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AVIS Viswanathan Quotes

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Famous AVIS Viswanathan Quotes

“The way to stay calm and peaceful each day is to wake up and offer yourself to Life! Instead of the traditional 'naivedhya' or 'sacred offering' of fruit or food to an idol/image, offer yourself to Creation! And say that, “Whatever you do with/for me today, I will accept humbly; I know it has a meaning, and an opportunity for me to evolve”! That's the way to staying anchored. Do it and watch your ability to deal with each day, particularly when in the throes of a crisis, magically improve!”

“Never surrender in hopelessness. It is never the last resort. It is the ONLY resort. Surrender in joy at having found a way out of 'maya' or 'life's trials and tribulations'. When you surrender in joy you will encounter and feel faith....that magical something you can never see but only experience. Remember: The Lord's waiting for your surrender and when you do, you will be lifted, embraced, energized and liberated!”

“Mindfulness is the art of being present in whatever you are doing, whatever you are thinking. It involves holding up each thought, examining its value and utility and discarding it if it is debilitating or wasteful. Hold up each thought just the way you would see a dew drop hanging on to a blade of grass – if the thought is empowering or inspiring, let it be; if it is making you feel suffocated or frustrated, shake it off, let it go. Mindfulness is like any other art – over time, with practice, it can be learnt.”

“No, loving a crisis isn’t easy. But loving a crisis is the only way to deal with one. Because every crisis comes into your Life to teach you unputdownable lessons. Such is Life. You have to go through the darkness to see the light. To appreciate the magic and beauty of Life, you have to experience pain. And you must have felt suffocated by sadness to understand the value of Happiness…of living fully with what is!”

“How will you ever learn that you had an option to deal with a situation differently, unless you deal with it one way and realize – and understand – its futility? This is why pain is a great teacher. Pain teaches you that Life must be faced and that you must always choose for yourself, for your Happiness…which is why pain, eventually, always, makes you strong, wise and happy!”

“Adolescent and young adult children will continue to question or even challenge their parents’ decisions, choices and wisdom – until they become parents themselves! This is irrespective of whether the parents are regressive or progressive, controlling or empowering, conservative or liberal. This is just how Life works. So, a simple way to zero-anxiety parenting is to offer your perspective and step back. And, over time, evolve into being a by-invitation-only parent – which is, offer that perspective only when it is sought!”

“We are all going through our evolutionary journeys in Life; and there is a quiet search within each of us that makes us feel restless and incomplete. Who am I? Why do I feel the way I am feeling? What do I love doing the most? What is my Life’s Purpose? These are some of the significant questions that arise within us when we go through this search. Each of us has to through this phase individually, often privately. And we have to answer these questions – for ourselves, for our Happiness. We should then go to work on those answers – by being the change, by leading the change around us. Only then will we be able to live happily ever after!”

“The power of human touch is immense, more than the world has ever realized. Over time, I have, in addition to shaking hands, also thrived on a warm hug as a form of greeting. In fact, in all the live Conversations and Events we curate, we gave away a lot of “Happyness” hugs to our audiences. So, the handshake and the hug will be truly missed for some time! Adapting to a post-COVID-19 scenario, I would continue to use a “Hi!”, along with a wave of the hand, as a distant or casual greeting. But when in close proximity to someone, or in formal settings, I would like to primarily rely on the Japanese bow – a deep, long one. It is elegant, aesthetic and respectful. Additionally, it draws from the spirit of ancient Indian culture – indicating that the divinity in me bows to the divinity in you. To me, this spiritual greeting comes closest to making up for the absence of human touch.”

“Following your Bliss holds you up when you are falling apart. Your Bliss is your Life’s Special Purpose Vehicle. Pain, darkness, confusion, chaos…all of them are integral to the process of Life. But following your Bliss offers you that opportunity to escape, to dissolve in the moment…and to find meaning, Purpose and Happiness …no matter how challenging the circumstances are!”

“People, places, events – they have a way of curiously being arranged for you, for a reason. And you often can and will find that reason only in hindsight. Sometimes they are more evident, sometimes they happen in a paradoxical way – which is, you may not want something but what’s happening is Life’s way of getting you to where you must arrive, of making you who you must be.”

“Bliss is not an abstract, unattainable state or quality. You will experience Bliss when you do what you love doing. Each of us has a special spiritual talent. Doing that one activity, honing that talent, makes us lose ourselves – in that state worry, sadness, worldly challenges, physical pain…all these dissolve and you are soaked in Happiness! That state is Bliss…and it is available to you if you choose not to postpone Happiness and you go do what you love doing!”

“It is possible to live in this world and yet be above it! When Life’s upheavals stump you, choose to be non-complaining. The way to do this is to hold up what the iconic Tamizh poet Kannadasan has said, “Sothanai mel sothanai, pothum ada Saami” (Enough of the upheavals, O! Lord!!) and to embrace the legendary statesman Rajaji’s (in MS' voice) philosophy, “Kurai Ondrum Illai...!” (I have no complaints!). This is how you not only survive a tough time, this is how you thrive in it – experiencing the beauty of reality and the miracle of grace!”

“Sometimes complex Life situations will bring you to your knees. The only option then is to not fight Life, but to surrender to it, to flow with it. Because you don’t know what to do. Well, what do you do when you don’t know what to do? When you flow with Life, you will always be taken to where you must arrive – without friction, without resistance, peacefully.”

“When you feel tormented over the behavior of someone close to you, when you feel let down, trampled upon, pissed on and passed over, adopt a simple “No grief. No guilt. No grudge.” approach. Just recognize the other person’s choice to behave the way they want to and let things be. Don’t judge them. Don’t let your sadness consume you, don’t feel traumatized that you trusted them and don’t hate them. Often times, silence, and not adding to a mess, is a great response. It definitely helps protects your inner peace.”

“The essence of intelligent living is to do what you can and must do while thriving with the unknown, with uncertainty. So, don’t wish the darkness away, don’t wait for the clouds to clear, embrace your current reality and do whatever you can best do in the circumstances. You will be amazed with how happy you can really be with what is.”

“We have been conditioned to believe that prayer is all about asking a God for some thing. But what if you have nothing to ask for? What if you treat prayer as a way of being thankful to Life, for the gift of this human form, of this lifetime? What if, in prayer, you offer yourself up to divinity, as a humble, willing instrument, for Life to work through you? Try praying this way – you will find it healing, magical, beautiful and transformational!”

“The whole idea of love is not about falling in love and falling out of love, it is about rising in love. It is about loving, staying loving, in the present continuous tense. There is no physicality to the act of loving…there is compassion, there is understanding, there is listening, there is holding the other person up when they are falling apart. You hold their heart…this is rising in love… You see, people change, circumstances change, appearances change, physicality changes, but when the loving doesn’t change, when the love flows, you go on rising in love…”

“Whether you believe in this idea or not, Time changes everyone, it changes everything. Everyone and every thing is a product of the Time they go through. What goes up, comes down, only to go up again; and what goes around, comes around. When you awaken to this truth, you learn to keep the Faith, to trust the process of Life, and to be patient through your journey here.”

“What we think is breaking us, is actually making us…yes, it is breaking the stranglehold of debilitating emotions that are pinning us down and holding us hostage…and through learning to deal with these emotions, we emerge resilient, content and anchored. Which is why it is important to learn to live fully with what is – to learn to be non-worrying, non-frustrated and non-suffering, to be happy despite your circumstances.”

“Is there a right time to follow your Bliss? Not really. You postpone your Happiness, following your Bliss, only because you think you have a lot of time later in Life to do what you love doing. But the truth is that there is not enough time. Life comes with an expiry date; it is a one-time, limited-period offer. So, if you are not living your Life fully, happily, you are losing precious time. Simply, there is no better time than NOW to do what you love doing!”

“Bliss can – and will – never lead you astray. When you follow your Bliss, you sure may face challenges, there may be pain, but you will not be unhappy. On the other hand, if you resist your Bliss, choosing not to do what you love doing – not only will Life be challenging, but it will also be intensely unhappy…making you feel low, depressed and causing you a lot of grief, misery and suffering. Think: what if you had challenges and were happy facing them? Well, that is the biggest benefit of following your Bliss. Simply, you cannot go wrong with Happiness.”

“The “Why?” and “Why Me?” questions are futile and debilitating. They make you wallow in self-pity and lead you to compare yourself with others. They keep coming back to push you down a depressive spiral even if you want to let go and move on. So, essentially, Life is a mind-game. You must train your mind to drop the “Why?” and “Why Me?” questions altogether. Whatever has happened has happened, and your Life is what it is now. What then is the point in asking “Why?” and “Why Me?”. When you realize the futility of those questions, you will be free…you will then see magic and beauty in the inscrutable process of Life. In faith. In acceptance. In letting go. In moving on.”

“The nature of Life is that at least once in your lifetime, if not more times, the unexpected will come and sock you, it will defy logic and it may even hang you from the edge of a precipice. You will not know what to do. You will be engulfed by darkness. The pain will be unbearable and you will imagine you can’t go on. That’s when Life will send you a lifeboat, a raft…a shepherd may arrive, a door may open, showing you the way forward to last one more day…surely your problems won’t get solved overnight…they may even endure and so will you…such is Life…”

“The key to romance, thriving through years of companionship, is in the loving, in the present continuous tense. Being loving, irrespective of circumstances, is magical. Love is static...but loving is flowing... it is.... there is no friction, there is no search, it is present and is flowing...so, the romance is always fragrant!”