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 :)

Hollow to the Core

What makes a good speaker? Who would be a good communicator? What should we do to improve our communication skills? Probably these are the some of the most pressing questions that all of us have in our minds. The quest for these answers brought us all here. We’ve been hearing and reading many different answers to these questions. I’m here to give you a totally different answer to these questions – as you can expect from me, it is a bit philosophical. Incidentally, this topic struck me when I was gasping for words last week during my impromptu speech on the table topic. Why did I get into such an embarrassing situation, I thought and reasoned. It was because my mind was filled with thoughts about what was going on at work. I left in hurry for the Toastmaster’s meeting and was in the middle of quite a few things.

When the mind is filled with thoughts and the brain is processing them again and again like a car wheel stuck in mud, newer thoughts cannot come into it like how the car cannot go forward. The mind has to be hollow to get fresh thoughts and to listen to new ideas. We cannot concentrate and be a good listener when the mind is pre-occupied with what it thinks is a more pressing need. Fresh air cannot enter a crowded room and fresh thoughts cannot come to a packed mind. Hollowness is what it takes to be a good, enthusing speaker and a focused, interested listener. When fresh ideas enter the mind, body invigorates and helps retain the child-like look and feel of a person. A brooding mind struggling in the same cycle of thoughts dampens the body and spirit and ages a person.

 

This theory can be easily backed up by several examples. Take for instance the politicians. They are such good speakers. Take the actors. These people take it easy with life and don’t easily get weighed down. They too are good speakers. Many grown-ups who were good speakers when they were kids, turn very silent and keep to themselves. That’s because they accumulate a lot of heavy, unyielding stuff in their minds and cannot easily come out of their thoughts. It is much easier to listen to a jester than it is to listen to the expert in our fields. It is a well-known fact that experts cannot express themselves. That’s why we have all these tech writers in hi-tech areas.

 

Taking time off to loosen up and free the mind of all worries is as important as cramming up the mind with every detail about the world. Making the mind hollow is an art and needs plenty of practice. Not everyone can really unwind himself or herself, even if he or she wants to. That is why things like brightening up the evenings and weekends after tiresome work should be an essential part of life. When I complained to my doctor that I’m unable to sleep during the nights, she asked me the time I return from work. When I said between 9pm and 10pm, her next question was, “Why do offices normally close at 5pm?” I never realized this myself until she told me it is because a person takes a few hours to unwind to rest the mind. Mind is not digital to switch from 1 to 0, she joked.

 

A person with a hollow mind can easily mingle with people, be funny and stay happy. Why do gases and liquids mix, but not solids? It is because of their packing densities. When the mind is packed with prejudices, thoughts, impressions, judgments, etc., it cannot mingle with other minds. When a person does not mingle with others, he or she is often mistaken to be an arrogant or indifferent person, which is not really true in many cases. It is just that the person is having too much in his mind and needs rest, relaxation, and emptiness.

 

For better productivity, employees must be given time to do something different, something which their mind relishes, something that makes the mind hollow. A hollow mind has no distractions and can easily stay focused when it works. We should never let the mind get weighed down by heavy thoughts. Taking it easy, laughing whenever we get a chance, wearing a smile at all times, talking, eating, and living simply are a few things we can do to really keep the mind hollow and the body young. So, in conclusion, my recommendation to all of you is to take it easy with life, keep an open and simple mind and be hollow to the core.