Kaleidoscope

If God exists, I should be able to see Him!

2011-11-13T07:44:00.001-08:00

A naive argument. If you demanded, "I want to see the prime minister. Let him come before me!" - would it happen? Of course not! There is a process for these things. If you want to see the prime minister - you should qualify yourself. Seek an appointment for some legitmate purpose worth his time - or achieve something worthwhile. Similarly there is a process to see God.

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjun, this form of Mine you are now seeing is very difficult to behold. Even the demigods are ever seeking the opportunity to see this form, which is so dear. The form you are seeing with your transcendental eyes cannot be understood simply by studying the Vedas, nor by undergoing penances, nor by charity, nor by worship. It is not by these means that one can see me as I am. My dear Arjuna, only by undivided devotional service can I be understood as I am, and can thus be seen directly. Only in this way can you enter into the mysteries of My understanding."
-Bhagvad Gita Ch 11 verses 52-53-54

The process is clearly in the above verses. Devoional service - bhakti - is the way to see God.
What is devotional service? How can I apply these things in my life? How can I learn this? The 12th chapter of the Geeta is dedicated to answer these questions. Work for God, chant His names, meditate upon Him - the process is defined. Other scriptures point to the same.

"O Naarad, I regret that during this lifetime you will not be able to see Me anymore. Those who are incomplete in service and who are not completely free from all material taints can hardly see Me."
-Srimad Bhagvatam 1.6.21

"O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee."
-Isopanishad verse 15

Now the question is - do you really want to see God? Because it means giving up on material desires - it means focusing on pleasing God not oneself.

""My dear friend, if you are indeed attached to your worldly friends, do not look at the smiling face of Lord Govinda as He stands on the bank of the Yamuna at Kesighata. Casting sidelong glances, He places His flute to His lips, which seem like newly blossomed twigs. His transcendental body, bending in three places, appears very bright in the moonlight.""
- Chaitanya Charitamrita -Adi 5.224

The feminine aspect of the divine

2011-09-05T02:06:00.000-07:00

Today is Radhashtami - the appearance day of Srimati Radharani, the divine consort of Lord Sri Krishna. I thought I would take this opportunity to discuss the gender of God :)

I know lot of people think God is formless. But thats not the point of this blog. The scriptures describe the Supreme Lord in many places, and all of them talk about His beautiful three fold bending form - a 16 year old boy, dark as a monsoon cloud, with lotus like eyes, nose like a sesame flower and lips as red as the bimba fruit.
Even if people accept this form of God, they sometimes protest - why male? Why is God not female? Why the bias?

And here people miss the point. The original Supreme Person is the source of all energy. And that Supreme Energy is Srimati Radharani. She is the divine mother, the embodiment of all virtues. Energetic and energy together comprise the divine. One is incomplete without the other. The Supreme person Krishna, expands into Vishnu, Rama and other masculine forms, while Srimati Radharani exapands into Laxmi, Seeta and other feminine forms.
God an His energy can be compared to the sun and sunshine. The moment there is sun, there will be sunshine - Similarly, the sun is incomplete without the sunshine. Both exist together. Thus, Krishna and Radha exist together, eternally and are worshipped together
The relationship between Radha and Krishna is that of inconceivable identity in difference. They are, in essence, a single entity—God—who manifests as two distinct individuals for the sake of interpersonal exchange.

Krishna Consciousness is a celebration of this relationship. In fact, when we chant

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

we mention:
8 times the name of Sri Radhe, Hare, the energy of the Lord
4 times the name of Sri Krishna, the Supremely attractive one and
4 times the name of Sri Rama, the source of all pleasure

Thus through these 16 syllables we pray to God (Sri Krishna and Srimati Radharani) - the source of all energy, all attractive, and the source of all pleasure - to engage us in their service and revive our own loving relationship with them.

"May that Srimati Radhika--whose bodily complexion steals the pride of a golden lotus flower tinged with kunkuma, whose bodily fragrance overshadows the fame of a fragrant lotus sprinkled with saffron powder, and who fulfills all the desires of the prince of Vraja, Sri Krishna--always bestow upon me the service of Her lotus feet."
-Radhikashtakam verse 1

Indradyumna Swami - my inspiration

2011-09-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

I recently rediscovered one of the treasures of ISKCON - Indradyumna Maharaj's 'Diary of a travelling monk'. Indradyumna Maharaj, is one of the leaders of the Krishna Conscious movement. He has been spreading the word of God in remote corners of the globe - Kazakhistan, Poland, Checkoslovakia, in the amazon forests and numerous other such exotic places. His diaries have been around since 1995 - but I never quite got around to reading them.
Recently, they published the Indian edition of his diaries - 2 books - 5 diaries each - chronicling Maharaj's experiences from 1995 - 2010. These books aren't very big - Maharaj writes approximately 15-20 entries every year. I finally managed to lay my hands on a copy and got around to reading them.
I am so grateful to Maharaj that he has given us a glimpse into his mind and heart, through those diaries. On the mundane level, the diary reads like an exotic adventure. He talks about conducting harinam sankirtan on war - torn streets, car rides at midnight in a city under curfew, discussing God consciousness with soldiers and prisoners and giving lectures in mosques and churches. Every page is a spiritual joyride, describing a new experience in the life of a travelling missionary.
Many of these entries made me feel grateful that I live in a country like India, where the government, the climate and the people are such that the situation is very favorable for me to practice my Krishna Consciousness. The freedom of religion and spirituality I have is indeed a blessing. The whole diary inspires me to become more sincere in my spiritual practices.
But more than that, the diaries reveal the consciousness of an individual who has given his life completely in the service of God. Maharaj shows us a glimpse of his vast knowledge of vedic literature and text. But the book is not at all scholarly - in fact the language is very simple, straightforward and humble. Maharaj always gives credit for all his successes to his spiritual master - Srila Prabhupada. The diary also contains a lot of appreciation of his disciples, other ISKCON leaders and other devotees he meets during his travel. It shows his mood, - Srila Prabhupada had instructed him, "Be bold. Preach everywhere" - the diary is a glimpse of his untiring efforts to follow that instruction and the total happiness that he derives in doing the same. The diaries are testimony to the fact that Krishna Consciousness is such an active, thrilling, joyous and enlivening process - a process that is universal and can bring eternal happiness to anyone who simply takes up chanting

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare

Thank-you Indradyumna Maharaj, for your wonderful diaries. You are my hero :)
The entire diaries are freely available on travelingmonk/diaries
As and when he writes a new entry - he publishes it online - 2011 has been equally wonderful :)

I dont eat in places that serve meat......

2011-07-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

I am a very, very strict vegetarian. What this means is that I don't eat in any restaurant that also has meat on its menu. So whenever we go for team outings or birthday treats or anything, I wont eat if its not a pure veg restaurant. Lot of people think I am completely insane to impose such rules upon myself. Some say I am too young or too naive. Lot of people think I am impractical, they feel that my attitude will not let me survive in countries other than India. Meat - lovers of course find it completely ridiculous. I have had to deal with teasing and general sarcasm. All this was expected but unexpectedly I have also been at the receiving end of sympathy. Sometimes, when people are stuffing their faces with all the 'delicious' food on the table and I am just sitting there not eating, people give me pitying looks. "Poor girl she must be fighting with herself to not eat" kind of looks. I may have misinterpreted, but ya people tend to feel sorry for me for all the pleasures in life that I am missing out.
      Now from my perspective, that is ridiculous. Here's why...
      I belong to a culture that respects all life. (All those who have thought of the 'plants have life too.' argument, just hold your horses for a moment there). Among all the living creatures on planet earth, human beings are the most evolved and intelligent species. This also essentially needs to be translated into responsibility. (With great power comes great responsibility :)) Just because we have got the ability doesn't mean that we can start killing and chopping and eating anything that moves. As the most evolved creature on planet earth, it is my personal belief that I should cause the least amount of pain to any other living creature for the purpose of filling my belly. More so, since as a human being, I have the special privilege of choosing my diet. No other creature on this planet can choose its diet. A tiger would never touch grass, nor would a deer touch meat. They just cannot - only human beings have this choice - and I want to make responsible choices.
(Besides the human body has been designed mainly for a vegetarian diet. Meat eating is unnatural and unhealthy. You can read more about that here. And the large scale production of meat causes industry level pollutions to the environment and is terribly energy inefficient. Which farming does not. Read about that here. )
     Science has discovered that the more developed the nervous system, the greater the sensitivity to pain. Animal bodies have far more evolved nervous systems than plants. Besides most vegetarian foods (fruits, pulses, grains and most vegetables) do not actually involve the killing of the original plant. You cannot possibly compare the plucking of an apple to cutting the neck of a goat in terms of the pain being caused to the living creature.
   So the point is, I totally abhor meat. The thought of the dead corpses of chicken, fish, goats and the rest freely intermingling with the veggies that I will be consuming fills me with disgust. Let me put it this way. If you knew that the food your restaurant serves also has dead human body parts in its refridgerator, would you be able to eat there? If you knew that your 'chicken curry' was kept below a human head on the kitchen shelf and could have had some human blood/internal body fluids dripping into it - would u be able to eat? And if the people on your dining table were eating human flesh, gorging on it, would you be able to eat anything at all with them? And imagine if those people, pitied you - 'You have'nt tasted a cooked human toe man! You are missing out on all the good things in life...' how would you possibly react?
        Sorry for the graphic visualizations, but thats how it is for me. Yes I have an overactive imagination. Yes, I do not trust the hygiene standards of all the restaurants out there. The smell of cooking meat makes me want to puke. And so I stopped eating in restaurants that serve meat.
Dont pity me. Instead, reconsider your choices :)

A Reason, a Season, or a Lifetime

2011-05-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

I read this article somewhere and then found it online under author unknown - Just felt like sharing it here :)

A Reason, a Season, or a Lifetime

People come into your life for a reason, a season, or
a lifetime. When you figure out which one it is, you
will know what to do for each person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON . . . It is
usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have
come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you
with guidance and support, to aid you physically,
emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a
godsend, and they are! They are there for the reason
you need them to be.

Then, without any wrong doing on your part, or at an
inconvenient time, this person will say or do something
to bring the relationship to an end.

Sometimes they die.
Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.

What we must realise is that our need has been met, our
desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you
sent up has been answered. And now it is time to move on.

When people come into your life for a SEASON . . .
Because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace, or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount
of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; things
you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional
foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the
person, and put what you have learned to use in all
other relationships and areas of your life. It is said
that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Desiring the Supreme

2011-04-30T06:57:00.000-07:00

"Now that we have become devotees, Your holy names have affectionately created a jubilant festival in our mouths. Your bodily splendour, like a dark rain cloud has become the black ointment of our eyes, and the music of Your flute has become the ornament of our ears. We no longer take pleasure in material desires. O almighty Lord, material desires no longer appear beautiful to us!"

-Srila Roop Goswami
Padyavali

[Note: Just sharing a beautiful verse I came across in a book I am reading. A state of mind I am aspiring for :) ]

The computer program with a will

2011-04-22T01:54:00.000-07:00

The programmer leaned back on his chair and sighed. He had just written a perfect program. The program was complicated and could do many, many things. But it had only one purpose. To make the programmer happy. To give him pleasure. The program had many abilities. It even had its own internal concept of happiness. The program was made such that it always tried to keep its internal boolean variable - 'happy' to true. But the purpose of the program was ultimately to make the programmer happy too. So the willy programmer had put in and if condition:

if program makes me happy

program.happy=true

else

program.happy=false

And then the programmer did the ultimate programming. He gave the program 'free will' The program could run as it wanted. It could execute whichever line of code whenever it wanted and experience the results. The program was given a choice. It could choose to make the programmer happy or it could choose to ignore the programmer. And then the programmer ran the program.

The program ran as it chose to. It had the choice remember? It kept trying to make program.happy to true. But no matter what it did, that silly variable always remained false. The program thought, very often, that it had come close. But that was illusion- temporary. Only when that program discovers that tricky if condition will it achieve true happiness.

We, the soul , the living entities are that program - and God our maker is the programmer. As long as we are disconnected from Him, no matter what we do - we'll never be truly happy. For those who think that eternal happiness is a myth, a delusional concept, just have to discover that if condition in their source code. :)

Setting up geodjango+postgis on Mac

2011-02-17T23:45:00.000-08:00

This post has been moved to Technorablia-My technical blog

My little bubble

2011-02-02T02:28:00.000-08:00

A bubble of joy, living in my heart
Jumping and dancing all day.
It troubles me often, at unexpected times,
Always wanting to play.

It soars up high, making me smile
In the middle of daily chore
Running across my eyes sometimes,
It makes them twinkle more.

This little bubble, it swells sometimes
And my heart quivers with sweet pain
This little bubble, it churns my insides,
Its just too hard to contain.

But it is a bubble, and bubbles are fragile,
My little bubble might just burst too.
Reality has some pointed spikes
Please pray for my bubble, thank you :)

Difficulties and Krishna

2011-01-10T22:53:00.000-08:00

"Realization is not something that is learned from a book. It is a gift, given to us by the Lord, something valuable that we can never forget. Krishna gives us this gift through difficulties. He puts us in situations where we find ourselves struggling against circumstances or our own weaknesses so that we understand that He is the Supreme Controller. Sometimes we may find certain situations re-occuring in our lives. Perhaps you keep causing misunderstanding in your relationships because you talk without thinking when angry. Or it can be some other problem that keeps coming back. At that time, we have to kneel down before the Lord and beg Him, "Please Krishna, help me to overcome this weakness. Help me to understand the lesson you want to teach me" And then, when we realize, the problem may automatically go away.
But Krishna knows what is best for us. Perhaps the removal of a certain weakness, may fill our heart with pride. "I dont lose my temper anymore. Nobody is more calmer than me. I have conquered my biggest weakness." This pride may be more damaging to our spiritual progress than that weakness itself. So Krishna will not remove it - and He will let us struggle, because the more we struggle, the more we remember Him, and the more closer to Him we shall go.
Difficult people and difficult situations are sent by Krishna to help us grow towards Him."

(From a lecture by H.G GaurSunder Prabhu in Pune. Its not the exact words, but whatever I remember I felt like sharing here)

In Retrospect

2011-01-04T01:05:00.000-08:00

2010 - its been a year of change for me. I had to cope with a lot of change on many levels in the past year. I completed my graduation- so there was this whole college to workplace change. I also ended up traveling a lot. In the past year I have been (for short and long spans of time) in Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Delhi, Kanchipuram, Trichi, Rameshwaram and ofcourse Pune. In the last 3 months I have been in and out of flights every weekend.
But never did I feel lost or not taken care of. By God's grace, everything was arranged for me everywhere. In every place, I met people who cared. People I could connect to, people with whom long lasting friendships have been made.
And I met kind people across all levels. Not just my colleagues and friends, but even among the driver, cook and general help category. I have a whole bunch of 'bhaiyyas' across India now.

I look back, and I see God's hand in every aspect of my life. I was ungrateful sometimes, and I protested in my heart when somethings that were not immediately palatable happened. But in retrospect, there never were any problems. I learned a lot about myself and I have improved as a person and overall I had a great time. :)

I look ahead with optimism knowing that 2011 will be a great year too. Just heard a great song on 1st Jan - I guess that sets the theme for 2011 for me.

Colours, colours, Krishna's colours

Fill my life night and day.

Up and down the roads of life,

Krishna's painting all the way

Krishna's brushes and Krishna's paints

On the canvas of my heart

Throw away my brushes Krishna,

My life is your work of art.

My Awesome Workplace

2010-11-27T04:43:00.000-08:00

I think I am one of those few lucky people who have gotten a chance to work in ThoughtWorks. ThoughtWorks is a global consultancy firm that specializes in delivering excellent custom software solutions. But I am not going to talk about ThoughtWorks like I am delivering a sales pitch to a client. I am talking about ThoughtWorks purely from an employee perspective, based on my experience here for 3 months.
I began my journey here as a grad, fresh out of college. We had a 6 week training period in Bangalore. Before that, we had to undergo a month of online training. The first book I was asked to read was "From journeyman to master - how to improve your craft" Right at the beginning, ThoughtWorks trained me to look at my work of developing software as a craft- which requires knowledge, skill, creativity and patience to master. I was so happy while reading that - it felt like I was stepping onto the right path.
Then my 'ThoughtWorks University' began. I had a whale of an experience. 35 of us were completely pampered in Bangalore. We were put up in luxury apartments, had a whole bunch of parties, trips and other fun activities planned out for us, and were treated like royalty. At the same time all the training sessions organised were really innovative - essentially learning with fun. And then we spent 4 weeks developing an internal ThoughtWorks website in the SpringMVC framework and were taught all kinds of good coding practices.
After that I was sunning on the beach for a while, learning Ruby and Rails. Now I am in Gurgaon, developing an application for the iPhone in Objective C and Rails. What I really love about my job is:

1. The people- I work with some of the best brains in the industry. People who are serious about their craft and about writing quality software. People who actually have fun while working and who enjoy teaching and explaining things to others.

2. The attitude- Individualism is really respected in ThoughtWorks. Everyone is free to express their opinions and be who they want to be. No false barriers of experience, or position, or location or culture or race are imposed on us. Everyone is equal and everyone has a right to express themselves.

3. The work- I am getting to work on some real cutting edge technology and learn good industry practices and methodologies. The best part is the variety in technology and roles available and the freedom given to the employees to grow as they choose.

4. The social commitment- ThoughtWorks cares. We do a whole bunch of Social Impact Projects in connection with Unicef, World Vision, Grameen, and other social organizations. ThoughtWorks is a pioneer buisness oriented organization that is doing significant social work too.

5. The transparency- Everything is discussed with everyone. I still remember my first 'all hands' meeting in Bangalore where we discussed which projects should go to which office, why certain management decisions had been taken, employee views about changing the office location etc. etc. And it was completely casual. Some people were eating lunch, some were sipping drinks, jokes were being cracked(at the expense of the MD), and the speaker was being constantly interrupted with questions.
I remember thinking "Wow! I am so lucky to be a part of this healthy work culture"

ThoughtWorks has a work environment that prevents the breeding of 'politics' at the workplace. The way we deal with conflicts is different. The way we write software is different. The way we run our organization is different. The values that our company is based on is different.

I wake up every morning, really looking forward to going to work. I learn something new everyday.

I am a ThoughtWorker :)

Turbulence

2010-11-18T09:56:00.000-08:00

Dark clouds amass,
Strong gales blow,
The waves surpass,
Rise high, fall low.

Uncertain,restless
The ocean roars,
Lightening flashes,
A lone bird moans.

Palm trees sway,
The old house shudders.
The world looks gray
A little boat struggles.

Ice waters pour
The rocks too glisten,
All must endure
This storm sudden.

Spiritual life is similar to fighting a war

2010-11-06T04:15:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from Srila Prabhupada's letter to Brahmananda Prabhu in Aug 1967. Srila Prabhupada had suffered a heart attack and had returned to India to recover his health.

"Don't be afraid of my being attacked by maya. When there is a fight between two belligerent parties, it is always expected that there will sometimes be reverses. Your country and the western world is mostly under the grip of Maya(illusion) and the modes of nature in passion and ignorance, and my declaration of war against maya is certainly a great battle. Maya saw me very successful within one year, so that I got so many sincere young followers like yourself and others, so it was a great defeat to the activities of Maya: western country youngsters giving up illicit sex, intoxication, meat eating and gambling is certainly a great reverse in the activities of maya. Therefore, she took advantage of my old age weakness and gave me a death dash. But Krishna saved me; therefore we should thank Krishna more than eulogize maya. So far as my present health is concerned I think I am improving; atleast I am taking lunch better than in N.Y. So as soon as I am a little fit to return to the field of battle I shall be again in your midst."

-From Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita

This letter inspires me to fight on against all the challenges(small and big) that I face as I attempt to practice Krishna Consciousness in this material world.

Recipe - Beetroot Halwa

2010-09-27T04:44:00.000-07:00

Recipe:Beetroot Halwa
(A milk and beetroot sweet)

Ingredients:

3 Raw Beetroots - peeled and grated.
250 gm khava - (This is dried milk- will be available in any Indian sweet shop)
3 cups sugar - (Roughly the same amount as the grated beetroot. So you will mostly have 3 cups of beetroot after grating)
2 tablespoon ghee
A little milk
Chopped dry fruits

Method:

1) Put the ghee in a kadai or any aluminium/non- stick pan. Heat till it melts.
2)Add the khava and roast it on medium flame till it turns golden in colour. You have to keep stirring it, so that it doesnt stick to the pan and burn. The original colour of khava is whitish pink. It will turn deep golden in roughly 15 min. Keep aside.
3) Cook the grated beetroot in a little milk in an open pan, till the beetroot goes soft. (Not too soft- just well-cooked)
4) Add the sugar and the khava. Let it cook for 5 minutes more, so that the sugar and khava melt nicely.
5) Add chopped dry fruits and enjoy!

The Chinese and Me

2010-08-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

At Thoughtworks, we have a 6 week training session where employees from all over the world land up at Bangalore, called ThoughtWorks University. I have been here for a week now, and this time round we have around 10 Chinese grads too. I am really having a whale of a time with them :) They are all really simple hearted folks, with a lot of 'wide-eyed' innocence and all of them are really intelligent. And I just love their features. Atleast the girls' in my batch are exotic beauties, all petite and full of charm. And the guys? Totally cute ;)
The first day, I barely got their names- and it was seriously impossible to communicate. Apparently, the Chinese find it very difficult to understand the Indian accent. Besides, all the current grads are from Tenzing and other Chinese small towns, so they dont really know English that well. So most of the time, no matter what we said, they just laughed and nodded. All the Chinese have such smiley faces, and they are so thrilled to simply be in India that you feel happy just being around them. Anyways, on day 1 I actually had to resort to writing some sentences down. I could understand what they were saying, but not vice versa :(. But then eventually, I got the hang of it. All you gotta do is talk slowly, and throw in a few guestures, and you really have to simplify your sentences. Oh and repeat words a few times. And one or two of them are better at English so they rapidly translate to the others.
Anyways I discovered that Chinese say their last names first. So Sha Biyen( a girl) her name is Biyen and family name is Sha. So I figured out why we have three Yangs' in our batch! And their names have beautiful meanings. Like One of my friends' name means 'Green Jade'- How cool is that!
               Then on saturday, They all gathered in a friend's apartment to cook and have lunch. So they go and come back with all kinds of vegetables( Without evening knowing their english names) and slice them very thinly, and stir fry them in batches, and dish up a yummy meal for 15! Oh and the best part was that they have no pressure cookers in China- so I kinda told them to trying making rice in one. The first time the cooker whistled-you should have seen their faces. Once done, one guy removed the cooker and kept it on the floor- He said he was feeling as if he was around a Bomb :)
                  The Chinese Language is very complex. The word and the tone, both convey different meanings. Besides all the sounds are removed from deep within the throat. So there I was, surrounded by 10 Chinese all talking rapidly in various sing-song tones- and I wasnt in India any more.
                   I have learnt some words too. "Chao Shama mitz"- What is your name? I had to struggle for days to get the tone though.'Toi' means yes and 'Poo'-is no. How apt is that?!
                  Three cheers to the Chinese!

Contract of Immortality - The Conclusion

2010-08-05T01:52:00.000-07:00

continued from here

NARSIMHADEV

From the ruins of the pillar, out stepped a gigantic being. His upper body was that of a lion while the lower portion was of a man. Extremely fearsome, with angry eyes the colour of molten gold,motionless ears that stood erect and a shiny mane, the being towered over Hiranyakashipu. His jaw was parted fiercely,like a mountain cave, revealing rows of deadly teeth and a razor sharp tongue that moved like a dueling sword. His neck was short and thick, his chest broad and his waist narrow. In his numerous hands he held the conchshell, the disc, the club and other weapons. This was Lord Narsimhadev, neither man nor lion.
              Just to keep the word of his devotee, Lord Vishnu had appeared from a palace pillar, in this wonderful form. Such is the power of faith. Neither Hiranyakashipu's heinous crimes, nor his foolish plan to achieve immortality, nor even the destruction of the sacrifices had bothered Lord Vishnu. It was only the faith of the little boy Prahlad, that had caused the Supreme Lord Himself, to descend into this mortal realm.
               Hiranyakashipu was terrified. But he consoled himself, "This is only Vishnu's trickery! After all who can defeat me in battle?" Fool-hardily, he charged towards the Lord, like a moth to the flame. So bright was Narsimhadev's effulgence, that the demon simply dissappeared from sight. He attacked the Lord with powerful blows from his club. But Narsimhadev just laughed and captured Hiranyakashipu in his powerful arms.
               All the homeless denizens of heaven, were gathered in the skies, watching the divine battle. Seeing their nemesis captured, they applauded wildly. But the wily demon just turned and very swiftly slid out of the Lord's grasp. Seeing this all the demigods were disturbed. But Narsimhadev was just playing with His prey, as the divine eagle, Garuda would play with a snake.
Hiranyakashipu now took his sword and shield. He moved skillfully around the Lord, sometimes flying into the air and sometimes landing on earth. He tried using all his battle experience to save himself. But his eyes were closed in terror as the terrible laughter of death echoed in his ears.
Lord Narsimhadev grew tired of the sport. Finally the time was right. It was neither morning nor night, but twilight- the sun had set, yet it was not dark He grasped Hiranyakashipu in his hands and sat on the doorway of the palace. They were neither inside his house, nor outside. The Lord laid Hiranyakashipu across His lap. The demon was now neither in sky nor on land. The Lord flexed his long nails, as sharp as swords, as strong as thunderbolts. These nails were neither weapons to be wielded nor weapons to be thrown. They were neither living, nor dead- For nails are made of dead cells but yet they grow like living organisms. The Lord was neither man, nor beast, nor demon, nor heavenly God. He had not been created by Brahma.
                 The contract of immortality had not been breached. Lord Narsimhadev plunged his nails into the demon's stomach and tore him apart. Blood sprayed all over. So angry was the Lord, that He pulled out the demon's intestines and garlanded Himself. The Gods in heaven cheered loudly and started showering flowers. Drums and trumpets were played and divine hymns were sung, glorifying Him. But the Lord's anger could not be appeased. He roared wildly and even Laxmidevi, His eternal consort, was afraid to approach Him.
                 Finally, Brahma turned to little Prahlad. Unafraid, the little boy went towards the Lord, carrying a garland of flowers. He offered them to the Lord and glorified Him with many prayers. At last, Lord Narsimhadev was pacified. He asked Prahlad, "Dear child, I am ready to give you anything you desire. Simply ask."
   But what did Prahlad care for material prosperity? He had his Lord Vishnu and he wanted nothing else. Humbly he said, " Grant me, my Lord the benediction to always remain the servant of Your servants."
Narsimhadev was even more pleased. "So be it." He said and dissappeared.

Afterword:
The appearance of Lord Narsimhadev is celebrated even today, in the month of May. Devotees all over the globe, fast till sunset, and pray to the Lord for protection from the 'Hiranyakashipus' of the heart- lust, greed, pride,envy, anger and attachment. In ISKCON centers, Lord Narsimhadev is worshiped daily, and in the main Mayapur ISKCON we have a beautiful deity of Lord Narsimhadev stepping out of the pillar.(Picture below) Many miraculous events have taken place in relation to this deity. You can read some here.
Thank-you for reading this far and giving me a chance to glorify the Supreme Lord and His devotee.
In Ahobilam, in Andhra Pradesh(south India), the remains of Hiranyakashipu's palace, the nail marks of Lord Narsimhadev and many other evidences are found, proving this story to be true. For you, this may be mythology, but for me this is history. I shall keep my faith. :)


Sri Narsimhadev(Mayapur ISKCON)

Contract of Immortality-Part 2

2010-07-26T04:51:00.000-07:00

continued from here.....

PRAHLAD

While Hiranyakashipu had been away performing austerities, his wife, who was pregnant, had gone to stay with Narad Muni in his ashram. Out there, the divine sage had glorified Lord Vishnu and described in detail the method of worshiping him. More than the mother, the little child within her womb, heard the sage attentively. He began to meditate on Lord Vishnu before birth itself.
   Eventually, Hiranyakashipu returned, and the queen, too, came back with the little boy. His father sent him to school, where his teachers- Kshand and Amarak, attempted to train him in demoniac politics and economics. They spoke about back-stabbing, taking others' wealth by force and controlling subordinates.
            But all of their words were wasted on Prahlad. He always remained silent, meditating on Vishnu. During his playtime, Prahlad taught the other little boys the importance of Vishnu worship. So influential was he, that his classmates, the children of the demoniac ministers of Hiranyakashipu, also began to join him in his prayer.
   Initially, Hiranyakashipu was blissfully unaware of all this. One day, he called little Prahlad and made him sit on his lap. He kissed him affectionately on the forehead and inquired, "How is school, my child. Are they treating you well there? What did you learn today, my boy?"
         Prahlad smiled innocently. Hiranyakashipu's heart was melting with affection. Prahlad replied, "I learned today, father, that Lord Vishnu is the greatest of all beings in the universe."
        Hiranyakashipu froze. He could not believe his ears. Who had dared to poison the mind of his own son in this way? "Kshand! Amarak!", he screamed. "What have you been teaching my boy?"
The teachers came there trembling. They fell at the feet of the King. "Forgive us. Forgive us." They implored. They then proceeded to narrate, how Prahlad seemed to know all this from before and how he was poisoning the minds of other students too.
         Hiranyakashipu became more and more surprised. Surely some messanger of Vishnu was sneaking into the school and corrupting his son. He ordered the security around the school to be tightened and sternly instructed his son, "Look Prahlad, I am Supreme. Vishnu is a fraudster, the murderer of your uncle! You must forget all this nonsense and concentrate on real education. Go now! Get out of my sight! Learn the right things and then come back!"
             Prahlad was calm throughout this outburst. His faith was unshaken. He went back to school but continued with his activities. He refused to even talk about anything other than Vishnu, what to speak of forgetting him. Infact, he even advised his tyrannical father, "Give up your enemity with Lord Vishnu and approach him with love. He will accept you with open arms!"
              Hiranyakashipu became more and more frustrated. The whole universe quaked in his presence, but this little five year old boy, continued to defy him. Finally, his demoniac ministers advised the king, "If there is an infection in the arm, it is better to cut off the arm, then let the illness spread to the whole body. It would be best if you destroyed your son right now, before he grows up and destroys your entire kingdom!"
Hiranyakashipu relented. This was the only way. He ordered his warriors to throw the boy of the nearest cliff. Prahlad was undisturbed. He meditated on Lord Vishnu as he was thrown, and surely, the kind God stood at the bottom to catch him. Prahlad was unharmed.
   Hiranyakashipu tried various other methods to kill him. He immersed him in boiling oil, but the oil turned into soft flowers at Prahlad's touch. He threw him in front of mad elephants, hungry lions and poisonous snakes.But all these creatures simply bowed down in front of the boy. Demons attempted to cut Prahlad to little bits. But their weapons refused to touch the boy. Prahlad remained steady and calm, like an island amidst the raging sea.
Finally, Hiranyakashipu handed Prahlad over to his aunt, the king's demon sister Holika. She had a special cloth, it prevented its wearer from being burnt by fire. Holika covered herself with the cloth and entered into blazing fire with the child. A mystical wind flew that lifted up the cloth and covered little Prahlad. Holika burnt to ashes, while not even a hair on Prahlad's body was harmed.
           Now Hiranyakashipu was really angry. He grabbed his son and threw him on the palace floor. "You Insolent boy! From where do you get your strength? Answer me!", he raved.
           "The source of my strength and yours is the same father," answered Prahlad. "The Supreme Lord Vishnu."
         Hiranyakashipu roared. "How dare you! Where is your Vishnu? Where is he? Let him come here to save you if he can. I shall kill you today with my own hands."
         "Vishnu is everywhere father. He is in you, as he is in me. You only need the eyes to see him", replied Prahlad, unpertrubed.
"Is he in this pillar? Is he in this Pillar?" screamed the King, insane with rage, pointing at one of the palace pillars.
"Of course father"
"Then now he shall die!", thundered the demon and struck the pillar a powerful blow with his mace.
There was a loud explosion. The pillar shattered.

To be continued......

Contract of Immortality-Part 1

2010-07-23T06:13:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to write this post for some time now, but never seem to have got the time. Anyway, here goes....

Basically, what I am going to do is narrate the story of Lord Narsimhadev in 3 parts. Part of ancient Hindu Lore, this is essentially a tale of faith and the wonderful relationship between God and his devotee. Like all good tales, it has a hero and a villain (but sadly, no heroine :) )This part focuses on the villain, from whom the story began and on whom the story ends :)

HIRANYAKASHIPU

Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu were the sons of the sage Kashyap and his wife Diti. They were not ordinary mortals. Originally, they were Jay and Vijay, the door-keepers of Lord Vishnu's immortal planet Vaikuntha. Once the four kumaras, four sages who look like 5 year old boys, came to Vaikuntha to meet the Lord. But Jay and Vijay, arrogant of their position of authority, refused the Kumaras entry, mocking their child-like appearance. To teach the brothers a lesson, the sages cursed them,
"Three times you shall be born as demons in the mortal word, and three times Lord Vishnu will Himself have to appear to destroy you!"
           Jay and Vijay realized their folly and begged for forgiveness. No one in the immortal land, ever wishes to come to the mortal realm. But a curse is a curse. The sages were the epitome of virtue, and their words must come true. Jay and Vijay appeared as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu in their first birth as demons.
            "But they were the sons of a sage?" you may ask. "How could they be demons." Ah well, this story simply reiterates the fact that it is your deeds and not your birth, that determines who you are. Hiranyaksha, the eldest, began to wreak havoc on the masses. So intoxicated was he by his strength, that he lifted up mother earth(the earth planet) and carried her to the lowest regions of the universe. Lord Vishnu, then incarnated as a wild boar, killed Hiranyaksha, and restored the planet to its correct position.(This is a story in itself and must be reserved for another blog)
          Angered by his brother's death, Hiranyakashipu swore enmity with Vishnu, and began rigorous austerity. He retreated into the forest, stood on one leg and controlled his breathing, meditating on Lord Brahma, the creator of this universe. 36,000 years passed, Hiranyakashipu's body was covered with anthills, and the power of his austerities generated great heat that began to burn up the universe. The other Gods approached Lord Brahma and begged him to appease Hiranyakashipu and restore the balance of the universe.
         Brahma finally appeared before the demon and sprinkled him with sacred water. His body, which had decayed to mere bones, was restored. Hiranyakashipu regained his youth and vitality. Falling at Brahma's feet, he prayed, "Great God, if I have pleased you with my worship, please grant me immortality."
   Brahma frowned, "Anything but that, my child. I cannot grant you immortality, for I, too, am mortal. All beings, within this mortal universe must die. That is the law."
   Hiranyakashipu thought for a moment. Then he spelled out, what he thought was the contract for immortality. "O Brahma," he said, "Then grant me that I should not be killed at the hands of any creature created by you. No god in heaven, no man, no animal, no serpent,no demon should be able to kill me. I should not be killed by any weapon that can be thrown or any weapon that can be wielded. I should not be killed during the day, nor at night. I should not be killed on land or in the sky. Death should not come to me inside my house or outside it. Grant me invincibility in battle and undisputed lordship over all beings. Let me have unfailing powers and the same glory as you."
           "So be it!" smiled Brahma and vanished.
          Hiranyakashipu returned to his kingdom. He wasted no time in launching a battle on the heavens and capturing all the Gods. Defeating them, he assumed total control of the universe. There was only one law in his land. "No one should worship Vishnu. Anyone found even chanting the name of that God shall be immediately killed!"
          Hiranyakashipu, the original tyrant, began to persecute all the brahmins and vaishnavas engaged in worshiping Vishnu. He falsely believed, that sacrifices(yajnas) done in the name of Vishnu increase the Lord's strength. He destroyed such sacrifices and brutally destroyed devotees, cows and all object dear to the Lord.
          So complete was his power that if he demanded, "Let there be rain on my garden, but let the sun shine on my porch" it would be done. He had total control on nature. He could enjoy whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. He had strength, beauty, wealth, fame, everything that most of us aspire. You would expect him to be happy.
          Was he happy? Nope. He wasn't even the 'I have had an average day-not too bad, not too good' happy. He was miserable. He was frustrated. He had one thorn in his side. His son, a little 5 year old boy, Prahlad.

(To be continued...)

Wonders of my world

2010-04-23T03:08:00.000-07:00

I read a list of 7 wonders of the everyday world somewhere. It contained top 7 'popular' everyday events- stuff like 'fixing a machine by hitting it' and 'turning your pillow around'. So I observed my life for 2 weeks and here is:

Everyday wonders of my world:

1)Taking a shower after a long day. (Absolutely nothing beat this)
2)Drinking fresh water from the 'mataka' (esp after coming in from a long drive in the afternoon sun)
3)Walking outside on a cool, breezy night (esp after it has rained)
4)Aroma of wet soil
5)Eating chilled mango ice-cream, right out of the freezer.
6)Mom oiling my hair
7)Aroma of ripening mangoes.

This list is biased because it relates to the summer season in particular and cant be called 'everyday' but summer season is my favourite so this list will top my all year 'every-day wonders' list too.

God's creation is beautiful! The last 2 weeks were so wonderful! I was consciously finding joy in all these little things... I feel we just complicate life.

Sweet Krishna

2010-04-11T22:46:00.000-07:00

"Madhuram madhuram vapur asya vibhor
madhuram madhuram vadanam madhuram
madhu-gandhi mridu-smritir etad aho
madhuram madhuram madhuram madhuram"

"The transcendental body of Sri Krishna is very sweet and His face is even sweeter. But his soft smile, which has the fragrance of honey, is sweeter still."

-Sri Bilvamangal Thakur
Krishna-Karnamrita(92)

Life's lessons from engineering

2010-04-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

My four years in engineering taught me a fair bit about life too. Here's some of them:

Making mistakes may not be the easiest way to learn something, but these lessons last longest.
Somebody knows the answer, you only need to ask.
The sanest people lose all rationality when swayed by emotions. Try not to let your emotions rule you.
People change. If you can change like them, great- else move on.
Your efforts will not always be tangibly awarded. The process matters more than the end.

Recipe-Veg Bhuna

2010-04-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Veg Bhuna-Vegetable balls in tomato curry
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

For Bhuna:
cabbage 3/4th kg
carrots 3
Beans Handful
(Basically after grating, quantity of cabbage should be 3 times that of carrot and 3 times that of beans)
turmeric powder-1.5 tsp
red chilly powder-1.5 tsp
garam masala-2 tsp
Salt to taste
(Adjust the spice measures to suit your tastes too)
Oil for frying

For Curry:
Cashew nuts 5-6
Khuskhus 1 tblsp
Tomatoes 5-6 (Chopped)
Ginger(grated) 2 tblsp
Hing(Aesofotida) pinch
Garam Masala(4 tblsp)
red chilly powder, turmeric powder(1-2tsp)
Salt to taste
Oil- 1 tblspoon

Method:

For Bhuna:

Soak the khuskhus and cashews in water.
Grate the cabbage and carrots and chop the beans finely. Mix them all, add salt(as much required for the Bhuna balls), and set the mixture aside for 30 minutes. Keep the mixture in a tilted plate. It will leave water, which will flow towards the tilted part. Tip: Dont leave any pieces of the vegetables(like cabbage leaf pieces or the end of the carrot which you could not grate). This could cause problems while frying. Chop everything finely. Also, In this 30 min gap you can proceed to make the curry
Throw out the water. Add Gram flour, red chilly, turmeric powder, garam masala to the grated vegetables and mix. It will become a semi-solid lump.
Heat oil in a kadhai. Make small balls and fry them on medium flame till golden brown. This is the bhuna. Tip:The smaller the size of the ball the better. Keep the balls in a newspaper so that the paper absorbs the excess oil. Improves the health quotient :)

For Curry:

Grind the soaked khuskhus and cashews.
Heat 1 tblspoon oil in kadhai.
Add rai(sesame seeds). Let them pop.
Then add the jeera, hing, grated ginger and chopped tomatoes. Fry this on medium flame, till the mixture starts leaving oil. The tomatoes should become fairly dry and start curling. (But be careful- not too dry !) Tip: You can add the salt at this stage to speeden the process.
Add the other spices and salt (if not added already). Fry them into the tomatoes.
Add the water and the cashew-khuskhus paste. If you wish to thicken the gravy make a paste of 1-2 tablespoon cornflour in a little cold water and add it.
Add chopped coriander and a small lump of jaggery. Allow the mixture to boil.

Add the bhuna in the curry, just before serving. This is because the bhuna dissolves quickly.
You can repeat the above process with grated dudhi to make kofta curry. The curry is a standard for dishes like paneer masala( Add fried paneer into the curry) and mutter paneer and any other punjabi vegetable I guess. If you wanna make the curry thick, like they serve in hotels, try adding maida instead of the cornflour- But maida is not healthy and I havent tried this myself.

Enjoy! :)

The Real Master

2010-03-29T00:37:00.000-07:00

"A hardworking man thinks himself the lord of his family and estate, but actually he is a servant of desire and the employee of anger. Such service of the senses is neither pensionable nor terminable, for desire and anger are masters who are never to be satisfied. The more one serves them, the more service they exact, and as such the false overlordship continues until the day of annihilation. As a result, the foolish living being is pushed into degraded life and fails to recognize the Lord as the beneficiary of all activities, the ruler of the universe and the friend of all entities. One who knows the real Lord is called a brahmana, but one who fails to know him is called a kripana, or number one miser."

- Srila Prabhupada
[Purport- Mukund-Mala-Stotra- Verse 1]

Man Vs Beast

2010-03-12T11:21:00.000-08:00

The more I learn about animal behaviour, the more I am struck by how many remarkably human qualities they have. Hippos mourn for their dead, hyenas and wild dogs have amazing team working skills, and in foxes the female fox has to leave her pack and find a mate in another pack( and win over the other members). Chimpanzees have been known to paint and there are dogs that can even spell! More interestingly, there is a particular species of lizard who mate for life and sometimes even starve for days in grief if their mate dies before them! Life in the animal world has everything from authority hierarchies and cruelty, to cunningness, emotions and even fun!

This made me wonder, what really differentiates human beings from animals? It is unequivocally claimed that man is on top of the food chain and he is superior to all species. We claim to be more intelligent than them, but I do believe that all of the above examples are a clear display of intelligence. Yet intutively everyone agrees that man is superior and I really wanted to know how?

Turning to the scriptures I found this beautiful verse:

'aahar nidra bhay maithunamcha
samanyam etat pashubhir naranam
dharmo hi tesham adhiko vishesho
dharmena hina pashubhir naranam.'
Eating, sleeping, mating and defending are 4 activities common to both man and animals. It is only 'dharma', that makes a human being special. Without dharma, man is no better than an animal.

The verse explains that both human beings and animals have the necessary intelligence to perform four activities- eating, sleeping, mating and defending. All species know how to fill their bellies, how to obtain a safe shelter for resting, how to raise their young and how to defend against enemies. But what makes human beings special is Dharma.

What is this Dharma? An external meaning of dharma is righteous duty. But in the ninth chapter of the Bhagvad Gita, Lord Krishna says that spiritual knowledge is dharma. Infact, Srila Prabhupada explains that the duty of man is to acquire spiritual knowledge. This is the dharma that is being referred to in this verse.
If we think about it, we can understand that animals cannot inquire. They cannot ask questions like

Who am I?
Who is God?
Where have I come from?
What is the goal of my life?
Why am I born in this particular situation?

Only as human beings, we can ask questions. However if we use this ability to inquire only to increase facilities for eating, sleeping, mating and defending then we are no better than animals. Instead, by inquiring about the spirit, one can live upto the true potential of being human, apply what we learn in our life and achieve eternal bliss.

[P.S- This article and the links within it summarize the entire Vedic Philosophy of life as given in the Bhagvad Gita. If you are interested in knowing more and experiencing spirituality for yourself do visit your nearest ISKCON center.(Just Google ISKCON [Name of your city] :) )

A perfect woman

2010-03-08T06:47:00.000-08:00

This woman's day, I would like to take the opportunity to glorify one of my favourite women, a lady who was a perfect daughter,mother and wife and one of the greatest devotees of all time-Queen Kunti.

Queen Kunti was the daughter of Kuntibhoja, and King Vasudev's cousin sister. As a young girl she was very humble, patient and obedient. When Durvasa Muni visited her father's kingdom,accompanied by his 10,000 disciples, she served him personally and pleased him. Durvasa muni had a very difficult nature. He was highly eccentric and short-tempered. For eg. He would demand that food be cooked for them all, at very short-notice, at odd hours and then not eat it. Inspite of this, Queen Kunti took it upon herself, to personally serve him, and succeeded.
Durvasa Muni blessed her with a mantra, by invoking which, Kunti could obtain a child from any demigod. He had great foresight, and knew that Kunti would require this mantra in the future.

Queen Kunti was beautiful, intelligent and well-versed in all the fine arts. Hence she was chosen to be the bride of King Pandu, the ruler the earth. However, Pandu was cursed by a sage, that he would lose his life if he ever begot children. The throne was now in jeopardy as there was no heir. So Kunti invoked the mantra and was blessed with Yuddhishtira, the son of Yamraj, Bheema the son of Vayudev, and Arjun, the son of Indra. She was so compassionate and non-envious, that she taught the mantra to her co-wife Madri too, who begot twin sons, Nakul and Sahdev from the twin Ashwini gods.

Unfortunately, by the plan of the Supreme Lord, Pandu lost his life in a moment of weakness. In ancient times, if a woman felt that the pain of living in separation from her husband is greater than the pain of death then she would voluntarily commit sati. But Kunti was so self-sacrificing and strong that she chose to live as a widow for the sake of the children. Madri committed sati, and Kunti accepted even Madri's children as her own and loved all the five Pandavas equally.

Kunti raised her five sons in her brother-in-law, Dhritrashtra's house. She instilled in them all the virtues that the Pandavas are famous for. She taught them to be just, selfless, courageous, tolerant, equinamous, compassionate and truthful by her own behaviour. But most importantly, Kunti taught her sons about the glories of Lord Sri Krishna, and ensured that they too loved Him and served Him as deeply as she did.

Externally, Queen Kunti was Lord Krishna's aunt(His father's cousin). Yet she was fully aware of His true identity as the Supreme Father, the cause of all causes.
At the end of the Mahabharat, when Lord Krishna is about to the leave the Pandavas and return to his own Kingdom, Kunti Maharani offers some beautiful prayers to Him. These prayers have been immortalized in the Bhagvat Purana and are studied and recited by scholars and devotees alike.

These prayers reveal the depth of her spiritual understanding as she glorifies Sri Krishna and deeply regrets his leaving them. For eg. in one prayer, she describes how the Lord has been with the Pandavas through all their difficulties and then she says, "May we face these sufferings again and again so that we could see You(Sri Krishna) again and again". She shows us how problems only take us closer to God. In another beautiful prayer, she attributes the success of her entire family to Krishna. She says,"If you do not look upon us, all our fame and activities will end at once." She reveals, that success comes if there is both, endeavour on our part and the grace of God.

Queen Kunti, through her life and teachings, reveals what it means to be a true instrument of the divine. She inspires me to remain firm about my principles in all of life's different situations. What I have described is but a tiny drop of her many glories. I can only pray that I am able to follow the path shown by her.

Relativity

2010-03-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

Once, I was feeling really low when I went to the gym. A whole lot of negative stuff seemed to be happening to me. I was feeling really burdened and depressed with all of my life's problems.
In the locker room, I was morosely wearing my shoes, a thousand thoughts whirling in my head. Thats when I heard this conversation between two of the cleaning ladies.
Lady1: "Did you have breakfast".
Lady2: "No"
Lady1:"Why?"
Lady2:"If me and my husband both have breakfast, the food available at lunch is less. And, you know na, one feels more hungry in the afternoon after working. So I just skip breakfast and eat lunch nicely."

The conversation moved on to a different topic, leaving me stunned. I could suddenly see my problems in a very different light. Atleast I dont have to choose between breakfast and lunch.

My world view changed.

Gratitude

2010-01-23T06:51:00.000-08:00

I was chatting with a friend once, about God and prayers and stuff and he said one sentence that completely shocked me-
"What is there to thank God about?"

God is the Supreme Father. He is always there with us, not symbolically, not in thoughts, not allegorically or metaphysically but actually. He is right there, through all our so-called joys and all our very real sufferings. No matter how many sins we do, or whichever body we are in, no matter how much we neglect Him and how self-absorbed we are, He loves us and always tries to guide us on the right path. In fact He is the only person, who loves us unconditionally, all the time.
Isnt this enough to thank Him?

Every day is a blessing from God. He has given us a healthy body, food, and a loving family. There is at least somebody who cares about us.
Isnt this enough to thank Him?

God guides us through all situations. Even the negative events that happen, happen by His will to teach us something. He is helping and guiding us even in difficult times.
Isnt this enough to thank Him?

God's mercy and guidance comes through various different forms. One must utilize ones intelligence to actively seek them out, atleast to recognize them.
Gratitude is the first step towards loving God.

Real Humility

2010-01-17T23:46:00.000-08:00

A beautiful passage from the book The Journey Home by H.H Radhanath Swami

"True humility connects us to an inexhaustible power beyond our own, the power of grace. True humility is a universal pride in the greatness of God and a genuine appreciation for the virtues of others. Really humility does not mean I ought to be cowardly and shrink from challenges but propels me to strive with all my resources to overcome challenges with integrity, respect, love and gratitude, to be as much as possible an instrument of the divine.
Humility protects us from being envious towards those who are more accomplished. With a humble heart one can easily admit mistakes and open one's heart to learn. Becoming humble is not the act of killing the ego but of liberating the real ego, which is eternally vibrant with love for God and others."

Love Signs

2010-01-04T01:56:00.000-08:00

Well I would like to begin the new year by detailing Linda Goodman's theory on love and its relation to your sun sign.
When I read her book- 'Love Signs' I found her theory really interesting. I felt that what she says is great from the point of view of understanding people and developing fruitful and happy relations.

Basically, she states that the 12 signs of the zodiac form a karmic wheel which begins at Aries and ends with Pisces. Each sun-sign represents a stage of 'spiritual' maturity.
The soul or 'astral self' (as she calls it) must learn a lesson of love that belongs to the sun-sign it is born under.
According to Goodman, the soul must repeatedly take birth under one sign until it learns that lesson and then it advances up the wheel. If at any point, it forgets any of the lessons learned, it is pushed back down the wheel. Thus the cycle continues.

When compared with the Vedic theory, the point that Linda Goodman misses is that learning to love God, unconditionally, at any stage can free you from this endless wheel. Also, karma and desires, combine to determine the next body for the soul ( which could be an animal's too)

However her analysis is still useful in understanding yourself and others and all the intricacies in any human relationship. I am specifying it in brief for each sign-

The first six initiations of love:

Aries-the infant- "I am"

To teach that love is innocence.
To learn that love is trust.

Aries persons, like the symbolic human infant, are innocent, selfish and reckless. They are oblivious to doubts and the possibility of fears,miseries and cruelty on life's path. They are optimistic, believing that they only have to 'shout' to have their needs satisfied.

Positive - innocence, blind faith, raw courage.
Negative- selfish egotism, thoughtlessness, aggressiveness and impulsive action with no regard of consequence.

To Aries, love is a necessity of life, which is taken for granted.

Taurus-the baby- "I have"

To teach that love is patience.
To learn that love is forgiveness.

The soul has now grown into a symbolically, chubby healthy baby. Unaware of the outside environment, the Taurean finds security and happiness in his home circle. They are comfortable with the familiar, possessions bring them happiness and understand affection only through feeling. They are fiercely possessive and refuse to share what they truly love. (like a baby with his toys)

Positive - strength of purpose, patience, steadfastness and conviction
Negative- obstinacy, blind prejudice, lack of reason.

To Taurus, love is physical affection, both given and received without question.

Gemini-the child- "I think"

To teach that love is awareness.
To learn that love is feeling.

For the first time the soul becomes aware that it is not alone in the universe. A child learns to communicate with words while the parents listen attentively. Similarly, Geminians are quick witted and known for their verbal agility and expect every body to listen to them. They are thrilled by knowledge and love to discover new things. Yet they must face the duality of their 'Twin selves'. Partly they long to run out and explore the world, while partly they are insecure and seek the familiar.

Positive - versatility, mental alertness,quickness of perception, deductive reasoning and flexibility.
Negative- restlessness, glibness, shallowness, double-talk, unreliability, self-deception.

To Gemini, love is needed, but restricting as there are more exciting things in the world for them. If they find love too restrictive, they may rashly discard it.

Cancer-the adolescent- "I feel"

To teach that love is devotion.
To learn that love is freedom.

The moody, sensitive, 'adolescent' Cancer soul vacillates between childish dependence and the maddeningly enticing world of adulthood. Cancerians tend to have many apprehensions as they sense the 'pitfalls' they must face in life. They are secretive and dreamy, acutely perceptive of other people's emotions. They have a great sense of humor, using jokes to hide their own deep emotions believing they are fooling people by doing so.

Positive - imagination, tenacity, tenderness, sensitivity, care and caution.
Negative- stinginess, irritability, melancholy, clinging, cowardice, possesiveness and moodiness.

To Cancer, love is equivalent to emotional security.It is so strongly needed that it must be disguised behind Lunar laughter and moody tears.

Leo-the teenager- "I will"

To teach that love is ecstasy.
To learn that love is humility.

Like a teenager, the Leo portrays great self-confidence and yet seeks reassurance in the form of flattery, cringing inwardly from self-criticism. Generosity of spirit is carved into the Leo from the souls journey through previous stages of insecurity and they tend to seek out and reassure the helpless. They enjoy social life and even responsibilities. Freed from the symbolic restrictions of parental guidance the Leo sees the world in cheerful light, enjoying a sense of adulthood yet seeking constant assurances.

Positive - warmth,generosity, nobility, strength, loyalty, leadership and soothing, gentle tenderness.
Negative- arrogance, false pride, vanity, tyranny, haughtiness, romanic promiscuity

To Leo, love is shimmering romance, the fulfillment of idealism and beauty. They give and demand affection generously.

Virgo-the adult - "I analyze"

To teach that love is pure.
To learn that love is fulfillment.

The soul has now become an adult, forced to comply with society's rules yet submitting gracefully.
Like young adults, Virgo souls see much to criticize around them. They take life seriously and are extremely practical. They know that learning and competing is mandatory, surviving has now become an obsession. Their heart is still pure and filled with silent hope but the mind is now in control. Earlier leo enthusiasms have been replaced by resignations and quiet dreams.

Positive - clarity of thought, discrimination, courtesy, service to others, practicality and self-honesty.
Negative- criticism,crankiness, timidity, pessimism, inferiority and hair-splitting.

To Virgo, love is a surrender of the self, a mystery they prefer not to solve.

After repeatedly going through these first six stages the soul passes through the final six initiations of love to discover deeper spiritual meaning.
Libra-marriage- "I balance"

To teach that love is beauty.
To learn that love is harmony.

Experience has taught Libra men and women to judge fairly as they now become aware of the duality that exists within the universe. Decision making is difficult and painful- as they strive to seek a balance. Cold logic learned in Gemini and virgo is softened by the knowledge of value of persuasion. They have a quality of charm which they use to dazzle and confuse everyone around them. They are deeply aware of the harmony that lies in music and art and are sentimental and practical.

Positive - justice, intelligence, charm, gentleness and emotional balance.
Negative- laziness, procrastination, indecision, argumentativeness, pleasure-seeking, temperamental.

To Libra, love is a meeting of the minds and hearts, not too passionate, not too detached- a happy medium to be equally shared.

Scorpio-sex- "I desire"

To teach that love is passion.
To learn that love is surrender.

Scorpions seek the answers of the fundamental questions of life. They trust love only after it has proved itself, but once convinced are unswervingly loyal. They wish to fiercely protect themselves and the ones they love from hurt and hence are highly revengeful. They often wish to penetrate universal mysteries like death, God etc. Though passionate and ultra-sensitive, the scorpion soul has learnt how to completely disguise their true self from the world. They also discover their own will and the power of the mind.

Positive - loyalty, will power, magnetism, gentleness, insight and amazing self-control.
Negative- ruthlessness, fanaticism, revenge, sadism, suspicion and self-hatred.

To Scorpio, love is a consuming flame worthy of any challenge, and they must conquer its challenge.

Sagittarius-knowledge- "I see"

To teach that love is honesty.
To learn that love is loyalty.

In Sagittarius, the soul has now become a skeptical philosopher and a reluctant prophet. He is once again aware of the duality of his own nature and varies between supreme optimism and blind faith to the depths of sarcastic cynicism. They are curious and funny, melancholy and critical. They have an irresponsible disregard for the future having reached the symbolic stage of retirement. They grudgingly submit to restrictions of duty and long to realize their inner dreams. They yearn to travel and discover new people and ideas.

Positive - optimism, candor, cheerfulness, logic, honesty, daring and enthusiasm.
Negative- recklessness, emotional confusion, carelessness, lack of tact, rudeness and fickleness.

To Sagittarius, love is an ideal and they are often wounded by love's reality.

Capricorn-experience- "I use"

To teach that love is wisdom.
To learn that love is unselfish.

The Capricorn Soul leads from his home, sure of his authority and feels no need to be constantly praised or admired. He has learned that true peace comes from within. The Capricorn's relatives assume marked importance because the 'symbolic old age' has arrived. Capricorns are willing to give advice, but only when invited to do so. The excitement of romance and the freedom of youth are not nearly as enticing to the goat as comfort and family contentment. They appear serious and unyielding to more liberal souls, but they have a subtle sense of humour with a tinge of irony. Gentleness of spirit softens the severity of the surface sternness commanded by Saturn.

Positive - determination, stability, wisdom, dependability, sureness and tranquility.
Negative- selfishness, narrowness, ruthless ambition, rigidity, snobbery, depression and loneliness.

To Capricorn, love is a quiet and undemanding exchange of personal gratification, not to be measured by excessive emotion.

Aquarius-idealism- "I know"

To teach that love is tolerance.
To learn that love is Oneness.

The Aquarian soul feels that it must return to life much of what it gathered along the way. They are often a puzzle to family and friends because they are wise souls cavorting as the young and liberal. They investigate everything and delight in shocking those around them. They are highly eccentric and intutive and often get unexplainable, telepathic flashes of the future. They tend to flaunt law and authority because they exist in the future, knowing that todays laws must be compromised tomorrow. They are humanitarian, unprejudiced and often neglect personal relations in the pursuit of idealism.

Positive - vision, individuality, tolerance, friendliness, inventiveness, originality, genius.
Negative- eccentricity, neurosis, detachment, absent mindedness and refusal to cooperate.

To Aquarius, love is a detached and unselfish emotion, to be explored and enjoyed.
They understand love's scope and investigate all its dimensions, yet scatter it carelessly, confusing it with friendship.

Pisces-submission- "I believe"

To teach that love is compassion.
To learn that love is All.

The Piscean is an old soul and may either swim in waters dangerously close to hell as rise towards the goodness of heaven. Having glimpsed the beauty of truth through the previous 11 stages they may choose to retreat from the earthly plane through spiritual and religious persuits or avoid conflicts by swiming down the murky waters of alcoholism, drug addiction and insanity. They can become good teachers, monks, mystics, artists and musicians, composers, abstract mathematicians and highly intutive scientists. They have natural compassion and become the recipients of everyone's troubles and worries, yet prefer to remain aloof from others' complications.

Positive - humility, compassion, sensitivity, spiritual awareness, psychic comprehension, philosphic insight and healing potential.
Negative- timidity, apprehension, masochism, idleness, lying and weakness of will.

To Pisces, love is unselfish submission of the ego to the desires of the one needed to become Whole. They gain more pleasure from giving than receiving.

Disclaimer: This is just a condensation of what is given in Linda Goodman's book Love Signs. Please do not judge the topic based on this blog alone.
If you want to explore the topic in full, do read the book. It gives a detailed description of all sun-signs and the relationships between all possible sun-sign combinations in a humorous and allegorical manner.
I personally do not subscribe to her Karmic theory, I only agree with her analysis of sun-sign personalities.

Raaz-Pichle Janam ka

2009-12-30T02:47:00.000-08:00

Recently a new reality show has been launched on NDTV Imagine. The participants come on to the show seeking answers to specific problems in their life. A therapist takes them, through hypnosis, into their previous life, from which they discover those answers. This blog isnt about the credibility of the show- its more about past life regression ( that the doctor on the show is doing) and why, according to the scriptures, past life regression makes complete sense.

I have already discussed about the soul in my previous blog. The soul, i.e. us is covered with this external body. However there are two coverings. First is the external body visible to us made of 5 elements-fire, water, earth, air and ether. Within that is a subtle body, made of the mind, intelligence and false ego.

At the time of death, the external body is destroyed and the soul, along with the subtle body, moves on to another external body.

All our memories, of experiences and incidents that take place, our emotions and the impressions formed, are stored in the mind. The pain of death and the pain of birth is so strong that it 'pushes' these memories into the inner recessions of the mind. Past life regression is all about recovering relevant memories. Traumatic incidents in a previous life, especially traumatic deaths (eg caused by drowning or burning), leave strong impressions which often get carried forward to the current life. Past life regression makes us relive the memory and forces us to realise that it happened in the past, it is over. Once a patient realises this, it leads to the overcoming of those fears.

As for the show, I personally do not think that it is scripted. The doctor is clearly an expert in this field and a lot of people are being benefitted. And their creative team has done a great job in the picturization.

Different people, different views

2009-12-18T00:13:00.000-08:00

(Read this blog in the Gone in 60 seconds format of MTV)

Examiner(while setting the paper):

1)Ek question to syllabus ke bahar ka rehna chahiye..
2)University syllabus ke last reference book ke exercise mein accha question hain...
3)No one will be able to answer this...Let me keep it for eight marks...
4)Yipee! Iss semester ka tough paper mere subject ka hoga...
5) 10 saal pehle poocha tha..Repeat karta hoon..

Student(after paper):

1)Maine correct subject padha tha kya?
2)Feka-Feki bohat kiya hain.
3)Sab kuch general tha- Mein paas hounga kya?
4)2 ghanta likha- 40 mil jayega....
5)Mere Local author mein aisa kuch nahi tha.. Techmax mein tha kya?

Examiner(while checking paper):

1)Ye kya likha hain?
2)Hmm..2 page likha hain...5 de deta hoon.
3)Bechara... iska total 39 aa raha hain...
4)Aaj 200 paper check kiye...Bas 2 din aur
5)Reval ke paise milenge.. Ye section chod deta hoon

Nothing Lasts Forever

2009-12-14T23:58:00.000-08:00

Nothing Lasts Forever

Nothing lasts forever
Its just a matter of time
Hardwork, effort, endeavor
Nothing can stem the tide.

Bad name, illness, misfortune,
On coming, must leave
Night is always followed by noon,
Post darkest hour, sun shall arrive.

Success, power, fame and money,
Fleet-footed sisters;
Disloyal friends upon your journey
You blink, they disappear.

Bonds of love, they are so weak
Its all an illusion.
Its permanent, you just might think;
But end must the relation.

Nothing lasts forever
Its just a matter of time
Hardwork, effort, endeavor
Nothing can stem the tide.

(P.S: Its supposed to be a song and I have set it to a tune, but given my music skills, its quite pathetic....)

Me and Krishna Consciousness

2009-10-25T01:39:00.000-07:00

10 reasons why I am so happy and so grateful to be a part of the Krishna conscious movement:

1)The devotees(other ISKCON members)- They really love you, they are so concerned about you, nobody wants to compete with you or bring you down in anyway. They are so amazing!

2)The prasad- Most of the time we are only feasting. Puris, Kacchoris, rice, dal, 2-3 types of vegetables, 2-3 sweets is actually standard fare in any ISKCON program. More importantly it is prepared with so much love and since it is offered to Krishna it tastes nectarean.

3)The festivals- Life is one big celebration for us. A typical year begins with flower festival, gaur poornima and nityanand trayodashi, continues with the sandalwood festival,ram navami, narsimha chaturdashi, jhulan yatra, janmashtami,nandotsav, balram jayanti, radhashtami, kojagiri and ends with govardhan pooja and damodar month. Festivals are all about fasting, decorating the deities and the temple, discussing pastimes of the Lord and then of course the feasting!

4)The kirtans- When the holy names of the Lord are sung with the accompanying of the Mridang and the kartal(cymbals), the harmonium and the jambo and everyone dances together its an out-of-this-world experience.

5)The social life- Between festivals, we are attending someones engagement, another's wedding, somebody's baby's naming ceremony, someone's deity welcoming and another's house warming. I am pretty sure any ISKCON member attends at least 2 social functions a month. Its crazy but its fun!

6) The logic- Everything is so logical. I mean all the 'big mysteries' are explained so sensibly. Everything makes sense when seen from the eyes of the scriptures.

7)The personality development- I think we end up doing everything. We participate in dramas, sing, dance, play musical instruments, cook, make flower garlands, jewelery, deity dresses, make presentations and public speaking, learn Sanskrit and Bengali songs and shlokas, learn proper rituals for deity worship, tend tulasi and grow flowers, develop marketing skills during book distribution and fund collection and develop people skills. Its gonna be hard to believe but trust me every ISKCON member is doing 90% of above list on regular basis.

8)The sense of purpose it gives to life- The whole feeling of being a part of Srila Prabhupada's mission, a global movement that is bringing about a revolution in the world cannot really be expressed.

9)Home is everywhere- No matter where you go- any other country, state, city, town or village- you can go to an ISKCON center and meet devotees who'll help you settle down and make you feel at home. Everyone is so like-minded- even if you dont really know them- you still know them. Everything you are used to is being done. You are at home.

10)The equality- There is no division whatsoever. Nobody is bothered about how much you earn, which caste/community/religion/nation you belong to, where you live, what you have studied, which car you drive or which mobile you possess. Everyone appreciates everybody. You get to interact with people from all strata of society and it really changes the way you look at the world.

All this, along with peace of mind and as much happiness as it is possible to get in the material world and a great chance to go back to Krishna at the end-WOW!
My thinking is as follows- assuming there is no next life, no hell, no God, nothing then I have led a very happy and fruitful life and not missed out on anything in this life.
And if everything the scriptures say is true..... then I have been saved!!!
Thank-you Srila Prabhupada, Thank-you gurudev, Thank-you devotees.
I so dont deserve any of this.

"Vancha kalpa taru bhyashcha
kripasindhu bahevacha.
Patitanam pavanabhyo
vaishnavabhyo namo namah."

Leftovers

2009-10-21T02:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some tasty dishes you can make with left-overs:

1) If a little bit of 2-3 vegetable curries are left over from last evening's party just mix them all, add shev and farsan (umm salty Indian snacks), a little chopped cabbage and make misal. Have it with bread.

2)If the vegetables left are dry ones then just put them between bread slices and cook the sandwich in butter on a pan.

3)Left over idlis, can be dried, sliced and fried.(till reddish brown) Have them with leftover chutney or ketchup. Shallow frying them on a pan is healthier than in kadhai as they absorb lot of oil.

4) Make 'pappu dal' from leftover dal. (This is my grandma's recipe- she gave it the name too) Add tamarind water (obtained by soaking tamarind in water for 20 min), red chilly powder, a little salt and a little jaggery and boil it. Have with rice.

5)Convert curdled milk into paneer. Strain away the liquid and put the solid part in a muslin cloth and compress. You can also make kalakand(sort of) by cooking the solid part with sugar.

6)If there is excess milk and fruit make custard with the milk, add fruits and make fruit salad.

7)If there is leftover dosa batter- generally dosas don't come out that good next day. So add chopped cabbage, tomatoes, and coriander and make thick uttapas.

8)Excess left over rice, make fried rice.( This is standard recipe done in most Indian homes I think). Just fry ground nut, grated ginger, chopped chilly, sesame, jeera, turmeric, sambhar masala, salt, a sprinkling of sugar and chopped corriander and add the rice to this)

9)Excess chapattis leftover- make laddus. Break the chapatis into little pieces and grind them with chopped jaggery(3 times the chapatti quantity), roasted groundnut, khobra(or dry coconut) and little ghee. Make ladoos from the resulting mixture and enjoy!

10)Excess meat- give it to the dog.

Why am I here?

2009-10-17T00:40:00.000-07:00

Well, till now I have always been talking about how the soul is trapped in the cycle of birth and death, in karma etc etc.
I am sure the question must have arisen- How did we get here in the first place?

Let us begin this discussion with the word 'dharma'. Dharma does not mean religion- a literal translation is nature or essential characteristic. For eg: The dharma of sugar is to be sweet. If its not sweet- it cannot be sugar. Similarly, the dharma of fire is to give heat and that of water is to flow.

What is our dharma? The dharma of the soul is to serve.....
Seems strange? Not really...... Think about it.... What are we always doing? Serving others. This is the only thing that gives us satisfaction. Either we serve our parents, or our friends, or our children and siblings. It gets extended when we serve our communities or our country. Even the loneliest person gets a pet and serves it.
This is our nature.

So there we were in the spiritual world, serving God and having meaningful relationships with each other. And then sadly we became envious and desired to enjoy separately from God. We wondered why only God should be getting service not realizing that our happiness lay in serving Him.

And so He sent us to the material world. And this is what we have been trying to do here- life after life. Trying to enjoy separately from Him. And according to our desires and our karma we keep getting different bodies, different facilities to satisfy us. But we will never find happiness away from Him.

If we want to really be happy forever and find true love we should just turn to God and focus on serving Him and returning back to our eternal position.

[This may seem totally crazy but its not -really. I know many, many really intelligent and talented people who believe in this and have transformed their lives. I feel that everyone should take up this path and change for the better. All it needs is a little bit of your time and an open heart]

[Reference: Bhagvad Gita As it is- Srila Prabhupada]

The Supreme Contradiction

2009-10-15T04:05:00.000-07:00

The Supreme Contradiction

O Giridhar, mountain lifter,
Yet tottering while carrying Nandababa's slipper

O Damodar, personification of fear,
Yet You cried in fear of Your mother.

O Madhusudan, killer of demons,
In wrestling You, Your brother won.

O Eshwar, Supreme Controller,
Yet also Arjuna's charioteer.

O Govind, truth personified,
For Bhishma's sake, your vow you defied.

O Bhaktavatsal, Gopal, Nandlal
Your activities, a puzzle to us all.

P.S. Happy Diwali! May the light of love and knowledge shine in your life!

Funny things people say

2009-10-13T00:39:00.000-07:00

Here are 5 of the funniest things I have heard people say......

1)"I am a descent boy....I dont pile on girls...."(in an online chat OMG!)
2)"There is no fire in me....."(in an email. This person was defending against the accusation that 'they did something wrong as there can be no smoke without fire')
3)"Send me your networking ass asap"(In a text message. How much effort does it take to type out that all important n?)
4)"It's in Pashan only"(On being asked where is Pashan lake located....)
5)"I hope they don't ask us to play table tennis! I am really bad at that....."(before an HR interview?!?!?)

P:S: If you find yourself here- no offense intended! :-P

When Krishna played His flute....

2009-10-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

When Krishna played the first note on His flute- autumn season appeared in Vrindavan.

When He played the second note, demigods like Brahma and Shiva stopped all activity and start listening attentively.

When He played the third note- the sun and the moon stopped revolving and froze in their orbits.

When Krishna played the fourth note- the Yamuna river changed direction and started flowing backwards out of sheer ecstasy.

When He played the fifth note- the cows of Vrindavan became still with their ears raised.

When He played the sixth note- the Yamuna river froze. Birds with their beaks dipped in the water got trapped in the ice.

When He played the seventh note- The unimaginable and the illogical occurred-all 5 seasons-spring, summer, rain, fall and winter appeared simultaneously in Vrindavan.

And then Krishna played the 8th note - beyond the seven notes known to us- and thus captured the heart of Srimati Radharani...........

[I heard this in a lecture by H.G Gaurgopal prabhu in Mumbai. I do not know the book it is in]

Comfort zone

2009-10-05T00:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we get trapped in a comfort zone. A comfort zone is a place we are familiar with. It is a state of the mind.
"I can study for three hours only"
"I cant run faster than this!"
"I cant dance(or draw, or sing)"
Classic comfort zone statements....
But for how long are we going to remain in this zone? Sometimes situations force us to get out.... but mostly only an inner drive can push us through. I once succeeded in breaking out of one such zone. When I started doing crunches- I could barely do 5. But I worked on it, pushing myself daily, increasing the number by 2, until I touched 40- and it wasnt even so difficult anymore.

When Nauman completed his final roadies task, when Sudha Chandran danced with a wooden leg, when my brother changed his handwriting or when a friend finally succeeded in doing a headstand- it was all about gaining freedom- freedom from that zone.

So dont become complacent. Are you getting too comfortable? Then stretch the limits some more, hurt yourself , break free!

Karma-Infallible justice

2009-09-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

Once there was a man who was born blind. He was the eldest son of a king, but his blindness denied him the throne. He was blessed with a hundred sons- but they were all butchered in war, while he lived.
This man was Dhritrashtra- the father of the Kauravas.
"How cruel! How unfortunate! What a sad fate!" you may think.
But consider this: In a previous life, Dhritrashtra was a hunter. Once he saw a bird nest with 100 newly hatched chicks. Out of sport, he killed all the chicks, blinded the parent birds and left. Now- didn't he get what he deserved?

Karma-the law of nature

There is a simple law that exists in the material world:
"Every action has an equal reaction"
What goes around, comes around.
You do good and enjoy the positive fruits, you do bad and you get punished. Ofcourse good and bad are also clearly defined in the scriptures-your own notions of good and bad are not going to change anything. Ignorance of the law too is no excuse.

Free will Vs destiny

Destiny is chartered out by your activities in a previous life. For eg previous karma determines your looks, your family background, your health and your intelligence. It is not random chance that determines why someone was born in the Gandhi family and why someone else was born to a beggar on the street. Its karma....
And free will? It is the choices you make while using the facilities given to you.
For eg: If you are born in a powerful family- you have a choice. How are you going to utilize the power given to you? If you chose to misuse your position in exploiting others, this facility will definitely be taken away in the next life.
We can chose how to act- the results of our actions are determined by karma. And our actions are determining the path our next life will take.

Heaven and hell

The Vedic understanding of heaven and hell is more complete than the Biblical understanding.
When you accumulate a lot of good karma, you get to go to the heavenly planets to reap the benefits. There are numerous heavenly planets and they have numerous facilities for enjoyment. For eg, you will get a beautiful body with a very long lifespan. They say that the most beautiful woman on earth looks like a frog compared to the heavenly damsels. There is great wealth and so much power. You could be made the head of wind, or of water or even become the King of heavens- Indra. But when your accumulated piety finishes off- you must once again return to earth.
Similarly too many sinful activities take you to hell. There you are punished for the stipulated time period and then sent back to earth. Recently I was reading the descriptions of hell given in the Srimad Bhagvatam. Quoting directly:

"One who appropriates another's legitimate wife, children or money is thrown into the dark hell known as Tamishra. There he is starved, given no water and is beaten until he falls unconscious"

23 hells are thus described and there are many more which have not been elaborated. Thus no crimes go unpunished.

Karma-the escape

As you can see karma keeps us bound. We keep getting different bodies, in different situations, as per our desires and our karma. Karma is compared to a dense network of banyan trees- roots from one tree lead to the growing of another tree until you can find no beginning and no end.
This network can be cut only by taking the shelter of Lord Hari. We cannot be inactive- action must be done. Hence action is done for God. When you work for God by offering the results of your activities to Him- then it is 'akarma'- karma that brings no reaction.(Eg, before eating, the cooked food is offered to the deity, time and money are utilised in His service etc)

Being liberated from these karmic chains we can then go to our true home- the spiritual world which is beyond both heaven and hell.

Nature of God

2009-09-25T00:24:00.000-07:00

(Disclaimer: I do not intend this article to be a litany against atheism, agnosticism, impersonalism or any other 'isms' that are out there. If you are a firm believer in any of the isms, you most probably are as bad as any religious fanatic and nothing anybody says is gonna sway you. If you are terribly narrow-minded and cocksure about your beliefs, please do not read any further. (Instead please see this and this.)However, I am of the opinion, that most people believe in God and even claim to have experienced Him, in the form of little miracles or unexplainable positive experiences. If you are confused about God, or curious, or you have never thought about these things, this article is for you. Anyways, my intention in writing this article is only to make an humble attempt to glorify that Supreme Being, who has created us, who is always with us and who loves us-unconditionally.)

1) God is a person- Yes He is the supreme person with a pure spiritual body. When the bible says, "God created man in his own image" or when the Koran says-"He has lotus feet and lotus eyes" this is what they mean. The original form of God is similar to ours, but ofcourse He is infinite and we are infinitesimal. His spiritual body is the source of everything-spiritual and material. And ofcourse, He is not bound by material nature to accept different material bodies like the living entity(i.e the soul) is.

2)He has the following 6 opulences in full- all beauty, all knowledge, all wealth, all strength, all fame and all renounciation. These are the opulences that all of us hanker to attain- but we can do so only in small measures, temporarily. He has them all the time, in FULL. And because He is renounced He is not attached to any of the other five opulences either.

3)The following is a verse from Brahma Samhita which very aptly describes the nature of God:
"Ishvarah paramah Krishna
sachidanand vigraha
anadir adi govinda
sarva karana karanam"

God is the supreme controller, He is all attractive , His body is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. He is the first person-'adi purush'. He is Govind(who gives pleasure to the cows and to the senses) and He is the cause of all causes.

Yes-He controls everything-not even a blade of grass may move without His explicit will. He is the reason behind all reasons..... And He is so attractive-you only need to open your heart and your mind to Him-to experience His love.

4)Another beautiful verse from the Ishopanishad says-

"Om purnamadha purnamidam
purnat purnamadyuchyate
purnasya purna madaya
purnamevavashishyate"

God is complete. And His creation is complete. Complete emanates from the complete and yet the original complete remains complete :)
Well basically this verse says that where God is concerned 1minus 1 is still 1. How?

Because He is God. He is so much more superior to us that we cannot understand Him with our limited intelligence.
We do not even aim to understand God. We are simply His servants. Our aim is to please Him, to serve Him. True happiness can be achieved simply by doing this.

As we travel from body to body, God travels with us, as the supersoul, or paramatma. He is simultaneously within and without us.He never leaves us alone. He simply observes and waits for us to turn our attention towards Him. He will never force us to love Him- because as unique individuals we have our free will- we always have a choice- to turn to Him or away from Him.

What is your choice?

The Birds in my life

2009-09-13T06:33:00.000-07:00

Living in an area, which has hills and a lake nearby, and in a society with more trees than buildings,we always have frequent visitors of the feathered kind. And thanks to a friend who was devoted to 'bird-watching'(the right kind) I even learned to identify our guests.

Our annual visitors are Mr. and Mrs Tailorbird. We have this particular plant in our terrace, with long leaves, ideally suited for their nest. The first time they came, we were fascinated by the entire nest making process. Using cotton and thread(no idea where those little birds even found this stuff) they wove two leaves together into a perfect cone. Once the chicks were born, the poor parents were continually stressed out, hunting insects to feed them with. We often entertained ourselves by lightly shaking the plant when the parents were away. Instantly, the chicks would stretch out and start opening and shutting their beaks. But if mum and dad happened to be there, they would start trilling a warning and the chicks would dive inside, hidden perfectly. The chicks soon grew fat and fell out of their nest. Honestly, they were bigger than their parents with stumpy little wings that flapped feebly. We had fun chasing the green fuzz balls while they hopped around, and this encouraged them to try harder, until they eventually flew away.

Then we had Mrs Dove. Earlier, our terrace was uncovered, and we had a shelf that we had built into the wall to keep pots on. She had built her nest in one such pot. Unfortunately, Mrs Dove didn't have a very good experience with us. She laid 2 eggs, of which only one hatched. And then 1 day the little chick just disappeared and so did Mrs Dove. Most probably a vicious crow had eaten her baby.

Speaking of crows, they are the mafia lords of this area. There is a huge tree here with a large number of crows' nests. Not only do we have crows, but also their larger and meaner cousins the ravens. I have seen one catch a fan-tailed drongo(a sparrow sized bird with a Japanese fan like tail) in mid-flight. One particularly bold specimen had also once pecked me hard on the back of my head, while I was eating a snack on the terrace. I was stunned,but I didn't drop the treat and the poor fellow had to fly away disappointed. (Not before giving me a disgruntled look though :D) Now that the terrace is covered, the supporting poles beneath the roof have become a cozy monsoon retreat for crow couples. You'll find them sitting there and watching the rain - and they are kind enough to leave behind droppings as payment :(

Then we have the red-vetted bulbuls. They are my favourites. I used to leave grapes and other fruit treats for them on the bedroom windowsill. Since this particular window is usually open, they flew in and attempted to build a nest on the tubelight. But they quickly dropped the idea when they realized that the window could be shut and they could be denied access to their home by outside forces :) Eventually, the nest was built on the ground-floor tubelight of our building. But they continue to come and sing for treats. :)

By singing, I am reminded of Mr.Sparrow. He was a pain! He had a ' singing phase' where he would come everyday to the above mentioned window and chirp incessantly 4 am onwards. Later on, we discovered that its the sparrow's mating ritual. Once they have found an ideal nesting spot, they keep calling out, until a female comes, inspects and approves of the place. This did happen and he left us in peace. (We tried searching for the nest later, but it was well hidden in the rafter above.)

In the same rafters we have also had tree sparrows make their nest. (We found this one- its empty now and beautiful! Like a dome made of woven grass) Tree sparrows are a deep brown in color and very shy- unlike their 'common' cousins. We would leave puffed rice for them-and they would eat it only after complicated maneuvers that involved staking out the area atleast 5 times and then hopping from grill to grill in a very round-about fashion.

My bird stories don't end here. We have had pigeons building nests above our bathroom window(only they could bully Mr Sparrow and make him fly away for some time), humming birds come in to sip the nectar when the gladiola bloomed(in my covered terrace- how did they find it?) and parrots who come to eat the beans off this particular tree. We have the cuckoo in spring time-(We still coo back at him in our 'cuckoo' moments - pun intended), the babblers who harass us with their continual babbling(shrieks that resemble the keening of a wounded dog ), and the Indian pheasant(Bharatbaaj), on seeing which we religiously fold our palms and make a wish.

Love them birds. :)

A golden day in world history

2009-09-11T06:17:00.000-07:00

11/09/1965
A seventy year old man stepped off the cargo ship 'Jaldoota' anchored of the port of New York. He wore saffron clothes and carried a trunk that contained 3 books, a typewriter, his kartals (metal cymbals) and Rs 40 (Approximately 7 dollars then)
He had had 2 heart attacks on the way from Kolkatta to the USA, while crossing the turbulent Atlantic Ocean. When he alighted from the ship, he did not know whether to turn right or left.

This man was 'His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami'. Fondly called Srila Prabhupada, He went on to launch the International Society For Krishna Consciousness(ISKCON). Today it has 350 centres, 60 rural communities, 50 schools and 60 restaurants worldwide.

ISKCON is not just an organization- It is a movement. The Hare Krishna movement of love, peace and spiritual awareness. It is a movement which has taken the glorious Vaishnav culture and tradition, earlier concentrated only in the state of Bengal, to every country and every continent- from Russia to China, from Dubai to South Africa from United Kingdom to Singapore. A movement that is rapidly growing, ensuring that the holy names of the Lord are sung 'in every town and every village'.

Before leaving for the US, Srila Prabhupada was staying in the beautiful place of Vrindavan. He had accepted sannyasa, renounced worldly life, and he could have chosen to remain there, peacefully meditating on the Supreme Lord. What prompted him to leave the place so dear to him, at the fag end of his life, to go to a land with a culture completely opposite to the one he was used to?

It was the instructions from His spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, given to Him when He was a young man. His Gurudev told him ," You are an educated man. Go preach this knowledge to the west in English." He took this instruction to heart and spent his entire life trying to fulfill this aim, eventually succeeding beyond anybody's wildest imagination.

It was Prabhupada's compassion towards all living entities, and his strong faith in the Supreme Lord that enabled him to go through so much struggle to fulfill his life's mission. He wanted to give what was dear to him to the entire world. For this purpose, he authored some eighty volumes of translations and summary studies of India's great spiritual classics. Highly respected by the academic community for their authority, depth and clarity, they are used as standard textbooks in numerous college courses. His writings have been translated into over fifty languages. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, established in 1972 to publish the works of His Divine Grace, has thus become the world's largest publisher of books in the field of Indian religion and philosophy. In just twelve years, in spite of his advanced age, Srila Prabhupada circled the globe fourteen times on lecture tours that took him to six continents.

It was his sacrifice, his efforts, his love and nourishment, his straightforward attitude, his refusal to compromise on spiritual standards, that softened the hearts of materialistic people all over the world. Thousands of people have given up meat-eating, intoxication, gambling and illicit sex and are leading pure vaishnav lifestyles. His disciples are simply carrying forward his inheritance and this movement is benefiting everyone across the globe.

Everyone can be a part of this glorious movement.
To know more about ISKCON click here.
To know more about Srila Prabhupada click here.
To know about ISKCON Pune and find out about our activities click here.

Jai Srila Prabhupada!!!

The true goal

2009-09-10T06:44:00.000-07:00

Imagine a man driving swiftly down a highway. He is cutting through traffic, honking crazily, in a big rush. Somebody stops him and asks him, "My friend, where are you heading?" And the man says, "I don't know."
Absurd? This unfortunately is the situation of our life today. The whole world is in a big hurry, but nobody knows where their life is heading.....

This brings us to another important question- What is the goal of my life?
Everybody has certain goals- may be earning lot of money, or fame, or power. Some want to have a happy family life and some others want to travel the world.
But if you think about it all these goals will finish at death for they are all related to the body. You on the other hand are the eternal spirit soul. What then is your goal?

The true goal of human life is to awaken the dormant love that we have for God and escape from the cycle of birth to death.

Ok now that needs a little explaining. Let us discuss some of the problems we have in our life. You are unhappy with petrol prices? The oil owning countries are getting richer. Grumbling about your sibling bugging you? But your sibling is having fun.
Mosquitoes kept you up at night? Oh but they were having a delicious feast.
My point is - "one man's meat is another man's poison" What may seem like a problem to you may actually be a solution to someone else.

However there are four problems which are common to all living beings. Everyone has to face these. They are birth, death, old age and disease.
Old age and disease are situations of extreme discomfort. Death is so painfully that it is equivalent to 40,000 scorpions stinging you at once. As for birth, spending nine months trapped in a constricted space, unable to move, in bile and acid and being bitten by all kinds of bacteria and worms is terrible.
We are stuck in this cycle, getting one body after the other. The body we get need not be human. We get a body based on our activities and our desires.(More on this in the next blog)In every body we try to seek happiness by fulfilling different desires.

But really, can we of spirit find happiness in matter? No. All our attempts will always be futile. The human body that we have is our one chance to escape from this cycle of birth and death. And where can we escape to? To the spiritual world- which is eternal and full of happiness. That is the place where we get what we keep trying to find here, but never succeed - love. Love that is eternal and that wont ever be taken away from us, for it is in relation to God. True happiness lies in serving God.

And how do we go about it? In this age of Kaliyuga, the process is simple-
chant the names of God. It can be any name - allah, jehova, Krishna. For the name of God is non-different from Him.

"Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare"

Meaning:
O Radharani(Hare), the energy of God, O all attractive one(Krishna), O reservoir of all pleasure (Rama) Please engage me in your service.

You can listen to it here:

By chanting this mantra regularly, we can all escape the cycle of birth and death.

Reference - Bhagvad Gita As It Is- Srila Prabhupada

(This blog may have raised many questions. Whether you agree/disagree please do give feedback. (I have even kept the anonymous comments option :) )
)

Five Little Puppies

2009-09-04T23:54:00.000-07:00

Five Little Puppies
Five little puppies were born today,
Nuzzling and cuddling- so happy and gay.

Five little puppies in the downpour,
One shivered and froze and then there were four.

Four little puppies feeding 'neath a tree,
One couldn't grab his share and then there were three.

Three little puppies walking in a queue,
A car reversed carelessly and then there were two.

Two little puppies having some fun,
A vicious stray attacked and then there was one.

One little puppy lying in the sun,
The dog van arrived, and then there were none.

This poem is in remembrance of the five puppies born in my society this summer. This was the second year that 'Bimbo', their mother, gave birth to a litter of pups. Once again, none survived.
Now you know why stray dog sterilization drives are so important......

The parrot and the cage

2009-09-02T00:36:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a rich old lady. For her personal amusement, she purchased a parrot. It was a cute green bird with a lovely curved red beak. Now she wanted to display her new pet to all her friends. So she ordered a cage to be specially made for the parrot. Being rich and eccentric (and a show-off), she had the cage made of the finest gold and studded with precious gems. It had delicate carvings of miniature designs. She hired servants who polished the cage 5 times a day with silken cloths. People came from far-off lands for the lady's fancy parties and the cage was greatly admired. "What design?! How artistic! How expensive!" they exclaimed. And the poor parrot? No one noticed it. No one fed it or even gave it water to drink. It died within days.

This, unfortunately, is the case, of our lives today too. We are so busy doing everything for our body and for all things related to it - like our family, our status in society etc that we completely forget about ourselves. We spend 24 hours maintaining the body and not one second for us-the soul.

Along with IQ and EQ(emotional quotient) it is also important to build our SQ(spiritual quotient).
This can be done through mantra meditation, prayer, deity worship, listening to devotional songs and reading spiritual literature.

So stop polishing the cage and start feeding the parrot. :)

Reference: (Bhagvad Gita As It Is-Srila Prabhupada, Discover Yourself-Radheyshyam Das, www.thespiritualscientist.com)

The science of the soul

2009-09-01T03:00:00.000-07:00

I have often asked people "Who are you?" and for some reason this simple question leaves people confused. Some answer "Rahul" or "Anita". But really thats just a word. Its your name. Its not you. Some say "girl" or "boy" but again thats your gender.
Just like when you claim- its my bag or my book you do not become the bag or book. You are different from either of those two. Similarly you cannot say I am my body. They are your hands, your eyes, it is your body. You are not that body.
So then who are we?

The scriptures state that we are the spirit soul- a spark of energy that animates the body. The body is simply a dead machine unless it is activated by the soul. We can consider the analogy of a car. The car has wheels and the body has legs for motion, the car has a horn to generate noise and the body has the lungs, vocal cords etc. But the car will never move until the driver activates it. Similarly the body needs spirit to activate it.

Now some of you may be thinking the above is just word jugglery. I, my - just playing with pronouns. People want proof of the soul's existence. This is a little funny- you are actually asking for the proof of your own existence :) But anyways for cynics

1)Common sense
The body is ever changing. It is claimed that every seven years all the cells of the body are replaced by new ones. Everybody knows that as a baby, a toddler, a teenager and as an adult your appearance has changed tremendously. But you are still you right? Your identity is not dependent on the appearance of your body. Then how can you identify yourself with your body?

2)Consciousness
Some times people ask, why cant I see the soul? But is seeing or (direct experience) the only way to accept something's existence? In fact the entire field of electrostatics is based on something which we cannot perceive with any of our senses- the electron. We know that an electron exists from its symptoms.(You can see its light reflection on a CRT screen). Also we cannot percieve X-rays. We can only see their effect on the right material. Similarly consciousness is the symptom of the soul. Consciousness differentiates a dead body from a live one.

3)Near Death Experiences-
Many cases have been documented where patients undergoing a critical operation are able to recall later, in very accurate detail, the operation theater, people present, instruments used, conversations etc. Many cases have been scientifically documented(See link)

4)Intutive understanding-
When someone dies the common phrase is "he passed away" but the body is lying right there. Then who passed away? Also the fact that near death experiences are called out-of-body experiences goes to show that you are not the body - you are the soul.

Hopefully by now you might be convinced that you are not your body, you are something different. Now what exactly does it mean to be a soul?

It means that
1)The soul is sat, chit and anand. i.e. full of knowledge, eternal and full of bliss. ("Strange", you wonder "I cannnot claim to be full of knowledge and nor am I always happy") Yes, this has happened because we identify ourselves with our body. We are covered by this material nature which is exactly opposite. Everything related to matter is temporary, full of ignorance and can never give us true happiness.
By appropriate spiritual training we can all realize our true nature.(More about this in next blog)

2)Knowledge that we are not the body frees from fear, stress and lamentation that arises when near-and-dear ones pass away or when we suffer illness or disease related to the body.

3)Realization of the soul also brings true universal brotherhood. Major problems like terrorism, racism, infact everything arise because people identify themselves on factors related to their body(eg race, caste, etc) and hate everybody else externally different from them. Knowledge that we are all eternal spiritual beings encourages
universal love.

Reference: (Bhagvad Gita As it is-Srila Prabhupada, Discover Yourself-Radheyshyam Das, www.thespiritualscientist.com)

Miniclip must-play games

2009-08-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

I have had so much fun playing some really cute, challenging and creative games on www.miniclip.com that I thought I must mention them here.
They have a huge list of flash games but sometimes you come across some real gems....

1) BLOXORZ
)My absolute favourite ever - this game consists of a rectangular wooden block that has to be rolled around a rectangular 2-d maze and dropped into a hole without letting it fall of the edges. There are 32 levels of which the last few are really tricky. The levels consist of all kinds of special buttons and tiles which need to be rolled onto or rolled around. The cool part about this game is that for many levels even if you get a solution you wont be able to repeat it next time without thinking. A must try.

2)ClickPlay
This game consists of around 25 levels of really creative scenarios. You have to click around or click and drag objects until a play button appears on the screen. The aim is to finish the game in least number of clicks. Less than 600 will get you a bronze medal :). The whole game is in black and white and has that old cartoon feel.
If you get stuck google for the walk-through :)

3)Chronotron
This game consists of a time machine. Every time you enter it your future self emerges while your past self repeats its movements. You basically have to attain the level objective with the help of your past selves. It requires thinking in many dimensions :) Cute graphics and there is a very cool phenomena called time paradox where your past self dies while your future self is alive - which technically cannot happen- so your game ends. This game really got me thinking about how it must be made. Requires a lot of patience and thinking though.

4)Magic Pen
This is a rather unusual game. It consists of a drawing of a ball, a flag and some objects between them. You have to get the ball to the flag by drawing other objects and using them to push the ball. Do go through the instructions before playing. It requires great amount of artistic skill and a different kind of thinking. No wonder I couldnt make much progress :(

Do play and enjoy!!!

Walking angels

2009-08-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

Who says angels dont walk on earth? I am surrounded by angels in my life.

Angels who get me a birthday dress and even give it for stitching when I am too busy preparing for placements, who turn off the lights and get me water when I am lying down in bed-too tired to get up(though they are equally tired) and who come all the way to college to give me my tiffin because I refuse to eat out.

Angels who rescue my cellphone when I leave it in college, who give me those all important write ups every time I demand them, who are ever ready to give me a ride to college(sometimes going out of the way to drop me to a place of my convenience), who tow my bike to the garage when it breaks down and who come with me to collect and check it thouroughly after its serviced.

Angels who call me up late at night to tell me some weird questions and their answers for my next day's viva, whose house is always open to me and I get a full delicious meal whenever I visit and who are bothered enough to explicitly insist on a missed call so they know I have reached my destination safely.

Angels who care enough to persuade me to communicate when I am upset and retreating into a shell, who are ready to listen when I am so excited about some small achievement and talk about myself for hours, who motivate me when I enter into my "Damn, life sucks....I am a loser" mood and who are ready to just 'take-over' my responsibilities when I ditch out last minute on meetings.

I think this list can go on and on.
I am blessed......Thank-you Lord and ofcourse thank-you angels.......

The tale of X and Y

2009-08-22T07:06:00.000-07:00

X and Y are 2 people in a relationship. It can be any relation- siblings, lovers, parent-child, friends anything. Y means far more to X than Y realizes. X remembers every conversation and every joke shared with Y. X values all the opinions that Y has. It really matters to X what Y thinks about X.
And then, one day, Y does something that may be a small thing for Y , and an insignificant thing for the world but is a big thing for X. X feels hurt. X wonders-why did Y do this? If only it had not been Y.......
Even if X confronts Y- Y wouldn't understand- coz Y doesnt know and Y may not care. And then X has to reconcile itself- "This is my problem, not Y's problem. For my perspective about this relation is very different from Y's"
After that, X changes, and the relation changes, but Y doesnt know and Y may not care.
How often have we been X?
How often have we been Y?
"For the world you might be someone, but for someone you might be the world."

Eisenheim-The Illusionist

2009-08-22T05:10:00.000-07:00

I saw a movie called Illusionist recently. It was excellent. Really well-made.
And it got me thinking about how the illusionist or conjurer uses smoke and mirrors to create a mirage, an illusion. And the audience is so excited about what they see that they forget all about the conjurer. He uses all the tools of his trade- pretty lighting, unearthly speeches, clever hand-gestures, fancy clothes, smooth expressions - to fool people into believing something that isnt. He gives the people what they want because he just wants to make everyone happy. And all his tricks are so charming that people stop caring about the real person-what his hopes and dreams are, what he likes, what he really wants. And then the poor fellow wonders how did he end up being so lonely? Did he do 1 trick too many? May be now his defences are too strong and nobody can get past them.... Or may be it is the fault of the people- none of them want to try...
And so the illusionist stands - all alone on his stage.....

Geek Symptoms

2009-08-19T22:15:00.000-07:00

You know you are a computer geek when:

You hear trees and think children, binary search and recursion and not about those brown and green thingys on which fruits grow.
To you 'windows' is a swear word (or 'that other os' if you are polite). You never look out of them. No wonder you dont know what trees really are.
"Google is a search engine"- to you this sentence is akin to blasphemy. Thats coz Google is your dictionary, spell-checker, translator, postman, problem solver, calculator, convertor, locator, publisher, editor,artist, essentially everything.
The only exercise you get is when you bend to turn on/turn off the pc or take a trip to the kitchen to get some drink. If you are a health freak you most probably do those 'chair exercises' where you stretch your legs in front of you, rotate your feet and think "Wow, aerobics is tiring..."
You have weak eyes. Do try to take a break every hour and stare away from the screen.
You speak 'Geekanese'. This language contains sentences like -
"I think its time to refactor my cupboard."
"Those newbies are having a flame war and adding noise to my list."
"I just submitted a patch by skipping the tarring and simply gzipped the code."
(I am unable to present an English translation of the above sentences as google translator does not support Geekanese yet. If you dont understand them count yourself lucky.)
You hero-worship some and identify almost everyone of the following people: Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Linus Torvaldus, Chris Mason, Valerie Aurora, Avi Kivity, Daniel Philips and Steve Jobs. (Ya I know you are itching to add some more names here-feel free to comment :))
You are terrified of bugs because you know there is no pest control agency on the planet that can come around and zap them out for you.
You are more comfirtable chatting online or texting than phone conversations. ("Its cheaper" is just an excuse. Stop fooling yourself) And real conversations with real people is a rare event.
You have read through (and understood) all the above points and now you are wondering "This aint normal/expected/regular behaviour?"

Welcome to the world of computer geeks!!! Actually you were already here. If you are suddenly noticing other behaviour which you have been taking for granted all this while do comment. :)
Cheers!!!

My cooking bloopers

2009-08-18T02:30:00.000-07:00

Hi,
I thought I'll write down some of the CRAZY mistakes I have made while struggling up the cooking curve and what I learned from them. Why I am writing this is because:
1)Life is too short to make all the mistakes that everyone makes so its good to learn from others' :)
2)Its funny. Lolz.

Ok here goes:

1)I actually put the rice cooker on the gas without adding water. Duh. By the time I realised what I had done the bottom (of the cooker) had turned black and some of the steel had melted into the rice. (Eeeyuck!!! Good-bye cooker) In my defence- I was 14 :P
Lesson- Never ever put a cooker on the gas without double checking its contents.

2)Once I had invited a friend over for a chinese meal(I was giving her my birthday treat). In a last minute rush I set a chocolate cake for baking. I think I screwed up with the soda bicarb measure because some part of the cake puffed up (like a bubble) while all the solid part just remained stuck to the bottom of the baking dish. In the end we scraped of the bits and had them with vanilla ice-cream. My friend was sweet enough to have it although she did refuse a second helping ;) Luckily for her everything else turned out great!
Lesson- Plan your menu carefully and prepare your desserts in advance :)

3)When I cooked my 1st pulav it turned out like khichdi. Reason: I added potatoes, overcooked the rice and undercooked the tomatoes. Umm I also forgot the spices.
Lesson- Cook your tomatoes and masala thouroughly and only add water in proportion to the rice not rice+ vegetables. Oh and never add potatoes :)

4)Overcooking pasta. I went through this phase where every pasta dish I made was overcooked. "Pasta dish" includes noodles, spaghetti, rice sevai, macaroni.......And I dont know if you have experienced this but eating an overcooked pasta dish feels like eating glue :P It took me a while to realize that:
Lesson- When you cook the pasta in water you must cook it for exactly the time given in the recipe and then wash the pasta in cold water immediately. Else it will cook further in its own steam.
However I am going through the undercooked pasta phase right now so may be someone can help me with this one :)

Tada!

Recipe- sweet pumpkin puris

2009-08-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

We made pumpkin puris on Janmashtami for bhoga. I did most of the stuff myself. Thought I'll record it here complete with secret tips from my mom :)

Sweet pumpkin Puris

Ingredients:

1 cup grated pumpkin(lal bhopala)

1 cup jaggery(chirleli-could the english equivalent be grated?)

wheat flour (approximately 200 gms)

oil to fry

Method:

1)Steam the pumpkin in a kadhai till it is cooked. The pumpkin will eventually release water.

2)When that happens add the jaggery and cook both together until it looks like a chocolate brown broth. Basically, the jaggery should have melted completely, becoming slightly dark.

Tip 1: Add a pinch of salt to this. A little salt adds a special flavour to jaggery based desserts.

3)Ok, now comes the tricky part. Take 1 bowl wheat flour and add the jaggery+pumpkin broth to it. You have to start kneading the flour so that it becomes proper puri consistency. Usually you know the amount of flour required and add appropriate water(i.e. the liquid) In this case it is reverse. Go on adding flour and depending on amount of liquid. Eventually you'll get a lump of kneaded puri dough.

Tip 2: Use a little oil in the end as a finishing touch to smoothen the dough.

4)Now 'belo' and fry the puris as normal. Fry them till they turn a deep reddish gold.

Tip 3: Make slightly thick puris(while 'beloing'). Otherwise they become hard after frying.

Tip 4: Fry on a medium-low flame. Too hot oil burns the jaggery and spoils your puri :)

Enjoy!

Prime Evil

2009-08-10T01:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks to swine Flu I suddenly have a lot of time on my hands.....
So just thought of publishing one of my better poems:

Prime Evil
Hungry, Hungry for your soul,
Wanting, wanting more and more,
Pleasure, pleasure only goal,
Lust, lust bleeds your core.

Rage, rage burning fire,
Fury, fury in your cry,
Pain, pain unfulfilled desire,
Anger, anger blinds your eye.

Counting, counting always less,
Struggling, struggling in a mesh,
Working, working increasing stress,
Greed, greed eats your flesh.

Mine, mine you falsely claim,
Claw claw as they depart,
Cling, cling to long dead name,
Attachment, attachment traps your heart.

Lesser, lesser beneath me all,
Mighty, mighty nothing I lack,
Harder, harder you will fall,
Pride, pride breaks your back.

Roving, roving jealous eye,
Gnawing, gnawing swallows whole,
Why, why, why not I?
Envy, envy poisons your soul.

Six, six evils prime,
Saviour, saviour only one,
Hurry, hurry there is no time,
Chant, chant or come undone.

-Shweta Shetty

ThoughtWorks Placement Process

2009-08-10T00:18:00.000-07:00

Thoughtworks selected three people from my college(Pune Institute Of Computer Technology) during the placement process in July 2009. (I was one of them :)) They had 6 rounds:

Aptitude- which had flow chart based questions. You just have to be really, really careful while solving these- the maximum you can score is 12 and their selection cutoff can be as high as 10-11
Group Activity- Groups of 8-12 people are told to design a software system. We had to design an intranet for a second-hand car dealership. Other systems asked were pizza delivery, online airline reservation, online advertising, etc. They selected 3-4 people from each group.
Coding round(Read the next post)
Technical interview round 1- 16 people reached this round. Each of us was drilled for an hour or so on C, OOP, Data Structures, Java, Puzzles and DBMS by a panel of 2 people.
Technical interview round 2- 8 people reached this round. Each of us was interviewed for almost 3 hours. Our concepts and problem solving skills were tested in detail.
HR- 3 of us reached this round and all of us got selected. However, Thoughtworks does end up rejecting people from this round too, so do not take it lightly :)

Basically Thoughtworks wants people who:

Have strong technical skills
Have good communication skills
Who are passionate about what they do
Who enjoy learning
Who are confident, (but not overly so)
Who are great team-workers

So if you are going to be appearing for the ThoughtWorks selection process, just keep your cool and be confident. The whole thing is also really grueling- you will need high levels of energy, patience and mental stamina. All the best!

Why am I blogging?

2009-08-09T09:55:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

Ok this is totally wierd. I mean I still cant believe I am blogging! I have been debating with myself for the past 3 months on whether I should blog or not.......Listing some of the reasons why I should not:
1) Kind of creepy letting strangers into your personal space
2) No time
3) My life's got too many varied aspects
4) Apprehension

And why should I?

1)Love writing
2)Knowledge/Information should be shared
3)Keep my English skills brushed up. I just reread the above stuff and realized my grammar seems to be going in the same direction as sewage(down the drain:))
(Hopefully I have corrected most of my mistakes)
4)Love reading other people's blogs so may be some one just might like reading mine:)

Anyways I am now compelled to introduce my future blogs
They are all going to be on crazily different topics - depending on whatever is going on in my head at that particular time.
They wont be regular and I wont even try writing regularly.
They will be entertaining(I hope:)).

Ok thats all for now.
Bye