I recently heard Rahman sahab speak calmly, with quiet gravity… “i don’t have hobbies”
At first, the interviewer.. polite but flabbergasted, he asked: “No hobbies? Nothing you do for pleasure in your free time?”
And I felt a strange relief in the silence that followed his answer. Because I recognized myself in that silence.
People assume that hobbies are essential. As if life demands some side‑act of painting, gardening, gym, reading novels, trekking. .. anything that interrupts the monotony of work and gives one respite.
You call them “stress‑busters.” “Balance.” “Work‑life harmony.”… U shout “but One must have a hobby.”
But why? Because life is assumed to be heavy, hard, oppressive.. so one need escape routes. Diversions. Breaks. Small windows to breathe.
But what if your entire life is already a flow of meaning?
What if you don’t need escape.. because you don’t live inside a cage?
Somewhere inside you beats a pulse of purpose. A constant flow that doesn’t require a hobby to “recharge.”
Not because you are superhuman but because you are aligned. You have transformed the compass that defines “work” and “play,” “duty” “gratify” “earning” and “being.”
When your life itself becomes art every breath, every thought, every action.. then the very idea of a hobby becomes redundant.
A hobby is what you cling to when life feels grey. Btw Life is always grey.. And only timid feels the warth of grey.
But when life is already luminous you don’t hold on to pleasure. You become it.
Hobbies: clumsy Patchwork for a Leaking Soul
Think of hobbies as temporary patches we sew, they look clumsy, have no beauty.. They are just there to fix the leaks of your disenchanted lives.
Jobs you don’t love. Relations u are averse with. Routines you resent. Inner emptiness one can’t name. And somewhere people hope that a hobby will fill the void…. How disoriented
Hobbies are only helpful when the system is broken.
But when the system… your body, heart, mind.. is re‑coded, healed, and aligned.. a hobby becomes like wearing an extra coat in summer. Unnecessary, clumsy, uncomfortable.
No wonder sometimes you feel stifled at a party, disconnected from techno beats, untouched by revelry. Nausetic in crowd. Your nervous system doesn’t resonate with stereo vibrations.
Your soul doesn’t need dhakchik dhakchik beats…. it needs symphony .
When life is rich in purpose and meaning , your joy doesn’t come from external quirks or momentary acts . It comes from internal coherence.
The Hidden Achievement: Living Without “Free Time”
People talk about “free time.” only when if the rest of life is “occupied,” and then you need occasional “unoccupied hours” for hobbies.
But what if your entire day is free because you live from presence, not from anxiety?
Free time isn’t a luxury. It’s a symptom of inner poverty.
If you must accumulate spare hours to do hobbies.. you are still trading time for meaning.
If you don’t need them it’s because you already own your time.
That’s the awakening… that hobbies often hide… the belief that joy must be scheduled, compartmentalized, earned.
But joy real joy demands no appointment. It flows naturally, like breath.
The Quiet Revolution: From “Having Hobbies” to “Being Whole”
This is not rejection of joy. It’s evolution of joy. This is not righteousness. It is clarity.
Not denial of pleasure.. but the refusal to outsource it.
You need to realize that hobbies become irrelevant when you completely utilize your free time in those very activities that give meaning to your life.
They give you a sense of fulfillment, not as excitement, but as nourishment.
They don’t drain you.. the more you do them, the more whole you feel.
Then you become free.. from the idea of “free time” itself, from the split between “work” and “play,” and from the binary of what’s pleasurable and what’s not.
You transcend hobbies.. and become whole.
It means finding that one activity which becomes you. Where your being merges with your doing. Where you are no longer doing.. you are becoming.
Then you immerse so deeply in it that you lose sense of time… even sense of self. That’s not hobby. That’s dharma.
The world will call you strange. “Why don’t you have hobbies?” But you will smile.. because your hobby is your life.
Living as Your Own Hobby
What if you can treat yourself… your body, your consciousness, your being.. as the only hobby you need?
Walk without destination; observe without judgement.
Work on your craft, not for results, but for the joy of expression.
Meditate, breathe, sweat, rest… not as tasks, but as sacred rituals.
Create without expectation. Serve without ambition. Just Be with observation.
Invest not just money, but consciousness: into relationships, body, spirit, purpose.
When you design this way life becomes seamless. Full. Already enough.