Carl Sagan’s wife, Ann Druyan, talked about his death, their immense love and the afterlife. I think you can love someone the most when you both are aware of the fact that there is no second life, its all here and now. You can give and receive all your love while you exist in the life form for a tiny fraction of time, knowing that there is no tomorrow. The words she said below are magical. You can watch this video if you want to know who Carl Sagan was.

“When my husband died, because he was so famous & known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me — it still sometimes happens — & ask me if Carl changed at the end & converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage & never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief & precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive & we were together was miraculous — not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance… That pure chance could be so generous & so kind… That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space & the immensity of time… That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me & it’s much more meaningful…

The way he treated me & the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other & our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.“

– Ann Druyan, talking about her husband, Carl Sagan

Mind blowing fact: Ann Druyan is the president of NORML.

Secular student alliance has started a new bus ad campaign. Their message is very clear, you don’t need to believe in invisible man sitting in the sky to be Good person. You can be good without your imaginary friend.

Bill Gates, after creating the most successful company around, must have asked himself “Now what”? He started philanthropy foundation in 2000 and he did the best that he could with all his power. You got to love this man for his noble work no matter if you are Apple fan or Microsoft hater.

Warren Buffett decided in 2006 that he would donate almost all of his fortune to charity, all $40 billion of it! Buffett’s children will inherit a tiny fraction because he believes that money rightly belongs to the people, and should not be used to construct a familial corporate dynasty.

Donating large sums to worthy causes is not the only or even most important way a person might be “Good” but it is undeniably one of them. Perhaps for some people religion really does inspire them to help others and if it does, great. Just don’t imagine it is a requirement. Some people are good with God. Some, like Gates and Buffett, are just as good without God. So its not about where you are getting your morals from but how good your morals are.

Entrepreneur

I wasn’t born to be a middle manager, a middle man or middle anything. Ambition has kissed my chicks and she has whispered dreams in my ears; even so, I confess my dreams has been laughed at, and I, I love frowning back. I believe great things aren’t created by free people but man who are slaves to their ideas. I belong to my idea. And though I may be rejected, dejected or interjected, I won’t be denied. I am the harvester of opportunities, I am an Entrepreneur.

If you are wondering whats this ad about, its from the “The Power of Ideas“.

Bill Hicks

Bill Hicks (1961 – 1994) was an American stand-up comedian. His humor challenged mainstream beliefs, aiming to “enlighten people to think for themselves”. This is a clip from his show “Revelations” which he closed with “It’s Just a Ride”, one of his most famous and life-affirming philosophies. This is something that I always supported before I came across Hicks and will support it forever. You can find excerpts after the video.

The World is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it’s real, because that’s how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round, and it has thrills and chills and is very brightly colored, and it’s very loud. And it’s fun, for a while.

Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they’ve begun to question, ‘Is this real, or is this just a ride?’, and other people have remembered, and they’ve come back to us and they say ‘Hey, don’t worry. Don’t be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride.’ and we KILL THOSE PEOPLE.

“Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride! SHUT HIM UP! Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account, and my family. This just has to be real.”

It’s just a ride.

But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that. You ever noticed that? And let the demons run amok. But it doesn’t matter, because … It’s just a ride.

And we can change it anytime we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear wants you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead see all of us as one.

Here’s what we can do to change the world right now, to a better ride:

Take all that money we spent on weapons and defense each year and instead spend it feeding, clothing, and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and WE CAN EXPLORE SPACE, TOGETHER, BOTH INNER AND OUTER, forever … in peace.

– Bill Hicks (1961 – 1994)

My favorite quote from the one and only, Bruce Lee. “Be formless… shapeless, like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle; it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot; it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend” Watch the video and be amazed!

Alan Watts speaking about Success. Life is like a music, there is no “meaning of life” or “purpose of life”. Life is meant to be enjoyed and cherish all little things and those moments. Its not about finding the destination, its about enjoying the journey.

I am an atheist. I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe in super natural power. I don’t believe in magical force. But I do feel some really great moments that I can’t describe. Its beyond my understanding. May be its beyond all humans. I sometime feel that I am too small to understand it. I am just a dust in the wind. Here is a video that exactly explains what is my spirituality as an atheist.

Everything you know is bullshit. Death isn’t real. Life is just a dream. Enjoy yourself. Stop worrying. Stop being scared. Go after what you want, even if what you want seems beyond the realm of possibility.

Make it happen. You are god here on Earth, whoever you are. Even if you have to crawl out of the dirt to make it happen, you CAN make it happen. Never surrender to your own fear and never lose the energy you have inside.

There is no god, there is no ending, there is only just here and now.

Harsha Bhogle

Harsha Bhogle speaks about Excellence at IIM Ahmedabad.

IIM is one of the best business school of the world. Harsha Bhogle studied there. Before several years one could find him on the footpath outside the IIM-A campus, sipping cup of tea at famous roadside tea stall there. But after graduation, his life had a big quest, on finding what he can do best with his life. He started his career as commentator in cricket. It looks like an ordinary job but not when it is presented by his words.

In this speech, he is sharing his experience about his college life and career life. And its not his experiences that is interesting, but the way he analyzed it and presented it. There is a lot to learn from this man, about life, about love, about talent vs attitude, about career and about excellence.

These videos are long but be ready to get hypnotized after watching it.

Harsha Bhogle – Achievers of Excellence @ IIM Ahmedabad Part 1/2

Harsha Bhogle – Achievers of Excellence @ IIM Ahmedabad Part 2/2