Advik Chronicles

Below are some of the events about my son Advik (Born in Jan 2017) that I would like to store somewhere. I will keep updating this.

Jun 2021

Neetika was tensed about some work. She passed by Advik and told him, that there is a lot of work to do, and I am tesnsed about the work. He said in a complete nonchalant manner 'Ek divas tu pan marnar ahes. Tension nako gheus.')

(One day even you are going to die, dont take tension about your work now)

We were all stumped. And we looked at each other about what we have just heard.

Jul 2021

I told Advik the story of Jayadrath. How Krishna covered the sun with his Sudarshan Chakra and everyone felt that it was night and then it became easy to kill Jayadrath. He was silent after the story. I sensed he needs some answers. I asked him, "Do you have any questions."

Prompt came the question "Baba, Sudarshan Charkra kasa purnaa suryala cover karnar? Tyacha madhe tar ek hole ahe." ('Sudarshan Chakra has a hole in the middle, how can it cover the sun entirely?')

7th Aug 2021

Onkar, Advik and I were playing Antakshari. Onkar sang, 'Ramaiya Vastavayya ... Maine dil tujh ko diya ... Ya'

Then came Advik's turn, 'Yada Yada his dharmasya ....'

15 Aug 2021

I told a story to Advik where the moral of the story was "Never lie".

He himself said - "Khota nahi bolaycha"

Then came a comment "Pan Baba, jarka khota nahi bolaycha tar mag khota astach kashala?"

(But dad, if we are not supposed to lie then why does 'lie' exist?)

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The Future of Future of Work

Imagine a man made entity so intelligent that it resembles human. It could have its own feelings and it could have desires of its own right. Currently we do have machines working for us. As mankind marches into the marshy land of the Artificial Intelligence, we never know at what point do we start slipping.

I am not a skeptic here. In fact I adore AI and I feel we should take that plunge.

I just want to paint a picture here. Imagine the 'Age of Ultron' comes up. And now the AI is in demanding position. However it is not yet as powerful as the Ultron. There would be protests everywhere, because AI has been denied it's basic rights. There could be organizations protecting the interests of AI.

The way we have now accepted LGBTQ, sooner we would have debate on whether this new found relationship of man and AI is can be considered sacred. And the way Indian parents today struggle to accept a homosexual relationships, the parents of future might have challenge to wonder whether this relationship makes sense at all? "How can you consummate the relationship?" Karan Johar's protege would make another version of 'Dostana' where another Kiron Kher utters the most famous dialogue "Phoolo, Phalo. Khair Chodo" What would the new hybrid entities be like? Maybe we get a chip in our brains, maybe the robots get a heart.

Amidst all this chaos, the challenge for HR would be the new found definition of D&I. Whether AI can be considered as an entity that needs equal rights to grow? "Yes Sir! They are intelligent. They work for us. But they have needs. We can't have these power sucking capitalists rip off these kind-hearted machines off their daily dose of solar panels (or whatever powers them in future)."

Or would it be that the Human Resources is no longer run by Humans and it is certain The Oracle like bot that runs organizations that are fighting for inclusion of the Human Race inside the matrix? Would the Human Resources lose the Human out of it then?

What shape would Diversity and Inclusion take then?

Nothing serious about this post. Just some Sunday read to chew on a 'What If'.

https://twitter.com/iNIMISH/status/1138839051237089280

Fill In the Gaps - Learning and Development

I wanted to write this blog since quite some time. Never found that time and space. At my work we started a concept called 'Work Out Loud' and I am using this opportunity to write this blog thanks to my compliance to the activity this week.

Now if you see the activity that I am doing out of this learning is something that I think I am fairly good at, but at the same time never found myself encouraged enough to do this. This is one category of corporate learning. The other category being, that the learning outcome is my weakness and I am not encouraged to pursue it. It might also be the case that I am highly motivated to work on my weaknesses. Or exploring the last quadrant, that I am motivated to learn more about my strengths.

Most of us find our comfort zone in whatever our strengths are and need encouragement to pursue things that are our weakness. For example, if I find 'Leadership Skills' as my strengths, I would tend to build my entire career upon it. However there is a force from the other end of the spectrum which is a compliance called "My Learning Plan" or "Associate Annual Learning Plan" which explores what are the weakness of an associate and based on the competencies required for the job profile, the weaknesses of the associate are pushed to the 'Learning Plan'.

Now since it is the associate's weakness, s/he doesn't really get motivated enough to pursue it. So the corporate structure pours in more money to ensure that they love the bitter medicine. However colours you add or make the packaging interesting, the medicine is still bitter for the employee and hence the showbiz makes little impact.

I was going through Strength Finder and I could so relate to the argument placed in that book by Tom Rath. 

Let us imagine that we are able to discover strengths of an individual and we push learning plans according to what the associate is good at rather than what are his/her weaknesses, I think the associate would love to pursue the topic further. Moreover the amount of effort needed to pull someone from 30 to 80 is much more than pushing someone from 90 to 95. The reason being very obvious, "I love this topic. Give me more."

With this, are we at risk of placing our employees in their comfort zone? Comfort zone gets created by familiarity of the topic. If I am exposed to something unfamiliar in the topic I love, I would be challenged to resolve it and hence push myself further to improve on it. With this we are rather increasing the chances of removing complacency.

"But pursuing the course is not the objective of the curriculum. We need associate's growth as the outcome from the learning. What is growth from 90 to 95? I can show higher growth from 30 to 80."

I beg to differ here. The objective of corporate learning is not growth of the employee but productivity of the employee. If there is no return on investment there is no point of that learning. There would be much higher return for the growth from 90 to 95 even though it is mere 5 points ahead. Reason being the higher you achieve in a field, the niche area you enter and hence the work style and the outcome is more unique. Now as the employee hikes further towards the peak, the organization can expect innovations of most productive forms.

Most of the annual appraisal discussions focus on "What you need to improve?" While yes a basic compliance is needed to maintain the organizational sanctity, I believe it would be more prudent to discuss on "You are really good at this. Let us see what all opportunities we can offer you to improve on it. What all can be done to hone your skill further. How can we make it niche to the extent that you are a thought leader for that niche!" 

Yes I have experienced this in my current employment. It makes huge difference to the productivity. The employee feels more productive and hence valued. The organization reaps benefit from that value and hence it becomes a win-win situation.

As a L&D personnel we tend to think about how to 'Fill In the Gaps' within my organization. For a change let us discard this thought and focus on how to fortify my organizational strengths!

How to deal with extremely boring work?

Does it ever happen to you, where you have to do some mundane work which doesn’t suit your interest? Or maybe it is a mammoth task that requires some extra time and energy. Or it can simply be work that doesn’t suit your current mood and you just have no choice of escaping it at that moment?

Doesn’t that moment of lack of productivity become really agonizing? What do you do in such times? I generally get tempted to open up Facebook / WhatsApp / Twitter / Quora. Or I get tempted to eat something at that moment. I am sure you would have some other comfort zones where the mind tends to get diverted at that moment. And the one who succumbs to that temptation, eventually lives life in the country of ‘Procrastination’ which is ruled by Queen - Petty Pleasures and where we pay frustration, agitation, guilt and embarrassment as taxes. And trust me that is The Hotel California – ‘You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave’.

So what is really happening in your mind at that time and how to steer yourself back to productivity?

Here are certain things that I do and they work for me.

Consume fluids but avoid coffee.
Such times, mind gets tempted towards eating spicy or sweet. These are the elements that further add rust on the current situation. Lack of concentration, is quite a lot of times due to lack of water in body. Drinking water (preferably warm) helps. If you can find a mug of green tea, perfect.

Take a power nap of about 10 mins.
Many a times, mind loses concentration due to lack of oxygen. This can very well be due to lack of sleep. Closing your eyes for 10 mins, taking a power nap helps rebuild concentration levels.

Pranayam.
A very effective technique to boost your concentration levels is Pranayam. Do Bhastrika Pranayam or Nadi Shodhan Pranayam. If you have done Yes!+ course then you know the Concentration Pranayam.

Meditate.
If you know how to meditate, nothing like it. Meditation relaxes your mind, boosts your focus, and enhances the capacity of your mind to receive more. And trust me, investing those 20 mins would help you way better than saying ‘Don’t have time for meditation right now’. If you really really don’t have 20 mins, spend at least 10 mins, but do meditate.

Mind in such times always seeks an easy way out. Starts pleading for things like earthquakes and fire to avoid such work. It gets tempted to get up and do a lot of other stuff. But understand that the work is your karma and you have to do it. Despite the earthquake, despite the floods somehow you will have to do that piece of work. This acceptance is very important.

Now when acceptance dawns, I would say begin work by splitting it in fragments. Don’t take up a task for more than 20 mins. By breaking the giant mountain into smaller stones we confuse our mind into believing that it is barely 10 to 20 mins task. “Let us finish it.”

Take break after every 20 mins. Take a stroll outside or simply close your eyes for 2 mins. Yes! It is not easy for many people. Closing eyes for 2 mins requires a practice. You can download some ‘Pomodoro’ type apps to facilitate that.

Never resist your mind from doing something. “Don’t open Facebook” tempts mind more than ever to open up facebook. I give my mind the option to close eyes. So I either work, or close my eyes. “Want to check whatsapp? Ok, let us close our eyes.” “But whatsapp?” “Oh yes, correct, let us first close our eyes” Then I simply observe the temptation fade out. That might take less than a minute (depends on whether yours is a meditating mind or not). Once the temptation is out, I open my eyes and start working again.

This way, I save my mind from spending energy unnecessarily, develop my mind’s capacity to observe, get multiple opportunities to relax my mind and I become more aware to correct my body posture.

When your eyes are closed, a relatively focused mind would find it attention on the breath. What is the breathing pattern? If the mind is really focused, breath is steady, calm and deeper. Simply taking the attention on breath improves the quality of mind drastically.

Do try these techniques out and let me know if any of this was helpful.

Happy Producitvity to you!

Demonize Demonetize

Nov 2016 to Dec 2016 demonetization seemed to be a buzz word. So much so that there were many elements who tried to demonize 'demonetization' and yet Modi stood victorious in most elections that followed demonetization. He promised 50 days to bring in normalcy and come Dec 30 we did see huge decline in ATM lines. So now I see the new target is the term 'Cashless'. And the same elements are trying to demonize cashlessness.

Here is my take on it.

Did you know that about 1.6 crore paid tax in the year 2012-13? That means just 1% of the nation is bearing the financial weight of the entire nation. Doesn't this ring any bell? With so many rich people around, does it make sense that only 1% of the nation's population bear the burden of the whole nation?

How do we know how much money people have? Unless we enforce cashless transactions, it would be very difficult to monitor who is hiding how much wealth? Unless of course the myth of the super powers of Rs 2000 currency are true. Every single digital transaction can be recorded.

So whether it's Paytm,  Jio Money or any mobile wallet transaction  or any Credit Card transaction,  every transaction can be recorded and accounted for. With this level of transparency, there is a good chance that people would pay the due tax.

And when so much of money comes in banking, it helps in generating good amount of credit. This in turn helps the economy. In layman terms, when banks get more money, they get more power to give more loans. Thus the supply of loans increases. This will benefit people who need loan. This will help entrepreneurs, people buying houses, cars etc.

There is an argument floating that the govt has taken this step to favor certain big industrialists. And gullibles are easily falling in that trap.

Cashless economy is a service. Credit Cards offer you a credit of 45 days. Who would pay for that? Huge expenditure is needed to maintain security of the digital transactions made, who should pay for that convenience? Nothing comes for free. Where there is a service there has to be a fee attached to it. They primarily charge the vendor and the banks. Certain vendors pass on the charge to the end user while others succumb to competition and wave off that charge. As end user you can take an informed choice of whether or not that trade off works for you.

Yes this policy of govt is going to help certain industries. But then that is true for every government policy. Should we be restricting every government decision just because it specifically favors certain industry? I think it is important for us to look into the larger picture. 

Let's Make Some Noise About Peace

We were enthralled! We were blessed! We couldn’t believe what we have just heard. It was live, right in front of our eyes. Vikram Hazra on his electric guitar and his troupe on percussion and flute together created energy in the audience that is rarely experienced. I knew that it is not just music that he is playing but also the way he is involving the audience in the music that is making the difference.

It was a collective effort of each and every soul in Yogi Sabhagriha that I felt, that one cannot have this experience by choice. One needs to be blessed to experience this musical phenomenon.

Then Vikram Hazra took the microphone in his hands and said, “Imagine the energy created by just 3500 people …” and he paused. The audience started laughing and applauding to his way of bringing the WCF topic. “Imagine 1000 such musical concerts happening in parallel. Imagine the noise of those 3.5 million people and imagine the silence of those 3.5 million people.” We held our breath for a moment.

What a vision H H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has! It is phenomenal. We generally struggle to get an audience of 20000 for any major event. He envisions creating a stage for the capacity of 20,000 people. 

How many countries participate in FIFA? We had 43 nations participating in the 2014 world cup. In which event do we have people from 155 countries flying in to celebrate humanity, to celebrate diversity and work towards the direction of world peace?

If you still haven’t understood the gravity behind what World Culture Festival is going to do, let me tell you what Guruji said in UN during the World Yoga Day last year. “The term religious tolerance is of the bygone era. 

You tolerate something that you don’t like. Now the time has come for everyone to celebrate diversity.” Imagine 3.5 million people who would assemble in Delhi carrying this vision ahead. I believe that this one thought can prove path breaking. When we start appreciating each other’s cultures, we start appreciating the goodness in every part of the world. There blossoms hope for us to be comfortable with each other, to belong to each other despite of the differences.

I wonder how come such event was not organized by UN all this while! Especially in the world ridden with terrorism, events like these sow the seeds of hope. Be a part of this hope. I urge each and every soul on the planet to be a part of this event in whatever way they can.

Let us make some noise about peace 

Jai Gurudev!

Celebrating #35YrsofArtOfLiving - Pursuing Happiness

Pursuing Happiness

- Aggremma Sethi

Happiness is not momentary, rather it is a constant. At least that is what I have come to believe since a while now. Happiness is not just an emotion, but a way of life. I consider myself very fortunate to have come across this knowledge at a young age.

It was in the summer last year that an opportunity came knocking at my door literally by chance. My parents were both associated with Art of Living. I grew up in a household where ‘kriya’ was an often  used word, Bangalore Ashram was a dream destination, and my younger sister was put to sleep not by lullabies, but rather the lyrical bhajans my mother used to sing to her. So, having already done the Art Excel course years ago, it was now time to do the Happiness course as soon as the opportunity came along, at least that is what my mother hoped for.

I on the other hand had way too many things on my mind to bother about this; after all I was finally enjoying an extended summer break with no school to go back to! But as they say all things destined to happen will find a way. A small leaflet came in with the morning paper one day, announcing an upcoming happiness program. I took the paper to my room and without noticing the leaflet was soon engrossed in the world of current affairs.

My mother happened to come to my room looking for something and spotted the piece of paper that had unwittingly fallen from within the sheets of the newspaper. She let out a gasp sure enough to pull me out of any political drama I was busy catching up with (this might be a bit more dramatic in my memory, I agree!) and went on to tell me about ‘being aware of my surroundings’.

Long story short, two days later I found myself in a Happiness Program along with my mother.

Anybody who has had the experience of attending an art of living course knows that the hours fly by way too quickly. Not only did I look forward to attending the next session, I also started feeling like the duration was a bit too short! This six day journey was as blissful as it could be, and it’s after effects were even more satisfying.

Not only had I learnt the art of calming my mind with just having control of my breath, I had also become a part of a community of happy and contented people who worked towards spreading this cheer all around. It was in this happiness course that I found a rare friendship with someone I would probably have not had the chance to meet otherwise, and an ever increasing family that formed connected by just one man, and three little words “jai guru dev”.

The continued works of seva, and regular satsangs, were all I needed to keep myself happy. I realized  that taking out just 20 minutes of my day to do ‘kriya’ not only made me more calm and stress free, but also increased my capacity of working drastically. No longer did I need an hour of afternoon naps to replenish my energy but just 20 minutes in the morning dedicated to myself were enough to keep me going the whole day and longer!

I came to realize that stressing about something does not make it happen any faster, rather keeping your head clear and working towards it does. This six day happiness program gave me all as promised on the leaflet, and a lot more. I still feel grateful every day for having been brought onto this journey.

I don’t know if it was my mother’s wishes, my teacher’s last minute efforts, or some cosmic play of both, but whatever it was, I am utterly grateful.          


Courses done: Art Excel course, Happiness program, DSN course, and Sehaj Samadhi Meditation
course.

The Man with the Plan

BKC was filled with people. I couldn’t find a spot to park my car anywhere in the radius of 200 to 300m. Finally I found a spot and walked down to the venue – MMRDA grounds. Never before had I entered a political rally. I had always despised all the politicians and I could not dig an iota of inspiration from any of them. Not until now. I was getting drawn to this magnetic place which had a different charm. A charm that was full of hope and optimism that yes we could have a rule where we can focus on development. We can have a politician who will take pride in speaking about his nation. And his pride would be so infectious that all our chests would swell by at least few inches. Most certainly his chest would swell 56 inch while talking about all the work he has done so far. And the nation rightfully measured it with cheer and joy. ‘Yes we can finally have a stable govt’ ‘We can after all see a government formed with more than 200 seats’ He had high hopes of achieving the magical figure of 272. Although it seemed far-fetched, it seemed too tempting and hence the nation believed him. Little did anyone know that 272 was not even a piece of cake for him!

Millions were walking in the direction that I was walking towards. The ground was made into a fortress by multiple checks and multiple metal detectors. Not an empty space. From the place where I got a seat, I could see the 5 storey stage as table and the politicians could be identified only by their silhouettes and body language.  His name was roaring everywhere. The cheer was louder than what Sachin gets in Wankhede (please no offence – even I am a Sachin fan). This was the cheer from all the 1B Indians who were left in utter despise about their own nation. Where politicians prospered from one scam to another and “Is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta” was a daily dinner table line.  The roaring chants of his name came out from that level of frustration. One politician after the other spoke. Ramdas Kadam, Ramdas Athavle, Uddhav Thakray etc. Finally the 4 lettered man with whom the nation was about to say the 4 lettered word to the most corrupt rule every seen by this nation, walked to the podium with the grace of a lion and left people awestruck.

People could read his plans. They could relate to him. They knew that he is not merely mocking other parties and partying on their miseries. They knew that he was addressing their miseries. He could clearly lay down his vision for the next 5 years. “Terrorism distances people while tourism brings people together” It certainly seems like a catchy line. But he just didn’t have the line. He had the plan. He has done that before. He had shown what tourism can do. “Everyone right from a tea vendor to a big 5 star hotel benefits from tourism.” And the crowd gave a loud cheer on mere reference to the word – Chai Wala. I was not surprised that a mere chai wala can dream of becoming a PM. As they say Kichad mein hi kamal khilta hai. Someone who has lived the life of a poor know what the poor wants and understands him better. In his speech he must have uttered the word “Juggi Jhopadi” at least 10 times. Yes it is a branding strategy. In marketing they call it as a recall factor. But he knows the recall factor. He knows how to connect to the Aam Aadmi. He has exemplified the maturity to handle a situation where you are subjected to insults, non-cooperation, and stiff opposition and yet you manage to pierce all that.

“Mein kehta hun, aaj hamare railways ke liye university kyon nahi hai?” And I was awestruck at the revolutionary thought. Railways easily employ 2 lakh employees. What would be the population of an average college in Mumbai, 5000? 10000? Here we are ready with 2 lakh employees. Why can’t we train them? “Train them on what” one would ask. Make better trains, better online systems, better ways to handle customers, better communications skills so that passengers can be dealt with more respect. Unfortunately in a country like India, respect is a premium product. We all crib about railways, the uncleanliness, the messy ticket booking system, the food served in pantry. Why can’t we train the railway employees to better themselves? I could see tourism resonating so well in that speech. He has plans to connect Indians from every village. I won’t be surprised to see George Clooney in ‘Incredible India’ campaign 5 years down the line.

When he became PM while sitting on a whopping 333 seats, the first thing he did was to start ‘Swatch Bharat Abhiyaan’. And he won my heart once again. Yes he has tourism in him mind. And he knows what stops a foreigner from coming to the exotic country called India. Apart from setting a culture of good hygiene, he means business. He knows the return on investment for Swatch Bharat Abhiyaan is way too much.

Now it has been more than a year since he became PM last year. But that evening is etched in my memory forever. While leaving, I had a candid chat with the cops who were standing there for security. They said “Its 9:30 pm and the crowd is still not leaving. Yesterday in Rahul Gandhi’s rally in same location, by this time even we had reached home.” I turned to my right watching ‘The Man with the Plan’ leave the stage and the huge mob making its way out through a huge dust cloud that got took birth by their mere walking.

Simplified Complications.

Rituals bring in discipline. Discipline creates a culture. Culture nurtures behavior. Behavior defines character. Character impacts your direction in life,eventually deciding success.

Rituals are a problem when they become a burden. It's a good idea to take up tiny rituals. I see so many people cribbing about rituals. They're always nice when taken in that playful spirit. And they're always trouble when completed as a mere formality.

Let me cite an example. I have started a ritual to pray for / bless any individual other than me the moment I complete my kriya and before I open my eyes. I feel that over a period of more than a year now, this tiny ritual has made a profound change in me. I find myself more caring than what I used to be.

Now this ritual needs some hook to hook on. It can be the time before I wake up, or the time when I have my tea, or the moments before I touch the water tap. Anything can become that hook for you to remember the ritual.

The 'Tiny Changes'  initiative that was started in Cts on similar lines received a huge response. So try this out and let me know about your experiences. We all want to change the static part of our life and we have immense inertia to bring about that change. This Tiny Change initiative encourages one to take up one tiny change that you would want in yourself that would eventually build the change you want in bigger picture.

In my opinion start something right now, whether or not you care about the bigger picture. And keep it smaller so that the ritual doesn't become a burden.

So, what is the new tiny ritual that you would like to start?

That One Tiny Moment of Repentance ...

“Care for a Vada-Pav?” I asked my cousin.

“I won’t have it, I have some health issues. You go ahead if you want.”

“Naah! Its OK. We can go ahead.”

“But if you want it, why are you not having it? Let’s go.”

“I just had a thought, ‘If I breathe my last this very moment, would I repent not having that Vada-Pav?’ If the answer is yes then I better go and have that Vada-Pav right now. If I know the craving holds no substance, I might as well drop it.

It would be such a pity if we were to repent in our last breath. However successful we might be, how much ever money we would have, irrespective of our education background, if there is a moment of repentance while bidding goodbye to this world, our entire lifetime would be such a waste. And I am in no capacity to waste my lifetime for a Vada-Pav. 

This may sound frivolous and funny, but it is true is most cases. 

"I wish I had seen Taj Mahal once."

"I really had to visit Kashi once."

"I so badly wanted that promotion"

"I wish my son should have been married."

"Just once if I had been to Bukaro Island."

And there is an endless list of desires that make us find it difficult to leave this body. From there stems the fear of death - one of the primary reasons for people not to be successful. And then it gets into a vicious circle of fear leading to anxiety leading to low confidence leading to less effective productivity, leading to an unsuccessful life (whatever fits in our definition of success), further leading to a state of mind of desires unfulfilled, finally connecting dots back to fear of death.

Let us try breaking this circle. If at all, we live ensuring that our last breath wont have that repentance, we would empower our self devoid of fear of death, thus leading to a new zeal to take on life and thus become successful. 

Somebody once asked Swami Vivekananda, what do find most amusing about mankind?

He said, "Everyone knows that they are going to die someday and yet they live as if they are going to live forever," The right way to live would be to imagine that if this is my last moment, how would I live it.

We find it very convenient to procrastinate our happiness to some other time because you know, somehow there is a feeling that we are going to live forever. Procrastination of happiness is a foundation stone for the pillars of fear, anxiety and sorrow to stand upon. Once Bawa (Khurshed Batliwala) said, "Have you seen the look on a dead man's face? Its as if he is shocked, 'Ho Gaya?' Till now I was living life and I knew that happiness is at the next corner and life ended before that!"

I have been to cremation ground twice in past 20 days and both the times for someone close and both the times, what amazed me is the sheer unpredictability of life. My granny active till the last moment blew us off when she peacefully closed her eyes forever. She prepared food for all, she kept herself busy till the last breath. How on earth could we imagine which moment was her last. There is absolute no guarantee on our expiry date. We have absolutely no clue on the question 'when'. I know so many instances when a patient walks on his/her two legs to the hospital and comes back on 4 shoulders. So there is absolutely no guarantee that this moment I should allow myself with the luxury of repentance. It is a truth that we find very difficult to digest.

Life is in this moment. This moment is pure, its fresh, its new, its innocent. Sri Sri always says, the past is like a dream and the future is pure fantasy. Live in this moment. Recognizing the purity and freshness of this moment can help us ensure that every moment is free of any repentance whatsoever. 

The idea of being ready to leave this body anytime can be well unsettling. It takes a higher level of maturity to bring our mind to that level. But to come to terms of reality, that thought itself is pure freedom. It is a thought that empowers us to live fully the way we want. And I believe if we have lived our life on our terms, we have lived successfully. No amount of money or education can compensate that state of mind.

Blessed are those who exhale contentment as their last breath.

Intent behind the act

The expression of being unreasonable can be endearing if it emerges from space of love, care and belongingness. Similarly even the expression of being reasonable can be alienating if it emerges from the space of ego.

I have often heard Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar say that the unsaid gets communicated better than the said. Behind words what matters the most is your intention behind them.

Aata Majhi Kharach Satakli

Last week I tweeted to Yo Yo Honey singh that I found it amusing that hysteria is equalled with heroism. Shouldn't it be the other way around? This type of hysteria is found in songs like Aata Majhi Satakli. To my surprise he made the tweet as his favourite. So whether he agrees or not is a conclusion best left to him.

However I surely intend to ask people to ponder on this a bit. What kind of films are we really encouraging ? Should getting angry and jumping like a monkey on every reason be equalled to heroism? If you really want to show action take some inspiration from James Bond. He is someone who would adjust his bow tie even while he is falling from the cliff of a mountain. That's why I love Iron Man.

What's peculiar about these action heros? They are camel composed and sure about their every action. They don't react but they respond. They use their mind more than their muscles. That's precisely why Shivaji became Maharaj. Else how is it possible for a tiny man to kill someone like Afzal Khan?

Real life heros have been cool headed and those who knew very well what their actions are getting them into. Being centered is very vital to be in the present. And when you have that kind of presence of mind is when yo can really clear a  fight gracefully.

It hurts to see movies like Kick, Chennai express, Singham making crores of Rupees. I think we certainly need some training for the Indian cinema viewers to elevate their maturity level.

Sex and Spirituality

I was once going through a knowledge sheet where H. H. Sri Sri Ravishankar (Guruji) talks about love and lust. In love he says, even an object gets life. We name our vehicle, we talk to our toys, children draw sun with a smiling face :) . And in lust he says, even human beings become objects. Such a wonderful description of why lust bothers some people? Here I am not staging a dharna against lust. I believe that every aspect of humanity has its place in the creation. And food and sex being the most common impressions among all the species, lust has definitely played one of the most significant role in the way our world is designed today.

But what does lust really give you? Osho once said, "Is it sex that gives you the pleasure? Think about it. I do not want you to give up on sex. As a matter of fact, I would say meditate on sex." While I am yet to come  to a level where I can understand how to meditate on sex, I certainly loved to contemplate on what he said next. "Think about it, is it really sex that gives you the joy or is it the moment of completion of a desire that gives you the joy?" And I tried to relate it with every desire that I had so far. Is it my degree that gave me the joy or the moment of completion of the desire to graduate? Is it Rasagulla that gives me the joy or the moment of fulfilling a craving that gives me the joy? So while attempting to understand what he said, maybe this kind of material joy is simply filling up of a crevice or a craving.

So is it possible to live that crevice-free life? Is it wrong to have lustful feelings? I think it is perfectly normal to have these feelings. In fact if you are lust free then quite possible that there is some hormonal imbalance and you need some medical check up. But in such a situation how to keep a check on that craving? Is that craving really bad? Is it wrong if I crave for sex?

I am no guru to answer such questions. And most certainly sex is the only contributing factor for the survival of life on this planet (and I can fairly assume elsewhere too). Sex was never a trouble for mankind. It is sex that ferments into lust which eventually takes form of violence that create issues where people quit their day's work and come on streets hampering law and order. It is this form of violence that has the power to destroy generations of the victim's family. Well of course I agree that not everyone is curious to rape women. But then lust in milder forms encourages forced flesh trade where millions of girls everyday are crushing their hopes, aspirations, dreams and most importantly their self respect to satiate a man's uncontrolled desire.

Again agreed, it is certainly not that easy to curb your desires. And I am not even going to encourage that here. But I would certainly like to share certain insights that I have got in my spiritual journey so far. There are certainly spiritual ways in which we can keep a check on that energy. The life force energy entering into various chakras of our body vibrates our body into different emotions and feelings. One of these feelings being lust. Breathing techniques and meditation certainly help to channelize this life force energy in and out of various chakras. And from what I understand, a person meditating for many years gets a say over the flow of this energy. Imagine where you get to decide, what emotion should you be in rather than the situation dictating your emotions. Among various simple techniques that Guruji has suggested, one is taking cold water bath. Try it out, certainly helps.

What helps further is understanding lust from a broader perspective. Certainly lust is an unfulfilled desire. Once Guruji said, every desire eventually ferments into a botheration. And similarly, an unfulfilled desire of sex dwells into lust. Where does this desire come from? From a feeling of lack, from a space of 'I don't have something'. This feeling of lack gets one into grumbling mode. Isn't it? Do we like grumbling people around us? Do you think anyone would enjoy your company if you are in a grumbling mode? Hence certainly if someone is full of lust, s/he automatically exudes repelling vibrations. And then we have youth grumbling upon, "I don't have girl friend." "I am 20 and still a virgin." Why would someone like to get close to a person with such vibes? So what is an antidote to this unfulfilled desire?

Take your mind to the time when you had complete gratitude. Maybe for your parents, your teachers, your friends who helped you in a dire situation. If you cannot find such moments, think harder. Still if there is no trace of a single moment, then we certainly have a problem that needs quick attention. When we are in the moment of gratitude, we are full. We are complete. We notice no lack. There are no desires and hence no crevices to be cemented. It is this feeling of gratitude or contentment that empowers us to get over any negative feeling. It is indeed our way to tackle the Dermentors (Yeah! Harry Potter geek). So how to be in this energy of fulfillment, contentment and gratitude? Just keep counting your blessings. Be happy about the people in your life, the events that brought smile to you, the situations that made you brave. I would certainly encourage you to experiment on this and discover if there is any relation between this act and your unfulfilled desires.

The freedom of applying simple yet profound knowledge

Ever since I did my research on ill effects of cigarettes, alcohol and drugs on human body, I started loathing these aspects of human evolution. This happened to the extent that I started feeling uncomfortable and unnatural amidst such a company.

I always cherish the time I have in a party devoid of all this. The energy of that party is altogether different. It is so pure, so very enthusiastic. You can totally sense difference in both the environment. One seems to be pulling evolution down while the other clearly uplifts the spirit. I slowly started feeling why on earth do people get into these stupid activities! Why can't they understand that is something really bad for them and in turn for the rest of the world? All these thoughts cramped up the space in my mind when I used to sit in any such parties. It became increasingly difficult to be natural and interact with the same set of people with whom I used to spend most of the time before I did my research. Educating them did not work and their mockery to my sensibility fuelled my detachment towards them. At the same time I found it difficult to come in terms to the fact that these are my old time buddies and I cannot just be away from them. I was getting anxious about my straining relationships with them. I closed my eyes and asked for help from within. Sri Sri's soft voice made a soothing tune from inside while saying, 'Accept people and situations as they are'.

I opened my eyes with a smile. Yes they drink, smoke etc, so I just need to accept them as they are. This is how they are, these are their choices. I realised that I was loosing my peace of mind just because I didn't accept the fact that my friends are smoking and drinking. I realised that the real fight was on the question 'why?' "why are they doing this?" "why can't they understand what is good for them?" "Why can't they understand that this is spoiling the whole world?" Acceptance dissolved all the WHYs. And thus dissolved all the questions taking all the frustration with it. "OK, they don't understand. Now I have to make my choices instead of getting into whys."

This may seem like a common sense to everyone. But so many times in our lives do we crib over, "why my boss did this?" "Why can't my dad can't understand my dreams?" "Why my girlfriend always does this?" "Why does he always shout on silly things? " etc. And we end up being in agony. The way Sri Sri puts up this knowledge point, it becomes very obvious and yet something that we can easily apply in our daily lives easily with full awareness.

This piece of knowledge has helped me a lot to take faster decisions, crib less and move on quickly in situations like missing flight, traffic, unhygienic toilets, angry colleagues, work burden, bus delays and almost every daily life occurrence. For me this point has become the fastest way to instant piece of mind.

This is the beauty of the way Sri Sri delivers knowledge. It comes out when we need it. And not comes out in its best answer easiest form.

Once while working I got little scared of the amount of load on me. The anxiety didn't let me even start the work. I then remembered the steps Sri Sri suggested in such situations. First move away from desk. Relax. Break the work into smaller parts and execute one part at a time. I was able to finish that work very comfortably.

I make a point to watch at least one video of Sri Sri everyday. His knowledge is inclusive, it is something you can apply anywhere and everywhere. It is simple to understand, yet it is deep enough to understand the aspect from all situations.

The ease of managing stress

I knew the answers but couldn't remember them. The clock on the right hand side corner of the screen was trickling down faster than what it ideally should have . The stakes were high. "If I am not able to clear this exam today, I must forget my annual appraisal." Every minute spent in that exam center now mattered more than ever. But if I'm not able to remember these answers, it's a total waste of time, money and effort. "Why am I not able to remember these answers now? I studied them last night only."

I came to the awareness that stress is building up. And in stress you cannot do anything, remember anything and hence you cannot act productively on anything. I realized that I now need to take care of my stress first. I removed my shoes, got into the folded legs position over the chair, and started mudra pranayam. I knew that the security camera overhead was watching me, but at that moment clearing that exam was more important to me the anything.

The night before I had barely studied for an hour. Based on that I marched out towards the exam center. My biggest strength in the morning was my Guru - Sri Sri . I prayed to him that I should clear this exam. And I knew that he would answer my prayers. So I was not entirely surprised when only the questions I studied last night popped out in front of me. I was more surprised with the fact that I was not able to recollect the answers. Sri Sri always says that stress overshadows intellect. Fortunately I retained the intellect to invest my time in the mudra pranayam. It's because of those 5 minutes that I when I opened my eyes, I started remembering certain points and from those points I remembered all the answers. I cleared that exam and got a whopping bonus because of that.

I never knew that the knowledge of mudra pranayam can bring such a significant shift in my career. Breath is such a wonderful technique to take care of stress. People always knew this that long deep breaths take care of stress to some level. But which breathing technique can take care of what kind of stress is something I learned when I came to The Art of Living. These different breathing techniques help me when I get caught by cops, when I have to ask for a long leave, when I have to go and present something crucial, when I conduct my trainings, when I wait in the traffic for hours kissing the front car's bumper, when I sit patiently to a 8 year old's questions etc.

Apart from breathing Sri Sri's timely wisdom helps big time. Once during a Satsang, as if listening to all of my mind chatter, he said "Take all the mind chatter, collect it and dump it in the sea." A devotee from the satsang group needed clarification in this, "But won't that give us instant gratification in turn leading us to inaction. We would again have to pick up the matter to work on it." "OK, why do you have to eat again and again? " "Because the food gets digested and the I need more food. But that is a different context since that process gives me energy" " Aaah! Precisely, do you get the point?" and everyone in the satsang started applauding to the simplicity of the process to get that renewed mental energy to resolve our problems.

Earlier the only option I knew to take care of stress was desserts. I knew eating something sweet would take care of my stress. Today I have a platter in front of me that contains a variety of tools to take care of my stress.

My idea of h@ppiness

"Live life as an expression of happiness and not in the pursuit of happiness" stated Bawa in my first yes plus and I was blown away by this line. I so admired the movie 'In the pursuit of happiness' But somewhere I pondered is this state of frustration, agitation mandatory on the path to success? Why am I really here on this planet if I am supposed to go through that agony?

Everyone is doing some or the other thing for happiness. Some struggle to get decent job while some struggle to excel in it. Some strain hard to have a perfect marriage while some strain harder to get out of it. Some prefer to sit in the Himalayan cave while some prefer to booze in an urban cave. Rather every activity of the human race is in the pursuit of happiness. Sri Sri goes ahead in saying that every creature on this planet craves for happiness and peace. He chuckles further, "Those who want happiness, pray. While those of who forgot to pray invented alcohol." We pray for a variety of things. But those who pray for happiness and peace know the true essence of the being.

But this prayer also comes to soothe an agitation in our minds. So does this mean that life is journey of agitation? Because this agitation doesn't settle down until either our desires get fulfilled or the desires become insignificant. And by the time this desire settles in, a new desire takes up the space of agitation and frustration.

"What do you mean by that of course I am happy many a times!" I know this thought would pop up in your mind. You would naturally tend to think that your life is not as miserable as I am putting it here. Rather let's assume that your life is not miserable at all. Are to you smiling right now? When was the last time you had a hearty laugh! When was the last time you danced like crazy and sang irrespective of whether you have audience! When we laugh without reason, dance as if there is no one around and sing as if this is the last chance to sing we get in the state of natural self. If we meditate, we can harness that natural self. With meditation we get to comprehend our natural being. And as Sri Sri says, happiness and peace is the state of our being.

So while we look for happiness somewhere outside, happiness is actually deep within us. Thus meditation is the most reliable way to remain happy. When we are deep in meditation, we get close to what our true self is. The joy in meditation can only be expressed in gratitude people have after meditation. Happiness index is scientific term to quantify how happy a person is! And the person highest on this index so far is a meditator practicing meditation since past 30 odd years. Hence Sri Sri says joy is in this moment.

Coming back to the movie 'In the pursuit of happiness' Chris Gardner finally experienced the tears of joy at the end of the movie. It took him a long struggle to finally reach that state of mind. If he were meditating, he would have been smiling all through his path of success. Being happy brings equanimity in mind and balance in our thoughts and decision. We seldom need frustration to pump our efforts to get out of a miserable situation. But we certainly need joy to get out of misery. And where is joy? With you right now. Then why live life in the pursuit of happiness? Be little smart and live life as an expression of happiness.

The notes of stress beat

He was aloof, alone, sitting with his head down in the Ram Temple at Hyderabad. One of my friends, Kiran approached him and asked him to join us for the meditation centre. As a new project we started running free meditation centres at different places with an intention to reach out to people who are yet to experience meditation. We call this club as Meditating Monday. When I initiated this project in Hyderabad in the year 2011, I had no idea about the gravity of this idea until this boy decided to follow Kiran to the room where our team was conducting the meditation. A simple 10 minutes meditation and we could see wrinkled foreheads becoming soothing smiling faces. This is quite a regular experience for us now. People do recognise the peace within them during guided meditations by Sri Sri. All the participants hugged the volunteers and expressed their intention to join us again. This boy did not seem to move. When Kiran approached him, he hugged Kiran tightly and started crying profusely. "I was planning to jump from 6th floor yesterday. Today I came here to say my last prayers." He had no idea then there exists something in this world that can take him out of his depression.

If this is the impact of a 10 minutes meditation, then imagine what the unique breathing technique of Sudarshan Kriya can do to us. "Nice, but I'm not depressed, what can AOL do to me?" Comes a natural question. If a depressed person can get life then can you imagine what it can do to you. Because of all these techniques, normal people have become super dynamic and dynamic people have become instruments of change that are bringing waves of positive energy to masses.

In 2013 after the Uttarakhand floods, a team from Mumbai took out time from their busy lives with a mission to bring some change in people. My sister was a part of that team. Together the team of 8 boys and 5 girls in 8 days reached out to more than 800 people bringing peace in their minds and hope in their hearts. How is it possible to generate this level of dynamism from the otherwise dormant crowd?

What makes us inactive is the inability to handle stress. What really happens when we cannot meet deadlines at our work place? Assuming that the deadlines are reasonable, we tend to reduce our speed in the fight between focus and relaxation. When we get relaxed we lose focus. When we get focused, we get anxious leading to stress. Breathing techniques taught at The Art of Living really increase the focus and at the same time keeps us relaxed. Thus we get more productive leaving us ample time to do all the things  that we always wanted to do.

We start with full enthusiasm to learn a guitar. But soon the guitar becomes a wall hanging. We end up spending more time on things that we have to do. Focus comes on ways to earn money and how to survive in the rat race. When we delink stress from our lives, we discover the gaps in our day which we generally miss, since they get covered in anxiety, worry, regret etc. This newly discovered time gives us the opportunity to do things which we always wanted to do. Be it preparing for an extra curricular exam, learning Krav maga or taking up some kind of social responsibility. The Art of Living through its stress management programs have brought in vibrancy amidst so many people that today are leading lives much higher than their potential.

Thanks to these techniques that today we are leading lives that we want to live and not the ones that we have to live.

An Infinite Moment Passing By

Let us take every morsel with the taste,
Let us make every move devoid of haste.

Let us revere life in every breath we inhale,
Let us surrender worries in our every passing exhale.

Let us discover music within the noise around,
A symphony of various instruments limitless & unbound.

Let us listen to everyone with care and concern,
Let empathy dawn as their life we learn.

Let us lighten our thoughts as the future worries float goodbye.
Let us loosen our fist so that past regrets heave a relieved sigh.

Let us smile back to every moment of anger and fear,
Let us fight back lethargy while keeping our intentions clear.

Let us feel divinity in every stranger we meet.
Let us experience the infinity in every moment we greet.