Impressions and expressions

There was a discussion in a Whatsapp group on strategies to beat stress and create peace of mind. This post is based on what I wrote there. 1. Reduce time on news and social Media : I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook and Twitter. I like some of the discussions there and love reading the literary stuff posted by friends. But there is too much "spam" too and it is difficult to filter that garbage. And Facebook, by design, encourages us to "consume" a lot without "producing" much. So for a long time, I struggled with Facebook to decide how to use it and interact with it. After lot of experimentation, which included staying away from Facebook entirely for more than a month, I currently follow this "30 minute rule ". I only spend 30 minutes per day (I use a timer) on social media and news.  I read the following on my phone in that order (you may have your own list) - US News (Yahoo News Digest App), India News (Eenadu e-paper, an Ind...

Few weeks back our car was rear-ended - a teenage driver crashed into our car at 45 mph while my wife was waiting at the red signal, on her way to pickup our 6 year old daughter from school. Luckily, no one was hurt, though our car had moderate damage and his car was totaled. We were quite glad that the accident did not happen after my wife picked up my daughter. This teenager, who got his driving license only a week back, did not apply brakes at all. It was as if he never noticed the red light or the car before him. He claimed that his brakes failed but we know the real reason for his accident - he was distracted by his mobile phone. A day after the accident, a friend forwarded a video on Whatsapp which showed a heart rending news item of an entire family (mom & 3 children) being wiped out by a distracted truck driver.   The camera inside the truck captured the driver changing music on his smart phone and he did not notice the traffic halted on the freeway. It all happe...

“The day you take up the policy of giving love instead of demanding it - that day you will have rewritten your entire future destiny - Swami Chinmayananda” Today (May 8th) is Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati 's 100th birth anniversary. This beautiful doodle created by Chinmaya Mission as a mark of devotion towards him has the words "Chinmaya Sadgurave Namaha" - Chinmayananda, widely hailed as the second Vivekananda, has done a tremendous contribution to spread the real essence of Sanatana Dharma among Hindus. He used English as the main language to communicate his message to the English speaking educated class who were increasingly becoming averse to Hinduism due to their misconceptions. He wrote excellent commentaries on several Hindu scriptures including Bhagavadgita and Upanishads. His vision of making the "family" as a member of the mission and not just the individual, is perhaps his master-stroke. Chinmaya Mission is unique in having t...

In the second part of the documentary " Enemies of reason ", Richard Dawkins evaluates the scientific basis of Homeopathy . I am surprised to learn that Homeopathy believes in " like cures like ". This is exact opposite of what Ayurveda believes (like increases like) and what modern medical science knows. Dawkins explains that this is not the same concept as a "vaccine" which introduces a diminished form of a virus to provoke the body's immune system. Instead, Homeopathy believes that "what causes similar symptoms cures those symptoms". So diluted poison ivy cures skin rash because undiluted poise ivy causes rash! To cure streaming eyes, the medicine is, you guessed it, diluted red onions! Even more curiously, Homeopathy believes that "the more the active ingredient is diluted, the more potent it becomes". Most Homeopathic medicines are marked 30c. This is, hold your breath, 1 part medicine : 100^30 parts water! This is so hu...

#JustForFun #TrueStory Note: If you do not know what "Fifty Shades of Grey" book/movie is all about, please skip reading this post! Don't ask questions :)  Disclaimer:  This post is for fun only and is not intended to hurt die-hard Fifty Shades' fans (who I know are in plenty!) It was year 2012 and I was waiting in Chicago airport for my next flight. So I did what I normally do at such places - looked for book stores. Browsing through books gives me a joy surrounded by calmness, something every book-lover would know. I guess this is the same joy women experience when they do shopping, although book-shopping is way cheaper and a lot healthier! In the airport book-store, I saw a book being prominently advertised as a best-seller. The book had an interesting cover design - just a classy looking grey tie. It was titled "Fifty Shades of Grey". I thought it was some business book, going by the cover. But I was in for a surprise. It is an "er...

When we have a Guru who strikes a chord with people, there will be always be Guru-haters too who keep spreading lies to damage and discredit the Guru. So it is not surprising that Sadhguru (of Isha Foundation) has his fair share of critics who call him a fraud and his spiritual movement a “cult”. I addressed some of these “cult concerns” in my earlier article . Most of this so-called “criticism” is not worth considering because it is devoid of facts and is full of hate-filled propaganda. But we must keep listening to the critics because they may sometimes dig out a fact that deserves some attention. This article focuses on one such fact. The allegation An allegation I heard long back about Sadhguru is that he got trained under one Rishi Prabhakar of Siddha Samadhi Yoga (SSY), learnt all the yoga techniques from him, left him and started his own organization (Isha Foundation). I discarded this allegation as “silly propaganda” and never really paid much attention to it. But...

People say it is difficult to understand Jiddu Krishnamurti’s philosophy. I agree. But if you think you have to understand Krishnamurti’s philosophy, you are already on the wrong path. For there is nothing called Krishnamurti’s philosophy. There is only one thing - understanding yourself. Krishnamurti is just a mirror for you to look into yourself. Looking into yourself requires infinite patience and tremendous courage. It is not an easy thing to do. No wonder people never understood Krishnamurti. I first heard of Krishnamurti when I was reading a Telugu magazine article on “overcoming your fears”. It had a side-note on Krishnamurti who said - “ Fear is created by thought - t hought which is the operation of past memory, past experience and past knowledge ”. I thought it was an interesting way of looking at fear and remembered his name. So years later when I found Krishnamurti book stall at the popular Vijayawada annual book festival, I immediately stepped inside to explore his w...

No one can predict the future. Those who keep making fancy predictions based on their ideologies often end up looking foolish. But what can be predicted and seen, if we have the eyes, is the "future that has already happened", as Peter Drucker puts it. When witnessing the spectacular victory of Narendra Modi in the 2014 elections, one is reminded of the political pundits' gross miscalculation of the people's aspirations and their refusal to see the reality of the day. Those who denied the "wave" are now forced to acknowledge the "tsunami". And what a victory it is! Come to think of it, no party other than the Congress has achieved a 272+ majority till now. Credit for this grand victory must go to Modi who led his campaign around development and good governance. His energy, his speeches and his vision inspired the nation to vote for him, setting aside regional considerations. More than anything, Modi has led the nation from pessimism to hope. He ...