Monday, October 31, 2011

India's new fitness problem

India's problem of plenty... says a BBC report ( just watched)

Rising income in India is creating an unfit nation. Politicians are surely a prominent part of it ( Pun intended)
Cops no exception...

'1in 5 Indians are obese, as per BBC report...  

The choice is ours... I consider daily exercise to maintain minimum fitness levels is as important drinking 8 glasses of water, breathing ( right, rhythmic, conscious), healthy meals, etc.

Let us make a choice... to Live SSpiritually

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Meditation

Meditation is the only method of countering the mental activities that surge forward in a thousand directions. - Baba

Save Earth, Let us save ourselves


The World is on the threshold of yet another milestone... population hits 7 billion mark...

It is time to implement 'green-initiatives', now at our individual level... so that it gathers momentum... 

NO time to wait ! Time to act... NOW !! For our own sake... for sake of children...the choice is ours ! Every bit of action should be subject to a 'green test'. Initially, we may not be very environmentally-responsible. But, as we keep the focus, we will be able to make rapid progress. The satisfaction we get can be comparable only to the bliss you get out of meditation. For, we are more natural, more in sync with Nature.

That is true living.. Let us GO Green... Live SSpiritually


William Osler - "We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from life."
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Sunday, October 23, 2011

Steve Jobs, Spiritually

Apple's website has replaced the image of Steve on the home-page with their new launch, IPhone 4S ...( Indeed, we need to move on...)


"Apple's iPhone 4S topped 4 million units sold worldwide over its launch weekend, a staggering figure that is the highest of any iPhone." - A report


That is a fitting tribute to the genius, Steve ! The whole world was expecting IPhone 5. Was it their mistake, to expect next generation of smart-phone from Apple ? Or, was it once again a PR disaster, by Apple ?  But thankfully, the fans of Steve 'Apple' Jobs ( they are thankful fans, not mere customers!) have lapped it up... A friend was sharing the Wall Street may  see this as 'under-performance', going by the previous records of Apple launches & the scrip may see a dip in prices... In a lighter vein, I am tempted to add, 'no wonder there are anti-wall street protests' :) Pun intended !


But I wonder, what will Steve be seeing this as...?! At a 'higher level', he will not be concerned about the success of the newest gadget from his company, not even the PR chaos.


Perhaps he may be concerned with the environmental damage the gadgets ( past, present & future) from Apple may cause. 
He may be concerned about the impact of radiation, though so-called studies are yet to confirm. ( Cigarettes, in spite of being 'injurious to health', continued to be in great demand!)
Also, about the financial impact of 'unnecessary' upgrade. 


Let us be aware ! Let us be responsible to our society, our family & friends and of course, ourselves!


RIP, Steve... 

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

A touch of The Master... Remembering Master with Infinite Gratitude




'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.

"What am I bidden, good folks?" he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar, a dollar"; then, "Two! Only two?
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?

Three dollars, once; three dollars twice;
Going for three" But no,
From the room, far back, a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;

Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said, "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.

"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice,
And going, and gone," said he.

The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand
What changed its worth." Swift came the reply:
"The touch of a master's hand."



The Touch of the Master's Hand
by Myra Brooks Welch and Bob Kelly

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Fast Food - A ticking time bomb in India


In India, we have one of the most beautiful of culinary variations - state to state, region to region. Slowly, but surely, the other internationally popular food stuff has won over the Indian plate, at least part of it. Junk food is perhaps one price we pay for economic globalisation and the consequent rise in disposable income. 

We love all the international influence on our diet ( pizzas or potato-chips).. we have ‘localised’ some of them ( Chinese or ‘indianised’ menu at some fast food counters).
While the west is grappling with the impact of obesity and related ailments, we are quickly catching up. That too when half of our children are categorized as ‘malnourished’.

But then, we have a choice !

Across all faiths, we offer food to God before we eat.
In today’s fast-paced world, even our prayers have become a mere passive,  murmuring of the words. Even God may find it difficult to pick up the words! 
ON top of it, we eat with distractions like TV !

Someone recently told me prayer should be chanted in such a way as though we are feeding God. So beautiful… that is an offering in letter & spirit.

Then, what is on our plate? Is it worthy to be an offering to God ? More so, if we are going to ‘offer to God’, would we offer junk food ?
What is not worth to offer God is not worth eating ourselves. For Divinity resides in all.

Divinity resides also in all those who can not afford two decent meals every day. Let us spare a thought for them…In an inter-connected world, we are truly spiritually-connected.

Let us eat & live SSpiritually… by highest ideals !

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Death of Physical Body, not Soul


10 Oct, 11 :

Last evening, as I sat for my evening prayer, I was struggling to focus. Quite Unusual, I thought…

After few minutes, a totally unexpected thought surfaced. Master says - ‘a negative thought re-surfaces at the most unexpected time’. The thought was of the scene at Murudeswar, Karnataka, when we visited the famous temple, couple of years ago.. 

Two men, while swimming, were swept away by the waves. From a distance, as we saw with horror, it left a deep impression… of helplessness of man, against nature. It remained in subconscious mind for some time, occasionally surfacing. But remained out of my thoughts for few months now, only to re-surface! But, why now ??

Was it the impact of death of an icon, Steve Jobs. I admired Steve for truly 'changing the rule of game', who always wanted to give the best to the customer.   

This morning, there was another news of death, of my favourite ghazal singer, Jagjit Singh. I was introduced by a friend to ghazals, while in my early-teens. Perhaps the first ghazal I heard intently was ‘kagaz ki kashti’… thereafter more songs, soulful-rendering, meaningful/interesting meanings, simple music, got me hooked. Jagjit was like Kishore da – you feel you can almost sing like him… but he was in a different league. I thought, one more icon goes from the face of earth.


I rate Steve Jobs’ ‘iTunes’ as his biggest contribution, way ahead of his gadgets and other initiatives. Jagjit Singh's ghazals is an important part of my itunes!

As I got ready to leave for work, as always, checked if there was sufficient water for dog, gave her some biscuits, made her run around a bit (to enable her to handle the loneliness till lunch-time). Then checked the hamster cage – it was not inside the toy-house within the cage; food kept last evening remain untouched, it was breathing heavily… something was wrong, I felt. My effort to wake up did not help. Even the smell of a piece of cheese, did not have any impact. I put some vibhuti on it… put some vibhuti in water and kept couple of drops of water ( with vibhuti) in its mouth. It showed no sign of response, except breathing. Was I going to witness a death ? 

Felt very sad, though I always thought I was not very attached to these pets, and maintained little contact with them – just feeding them, taking care, replenish stock of food/treat/, give vaccinations, etc were done religiously, to fulfil my duty as a responsible "owner" ! Perhaps it was to ensure minimum detachment ??!! 
I played ‘Vishnu sahasranamam’ on IPad, with prayers for the hamster….

The hamster had lost its partner, few weeks ago. My family was around at that time, now on vacation. It became lonely? We thought of leaving at pet-shop, so that it had company. Pet shop friend said there was no problem, they could carry on alone !! I thought if loneliness was not a problem, it will be better-off in our loving care…. How can I leave a hamster @ "old age home" ? Or, Was it attachment ??!!

During the day, there was another news about a death of a relative – but he had not been well for some time . At work, occasionally I remembered the hamster & prayed.

I reached before time for lunch - to feed dog & hamster, as always. As I entered, 'Vishnu Sahasranamam' was still playing on IPad. I thanked Steve & Apple, mentally... When I checked the hamster, it was lying in the same position, as it was in the morning.. but was not breathing. With head towards north, it was still. Very peaceful... listening to 'VSNamam', with vibhuti on body, the hamster 'moved on'... God bless. 

The pair was Koffee & Kannan,  christened by my son. The cage that was used by K & K is now cleaned up. The hamste-treat, lettuce, seeds, etc still left. May be I will feed the hamsters at the pet-shop. 

I am aware death is just physical - the soul moves on... but still, death is a tragedy for people affected by it. And so many deaths happen around us. There is be so much of sorrw. Also, so much negativity…. 

‘karma binds all’… need to raise sadhana for improved ‘samastha loka sukhino bhavanthu’


RIP, K & K

Sunday, October 09, 2011

steve Jobs, Spiritually


Sharing this link & excerpts of message from a friend....

... a  logo of apple created by a student 


Look at the logo,  you will find Steve's face looking into the Apple logo. great imagination. This logo which was created by a student when Steve was forced out of Apple has gained more relevance now.



"http://news.discovery.com/tech/apple-logo-steve-jobs-111007.html"


PS - Steve will always inspire all at Apple... but also many cusotmers who are devotees of apple products 

Steve Jobs, Spiritually


In final weeks, Jobs managed his farewells


Steve managed his farewells also very well... true to his style
  • he said the experience of parenting was '10,000 better than anything else he did'
  • an extremely private person, Steve surprisingly allowed an authorised biography, because he wanted his children to know him... 
PS : I am doing some of these posts on Steve, purely for posterity... also for my son! Indeed, parenting is second best thing to happen to me !

Steve Jobs, Spiritually

http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1451648537/ref=pd_rhf_ee_p_t_1

Check out the link... pre-order the authorised biography of Steve Jobs.. on Kindle too

exp release - 24th Oct

Thursday, October 06, 2011

Steve Jobs, Spiritually

So this morning, when I switched on the comp (Macbook), I was shocked to see the home-page, just Steve’s photo ! ( http://www.apple.com/ ).  He looked so intense and the Gandhi-glass fitted so well on him. Indeed, death is something none can escape.

A small act of kindness/random act of seva/service could not be done by me yesterday. Was busy @ work. I jokingly shared with a friend, 'business plan 2012 done.... wonder who will implement' ! Still keep planning, conspiring, postponing..... not Living SSpiritually

'Who will cry when you die'.... so many, across the globe feel sad about the loss. What an impact he had on the world... Surely Eddison of our times. One who made a huge impact on world, across generations to come... Gandhiji, Martin Luther King, Einstein, et al ( film by Apple)

‘Pepsi to Apple’ was a must-read when we were management students. Have followed Steve since then.


Harper stressed how Steve looked at the end-user experience. He looked at the product from a customer-perspective. He threw away an earlier version of I Pod as it was not ‘sexy enough’. It was his vision, we have some great products from Apple.


‘The World has lost a visionary’, said Prez Obama. Yes, surely an exemplary visionary. But, much more than that. He was a true ‘American’, what America stood for.  Sad to see people on New York streets, ‘inspired’ by Arab Spring! Wonder, why so many youngsters are conveniently after “wall street zombies”, instead of getting innovative?

At Work - Steve would have 'no mediocrity'. He was an inspiring leader. He himself had mentioned about the impact his style of work & the culture had on the personal lives of his team. Someone even called him 'a terrorist at work' !

He died so young. A friend mentioned on Linkedin – ‘all good people die young’. I wish to add, ‘all great people die on an auspicious day’. Indians, the world over, were celebrating Dassera today.  

I had 'forced' my son to to watch ‘Game Changer’ on Bloomberg.  I have tracked every bit of news item, on any of the media-channels. Always admired his vision, passion and class.

Recently, when I met & interacted with a group of youth, we discussed Spirituality & about my humble efforts to ‘Live SSpiritually’. When we discussed briefly about ‘Ceiling on Desires’, I mentioned about one of my very few weaknesses – for apple products! I was not surprised to see the reaction, a smiling nod/yes, and endorsement from almost all! I thought that was quite a universal phenomenon, a weakness for Apple Products. 


Will miss Steve... He will continue to inspire 


PS : I was not aware of this part of his story . Spiritual part of it . . thanks to CNN... Glad to share


The Spiritual Side of Steve jobs @ 


http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/tech/innovation/steve-jobs-philosophy/index.html?eref=rss_latest&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+Most+Recent%29