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"