At the Feet of the Guru / Final Chapter

Didi studies extensively. She reads for hours and hours on various subjects. If she wrote, we would receive extraordinary gifts from her. But she doesn't write. I have requested her many times, yet didi will not write. Why? Does she not enjoy writing? In this world, there are many from whose writings we could have received so much, yet many of them never wrote. We know of Professor Abdur Razzak. From his influence emerged many venerable and distinguished intellectuals of Bangladesh—Ahmad Chhofa, Sardar Fazlul Karim, Anisuzzaman, Humayun Ahmed, and others. Read Ahmad Chhofa's book "Yadyapi Amar Guru," written about Abdur Razzak's memoirs. You will see that what we mean by a true seeker of knowledge, Professor Abdur Razzak was far more than that. Yet Bengali readers will forever regret that he never wrote a single book in his lifetime. In one of his writings, Humayun Ahmed tells us that Abdur Razzak spent all his talent on playing chess. So Gaytri-didi is also a wise person like Professor Razzak, who has not written anything to this day. If she wrote something, perhaps I myself would buy a thousand copies and go door to door distributing the book, requesting people to read it. Now, many of those who write create such irritation in readers' minds and waste precious time—though they will never want to understand this. Of course, their books have readers too. Bengalis, after all—what they consume and digest, even they don't know!

Didi told me about someone. Elizabeth Gilbert, a writer by profession, aged 34. After her divorce, she set out to travel the world. First, she spent four months in Italy. There, she found some beauty in life through food and eating (Eat). Then she spent three months in India. There, she found answers to several unresolved questions of her life through spirituality and the practice of prayer (Pray). Her journey ended in Bali, Indonesia, where she was absorbed in trying to find some balance between eating and prayer. During that time, she fell in love with a Brazilian businessman, and casting off all previous despair and suffering, a beautiful new chapter of her life began through love (Love). Thus was born one of the top-selling books in the world's bestseller lists: "Eat, Pray, Love." Gaytri-didi was the first to tell me about this book.
What she said then, I'll relate with some of my own words added...So Sush, her life story is very interesting! She got divorced. After the divorce, she was in great distress at first, terribly sad. Then she set out to travel the world. Traveling the world, she discovered that among the few joys of being alive, a primary one is that if you're alive, you can eat many delicious things. Yes, you can taste many wonderful foods. This is a joy—there is transcendent pleasure in eating food. This is genuine, primal, heartfelt. Then another source of joy is praying. Prayer doesn't mean praying to God or the divine, no, not that. When you write, when you sing, when you paint, when you study, when you give time to your passion—all these are forms of prayer or worship. There's no room for pretense there. Prayer means establishing communication with the heart within you, creating an unbroken connection with your heart.
It is through this communion that your heart will speak to you, sitting beside you like a friend and conversing. Remember: the God who punishes is far less useful than the God who sits beside you like a friend and talks. Let there be love for God, not fear. There is no discipline greater than the discipline of love. If you forbid someone from doing something by threatening them, they will want to do it even in secret. But if you forbid them with love, their heart and conscience will not let them do it. Heart and conscience stay with them always; these two cannot be deceived. But slipping away from your sight to deceive you is quite easy.
Let me return to the matter of prayer. If you can create that connection with your inner self and soul through any activity, that becomes prayer for you. It could be singing, it could be watching movies, it could be dancing, it could be writing, it could be sewing, it could be reading books... Whatever you do—painting, cooking, observing nature, listening to Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Chopin, whatever your heart desires, practicing mindfulness... Whatever you do, anything can become prayer for you, along with prayers for the peace and comfort of your soul according to your own religious beliefs. If someone cheats while doing this prayer, if someone's mind wanders elsewhere, then that saying applies... "Do dil banda, kalemaochor, na paay behesht, na paay gor"—meaning, he who steals while reciting the kalema, whose heart or mind is in two places, gets neither shroud nor grave—nothing at all. This is a most important saying. During worship, one must worship in complete meditation. Not for showing others, but for awakening one's own heart. There is a joy in this. An indescribable joy. (I have written a piece titled "Do dil banda, kalemaochor, na paay behesht, na paay gor" which you can find on my website. Interested readers may read it.)
Let me explain more simply. Suppose you studied very hard. The way you studied, for whatever reason, was not successful. You cooked with great care. Suddenly, at the final stage of cooking, due to an unexpected incident, the cooking was ruined. If I put it very plainly: after cooking wonderfully, a cockroach suddenly flew and fell into the cooked food—this was not your fault at all. You did not cheat in your work. You were honest in your worship. You will see that in such cases, the matter will not cause you much distress. But suppose no cockroach flew and fell, you were not sincere toward your cooking, and so the cooking turned out badly—you simply will not be able to accept this, it will cause you great pain. Let me speak of myself. I often say that even if I had not gotten the job, I would not have felt the least distress. Why wouldn't I? Because I did not cheat in my studies. There was not an inch of flaw in my effort. I did everything that was humanly possible to do. I thought through every strategy that was possible for me to think. I have no memory of neglecting myself or my studies for even a moment.
I could not have studied any more than this within my means.
In a word, there was no deception in my worship. My intention was pure, my path was completely honest and sincere. Even then, had I not gotten the job, I would have assumed that the worship had not succeeded, because it simply wasn't written in my destiny. Often, even when your intention is pure, if something isn't in your destiny, you can never reach it. No matter how hard you try, if it's not in your destiny, you cannot reach there. And whoever has something written in their destiny receives it even without effort. Look around you—some people have received many things they never even strived for; their efforts were directed toward something else entirely. If I take my own example, I can say that I never once in my entire life thought of joining the civil service. But this was my destiny, so even though I never harbored or nurtured this dream in my mind, this is what I received in life. I tried to become other things but could never succeed at any of them, because none of those were written in my destiny.
Keeping one's intention pure is absolutely crucial. There can be no deception in worship or prayer. Whatever work we undertake, it must be done properly. However much suffering it entails, it must be done. And no worship happens without suffering. If your worship caused you no suffering, you can assume that your worship never happened at all. I follow this principle closely, practice it deeply. If while doing something I feel that I'm not suffering, I understand that some deception is occurring here, some error in my prayer. My work simply isn't happening. Prayer will involve suffering; that suffering must be accepted. If you're unwilling to accept it, then hoping for the fruits of prayer is sheer foolishness. This, then, is prayer or worship. The third element is love. This is the most important thing in the world. How important? Let me break it down. Suppose you love someone, you wish them well. Even if you receive no worldly gain or benefit in return, the strength that love for another human being creates within you, the joy it generates, the fountain of happiness it creates—this helps you live more beautifully. It helps you remain happy, it helps you laugh. Love is the most beautiful feeling in this world. This is something to be understood—for instance, if we ask why should we love poor people? Why should we love animals? And so on and so forth... then how can this be explained?
Suppose you give something to someone with great love, do something for someone out of love—whether they're your friend, someone close, a stranger, whoever it may be. Now even if they don't value that act, the peace you gained from doing it—did the person you did it for receive that? They didn't! But you yourself received that peace. You alone are the recipient of that tranquility. Now I return to Elizabeth Gilbert's story. When this lady writer traveled and saw different places around the world, her first realization was that all people in the world are fundamentally the same, that all people's desires and needs are essentially identical. Their languages differ, their experiences differ, their life's customs, beliefs, and behaviors differ, their eating habits differ, their clothing differs, even their appearances differ. But their thoughts, their wants and needs, their feelings of joy and sorrow are universal. Exactly the same.
Then she discovered another fascinating thing: when we love a human being, the feeling we experience when we love someone from Africa will be no different from what we feel when I love a European. This feeling of love, of falling in love, is essentially the same everywhere.
When we eat, the satisfaction we derive from eating — that feeling is the same too. The inner peace, the experience we gain, the taste we savor from food — the joy and feeling that comes from this is essentially the same, no matter what country's cuisine we eat! And the feeling of prayer is certainly, absolutely the same. In all the places of worship around the world, those who worship in each temple, mosque, or church — everyone's heart speaks the same language, their intentions are the same, their fulfillment is the same. Even those who don't go to places of worship, who pray at home — this worship done at home, whether you call it namaz, prayer, meditation, or puja — the outcome of every prayer is the same. For instance, just as you cook something wonderful with sincerity, your friend might be absorbed in research, that is, worship a subject and discover something beautiful — the output of both is of the same nature. And love — when you love someone, the feeling within you, that joy, is more or less the same for everyone. Food, prayer, love — these three things are universal feeling-givers. The book discusses all of this, which is why it's called 'Eat, Pray, Love.' Gayatri Talreja used to say often: if you can spend your life with these three things, you'll see that life flows much more easily, more beautifully. Those who cheat themselves of these three feelings live meaningless lives.
I cannot convey even ten percent of what I learned from Didi through writing. However, many pieces in my 'Indistinct Journal' series were inspired by the life lessons I learned from her. Those interested can read that series. I owe her an infinite debt. Truly an infinite debt that cannot be repaid through any exchange. She taught me another thing: 'If you ever travel the world, you'll be amazed to discover that there are still more good people than bad in this world.' I said, 'What are you saying, Didi! That's strange! Aren't there more bad people in the world?' She said, 'No. If there were more bad people in the world, it would have been destroyed long ago. There are still more good people in the world. There are still more people who don't wish harm to others, who don't want misfortune for anyone. But if your actions, words, or behavior disrupt someone's way of life, then what they do in response might not seem good to you. Then you'll think of them as bad. But you should first consider that your actions are bothering them. We usually can't think of this beforehand. We think, why are they treating me this way? But I should simultaneously consider what I'm doing! This must be kept in mind. If I don't, then what they do to me is what I deserve.'
She would tell me these things. If I were to share her lessons, it would take all day, all night, and still wouldn't be finished. The person she was in a relationship with was named Rajesh Kapoor.
She used to call him RK. So one day I said, 'This RK you betrayed—why does he still speak so well of you?' Hearing this, she wrote, 'LOL!' Then she wrote, 'Ha ha ha...' And then she told me—listen to this—'Sush, what I had with him, that love was fundamentally friendship. The loves in our society are far more love than friendship. That's why these loves don't last, and when they break, people keep blaming each other and hurting themselves. You see, when you blame someone, the harm it does to you is far, far greater than any harm to them.' I said, 'How so?'
She continued, 'You think you find peace by blaming them, don't you? Try forgiving someone just once instead of blaming them—see how that feels! Try speaking well of someone you prefer to criticize for one hour—see how that feels! It's incredibly difficult. If you can manage it even once, you'll acquire that power. And if you acquire that power, no one will be able to do anything to you that would later give you cause to blame them. Why don't you just try practicing it! It's actually wonderful! So why wouldn't Rajesh speak well of me? I couldn't marry him because my family wouldn't allow the marriage. It wasn't written in our destiny to be together for life. The life partner I have now has no hair, he's not as handsome as Rajesh, but he has so much within him. He's a person of great heart. He loves me, he does everything to keep me happy. My laughter is precious to him. He's an honest and altruistic person. He has all the qualities of humanity. He knows everything about Rajesh. Rajesh knows everything about him too, and they're good friends. Rajesh is our family friend. Rajesh's wife is my close friend. Rajesh's wife also knows everything about us. She knows that when I was in India, we were in love, we used to meet—she knows it all.'
But we—I mean Rajesh and I—always remember that we used to sit together in the park, we used to go on trips together, we used to eat together, we used to spend time together, we used to lose ourselves in each other, we shared our sorrows and tears, we openly shared our joys with one another—there was a happiness in all that, and this happiness is what we gained. All our old joys came to us because we had met; otherwise, those moments would never have come into our lives, we would never have experienced even those small happinesses. Imagine if either of us had died a little before or after our breakup—we would have left this world carrying some beautiful memories with us. If we had never met, where would we have found these wonderful memory-jewels? Just because we couldn't stay together forever, must we ignore, deny, and forget the peace, happiness, and comfort we shared when we were together? Such forgetfulness never brings any good to life. It is ingratitude—toward oneself, toward one's Creator.'
For as long as you stay with a person, the memories of happiness you create with that person—that is your true gain.
If you keep calling it bad, then that becomes a kind of dishonesty with your own heart. Your heart will bear witness that you're lying, because you did have some happy memories with him, didn't you? Rajesh and I remember our past joys more often. We recall the happiness rather than the pain.' I asked didi, 'So when you remember those happy times, don't you feel terrible? Don't you feel like you've left a piece of your heart somewhere? Doesn't it make you want to cry, twisting something deep in your chest?' Didi replied, 'Yes, it does feel awful, but then at the same time you have to think—there are things in this world over which we have no control. What good comes from dwelling on them all day, except more suffering? Never think too much about things you cannot control. Let me tell you something interesting. Do you know why people suffer most?' I said, 'Why?'
Didi said, 'People don't suffer for what they're able to do—they suffer thinking about what they couldn't do. If they focused on what they can do, they wouldn't suffer so much. People dwell more in the unreal than the real, and that's why they suffer. Someone who isn't six feet tall suffers thinking, why couldn't I be a little taller? But even with all their effort, they can't add another five inches to their height. What good does it do to tear out all your hair in anguish over something like that? People suffer less for their actions than for their inactions. They don't suffer for the mistakes they're making, but more for the mistakes they couldn't make.' 'Didi, explain that to me a bit more.' 'Look, the fact that Rajesh and I didn't end up together—neither he nor I had any hand in that. We had complete desire and sincerity, but we were not made for each other. We didn't come into this world for one another, and this was predetermined. We can never change destiny. It was truly decided beforehand that we weren't meant for each other. Then you might ask, what was the meaning of all that time we spent together, all those happy times, all those dreams we were lost in? Actually, you know what—that too was our destiny. That too was written in our fate.'
We were meant to meet, and we did. We were meant to fall in love, and we did. Think about it—if Rajesh hadn't come into my life at that time, Mahesh wasn't in my life then either, right? So someone else could have come into my life who might have done me much greater harm! Couldn't that have happened? Or even if Rajesh had hurt me, that would have been better.' I asked in amazement, 'How would that be better?' She said, 'In that case, breaking up with him would mean I became safe for the rest of my life. What I lost, I lost through something small. I had to face some bad experiences for a short time. I won't have to face those bad experiences for my entire life.
It is far better to spend a brief time with a bad or wrong person than to remain with them for a lifetime. We must always remember that whatever happens to us contains hidden blessings within. And Rajesh's coming into my life was not something bad for me. During that time, I felt deeply lonely. I was going through many different kinds of problems. I had no one with whom I could share my pain. I would share with Rajesh, and he would give me a kind of good feeling. He would always tell me, "You will do something good, you will be well. I am here beside you."
Think about it—from the relationship I had with him, I received only good things, nothing bad. I got the mental support I needed at that time. I was in deep melancholy, which lifted; I was able to organize and accomplish my work. The same thing happened for him. We were blessings for each other. Then why should I blame him? Why should I suffer over it, tell me? A person's life has many phases. One phase can never be matched with another. Each phase has its own beauty. When you were a child, there was a beauty to that time; when you became an adolescent, you found a different beauty; youth has its beauty, adulthood its beauty, middle age its beauty, old age its beauty—each of these beauties is important. Each beauty must be felt. If you regret another beauty while trying to feel one, you will miss the feeling you could have had in that moment. The entire loss will be yours alone; it won't affect anyone else. If you remove yourself from this world's festival of joy, it doesn't harm anyone—the entire deprivation is yours alone.
Now if I keep thinking about Rajesh and feel remorse—why couldn't I have him, why did I leave him, why isn't he mine, and so on—what will happen? I will live in unrest. I will needlessly disturb my present husband, disturb my child, make mistakes in my work, find no joy in anything, and in the middle of it all, I won't be able to feel that I am alive, won't be able to enjoy it—and this is a kind of deadly sin. Why is it sin? It's sin because your being alive is not something obligatory for God. Nothing would happen if you were killed. Many, many better people than you have died in this world, at much younger ages than you, haven't they? Well, suppose you think you write, that you write well. Many people who wrote far better than you died at half your age, didn't they? Who are you that you're so indispensable that God must keep you alive? Rather, if those others had been kept alive, this world would have received much more through their work.
I could say I have achieved many things, I have many advanced degrees, I have this and that—but truly speaking, these are actually nothing. Many more educated people than me, many more capable and talented people, many more successful people, many better people have died at much younger ages.
Had they remained on this earth, the world would have gained so much, they could have given the world so much—but that didn't happen. Isn't that right? Then why am I alive, if they have departed? Remember, you should be grateful that God is keeping you alive. You should have gratitude for this. If you blame all the time, if you always regret, then God will think to himself, "What extra benefit am I getting by keeping this one alive!" Remember, you are not indispensable to this world. That you are being kept alive doesn't mean you are someone worthy of living. This is merely nature's whim or grace, a bonus or gift for you. Your lifespan is nothing but a gift for you.'
Now I understand, here by God, my sister didn't mean God as a person. God is not an individual, nor is God some entity. God is the God within us. This regret I am experiencing—whatever the reason may be—through such constant regret, a negative message or vibe or signal is going into us, which gradually diminishes our life force, reduces our will to live, diminishes our capacity to work, reduces our power to think and reflect. How can I think well if I myself am not well! How can I think good thoughts if I am not mentally well! Isn't that right? By diminishing my own mental strength with my own hands, I gradually become an ordinary person, unable to achieve anything worth mentioning in life. Then what do we say—God is punishing me! Actually, we are giving ourselves that punishment. This is why we should be thankful, grateful for the way we are living in the present moment. We should enjoy it. When we enjoy it, a good message or vibe or signal will go within us, creating a feeling of joy inside us. This feeling of joy, this good message will help us live well. Tomorrow will come to our lives more beautifully, helping us live more effectively.
Well, what are God, Bhagavan, these concepts really? When we help someone, we say, "Allah will do good for me, God will bring me well-being"...what is this really about? When you do good for someone, a good feeling is created within yourself. As a result of this good feeling, a good energy (positive energy) is automatically generated within oneself. We can then do our work with a bit more confidence. My friend who doesn't do this kind of help won't develop this confidence, this mental strength won't be created in him. As a result, if we have similar qualifications and abilities, the quality of my work becomes better than his. All this is a play of the mind, a way to awaken the mind's power. The greater one's mental strength, the more one advances. We say, "God has given me virtue, God has blessed me." Actually, it's not God—I have blessed myself. I have skillfully managed to awaken what's inside me. The fundamental work of religion is to awaken the inner self. A person who cannot awaken his inner self—religious practice can have no effect on him whatsoever.
The more a person can awaken their consciousness, their inner self, the better they live, the more successful they become.
In life, fulfillment is greater than success. The more awakened someone's heart is, the more fulfilled that person becomes. I have seen many fulfilled people who perhaps aren't particularly successful in their personal lives. Let me give you an example: a man works as a porter on the street. So in his life there is no financial success, no worldly success to speak of. He doesn't know how to read or write, doesn't really know much about the world. He works as a porter inside Chittagong Port, meaning he makes his living just by loading and unloading cargo. One day at noon, this man brought his meal. He had just sat down to eat his rice when he noticed a boy crying nearby. He asked the boy, "What's wrong, why are you crying?" The boy said, "I'm very hungry, I want to eat." I watched this scene from a distance—that's roughly what the boy was saying. Then the porter said, "Come here." When the boy came close, he shared his food with him. The sparkle of joy that played across his eyes and face would touch any sensitive person. Yet he himself was very hungry—those who do the physical labor of carrying such loads work much harder and get much hungrier. Such happiness, such joy, such contentment cannot be bought with all the wealth, qualifications, or intelligence in the world. This must be achieved through the richness of the heart, and not everyone can do it. So while people may indeed become successful through effort, they cannot become fulfilled.
Though this man wasn't successful in life, he was fulfilled. He had found the joy of being alive. Carrying the happiness that formed in his mind, even if he ate half-meals four times a day, nothing would happen to him. Every contentment in the world creates a kind of power within us, a kind of capacity. This capacity sets us apart from being just another person. What needs to be done to achieve this capacity—like doing your work well, doing it with effort and sincerity, being humane in your thoughts and actions—this is what I call prayer or worship. If you perform your worship properly, however you do it, living however feels right to you—going to temples, mosques, churches, pagodas wherever you feel like going, or staying at home and building your heart, awakening your soul—this work must be done correctly.
We often see this: for instance, the elderly parents in our homes pray, go to places of worship, and many of us try to rationalize this, view it negatively. We look for reasons behind it, try to understand and explain—what's the point of all this! Many go to listen to kirtan, many attend religious gatherings, and many view this negatively. I don't view this negatively. Because that person feels good this way, and if I can't keep them happy in some other way, then why should I pull them away from the wisdom they're following in their own way to keep themselves well? What does being well really mean? Being well means awakening what's inside us.
The more awakened one's inner being, the less they will suffer from illness and sorrow, and the more beautifully they will be able to live. They will be able to live in greater service to humanity, and they will be able to contribute more meaningfully even within their own family. The way to achieve this is through finding peace and contentment. To obstruct someone from pursuing what brings them this peace or contentment—from doing what fulfills them—is a kind of sin.
When a person finds their own well-being without harming another, indeed contributing something positive to society by day's end, they should not be prevented from doing so. However someone finds their happiness, they should be allowed to flourish in that way. No one can be made better by having something forced upon them. They should be permitted to thrive in their own manner. However, if someone's way of being well causes harm to others, then through understanding and explanation, they must be guided away from that path. But when someone engages in something joyful that harms no one, there is no sense in preventing them from that activity. Take, for instance, how we often say that the mothers and sisters in our homes sit idle watching Zee Bangla or Star Plus, that they have no real work, that their mindset is substandard... I personally dislike speaking this way. I think: if I'm not giving them my time, how can I speak like this? I'm not spending time with the women of the house. They need some entertainment, don't they? Don't they need to live? They watch these programs. These shows make them feel good. Their inner selves, their hearts—these programs nurture their hearts and minds. And when they feel good, they will keep the family well. This is why I never look unfavorably upon watching Zee Bangla, Star Jalsha, and such channels. If I cannot provide someone with any means of well-being, and they find their own path to happiness without harming anyone, then what right do I have to speak against it or play the authority?
There was a time when I used to say: these young men and women who fall in love—can they actually marry? If they cannot marry each other, then why do they fall in love? I used to think this way: why should I love someone I won't or can't marry? Before getting involved with anyone, one must be certain that marriage is possible! Then one day Gayatri-didi told me, "Life doesn't run on logic. Life runs on faith. The moment you think, 'By loving them, I am so much happier—this is my belief,' in that very moment, you do exactly that. By doing so, you will be well in that moment. Oh Sush, who told you that you'll live long enough to marry them? You may not have that much life left in you. Isn't that right? If that's true, then all the days you remain alive, if you keep yourself in suffering hoping to be happy in the future, that future might never come to your life."
So as long as you live, you'll carry the burden of painful memories, and when death suddenly arrives, in those final moments you'll think, 'In all the years I lived in this world, I can't recall a single good memory!' I found myself thinking then about how nearly 96 percent of all love affairs in this world end in breakups. So why do people still fall in love? Why don't the rest stop falling in love after seeing what happens to others? Surely there's some mystery here that doesn't follow the logic of 'two plus two equals four'!
Didi continued, '...Instead, give your inner soul some beautiful memories as gifts. Don't deprive it of experiencing good memories. If you do, that becomes a kind of sin. Let it savor life, let it find joy. What's the point, tell me, of all this toil you're doing, all this grinding for a job, even refusing to forgive yourself when you miss studying sometimes? Are you certain you'll achieve what you're killing yourself trying to get? You could die on the very day you go to take your job exam—couldn't you? You could die the night before the results come out for an exam you topped—isn't that true? You might think that if people reasoned this way, no one would do anything at all. Yes, that's true, but it's equally true that you cannot torture yourself this much. Such self-torture becomes a kind of sin. Because in that moment, it's your responsibility to keep the person within you well. God has given you that responsibility by keeping you alive. Otherwise, He needn't have kept you alive at all.'
Listening to Didi's words, I realized how true they were! I would continue my efforts, but there was no point in remaining so anxious about results that I kept myself in constant torment. If my intentions and efforts remained true, and if something was meant to be in my destiny, then I would surely receive it! Let my mind be focused on action, not on outcomes. Even now, when I remember Gayatri Didi's words, I become deeply emotional. What this person means to me—I could never explain through writing or speaking. I could never express this person even in the most beautiful language. She truly means everything to me. I often think, oh, if only I could give her some of my lifespan! If I could truly give it, how wonderful that would be! For the person who has made my existence meaningful, I would consider living a few years less the greatest fortune.
In this four-part essay, I may have written much nonsense, perhaps included many irrelevant things too! But everything I've written represents my sincere beliefs, my honest realizations, my heartfelt feelings. To all of you who have read this piece, I humbly request that you too share with me the various things you've learned from your own lives. This will enrich you, me, and many others. Dear reader, please think about what I've written in your own way. Consider my words through the lens of your life's experiences, philosophy, education, beliefs, and so forth. If you have any opinions, advice, or personal philosophy of life, please share them with me. I want to learn from you. Know this—if even one person in this world values your thoughts, I want to be that person.
Always keep this in mind.
However, I say with humility: please refrain from needless personal attacks or condemnation—that is not human behavior, but animal behavior. I neither eat your bread nor wear your clothes. I have never caused you the slightest harm, nor have I tagged you in my writings. If you wish, you may unfollow me—it serves both your well-being and mine. Whether you read my writing or not makes no difference to me. I believe you come to my page following the call of your own heart; whatever benefit, interest, or gain there may be is entirely your own. I never write for you—I write solely for my own joy. Therefore, please do not foolishly disturb me and my other readers. After reading my work, share with me your constructive thoughts, let me know your beautiful reflections. I believe in freedom of expression, both mine and yours. Both you and your opinions matter to me. I await hearing from you. Take care of yourself, and help others flourish. I pray for your well-being.