Monday, April 26, 2010

Solidarity of a Journey!

Across the mountain valley slopes
The sight of the cross that droops
The heights of a forest in sight
Journey continues within its right

Struggle to survive is never ending
Passion to continue is mind boggling
Memories of time prelude our thought
Wavering mind refuses to get it taught

Whispering down the mind’s inner cells
Precious calmness dwindles upon wells
The secluded irony of prolonged will
That is beyond thought and a skill

Despite the wariness of reckless way
Life forces upon entity to take away
The strange feeling of overwhelmed
With a prized subdued soul besieged

Yet, the soul endears the wisdom of fight
The soul’s truthful self and glory in might
Turbulence's that never let to sleep
The happiness of success to leap

The glory of the human thought & mind
Conscious effort to enthrall upon grind
There emerges the seed of refuted wisdom
Solemnly questioning every move in the kingdom

Yet the journey is fine to keep
For there’re accomplishments to leap
Solidarity in the happiness of the quest
The quest of searching within….

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Online Carnatic Music Class

Today was my daughter's first carnatic music class online...It was really a very beautiful experience. The power of technology and Internet... irrespective of the time zones and the distance, nothing stopped from achieving the objective of being connected to the roots in today's world. It was Saturday 8 am, over the webex meeting, here in Los Angeles, California, USA, my pre-teen was ready for the tutor sitting on the other side of the planet across 3 oceans and continents.

I have done many a conference calls and webex meetings in my professional life, have counselled people on Internet and addressed many complex life situations sitting anywhere in the world as part of being a physcology counsellor...but this was truly an enriching experience.

One that my kid was excited to find a teacher who gives her fullest attention and next was not discontinuing her passioned learning despite of her relocation. Though it is not a very cost effective solution, it is surely an optimal one, as the attention is on, the teacher is focused as much as the child and the music is in the air.... today there is nothing that is not possible with internet to satisfy our quest buds of learning.

From E-Partying, to virtual marriages and virtual offices, the world is going towards a "Best Shore" option which my mentor and role model in office, Mrs Sudha Sastry emphasis in her speeches and motivational seminars....today as she receives this year's EWIT excellence award for the 3rd time in row, I am too proud of having knowing her and being in her path of success...to me women achievers beyond the personal calling, when they set themselves in the path of success managing both as a parent and professional, the person in me is excited and motivated....Love you Sudha, god bless you for more success and I am very very proud of you....

Glad I am part of this world where virtual aspects still have the human touch, the required emotional quotient and beyond all, the reality surviving in it....

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Swami Parthasarathy- Vedantha Cultural Association

You have to see it to believe it.... this is one thing that strongly came into my mind to recall in this post, those beautiful evenings of one full week I spent watching the octogenarian speaking on Bhagavat Gita. Swami Parthasarathy every year delivers a week long recitation of Bhagavath Gita in Chennai and lectures on Vedanta. Curiosity was the beginning to go to his lecture and believe me, I was glued. His way of reciting and explaining our traditional values was amazing. Unlike Christians who read Bible from very young age and Quran which is inculcated into Muslim children, we are not forced to read Bhagavat Gita being born in Hindu family. But the moment I started listening to him, I realized that I wasted three decades of my life not valuing something that is of total enlightenment and a repository of high human values and a knowledge system. That is what transformed in me when I heard him on Chapter 16 of Bhagavat Gita... our own goldmine of knowledge

It is almost 2 months and I hardly found time to write on this beautiful topic....Swamiji talks about Infinite human bliss, and the quest for acquisition that is driven by the intrinsic and extrinsic illusion which is called Maya. He reminds that mind should be fixed on truth... divine rise to the highest goals in life...and the demonic sink to the lowest level. Its not what you do but how you do matters,..emanation and values you set define you... Experiencing the world matters and inspiring qualities are to be practised. There are 26 qualities of a divine person and these qualities properly guides us to stop wickedness. Vidhya or the knowledge goes with Vinaya (Respect). The knowledge goes with humility... Humility leads to humanity within us. The 6 general qualities of demon including ostentation, arrogance, self-conceit, anger, harshness and ignorance. The pithiest of all is when one doesn't even know that they cant control their anger.

After a storm, there is calm. Harshness means being impatient, disrespectful and impertinent and ignoring the knowledge and higher values of life.

Verse 5 - Divine nature is deemed for liberation, the demoniac for bondage, grieve not, you are born of the divine nature 'O, Pandava'.... intellectual bondage is rigidity, fanatic beliefs, full of perceptions, emotions and thoughts.

Verse 6- Two created things and beings in this world...they are demonic and divine.. learn the SRT- Satvic, Rajas and Tamas which means state of mind in poise and serenity, never quiet and state like sleeping.....learn to live beyond

Verse 7- Demoniac people do not know action from inaction, neither purity nor good conduct nor truth is found in them.

Intellectual brilliance judges what has to be done for every action before it is done. No proper action can be taken without proper conviction.

The verse 8 says the world thinks without reality, without foundation, without lord, born out of mutual union caused by lust, what else? Reality is which persists and exists in past, present and future. Ability to realise it is a blessing. Trouble with most folks is not ignorance but their knowing as many things as they don't know.

Verse 9 says holding this view, the ruined souls of small intellect of fierce deeds come forth as enemies for the destruction of this world.

You need Buddi (intelligence) to understand buddi( intellect). Intelligence is external knowledge, intellect is inbuilt, developed by yourself, by questioning everything and taking things for granted is a sure no...

Routine existence following herd and no intellect scraps all religions if not used with intellect for humanity to survive.

Amazing... its just few of them that I could recollect, but believe me... you should hear him in person to appreciate the volume of knowledge swamiji can share with us... his daughter disciple Sunandaji is also truly outstanding... cant believe that its written more than thousand years ago and its still applicable to mankind of all times... only wish we find more of Swamy Parthsarathy's in this world to spread this divine knowledge that is beyond human intelligence to understand the whole of universe. God bless !

Friday, April 16, 2010

Earth's fury over mankind- Volconic eruption in Iceland

I know its been long time since I wrote a post on my blog....one reason being the relocation to Los Angeles from Chennai and looks like "Moving" had been the trend of our sisters with youngest one relocating to Toronto and the eldest moving across the blocks of Mumbai!!!

The temptation to write overtook all other things today as I kept watching and following the news of the Volcano eruption in Iceland. My first thought was "What???Volcano eruption under the icebergs???...Yes, its the Nature's way of showing unnatural things to mankind.

The scientific study shows that the pattern of eruptions are almost unpredictable and the kind of impact is also equally inaccessible. What does that mean? With all the technological advancement and scientific discoveries and man's quest to capture space, including footing on moon, capturing of Mar's surface and penetrating into the far away earth's orbits, man in all practical sense do not have control over his own Earth. Thankfully over the years, cyclones, earthquakes and major natural disasters are predicted...but still there are things that is beyond man's imagination.

Today we see this as a major economic set back costing close to $200 million dollars to the aviation industry and stranding the passenger and cargo traffic movement across the six continents.... closing down the major airports and diverting hundreds of flights causing havoc to travellers across the countries. One way of Nature telling the mankind that no matter who you are, how important is your journey or which class of travel you take...the whole of the journey is purely dependent on the way Nature provides the opportunity to mankind to survive.

Such disasters and unpredicted nature's behaviour had been read in the Hindu mythology and which indicates that the Earth is going towards the next yugam or kala chakram. Movement of the earth's metamorphosis's from one trend to the other...And this may be just a tip of the iceberg or a beginning of such uncontrollable kala chakram.....

The bottomline is not to harm Mother Earth and fight against the Natural essence of this world and live in harmony as long as Earth allows us to do so... Create a peaceful world beyond boundaries and respect the Natural phenomenon of Mother Earth and go with the time..... time to think again on global warming I guess!!!

Hope all the stranded world travellers find a quick solace and reach their destinations to end their trauma...Mother Earth, please leave them from your fury!!!