This short article is about something I observed , only recently.
When we find ourselves in troubled waters we often pray to God that O'Lord almighty please fix my problem.If someone lost a lot money in stocks , its only fair to ask God for some special favor , like Oh God ! somehow just create an opportunity so that I get some quick money . Or to be even more reasonable , Oh God ! Make my money lender ill . Just for this month . Then I would find a way to give him some EMIs ! . I think its all fair to ask such unusual favors from God . Because its only him who can do such things and if its not him that we can ask for such favors then who else !!
But asking for help is one thing and getting it is something else . Lets just think that what is God suppose to do . Yes , thats right what is "God suppose to do" . I mean he has certaing rules which probably even he doesnt want to break. So to say there is a method of living that he advocates and we should see if whatever we ask or do , fits in that method.
What is this method ?
So here is something that I noticed recently ::
In Hindu Mythology , in Mahabharat when the war is almost set to start , Lord Krishna gives Arjun the wisdom of life.I am no scholar but from what I have heard , the crisp summary of this wisdom is - Nishkam Karma . Meaning doing your job without worrying of the outcomes.
But what I noticed is that Lord Krishna , probably , has given this message even before delivering it through Gita.This is how ::
Before the war is to be started , the 2 princes from each side came to visit Krishna - Duryodhan ( the guy on the wrong side ) and Arjun ( the mighty warrior from the right side ).
They came to ask for help.Krishna declared even before they could ask anything , that he himself will not fight - so much so that he pledged not to pick a weapon during the whole war.
Realising this Duryodhan asked for his army to be on his side - which was granted.
Arjun asked from Krishna , the lord supreme , that Oh God , I just want you to be on my side . Thats all . To which Krishna said , fine I will be your chariot driver.
Now here is a message ( I guess ) .
Arjun , resembles "The man" . Krishna , ofcourse is the God . Whats being taught here is that :
1/ The man shouldnt ask nothing more than truth from God . That he be guided on the right path by lord almighty.
2/ God himself declines to do anything by "himself" . He says , Arjun its you who will have to pick up the weapon and fight . You will do everything . Meaning Karma . My role at maximum can be only to hold your horses.Horses here would signify the wild run of human mind.
Even before Gita was delivered , somewhere through this story the message was there that one should only ask for guidance , but be prepared to do everything by himself and not expect God to do it for you .
I guess thats where the saying comes from "God helps those who help themselves"
I will wrap this one with beautiful lines from the man of the century , Swami Vivekananda ::
When I Asked God for Strength
He Gave Me Difficult Situations to Face
When I Asked God for Brain & Brown
He Gave Me Puzzles in Life to Solve
When I Asked God for Happiness
He Showed Me Some Unhappy People
When I Asked God for Wealth
He Showed Me How to Work Hard
When I Asked God for Favors
He Showed Me Opportunities to Work Hard
When I Asked God for Peace
He Showed Me How to Help Others
God Gave Me Nothing I Wanted
He Gave Me Everything I Needed
- Swami Vivekananda
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
A backup - Safe play or spoil play ?
More often in life than not we come across situations where we have to take risks . Now , before we talk further lets define what is risk . To put it simply , risk is an act where there is possible danger of an outcome which would be undesirable , often to the extent of doing harm to the doer.
Risk can mean different to different people . It depends on what kind of person we are and what kind of setup we have in life .
I primarily see it defined by two gauges ::
1/ Personality of the doer
2/ Circumstances of the doer
I feel its more for the first reason than the second that something might count as a risk to someone , while it might not to someone else. This is because after all , its our personality that defines us the kind of situation we are in.
Some of the people who are laid off , take the situation as a depressing act and just sit on the whole thing , sulking . While some others actually see it as an opportunity to do something of their own / go for higher study / take vacation etc .
Finding yourself in troubled waters and dealing with it is one thing , but actually doing something on purpose for bigger benefits and putting existing "safe" setup on line is something different.
When we do such things , the one thought that flashes through our mind is "what if it doesn't work as planned" . The obvious answer is "lets have some back up".
We do this every day . With every other thing . With every other setup .
Students give exams , not just one but many . Even those which they wont like to join if given a chance . The idea is to have a back up . Parents educate children to take both Maths and Biology - just in case if he has to try in both medical and engineering ! When people are in relationships , they want a back up in some form . They wont want to lose all the ends and hold one . Its to say - don't put all eggs in one basket . When someone wants to start his own company / setup - the one thing that comes as hurdle is that he would want his current job to continue as well . Obviously that's not simultaneously possible.
What we do and what we choose , is driven by our own personalities .
But its worthwhile to stop and ponder , if actually keeping a backup is good or is it a road to failure.
When one person creates a "backup" , he has to let go of some "energy" into his backup . Thus diluting the "effort" in the "act of risk" .
How often we hear religious scholars say that one must leave everything behind if he/she were to do soul search / god search . Not sure if that's true or not , but at least what they are trying to advocate is that one has to put his / her whole 100% into the effort . There are no two ways about it.
In relationships , lets say someone has a love relationship going on with someone and soon he / she finds himself inclined to someone else also . Now , one must choose between the two if he/she were to even give himself/herself a "chance" to succeed with either of the two . If one chooses to have a "backup" or a contingency plan , chances are high that none shall work out. To say , one should not be sailing in two boats.
This fear of failure , often leads us to have these back ups , which in some way or the other dilute the whole effort of ones act . Sometimes the margins are so tight that even slightest of dilution is sufficient enough to make the whole thing fail. Ironically , after the failure , we only reestablish to ourselves that it was good that we had backup because "see now its failed" , failing to understand that it failed because of the very backup , probably .
Not that having backup is bad all the time , but one should be cautious when choosing to have a backup . That is because one might be setting up the stage for failure in doing so .
How many of the great achievers we see were actually created by circumstances that left them with no back ups . There was only one way they could go and there own genius took them to such heights . Pushed to the corner they had no option but to fight it out relentlessly - in just one direction. If they had a "safe option" and they chose it then they wont be there where they are.
The other achievers are those who had the option but they just didn't take it.
True love , true success , true "moksha" - cannot be achieved without a 100% effort. Creating a backup will dilute the effort - sufficiently enough to make the effort fail.
Risk can mean different to different people . It depends on what kind of person we are and what kind of setup we have in life .
I primarily see it defined by two gauges ::
1/ Personality of the doer
2/ Circumstances of the doer
I feel its more for the first reason than the second that something might count as a risk to someone , while it might not to someone else. This is because after all , its our personality that defines us the kind of situation we are in.
Some of the people who are laid off , take the situation as a depressing act and just sit on the whole thing , sulking . While some others actually see it as an opportunity to do something of their own / go for higher study / take vacation etc .
Finding yourself in troubled waters and dealing with it is one thing , but actually doing something on purpose for bigger benefits and putting existing "safe" setup on line is something different.
When we do such things , the one thought that flashes through our mind is "what if it doesn't work as planned" . The obvious answer is "lets have some back up".
We do this every day . With every other thing . With every other setup .
Students give exams , not just one but many . Even those which they wont like to join if given a chance . The idea is to have a back up . Parents educate children to take both Maths and Biology - just in case if he has to try in both medical and engineering ! When people are in relationships , they want a back up in some form . They wont want to lose all the ends and hold one . Its to say - don't put all eggs in one basket . When someone wants to start his own company / setup - the one thing that comes as hurdle is that he would want his current job to continue as well . Obviously that's not simultaneously possible.
What we do and what we choose , is driven by our own personalities .
But its worthwhile to stop and ponder , if actually keeping a backup is good or is it a road to failure.
When one person creates a "backup" , he has to let go of some "energy" into his backup . Thus diluting the "effort" in the "act of risk" .
How often we hear religious scholars say that one must leave everything behind if he/she were to do soul search / god search . Not sure if that's true or not , but at least what they are trying to advocate is that one has to put his / her whole 100% into the effort . There are no two ways about it.
In relationships , lets say someone has a love relationship going on with someone and soon he / she finds himself inclined to someone else also . Now , one must choose between the two if he/she were to even give himself/herself a "chance" to succeed with either of the two . If one chooses to have a "backup" or a contingency plan , chances are high that none shall work out. To say , one should not be sailing in two boats.
This fear of failure , often leads us to have these back ups , which in some way or the other dilute the whole effort of ones act . Sometimes the margins are so tight that even slightest of dilution is sufficient enough to make the whole thing fail. Ironically , after the failure , we only reestablish to ourselves that it was good that we had backup because "see now its failed" , failing to understand that it failed because of the very backup , probably .
Not that having backup is bad all the time , but one should be cautious when choosing to have a backup . That is because one might be setting up the stage for failure in doing so .
How many of the great achievers we see were actually created by circumstances that left them with no back ups . There was only one way they could go and there own genius took them to such heights . Pushed to the corner they had no option but to fight it out relentlessly - in just one direction. If they had a "safe option" and they chose it then they wont be there where they are.
The other achievers are those who had the option but they just didn't take it.
True love , true success , true "moksha" - cannot be achieved without a 100% effort. Creating a backup will dilute the effort - sufficiently enough to make the effort fail.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Hindi Bhajans
My favorite bhajans ::
( Click on the bhajan name to play it )
Anup Jalota ::
=========
Hari Om Sharan ::
============
Misc ::
====
( Click on the bhajan name to play it )
Anup Jalota ::
=========
- Aise laagi lagan
- Itna to karna swami
- Mayyaa mori main nahin maakhan khayo : Part I
- Mayyaa mori main nahin maakhan khayo : Part II
- Hanuman Ashtak
- Jag main sunder hain do naam
- Tere man mein Ram
Hari Om Sharan ::
============
Misc ::
====
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Right or Wrong - Choices we make
There is just one rule that everyone ( and I mean EVERY - ONE of us humans ) follows . You can call it a rule or you can call it a practice - whatever you call it , its something that everyone of us does everyday and almost every other moment.
What is it.
It is - Making a decision.
We make decisions every other second we live.Its these decisions that define what actually we are.And its these decisions that actually are responsible for what we are going to be.
So , if its decision that defines what I am and its true that every one makes decision that why am I not same as everyone . I mean I doing the same thing as Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela , but I am no way closer to these people.
Of course , you would say , thats because I didnt make the same "kind" of decisions as they did. True.
So whats the criteria of making a decision . Very often we hear "that was a bad decision" or "that is a good decision".
What is "Bad" and what is "Good" . How does one make a choice of good decision from bad decision .
I am going to talk about making this choice at larger level.That means I am not going to discuss , whether choosing Cheese Pizza over Hamburger is good decision or not.
Lets start to ponder , how it all started . Well , initially there was earth and there were creatures.Then came humans.
There was no society , no language , no nothing.Actually , there was no God and there was no knowledge.Let me make my point clear.
What is God . Its a concept that is fed to us when we are very young , by our elders ( or society ) . How did they got , is again from their elders.And so on.So at least , these days we are born with some pre-concieved notions.I will come back to this later with more clarity of what my point is.
Same is true for knowledge also.What is knowledge. Dictionary.com defines it as "acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study".
But the bigger question - whats the big deal . I mean being knowledgeable - where does it fit in the big picture . I will come back to this also in a moment.
So , we were saying that there were no concepts initially . No concept of God or for that matter anything else. Man ( humans ) didnt care if it was Sun which running around earth or was it otherwise . So long he could hunt a deer and eat and sleep and mate , it would'nt bother him .
Time went by and man became what we are today , while the rest of nature remained as they were . No we are not considering evolution/adaptation here because that is something even humans did ( check you behind , you wont find a tail ).
Today we consider ourselves as Humans - something great (?!)
and then there are the others - Animals ( land/water/air)
We live our whole life meeting the "goals" we define ourselves . Making choices ( decisions ) to meet them . Catagorizing our goals as "the big deal" and defending our choices as "right" ( or wrong for that matter).
I believe , the following ::
" Human is just a form of animals . Just like others . And I am not talking out of science text book here , rather I am making a statement that there is absolute no differentiation for humans."
To make my point ::
1/ Animals eat/mate/breathe - live - and die . So does man .
2/ Animals have the tendency to dominate and to be a pack leader , unless otherwise controlled by natural laws . Thats true with man also.
3/ Every other animal has been blessed with a unique feature/trait.Chamaleon has skin colour , Eagle has eyesight , Cheetah has speed , Whale has size -- Guess what ... Humans have brains . Big deal ? I dont think so . They are all organs .
We are the unfortunate ones that our unique feature is such that it can actually take control over other senses and make us believe something which might not be reality.
We came up with the ideas - to explain everything around . For the inexplainable we probably said - God . I am not debating here that there is God or not . ( But really ... do you really think that if you wouldnt believe , then He wouldnt be there . )
Where do we fit in the big picture . Oh , let me say again . Where do WE fit in the BIGG picuture .
I come from India , which in Asia , which is on earth . They say there can be 10,000 earths inside Sun - thats how but Sun is.Not to mention that Sun is regarded as a medium size star and the bigger ones can take as many 1,00,000 suns or more.And there are zillions and zillions of such big stars in our galaxy . And there are probably zillions and zillions of such galaxies . Oh by the way , I am 6ft tall and would probably live for 60-70 odd years . Making a difference , I would think . But really , what difference and what scale are we talking here.
So my point is that we - the humans - created ideas blindfold around us and are living in our own world - but end of the day neither our this approach is of any real significance , nor we are going to have a different mark in history ( as compared to any other animal ) - not even a zilch .
This concept of knowledge and being knowledgable is actually our own created myth . Its like I was getting bored , so lets play tambola. You can be a looser in the game , but does it really matter . The moment you are out my house or game , you are as good as anybody .
So , to define a decision as "right or wrong" , one should keep the bigger perspective in mind .
My philosophy is that animals are still living by the rules God/nature created for them . And we are no different . So lets not pretend and make choices based on something WE created. Make decesions that animals will make . Live life like animals will . Let nature balance the things .
The moment you realize that 300 years from now noone cares about you ( and even if someone does , how does it matter - you are dead anyway !) , you will see that this pulling and pushing is worthless.
Be content.Kill only to eat not for pleasure ( cutting the crop is also killing . )
If possible live in a natural way . The bogus claims of society that you are nobody are useless because sometime from now , we all are nobody.
What is it.
It is - Making a decision.
We make decisions every other second we live.Its these decisions that define what actually we are.And its these decisions that actually are responsible for what we are going to be.
So , if its decision that defines what I am and its true that every one makes decision that why am I not same as everyone . I mean I doing the same thing as Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela , but I am no way closer to these people.
Of course , you would say , thats because I didnt make the same "kind" of decisions as they did. True.
So whats the criteria of making a decision . Very often we hear "that was a bad decision" or "that is a good decision".
What is "Bad" and what is "Good" . How does one make a choice of good decision from bad decision .
I am going to talk about making this choice at larger level.That means I am not going to discuss , whether choosing Cheese Pizza over Hamburger is good decision or not.
Lets start to ponder , how it all started . Well , initially there was earth and there were creatures.Then came humans.
There was no society , no language , no nothing.Actually , there was no God and there was no knowledge.Let me make my point clear.
What is God . Its a concept that is fed to us when we are very young , by our elders ( or society ) . How did they got , is again from their elders.And so on.So at least , these days we are born with some pre-concieved notions.I will come back to this later with more clarity of what my point is.
Same is true for knowledge also.What is knowledge. Dictionary.com defines it as "acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study".
But the bigger question - whats the big deal . I mean being knowledgeable - where does it fit in the big picture . I will come back to this also in a moment.
So , we were saying that there were no concepts initially . No concept of God or for that matter anything else. Man ( humans ) didnt care if it was Sun which running around earth or was it otherwise . So long he could hunt a deer and eat and sleep and mate , it would'nt bother him .
Time went by and man became what we are today , while the rest of nature remained as they were . No we are not considering evolution/adaptation here because that is something even humans did ( check you behind , you wont find a tail ).
Today we consider ourselves as Humans - something great (?!)
and then there are the others - Animals ( land/water/air)
We live our whole life meeting the "goals" we define ourselves . Making choices ( decisions ) to meet them . Catagorizing our goals as "the big deal" and defending our choices as "right" ( or wrong for that matter).
I believe , the following ::
" Human is just a form of animals . Just like others . And I am not talking out of science text book here , rather I am making a statement that there is absolute no differentiation for humans."
To make my point ::
1/ Animals eat/mate/breathe - live - and die . So does man .
2/ Animals have the tendency to dominate and to be a pack leader , unless otherwise controlled by natural laws . Thats true with man also.
3/ Every other animal has been blessed with a unique feature/trait.Chamaleon has skin colour , Eagle has eyesight , Cheetah has speed , Whale has size -- Guess what ... Humans have brains . Big deal ? I dont think so . They are all organs .
We are the unfortunate ones that our unique feature is such that it can actually take control over other senses and make us believe something which might not be reality.
We came up with the ideas - to explain everything around . For the inexplainable we probably said - God . I am not debating here that there is God or not . ( But really ... do you really think that if you wouldnt believe , then He wouldnt be there . )
Where do we fit in the big picture . Oh , let me say again . Where do WE fit in the BIGG picuture .
I come from India , which in Asia , which is on earth . They say there can be 10,000 earths inside Sun - thats how but Sun is.Not to mention that Sun is regarded as a medium size star and the bigger ones can take as many 1,00,000 suns or more.And there are zillions and zillions of such big stars in our galaxy . And there are probably zillions and zillions of such galaxies . Oh by the way , I am 6ft tall and would probably live for 60-70 odd years . Making a difference , I would think . But really , what difference and what scale are we talking here.
So my point is that we - the humans - created ideas blindfold around us and are living in our own world - but end of the day neither our this approach is of any real significance , nor we are going to have a different mark in history ( as compared to any other animal ) - not even a zilch .
This concept of knowledge and being knowledgable is actually our own created myth . Its like I was getting bored , so lets play tambola. You can be a looser in the game , but does it really matter . The moment you are out my house or game , you are as good as anybody .
So , to define a decision as "right or wrong" , one should keep the bigger perspective in mind .
My philosophy is that animals are still living by the rules God/nature created for them . And we are no different . So lets not pretend and make choices based on something WE created. Make decesions that animals will make . Live life like animals will . Let nature balance the things .
The moment you realize that 300 years from now noone cares about you ( and even if someone does , how does it matter - you are dead anyway !) , you will see that this pulling and pushing is worthless.
Be content.Kill only to eat not for pleasure ( cutting the crop is also killing . )
If possible live in a natural way . The bogus claims of society that you are nobody are useless because sometime from now , we all are nobody.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Success
As per dictionary.com , success is defined as ::
Thats actually very interesting.I like (1) more than (2) , although neither of them actually come close to what I define as success.
I think a much better definition is "achievement of one's aim or goal".
So we got a node :: "Goal".
Lets dig more to see if there are more nodes involved.
Sometimes , its not the goal that is of importance , but rather the path.The journey that one makes to reach a destination is sometimes more important than the destination.
For eg , one might say , gaining wealth is success . Ok. But gaining wealth at all cost ? May be not . One might say that its about gaining wealth the honest way.
So what am I coming to . Well , I think I found another node here :: "Path"
So to connect the two nodes , we might say , achieving some "goal" through a specific "path" is success.
Lets dig more.
What might be important to you might not be important to others.Like for me , I really wish that I was the legendary musician Kishore Kumar.I am not.Still I might be called successful by a set of people , while others might see me as a total failure, while I might consider myself in the middle of road to success ( or failure for that matter ).
Alexander thought he was successful and the very next moment he realized that he wasnt.What changed in two moments ? I guess its the wish.Its the desire.The desire of the very goal he set for himself.One moment it was something and the other it was something else.
Hey wait a sec , I think I got another node here :: "Desire"
Lets connect the nodes again.
Success is achieving "self-desired" "goals" , through a "self-desired" path.
( Some might argue that walking on a chosen path is itself a goal , but I like to keep goal and path as two seperate guys)
So , to summarize , success is something very personal.To be called successful , you have to be successful in your own right.Caliberating someone else by your own scale is as wrong as caliberating your own success by others.It is this mistake that often people do and sometime later in life they realize they are discontent with what they achieved.
To be successful , define your own goals and path to achieve them.Atleast you will be satisfied that you started in the direction you wanted to.
| 1. | the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors. |
| 2. | the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like. |
Thats actually very interesting.I like (1) more than (2) , although neither of them actually come close to what I define as success.
I think a much better definition is "achievement of one's aim or goal".
So we got a node :: "Goal".
Lets dig more to see if there are more nodes involved.
Sometimes , its not the goal that is of importance , but rather the path.The journey that one makes to reach a destination is sometimes more important than the destination.
For eg , one might say , gaining wealth is success . Ok. But gaining wealth at all cost ? May be not . One might say that its about gaining wealth the honest way.
So what am I coming to . Well , I think I found another node here :: "Path"
So to connect the two nodes , we might say , achieving some "goal" through a specific "path" is success.
Lets dig more.
What might be important to you might not be important to others.Like for me , I really wish that I was the legendary musician Kishore Kumar.I am not.Still I might be called successful by a set of people , while others might see me as a total failure, while I might consider myself in the middle of road to success ( or failure for that matter ).
Alexander thought he was successful and the very next moment he realized that he wasnt.What changed in two moments ? I guess its the wish.Its the desire.The desire of the very goal he set for himself.One moment it was something and the other it was something else.
Hey wait a sec , I think I got another node here :: "Desire"
Lets connect the nodes again.
Success is achieving "self-desired" "goals" , through a "self-desired" path.
( Some might argue that walking on a chosen path is itself a goal , but I like to keep goal and path as two seperate guys)
So , to summarize , success is something very personal.To be called successful , you have to be successful in your own right.Caliberating someone else by your own scale is as wrong as caliberating your own success by others.It is this mistake that often people do and sometime later in life they realize they are discontent with what they achieved.
To be successful , define your own goals and path to achieve them.Atleast you will be satisfied that you started in the direction you wanted to.
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