Thursday, November 1, 2012

My Read: The Alchemist



Probably this is the first fictional book which I read from end-to-end. Truly captivates and inspires the reader till the end.
It is a story of a shepherd boy from Spain who travels all the way to pyramids of Egypt in search of hidden treasure. Finally he finds the treasure in a surprising place which no one would have thought. Story is a mix of suspence, thrill, mysticism, and ofcourse inspiration. Good read for youth and also for other ages.
Few highlights of the book include:
  • Listen to your heart, which are usually informed through omens
  • Whole universe conspires to help you to achieve your heart ‘s wish
  • Every true journey for treasure hunt, starts with beginner’s luck
  • During the journey, real test for persistence is taken. True people live through this period and emerge victorious
  • Journey is more important than destination

My Read: Turning Points

Currently reading inspiring sequel to Wings of Fire, “Turning Points – A Journey Through Challenges” by Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam. It is an second sequel autobiography of Dr. Kalam.

Some of the inspiring abstracts from the book:

Keep loving nature and care for its blessings

Then you can see divinity all over

 

The ignited mind of the youth is

the most powerful resource

on the earth, above the earth

and under the earth

Monday, August 20, 2012

This too will pass

Once a king asked his ministers - "Is there any single solution for all problems?"
One of the wise minister written a line over a paper and handed over to the king.
That single line was "This too  will pass!". The minister suggested the king to keep the paper with him always
and read it whenever he feels he needs help.

After a time, enemy army attacked the kingdom and defeated the king. King lost his kingdom and fled away alone into the jungle.
Suddenly he found that he met a dead end and there was a steep valley in front of him.
Enemy army was nearing him. Suddenly he remembered the paper and read it. To his surprise enemy army didn't noticed him
and took another route. 
After a while king gathered his army and regained his kingdom.

Now he was a happy king with unlimited prosperity. Now he met to read the paper and the same sentence kept him cool and humble. This made people loving king.

THIS TOO WILL PASS!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Quality education for all



   World is undergoing a sea change in providing quality education to any corner of the world.
There was a time when most of us dreamt of learning by eminent professors of the world.
But was quite not possible. Now, internet and willing initiatives of some has made it possible.
Now we have most of the science & technology, non-science fields such as history, literature, humanities etc.
lectures online. These lectures cover systematic syllabus of most of the colleges and universities of the world.
Here providing information regarding some of the well known sources:


  • Khan Academy - Systematic & easy learning and covering school and college syllabus.
  • Coursera - Initiative by Stanford, Princeton, University of Michigan, and University of Pennsylvania
  • Academic Earth - Single source of lectures from well known professors
  • Most of the well known universities of the world have their channels on youtube and provide free class room lecture videos.
  • NPTEL -  NPTEL provides E-learning through online Web and Video courses in Engineering, Science and humanities streams. This contains lectures from eminent professors from institutes like IITs, IISc of India.
  • edX - Yet to come. An initiative from MIT and Harvard University.
  • NandToTetris -  Building a computer from first principles of computer science. Its a practical and integrated approach to teaching fundamentals of computer science.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Going Beyond




  • Every time we say our feelings are because of situations or people, we are blaming them for our state of mind.
  • Discipline people and get work done but without fluctuating your state of mind, which means work needs to be done but our happiness is not dependent on it.
  • Each one of us is responsible for our feelings. People are not responsible for how we feel and we are not responsible for how others feel.
  • We can take care of our thoughts and actions, but finally others will create their own feelings and we should not feel guilty if others are creating pain.
  • Nothing and on one is in our control, other people's mind may not do what we want, we only have control on our own mind.

                                                                  **************
  • Irrespective of things happening outside, we consciously choose our feelings inside. We are shifting from blaming to personal responsibility.
  • Become aware of typical situations or personality traits in people like dishonesty, laziness, being late etc. which cause irritation, anger or hurt. Now consciously choose to remain stable in response to people's behaviors.
  •  Even if something has happened in the past, we cannot blame the past for our feelings today. Our feelings today are entirely our choice and our responsibility.
  • Everything outside is a stimulus - past experiences, present situations, planetary movements. Irrespective of the stimulus, the response is our creation.
  • I the soul am already peace, love, contentment. Nothing outside needs to be perfect for us to experience our own qualities, we already have them.



                                                                  **************
  • Trust should be the first thing to come in a relationship and the last thing to go and actually should never ever finish.
  • When we say we cannot trust someone again, we actually fear the hurt we will create if they do something which we did not expect. We do not fear trusting them, we fear our getting hurt.
  • They have done something which is not right for us, but the hurt we create is totally our responsibility and we have a choice how much and for how long to remain hurt.
  • Every time we create hurt we are getting weaker and then we create hurt even in simpler situations, because getting hurt is becoming our sanskar, and then trusting people becomes difficult.
  • When we start healing our selves, we do not fear getting hurt, and then we are able to trust people because even if they do things differently, we will be able to take care of ourselves.
When we doubt people around us in society or at the work place then doubt becomes our sanskar, and then it becomes difficult to trust family and friends.

**************
Desires
  • Desires are scenes which we create on the screen of our mind. When the scene in reality is different from the one on the mind, the mind perceives it as a loss, and we create pain.
  • Unfulfilled desires create pain. Let's reduce our desires, and give everything the liberty to happen the first time in reality, as it is meant to be.
  • When talking to family and friends about our emotions, focus should be on healing the emotion not discussing the problem and the emotion.
  • Anything done repeatedly becomes a habit. It is our creation and we can change by creating a new habit. Focus on creating the new habit rather than finishing the old one.
  • Morning meditation silences the conscious mind and implants the seeds of new habits in the subconscious mind.
Going Beyond Mood Swing
  • People don't insult us, they only given their opinion. We take their words and make them our identity and then use that identity to create hurt.
  • Mood created in one situation, if not corrected, get recorded in our subconscious. Any trigger will bring the pattern from the subconscious to the conscious and very soon this becomes our prevailing mood.
  • Do not make the emotion your identity, like I am sad, I am aggressive. It is only a creation, it will pass. If we identify with it, we expect it to come and accept it when it comes.
  • Face the emotion. Do not try to escape it by distracting your mind with movies, alcohol, working, holidays or talking to people.
  • Time cannot heal us. We choose how much time we take to heal ourselves. Face the emotion and find the tool of knowledge to heal it, do not leave it to time.

**************
  • Success inside i.e. stability, comfort, happiness inside will have an influence on getting success outside.
  • When two people are in conflict inside, they cannot create harmony in the relationship. Harmony inside, i.e comfort, stability inside flows into a relationship and creates harmony.
  • We always thought if the relationship is beautiful, if we get along well, they we will be very happy. The truth is if we are happy then the relationship will be beautiful.
  • Knowledge is not to be used only for reading, listening and feeling nice, but to be experimented and implemented in daily living.
  • Early morning the absorption capacity of the mind is high, fill it with pure powerful information i.e. spiritual knowledge and keep the newspaper for later in the day.
**************
  • When we take knowledge shared by others and implement it, we silence our noisy mind, then our own innate wisdom will emerge and this will change our deep belief systems.
  • Study knowledge in the morning and then attention in the day on its application in situations, this is Dharna, inculcation of values. We shift from reactive behaviors to consciously responding from our original qualities of peace, love, and respect.
  •  When we respond with stability in smaller situations we conserve energy. When there is a crisis we have the energy to face it with calm and stability.
  • The knowledge we learn, we share it with others, this is Seva. When we share we benefit first because we churn the knowledge while sharing. Sharing can also be radiating vibrations of purity.

**************
  • To make transformation natural and easy begin the day with meditation. Meditate at the same time daily and in a dedicated place.
  • Meditation silences the mind. Then study of knowledge implants seeds of new way of thinking and behaving deep into the subconscious.
  • A minute of reflection after every hour to check the quality of thoughts and change consciously towards the right way of thinking.
  •  At night review the day. Any action which was not right, we reflect on it and see how we could have responded in a different manner and visualize ourselves doing it a different way.

**************
  • We need to check our internal comfort zones of habits and behaviors created due to past experiences or affirmations made by people around us. We may be comfortable being that way, but it is damaging if it is depleting our energy.
  • Self talk that we create has a deep impact on our sanskars and behaviors. Like we talk positive loving words to others to help them to change, we need to be positive and loving to ourselves.
  • Other people's opinion about us should not stop us from breaking our comfort zones. Aim is to have harmony inside. Easiest way to break a comfort zone is to start doing the opposite, even if it appears to be difficult.
  • Each of us is a powerful soul and all of us have the same amount of will power, we choose how much to use. The more we use it, the more we will experience it.


Being Master and Child


  • Subtle way of controlling people is when we change our behavior, like getting angry, hurt, sulking, not talking to them, till they do what we want them to do.
  • When we ask people to do things in a particular way and they do it our way, we feel we control them and they feel they are being controlled, both are not true and it makes both weak.
  • The one who feels they can control will always have the fear of what if they lose control. Their happiness will always be dependent on the other person doing things their way.
  • The one who is listening to others needs to be aware that they are choosing to obey for certain reasons. Important is they are making the choice, they are not being controlled.
  • A powerful being is not the one who is able to control others, but the one who is able to control themselves.

Controlling to Influencing


  • When people don’t do things according to what we want, we start being judgmental and critical. This is creating resistance towards them. At that moment we don’t love them, we reject them.
  • Resistance is not because of what the other person has done. Resistance is because of how we start thinking in response to what they have done.
  • Our judgmental thoughts will travel to them and they start creating similar thoughts, and the process of conflict has begun.
  •  Each one is different, no one is right or wrong, we are just different. Acceptance means we accept the difference.
  • Acceptance means we are comfortable with their present sanskar and way of working and ready to work on it from the next moment i.e. future. Rejection is focused on the past, the mistake they made.

 
Going Beyond Criticizing
  • Criticism depletes the energy of the one being criticized and also of the one criticizing. The criticizer creates emotions of rejection, anger, and fear of what if they don't listen to me.
  • Criticism creates hurt in the one who is being corrected. When someone is hurt they can follow our instruction but they are not feeling nice and hence we can't say - it was for their good.
  • Critique is giving feedback for the deed and criticism is thinking negatively for the doer. Separate the action from the person and given suggestion only for what they have done.
  • Appreciate the person's qualities and the other tasks that they do, build their self confidence and then give them feedback on the task which has gone wrong.
  • When we are hurt or angry the feedback goes with the negative vibration and therefore not comfortable for the other. When we are stable and give the same feedback, it is only a feedback.


Going Beyond Competition
  • Life is not a competition. Each one is on their own journey, live according to your choices, capacity, values, and principles.
  • The output of our actions is in proportion to our inputs. Inputs could be circumstances, health, resources, and value systems. Our output is not dependent on the output of others.
  • Past Karma is a very important input factor. Even if all the present input factors of two people are the same, their past Karma are different, therefore output will be different and therefore no competition.
  • If we compromise on our input factor - values or interfere with the inputs of others, we are creating deep Karma and this will influence our output today and in the future.


Going Beyond Jealousy
  • Negative thoughts like jealousy, hatred, anger, criticism are toxic and large in number. They make us feel heavy.
  • When someone is jealous of us, we need to empathize with them, they are insecure and they feel they have not got what they deserve to be happy.
  • The one who is jealous is not feeling nice and they may not speak nicely about us, but we do not need to justify ourselves by talking badly about them.
  • Continue to create beautiful clean thoughts of understanding and love for the person who is jealous of us, these pure thoughts will help them to heal themselves.


Going Beyond with Love and Law
  • Very often our behavior is only a reflection of the way others have behaved with us, and in the process our own personality is lost.
  • Irrespective of environment and people, let us retain our original qualities, so that we will be comfortable and we will spread the fragrance around.
  • Values are our strength, even if no one around us is using it and even if others think they don't work, we should NOT give up.
  • With values we need HUMILITY to accept others around who may not use the same values, and power to face the challenges that might come because of living by our values.
  • Let's choose one value and then use it with everyone, everywhere, and every time.

Going Beyond Anger with Assertiveness
  • Our negative emotions have an impact on the mind, body, and relationships. Physical disease is easier to heal, but emotional hurt and relationship conflict is a deeper impact.
  • Sanskars of this birth are easier to change, sanskars being carried for many births need more attention.
  •  Assertiveness is stability inside and focus on the act, not on the person who has made the mistake.
  • Assertiveness retains the respect for the person and corrects the task. Anger is an attack on the person, and also brings up the past.
  • A silent mind silences other noisy minds. If parents and teachers have silent minds, they will help children to concentrate.
  • Face the emotion, sit with yourself and address the thought and gradually change the thought; do not try to escape it by distracting the mind.

Going Beyond by Erasing Negative - CTRL+ALT+DEL Mind Therapy
  • In any situation, control your state of mind, then look for an alternate way of thinking and delete the emotional baggage held against people.
  • If we hate someone, when we leave the body we carry the imprint of hatred, and when the two souls meet again they experience hatred.
  • Every time we carry forward the unpleasantness, the magnitude and complexity increases. To change the quality of the interaction right now is only one thought away.
  • If someone has cheated or betrayed us, we have an option to either create hatred and carry it forward. Other option is to create forgiveness and change the quality of interaction.
  • Whatever they are doing to us is a return of our past karma, they are not wrong. The response we choose now will create our present and decide our future. Let me make the choice that is good for me.

Going Beyond - Religious Fear of God and blind faith
  • Our thoughts, words, and actions are the energy we send to people, which is our karma. Situations and people's behaviors are the energy on the return, which is our destiny.
  • If God wrote our destiny, it would be a perfect destiny. Our destiny is created by our karmas, our free will, not by the will of God.
  • God can never get angry with us. God can never curse us. God will only bless us, forgive us and give us the strength to correct our mistakes.
  •  God gives the knowledge of right and wrong karmas, the strength to create good karma and the power to face the consequences of our past karma.
  • When we are performing rituals they need to be done with the intention of purity and love for God. Not an intention of fear of God or to appease God so that life is smooth for us.



    Source: Brahma Kumaris
    E-mail: awakening@bkmail.org

    Thursday, March 8, 2012

    Unanswered questions




    • Who set the electrons into motion?
    • If I travel faster than light, can I see my childhood?
    • If ceiling fan rotates in full speed, it is possible to see wall behind. In the same way, if I set cells/atoms of my body in motion, is it possible to become invisible?
    • ...