Japo Re Japo – Ram Naam Japo

              If one chants the holy names of the lord, even in helpless condition or without desiring to do so, all the reactions of his sinful life departs, just as when lion roars, all the small animals flee in fear. – Bhaktivinoda Thakur

We have noticed in the recent years, there has been an exponential rise in drugs and alcohol addiction, divorce rates, acts of violence, old parents being thrown out by their children, sexual crimes against women, love-jihad cases, being unpatriotic, antisocial, getting in depression and anxiety eventually leading to suicides amongst children.

As per the Bhagavat Gita the increase in Kama(Lust), Krodha (Anger), Lobha (Greed), Mada (Ego),Moha (Attachment),matsarya(Jealousy) are the reasons for the evil in the society.

Today when we open the news channels in the morning all we hear is about how many people have dies in the wars happening across the globe.

An unrighteous rule leads to the rise of terrorism or naxalism. The scriptures say that a righteous leader or govt in power will always lead to a happy and prosperous nation and a peaceful world.

Some people have linked the terrorist attacks to religion. I strongly believe that no religion would support the killing of innocent civilians be it Islam or any other religion. I am sure holy places like Mecca-Madina are to bring sense of happiness and joy to the pilgrims and devotees visiting it.

The western modern-day solution to these problems seem to be setting up of deaddiction and rehabilitation centres for drug abuse along with therapy for depression and sex education of sexual crimes. I believe these are myopic solutions.

I believe an holistic approach would be to give them spiritual education at an early age so that they develop the courage and valour to face the problems of the world.

I believe when children get attached to bad influences they get caught in a vicious circle. If children get attached to God and have faith in him they would not get attached to bad influences and in case he does, he would get back to normal, as he would have stains of spirituality in him, inculcated at an early age.

Hinduism says, the easiest way to get attached to God is to recite the name of Lord continuously. Having a realised guru helps in the spiritual process.

Shrimat Bhagavatam says sravana (listening),kirtana (singing),smarana (meditating),pada-sevana (serving),archana (praising),vandana(worshipping),dasya (slaving), sakhyam (friendship) and atma—nevidanam (surrender of the self) these nine processes are accepted as pure devotonal service.

Man has progressed enormously in his intellectual capacities, he has reached the moon and also has AI enabled driverless cars, but sadly had dropped down on his value system. There is need to make sure that the spiritual quotient gets better in every individual so that we can have a peaceful world.I am sure all religions and leaders would coincide on that.

PS: This article is inspired by the Satsang of Shri Hit Premanand Govind Sharan Ji Maharaj

Importance of Naam Jap
Education in schools and righteousness in leadership

Solution to today's Issues plaguing the world

Message to my sister on her wedding day

Girl to Boy: I love you more than being proven right!

My best wishes and sincere prayers as you step on to a new beginning in your life..

Remember life will not be always a bed of roses as you would know, there would be difficulties and I am sure you will be able to tide over each situation and adapt yourself with the new environment with flying colors'.

Life would be sheer happiness if you accept every situation and move ahead with courage and service attitude.

You will have new parents, your in-laws, I am sure you will treat them the way you look at your parents.

Your husband will require your continuous and uninterrupted support and care, I am very sure you are up for it.

If you have to be successful in your life make sure to lose minor battles to win the war and remember success will be when you will be sipping coffee together with your husband with the same love and affection that you do today, even after 50 years. I am sure you can look up to our parent's as an example.

And one more thing, I am very fond of the reels you make, your reels are very creative and you should continue making them.

I am sure by now you would have trained your husband to cook ,clean, mop and wash clothes so that you can continue making reels, but make sure your life is measured by the service you do and not by the reels your make.

Live your dreams, fly high, standing firmly on the ground and staying connected with your roots.

Wish you a happy and prosperous married life.

Always,
Your Well Wisher

OMG -2 Review

Pleasures are as necessary for the well-being of the body as food, and are consequently, equally required -Vatsyayana author of Kamasutra

OMG-2 has been an incredibly progressive film, which touches the Indian taboo subjects in a very gracious manner. The film deals with the topic of Sex education in a very open manner with proper decorum.

Coming to the topic of Sex Education, if it should be imparted to the students, I am of the strong opinion that it should be but in an Indian way.

Indian Tantra Shastras are full of Shringar Ras (erotica) and I am sure India can impart sex education in an effective manner much better than western counterparts. There are many tests other than the Kamasutra’s which speaks about seduction (https://youtu.be/jnS66SszwEs) and sex education.

I am very sure that the children within the age group of 12-18 years are curious to know about sex and they would be better off being formally educated than without it.

Questions regarding masturbation, having sex with multiple partners, simultaneously, all arise in an inquisitive mind and should not be pushed under the carpet. How does he satisfy his curiosity? Are his parents able to answer him convincingly or should he be left to “google baba”.

Many crimes (cybersex) related to obscene videos of gfs being uploaded on the internet is common. For many it would be an unbearable trauma even leading to suicides. These are better off being formally addressed.

Is the society open to such change?

I believe the society was never ready for anything innovative or pathbreaking. It took reformers and innovators like Narayana Guru,Chattampi Swamikal, Martin Luther  to break the existing status quo.

Coming back to the film OMG-2 very disappointed with the film being given ‘A’ certification when the target audience for the film would be teenagers.

The current government seems to be conservative in its outlook in terms of its thoughts and actions and looks to impose its views on others which could be detrimental to a progressive nation like India.

A complete family experience: DMart

It has always been a pleasant experience shopping in DMart.

My mother along with my brother and me  travel in our small car to shop for our monthly groceries in DMART. We get to see many middle-class families coming along with their kids to shop together. It simple symbolises the Indian middle-class way of shopping.

It is a very positive and happy sign to see that families come together to buy wholesome foods rather than any junk food. It gives a lot of joy to see an Indian company providing a complete shopping experience to its people in an Indian way.

What helps making the shopping experience far more enriching is the price which is absolutely unmatched whether its JioMart, Amazon or Flipkart for that matter. To be frank  the shopping experience which is derived from shopping at DMart cannot be matched at any of these well-known stores. Shopping in DMart is like a movie going experience where you can have a popcorn and softy ice-cream after the shopping that to at an unmatched price.

So what makes DMart deliver at these prices which other shop keepers are are closing down?

DMart does not open its stores in high rich rental places, they own the space and built their own stores which is not at the prime locations and thus escape the high rental costs.

They procure the groceries in bulk from the farms directly and hence are able to provide better rates to the consumers.Their profit is based on economies of scale rather than MRPs.Also to be noted here there is never any marketing budget allocated by DMart. I think many startups should look into this area.

It provides a price which is definitely far below the MRP for most of the products. What really makes it better is it is airconditioned and has multiple check-in counters that make it easy to clear the payments.

What could have been better is a dedicated customer agents who can help us chose the products and clothes of our liking.

All in all it is a paaisa vassol experience along with a complete family experience to shop from DMART to see other families coming and shopping  for aesthetic foods rather than junk foods.

Progressive vs Regressive

कुछ लोग अपनों के लिए अपने सपने को भूल जाते हैं  ||

और कुछ लोग सपने के लिए अपनों को भूल जाते हैं ||

What according to you is Progressive ?

 

If a louis Vuitton bag, determine your progressive ,you are being myopic.

If you are wearing trendy/shorter clothes, determine your progressive, you are being myopic.

If the Iphone you own, makes you progressive, you are again being myopic.

If you travel by a Mercedes, or eat in Starbucks,and that determines your progressive, you are again being myopic

If the no, of Likes and followers on social media determine your progressive , you are being myopic.

 

A person who does not have the sense, sensibility and sensitivity for his fellow beings and nature is regressive.

Progressiveness is in compassion and empathy towards fellow beings and nature alike.

 

Like Swami Gaur Gopal Das has put it clearly

•        Compassion towards fellow beings
•        Not imposing your ideas on others
•        Giving respect to the choices of others

This is progression.

There is a lot of troll junta around today, who just do things to get mileage and are not empathetic or compassionate about anything in particular. This is regressive.

My grandfather who studied up to class 7 and never moved out of his village was very progressive much more that any Stanford/Harvard  going graduate ,living in the metros as he had compassion even for his enemies.

PS: This post is inspired by the talk of Swami Gaur Gopal Das Speech in Indian Express Adda.

Work From Home

From afar, we admire talent. Up close, what counts most is character.

You can impress people with your skills, but you earn their trust by standing for something greater than yourself. There is no higher achievement than treating others kindly and living with integrity.-Adam Grant

Though I am great proponent of work from home, as it saves time ,energy and reckless travelling in the traffic or trains. It also helps to environment safety as it saves consumption of Fuel.

But I believe we would be belieing ourselves if we got to believe that WFH would become a way of life.

As Sam Altman from Open AI puts it

“I think definitely one of the tech industry’s worst mistakes in a long time was that everybody could go full remote forever, and startups didn’t need to be together in person and, you know, there was going to be no loss of creativity,”

“I would say that the experiment on that is over, and the technology is not yet good enough that people can be full remote forever, particularly on startups.”

I believe a company becomes an institution when it incorporates a culture and innovation. I am very clear WFH will dampen team spirit, innovation and culture would be non-existent.

Some may argue that the management should be only bothered about deliverables and not about where the company works from. I would have believed it 15 years ago, but today I believe every performer goes through a lean patch or some may not be a star performer but an essential part in the team which would go unnoticed in case we continue to WFH permanently.

If a startup believes its revenue will grow exponentially with a few talented individuals working from home, believe it at your own peril. In the short run it may seem the upright with a few quarterly results. But in the long run it will prove to be their ruin.

Saying this I believe that ,WFH should definitely be an option for expecting mothers or sick and unwell employees. Also in times of heavy rains or transport breakdowns it will be a good option. 

Discovering India – T.R.Sreejith

                 सहज मिले सो दूध सम, मांगा मिले सो पानी

                  कहकबर वह रक्त सम, जामें अंचातानि

There are flyovers everywhere but not a place to move. The cars ,buses and trucks are jam packed. It was meant to ease the traffic but the problem has only exploded. People lose 4 hours on the traffic when they travel to office everyday.

There are roads being laid out everywhere only being dug every next day.

My first love Mumbai suburban local trains are exploding, there are people on the rooftops on the side gates and on the wheel.

The rainwater enters your dining rooms. The drains get choked during the rainy season. No AI cannot solve this problem not even Chat GPT, I tried.

The slums mushroom on either side of the railway stations and malls.

There are no fresh green spaces. Everything has become a concrete jungle. The garbage dump overflows with tons of garbage on either side of the railway tracks.

So is it so gloomy or are there any silver linings.We have progressed with the certain innovations like UPI. Now not need to stand in the queues to pay your utility bills. The Aadhar has made direct benefit transfer (DBT) foolproof without leakages. So has the opening up of Jan Dhan accounts. Passport offices have become digital. Metro lines are definitely a way forward.



Education:

Primary education still suffers in with dropout, teacher absenteeism rates increasing day by day in the government schools and colleges. Where emphasis should be on teacher training and 360 degree assessment of the students.

In higher education the problem still seems to be on caste based reservations instead of affirmative action ‘’looking for a relative skill’’ as Nandan Nilekani points out in his book Imaging India. The fees of these higher educational institutions seems to be skyrocketing though loans are provided. Still these loans need to be paid back.You need to be a Mukesh Ambani’s son or daughter to be a doctor. It is impossible for an ordinary man to dream his son or daughter to be a doctor in a private medical college. And this seems to be the righteous way by many. They defend saying salaries of the teachers are to be paid and infrastructure has to be created along with private players are for profit organizations. But should it be at the cost and mercy of a child who does not have the means?

Healthcare:

In covid times we did have Covaxin and Covidshield thanks to the efforts of our healthcare workers. The private sector hospital bills rise exponentially. The doctors in these hospitals selfish to the core. The government infrastructure does not match with the needs of the poor and the destitute.

India may be the only country where health issues related to both Obesity and malnutrition coexist, the divide between the rich and the poor so clear. Suicides are now not restricted to the farmers alone even college and school going students are committing them. The mental health issues seems to be rising at an alarming pace.

Livelihood and Employment:

When livelihoods seem to be the problem for some, car parking is the problem for many. The problem of employment is not restricted to the rural area now, very well present in the urban metros too. The no. of unemployed youth is alarming. Students with 90% being unemployed is not a uncommon phenomenon forget about the youth with no skills. Skill India, Start-up India , Digital India seems to be steps in the right direction, but needs to be seen how much of a quantitative difference it has made.

Environment:

The youth seems to be very concerned about the environment today. Along with tree plantation, renewable sources of energy ,electric cars, we ought to reduce the consumption pattern in our daily lives so that we can reduce the carbon footprints.


Religion and Freedom of expression

There has been an overdose of religious fanatism in India in the recent past. There has been protest over films like Padmavaat , Pathan and Stand up comedians like Munawar Faruqui in the recent past. This does take away the democratic pluralism of India. Again the news channels have become so toxic that prefer to listen to pravachan of Murari Bapu.

What is very heartening is that a few religious institutions like the Brahmakumaris are showing scientific temperament and investing time and effort in Solar Powered technologies and Water purification systems that help the common man.




P.S.:The content is Inspired by reading the Book from Nandan Nilekani '"Imagining India"

Woman and its Tryst with Destiny

While clean drinking water seems to be a problem for some, drinking seems to be problem for many. #Girls #India #urbanruraldivide #richpoorgap

Dear Woman,


What is equality to you?

Is it drinking alcohol, doing drugs and smoking cigarettes? Are you trying to impress your men?
Women in the name of equality what are you trying to do, you are just trying to mimic men.


Why do woman need empowerment?
Women very never weak. They were very strong throughout the ages.


In an Indian family, there were two roles. One that of a provider and other that of a nourisher.
The man was the provider, and the women was the nourisher. It was a great responsibility that they did it extraordinarily. They were equal. It’s like comparing a Federer and Messi. Can you? How do you say one is better than the other.


Today women are wanting to have equal participation in all areas, both professional and personal. She is asking for equal pay, nothing wrong with it. I believe she should be paid equally if not more but you still end up being a rat in the rat race.

Mothers used to cook three times a day for their children.Today many children are asked to order from a click of a mobile.

Now there are only deadlines and targets to achieve. Is this the new norm? Ask yourself are you contented? Is this your definition of success? I am afraid how would you face your children.

However man progresses in technology,in AI or Metaverse , he will not be able to get pregnant.(...With Elon Musk around you never know.)

A woman nourishes a baby for the first nine months, so whatever you eat, drink, smoke, read, think or act it will nourish the baby. The Sanskar’s for the first nine months for the baby is definitely inherited from the mother.

Why does a woman need to compete with a man in the first place. She is herself a strong , peaceful and contented soul

Women why are you competing yourself against these bastards, you are drowning yourself.

We definitely don’t want more drunkards, druggists and smokers resulting in more cases of depression, anxiety and stress. We need a world where woman are role models for the world to look up to.

Are you trying to chase success? Or are you trying to copy the west? Aren’t you proud of our rich heritage which you inherited from our parents and teachers?

My role model and inspiration, I draw form my mother is that of survival against all the odds of life put against her and still successfully passing with flying colours. To be raising her children with values against all the stones thrown at her.



Source:
The following article is inspired by the talk of Sister BK Shivani (link below) and a few office parties I attended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4fKDRsJAoo