Musings...

an interesting blog on the present moment, the now, http://kentonwhitman.com/blog/2008/10/28/try-not-to-be-in-the-now/ the conclusion seems to be be --- practice mindful meditation... just observe with curiosity anything that happens which means what you think, what you feel, how you breath and so on.. fascinating ....

You may wonder what is the point in comparing Nalanda with USA; you may in any case like to read on http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/about/NalandaHeritage.html about Naland Univ.. well it is like this .. Nalanda was known all over the world as a great university- people across the world used to visit Nalanda, join the univ and learn. Guess where does this happen now? in US India used to be and to a large extent accept all paths (not "religion") as the way for liberation; it was the home of many religions and Parsi came to India when they were persecuted.. Guess where else does this happen? you guessed it US - California is the bed of Zen Buddhism, Oprah presents different spiritual masters - there are others that propogate Vedanta India used to be a rich country and people all over the world used to come to India for trade and coveting gold - where does this happen now - even in the midst of all the negative publicity about the subprime - well i do admit people are rushing to I...

As mentioned, yesterday was an incredible day - reached office - office well decorated - there were flowers and the traditional diyas plus of course the incredible rangolis - we really had great artists in our office - we wished each other Happy Diwali and ate lots of sweets and salty stuff and chakli etc.. even the restaurant owner invited us while greeting us; one thing which moved me today was that two young ladies (not a relative) prostrated before me and asked for my blessings - i was a bit embarrassed since i wasn't used to it - but almost immediately felt really moved with their gesture. We continued with our work and then at night (8 pm) i went to marine drive (Mumbai) for my running practise - close to mumbai marathon and i had lost practice for about 3 plus months..and had to catch up!! I felt wonderful running (it was quite dark) on the marine drive footpath - Arabian Sea was dark - the horizon however well lit - it was cool and breezy - it was particularly nice since ...

Yesterday was Deepavali for tamilians and it was an incredible wonderful day - i think i will break up the blog into two or more.. My sister rang up not so early morning 7 am to wish me Happy Deepavali and reminded me of the days when we used to celebrate but i am... anyhow here goes.. we used to live in a small place - about 500 sqft carpet in vileparle (Mumbai) - small because we used to live in a large place in my father's quarters and moreover, we used to be a large family living together including our cousins- so it used to be wonderful and the tradition continued till my father and then my mother passed away. We used to wake up early morning at about 4 pm - and that day all of us used to get up feeling very excited - by then all the new clothes would be kept ready, oil heated and my mother will ask all of us to sit down on a "pai" (made of sticks from plants i think- very useful in hot climate to sit on the floor) and then she will sing arathi; then apply small port...

Absolutely incredible - for freedom, liberation just four steps or activities or framework - just like Buddha's four fold path - this is from Guru Vachaka Kovai The Garland of the Guru's sayings by Muruganar. These are collections from Ramana Maharshi's verbal teachings "That which is worth taking up is the self-enquiry that reveals jnana; that which is worth enjoying is the grandeur of the Self; that which is worth renouncing is the ego-mind; that in which it is worth taking refuge, to eliminate sorrow completely, is one’s own source, the Heart." All that had to be said is said in just these four sentences viz. purpose in life - revealing jnana through self inquiry enjoyment - revel in self renounce - the mind refuge - hear wow!!

Interesting dimension to free will vs destiny... this is what Thomas Friedman had to say... "My friend Rob Watson, the head of EcoTech International, has a saying about Mother Nature that goes like this: “Mother Nature is just chemistry, biology and physics. That’s all she is.” And because of that, says Rob, you cannot spin Mother Nature. You cannot bribe Mother Nature. You cannot sweet talk her, and you cannot ignore her. She’s going to do with the climate whatever chemistry, biology and physics dictate. And Mother Nature always bats last, and she always bats a thousand" and in a way, since human beings are also part of nature which we generally forget, nature includes Human. However human being have some elements of free will and the tremendous variation in nature response makes consequence a lot unpredictable. Now let me take this with my favourite example of travelling in mumbai city... When someone who comes late is asked why he/she came late the answer invariably is tha...

I had listened to Oprah talk about religion and spirituality specially with regard to Eckhart Tolle's book and how people prefer to be spiritual than religion; and I also went back to the days when it was and probably is fashionable to be secular rather than religious. Today I was going through a buddhist lecture and it struck me hard.. I remember about 2 years or more when i wanted to convey to egroup moderator as to why Hinduism was not a religion and is simply a path and probably the British or Westerners grouped the multiple paths or "marga" in India into one single "religion" for convenience or divide and rule. And the reason for this is that being religious as opposed to being secular or spiritual implies that one is fanatic or backward or whaterver; when all that happens with people is that some of them follow the path prescribed by some authority be it church or a priest or a rabbi or whatever while others prefer the path of "thinking" and fol...

I was quite excited this sunday.. off on a trek after a long time; the place was Gorakhgad .. Sahyadri (western ghats Maharashtra) . Woke up at 4.15 and left for Bandra the starting point for all of us. Mumbai never sleeps and Andheri station was fairly crowded at 5.30; reached the starting point by 6. Kapil from the organisors odati met us at Bandra and seven of us left for Gorakhgad; Yogita the trek leader joined us at Kalyan. The early morning drive was wonderful, cool and the post monsoon scenery lush with natures greenery. We had breakfast and left for Dehri which is the base for the trek to Gorakhgad. Apart from the trek leader, there was a couple from Helsinki, (and we had a great conversation with them about Finland, Lapland, and northern lights) and two people from ad agency, a lawyer and one tax consultant. Nice bunch of people. Yogita was very enthusiastic throughout the journery and continued animatedly talking about her treking experience. The trek in the beginning past...