Questions are Unquestionable Keys

"Asking the right questions in the right way is the unquestionable key to everything from unraveling mysteries - to making people work for you - to establishing truth." - Vishnu Pendyala

Had it not been for Yudhishtira's questions to Bheeshma, we would not have the Kali Yuga's salvation mantra - the Vishnu Sahasranama (Thousand Qualities of the God).

Had it not been for the right questions we ask the fraudsters who approach us, we'd have been doomed in the dark long ago.

Economy and People

The widely held view is that consumerism helps in downturns. But IMHO, this is a short-term solution. I think it is production which helps in downturns and always. There is a huge community of under-served people in the world. As we make attempts to
bring them into mainstream and make them part of the economy, the economy corrects itself. What the economy needs are those big things that can be of service to the under-served.
Anyway, deals are always welcome and Black Friday is of course the brightest Friday for your shopping pleasures. Happy Thanks Giving and Happiness always!

"Economy grows as more and more people join its core echelons.
People are the most important economic resources at all times." - Vishnu Pendyala

Pleasure in Pain

"There is plenty of pleasure in pain. You just have to discover it. Take foot reflexology for example or a workout to the body's best." - Vishnu Pendyala

Tolerance is the key to Communal Living

"Just a little bit of adjustment by each one of us will amazingly make space for everyone in the world. The world will suddenly be a happier place for all." - Vishnu Pendyala

Feelings

"Body-bourne feelings will only have a net negative effect on self and others. Deep knowledge that leads to devotion inculcates the discretion required to control the feelings." - Vishnu Pendyala

Diversity is Divine's Design

"Life thrives on diversity. Let's embrace the differences that make our lives complete." - Vishnu Pendyala

All are Equally Important

"White, black, brown, yellow, red are all just colors that enlighten the world. Life is unimaginable without any one of them. No one is less important than the other." - Vishnu Pendyala

Overall Success in Life

"Passion is only a stepping stone to a dispassionate state. Dispassionate excellence is the key to overall success in life." - Vishnu Pendyala

Life is a maze

"Selfless, dispassionate action stemming from highest knowledge is the safest way out of this maze of life that's full of traps and pitfalls" - Vishnu Pendyala

Law and love

"Law starts where love ends." - Vishnu Pendyala

Complements

"Life and death, day and night, righteouness and evil are not complete until they encounter each other." - Vishnu Pendyala

Paying for Useless Stuff

"Illusions like ego and vanity are extra baggages, for which the bearer pays an unreasonably heavy price." - Vishnu Pendyala

Only Truth Sustains

"Only truth sustains. All else fades into the oblivion." - Vishnu Pendyala

True Economic Forces are Philanthropy and Benevolence

"Philanthropy and benevolence, rather than greed and avarice should be the driving forces for a sustained economic growth devoid of bubbles and bursts." - Vishnu Pendyala

Laugh is life pronounced with the right vowels

"Laugh is life pronounced with the right vowels, both having to do with breath." - Vishnu Pendyala :)

Life as you want it

"Be blissfully dutibound at all times. Life will then be an enticing interactive screenplay that will not affect you." - Vishnu Pendyala

EDA Vs Sociology

"If Sociology progressed at the same pace as Electronic Design,we'd probably be having heaven on earth by now." - Vishnu Pendyala :)

Impurities

"Just like impurities in Silicon led to the nirvana of Silicon andmodern technology, correctly used human body can lead to the nirvana of the soul housing it" - Vishnu Pendyala

Strong Vs Weak minds

"Being good and staying away from evil is possible only to strong minds. Weak minds risk yielding to the evil." - Vishnu Pendyala

Algorithm of Life

"Life's algorithm is simple: keep doing your duties and at decisionpoints, play God, choose what He likes the best. Detach from theself in you and you can see this for yourself." - Vishnu Pendyala

Happy Independence Day!

"A good government makes the ordinary citizen more powerful than itself." - Vishnu Pendyala

The Month of Sravan

This is the time of the year to soak the soul in ancient sound vibrations / mantras and make the ageless soul feel at home, away from the bizzare happenings around us.

Empathy is the Essence of Law

"Empathy is the essence of law and should be, for lawyers." - Vishnu Pendyala

The Power of Numbers

"When just the first 2 numbers, 0 and 1 can revolutionize the world so much, imagine what other numbers can do, when their full potential is unleashed!!" - Vishnu Pendyala

Happiness

"It is a pity if one has to depend on basic needs such as food and sex to be happy. True happiness is a product of higher aspects of life" - Vishnu Pendyala

Winning People

The route to one's heart is from the feet. Only selfless concern and service, like that of a mother's to her infant, can win people. - Vishnu Pendyala

Leadership

Ideal leadership is an invisible force. It's best realized in its absence, like God is most remembered in difficult times. - Vishnu Pendyala

Divisions of Humanity

"All divisions of humanity - region, religion, gender, are all meant to unite people. None to divide." - Vishnu Pendyala

Change

How many of you want to look old? And how many of you want to remain a child for ever? Change is sure inevitable. Change Management is a very important topic in books on Organization Behavior. But is change really welcome? We’ve heard people speak fervently for change. They strongly inspire you to change. That’s the worst part of change - everyone wants the others to change. They try to change everything but themselves.

Spirituality tells us that there is happiness in stillness. Mind is in its best state when it is still. The whole purpose of life is to be happy. We cannot be happy when the things around us change rapidly. Rapid changes only result in anxiety, stress, and depression. Many good things in life never change. Human values haven’t changed. The concept of happiness hasn’t changed. The concept of lie and perjury have changed, but the concept of truth has always remained the same. The concept of marriage is changing, but the concept of conception and mother haven’t changed. God is described as changeless. A few good things that indeed changed, have changed very slowly. Nature changed very slowly. It took millions of years for earth to change. So, my conclusion is that the best never changes. Better are the ones which change very slowly.

There have been so many changes in our lives over generations. There are many more comforts now. But can we claim to be happier than our parents in their time? I read a letter in the Wall Street Journal sometime back, where the reader described how, even after being much better educated and better placed than his father, he was having a tough time leading a decent life. Don’t most of us echo those feelings in our heart?

Change is of course inevitable. We cannot but be part of the change. But we can also slow the change. For instance, diet and exercise slow down the aging process. Great Chefs will hopefully agree with me that tasty dishes are the ones that are cooked slowly on medium heat. Romance is best when it is slow. Economic growth is best in moderation. Technology should only grow at the rate our natural resources can support it. Competition and greed are ill-founded and are harmful in the long run. Other motivators such as job satisfaction, customer appreciation, and the innate desire to be challenged should be the driving factors to help kill idleness and serve the humanity.
Change begets change. If your neighbor changes, you have to change. A country flexes its nuclear muscle, its neighbor reciprocates. The whole world becomes an unsafe place. So, best is not to change in the first place. That implies being largely content with what is bestowed upon us and staying focused inwards, whether as an individual or as an individual entity.

In summary, take it slow, and take it easy. There is lot to life than racing against change.

Golden Lessons

There's a lot to learn from the metal, gold. That's why gold plays a great role in spirituality. One important lesson is to forget the pain and remember only the lessons we learn. Gold undergoes tremendous torture as it is shaped into an ornament. It is heated to melting point, beaten, and bent until it learns its lesson (shape of the ornament). When it learns its lesson and appears as an ornament, however, there is no sign of the torture gold underwent. Gold only remembers the lesson and forgets every trace of the torture. Had it remembered even a bit of that torture, it would not have had its value as an ornament. Same in life. We need to remember only the lessons we learn from experiences and forget all the pain and hardship that life takes us through to teach us those important lessons. Gold is highly flexible, malleable and ductile, so should one be - ready to adapt and change. Gold does not easily react and so should a man remain calm and unperturbed in pain or pleasure. There's a lot to learn from gold - just think and you'll see a lot more to learn!
"The way one thinks is what sets him apart." - Vishnu Pendyala :)

NP Hardness in life

Just like every NP-Hard problem reduces from the problem of circuit satisfiability, every tough problem in life reduces from the concept of God, who cannot be conquered, grasped or even fully understood. For someone filled with divinity inside, any kind of hardship, therefore seems natural, intrinsic. He is hardly affected by it. Isn't that the message of Ramayana? That's the reason why contemplation on God and the various names (qualities) of the divine is very essential in times of difficulty. Divine contemplation can free us from all the perception of pressure and pain resulting from the bodily attachment to the world and makes us focussed on our duties. That's why it is said: "यस्य स्मरण मात्रेना जन्म संसार बंधनात"

Mother

"मात्रु देवो भाव (Let thy mother be thy God)." - Taittiriya Upanishad
All of us, particularly mothers, should remember this and make sure that
material, mortal considerations do not dilute this imortal declaration by
the श्रुति. Happy Mothers Day!

laughter

We have to laugh at something or someone. We cannot laugh at emptiness. As long as the laugh is innocent, is only for thepurpose of laughing and does not have undercurrents of negative feelings or ulterior motives, I vote for laughing, whenever and wherever we can.
"Humor is the Heart of Living." - Vishnu Pendyala

Festivals

Festivals are meant to remind us of our inner nature of happiness
and celebration. To someone who is in constant touch with the
inner self, every day is a festival :).

Vishnu Pendyala

The Pupose of Economics

IMHO, the purpose of economics should be to provide
EVERYONE in the world:

1) Work - idleness is a curse, not only on the people
who are idle, but on the society and eventually the world
in which they are in. Crime is built into idleness. Also, when
everyone has work, no one should be overworked. No burnout,
no crashing, no pressures.

2) Basic needs - such as food, shelter, clothing, using
minimum resources, without breaking the laws of creation.
Life was created on principles of recycling and complementing
- output from one life is food for another (for instance, CO2 we exhale
is source of life for plants, etc.). That means ideally, there should
be no plucking of vegetables or killing of animals and we should
be eating agriculture droppings just enough to survive. There is still life
in the droppings for a few days, enough for us, to serve as food.

3) Happiness - coming ONLY from the higher aspects of life (In the Maslow's
triangle, self-actualization, esteem). It is a pity if one has to depend
on basic needs such as food and sex to be happy.

4) Everything else, such as money, luxuries are only intermediaries / bi-products of
economy. They serve no long-term purpose and we should not be in
race for them.

Comments are welcome :).

Vishnu S. Pendyala
“Your world is as big as your heart” – Vishnu Pendyala :)