*Speech by Chetan Bhagat at Symbiosis*

Thanks to one of my seniors@office for forwarding this to me.........

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.

"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 is 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 thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. Life is not meant 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, scoring low in couple of papers, goof up a few interviews, take leave from work, fall in love, little fights with your spouse. We are people, not programmed devices..... ...." :)

*"Don't be serious, be sincere."!!*

Dance Slow...................

Another message which I got on this special day, thank to Anita, my friend@office

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down. Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask, how are you? Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head?
You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

Ever told your child, we’ll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, Let a good friendship die
because you never had time, to call and say, 'Hi'
You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
you miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift Thrown away.
Life is not a race. Do take it slower
Hear the music before the song is over.

(Source: from a forwarded mail supposed to be written by a cancer patient)

Be Focussed.................

When you have to put up with mean people, Think of them as sandpaper.They may scratch you,Rub you the wrong way,
But eventually...
YOU end up smooth & polished
And the sandpaper....?
It'll be worn out & ugly!Makes you think, doesn't it?

*"Never loose sight of who You Are, because You Are the Best thing God ever Created, Embrace the gift"*

Quotes by Homi J. Bhabha...........

1). "I know quite clearly what I want out of my life. Life and my emotions are the only things I am conscious of. I love the consciousness of life and I want as much of it as I can get. But the span of one's life is limited. What comes after death no one knows. Nor do I care. Since, therefore, I cannot increase the content of life by increasing its duration, I will increase it by increasing its intensity. Art, music, poetry and everything else that consciousness I do have this one purpose - increasing the intensity of my consciousness of life."

2). My success will not depend on what A or B thinks of me. My success will be what I make of my work.

3). No exam was ever a test of original or creative ability in anybody.

Sri Sai Satcharitra..........Excerpts

Then finally I started reading this.......My younger sister gave it to me when I visited my hometown recently......I thought that I love Baba so much that I need not to read this, but I feel it makes relationship stronger and short stories about devotees experiences is forcing me to understand Baba from a very different perspective. I feel more that just a holy saint He was a social reformer and a doctor(yes, true , Dr. Saibaba :)).........I'm finding that He was an eccentric person and beyond understanding.........and you know that's why, it is all left upto the reader or devotees to understand Him in his/her own way..............I would like to enlist His teachings as I go along the book. I'm on 14th Chapter now..............

He assured that He would give them whatever they ask, till they asked Him whatever He wanted to give...........page 98

Learning on Y-Axis................contd

Than I'm back on this interesting topic. I wanted to restart with my technical stuff. I already knew about NPTEL and could find a lot of tutorials on Youtube. Today I came across the following link and thought of including it here on my blog before I get bored with the tutorials:

NPTEL listing from Gaurish Sharma

Excerpts from "Power of Now"........P79

"Satori"........A word used by Zen masters to describe a flash of insight.

Have you listened, truly listened to the sound of a mountain stream in the forest? Or to the sing of a blackbird at the dusk on a quiet summer evening? To become aware of such things, the mind needs to be still. You have to put down for a moment your personal baggage of problems, of past and future, as well as all your knowledge; otherwise you will see, but not see, hear but not hear. Your total presence is required.

Beyond the beauty of the external forms, there is more here: something that cannot be named, something ineffable, some deep, inner holy essence. Whenever and wherever there is beauty, this inner essence shines through somehow. It only reveals itself to you when you are present.

Learning on Y-axis...............

I was talking to somebody sometimes back and he made a very general comment"It is impossible to learn everything in single life"..........yes, everybody does know it, but there is something wrong here.........can you guess........ok, it is the word "single".........reason: Very few will take the learning of one life to another birth........confused, I just want to say, we need not to put "single" here, just saying life is sufficient...........isn't it :P


ok, let me justify the title and its inclusion on this blog instead of newer one(A better beginning)......infact, I first thought of putting it there, but then I thought, learning is an important aspect of our life, and it is important to look at it with different glasses(yes, "Ideas" needs deeper understanding and analysis, and hence different lenses :))

To be contd............

Transformation...................

Yesterday, I was talking to one of my friends and something of this type came out:
"Sometimes later in our life we realize we did a mistake in past and went through suffering/problems which could have been avoided very easily(ok, it was related to take transfers from one place to another, since we both went through this experience)". Then I told her, ok, we should thank Him since atleast we got it inspite of the problems. and she said

"Ok, we lost a lot in past, but future is still there"

and guess, what I immediately said(my new philosophy of life learnt from my new companion, The Power of Now)............


"Ok, we lost a lot in past, but Present is still there"

We laughed together and bade goodbye.......................

Eccentricity.......................

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
-Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (1872-1970)

A balanced LIfe..................

Sometimes life throws you into those precarious situations when you are forced to understand and appreciate the importance of a balanced life. We all read about it in text books and listen from discourses of saints and there are N number of similar resources...............
I never used to appreciate it before may be because we have different energy levels at different stages of life. and I used to believe that I'm ready for any challenge. It is true, we can achieve whatever we can dream with a combination of hard work and will power, but see there are some basic requirements which are important for any endeavor. These are financial, emotional securities along with a dependable physical health. We need to see how we can ensure that these needs will be fulfilled no matter what may come in our way.......and as I feel these should be the most important goals one can set for him/herself initially. We just can't make only money or only health or only career or..............the only focus of our life anytime. However hard we may try, if our bare minimum needs are ignored, be sure you are going to miss the target (I believe it strongly, today............I may change, only God knows...........I'm too unpredictable ;))
and these need differ from individual to individual......................to be contd...........

To fill up my motivation tank................

No great man ever complains of want of opportunities......Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true........Leon J. Suenes

The power of imagination makes us infinite..............John Muir

Winners compare their achievements with their goals, while losers compare their achievements with those of other people......Nido Qubein

Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstances.........Bruce Barton

A constant struggle, a ceaseless battle to bring success from inhospitable surroundings, is the price of all great achievements... Orison Swett Marden

Dreams..........

It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
Before a dream is realized,
the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way.
It does this not because it is evil,
but so that we can,
in addition to realizing our dreams master the lessons
we have learned as we have moved toward that dream.
That's the point at which most people give up.
Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.
And that no heart has ever suffered
when it goes in search of its dreams,
because every second of search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity. - Paulo Coelho

Purpose of life is to live enlightenment..... Paramahamsa Nithyananda

Every moment, the choices you have in life from Existence are actually infinite. Existence is like the mother who waits expectantly, longingly for her little child just learning to take the first steps in this world. She is waiting for you to learn to live life in the best way — live enlightenment. She is waiting eagerly for you to open her gift of life.

She wants to see that joy and surprise on your face when you discover your gift and enjoy it — by living enlightenment. God designed this world with only one purpose — to make you experience His love. All He wants to see is a smile on your face, a blissful overflowing in your being, as you enjoy these wonderful gifts He has made just for you. There is no other purpose to life. It is a straight and simple universe inviting you to play with it, flirt with it, and experience the joy of pure romance with it.

You are not an accident; you are an incident. You are a conscious miracle of Existence. Life is not a forced happening you have to go through. Life is a living vibrant partner, playing an exciting game, a mysterious adventure that opens out new vistas in front of you every second.

Understand, whenever you think life is throwing surprises at you, life wants to understand you. It is curious to know about you, just like a naughty little kid constantly playing with you and teasing you. It just says, ‘If I talk like this, what will you do? If I do this, what will you do?’ What you call difficult situations or people are just the naughty yet innocent pranks of the little child — sometimes running into your arms, sometimes pinching your cheek and running away, sometimes angry because you did not appreciate its innocent act.

Life is your partner. It is asking you, ‘If I present myself like this in front of you, what will you do?’ Just enjoy this pure romance, delicate as a rose yet strong. This is not the dead strength of a rock, it is the vibrant strength of life — it can express in infinite dimensions this moment yet the very next moment it may not even be alive. Life is just like that — intensely alive and bubbling, unaffected by what can happen the very next moment.

Every moment is a gift from the Divine — the only way to pay your gratitude for the gift is to be intensely alive in this moment, to live enlightenment. The expression of living enlightenment is experiencing complete fulfilment. You are just overflowing within yourself, so you don’t need anything more. This is the natural state in which every single human being is designed to live....... Paramahamsa Nithyananda

The price you pay..............

They say "it is only lonely at the top"..........yeah true..........but does that mean we should always try to be surrounded by people for the fear of being left alone, while other find it difficult to connect with you because of your position...........and it may be possible your intrinsic nature propels you to be more comfortable with yourself than anybody else.......also sometimes culprits are your goals and dreams which make you too busy that when you have time, nobody remains there who can share that joy with you...............but actually what are these dreams? don't you think, being happy with whatever we have and what we want to do with rest of our life is the best dream (it is difficult to be happy about your present and future simultaneously.....a difficult goal........I guess).........and our aim should be to be happy perpetually.......everyday and every moment.........and we need to see how it is possible while taking into consideration our nature............what is it that makes me truly happy..........is spending time with friends/family make me happy or doing my work................or both depending on the needs.........and is switching between the two so smooth or is it difficult.........means whether your loved ones are able to appreciate your business with your work and they are always there with open arms to welcome you without letting you feel guilty about being busy..............I feel very few will appreciate/understand this need of belonging to them............I'm fortunate to have my sisters.......yes, many times it becomes important to clarify your case, but they are very trivial issues...........a strong relationship requires a strong foundation, and once you know that it is there then it is just a small repair work that is needed now and then...............after all, like any other perishable thing in this world, relationships have their own requirements and needs continuous nourishment to remain healthy...........but roots should be deep.................and having just a single strong relationship is good enough to lead a good life..........isn't it?.........particularly, when you know your most valuable asset is your time and you want to be spare with its use........I think that emotional security which comes along with this, is all worth it.........and that seems to be a small price you pay to escape that dreaded loneliness while chasing your dreams.............

Extremism...............

After a long time, today I'm planning for a long post.................I don't know what will come out.......help, lord.............I postponed many things on my "To do" list because of this continuous rain...........I just don't want to do anything.............watched news.........................it is all abt Mumbai rains............Perhaps mother nature is also becoming "extremist".................it is dangerous............I'm myself a "victim" of my own "extremism"....................I don't know why many things are beyond control.................I want to get rid of this "part" of me......................no matter whatever is the situation, moderation is very important....................If I look back, my extreme behavior led me to many difficult situations, but again it "itself" took me out................and you know, it is an addiction............I'm more like a gambler now.............I started relying on my intuitions too much that sometimes it is scary even to myself.................but it is always a matter of taking calculated risks..................failure doesn't harm you so much..............but just showing faith in that "universal wisdom" and then acting accordingly,teaches a very important lesson............... we are not living a fulfilled life................we are basically stupid and perhaps more than that, we are lazy, since we don't try to learn that language which can unfold all the secrets of life...................perhaps that is the most difficult language to learn..................and only an "extremist" can dare to learn its symbols............................yes, extremism is not that bad, it helps sometime..................................

Again................it is worry...................

Worry is an insult to God's wisdom.................

Today's song...................

रूक जाना नहीं तू कही हार के.......................

today's idea..................

Sometimes dignity lies in being silent.............

Worry.................................

Worry is a misuse of the imagination......................Dan Zadra

Today's idea.............haste haste kat jaye raste.........

Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination................Mark Twain

Today's idea........rather....... "storehouse of ideas"

Jon Rubinstein...............

Resposibility.................

The day you take complete responsibility for yourself, the day you stop making any excuses, thats the day you start to the top.---------------OJ Simpson

ekla chalo re.................(Walk alone........)

Rabindranath Tagore

In Bengali

Jodi tor đak shune keu na ashe tôbe êkla chôlo re,
Êkla chôlo, êkla chôlo, êkla chôlo, êkla chôlo re.

Jodi keu kôtha na kôe, ore ore o ôbhaga,
Jodi shôbai thake mukh firaee shôbai kôre bhôe---
Tôbe pôran khule
O tui mukh fuţe tor moner kôtha êkla bôlo re.

Jodi shôbai fire jae, ore ore o ôbhaga,
Jodi gôhon pôthe jabar kale keu fire na chae---
Tôbe pôther kãţa
O tui rôktomakha chôrontôle êkla dôlo re.

Jodi alo na dhôre, ore ore o ôbhaga,
Jodi jhôŗ-badole ãdhar rate duar dêe ghôre---
Tôbe bojranôle
Apon buker pãjor jalie nie êkla jôlo re.

Tagore's English translation

If they answer not to thy call walk alone,
If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,
O thou of evil luck,
open thy mind and speak out alone.

If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,
O thou of evil luck,
trample the thorns under thy tread,
and along the blood-lined track travel alone.

If they do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,
O thou of evil luck,
with the thunder flame of pain ignite thy own heart
and let it burn alone.

From a forwarded email.........

Remember, when the world pushes you to your knees, you're in the perfect position to pray .

Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect. It means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections........

From Safar.................

There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever...................................... Gandhi

Immature love says: I love you because I need you. Mature love says: I need you because I love you...................................... Gandhi

The ultimate inspiration is the deadline..................Nolan Bushnell

Random Thoughts..............

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me."
- Erma Bombeck

Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.
- Louisa May Alcott

Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. You must be able to sustain yourself against staggering blows. There is no code of conduct to help beginners. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.
- Sophia Loren

Sometimes success is due less to ability than zeal. The winner is he who gives himself to his work body and soul.
- Charles Buxton

Love me, please, I love you; I can bear to be your friend. So ask of me anything ... I am not a tentative person. Whatever I do, I give up my whole self to it.
- Edna Saint Vincent Millay

Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.
- Swami Sivananda

The dedicated life is the life worth living.
- Annie Dillard

I never liked the middle ground-the most boring place in the world.
- Louise Nevelson

Show me a person who is not an extremist about some things, who is a "middle-of-the-roader" in everything, and I will show you someone who is insecure.
- G. Aiken Taylor

He did it with all his heart, and prospered.
- Bible

It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.
- General Douglas MacArthur

Prayer is commitment. We don't merely co-operate with God with certain things held back within. We, the total person, co-operate. This means that co-operation equals committment.
-E. Stanley Jones

Blind commitment to a theory is not an intellectual virtue: it is an intellectual crime.
- Imre Lakatos

The relationship between commitment and doubt is by no means an antagonistic one. Commitment is healthiest when it's not without doubt but in spite of doubt.
- Rollo May

Creativity Page 62-63.........................

Creativity is a combination of wonderful wild ideas and then a lot of hard work.
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Great art and great science involve a leap of imagination into a world that is different from the present. The erst of the society often views these new ideas as fantasies without relevance to the current reality. And they are right. But the whole point of art and science is to go beyond what we now consider real, and create a new reality. At the same time this escape is not into a "never-never" land. What makes a novel idea creative is that once we see it, sooner or later we recognize that, strange as it is, it is true.
*******************************************************************************************
This one is very interesting(about endurance expected from S&T people):

Yeah, there is a trick I pull for this. When I've a job to dolike that, where you have to do something taht takes a lot of effort, slowly, I pretend I'm in jail. Don't laugh. And if I'm in jail, time is of no consequence. In other words, if it takes a week to cut this, it will take a week. What else have I got to do? I'm going to be here for twenty years. See? This is the kind of mental trick. Becuase otherwise you say, "My God, it is not working", and then you make mistakes. But the other way, you say time is of absolutely no consequence. People start saying how much will it cost me in time? If I work with somebody else it is fifty bucks an hour, a hundred dollars and hour. Nonsense. You just forget everything except that it's got to be built. And I have no trouble doing this. I work fast, normally. But if something will take a day gluing and then next day I glue the other side------it takes two days---it does not bother me at all.

Open and Closed Door Research.......................

Science is a very gregarious business. It is essentially the difference between having this door open and having it shut. When I'm doing science I have the door open. I mean, that is kind of symbolic, but it is true. You want to be, all the time, talking with people. Up to a point, you welcome being interrupted becuase it is only by interacting with other people that you get anything interesting done. It is essentially a communal enterprise. There are new things happening all the time, and you should keep abreast and keep youself aware of what is going on. You must be constantly talking. But ofcourse writing is different. When I am writing I have the door shut, and even then too much sound comes through, so very often when I am writing I go and hide in the library. It is a solitary game. So, I suppose that is the main difference. But then afterward, of course the feedback is very strong, and you get a tremendous enrichment of contacts as result. Lots and lots of people write me letters simply because I have written boooks which address a general public, so I get into touch with a much wider circle of friends. It's broadened my horizons very much. But that is only after the writing is finished and not while it is going on...............Physicist Freeman Dyson, Creativity Page 66

Creativity as Autotelic Experience......Creativity Page 121 by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Autotelic: Greek word for something that is an end in itself
*********************************************************************************************
Games are designed so that we can keep score and know how well we are doing. Most jobs give some sort of information about performance: The salesman can add up daily sales, the assembly worker can count pieces produced. If all else fails, the boss may tell you how well you are doing. But the artist, the scientist, and the inventor are moving on very diffent timelines. How do they know, day in and day out, whether they are wasting their time or actually accomplishing something?

This is indeed a difficult problem. Many artists give up because it is just too excruciating to wait until critics or gallries take notice and pass judgement on their canvases. Research scientists drift from pure science because they can not tolerate the long cycles of insecurity before reviewers and editors evaluate their results. So how can they experience flow without external information about their performance?

The solution seems to be that those individuals who keep doing creative work are those who succeed in internalizing the field's criteria of judgement to the extent that they can give feedback to themselves, without having to wait to hear from the experts. The poet who keeps enjoying writing verse is the one who knows how good each line is, how appropriate is each word chosen. The scientist who enjoys her work is the one who has a sense of what a good experiment is like and who appreciates it when a test is well run or when a report is clearly written. Then she need not wait until October to see if her name is on the Noble Prize list.

MAny creative scientists say that the difference between them and their less creative peers is the ability to separate bad ideas from good ones, so that they don't waste much time exploring blind alleys. Everyone has both good and bad ideas all the time, they say. But some people can't tell them apart until it is too late, until they have already invested a great deal of time in the unprofitable hunches. This is another form of the ability to give oneself feedback: to know in advance what is feasible and what will work, without having to suffer the consequences of bad judgement. At Linus Pauling's sixtieth birthday celebration, a student asked him, "***Dr. Pauling, how does one go about good ideas?" He replied, "You have a lot of ideas and throw away the bad ones." To do that, ofcourse, one has to have a very well internalized picture of what the domain is like and what constitutes "good" and "bad" ideas according to the field.
***(oh, I remember how I was desperate during my college days to see it in front of my name one day.......I still remember when one of my classmates asked me the reason behind my interest in PhD and you know what was my answer.........This dream of adding Dr. in front of Nidhi Gupta, Dr. Nidhi Gupta, sounds good........)

Forgetting Self, Time, and surroundings.....Creativity Page 121 by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

When distractions are out of the way and the other conditions for flow are in place, the creative process acquires all the dimensions of flow. HEre it is described by the poet Mark Strand:

Well, you're right in the work, you lose your sense of time, you're completely enraptured, you're completely caught up in what you're doing, and you're sort of swayed by the possiblities you see in this work. If that becomes too powerful, then you get up, becuase the excitement is too great. You can't continue to work or continue to see the end of the work becuase you are jumping ahead of yourself all the time. The idea is to be so.......so saturated with it that there is no future or past, it is just an extended present in which you are, making meaning. And dismantling meaning, and remaking it. Without undue regard for the words you are using. It's meaning carried to a higher order. It's not just essential communication, daily communication; it's a total communication. When you are working on something and you are working well, you have the feeling that there is no other way of saying what you are saying.......................

Avoiding Distractions...............Creativity, Page120

Many of the peculiarities attributed to creative persons are really just ways to protect the focus of concentration so that they may lose themselves in the creative process. Distractions interrupt flow, and it may take hours to recover the peace of mind one needs to get on with the work. The more ambitious the task, the longer it takes to lose oneself in it, and easier it is to get distracted.

Creative Process..................Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The creative process has traditionally been described as taking five steps.

The first period is preparation, becoming immersed, consciously or not, in a set of problematic issues that are interesting and arouse curiosity.

The second phase of the creative process is a period of incubation, during which ideas churn below the threshold of consciousness. It is during this time that unusual connections are likely to be made. When we intend to solve a problem consciously, we process information in a linear, logical fashion. But when ideas call to each other on their own, without our leading them down a straight narrow path, unexpected combinations may come into being.

The third component of the creative process is insight, sometimes called the "Aha!" moment, the instant when Archimedes cried out "Eureka!" as he stepped into the bath, when the pieces of the puzzle fall together.

The fourth component is evaluation, when the person must decide whether the insight is valuable and worth pursuing. This is often the most emotionally trying part of the process, when one feels most uncertain and insecure.

The fifth and last component of the process is elaboration. It is probably the one that takes up the most time and involves the hardest work. This is what Edison was referring to when he said creativity consists of 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.

The elaboration part of the process is constantly interrupted by periods of incubation and is punctuated by small epiphanies. Thus the creative process is less linear than recursive. How many iterations it goes through, how many loops are involved, how many insights are needed, depends on the depth and breadth of the issues dealth with.

Life after Death.....................

We are sent to this earth in circumstances which are beyond our control i.e. our family, country and city...........Then starts that process which ultimately decides how we will leave this world...........Again it is a set of circumstances initially, when we are so helpless and depend on our elders/senior people who take decisions on our behalf...................It is frustrating sometimes and we long for freedom to execute our own choices and we wait for that time.........................and when that happens (language has word for it, maturity), we long to go back to that carefree time when it is easy to escape from any kind of responsibility for our actions.................but yes, some people are fortunate/unfortunate to enjoy that carefree life till it all ends.......they say sometimes it is only our numbers i.e. years/age which increases while our mind or heart remains like a child and then the problem arises............I can find some behavioral characteristics which can support such kind of cases like possessiveness, jealousy, hatred, ego, anger, impulsive behavior etc.......and worst part of this is when we find it difficult to acknowledge that we still need time to reach that mature state where we can see situations/circumstances from an unbiased/detached point of view...........we are so sure of ourselves and nothing can force us to behave otherwise....this limited growth is the reason of all our problems, I guess.........When I see some old seniors, I get impressed with their approach towards looking at problems..........I think why I could not look at it that way..............Is it necessary to go through this long and slow process to reach that "mature" state................ Is it the law of nature that everybody has to go through innumerable sour and sweet experiences of evolution and then when you think you are ready, you get His call and then is the time to say Goodbye to this world..............Yes, I know a number of people who seem to do so well in a particular area of life so early that we think they have reached that state, but everybody does mistakes and it is impossible not to regret..................But even after if we can reach that maturity before we die, it is an achievement I guess..........Very few "souls" can do that............and they are the people whose magnetism keeps attracting millions of people towards their views even when they leave.............two important personalities which I revere are "Swami Vivekananda" and then Baba, "Saibaba of Shirdi"..............I always wonder why we get attracted to them while they were also sent to this world just like us................it is perhaps because they left this world differently and their views and actions still inspire and teach us......................and yes these are the examples of "lives after death"........................

Hope.......................

है अँधेरी रात पर दीवा जलाना कब मना है
कल्पना के हाथ से कमनीय जो मंदिर बना था
भावना के हाथ ने जिसमें वितानों को तना था

स्वप्न ने अपने करों से था जिसे रुचि से सँवारा
स्वर्ग के दुष्प्राप्य रंगों से, रसों से जो सना था
ढह गया वह तो जुटाकर ईंट, पत्थर, कंकड़ों को
एक अपनी शांति की कुटिया बनाना कब मना है
है अँधेरी रात पर दीवा जलाना कब मना है

बादलों के अश्रु से धोया गया नभ-नील नीलम
का बनाया था गया मधुपात्र मनमोहक, मनोरम
प्रथम ऊषा की किरण की लालिमा-सी लाल मदिरा
थी उसी में चमचमाती नव घनों में चंचला सम
वह अगर टूटा मिलाकर हाथ की दोनों हथेली
एक निर्मल स्रोत से तृष्णा बुझाना कब मना है
है अँधेरी रात पर दीवा जलाना कब मना है

क्या घड़ी थी, एक भी चिंता नहीं थी पास आई
कालिमा तो दूर, छाया भी पलक पर थी न छाई
आँख से मस्ती झपकती, बात से मस्ती टपकती
थी हँसी ऐसी जिसे सुन बादलों ने शर्म खाई
वह गई तो ले गई उल्लास के आधार, माना
पर अथिरता पर समय की मुसकराना कब मना है
है अँधेरी रात पर दीवा जलाना कब मना है

हाय, वे उन्माद के झोंके कि जिनमें राग जागा
वैभवों से फेर आँखें गान का वरदान माँगा
एक अंतर से ध्वनित हों दूसरे में जो निरंतर
भर दिया अंबर-अवनि को मत्तता के गीत गा-गा
अंत उनका हो गया तो मन बहलने के लिए ही
ले अधूरी पंक्ति कोई गुनगुनाना कब मना है
है अँधेरी रात पर दीवा जलाना कब मना है

हाय, वे साथी कि चुंबक लौह-से जो पास आए
पास क्या आए, हृदय के बीच ही गोया समाए
दिन कटे ऐसे कि कोई तार वीणा के मिलाकर
एक मीठा और प्यारा ज़िन्दगी का गीत गाए
वे गए तो सोचकर यह लौटने वाले नहीं वे
खोज मन का मीत कोई लौ लगाना कब मना है
है अँधेरी रात पर दीवा जलाना कब मना है

क्या हवाएँ थीं कि उजड़ा प्यार का वह आशियाना
कुछ न आया काम तेरा शोर करना, गुल मचाना
नाश की उन शक्तियों के साथ चलता ज़ोर किसका
किंतु ऐ निर्माण के प्रतिनिधि, तुझे होगा बताना
जो बसे हैं वे उजड़ते हैं प्रकृति के जड़ नियम से
पर किसी उजड़े हुए को फिर बसाना कब मना है
है अँधेरी रात पर दीवा जलाना कब मना है............... - Harivansh Rai Bachchan

Another Steve................they both started Apple

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I worked with such concentration and focus and I had hundreds of obscure engineering or programming things in my head. I was just real exceptional in that way......... Steve Wozniak
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Talking about History......................

i was searching some technical material and came across something like "History of XXXXXXX". I was in no mood to read it and then I remembered how Mazhari sir always used to start anything with a quich review of past work..........and he used to tell it in a very interesting style..................and then old and newer technologies...................He was the only teacher who used to even mention about the year and he was so fond of those numbers...............yes, history does matter since it helps us to appreciate the progress made i.e. change vs time........we are fortunate to live in an era where technology is in very advanced stage and looking back helps us to remain optimistic about the futher developments............

TOI, 14-06-2009, MIND OVER MATTER

We all have a voice inside us that will guide us. It may be God. But if we shut out all the noise, clutter from our lives and listen to it, it will tell us the right thing to do............Christopher Reeve

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Recession is in the mind:

It is only our strengths and our own generosity that makes our individual world beautiful.

A fairy tail comes true only when we become the hero rather then the victim, waiting for the rescue. The biggest, most meaningful discovery is that our lives can change only when we realize that each of us is the creator of our own world. People and situations are there because we have put them there. We sustain them. They feed on our energy. If we turn our back on them, they cease to exist.

The world is a reflection of our choices. If we love, we will receive love; if we are respectful of others, we too will be respected. It is pitiful to seek solutions to life's crises from those who themselves are troubled and confused. If astrologers and self styled mystics could fix our lives, would they not fix their own?

This, of course, is not true of all mystics and saints. Millions of people continue to seek the spiritual wisdom of long-departed saints such as Kabir, Sai Baba of Shirdi, Bhagwan Nityananda and others who never owned anything and yet continue to give endlessly of themselves.

Magically, the number of devotees at Shirdi, where Sai Baba used to live, or Ganeshpuri, Bhagwan Nityanandda's ashram continue to swell despite the fact that Sai Baba left his body in 1918 and Bhagwan Nityananda left his in 1961. There is no adequate explanation for the potent and baffling mysticism that makes this possible.

From Orkut.................

"Our strength grows out of our weaknesses"

Impossible is Nothing.................

They are Everywhere........................

I was making a call from one of my senior's room and got some new ideas lying on his table, on IEEE Newsletter. I liked them and thought of putting them on my blog..........


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1.) I shut my eyes in order to see........Paul Gauguin
2.) The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
3.) To escape criticism - do nothing, say nothing, be nothing..........Elbert Hubbard

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Impossible Is Nothing......................

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Impossible is just big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it.
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Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion.
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Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare.
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Impossible is potential.
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Impossible is temporary.
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Impossible is nothing.
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(Source: Adidas, Just to commemorate my recent running shoes, my costliest shoes till now :))

One more......................Oh, this is amazing...........

Sing for Joy..............................

What can I give.............2 Hands, 1 heart

I'm watching one of my favourite videos@home since yesterday. I first listened to them at IITK and loved them. Then I think I lost them and got it back from Deepa who lives in the same building where I stay sometimes back. I got them when I desperately needed them. This song is just one of many which are part of that long video.................................
What can I give, two hands, one heart..............................

Aashayein......................

Ashayein khile Dil Ki.....................Ikbaal

Hatke..............Different from crowd

Me against the word...............
Pure.....................

courage............

courage is...............

Pain/Joy of giving birth to a new idea...............

I've added Joy :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)...................................................... to include the "Eureka, Eureka, Eureka....................................", the result of all "slogging" of PhD.
(to be contd.............)

Pain of giving birth to a new idea.....................

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I realized then that if something is at stake, the human mind gets ignited and working capacity gets enhanced manifold. Challenges throw up opportunities. Once one selects a task, one should get immersed in it. Either you will succeed or fail; that risk will always be there. This should not deter you. When you fail, you still have the experience gained to draw upon in the future.
Start by risking your own position for a mission. Either I deliver or I go. Prepare yourself for the endeavour. With effort and perseverance you will succeed. There is always a risk involved when we venture into something new. **After all, the process of birth itself is a risky affair. But then the infant starts breathing......and life follows, with all its hopes and aspirations. Breathe in thoughts of success and you will be success.-----Ignited Minds, Page 177
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** I think research is all about that. It is more painful and requires more patience compared to development. Development is like implementing an idea which is already there. It is laborious and less risky. Because any way you will make something. There are more risks in choosing a research career and very few will have the necessary patience. Last time when uncle, auntie came to meet me, I was bragging about my recent development work here :(. Oh baba please help me to remain humble, keep me grounded.......... Uncle appreciates it, but he told that research is different. I think he used the word "slogging" for PhD. Perhaps I didn't appreciate it then, but after thinking a lot, yes he was right. Working with a set of specs and coming out with a product with the use of existing solutions is different from coming out with an entirely new solution. I think research and development are two different dishes having different tastes. Both requires different bent of mind: that of a scientist for research and of an engineer for development. I've just tasted research@IITK, but I was never into it. Perhaps if ever I get a chance to do PhD, I may have that experience also. O Lord, prepare me for that experience. When I was IITK, I used to meet worried PhDs. I think the most important thing is to select the right problem and to know that it is really a problem. I'll continue later since it is time to go............. It is Thrusday today and I know I have to be extra alert for His messages......Baba help me to do justice to this day of my life.......................

From Hindi Movie: Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara

लहरों से डर कर नौका पार नहीं होती,

कोशिश करने वालों की कभी हार नहीं होती...

नन्हीं चींटी जब दाना लेकर चलती है,

चढ़ती दीवारों पर, सौ बार फिसलती है.

मन का विश्वास रगों में साहस भरता है,

चढ़कर गिरना, गिरकर चढ़ना न अखरता है.

आख़िर उसकी मेहनत बेकार नहीं होती,

कोशिश करने वालों की कभी हार नहीं होती.

डुबकियां सिंधु में गोताखोर लगाता है,

जा जा कर खाली हाथ लौटकर आता है.

मिलते नहीं सहज ही मोती गहरे पानी में,

बढ़ता दुगना उत्साह इसी हैरानी में.

मुट्ठी उसकी खाली हर बार नहीं होती,

कोशिश करने वालों की कभी हार नहीं होती.

असफलता एक चुनौती है, इसे स्वीकार करो,

क्या कमी रह गई, देखो और सुधार करो.

जब तक न सफल हो, नींद चैन को त्यागो तुम,

संघर्श का मैदान छोड़ कर मत भागो तुम.

कुछ किये बिना ही जय जय कार नहीं होती,

कोशिश करने वालों की कभी हार नहीं होती.....................

Make your self Stress Proof..............

To keep a check on the eccentricities of Science & Technology people(which can not be avoided for really dedicated ones!), we get an email everyday in our office mail box. Today's message was different and interesting since it was referring to something which I recently mentioned in my blog. I'm just copying and pasting it without any comment:
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Four hundred years ago Rene Descartes, the French philosopher declared, 'I think, therefore I am.’ He was right, and at the same time, he was wrong. This declaration has formed the basis of modern thinking. Billions of people in this world have followed Descartes for generations believing that unless each one outthinks the other they cannot succeed in this world.
He was right in that the human system does not know how to live without its mind, without thinking. As a result human beings have become slaves to their minds. They live in bondage. He was wrong in that it is possible to live without the mind! Many centuries before Descartes, a Vedic sage declared that man does not begin to exist till he stops thinking. Adi Shankara, the boy sage from ancient India, at the age of eight, faced his future master across the waters of the holy Tungabhadra river. The master asked him, 'Who are you?' In response Adi Shankara said, 'I am not the mind, I am not the intellect, I am not the ego and I am not the senses. I am beyond all that. I am pure consciousness.'
We are merely a bio-machine as long as we think we are mind and body. We are just a shade better than the animals we ascended from as long as we allow our senses to guide us. The true potential of human beings is not in the power of the mind. The purpose of human life is to transcend the mind and reach a higher state of consciousness. In that state we are truly in the divinity that we descended from. Till we reach that state of unity with what we truly are, we are in turmoil. This turmoil between our true nature and what we pretend and strive to be is what we call stress or tension. Stress is an inevitable part of life. There can be no life without what we term 'stress'. However, we can make ourselves stress-proof, by simply choosing not to be affected by what happens outside us. Such an easy technique! This is not impractical. It is your conditioning that makes you get affected by what happens to you through events that are beyond your control. Nothing is inherently good or bad except what we judge them to be. Drop your judgement about yourself, about people around you and about situations. You will see that suddenly you have become stress-free! That is all it takes to be liberated from stress. Meditation can help you with this liberation. It helps you reach the restful mind-state from which you can actively participate and yet be untouched by the events around you. You really have nothing to lose by trying, except your stress! Be Blissful! - Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda

In His time............................

We had three consecutive holidays and it has been 3 days now since I'm listening to my favourite songs continuously and I'm also surprised why I was not listening to them at all. Thanks to you-tube since I can get whatever I wanted: bhajans, prayers, movie songs. I'm really enjoying it. I'm not seeing anybody in my corridor. Chhanda is also not there and it is all very quite. Earlier I thought that I would also go to Shirdi. But somehow I dropped my plan. I always feel that you can not visit a holy place unless He wants it. He has His own "time-watch" and that is perfect. I could remember another prayer song:
In His time He made all things beautiful........................
I did meditation in the morning after a long time. Oh it seems I really lost touch with myself. I'm feeling very relaxed and happy. After returning from walk, I noticed in the newspaper that today is Easter. I still remember how my friend Kanaga in Kalpakkam used to remain busy during these days. I used to go to church with her sometimes. I always love their prayer songs. Also bhajans of Lord Krishna which were part of satsang in my hometown Karnal. My mother is an ardent devotee of Kripalu ji maharaj and we three sisters used to go to those satsangs with her. Oh I miss those days. I can not compare anything else in this world with those slow bhajans (Radhey Govind......, Bhaj man mere and many more). Unfortunately, they are not there on you tube. I remember how Maharaj ji used to make bhajans on the fly. We used to sit there with our diaries and note down whatever we could. I wish He should bless me with the same innocence again! But everything goes by His time.......................................................
Then I started believing Baba. Life was little harder during that time which made me cling to Him like a child. And anything: any bhajan, any song, any poem, any idea, any incident, any problem, any solution were His ways of guiding me. It was a very different kind of relationship where you have to be alert all the Time. Any mistake from your side may make Him angry. You can not afford to hurt any body. It was a very humbling experience. I used to be very proud of my intelligence :( He told me to rely on His intelligence. My marks started showing that pattern. I started losing where others used to do well, ofcourse easy subjects while my performance in other subjects which I myself didn't understand completely was amazing :) I could easily notice His ways in my life. He knew that my studies were the focus of my life and He took full control of it. I just followed Him since I was very insecure perhaps and did not understand what was happening. He never let me down and I could not leave Him. At that time I never realized it, but today I can say that I'm blessed. Thank you so much Baba..................
God is good.........................................
He gave me everything whatever I wished in spite of all my mistakes/shortcomings. But perhaps last 3-4 years were the most difficult period of my life till now where I lost my father and a number of other disappointments on professional front. But things are coming back into place and I again can clearly see His intervention. I always say that Baba wants His devotees to understand the most important lesson of patience. I say that I always get good things with a delay(which I always relate to His interference in my life:)). Many things are denied to me without any reason and I always get it back with a delay and Arrears attached :)
Yes God I'm ready to wait according to your time...............................

Oh How I could forget those days.......................

"He cares if we want Him to care for us."
open the eyes of my heart..........................
I'll soar with wings as eagles......................
draw me close to you.................................
light of the world.............

Faith can move mountains :)

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One hour of real communion with God is worth more than a lifetime of everything else.--Waterbury, Streams in the Desert

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The man who walks with God always gets to his destination.----Streams in the Desert

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There is no problem bigger than you and God combined. Together, you form an unbeatable combination.
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I have always been a religious person in the sense that I maintain a working relationship with God. I was aware that the best work required more ability that I possessed and therefore I needed help that only God could give me. I made a true estimate of my own ability, then raised it to 50 per cent and put myself in God's hands. In this partnership, I have always received all power I needed, and in fact have actually felt it flowing through me. Today, I can affirm that the kingdom of God is within you in the form of this power, to help achieve your goals and realise your dreams.----Wings of Fire, Page 49
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God can do tremendous things through the person who doesn't care about who gets the credit. The ego involved must go. Before God trusts you with success , you have to prove yourself humble enough to handle the big prize.-------Wings of Fire , Page 134
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I had to test my belief in God and see if it could fit into the matrix of scientific thinking.---Wings of Fire, Page 19
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Let God be your hope, your stay, your guide and provide the lantern for your feet in your journey into the future.------Wings of Fire, Page21
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To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal. Individuals like myself are often called 'workaholics'. I question this term because that implies a pathological condition or an illness. If I do that which I desire more than anything else in the world and which makes me happy, such work can never be an aberration. Words from the Twenty-sixth Psalm come to mind while I work:"Examine me, O Lord, and prove me."
Total commitment is a crucial quality for those who want to reach the very top of their profession. The desire to work at optimum capacity leaves hardly any room for anything else. I have had people with me who would scoff at 40-hours-a-week job they were being paid for. I have known others who used to work 60, 80 and even 100 hours a week because they found their work exciting and rewarding. Total commitment is the common denominator among all successful men and women. Are you able to manage the stresses you encounter in your life? The difference between an energetic and a confused person is the difference in the way their minds handle their experiences. Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success. All of us carry some sort of super-intelligence within us. Let it be stimulated to enable us to examine our deepest thoughts, desires, and beliefs.
Once you have done this----charge yourself, as it were, with your commitment to your work----you also need good health and boundless energy. Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of the Mount Everest or to the top of your career. People are born with different energy reserves and the one who tires first and burns out easily will do well to reorganize his or her life at the earliest.------Wings of Fire: Page 89,90

Think, think, think and think..........................

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Good things usually begin with a difficulty, but great things invariably begin with an impossibility. Welcome the impossible as the messenger of impending greatness.
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Gossip has no place in the thoughts or conversation of successful person. It is just as harmful to the gossiper as it is to the person being gossiped about.
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I think/feel............................

I was browsing through my own posts and most frequently words I encountered are "I think" and "I feel". It seems I've made optimum use of my brain and heart (respectively i.e. brain for thinking and heart for feeling. Thank God........ my eccentricities are under control and no role reversal of brain and heart :)). I think I am now addicted to blogging. But I feel this addiction is not that bad as long as I'm able to do justice to my other important things. I think I should continue blogging................what do you think/feel :-)
Now I can remember another important idea:
'I think therefore I am'.........................Rene Descartes
I first encountered it at IIT Chennai where it was the main theme of some conference. Achchha hai naa..................Anyway I think/feel here I've over used my brain/heart in this post without actually feeling or thinking anything :-(
I think/feel most of the time, most of the people think/feel this way :P

Proverbs...............Bible

Don't take advantage of the poor just because you can; don't take advantage of those who stand helpless in court. The LORD will argue their case for them and threaten the life of anyone who threatens theirs.
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Intelligent people want to learn, but stupid people are satisfied with ignorance.
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tere jaisa yaar kahan (dedicated to Baba, My Best Friend)

tere jaisa yaar kahan...........................

Worship songs....................

These are some of my favorite songs during prayers @IITK. Oh how much I'm missing those days: joy of being among simple and intellectual people.........................

As the deer pant....................
Seek ye first the kingdom...............

teri hai jamee tera aasma.................................

teri hai jamee tera aasma.................................

kal ho naa ho.......................

I'm not sure whether this song deserves a place here or not. But still I included here since "Kal Ho Naa Ho" is a good message in line with whatever I want to convey through this blog. Live your own life before it is too late..............................
kal ho naa ho...................SRK

Baba Kahte hai..............................

mujh se naaraj ho to ho jao..................

jaane kya dhoondta hai ye mera dil....................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXrgiRsq7VI

lab pe aati hai dua ban ke...................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvBd_F-Fn3w

In the way..............Streams in the Desert

In the time of deepest sorrow,
When Life seems without a ray,
And the wound is fresh and open,
Can you see Him "in the way?"
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When your plans and deepest projects
Shattered fell and broken lay,
And you vainly try to mend them,
Can you see Him "in the way?"
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When your prayers remain unanswered,
And you almost cease to pray,
Feeling that the heavens are brazen,
Can you see Him "in the way?"
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When your dearest hope has vanished,
When your friends forsake, betray,
And all earthly props are broken,
Can you see Him "in the way?"
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Broken rays becomes a rainbow,
Broken clods, a fruitful meadow,
Pruned vines bear richest clusters,
Cut and polished gems, rare lustres,
Harvests rise from buried grain,
Lives are born through grief and pain,
God dwells in the broken clay,
He alone leads "in the way"

Ambition.........Streams in the Desert

Make me Thy labourer,
Let me not dream of ever looking back,
Let not my knees be feeble, hands be slack,
O make me strong to labour, strong to bear,
From the rising of the morning till stars appear.

My Favourite one.........................

For every hill I've had to climb,
For every stone that bruised my feet,
For all the blood and sweat and grime,
For blinding storms and burning heat,
My heart sings but a grateful song,
These were the things that made me strong.
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For all the heartaches and the tears,
For all the anguish and the fears,
For gloomy days and fruitless years,
And for the hopes that lived in vain,
I do give thanks for now I know,
These were the things that helped me grow----Unkown (Streams in the Desert)

Hope---------------Streams in the Desert

HOPE sings to me a cheerful song,
The way may seem both dark and long,
But days are passing one by one,
And all is glory farther on.
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And HOPE has wings as well as song,
And when she spreads her pinions strong,
My thoughts soar up and dwell upon
The heavenly glory farther on.
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And HOPE has eyes that pierce the gloom,
She looks beyond death and the tomb,
And thrills as though already shone,
The deathless glory farther on.
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Hope, blessed hope, abide with me,
Still sing thy cheerful melody,
Till, clouds and tears for ever gone,
I reach the glory farther on.-----------J.T.Mawson
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Best Friend..........................................

I'm the best friend to myself. I take me out whenever I feel low. I alone am responsible for my feelings and I choose to feel beautiful.------?????(from my old diary)

Self Discovery...........................................

I got these passages from my old diary which I was trying to tear down. It seems these are from Hindu Newspaper: 28-04-06
1.) One of the most difficult challenge is to be able to live life on your own terms. It involves not only a willingness to meet the inner and outer challenges that test our strength, but also a capacity to stand alone and endure the envy and hostility of all those too frightened to even consider being themselves. Human history is full of stories about how hard it is to battle the monsters we have to encounter in our struggle towards autonomy.
2.) They say to become ourselves we must separate psychologically from the matrix from which we have emerged. To achieve this we have to separate ourselves physically from our parents and home so that we can discover our own thoughts, feelings, beliefs, values, talents and needs.

Words.............................

hindi is language of my initial education. I always had a special attraction towards languages. Learning a new language is learning a number of ideas. Earlier I used to start learning any language in the hope of knowing more about people who use that language. The kind of words which one chooses indicate the attitude of that person. These days I'm completely focusing on English and more I know it more I feel sorry for not knowing Hindi completely. I think we always take our mother tongue lightly (as we take our mothers' advice??????). Whenever I learn a new word, I get impressed with the way I could find special word for a complex idea. contd.............

TOI 01-03-2009

A victim has no future, but a survivor does.
A bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make a turn.

Today's Idea.............

“When a man is willing and eager, the gods join in"

Champion............................

1.) Behind every champion stand many shadows mocking their passion and ability.
2.) Boxer Mohammed Ali once said:"Champions are made from something which they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, and a vision."

This too will pass................

There was a king who asked a rishi for a powerful talisman. The rishi gave him a ring containing a folded slip of paper and asked him to open it when faced with extraordinary situations, whether of tragedy or triumph. The talisman, the rishi told the king, will keep him grounded; it would help him keep his head in any situation.
The king had many occasions to experience the power of the writing on the paper during a long reign. The paper had on it a simple line: "This, too, shall pass". Events and emotions in our life stay alive only in our memory. What remains is the one who experiences, unmoved and unmovable, the one witness, the Presence within us.

"This is my life"

There is enough for everybody here. We only need to find out what is it that is meant for us. Different things motivate different people. Except basic necessities which are common for all, every individual is driven by his/her own needs,which are dynamic. As a child I used to get fascinated by everything which was new to me, which I never tried earlier. But today, I am more focussed. I know even distractions sap energy. While it is important to remain curious like a child, even more important is to understand what to overlook. I always feel I'm not doing enough. I'm not using my capabilities properly. I need to take charge of my life. As my friend often tells me: " Take it into your stride." Don't let others control you. But I find it difficult to isolate myself from the environment where I live and work. and therefore I usually carried away by trivial things. I know just one passion is enough to lead a fulfilled life. But finding that passion which is in agreement with our temperament is the most challenging job. Once we know that yes this is what I would like to do with my life, then I need to look for the environment where I can pursue my dreams, knowing that it is there: a like-minded group of people. and till then, I should not stop.......I should keep looking...........while taking charge of my life........

Idea

For all your days prepare, and meet them ever alike.
When you are anvil: "BEAR", when your are hammer: "STRIKE".

Ideas

1.) Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will.---Mahatma Gandhi

2.) Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.------Arnold Schwarzenegger

3.) The block of granite which was an obstacle in the path of weak, becomes a stepping stone in the path of the strong.----Thomas Carlyle

4.) All the adversity I've had in my life, all my trouble and obstacles, have strengthened me....You may not realise it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.-----Walt Disney

Ideas

1.) Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working
2.) Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending

Experience...............

Recently, I read an article in the newspaper where the differences between young and old people were discussed. In such discussions, very first point which crosses anybody's mind is the energy, passion and enthusiasm of one while maturity of the other.they say that "proper" guidance is the most important factor in determining one's success. I do agree here since I myself have realized many times that we can never beat experience. We may be better than our seniors if we compare with them when they were of our age(that too due to different circumstances). But an age gap of say 20-30 years and the experience associated with it, is just incomparable. If we just see our own life or thinking after each day, we will understand that how each day adds to our understanding of life. Even sometimes life seems to be monotonous, but actually it is not. Everyday it an opportunity to learn. But story doesn't end here. Sometimes I feel seniors just try to over power us taking advantage of their so called Experience. A good senior will give an understanding hearing to younger people, convince them about the limitations which their optimistic eyes can't see. I feel I'm a rebel in this sense . People find it difficult to convince me. But, to be honest, I met some really good old people( say 4-5) who really influenced my life, by influencing my thinking, ofcourse. If I look back today, I feel how they could even tolerate me. I always used to argue. Sometimes I felt it would have been better, if I could have restrained myself. But otherwise how I could have learned those priceless ideas. Now I'm changed a lot. I'm turning into a good listener. I may not agree to everything whatever they say, but yes I now take care that they are not hurt. I still remember my arguing with my most respectable senior, Murti sir. You know once he felt so helpless and told me:"Let us agree to disagree". Whenever I remember this wonderful line, I feel blessed to know such kind of "Experienced" people.Yes experience does matter..............I feel many will agree with me and my "Experience." The institutions where debates, discussions and other ways of promoting ideas are welcomed, can contribute to world progress in a way which is difficult to descibe in world. Look back in history, if you lack "experience" or make a history, if you are still "inexperienced."