? What will be the central idea, or the core theme, of my writing? Will it be travelling, motivation, spirituality, academics, etc.? Will I write in the form of songs, poetry, articles, blogs, or books? Who all will be included in my target audience? What will be the age group that I would like to address my writing to? What kind of expertise, resources, and network will I require to make my writing more than effective? What will I do to get my work rigorously reviewed by experts of the domain I would choose to write about? How much time will I take, i.e., what will be the frequency of my writings? How many articles,...

What is a good topic? Beginners often find themselves engaged in trying to answer this question correctly and exactly, discussing it in a group of fellow writers and experts. This of course is an important question to answer, for an exact answer will help them create the good piece of writing and subsequently, it will create immense value for the readers. It is always wise to take a step towards the answer, i.e., to explore the solution of the problem you are dealing with. Hence, it is always good to define the basic features of the problem, i.e., the features of the good topic, so that it breaks up into several pieces. Then it is easy to deal with each of these pieces and make a surge in tilting the struggle towards ourselves. Hence, it is good to jot down a couple of basic features, which can be possibly applied to every kind of writing, and see the question ‘what is a good topic?’ through them, and witness that the identification of the good topic becomes easier. Some of t...

I have experienced that when a person takes up a cause and takes steps to proceed on the chosen path, he exposes himself to tests. These are the tests presented by the destiny. These are tests of a different and higher level. It is just like a person moving in the opposite direction of the wind flow. The force is too much to resist. And there are so many mental and behavioral changes that are automatically invited and invented when a path is chosen. For example, I have chosen the path of engaging with my inner voice on daily basis. Since I am proceeding on this path, I am also facing the resistance. I am getting busier than ever in my job responsibilities. At home I come all tired up. And I find my kids unusually active when I return from office these days. They and young and thus have so much attachment with me as far as their small-small wishes are concerned, the things which their mother, my wife, cannot do: such as a ride, or a long drive, on a bike. This becomes harder t...

Everyone has short and long term goals in his/her life. These goals may be to get thin, to earn and save lot of money, to have a beautiful girlfriend or a handsome boyfriend, to own a luxury car, etc. Among all such mundane goals, there seems no requirement of interference of the inner voice of an individual. However, if you are under the spell of your inner voice, just like me, I advise you to arrange your goals. These can be fundamentally organised into short term goals and long term goals.  On the basis of such a self-made arrangement, start focusing on your inner voice. Ask common and specialized questions to your inner voice about each of your desires. As I have got, you will also get some answers; some questions may not be answered at this point of time. It is a must-believe situation. Without trusting the inner voice, there is no other choice in such cases. Hence such an arrangement.  A better way to deal with such a situation is to focus on your i...

Since these days I am under the immense influence of my inner voice, here is another gift from it for all the writers, beginners, stragglers, accomplished ones. I consider my inner voice having a source that is much wiser than me, much better thinker than me and much better advocate of these good thoughts than me. It sends me messages that are more convincing than what I think about a matter.  While I was contemplating over the topic of this article, I was suddenly guided, by my inner voice, to write about writing. But I did not get enough time to write on a particular topic I had thought about to write. Then there was an idea put silently on my table by my inner voice. "Why not I write about time that a reasonably good (self-satisfying) article requires to complete," was what this idea said to me.  I thought that such a satisfaction depends on the stage at which the write is; beginning, middle, accomplished, etc. and, if for that matter, we think that the writer is ...

Since  Writing about Writing  plan is on, it is the time to make discoveries. This to me is the time to set my aim, goal, purpose, etc. Today I asked my inner voice: what should be my first aim when I do writing about writing experiments? The answer was simple: create demand for your writing. That to me is to write on some general topics, so that readers, writers (beginners/accomplished) should be able to see what I write. What they now see are the conversations between me and my inner voice. These conversations could be irrelevant to most of the readers and writers. These are not the things that one would like to keep in the display window. Simple. This is an important discovery. I need to write on some general topics. These could be the topics on which writings are either available, or expected. Simple, when the readers and writers will have a chance to see my writing, and compare it with theirs' / others, instead of reading my internal conversations, then only I, as we...

At times, there is no valuable surface level thought in mind. It is as if, all thoughts are on a vacation. I sit like a lonely person in the room, thoughtless. I think I should prepare for such an emergency in the future. Today, I asked this question to myself. I asked, what should I do in such a situation? I got the answer right away. That was my inner voice once again.  The answer was to explore my experiences and learnings in the process of writing, i.e., what I learned, and am still learning, to hone the skill of writing, relive those moments of my experiments with whatever limited knowledge I have gathered in my journey as a blogger, as it would not be correct to call myself a writer at present (being honest, etc).  Why should I do that was my question to myself. Once again, my inner voice replied, 'I should do such a task, of writing about writing, to dig deeper within, learn more from my experiences, correct myself, give myself to better and modern resources o...

These days I am feeling this new alert system inside me. When I wake up in the morning, somebody calls me from within and says, 'you have to write a blog today'. Then I respond to this voice with a smile. I know that's my inner voice. I respect it, and almost automatically find some quality time during the day to write a blog.  This I think it is just the tip of the iceberg. Some big, massive, holistic, interesting, and from deep within is due to come in few days' time. Even I don't know its nature, length, plot, or topic. But I do feel pregnant with possibilities. And that to me is an enormous change; welcome change; and what not.  

A couple of months ago, I read a sermon by Osho. He had talked about the original voice within you. According to him our job is to find our original voice and sing our song aloud. Our job is not to die with our music still inside us, for it will be a useless life then. What he meant to say is as follows: When we are born, we are most influenced by our parents, especially by our mother. So when we grow up, the voice of our mother remains with us and most of the time we speak our mother's voice. This voice leads us to feel the fear and the negative aspects of challenges the life throws at us. For example, when we enter in a new business, we do feel what if we fail in our attempt. That's mother's voice, which always intends to provide unconditional love and care. The next dominant voice is that of our father. This voice empowers us to accept a new challenge and overcome it, prove our mettle (for example, write that medical/engineering entrance exam).  The next vo...

Initially I started writing about political topics. Then I also included the economic and foreign affair topics. Then my attention shifted to the individuals who had mass following, such as Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev. Gradually I realized that these themes don’t go well with me. This was the first increase in my understanding about what I wanted to write about. In addition, I also witnessed that I needed to follow daily news to actually write about such themes. That meant, I needed to be judgmental in my writing. The force was outside me, not within me. It is the force on which my writing nurtures, sustains, grows. Writing on such themes was not coming naturally to me and for every write up I had to look a newspaper. This of course was, and still is, a challenge for me. This clarity about theme guided me to easily drop the theme itself. Now the question was what to write about. I came up with an idea of writing about writing. Thus I started to write about essay writing...

Since I have written about life, I would like to do it again. I have written that there are four aspects or dimensions of life: physical, financial, social and spiritual. These combine together to make holistic life.  Thinking about my thoughts, going deeper into what I have thought previously, has now become my passion. And thus this revision. Now I see that there are tow aspects that influence all these surface level dimensions of our life. These are: stable and unstable forces. This means, our physical, financial, social and spiritual aspects are directed and determined by the forces of stability and instability. For example, if a person is fat today, and he remains more or less in the same shape next year, same day, then his physical situation would be considered stable. Another example: suppose a person earns fifty thousand rupees today in a month, and he earns the same amount next year same day, then he would be considered a person who has acquired financial stability...

It is an interesting discovery with me. Although the process existed for so long a time, I remained oblivious of it. I pity myself for my limited knowledge. The interesting process that I have just discovered is that of examination, carrying out the question-answer task in every aspect of life. For example, Newton questioned: 'Why apple fell to the ground? Why did it not go upwards?' Thereafter he discovered the theory of gravity. Such is the importance of this task. Many people have applied this task and gained lot of knowledge about themselves and others. Some of them have applied this task for the benefit of all human beings and the society/the civilized people. For example, the Buddha, who questioned what is truth, and restlessly worked till he found the truth of life. Thereafter he worked and traveled to spread his word, discovery. Gandhi questioned the authority of the British rule in India. He worked not only for the independence but also for br...

When I was attracted towards writing, I thought I would make dollars from it. But gradually I realized this was too small a vision. If I would think more about dollars, I would not be even able to make rupees. Since I realize now that more you run for money, more it runs away from you; thus, you become more exhausted in your quest for money. As my knowledge and awareness about writing increased, I realized that  instead of money, writing can be used as a great tool for self discovery and realization. When I confirmed this fact from the Internet resources, my believe on it became more consolidated. However, I did not get into confirming the same from the real life examples as this would have pulled me in some different direction. I also did not consider to acquire any serious learning from anybody's experiment with writing as I think that such an experience would be extremely personal and may or may not suit my situations. Thus, I saved my time and instead started my experiment w...

When in my high school, I was formally introduced to academic writing such as letter and essay writing. After I passed all my academic exams, my marriage with such formal writing was over. No more worries for writing and thinking for writing. But this love affair took its own course and separation was converted into a remarriage when I started preparing for the civil services.  The pattern of the examination required every successful aspirant to pass an exam of essay writing. It was, and still is, a critical exam in deciding the merit of an individual. Therefore, when I prepared for it, I was serious in my preparation and attended formal coaching classes for essay writing. Although, once again my need to learn writing skills was motivated by the aim of passing an exam, I was conscious in my attempt and looked up several reference books for the same.  In this way I was once again reintroduced to formal writing. Although I could not qualify my civil services exam,...

After I have decided that I have to find my purpose of life, I think it’s the time to initiate the process. As far as my limited knowledge goes, it can be done by examining all my thoughts and activities, and see which one of them facilitates my progress on the path, and which doesn’t. This identification and recognition will further allow me to make a decision about which behavioral practices to keep, which to discard, and which to start anew; for example, the hobby of writing. I think I started writing about five – six years ago. But I did not take this habit  very seriously. People told me if I could develop it and become a skilled writer, there is no dearth of money. Even then I did not devote myself to develop this skill. I think everything has its appropriate time to happen. As I did not take this seriously before, I am doing so now. It of course is the moment of extreme happiness for me. I am going to do which I did not do till date. I am going to examine why I write,...

Yesterday, I realized that there is a dim light inside me. It has put me on the path of self realization and self discovery. I think the purpose of this light is very significant and visible to me. I also think that there is not just one purpose of this light; there are several purposes of it; its purpose is to fight and defeat the darkness within me, by darkness I mean to say I should know what all types of impurities I have and what are the ways through which I could release them and become permanently pure in my dealings with myself and others, in what I do and think and in what I intend to do; its purpose is to put me on the path of self discovery; its purpose is to help me find and proceed in a particular direction that takes me to the discovery of self; its purpose is to help me find a way, and if there is a wall on that way, I should make my a way through that wall with the light of self knowledge; its purpose is to make every day of life brighter and better; its pur...

ANSWERS TO TEST PAPER -- I MORDEN INDIAN HISTORY – HISTORY OF INDIAN PRESS Students are requested to first try to solve the test papers on their own, and then see the answers provided herein for the verification of the answers which they arrived at. Although utmost care has been taken while listing the answers, students are requested to bring about error, if any, in the same. Answers 1.     Which was the first European nation that brought the printing press to India? a.     Britain b.     Portugal c.     Spain d.     France Ans: Portugal 2.     The Oriental Magazine of Calcutta, which was published from 1785 onwards, was also known as: a.     The Calcutta Gazette b.     The Bengal Journal c.     Calcutta Amusement d.     The Calcutta Chronicle Ans: Calcutta Amusement 3.     Who ...

TEST PAPER -- I MODERN INDIAN HISTORY – HISTORY OF INDIAN PRESS The following is an effort for extending a helping hand towards UPSC aspirants. This is a set of a model test paper. The questions are based on a particular topic that has been mentioned above. These are multiple choice questions as are asked in the UPSC exam. These questions are also helpful for the other competitive exams held in the country from time to time. The students are required to answer them based on the best of their knowledge and ability. The questions include some very easy, easy, hard and very hard queries on the particular topic. It is hoped that students will find this test engaging. The answers to these questions will be provided in next two days, along with a new test. 1.     Which was the first European nation that brought the printing press to India? a.     Britain b.     Portugal c.     Spain d.     France...