A Nod to Simplicity

Dear friends,

Recently, a video clip of contestant, Alolika Bhattacharjee Guha, on India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (Kaun Banega Crorepati, familiarly called KBC) went viral. Ever giggling in the presence of Bollywood megastar and anchor, Amitabh Bachchan, Alolika was endearing in her straight-from-her-heart responses, and her simplicity held the audience captive from the get-go. Here’s the clip from the episode for those who understand Hindi. For those who don’t, see the transcript in the PS section.

Alokila captivated India with her larger than life laughter and simplicity. Watch the viral video here.

After watching the clip, I too was smitten, and pondered once again about simplicity in life—the yearning to go back to simpler times and fewer expectations is a lifelong quest.  It’s complicated, as I said before, this business of being simple and return to our true nature or Atman—especially to someone given to complicating things, born out of an innate quest for perfectionism and a dollop of overthinking. Hence Henry David Thoreau’s words, “Simplify, simplify” flash at me from the steel of my refrigerator door every day.

So what’s simplicity, especially as seen through the lens of Vedanta?

Simplicity is seeing through the soul

In his book, Spiritual Communion, M.P. Pandit said, “Simplicity is…the quality of the soul. The soul has no complication. It feels simply, thinks simply, and guides simply. And that is why it is pure, and that purity has a sweetness of its own.”

Simplicity is the quality of the soul—so beautifully put. It’s like seeing a crystal-clear image of yourself reflected in water, no murky layers obliterating it. In her responses, Alolika had a distinct uncomplicatedness about her that was sweet. Her soul came through, unfiltered. This “what you see is what you get” quality in people is so rare these days, and perhaps that’s why she captivated the entire nation.

It's simple: mind complicates, heart simplifies

Most of us speak through the conditioning of our thoughts over the course of our life. It’s natural, as our mind and intellect play such a big part in shaping our thinking and outlook. That is, until such a time when we become aware that our mumble jumble of thoughts and opinions are hiding us from our true Self or Atman and preventing us from living a more meaningful life turned inward. We generally arrive here, mid life. If we were to try to find the reflection of our Self wrapped in this conditioning, we’d barely be able to catch a glimpse of it—the image would be cloudy and murky.   

In his essay, “The Difficult Art of Being Simple” Swami Tyagananda explains that these “folds” over the Self are sometimes spoken as three bodies in Vedanta: gross or sthūla, subtle or sūkṣma, and casual or kāraṇa. “The heart of the matter is that our true nature has been somehow covered by many ‘folds’”, he says.  So, we have become complicated rather than simple, with the word complicated itself derived from the Latin cum meaning “with” and plicatus meaning “folded”.

We cannot be simple covered with so many layers, all of which are an imprint of our mind, the chief producer of our thoughts.

Swami Vivekananda says, “The more bliss within, the more spiritual we are. Let us not depend on the world for pleasure.” Alolika seems to derive her propensity to laugh all the time from somewhere within, as though she has a never-ending well of happiness within, that she draws her positivity from.

She said, “My mother-in-law asks me, why do you keep laughing alone all the time? I…burst out laughing…I recall good things and I laugh.” 

Simple, on the face of it. It appears as though she has the intent to be happy and therefore, she is. She interspersed these pithy remarks with jokes. “People go to the gym and exercise a lot, but I am just naturally like this, for free!”

Humor added to simplicity—that’s pretty potent for the soul!

Cogito ergo sum or “I think therefore I am”, said the French philosopher, René Descartes. In Alolika’s case, she seemed to embody her own brand of, “I want to be happy, therefore I am.” This whole approach could be a study in the power of intention.

Alolika’s mind does not complicate, and her heart simplifies. French mathematician and physicist, Blaise Pascal famously said, “Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point” (one of my favorite quotes of all times) translated as “The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of”, hinting at the fact that reason or the mind and the intellect do not (and perhaps should not, if examined through Vedanta’s lens) reign supreme all the time. Of course, in Pascal’s case, he was referring to knowing God through the heart, but in Alolika’s case, it appeared that she was speaking from an inner voice untampered by the pretense of reason, or the mind and intellect.

Simply put, simplicity is within, and not outside

It’s clear that Alolika’s happiness is not driven by her outside, but by how she looks at things from within or inside out. For example, the presence or absence of material objects do not matter to her. She clearly is not wealthy or flashy and this excursion to the big city of Mumbai to participate in the show, KBC, and staying at a fancy hotel was new for her. But it was her outlook that served her well. “Laughter is good for your health,” she declared, so she kept laughing, making herself, the show, and her family the butt of her jokes.

Spiritual masters of many traditions, including the Vedanta, have argued that happiness and peace come from how you view your life. Children are an embodiment of simplicity and happiness because they are spontaneous and don’t think much before they act. The irony of it is, we are born simple, and then become complex by wrapping our being in layers that are cultivated by our thoughts and attitudes, only for a lot of us as older adults, to delve into unwrapping ourselves through the process of Self Unfoldment to become simple and content again by discovering our true Self!

The uniqueness of Alolika was that she remained refreshingly simple as an adult—the “layers” seem to be missing, hence as M.P. Pandit put it, we saw through her soul and the greatness of simplicity. Simplicity is great because it allows Alolika to be great. That’s something to aspire for.

Do you value simplicity in life? I’d love to know your thoughts.

Meaningfully yours,

Anu Prabhala

I thank Swami Dheeranandaji of the Chinmaya Mission of Washington, DC for being my guru and explaining the Bhagavad Geeta and other scriptures from Sanatana Dharna so simply and beautifully every week.

PS: Transcript of the conversation between Alolika and Amitabh Bachchan.

AB: You said by appearing on this show, your mother’s wish was fulfilled

Alolika: Yes, her wish was fulfilled, my wish was fulfilled, Jai Ho KBC! (translated hail KBC!). And she giggles.

Alolika: KBC also fulfilled another wish of mine. I traveled by flight for the first time.

AB: How was your experience on the flight?

Alolika: Very good, sir. These plane folks take so much money, they even keep the luggage to themselves (She giggles uncontrollably). And for us regular train travelers, you keep your luggage with you under the seat, and after some time, you peek down to see if your luggage is still there (She bursts out laughing). When you sleep at night during the train journey and you wake up suddenly in the middle of the night, the first thing that comes to mind is, is my luggage still there? In the plane, it’s not like that. The airlines charge more money, and they keep our luggage too.

AB: They do that for you, so you don’t have to keep looking down all the time. OK, so how are things now that you are here. How is your hotel? Is everything OK there?

Alolika: Oh my God, such a big hotel! Jai Ho KBC!

Cheers and laughter from adudience.

Alolika: I am done, I could not have done this with my money. Nor does my husband have any money. KBC did it all, Jai Ho KBC! My dreams have come true.

AB: Oh dear God! Who am I stuck with today?:)

AB: Your inlaws, do they have any thoughts on how you keep laughing all the time?

Alolika: My mother in law asks me, why do you keep laughing alone all the time? I…burst out laughing…I recall good things and I laugh. Laughter is good for your health. My health is…looking at her slim figure…is quite good. I don’t eat fast food. People go to the gym and exercise a lot, but I am just naturally like this, for free!

AB: For free! You said for free!

Alolika: I eat dal and rice and fish thrice a day and I am like this for free.

AB: Jai Ho KBC!

Alolika: Can I ask a question?

AB: Of course, you are continuously talking.

Alolika: I don’t know where all the KBC folks dig up these questions from. My studies are useless in face of these questions.

AB: How much have you studied?

Alolika: Nothing, I feel like I studied zero till now. Others were studying and I was roaming around, very confident that I won’t be selected as a final contestant.

AB: You have studied well and have answered 12 questions correctly so far. You are amazing!

Alolika: I am done now.

AB: What done?

Alolika: After this question, I mean.

AB: You have been saying this from question #1. But somehow saying “KBC Jai Ho!” you have reached this point.

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