Friday, December 29, 2017

Relatives are called relatives for a reason....

Relatives are called relatives because happiness or unhappiness that comes from them is only relative. Not absolute.

The blunder we make is we try to find the absolute happiness in relatives. If they could provide absolute happiness, they would be called ABSOLUTES and not RELATIVES. :)

So, keep everything related to relatives on a relative plane only. Don't bring them on the absolute plane. This applies to all relatives. Does not matter how close or how distant they may be.

Relative means relative, that is dispensers of relative happiness or unhappiness.

**

All our pains and gains are tied to two things - our possessions and our relations. Examine it closely and you will find it is true.

All (perceived) happiness comes from our possessions and relations. All unhappiness or pain also comes from those two entities only.

The problem with pain and pleasure is they are on different scales. If pleasure is on linear scale, pain is on geometric scale. If something gives you one unit of pleasure, same thing is likely to give five units of pain later. Best example: alcohol. 4 hours of partying results in next entire day gone nursing a nasty hangover. 4 hours pleasure causing 24 hours of pain. Pleasure to pain ratio - 1 is to 6.

Pain and pleasure are two extremes of a pendulum. But this is a peculiar pendulum. Two extremes are at equal distance on a normal pendulum. But on this pendulum, pain extreme is five times the extreme of pleasure.

You will find an elaborate discourse on this very subject in 'complete works of Swami Vivekananda.' Read it and you will stop attaching so much importance to transient pleasures like food, drinks, friends, family etc.

So, be careful enjoying pleasures. Be careful about your possessions and relations.

Best example of possession is not our money or assets but our body. This most prized possession, human body, after some age, even if cared well, is the source of maximum grief. Worst grief comes from not being able make peace with the fact that it is body's very nature to age and wither away completely one day.

All make-up that is applied on the body is to hide its break-up. Make-up to hide break-up (wear and tear).

**

Relatives may provide only relative happiness. May be that's the reason they have named a vodka ABSOLUT.

May be many are trying to find absolute happiness in ABSOLUT vodka.

But remember - you may try to drown your sorrows in alcohol but sorrows know how to swim. They stare right back at you next morning. Their harsh stare will be worse than before. :)

**

A person wrote a suicide note and locked himself in a room. Somebody saw the note after some time and rushed to the room where he had locked himself in. They broke open the door and what they found was simply unbelievable.

The person was found hanging. But, wait. He was alive!

What knocked them out of senses was he was found hanging by waist instead of neck.

On one hand, they were relieved and happy to find the person was alive. But there were also intrigued why he was hanging by waist if he intended to commit suicide.

'Why are you hanging by waist? Don't you have to hang yourself by neck if you want to die, you fool!!?' they yelled at the person.

His answer.....

'I am having throat ache!'

:) :)

Still laughing at this joke......

**

Source: Borrowed wisdom from Swami Anubhavananda's discourses and other books etc.

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Nobel Prize for Two Professors of Brandeis University

A very happy news to end the year 2017.

Two renowned professors from my alma mater, Brandeis University, have won this year's most prestigious Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine.

Fantastic achievement indeed!

Hearty congratulations to professors Michael Rosbash and Jeff Hall. They have been awarded Nobel prize along with another scientist for their landmark research related to circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms control our biological clock.

Brandeis University is very dear to my heart. That's where I got my first master's degree in 2001. Thanks to the encouragement and excellent recommendations from professors at Brandeis, I also got admission to pursue MBA at Suffolk University. In short, Brandeis University and what I learned there tremendously helped me in my career and in other areas of life. Ever grateful to Brandeis for that. Got good education, learnt a great deal and made some great friends.

I did not study under these Nobel laureates as I studied for masters in Software Engineering. I want to so wishfully believe I ran into them, even if unknowingly, on campus. :)

Nobel prizes were announced much earlier in October itself. Somehow I had missed that news. Only recently Brandeis sent a reply acknowledging my annual contribution. I normally discard such letters without paying much attention. But, this time I somehow glanced on it and was very happy to learn about this fantastic achievement.

A moment of great pride and sense of accomplishment for the entire Brandeis community.

Once again, congratulations to the professors and to the Brandeis university.

Brandeis University has a very interesting history. It was started by the Jewish community at the end of second world war. It is named after one of the eminent judges of the US supreme court. The most famous physicist of the last century, Albert Einstein, was one of the founders of this great institution.

There have been many renowned personalities at Brandeis. List is too long. Abraham Maslow, famous for his pyramid of human needs, worked at Brandeis. Eminent Indian physicist Prof. Balakrishnan of TIFR obtained his PhD from Brandeis. Ed Witten, the most eminent string theory physicist who may very well win physics Nobel in future,  studied at Brandeis.

I have always been a very proud and grateful alumnus of Brandeis university. This achievement has made it only stronger.

In addition to MS in Software Engineering, I had started working on another MS in Project Management at Brandeis in 2004 but abandoned it midway in 2006. No grief. It was a great learning experience completing half the degree. As they say 'it is not the degree but the education that matters.' :)

Cheers to 2018!

Happy new year in advance!