Equations for Life.

‘>’ Significantly better than.
’=’ equals to/means
’⇒’ Leads to / Implies
’
⇔’ is bidirectional with.

• Dreams + Failure + Perseverance ⇒ Success

• Courage + Righteousness + Patience ⇒ Prosperity.

• Discomfort + Introspection ⇒ Growth
  • Discomfort = Potential Truth; Comfort = Potential Deception
  • Reflection = Constructive Feedback + Self-Introspection + Non-Judgemental Observation of Others

• Energy spent on non-priorities = Energy taken away from priorities

• Integrity = Consistency between words, thoughts, and actions

• Listening & Absorbing >> Talking & Reacting

• Wealth + Great Relationships + Gratitude ⇒ Happiness

• Great Relationships = Self-Love + Mutual * (Love + Respect + Compassion + Understanding)

• Wealth = Health + Financial Assets + Time + Freedom
  • Health = Balanced Diet + Exercise + Sleep
  • Sleep = 7-8 hours + Without alarm(s) + Circadian Rhythms
  • Exercise = High Intensity Resistance Training + Hatha Yoga & Meditation + Sports + Rest
  • Balanced Diet = Natural Whole Foods + Intermittent Fasting

• Financial Assets = Income + Invested Savings * (Return on Investment)
  • Return on Investment = Diversification + Buy-and-Hold Strategy + Market Valuation + Margin of Safety
  • Income = Accountability + Leverage + Specific Knowledge
    • Accountability = Extreme Ownership + Personal Branding + Risk Taking
    • Leverage = Financial Capital + Labor Capital + Intellectual Property
    • Specific Knowledge = Having the ability to execute something that is not yet easily teachable by society.

• Time in Market >> Timing the Market

• Social Media, News, Sugar or Alcohol = Cheap Dopamine (i.e. Pleasures to limit or avoid)

• Long-Term Independent Thinking & Delayed Gratification >>> Direct Results or Instantaneous Outcomes

• Systems >> Goals

• Curiosity + Grit >> Passion

• Consistency >> Motivation

• Direction >> Speed

• Actions >> Words

• Meritocracy & Collegiality >> Title Worship & Hierarchy

• Perpetual Learning >> Knowledge stagnation

• Intent-Based Decisions >> Instruction-Based Decisions

• Love ⇔ Freedom + Respect.

• First Principles >> Conventional wisdom >>> Mimetic Desire
  
  

Equanimity and Detachment

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What you think you become." - Buddha

• You must control your mind or the mind ends up controlling you. Maintain equanimity in all circumstances, neither getting overly attached to pleasures or accomplishments nor getting overwhelmed by hardships or failures. Different forms of meditation help with this in a world full of abundance & dopamine-filled distractions.

“One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among people; The wise person lets go of all results, whether good or bad, and is focused on the action alone. You have the right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions.”


- Srimad Bhagavad Gita

• Perform your prescribed duties with sincerity, grit, and integrity without any expectations about the results.

• Avoid pursuing status defined by society and play long-term positive-sum games. Superficial achievements and actions are short-lived and do not bring true fulfillment.

No man is fit to hold office who isn't perfectly willing to leave it at any time...
- Charlie Munger.

• Be willing to walk away if, after multiple attempts, something no longer aligns with your core principles and values. This includes your job, partner, or relationships.

Relationships

“People come into your life for a reason, season, or lifetime”
- Unknown/Anonymous

• Value a few meaningful friendships over numerous acquaintances. Stay connected with old friends who reciprocate and engage in meaningful conversations. That said, celebrate and enjoy life with new experiences with new people.

• Always prioritize your family, actual friends, and significant other. Make an effort to visit them regularly and never underestimate their importance in your life.

“The price of making everyone else happy is making yourself miserable”
- Naval Ravikant.

• Be uncompromising as compromises clutter your life and increase negativity. Negativity hinders progress. Don't waste time maintaining relationships with people you dislike or who dislike you. Remove negative influences from your life as early as possible.
  
  

“Nothing is gained by arguing with some over something that does not matter. You can disagree without saying anything. Not needing to win trivial arguments saves time, energy, and friends”
- Shane Parrish.

• Avoid excessive complaining or arguing. Be lenient with others, and strict with yourself.

• Surround yourself with smart, interesting, and ambitious individuals. Work for them, hire them, and build deep relationships with talented people. Spend time with those who excel in their fields or show exceptional promise, as you tend to reflect the average of the people or the influences [via books and the internet] you spend the most time around.

“If you try to give more than what you get, you will find you will get more than you can imagine”
- Ray Dalio.

• Make an effort to help others. Few things are as fulfilling as lending a helping hand. Be kind to strangers and family and friends alike.

To find a worthy mate - “Be worthy of a worthy mate”
-
Charlie Munger

• Recapture the intensity of teenage love in your every relationship. Rediscover the excitement and joy you felt as a child. Embrace that same level of enthusiasm and happiness.
  
  

"The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury."
- Marcus Aurelius

• Treat others with respect you would like for yourself and avoid burning bridges by practicing forgiveness towards others.
  
  

"To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance."
- Oscar Wilde

• Loving others is impossible without loving yourself.
  
  

"Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
- Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi

• Do not proclaim to others what you yourself do not follow.

• Don’t envy other people’s success, genuinely feel happy for their success (but remember that some people will hate your success, and you have to learn to ignore it).

• Criticize generally (without taunting) and praise specifically & in people’s absence, never say anything you wouldn’t say to them directly.

• Trust people’s actions more than words.

• With people and yourself, take a few seconds to reflect before acting, and give yourself a few minutes if you're feeling angry or excited. Rational and Informed decisions cannot be made when your mind and heart are not calm.

• Avoid judging others. You never know their complete story or the reasons behind their actions or inactions. Cultivate empathy and understanding and then reflect.

Experiences

• Moderation is key. Most things are acceptable in moderation, while excessive amounts of almost anything can be detrimental.

“A fit body, a calm mind, and a house full of love, these things cannot be bought, they must be earned.”
- Naval Ravikant

• Chase things that must be earned.

• If you anticipate regretting not doing something, it's likely worth pursuing. Regret is more common for missed opportunities than actions taken and is more painful than discipline and hard decision-making. When in doubt, take a chance on love & passion.

• Take care of your physical well-being by exercising, eating healthily, sleeping adequately, and spending time alone in nature regularly.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

- Lao Tzu

• Be proactive and take action rather than merely talking about it. Be a doer, not a talker.

• Embrace novelty and engage in new experiences regularly. It not only alters our perception of time, but also enhances happiness, keeps life exciting, and prevents rigid thinking. Aim to pursue something significant, fresh, and daring each year in both your personal and professional life.

• Differentiate between schooling and education. Passing a course often indicates that classes are designed for the lowest common denominator. Break free from these limitations by engaging in directed learning and seeking guidance from knowledgeable individuals.

Money & Time

“Seek wealth, not money or status.”
- Naval Ravikant

• Money does not buy happiness but it can lead to freedom and alleviate financial stress, and that’s a big deal. That said do not pursue money at the expense of your freedom, health, and autonomy.

• Financial security is more impactful on well-being than extravagant spending. Earning money can be more enjoyable than spending it, although spending on friends, new experiences, saving time, travel, and supporting causes can often bring lasting satisfaction.

• Time is the most valuable asset. Cultivate the habit of prioritization and do not waste a lot of time and energy on T.V. & entertainment-based internet like most folks. Handle non-essential tasks swiftly and efficiently.

Spend your time in the company of geniuses, sages, children, and books

- Naval Ravikant.

• All the money in the world will never get back the time that passed you by. Time is limited and passes quickly - make life count even if you are here for a tiny amount of time when compared with the evolution of the universe. Avoid doing things that don't make you happy, especially when influenced by others.

“The greatest wealth is to live content with little.”
- Plato

• Try not to upgrade your lifestyle (without sacrificing basic needs) with increasing income. Keep your personal burn rate low and minimize your commitments, as it opens up numerous opportunities in life.

• You will not get rich by renting out your time. Becoming financially rich involves possessing assets that experience overtime appreciation. The most effective approach to creating such valuable assets is by producing high-demand items on a large scale for which the market can reward you. The internet has created a world of abundance, where anyone can create and distribute value at scale.

• Safeguard your mind and time against the attention economy. Recognize that behind media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Netflix, TikTok, etc. countless engineers are economically driven to addict you to their apps. If you do use these platforms, take control by blocking excessive feeds and maintaining a healthy creation-to-consumption ratio. You have the power to program recommendation algorithms in your favor.

• Focus on activities that align with your knowledge, interests, and passions. Avoid or delegate tasks that you lack enthusiasm for or can be better suited for others. Allocate time daily for reflection and deliberation on what to prioritize. Be resolute in declining commitments that don't align with your mission or objectives.

Risks, First Principles & Optimism

“Think like an Optimist, Prepare like a Pessimist”
- Shane Parrish

• Successful individuals believe in themselves, and are rationally optimistic, sometimes often to the point that seems unrealistic to others. Trust in your judgment but also develop the confidence to pursue and explore contrarian ideas.

“First Principles thinking is a competitive advantage since almost no one does it”
- Shane Parrish.

“One of the most valuable things you can make is a mistake – you can't learn anything from being perfect.”
- Paul Graham

“Mimicking the herd invites regression to the mean”
- Charlie Munger

• Avoid groupthink and echo-chamber environments which nurture Mimetic Desire. Original and independent thinking is crucial for long-term success. Cultivate the ability to think from first principles, generate new ideas, and test them in the real world. Embrace failure as part of the process, and wear it as a badge of honor.

“Clever wins the moment, wise wins the decade.”
- Shane Parrish

• Think for the long-term [think in decades and about the first, second, and third-order consequences]. Often, the immediate benefits are temptations that hinder us from obtaining what we truly desire and can act as obstacles in our path. Avoid becoming too comfortable and prioritize long-term fulfillment over short-term gain. The days are long but the decades are short.

• Many people are overly risk-averse and underestimate reward, therefore most advice often leans toward conservative choices. Take calculated risks early in your career when the potential rewards outweigh the losses.

• Only start a company or business if you are truly fixated on solving a particular problem. Avoid joining a company as an employee or starting a company yourself because others are doing so. Failure in a venture you loved and believed in will not be regrettable, but imitating others will be worse. Be patient and wait for the right opportunity where your objectives intersect with the market demands or recent changes in technology because startups require a serious time commitment, persistence, and often the right set intersection of timing, circumstances, and opportunity.

“Retirement starts when you stop sacrificing today for an imaginary tomorrow”
- Naval Ravikant

• In many situations, progress builds upon itself, and success begets further success. That said, you have to figure out how to work hard and smart without burning out. This can be done by finding work you like doing (work that feels like play to you) with people you enjoy spending a lot of time with.

• Ask for what you desire and express your needs. Close mouths do not get fed.

• If you anticipate regretting not doing something, it's likely worth pursuing. Regret is more common for missed opportunities than actions taken. When in doubt, take a chance on love or passion.

• Most people waste most of their time on stuff that doesn’t matter. It is much more important to work on the right thing than it is to work many hours.

• If you're unsure of what to work on, concentrate on learning technical abilities and gaining perspective. Consider whether the default future is in line with your objectives and how you may help create a better one. Recognize that power law distribution controls many facets of life. Rewards for being the first to do anything are frequently enormously bigger than those for coming in second.

• Be a generalist by diversifying your focus to mitigate the risks associated with becoming too narrowly focused on one area. Expanding your interests provides a hedge against relying solely on one avenue of success.

Embrace Reality via Open-mindedness and Transparency

• Truth, which entails an accurate understanding of reality, serves as the fundamental basis for any positive result. You have nothing to fear from the truth.

• Having all the answers is unnecessary; understanding how to find answers is usually more important than knowing the answer itself.

• Don’t treat all opinions as equally valuable. Disagree based on evidence by consulting trustworthy individuals. Don't allow yourself to be easily influenced or manipulated. Confidence is desirable, whereas arrogance is not. Determine when to push back and seek understanding, based on the knowledge and nature of each person involved.

• Gathering data effectively is a prerequisite for making well-informed decisions and achieving desirable outcomes.

• Don’t speak or act before thinking. Listen and Learn well, and take the time to come up with a response and game plan.

• Be transparent, have integrity, and demand it from others.

• Be assertive and open-minded at the same time.

Reflection & Gratitude.

"The unexamined life is not worth living."
- Socrates

"It’s becoming easier and easier to be social, but exceptional people are built in solitude”
- Naval Ravikant.

• Challenging times, coupled with introspection, provide valuable lessons.

• Always bear in mind that your reputation and integrity are your most precious possessions, vulnerable to being lost in an instant if not dealt with sincerity.

• Pain serves a purpose: it keeps us vigilant and propels us in the right direction. Developing the habit of reflecting on pain is crucial for making progress.

• Make sound decisions instead of complaining about factors beyond your control. This can be done via self-reflection, confronting weaknesses when going through painful times, or during successful times.

• Appreciating and expressing thankfulness for the blessings and experiences in life is a force multiplier. This can involve keeping a gratitude journal, where you regularly write down things you are grateful for. It can also involve expressing appreciation directly to others, whether through a simple thank-you note or a heartfelt conversation.

• There is no such thing as a self-made person. We are an outcome of our life choices, which are shaped by the circumstances (hardships & accomplishments), and people (advocates & opponents) we have met on the way. Sometimes different forms of luck and/or privilege are also involved.

Power of Compounding

• Trust the power of exponential growth, exercise patience, and be pleasantly surprised by the outcomes.

• Compounding is a remarkable phenomenon that holds the potential to enrich every facet of life. Achieving rapid and exponential growth in asset value is the key to generating lasting financial prosperity. This principle applies universally, encompassing domains such as business, relationships, finances, scientific advancements, and more.

“Play long-term iterated games; All returns in life whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge come from compound interest.”
- Naval Ravikant.

• Aspire to be like an exponential curve yourself, continuously rising and moving forward. Seek a career that fosters compounding growth, unlike many professions or careers that typically advance in a linear fashion.

• Steer clear of professions where individuals with limited experience can match the effectiveness of those with decades of experience, especially in rapidly evolving times. Instead, focus on continuously learning and improving at a faster pace. As your career progresses, aim for each effort to yield increasingly significant outcomes. You can achieve this leverage through capital, technology, branding, network effects, and efficient people management.

• Be willing to let go of small & linear opportunities in order to pursue potentially transformative changes.

• Whether for a company or an individual's career, success is directly related to long-term thinking and having a broad perspective on how various systems in the world will converge. In a world where true long-term thinking is scarce, those who possess it are richly rewarded by the universe.

Adapt & Evolve or Die

"The only constant in life is change." - Heraclitus

• Acknowledge that although many individuals may favor compliments over criticisms, there is unparalleled value in receiving accurate and constructive feedback. Embrace the continuous exchange of insights to gain a better understanding of your learning journey and offer the same to others in return.

• Evolution and change are the most powerful forces in the universe; they are permanent and drive everything.

• Hold people accountable and appreciate them holding you accountable.

Once weaknesses are identified, there are four choices to address them:

To confront your own weaknesses, consider the following:

Communication & Sales

• Self-belief alone is not sufficient—you also have to be able to convince other people of what you believe.

• Being able to persuade and communicate effectively is essential. Have an inspiring vision, strong communication skills, and charisma. Genuinely believe in what you're selling.

Intrinsic Drive

• Most people are primarily externally driven; they do what they do because they want to impress other people. Do not conform to consensus ideas or career paths, this limits the ability to engage in truly interesting and impactful work and the fear of falling behind in competitive social games hinders accurate risk calculations.

• Pursue work that aligns with their passions and obsessions, as success is harder to achieve without such intrinsic motivation.

Bold & Ambitious Mission

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."
- Socrates

• Set clear daily, yearly, and decade-long systematic objectives for yourself. Pursue hard challenges rather than easy ones. Follow your curiosity, learn voraciously, and work on what excites you. It’s easier to do and sustain a hard yet impactful challenge than an easy challenge.

• Ambition attracts people who want to contribute to something meaningful. If you are making progress on an important problem, you will have a constant tailwind of people wanting to help you.

• it’s difficult to do a great job on work you don’t care about. Bend the world to your will by persistently pursuing your mission. Most people don't push hard enough or give up too early. Ask for what you want, and be persistent in the face of challenges.

• To succeed in your career and find fulfillment in life, focus on work that you genuinely care about. Work hard, even if some people are critical of your dedication, but strike a balance so that you don't neglect other aspects of your life. Strive to excel in your profession, aiming to be the best in the world at what you do. If you fall short, you'll likely still achieve significant success.

• Just like companies are more valuable if they are difficult to compete with, individuals can be more valuable, when they are hard to compete with. This can be done by building leverage (financial, personal brand, cultivating personal relationships and expanding network, and excelling at the intersection of multiple fields).

• Metrics are important for improvement, the metric you measure your productivity with determines what you focus on. If you measure productivity based on the number of meetings, you'll have more meetings. However, if you measure it by the value created, you'll likely have fewer meetings and create more value.

Network & Team Building

• Surround yourself with talented and optimistic folks with well-diversified thoughts, opinions, and ideas.

• Help others as much as you can and develop a reputation for taking care of those who work with you.

• Recognize and utilize people's strengths.

• Just like yourself, push people hard enough that they accomplish more than they thought they could, but not so hard that they burn out.

• Everyone has unique strengths. The best way to make up for your weaknesses is to hire complementary team members instead of just hiring people who are good at the same things you are.

Learnings & Notes from the Ancient Indian Literature

[Primarily Mahabharata & Vedanta]

• Before you seek knowledge, dedication and surrendering your mind to the source of knowledge is crucial. This is why different people in the same classroom often absorb different levels of knowledge from the same teacher or professor.

• The one who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among people; A wise person lets go of all results, whether good or bad, and is focused on the action alone. In the dark night of all beings awakes to light the tranquil man, but what is day to other beings is night for the sage who sees.

• Realize the difference between being hopeful by focusing your efforts/actions towards ambitions and goals versus being attached to or expecting a certain outcome because of your effort/actions. You have the right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. The one who is motivated only by the desire for the fruits of their action, and anxious about the results, is miserable indeed. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long for inaction as inaction is not possible. If you seek refuge in the attitude of detachment of results, you will amass the wealth of spiritual awareness.

• A lustful, greedy and selfish attitude is like a dusty mirror which leads to eventual self destruction. A selfish person will fail to perceive the truth when tackling any given situation. A lopsided view will keep them bound by doubts and disappointments. Contentment with what you have is essential. Through selfless service, you will always find the fulfillment and satisfaction.

• One who is not disturbed in spite of the miseries, who is not elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear, lust, greed and anger, is called a sage of steady mind. That person who does not rejoice when he obtains good, nor lament when he obtains evil, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge.

• You should never abandon duties because you see defects in them. Every action, every activity, is surrounded by defects as a fire is surrounded by smoke.

• Just as parents/teachers/mentors give the nectar of life through love, knowledge, wealth, and more, they also inadvertently pass on the poison of preconceptions of righteous versus evil to their children, students and mentees. The gift of life comes packaged with the gift of death, and the light of love comes with the darkness of hatred through others' actions and words.

• A person is born without any inherent good or bad traits. Building the character of your children, and more importantly yourself, is more paramount than always planning a secure and convenient future for your children and yourself.

• Nothing in life is constant; change is the rule of life in this world and often not according to one's wishes or desires, which presents various difficulties. Just like a mountaineer climbing a mountain faces unanticipated challenges and must revise their plan multiple times, everyone faces different obstacles at different phases of their life. Therefore, rather than making your life worthy of you, make yourself worthy of this life.

• Crises and powerful remedies for crises are born together for a person and the world. Crises and challenges provide an opportunity for growth for both the world and the person experiencing the crisis.

• Just as the body gets stronger and healthier through resistance training and the pain of laborious work, our mind also become more determined and intelligent when facing mental challenges and obstacles in life. Always seeking comfort closes the path of growth and prosperity.

• There is no one in this world who has everything; everyone has some weaknesses or shortcomings or unfulfilled desires. What matters is that most of this can be overcome by courage, dedicated efforts, and deliberate practice.

• Whatever is happening in this world is happening for good, whatever has happened until now has also happened for good, and whatever happens in the future will be good, even though it may not seem so in the short term.

• One's circle of influence and association matters a lot. You can be a million times good, but if your circle of influence is bad, you will be doomed. However, if you are a million times bad and spend time with virtuous and ambitious people and listen to them, you will surely be eventually uplifted.

• Incomplete knowledge or blind faith in any one person or belief is the most dangerous among all modes of knowledge.

• It is possible to become the best in a domain for a limited period, but no one is the best forever. This usually leads to eventual dissatisfaction. Instead of becoming the best among all, one should aim to become better than themselves by seeking worthy knowledge through reliable sources and learning only for their own satisfaction and contribution to the world without any comparison to anyone else.

• Decisions made when the mind is calm always lead to prosperity, whereas decisions made to calm the mind often leads to regrets in future. Dutiful observance of natural and moral principles of righteous conduct is the basis and source of all long-lasting prosperity. Therefore, it is important to ask whether a decision is according to moral principles of right conduct [Svadharma/Dharma (not to be confused with one’s religion)] or your selfish interests [Swarth].

• A person who does not follow right conduct often does not have a calm state of mind due to fear and guilt and eventually faces various struggles. In contrast, a person who follows righteous conduct has a calm and satisfied state of mind due to their confidence in the law of cause and effect [as you sow, so shall you reap] and circumstances do not diminish their happiness.

• Overcoming any kind of fear becomes a lot easier when one realizes that fear is the imagination of anticipated sorrow. It does not have anything to do with the reality of the situation.

• As people believe, so they become. Your thoughts can either make you or break you. If you can think it, you can achieve it. When your mind is in a positive frame before any exam or presentation, the chances are greater that you will do well.

• For the one who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so his very mind will be his greatest enemy.

• Truth is another name for fearlessness. Speaking a fact does not always mean speaking the truth. Truth entails speaking the facts despite the fear of emotionally hurting someone or yourself.

• These days we do not possess things, but things have started to possess our lives. Attachment to materialistic possessions is futile.

• Most people form relationships based on expectations, imposing limitations to influence and control the actions of others. This eventually leads to backlash, and a lack of fulfillment, struggles, and sorrows in relationships, causing people to attempt to change the other or seperate. This can be avoided by forming relationships on the basis of values of the relationship itself, after self-reflection, without having any expectations, and without attempting to change others. Acceptance of people as they are and respect for each other's freedom are prerequisites for establishing long lasting relationships.

• The right way of influencing people is not through power or imposing limitations but rather through the virtue of love, sympathy, compassion, and righteousness. Love does not set boundaries but rather accepts people and sets the other person to act freely at all times.

• Before accepting someone's advice or counseling for a situation in one's life, it is very important to analyze if it aligns with the dutiful observance of natural and moral principles of right conduct that apply to all beings and things. It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly then to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection or follow an advice without your own analysis.

• There is a very fine line of difference between revenge and justice. The basis of justice is compassion and mercy, whereas the basis of revenge is ego and arrogance. From ego and arrogance arises anger, which destroys intellect.

• Justice is the state when the person who committed the injustice realizes their wrongdoing, and the person who faced the injustice is hopeful for a better future. Revenge is the state where the person seeking justice eventually indulges in wrongdoings in order to punish the person who committed the injustice. Revengeful instincts can only lead to ruination.

• Brahman (absolute reality) underlies the whole universe - it is the life-force which is the subtle essence of everything, as well the ‘Atman’ (consciousness) - the inmost soul or breath of life in every human being (and living being) is the sole reality. There is absolute equivalence of brahman and atman , just as the drop of water from the sea is fundamentally the same as the water in the ocean.

• Just like electricity can only observed through an appliance, the only way brahman can be conceived is when we have something to be conscious of or experience, i.e. this manifested time, space, universe and the objects [atoms, water, etc..]/beings [human body, microbes etc] in it.

• There never was a time when the Brahman did not exist, nor you or any living being. Nor will there be any time in the future when all of us shall cease to be. The unreal (material things that appear to be) are never in actual existence and what is actually real never goes out of existence.

• Death is certain for one who is born and birth is certain for one who is dead in this material universe. Therefore, the wise should not grieve over this inevitable fact - neither for the living nor for the dead.

• The atman neither slays nor can it be slain, is neither born nor dies at all unlike our material bodies.

• The 3 bodies - gross, subtle, and causal bodies - are the three equipments through which the Ātman (consciousness) functions and is conditioned. The gross matter body is visible to everyone, the subtle body is known only to self, but the causal Body is not evident even to self.
  • The gross body [temporary physical residence made of gross matter is what we use to transact with the world] is changed upon every death & birth just like we change or get rid of clothes.
  • The subtle body [instrument of perception of 5 senses, ego, intellect/thoughts, feelings, recording memory/experience] continues for multiple births until the dissolution of the material universe.
  • Both physical, gross body are material, originate from the third type of body - causal body - [the deep sleep state of consciousness when both the gross and the subtle bodies are not acting] - which continues even after the dissolution of the universe

• Life is neither in the past nor in the future but rather in the experience of this present moment. We can neither change the past nor write the future; we can only welcome the future with patience and courage.