Living or Doing?

I was having a conversation with myself about building a high networth company while bathing. Suddenly a realization came to me that in process of doing it, I am not enjoying the process of reaching that goal. I have been told so many times that journey is important and not the destination. I could relate it to "life" now.
Same morning - I told my wife that you are "waiting" for the morning "work" to get over, and she said "yes".
Above is the root cause of our stress. We try to get over with our "work". we are not living our "work". It is a duty rather then "living".
I suggested that her main purpose is "food". To make it interesting she should focus on new recipes rather then cooking same good again. It is the routine which is making her mind think it as "work" rather then enjoy it.
It is same with our way of earning money which causes the famous "monday morning blues". I think we should enjoy monday and not hate the monday. People give different reason for success, I feel the only criteria for success (in business or job) are the ones who have passion for their work not just wanting to finish the day. This is typically the reason of getting old in life.

Relating this to our family vacation, we decide a few destinations we want to cover, plan travel, hotel, food and head out. I now realize that I reached the destination after few or more hours of travel but I never "lived" those moments of "travel". I waited to reach the destination. There were cards to play, stuff to eat and so on but my mind was on the destination and not the journey. I think everyone can relate to above.
This also makes me realize the difference in thinking from the heart and head. Head says reach the goal, heart says live the way to the goal ;)

So are you living the present moment?

Note - All of the above is philosophy, theory which has no meaning unless it becomes part of life.

The notion of freedom

We were on a trip to raigad. This is probably 3 years back. We had a stop over and the entire group was having vada pav. I don't eat potatoes and green chillies. Now having known me for so many years, one of them asked me "tereko mann nahee hota khane ka". I said "No".
After so many years, I realized that the incidence in some way is connected to "notion of freedom". Freedom does not mean freedom to do anything and everything. If it was, militants and not monks would be more free ;)
Freedom means ability to choose. For e.g. We all love pani puri (i mean 95% of us do). We probably also know that pani puri is not healthy. Now how many of us choose to not eat it willingly (I am not saying to restrict, thats why willingly).
This ability to choose with awareness is one of the aspects of "being free".
While I say this, at times, I may choose to eat something unhealthy. It is the choice I have made but most of us in all honesty know that we just ate because we cannot resist or we just followed the crowd or that is the only thing which was available.
Mind is free when it is watchful. You got to watch your mind. Everyone gets angry. It's okay to be angry as long as you know you are angry. As soon as you know, it drops ;)
Now you can choose to be angry, this anger will have it's purpose and only you will know it.
Rising of conciousness means to be aware and watchful. You just have to go beyond your mind otherwise you are trapped.
You are aware of your state of mind when your conciousness rises.
A simple way to understand the whole thing is -
" You choose to eat the pizza or pizza chose that you eat it".

 

Are you waiting your turn to be Happy?

Father Said "Once my daughter is married, I will be happy"
Mother said "Once my son becomes doctor, I will be happy"
Student said "I will enjoy once the exams get over"
Software Developer said "I will have blast once this project is delivered"
Pregnant Women said "I will be happy once I get a healthy Baby"
Enterpreneur said "Let's party when we get funded"
Businessmen said "This deal must go through and then we will be happy"
House Wife said "Once my morning work is over, I will be happy"
Bagpacker said "My trip to Leh was the happiest moment of my life"
Husband said "I really enjoyed my bachelor life"
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Buddha said "I am happy here now".

So most of us are always happy either in the past or future and need a reason to be happy. Being happy is simple in present. 
There is no reason needed to be happy. There are going to be problems  but problems should never be related to your happiness. Easier said then done.
So be happy here now, put on a smile ;)

State of Mind

On the trip to delhi -

I was on a trip to Delhi and on the way back to airport took a cab. Our cab was just slowed down by a cycle rickshaw, the cab driver shouted and then literally hit the cycle rickshaw from behind.
The Cycle rickshaw guy protested that he needs time to give side then the cab driver just got off with all bad words, ready to hit the cycle rickshaw guy.
Above is an event triggered reaction (1).

Yesterday -
A chevrolet spark was hit by a pick up van in our building. The lady in chevrolet spark got wild and hit the guy, broke his mirror. After a while the owner of the pick up van came and settled the matter in some way. The scratch fix would have costed about INR5000 approximately or less. This is again event triggered reaction (2)

Back to the trip to Delhi -
I was with owner of a mid size company in almost brand new Hyundai Verna. On the way to his office, while we were stationary, a qualis taking a turn scratched his bumper. The guy pulled down the mirror and said "Bhai saab, jara dekhe ke turn maro". The other fellow replied "traffic tha galti se ho gaya". The guy quickly rolled up the mirror and told me that there is nothing much you can do even if you fight with the other guy irrespective of who was at fault.
 This is event triggered reaching (3).
The realization I had was that the guy who spend minimum time  fighting knew that it is not worth his time spending on it and he was the richest guy of all 3 in the above incidences.
The realization is that your reactions has potential to decide your fate.
We face such situations in your daily life at work place, home, travelling and so on. The knowing of your reaction and a subtle control (control is no the right word) is real spritiualism. It is this awareness that is above and beyond the natural reaction. Knowing your reaction is changing the default to defined.
If the taxi guy had not got down to hit the other fellow, we would not have lost the time.
If the lady had just calmly asked that this needs to be fixed by your owner, neither driver or lady should have to spend the time fighting (in turn mental imbalance) for it and reaching the same result.

The panic Button

FlashBack -
Checking email on my phone from my team -
"We are stuck at this point, some dependencies are not getting resolved and the critical project is blocked"
Hit the panic button and call back. The first reaction is "shit, now we are screwed"
Second reaction is to start calling the team and try to figure out a solution (which of course they are already doing).
A realization hits me and I stop thinking about the "problem".
Reached the office and discuss overall strategy for the project and bringing clarity to the road map.
All this while no focus on the problem nor any anxiety about it.
Few hours before the end of day, the issue was resolved in some way.

Now the point here is the "panic button". All of us have a panic button which we hit under different circumstances. We do not realize that this is going to stay "only till it is resolved" ;)

Q: Where is the focus?
A: On the problem

Q: Where should be the focus?
A: On the solution

Learning - When you get hit by a problem, focus on the solution.
One more thing I learned today was "Problems are temporary, Solutions are permanent".

Note to the self

The life passes by while you are asleep. If you realize this, the journey has begun.
You evolvle if you are aware that something is wrong in the mechanical world and that we have become emotional machines of earning money.
The life has just begun for me as I watch ego fool me and fail me. If I am aware the ego is shattered. It most definitely does not like it. So It tries to fool me by using my patterns and old habits. I am no monk as it also be identification of the ego. I don not want to be identified good, bad or ugly. At that point, I think the life will begin. Like water in the jug, it takes shape of the jug. My ego may be fooling me even now, making me feel closer to reality then I may be. Right now I do not care much about it as life will give me the feedback. That's an advantage of living in the matrix. You can see for yourself if you are really able to live in the world but not of it!

Making a difference

I truly have great people in my life and around me. I am surrounded by a whole lot of good people in some way or the other.
Recently, I went for a 2 day shibir at lonavala organised by nira multiversity (http://niramultiversity.org/) and again met a really good fellow sadhaks.
It was a small group but each of them was determined to change his own life and make a better today and thus tomorrow. It was "age no bar", in fact old ones appreciated the teachings of the modern day unlike our general experience that it's difficult to change mind set of the old people.
This has bought a different perspective to me and that is "make a difference" by changing yourself and also guiding right people to right place at right time.
These shibirs are amazing ground for "experiencing" new things in life with a very light weight approach.
Remember, we are surrounded by a world of information and logic where we start loving complexity and challenges. And thus these things follow us.
I have seen so many young people always saying that they love "challenges in life". Probably I used to as well, but now with better sense of things, I now love "simplicity in life". I have simplified myself and my life a great deal. Simple life, simple food, simple prayers.
I am in love with the words "simple", "easy", "peaceful", "grace", "great", "heal" and "pray".
From Here on, life will be simple, beautiful and bountiful. I recommend doing the shibirs time and again to many people. But I have noticed that the ones who are really ready for the change are able to make it, rest will only read the blog and move on. Please realize that reading anything is not going to make your life any better then it was yesterday if you do not learn and apply it in your life.
Reading positive and good things certainly help momentarily, shibirs help you transform and follow ups keeps you going on the right track.
Wrapping up this post with a lot of gratitude for having such good life, unsaid, untold grace on me always!

Be humble, Be honest

I have been lucky to have met few top level executives during my career. I learned a very good thing from them.
And that is to be "humble". Being humble was one of the reasons they were at those position. They did not have a sense of competition or comparison. They reached that level by the humbleness of their presence.
Being humble matters a lot, everyone will look up to you if you are humble. Your presence will make a difference wherever you go.
It is actually very easy to be humble and I bet you meet excellent people as you are down to earth.
This also allows you to stay on track, you do not get in to a superiority complex. There is a thin line between being confident and having a superiority complex.
Being humble keeps you away from crossing this line and you will always be treated with great deal of respect. Your presence will be accepted at every level.
I have personal experiences of spending time with CEOs and COOs who make you feel so comfortable. They have uncanny ability to bring best out of everyone.
I love being humble because it makes life very simple, removes a great deal of struggle from your life. People around you see possibilities instead of threat in you.
Having said the above, you must believe in having a self worth. The idea is to have the right balance and do not go to any extreme.
For example, if you are software developer and you solved an issue which entire was trying to solve for few days, there is nothing wrong in treating that as self worth. While being aware that it does not make you any superior to others. It should rather give you a sense of satisfaction and you should gladly accept the praise from the team.
9 out of 10 times, being humble will also allow you to be honest. Both have a deep connection. The only difference is honest has a degree of honesty in it ;)
To sum it up, the way to success when you have the basics like talent, attitude right, being humble is the way to grow above and beyond.

Relationships

You meet so many people in life, some come and go, some come and stay.
Relationships are a significant part of our lives because that forms a major portion of our time spend in our lives. A good relationship is born out of love and freedom. There has been a personal experience that real relations are made by you and not earned by birth.
Birth gives you relatives and not relationships. Of course you can build good relationship with them.
For me relationship comes with a spark. People say love at first sight, for me it's intuition at first site. It's like "iske saath apna jamne wala hain ;)"
Very recently, I met COO of a big company. He had met several people with some real good talent but he still could not convince him of hiring any of them for the purpose because the spark was missing. This spark is actually his intuition towards the people he met.
Let's jump back to freedom in the relationship. Why is friendship such a good relationship?
Have you ever noticed that probability of a friend feeling bad about anything is the lowest?
The main reason is because there is freedom in friendship. It's one of the most beautiful relationships.
Even within friends, I have noticed some are close to heart even though they are physically distant and we hardly meet in person. When you meet them even after year or so, you get talking as if you meet him daily. These are your real friends and they won't feel bad if you haven't called them in a while ;) (yeah but you should be in touch, it means a great deal in life).
The true relationship has freedom, more the freedom, better the relationship.
Less the expectation better the relationship.
"Go on and earn good relationship, it will make you very rich in life."

For my love thy movies - Trilogy

This is a submission for the Reel-life Bloggers contest www.wogma.com and http://reviewgang.com/
An action packed thrill of 3 movies
1) Luck By chance -

I am vary of seeing movies as I am very critical of the same ;)
But thanks to swati (my wife), I sometimes end up seeing a few of them.
I promise you that you will be confused by the end of this review and so you will go and watch the movie ;)

Its always my tendency to take some good things of a movie and learn from it.
The best thing about this movie was that it was relatively a casual movie and thus light.
The shots are taken in normal day to day lanes and homes so that brings some reality.
Everyone would agree that they see a new star in Farhan Akhtar.
But this movie by far was konkana sen's movie (ok, as a guy, I will always be biased ;)).
Her subtle expressions are the highlights of the movie.
The subtle comedy of the movie is awesome.
Like there is something about poems whereby everyone can interpret in its own way, the same applies to the movie too. One can view it from many different view points.
So here is luck by chance from my 4 eyes (2 normal and 2 with a lot of power glass ;)) -
Luck by chance is about creating destiny vs living the destiny. It also shows that you can get lucky by chance but that will most likely not sustain.
I always believe you have to go and knock at the oppurtunity, if you believe is oppurtunity knocking at your door, most likely you will miss it.
So here is a movie in which luck by chance, one gets lucky but other one gets luckier as she learns to live life as it is!
Farhan Akhtar believes in creating destiny (kismet bantee nahee, bananee padti hain). Only wishing means nothing to him.
So the guy creates oppurtunity, walks through it. Leaving behind her girl friend Konkana.
All this happens luck by chance.
It is almost as if Konkana's luck is replaced by Farhan's luck.
Although for a brief period, she is upset but she thanks him for the things she learned from him and then lives in that fashion. Now she is on to creating opportunities but in much more subtle and resilient way.
What is the difference? Now, she continues to enjoy things she is doing. She is no longer waiting for the chance she may get in "future".
So luck by chance a struggling movie actress who lived every moment based on the future role, turns to her present life and starts loving what she is doing everyday. And this she learnt from her lost love.
In turn her lost love Farhan turns lucky by chance but looses all good people in his life.
It poses a very good question. What is more important? Living every moment as it is or longing for something to achieve in future.
Rather both and strike a balance.
Few lines from the poem "IF" summarizes it very well -
If you can dream and not make dreams your master.
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim.
If you can meet with Triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same.
;)

2) ZNMD -


It is saturday morning, been a long time saw any movie so here was my chance. Looked up the theatre and time, off we want for the movie. High expectations from 3 rocking stars and good punch in the name.
Friendship is one relationship which I feel is the most real one since my childhood and I am sure for most of us it is the same. "Dil Chahta hain" was hit for this very reason.
Some friends where ever they may be are friends for ever.
ZNMD was about 3 friends and their promise to have journey of a life time with 3 selected destinations with 3 activities they can choose and all 3 of them must do it.
We all know Hrithik is crowd puller. But the star of this movie was some one else, it was Abhay Deol for me and Farhan Akhtar for my Swati.
The movie showed Hrithik to be a money minter with almost no life, well, eye opener for many of us that forget living life in the crazy world of making money. Farhan is a moldable die, he fits almost any role given to him. By far awesome. The star of the movie was Abhay with his classic looks.
The beautiful Katrina was meaningful too with a very simple message of "live life, Queen size". The little bit of zen about "the moment that matters" comes out very cleanly in Katrina's role as a deep sea diver.
Let's switch to the location, Amazing locations with deep sea diving, lot of greener pastures, unseen empty roads and awesome car. The movie is a visual treat apart from being a passionate story too.
The most exciting thing about the movie was the "fear factor". Each of us have different fears - fear of height, fear of water, fear of animals, fear of death (by far the deadliest ;)).
In Matrix 1 - Neo is told "Let it all go Neo, fear, doubts and disbelief". And here you have it - story of 3 friends on a journey to "letting it all go"
If you miss the movie, you are missing a great lesson for yourself, so go watch it NOW!

Matrix 1 - "You have to let is all go Neo - Fear, Doubts, Disbelief"

I must admit, I did not move beyond matrix 1 as I am still digesting matrix 1.
I had watched it during my college days and let it go as an action movie which by far matrix is NOT.
Matrix is about so many things not some particular thing. There are so many perspectives to this movie that this review will short fall of it so you will have to see the movie to get your own perspective.
If you even blink your eye, you lost a lesson from the movie, that's how quick the movie is made. There are sharp turns all through out the movie.
In short, its a about "Neo" who has the instinct that "something is wrong with the world" and how he is guided by his mentor to become "real him" by the thoughts and the mind.
There are amazing fight sequence with excellent dialogue. The simulated fight between neo and morpheus is the sequence to rewind and watch, rewind and watch.
So if you want to know "how deep the rabit hole goes", if you think "it's the mind which makes it real", if you want to "load anything you like" and if you think "when you are ready, you won't have to" go on unload yourself and watch this movie. I am sure "once is not enough" or rather "first time watch is just the beginning".
Enjoy the movie!

Some Quotes or Thoughts or whatever you choose to call it

Good blessings from the universe
There is pain deep within
Time heals
Crying is just an expression as laughing
We are by default biased.
Things can go wrong, how to react is up to you.
Your life is output of your choices, actions and decisions. All 3 are equally important.
A good student always gets good teacher. Sometimes that teacher is life
Experience is the key, actions is actually using the key to unlock
Dare to dream when you are awake
I always imagine myself standing with my car in my shorts relaxing and thinking what next?
You only realise later that the precious time was wasted
Quotes are somebody's state of mind at some point.
Give love, it's the best way to feel good about yourself.

First Trip to Leh Ladakh can be very inspiring, so take the plunge!

The most challenging trip so far in various sense - emotional, health, group tour, temperament. There is always a learning when things are tough. There is a saying "when going gets tough, the tough gets going" and that's what we learned and stuck to.
1) The first tough thing emotional - Our beloved grand mother was hospitalized with doctors given up hope 2 days before our trip. We all loved her very much as she was the most modern granny of these times (yes, she can discuss cricket and politics both if you had like ;)) One of the things I will remember is the food, if she made anything that had to be delicious, even if she only added salt to a thing. Because of the intention she had that everyone should enjoy what she made. (I do take pride in it too, anything I cook turns out good, but I hardly cook). The truth of the moment was that nobody was able to decide and everyone was waiting for each other some of them wanting to go and some of them wanting to cancel. Eventually, most of us agreed that we should go and she had told each of us when we met while she was alright but hospitalized was "take care of each other on the trip". Well, that showed her true spirit. So we decided 2 of them staying back to take care of rituals and rest of us to take the train to Delhi. I believe it was the right thing to do. I learned when something is known and inevitable, accept it very gracefully and pray for the highest and best.
2) The 2nd milestone - After a tough call to leave for the trip, the next road block was right ahead of us. The train to Jammu from Delhi was full of unreserved people in reserved compartment, so much so that we cannot even board the train. And I created a blunder by not boarding from the side I was supposed which had only ladies. On our end, we managed to throw in the luggage. On other end, ladies managed to throw the luggage near the toilet. I must admit we created one more blunder (the ladies side of it), the ladies lost their cool on the crowd which was already irritated but still trying to help considering they were all ladies. The story on our end was different, we stayed cool but the irritated crowd pounced on us for the amount of luggage we were carrying in the train. Slowly things started to settle, we removed people who where on our seats. Some were nice to tell us that let the next station come otherwise we won't be able to get in our luggage. We listened to them and they listened to us. Things settled more but I still saw some of us were shouting instead of requesting on the first go itself. My view is that when things go wrong one thing to understand is that even if other person is wrong he is equally frustated, so request him first before shouting. If he does not budge you should go up to police too, but always start politely as your first thought should be that he will agree as you are right. After almost 1-2 hrs of all the fight and everything, we got to sleep.
I learned "this too will pass, learn to smile on bad circumstances". One practical learning is research your travel well before booking.
3) This one is actually humorous - One of us stamped on someone's foot and said sorry. That lady literally went mad. Her husband told her very coolely - "I will take you to a doctor as soon as we got down, shouting is not going to reduce your pain". But in the end we were conversing with them so felt good about it. I learned you can improve the situation, choice is yours.
4) Now the roads are blocked - The roads to srinagar were blocked due to weather and amarnath yatra. There are some practical learnings here. Find out about any public events on your route and take a quick decision to change your route. We spend entire day in Jammu and lost a day in such a crucial trip.
5) We are on our way to Manali - After a lot of waiting at 3:00am we started off at around 7:00 for Manali. Again a lot of time wasted just making decision and fights among drivers. Excitement was ON again at least for me as we will be soon at our first destination. The route was long and tiring and we reached at around 10:00pm or later. The hotel was decent. I learned that it helps to be patient or life will frustate you easily and many times ;)
6) The fun begins - So the trip to Solang valley was fun for everyone. Paragliding for the first time from a hill top was very good experience of shedding your fears. I did it on purpose as I was afraid. If you are afraid, do it, till when will you live in that fear? But it turned out dar ke age jeet hain, once up in the air, it felt amazing. It's an experience so word will fall short of describing it.
7) Food is frustating for everyone now - I think for me this was one of the bad things of the trip. The food had so many highs and lows that it was depressing at times. If I had to change one thing in the trip, this would be the one thing I would change. The cook and the guide had no ideas of our expectation from the food. I learned you need to plan better and have your daily items ready in excel sheet emailed to the provider before hand and ensure he has each and every ingredient required for it. Though in hills only 70% of your planning will work but still huge scope of improvement here.
8) The highlight of the trip "trip to Sarchu and the stay" - This was by far the most difficult part of our entire trip. We got stuck at rohtang for 4-5 hrs due to mud slide. I learned one thing on the way "Learn to live along - Independent". In such circumstances, you support others come what may. You need to be very strong for the same. And you need to be to gather. That is exactly what we did.
Then came Zing zing bar - This is a tough one for both vehicle and you to cross. But it was fun, first the vehicles crossed. We clapped as one after other our vehicles crossed the difficult path with flowing water at good force. Then it was our turn. This was probably the first time I did not look back, something took over me and I went without help with Swati, crossed it fearlessly. It was unlike me, but I learned circumstances can make you strong too and that don't think but act ;)
I loved when 2 of the younger brothers prepared Electral powder in warm water and served everyone in spite of severe cold. I think we again made one mistake of stretching our dinner to late night. Many of us paid a heavy price for the same next day I guess. I had my past learnings and used good trick of drinking 1 litre+ warm water and get rid of all acid through vomitting by choice and I was all well then. As we left from Sarchu, things started to look better. I learned "Be tough and don't give up".
9) The food got better at pang - We all enjoyed the food at bang with garam rotis being served to us. Some of us chose to rest as well (A well deserved one).

11) The goodness of Leh Begins - The Plains at such a height is a sight in itself. From sand dunes to colorful mountains, the road has everything you can or cannot imagine. This probably was the closest literal to "Joy is in the journey and not the destination".



12) Leh tour of 2 days - The leh tour is very simple and charming. With very good places to see and just be. Some of us went for rafting which is fun. As I had done it again and wanted to take rest, I skipped it. The market was not much fun other then t-shirts. The hotel in Leh was dissappointing to say the least. A better strategy in future would be to pay more, bargain less but take the best.
13) 3 idiots school but Aamir khan was missing - Time to visit the awesome school the next day. Lot of open spaces and some useful quotes, I am sure the students are lucky. Leh has its own charm. The drivers changed from aggressive to silent as our journey too became more silent.
14) The first sight of pangong lake - Journey was awesome and we were used to the heights now (but this too will pass ;)). The first sight of pangong lake amongst the sandy mountains was amazing view, I almost jumped in the scorpio with 3 others ;)
15) This too will pass- The good time was over. The tent which we had supposedly booked were booked by others before us and there were no tents left. We were on beg, borrow, steal mode now. Convinced the guy to give us 3 tents instead of 6 and he also had one room with 2 beds. It was great, he put extra beds. we all sat and chatted after a long time. The love among the family was over flowing, I could have cried but I decided to fart as that is more fun for everyone ;)
16) The morning visit to pangong and meet the buddhist monk - This guy was amazing, he asked for our introduction, spoke to us himself. I respect him for his simplicity and being so down to earth with everyone. Did some good photography around the lake and was time to go back to Leh and get ready for Nubra.
17) Highest Motorable road here we come - Khardung la and it snowed, cannot get better. We played in the snow although for a brief moment but amazing moment. The hugs felt great to me.
18) Ask thrice before you commit to travel - We wasted atleast 3 hrs going to a place which was not worth it. So always verify before travelling to cover good distance to reach a place.
19) Nubra and Camels here we come - Well this was too much fun, first the camel ride and then sand dunes rolling.
20) Leh to Jammu via Kargil Memorial - Kargil memorial was totally worth it. The length of journey hit us again as 2 days of hard journey. And yes unforgettable zojilla pass which was more scary then paragliding as the road was gliding and there was no parachute ;)
One more practical learning was cover the most distance on previous day and leave minimum to the last day especially in hills.
We chilled out on the way back in the train, enjoyed playing UNO and sleeping.

I loved the trip. It taught me many things, top among those were "this too will pass", "loving unconditionally" and "Being tough"
I would end with one of my favourite quotes "Life is not for waiting for the storm to pass but for dancing in the rain".
Maa - We all love you!

Life is a game, Play it Easy!

New turns in life are amazing. Yesterday was at a party and somehow there was no craving for the food. I begin to wonder - A world without cravings. It would definitely make life worth more living as there would be a sense of freedom. Well, easier said then done in the city life where you need to be worthy enough to live a stupendous life.
I am getting more into my senses, healing the anxiety within me for anything and everything. There is a thin line between enthusiasm and anxiety, isn't it?
I want to be more peaceful and watchful going forward. Not trying to be happy always but just trying to BE irrespective of the circumstances.

Cooking with Love

Consciousness In The Kitchen – Cooking With Love

In today’s information age, we are continuously bombarded with details about the physical aspects of what we eat and the effects that different ingredients may or may not have on us, and naturally this is important. But in this heap of information, we tend to overlook one crucial factor: the consciousness (state of mind) of the person cooking and the effect that this will have upon the food, and thus also on those who eat it. A cook prepares food in a physical place, but also in a spiritual or inner space. And just as the physical surroundings are best kept clean and in order, so should be the state of mind of those in the kitchen. A simple and familiar example of this concept at work can be seen in the way that home cooking, especially that of one’s mother, holds a special place in our hearts. The love and care with which it is prepared sometimes gives us more joy than perhaps food eaten in a restaurant setting where food may be prepared with greater technical skills but where stress, arrogance and greed (in the restaurant environment) may flavour the dish of the day.


When the subtle, spiritual aspect of cooking is taken into consideration, the role of the cook extends from simply creating tasty, nourishing meals with fresh ingredients, to including a spiritual connection with those who will be eating that food. The aim will be to touch and fill the heart as well as the palate and stomach. The love of the cook, and his or her motivation to offer sustenance, will nourish as much as the chemical components of each dish. Food cooked by a person who is angry, depressed or full of arrogance or hatred will have a different effect from food cooked with feelings of Iove, peace and the pure desire to serve. In other words, we are what we eat but also the thoughts and attitudes that go into what we are eating. Even in today’s demanding society, when there sometimes seems to be hardly enough time to cook, let alone do so peacefully and caringly, it is therefore definitely beneficial to develop a positive attitude towards cooking. Before undertaking any food preparation, remind yourself that the project at hand can and should be an enjoyable, creative activity, rather than an unpleasant, time-consuming activity. A good practice, then, is to meditate before cooking and then to let preparing the meal itself be a creative, meditative experience which yields a balanced, health-promoting diet for the body as a temple for the soul. Food always tastes better when it has been flavoured with love and happiness.

~ Jeevan Sanjeevani
http://jeevansanjeevani.com/

Pay it Forward

Pay it forward

A lot has been written about the big bad and mean world of today. Much ink has been used to describe how indifferent we have become to people around us. I, however, choose to see a different side. We all know that a small act of kindness can go a long way in transforming someone’s life. I will show you people actually living by it.

Visit www.yourturnnow.in

A selfless initiative by a 33-year-old Rushabh Turakhia is changing the way people live. It encourages us to be kind, compassionate and help those who need us. Next time someone thanks you, do not end it by simply saying welcome. Instead, hand over a Your Turn Now (YTN) card and insist that they pass on the benignity.

Here’s how it works:

* Request a FREE stack of YTN cards and carry them with you everywhere.
* They are the size of a credit card, and will hence fit in perfectly in your wallet/purse.
* When you help out somebody, don’t forget to pass them a card, and explain to them that it is now their turn to be kind and help someone else out.

These cards are free of charge and will be couriered to you, whichever part of the world you may be in, in a maximum of 10 days.

You can visit their Facebook group HERE, to read stories uploaded by users sharing their YTN experiences.

Visit www.yourturnnow.in or send an e-mail to rushabh@yourturnnow.in to get free YTN cards.

Spread the good word, and the kindness, people. I know you want to do it :)

Optical Illusion

Optical Illusion -

My morning travel to office is amazing. The pondering and realization is unbelievable.
How and Why do people fall in trouble and live in trouble?
I have been told multiple times by many of them about fate and destiny that both exist and are accepted by everyone. If it were so then we as human are nothing but "puppets without your strings in your hand".

I do not believe that is true, there is something else above and below fate, destiny whatever you want to call it.
So what is it? Now this is getting right down to very basic so please read carefully -
1) There is fate but you have ability to change the default.
2) Fate depends on your actions (karmas) done in the past. (below fate is your past).
3) The present hold keys to both your past and future (yes both past and future). (Above fate is your future).
4) Human mind was born free and as your past karmas start reaping results, the bondages are created.

Let us understand this with an example.
One family is going out for a vacation. As fate has it, they miss the train. Now missing the train was because of thier past karma or the joint energy imbalance (there is a science behind it that cannot be explained and only experienced). Now fate has created an incident, just an incident not the result. Now that you have missed the train you have 2 options - either to crib about it and blame each other (Note - A logical mind will try to reason and find problem, A person who works from heart will look at the solution at this point) or to look at the best next option and move On.
Simply put - the fall and uprise is guided by your fate (even this is your own creation) but reaction is left to you. So you are given a choice by "life". We easily manage to skip this choice and blame the fate and this is the trap you have to be aware.
So missing the train was your fate due to the past, reacting to the situation is your present and thus present is holding the key to your future.

Now, there is another way to look at the same thing. Context is different but the message is same.
This is coming from my personal experience of my work life. I have always got good colleagues at work and my work life has always been positive (ofcourse I have these "Sulemanees" which make me do the hops ;)) I am sure many of us have experienced the same as against many of those who are always dissatisfied with thier worklife or more problematic work life. Now why is that difference in circumstances? It is because of a very subtle world within ourselves. I pray to god for the best possible work and promise a superior outcome to him and the result is -
-I get collegues who make my work easy and sometimes "free"
-Sometimes, I do not have to work and result are the blog entries. he..he.
-The outcome of every project is nothing but positive and the best the man can get (I am not advertising gillete, just myself :))
-Everyone working feels satisfied, able and confident to deliver.

Coming back to my first point that you have ability to change the default. To be able to do this you have free yourself from the emotional bondages and then only it is possible.

I am completely aware while I write this that fate can sometimes be acute, unexplained and unexpected depending on your past and evolution. But the essence of this post is that you have the ability to change it, clean it or at least accept it so that pain is reduced.

I will end with a quote I like very much -
"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, its about dancing in the rains"

Food For Thought

My 2nd favourite topic is "Food". After money comes the food.
(I must admit that sometime back, I used to eat the same things I am about to criticize here )
"AA Khushee se Khud Khushee kar le"
I came to mumbai when I was in 4th standard.
I had a deadly migraine in few years after I came to mumbai.
This lasted for a number of years. It was so bad that I used to keep anacin in my pocket.
Years passed by and it never went away. I tried ayurvedic medicine, it stopped for sometime. As soon as I stopped medicines, it came back again. I tried homeopathy, it never worked.
I stopped taking any pain killers and decided to suffer the migraine. Everytime, I would vomit the food and couple of hours later I was fine.
I tried to diagonize myself and found the root cause - food and food habits.
My food habits made me suffer from this deadly headache for more then 15 years (and ofcourse my tongue enjoyed only for the time I ate food, right). I feel ridiculous when I think about it.
I changed my food and food habits. Stopped eating spicy food, stopped eating fermented food at night, dinner before 7:30pm max (as early as 6:30 on weekends). And guess what? I have not had this migraine for almost over 1 year now.
No doctor could determine this simple root cause? So doctors cannot treat you, only you can treat yourself ;)
Our World of Perceptions -
I hate to think of mistakes I have made when it comes to food. I had these "perceptions" -
-My stomach can digest anything
-Spicy food is the only tasty food.
- Eating bad food makes your stomach stronger because now it can digest anything, wow!
Ofcourse all of the above are plain wrong.
Think about it, your tongue enjoys but your stomach, it suffers. Its a no brainer.

Mass Hypnosis
Please refer the word Meme, it accurately describes the phenomemenon - Meme
Its like a mass hypnosis whereby nobody is bothered of what he is eating?
Food is the only source of energy you need to survive and you don't even think twice before you eat anything? Its absurd.
Good food is difficult but bad food is easy to get -
Try this - Go on a walk for few 100 meters and look around, you will easily find vada-pav, pizzas, chips, burgers round
the corner. But show me one shop in that few hundred meters selling chaas, lassi, fresh fruit salad, coconut water.
Why? Because those have become more sellable. we all are responsible for it.
Take cold drinks and icecreams for example, I am sure everyone enjoys icecream. Now think about this, you are sleeping and someone puts cold water on you, how will you react? You are doing the exact same thing to your internal body without realizing the same when you drink cold drink or eat ice cream.
This is one part of the story. second part is which ice-cream you are eating? More then 90% of the icecreams are adulterated.
Next comes the packed food and foreign drinks. Chips and colas are eaten like guru prasad, they are good for nothing.
India is nation where milk, chaas and lassis used to flow, what have we made of it? I see no one prefering a coconut water to colas, chaas to colas so on and so forth.

Impressions on our children -
We have defined the word "majja" as chips, pizzas, chocolate, ice-cream, pre-packed juices. Why didn't we define the word "majja" as chaas, Lassi, Fruits, Fruit juice, Halwasan, Mohan thal? We have no right to complain as parents when child is asking for chocolate as an appreciation and not fruit juice. And even if we as parent try to do this, social environment around you will invariable not let it happen (again search for word "meme", its a phenomenon). Everyone who comes home to meet us brings chocolates, it becomes a default gift. Why? Do we as adults do not know that chocolates are bad? why not bring some good quality fruits for a change?
Everytime I enter a kirana shop, I see a parent buying thier child chips or chocolates. For god's sake, if your kids grow up on colas and chips, what will they become?
we will easily create another a smaller US in India in time to come. (It hurts).
Another thing which I face is "sometimes it is ok to eat these things". Think about it, young minds are like sponge, if you allow them sometimes, you will not know when it becomes a part of them. And as I said before junk food is easy to get and hence will easily attract them.
Chocolates, Ice-Creams and cold drinks are your children's worst enemies, keep them away from these things. You are not depriving them of any good thing.

Last but not the least - Adulteration
Believe it or not - Everything you buy from the market from milk to vegetables to fruits is adulterated. So be careful when you buy things from the market. Try to get things from authentic source (unbranded preferred).

I would end with a famous gujarati quote -
"Ann banave Mann" (It means your qualities come from your food).

Truth Vindicated series - Money

Background of truth vindicated series -
You all already read that I believe we are socially conditioned. My idea is to write a series of essays or articles for social unconditioning. Its just the passion for writing (it came late into me) and idea of spreading some right messages in most open manner –

So one of my favourite topics comes first and that is Money.

Money is created in the mind -

A very dear one had once told me that "money is made in the mind" but at a very logical level.
But just wondering about it, I really think that money is made in the mind. It may appear externally but its creation as well as use is in and by the mind.

What is more important? Earning huge amount of money and not live it or Earning enough and live that money?
I came across a very interesting short story named 'The Undomestic Goddess'. It is the story of a very successful, top lawyer, who runs away from her life when she realises that she made a huge mistake. She takes up a job as a housekeeper in a small village, thinking that she'd go back the moment things were set right. Instead, she learns an entire new way of life - where the stress is absent and the weekends are free.
She later realises that she had been framed. She goes back and reclaims her dignity, but finally returns to her $500 per week housekeeper job, as opposed to the $500 per hour she was earning before.

Some basic things I have observed about money is -
-The more you seek money the faster it will run away from you.
-The more you try to squeeze money (I am not saying here to spend lavishly, its about the mindset), you will not get much money.
- Hard work may not always earn you more money, but smart work does.
- Greed is evil, it will wipe out money.
- If you say/think you have enough money, you will always have enough money.

I am not saying to be careless about money but to be non-attached to money.
That is, when you spend money you have to be sure in your mind and heart that you can spend it without any hitch. If you are anywhere in between that you are providing enough resistance to flow of money. It is easier said then done.
Here comes the twist of "greed" -
Generally, people who have more then enough money will tend to become greedy. Look at all the industrialists, they are
always looking to build new business - "more money".
Take example of people who have done frauds. They had more then enough money but they could never live that money. They lost it all because of "greed".
Are we greedy by nature? Probably "yes".
Understand this, we have vessel in which all our money goes but thing which we forgot is that the vessel has no base. So whatever you put in it goes down the rabbit hole and we all know that nobody knows how deep the rabbit hole goes?
And that is precisely the reason for greed.
Here comes the solution "Sayam" -
This is where concept of "sayam" comes into play. You need to have sayam in your life. There should be sayam in the way you live money as well. Sayam means control. Not having sayam will create greed (yeh dil mange more). Yes, that "mange more" is in reality not good :) because more here is never ending.
I can assure you that if you have sayam in your life, you will never be unhappy. Sayam's output will never let non-satisfaction reach you because it will keep you protected from "seeking".
Now add the positive emotion of "Gratitude" -
Another important thing is gratitude. Very recently, I was driving somewhere and I was filled with gratitude towards god for giving me everything I need for good life. Until this time, I may have not left many incidence for complaining but mostly missed being grateful. It feels good that it has changed. I believe it is extremely important that we give gratitude for things we get so easily in life.

"Be rich, Be a king outside.
Be satisfied, Be a Buddha Inside."

Truth Vindicated Series - Social Conditioning

Truth Vindicated -
(Most of the portion of this post comes from one of my dearest friend Sameer, so kudos to him for the same)

Social Conditioning

Ready steady Go! HimK in 2nd position, Knight rider in 1st position and Foxy P in last position.
HimK has taken the lead is in 1st position and Knight rider is now at 2nd position. This is the final furlong and its looks like a close race. Oh no! it’s getting too excitingggggg....dunno who is going to win? It’s a photo finish, and only one winner!

That’s how I was born.

It wasn’t three horses-- it was a race with almost 3 million sperms that I had to defeat in a race lasting 30 seconds. It was the scariest moments in my life. You cannot imagine the relief I went through as I entered the egg and as I looked back into the distance, I shed a tear for the millions of my brothers or sisters that did not make it and perished along the way.

31 years later, and I am awaiting birth of my 2nd kid. Yeah, again a winner will be born.

Many of us are still in the race. We actually never realized that we have already won. We still fight for our place in society, trains, buses, office. We all are still a sperm. I know most of the you will revolt when you read it. But ask a person who has just lost his job, I bet he will agree that he is fighting for his place. So let’s look at the sperms we have around us. CEO in his nice cabin looking to keep his position, Sperm!, Foot ball player running after the ball, Sperm!, Politician, Looking to keep his seat, Sperm!. (While many of us may not realize that we are still fighting for our space simply because things may come easy to us that do not mean we are not part of it). The social conditioning has gone beyond limits so that we are in constant race in our life.

But I have revolted to this social conditioning. I was born a winner and the race is over. I have won the biggest race of life, and that is to be born. So do not tell me that I still have to struggle for everything.

I think this fear of loss of egg (in our first ever race) is so intrinsic that it immediately manifests when we see something which is scarce and may people are trying to obtain it. It is one of the most difficult things to let go in life. It’s funny however, when I see wealthy people in India and abroad showing the sperm mentality. Nothing is ever enough. The first step I think would be to realise that it exists. Every time you are struggling for that promotion (SPERM!), every time you are fighting over a girl/guy (SPERM!), every time you rush into a train (SPERM!), every time you have to explain to your manager for coming late (SPERM!).

So in someway or the other you will see that 95% of you is because of social conditioning. For e.g. We are made to believe that only doctor’s can treat our illness, Only pain killers can cure headaches, Only English medium schools are good for our kids, Information in the news papers is the ultimate truth, so on and so forth. There is a huge difference between reality (truth) and perception (social conditioning).
The scarcity which exists today cannot be explained in material terms. As I said before nothing is enough when it comes to material world. In spiritual world, I am sure there is plenty for everyone. Just imagine that you have won biggest race in semi-formed state, in a fully formed state, unimaginable power holds.

We are born to enjoy every moment of life; that is the only truth. Now how this would be believed by a child who has just lost his parents in the bomb blast. Again, in material terms, I have no explanation. In spiritual world, the child has learned the biggest lesson of his life that he is here to love himself and that death is the only other reality then life. More often then not we miss the lessons we are meant to learn due to an event. This is purely due to social conditioning.
Yes, I am going too far to blame social conditioning because it is the culprit. Believe me in spite of knowing the culprit; it is difficult to get out of it. But as said before if I won the biggest race of life, I know I can do it and I will do it.

Lucky to be born in Bharat!

This has been circling in my mind since quite sometime.
I Love India.
Most youngster think that India is the worst place to do a post grad and work etc.
There is too much politics so everything is difficult and most of them go abroad for further studies and then work outside India only. That may help India reduce the population :)
I had been in US for 2+ years and I agree that life is easy and comfortable in the US.
Now lets look at it from a different perspective.
We are born and bought up in India. What do we have here which cannot exist anywhere else?
Describe your childhood to anybody outside india, I am sure he would agree that you are lucky to have such a childhood.
The games we played, the festivals we celebtrated, the enthusiasm we carried is simply non-existent in other parts of the world.

Everything is difficult in India, right from riding a motor cycle to getting your passport.
Does this mean - it is bad? The answer is "NO".
This actually means that if you can ride in India, you can ride anywhere in the world but vice-versa is not true.
Ask a US citizen to drive in India, he will give up. Ask Indian citizen drive in US, he will fly :)
So Ironical that I could not teach my wife to drive in US (even when it was so easy). But I could teach her in India. This is because of the small lanes where there are no cars, you can use the same to learn driving ;)
Do you find the same in US? If you find one, you will find a police man patrolling it and you will be screwed.
Talk about the variety food that you get in India, I can bet there is no better place then India for good food.

US home loan market crashed to no limits. We also have huge home loans, but did the same happen to the same sector in India? It did not happen because we are conservative and that saved us. We still fear taking loan and we want to pay it back as soon as possible and that is the "honesty" we carry in ourselves.

I can go on to tell things which makes us what we are today? The best and miles ahead of other countries in some way or the other. So lets be proved of it.

India is blessed by the nature, it has mountains on one side and sea on another. Nature protects us and we are lucky to be born in "Bharat"