Rising Above

December 2, 2025

Noticing how everything — people, moments, emotions — flows in and out of life

Dr. Tanu Jain
Chief executive officer Bareilly cantonment board Ministry of defence

Lately, I’ve begun to notice how everything — people, moments, emotions — flows in and out of life like waves touching the shore. One evening, as I sat in silence, it struck me that everything is, in some mysterious way, planned by God — not always pleasant, not always as I wish, but always good for the soul’s growth.
Relationships come and go.

Time comes and goes.
Even the depth of a connection — once so intense — fades and flows.
Perhaps all of it happens only to remind us again and again: nothing lasts forever.
Impermanence is the law of life.
We know this truth, yet we resist it. We hold on to what was meant to pass.
We attach ourselves to people, expectations, and moments, only to find that the tighter we hold, the deeper we hurt.
“Whatever happened, happened for the good.

Whatever is happening, is happening for the good.
Whatever will happen, will also happen for the good.”
— Bhagavad Gita (2.47)
The Bhagavad Gita teaches us that detachment is not indifference; it is wisdom.
To do our karma with sincerity, yet remain untouched by its outcomes — that is real mastery.

And as I reflect on this, I realize that Lord Krishna and Lord Buddha spoke the same eternal truth, only in different ways.
The Buddha’s Four Noble Truths echo the same divine message:
1. Life is suffering (Dukkha).
2. Suffering arises from attachment (Tanha).
3. Freedom lies in letting go.
4. And the path to freedom is through mindfulness and right action.
We fall into attachment, rise again through awareness, and repeat the cycle — until one day, we learn to rise without falling.
We understand that nothing outside truly belongs to us, and that peace lies not in control, but in surrender.
“You have a right to action, but never to its fruits.”
— Bhagavad Gita
The more I observe life, the more I see how every experience — joy or pain, gain or loss — is just another nudge from the Divine to turn inward.
Our emotions, our thoughts, our daily routines — everything is meant to align us toward the Almighty.
“As a well-kindled fire turns wood to ashes,
so does the fire of knowledge burn all karma to ashes.”
— Bhagavad Gita (4.37)
The Buddha said,
“As the lotus rises unsoiled from the mud,
so must one rise untouched from the world.”
We fall, we awaken, we rise — again and again — until the cycle itself becomes our teacher.
Until sorrow no longer shakes us, and joy no longer blinds us.
For both are but waves in the same ocean of Divine will.
So, raise your inner energy. Rise above all that binds you.
This world of fleeting emotions is not your home — your soul belongs to something far higher, far purer, far eternal.
And when that remembrance becomes your way of living, every moment — even the painful ones — becomes sacred.
Because in truth, every fall is a rise in disguise.

Phone: A Medium of Communication or a Means of Consumption?
Last night, during a Diwali celebration at a friend’s home, I witnessed a sight that many of us have quietly accepted as normal — children glued to mobile screens for hours. While elders chatted, laughed, and enjoyed the festive warmth, the kids sat silently, their eyes fixed on glowing screens. What struck me most wasn’t their immersion, but the parents’ comfort — as if the phone had become a convenient babysitter, a digital pacifier.
That moment sparked a thought — the phone was invented for communication, yet somewhere along the way, we began being consumed by it.

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, his vision was to bridge distances. Yet today, despite being constantly connected, we feel more isolated than ever. The irony of our age is captured perfectly in the words of Albert Einstein:
“I fear the day technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”
We are living that fear today. What began as a medium of communication has turned into a means of consumption — of time, attention, and even emotion.
We no longer talk to express; we talk to fill silence.
We message not to convey meaning, but to maintain presence.
We scroll not to seek information, but to escape reality.

This is the age of over-communication — a strange paradox where more words are spoken, yet less is understood. We are constantly talking, typing, replying, forwarding — and yet, somewhere, listening has disappeared. The more we communicate, the less we truly connect. The more accessible we become, the less available we are — emotionally, mentally, even spiritually.
“We have mastered the art of communication but forgotten the essence of connection.”
Over-communication has created an illusion of closeness. We feel we know people because we see their updates, but we rarely know how they feel. We are surrounded by hundreds of conversations, yet suffer from the loneliness of digital noise.
We no longer wait to meet someone to share our day; we send it instantly through a photo. We no longer cherish silence; we fear it. In trying to stay in touch with everyone, we are slowly losing touch with ourselves.
“Silence is the language of the wise, while noise is the refuge of the restless.”

Maybe it’s time to pause and reclaim our relationship with our phones — to remind ourselves that it’s a tool, not a lifeline. Communication was meant to build bridges, not bind us in invisible chains of compulsive connectivity.
Let’s bring back the art of real conversation — where eyes meet, pauses speak, and hearts listen.

Let’s teach children that comfort doesn’t lie in a glowing screen, but in a glowing face across the table.
Let’s remember that not every thought needs to be shared, not every message needs an instant reply, and not every silence needs to be filled.

“We were not designed to communicate endlessly — we were designed to feel deeply.”
Because real communication is not about how much we talk — it’s about how deeply we connect.
And maybe, the next time we reach for our phone, we should ask ourselves —
“Am I using it, or is it using me?”