Spark Igniting Minds

The day was Vijayadashami. It is said any ritual on this day leads to success as it is an auspicious day in our Hindu calendar.  This was the day set for my marriage 24 years ago.  Normally wedding rituals here in Karnataka start one day before.  But mine was in the Vedic style.  So rituals had reduced. However, we two had decided to make it more simplistic and had booked a small hall. The time fixed was late morning. People and people.  Relatives, friends, well-wishers. The hall was overcrowded. I could see people sitting closely one next to other.  I was in a different plain altogether. I was happily involved in the rituals and it looked very filmy to me. It was like a life time dream in reality.  I was not considerate of what was happening, how things were managed, who have come and what difficulties others are facing and what are their feelings.  My small brother who was a seven year old was very upset seeing this crowd and he kept on cry...

Theory, theory and theory.  No scope for practical education.  Children are bored to mug up and reproduce.  All that's mattering is how much they score?  what's the percentage they get?  Teachers are not encouraging  the children to think and come out with new ideas.  Story telling, discussions and reflections are absent in the classrooms. With lecturing and listening, innovation in children is taking a back seat.  To top it all, parents are crazy to get their children into engineering and medicine careers.  Other careers are undermined. Apart from these, the  reservation policies are demotivating. With the trend of mugging up and vomiting, the scope for scientific inquiry and critical thinking is diminishing in children.  Entrepreneurial education, value education and global issues have no place in the syllabus. Is this the type of education that we have to provide for our future contributors?  Does this education help t...

We are all born as individuals on this earth, life teaches us individuality.  It makes us think as isolated entities in the universe. We become so individualistic that the wholesomeness is disintegrated.   As social beings life teaches us to live with people of our families and those with whom we interact. In reality we are a part of the big whole.    The society brings us together and economy keeps us apart.  The universe brings us together but our thinking keeps us apart.  Our thought processes acts as the biggest blocks to feel unified with the whole.  It is not easy as said.  Accepting the wholesome phenomenon is not that easy.  Many questions arise to accept this because of the material facts.  We have to make a living.  We have to earn for ourselves and our family.  We need protection, we need a house.  One can’t be judgmental saying that it is not the right thing to do.  It is the way of life. ...

   Suraj was the only child of Hari and Vani.  In their small world of three, Suraj, was an apple of the eye.  Suraj performed well in his studies and brought home the medals that he won in many competitions at school.  As they were feeling on the top of the world, a sudden mishap got them down!!  Suraj was snatched away by the God of death.  This pained their hearts.  The mother couldn't control herself.  Her grief grew more and more. She touched his belongings, felt them, embraced them and finally cried to her hearts content. Somehow Hari seemed stronger than Vani.  He got involved in his work and this slowly made him to come out of the deep agonizing pain.  Vani went to depression and became a permanent psychiatric patient. No amount of consolation and reassurance lessened her pain.  Well wishers suggested them to adopt a son of the same age.  They did not agree.  They felt that this will only increase their ...

     What's the use of making resolutions year on year when we get easily succumbed to the tantrums played by the temptress?  Why do we tend to break the promises that we make for ourselves?  Can our will power win over the temptress?  We make resolutions and follow it religiously for some days and fall back to old practices.  After few days again follow strictly for few days and give it up.  Why does it happen this way.  Our will powers are weak and it cannot hold for a long time.       70% of the Indian population is obese.  The trend of today is to reduce weight, to remove that extra paunch, to look slim and be fit, fine and healthy. There are plenty of weight reducing techniques available in the market.  Weight loss powders, medicines, the sauna belts, green coffee and green tea so on and so forth.  The list is endless.  Are they really effective?  I strongly feel that proper exercise and good di...

Have you ever faced a situation, where you have looked into price, quality, comfort, convenience and so many attributes but you bought something because you felt like buying and there was no rationale? or did you decide on something and started looking for the reasons later? What is a rationale at one point in time looks so irrelevant at other times. What we think is a rational decision can also be driven by our subconscious. Decision making process is always based on a rationale, why and what circumstances are pushing you to take a decision of your choice. You look at the alternatives available and evaluate them.  Final choice is made on the basis of which alternative pushes you to reach the desired goal.     The reason why you make a decision is more circumstantial.  It is only that which is making you move towards what you want.  After a certain time period if you look at the reasons you explicitly stated for your choice appears to be name s...

        Learning is from cradle to grave, they say.  I love to be a learner throughout my life and I don't want to keep those nuggets with myself.  I just want to share the gains of learning with others  That is the reason why I write. Writing blog posts everyday has changed my lifestyle, my thinking process and my habits.  I just want to share a few things what I have learned off late:      I have formed habits like writing, exercising and reading. These habits that I have developed lately has given me immense pleasure. I feel habits put us on the path of success.       I have become a positive thinker. In the endeavor of giving new things to my readers, my process of thinking has changed.  I have trained my mind to get only positive thoughts and I'm passing the same thoughts to my readers.        I have connected to people which has resulted in lasting friendships.  Get...

Negative thoughts would control your day to day attitude more than you realize. Turn every problem into a benefit and this leads you to a truly extraordinary life.                      To become a completely positive, happy and healthy person I would like to give a few suggestions.                                                     Identify the negative people, situations and memories that keep you stuck to negative emotions and try to overcome it.         Realize the enormous potential within you.                                                                           Identify the factors that cause...

     Life is beyond success and happiness.  In the present society, there is a continuous endeavor to achieve success and happiness.  Plenty of success and happiness mantras are evolving.  The success and happiness for each person is different.  For the huge mass, success means having a good home, a descent job, a handsome salary, an understanding wife, healthy kids and a status in the society.       Some men go beyond this.  Their thoughts are different and are not satisfied with these pleasures. After crossing different milestones of success, they still feel a void in their minds. They crave for something bigger, something meaningful and something that gives a feeling of fulfillment.  They want to belong, connect and see life differently.  They urge to have a purpose in life.  There are many men and women who have walked in this path of searching a deeper meaning to life.  Many have even sacrificed their liv...

Does Anger confer strength or weakness to an individual?? To the above question many of our reply may be yes!!.because since our childhood it has been taught to us or portrayed that an angry person is powerful, this belief system has been carried  & transmitted across generations,it has also been substantiated with a logic that it acts as a wonderful catalyst for getting work done & said little anger is necessary else things cannot happen. Is it so??we need to give pause for this logic & think how for how long an individual can be comfortable to himself or herself being angry??to this it reminds us a famous Buddhist quote  "Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing at someone else., you are the one who gets burned". The Dynamics of Anger:- Our ancient seers of yore were psychological experts in understanding the dynamics & repercussions of anger they instead not just explained about dont's of anger but also explained u...

     So much of anxiety and tension around us.  Millions and millions of people are living with depression totally stressed out with the problems of life.  Many are living with fatal diseases like cancer and Aids, fighting for life and trying to find ways and means to lead remaining lives happily.  There are also a huge mass of people striving to make both ends meet, not getting one square meal a day, having no jobs, no purpose and no means for living. There are also people who are handicapped-blind, deaf, dumb, without limbs etc trying to find happiness despite disabilities. Healthy people also have work tensions, time tensions and family tensions.  Students have academic tensions to score more and stand out in the environment that is highly competitive.       Here is a story of a cancer patient whom I met in the military hospital at Pune.  She was around thirty five years old undergoing chemotherapy.  There was not a singl...

   Most of us keep our mouth shut when things are not happening the right way.  Though we feel frustrated of the whole issue that's going on right in front of our eyes, we fail to stand up and speak as there's some inhibition which prevent us.  Some people try to speak but may not be effective.  In case of a boss employee relationship this is more conspicuous.  An employee makes himself diminutive in front of his boss. He is scared to open his mouth.  He basically doesn't speak because he lacks either in courage, power or effective communication skills.  Some employees make an effort but may not come out with power phrases.  The employee who does not open his mouth despite his conscience not permitting to follow his boss's unethical practices end up in soup.  He is in an awkward dilemma and fails to lead a fair life.  Therefore it is necessary to effectively communicate what you mean. To effectively communicate what you mean s...

College admissions were on.  I was the campus head of an institution.  Parents came with their wards to my room before the admission process was completed.  I stood up to invite one of them who entered my room.  As they entered in, they asked at what time the senior official is expected, this question was raised despite the board being displayed on my cabin as dean.  There is still a taboo among people that certain attributes like gender, age, dressing and material things give power to a person disregarding the expertise, knowledge and position.  The humbler one is they are perceived to be powerless. People have a tendency to complete their perception circle by judging on the basis of traits and appearances.  I had problems with collections from my vendors.  I told my accountant to persuade the clients by writing a mail which is 'firm and friendly' for the collection of outstanding dues.  Instead the accountant pushed me to talk to the ve...

     I strongly believe that you can always be happy in spite of problems that you face in your daily lives.  I have been talking on many aspects of personal growth not realizing the daily grunt a person experiences right from getting up till he hits the bed.      The problem of paying EMIs, tension of meeting clients, presentation to be given, guilt of not doing exercise, breakfast, meditation, problems of long  distances of commuting to the office-the list is endless.      What happens when you carry tension all day long?  You will be unnecessary a victim of mental disease.  Don't you want to take extra precautions to stay away from depression and mood disorders?  The symptoms of keeping tension with you are many.  You suffer from low energy, head aches, stomach upset, aches and pains, chest pain, rapid heart beat, insomnia, frequent colds and infections and loss of sexual desire.      I w...

      Yes it's enlightening to read the words of the experienced.   It's enlightening because the words come from the heart of an experienced man who has gone through the mill.  Why go through the same mill again when the results are before us?  Why waste effort and time reinventing the wheel?  Instead, let's learn from other's experience and take precautions not to repeat their mistakes.  Let's start from other's experience and end up with innovation. Taking a start from other's experience will accelerate progress.    f you have to prepare a cake, w e need not try different recipes, when there are grandma's recipes.  But, only thing you can do it is improve on it.  Add some more ingredients.  The cake will be better than your grandma's.  Two advantages that we get from other's experience are learning from mistakes and becoming innovative.      Experience is a master teacher.  Why should it be ...

     A mind which is not stable enough to sustain the various internal and external forces is always cluttered.  It is necessary to be strong and possess a stability in all situations.  I believe in 'sama chitta' at all times.  A strong, beautiful mind is free from all vices and clutters.  It does not get perturbed very easily.  Life is a game of challenges.  A person who has faced multiple challenges in life has a strong emotional intelligence.  He knows very well how to come out of every situation that is trying and hard.      As going gets tough, the tough get going.  Life does not offer all good things on a silver platter, but whatever it offers we should know how to make it good.  Turn every change into nuggets for improvisation.  It is in our hands how to make a bad situation turn a good opportunity for us.  Tough people do not brood over their mistakes for a long time.  They learn from t...

Today, reminded me of my childhood days.  The day went very slowly and peacefully.  The beautiful weather and immobility of limbs due to fever has helped me a lot to relax. I said to myself, yes I have slowed down.  All these years I was just whirling like the wind, my life had become so hectic that I forgot to see and enjoy the smallest things in life. All my decisions were very bold.  I was stubborn and never agreed to take a back step.  Always forward looking and believed in being engaged in multiple things all the time.  At a time, I worked on multiple projects though each project was different in its approach and was from a different sector. I had targets and goals to achieve.  I never said no to any work.   I could work for 18 hours a day. Be it the most important personal engagement, I found very little time as these were viewed as trivial. I am doing something big was my outlook. Despite, this go-get it outlook, I experienced both s...

     We don't know what'll happen to the mankind in future as everything is changing.  A day may come when it's difficult to distinguish between what's natural and what's artificial. As people are aiming to integrate physical, biological and digital worlds to make super intelligent robots, will man be happy or get bored?  Are we stepping into the world where humanity ends and robots begin?      What is the ultimate aim of humans?  Is it to make things easier for himself,  to lead a better life or should he aim at enlightenment?  As I was watching the video on fourth revolution I was caught up with these thoughts.      Let's wait and watch what happens in the future.  As great thinkers say 'Live for the present', let's stick to that.  We really can't predict what happens tomorrow and the past is gone.  Today our aim is to live the best with a purpose.  To be vibrant vital and alive, we should h...

Great poet William Shakespeare  said "The world's a stage & all the men & women are mere players they have their exits & their entrances & one man in his time plays many parts his acts being seven ages".... If we go through this lines & simply understand  that we are only mere players playing our various roles but in the process of playing our roles are we Role conscious or Soul conscious?? is the million dollar question that we need to contemplate for ourselves as many times we are only more role conscious & apart from this we are much more conscious about other's roles as  mind is only in the continuous  process of analysing critically & judging rights & wrongs of others so the soul consciousness is lost more of Ego comes into play, then what is Soul conscious? is another aspect to understood ,soul conscious is playing our roles with attributes of Love,Peace,Happiness,Harmony Infact many conflict in relationships arise because ...

When we feel exhausted with work and other stressful situations, it is quite common we look for some rest to the body and mind.  Though I have not been on any great turnout, my health was not upto the mark.  Recently was undergoing some stress which I could not define.  However, stress results in ailment.  I was used to a pain in the chest and my left arm.  As I was driving, I used to listen to FM which normally had sponsored ads on heart problems.  Everytime I heard the ad, I was feeling that I may be undergoing the same. But was not dare enough to get it tested.  I was thinking why land up in unwanted complications.  My repeated suggestions that something is happening to me resulted in uncontrolled hypertension.  At times I over observe my body if something is wrong in my body or if everything is alright.  I end up with some health concern. My ears went up when there were announcements of the health department on symptoms of deng...

 Our minds are like whirl winds picking up all dust, turning round and round.  Most of the times our minds are confused and dwell in petty unwanted thoughts.  It needs direction. The list of things one could do to make the mind fertile is pretty short. There are about three things on it.      1. Train your mind to think on many aspects that add value.          2. Do anything like reading writing, practicing to learn continuously.      3. Reflect on ideas generated by people and participate in discussions.  It's not easy enough to control this wandering mind and beat the flow of unwanted thoughts.     To train the mind, you have to practice five or six principles.      1.  Don't waste time on what you don't understand.      2.   Learn by asking questions.          3.   Learn to say Yes, No or don't know. ...

Are you looking to empower your team?  Ignite action in your team, you can bring out the best       Your job as a leader does not limit to passing instructions to your team.  You have much more to conquer.  You can only create wonders for your organization, if you fall in love with your team.        The story of every individual on this planet is to strive hard, come what may and accomplish the goal set for himself.  Listening to the team is what a good leader does.  He listens to their struggles and desires to become a people's leader and people love him for that.        The foremost thing that you can do is to appreciate their good work and give a constructive criticism. The team performs better when a proper feedback is given.      Secondly, show trust in their strength.  It is psychological for them to commit once you start believing in them.  Make the workforc...

     Before you're the person who gains experience, you're a person with unrealistic imagination and visualization!      It's heartbreaking for you, if you're an interior designer designing a space sitting in a remote place and visualizing the space.  You may not even get the accurate picture of the space unless you visit the space multiple times or make the designs at the space itself.  By doing this, you are more accurate and precise in your visualization.  You come out with a fabulous design with right choices of textures and color for the walls, cabins, pillars, carpets, blinds, lighting and furniture.      It's highly disappointing, if you're a minister and offering condolences through the media to the people who have lost their relatives in the floods.    S itting in your office, y ou cannot visualize the amount of destruction and the panic that is prevailing in the flood affected area. You may not even i...

     Happy teachers day!! my dear readers.          Today being the teachers day,let us remember some of the great teachers who have influenced the world       Aristotle , a great philosopher and scientist tutored Alaxander the great.  His philosophies are universal.  He wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues.  His philosophies co-exist with reasoning.  He proposed Aether the fifth element which is a divine substance that makes up the heavenly bodies.  Some of his quotes that has inspired millions are "At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst" "There is no genius with some some touch of madness." "The roots of education are bitter but the fruit is sweet." "It is during our darkest days we see the light.      Chanakya was an ancient Indian teacher, philosopher and economist.  His political treatise Arthashastra hol...

      All those great men with vision contributed to this progressive world.  They could do this because they were great critical thinkers.  Why can't we strive to make this world a better place?  Why can't we solve those problems that surround us?  For this all we need is to train our minds on how to think.  The thinking should be reflective and independent.     We are facing a number of problems  like climate change, illiteracy, population explosion, poverty, terrorism, depletion of natural sources, scarcity of food and water etc.,  Critical thinking is the need of the hour to solve these problems.      We collect facts and information to learn. We reproduce the same during examinations.  But by merely knowing things, are we able to face challenges and solve problems amicably? Only when we think clearly and rationally, we can solve problems.   According to the training manual on life skills, Crit...

     "It's really a magic even if you know how it's done" said Terry Pratchett.      Yes, technological advancement is magic affecting people's lives.  The multiple benefits it has brought to the mankind within a short span of time is commendable but, if it continues to progress at a faster pace, what might be the consequences?      Earlier students learnt only through teachers and books but, with the access to the internet, they are gaining insights, improving their power of imagination and are set to generate new ideas and things.  The exhaustive information in the internet is creating sparks in the young minds and learning has become more meaningful.      Businesses are no more entities of disunion. Technology has made it more collaborative.  It's bringing employees and employers together by interacting with responsibility and sharing.  It has also increased the pace of transaction.    ...