Answer in the comments section....
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
shraddha and saburi
For 21 days, while doing sai satcharitra,the message of baba over and over was to do your work and leave the rest to god. Also, there were many places where baba advises the devotees to have faith in him and above all have patience. However, books like satcharitra don't describe in detail, the agony, the quietness, the humanity of bhaktas, instead they go over the success stories...it is not bad, but the expectations of the reader go way up...you feel, GOD is just waiting to hand your bounty the next day after satcharitra parayan...that doesn't happen...like hemadripanth studied gurucharitra for almost 7 years, before he gets to hear about the wonderful story about baba from shama...how stupid of me to expect the world to be at my door step after my single parayan? Also, baba never said, he would change things instantly, instead he always mentioned...faith and patience...then how on earth could i imagine that things would be different? I know, I know..my own belief that my good work needs to be noticed and rewarded...almost instantaneously and spontaneously...this is america, we are talking man...the land of capatalism, the place where dreams are made or thrown out in days...unfortunately, it isn't like that where i work...it is the opposite...life is more of an escalator..all you need to do is to learn to stand straight and it will take u where u have to go...boring, ain't it? yeah, sounds boring...but what else can you do? Move into a faster and more exciting lane...I wish i could do that...
I digress again, but anyways, after the parayan, the path has not been filled with roses, instead it has become more tougher than ever before...what does this mean?It means baba says, he is with you and you need to be more faithful and patient...Everyone will say, we love you baba and we are your followers, but only when the going gets tough, the real faith comes out...I'm sure i'm not that qualified to comment on my love to GOD and to BABA, but may be out of some pure karma, GOD has decided to let me remember these acche wachan...
God, take mercy on us and let me not lose my guide...
Omsairam
Friday, February 26, 2010
Its testing time again
It was night and i was scared,
I expected the daylight to come in,
pierce the darkness and give me light,
but, yet that was not to be.
A night that was to be succeeded by dawn never happened,
a wait that was supposed end never ended,
a cold that was to be dispersed with warmth didn't materialize,
And thats how i had to be.
Life sometimes never gives us what we want,
A god supposed to answer turns a deaf ear,
A destiny expected to help us tests our patience,
And what do we mere mortals do?
Enough of patience i say,
Enough of suffering,
Time to raise the cries of rebellion,
Time to face the destiny.
I expected the daylight to come in,
pierce the darkness and give me light,
but, yet that was not to be.
A night that was to be succeeded by dawn never happened,
a wait that was supposed end never ended,
a cold that was to be dispersed with warmth didn't materialize,
And thats how i had to be.
Life sometimes never gives us what we want,
A god supposed to answer turns a deaf ear,
A destiny expected to help us tests our patience,
And what do we mere mortals do?
Enough of patience i say,
Enough of suffering,
Time to raise the cries of rebellion,
Time to face the destiny.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Shaan v/s shankar lessons learned
I happened to watch sangeeth ka maha muquabla after insistence from my MIL and i started to look at casually..Apparently, there was a tiff between shaan and shankar mahadevan and she wanted to see, which side i would be on? After watching the whole thing, i wonder why should she even ask this question as it was pretty straight forward? Does this mean, ahem, ahem?? Ignore the ahem, if u cannot understand...
The story goes as this:
Sangeet ka maha muqauable has 6 teams participating...Each team has a mentor who is a singer/music director and a team of participants who have been selected from talent shows where they have won. The competition is like cricket, where each team gets to play with the other team, challenge individual participants, duet round, medley round etc...and the rest of mentors from each team rate each other, along with the live audience. Apart from the participants, the mentors can also sing songs, the catch being that when a mentor sings, the audience alone gets to vote. The rest of the mentors cannot vote them.
In this particular match between shaan and shanker, there happened to many controversies like:
a) shankar singing 2 songs out of total 3 songs for his team (plus an overshadowing performance in the medley).
b) Shankar trying to convince the judges when one of his team members spoiled the duet round.
Obviously, point(b) has to do with ethics and let us not go there, since it digresses our main topic which is around management lessons learned.
On the whole, shankar's team has won the game, albeit narrowly. But, what can be said of his team's contestants? Have they gained confidence? Or have they lost confidence since their mentor didn't even trust them for the "BIG" MOMENT. Shankar wanted to win the match so badly, that he decided to sing himself..This already makes a big dent in the confidence of his team. Also, shankar's ego made him not realize that this is not his big venue..An acclaimed singer and music director like himself, should be here not to *WIN*, but to mentor and make sure that his participants become *BETTER*...Besides, him singing there and winning the match doesn't increase his self respect, but makes him look childish and egoistic. Shankar should let his competitive spirit unleash itself with players of his or above his stature. He should focus on why rahman could win an oscar and why not he himself have a stake at it. He can try to outdo rehman...When the sky is the limit, why did shankar look down and stoop down? On the whole, the mentoring style of shankar sucked big time and inspite of winning, many people were repulsed by his "ME FIRST" attitude.
A word about shaan...brillaint and simply superb work..Agreed that he lost his cool and was angry, but that made him look more human in my eyes...His anger in a way must have conveyed to his team that there might be a big guy out there who can possibly affect my career, but i will not bow down..That is an attitude that must have meant a lot to his team...That their mentor wouldn't be afraid of putting them first ahead of his own career....Second thing that i liked was that shaan didn't even attempt to go and sing himself when shankar was doling out song after another. Shaan's team was 4 points behind and he could easily justify that if the other team is doing it and when his team really needs it, he can go and save the day. But, he didn't...inspite of trailing an almost near impossible margin, he didn't let the faith on his team go down...He backed them and gave them the confidence to go and boldy face shankar, the heavy weight (literally as well). In the medley round, shaan didn't hog the limelight, he was more like a thread which was gluing the rest of the performances. On the whole, the contenstants in shaan's team learnt a lot and are probably better equipped to face the future than they were when they came to this show.
As i was personally watching the show, some of my fundamental assumptions around management were shattered...Team dynamics mean a lot and as a manager, you have greater responsibility and courage...Team looks upto you and it is you who shouldn't let them down. A good manager is one who just doesn't deliver the results, but actually makes the people working under him better prepared to face the challenges, regardless of their talent.
Shaan, my respect for you has increased manifold after watching this show..You have shown great deal of courage standing up for your team and such good karma will not go unnoticed. Shankarji, if you happen to read my blog, then well...there is nothing wrong with being competitive, but know whom to compete with...
And finally a word to myself...use this as a lesson for your betterment and never make your egoism make you stoop down.
The story goes as this:
Sangeet ka maha muqauable has 6 teams participating...Each team has a mentor who is a singer/music director and a team of participants who have been selected from talent shows where they have won. The competition is like cricket, where each team gets to play with the other team, challenge individual participants, duet round, medley round etc...and the rest of mentors from each team rate each other, along with the live audience. Apart from the participants, the mentors can also sing songs, the catch being that when a mentor sings, the audience alone gets to vote. The rest of the mentors cannot vote them.
In this particular match between shaan and shanker, there happened to many controversies like:
a) shankar singing 2 songs out of total 3 songs for his team (plus an overshadowing performance in the medley).
b) Shankar trying to convince the judges when one of his team members spoiled the duet round.
Obviously, point(b) has to do with ethics and let us not go there, since it digresses our main topic which is around management lessons learned.
On the whole, shankar's team has won the game, albeit narrowly. But, what can be said of his team's contestants? Have they gained confidence? Or have they lost confidence since their mentor didn't even trust them for the "BIG" MOMENT. Shankar wanted to win the match so badly, that he decided to sing himself..This already makes a big dent in the confidence of his team. Also, shankar's ego made him not realize that this is not his big venue..An acclaimed singer and music director like himself, should be here not to *WIN*, but to mentor and make sure that his participants become *BETTER*...Besides, him singing there and winning the match doesn't increase his self respect, but makes him look childish and egoistic. Shankar should let his competitive spirit unleash itself with players of his or above his stature. He should focus on why rahman could win an oscar and why not he himself have a stake at it. He can try to outdo rehman...When the sky is the limit, why did shankar look down and stoop down? On the whole, the mentoring style of shankar sucked big time and inspite of winning, many people were repulsed by his "ME FIRST" attitude.
A word about shaan...brillaint and simply superb work..Agreed that he lost his cool and was angry, but that made him look more human in my eyes...His anger in a way must have conveyed to his team that there might be a big guy out there who can possibly affect my career, but i will not bow down..That is an attitude that must have meant a lot to his team...That their mentor wouldn't be afraid of putting them first ahead of his own career....Second thing that i liked was that shaan didn't even attempt to go and sing himself when shankar was doling out song after another. Shaan's team was 4 points behind and he could easily justify that if the other team is doing it and when his team really needs it, he can go and save the day. But, he didn't...inspite of trailing an almost near impossible margin, he didn't let the faith on his team go down...He backed them and gave them the confidence to go and boldy face shankar, the heavy weight (literally as well). In the medley round, shaan didn't hog the limelight, he was more like a thread which was gluing the rest of the performances. On the whole, the contenstants in shaan's team learnt a lot and are probably better equipped to face the future than they were when they came to this show.
As i was personally watching the show, some of my fundamental assumptions around management were shattered...Team dynamics mean a lot and as a manager, you have greater responsibility and courage...Team looks upto you and it is you who shouldn't let them down. A good manager is one who just doesn't deliver the results, but actually makes the people working under him better prepared to face the challenges, regardless of their talent.
Shaan, my respect for you has increased manifold after watching this show..You have shown great deal of courage standing up for your team and such good karma will not go unnoticed. Shankarji, if you happen to read my blog, then well...there is nothing wrong with being competitive, but know whom to compete with...
And finally a word to myself...use this as a lesson for your betterment and never make your egoism make you stoop down.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Hell of a life??
why do they say i'm having hell of a life? How did hell become such a positive word? And why am i thinking about blogging on this...
Anyways, after a little distraction, i want to get back to my main topic which i had in mind to write this blog: what was i like when i was 17 years old and what has changed? Almost nearing thirty, it is closer to impossible to write what i used to feel like, but i will give a shot anyway. I remember clearly that i read autobiography of a yogi and that book inspired me to dream of the gorgeous himalayas, lotus legged postures, intense meditation sessions, guidance of a wonderful guru....i remember the summer of 96, after my first year exams, i had read this book...in the following year, i remember reading sai charitra, datta charitra and some devotional books along the way...I was still bothered about my exams, acing them, getting into engineering, but that was ephemeral...most of the time, my mind was on spiritual things...the long rides on my bicycle to temples, my childish attempts at meditation, my chats with friends, late night studies, i miss most of it..the most important part of life was not lost in constant planning, scheming and worrying...may be thats why they say, life is pleasant when u have no responsibilities, no money and no one to care for...
I have to admit that those days cannot be gained back and any attempts to get them back would be absolute foolishness...After all, who wants to see a grown up man pretending to be a college kid? may be aamir can pull it off, but not me :-)...So, the best alternative i have to see whether parts of those life like taking life in stride, living for today and not tomorrow, believing in divine providence can be something to start with...
Finally, i get the feeling that may be i'm one of those few people who are blessed in living in past and future, but ignoring the present? is that good? is that bad? who cares about what you think? I don't live in the present anyways
The story of a man
"There was this man...he had everything, and nothing to worry about...yet, his mind was anxious as he used to worry too much...At times, he would drop off everything and at times he would carry over the burden"...As i was reading this, my wife couldn't stop giggling, since it seemed to be a rather accurate description of the person reading it...I was in a fix, should i acknowledge it or should i ward it off saying, it isn't me...But, more than answering her, i had to answer myself...After all, may be while reading this from baba's chapter, baba wanted me to get this message: To stop worrying about needless things...And may be stop trying to outmaneuver others and start focussing on excellence...leaving the result part to GOD....
From Gita to 3-idiots, this seems to be the message...Not worry about the results, but focus on excellence....How helpful it would have been, if this simple message was easy to follow...My day ends me trying to etch the message into my heart and my mind, but somehow as the night vanishes, so does the lessons i learnt...I come to office, something happens, my supersensitive brain takes note of that and i start all over again....May be this is not such a bad thing..Afterall, lessons learnt the hard way stay longer with you...I think my disposition in particular is that of a cynic to notice the bad things in life and also be affected by them and hence these difficulties...wouldn't it be nice if i could be like that butterfly that moves from one happy flower to the next? why do i have to that loathsome creature that notices the darkness of things? Enough bashing of myself, but may be it is good to evolve from the dark side of things...Well, one thing that i can try is to invoke baba to my rescue and think of returning to innocence, back to the days when i was 17 and all i wanted to do was love god...that would be a good journey, in seeing on how i changed over the years and how my wishes which were more spiritual turned materialistic...Well, that is for another blog and for another day...for now, let us be content with the fact that those good-old days are not forgotten and that attempts are being made and will be made to restore them...Amen!
From Gita to 3-idiots, this seems to be the message...Not worry about the results, but focus on excellence....How helpful it would have been, if this simple message was easy to follow...My day ends me trying to etch the message into my heart and my mind, but somehow as the night vanishes, so does the lessons i learnt...I come to office, something happens, my supersensitive brain takes note of that and i start all over again....May be this is not such a bad thing..Afterall, lessons learnt the hard way stay longer with you...I think my disposition in particular is that of a cynic to notice the bad things in life and also be affected by them and hence these difficulties...wouldn't it be nice if i could be like that butterfly that moves from one happy flower to the next? why do i have to that loathsome creature that notices the darkness of things? Enough bashing of myself, but may be it is good to evolve from the dark side of things...Well, one thing that i can try is to invoke baba to my rescue and think of returning to innocence, back to the days when i was 17 and all i wanted to do was love god...that would be a good journey, in seeing on how i changed over the years and how my wishes which were more spiritual turned materialistic...Well, that is for another blog and for another day...for now, let us be content with the fact that those good-old days are not forgotten and that attempts are being made and will be made to restore them...Amen!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Gods messages
Greater and unbelievable are the ways of the lord...isnt it? All our lifes, we have been told that GOD wishes to deal with us in hyperbolics, that our pain and anxiety are going to gradually worsen until that "magic" moment, when we cannot sustain it any longer and then suddenly, lo something happens...a lightening flashes,a thunderbolt strikes and the lotus-eyed, the omnipresent one appears and our problems are solved...We change dramatically and magically and the rest of the life goes on with happiness...FALSE!
Atleast that is not the case for me. For example, the starting of the year has been to practise meditation for 5 minutes and am i still doing it...NO..BUT, god has given me something better, which is the saguna worship of his self...how is that better you say? After all, nirguna worship is intellectually more stimulating, but i feel, the path of devotion is more appealing to me...Not to get into a debate of which is better, but baba has given me the wonderful oppurtunity to read aloud his parayana...And how did that happen? It didn't happen by him showing me his divine form in my dream or by coming in front of me and announcing me to do it...he Rather made it happen in his own simple, humble way...it was a simple coffee conversation that took off...isn't it strange? Does this mean that god likes to do things in a simple way and he doesn't really like grand, big entrances...nope, doesn't seem to be the case with me atleast..may be he prefers the same with my life also, emo...nothing grand, nothing visionary, but simple and humble..a normal, middle ground man...My ego hurts to think of a future like that, but that might precisely be the reason for that happening...crushing my ego and making me see that everyone is great in their life and i'm no different than others in my own and in GOD's eyes...
Atleast that is not the case for me. For example, the starting of the year has been to practise meditation for 5 minutes and am i still doing it...NO..BUT, god has given me something better, which is the saguna worship of his self...how is that better you say? After all, nirguna worship is intellectually more stimulating, but i feel, the path of devotion is more appealing to me...Not to get into a debate of which is better, but baba has given me the wonderful oppurtunity to read aloud his parayana...And how did that happen? It didn't happen by him showing me his divine form in my dream or by coming in front of me and announcing me to do it...he Rather made it happen in his own simple, humble way...it was a simple coffee conversation that took off...isn't it strange? Does this mean that god likes to do things in a simple way and he doesn't really like grand, big entrances...nope, doesn't seem to be the case with me atleast..may be he prefers the same with my life also, emo...nothing grand, nothing visionary, but simple and humble..a normal, middle ground man...My ego hurts to think of a future like that, but that might precisely be the reason for that happening...crushing my ego and making me see that everyone is great in their life and i'm no different than others in my own and in GOD's eyes...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)