Mahesh Hegade's Blog

Kannada books

2012-01-12T10:17:00.001-08:00

Several Kannada books available for download.

Thanks to the friend who sent this link...thanks to all those who may have worked on getting these books online.

Enjoy!

Keshava G N Gabbaladka
Keshava G N Gabbaladka ಬೆಂಕಿಯ ಮಳೆ - ರಾಜಾ ಚೆಂಡೂರ್
http://www.mediafire.com/file/e47dbqaqgaeb6ne/Benkiya%20Male%20-%20Raaja%20Chendoor.pdf

Hidiyalli Ede Midita - ರಾಜಾ ಚೆಂಡೂರ್
http://www.mediafire.com/file/84br6h1qcs7rfa2/Hidiyalli%20Edemidita%20-%20Raaja%20Chendoor.pdf
about an hour ago • Like • 3
Keshava G N Gabbaladka ಡಾ ಶಿವರಾಂ ಕಾರಂತ ಅವರ ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳು

ಆತ್ಮಾಹುತಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ozdtmmdemmq/Aatmahuti-shivaram.pdf

ಅಪೂರ್ವ ಪಶ್ಚಿಮ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/g1eyuz3irtz/apoorva_pashchima.pdf

ಔದಾರ್ಯದ ಉರುಳಲ್ಲಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/559955c5gqbkb24/audaryada%20urulalli_tif.pdf

ಬತ್ತದ ತೊರೆ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/15kgnbfn1l0661k/Battada_tore%20-%20Shivaram%20Karant.pdf

ಚಿಗುರಿದ ಕನಸು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/teu1gefvtkbc6v9/Chigurida_kanasu%20-%20Shivaram%20Karant.pdf

ಚಿಕ್ಕದೊದ್ದವರು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/gf68qevg53gaj6n/chikkadoddavaru_tif.pdf

ಗರ್ಭಗುಡಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/9qq6w9fw2rg6dww/Garbhagudi_tif.pdf

ಗೊಂಡಾರಣ್ಯ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/0t2rr1bt1bcg8kr/gondaranya_tif.pdf

ಇನ್ನೊಂದೇ ದಾರಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dwvxb5mynmpw1lz/Innonde%20Daari%20-%20Dr%20K.Shivaram%20Karant.pdf

ಜಾರುವ ದಾರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/p486p3clzomdzbr/Jaaruva-Daariyalli-Shivarama-Karanth.pdf

ಜಾತಕ ಕತೆಗಳು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/y4mzaasdhh2zo0b/Jaataka%20Kategalu%20-%20Dr%20K.Shivaram%20Karant.pdf

ಕಾಮನಬಿಲ್ಲಿನ ರಾಜಕುಮಾರ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/smcue2bau8jwqq8/Kamanabillina%20Rajakumara%20-%20Dr.K.Shivaram%20Karant.pdf

ಕಟ್ಟೆ ಪುರಾಣ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/nqsa4j8n8fvicsz/katte%20purana_tif.pdf

ಕುಡಿಯುರ ಕೂಸು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dmmoe5af8jsv2we/kudiyur%20koosu_tif.pdf

ಮೈಲಿಕಲ್ಲಿನೊಡನೆ ಮಾತುಕತೆ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/7dklmrjr98ycea9/mailikallinodane%20maatukate_tif.pdf

ನಮ್ಮ ಬ್ರಾಹ್ಮಣ್ಯ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/517azd0a2d7pf4l/Namma%20Brahmanya%20-%20Karant.pdf

ಸರಸಮ್ಮನ ಸಮಾಧಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/cq1e0cru83l4txj/sarasammana%20samaadhi_tif.pdf

ತೆರೆಯ ಮರೆಯಲ್ಲಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/4y6zrh50h4bmgx3/tereya%20mareyalli_tif.pdf

ವೇಲು ತಂಬಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/zuwk4b6zhobe50f/Velu%20Tambi%20-%20Dr%20Shivaram%20Karanth.pdf
about an hour ago • Like • 3
Keshava G N Gabbaladka ಗ್ರಹಣ - SL ಭೈರಪ್ಪ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/kcgo75qigybh9g0/Grahana%20-%20SLB.pdf
about an hour ago • Like • 3
Keshava G N Gabbaladka K P ಪೂರ್ಣಚಂದ್ರ ತೇಜಸ್ವಿ ಅವರ ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳು

ಅಬಚೂರಿನ ಪೋಸ್ಟ್ ಆಫೀಸ್
http://www.mediafire.com/file/pjo2otp9d306hte/Abachoorina%20Post%20Office.zip

ಏರೋಪ್ಲೇನ್ ಚಿಟ್ಟೆ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/blbc2b7wl8phmrq/Airoplane%20Chitte_tif.pdf

ಅಲೆಮಾರಿಯ ಅಂಡಮಾನ್ - ಭಾಗ ಒಂದು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/znzw2yjdjlt/alemaariya-andamaan-KPP-Part1.pdf

ಅಲೆಮಾರಿಯ ಅಂಡಮಾನ್ - ಭಾಗ ಎರಡು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/zmmm32wdgtm/alemaariya-andamaan-KPP-Part2.pdf

ಚಂದ್ರನ ಚೂರು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/tt7sle0q26v6dsq/Chandrana%20Chooru_tif.pdf

ಫ್ಲಯಿಂಗ್ ಸಾಸ್ಸರ್ಸ್
http://www.mediafire.com/file/6t42no2rj4brmnz/Flying%20Souccers%201_tif.pdf

ಮುನಿಸ್ವಾಮಿ ಮತ್ತು ಮಾಗಡಿ ಚಿರತೆ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/868rxwna8rb4axh/Muniswamy%20Mattu%20Magadi%20Chirate_tif.pdf

ಸಹಜ ಕೃಷಿ ಒಂದು ಪರಿಚಯ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/4lctrm77bay71yh/Sahaja%20Krushi%20Ondu%20Parichaya_tif.pdf

ಕಾಡಿನ ಕತೆಗಳು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/huq9b3ypieffxp0/Kaadina%20Kategalu%20-%20K.P.Poornachandra%20Tejaswi.pdf
about an hour ago • Like • 3
Keshava G N Gabbaladka ಯಂಡಮೂರಿ:ಅಂತಿಮ ಹೋರಾಟ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/r9t4qn0wubqtbm4/Antima%20Horata.pdf

ಆಶತವಕ್ರ ಭಾಗ ೧
http://www.mediafire.com/file/pkrbqd568y6oqs8/Ashtavakra%20Part%201.pdf

ಅಷ್ಟಾವಕ್ರ ಭಾಗ ೨
http://www.mediafire.com/file/zs3j333g2lv1bj3/Ashtavakra%20Part%202.pdf

ಬೇಡ ಕೃಷ್ಣ ರಂಗಿನಾಟ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/haap8rjcwckmmcm/Beda%20Krishna%20Ranginaata.pdf

ಡೈರಿ ತಂದ ಸೌಭಾಗ್ಯ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/q3telcdb8rzd4kd/Dairy%20Tanda%20Soubhagya%20-%20Raaja%20Chendoor.pdf
about an hour ago • Like • 3
Keshava G N Gabbaladka ಅಶ್ವಿನಿಯವರ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳು

ಆನಂದವನ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/z55z54yda2176c4/Anandavana.pdf

ಬೆಸುಗೆ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/zoyaaexio2y1aax/Besuge.pdf

ಹುತ್ತದ ಸುತ್ತ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ic1j5hbymnqc5lp/Huttada%20Sutta.pdf

ನಿಲುಕದ ನಕ್ಷತ್ರ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/3tch5ckc7m411vd/Nilukada%20Nakshatra.pdf

ವಿಸ್ಮತಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/c9c00d208t41ykq/Vismati.pdf
about an hour ago • Like • 3
Keshava G N Gabbaladka ಸುದರ್ಶನ ದೇಸಾಯಿ ಅವರ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳು
Sudarshan Desai Novel Folder share link, Please share link with your friends.

http://www.mediafire.com/?bzpptyhi07jw4

1)Airavata_tif.pdf
2)Amar Deepa_tif.pdf
3)Badavana maneya Manikya_tif.pdf
4)Benkiya Madilalli_tif.pdf
5)Chinnada Beralu_tif.pdf
6)Mruthyu Bandhan_tif.pdf
7)Seelu Nalige_tif.pdf
8)Sheetal Koli_tif.pdf
9)Vichitra Aparadhi_tif.pdf
10)Visha Manthan_tif.pdf
11)Yamadootaru_tif.pdf
(ಒಟ್ಟಿಗೆ)
about an hour ago • Like • 3
Keshava G N Gabbaladka H.G.ರಾಧಾದೇವಿ ಅವರ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳು

ಆಕಾಶಕ್ಕಿತ್ತ ಏಣಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/gc725rsoaa2495w/Aakashakkita%20Eni.pdf

ಅದೃಷ್ಟದ ಅಂಚಿನಲ್ಲಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dp32t7eci04ezsz/Adrushtada%20Anchinalli.pdf

ಐಶ್ವರ್ಯ ದೀಪ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/20ag2e4tg3dkba8/Aishwarya%20Deepa.pdf
ಆಕಾಶದಿಂದ ಹೂಮಳೆ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/2tbw63t2r8g3qgr/Akashadinda%20Hoomale.pdf

ಆಕಾಶದಲ್ಲರಳಿದ ಹೂವು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/yeastxo6dr59rny/Akashdallaralida%20Hoovu.pdf
ಅಮರ ಪ್ರೇಮ ಮಧು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/3yck66zojd74rim/Amara%20Prama%20Madhu.pdf

ಅನೂಹ್ಯ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ky7qlylmw855p5k/Anoohya.pdf

ಬಾನಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂಗಾರ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/a0xsaytlj6voywa/Baanalli%20Bangaara.pdf

ಬಾರೆ ಬಾಗ್ಯದ ಸಿರಿಯೇ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/qa6r337fg4bmgrj/baare%20bhaagyada%20siriye.pdf
about an hour ago • Like • 3
Keshava G N Gabbaladka ಮುಕ್ತ ಅವರ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳು

ಮನಸು ಮಂದಾರ - CN ಮುಕ್ತ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/a19ufufowu9m6iy/Manasu%20Mandaara%20-%20C.N.Mukta.pdf

ಮನೋಲಹರಿ - CN ಮುಕ್ತ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/r4eb43bipig4g5f/Manolahari%20-%20C.N.Mukta.pdf

ಸಾಯಿಸುತೆಯವರ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳು
-----------------------------------------------
ಅಭಿನಂದನೆ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/h88kbvs56i7s7q0/abhinandane_tif.pdf
ಬಣ್ಣದ ಚುಂಬಕ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/4ldcnr6pst0s15h/bannada%20chumbaka_tif.pdf
ದೀಪಾಂಕುರ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/866sit6y3350tsu/deepankura_tif.pdf
ಹಂಸ ಪಲ್ಲಕ್ಕಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/cdym6mz63anxq1y/hansa%20pallakki_tif.pdf
ಜನನಿ ಜನ್ಮಭೂಮಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/2432g0f0rm2v5x7/janani%20janmabhoomi_tif.pdf
ಕಡಲ ಮುತ್ತು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/u7itsnlkr08ke2f/kadala%20muttu_tif.pdf
ಕಲ್ಯಾಣ ಮಸ್ತು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/111zdnf1rgrnzso/kalyana%20mastu_tif.pdf
ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ಬಾಡದ ಹೂವು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/o18gopozp1ev6l3/mattondu%20badada%20hoovu_tif.pdf

ನವ ಚೈತ್ರ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/b3rjptbkd9cga9d/nava%20chaitra_tif.pdf

ಪಾಂಚಜನ್ಯ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/gq490j997su6sib/panchajanya_tif.pdf

ಪ್ರಿಯ ಸಖಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/18nq495jc37nwhw/priya%20sakhi_tif.pdf

ಪುಷ್ಕರಣಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/kcm9daaxnvcmmqn/pushkarani_tif.pdf

ಸಾಗರ ತರಂಗಿಣಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/3g25c6jwdzaotxh/sagar%20tarangini_tif.pdf
ನೂರು ನೆನಪು - ಸಾಯಿಸುತೆ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/wjto179e2ttfv9x/Nooru%20Nenapu%20-%20Saisute.pdf

ಹೇಮಂತದ ಸೊಗಸು - ಸಾಯಿಸುತೆ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/9ntkcnpq320pnit/Hemantada%20Sogasu.zip
about an hour ago • Like • 2
Keshava G N Gabbaladka MK ಇಂದಿರಾ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳು

ಬಿದಿಗೆ ಚಂದ್ರಮ ಡೊಂಕು - MK ಇಂದಿರಾ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/5qan08818p14mhz/Bidige%20Chandrama%20Donku.pdf

ತೆಗ್ಗಿನಮನೆ ಸೀತೆ - MK ಇಂದಿರಾ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ea3mo0vvoq34c0w/Tegginamane%20Seete.pdf

ಟು ಲೆಟ್ - MK ಇಂದಿರಾ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/sj86gen200pmbuq/To-Let.pdf

ಪುಟ್ಟಣ್ಣ ಕಣಗಾಲ್ - MK ಇಂದಿರಾ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ad26fgmwjqedrxz/Puttanna%20Kanagal.pdf
about an hour ago • Like • 3
Keshava G N Gabbaladka ಉಷಾ ನವರತ್ನರಾಮ್ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳು

ಅಭಿನಯ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/3durwkbr26pyrov/Abhinaya_tif.pdf

ಆಶ್ವಾಸನೆ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/bzm4w4fs099mrga/Ashwasane_tif.pdf

ಬೆಳ್ಳಿ ತೆರೆ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/thnab7hbbbatxhc/Belli%20Tere_tif.pdf

ಹರಿದ ಹೊನಲು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/v4npeqv4v15cdhk/Harida%20Honalu_tif.pdf

ಹೊಟ್ಟೆಗಾಗಿ ಗೇಣು ಬಟ್ಟೆಗಾಗಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/eie8938wanpcjdq/Hottegaagi%20Genu%20Battegaagi_tif.pdf

ಹೃದಯ ಮಿಲನ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/rqdsvnqsp18yh82/Hrudaya%20Milana_tif.pdf

ಮನವೆಂಬ ಮರ್ಕಟ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/93om6g7cj4ggxlg/Manavemba%20Markata_tif.pdf

ವಧು ಬೇಕಾಗಿದೆ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/7ytakt1cfbrd3cf/Vadhu%20Bekaagide_tif.pdf
about an hour ago • Like • 3
Keshava G N Gabbaladka ತ್ರಿವೇಣಿಯವರ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳು
--------------------------------------------------------
ಬೆಳ್ಳಿ ಮೋಡ - ತ್ರಿವೇಣಿ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/v6xl6nuu1p0adm4/Belli%20Moda_tif.pdf

ಬಾನು ಬೆಳಗಿತು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/n5lbyfi8qhqvnp5/Baanu%20Belagitu_tif.pdf

ಹೃದಯ ಗೀತ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/pimtj41tox00x9v/Hridayageeta_tif.pdf

ಮೊದಲ ಹೆಜ್ಜೆ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/qaq0ej5faa50yyr/Modala%20Hejje_tif.pdf

ಸೋತು ಗೆದ್ದವಳು
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dibxahzk9jvbfz2/Sotu%20Geddavalu_tif.pdf

ವಸಂತ ಗಾನ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/tn50pazpx2a74o8/Vasant%20gaana_tif.pdf

Facebook updates

2011-11-20T07:59:00.001-08:00

I have started capturing interesting quotes, book excerpts, book reviews, links etc. on my Facebook wall.

They are public. So, feel free to check them out. You may find some interesting.

My Facebook profile is at - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002376932841

You may just need a FB account. It's good to have one anyway!

Cheers!

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Angry Mind

2011-10-21T18:04:00.001-07:00

"There was a monkey, restless by his own nature, as all monkeys are. As if that were not enough someone made him drink freely of wine, so that he became still more restless. Then a scorpion stung him. When a man is stung by a scorpion, he jumps about for a whole day; so the poor monkey found his condition worse than ever. To complete his misery a demon entered into him. What language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey? The human mind is like that monkey." - Swami Vivekananda, Raja-Yoga

If the above described monkey represents human mind, this AK-47 wielding chimp in the video represents an "angry mind"

http://youtu.be/zC1O_WZoKpw
Gun is the anger. AK-47 is probably rage!

Look at the soldiers. Initially, they are having fun with gun wielding monkey and its antics. So do humans too. Feels good to be angry for a while. Keeps us busy.

Then watch what happens. Chimp trains the gun at the soldiers and they are scared to death.

As the acid corrodes the container it is in, the angry mind destroys the person who harbors the anger!

Better not give the gun (i.e anger) to our monkey minds and then regret when it trains it against us!

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Prejudice

2011-10-19T18:24:00.001-07:00

Prejudice

For those who do not think, it is best at least to rearrange their prejudices once in a while. ~Luther Burbank

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. -William James

So.... the prejudiced mind is like the Titanic ship. Prejudiced thinking is merely rearranging the chairs on the deck of Titanic while ignoring the big iceberg of reality starting right into your face. No wonder then that the prejudiced mind is likely to go down in a very royal way!!! Wow!!!the saying 'rearranging the chairs on the deck of titanic' makes altogether a different sense in the light of above two quotes! :) :)

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Forgiveness

2011-10-15T18:31:00.001-07:00

Read something on these lines - "Hating somebody is like letting them live in your mind rent free."

True. When we hate or have any sort of negative sentiments against somebody, we think more about them than those who we like and who like us. Ironic. Right?

So we need to evict people from our minds for good. Way is forgiveness. The quote says rent free. But, who wants any rent? I want my mind for myself.

It is no wonder that more we hate others, more people occupy our mind and we become destitute without a home for ourselves. Kingdom of heaven is within us - said Christ. With hatred, we have let others squat in our minds and we have made ourselves homeless. Sad, indeed. We are bankrupt because of hatred.

Forgiveness is the solution. Forgive and forget and move on. Every time you forgive someone, you are forgiving yourself. Many times, forgiving ourselves is the hardest for whatever reasons. No wonder that St. Francis of Assisi said - it is in forgiving that we are forgiven. How true!

Forgive and rejoice.

Somebody told - I forgive myself for not forgiving others. Funny. But, missing the point. There is nothing like forgiving ourselves. When we forgive others, we are forgiving ourselves. Because - you and I are not we but ONE!

Cheers to forgiveness!

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Anger

2011-08-27T15:41:00.001-07:00

Over the month of July, collected interesting quotes about anger from different books.

Anger is a very powerful form of energy if it is transformed to put to good use. It is a very debilitating as a emotion.

July 26

“‘Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to the dark side.’”

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

July 25

Anger with God was a tired and useless emotion, anger with God was so terrestrial and neutering.

The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris

July 24

Anger, like other emotions, is a judgment. When you get angry, you’re judging other people (“You treated me badly”) and situations (“This just doesn’t suit”). Anger is a statement — your statement — about right and wrong. The more you judge the world, the more likely you’ll be angry — about something.

Anger Management For Dummies by W. Doyle Gentry

July 23

Anger stems from irrational beliefs about others, and anxiety stems from irrational beliefs about yourself.

The Brain Mechanic by Spencer Lord

July 22

“I read somewhere that anger is the teacher…forgiveness the lesson.”

The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship by Andrea Israel, Nancy Garfinkel

July 21

“Whenever you don’t know what you’re feeling, you reach for anger.”

The Myth of You and Me: A Novel by Leah Stewart

July 20

Someone once told me that sarcasm is the safe alternative to expressing anger.

Degree of Guilt by Richard North Patterson

July 19

If we carry anger inside of us, it can slowly eat our souls away.

Chronically Happy by Lori Hartwell

July 18

Anger is not humanizing. It’s a rehearsal for the performance that never arrives.

Unless: A Novel (P.S.) by Carol Shields

July 17

Nothing wrong with repressed anger as long as it stays repressed.

Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie

July 16

Avoid the three toxic A’s: authoritarianism, anger, and aloofness.

The Soul of Leadership: Unlocking Your Potential for Greatness by Deepak Chopra

July 15

Some sixteen hundred years ago Saint Augustine wrote: “Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are Anger and Courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be.”

The Ten Commandments for Business Failure by Donald R. Keough

July 14

Take action to derail the anger sequence. With rational thinking and positive self-talk, we can derail the anger sequence before it derails us. We can stop resentment cold.

Of Course You're Angry Second Edition by Gayle Rosellini, Mark Worden

July 13

Anger is not a primary emotion. It is always caused by something else. Just beneath the surface of the anger, you will always find great sadness, profound fear, or deep disappointment.

One Soul, One Love, One Heart: The Sacred Path to Healing All Relationships by John E. Welshons

July 12

The psychology of anger is that you wanted something, and somebody prevented you from getting it. Somebody came as a block, as an obstacle. Your whole energy was going to get something and somebody blocked the energy. You could not get what you wanted. Now this frustrated energy becomes anger – anger against the person who has destroyed the possibility of fulfilling your desire.

Emotions: Freedom from Anger, Jealousy & Fear by Osho, Osho International Foundation

July 11

Control is a poor substitute for awareness, a very poor substitute, it doesn’t help much. If you are aware, you need not control anger, in awareness, anger never arises. They cannot exist together.

Awareness: The Key to Living in Balance by Osho

July 10

“You must be willing to suffer the anger of the opponent, and yet not return anger. You must not become bitter. No matter how emotional your opponents are, you must be calm.”

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Clayborne Carson

July 9

I’ve learned that I must find positive outlets for anger or it will destroy me. I have to try to find a way to channel that anger to the positive, and the highest positive is forgiveness.

The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier

July 8

Guilt is a common cause of depression because guilt is a form of pent-up anger. Guilt is anger toward yourself.

Happiness Is a Choice: The Symptoms, Causes, and Cures of Depression by Dr. Paul Meier, Frank M.D. Minirth

July 7

Anger may be expressed outwardly as rage, or turned inward and be experienced as depression. But underneath all anger is fear.

Letting Go With Love: The Grieving Process by Nancy O'Connor

July 6

Wisdom was knowing what to do. Skill was the ability to do it. Virtue was doing it. When wisdom didn’t subdue anger, anger destroyed everything.

Dying For Revenge by Eric Jerome Dickey

July 5, 2011

Anger cannot be overcome by anger. If a person shows anger to you, and you show anger in return, the result is a disaster. In contrast, if you control your anger and show its opposite—love, compassion, tolerance, and patience—then not only will you remain in peace, but the anger of others also will gradually diminish. No one can argue with the fact that in the presence of anger, peace is impossible. Only through kindness and love can peace of mind be achieved.

How to Expand Love by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Jeffrey, Ph.D. Hopkins

July 4, 2011

If a man keeps dwelling on sense-objects, attachment to them arises; from attachment, desire flares up; from desire, anger is born; from anger, confusion follows; from confusion, weakness of memory; weak memory—weak understanding; weak understanding — ruin.

Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation by Stephen Mitchell

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Listen...Silent

2011-07-31T18:23:00.001-07:00

To listen well, pay full attention to what the other person is saying.

When the letters in the word 'listen' are interchanged, we get 'silent'.

Silence is what we need if we want to listen well to other people.

Many times when the other person starts talking, we stop listening and start formulating our response. It's too early to formulate a response before listening fully. Waste of time and energy and disrespect for the other party.

Listen to understand. Reflect. Understand. Clarify. Confirm. Then respond. If we follow this process,then we are more likely to do justice to the person we are listening to.

Sometimes response is not needed at all. The other person just wants someone to listen to. As most of us have experienced, the very fact of being able to find someone who is willing to listen to us and listens without any prejudice proves to be very beneficial. When we explain our thoughts to someone else, many times we ourselves become clearer about them. Solutions emerge on their own. All we needed was someone who was willing to listen.

Listen not merely hear. Observe not merely see. Communicate not merely speak.

WAIT - Why Am I Talking? Always remember this FLA before you speak.

Cheers!

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Laughter is the best medicine

2011-07-31T18:04:00.001-07:00

Laughter is the best medicine.

Research has proven that laughing relaxes us and helps reduce the stress.

One, who laughs longer, lasts longer.

I was thinking something else about laughter.

Ajahn Brahm is a Buddhist monk. Originally British. Now settled in Australia.

He has a written a best selling book – “Who ordered this truckload of dung?”

He made an interesting reference to laughter in his book.

The most important medicine that God wants us to take is the “pill of wisdom”.

God always has a ‘pill of wisdom’ ready to give it to us. We are not ready moss of the time.

When we laugh, it becomes easy for the Lord to toss in a pill or two of wisdom.

Sometimes we are so stubborn that we give God no opportunity at all to give us his pill of wisdom. When we act like that, God has no other way left than to use that another way of delivering the medicine.

When parents have to make their young children take some bitter medication, they try to coax them in a variety of ways. When everything fails, dad just clips the nostrils and automatically the child opens the mouth. Mom pours the potion and the business finished. What all the pampering did not accomplish, one simple act of closing the nose got the work done.

God has to do something similar to holding the nose to get us take our pill. When somebody closes and holds our nose, it does not feel good. In fact, it is very uncomfortable.

When we do not learn to live properly in easy ways, God has to close and hold our nose that we open our mouths so that he can give us the pill of wisdom.

That’s what the suffering is. When do not learn the easy way, it has to be come hard. Smart people learn at the very first instance of pain. They suffer little. Some obstinate people take longer.

Smartest people are always laughing at everything around them and they are the easiest for God to deliver his pill of wisdom.

Laughing all the time about everything means we accept the world and life as it is and do not fret about not getting our way all the time. When we start accepting the life as it is, a lot of opportunities open up to grow up and grow wiser.

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Joblessness...

2011-07-10T07:06:00.001-07:00

"Joblessness is not uselessness. Uselessness is not meaninglessness."

If we let our jobs / careers determine our identity completely, then our lives may become meaningless when become jobless and feel useless.

Jobs have ceased being full-time and permanent for a long time. Everyone is more or less a freelancer these days. Go to work in the morning, do your job and come back in the evening after collecting that day's pay. You do not know when your job is gone for whatever reasons.

For whatever reasons, there is so much change in the business environment that hiring and firing is done very rapidly. Many times it does not make much sense at all. That makes it even more important to ensure that we do not let our jobs determine our identity.

Sometimes when we do not have a job and do not have skills for the jobs that are available, it is natural to feel useless. That's what is the reality at that time. Once you had acquired some good skills, they served you well and now those skills are not useful anymore. That does not make your life meaningless. As you had learnt the skills in the past, you can learn new skills and get a new career.

A bend in the road is not the END in the road.

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Opinions are like....

2011-07-04T16:26:00.001-07:00

Opinions are like a$$****. Everybody has one.

We have all heard it. Used it.

Anything new?

Yes. What can be done to better this hard-hitting quote?

How about a modified version of the quote?

"Opinions should be like armpits. Everybody should have a couple of them."

Wonderful. I thought.

Who came up with this one? Very creative.

Beyond the sheer artistry of words, there is plenty of wisdom if we care to look deep into the modified version of the quote.

What makes one so obnoxious? IMO, way too much attachment to his or her opinions. I have mine. I can not see any other way. So do you. My way or your way or highway. No wonder people will, very gladly, tell such a person to go and jump off a cliff.

So, we can not avoid having one dominant opinion. But, how about a few fallback ones too? You know just in case. Stand-byes, extras, spare ones..

Colin Powell said - "do not have your ego attached your position because when your position falls your ego falls with it."

Opinions are meant to be shot down. Sure, fly your opinions but be ready to jump out of it if somebody else's pure logic shoots it down. Smart pilots let go of their planes and take the parachute, rather than meeting a fiery grave.

My apologies if the quote is somewhat offensive. If not for wisdom in it, I would not have found it reasonable to use it. So, sometimes we have to look at many unusual things for wisdom.

A$$**** is not totally out of respectable usage. Stanford business school's reputed professor Bob Sutton wrote a book titled 'No A$$**** rule' a few years back. That book is a very good book. That book looks at a$$**** at workplaces and the tremendous damage they cause. Great read. I wrote about it a few years back. You can read that post at - http://maheshuh.blogspot.com/2007/04/no-asshole-rule-building-civilized.html.

Another creative way to look at the modified version of the quote (i.e. armpit version) is to start thinking about deodorants.

Thank you, you say. I shall stop.

But, armpits, Bo, deodorant and the difference the deodorant makes in civilized world will give you some ideas about tempering the stench of our pet opinions with some sort of a deodorant called open-mindedness.

Mind is like parachute. Works best when open.

Cheers. Hope our opinions smell fresh.

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You are alive only because....

2011-06-23T16:43:00.001-07:00

Whenever someone dies, people saying something on the lines of 'God calls those people to his abode whom he loves most.' Makes the bereaved family feel better.

This is especially repeated when someone meets with untimely death.

Recently somebody on LinkedIn.com posted an interesting twist to this saying.

It went something like this.

"God calls those he loves most to his abode. So, if you are alive, it means there is someone on this earth who loves you more than the God loves you."

We are all alive because there are people on this earth who love us more than God. Hmmmm....

Interesting perspective. Made me think. Still thinking.

Cheers!

Btw: If you have account on linkedin.com, you can go and search for it. It generated quite a discussion there.

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Mind's restlessness

2011-06-23T11:06:00.001-07:00

Mind is like a monkey which has had a lot to drink. After that it's been bitten by a scorpion. On top of that some demon has possessed it.

Can there be anything more chaotic than the above monkey? Likely not. By it's very nature, monkey is always on the move. Additionally if you introduce 3 extras, it will become so restless that no monkey tamer can handle it.

Several sages have used above simile to convey the restless of our minds. At the best, it is a decent monkey which has been trained quite well. At the worst, you have monkey on extras.

Another beautiful simile is - mind is like a restless trunk of an elephant. Always reaching out to this or that. Grab this here. Grab that there. Once whatever is grabbed, put it in it's large mouth and that's the end of it.

Elephant trainers have a simple technique to manage the restless trunk of the elephant. Before they take the elephant in a procession through streets, they simply give bamboo stick and ask the elephant to hold it in its trunk. Since the elephant has been trained to obey its trainer, it does what's asked of it and then the procession starts. Since the elephant knows that it has to hold the bamboo stick in it's trunk, it does not move it's trunk here and there. Thus the stores along the street, which stock goodies like fruits and nuts that elephants like very much, are spared from the elephant grabbing them for free.

So is our mind. It needs something to grab on to. If it does not get something to grab on to, you know what it does. It will grab a bad movie here, a violent song there, some gossip somewhere else and so on.

So, what do we give to our mind? Hindu teachers from ages have asked us to choose a mantra (holy name or holy word) and repeat it all the time. It does not matter even if you repeat it mechanically. It's going to serve the exact purpose of that bamboo stick and help steady our restless mind.

Of course, elephant's trunk is nothing compared to our mind in terms of restlessness. Mind is not going to repeat 'mantra' as sincerely as a well trained elephant holds on to the bamboo stick. It's going to 'forget' repeating the mantra and we have to consciously bring it back to repeating it. It takes time and lifetime's effort.

Great sages have guaranteed from their personal experience that after a long time, sincere aspirants get to the state called as 'ajaapjapam'. In that state, the person does not repeat the mantra, it repeats by itself and delivers tremendous benefits in turn. It's a goal worth shooting for.

Now choose a mantra and start repeating. It's good for you and more importantly good for everyone around you. One less monkey to worry about. Just kidding! :)

Cheers to a calm and quality mind!

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Mindfulness & Surfing

2011-06-23T10:37:00.001-07:00

Mindfulness - Buddhist way of dispassionately observing the mind using the mind. There is plenty of information about the process and practice in books and elsewhere.

Recently while reading a book, one point the author made caught my mind because nobody else had helped show mindfulness in that way.

Paraphrasing the author - mind is like a rough sea. Topsy and turvy. Raises many waves. It is long before we can quiet the mind. In the mean time, we have two choices. One is, we can act as victims and get thrown up and down by those waves of the mind. Other is to learn to ride them. As surfers like to do, we can learn to ride the mind waves. In this way, we will welcome the ups and downs and enjoy them rather than being tossed around by them mercilessly.

Made sense.

Of course, even to get to that state of riding those mind waves, it takes a lot of time and practice. But, seems worth it.

Mind is very funny. Start consciously observing what the mind does. What do you see? It acts like a small child caught in the act of doing something naughty. It is embarrassed and stops what it was doing.

Just try it. As soon as you say to the mind 'I am going to simply watch you', it will stop its assembly line. Junk production stops for a while.

It's a different matter that you lose your intent to observe after some time. Mind is a tough cookie. It's hard to nail it. It will come up with some other ploy.

That's one of the reasons Buddhists ask you to focus on breath and ancient Hindu teachers asked aspirants to choose a holy name or phrase (mantram) and repeat it every second you find a chance. That is to give mind something to hold on to. If something is not given to the mind, it will find and grab what it likes. In many cases, what mind likes is not what we want. So, we can proactively give it something good to hold on to.

Cheers!

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Einstien and Vedanta

2011-06-09T08:57:00.001-07:00

======
In a letter to a friend who had lost a young son, Albert Einstein described the experience of self as somehow separate from the rest of reality as an “optical delusion” of consciousness, a delusion he likened to a prison. He said that to break free of this prison would require “widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
======

Above excerpt is from Pictures of the Mind: What the New Neuroscience Tells Us About Who We Are by Miriam Boleyn-Fitzgerald

It is very impressive to see how Einstein's views closely match the views expressed in our scriptures.

I have made specific words bold to highlight their relevance.

Reality ( as we see it) is 'optical delusion'. This is really classic. 100% match.

Our mind which part of overarching consciousness (i.e. Brahman) manufactures the "reality" as it finds appropriate.

Than's the reason why Vedantists say life is only as real as a dream. We experience dreams as real as we experience life. It's just that dream lasts only for few minutes or hours where as the dream known as life goes over a few years to start off again.

It's no surprising to see this coming from some like Einstein who was all for coming up with a unified theory. He had unified so many disparate concepts into such a nice and tightly knit theory of relativity. Only if he had few more years, may be he would have included 'consciousness' also part of his unified theory.

As long as we do not see the unity among everything, we are under the spell of very strong optical illusion.

Knowing that and trying to get out of that is fun. Even if it takes multiple lives to get out of that, it is worthwhile.

As there is tremendous pleasure in solving puzzles and riddles, same with solving this complex equation which when solves shows us how this optical illusion results.

The book also a great read. It documents experiments run of some Tibetan masters in the hope of discovering the benefits of mindfulness.

Cheers!

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Desire to Destiny

2011-06-09T08:37:00.001-07:00

"You are what your deep driving desire is.

As your deep driving desire is, so is your will.

As your will is, so is your deed.

As your deed is, so is your destiny."

Above verse is from the famous 'Brihadarnyaka' upanishad.

If we can desire anything strongly enough, we can get it.

That may be the reason they say " God does not give us dreams without giving adequate potential to achieve them."

If all this is true, why we find it hard to achieve some things? Others we seem to able to achieve very easily.

Einstein (I believe) famously said "Man can get all that he wants. Can he really will what he wants?"

"Willing to want" - this ties back nicely to the verse from 'Brihadarnyaka' upanishad. "Willing to want" is to DESIRE strongly.

Sri Eknath Easwaran (www.easwaran.org) uses a very simple but powerful metaphor to illustrate the power of desires.

When solar rays are passed through a magnifying glass which can make them converge on a single point, it generates so much heat to burn a piece of paper.

But without such a lens, scattered sun rays may nicely warm us up, but can not set paper on fire.

Our desires, all though very powerful, are very scattered. We are into getting a few pieces of pleasure here, another few pieces of false-security elsewhere and so on. We have not managed to have all our desires converge to produce the effect we want.

Desire is neither good nor it is bad. It is another form of power. How we manage to transform it is upto us. Electricity can be used to light up a house or burn down the same house.

Similarly our desires can make us or mar us.

Desire is the vital fuel. There is only so much of it. Granted, we all have some extra fuel to let us experiment and experience things and know for ourselves that they all do not really satisfy us. But, it is expected that we learn from such experiences and their limitations. If we do not but keep repeating same acts time and again, hoping for different results, we are simply wasting away our vital energy. Then when we really need all the fuel to undertake a long journey, we are faced with an empty tank. Let's not get into that situation.

There is another very important aspect to desires. Look at anything you really like. Or even better, look at those things which you used to like very much once and now do not find it much appealing any more. What happened? Did anything change with object of your original liking? Likely not. Then what? It's your desire. The desire for that object simply vanished. Along with it took away the fascination for that object. Ask people who have quit tobacco or alcohol for good and ask them what changed. They are not able to explain it this way but are like to say 'something gave up.' That something is DESIRE. It's all in the desire. Tobacco is same as it used to be. Alcohol is what it has always been. You had desire for them. And that gave special fascination to those objects.

Success is not a result of some passive combustion. But, it is purposely setting ourselves on fire.

Desire is the fuel. Everything else including our destiny depends on it.

So, the question is - do we consolidate all our desires or let them waste away of thousands of useless pursuits?

Gandhi was known for his witty remarks.

Some reporter asked him "don't you have any ambition?"

Gandhi said "I am the most ambitious person. I would like to reduce myself to ZERO."

Reducing himself to zero was his desire. What he meant to totally remove his EGO. Worthy goal requiring every ounce of desire.

Cheers!

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Honeybee vs. Housefly

2011-06-06T17:32:00.001-07:00

What do we want be like?

A honeybee or a housefly?

Honeybee always spots good things. It finds a nice flower full of nectar. It extracts the nectar without hurting the flower. In the process, gathers some pollen and thus helps in pollination. After this delicate work, it gets busy and creates fabulous honey for us.

Housefly, on the other hand, always focuses on what is disgusting, dirty and full of germs. Lousier and dirtier the stuff, better it is for the housefly. There is some real yucky, grimy stuff, house fly is there to squat on it. Grab all the dirt, germs, bacteria etc. and ready to go elsewhere and contaminate that using all the germs it picked up from the previous rotten place. Deadly diseases like cholera are spread mainly by houseflies.

Honeybee is attracted to what is good. Housefly is attracted to what is bad and rotten.

Being like honeybee means we focus on what's good in others.

Being like a housefly means we focus on what's bad in others.

Nobody is perfect.

Everyone has a good measure of good and bad.

But, we can make a deliberate decision to focus on any and every good in others. That way we can probably get some honey out of anybody.

Of course, we can become pessimists. That's akin to being a house fly. We focus on the negatives. That will frustrate us. We will take that frustration on somebody else. That will pollute the environment.

Honeybee pollinates where as housefly pollutes.

I do not want the stigma attached to the housefly.

Choose to be a honeybee!

Cheers!

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One

2011-05-07T15:48:00.001-07:00

You and I are not WE. But, ONE.

Oh, yeah! we all know that at the core we are all one. So, we should treat each other as we treat ourselves. When we are nice to others, we are much nicer to ourselves. We should try to see ourselves in others and others in ourselves.

Sounds very good. But, when that annoying person says something or does something, why does our blood boil? More importantly how can we really understand that we are all one at the very core?

Vedanta has excellent metaphors to show the unity of all living beings.

Moon reflects in all water bodies.

Moon reflects in a beautiful swimming pool in a royal bungalow in the best part of the town.

Same moon also reflects in the dirty sewage pool in a slum.

Is there any difference in the moon?

Is the moon in the beautiful swimming pool any different than the moon in the dirty pool in the slum?

Of course, we are going to enjoy looking at the moon's reflection in the beautiful pool than it the dirty pool in the slum. That's all is external and is bound to change. In one stroke of luck, the beautiful house may burn down and take the pool with it. At the same time, the slum may be transformed into a beautiful location. That's possible.

That's what is all about so called good and bad people. When we see the reflection of the moon in a nice swimming pool, we feel happy and call that reflection a good one. When we see the reflection of the same moon in a dirty pool in a slum, we call that as the bad person.

Here moon refers to 'atman' which is one and the same. Pool is the body in which it is reflected.

So, focus on the moon and not on where it is being reflected.

Cheers!

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Book...open...closed...and judgement

2011-05-07T09:28:00.001-07:00

"Do not judge a book by its cover."

So goes the saying.

Wisdom is - we should defer our judgement long enough so that we do not misjudge a person or a thing. Read the book and then may be develop a judgement. Many times appearances can be very deceiving.

We are also worried about people judging us. We know that everybody judges a book by its cover. So, we try to make the cover as attractive as possible. We dress up very well. We groom ourselves well. We fret about our bodies and its lack of perfection and so on and on. All because we are not sure if our cover is good enough.

Of course, there is nothing wrong about making ourselves look and feel at our best. Regardless of subjective opinion on anyone's bodily appearance, anybody can look at their best and also feel at their best with little investment of time and effort. Keep yourself as healthy as possible. Take care of your appearance to level you can afford to. Spend a little time in grooming yourself. Voila! you look and feel good. No doubt it all. Nothing wrong in it.

But, still we will be worried about people judging us by over cover (i.e. our appearance and mannerisms).

So, let's think about a minute. If there is a book lying open on a table, what do you think a person who walks to the table going to do? Is he going to judge the book by its appearance? Or do you think the person is most likely to pick it up, glance through it and may be even scan through a page or two?

Which is more likely? I bet the person is going to pick up the book and glance through it.

I think nobody is going to judge an open book as they judge a closed book. Closed book has the cover that draws attention. That attention is going to judge the book by its cover.

On the other hand, open book does not have that liability of cover. It's open. At worst, it gets neutral judgement or at best it gets judged little later with little deliberate effort and thought.

So, how about if we start making ourselves like open books?

Does that reduce our worry about being judged based on our cover?

May be to some extent.

Living a life that is akin to an open book is the best policy. That way people can read you and judge you for what's in the book than its cover.

Living an open life does not mean you have to wash all your dirty laundry in the public or have to fess upto all your itty bitty details. Most of them are inconsequential or have a very limited shelf life.

Bigger thing is being you own self all the time. Not acting like someone that you really are not. Being totally comfortable in your own skin.

Ask yourself. How often you identify phonies? Very often. As soon as you find somebody acting artificially, you can easily find that out. At least most of the time. That is very repulsive.

So, just be thyself and enjoy. Let people read you if they are interested. If not, they can judge you by cover or inner cover or dust jacket or whatever. Why do we care?

Cheers!

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Dream, Life. Real, Unreal.

2011-05-05T21:12:00.001-07:00

"Dream is as real as life while we are asleep. Life is as unreal as dream while we are awake."

First sentence of the quote did sink in pretty easily.

Second part, pretty hard.

However, once you get the grips on the first part of the quote, it starts making sense.

Don't dreams seem really REAL?

Don't we wake up totally freaked out from nightmares? Don't experiences in dreams seem real?

But, when we get up after sleeping, we brush all that aside.

How's so-called life different than a dream? Is it that we are unable to distinguish one dream from the other? Vedantists says so because we are clouded. According to them, what we see and feel as reality is dream as well.

That's why may be they say there are 3 normal states - awake, sleeping and dreaming. They have been very right about differentiating dreaming and sleeping because actual sleep is dreamless sleep. That's when we really relax.

Beyond these normal three states, they called fourth state as 'turiya'. Literally means fourth. 'Turiya' is super consciousness state. Samadhi or whatever.

Even if we leave all this aside, we can all appreciate a good nights sleep.

Simple measure to get a good nights sleep. Sleep little less than you really feel like. This helps getting into deep sleep as soon as you hit the bed Get enough exercise. Relax. Eat early in the evening. Do not stimulate senses overly. Do not expose yourself to excitable media. Go to sleep thinking about whatever makes you happy. Preferably reciting the name of your favorite deity. But, these days many are averse to simple things like repeating 'rama nama'. So, imagining yourself to be enjoying the blue waters of caribbean is an alternative.

Night after night when we get good sleep, especially long hours of dreamless sleep, you will see the difference in your overall health immediately. You will discover new insights, productivity in whatever you do increases by many folds. You will just be much happier. Just the opposite of how you feel after crappy night's sleep.

Good luck to sleep well and dreaming less.

Cheers!

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Using a thorn to remove a thorn

2011-04-30T10:02:00.001-07:00

If we are walking in a forest and if a thorn gets into our foot, how are we to remove it?

There is no medical aid near by. We do not have any devices.

One way may be to use another thorn and use that to remove the first thorn which has gotten into our foot Using another thorn to remove the original thorn may not be the most effective or easy way. But, with some patience and perseverance, it may work. One thing to avoid is to make sure that while using a thorn to remove a thorn, we do not get both inside the foot. That would be worse than having one in the first place.

This analogy is used in Vedanta a lot.

Ignorance is like the first thorn which has got into our foot and is bothering us. Spiritual knowledge, in the form of books, lectures, teachers etc. is like the other thorn we can use to remove the original thorn of ignorance. After the original thorn is removed, we do not have any use of either of the thorns. We can discard both of them. Actually, we must discard both of them. We should keep neither ignorance or knowledge once we have used one to remove the other.

So, basically, knowledge is just an instrument to remove ignorance. Once ignorance is removed, we need to let go of both, if we want to make progress.

Knowledge, even if it is purely bookish, can be very intoxicating. There comes some sense of pride and confidence as you know more and more about things. If you have time and willingness, there is no problem in becoming bookishly smart. There lies the danger that sometimes we may get stuck in that zone. We may forget that our original idea was to acquire knowledge so that we can get rid of ignorance.

A certain modern philosopher had a very nice analogy. We are familiar with pole-vault sport. The athlete uses a long pole to get the needed energy to push him over the hurdle. But, he knows very well that in order to safely cross the hurdle, he has to skillfully use the pole and more importantly he has to be able to LET GO of the pole at the right time to complete a smooth trajectory into the other side. When the pole-vaulters do this well, they scale great heights, set new records and go like an elegant projectile.

Knowledge is like the pole we can use to overcome the ignorance. As the successful pole vaulter gives up the pole at the right time and right place, we need to dump this so called knowledge as we start feeling the real knowledge inside us.

There are several similar metaphors that Vedanta uses to make sure that we do not get stuck in the fancies of intellectual knowledge.

Intellectual knowledge fills you up but does not satisfy you. Like many fancy foods and drinks.

Cheers!

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Donkey's wisdom

2011-03-20T16:47:00.001-07:00

Once there was a donkey.

It served its master with loyalty and dedication. Like many masters, he did not appreciate the services of his donkey.

Donkey grew old and its master got more and more contemptuous of his donkey.

One day the donkey fell into an empty well.

Luckily it was not hurt but it could not come out. There was no way at all.

So, it started howling the way donkeys do - very distinct.

That bothered its master who was enjoying his siesta.

He came to the well and took a look.

It was a useless well. No water there. He was planning on filling it up and use the created space to grow something. He had not had time to do it.

Now he became motivated. He could get rid of the wailing useless old donkey and also fill up the well. At least he thought he could.

So, he rounded up his family, friends and started to dump dirt, mud, gravel into the well.

Donkey got scared. It became obvious that its master was not interested in rescuing it but he was going to bury it alive.

As the mud and dirt poured down and fell over the donkey, it shook up its body, got the dirt off its back, stomped on it.

It continued the process with every load of dirt that was dumped on it. Shake, shake, thump, thump, thump and repeat.

What was the outcome?

With every load of dirt, the donkey moved up - may be a couple of inches at a time. Slowly but steadily.

It's stupid master and his clan was so busy in getting the dirt and filling up the well that they failed to notice the smartness and initiative of the donkey.

After doing this smart thing over a long time, the donkey was just a couple of feet from the top. It was very tired but it pumped up its any remaining energy into its legs and gave one strong leap and with that it was out of the well.

Before leaving its cruel master for good, it dashed to him, bit him the ass and ran away. Hopefully to a better place.

Moral of the story. There are two morals actually.

Life will dump dirt on you without fail. That's the nature of life. With every boatload of dirt that is dumped on us, we all can shake it, stomp on it and raise ourselves up. This kind of raising ourselves up makes us feel good about ourselves.

Practical example - somebody is rude to you? Go extra mile and be specifically nice to him or her. Somebody slandered you? Do not dignify such thing with your rebuttal. If it is not true, it is not going to become any more truer with your explanation. Just shake it up, use that dirt to move up.

Other moral - if you try to cover your ass, it comes back to bite you later. :)

Cheers!

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Effective Cleaning

2011-03-20T16:28:00.001-07:00

So, suppose that you got to clean a room. Vacuum it, dust it, mop it and what not.

You also have all the needed equipments - vacuum cleaners (best quality), mops etc.

What do you think is the most effective way to complete the task?

How about if you empty the room first? Say, remove furniture, pictures etc.

Does it not become easier once you have enough working space? You can move the vacuum cleaner with ease, reach all corners, dust off easily. Overall, it seem to become easier.

I think most of us clean our places like this. We move the stuff temporarily to other rooms, clean one room and then bring it all back.

Makes sense?

How about cleaning the mind?

Like the powerful vacuum cleaner, we have the most powerful tool - that is MEDITATION.

But, our mind is cluttered. So much junk is accumulated that there is hardly any working space at all. To make things worse, we can not easily chuck out the junk from our minds the way we can possibly move stuff out of our rooms when we need to clean.

So, we have a challenge.

We have a heavily cluttered mind full of junk - thoughts, feelings, opinions, prejudices etc. We have the equipment to clean but need to make some space.

Fortunately, meditation is more versatile than any vacuum cleaner. It really does not demand much space at all. Just a little space to enter into our mind and start cleaning. All meditation asks is to give our best for at least a few minutes a day. Say 30 minutes of dedication.

But, there is one thing to keep in mind. As said before, we can not easily chuck out junk from our minds. Our tool - meditation- is versatile that it not only cleans up the mind but also destroys all that junk slowly but surely. So, we do not have to worry about it any more. Takes several years to clean up the junk accumulated over our lifetime. Slowly but surely.

In the mean time, can we do ourselves a favor? That is to limit the new junk that we bring in. If the rate at which junk enters exceeds the rate at which our trusted tool - meditation - is working, it is not going to make much difference.

When we are practicing spiritual disciplines with all the sincerity, we need to do everything to limit external inputs especially tantalizing, sensationalizing inputs. We all take in a lot of external stimuli - news, movies, radio etc. Start reducing the amount of sensory inputs you take and see how better you start feeling.

Even if you want to take in sensory inputs, do it with discrimination and purpose. Let the radio not blare music or news unless you are able to pay full attention to listen to it. Same thing with news, movies etc.

As you reduce new mental clutter, meditation continues to slog relentlessly at cleaning up your old clutter. Accumulated over not just few years but few life times. So, its a process of slow but steady transformation.

It does not take years, even months to start seeing the differences. After limiting the amount of TV you watch, amount of time you spend on the Internet or talking to friends and family or doing other mental-clutter-generating activities and steadily practicing meditation and allied disciplines, you will start seeing the calmness and purpose in everything you do very soon.

Cheers!

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Blind spots

2011-02-18T12:28:00.001-08:00

Know about blind spots?

Yes, same blind spots that we encounter while driving.

If we don't look over our shoulders while changing lanes, it's possible that we will miss a car or bike which is in our blind spot.

Have you been impacted by one?

Simple technique is to look over in addition to relying on mirrors before changing lanes.

You can also get those tiny mirrors which you glue to one corner of your side mirrors to get better view of the blind spots.

But, nothing is safer than really turning your head to make absolutely sure.

Sometimes motorbikes miss all that and accidents can be fatal.

Anyway, why all this? Coming to the point now.

Do you think we have blind spots in our personalities as well?

Do you think you know everything about yourself?

I doubt. I believe we all know about ourselves the way we would like to know about ourselves.

Some people know themselves much more accurately than others.

Like everything else we see the life (which includes us) the way we would like to see and NOT really the way it is.

So, we have blind spots in our personalities too.

God took care of that.

He continues to give us equivalent of those tiny mirrors that help us see blind spots clearly.

What are they?

So called DIFFICULT people in our lives.

They are there to help us see our own blind spots.

I recently finished reading an excellent book - Path to the soul by Dr. Ashok Bedi.

Got this insight from that book.

When I thought about this and looked back, it made perfect sense.

Difficult people come into our lives to show us what we need to change. Sometimes they create such situations that things become so painful that we have no other way than changing ourselves or situations. That's exactly God's plan.

Since we do not seem to understand God's plan in any easy way, He has to make it little hard for in our lives and make us suffer a bit. He uses so-called-difficult people to help us uncover our own blind spots.

So, let's look at so-called-difficult-people as helpers rather than people to avoid. Of course we can avoid them. But, if we do not see what's in the blind spot, it will only get worse.

Many times I have seen those so-called-difficult-people vanish as soon as we recognize our blind spots and take care of the situation. That's what they were meant to accomplish. Their job is over.

Either you stop seeing them as difficult people or you change the situation such a way that point of they being there does not arise at all. Example - If you change jobs to avoid toxic work place, then you changed the situation.

In any case, it made absolute sense to me.

Dr. Bedi advises us look at such people as our own reflection with some things that we are not able to see ourselves. Like our back which we can not see ourselves.

Learn what those people are trying to teach. Make necessary changes and move on. After that they won't be there or they won't bother you.

Can you put up with difficult people and endure the pain?

I think it depends how smart you are and how much is your pain tolerance.

I see that sometimes it has to become so much painful for people to change. That's how we humans are. We do not look at pain and pleasure the same way. People won Nobel prize applying this principle and started a new field called behavioral finance. People rather do everything to avoid pain but are not willing exert even 10% of that effort to go after what is good for them.

As GK Chesterton said - God's divine hammer has to fall on us and cause some discomfort before we change.

Excellent book by Dr. Bedi. Rare book that combines wisdom of eastern spirituality with modern psychiatry.

Cheers!

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Ajahn Brahm

2011-02-06T19:55:00.001-08:00

Recently read a refreshing book by a buddhist monk - Ajahn Brahm.

He is originally from Britain. He trained as a theoretical physicist. Then the calling came and he went to become a buddhist monk.

He is a full-time monk who belongs to very demanding Teravada tradition of Buddhism.

He trained in the forest monasteries of Thailand under Ajahn Chan - revered master.

His book is titled - Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties.

This is a fantastic book.

Full of witty small stories and essays.

You will be laughing or smiling all the time while you are reading this book.

That's when the master Ajahn Brahm keeps throwing in the pills of wisdom into you.

Very refreshing.

Many of his discourses are available on youtube.

They are really very interesting. Watch them when you get time.

I am looking forward to read his other books and watch other videos.

Cheers!

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Disappointed?

2011-02-06T19:42:00.001-08:00

Disappointed with somebody?

Read on.

A young man had just married a beautiful girl.

His father-in-law asked him why he married his daughter.

As usual, the young man went on and on......she is so cool. She is so beautiful. I can never find anyone better than her. Usual hype of heady first days of romance.

Experienced and wise father-in-law said - you know young man, after a couple of years, you will start finding flaws in her. Just remember that those flaws are there today too. You are not just able to see them. Always keep in mind that if not for those flaws she would have married someone so much better than you.

That's it.

This is not only true in marital but all sort of relationships.

Your family disappointed you? Yes. Sure, they have flaws. If they did not, they would have had better kids than you.

Your boss pissed you off. Sure. If not, he would have hired a better candidate than you.

Your subordinate under performed. Sure. If not for his flaws, he would have joined a better place at better salary.

It's all in the expectations.

Have no expectations and everything will be just fine.

Easy to preach. Hard to practice. Yes, you bet!

Cheers!

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Thorn, Torch, Pole

2011-02-06T09:19:00.001-08:00

Using a thorn to remove a thorn - this is a very famous metaphor often used in the teachings of Indian spirituality.

Suppose you are walking in a forest. A thorn gets into your foot. You do not have any surgical instruments like needles or forceps etc. to remove the thorn.

What can be done?

Find another similar thorn. Use it to remove the thorn in your foot. After that, discard both thorns.

You need a torch in the dark.When there is light, torch is of no use.

Pole vault is a very interesting sport.

The pole vaulter has to let go of the pole to clear the bar. The pole is there to just give the needed force to propel him. Once he get the needed boost, he has to let go of the pole.

Thorn, Torch and Pole are similar to the tools that we can use to acquire spiritual knowledge.

Once we get the necessary knowledge, we get rid of them.

They do not serve any purpose after that.

In fact, keeping tools longs after they have served their purpose can become detrimental to your spiritual aspirations.

Dry intellectuals are those who can not give up boring aspects of arcane philosophy even after it has outlived its purpose.

So use books, teachers, masters to the extent needed just like you use a thorn or a torch or a pole to meet your immediate purpose.

There after it is you, your determination, effort and the divine grace.

Remember to grow up and give up toys. Sometimes the toys that we discover on the spiritual journey can be so alluring that you do not feel like giving them up. That's a danger. What you won't give up voluntarily will be forcefully taken away from you for your own good. That will be painful and result in suffering. Why go through that? Give up and lighten yourself.

Cheers!

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Inner voice

2011-02-06T08:37:00.001-08:00

Melodious music playing inside a room.

There are also several people in the room busy talking and doing things.

Typical party.

Can you hear the music and enjoy it in such an environment?

Probably not.

The music is lost in the cacophony of the noise from people, their talk, laughter etc.

This is also happening with inner voice.

It is always talking. Its words are full of wisdom. We just do not seem to hear it all.

In order to listen to inner voice, we have to create proper ambience.

People talk about going on diet to help maintain good body.

Good diet means eating only things that are good for us in temperate quantities.

How about mental diet?

Have you thought about it?

We are constantly consuming through our senses - eye, ears, touch, taste, smell.

In order to start hearing inner voice, we have to start a mental diet.

Allow only those stimuli that is good for you and then you will start hearing the inner voice.

When we expose ourselves indiscriminately to external stimuli, we never allow our mind to slow down.

For a period that works for you, tell yourself that you are not going to watch TV, read news papers, see movies, browse Internet, no phone calls, no texting, no or very limited talking with others.

It's hard. At first you may be able to do it only for few hours or few minutes at the most.

However you will be able to gradually increase this time of retreat from hours to days.

It's extremely hard to go on this kind of mental diet. But, it's the only way to start.

No wonder Buddhist monks go through this kind of retreat. Their retreats are 3-4 years in length. We do not need to go that far.

Benefits will be visible immediately. As you reduce the external stimuli you take in, your body and mind start slowing down, they get much needed rest and recuperate against all the abuses from poor physical and mental diet. Nervous system relaxes and re energizes.

If you can do this kind of a retreat at least one weekend a month, you will get maximum benefits. You can also go away for a week to some secluded place and do similar thing. Familiar surroundings of home make it difficult. So get out to some nice resort or retreat places.

During the retreat time, it is absolutely fine to read motivating spiritual books, listen to devotional music or soft music.

After you reward yourself with such retreats, become really aware of how you take in external stimuli. Many times our senses are in overdrive without we knowing about it Become consciously aware about your surroundings.

Take in sensory stimuli. But, take them in deliberately.

If you want to watch TV, watch it for a small amount time with full attention. Do not eat or drink or do something else while watching TV.

Do not listen to mindless radio while driving. This is because when you listen to radio, program shifts from topic to topic or to advertisement or something. It breaks up attention and not good to your safe driving also. Best is not to listen to anything. If you can not, listen to audio book or mellow music.

Do not browse net indiscriminately. Get on the net with purpose. Get off as soon as you are done.

If you are a news junkie, check for news only few times a day. Same with e-mails, text messages, phone messages etc.

Bottom line is to become the master of our time and attention and not let the world jerk us around with its constantly changing priorities.

Once you slow down using all these and additional techniques, there comes that serene quietness in your life and that's when you start hearing your inner voice. This may take years and years but journey itself is rewarding.

Mind that is fast is sick.

Mind that is slow is sound.

Mind that is still is divine.

----by Meher Baba.

Cheers!

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From EGO to GOD

2011-02-04T16:33:00.001-08:00

"They are forever free who break away from the ego cage of I, Me and Mine. To be united with the Lord of love. This is the supreme state. Attain to this and move from death to immortality."

This is one of the stanzas from 2nd chapter of Bhagvadgita.

I, Me, Mine - three legs on which EGO rests. Reduce focus on I, Me and Mine and you automatically reduce self-will. As you reduce self-will, you feel lighter and better overall.

EGO - When 'E' from 'EGO' 'GO'es and D (as in Devotion) comes in and you get GOD.

Cheers!

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LTBM - Laughter The Best Medicine

2011-02-04T16:27:00.001-08:00

Laughter The Best Medicine.

Is it?

Or is laughter the best way to take the medicine?

What is the most needed medicine?

Wisdom.

It is only when we open our mouths while heartily laughing God can throw in a pill of wisdom.

If we are always smug faced and do not laugh at all, then the pill can not get in to us.

No wonder laughing relaxes you and helps you forget worries.

Just laugh!

Cheers!

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Life is a gym. Adervesity is the muscle building equipment. BYOE - Bring your own energy.

2011-01-22T09:25:00.001-08:00

No pain. No gain.

Does it hurt to work out?

Sure it does. At least in the beginning.

Adversities in life are like that. It sure hurts when they hit us but they make us stronger too.

Anything that does not kill you only makes you stronger.

If you do not last bad times. You won't be there to see good times.

It is always darkest before the dawn. Hang in there. Dawn is about to happen and sun in our life is going to banish all the darkness.

"One of the many fascinating events in nature is the emergence of the Cecropia moth from its cocoon - an event that occurs only with much struggle on the part of the moth to free itself. The story is frequently told of someone who watched the moth go through this struggle. In an effort to help - and not realizing the necessity of the struggle - the viewer snipped the shell of the cocoon. Soon the moth came out with its wings all crimped and shriveled. But as the person watched , the wings remained weak. The moth, which in a few moments would have stretched those wings to fly, was now doomed to crawling out it brief life in frustration of ever being the beautiful creature God created it to be.

What the person in the story did not realize was that the struggle to emerge from the cocoon was an essential part of developing the muscle system of the moth's body and pushing the body fluids into the wings to expand the,. By unwisely seeking to cut short the moth's struggle, the watcher had actually crippled the moth and doomed its existence.

The adversities of life are much like the cocoon of the Cecropia moth. God uses them to develop the spiritual muscle system of our lives. "

Above is quoted from a decent book - Trusting God even when life hurts by Jerry Bridges.

Cheers!

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Free-will

2011-01-22T09:08:00.001-08:00

Do we really have a free-will?

If we do and if we can exercise, can we create the reality the way we want?

If we really have free will and convincingly exercise it, why do not things happen the way we want?

What is missing?

"Swami Chinmayanada used the metaphor of a boat in a river. With the engine working at a given rate, the actual speed of the boat will depend upon the current in the river and the direction of the boat. It will obviously travel much more quickly downstream, with the force of the current behind it., than it will trying to battle its way upstream against a powerful flow. The basic engine speed can be compared to "free will" and the current of the river to destiny. Both operate independently but the net effect is determined by their relative strengths."

Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati Mahaswami of Srigeri says - "Fate is past karma. Free-will is present karma. Both are really one, that is, karma. Though they may differ in the matter of time, there can be no conflict when they are really one.

By exercising your free-will in the past, you brought on the resultant fate. By exercising your free-will in the present, I want you to wipe out your past record if it hurts you or add to it if you find it enjoyable.In any case, whether for acquiring more happiness or for reducing misery, you have to exercise your free-will in the present."

Above or quoted from a great book - Back to the truth. 5000 years of advaita by Dennis Waite. Really fantastic read.

Cheers!

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Knowledge and action

2011-01-22T08:34:00.001-08:00

Your knowledge is only as deep as your action.

Knowledge means knowing. Action means doing.

This is especially important on the spiritual path.

For intellectually oriented people, it is very easy to get caught up in the dry intellectually stimulating but often useless details about arcane matters of soul, spirit, reincarnation, heaven, hell etc.

To drag us deep into the whirlpool of futile intellectual pursuits, there is no dearth of excellent books written by many excellent teachers. Not one lifetime is enough to read even good number of them.

Is it not better to balance reading and acting?

Ramana Maharshi used to warn his disciples this way.

"What's the point seeing your face in several mirrors in the morning to check if you really need a shave? One mirror and one good look at yourself should clearly tell if you must shave or not. After that, your energy is better spent in getting a nice shave rather than going to different mirrors of different size and with different frames to see your same face and to reconfirm that you really need a shave."

Reading several books for pure intellectual fascination, following different gurus, following different paths etc. are not required.

Most of it is common sense any way.

Start spending quiet time by yourself and free of all external stimuli and eternal truth automatically start appearing to you.

It is just that we are all so busy with the mad rat race that we all have become rats and lost our true human nature which is essentially divine.

Of course, if you are knowledge centric, feel free to read a lot. There is absolutely no harm.

However, if you are a serious spiritual aspirant, just know that intellect can not figure that out. The eternal truth can only be experienced when we still our mind. Intellect is only good for dividing everything into good or bad, black or white, sane or insane. It can not understand unity. So, intellect is not the tool to find unity.

Think like a man of action. Act like a man of thought.

You will become a dry intellectual bore if you only read and never take time to contemplate. Contemplation is going right into the depths of consciousness. Reading, listening, watching etc. are only at the surface level. There are no treasures on the surface. Real pearls are found only the depths of the ocean. So, dive deep rather than spending your time on mindless pursuits on the surface level.

There is a very nice saying which goes like this - Data is good. It will keep the mind busy while the heart makes the decision.

Reading books leads to knowledge. Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Corruption is a crime. Crime does not pay. Therefore, by reading books you will die broke. :) (False logic. But, funny. Found it somewhere on the net.)

Cheers!

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Pessimist vs. Optimist

2011-01-22T08:14:00.001-08:00

Two boys. Twins.

One is markedly a confirmed pessimist. Other is a true ever sunshine optimist.

On their birthday, their dad tries a neat little trick on them.

He buys a boatload of toys for his pessimist son and put them his room in the night.

For the optimist son, he gets several buckets full of horse manure and places them in his son's bedroom.

Next morning, both kids wake up and see different things in their respective rooms.

Father goes first to his pessimist son's room.

What he finds?

The pessimist son has opened up all his toy boxes and has put the toys all around him and, for heaven's sake, is crying.

Father - what's wrong son? You should be happy for all these toys.

Pessimist son - So many toys. Many require batteries. How will I get batteries? Now all my friends will want to play with them as well. What if they broke them? What if they steal them? How do I keep track of all these toys?

On and on, he went.

Father gave up on this hopeless son and went to check out his optimist son.

As expected, he found his son awake, cheerful and looking for something in and around.

Father - son, what are you looking for?

Optimist son (with his cheerful grin and shine in his eyes) - There is so much horse manure here. There must be one or more ponies around here. I would love to find them and have a gala time learning to ride them.

See the point?

It's all in the way we see things.

This may be a very simplistic story but how often it is true.

In fact, we all have more than enough good things in life.

Seriously, very few of us have equivalent of horse manure in our lives.

But, why are we sad, pessimistic about everything?

Attitude. Fix it and everything else will fall in place.

Your attitude determines your altitude.

Aptitude may get you to the top. But, attitude, if right, keeps you there.

Cheers!

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It's there already....

2010-12-17T12:35:00.001-08:00

You want to sail?

What else you need?

You have a sail boat. Winds are what they are. Already blowing. Same for all.

All you need to do it to adjust your sails properly so that you can sail. Can you do that?

You have a piece of land.

You want to get the best possible harvest.

What do you do?

Prep the land properly, buy best seeds possible, get best fertilizers and hope that it rains well. If possible, make alternate arrangements for water.

Divine winds are always blowing. Divine rain falls same on all fields.

It's our level of preparation, that determines how far we go and what kind of harvest we can get.

So, start working on your sails and patch of land.

Keep it absolutely at its best.

Rest will be taken care of divinity. Everybody gets the same.

Cheers!

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Roasted seeds

2010-12-17T12:26:00.001-08:00

Do roasted seeds ever sprout?

No, correct?

Regardless of best soil, fertilizer, water etc., roasted seed has lost the life in it. So, it can not sprout.

Similarly, if 'karmic' seed can be roasted, then we are free from 'karma'. Right? That's what spiritual laws say.

So, if we want to roast our 'karmic' seed, we need a mechanism and equipment.

It's all there in one. That is MEDITATION.

This is not a claim from an ordinary person like me. This is a claim and assurance from God to spiritual masters like Paramahansa Yogananda.

The process of roasting of 'karmic' seed may be long and arduous, but it can be done and well worth it even if we manage to roast only part of it.

As far as I can say, once you start roasting the seed, you will start seeing the benefits right away.

It's like you start roasting coffee seeds. Even before the seeds are completely roasted, aroma starts wafting and you can enjoy that. This is similar. When you start roasting your karmic seed using meditation, you start smelling the aroma of roasting. In case of meditation, your worries will reduce, you feel less stressed, you will feel light, you will find it very easy to forgive but not forget to help those who did wrong to you, your patience will increase. Basically, all your rough edges will be smoothened.

Start roasting your karmic seed. Else, it will be planted again and sprout. That means you will reincarnate again, read blogs and wonder 'what?' :)

Cheers!

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Laws of nature

2010-12-12T10:10:00.001-08:00

Do you really need to know law of gravity?

I mean - is it necessary to know details of law of gravity? Whether you know the details of law of gravity, you will soon come to know by trial and error that things fall down to the ground and if you jump from the height, you will go down. Without understanding all the details behind the law of gravity, you will at least become sensible enough not to jump off from a tall building.

There are still millions of people who live comfortably without knowing law of gravity. They are able to manage their lives just fine. OK, none of them work for NASA and can not even imagine about rockets and what all science and engineering you need to know about launching rockets, putting satellites in orbit, concept of escape velocity (i.e. velocity needed to escape from the gravity) etc.

Whether anyone knows about the law of gravity or for that matter any law of nature, those laws continue to operate. The key difference between the people who know and people who do not know is - the people who know can put their knowledge to good use - Similar to scientists and engineers who started off with basics and then proceeded to learn advanced techniques. By learning about the laws of nature, they came to know how to use their knowledge to advance human race. Same with medicine, science, technology etc. What we discover year after year has existed for millions of years, it is just now that we are beginning to understand and put to good use. For example, cure of cancer is there. We just have not found it.

So, if we become clear about this analogy. Nature, laws of nature, learning them and how to use that knowledge to better ourselves, there arises an interesting question on 'other' laws of nature. I say 'other' because they do not fit into conventional science framework. For example, LAW of KARMA. It's very simple - AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YOU REAP. What's complex in it? Everyone can understand the concept. But, when you say law, karma and say it's one of the most fundamental laws of nature, people begin to object. They want to know how you prove it. There is no easy way. This is because these laws of nature like law of karma are beyond our mind and intellect to understand. They are understood only by our soul which drives other instruments like mind and intellect. You can use a pair of tongs to grab something lying on the ground. But, can you use the same pair of tongs to grab the hand that is holding it? You can not understand using mind and intellect 'that something' which is in fact the driving force behind mind and intellect.

Anyway, why is it important to understand spiritual laws as we understand scientific laws like law of gravity? For the exact same reason. To harness that knowledge to better ourselves. If we can put our understanding of law of gravity to launch satellites to know more about outer space in the universe, we can use the knowledge of spiritual laws to know more about our inner space. If understanding the laws of nature helps our external (material) evolution, understanding of spiritual laws of the same nature helps our inner evolution which is equally if not more important than evolution on the material plane.

People who do not know even advanced arithmetic seem to be convinced about law of relativity (both special and general) when someone who does not even understand basics of physics quotes late professor Einstein and describes the greatness of the scientist and his contribution. Same people argue mindlessly with you if you bring up spiritual laws. You can quote all great spiritual figures from Ramakrishna Paramahansa to Swami Vivekanda, it makes no sense to them. Moreover since spiritual laws can only be understood on a different dimension altogether, you just can not explain to them at all. Woody Allen put it best in his inimitable wit- People talk about understanding the universe when they can not even find their way out of China town.

In fact, this need to understand spiritual laws using inadequate tools like mind and intellect went so far that, a great sage called Kapila chose to explain it using what he called 'Sankhya philosppohpy'. In fact, he did a great job. If you really want to try understanding immutable laws of spirituality using your tiny brain, you can try understanding it using 'Sankhya'. If you do succeed understanding 'Sankhya', it will not be because of your intellect but due to divine grace which provided you that knowledge in the background. 'Sankhya' got so complex that joke is - if you need Sankhya, you will not understand it. If you understand it, you did not need it in the first place.

Only way to understand spiritual laws is to observe and go deep inside yourself. As you use teachers, books, notes, study guides, various studying techniques to learn about the physical laws, you learn about spiritual laws in the similar fashion. You first generate interest in them. Then you bring an open mind and insatiable curiosity about spirituality. Then you read extensively from people who have been validated as spiritual masters. Some may appeal to you and some may not. It's like you know you may like books on physics by one author and not by another author. As long as they are able to teach you physics, it does not matter. Same with spiritual knowledge as well. Just learn. Then you have to get into the lab and put your knowledge into practice. The main experimental technique is - meditation. The main purpose is to slow the mind and make it observe and not merely see. Slow mind is healthy and still mind is divine. Fast mind is SICK. As your mind starts slowing down, it is able to see more clearly and experience some of the complex truths. Then you will start learning about laws of spirituality. There is one great thing about this knowledge. As little nuggets of spiritual wisdom start becoming obvious to you, your personality changes for better. If you were very impatient, you will start becoming patient. If you could not get along with people, you will start getting along better. These changes vary from person to person. But, rest assured they will be for the better. They can not be anything else. By learning spiritual laws, you are filling in the gaps. Gaps are different in different people. So, don't be concerned if your personality changes for better.

Bottom line is - if you agree or disagree, learn or not learn, spiritual laws of nature are immutable and they are there and will be there. If we choose, we can learn them, put that knowledge to good use and take our own evolution in our hands and expedite it. If we choose not, no problems. There are still cannibalistic tribes in Papua New Guinea who continue to exist for several thousands of years. Let alone law of gravity, they do not even know how to grow their own food. What do you want to be like?

Cheers!

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God became man...

2010-12-10T16:47:00.001-08:00

"God became man so that he could show man how to become God."

Mythology of all religions has God appear in various forms. In Hinduism, God even becomes animals and in some cases animal-human mixed form.

Sometimes this creates confusion at its worst or humor at its best. A lot people can not understand monkey god, snake god etc.

The concept behind all this seeming paradox is the unity in the universe. As this universe came out of singleness, so did all plants and animals. At the core, we are all the same. Cut from the same fabric. Purpose of life is to realize this unity. Knowingly or unknowingly we are all on the same path.

So, what better way to show the how-to's of that process than for God to become a man or animal as needed and use that as the example.

Rama, most commonly referred God or God-incarnate in Hinduism, went through normal life, made his share of mistakes, learnt all lessons and in the process helped people write 'Ramayana' one of the most important epics of Hinduism. The story in itself is a very beautiful and engaging story. On top of its literary beauty, it sends very important spiritual messages in a very simple form.

Same with Krishna, another common God or God-incarnate. He too was born as a normal person. Showed extraordinary abilities right from the early age. Helped shape the destiny of thousands of people during his lifetime through his very practical role. The role he played was a master stroke. His life and example helped create another epic Mahabharata. Bhagvadgita is the essence of Mahabarata distilled. If brandy is distilled wine, Bhagvadgita is distilled Mahabharata.

Animals have been used so beautifully in Hindu mythology that some stories illustrate really good values. A famous king (Yudhistira) went to heaven after he shed his material body. On his way, he made friends with a nice and friendly dog which followed him all the way to the gates of the heaven. The gatekeeper was not willing to allow the dog to accompany the very accomplished king. King's love for his animal friend was so much that he said he was giving up heaven and was willing to go back to earth or hell or wherever he could be with his animal friend. That shows mutual respect and trust.

Cheers!

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Reincarnation

2010-12-08T19:02:00.001-08:00

All your questions about reincarnation answered.

The answers are in the classic - Swami Abhedananda's little book.

This little book if read and understood well should clear any doubts about reincarnation.

Not that you can explain intricacies to everyone but Swami Abhedananda, who was the disciple of Swami Brahmananda who was the direct disciple of Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, has written a classic.

One of the pestering questions about reincarnation is - if the soul reincarnates and takes a new body, why don't we remember memories of from our previous lives?

Swami Abhedananda illustrates this with a beautiful yet a very simple example.

Imagine you are projecting a movie from projector in a darkened room. As long as the room is nicely dark, you will see the pictures well on the screen.

Now start opening the windows and start letting the light into the room, what happens? Slowly the images start to blur. When you let enough light from outside, you will stop seeing the images all together. What happened? Projector continued to project but glare from the outside light obscured the image. You see outside more clearly than the inside.

This is exactly happens with humans too. The memories from the past lives are very much there. But, with human body, we are sense stimulated. The stimuli come from outside. They have masked the inner picture. If we manage to successfully withdraw senses, we are doing similar to darkening the room and we will start seeing the pictures. As simple as that in theory. But, hard to practices because we are not able to withdraw our sense so easily and still the mind.

Even accomplished spiritual masters recommend that we should not concern ourselves too much about our past lives. It's interesting but not very useful. Even after a lot of spiritual practice, if you manage to look into your past, you may not like it at all. It certainly was not as good as you have it now. Because, every human life is evolving towards the better.

Focus on taking control of the evolution of this life.

For academically inclined people, this book has several such illustrations to drive point home.

For people who can not resist the ideas of regressing back in life, Denise Lim offer classes and courses. She is the author of 'Past lives and Present Miracles'.

Cheers!

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Emptiness

2010-12-05T08:30:00.001-08:00

Emptiness is good. Why? Unless there is any empty space, new stuff can not get in there.

Once Lord Sri Krishna was playing his flute which was his favorite pastime. Radha, one of many girl friends of Sri Krishna, was sitting near by sulking. Lord did not know what her problem was. So, Lord asked her - Radha, why are you so unhappy? What's the problem?

Radha said - Lord, I envy your flute. It has the good fortune of having your lips all the time on it. Looking at that, I feel jealous. (She was saying she was not getting enough attention of the Lord)

Lord Krishna thought there was a lesson to be taught to Radha and everybody else.

Lord smiled beautifully and stopped playing his flute for a moment.

He called out Radha and asked her to take a close look at the flute.

Lord Krishna - Radha, what do you see?

Radha- what is there to see Lord? It's empty.

Lord Krishna - See, that's the difference. This flute is empty. That's why I am able to fill it with my divine music. Look at people. They are full of themselves, their wants, their plans, their wishes, their schemes. It's I, ME and MINE. How can I fill them with my divinity?

Radha got the message and stopped being jealous. She became more devoted in her love to Lord Krishna.

So, empty yourself of your own hot air. That's all that you are full of. Hot air about yourself, your wants, your wishes and your plans. Once you empty yourself, you are enabling Lord to fill you up with his divine music. There shall be no doubt it.

Cheers to emptying yourself!

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Simplicity

2010-12-05T03:54:00.001-08:00

The power of simplicity.

Simplicity - the art of doing less and less to make something more and more complete.

Creativity - Making complex things simple - Einstein.

Once upon a time there was a man. He was a very brilliant man with multiple doctorates from top universities. He also had special occult abilities. After practicing very hard using those occult abilities, he had gained some special powers. His spiritual guru had granted him a special power.

The special power granted to him was like this. Anytime he could command the services of a 'good' ghost which would appear and do anything he asked without any questions. There was only one string attached to that. The ghost had to be kept busy all the time. If not, the ghost would eat our brilliant man and everybody with him.

Knowing the power of the ghost and knowing how difficult it would be to keep the ghost fully busy, our brilliant scientist had stayed away from calling out for the ghost to appear and do anything for him. He kept that option open only for some real purpose.

After a while, our brilliant scientist married a very beautiful but very simpleton girl from the country. She was not very well schooled like her husband. She was a simple village lass with very beautiful features and curly hair.

After the marriage, the couple left for their honeymoon. They were going to a beautiful seaside beach resort. It was a fairly long drive. It was rainy season. Unfortunately for them, there was a massive landslide and roads were all closed. So, newly married couple got stuck in between. They could neither go forward to their destination nor could they return home. They were stuck.

This is when the scientist thought he should ask the ghost to show up and do some work for him. He was thoroughly convinced that things that he wanted to get done were only possible by somebody with superhuman powers. Ghost was the only thing he could think of. He did consider the condition that ghost had to be continuously kept busy once it was summoned. Knowing the enormity of his wish and all other tasks he could give to the ghost, he felt fairly confident that he could summon the ghost and keep it busy without much problem.

So, he did what he had to do to summon the ghost. Within seconds, a scary looking and giant ghost with menacing features appeared in front of them. Despite its scary features, ghost saluted him and his wife just like the way a slave may salute his master. With folded hands the ghost asked our scientist - what are my orders, sir?

The scientist told the ghost to create a beautiful sea resort right where there were. They were stuck in the middle of nowhere and he was asking the ghost to create for them a seaside resort out of no where.

True to its much feared reputation,the ghost rendered a beautiful seaside resort with all facilities and personnel in seconds. It was a transformation hard to believe.

The couple checked into their beautiful suite, specially done for their honeymoon.

In the excitement of possibility to consummate their marriage, the scientist had forgotten that he had to keep the ghost busy. So, he was somewhat surprised and annoyed when the ghost was not leaving their suite. He then remembered the condition.

So, he thought of a challenge for the ghost. He told the ghost - ghost, thanks for constructing this marvelous seaside resort. Now, go and count the number of fish in the ocean.

The scientist and his wife thought the ghost will be gone at least for few hours. To their dismay and horror, the ghost disappeared may be for a few seconds and came back. It gave the number of fish in the ocean. Also gave their rate of increase and decrease and provided a formula so that scientist could find out the number of fish in the ocean at any given time.

Now the scientist was getting worried because he saw what that condition meant. Ghost had to be kept continuously busy else it would eat him and his wife alive. Ghost simply had to be working 24x7 once it was summoned. No alternative.

Then the scientist asked the ghost to go and count the number of leaves on all trees anywhere and everywhere. This, he thought, would be far more difficult task because leaves are not only on trees but also on plants, shrubs, bushes etc.

He was wrong. It took no more time for the ghost than it had taken it to count the number of fish in the ocean. The ghost appeared in no time and told him the number of leaves. Not only that, it gave the scientist a formula to find out the total number of leaves using a complex formula.

After that it again respectfully asked for it's next order. Now scientist was in panic. He had underestimated the power of this ghost. Gruesome possibility of becoming ghost's food was very much real possibility now and he was totally freaking out without knowing how to keep the ghost busy.

His wife, despite being a simple village belle, understood what the problem was. She asked her husband if she could talk to ghost and try giving it the work that would keep the ghost busy for a while. The scientist did not think much of his wife but since he had no other option he was willing to try anything. He was willing to try anything even if it meant keeping the ghost away and them alive even for few more minutes.

The wife took the ghost away for a few minutes. From the distance, the scientist saw his wife giving something to the ghost. He saw ghost taking what she gave and carefully looking it. Then, he saw his wife giving the ghost careful instructions. Mostly about the job, he thought.

After giving the job the wife returned. There was a smile of jubilation over her face. She told her husband that the ghost was going to be busy for a long time and they could enjoy their marital bliss. The husband was not all convinced. He could not imagine any task more complex than the ones he had given the ghost without them becoming complex at all for the ghost. He felt bad for his simpleton wife and said with remorse that their end was near and they should get ready to be devoured by the ghost.

Despite his wife reassuring him, he did not budge. He was immobilized by panic of the ghost appearing into their suite at any moment and then asking for new work or eating them alive. An hour passed and then two. After a couple of hours, husband had developed a faint belief that his wife could be right.

He looked outside and saw ghost busy at work. He could not make out what it was doing. From the far, it seemed the ghost was trying desperately to do something. Every time, the ghost felt it accomplished the task, it seemed frustrated that the job was undone. The scientist did not care what was going on. He felt reasonably sure that ghost was not going to be able to complete the job in anytime soon.

So, he switched back to the original plan. The couple had a lot of fun for days together. They had a memorable time. It was time for them to leave.

While enjoying marital bliss, they had totally forgotten about the ghost. Now it was like days, the ghost was busy with something. He felt immensely proud of his wife. She had managed to give some sort of humongous task to the ghost that it kept ghost busy for days.

He asked his wife - what kind of work you gave to the ghost? What kind of complex work which is more complex than the two seemingly impossible tasks I had given to the ghost before?

Wife answered - nothing very complex. But, close to impossible. I just a pulled a long strand of my curly hair and gave it the ghost and asked it to straighten it out. That's all.

That's all - the husband wondered. You say that's all. He was very impressed by her creativity. He was awed by the simplicity. The solution was so simple. But at the same time so ingenious and practical. They had to come up with an impossible challenge to keep the ghost busy. Straightening a strand of curly hair is impossible.

When they were ready to leave, the ghost was still busy with the task. It gave them a very sad look. It was in tears. It begged them relieve it from this task which it knew it would not be able to complete at all. The couple took pity on the ghost. But, before they could cancel the assignment, they had to make sure that the ghost would not eat them for not keeping it busy all the time. So, the scientist prayed for the guidance of his spiritual master. The master blessed the ghost and it was relieved of its ghost state and disappeared.

The couple lived happily ever after.

The moral of the story - sometimes even for seemingly very complex problems the solutions are very simple. We just need to think out of the box to find the simplest solution. Sometimes changing the definition of the problem helps.

Simple is better than complex. Complex is better than complicated.

There is also an excellent book titled 'The power of simplicity' by Jack Trout. Great read.

Cheers to simplicity.

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Degrees

2010-11-30T20:18:00.001-08:00

Degrees - Bachelors, Masters, Doctorates, Honorary degrees, (un)honorary degrees, earned degrees, stolen degrees - how many kinds of degrees one can get?!

While growing up in India, it used to fascinate me to see long list of degrees against the names of prominent people like famous doctors, lawyers, professors etc. People used to spell out degrees, subjects, universities in such detail that their names used to be totally obscured from all that mumbo jumbo.

"Universities give you degree. Not necessarily education."

"Life is a teacher which gives tests first and lessons there after."

Best university in the world - UHK. Not university of Hong Kong. But, University of HARD KNOCKS. (aka LIFE).

"Only degree that really matters is the degree to which you help others."

Do we have this degree? Are we even working on this degree? How often we can say that we have helped someone with no selfish motives at all?

No wonder one of the best stanzas from Bhagvadgita says - They are forever free who break away from the ego cage of I, ME and MINE. Another verse says - They live in wisdom who see themselves in all and all in them.

Mere data is not information. Mere information is not knowledge. Mere knowledge is not wisdom.

Cheers to getting the only degree that really matter.

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Burden

2010-11-25T07:42:00.001-08:00

"Burden on your shoulders is exactly right the amount for you. Not one pound more than you can carry. Not one pound less than you are able to carry."

I think the above quote is from Bible.

Sometimes when I hear people grieving about their losses, problems in their lives and so on and so forth, this is the saying that comes to my mind. It's easy to say to them. However, it's better if you follow this up with little more information.

Repeating this quote mechanically does not bring any comfort to the people / friends who are going through some problems. You are telling them that -" too bad. Your life is a mess. Hang in there. Things will get better." Not too sensitive. Right? Their reaction will be - "I hoped you would just hear me and provide me some comfort. Instead you preached me dry philosophy which only make me more mad because it seemed so insensitive."

Some famous Malayalam Poet (I think Panicker) wrote a beautiful poem on this topic.

The essence of the poem is like this.

In India, especially in rural areas, there are some elevated platforms built on the shoulder of the roads. They are called 'athani' in Malayalam, it seems. The whole idea of those raised platforms is for people to put down the loads they are carrying on their heads, rest for a while, then easily pick up the loads and continue on their journey to market to deliver their goods.

Look at the practicality of these raised platforms or 'athanis'. They are at perfect height for a normal man. All the man has to do is to position himself correctly around it and slightly tilt the load from his head or back. Whatever he is carrying slowly falls and rests on the platform. When he is ready to pick it up, all he has to do is to adjust the position of his load on athani, move himself closer and then slowly drag the load on his head or shoulder. Although I have not personally seen it being done. From the description, it seems like a great mechanism for people to load and unload stuff on their head or back without requiring much assistance from others. On desolate rural roads, it will be impossible to find someone to help load the stuff on your back or head if you put it on the ground. Sheer height (say 5 to 6 feet) that load has to rise from the ground and then come on your head or back is impossible for one man to do. Raised platforms like 'athani' make it possible for a man to be on his own.

This is a beautiful illustration. The poem says we have the best 'athani' to put our load of burden when we are very tired. God is the best 'athani' we have. Whenever we are tired, we can just find God anywhere and put all our burdens on him. During the time we have put our burdens with him, he will let us rest. Of course, we will have to complete the journey with the regular quota of load but we know that whenever we need rest or feel that burden is too much and we are on the verge of collapsing, we do not need to look too far. The best athani custom made just for us and our load of burden is right near us. It's up to us to use it to take rest.

How do we make use of this divine 'athani'? By repeatedly calling the Lord with his holy name. People who remember to always repeat the holy name have ready access to vital energy to counter any of their problems.

So, next time, when you have to counsel friends going through tremendous problems, feel free to use the quote from Bible but do not just stop there. Help them understand the concept of 'athani' also. That will be more soothing. That will give them some comfort than mere dry philosophy.

Of course, if you think they are not in a position to understand and appreciate anything you will say. Just shut up and listen. Many times people just need someone who can listen to them and their problems without any prejudice. If you can be that for a few people, you can rest assured that you have done it for this year.

Henry Ford said -"I do not worry about anything. I leave worrying to God. I just do my job. Worrying about my problems is his job."

Cheers!

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Ego to God

2010-11-25T06:00:00.001-08:00

"They are forever free who break away from the ego cage of I, Me and Mine. To be united with the Lord of love. This is the supreme state. Attain to this and move from death to immortality."

This is one of the stanzas from 2nd chapter of Bhagvadgita.

I, Me, Mine - three legs on which EGO rests. Reduce focus on I, Me and Mine and you automatically reduce self-will. As you reduce self-will, you feel lighter and better overall.

EGO - Eliminate E and add D (as in Devotion) and you get GOD.

Cheers on this Thanksgiving day!

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Let Nothing Upset You

2010-11-21T11:30:00.001-08:00

Let Nothing Upset You

Let nothing upset you;
Let nothing frighten you.
Everything is changing;
God alone is changeless.
Patience attains the goal.
Who has God lacks nothing;
God alone fills every need.

- Saint Teresa of Avila

There is a lot said about 'finding your center.' It has become as common as 'touching all bases', 'looping in', 'take it offline' etc.

So, what can people do to find their centers?

May be use this beautiful prayer of St. Teresa of Avila.

Look at the simplicity.

I think this is one of the few prayers which highlights very underappreciated virtue - PATIENCE.

I think Sura 8 of Quran is another place which describes Patience in detail.

http://www.muslimaccess.com/quraan/arabic/008.asp. Search for 'Patient' on the page. (Not patience)

Patience saves a lot of energy. If you get provoked at every little thing, then you are going run out of gas in no time. Knowing that we all have a long journey, it makes to drive carefully and conserve as much gas as possible.

"Life is the battle won by carefully selecting all the battles NOT to fight."

Another line that is full of meaning is - Who has God lacks nothing.

Just change words a bit and other meaning is equally profound - Who lacks God has nothing.

Cheers!

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Reading

2010-11-21T07:30:00.001-08:00

Some of you commented about sudden spike in my blog posts.

What happened, you asked? How come all this activity after a few months of lull?

Well, looks like I have been reading far more than I used to. Read a lot. Did not take much time to reflect, distill and write.

Blame it on Kindle. So much easy to read. So much easy to so many books around. Happy to have read so much in one last year. Thanks to kindle for that.

An excellent quote from Einstein was a nice kick to get back to writing from time to time.

"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." - Albert Einstein.

Not sure what to make out of this.

Gandhi said - "Live as though you will die tomorrow. Learn as though you are going to live forever."

Einstein and Gandhi need not be contradictory. Although Gandhi said you should learn a lot. He did not say learn only from reading. Probably life's experiences are better teachers than bookish knowledge.

One piece of probably useless trivia - Einstein was one of the founding members of my alma mater - Brandeis University. The quarrel he got in with others on the future of Brandeis and left it is a different story .:)

Cheers!

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Likes and wants

2010-11-21T07:19:00.001-08:00

"If you stop doing what you like, you will have all the time to do what you want."

Makes sense?

For example - you like to read a lot. But, what you want to do is to get some physical exercise. If you reduce the time you spend on doing what you like then you can use that time to do what you want to.

Likes are like dead fish. They are the only fish that flow with the current.

Wants are like live fish, they flow against the current.

If you look closely, most of your wants require a jolt of energy to be acted upon. On the other hand, likes seem to require no additional energy or barely minimum. It is like a boulder on the top of the hill. Just a light touch will suffice. Gravity will do the rest. Such are likes. What it takes to watch TV hour after hour? Little or nothing. But, it takes some will and energy to go out and get some exercise.

Make 2 lists. One list of all that you like to do. Second is a list of all that you want to do. Then see how much time you spend on each item on likes and wants. For every like you can possibly remove, you will find time to do something you want to.

Always remember the golden rule of 21. For anything to become a routine, it takes 21 days. So, just persist for that long. Say to yourself that if you do not wish to continue after 21 days, you can revisit and renegotiate with yourself.

This wisdom is better explained by Sri Eknath Easwaran in his very important book - Mediation. Read page 115. Link is - http://www.google.com/books?id=evOewbpTXr0C&lpg=PP1&dq=eknath%20easwaran&lr&as_brr=0&pg=PA115#v=onepage&q&f=false

Cheers!

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Religion

2010-11-20T21:51:00.001-08:00

From the book - The complete works of Swami Vivekananda - Vol. 2

Every religion has three parts. Philosophy, Mythology and Ritual.

Although all religions say the same truth, since they are cater to people of different regions, beliefs, lifestyles and tastes, they have to be delivered in different fashions. Mythology and Rituals are the vehicles by which philosophy of the religion is delivered to the masses.

Swami Vivekananda provides a fantastic example. Take example of rice. Indians consume it with variety of curries and they use their fingers in a very artistic form to delicately mix a small portion of rice with different curries and enjoy each morsel thoroughly. After a couple of morsels, they take a bit of relish or some condiment to change taste as an alien beat is inserted in the music. It's an elaborate ritual.

When you provide the same bowl of rice to Asians, they prepare it differently for consumption. They will probably throw in vegetables and meat and stir fry it. Then they will use chopsticks to eat it. Their condiments are different.

Now give the same rice to westerners. They will use spoon and fork to eat the rice. They will consume it in variety of ways too.

So, Swami Vivekananda says, in this way, different people consume the same rice in different ways using different utensils and condiments. They all consumed the same rice and it is going to nourish them. Same thing with religion, they all teach the same thing. But, their philosophy, mythology and rituals are different the way fingers are different than chopsticks and chopsticks are different than forks.

Cheers!

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Vacuum cleaner,toaster, microwave, TV - which is greater?

2010-11-20T08:49:00.001-08:00

Imagine how it will be if electrical appliances in your house start talking about each other and start arguing which is more superior.

Vacuum cleaner may say it is the greatest, because without it, the house is just not habitable at all. If you can not live in the house, other appliances there do not matter at all.

Toaster may say - even after God answers your 'God, give us this day our daily bread.', you are not going to enjoy a piece of toast if the toaster can not toast the God given bread.

Microwave may say some other point of self importance.

TV may say that you all will go nuts if I do not keep you glued to something to get over your boredom.

Do you see the ludicrousness of such an argument?

If you do see that, then you can also see similar argument when we differentiate one human from the other and treat one is better than the other because of what he does, because of his external features, because of his outside worth and so on.

All these appliances are driven by the same energy. It's the same electricity which drives them all. It's the same energy which manifests into different form. If we can agree to this and make it part of our psyche then most of our problems with other go away.

Let's say, there is a person who is doing something that we do not like. Because of it we start hating that person. For example, I do not like the sound of leaf blowers. They are very noisy. When the yard workers blow it non-stop just outside my patio it drives my crazy. But, in the fall they have to do it.

I can not become resentful of the leaf blower or the person operating it. Same with other people and what they may be doing. People who annoy may be like leaf blowers. But, even those people with all their annoyances are serving some purpose. We may or may not understand the purpose but the person who is operating the leaf blower understands it well. So, instead of getting all aggravated, let's learn to live with it.

Cheers!

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Who is checking out your gold? Goldsmith or blacksmith?

2010-11-20T08:31:00.001-08:00

If you take a block of gold to a blacksmith and ask him to check it out for quality, what will he do? He will shrug his shoulders and will tell you that you have come to the wrong person.

You may have the best of the best gold with you. But, if you do not find a right goldsmith, it is not going to get a fair value or even fair interest and evaluation.

I was reading some book. The author gave this as an illustration to deal with 'perceived' slights and injustice. 'Perceived' is the key word here. Because, if you take gold to blacksmith and if he nonchalantly says he does not know about gold or does not see you quickly enough or does not treat you with all fan fare, it was not his mistake. It is your mistake to have taken your gold to the wrong person. So, any following feelings of disappointment etc. are solely due to your misjudgment. So, do not be angry about the person who could not see gold for what's it worth. He is not qualified.

If this is so simple, then why we feel let down when someone does not evaluate us (i.e. gold) as we should be? People complain that their bosses do not see their worth. People complain that their spouses and kids do not see their worth and so on. So question is - are those whom you seem to be pissed about goldsmiths or blacksmiths? Have you put your heart (or career or life) of gold in the hands of a blacksmith instead of a goldsmith?

Even after you give your gold to goldsmith. Be patient. It's the very nature of gold smithy that it takes long time to do anything. Even simple things like checking out the purity of gold takes good amount fine work. So, even after seeing a goldsmith, give him enough time to check out your gold and give you back his evaluation. It will be worth the wait when he gives you an excellent feedback about your gold. It will be even better when he offer a great value for your gold. This all will take time.

In life, it's the same. We are all gold but we do not always get to meet right goldsmiths who can value us fairly and treat us fairly. Sooner we realize it and take back our gold carefully from the hands of blacksmiths, better we will be. This means if you work for a poor boss, he is like a blacksmith who is not able to appreciate a golden employee. Get out of it if you care about gold (i.e. yourself and your career). Same thing in other relationships too.

Once you find a good goldsmith, give them time to evaluate your gold and treat you fairly. As said before, anything with gold smithy takes tremendous amount of time due to all the fine work involved. So, be patient. If you are convinced the your counterpart in any relationship is a genuine and qualified goldsmith, entrust your gold (career, heart, life) in their able hands and pray for the best. Things will work out.

This metaphor applies to you as well from the standpoint of you being the goldsmith. As a human being, as your gold is being evaluated by all sorts of people for all sorts of purposes from employment to relationships, you are also evaluating gold of other people for similar reasons. For some people you will come across as goldsmith and for some others you are going to surely come across as a blacksmith. That's fine. Just do not try to be what you are not.

In Hindi, there are a couple of great sayings to illustrate the differences between blacksmiths and gold smiths.

"Sonar ka sau maar aur lohaar ka ek maar." - This means that it takes hundreds of delicate and intricate strokes of artwork it will take a goldsmith to craft a beautiful jewel. But, it will take just one hit of heavy hammer from blacksmith to destroy that fine piece of jewelry.

"Zhaveri hee jane khare sone ka kimat. Lohaar nahin." - Only the best jeweler knows the value of pure gold. Not the blacksmith.

Cheers to being a golden person and finding the right goldsmith who appreciates your gold.

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Which 50%?

2010-11-19T08:06:00.001-08:00

"In advertising we know only 50% of the budget (money) spent produces any effect. We do not know which 50% is that. So, we need to continue to spend full 100%."

Took some time to make sense. It would be nice if we can 'isolate' that 50% which produces results and spend only that. Do you see the irony in that? It's like saying - in the world out there, there is a woman who delivers a baby every 6 seconds in the world. In order to control population, all we need to do is to, find THAT woman and stop her. :)

Advertising budget mention was made in some self-help book. The author was saying - we do not know which of our efforts will produce good results. As with adverting budget, probably only 50% of our efforts produce any result. But, we do not know which 50% is that. So, in order to maximize the output, we have to keep on putting in our 100% effort day in and day out. Many times it's very frustrating to see none of our effort producing any result at all. But, if we broaden the horizon and see, we realize that we have been paid back for at least of 50% of efforts. So, you put in $100, you got back $50. If you put in $100,000, then you got back $50,000.

This probably the reason, Gandhi said - Full effort, full victory.

Also the main message of Bhagvadgita. "You have right to work. But, not the fruits of your work."

Cheers!

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Fake it

2010-11-19T05:24:00.001-08:00

"Fake it till you make it."

Is faking all that bad?

For a refreshing perspective on 'faking', you may want to read excepts from Sri Eknath Easwaran's commentary on Bhagvadgita.

http://www.google.com/books?id=1ApkzNqxuU8C&lpg=PP1&dq=eknath%20easwaran&lr&as_brr=0&pg=PA395#v=onepage&q&f=false

Read pages 395 and 396 and more if you like.

Fake it till you make it is a perfectly good strategy when you are working on perfecting good qualities such as patience,compassion etc.

Read it for yourself and I am sure many will have an 'aha' moment!

Cheers to faking!

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Darkness to Light

2010-11-19T05:06:00.001-08:00

Lead me from the unreal to the real.

Lead from darkness to light.

Lead from death to immortality.

With our ears, may we hear what is good.

With our eyes, may we see your goodness.

Tranquil in body, we me who worship you find rest in you.

Om! Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

Om! Hail to the supreme self.

Translation of the famous verse 'Asatoma.....' from Brihadarnyaka Upanishad.

This is probably one of the best passages for meditation.

The message or the core of the verse is so positive. It is sure to stir up all your inner wisdom and make the cream rise to the top.

Call it meditation or self fulfilling prophecy, if you want to be thinking about over and over again, may be we should be thinking on these line.

Cheers!

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Peace of mind

2010-11-19T04:49:00.001-08:00

"I tell you one thing.

If you want peace of mind, do not find fault with the world.

Rather learn to see your own faults.

Learn to make the whole world your own.

No one is a stranger my son.

The whole world is your own. "

These were the famous parting words of Sri Sarada Devi, wife of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa - famous mystic of 19th century in India.

There is so much meaning in these few lines.

"If you expect anything from the world, world may give it you. Like a giving some small change to a beggar. But, you will miss the real treasure by focusing on trivialities."

Another line that stands-out is - No one is a stranger my child. When everybody else is paranoid about meeting someone else, this should come very reassuring. "There are no strangers. Only friends that we have not met yet."

Cheers!

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Wise and....

2010-10-17T08:10:00.001-07:00

"Some people are wise. Some are otherwise."

"You can know how clever a person is by his/her answers. You can know how wise a person is by his/her questions."

"Questions get answers. Statements get resentments."

"Leaders do not have to know all answers. They should know most of the right questions to ask."

"It is better to be approximately right than absolutely wrong."

"Two wrongs do not make one right. But, three LEFTs do make one right."

Cheers to being wise.

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Emotions - from repression to expression

2010-10-17T08:05:00.001-07:00

"Controlling the emotions is repressing them. Transforming the emotions is expressing them." - Osho Rajneesh

Bear with me on this not-so-pleasant analogy. Or bear with Osho because he is the one who used it. If you feel like vomiting due to some food poisoning or something else, do you just go and puke on somebody? or puke on the restaurant waiter or owner where you think you had the meal that gave you this food poisoning? Most likely, you do not. Like any normal person, you go to bathroom/toilet bury your head into the pot, relieve yourself and come out feeling the relief of getting the bad stuff out of your system.

Osho asks, then why do we vomit our anger on somebody for wrongs or what we think as wrongs? Anger is nothing but mental food poisoning. You took some bad ingredients, your restless mind processed it and could not withstand it, so it is giving you that equivalent sensation to go and puke. If that's the case, go and puke in private and not on somebody else. Osho says, go and run around your house for seven times and sit down under a tree and see where the anger has disappeared. Sri Eknath Easwaran says go for a brisk walk repeating your mantra.

"You are not punished for your anger. You are punished by your anger." - Buddha. Anger and other negative emotions are THE punishments. There is not any separate punishment for feeling angry or being nasty. Just see how you feel afterwards, you just feel terrible - even if you feel you stuck it up well into the other person. As they say - "in war, victors are vanquished. Defeated are destroyed." Both are lost.

"Forgiveness is the highest form of revenge."

"If you want to take revenge, dig two graves. One for the other and one for yourself."

Cheers to tranquility.

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Desire To Will To Deed to Destiny

2010-10-03T07:25:00.001-07:00

You are what your deep driving desire is.

As your desire is, so is your will.

As your will is, so is your deed.

As your deed is, so is your destiny.

- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

Upanishads (Indian spiritual classics) are worth our time to read and understand for these kind of wonderful nuggets full of practical wisdom.

It's not hard to see the truth in this eternal truth. How our life is just our deep driving desire?

Cheers!

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Life

2010-10-03T07:20:00.001-07:00

"Life is only 10% what others do to you. It's 90% how YOU react to what others do to you."

You can not control what others do to you. You can only control how you respond. Many times our response are either wrong or at wrong level. Over reacting is the common word we hear many times. That's the wrong level. Many times, just letting things cool down takes care of many of the things. As they say, "everything will fall in place with time and patience."

Cheers!

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Live & Learn

2010-08-29T08:12:00.001-07:00

"Live as though you are going to die tomorrow. Learn as if you are going to live forever." - Gandhi

Got some really important things to take care of? Take care of them today and now. Tomorrow or even later today may be way too late. Some people mistake it for something else and indulge in all sorts of sensual pleasures. Then, next morning they will have only hangover and related maladies but nothing else. Probably that feels worse than death. It's like slow death if you implement living for today wrongly.

Live as if you are going to die tomorrow means only one thing, speed up your own evolution by following the right path. As Indian philosophy says, we are bound to reincarnate again and again till we all evolve to the highest level that we are meant to. By hook or crook, that will happen. But, at what price? Do you really need to and want to go through all these trial and tribulations of petty life over and over again? If not, get on the right path now and get real and take your evolution in your own hands. Spiritual practices are just meant for that.

Stop doing all unnecessary things and activities and focus on only those that really matter. If you are going to die tomorrow, what all will you do?

Then learning. That's the beauty. Learn and keep your mind and body sharp. It's all muscles. Use it or lose it. Easiest way to keep learning is - Read and read and read. Do not like reading? Then absorb new information and knowledge in any other form. Listen to audio tapes, watch education programs. Basically, you should know at least one or two things totally new everyday. If it is related to your career, well-being, more the better. Even if you learn something that is not really useful but interesting that's good too.

Why is learning new things on daily basis important? It helps exercise the brain. Builds new neural circuits. Make you think and reminisce. Strengthens intuition. Keeps you busy. And it's fun.

Cheers to living and learning!

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Angels-fly-why?

2010-08-28T16:52:00.001-07:00

"Angels are able to fly because they take themselves lightly."

Taking lightly (as opposed to taking seriously) is very important. This quote made sense. Angels are at the far end of the spectrum of goodness. They are not really gods but have improved upon usual human weaknesses and overcome many of them. They still are probably far away from being totally realized souls. So, if they are able to fly despite being like us - humans - then they have figured out a way to take themselves lightly. That reduces the weight and they can fly while we normal human beings weighted down by all our petty issues, concerns and problems have to crawl most of the times and may be walk and run at the best of our times. Are we not missing some serious fun here? We are crawling when we could be flying and having fun.

So, do not take yourself too seriously. Some people seem to take themselves too seriously and in the process forget what they should be taking seriously. Take your job, health, money, life seriously but not yourself. If you are bogged down with taking yourself seriously, then career, job, money, health and everything else goes for a toss.

"Do not take everything personally. But, put your unique personality into everything you do."

"Take your job seriously. But, not take yourself so seriously."

Take yourself lightly and soon you will see you are also able to fly once you are free of trivial things that used to hold you down.

Cheer$

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Team

2010-07-25T07:50:00.001-07:00

How to succeed and make your team successful?

"Cherish and we all will flourish. Neglect and we all will perish."

Cheer$

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Success

2010-07-18T08:29:00.001-07:00

"Success does not come from random combustion. Success comes from setting oneself on fire."

Not literally :) If you are burned there is no you or your success. Metaphorically....the fire.

Let's leave success. Chase excellence. Success is a slave of excellence.

Cheers$

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Soar and get sucked into death

2010-07-17T08:27:00.001-07:00

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

Is it always good to be a high-achiever? Yes. Is it always good to be a 'visible' high-achiever? Probably not.

It is good to be eagle but know where the jet engines are. Don't just soar too high too soon before you know the paths of jet engines around you.

Do not get too much exposure for yourself and your achievements before you know the political landscape. There are many people who will feel jealous of you for no good reason. For them being jealous is part of their constitution. They want to see others take a fall all the time. So, if you are a high-achiever and soar high very soon, chances are sometimes you get sucked into jet engines set up for you by these people.

They say, there are 2 ways to enter a swimming pool. One is do a deep dive. If lucky, you will make a gracious dive, make a big flash and everybody will be awed. If not, you will make a big splash, get everybody around you soaking wet and if the depth is not enough, you may not come up after breaking your skull.

There is another way too to enter a pool. That is to slowly enter in the shallow end by testing the water for depth, warmth and quality. Get into the pool slowly, check out who all are swimming, get your laps done, get exercise, feel good and get out without much noise.

Question is - is it necessary for you to ensure that others notice you? More attention you crave for, more energy you will need to manage the attention you get. If you do well, demand attention, rest assured you will get far more attention than you may have originally hoped for. But, for what? Why do you need unnecessary attention and all the headaches that come with it? Is it not better to devote the energy that goes in managing the attention to achieve more and more. In a quiet fashion.

Anonymity is very good. Crave for it. People who crave for popularity get it relatively easily. Then either they get hooked to it and their worth depends on how others feel about them or they start hating the publicity and associated headaches. Soar like eagles but stay out of jet engines. 'I rather soar in the company of eagles than walk in the company of ducks."

Cheer$!

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Newton's thrid law - corporate version

2010-07-16T19:16:00.001-07:00

Corporate version of Newton's third law....

"For every action, there is equal and opposite CRITICISM."

Who criticizes? Not the people who are playing the game. They do not have time and energy. They are focused on the game. It's the watchers. They never play a game, let alone a good game. All they do is to criticize.

You do one way, they criticize. They do other way, they criticize. There is no way to please them. Ask them to do it themselves or show you how to do, they do not. They are not there. Sometimes they come to play. When they are unable to play well, they just say - 'We just came to watch and you made us play. We are going back.'

It's amazing that people can spend days, years and their careers criticizing others. You know what happens if you keep doing that for too long? You become a hopeless cynic. You see value in nothing. You become defeatist. You become an apathetic worm. Nobody ever wants to have you on their team. 'If you do not feel good, at least look good.'

"More people have been fired for bad attitude than poor aptitude."

"If you are not fired up with enthusiasm. You will be fired with enthusiasm."

"Your attitude determines your altitude."

C-Level acronyms.

CIO - Career Is Over

CEO - Career Evidently Over

CMO - Career Mostly Over (Chief Marketing Officer)

CPO - Career Pathetically Over (Chief People's Officer)

Cheers!

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Life - English Grammer

2010-07-15T22:39:00.001-07:00

"Life is present perfect. Not future tense."

Relax. Present is perfect. Don't tense about the future.

1 - "These days, nobody speaks proper English."

2 - "Yes, yes. The days of good English are certainly WENT."

Cheers!

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Mind control

2010-07-09T21:52:00.001-07:00

"There was once a minister to a great king. The king, displeased with the minister, ordered him to be confined in the top of a very high tower. This was done, and the minister was left there to perish.His wife came to the tower at night and called to her husband. The minister said to her, "No use weeping." He told her to take a little honey, a beetle, silken thread, a pack of fine thread, a ball of twine and a rope. She tied the silk thread to one of the legs of the beetle and put honey on top of its head and let it go with its head up. The beetle slowly crept onwards, in the hope of reaching the honey, until at last it reached the top of the tower, when the minister grasped the beetle, and got possession of the silken thread, then the pack thread, then the stout twine and lastly the rope. The minister descended from the tower by the means of the rope and made his escape.

In this body of ours the breath motion is the "silken thread"; by laying hold of it we grasp the pack thread of nerve currents, and from these stout twine of our thoughts, and lastly the rope of Prana, controlling which we reach freedom."

From the book - The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda: vol. 1 pb by Swami Vivekananda

This illustration is good that I chose to copy it verbatim. Great way to understand the complex theories behind controlling thoughts and mind.

The whole book is full of such wisdom.

Highly recommended.

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Communication

2010-07-04T19:04:00.001-07:00

"The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place." - George Bernard Shaw

What more can you say?

"Listen to understand. Understand to respond."

I think most of the people start thinking about how to respond as soon as you start saying something. That's why they do not get even a fraction of what you said. And some are of course hopeless cases of multitasking victims.

Communicate in very small bits. Wait to make sure what you communicated has been understood and proceed only afterwards.

Cheers!

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One, None and Two

2010-06-27T21:30:00.001-07:00

"One is none. Two is one."

Above is the much-repeated quote of elite Navy SEALs commandos.

Always have a back-up.

Nature gave all important things in pairs. Just so that there is at least one if the other one fails.

This quote appeared in the book "Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy Seal" by Chuck Pfarrer. Very interesting book by former SEAL commando.

Cheers!

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Promised land - from Moses to FDR to Kennedy

2010-06-16T07:26:00.001-07:00

Moses - "Pick up your shovels. Mount on your asses and camels. I will lead you to the promised land."

FDR - "Lay down your shovels. Sit on your ass. Light up a camel. This is the promised land."

Kennedy - "will take away your shovels, kick your ass, raise the price of camels and take over your promised land."

Funny.

From Chuck Helppie's historical novel based on Kennedy assassination - "Kennedy must be killed."

Fantastic book a great read. Distills tonnes of information around Kennedy assassination and conspiracy and weaves into a nice novel.

Cheers!

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Reflect the goodness

2010-06-14T08:11:00.001-07:00

Moon does not have it's own light. Moon reflects the light of sun. Stars have their own light. What do you see on a new-moon day? Is it darker or brighter without moon? It's darker. Right?

Moon does not have its own light. Merely reflecting sun's light, moon keeps the night that much brighter. Stars have their own light but still on a new-moon night, all stars together do not match up to moon's light.

So, what to learn? Reflect the goodness. Original goodness in us is amplified by many times, when we first start reflecting the goodness. If you do not know what to do, just do the same things the other people do that made you happy. If somebody was good to you, be good to others. If somebody was patient with you, develop more patience. If someone gave a lot of their time to help you, give more of your time to help somebody else too.

Just by starting to reflect goodness in ourselves, we start to get more and more better ideas to become a better human being. To start off, just reflecting is good.

What's very important to reflect? The surface should be clean. A dusty mirror does not reflect as well as a shiny clean one. Clean up your mind and soul. Then start reflecting the original goodness.

Cheers to reflecting the original goodness!

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Succeeding with Agile - Mike Cohn's new book and course

2010-05-30T19:32:00.001-07:00

Mike Cohn wrote a new book while back - 'Succeeding with Agile'.

He has recently started delivering a 2-day course based on this book.

I recently happen to take this course. As usual, great course. I had read the book a while back. It was great to learn finer elements of Agile Development from one of the best in the industry - Mike Cohn.

It's a pretty intense class. The class does not deal with basics of agile. It's expected that you know the basics. So, it also depends on other attendees too. If they are also seasoned agile professionals, you all will have a very lively class. Discussions from industry peers make this kind of classes good.

Great book, great class. Go take it. You will become a better agile project manager. It's good for other senior managers too.

Cheers!

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Swami Sivananda's books available online

2010-05-21T18:33:00.001-07:00

Swami Sivananda was a famous spiritual figure in India in the last century.

He wrote more than 250 excellent books and booklets. His books are really good.

His followers and organizations found by him have made most of his books available online at - http://www.dlshq.org/download/download.htm

Hope you enjoy reading them.

Cheers!

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Computers make things easy

2010-05-16T16:33:00.001-07:00

"Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done." - Andy Roony

Yes. Example - Computers makes it very easy to blog (like this). But, blogging like this need not be done:)

Cheers!

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Some good books

2010-04-10T08:09:00.001-07:00

Adaptive Project Framework: Managing Complexity in the Face of Uncertainty by Robert K. Wysocki - A good book describing managing high-risk projects using adaptive framework.

Bloody Treason: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by Noel H. Twyman - One hell of a massive book. 900 odd pages. Probably one of the best pieces of investigative work on JFK assassination. Well researched and well written.

Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step-by-Step Guide by David S. Linthicum - A very good that explains how two emerging trends, cloud computing and SOA, are complementary and what you need to harness their collective power for your enterprise.

Googled: The End of the World As We Know It by Ken Auletta - Good book looking at Google and its short but very interesting history. Fast read.

On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System by Henry M. Paulson - From the man who tried to clean up the economic mess of 2008. Or as some critics say he too added his value by creating more mess and helping his cronies make more moolah. Hear from horse's mouth - from former treasury secretary Paulson. Writes in a simple and interesting style. Brings the characters out really well without offending them. His take on Sarah Palin is funny at best. Everybody can see how irritating ignorant people can be when they pick up the phone call someone like Paulson who is trying to do 1000 things in a crisis mode. During such situation a person like Palin can test anybody's patience. It's impressing that Paulson did not blow his gasket on the governor.

Renewal: A Little Book of Courage and Hope by Eknath Easwaran - Little book of timeless wisdom by master Sri Eknath Easwaran. Great gift idea.

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Juggler, Juggling, Balls of Rubber and Glass

2010-03-28T09:05:00.001-07:00

Imagine yourself to be a juggler juggling in bare foot. Keep in mind - bare foot on hard cement floor. You got 5 balls to juggle. They are - work, family, friends, health and spirit.

Of the 5 balls, work is made up of rubber. Rest of the 4 balls - family, friends, health and spirit - are all made up of glass.

While juggling these balls, if you miss the work, since it is made of up of rubber, it will bounce right back. But, if you miss any of the balls made of glass, they break into pieces and it won't be fun to juggle while stepping on broken glass on a hard floor. Once any of the glass ball is broken and starts hurting your feet, even if the rubber ball (i.e. work) keeps bouncing back, you can not pick that up again and continue juggling.

Moral of the story is take care of the glass balls carefully and the rubber ball can take care of itself. It will keep bouncing back up all the time. If you need more time, give it one good smack and it will keep bouncing back up again and again till you finish juggling other balls. This is not to say that you should ignore your work. Work smart not just hard.

Another possibility is to get out of the juggling game. Or keep lesser number of balls in air at any given time. Delegate a lot of work so that you only have to juggle 4 glass balls. Looking at 4 glass balls, actually only one is really unpredictable. That is family. Rest three - friends, health, spirit are actually easy to juggle if you keep plugging along. Unpredictable things happen mainly with family stuff. With friends, we have a good understanding and protocol. So, you can manage friends well. Health is the easiest to juggle if you stick to basics and firmly believe that prevention is better than cure. Spirit is the easiest. It will come on its own when time is right. So, basically you have two major balls to juggle - one is work and the other is family. With only two balls, it should be simple enough.

Many times we do not see all the five balls this way and start juggling mindlessly even when they do not need to be all juggled at the same time. In the process, we drop work. Worse is we worry as though we dropped one of the glass balls even when we know that work, being made of rubber, will bounce back.

Key take always - ball made up of rubber will bounce back. All glass balls are not equally hard to juggle. Family is probably the hardest. Health is probably the second hardest. Friends are easy if you have good ones. Anyway, you do not want to have bad ones. Spirit is the easiest. Do not even worry about it. When the divine grace smiles on you, you will know how to juggle the ball of spirit without even worrying about it.

Cheers to juggling!

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Clever...Wise

2010-03-27T17:09:00.001-07:00

"You can know how clever a person by his answers. You can know how wise a person is by his questions."

"Statements get resentments. Questions get answers."

"When in doubt, ask."

"Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups."

Cheers to asking questions!

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Alligators

2010-03-27T07:31:00.001-07:00

"When alligators are up to your ass, it is hard to remember that your original intent was to drain the swamp."

How true? Example - Yes, quality matters. When it's end of the quarter and that most important customer is screaming at the top of his voice, improving quality is the last thing on anyone's mind even if they preached that mantra all along. At that point, it's a matter of survival. So, let's give it to the customer and deal with the consequences later.

What to do when this happens? What can you possibly do? Nothing much. Forgive yourself. Do not beat yourself up very much. Pray more. Generate more positive karma and be happy. You are not the cause and not the effect. When you know that, all your worries disappear.

Cheers!

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Strangers

2010-03-27T07:17:00.001-07:00

"There are no strangers in this world. Just the friends that we have not met yet."

Very beautiful. If we keep this quote in mind, how easy it becomes to warm up to new people. They are not strangers at all but just the friends that we have not met before.

There may not be strangers but there are indeed strange people. One may be you (and everyone else). :)

Cheers to meeting new strange friends!

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Discovery

2010-03-14T06:20:00.001-07:00

"Discovery is seeing that everyone sees but thinking no one has thought." Makes sense? Yes. Everybody saw apple falling to the ground and not going up. Very few bothered to ask why. Even fewer bothered to find out the reason behind apples falling down. Newton was one and for that reason he became immortal.

"Successful people see something and ask why. Genius imagine what does not exist and ask why not."

"Ask not speculate."

"Ask and thou shall be given."

Cheers to creative imagination and asking more why!

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What we do with our PRESENT?

2010-03-14T04:06:00.001-07:00

"With one foot on the past and other foot on the future, what ELSE we can do with/on the PRESENT?"

Well, if you think you are unhappy, then you can guess what you may be doing with or on the present. May be with one foot on the past and one on the future, you may be PISSING on the present.

"Past is history. Future is mystery. Only present is certainty. It's a gift. That's why it's called PRESENT."

One of the important aspects Dale Carnegie's "Stop worrying and start living" is to "live in day tight compartments." Stop worrying about the future. Stop having resentments about the past. Live fully in the present savoring every moment.

Cheers to happy PRESENT!

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Degree

2010-03-11T20:45:00.001-08:00

"The only degree that matters is the degree to which you help others."

So, all those bachelor, master, doctorate, post-doctorate degrees won't get you anywhere unless you have the degree to help others.

"When you are good to others, you are best to yourself."

"If you help enough people get what they want, they will, in turn, help you get ALL that you want."

"If you want something you never had before, you need to do something you have never done before."

"Successful people don't do different things. They just do things differently."

Not asking others for help is like owning a gold mine and deciding to mine the gold all by yourself. By the time, you get even an ounce of gold, you will be long gone. Success, even at individual level, is a team sport.

Success is nothing but finding a problem, solving it and sharing the learning.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are all in harmony. - Gandhi.

Cheers!

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Chisel it out

2010-03-01T22:00:00.001-08:00

Chisel - the tool.

When I said chisel, remembered famous (or notorious) Indian fashion guru Prasad Bidappa. Prasad Bidappa used to call himself as the chiseler. Meaning - he would get raw models from the street and chisel out all imperfections out of them and make them super models. Let's give him the credit due. It's no exaggeration that Prasad Bidappa identified some really smart (but not very-modely) girls right off the streets and made them top models and in some cases super models.

That's not the point here. Chisel and chiseler...two terms - stuck in mind.

How's a statue made? Do you really make a statue? Not really. You get a big block of stone and chisel AWAY everything that is not statue. Suppose you want to make a statue of an elephant. In some rough strokes of heavy hammer and big chisel, you get the outline. Then the real precise and fine grain work starts. That part is certainly as complex and as involved as brain surgery. Takes a lot of time and effort.

This is exactly the way people make them god-like. God-like qualities are already there in all of us. We just need to chisel out those ungodly qualities. Our scriptures provide all the tools we need. Meditation is the universal tool. It chisels away everything that is ungodly from our personality. You can see yourself chipping away day after day.

It's possible that when we end this life, we may not be done with making a real complete statue of whatever we started. It may not look very close to the statue of an elephant. It may be missing several aspects. But, we will get an opportunity to start exactly at the place where we left off. That's the assurance of Sri Krishna in Gita. Our final state in this life if preserved and restored in the next life. We will get right tools to continue chipping away.

All that is godly is within us. It is covered by lust, greed, anger, fear and what not. We just need to clear it all as much as we can. It's like house dust. As you clean, it accumulates. We just need to keep cleaning it off everyday. We can not say I will do a major cleaning once every week even if it takes 10 hours at a time. Our gurus say why undergo all that pain and kill yourself? Do little by little every day and just watch how you excel at chipping away to glory.

Another case in point to illustrate that all that is godly is right within us and many times we do not know it. Musk deer is very famous for its fragrance. Once a very little musk deer calf was intrigued by where that haunting fragrance came from. It was puzzled and baffled. It went all around the forest, smelling every tree, every bush and every other animal. It could not find out where that smell was coming from. After it was tired of endless roaming in the search of fragrance, it returned to its mother and described its ordeal. Young calf told its mother that it has been smelling every animal and tree in thee forest but can not find out where that beautiful smell came from. Mother musk deer asked its calf to do one simple thing. It asked the young calf to smell itself. There it was 'ah ha' moment for the musk deer calf. The wonderful fragrance was coming right from itself. This is a beautiful story to illustrate that all that is beautiful and good is right within us. Without knowing, we go round and round looking for it everywhere except within ourselves.

Sri Eknath Easwaran used above metaphors to drive home his points. I felt he did a masterful job once again. Thought of sharing with you.

Cheers!

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"Share a smile" day

2010-03-01T20:01:00.001-08:00

March 1st is "Share a smile day". Hope we all smile little more today.

Smile is contagious. Smile is not irritating like sarcastic smirk or untimely laughter. Smile just indicates genuine happiness. So, smile a lot.

Always keep a smile on your face. It's the least you can do to others who have the good (mis) fortune of seeing your face.

If you do not see smile on other people's face, give them one of yours. Nothing to lose. A candle used to light up another candle has nothing to lose. Pass on smiles freely.

Fake it till you make it. Even in the direst of dire circumstances, smile and be happy. The very fact of relaxing those creases around lips to smile start relaxing you.

If you do not feel good, at least try to look good. Smile helps.

Cheers!

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Nice books...

2010-02-14T15:11:00.001-08:00

Living with the Himalayan Masters by Swami Rama -Early life history of Swami Rama in his own words. Very interesting and inspiring.

The Riddle: Where Ideas Come From and How to Have Better Ones by Andrew Razeghi - New look at ideas and their origin and how to ideate more effectively.

Chief of Station, Congo: Fighting the Cold War in a Hot Zone by Larry Devlin - Probably one and only one memoir written by any CIA Chief of Station. Deevlin took over as the Chief of Station of CIA in Congo (Belgian Congo) on the day of a fresh coup there. He could not even get there directly from Europe. He went to other Congo (French Congo) on the other bank of Congo river and then took a ferry to assume his role. If your new job starts with a coup, you can only imagine how the rest of the tenure can be. Wonderful book. All that you wanted to know about how Lumumba was disposed off, how Belgian Congo became Zaire, how strong man Mobutu took control and ruled the country for 30 years, Katanga rebellion, Samba rebels etc. - all described in vivid details. Great read!

Murder In Brentwood by Mark Fuhrman - OJ Simpson murder trial book by Mark Fuhrman who was one of the very first cops to arrive at the crime scene and do initial investigation. Very well written.

Past Lives, Present Miracles: The Most Empowering Book on Reincarnation You'll Ever Read...in this Lifetime! by Denise Linn - A westerner's take on past lives, future lives, rebirth, reincarnation etc. After the author went through near death experience after having been shot by a thief, she is supposed to have developed skills to regress back into past lives and use information gleaned from past lives to fix problems of present lives. Interesting perspective. If it appeals to you, the author conducts workshops on how to regress back to past lives :) You can also become Certified Past Life Regression Expert :)

WAR DOG: Fighting Other People's Wars -The Modern Mercenary in Combat by Al J. Venter - This is one amazing high octane and high voltage book. Author Al Venter coupes up with mercenaries fighting civil wars in West Africa (mainly Sierra Leone) and chronicles their lives and gory details of the war. Pretty graphic and scary and disturbing at times. But, that's how it was in West Africa. There is a movie called 'Blood Diamonds' on the same subject. Watch the movie and read the book, you will get full picture of senseless human greed and its ugly manifestations. If you think wars are fought by soldiers loyal to one or the other country or a group, read this book to understand the full details about mercenary business. No wonder future wars are going to be fought by free lancers.

Cheers!

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Books...Robert Maxwell, Carlos the Jackal and Phoolan Devi

2010-02-14T09:47:00.002-08:00

Max by Juval Aviv - Fictional account about late media mogul Robert Maxwell. Better read is - Robert Maxwell, Israel's Superspy: The Life and Murder of a Media Mogul by Gordon Thomas.

Hunting the Jackal: A Special Forces and CIA Soldier's Fifty Years on the Frontlines of the War Against Terrorism by Billy Waugh and Tim Keown - Great book by Billy Waugh who has worked as a special forces operator for 50 odd years. It's extremely captivating to hear from someone who has seen it all and done it all. In this book, among many interesting high octane missions, the author describes one particular mission that took place in Sudan which ultimately lead to the capture of international terrorist Carlos the Jackal.

I, Phoolan Devi: The Autobiography of India's Bandit Queen by Phoolan Devi and etc. - Autobiography of India's own bandit queen. Very well written. Phoolan Devi, herself, was illiterate. So, the publishers had her tell her story and then good writers to distill her life into a nice book. Great read!

Cheers!

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The Seychelles Affair by Mike Hoare

2010-02-14T09:41:00.003-08:00

The Seychelles Affair by Mike Hoare - Awesome book about a coup in Seychelles that went horribly wrong. Seychelles is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Kenya. Mike Hoare, the author, was a legendary British mercenary who had fought many unconventional wars in Congo and elsewhere. After his heroics in Central Africa, Mike Hoare or Mad Mike as he was lovingly known, settled down in South Africa. In 1981, some politicians from Seychelles, who were exiled in UK after an earlier coup, contacted Mike to stage a coup so that they could regain power. Mike was always game for such things. But, money was a problem. So, they kept cutting corners till the whole project started looking very risky. But, Mad Mike was not someone who would give up.

They went ahead with the plan. All went well till they reached Mahe airport in Seychelles on a chartered flight.

The group of mercenaries had concealed their weapons in the baggage. It was hard to detect. But, may be due to their bad luck, one mercenary's luggage was thoroughly checked and when his secret cargo was about to be exposed, he assembled his gear quickly and started shooting to escape. That's it. The coup began much sooner and in a totally disorganized fashion.

By this time, Mike and rest of his gang had cleared customs and were waiting outside in a bus to go their safe house. One other mercenary came out yelling to get ready for action.

These were battle hardened special forces operators. In no time, they got their luggage out, assembled their weapons and took control of the airport.

Seychelles, at that time, did not have proper military. It was slowly aligning with socialist countries and there was a small contingent of Tanzanian soldiers in a barrack next to the airport. Those soldiers engaged these mercenaries in an occasional fire exchange.

Mike and his gang of mercenaries had taken control of the airport and air traffic control. In all this confusion, an Air India jet was on its way from Zimbabwe. Mike wanted to deny landing permission for this air craft because he knew it risked getting blown up for no reason due to intermittent fire exchange between his team and Tanzanian soldiers.

But, Air India plane had already descended and did not have enough fuel to regain the altitude and fly to next stop to fuel.So, they let it land. The Air India crew did not know anything about what was going on the ground. It was a miracle that plane did not explode. First there was an abandoned army truck on the run way. Secondly bullets and grenades were being exchanged. Somehow the plane touched down and pilots got out to see what was going on. Only when they met by mercenaries they became vaguely aware of what was going on.

Situation had gotten worse for Mike and his men. Their plan was totally screwed up. Although Seychelles did not have much army, the element of surprise was lost and chances of staging a successful coup was dwindling minute by minute.

Mike Hoare and his team treated Air India pilots and crew well. They explained them the situation.

The plane had landed somehow but it was going to be extremely tricky and risky to take off because it was going to be an easy target for rocket propelled grenades or some other kind of armament of Tanzanian soldiers who were getting frustrated by Mike's mercenaries who were holding the fort well.

Mike used his connections and called up the shaken government and ensured that Air India flight would be refueled and allowed to fly out without being hit by Tanzanian artillery. At least this was what he was promised.

When Air India flight was ready to leave, some mercenaries who did not see any hope wanted to leave on the plane. Air India crew was only grateful to fly them anywhere they liked. It seems like they were on some kind of high. Here was a situation close to plane being hijacked but hijackers were so friendly. So, pilots got too friendly too.

Mike Hoare was not very keen to leave without finishing the business. He was still confident that they could pull it off because he knew poorly trained Tanzanian soldiers were no match to his band of special forces veterans. But, most of his gang was not willing.

Air India pilots offered to fly them all to Bombay. Mike and his team laughed off that idea because they were not going to get any good treatment there. They would have been tried for hijacking and thrown into jail for rest of their lives.

Since most of the mercenaries were from South Africa and South African regime had implicitly approved of the coup, Mike thought they were better off flying to South Africa. Air India crew was not willing to do that without some friendly persuasion. During those days, India and South Africa did not have any relationship due to apartheid. Finally plane which was supposed to be going to Bombay, changed direction and headed to South Africa.

In South Africa, Mike and his mercenaries were arrested and put through the trial. Although Mike and his plans were indirectly blessed by the powers, they could not publicly own up to that. So, they had to put Mike and his cronies through the process. Mike and his associates got jail terms up to 3 years.

Some of the mercenaries who had gone to Seychelles earlier for prep work were tried in Seychelles and sentenced to death. Later their sentence was commuted and they were returned to their native countries.

Mike Hoare may be known more as a mercenary. However, he was also an accomplished and educated person. He was a chartered accountant in good standing. His license was cancelled after he was convicted in this affair. Mike writes in a very simple and nice style. This book reads very well.

Looking forward to read other books by Mike. Mike wrote a few more books describing his exploits in Congo and elsewhere.

History sometimes repeats. A few years back another coup attempt went awry. This did not include Mike Hoare. But, included other similar figures. You can read about that at - The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs, and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa by Adam Roberts

My Blog entry about the above book at - http://maheshuh.blogspot.com/2006/09/wonga-coup.html

Great read!

Cheers!

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Who is your driver?

2010-01-23T10:26:00.001-08:00

Who is your driver?

You drive your own car? How about the vehicle called 'life'? Do you drive your own life too?

Everybody starts to drive their own life, at some point in time. That's the beginning of identification with 'I, Me and Mine'. I did this. I did that. OK, fine. When people think they are in the driving seat and enjoy some initial successes, it get's into their head and then soon after they have one massive proverbial crash. That's when they wonder if they were such a good driver as they thought. Some light bulb goes up in their head and realize that there is a better driver called God. So, very reluctantly they vacate driving seat and hand over the driving to God. But, they still want to be actively involved. So, they sit next to the driver and become navigator. Navigator for the life. What a joke?

Once in navigator's seat they do not sit quietly, they start interfering with God's driving. First and foremost sin is to second guess everything that the driver does. Giving him all bad advice. Disturbing him. Telling him this and that. God tolerates it for a while and then says either shut up or he would leave driving again. Now the navigator gets it. He knows how was his own life when he was driving it for himself. Although he has missed the excitement of driving for a while now, life seems better with God doing the driving.

The divine driver, God, needs some quiet time to carry us through some treacherous roads or when road conditions are really bad. He asks us to go to the back seat, pull up the blanket and get some sleep. He really does not want us to be involved much for that time being. These are exactly the years when nothing significant happens in life. Smart people understand that they are going through some not too-scenic-road. So, they heed to God's advice and take a nap in the back seat.

With enormous mercy, God drives us out of that bad patch of road and horrible traffic. He knew the sights would not be beautiful. So, he had asked us to take a nap. At some point, when the scenic route begins, God wakes us up and ask us to start enjoying the scenery while keeping our mouth shut and not interfering with his driving. That we must continue to do. What? Not to interfere with his divine driving. By asking us to enjoy the scenery, God is telling us that now it's safe to open up to life's experiences once again. Life is nothing but a series of experiences. So, enjoying the scenery is to opening to those experience when it's safe to do so.

Sooner we realize that we are better off not being our own drivers, better we will be. We have such a qualified and wonderful driver who is ever ready to drive us wherever we want to go. He knows the destination and wants to take us all there. Without realizing this higher purpose, we try to take charge of our own life. Whatever that means and screw it up so badly that God needs to have our lives towed, repaired and reconditioned before he can become our driver. In his limitless mercy, he does that too. He has to because he is responsible for seeing every soul reaches nirvana sooner or later. So, smart are those who stop driving themselves as early as possible and shift themselves to the backseat. Even in backseat, sit quietly and follow guidelines.

If we choose to drive our own lives, all we end up doing is to drive ourselves crazy.

Ford said -"I do not worry. I just do my job. I leave all worrying to God. That's His job."

Cheers!

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My one and (hopefully) only one literally literary mistake

2010-01-09T19:59:00.001-08:00

Once, back in 1998, I wanted to write short stories. I wrote one too. I think it ended up being a not-so-short story. I think I was on my 'literary-high' probably induced after reading some of the classics from RK Narayan. Anyway, below is that literary 'masterpiece'. One of a kind. I did not attempt any more such attempts at literary creativity after. Thank God for that :) I have discovered saner ways to spend time now (i.e. read similar such attempts of others.)

Back in those days, (now famous) Vasudhendra used to publish articles from amateur writers on his simple home page. So, since I wanted to get some publicity, I had sent my story to him and he had dutifully posted it at - http://reocities.com/athens/oracle/3673/hanuma.htm. Today, for some reason, I realized that I did not have a copy of my masterpiece. So, I went looking for it. It's a miracle that it's still there where it is now after Geocities was closed a while back. Otherwise, world would have lost a literary jewel :)

It's funny how the following story developed in my mind. The heroine, Jalaja (not real name), is a very distant relative. She had created sensation within family circle by marrying a boy belonging to a totally different caste. Her family belonged to priest class (Bhats) and it had become big news. Then some of the humor(?) used was from our college days. It was only 3-4 years after leaving college and I used to still in touch with some my closest buddies and we used to relive that class humor back then. So, added all that and came up with final masala.

Read at your own risk.(Poor writing. Even poorer editing. Please excuse :))

Hanumantha Iyer Stories

Introduction of Hanumantha Iyer :

Hanumantha Iyer is a very good friend of mine. Our friendship dates back to 1993 when I was doing my PS-II in Delhi. Once, in the night, a person stopped in front of the house where I was staying with other PS-II students. He was asking for some information and I did not know what he was looking for. It was a hot summer night in Delhi and my friend Panda was roaming around on the terrace letting the sweat to evaporate by the south south breeze showing up very little now and then. I called down Panda to check out if he knew what this stranger was asking about. Panda was in ecstasy looking at the stranger and hugged him as though he was his twin brother separated at the birth. He went on and on tell about their childhood association in Madras and suddenly some where down the line Hanumantha Iyer's family vanished from Madras and Panda lost a dear friend. Hanumantha Iyer was in his mid twenties and looked very studious and very special. He had a special magnetic effect in his face which really made me to talk to him. Now he was no more a stranger and Panda got him into our apartment in South Delhi. Hanumantha Iyer casually talked to me also. Then onwards it was mainly Panda and HI(Hanumantha Iyer for short) who engaged in reviving their childhood memories and I was left to listen to their 'sambar' adventures of their past. Since I had not engaged in any such adventures, it made an interesting time pass for me too. So, I was not bored.

Panda went in to prepare coffee for Hanumantha Iyer and I happen to take a look again at Hanumantha. Hanumantha Iyer was reasonably a tall person may be 5-8 or 5-9. Some very obvious scars on his forehead running all along his temple. Panda later told that it was due to an injury Hanumantha suffered after having fallen from the tree. In fact, Hanumantha had gone up the tree to join the gang of monkeys there but they refused to accept him into their community and rest was a history. Another characteristic feature of Hanumantha was his trademark mustache. Just like the antennae of the cockroach. Just like a curvy road above the lips. Hanumantha was then already sporting a pot belly. May be due to excess intake of carbohydrates and starch. He was wearing a tight dress slacks which he probably had got stitched when his waistline was at least 3 inches shorter. The slack was crying under the weight of his (m)ass. Over all he seemed to me, a funny guy. He had a very heavy accent like any other individual of his clan.

Later after the sumptuous dinner at a 'Sardar Dhaba', Hanumantha was back again at our apartment. Teasing and making fun of Panda and Panda paying him back in a similar way. It did not seem to me that Hanumantha had any plans of going anywhere else for that night. Any way, it was not a pain for any one of us to accommodate an extra human being.

Marriage of Hanumantha Iyer's niece :

Hanumantha Iyer apparently had an elder brother called Harguppa Iyer. Even today I have not been able to decipher that name 'Harguppa'. I had only heard about 'Gersoppa', 'Talguppa', 'Katriguppe', 'Kavaladaguppe' etc. But, what is this Harguppa ? Was that the brother of Lord Hanumantha ? It did not seem so. I asked Hanumantha about the same and he put a blank look. I asked him to check the meaning with his brother when he called his brother next time. Hanumantha, hearing this, put still more sadder look. He told us that his brother beloved Harguppa had passed away and he started telling about his niece's marriage after the death of his brother.

Hanumantha Iyer has a niece named Jalaja or something. I was still scratching my head over 'Harguppa' and I did not bother to listen to his niece's name that carefully. Harguppa Iyer passed away when Jalaja was just 18. Jalaja was staying with her mom in Trichy or Tiruchirapalli. They were pulling on the pension and other benefits of her dad. Jalaja was a kind of a dumb girl. Not that she was genetically dumb but too conservative environment in the home had neutered her thinking faculty altogether. She was totally different from other members of her own species (girls). She did not seem to have any interest in boys, fashion, dress etc. Always she was seen sporting a 'Parachute' (half sari) dress with a faded blouse. Although dumb, uninterested in fashion , youth had taken a toll on her too as it takes on anybody else. She looked as though she inherited the beauty from her mother. God was kind enough to have made her looks go in her mother's way rather than her dad's or uncle's way. Otherwise I would have had to imagine a female counterpart of Hanumantha narrating this story right in front of me. Okay, as the youth took a toll on her too and she became the center of attraction to all 'padde' (vela, hopeless) guys in the neighborhood. Although she tried to remain very neutral and unconcerned about all that, it was getting impossible with the amount of attention being showered on her. But, still her conservative family background did not let her do any unthinkable acts of immorality. She was incidentally studying for her BA in a local college.

Her mom (alias Hanumantha's Sister-In-Law) was getting concerned about the unnecessary attention her daughter was getting in the neighborhood and feared that there exists a non zero probability that something unthinkable, irreversible and inevitable could happen. Very true motherly feeling. So, she started bothering our Hanumantha about getting his niece married. They were conservative TAMBRAMS (TAMil BRAhMins). Like any other brahmins Jalaja's mom was concerned about her daughter getting married to some out of the caste guy from the near by fisherman village and whole of her 'khandan' getting thrown out of the neighborhood with out any access even to a 'chombu' (toilet bucket) of water. Of course, 'chombu' of water meant more than a 'glass' of water to Jal's mom!!.

Hanumantha was a vela guy then (like me and you for now). He neither had a job and was not also studying. He used to wear his Bata chappals out walking the streets of Trichy. He had equally good number of vela friends also. All that they were engaged in was the perpetual cycle of drinking tea and chewing 'Manikchand'.

Hanumantha was just a couple of years elder to his niece. Not surprising in those days when dads used to impregnate their wives even after their eldest son had become a grand dad himself. Probably Hanumantha was one of those cases. To Hanumantha's luck his brother, a government employee, had left all their ancestral assets to Hanumantha and was living on his modest government income which was more than sufficient for their family of three. So, Hanumantha could continue to roam around vela in his town and have a good time too.

Hanumantha did not bother much when his SIL (Sister-In-Law) told him about marrying off his niece Jalaja. That was a Christmas day and most of the tea shops in the vicinity were closed as it was a Christian dominated area. Hanumantha was, as usual, on his vela routine and felt like having some 'Manikchand'. But, 'Manikchand' never tasted its best without a cup of sweet tea. So, in order to maximize the this eternal pleasure Hanumantha desperately needed a cup of tea or for that matter a 'chombu' of sugar water. He tried to check out a couple of tea stalls. But, no use. So, only option was to land up at his SIL's house and order a up of tea. He did not mind doing that but he used to avoid it as his SIL used to bother him with all vela work like getting her blouse from tailor Bhimoji and Bhimoji talking all funny stuff about Jalaja etc. So, Hanumantha used to avoid all that. But, today Lord Manikchand(Gutka- Supari and Tobacco mixture) had ordered for tea and Hanumantha showed up at his brother's house.

Puttanagammal was there doing the household chores. I asked Hanumantha who was that Puttanagammal. Hanumantha apologized for not having told his SIL's name. Puttanagammal was his SIL's name. I started wondering if somebody in his family had vowede to keep funny names. Hanumantha, Harguppa, Puttanagammal all seem to support my theory. May be realizing my line of thinking Panda reminded me of my own name 'Girgitti Gende'. Certainly nothing can be more peculiar than this. At least one or more instances of Hanumantha, Harguppa, Puttanagammal etc. exist. But, 'Girgitti Gende' seemed to be an uni-object creatable class. My line of thought was disrupted when Hanumantha again mentioned about Jalaja. My theory was dismissed right out there by 'reductio and absurdum'. Jalaja was a rare name in his family of strange names. My mind was not able to accept the proof of this 'reductio and absurdum' as easily as it accepted proof for square root of two being an irrational number, the first reductio and absurdum proof I was ever taught. The sole reason being I had no confirmation that her name was Jalaja but not anything else. There was a good chance that I would have misheard 'Jellikallu' for Jalaja. Anyway, I had no way to have Hanumantha return back to ground zero and start all over again.

I had to stop in Hanumantha some where down the line to repeat what he had told after I had gone into my 'reductio and absurdum' proving, postulating etc. Hanumantha looked little irritated. But, burst into wide grin and asked where was he when I went out of the track. I told - he landed up at his SIL's place at the behest of Lord Manikchand. Hanumantha entered the house as though he was familiar with every nook and corner. Of course, he ought to be, right ? Puttanagammal did not care much at his entry. Who knows what was up her mind bugging her ? Thinking like a MCP (Male Chauvinistic Pig) he thought it was usual mood swings due to PMS. But, that was not to be the case. PT Nags (short for Puttanagammal) was pissed off that he was not taking seriously about her idea of getting her daughter Jal married off. This time PT Nags used all her authority her late husband Harguppa had left behind as his legacy and used to convince Hanumantha that before the that year's 'Bakrid' her daughter's marriage should be all set and done. How come PT Nags, being a devout TAMBRAM, ever think of setting 'Bakrid' as her reference of time frame when many other Hindu festivals are precisely used for that purpose ? When I asked about this, Hanumantha told that it was another story in its own right and said that he would narrate it some other time and he did it .

Hanumantha realized that the situation had become grave and PT Nags was all bent on getting her Jal to the elite club of 'Suhagans' (married women). Once Hanumantha felt that his SIL was ignoring him although he was a couple of years elder to Jal. But, later he admitted that it did not strike to him then that marriage ages are defined differently for fairer and darker sexes differently for different reasons. Any way, Hanumantha was not in a hurry to join the elite club of married 'Uncle' club. Lord Manikchand was ordering for a quick cup of tea. Shamelessly, Hanumantha asked his SIL for a cup of tea. Hanumantha defends that it was not shameless request as there is no place for shame within families. Panda and myself could not be more agreeing. Just then, Jalaja, made her entry into the house. She was returning from the college. Hanumantha was puzzled at the fact that she was saying that she was coming from the college then. He reminded her about that day being Christmas. PT Nags tapped on her forehead a couple of times giving an impression that she seriously believed in tapping the forehead and making the brain to tick and avoid her believing in her daughter telling her such lame excuses. She was a true mother in full spirits. She took Jalaja to task and asked her file FIR (First hand Information Report) about her going to college on a Christmas day. Jalaja had to give a very lengthy explanation to satisfy this interrogating motherly cop. She had to start from Mandal riots that year, subsequent bundhs, couple of suicide cases in the college and she and all her friends missing several of their periods and they talking to their professors about the uncovered chapters and missing periods and professors asking them to come for special classes after all their periods were over etc. etc. Logic started slowly permeating into PT Nags and her face started loosing its stiffness. Situation was returning to normalcy.

Hanumantha stared at his niece Jalaja and took a good look at her. This was probably the first of such looks he ever took in recent years. Hanumantha and Jalaja had grown up together as Hanumantha was just 4 years elder to her. As both of them grew up, they maintained a healthy distance so that PT Nags could rest well and the neighborhood lock their mouths. Moreover as they grew up Jalaja grew more feminine and Hanumantha more masculine. I was amazed at the fact that Hanumantha was taking special pains to make it a point to note their different growths. I could not help but pity. But my mind told that he had all those friends who needed obvious explanations like girls grow in a feminine way and boys in a masculine way and some of course always a borderline case. But, Panda frowned at his over stating the obvious facts.

Hanumantha was feeling dry in the mouth. I had to fetch him a glass of water. I did it whole heatedly as I was immensely enjoying his narration. Hanumantha gulped the water, thanked me and cleared his throat. clearing of his throat reminded me of 'Sardar' taxi drivers in the taxi stand trying start their taxis in a cold winter morning.

Hanumantha picked up the story line where exactly he had left. Hanumantha took cool look at his niece Jalaja. Jalaja was a natural beauty. Wheatish complexion bordering on being fair. Thick jet black hair flowing down kissing her reasonably well maintained rear end despite their high carbohydrate intake. The hair was tightly woven in two lanes as though one each for louse moving in one direction. There was a generous application of coconut oil to preserve the hair the way it was. Due to the fact that Jal had walked a couple of miles in the hot scorching tropical sun, the oil had made its presence felt on her forehead and as well on her eyebrows giving an impression that it was proudly proclaiming the fact that it was doing it lubrication business well. There was dim black line of female mustache over her lips like a sleuth guarding her beauty against all the evil eyes in the neighborhood. Hanumantha felt his mustache was of her size a couple of years ago. Jals more forward friends always used to tell her to get herself waxed and get rid of her unwanted hair on the face and else where. But, PT Nags was in no mood let Jal over run her bastion built on traditional beliefs and superstitions. She had flatly rejected Jal's aunt's suggestion to cut Jal's hair short to make he look mod saying that cutting a woman's hair short would reduce life expectancy of their husbands and that is the reason why Brahmin widows shave their heads off after the death of their husbands. She, in effect, meant that she did not intend to make her daughter a premature half or quarter widow. With this mentality of PT Nags there was no way that Jal could ever dream of making her trip to beauty saloon. More over since she had been raised in such way that she was immune to all this materialistic concepts of beauty. She was raised on the lines of legendary Meera Bai whose inner beauty which ultimately mattered. Jal was, as usual, dressed in an inexpensive half sari made from one of her mom's old sari and preferred this 'Parachute' to any other dress as means to cover her less than perfect figure. Some of her friends used to joke that only thing left out was a veil to cover her face. Hanumantha's cursory glance was that of an uncle looking at his niece after long time and bewildering about nature's skills in transforming a milk cheeked girl into confused adolescent. This aerial survey was sufficient for Hanumantha Iyer to convince himself that his niece had to be married off and being old fashioned he believed that letting girls to cross 22 would be disastrous. As such he had to cross many hurdles like horoscopes, dowry and pleasing boy's side at the time of marriage.

He was about tell PT Nags about he agreeing to her suggestion of Jal's marriage and chalking out a plan of action. Right then, Mr. Balu Bullangar, their family priest made an entry into the scene. Actually, Balu Bullangar's real name is Chinnakoodulu Balasubramanian Iyengar. Right from his early days he had a nasty habit of saying 'BULLA, BULLA' to any unappealing ideas from others. You tell him that it is going to rain today and he would disagree with you saying 'BULLA, BULLA'.

People changed his name permanently to Bullangar when he told 'BULLA BULLA' to a person who was about break him a news that he had won Rs.501 in a lottery. It seems he had picked up this 'BULLA BULLA' terminology from one of his much younger relative who was studying his engineering in north in a supposedly reputed institute. After this re-christening ceremony of Iyengar to Bullangar, the priest was sweetly and shortly known as Balu Bullangar. Some Brahmin haters even used to tease calling him plain and vanilla 'BULLA'.

BULLA used to visit PT Nags once a while to perform some rituals as Harguppa had died and there was no male in the family to perform them. Hanumantha wondered why BULLA was there on a Christmas day. He even wondered if he got converted. But, looking at BULLA and his very brahminical attire, he brushed aside his idea as stupid. BULLA was there that day to help out PT Nags with her daughter's marriage. He was a sort of marriage agent too in a broader sense. As he came to PT Nags house, he even used to go to other families in Trichy and even to near by places like Lalgudi, Vandur etc. when there was shortage of priests. He used to spot eligible prospective grooms and brides and used to act like a communication channel. He was kind of a uni-layered network model defying the seven layer network model. As he was only transferring the trivial data it was sufficient have an outdated technology. Meeting of BULLA and Hanumantha at PT Nag's house was a sheer coincidence.

Hanumantha Iyer exchanged pleasantries with BULLA and even fell at his feet. It is a custom among brahmins to fall at the feet of a priest to seek his blessing. PT Nags being a widow refrained from doing that but ordered Jal to do the same. Jal prostrated before the priest maintaining safe distance (min. 3 feet) prescribed by family doctrine and using a different posture of first touching the knees on the ground in a erect upright position and then slowly bending her upper torso to the ground. Priest BULLA blessed all those who fell at his feet with traditional 'Dheergh Ayushmann Bhava' and ' Dheergh Sumnagali Bhava' meaning may you live longer and may you be married for longer respectively. Meanwhile PT Nags was there ready with a glass of piping hot BRU coffee. BULLA thankfully accepted the same and asked, by the force of habit, if it was a filter coffee. With the same force of habit PT Nags denied and it was their routine every time BULLA landed up at their dwelling. Hanumantha also got coffee instead of tea. Any way Lord Manikchand is flexible on beverages and it did not matter.

Incidentally, PT Nags had asked BULLA to look out for a good, decent groom from a family comparable to their family in all ways. She even had given her budget of marriage, dowry etc., etc. and BULLA had recorded in his PWNRM (Permanent Write Never Read Memory). BULLA had scanned through some grooms and had come up with 4 prospective grooms for the consideration of PT Nags. He briefly and succinctly explained about the grooms and made sure that each of their positive points are properly recorded in PT Nags NEWM(Not Easily Writable Memory). When Hanumantha was telling this I started thinking about CD-ROM writers coming into vogue. He also showed their photographs. PT Nags took one at a time and after seeing each one of them she handed them over to Hanumantha.

By now Hanumantha was equally active into the whole proceedings. One prospective groom caught his attention. BULLA sensing his interest started playing his pre-recorded cassette detailing the guy in question. Hanumantha was enlightened that the boy was a Customs Inspector at Nugabakkam airport at Madras with monthly salary of Rs. 5000 and BULLA burst into a wide grin exposing all 32 paan stained teeth saying being Customs Inspector he also made reasonable upper income (Oopar Ki Kamayi). Boy looked handsome in spotless, immaculate, crisp white Customs uniform. Hanumantha flipped the photo to take a look at the possible physical details of the boy which are normally written on the back. He was not disappointed - all physical details were mentioned there. Boy's age was 27, height 5-10. At this time I felt like asking Hanumantha if he ever bothered to check his weight. Then realized that normally weight is very flexible and can not be recorded as accurately as height. More over we believe in BIGGER THE BETTER theory and it was unnecessary for boy, girl or anybody to know the weight. So, I let Hanumantha to continue the story.

By then BULLA was getting cock sure that he could clinch the deal if he hit the iron when it was hot. He started accessing his cache and churn out BLOBs of information about the boy as though PT Nags had executed a drill down query on a VLDB (Very Large Data Base). I was appreciating God for making BULLA such a master retriever of data and was becoming sure that God had indexed BULLA very efficiently. BULLA emptied his cache and looked at PT Nags if she ever wanted to drill down more and gave look that his engine was ready to execute any complicated query on the VLDB of the Customs Officer. PT Nags instead looked at Hanumantha for a cross tab report about the query. Hanumantha gave bleak look as though his lower end RDBMS had either crashed or working its way through the unindexed raw data. PT Nags decided not bother him feeling that Hanumantha's dBase could never match BULLA's Oracle.

PT Nags continued talking to BULLA exploring the possibility of arranging for face to face interview with the guy and his family. BULLA had to hide with his great difficulty his sense of jubilation. BULLA finally got up saying that grooms parent stay in near by Lalgudi and he would talk to them very soon and touch base with Hanumantha about the developments. He chose Hanumantha to touch base as he used to be more often seen than PT Nags or her daughter. He took all the brochures he gave to PT Nags and made his way out.

Although Hanumantha was thinking about Jal's future marriage he remembered Jal's rather suspicious behavior at the time of filing her FIR for having gone to college on a holiday. Lord Manikchand was insisting that he be revered and consumed. Hanumantha not wanting to put Manikchand in front of PT Nags got up to make his way out. It is not that Hanumantha was too respectful of PT Nags not to put Manikchand in front of her, but feared that she may ask him to give her some. With Manikchand costing Rs.4 a pouch he did not want to risk it. So, he bid good bye to PT Nags and looked for Jalaja. Jalaja came out of her room to bid good bye to her uncle. She looked totally insulated from all the things that happened when BULLA was there.

It was around four in the afternoon when Hanumantha got out of his SIL's house. There was still time for his usual evening conference at Nehru Park culvert with his vela buddies. With his teeth grinding Manikchand and essence of Manikchand working on his nerves stimulating his apparently never used brain and making it hyper- active, Hanumantha started extrapolating on the suspicion that started in his mind at the time of Jal filing her FIR. His brain started processing multi-dimensional data in a OLAP (OnLine Analytical Processing) overloading his data warehouse. First of the information hyper cube pointed out that Hanumantha should first check Jal's daily routine. Panda burst into wild, demonic laughter imagining Hanumantha checking out Jal's daily routine. Hanumantha looked upset and clarified what he intended. But, Panda continued smiling. Looking at my half mouth open and very attentive posture, Hanumantha ignored Panda's nuisance and continued the story.

Once Hanumantha even thought about discussing the issue with his vela friends. But, refrained from it as he knew that they all did not consider Jal as their daughter as Hanumantha considered. Not wanting to lose 'bitti' (Free) teas and Manikchand that Hanumantha used to get them, all of them, in front of Hanumantha, used to refrain from talking about Jalaja but she monopolized their fantasies. That day's vela conference was a regular one at the Nehru Park and ended at around 7 PM and Hanumantha made his way to his abode.

Hanumantha used to stay alone as his parents passed away in car crash after his family vanished from Madras abandoning Panda. Panda was rather sad listening to this and nostalgically remembered notorious 'SAMBAR' that Hanumantha's mom used to prepare and moistened his lips remembering the days when he used to trip on that 'SAMBAR'. Panda started cursing 'SARDAR DHABA''s predominantly ROTI, NAAN etc. I had to cool him down saying that PS-II was coming to an end and he could as well go to Trichy to get comparable SAMBAR from PT Nags if he wanted. Panda asked me to shut up and I obliged. Hanumantha came home and was feeling hungry. He was not in a mood to cook anything. Some old rice on the verge of stinking was present in his refrigerator. Hanumantha put some water in it. I still do not understand this practice although I have seen many people doing that. He took some PUDIS (powders) and mixed them in various quantities with the rice like a pharmacist carefully preparing a concoction. He stirred the mixture with a magic wand for some time and baptized the preparation to be SAMBAR RICE and happily consumed it even before he remembered to change his dress. Then he thought of changing into a more comfortable dress and there was not much option than slipping into one and only one LUNGI lying on the cord running all along the bathroom like the Golden Gate Bridge. Although it was not amusing he laughed at his own joke and continued telling the story.

Once he slipped into to LUNGI everything in and out felt more better and ventilated. He kicked his legs in the air couple of times to stop his two thighs rubbing against each other. He was not bothered that his thighs were rubbing against each other but was very much concerned that the friction out of that would be enough to generate the heat and fire. At this Panda burst into laughter and being his good buddy I exactly knew what was on his mind. Panda jokingly told Hanumantha Iyer that he did not have to worry for that as fire would only light his cigar so that some body can smoke it. Hanumantha brushed it aside saying it was very unwelcome from Panda. I just couldn't stop from appreciating Panda's impromptu sense of humor.

That night was uneventful for Hanumantha. Next morning when Hanumantha was skimming through HINDU while in toilet a wonderful idea struck him. I told to myself that all wonderful ideas always strike in the toilets. That is why brilliant people go more often to toilet than any other place. Therefore the brilliance of idea is directly proportional to the amount of effort put in getting it out!! No easy work around absolutely. Okay, the wonderful idea that Hanumantha Iyer got was to launch a reconnaissance mission on his niece Jalaja. I was wondering if he ever intended to use any B-52 stealth bomber for that. He equally jokingly told that he would check out with President Clinton.

Hanumantha knew that his niece starts from the college around 6 in the evening after finishing her extra periods to compensate the periods they had missed due to Mandal strike etc. Hanumantha thought that he would be there at the college by 5.30 and wait behind arch of bushes on her way. The whole way till the gate of the college was covered by bushy arch with exits every 10-15 feet leading to the garden. As usual Jalaja started out at 5.45 and Hanumantha noticed that she started waiting for somebody telling all her friends to proceed. This looked very strange to Hanumantha. It took around 15 minutes for all the students to vacate the premises. There were hardly any boys for the special classes. They probably never thought that missed periods. Only girls, being careful about academics, thought that they had missed their periods and were attending the special classes from their teachers.

Hanumantha was eagerly watching Jalaja's next move. Then from some where emerged a very dark male. He was about 5-7 and was overweight beyond any limits. He wore a red open neck T-shirt and a stone washed jeans. Even at the sunset he was sporting a cheap pair of sun glasses. May be to put vibes. He sported a long mop of hair at the back and his face was surprisingly neat. Hanumantha wondered how could a guy have such a nice face and a screwy body. Hanumantha was aghast to notice the joy he brought into the face of his niece. She looked really thrilled and it was very special and Hanumantha had never seen her being so happily thrilled. She looked like a real woman now. She gave an impression that womanhood was never complete without a man, however the man may be. Dark Stud put is hand around her not-so-small waist and they took one of the first exits out of the arch and entered the garden. First Jalaja sat down and Dark stud just got down and put his head on her lap. Jalaja started fingering him. Hanumantha stopped for a moment watching for naughty expressions on our faces. Yes, they were very much there. Then Hanumantha told very explicitly that she started sliding her fingers in his hair on the head, in order to avoid any potential misunderstanding. To Hanumantha's surprise Jalaja told everything that transpired in their house the day before. It was like a batch program running on a IBM 3270. Very fast, very accurate. Hearing all this the dark stud got up and concern was evident on his face. He was fearing some grave consequences. Hanumantha was very surprised but also felt high appreciation for Jalaja's data collection abilities. She looked no less compared to any SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) device. Dark Stud told her something that only two of them understood creating a phenomenon of OHT (Over Head Transmission) with Hanumantha Iyer. Dark stud kissed her on the cheek and told her good bye. He did not forget to tell her to go carefully to the house. He went in the same direction from where he had come and Jal, obviously very thrilled by the kiss, started walking with the books clasped to her chest.

Hanumantha Iyer was furious. His was a class one TAMBRAM family. All TAMBRAMS in around used to look up to them as an ISI standard for Brahmins. Hanumantha thought if this Jalaja continued her affair like that then very soon their family's status of ISI standard would be tossed out like old European system of measure. He vowed that he would stop that and if possible introduce ISO 9000 certification for Jalaja's chastity. He just called her name and Jalaja became standstill as the bikini clad heroine in Ramsey movies become standstill at the sight of the funny ghost in a 'Purana Mahal' (Old Castle). Hanumantha now looked like Raza Murad to her and she hoped that her dark stud would come from somewhere to her rescue. Hanumantha took her to task and she burst into tears. She started her story. I felt now that Hanumantha's story was in a recursive mode with Jalaja's story inside Hanumantha's story. Panda's stack looked like it was full with sleep and would overflow if this recursive procedure ever entered it. But, Panda suddenly got very interested and chopped off sleep from his stack and was ready to take on the recursive procedure. Panda allocated memory required to hold Jalaja's story on the stack. My stack being dynamic , I did not have to worry.

Jalaja told the name of the dark stud was Annamalai ChokkaLingam. He was also a vela guy like Hanumantha. Hanumantha had a shock of his life when Jalaja told him that he belonged to the fisherman community. The worst what PT Nags had dreamt was about to unveil. Jalaja told that she has been loving her dearest AChokks (his nickname) for last 3 years. She also admitted that even the day before she was here romancing with AChokks. She told that she had decided to marry AChokks and was cock sure about her decision. Jalaja told that AChokks was also cock sure about the same. Hanumantha, in a fit of rage, forgot modesty and asked Jalaja at the top his voice what AChokks was sure about- his cock or about marrying her. Jalaja was a tube light to make sense of it and looked very scared. Hanumantha' s roar echoed for several times before it disappeared with the complete dissipation of the sound energy. Hanumantha used several tactics to convince about the problems in a inter caste marriage and she did not budge even an inch from her decision.

Both of them returned together to PT Nags house. PT Nags was out to attend some music recital at near by 'Rayar Matha'. Hanumantha thought he should wait till his SIL came. Within no time PT Nags was in and was surprised at the appearance of Hanumantha again. Hanumantha did not waste any time to explain the 'RASLEELA' of his niece. PT Nags was dumb struck. She kept her mouth wide open for 10 minutes breaking her own previous record of 8.675 minutes. She had achieved the previous record a couple of years ago when her husband Harguppa died. PT Nags had a nervous breakdown and started sobbing while blaming her luck and daughter at the regular alternate interval. She finally asked Jalaja how was she going to cope up with non vegetarian AChokks and his family. Jalaja innocently told that AChokks has been feeding her with all sorts of non veg. for the past 6 months so that she got used to their food. PT Nags was furious when she heard this. This was like pouring hot molten lead into her ears. She started chanting some of the hymns she had known from child hood. She started slapping her own cheeks in way of asking God for pardon.

Somebody was at the door. First it looked like a couple of people but when Hanumantha came out whole colony of fishermen had gathered in front of PT Nags house. Most of them were drunk after a hard day's labor. They were making it really look like a fish market. AChokks came forward with a man who looked like his father. They had come prepared for the engagement. Although they did not know the exact details of the formalities involved. AChokks father came in front of PT Nags and in all respect requested for her daughter's hand in marriage to his son AChokks. He boasted that he has 3 long distance trawlers and would make at least one and a half trawler in the name of Jalaja if ever PT Nags doubted AChokks' commitment to marriage. They looked they had come all set. AChokks was so concerned that he had arranged whole of his fraternity in no time. All he had to do was to get them each a bottle of toddy.

Hanumantha and PT Nags were crest fallen. They looked at Jalaja for any last minute schedule changes. But, she looked as resolute as she was ever before. She was already thinking of the honeymoon in AChokks trawler some where in the middle of the high seas. AChokks father told that they would like to have the marriage very next day at their deity's temple in their colony. He waited for some time for PT Nag's response and told his folks that bilateral talks have failed and a decision had been reached unilaterally and unanimously. Fisherman folks jumped in the air as mark of victory without forgetting to fold their LUNGIs way up above the waist. Hanumantha was thrilled to find a rainbow casted by their colorful underwears even in the dark. In no time they had disappeared.

Thus everything was over as though it was a dream. Next morning as decided AChokks landed up at Jalaja's house exactly at 8 AM. Jalaja was on her toes to join him. PT Nags knew very well that doing anything against her wish would be disastrous. She voluntarily sent her daughter with some ornaments she had got prepared well in advance for her marriage. Jal was happy to find a change in her mom's attitude and made her way out with immaculately dressed AChokks.

They got married according to the customs of AChokks community. Jalaja was first made to bathe in strange looking liquid as Bo Derek in movie Tarzan The Ape Man. She had to wear only saree in without a blouse. Some washermen who had come marriage compared her bare back to a granite washing stone and AChokks was in the sky at their appreciation.

Later in the night they had all set out for their honeymoon. By then Hanumantha also had change of heart and had arranged for their first night in a decent hotel. He thought if Jalaja went out on the trawler for the honeymoon she would throw up due to sea sickness and AChokks might mistake it for something else and here marital flower getting nipped off right in the bud. Hotel management had specially prepared the honeymoon suite. Hanumantha suddenly developed unimaginable amount of concern for his niece. Hotel gave him a complimentary room next to the honeymoon suite so that PT Nags could stay there over night helping her daughter cross the first night hurdle with time tested tips and tricks. But, PT Nags bowing to the tradition refrained from coming over to that place and Hanumantha himself decided to stick around in the complimentary room.

At around 10 PM AChokks came with his bride to the hotel. Hotel staff gave them a historic welcome as they had accomplished a historic deed. AChokks was the first fisherman to acquire a Brahmin bride. AChokks dad was seen telling the hotel manager that blood of his community was purified. Hanumantha Iyer saw the couple into the honeymoon suite and returned to his own room.

After some time, Jalaja came out of the room yelling 'PAMB !!!!PAMB !!!!'. I did not quite understand what that meant. I was about to ask him and Panda told me 'PAMB' meant snake in Tamil. Hanumantha was just getting to his first phase of the sleep and was awakened by this yell. Came behind Jalaja was AChokks in his assorted colored underwear. Jalaja was very tense and nervous. She was trying to say something but was totally incoherent. In a hurry to come out of the room after having seen the snake she had just wrapped her bridal sari so as just to cover herself up. AChokks was asking repeatedly where did she see the snake. She was going into deep trance and started doing all vague gestures. The security Chief of the hotel was summoned and he in turn summoned some snake charmers. They came with their 'pungis' (beens, musical instrument they carry) and played it everywhere in the room till their asses dropped dead. There was no snake in the room they announced and left. Jalaja was still hysterical, yelling 'PAMB' 'PAMB' every now and then.

Nobody could understand what actually happened. Their first night was gone. Jalaja never came out of hysteria. Still she yells 'SNAKE' SNAKE' and has lost her senses. PT Nags is totally in shambles and Hanumantha is taking care of her. He wants to cure Jalaja's madness and her fear about the snakes. Jalaja is currently in a mental asylum in Bangalore. The neurologist suggested that he could try finding out advanced therapies that could be available in AIMS Delhi. Hanumantha is in Delhi looking for a remedy for Jalaja's snake phobia which started on her first night. AChokks was devastated with out any marital happiness. PT Nags gave him an ultimatum that if he ever abandoned Jalaja, their entire community will cursed by great great Brahmin sages like Durvasas, Vishwamitra etc. etc. for ages to come. AChokks dad was scared to death about it and has warned his son to remain celibate till Jalaja gets okay. AChokks is pissed off with the fact that as soon as he nears her she starts yelling 'PAMB' 'PAMB'.

Now we understood why Hanumantha Iyer was in Delhi and what he was asking me at the gate. I agreed to show him AIMS next day. All of us retired to bed thinking about the snake that apparently scared Jalaja and made her crazy. None of us really got no where. In the night, in my dreams, I too saw a lot of ant hills but no snakes. Next day, Panda said I was screaming 'ANT HILL' 'ANT HILL' in my sleep a couple of times. I honestly remembered nothing. But, I believed Panda. Panda suggested that I too should get a check up for this Ant Hill phobia at AIMS when I go with Hanumantha Iyer there. I was in total disbelief about Jalaja dreaming snakes and I dreaming ant hills where snakes normally enter for shelter. I called up my dad immediately narrating my vague dreams. Dad asked if I saw any snake in the dream and I say no. Dad hung up saying if I ever saw a snake in my dreams I should immediately let him know and he would perform a special 'pooja' at Kokke Subramanya temple. The God there suppose to rule all snakes.

I saw Panda leaving for office muttering something. It sounded like - "Till the snake entered the ant hill there is no cure for this illness".

Neither Hanumantha Iyer nor I quite understood it. Do you ?

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Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda by Romeo Dallaire

2010-01-02T18:41:00.002-08:00

Who can forget the clan/tribe related genocide that took place in Rwanda in Africa in early 1990s? As the world simply watched, close to 800,000 people mainly belonging to Tutsi tribe were systematically massacred by other ethnic group - Hutus. What a mindless carnage! 800,000 in 100 days.

This is the book by the man who watched it unfold from beginning to end. The author was the head of the UN peace keeping force sent to Rwanda. As peace keepers, they had no ability or rights to create the peace. Since there was no peace at all, there was no question of keeping it anyway. So, while the world shied away from Rwanda, Romeo Dallaire and his few men had to watch the slaughter as it unfolded.

The author, assisted by another writer, goes on in a very journal-type style without any rhetoric or unnecessary melodrama. It is like - been there, seen that -kind of style.

It was a colossal failure from rest of the world not to have done anything to prevent that genocide.UN, being what it is, could not and did not do much. Despite some good intentions, things take a way too long time to process through UN red tape. Powerful nations did not want to intervene on their own. Multiple reasons for that. US had just retreated from Somalia after the disaster in which a few US soldiers were killed and their dead bodies were dragged on the streets of Mogadishu. After such a media and military fiasco, US did not wish to participate in what they probably termed as a no-win situation. Former colonial powers like Belgium and France did not want to get involved as there was nothing left to loot. They had done all that before they gave independence to Rwanda - one of the poorest countries. So, without any strategic interest or value to anybody, it was no wonder everybody looked other way while people surpassed all decency and killed each other worse than anyone would kill even little insects. The kind of violence and barbarism deployed is not believable if somebody else, other than Dallaire, were to tell the story.

This book is a great read for anyone interested in the subject. Of course, this is a book to read for fun while lazing on the beach. This book will force you to pray for all those souls.

There is a nice documentary also which tracks Dallaire when visits Rwanda after 10 years. Good movie. More details here. (http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Shake_Hands_with_the_Devil_The_Journey_of_Romeo_Dallaire/70024104?trkid=226870)

Another great book related to this is - Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza.

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Evolution

2010-01-01T12:53:00.003-08:00

An elephant is going from, say, San Francisco to Los Angels. Traveling south. There are several ants and other similar small creatures on that mammoth elephant. For those tiny insects, size of this elephant is not comprehendible. It's like anything more than they have seen in their life. As a result, these insects do not know in which direction the elephant is going, let alone where the elephant is headed to. Those insects move on the body of that elephant as though they know where they are going and how to get there. Guess what? Where they all will end up in? Los Angeles, Right? Since the elephant is headed to LA, regardless of what these tiny insects do, they will all reach LA. Some insects may move from the head of the elephant to the rear of the elephant by the time the elephant makes it to LA. They may have thought they were going in the direction of San Francisco. But, since they were moving on an elephant which was headed to LA, they all end up in LA too.

So what? Evolution is like that. If we subscribe to the hypothesis that we are all spiritual beings undergoing a human life (vs. human beings trying for spiritual experiences), we can easily understand the profundity of this elephant analogy. We are all like those tiny insects on the elephant. Some divine force is making that elephant go in the right direction. To the ultimate destination where the individual soul unites with the God. So, regardless of what we as tiny creatures do, we all end up in the final destination one way or the other. Sooner or later.

What can we do to hasten this process, if it is something we want to? Smart ants on the back of the elephant align their motion to the motion of the elephant. Say that there are some ants on the far end of our mythological elephant. They have been blessed and made aware of this evolution. They are in a hurry to get to the destination as quickly as possible. So, instead of wasting their time and energy on going here and there on that massive elephant's back, they proceed to the front end of the elephant with single minded devotion and determination. They will encounter tremendous challenges on the way. They will all face many distractions on the way. They will meet many of their fellow creatures who are wasting their time and energy on frivolous material pursuits. But, these enlightened ants are so determined that when the elephant reaches LA, they want to be at the end of its trunk so that they can do one jump and be at the final destination. Unity at last!

This is exactly what we as spiritual beings can do to hasten our own evolution. Like it or not, we are all being lead to higher levels of consciousness by God every moment. His elephant is going to LA. Like it or not, we will all go to his kingdom. But, it's up to us as where we want to be when His elephant stops at the final destination. Do we want to be like those enlightened ants which moved doggedly from the far end of the elephant all the way to the very front to the tip of its trunk so that they can just hop on Nirvana? Or do we want to be like other ants which pursued meaningless activities all along the journey and when the elephant reached LA, they were on at some remote corner on that elephant's body. Bear in mind that our elephant is very big and for a small creatures like ant being on far end of the elephant may mean a couple of life time's struggle to get to the front and reach Nirvana. So, we do not want to be somewhere remote due to mindless pursuits in our multiple lives to end up like those ants who have to spend few more life times to get to their real destination.

Original elephant analogy, I heard in discourse by Sri Bannanje Govindacharya of Udupi, Karnataka, India. Sri Bannanje is a very learned authority of Indian scriptures. He used this analogy so beautifully that 2 minutes he spent talking about gave me probably 20 years worth of insights. In his case, the elephant I think went from Udupi to Manipal :)

You can listen to many of his discourses at - http://www.kannadaaudio.com/Songs/Discourses/home/

Cheers!

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Happy new year -2010

2010-01-01T10:07:00.001-08:00

Best wishes for the new year 2010 and beyond.

Hope things went well in the last year. Anyway, it's all past now. Welcome the new year with best hopes and wishes.

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right." - Oprah Winfrey

"An optimist stays up to see the New Year in. A pessimist waits to make sure the old one leaves." - Bill Vaughan

Once again, wishing all friends a very happy new year 2010.

Cheers!

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Drama....Drama

2009-12-28T08:08:00.001-08:00

Enjoyed any good drama recently? Acted in any drama recently? Yes? No?

Anyway, if you act in a drama, how long you continue to be the character? Just during the play? May be sometime after? Hopefully, you will not continue to act out your role outside of play.

Do you feel bad if you have to kill somebody as part of the drama? Do you take it personally and grieve over it if somebody treats you badly just due to his or her role in the drama? I am sure you will laugh away these questions.

Yes, I think we are all smart enough to see the absurdity of taking this drama analogy too far. We get it boss, we say. We act in a drama and we drop it off when we leave it. We do not carry that along with us rest of our working day.

How about the big drama called LIFE? Where does our so called wisdom go when we have to act out the drama called life? All of us have a role to play, it's all scripted, lines are given, scenes are written, we may not know the exact details of this one really large DRAMA but we will instinctively play our role, our dialogs, our acts whether we like it or not. Instead of understanding our role, lines and scenes well and playing the role to best of our abilities, we start brooding over the drama, our role, director, how the director is doing a shabby job. Thinking like this on everything except our role, we create misery for ourselves. In drama, if you get a role to experience a lot of suffering, just because you act the suffering does not mean that you have to go through all the pains. No, we say. We have become the role itself. If the role has to act out the suffering, for whatever reasons, we make the suffering real and grieve over it. If we are smart, we see suffering for what it is. It is the suffering that role in the drama has to act out and you are that role. You are not expected to feel that pain anything more than what is needed to bring the best in you.

Do you hate the villain of the drama? No, you don't. He is another actor like you. Since he suits the role well, that role of villain has been given to him. As part of his role, he indulges in all sorts of bad things. He blows up building, he sends suicide bombers, he hijacks planes, he fights civil wars etc. You bear bad treatment meted out to you by the villain. If the script requires, you go and kill the villain in the drama. After all this, you will probably have a drink with the villain and rest of your crew after the drama is over.

So, the people who we think as bad people are nothing but actors like us who play that particular role. OK, if the script require, we will go and kill them as we go and kill terrorists. But, we do not hate a fellow actor for playing his role.

I do not know where I picked up this drama analogy. Probably from one of the works of Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda. But, nothing explains life better than seeing it as a drama and acting our role to the best of our abilities per the flawless direction of GOD.

Cheers!

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Plenty of good books

2009-12-26T19:54:00.001-08:00

Ever since I got my lovely Amazon Kindle, I have been reading my way to glory:) Some of the books I read and recommend are :

97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts by Davis Barbee (Author) - Excellent collection of project management wisdom from several veteran project managers.

The Bhagavad Gita (Classics of Indian Spirituality) by Eknath Easwaran - Simple yet most notable translation of great ancient epic by my spiritual teacher Sri EE. For extensive commentary, please consider reading the three volume set (Bhagvadgita for Daily Living) by Sri Easwaran.

The Blood of Lambs: A Former Terrorist's Memoir of Death and Redemption by Kamal Saleem and Lynn Vincent - Heart touching memoir of a former Palestinian militant. Now the author (i.e. former militant) is a reformed man who is on the lecture circuit to talk about and against radical Islam. Great read for all middle eastern political junkies (like me).

The Essential Swami Ramdas by Swami Ramdas and Rebecca Manring - Collection of essays of Swami Ramdas. Great spiritual wisdom from a great guru who founded Anandashram near Mangalore.

It Takes a Genome: How a Clash Between Our Genes and Modern Life Is Making Us Sick by Greg Gibson - Nice book on latest discoveries in the field of genome and related research. Written in a way so that common people can understand the complex stuff.. Good book.

High On Arrival by Mackenzie Phillips - Pretty disturbing and unsettling autobiography from Mackenzie Phillips, a Hollywood star. This book is going to haunt the reader for a long time. Kudos to the author for daring to bare (her life).

Hoodwinked: An Economic Hit Man Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded--and What We Need to Do to Remake Them by John Perkins - Nice book by the author of previously very famous 'Confessions of an Economic Hit man'. Expected much more from Perkins. Feels like the previous book redistilled. But, still Perkins does a good job of explaining how we screwed ourselves and how we are still not learning from our mistakes which lead to current economic mess.

How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali by Swami Prabhavananda, Christopher Isherwood, and Patanjali - This is a true jewel. It really takes great minds to write a book that attempts to interpret the original work of Sage Patanjali. The authors have done a fabulous job. This is a real treat for anyone who wants to understand more about life in general. Sure to answer lot of nagging questions. If you approach this book with an open mind, I bet you will emerge with many good answers and refreshing perspectives. Master piece and classic.

Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation by Nandan Nilekani - Nice book by one of the founders of Indian IT giant Infosys. Reads well. Author has done a good job of collecting a lot of data and info and traces how India has gotten where it is now and what can be done to take it to the next level. Refreshing read.

JFK And Sam: The Connection Between the Giancana And Kennedy Assassinations by Antoinette Giancana, John R. Hughes, and Thomas H. - Interesting book that looks at mafia angle to JFK assassination. Pretty interesting details about JFK and his links to Chicago mobster Sam Giancana. Strong conspiracy theory emerges when we learn that Sam Giancana himself was bumped off just before he was to appear before the senate committee probing JFK assassination in late '70s. Great read.

Karma and Reincarnation: The Wisdom of Yogananda, Volume 2 (v. 2) by Paramhansa Yogananda - Nice little book on a very complex subject.

Managing with the Power of NLP: Neurolinguistic Programming; A Model for Better Management (2nd Edition) by David Molden - Loaded book. Takes an interesting look at NLP and how it can be used to improve our daily lives. Takes a quite bit of work, time and attention to really get the stuff in this book :)

Marilyn Monroe: Murder - by Consent: A Psychologist's Journey With Death by Jack V. Hattem - Nice book by a psychologist who was part a team that looked at Monroe's death from psychology point of view. Does not get into any of the interesting, lip smacking conspiracy theories. Sticks nicely to pure psychology and attempts to present a balanced view of Monroe's poor state of mind and how that state of mind might have been played out by people who just wanted her to go. It is like giving a gentle push to an already dilapidated wall. It was ready to fall and your push was only a pretext. Probably same thing happened with Marilyn Monroe as well. She has major psycho problems. She was abusing medicines. She was close to self-destruction. Somebody pushed right buttons and she played into that scheme and took a her own life. Nice read although not a fast read.

My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the War on Terror by Louis J. Freeh - Nice autobiography by former FBI director.

My Life and Work - An Autobiography of Henry Ford by Henry Ford - Impressive book. Ford was clearly ahead of his times. He writes very candidly about his management philosophy, profit v/s general good, people, global welfare etc. If Ford, as a company, has survived while GM has not, it must be because there are still people at Ford who have an iota of wisdom of its founder. Great book.

On the Trail of the JFK Assassins: A Revealing Look at America's Most Infamous Unsolved Crime by Dick Russell - Another nice book on JFK assassination. Probably the first book to identify who really pulled the trigger on that fatal shot which blew JFK's head off.

The PayPal Wars: Battles With Ebay, the Media, the Mafia, And the Rest of Planet Earth by Eric M. Jackson - A book by an early Paypal veteran chronicling how Paypal got started, how it grew, how it battled with eBay, how the acquisition happened etc.

Raid on the Sun: Inside Israel's Secret Campaign that Denied Saddam the Bomb by Rodger Claire - Excellent thriller of a book on an Israeli operation. It was an audacious operation to say the least. Flying over 1200 miles without refueling, flying over several enemy countries, escaping all those radars, cleanly bombing Saddam's nuclear reactor and returning safely. Once again, dare devil Israelis succeeded. If you want to know how they went about the whole operation, their pains, their creativity, their determination and their commitment, read this book. This is sure to tell you why and how that tiny nation has survived and prospered despite all odds. It also makes a case why it sometimes necessary to be on the offensive rather than defensive all the time. Israelis always take the fight to where terrorists are and don't give them a minute of relief to sit down and plan their next attack against Israel. That's why they have succeeded. Great book on a great operation by a great nation!

The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli - Beautiful bio-epic on Marilyn Monroe. Does not get much into conspiracy theories around her death. Simply goes about chronicling her life with a lot interesting facts about her life. For example India finds two references. While Marilyn was being borne her grandmother (mother's mother) was in India. Another reference to India. When President Kennedy and Monroe spent time together for the first time, first lady Jackie Kennedy was in India and called JFK when JFK and Monroe were together in a cottage in Palm Springs, CA. Many such interesting trivia makes this large book an interesting read.

The Secret Team: The CIA and Its Allies in Control of the United States and the World by L. Fletcher Prouty - Dare to bare it all book. A lot of good info. Boring style. Kindle's text-to-speech is the savior.

See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism by Robert Baer - Excellent memoir of a former CIA agent. Baer packs a lot of anguish and frustration about how CIA became way too much focused on technology and in the process ignored human intelligence and how such attitude led to events like 9/11. Good read. A lot references to important events in the middle east in 80's and 90's as the author worked extensively there. A few interesting incidents in India too as Baer worked in India also and recruited agents who nicely gave him the stuff he wanted - stealing from Indian secret files.

Six Minutes to Freedom by Kurt Muse and John Gilstrap - one of the best books on a high voltage hostage rescue mission in Panama by US special forces. Author Kurt Muse was an American living in Panama. He was active in organizing an uprising against dictator Noriga. He got jailed. US had to rescue him carefully while they mounted the operation to remove Noriega. This book beautifully chronicles author's life in Panama, his family's courage and bravery while he was arrested and jailed, how his, then, teenage daughter escaped from the clutches of Norigea henchmen to inform her mother in the US, how the family ran from pillar to post and all power centers in Washington to get Muse rescued and how the final operation unfolded. It was a dare devil operation. The helicopter which was supposed to carry Kurt Muse and Delta forces got badly hit while taking off after the Delta forces had neutralized jail guards and rescued their hostage. So, the copter could not fly. They drove it to safety on the streets of Panama City. It may seem funny to imagine a helicopter being driven like a car on the streets. But, read the book and you will become an occupant in the helicopter with bullets going right above your head. That's how the authors have dramatized it. Great read!

Spiritual Relationships: The Wisdom of Yogananda, Volume 3 by Paramhansa Yogananda - Beautiful little book by the master. Focused on relationships. Relationships are a necessary pain. You can not escape them and the pain they inflict on every human being. Of course, there is supposed to be joy underneath all the pain that relationships bring. This book and guru Yogananda's timeless wisdom may help understand the real stuff so that we can try to see relationships for what they are and how to make most out of the relationships which are mostly preordained.

Third Class in Indian Railways by Mahatma Gandhi - Collection of essays by Mahatma Gandhi on variety of subjects. First essay is about his experiences in Indian railways. Rest of the essays are about Swadeshi, Champaran movement etc. Makes an interesting read. Kindle edition is available for free on AMZN.

Trail of the Octopus by Lester K. Coleman and Donald Goddard - One of the many books that came out after Pan Am 103 flight was destroyed by a bomb in mid air in 1988. As usual, there are many conspiracy theories. Ultimately blame was tied to Libya and Gadaffi. Author, Coleman, was a clandestine agent working in the middle east during that time. This book is his take on the series of events that lead to the bombing of flight 103 and how what he wanted reveal became something powerful people could not swallow. After that, those powerful forces went after Coleman and he ran away from USA and is still living somewhere in Europe to escape charges pending against him in the USA. Decent book for conspiracy aficionados.

Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam by Arun Tiwari - Biography of former Indian President Abdul Kalaam. Very nicely traces his life as a scientist, technocrat and finally a president. Nice read. Free PDF versions floating on the net.

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Traffic lights and wisdom behind the WAIT

2009-12-13T07:18:00.002-08:00

Do you hate waiting at traffic lights? I think so if you are like most people. But, as mature people, we also understand that without traffic lights, it is not possible for many streets to cross each other and not possible to manage the traffic at all. So, for the greater good, authorities make us wait for our turn to cross the street and so on. This logic seems simple. Right?

But, why does this not occur to us when we have to wait at life's traffic signals? I am sure you have run into some or the other kind of waits in life too. Something is stalled at work. Things are not moving. You are frustrated. You wonder why things are not moving at the rate they should be moving. Why aren't people warming up to your ideas and embracing them? Why are not things happening, boss? You lament.

Think that you are at life's some traffic signal. You are waiting for your turn. You are not the center of this universe. There are many other things than trivial things you are worried about. You have to wait for your turn to get green light and drive on.

This perspective helps when things do not go our way. So, what we do? Borrow the analogy from what we do while waiting at traffic lights. Be engaged. Watch the scenery around. Listen to good music. Listen to useful audio books. Do something to keep you productively occupied. But, always stay focused on the road. The moment light turns to green, you want to zip forward. So, do not get distracted.

Use the same principles when you get stuck at traffic lights of life too. Sometimes wait at a life's traffic lights seems way too long. Things do not move at all in some cases for years in a row. It can be very painful without having a bigger perspective. Know that you and your petty desires are as inconsequential as a spec of dust in the grand scheme of things. You can not and will not get any special treatment. You got to wait. So, all you can do is to make the wait a fun one and a beneficial one. Turn to things that you enjoy. Of course, harmless things only. Do not do anything foolish out of frustration or depression or anything that follows the wait in life that you can not understand.

Even while waiting at a traffic light we know that the wait is going to be only momentary. We know that very soon we are going to on the freeway and then we can cruise for miles at a stretch comfortably. Life is like that. It's all well planned. If you are stuck waiting at a traffic signal, free way is not too far way. You will very soon be on life's freeway too. Of course, at some point, you will have to get out of the freeway and get on local streets to get to where you are going. Slowing down and speeding up are both parts of life. Both are required. As nobody can enjoy day without night, same thing with halt and progress in life.

This metaphor can be taken even further. Sometimes we get stuck due to some other reasons. May be there is an accident. May be traffic is stopped for some other reason. These days we get real-time traffic advice on some GPS systems that are enabled with such capability. They can receive live traffic updates and advice you an alternative routes to take.

Even in life we get live traffic updates if we carefully listen. God sends enough live traffic updates. We are listening to damn music so loud that we fail to hear those updates. We are distracted by everything else that we forget to heed to God's advice to take alternate routes. But, if we care to listen, we sometimes can take alternate routes to reach our destination. Sometimes, things get too painful on some of the paths we take in life simply because that's not the right path for us at all. Have you found it very hard to make progress on some areas in life while you have been able to make progress in other areas with much less effort? There must be a reason for that. The area you are struggling is not the area that God wants you to progress. In God's grand scheme of things, you got a role to play and you are trying to play some other role. God has to stop you from doing that.

Cheers!

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Enter the Past Tense: My Secret Life as a CIA Assassin Roland W. Haas

2009-12-06T11:02:00.002-08:00

Are you intrigued by high-profile assassinations?After that hush hush talk about one or the other intelligence agency being behind such an assassination? Have you wondered how such things are orchestrated? Then, read this book and hear out from the mouth of a proverbial horse.

Very interesting and captivating book. The author served as a secret assassin for CIA. Of course, he is bound by rules and regulations about how much he can say about all that he did for CIA. But he has very masterfully written a great memoir which reads like a thriller. Do not expect to learn about any famous assassinations attributed to CIA or any other intelligence agency. But you can expect to learn general information about how such things are carried out.

Little dated in the sense that events in this book take place during 1970s. So, unless you are very interested, it may bore you from time to time. The book also gives a nice overview of hippy culture back then and how hippies used to go around the world on a shoestring budget. In fact the author went around the world as hippy and carried out his hits on the way.

Risks and rewards of the profession are highlighted very well for anyone considering the profession:) Read authors plight after he was caught by Iranian authorities and faced the death squad. If not for timely intervention of his handler, the author would not been alive to write this book.

If you consider this is as the memoir of blue-collar assassin and liked it, you may also like to read memoir of a white-collar assassin in another excellent book - Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins.

Cheers!

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The Einstein File: J. Edgar Hoover's Secret War Against the World's Most Famous Scientist by Fred Jerome

2009-12-06T10:46:00.001-08:00

Wow! what an eye opener of a book. If you thought, Einstein was welcomed into US with open arms and was accorded everything, read this book. As much as US and it's common people loved this brilliant scientist, there was a group of powerful people, under the paranoia of communist infiltration of US institutions, thought this gentle scientist was a communist spy. They did not just stop there. They spent a lot of resources and energy to see if they could nail Einstein as a communist spy.

This book is truly one of its kind. After FBI released secret files on Einstein a while back under freedom of information act, the author Jerome systematically poured over thousands and thousands of pages of documentation compiled on Einstein and came up with this nice book which is an eye-opener.

Einstein moved to US in 1930s from his native Germany after Hitler became powerful there and made life difficult for jews. Einstein was also a jew. By 1930s, Einstein was a household name in the scientific community. He had won Nobel prize in 1921. He was regularly coming to US as a guest professor at many leading universities. So, when things got hot for him and his family in the US, it was only natural that he looked at US for his next home.

Einstein was not just a brilliant scientist. He was a man of many talents and opinions. A scientist, philosopher, social scientist, economist etc. all rolled in one. He had strong opinions about socialism, war, atom bomb among many things that really made him stand out and attracted the attention of US government authorities.

Since he came from Germany and was not very much in support of USA building atom bomb, he was kept out of US atom bomb project which employed many of his peers from US and elsewhere. People also were not sure if he still kept any loyalty for his former homeland which was in war with rest of the world as part of world war II.

Einstein kept ruffling feathers with his outspoken views on every important issue. After the world war II, cold war picked up and a section of US went berserk with the paranoia about communism and how communism was going to take over US. So, a section of US society made up of powerful people including senators and government officials started vigilante movement to smoke out communists from wherever there are bring them to justice and thus protect US from being taken over by communism.

Einstein became victim of one such witch hunt. Since he was powerful in his own ways and more importantly had done nothing wrong at all, they could not inflict any harm on him but systematic persecution continued.

Makes an interesting read. Style of the book is not that interesting. Loses traction in many places due to poor narration. Make a really good read if you can hold on.

Cheers!

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The 3 Mistakes of My Life by Chetan Bhagat

2009-12-06T10:26:00.001-08:00

Beautiful novel by Indian novelist Chetan Bhagat.

Chetan Bhagat, who hit the literary scene a while ago by chronicling his IIT days into a novel, delivers another simple but nice novel. Simple but really enjoyable. He is truly a master story teller. It's amazing how he takes common things and instances like the demolition of a mosque, Indian middle class, nation's passion with cricket, communal riots, etc. and delivers a really nice novel.

Cheers!

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Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years by David Talbot

2009-12-06T10:19:00.001-08:00

Another excellent book for John F Kennedy history junkies. Deals with many interesting stories about JFK and his brother Robert F Kennedy who was also assassinated under mysterious circumstances a few years later after JFK was assassinated.

Good read if you are looking for some captivating read on JFK, RFK, conspiracies, mafia etc. to spice up your reading.

Cheers!

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Barack, Inc.: Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign by Barry Libert and Rick Faulk

2009-12-06T10:08:00.001-08:00

This book examines what businesses and people running businesses can learn from the way in which Obama ran his presidential campaign successfully.

Very interesting and insightful book. You will learn how information technology and social networking, in particular, played a very important role in Obama's successful campaign. Do you know one of the Facebook's founders took time-off to lead IT efforts of Obama campaign?

The book does not just limit to Obama's focus on technology. Traditional but nevertheless very important aspects of management like soft skills, hard skills also figure prominently in this book. There are many instances that authors bring out the best managerial qualities of Obama in terms of motivating his people, admitting the mistakes, reflecting on what went wrong and how to fix it.

Very well researched and very well written book. After (wrongly) understanding that political campaigns only meant behind-the-screen-operations, ugly mud slinging, attacks on character etc., this book is a refreshing read about probably the most successful political campaigns in recent times.

I think many of us who are always looking for bits of wisdom from anywhere will find this book interesting.

Cheers!

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Some good books

2009-11-15T08:46:00.002-08:00

The Volunteer: The Incredible True Story of an Israeli Spy on the Trail of International Terrorists by Michael Ross (Author), Jonathan Kay (Author)

Excellent memoir by a spy who worked for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. Very well written. The author, Ross, is a Canadian by birth, who went to Israel by chance, liked the country so much so that he chose to convert to Judaism, became a Israeli citizen and then chose to serve in Israeli armed forces and then in famous Mossad. In this book, the author very tactfully writes about his life in Mossad. As a former secret officer, it is not possible to write about all his work due to its sensitive nature. That's where the authors excel. It's indeed an art to write interestingly when your hands are tied by code of ethics. A great book if you like to read about real life spies and their lives.

The Company She Keeps by Georgia Durante - Simply incredible story of one gutsy woman- the author- Georgia Durante. I could not really imagine one single person could go through so many testing times, trials and tribulations in one life time. Georgia not only went through many such tests but also emerged stronger and wiser from each experience. 'That does not kill you only makes you stronger' is no more true than in Georgia's case. Georgia grew up in Rochester. She went on to become one of the top models in 1970s. She was the famous 'Kodak Girl' for several years. She worked in other show biz related stuff. However, while she was going through her life, she also ran into many interesting people and situations created by them. Can you imagine a top model getting involved with mafia characters? On top of it, getting married to someone who was a pretty big guy in mafia those days? How about being the get away driver on some heists? Georgia had all those experiences and came pretty close to death many times. Then when she thought she was finally out of mafia related mess, a psycho gets into her life and becomes totally obsessed with her. This psycho nearly killed her in his obsession for her. Police could not help much against this maniac. So, Georgia had to go back to mob to get some help to get rid of this guy. Then FBI which was after mob was after Georgia. They wanted to cut some deals too. If you do not cooperate with FBI, they can set mob against you by spreading rumors that you are working against the mob. If you do cooperate with FBI, mob will come after you. What did Georgia do and how she came out of it? Then Georgia's daughter, who grew up in such dangerous conditions, became a drug addict. Georgia really did not need this. So, she put her in some de-addiction center in Montana. In the mean time, she was having enough problems from her third husband. While she thought, she finally met a good man, he died in a plane crash. Since Georgia had trusted all her money with her last man, she does not ready access to her own money. So, she is almost destitute once again! This goes on and on again. Ordinary people would have surely given up but not this gutsy woman. Finally, things start to change for better for Georgia. She now runs a very successful movie related business employing several people. Finally her life has been back on track. This is truly an inspiring book. At the end, like anybody who has gone through so much in one life time, Georgia also gets philosophical. She delivers some good points about life and God's choices etc. All in all a great read! If you watch bollywood films, have you watched 'Chandni Bar'? You may find some similarities. That movie ends in tragedy and in this one there is some good happening at the end.

Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin - Last year's financial disaster on the wall street is a great material for writers. As expected, many books have already come and many more are in the process. As expected, many writers wanted to be the first to come out with a book that chronicled those heady some 60 days in September and October of 2008 when everyone thought the world (at least the financial) has come to an end. It did seem so. With a major bank failing everyday, shotgun mergers between banks brokered by federal government, banks being nationalized. Everyone asked what's going on and nobody really knew other than what we read in news papers. No complete picture. This book, really a big one in size, systematically chronicles the disaster as seen by some of the very people who were part of it. All credit to the author who has beautifully dramatized the book. You really get a ringside seat and watch the meltdown blow by blow. Great book!

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The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy by Turner William, Jonn Christian

2009-11-08T12:57:00.001-08:00

Recently finished reading this book. Earlier, I was reading some books on late president John F Kennedy(JFK). Did not know much about his younger brother Robert F Kennedy. Was intrigued to learn that Robert Kennedy (RFK) was the man who made JFK the president by completely owning the management of JFK's presidential campaign. JFK knew his brother was probably the only person he could rely on for anything. So, he made RFK the attorney general in JFK's government.

JFK did not live to complete his term. He was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. That's a different story. There are may conspiracy theories and what not. Just search on the net or try to search for books. There are way to many books on JFK's assassination. It is amazing that it close to 50 years since JFK's assassination, new information and books keep coming along. Anyway, RFK was devastated after his brother JFK's death. He went into shell for a while. He knew he could not continue as attorney general under Lyndon B Johnson who was vice president at the time of JFK's death and became the president afterwards. So, RFK put his life on slow gear for a while.

It always bothered RFK that he or nobody really knew who killed his brother JFK and for what. There were many theories. Cuban exiles might have done it because they were disgruntled at JFK for not supporting them enough to overthrow Castro. Mob might have killed JFK because mob helped him get elected and after becoming president he did not return favors. Soviets, Israelis and many more possibilities. RFK was always trying to find the real killers using his informal contacts and connections. Some powerful people who probably had something to do with JFK's assassination did not like RFK continuing to pursue his private investigation into finding out who assassinated JFK and for what.

RFK had presidential ambitions. But, not in 1968. Like everyone else, he thought Johnson would go for re-election. So, RFK thought he would run in 1972. But, out of the blue, to everyone's surprise, Johnson announced that he was not going to run. So, democratic ticket was wide open. Johnson had his favorite in Herbert Humprey. There was another candidate Eugene McCarthy. RFK was startled. He could not wait any longer. He had to run for the president of USA. So, he too announced his candidacy for democratic ticket. This disappointed others because he chose to do it very late after others had made plans thinking that he was not going to.

Deciding to run for democratic ticket in 1968 probably sealed RFK's fate. As said earlier, people knew that he was still investigating JFK's death on his own. He did not believe in the hogwash of Warren report that parroted out what nobody believed about JFK's death. So, vested interests who were responsible for JFK's death were very concerned that if RFK became the president, he would go full speed and their fate might get in danger. So, it is said the powerful people started to plan a mission that would send RFK also to the place where they had sent his brother JFK for not playing well with those powerful forces.

RFK started doing well in democratic primaries. In a very short time, he got significant lead over his other democratic opponents. He had just won the all important California primary. After winning the California primary, he gave a speech to his cheering supporters at a hotel in Los Angeles. After the ceremony, he was getting out to go home. He was passing through hotel's kitchen to use the back door. Suddenly a man leapt from nowhere and pumped bullets into RFK. RFK was badly wounded. After a brief time at hospital, RFK was gone. Dead. Assassinated very much like his brother JFK was.

Well, authorities caught someone called Srihan Srihan. He was a palestinian american. They said he killed RFK because he was angry at RFK and America for supporting Israel against Palestinians. He was tried and sentenced to death. His sentence was later reduced to life. The man is still serving his time in some prison in California.

But, was RFK's killing that simple? This is the question the book tries to ask. It makes a case that Srihan was not the only person involved. Probably there were few more assassins. Because there were bullets fired at RFK from the front and back. Lone killer would not have been able to do so under normal circumstances. So, authors started investigating. They pursued conspiracy theories. Was Srihan programmed using hypnosis to act under the orders of his remote controller? This question gets very interesting when authors systematically explore the possibility using medical experts and some damning evidence found with Srihan. Srihan's note book and his mindless scribbling of hatred against RFK beg more questions if he was brain-washed. It is interesting that there was a novel and a movie based on the novel called 'Manchurian Candidate'. In the movie, same thing happens. A man with no motives is hypnotized into killing the presidential candidates. Which came first? Novel or the conspiracy theory? By the way, Manchurian Candidate was re-made recently. Good movie to watch.

Lot of questions. Few answers. RFK's death did not generate as much curiosity as his brother JFK's death did. Soon after that americans got mired in Richard Nixon scandal. Nobody paid much attention to JFK and RFK assassinations.

Good book. It could have been a great political thriller if the writing style were more captivating. It reads more like a police report than a book. Gets boring at times. Thankfully, I read it on my Kindle. So, when I got bored I just asked Kindle to read it for me.

Cheers!