Wednesday, December 29, 2004

TFTD

The holy culture of this ancient land has been spoilt by just one
impurity - intolerance, intolerance of another's success, prosperity or
progress. If you cannot help another, at least avoid doing him harm or
causing him pain. That itself is a great service. What right have you to
find fault with another or to talk evil of him? When you say that
nothing can ever happen without HIS will, why get annoyed or angry? Your
duty is to cleanse yourself and engage in your own inner purification.
That endeavour will bring you the cooperation of all good men and you
will find strength and joy welling up within you.

-- Baba

This sounds similar to

Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being
true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible, but the
mark of a fake messiah. The simplest questions are the most profound.
Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What
are you doing? Think about these once in awhile and watch your answers
change.
-- Messiah's Handbook : Reminders for the Advanced Soul


Tuesday, September 28, 2004

srImadbhAgavatam!

This Krishnashtami, I bought srImadbhAgavatam by Smt. Kamala
Subramaniam. I was always fascinated by this great epic which talks
about all the avataras of Sri Mahavishnu and the great glory of God (HIS
Vibhuti). My maternal grandmother is well versed with the Telugu version
which was written by Sri Bammera Pothana circa 1400AD (Hope I am not off
by centuries). Legend has it that Lord SriRama to whom the book is
dedicated, has written a verse in it! I have heard her chant the
nectarine glory of God whenever I had a chance. This had me interested
in reading this epic.

Second reason for reading it is the following:

I was reading the wonderful wonderful narration Krishnavatara by Sri.
K.M.Munshiji few years back. It was an absorbing story. It comes in
seven volumes. Munshiji's desire was to write about the life of Krishna
till HE reveals HIMSELF as the 'saswathadharmagoptha' (Eternal protector
of dharma) on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. But alas! The Lord had
other plans and so it aborted at seven volumes. But the seven volumes
had stoked my hunger deeply and I wanted to read the rest from the
original itself!

This particular Bhagavatam book was recommended to me by my friend Gopal
while at IITMadras. And then of late my brother Sai recommended this
highly. Its time had to come however. Finally, on the Krishna
Janmashtami day of 2004, I started my journey through this great epic
which is said to cleanse the hearts if read with sincerity.

The journey is exciting. Even as I read the glory of the God and HIS
teachings, each of those reminds me of the teachings of our beloved Lord
Sathya Sai Baba. These teachings are at the very root of our existence.
They ensure a happy life if followed scrupulously. So I start realising
the divinity of our Swamy in a wonderful way. Perhaps this is why, HE
wanted me to read this!!

I will give one example here:

Kapila vaasudeva, an Avatara of the Lord Narayana propounds the Sankhya
philosophy. HE teaches this to HIS mother. In it He exhorts her to not
give up attachment. Instead, He wants her to substitute the object of
attachment with Narayana. This drove my mind to Swamy's teaching in
which HE asks us to not give up the six vices, but then channelise them
in the direction of God. I have put this very briefly, but I will later
elaborate on it. It will not escape the discerning that there is a
remarkable similarity in both the teachings.

As I read more, I will be exploring the similarity in more detail. Come
back to read more.

Jai Sai Ram

Thursday, September 09, 2004

IITs and Higher education!

The new situation places heavy responsibilities on the IITs as well as
others in terms of post-graduate education. The IITs, as well as the
IISc, have performed a commendable task of turning out excellent MTech
and PhD students in engineering during the past four decades.

However, this number is very small compared to the faculty strength and
resources at these institutions. Of the sanctioned strength of 26,000
for various post-graduate programmes in 321 institutions, only about
8,000 are filled. This is a sorry state of affairs and calls for a quick
revaluation by the government.

Read on:

http://in.rediff.com/money/2004/sep/08guest2.htm

My comment:

Another way of addressing this issue is by IITs should strike a very
good equilibrium between research and academics and should strive to be
much more than glorified engineering colleges. We certainly need more
IITs which will address the quality engineering education aspect while
the present ones should step up their research output, both in terms of
quality and quantity and cater to the larger needs of the country.

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

MBA CATs!

But the crucial question is this: Does wizardry with numbers a good
manager make?

It is unclear why the CAT exam must make such a big deal of how fast you
can polish off sums on permutations and combinations. Sure, accounts and
finance and operations all deal with numbers. But the level of number
crunching undertaken during one's MBA has hardly any co-relation with
the actual work profile of most managers later in life. Because as you
rise higher up the ladder, success is increasingly defined not by what
you know or do, but how you manage and motivate your people.

.......... Read on at
http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2004/sep/07rash.htm

Friday, August 20, 2004

Sanskrit!

I came across these quotes on sanskrit, all from foreigners! I can't
stop wondering how many of us know this great language?

"India was the mother of our race and Sanskrit the mother of
Europe's languages."
Will Durant

"I am very sorry, but I cannot learn languages. I have tried hard, only
to find that men of ordinary capacity can learn Sanskrit in less time
that it takes me to buy a German Dictionary"
George Barnard Shaw

"The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a
wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the
Latin and more exquisitely refined than either."
Sir William Jones

"It was perfectly clear to me that I had come upon a perfect
language, a language that invokes the spirit, an inexhaustible
wellspring of spiritual inspiration. The ancients called it devavani,
the language of gods. Where did it come from? - A language infinitely
more sophisticated than any of our modern tongues."
Vyaas Houston(American Sanskrit Institute)


Saturday, August 14, 2004

I-day

Independence day is here again. It is time to remember the great struggle and sacrifice of millions who ensured that we live happily today. If you sit down and think, you will find that the history of Indian freedom struggle has no parallel in the world. Our struggle through non-violence spearheaded by Mahatma Gandhi is indeed unique. It speaks volumes about the conviction the Father of the nation had. It needs a very tough mind and loads of mental energy. It is only right to say that his contribution to our society has been forgotten by everyone. He simply has not been given the credit he deserved by historians. Of course, the story of Indian freedom struggle is more than the story of Gandhi, but, this I-day we should start with remembering Gandhi and the values he lived for. The fact that millions reposed faith in him, also implies that those believed in the same values.

Sadly it is something we have missed down the line. I have often thought why (m)any of the organizations do not even hoist the flag on these days of national importance. I wondered why the Government cannot ensure that everybody does this. Of course, we should not do it for fear of law, but because that is a way to remember the people who made sure we are not slaves any more (of course we still like being that, but that is another story). I hope we realise this sooner than later and pay our gratitude to the freedom fighters.

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Chinmayics!

Nice to see chinni doing puja and putting water in tulasi and doing
Namasakar. I think she knows the full puja courese now and she knows one
mantr bom Shiya (for Om namah Shivaya). So she can do best puja not getting confused with too many things.

Monday, July 26, 2004

Life with Chinmayee!

This was written on Feb 09 ´04, but still relevant!!

Life with Chinmayee has been a very good learning experience. Or perhaps an unlearning experience. She has been teaching a lot of things ever since she came about ten months back.

The latest of her teachings is that you should never give up. And it is precept by practice when she drives home the point. Only I have to be ready to grasp the lesson. When you are trying to achieve something, there will be many obstacles that may throw you off balance and make you fall. You should get up and have a go at it again because there is great joy in achieving what you want.

Lesson number two is that in order forget the pain of one setback, the best way out is to distract yourself or focus on something else. Very often you will find a situation where you have been felled and feeling pain. The best course is to focus on something else and momentarily forget the setback. That way you are always happy. Anyway, you will go back to the previous one if you must and you can be more careful then.

Lesson number three is that you should be uncomplicated. If you are hungry, eat; if you are thirsty, drink; if you are sleepy, sleep. There cannot be any other solution to these things. We tend to complicate our life without necessity.

Lesson number four is 'Communicate'. You must communicate to the other person about what you want. It is a fundamental necessity for human beings because we can't live without the society.

Actually, you must be gathering your vocabulary to ridicule me for preaching such simple and fundamental things. But coming as it does from my ten month old daughter, they are great lessons. I am sure there is nothing in it that is unique to my daughter. I am sure the child who was born a year ago your next door will be doing pretty much the same things -- trying to walk, keep falling and trying again; forgetting the pain of a fall by seeing a dog bark; crying for food when hungry, for sleep when feeling sleepy and demanding the parent or the grandparent to take her on a small outing so that he can see the world. Actually I often wonder that I too was like this once, perhaps trying to teach the elders around me pretty much the same things. Perhaps you will wonder that you too were like this. Then why are we a lot different today, so much so that we are trying to learn what we 'preached' even as a child? That is why I said life has been an unlearning experience with Chinmayee. We have to unlearn a lot to actually get back to that pure and unsullied state of mind. I am sure there are many more lessons lurking there in every day life of these wonderful kids.

A poem by Richard Feynman

There are the rushing waves
mountains of molecules
each stupidly minding its own business
trillions apart
yet forming white surf in unison

Ages on ages
before any eyes could see
year after year
thunderously pounding the shore as now.
For whom, for what?
On a dead planet
with no life to entertain.

Never at rest
tortured by energy
wasted prodigiously by the Sun
poured into space.
A mite makes the sea roar.

Deep in the sea
all molecules repeat
the patterns of one another
till complex new ones are formed.
They make others like themselves
and a new dance starts.
Growing in size and complexity
living things
masses of atoms
DNA, protein
dancing a pattern ever more intricate.

Out of the cradle
onto dry land
here it is
standing:
atoms with consciousness;
matter with curiosity.

Stands at the sea,
wonders at wondering: I
a universe of atoms
an atom in the Universe.

Saturday, July 24, 2004

lOkO ratihi!

Aum Sri Sai Ram


Sitting in Brindavan while Swamy was on HIS throne enjoying the Bhajans, I reflected 'Perhaps the formless Godhead won't be so much joy'! Of course that is a path yet untrodden. But while I sit and watch Bhagawan enjoying the Bhajans, I wanted that moment to freeze so that I can savour it forever.

How lucky we are that the Formless Divine principle is walking the earth as our contemporary! And luckier still, out of HIS infinite grace, HE has drawn us unto HIM. We have no knowledge of the previous Avatars of the Lord. Our idea of Them mostly comes from mythological stories we have heard about Them. But we have now an unique opportunity to see the Avatar, and experience HIM.

What is HE? There can be varied descriptions but the most apt of them all, by Swamy's own declaration is HE is love on the move. HIS love for all of us is boundless. HE once said 'lOkO ratihi' which means HE loves the whole world! HIS love is immeasurable. I will try to give a few examples of how HE expresses that Love to us.

Perhaps the greatest expression of that Love divine is the Superspeciality and General Hospitals at Prashantinilayam and Whitefield, Bangalore. These hospitals cater to the health needs of people cutting across religion, caste, creed, social stratum and whatever other discrminations our mind can conceive. A better description for these hospitals is 'Temples of Healing'. The efficiency, efficacy, results and the happiness they confer on the patient alongwith good health are astounding. The whole world is stunned that such high quality medical care could be made available entirely free of cost. When the Avatar descends, there is no scope for patch work. The peace that is to be established has to be sustained over a long period of time to come. That is why HE doesn't take short cuts. A country's future can be safe only if its citizens are honest, hardworking and sincere. And what better way to make such citizens than establish schools, colleges and Balvikas where the citizens of tomorrow are moulded with love. Bhagawan has made no secret of HIS preference for students. When HE comes for darshan everyday, HE goes straight to the students first, blesses, converses, enquires and gives HIS love. The students reciprocate the love by being ready to give their very lives to Swamy. And when a student emotionally told Swamy that he is even ready to lay down his life for HIM, Swamy was quick to correct him and said 'I want you to live for ME, not die for ME'. Can there be a better example of exchange of Love?

Swamy mentioned in a discourse after the inauguration of the Water supply project in Anantpur district that for fifty years after independence, this place has been neglected by politicians and bureaucrats alike. So HE took it upon HIMSELF to provide clean drinking water by laying about 1750KM of pipeline covering hundreds of villages. With anybody else, a project of this magnitude and dimensions is impossible, but not with Baba. This project has been successfully replicated in many other districts now. The root cause, Swamy's love for humanity - now we understand lOkO ratihi better.

Swamy's love for us constantly finds newer expressions and betters itself, if that is possible. I am saying this in the light of last one year's incidents. Bhagawan is in human casing and HE is so selfless that HE won't use HIS miraculous powers to heal HIS body. HE is approaching eight decades in this human form. Last year, HE underwent a surgery in the hip. HIS bone was relaced by a steel rod. It would have been impossible for anyone else of that age to walk about, oblivious of his own state of body. But Swamy has told us before 'HIS life is HIS message'. So, even as HE suffers excruciating pain, HE walks amidst us, with a smile, as if nothing has happened. HE continues to receive letters, HE continues to make Vibhuti, HE continues to bless, HE continues to show us that HE loves and HE cares. In the first week of May 2004, Bhagawan sustained another injury on HIS shoulder. But HE was there for everyone during the Easwaramma day celebrations. In fact, HE stood and spoke for one hour and enthralled everybody. And HE came out for darshan in a revolving chair.

What more proof do we want to recognise HIM as Love personified?

Perhaps, I can keep on writing about the various instances of HIS Love. But the sole point is the undercurrent of love that flows. We must grasp that love and treasure it, imbibe it and inculcate it unfailingly. What greater good fortune than giving that LOVE divine our love. After all, that is what HE wants and that iswhy HE took pains to descend. Let us Love HIM and recollect what HE said once:

Come one, come all, let us not be ungrateful called.
Let us faithfully serve HIM and love HIM and love HIM and love HIM.
-- Baba

Jai Sai Ram


About Me

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Love to blog. Every time I turn joyous or in extreme pain, I blog. Huge believer of 'charity begins at home'.