I have kept an opinion that if you love someone, you can’t hurt him/her at the same time. Love is not a ‘temporary’ state of mind which can change with situations. If you love someone, you would be kind and harmless to the person, ‘always’. Even though at times you need to be strict or tough with the person, deep within you would still be feeling love for him/her. If this doesn’t happen, there is some problem. There is no judge other than your heart – you just need to keep calm and ask your heart if you love the person, despite his/her flaws, despite the problems and disputes, despite good or bad times, and the answer has to be “yes”. If the answer is “no” on some days, and a “yes” on some others, there is a problem.  

On the other hand, a lot many of us do what can be called “conditional love” to take it in most optimistic sense. If you love a person if he/she does something or doesn’t do something, there is a problem. If you love a person only if one says something to you or if doesn’t say it, or to others, there is some problem. Such states of relationships are “conditional”. Until one fits into that criterion, or those criteria which you set in your mind, you would love one, the moment one behaves contrary to that, you would hate one – this is anything but love. The term “love” takes with it characteristics like care, empathy, non-violence, surrender, loyalty, without saying.  

Some days back I read a book where the author not only confirms my thoughts but also takes it further. What I call conditional love, he correctly calls it ‘ego-attachment’. Here is an extract:  

“Unless and until you access the consciousness frequency of presence, all relationships, and particularly intimate relationships, are deeply flawed and ultimately dysfunctional. They may seem perfect for a while, such as when you are “in love”, but invariably that apparent perfection gets disrupted as arguments, conflicts, dissatisfaction, and emotional or even physical violence occur with increasing frequency. It seems that most “love relationships” become love/hate relationships before long.  

If in your relationship you experience both “love” and the opposite of “love” – attack, emotional violence, and so on – then it is likely that you are confusing ego attachment and addictive clinging with love. You cannot love your partner one moment and attack him or her the next. True love has no opposite. If your “love” has an opposite, then it is not love but a strange ego-need for a more complete and deeper sense of self, a need that the other person temporarily meets. It is the ego’s substitute for salvation, and for a short time it almost does feel like salvation.  

But there comes a time when your partner behaves in ways that fail to meet your needs, or rather those of your ego. The feelings of fear, pain and lack that are an intrinsic part of egoic consciousness but had been covered up by the “love relationship” now resurface.” (P91-92) 

Ref: Chap. 7, ‘Practicing the Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle, Yogi Impressions 

- Rahul

Today, I tweeted at my Twitter site: 

Anyone who claims to be an “atheist”; is in fact a “believer”. - Rahul 

Someone asked me “how?” Here was my explanation: 

If we think, atheism is also a “belief”. The person, who takes care not to believe in the conventional religions or wisdom which are at the end a “pattern”, can also be believing in a “pattern”. His anti-belief is also a belief; his anti-pattern is also a pattern. For example, just like devotees salute in front of the deity as a practice, he makes sure that he doesn’t salute – as a practice too! He thinks he is doing something new, but it is the same old in a different mould.  

My own thoughts on this is that we should be free from the dogma, even if we call ourselves religious. Also, I believe we should be free from both pro- and anti- things… We don’t have to be opposite of anything, but we should be free from all patterns, even from atheism… As you would observe, anything ending in an “ism” is a pattern, including atheism… Anything which can be described in an “ism”, like atheism, is a pattern, and hence has a belief system… This is why I say, those who call themselves atheists, are in fact believers…  

- Rahul

Just read the following lines from a colleague in my company. Her name is Manisha P. and she writes amazing and profound lines like these:  

“वो तो इश्क़ की नुमाइश करते हैं उन्हे इल्म नहीं. परवाने जल जाते शमा पर बिना उफ्फ किए हुए.” 

Now this is so deep a comment on the attitude of our present generation. (I would take the liberty to extend this Sher to more real life situations.) We can find the attitude of “नुमाइश” (“exhibition”) everywhere. We buy a costly cell phone and announce it in Face Book. We go on a trip to a foreign location and we rush all pictures and snaps to online albums. We hardly care for privacy. We hardly care for moderation. Some of my friends think they have got beautiful wives, so they keep posting their wives pictures on social networking sites. There is a race to “exhibit” as much as we can. Be it our house, our car, and what not. While doing all this, we forget that those who really “have”; don’t need to “show” it. If we divide people in classes, the upper class doesn’t need to “prove” its class by such “exhibition”. And the middle class can’t do it “enough”.  

The same attitude of “नुमाइश” (“exhibition”) is also visible in situations where we get either success or failure. We “broadcast” almost all our troubles and happiness on the net, among all our friends and those in our “friend list”. We make it appear as if we are going through something that happens in a century – either an illness, a bad day, or loss of a cell phone. Or even happy moments like a baby born in family, a delicious cake prepared at home, new LCD TV, and what not. Such exhibition of our troubles or happy moments in fact add to both respectively – we gain by deviating our minds from our troubles but forgetting troubles is no solution to our troubles. And if I am sharing happy moments spent with my family in front of all in my “friend list”, I may invite congratulations and envy, but in a way I would lose the time that I could have further invested in my family. And I hope we never reach the stage in our society, where we do good things only so that we can broadcast or “exhibit” such things in front of our “friend list”.  

So we should think about the proverbial flies that die for their love – the proverbial candles - without making a hint of a noise. They don’t want to show their love in front of the world, they don’t want to exhibit the pain in their heart, nor do they want the world to even notice their sacrifice, but they only want to do the thing they believe in. I think sacrifice is the highest form of love. Sacrifice of ego, sacrifice of comfort, sacrifice of choice, there won’t be a love story in this world without a sacrifice made from both the lovers. But all this is in so contrast from the way our society is moving towards… They say it is because of foreign influence. Indian/Hindu society always was inward-looking and looked highly at spiritual advances than material gains. The West always looked at material power as the salvation. I think this hypothesis is true to a large extent. But I hope if we do a little introspection at each stage of our life, we won’t be swayed from the right path.  

Let us wish we have poets like Manisha to wake us up. But just like clear conscience is the best pillow, self-reflection is the best mirror. Let us be watchful.  

- Rahul

I was watching a movie. The story revolved around a father searching for his abducted daughters. A gang of organized criminals used to traffic women and his daughters had fallen into their trap. The man was an ex-detective. The only thing he had to start his search with, was the voice sample of the abductors. He sent the sample to an expert, who, noticing the accent and choice of words, identified the criminals to belong to a particular nationality and origin. Now matching their ‘way of doing crime’, he guessed that they belonged to a particular gang (gangs were formed also on the basis of the area from which the members had migrated from). This gang was found to be more active at airports, so the man concluded that he would find the culprits there. And he was right! He laid a trap for the abductors to come out again and nabbed them.  

What interests me is the fact that the detective’s predictions were based on some common traits existing in the communities and groups. If a particular suspect had a particular type of beard, he would be from a particular community. If he pronounced a certain word in a certain manner, his origins would be guessed with confidence. His choice of words and even body language would tell where he came from. And then detectives would go on their trail. But, all these seem to me in contrary to what we have been taught to practice, by our civilized society. Just because a person behaved in a certain inappropriate manner, it should not mean that he came from uneducated or uncultured parents. Just because a person’s language is derogatory, we should not judge about one’s upbringing. We are asked not to judge people – “judge not lest ye be judged” as they often quote. So are we really judging people by their actions, in instances like interrogation and detective services? And are we doing right?  

The question may be answered in different ways. In my view, the question arrived in my mind because I got confused between ‘personal judgments’ and ‘speculations’ or ‘suppositions’.  To understand it we should go deeper into the way investigations are done. Many a time we really don’t have any other choice than to start with whatever smallest clues and evidences available. We make a story around it – we form hypotheses – and then we test the hypotheses. The hypothesis is a tentative theory provisionally made to explain certain facts. As we go along the investigation, we test our hypotheses. If the actual facts encountered during the course of investigation indicate our hypotheses to be wrong, we look along a different line. This way of forming and testing hypotheses is actually not the same as judging others.   

Therefore, in my opinion it is nothing wrong in the way the detective in the movie went about in his trail– guessing about the criminals based on their appearances and way of doing things. If the facts would contradict his hypotheses, he would have to take a different line. Judging is like concluding and making verdicts. If we make verdicts and judgments based on incomplete facts, we have high probability to commit mistakes. Therefore, let us not judge others; but at the same time nothing is wrong in forming a hypothesis when we are going to test it.   

What do you say?  

- Rahul

One evening, I was reading Madhushala by Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Many lines from the poem seemed very different to me than their plain literal meanings. For example, I pick three stanzas: 

मदिरालय जाने को घर से चलता है पीनेवला,

‘किस पथ से जाऊँ?’ असमंजस में है वह भोलाभाला,

अलग-अलग पथ बतलाते सब पर मैं यह बतलाता हूँ -

‘राह पकड़ तू एक चला चल, पा जाएगा मधुशाला।‘। ६। 

A person on the path to spirituality may get confused after seeing so many religions and so many sects - all of them claiming to be the “true path” shown by “the true lord”. What will the learner do, especially in case the multiple paths have some very different traits? Here, the poet tells - “Catch any one of the paths and just keep going. You will reach your destination.” Since the destination is “one” while the paths can be many, it doesn’t really matter which path we are on. All paths would lead to the same truth, if one walks properly.  

बिना पिये जो मधुशाला को बुरा कहे, वह मतवाला,

पी लेने पर तो उसके मुह पर पड़ जाएगा ताला,

दास द्रोहियों दोनों में है जीत सुरा की, प्याले की,

विश्वविजयिनी बनकर जग में आई मेरी मधुशाला।।२४। 

There would be many fence-sitters who would be sceptic towards religions and spirituality. They would not believe in things without even trying them out. The poet calls all such people as naive and remarks that they would be spell bound if they first drink a bit from the spiritual reservoir of dharma. Goals of dharma remain the same for all, whether they are rich or poor and all of us worship the same God. Therefore, our dharma is a kind of equaliser and it unifies and levels all worldly differences. 

एक बरस में, एक बार ही जगती होली की ज्वाला,

एक बार ही लगती बाज़ी, जलती दीपों की माला,

दुनियावालों, किन्तु, किसी दिन आ मदिरालय में देखो,

दिन को होली, रात दिवाली, रोज़ मनाती मधुशाला।।२६। 

In these lines, the poet tries to show us the constraints in and smallness of rituals. The festivals that we celebrate come only once every year. Holi comes only once; Diwali comes only once a year. But for a devotee, there is no special day or night to submit him/herself to God. The path to spirituality has no special days, times or place - unlike ritualistic religion. Therefore, we should not remain bound by ritual-based religions and we should celebrate our bhakti anytime, anywhere. 

I don’t know if I made much sense; but on afterthoughts, I liked the manner in which a very different meaning came out of this famous poem. 

- Rahul

(Philosophy)

~Every word is a sermon~

|And Every sword a revolution|

~Every aggressor is a god~

|And Every sufferer, a Mother|

The War was declared. The King had got a dream where God spoke to him. He gave him a message and asked to spread it towards the East. The day every person breathing on this earth will remember Him from heart and tongue; that day will be the end to all the Miseries

The Kingdom had attacked them. War was fought out in the open ' with no harm to the children and the women. It was a good-fight. Just before the sunset ' there were only two men remaining. And the two swords ' which had journeyed through maximum hearts ' though no blood ever stopped and sticked to the surface. By this time, some common people from both the neighbouring states were gathering at the site

The two men fought and one of them won. Though no one can say for sure who wins and who loses, in any war. He went away ' making sure that his Lord was worshiped, not their God Though we can control the tongue, hardly do we win over the hearts. All the while, the earth kept rotating and sun didn't hide behind the clouds. Birds left for fields in the morning and returned back before the night. The good fight between the two was not only between them. It never is between any two When they fought, the entire universe fought within itself

The Gods watched them fight in Their names, but did nothing. Or did a lot which no one could see and a few could feel. Men have to learn on their own Cheer-leaders kept watching and hailed their favourites; in their own impotence, at least the sight of the fight gave them a high Ropes pass over stones and leave a mark ' though the stone is never entirely consumed, the rope does reach its limit and break Vultures arrived once the war was over, making sure that they finish what was finished. They had waited for the moment the war was over, but wished both the fighters die Historians came, and wrote stories singing praises for the man who won, and for the Lord who survived In their words which will survive for centuries to come, will also survive the good fight that the history had fought Gossipers became talkative again, and appeared as phoenix in the pink of their health. They made stories about what happened and how, wrote indicative pieces without taking names. No one can confuse others unless he himself is The Sage watched everything in front of his eyes. For him, the dead and the victorious, both were as dear and as no-ones. The mother Earth cried. Because the loss was entirely her own

By (Think Tank)

(Kumar Rahul Tiwary)

Philosophy

Wish it were contagious

When the class gets boring, the class looks out for some unclassified diversions. It was one such day. A guy opened the door and asked the ma'am, "I had left my bag in the classroom by mistake, can I take it please?" Ma'am consented but the class said, "no, no.." :) The guy looked puzzled but came in and took his bag. But before leaving, he said, "I was asking ma'am and not you" :) Now some voices were heard, "get lost, get lost". I wondered what was happening! The guy looked insulted and went out after giving a threatening glance to the class :) We all laughed  

This is where a little sense of humour could make a difference. If the guy had just smiled at the "no, no", he would have been much more at peace. But then we won't have had so much fun :)

A "sense of humour" is also an overused term which we all flaunt to possess. And thanks to the media, we all are made aware that a good sense of humour counts above a six-pack abs. Here, my focus is on a different aspect: that our sense of humour can do miracles in difficult situations.

A good sense of humour gives us the technique to handle very difficult situations very effectively and allows us to bear the load with ease, be it work-related or personal. No doubt that almost all my role models and people I look up to have a great sense of humour which makes me remember the encounters and incidents for ever. When I remember them, I smile :)

Trees which bear the maximum fruits, not only have enough strength and depth, but also the flexibility. In humans, nothing comes parallel to our sense of humour.

As someone sent me a message through an sms: "A smile doesn't mean the person has no problem, it means the person has the capability to handle all problems". So true and so simple!

And what if a tough life makes one loose his/her sense of humour? Of course the greatest losses in our life are what die ‘inside’ us while we are alive  

I wish a sense of humour were contagious. While many of our other qualities are so, I suspect this is not. We can make a person break into laughter by our humour, but can't make them 'see' it our way. But world would have been a much better place if sense of humour can be spread like the way some other things are spread or propagated. A lovely song can make you forget everything for the moment, but the next moment you will be left alone with your 'way of looking at things'. This can't be taught in a classroom also. But if we were meant to learn everything in a classroom, then the greatest colosseums in the history should have been used not for games or fights but for mass teaching sessions! At the closest, reading and a library is of help, since we get to learn about the outside world through them. And, history is filled with people whose sense of humour gave them the strength to sail through very difficult days and years while they maintained their sanity and sensibility. A sense of humour makes us see bubbles, babbles, and balloons even in the battlefields. 

I love watching interviews and remember some moments for ever. It was one couple being interviewed at that time, which had remained together for decades in a profession where it is rare ' glamour. The interviewer asked the gentleman his secret and he said, "I have fallen in love a hundreds of times . :) but .. every time with the same lady!" :) Perhaps I will never forget this incident and this tells how effective our communication becomes if it has the element of our good sense of humour in them. Messages conveyed with right amount of humour gets their impact multiplied many folds.

As the last thought, I wonder if animals have a great sense of humour too :) We have made them do all the works and mechanised them in ways that was never meant to be. For the horses which are made to see only one direction and run for miles mechanically; what makes them maintain their sanity at our insanity? A sense of humour? :) And hence this picture:

Philosophy

Lucky or Not-so-Lucky?

There are some things that never change with time, place or culture. A willingness to be lucky is one of these. My dictionary defines luck as "An unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that leads to a favourable outcome". We all realise at some time that our entire life is never in our control ' leave the control over the things happenings around us. We can call it fate, destiny, or whatever we love to call it. All of us sometimes wonder how and why things happened the way they happened; or the way we never imagined.

On the other hand, there is another phenomenon called d�j� vu: here, you get to see exactly what you feel you unconsciously 'saw' it. Many a times, this is our innermost fear and unconscious desires coming true.

What our eyes can see and brain can process is only a part of the greater truth. In that sense, the whole human civilisation has been trying to do only one thing ' to interpret the uninterpretable ' and the basic premise is that we can do it!

There are some of us who just wonder at the turn of things, some of us call it divine and stop, some others consider these as part of the greater conspiracy ' good or evil depends on whether we think positive or negative. So, in the end all the progress depends on those who are childish and 'unwise'. They won't take things for granted and try to form logic out of weird things.

Let us come back to luck. What makes us lucky or what we call unlucky is another mystery. Good things happen to bad people and bad to good. There are no favourable turn of things even for those who have led a life of integrity and kindness. In the zeal of explaining such things some religions, and even many scientists have said that our present life is not just the whole cake. It is just a small piece of the bigger cake, or just one step of a much larger design. Hence, often what happens now is some times related to what had happened in some other time and space. Dr. Brian Weiss in his series of experiments and psychological studies have concluded this that there is life after death, rebirths occur and there is something immortal within us which keeps on learning and travelling. But, in this growing materialistic world, we never take such logics to heart and want everyone on our TV sets. I think it was said that if it was not on the BBC, it was not news. And similarly, if it can't be explained the way our teachers explained things in our schools, it can't be true. It helps because there are many ways to reach the same truth, and hence such demands would also be answered ' sooner or later.

Good luck is what attracts us like nothing else. All of us want to be lucky. And further, we want to be associated with lucky people, lucky companies, lucky stocks, or even lucky bloggers. On the other hand, we avoid the unfortunate people and things. But at the end of the things, we forget one fact ' nature and life don't discriminate among us the way our society, religion, and governments try to. For nature, no one is a dearer and some other the black sheep.

Those who are lucky at a point of time, may feel that they are really 'different', forgetting that luck can never be taken for granted. Many a times, they take their capabilities and endeavours as 'perfect' or the 'best'. This makes them put fewer efforts subsequently. This can explain why some sportsmen perform brilliantly at the start and then remain mediocre for their entire life. Or the one-film wonders.

On the other hand, the ones who are unlucky take lessons out of their experiences. They come to know the value of time, efforts, perseverance, and try to understand what they could have done to change the way it went. Even in the worst unlucky happenings, there are always some takeaways. Of course this is possible only if one remains positive. But if one does, s/he comes out improved, better prepared and more experienced.

Hence in the long run it helps if you were unlucky some times and many times. Being lucky is something that works only if you are unaware of it. So those of us who take lessons out of our unlucky experiences and don't allow the 'lucky we' feeling sink into our head ' will be the winners.

Picture: Lucky that the grass is green, they are not roped, and both are together. (The calf is so cute na? :)

Author: Kumar Rahul Tiwary

Why God is not logical?

One of my friends had had an accident in the gym six years ago. He still suffers some back pain. He has joined the gym again. The other day while we were talking, he complained that because of that pain he was not able to work out as hard as others. And then he said: "Why God doesn't make me well now, it has been 6 years since!" I said, "But that accident was because of your own mistake!" He replied, "Yes, but I have taken care of the back since. Still it doesn't go." In sort what he was asking was: "Why doesn't God listen to my prayers, I have been so good." Or "Why God punished me; I have not caused harm to anyone!" What I replied can be summed up in this sentence:

God is not logical!

In fact, we are so clever that we have our own expectations towards God. He should be like what. He should do this. And he should not do that. Think! We are deciding it for the God Himself! Did we ever realise what does this mean?

God is not logical. In fact, our life is also not at all logical. Good things happen to bad people and bad things to good people. Families are wiped put in accidents on the roads, because of rash driving of some other drunken fellow. Young kids are raped and murdered in the day light. Cyclones happen when we least expect. Markets crash destroying the entire life time's earning of many. Debt ridden farmers commit suicides, leaving their families in misery. On the other hand, criminals not only become GOI ministers, but are appreciated by one and all for reforms and turning around their departments! Most influential people in almost every society have invariably a link with crime. Bad cops get their children study in the best schools, while honest cops get fired after being made a scapegoat. The list can go down, the depth is endless.

Let us think what will happen if God becomes logical. Companies would come up with a balance sheet with the list of their good and bad deals and try to show good balance in the end. George Bush will count how many lives he takes everyday, while matching up with the lives he saved, so that he could remain good. After all, what would matter would be that we do good things more than bad things. So a dishonest shopkeeper would count the number of honest deals and would justify the unethical practices done in-between. Terrorists would never go to hell because they are fighting for their independence. Rapists would marry the victim and become good again. Criminals would murder one and then do two goods, to remain good enough for the mercy of God. Priests would never go to hell. All the life's events would become transactions.

I don't believe one bad can be made good by doing two goods. A bad is a bad and a good, good. Life doesn't follow the logic that engineers use to solve problems, or the MBAs invent to fool themselves.

I believe the things that don't follow logic, are things that we should be most cautious about.

The ultimate truth can be as simple as this quoted from one emailed forward:

The good you do today, people will forget tomorrow; do good anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of having ulterior motives; be kind anyway. What you spend years building, someone may destroy overnight; build anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway. If you find happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it was between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

The best things in life are never done with a motive. Do parents bring up their children so that they can protect them afterwards? (Of course there are exceptions but think about the conditions of those who expected something back) Do we help unknown people on the roads to get something back in return? Do we smile at others to get a smile in return? Do we plant saplings to eat their fruits ourselves? Do we advice to anonymous people to get something back? Do you write comments on others' blogs to receive the gesture back? J

Man is part of the nature. And almost the entire nature is selfless. Do cows give us milk to get something in return? Do trees give us oxygen to get CO₂ in return? Do rivers clean themselves to look good? Do clouds give us water to get something back? Does nature ever charges us a 'service tax'? And think if the nature ever gets upset when it doesn't receive the gesture back. We cut trees, they don't cry. We milk cows, they allow us to. We dump garbage in rivers, they clean themselves. Are not we part of the nature? Then why do we become so different?

In God's design, no one was meant to be selfish. So he never thought that one day man would try to judge 'Him' based on 'his' logic!

God was not logical. Life will never be logical. And the most logical things in life will never be divine.

If we can remain good while the whole world conspires against us, then only we are good.

Creative Destruction and Destructive Creativity

Kumar Rahul Tiwary

These days, I have observed that some young people are very proud of their creativity, which is destructive; in fact one of my friends claimed it as one of his strengths!

I remember this scene from in one B&W Hindi movie: 

Johnny Walker and his son used to sell windowpanes. One bad day on streets, their sales were nil, and then they discovered an ingenious way to turn their fortunes. First, his son throws a stone and breaks the window of a decent apartment and runs away. Then the Johnny appears and is immediately hired to repair the broken window. By this way, they use their destructive creativity to open new avenues for their income.

I tried to understand creative destruction and destructive creativity, and was amazed to find out that in fact, these two terms are opposite to each other. Let us see some examples to understand this.

The example of Johnny Walker may immaturely conclude that it is the people like them who do this. But the phenomenon is too widespread. Destruction of colonies created markets for the European nations. If the farmers of Champaran didn't plant indigo in their lands and thereby their soil losing fertility, the cotton mills of Britain wouldn't have made that much profits. Of course, this is imperialism more than destructive creativity, but think about the first man in whose mind this idea came, that pure business (which East India Company started with), was not enough and colonization is the best thing to do. Recent example is the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq; there are credible reports of how much American companies earned out of contracts to rebuild the destroyed cities. This phenomenon of destructive creativity even spreads to modern companies and businesses. They have found that selling their new products is difficult, but success lies in moulding an entire generation into their target consumers ' first they want you to grow obese, and then they will do weight loss therapy to cure that! And the creative destruction while firms compete is also well known. The monopolies destroy any new entrants into the market, which is one reason governments have been hostile to the big M&As (remember derailed GE-Honeywell merger?). In market though, there is some destruction that is inevitable; e.g. music CDs and VCDs destroyed cassettes and VCPs/VCRs. These are naturally happening creative destructions.

I can put the availability of foetus sex determination machines under this category. And the invention of Atom Bomb? These were all creative, but they destroyed many a things also in the way… A live example is the Setu Samudram Project, where government of India is willing to spend Rs 2600 Crore of taxpayers money (80% Hindus) to destroy a mythical bridge between India and Srilanka, in order to make some ships pass though and save some travel time. What overwhelms the protagonists is nothing other than the joy of Destructive Creativity!

In the way, I have mixed up the two terms ' Destructive Creativity and Creative Destruction. Creative Destruction is defined as the process of 'transformation' that accompanies 'radical innovation'. This may be positive. For example, when competing companies and competing technologies destroy others, it is called creative destruction. Like digital MP3 players are destroying MP3 CD players. But, Destructive Creativity is the process involving generation of ideas and behaviours focused on 'harmful goals'. Examples, we can easily think of. But companies some times utilize this method to find the loopholes within their own systems, before some one finds it and use it to his/her advantage. E.g. in software companies, one of the desired skills of a s/w testing engineer is destructive creativity.  

The harms due to these tendencies are many. Things like ethical hacking may seem cool, but in general, destructive forces will never achieve for mankind, a miniscule of what pure creativity does. Getting broken glass replaced may not be a big deal, but the broken hearts and souls may never get their due. In the name of ethical destruction, or spreading civilizations, destructive creativity has already done substantial damage. Let us not idolise the destructive creativities. It takes years for a tree to grow, but our creative lots may take a few minutes to turn the clock back. There will be two alternative solutions, for example, for India-Pakistan conflict: diplomacy or a war. First is constructive and second is destructive. And hence, the biggest question in front of mankind is: how to ensure that creativity remains constructive and not destructive?

Some informative references: [Link1] [Link2] [Link3] [Link4] 

Book Review: 'Many Lives, Many Masters'

Secrets of life revealed

Last week I finished reading a book named "Many Lives, Many Masters". The story goes like this:  

"Psychiatrist Dr Brian Weiss had been working with Catherine, a young patient, for eighteen months. Catherine was suffering from recurring nightmares and chronic anxiety attacks. When his traditional methods of therapy failed, Dr Weiss turned to hypnosis and was astonished and skeptical when Catherine began recalling past-life traumas which seemed to hold the key to her problems. Dr Weiss’s skepticism was eroded when Catherine began to channel messages from ‘the space between lives’, which contained remarkable revelations about his own life. Acting as a channel for information from highly evolved spirit entities called the Masters, Catherine revealed many secrets of life and death. This fascinating case dramatically altered the lives of Catherine and Dr Weiss, and provides important information on the mysteries of the mind, the continuation of life after death and the influence of our past-life experiences on our present behavior." 

Dr. Weiss says whatever is written in this book is not fiction. After going through the past life experiences of Catherine and her explanations of the secrets of life in hypnotized state, we learn the following: 

1. We are souls and change our bodies. Our souls don't die and nothing harmful happens to it.


2. Each one of us has to learn some lessons. Depending on many things, the speed with which we learn may vary from soul to soul.


3. We need to come to earth, because we experience "pain" which is very necessary for us to learn all lessons fully.


4. In each birth, we learn some lessons, and then come again to learn the remaining.


5. When we learn all the lessons, we don't need to be born again.


6. After death, our souls float out of our bodies, and can see the things happening around.


7. Then our soul gets attracted to a warm and luminous divine light, and advances towards it.


8. We get to know before the beginning of a particular birth, what out lives are going to be like, and what we have to achieve. But when we reach the earth, we forget all.


9. All our past life experiences are with us, but we don't have the capability to recall all this.


10. No one has the right to kill any other human being, as this interrupts the natural process and the departed soul has to face some difficulties getting back on path of learning.


11. Based on the stage of learning that the souls are, some souls reach the stage of "masters", where they guide other souls towards their learning path.


12. The ultimate goal of human life is to "become God like" or "to merge with God himself", as then no difference remains between our soul and the God. 

As you have gone through these learning, you must have noticed that this is very similar to what is written in Gita or what is generally perceived by the Hindus.  

What looks amazing is that neither the doctor nor the patient was exposed to Hinduism from before. Then how could there was such a similarity in thinking and concept? And we all know that during hypnotism, patients do tell some things which they never imagine while in their senses.

So, are these dozen points really true? Then what for there is war, anxiety and corporate rat races in this world? Why people still kill each other and hurt others' feelings? If our goal in this life is to learn some lessons, why do we continue reading theoretical subjects and keep blessing Bill Gates for MS Office? How much time in our lives do we actually spend thinking about our ultimate goals?

Dr. Weiss claims to have the video and audio tape records of Catherine’s conversations. So there is no doubt on his integrity in details. Then all of us have to awake ' as Swami Vivekananda said - Arise, Awake! And stop not until the goal is reached.

About the book:

Title:                                           Many Lives, Many Masters
Author:                                                       Dr. Brian Weiss
Publisher:                                                 Piatkus Books Ltd
Price:                                                                      �9.99
Pages:                                                                       244
Published:                                                                 1994
ISBN:                                                          0 7499 1378 9
Popularity:                                          > 15 Lakh copies sold

[Kumar Rahul, Saturday, March 24, 2007, 6.41 PM]

Behind every successful Brand

Inspired by an article written by Mrs. Sudha Murthy; the original piece attached with at the end.  

Do you know what some people do when they see the companies spending millions in the 'brand building' advertisements? They just laugh. They laugh because there are companies, though few, which are able to create such an incredible image for themselves that they don’t need any advertisement. Their name is their advertisement.

The mon(K)ey minded

Both at the beginning and at the end, nothing we do is just for money. If profit-making is the sole interest of some company, I doubt it is in the wrong business. Then everyone should run F-1 races and every company should own a soccer club. There is something beyond money. Business is indeed business, but there is no compelling reason to bury your soul under the carpet (or corporate!). The worst thing about the race is that it is not a 'nice' race, but a 'mice' Race, and if you start comparing yourselves with the other rats who are 'also running', you end up becoming one of them. The message is that making an altogether different image for your company really counts. And to be 100% sure, that image should be of a helping ally, not of a raging bully; of a garden, not of a mountain; of a sea, not of a busy bee; of a home, not of a sulking dome; simply put, of someone who contributes to the society, not contradicts from the society.  

Can't say 'tata' to TATA and the infinity approaches Infosys

Some companies like Tata Group companies and Infosys Technologies have created a niche for themselves in this regard. The impressions of Tatas have entered our bloods, as we have been 'born and brought-up' looking up to them. Some other Indian companies also put emphasis on ‘ethics’ and ‘human touch’ and this brand image pays them in multiple ways. But the hard world of business respects only the profit generating firms and one shall make a mockery of self, if one talks about 'creating value' and 'affecting lives' while the company bleeds financially. I believe the marriage of ‘a humanitarian face’ and ‘generation of economic value’ is a block buster combination in any market on the globe.

Proud to be "We the people"

The attached article will leave your heart swelling. See, how proud we all Indians become whenever another Indian does good. I wish more Indian companies can actually do as much to attain the ranks of Tata and Infosys.

I(a)mpossible?

The article is also a moral booster for the ladies. No one can stop them, if they choose not to stop. We fall, we get up; we again fall, we try to get up. Though the world is not as fair as ‘fair and lovely’, in the marathon of life, endurance, perseverance and attitude are the things that count. Whatsoever is the extent of globalization, successful and down-to-earth 'Indian' ladies like Mrs. Sudha Murthy will continue to touch the Indian heart and inspire the Indian minds. There are some messages which are beyond the bands of noises and beyond the valleys of silences to be calmed down. I suggest you should take a printout of the attached document and make all your daughters, sisters or friends go through and grasp it well.

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A Humble Story

It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies’ hostel. Other girls were pursuing research in different departments of Science.

I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US. I had not thought of taking up a job in India.

One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors). It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.

At the bottom was a small line: “Lady candidates need not apply.”

I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.

Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in  academics, better than most of my male peers. Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful.

After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco’s management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write,

but there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco.

I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company’s chairman then). I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote.

“The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives. They have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender.”

I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco’s Pune facility at the company’s expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs 30 each from everyone who wanted a sari. When I look back, I

Feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.

It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city. To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to Telco’s Pimpri office for the interview.

There were six people on the panel and I realised then that this was serious business.

“This is the girl who wrote to JRD,” I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The realisation abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.

Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, “I hope this is only a technical interview.”

They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude. The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.

Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, “Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories.”

I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place. I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, “But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories.”

Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.

It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw “appro JRD”. Appro means “our” in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him.

I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, “Jeh (that’s what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate.

She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor.” JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it). Thankfully, he didn’t. Instead, he remarked. “It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?”

“When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir,” I replied. “Now I am Sudha Murthy.” He smiled and kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.

After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.

One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I realise JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me.

“Young lady, why are you here?” he asked. “Office time is over.”

I said, “Sir, I’m waiting for my husband to come and pick me up.”

JRD said, “It is getting dark and there’s no one in the corridor. I’ll wait with you till your husband comes.”

I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely  uncomfortable.

I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn’t any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, “Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee.”

Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, “Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again.”

In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused.

Gently, he said, “So what are you doing, Mrs Kulkarni?” (That was the way he always addressed me.) “Sir, I am leaving Telco.”

“Where are you going?” he asked. “Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I’m shifting to Pune.”

“Oh! And what will you do when you are successful.”

“Sir, I don’t know whether we will be successful.” “Never start with diffidence,” he advised me. “Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. I wish you all the best.”

Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive. Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, “It was nice hearing about Jeh from you. The sad part is that he’s not alive to see you today.”

I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard  written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn’t do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he  changed her life and mindset forever.

Close to 50 per cent of the students in today’s engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.

My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of

his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and  magnificence.

*(Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. Infosys chairman Narayan Murthy is her husband.) *

Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special Commemorative Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29, 2004.

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