What is Confidence? Brad Hogg and Sachin

I am not sure about this event happen. but i like this story.

One incidence is quoted.

India vs Australia [2004] match… Brad Hogg took Sachin’s wicket. At the end of the match Hogg gave that Ball to Sachin for his autograph. Sachin put his sign with one beautiful sentence,

“IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.”

Till today Hogg could not take his wicket for the second time. After this incident Brad Hogg and Sachin Tendulkar came face to face 21 times..But he could never get the Master Blaster out

THAT’S CONFIDENCE & DEDICATION..!

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Hmmmm all must be embarrassed an article being published after the valentine’s day .late but latest.Quite surprising right!!!!!
But wanted to share my view about this particular day celebrated in India. A small story why valentine’s day is celebrated which will give a clear picture of this festival

In the city of Rome there once lived an emperor named Claudius. He is known in history as Claudius the Cruel.

Near his palace was a beautiful temple where served the priest Valentine. The Romans loved him dearly and assembled into the temple to hear his words. Before the fire that always burned on the altar they knelt to ask his blessing.

In the Roman empire wars broke out. Claudius summoned the citizens forth to battle and year after year the fighting continued. Many of the Romans were unwilling to go. The married men did not want to leave their families. The younger men did not wish to leave their sweethearts. The emperor was angry when soldiers were too few. He ordered that no marriages should be celebrated and that all engagements must be broken off immediately.

Many a young Roman went off to the wars in sorrow, leaving his love. Many a Roman maiden died of grief as a result of this decree.

Now the good priest Valentine heard of the emperor’s command and was very sad. When a young couple came to the temple, he secretly united them in marriage in front of the sacred altar. Another pair sought his aid and in secret he wedded them. Others came and quietly were married. Valentine was the friend of lovers in every district of Rome.

But, such secrets could not be kept for long. At last word of Valentine’s acts reached the palace and Claudius the Cruel was angry, exceedingly angry. He summoned his soldiers. “Go! Take that priest in the temple! Cast him into a dungeon! No man in Rome, priest or not, shall disobey my commands!”

Valentine was dragged from the temple, dragged away from the altar where a young maiden and a Roman youth stood, ready to wed. Off to prison the soldiers took him.

All of Valentine’s friends as well as their friends, interceded with Claudius in vane. Well was he named Claudius the Cruel. In a dungeon Valentine languished and died. His devoted friends buried him in the church of St. Praxedes. When you go to Rome you can see the very place. It was the year 270, on the fourteenth of February.

Let’s come to the point. In a country like India do we need to celebrate a day called Valentine’s Day?We praise our own land and proud to be an indian.Western culture needs to be admired and not to be adopted .Love can be expressed in anyway to their loved ones need not necessarily be celebrated exclusively called the “Valentine’s day”

Incredible India and united India. India is a soil of largest democracy in the world, with a civilization of more than 5000 years old where one
can see people from all walk of faiths like Hindus, Sikhs, Muslim, Christians, Jain’s and Buddhist living in divinity.India follows tradition and rich in heritage.A small example in India a union of man and woman is called marriage which is deemed essential for virtually everyone in India. For the individual, marriage is the great watershed in life,marking the transition to adulthood.Arranging a marriage is a critical responsibility for parents and other relatives of both bride and groom. Marriage alliances entail some redistribution of wealth as well as building and restructuring social realignments, and, of course, result in the biological reproduction of families. Such a valuable concept in life cannot be expressed in a day called Valentine’s day because western culture do not accept this or adopt this kind of culture in their country

Now days the new generation are very crazy of celebrating this day with pop and show and i feel we are loosing our culture by adopting the same .Expressed my views .Please right your comments on this.

One of The Best Indian President I know. Read this speech.

I remember my dad teaching me the power of language at a very young age. Not only did my dad understand that specific words affect our mental pictures, but he understood words are a powerful programming factor in lifelong success.

One particularly interesting event occurred when I was eight. As a kid, I was always climbing trees, poles, and literally hanging around upside down from the rafters of our lake house. So, it came to no surprise for my dad to find me at the top of a 30-foot tree swinging back and forth. My little eight-year-old brain didn’t realize the tree could break or I could get hurt. I just thought it was fun to be up so high.

My older cousin, Tammy, was also in the same tree. She was hanging on the first big limb, about ten feet below me. Tammy’s mother also noticed us at the exact time my dad did. About that time a huge gust of wind came over the tree. I could hear the leaves start to rattle and the tree begin to sway. I remember my dad’s voice over the wind yell, “Bart, Hold on tightly.” So I did. The next thing I know, I heard Tammy screaming at the top of her lungs, laying flat on the ground. She had fallen out of the tree.

I scampered down the tree to safety. My dad later told me why she fell and I did not. Apparently, when Tammy’s mother felt the gust of wind, she yelled out, “Tammy, don’t fall!” And Tammy did fall.

My dad then explained to me that the mind has a very difficult time processing a negative image. In fact, people who rely on internal pictures cannot see a negative at all. In order for Tammy to process the command of not falling, her nine-year-old brain had to first imagine falling, then try to tell the brain not to do what it just imagined. Whereas, my eight-year-old brain instantly had an internal image of me hanging on tightly.

This concept is especially useful when you are attempting to break a habit or set a goal. You can’t visualize not doing something. The only way to properly visualize not doing something is to actually find a word for what you want to do and visualize that. For example, when I was thirteen years old, I played for my junior high school football team. I tried so hard to be good, but I just couldn’t get it together at that age. I remember hearing the words run through my head as I was running out for a pass, “Don’t drop it!” Naturally, I dropped the ball.

My coaches were not skilled enough to teach us proper “self-talk.” They just thought some kids could catch and others couldn’t. I’ll never make it pro, but I’m now a pretty good Sunday afternoon football player, because all my internal dialogue is positive and encourages me to win. I wish my dad had coached me playing football instead of just climbing trees. I might have had a longer football career.

Here is a very easy demonstration to teach your kids and your friends the power of a toxic vocabulary. Ask them to hold a pen or pencil. Hand it to them. Now, follow my instructions carefully. Say to them, “Okay, try to drop the pencil.” Observe what they do.

Most people release their hands and watch the pencil hit the floor. You respond, “You weren’t paying attention. I said TRY to drop the pencil. Now please do it again.” Most people then pick up the pencil and pretend to be in excruciating pain while their hand tries but fails to drop the pencil.

The point is made.

If you tell your brain you will “give it a try,” you are actually telling your brain to fail. I have a “no try” rule in my house and with everyone I interact with. Either people will do it or they won’t. Either they will be at the party or they won’t. I’m brutal when people attempt to lie to me by using the word try. Do they think I don’t know they are really telegraphing to the world they have no intention of doing it but they want me to give them brownie points for pretended effort? You will never hear the words “I’ll try” come out of my mouth unless I’m teaching this concept in a seminar.

If you “try” and do something, your unconscious mind has permission not to succeed. If I truly can’t make a decision I will tell the truth. “Sorry John. I’m not sure if I will be at your party or not. I’ve got an outstanding commitment. If that falls through, I will be here. Otherwise, I will not. Thanks for the invite.”

People respect honesty. So remove the word “try” from your vocabulary.

My dad also told me that psychologists claim it takes seventeen positive statements to offset one negative statement. I have no idea if it is true, but the logic holds true. It might take up to seventeen compliments to offset the emotional damage of one harsh criticism.

These are concepts that are especially useful when raising children.

Ask yourself how many compliments you give yourself daily versus how many criticisms. Heck, I know you are talking to yourself all day long. We all have internal voices that give us direction.

So, are you giving yourself the 17:1 ratio or are you shortchanging yourself with toxic self-talk like, ” I’m fat. Nobody will like me. I’ll try this diet. I’m not good enough. I’m so stupid. I’m broke, etc. etc.”

If our parents can set a lifetime of programming with one wrong statement, imagine the kind of programming you are doing on a daily basis with your own internal dialogue. Here is a list of Toxic Vocabulary words.

Notice when you or other people use them.

X But: Negates any words that are stated before it.
X Try: Presupposes failure.
X If: Presupposes that you may not.
X Might: It does nothing definite. It leaves options for your listener.
X Would Have: Past tense that draws attention to things that didn’t actually happen.
X Should Have: Past tense that draws attention to things that didn’t actually happen (and implies guilt.)
X Could Have: Past tense that draws attention to things that didn’t actually happen but the person tries to take credit as if it did happen.
X Can’t/Don’t: These words force the listener to focus on exactly the opposite of what you want. This is a classic mistake that parents and coaches make without knowing the damage of this linguistic error.

Examples:
Toxic phrase: “Don’t drop the ball!”
Likely result: Drops the ball
Better language: “Catch the ball!”

Toxic phrase: “You shouldn’t watch so much television.”
Likely result: Watches more television.
Better language: “I read too much television makes people stupid. You might find yourself turning that TV off and picking up one of those books more often!”

This time in the Speeches category I am going to post a speech given by one of famous Indian Story teller Chaten Bhagat ‘The biggest-selling English-language novelist in India’s history‘ – New York Times.

Chaten Bhagat Is a Ex-IITian Delhi 1995, MBA from IIM Ahmadabad 1997. he received a medal for the ‘best outgoing student award’. He is also scriptwriter for the move ‘Hello’ which is based on one of his best selling book ‘One Night @ the Call Center’.

This speech is delivered by him at Symbiosis.

Keep the Spark
- Chaten Bhagat
Inaugural Speech for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA program 2008

Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when one is truly elated. The first day in college is one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates – there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party – several months in advance – just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp’s flame. The first aspect is nurturing – to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.
To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn’t any external measure – a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.
Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement.

 But it isn’t the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won’t be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday?

They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.
Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature’s design. Are you? Goals will help you do that.

I must add, don’t just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.
You must have read some quotes – Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school. Where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

 One last thing about nurturing the spark – don’t take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said – don’t be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It’s ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

I’ve told you three things – reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.

Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don’t go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you.

But it’s life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember – if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that’s where you want to be.

 Disappointment’s cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don’t know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release.

Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved – movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result – at least I was learning how to write scripts , having a side plan – I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life – friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.

Unfairness – this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it – not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you.

In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty darn lucky by Indian standards. Let’s be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don’t. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don’t get literary praise. It’s ok. I don’t look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her. It’s ok. Don’t let unfairness kill your spark.

 Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I’ve told you the four thunderstorms – disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, you eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is something cool about saying – I come from the land of a billion sparks.
Thank You.

Siddhuism started in India when former cricketer Siddhu started giving his cricket Commentary.
Let me share some of his great quotes.

Statistics are like bikinis what they reveal is suggestive, what they hide is essential!

Spit on your hands! Take the black flag! And start slitting throats!

Wickets are like wives you never know which way they will turn!

Money is like manure. It is not good until it is spread around.

He looks like a brooding hen over a China egg!

One, who doesn’t throw the dice, can never expect to score a six.

It is very difficult to kill a man who is hell bent on committing suicide!

He is as innocent as a freshly laid egg!

When you are dining with the demons, you’ve got to have a long spoon!

If ‘ifs and buts’ were ‘pots and pants’ there would be no tinkers!

The ball went so high it could have got an airhostess on its way down!

This team is like bicycles in a cycle stand one falls and the entire row falls!

The scoreboard is running faster than an Indian Taximeter!

I lean on statistics like a drunken man leans on a lamppost, only for support, not illumination.

The batsman is like a three-wheeler. Sucks a lot of fuel, but cannot go beyond 30!

The Only Thing You Get In Life Without Trying is dandruff.

The wily fox is back it is an ill omen when a fox licks the lambs!

A big outcry but no outcome!

The Indians are going to beat the Kiwis! Let me tell you, my friend, that the Kiwi is the only bird in the whole world which does not have wings!

All that comes from a cow is not milk!

Experience is like a comb that life gives you when you are bald.

Just because a rose smells sweet, you do not use it in the soup!

Being an ardent of Devotee of Swami Vivekananda, here is few gems from his teachings..
1. Love Is The Law Of Life: All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore, love for love’s sake, because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live.

2. It’s Your Outlook That Matters: It is our own mental attitude, which makes the world what it is for us. Our thoughts make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light.

3. Life is Beautiful: First, believe in this world – that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you do not understand it in the right light. Throw the burden on yourselves!

4.It’s The Way You Feel: Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha. It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no amount of intellectual activity can reach God.

5. Set Yourself Free: The moment I have realised God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him – that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.

6. Don’t Play The Blame Game: Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.

7. Help Others: If money helps a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.

8. Uphold Your Ideals: Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.

9. Listen To Your Soul: You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

10. Be Yourself: The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves!

11. Nothing Is Impossible: Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin – to say that you are weak, or others are weak.

12. You Have The Power: All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.

13. Learn Everyday: The goal of mankind is knowledge… now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man ‘knows’, should, in strict psychological language, be what he ‘discovers’ or ‘unveils’; what man ‘learns’ is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.

14. Be Truthful: Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything.

15. Think Different: All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.

To read more about Swamiji Vivekananda and teachings please visit http://www.vivekananda.org

Did you know ?

Swami Vivekananda was the first Indian to be invited to accept the chair of Oriental Philosophy at Harvard University.

Jamshedji Tata set up the Tata Institute or the Indian Institute of Science on the Swami’s advice.

India celebrates National Youth Day on his birthday

“One infinite pure and holy–beyond thought beyond qualities I bow down to thee” – SwamiVivekananda”
[Picture and quote courtesy of Vivekananda.org]

Today morning, my best friend Herath, Pathum from Srilanka pinged me in google talk and we had a conversation regarding a south indian J. Krishnamurti(May 12, 1895–February 17, 1986) one of renowned Indian philosopher, writer…… a thought in mind to write about this great person long ago.

I wish to continue this idea in my further article .

Let me post one of his famous speech taken place at Alpino, Italy, July 1933 .

“Friends, I should like you to make a living discovery, not a discovery induced by the description of others. If someone, for instance, had told you about the scenery here, you would come with your minds prepared by that description, and then perhaps you would be disappointed by the reality. No one can describe reality. You must experience it, see it, feel the whole atmosphere of it. When you see its beauty and loveliness, you experience a renewing, a quickening of joy.

Most people who think that they are seeking truth have already prepared their minds for its reception by studying descriptions of what they are seeking. When you examine religions and philosophies, you find that they have all tried to describe reality; they have tried to describe truth for your guidance.

Now I am not going to try to describe what to me is truth, for that would be an impossible attempt. One cannot describe or give to another the fullness of an experience. Each one must live it for himself.

Like most people, you have read, listened and imitated; you have tried to find out what others have said concerning truth and God, concerning life and immortality. So you have a picture in your mind, and now you want to compare that picture with what I am going to say. That is, your mind is seeking merely descriptions; you do not try to find out anew, but only try to compare. But since I shall not try to describe truth, for it cannot be described, naturally there will be confusion in your mind.

When you hold before yourself a picture that you are trying to copy, an ideal that you are trying to follow, you can never face an experience fully; you are never frank, never truthful as regards yourself and your own actions; you are always protecting yourself with an ideal. If you really probe into your own mind and heart, you will discover that you come here to get something new; a new idea, a new sensation, a new explanation of life, in order that you may mould your own life according to that. Therefore you are really searching for a satisfactory explanation. You have not come with an attitude of freshness, so that by your own perception, your own intensity, you may discover the joy of natural and spontaneous action. Most of you are merely seeking a descriptive explanation of truth, thinking that if you can find out what truth is, you can then mould your lives according to that eternal light.

If that be the motive of your search, then it is not a search for truth. It is rather for consolation, for comfort; it is but an attempt to escape the innumerable conflicts and struggles that you must face every day.

Out of suffering is born the urge to seek truth; in suffering lies the cause of the insistent inquiry, the search for truth. Yet when you suffer – as every one does suffer – you seek an immediate remedy and comfort. When you feel momentary physical pain, you obtain a palliative at the nearest drug store to lessen your suffering. So also, when you experience momentary mental or emotional anguish, you seek consolation, and you imagine that trying to find relief from pain is the search for truth. In that way you are continually seeking a compensation for your pains, a compensation for the effort you are thus forced to make. You evade the main cause of suffering and thereby live an illusory life.

So those people who are always proclaiming that they are searching for truth are in reality missing it. They have found their lives to be insufficient, incomplete, lacking in love, and think that by trying to seek truth they will find satisfaction and comfort. If you frankly say to yourself that you are seeking only consolation and compensation for the difficulties of life, you will be able to grapple with the problem intelligently. But as long as you pretend to yourself that you are seeking something more than mere compensation, you cannot see the matter clearly. The first thing to find out, then, is whether you are really seeking, fundamentally seeking truth.

A man who is seeking truth is not a disciple of truth. Suppose that you say to me, “I have had no love in my life; it has been a poor life, a life of continuous pain; therefore, in order to gain comfort, I seek truth.” Then I must point out that your search for comfort is an utter delusion. There is no such thing in life as comfort and security. The first thing to understand is that you must be absolutely frank.

But you yourself are not certain what you really want: you want comfort, consolation, compensation, and yet, at the same time, you want something that is infinitely greater than compensation and comfort. You are so confused in your own mind that one moment you look to an authority who offers you compensation and comfort, and the next moment you turn to another who denies you comfort. So your life becomes a refined hypocritical existence, a life of confusion. Try to find out what you really think; do not pretend to think what you believe you ought to think; then, if you are conscious, fully alive in what you are doing, you will know for yourself, without self-analysis, what you really desire. If you are fully responsible in your acts, you will then know without self-analysis what you are really seeking. This process of finding out does not necessitate great will power, great strength, but only the interest to discover what you think, to discover whether you are really honest or living in illusion.

In talking to groups of listeners all over the world, I find that more and more people seem not to understand what I am saying, because they come with fixed ideas; they listen with their biased attitude, without trying to find out what I have to say, but only expecting to find what they secretly desire. It is vain to say, “Here is a new ideal after which I must mould myself.” Rather find out what you really feel and think.

How can you find out what you really feel and think? From my point of view, you can do that only by being aware of your whole life. Then you will discover to what extent you are a slave to your ideals, and by discovering that, you will see that you have created ideals merely for your consolation.

Where there is duality, where there are opposites, there must be the consciousness of incompleteness. The mind is caught up in opposites, such as punishment and reward, good and bad, past and future, gain and loss. Thought is caught up in this duality, and therefore there is incompleteness in action. This incompleteness creates suffering, the conflict of choice, effort and authority, and the escape from the unessential to the essential.

When you feel that you are incomplete, you feel empty, and from that feeling of emptiness arises suffering; out of that incompleteness you create standards, ideals, to sustain you in your emptiness, and you establish these standards and ideals as your external authority. What is the inner cause of the external authority that you create for yourself? First, you feel incomplete, and you suffer from that incompleteness. As long as you do not understand the cause of authority, you are but an imitative machine, and where there is imitation there cannot be the rich fulfillment of life. To understand the cause of authority you must follow the mental and emotional process which creates it. First of all, you feel empty, and in order to get rid of that feeling you make an effort; by that effort you only create opposites; you create a duality which but increases the incompleteness and the emptiness. You are responsible for such external authorities as religion, politics, morality, for such authorities as economic and social standards. Out of your emptiness, out of your incompleteness, you have created these external standards from which you now try to free yourself. By evolving, by developing, by growing away from them you want to create an inner law for yourself. As you come to understand external standards, you want to liberate yourself from them, and to develop your own inner standard. This inner standard, which you call “spiritual reality”, you identify with a cosmic law, which means that you create but another division, another duality.

So you first create an external law, and then you seek to outgrow it by developing an inner law, which you identify with the universe, with the whole. That is what is happening. You are still conscious of your limited egotism, which you now identify with a great illusion, calling it cosmic. So when you say, “I am obeying my inner law”, you are but using an expression to cover your desire to escape. To me, the man who is bound either by an external or an inner law is confined in a prison; he is held by an illusion. Therefore such a man cannot understand spontaneous, natural, healthy action.

Now why do you create inner laws for yourself? Is it not because the struggle in everyday life is so great, so inharmonious, that you want to escape from it and to create an inner law which shall become your comfort? And you become a slave to that inner authority, that inner standard, because you have rejected only the outward picture, and have created in its place an inner picture to which you are a slave.

By this method you will not attain true discernment, and discernment is quite other than choice. Choice must exist where there is duality. When the mind is incomplete and is conscious of that incompleteness, it tries to escape from it and therefore creates an opposite to that incompleteness. That opposite can be either an external or an inner standard, and when one has established such a standard, he judges every action, every experience by that standard, and therefore lives in a continual state of choice. Choice is born only of resistance. If there is discernment, there is no effort.

So to me this whole conception of making an effort toward truth, toward reality, this idea of making a sustained endeavour, is utterly false. As long as you are incomplete you will experience suffering, and hence you will be engaged in choice, in effort, in the ceaseless struggle for what you call”spiritual attainment.” So I say, when mind is caught up in authority, it cannot have true understanding, true thought. And since the minds of most of you are caught up in authority – which is but an escape from understanding, from discernment – you cannot face the experience of life completely. Therefore you live a dual life, a life of pretence, of hypocrisy, a life in which there is no moment of completeness.”

Let me share one of the wonderful photos of Indian Hindu gods .

These photos are taken during Indian festival called Vaikunta Ekadashi on Dec 30th 2006 at ISKCON Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Photographer unknown.

Religion being the root cause of Indian heritage and strength. In modern India religion has become a tool to create social nuisance and also political in-secular paradigm.

I am posting these photos too late but still, the meaning behind these photo are everlasting blunder of Indian heritage,creativity and their hopes, belief since 5000 years.

Sri Srinivasa Govinda smiling

Sri Srinivasa Govinda’s Lotus Feet

Sri Srinivasa Govinda

Sri RadhaKrishnachandra

Sri KrishnaBalaram

See also…
ISKCON Temple – Bangalore

Let me share my all time favourite short story in the form of TV serial.

Malgudi Days by R. K. Narayan (October 10, 1906 – May 13, 2001)
I have already written an article about him. Check here.

Malgudi Days
Collection of Narayan’s short stories. All the stories are taken place in a fictional town called Malgudi.

It is one of my childhood favourite stories in those days.Since I was unable to understand novels much my interest was to read short stories.

Narayan’s stories are always very simple in nature, the characters look very natural and realistic.

In the end of 70s and beginning of 80s, Doordarshan (a public broadcast Terrestrial television channel run by Prasar Bharati, a board nominated by the Government of India) use to broadcast many famous stories from independent producers and directores to popularize telivision serials. Malgudi days was one of those successful collective programme.

Directed by Kannada actor Late Shankar Nag and produced by T.S. Narasimhan of the Padam Rag Films. The whole serial was shot near Agumbe in Shimoga District, Karnataka, The serial was shote with great artist of that time.

In this program, my preference is not only with the story but the title music , the cartoon.
The music was composed by T.S. Vaidyanathan and the cartoons drawn none other than R.K. Lakshman: Narayan’s own brother.

Let me sharing some stories of this TV serials from You Tube. Thanks to people who shared this.

Illayaraja is one of the world’s most prolific film music composers, having composed for over 750 films over an illustrious career spanning more than 28 years.

Birth and family;
He was born in a poor rural family in pannaiapuram near Madurai in Tamil Nadu, south India. His birth name is Gnanadesikan and his school records indicate his name as Rasaiya. His father Ramasamy’s premature death threw the family into severe poverty. His brother Ganghei Amaran (Amarsingh) is also a composer and a song writer.

Illayaraja is married to Jeeva and they have three children. Two sons Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja, both are composers and daughter Bhavatharini is a singer and composer.

Past time;
He loves writing poetry and has written lyrics for some songs not only in Tamil but also in Hindi! He is highly spiritual and composed many devotional songs on Ramana Maharshi. He loves photography.

Music career;
Without much formal education, he completed a course in classical guitar (higher local) with a gold medal at the Trinity College of Music in London.

His film career started from the movie Annakilli. Illayaraja was instrumental in bringing about a fusion of Tamil folk and film music. He won the national Best Film Music Composer award three times for the Telugu movies Saagara Sangamam (1984), Sindhu Bhairavi (1986) and Rudra Veena (1988).

He is the first Asian to compose a full symphony for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO). His music is mainly associated with the ’80s, the decade during which he was most prolific. After his symphony, he was called by the name ‘Maestro’ Ilayaraja.

Illayaraaja is credited with a truly unique orchestration technique, which involves blending of western and Indian instruments. Normally, lyrics are written to suit his pre-determined tunes. This composing technique was used by him for the first time in India. Today it has become a norm.

His two fusion albums;
Beside his career in film music for Tamil, Telugu and other Indian films, he had written lyrics to fusion albums blending western classical music with Indian carnatic raagas.

How to Name it?
One of the tracks is based on Preludium in E by Johann Sebastian Bach
The whole idea behind the album was, ‘What if Bach and Thyagaraja had met in their age and combined to create a new genre of music’. Clearly, the album testifies to that proposal. The tracks are simply the best bits of fusion music ever composed. The album was dedicated to Carnatic composer Tyagaraja and Johann Sebastian Bach

Nothing But Wind;
It suggests that music is a natural phenomenon akin to wind.

He has developed good association with Carnatic musicians like Dr.Mangalampalli BalaMuraliKrishna and T.V. Gopalakrishnan. He has also got some flak from conservative Carnatic music fans for rewriting some of Tyagaraja’s compositions. He invented a raga by name Panchamukhi, which is looked at by some of the Carnatic Purists as faux and by the general crowd as an Achievement.

In 2002, his compostion “Rakkama Kaiya Thattu” from the movie Dhalapathi stayed at the top of BBC list of the best songs for quite a while, before finishing at 4th place.

He was the music composer for the Miss World 1996 Pageant, held at Bangalore. His latest hit is Mumbai Xpress (2005), with several strong elements that gave it a Jazz appeal.

His most recent work is that of the Thiruvasakam in Symphony.
This is an Oratorio of Thiruvasakam with Symphony orchestration. [Coming soon in my another article.]

Awards and Nominations;

* Presented with the Best Film Music Composer Award, an annual award, by the Government of India in the years 1984, 1986 and 1988.

* Presented with ‘Kalaimamani Award’, an annual award for excellence in the field of arts, by the Government of the State of Tamil Nadu, India.

* Presented with the Award of Governement of the State of Andhra Pradesh, India, for excellence in music.

* Conferred the title ‘Isaignani’ (wisest in the field of music) in the year 1988, at Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India.

* Conferred the Degree of Doctor of Letter (Honoris causa) in March, 1994, by the Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India.

* Conferred the Cultural Doctorate in Philosophy of Music, in April, 1994, by the World University Round Table, Arizona, U.S.A.

* Award of Appreciation presented in the year 1994, by the Foundation and Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America.

* Bestowed with the honorary citizenship and presented with the key to the Teaneck Township, by Mr. John Abraham, Mayor of Township of Teaneck, New Jersey, U.S.A., in June 1994.

* Presented with the Award of Governement of the State of Kerala, India, in the year 1995, for excellence in music.

* Conferred the Degree of Doctor of Letter, in the year 1996, by the Madurai Kamarajar University, Tamil Nadu, India.

* Presented with the Lata Mangeshkar Award for Excellence in Music, constituted by the Government of Madhya Pradesh, India, for the year 1998.

His Other Albums;
* Thiruvasakam
* How to name it?
* Nothing But Wind (Flute played by Hariprasad Chaurasia)
* Rajavin Ramanamaalai
* Illayaraja’s Geethanjali
* India 24 Hours

His Literary Works;
* Sangeetha Kanavugal (Musical Dreams – about European tour)
* Vettaveli thanil kotti kidakkuthu (Poems)
* Vazhithunai
* Gnagna Ganga
* Paal Nila Paathai
* Unmaikku Thirai Yethu?
* Yaarukku Yaar Ezhuthuvathu?
* En Narambu Veenai

This Article was posted in my old website… TheGClef

George Uglow Pope popularly known as Rev. G.U. Pope or G.U. Pope is a Christian missionary who spent many years in Tamil Nadu and translated many Tamil texts into English. His popular translations include Tirukkural and Tiruvachagam.

Thiruvasagam. Written by Mannikkavasagar, one whose words are like gems wrote the eighth ThirumuRai consisting of ThiruvAchakam, ThiruvempAvai and ThirukkOvaiyAr. He was born in ThiruvAthavUr in the late 8th or early 9th century A.D. He was a minister in the PAndya Kingdom but when he was sent to purchase horses for the army, he spent all the money in religious pursuits. Lord Sivan is supposed to have blessed him with his grace and saved him from the wrath of the King.

Maestro Illayaraja The famous Music composer of south india, attempted to compose this Tamil script into a magnificant western musical form called Oratorio . Its really superb master piece by this great leagend. In this music he composed 2 song in form of western March and in Ballet form.
In second song Illaraja tryes to combine the Manikkavasagars tamil script with G.U. Popes English Translation into one and make it wonderful Song.

The Album contains six tracks.

1. Poovaar Senni Mannan ( Singer : Illayaraja & Chorus) :
The album starts with the song ” Poovaar Senni Mannan”, which has booming chorus and soulful singing by Illayaraja.
A great start to the Album. In western this is called as March. Manikkavasagar calls those people who want to follow hime to reach lotus feet of the lord.

2. Pollaa Vinayen ( Singers : Illayaraja,Ray Harcourt) :
This is the crown jewel of the Album. Its a lengthy piece with lyrics in both English & Tamil. Tamil lyric by Mannika vasagar and English: a translation of original lyrics. Translatted by Rev. G.U. Pope.
Stunned composition and excellent orchestration. Raja oozes with emotion in this song.

3. Pooerukonum Purantharanum ( Singers : Illayaraja,Bavatharini) :
A melodious song with a strong carnatic base. A typical Raja’s unique duet.

4. Umbarkatkarasaey ( Singer : Illayaraja) :
Another Soulful number. Wonderful singing and excellent orchestration. Here poet expresses his feeling after hugging the Lord. In this song, Manikkavasagar asks the lord who is already in his captive, how he will be seen in other places.

5. Muthu Natramam ( Singers :Unnikrishnan, Madhu Balakrishnan,VijayJesudas,Manjari,Asha,Gayathri & Chorus) :
A very “crispy” song with wonderful chorus. This song is almost like a Western Ballet.

6. Puttril Vazh Aravum Anjen :
Raja’s tribute to Manickavasagar. The song has nice “wordy” interludes in the beginning . Poet express his feeling of his fear. The starting stanza depects the emotion of the poet to the sumeet.

The “Thiruvachagam” is a must buy for music lovers and hope Raja continues such musical endeavors in the future.To paraphrase one of raja’s film songs ” Raja Kayya vecha adhu raanga ponadhillai”.This is definitely a stunning fusion of Western Classical & Carnatic music. I bow to his genius.