This is Good!

"the children of God deserve to live in peace" - this is nice. It's a promise that God has given. That everyone who trusts in him will be delivered from all the worries and have a peaceful life.

It raises a couple of interesting points. What if one doesn't believe in this promise? He won't receive this peace offered by God. So is it necessary to believe this to obtain peace? It depends on one's definition of peace. We know that India and Pakistan are at peace now. But is that really peace? Again, it depends. [:)]

So you can start constructing your logic from two view points - 1.Believe in the promise 2. Don't believe in the promise. Both of them are logically sound and well-founded. Both will attain peace in their own definitions as well. Then why to subscribe to one school of thought?

Life can't be stale..., it's like a river which flows until it reaches it's destiny. We have to make choices and move on. The choices depend on the kind of experiences one has in life. One can ponder over many "what-ifs" but ultimately, everyone has to make a choice and move along. I feel that the above-mentioned view points are equally powerful and self sustaining. Depending on the choice one makes, he/she will get the kind of experiences that reeinforces their viewpoint.

But then who decides these choices? Is it the conscious decision of the individual? Or is it random? Or is it destiny? Fate? Or is someone controlling everything above in the heavens? Questions that can make you think for a lifetime...., but again life has to move on. So we make a choice and move on..................!!!

I was wrong.

The subtitle of my blog says - "nobody is born bonded, neither is anyone bonded in death, then why be bonded all your life?" Am I right in making such a statement?
Nobody is born bonded..., how do I know that? None is bonded in death..., how do I know that? we are bonded in life - that is true, I can know that.

But then what does this imply? That life is bondage? Freedom is a never fulfilling dream? Well yes if one is speaking about absolutes then may be it's never a reality. What is absolute freedom or absolute bondage? They tend to be relative. I can't imagine anyone who is free of everything. There is always something higher that people crave for. And they become slaves of that.

This is where I find the teaching of Jesus as thought provoking. He said that we are sons of God, and not slaves. Sons are free in every sense, they are not bounded by anything. Then what is it that causes the bondage in our lives. He says its the sins that we do. We are addicted to sins or are the slaves of sin. Sin is not something which can be defined as a wrong act. It is something which gives us the pleasure of indulging in and one which we like to become slaves of. Jesus says that the ultimate result of sin is death. What is so special about it? Everyone will die and so will I. But Jesus says a free man will never die. How is it possible? It is humanly impossible. But for God nothing is impossible.

Putting faith in Jesus makes me strong. But to be without sin is not humanly possible. I don't know what that state is or how would one be if one reaches that state. When you know that there is a path where you have the option of freedom and everlasting life, it is not logically possible to chose the path which leads to death. But humans are not rational beings. That's why marketers survive. This is one time I really feel humans should all be rational, at least I should be rational. But it's not possible, for we are not created so.

Does that mean that we are doomed to death? Bonded in birth life and death? Logically speaking, Yes, we are. But the statement "what is impossible for humans is possible for God" reverts the entire logic. Everything ultimately boils down to this single statement. The moment one realizes, accepts and transcends the meaning of this sentence God's glory is displayed. But it is difficult, very very difficult.

Realizing and accepting can be achieved to some extent. But to live out this sentence is something else - it's really OUT OF THE WORLD.

So what's the point? How is it that I was wrong?
Bondage is not a lifetime phenomenon, which starts at birth and ends at death. If it were so, dying is the salvation that everyone should be looking for. So I need to change the subtitle of my blog. What could it be???

Pondering................................

Love - The Perfection of Intuition.

Love is a term that we use in several contexts - erotic, filial, and spiritual. But what is love. It can be understood that it attains different meanings in all three levels mentioned above. So if someone says that they love someone, what should we understand? How can one classify the kind of love a person has. The possible answer could be that Love is intuitive and not cognitive. And love actually is the perfection of intuition, it's not a spark of intuition driving your thoughts to great achievements. Love is intuition and intuition alone. It is pure perfection of intuition. Some people say intuition is what God speaks to you. It could be true. You cant disclaim it. It could also be true that it's the hidden desires in your unconscious mind that speaks to you. This also cant be disclaimed. Then how do one find a way out of the mess? The cognitive part plays a major role here. The inquisitive mind always searches for the truth and is never satiated with anything but the truth. Whatever be it that you hear from your inner voice, be brave enough to act it out. It might be stupid or foolish or controversial. If one doesnt bring it out the truth will never come out. The biggest hurdles in doing this are
1. The guilt feeling arising out of past deeds, unwillingness to accept the past truths.
2. The desperation to cling on to our desires which we have made the foundation of our lives.

Once a person wills himself to take up these struggles, of facing one's own past, he invariably flows to the world of love - where hate and war are unknown. It's a world of peace with no worries. You are not living to earn anything in this world. And you are not anyone in this world. You stop defining success as your achievements. The definition of success becomes the number of smiles you provide to others because of your love. The power of love is so tremendous that even a mere presence can generate smiles.

The learned people struggle for solutions of problems of the masses. They negotiate contradict and compromise for the sake of world peace, all the while making more unrest in the world. The moment we start defining the world as a mere cognitive entity we are shutting out the true "human" from within us. Because man is not merely cognitive, neither is the universe..., and for once.., leave God alone [:)]

GOD - The Ultimate Ruler.

Each one of us hate to subject ourselves to another person and obey someone else. This is a very natural human trait. Anybody who does this out of freewill is considered as someone special. Or close to God.., because he/she does it believing that he/she is submitting to God and for his sake doing those what they are doing. The same work may be done by another person because of fear or for want of money. While the output is the same in both the cases the satisfaction is greater in the first case. So if a person submits to God he gets peace of mind. Otherwise he gets everything else but not peace of mind. These aren't too complicated to understand. And God only promises peace of mind and everlasting life to a person who follows him and nothing else. All the other things anyone can give you or even you can make it yourself. But peace of mind can be made only if one submits to God.

So yes GOD is infact the ultimate ruler even though he hardly becomes a factor in any of our day to day activities. Because the ultimate desire of any individual is to get peace of mind, which they reconcile to at some point in life after having chased down all the other goals that they had set for themselves. Thus creating a dynamic equilibrium between good and bad which plays on forever and ever until matter ceases to exist.

The Maximum Security "Pyramid".

The Pyramid structure as they call it.., which sustains the organisations.., of all varieties.., commercial.., political..., religious.., and spiritual.., offers the maximum returns with maximum security. A punchline that can captivate the minds of one and all who seeks to make a heaven on this earth. I might have been slightly mistaken in interpreting life as going from one circle to another.., it could be, rather should be going from one pyramid to another. A person who is creative feels stifled in the "pyramid" that tries to suffocate him to a maintainer..., which either kills of his conscience or makes him eject from that pyramid and create a new pyramid of his own, which unfortunately resembles the one that he ejected from, in structure. This is mighty true in all the surviving organisations.., be it commercial.., religious.., political.., or spiritual. The only person whom I saw being an exception to this law was Jesus. His theory was not to lead but to serve. Not to create a structure, but to empower people to listen to the voice of God. Is this what Gary Mcgregor spoke of in his Y-theory of management??? May be yes.., but management people are supposed to be in control of all the variables.., where as Jesus trusted his Father to show him the variables at the right time. Doesn't this sound like a paradox??? It does, and is indeed a paradox when Y-theory stoops down to "just another method of manipulating".

So long live the The Maximum Security "Pyramid"s..., that churn out the money that sustains the bustling population on this earth.

[P.S: The population on the earth means the 5% of people who belong to the topmost layer of these pyramids.]

The Five Precious Crystals - - - - - cont.....d

Ref:- "The Five Precious Crystals!"

The crystals are all down..., and yes.., what the father said was true.., without those crystals one is never going to succeed in life.

And the boy was right too..., because just one of those crystals remained after the experiment..,

I may have forsaken the success that I could have attained in my life.., but I have gained the true happiness that arises from knowing the truth.., and to me the four shattered crystals are nowhere near the worth of the one that I have in my hand now.

I am happy that I let go of all the crystals.., so that I could pick out the only one that is true. Success in terms of material wealth is not what I was after.., and I don't define success in terms of material wealth either. The comment by Jesus on a rich man entering the heavens being difficult than a camel passing through a needle hole is amazingly true..., and the contradiction is a difficult one to compare and contrast.

The calm in the depth of the ocean.

Yes, it's a thunderstorm building up on the surface.., dark ominous clouds are being rattled up at a fast and furious rate.., the winds are slowly changing into gusts and they will becomes gayles in a short while.

But within the ocean at the depth of it, it's stunning silence.., incredibly calm.., and that's where I am now. There may be problems challenges fights anything and everything that goes on at the surface.., but I am in the depth of my mind drawing on the endless resource of energy.., and never bothering to worry about what goes on at the periphery.

This link below is about a project being done by my friend omie.., take a look if you don't mind,
http://www.auxel.blogspot.com/

Oh my God, it's going in circles.

Yes, I have got through the tough part.

It was neither a pinnacle nor square one. It was just a median point in an ever continuing spiral. In one sense I got out of that circle, but may be I might have been caught in another one. It is this going in circles one after the other that we call life. If I can apply myself fully without being emotional about the task at hand I should be able to do it well. I will take this risk now and commit myself to it. It involves investment.., my life too is going to be invested.., and yes I am going to battle.., the battle is won in the minds not on warfields is a statement that comes to my mind. And I believe that I have won a huge battle in my mind now.., one that is capable of making far reaching consequences.

The Pinnacle!

Oh yes I am on the Pinnacle of Escher's Ascending Descending Building!

Escher found that the highest point was square one itself. Am I going to find it out again? May be yes May be not. If I don't find it that way I would say that some mysterious force beyond our comprehension exists in this universe, which guides people to what they are. Otherwise, I would strive to end this business of each person having to reinvent the wheel. As of now I would say God is Love,God is Patience and God is truth. But if I find out what Escher explained in his paintings, I would say Love, Patience and Truth is God in that order. No mysterious force that is beyond our comprehension! It is quite a statement, but I have to wait until I find out the truth!

The Stranger!

Yup that's right, I do sound STRANGE!

I believe that in every person there is a conventional and unconventional identity. A conventional identity is based on what a person is taught as the reality, and the unconventional identity is based on what a person experiences as the reality. We are all in one way or other a mixture of both these identities. It's safer to follow a conventional path but the unconventional identity always keep popping up in one way or the other throughout our lives. The conventional stuff is common to everyone, while the unconventional stuff is unique to each person. It's only 5% of the people in the world who dare to live the unconventional lives. Among those 5% it's only 1% of it who succeed in their ventures. So knowing all these things nobody is going to jump into an unconventional lifestyle without being pushed into it. And it depends on too many variables to calculate and logically decide that it is the right time for a person to become unconventional. It's a speculation and if the unconventional wisdom that one has in him is an idea whose time has come, he will succeed. Otherwise he will fail. I might fail or I might succeed. The probability for success is only 1%. I have given myself the best possibility to succeed by going through a long and ardous training procedure to cling on to my instincts and keep on speculating. Even after all these efforts I might still fail. It's neither my fault nor the system's fault. It might be because it's too early to implement the idea. But I have no choice but to try it out, because that's what makes me myself. And if I fail to make it a success, I have to kill myself, ie I have to turn myself into a stereotype. And the idea that I have is nothing but a world full of people with their own identities and no stereotypes. No wonder that a failure on my part, most fittingly would turn me into a stereotype. But I am not going to give it up without a fight. I'll fight it out in the streets, like what Sunil Mittal told about getting educated in business, I am too inclined to repeat the words of Mahatma Gandhi..,

At first, they ignore you, then they laugh at you, but those who try hard with lot of passion, eventually win.

I hope you do understand why I sound STRANGE now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Five Precious Crystals!

Once a man called his little son beside him and offered him five crystal clear spheres.
He said "These are the most precious things in life. These are imperishable and everlasting. So hold onto these as if to your life. This will give you success in life"
The child being inherently inquisitive by nature retorted,
"Are they really imperishable father?"
Father was reassuring in his reply,
"Well, that's what my father told me, so it must be true!"
The child was still not convinced, he kept on quibbling,
"How did he know that?"
Father was growing impatient at this.., he said,
"This is what I have experienced and learned from my life. You take this and follow what I say."
The child knew that he had no choice but to take the orders..,
But he was naughty enough to pretend to be careless while taking those spheres as he let all of them fall to the ground..,

Now what? Good Gracious.....! Isn't that blasphemy? How could one put the sacred crystals down? Isn't this boy insane? Or is he arrogant? What punishment would suffice for this?

Well, the boy is none but each one of us, not everyone puts down the crystals though. We do keep them with utmost piety and reverance. And the father is the society that we belong to..., And as you guessed right the naughty boy who put those crystals down is none other than me.., And what happened after that?

I have seen some of them shatter into pieces and some are still yet to hit the ground. I don't know what crystals others might have got, but I'll have only those crystals that are truely imperishable and everlasting!!!

The lonely traveller!

As I wade through the meadows of this earthly population, I am prone to that dreadful thought, Am I alone?

Nobody wants to be alone and I am no exception. But as I take a deep breath and look around at the marvel of all creation around me, I realise, I am not alone. If I were alone then every one is alone, and isn't that the truth? Or is it a mere illusion that we are alone in this world? Which is the reality and which is the illusion? "We are alone" or "We are bonded by an invisible string" which many believe is what drives the world forward. I can't help but think of that magical cube completely enclosed from outside but with a source of light in the centre and mirrors on all sides inside the cube. What would a person within the cube see if he looks around? I don't know whether my gumption is right, but with my limited knowledge I believe he would be seeing those things inside the cube which are in the line of his view. He sees depending on the way in which he looks. And the most funny part of all this is that the poor man believes all this to be happening outside the cube. Am I that man? Oh no! All these thoughts are about things happening within my mind and I have been made to believe that they were the reality. But then what is reality? Aren't these kind of projections by all the people in this world that we perceive as reality? So isn't reality a variable that ought to be changed and not an all-encompassing rule which we are bound to obey. It might be impossible to change the world around by sitting within the cube. But by changing the way we look within the cube, actually we are changing the reality, because reality is nothing but an illusion caused by the multiple reflection of the internal source within us at the mirrors inside the cube. The views might sound radically different, but it's just the old wine in a new bottle.

So Am I alone or not? A question that can never be answered objectively!!!

My XLRI Interview!

There were 3 ppl in the panel,
one in the centre, P1.
one to my right, P2.
one to my left, P3.
I would use M for myself.

I ask permission and enter the room.

P2 and P3 were amused abt somthing in the meanwhile and start laughing by saying something eachother.

M : Good evening Sirs.
All : Good evening. Take your seat.

P2 : Let me have a look at your certificates.
I hand over my file to him and sits in the chair.

P1 : So you like cricket?
M : I'm not that much interested in it now, I used to play it in my school days.

P2 : So you are the last man for the day?
M : I think so. There's none left in the waiting hall.

P1: Have you heard of night watch man?
M : yes,sir.

P1 : You know nightwatchman! what is it?
M : A nightwatchman is a nonregular batsman send in to bat at the end of the day so that the regular or specialist batsmen are not exposed.

P2 : Shows me a register and asks me to sign in front of my name.

I take my pen and get ready to sign.

P3 : So do you mean to say that he keeps an overnight vigil there or what?

I do not sign on the sheet, looks up at P3 and replies,
M : Yes, Sir. In the sense that he protects the regular batsmen overnight.

P2 : Please sign the register.

I sign the register.

P1 : Looking at your qualifications, you have done your Graduation in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, then you have work-ex in power generation, you have also done your M-Tech in Power Systems, You have a very bright future ahead of you in the Power Sector. So why do you want to do this course now? Is it just because the market is all going like that ? What is your reason to change your stream now?

M : Yes, I am a good power Engineer and I have a very good future in the power sector. I have never been a stereotype kind of guy who did things just because everyone else was doing it. People do not think in the same way throughout their lives. As they get more experiences and knowledge they take more mature decisions.

Then he went into many stuff abt power systems and basic technical and GK stuff on powersystems. I answered all of them(God knows whether they were right or wrong, I had the conviction and he kept nodding.) and he was done with in 7-8 mins.

Then P2 took over.
P2 : When a person is becoming an Engineer the society is investing a lot on him. So now that you have done an M-Tech, and then you want to shift to a manager you are actually bringing a huge loss to the society, The society is losing a lot so how do you justify your decision?
M : Sir, I believe that, any organisation, any society or any nation can only be lead by people who have a very good understanding of both the technicalities and the human side involved in it. I am someone who has always had a holistic approach to life. My idea was to become conceptually strong in one of the technical areas and then get into the human management side. If I were living ten years ago I would not have done this course, it is only recently, especially in India that we have the corporate structures and organisations coming up in such large scales. My idea now is to learn about the systems that help people to perform better in organisations. Also from my life until now I have seen two ways to learn, the easy way and the hard way. The easy way is to learn from people who have a good conceptual understanding of the things that I want to learn and the hard way is to learn it by oneself.

Then he went on to many questions about the social implications of Power, and how I foresee the future of Indian Power Sector. I was very diplomatic and remained non-committal on all my answers by making all of them conditional(Don't know how he took it).

It went on for 9-10 mins.

Then P3 took over.
I don't remember much of his questions now, but most were Current Affairs topics like N-Deal, Iran Issue, then he asked about Kerala and the only portion that I remember clearly is how it ended.

P3 : So how have you been preparing for this interview?
M : I have been in Chennai for the last 3 weeks. I have been interacting with a lot of HR people. And actually I have got a contract to standardise the selection process of a printing BPO firm.

P3: Oh you have been here for the last 3 weeks, So what did the HR people tell you?
M : They asked me not to say the truth.

P3(was all of a sudden very excited): What! So you have been bluffing us all the way along?
M : No, But I did not hear them. I believe that interviews are things which happen in the spur of the moment. You answer the question instinctively, so I don't believe in having pre-planned answers. I am someone who has always been true to myself and I believe that that's all what I need to keep doing to take me through.

P3 : So were your preperations a waste of time?
M : No, It is is only because of my efforts that I have been able to get this contract that I mentioned earlier. Whenever I take a decision in my life I like to hedge myself, so even if I did not get into XLRI I needed to have a solid plan to fall back upon to make myself confident that I can make it big in HR.

P3 : Thank you
M : Thanks.

Gets up and thanks everyone, takes my file and leaves.

The entire interview lasted for around 25-30 minutes. My objective of remaining unconventional has been achieved, I don't know whether any of the things that happened there would be considered negative and hence me judged as a controversial guy. Anyway I am very happy with the interview because I could remain true to myself inspite of all temptations to look conventional. To be frank, I don't mind getting rejected after such an interview. Because I have showcased myself in the best way possible, and if I do not fit into the scheme of things it's better for me to keep out as well.