Business to the Buddha

Category: Buddha

  • Happy New Year 2014






    I received this story on whatsapp last week… thought this is good story to share with you as a possibility of new year resolution. It is a 350 word story, so not more than 5 min to read…

    I still remember – Barasti in Dubai, racist behavior of them. Hope we would learn, sooner than later. I further hope that after reading such simple story people responsible for economic crisis, political crisis across world would change.

    The Suitcase
    A man died, when he realized it, he saw God coming closer with a suitcase in his hand.

    God said: Alright son its time to go.

    Surprised the man responded: Now? So soon? I had a lot of plans…

    God said: I’m sorry but its time to go.

    What do you have in that suitcase? the man asked.

    God answered: Your belongings.

    My belongings? you mean my things, my clothes, my money?

    God answered: Those things were not yours they belonged to the earth.

    Is it my memories? the man asked.

    God answered: those never belonged to you they belonged to Time
    Is it my talents?

    God answered: those were never yours they belonged to the circumstances.

    Is it my friends and family?

    God answered: I’m sorry they were never yours they belonged to the path.

    Is it my wife and son?

    God answered: They were never yours the belonged to your heart.

    Is it my body?

    God answered: that was never yours it belonged to the dust.

    Is it my soul?

    God answered: No that is mine.

    Full of fear, the man took the suitcase from God and opened it just to find out the suitcase was empty.

    With a tear coming down his cheek the man said: I never had anything?

    God answered: that is correct, every moment you lived were only yours. Life is just a moment, a moment that belongs to you. For this reason enjoy this time while you have it. Don’t let anything that you think you own stop you from doing so.

    Live Now

    Live your life

    Don’t forget to be happy, that is the only thing that matters. Material things and everything else that you fought for stay here. YOU CAN’T TAKE ANYTHING

    So this new year why not plan to do everything by just remaining completely in the moment. Enjoy the moment and in terms of actions remember Krishna said “do the work and leave results…”

    कर्मणयेवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
    मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि।   2.47 – more on this Shloka of Geeta by another blogger here

    Wish you a Very Happy New Year.

    Related blogs –

    1. Illusion of control

    2. Money worth earning

    3. My New Year wish!

    4. Wake up!

    5. Welcoming’12, Seasons of ’11 and accountability

  • Size of the Universe!







    Once I was walking to office. I saw two carts in little distance, both had guava. One had fresh guava and other had relatively not so fresh once. I instantly thought what if these stale ones have insects and small creatures. A guava for those insects & small creatures must be the world in itself.

    I remembered I ate an apple yesterday, what if it too has such insects? Those insects were nothing in front of me, there must be many such insects within me right now! Few of them must be thinking – “I did this great stuff or that great stuff today” et al. Interesting, isn’t it? For me or you – well we do not even know they exist, forget about their ‘great’ actions.

    What if we are such small insects for someone! We are going across the galaxy and lo! this is another something small for someone. Someone who we don’t even know or imagine that he/she even exists!

    We look at the world with our own speck, yes we create our own world, unaware about small or huge ‘other’ around us!

    Related blogs –

    Ego

    Give up Dominion

  • Butterfly Effect, is it?







    One fine day morning, a very strange thought came in my mind. Whatever we are doing, is it creating any problem in the nature or it is development?

    I shifted to suburb some time back, I found that there is relatively less cleanliness in suburb compared to where I used to live in South Mumbai (SoBo). Almost everyday there used to be swapping of the roads and all. By noon you could not find foliage on the roads. Why did this strange thought of swapping came to mind mind?

    In my suburban apartment a pigeon has made a nest with leafs. The same happens & happened in SoBo apartment too. I have seen at least three (actually five) times the pigeon could not properly hatch the eggs. Whereas I believe the suburban pigeon’s hatching could be better. In SoBo, pigeon’s nests were not as warm as Suburban pigeon’s nest is. This is because SoBo pigeon did not get foliage leafs whereas suburban pigeon did! Three times I observed eggs ended with no baby pigeon because proper warmth was missing! Had I done something for the nest, pigeon wont have accepted it. I tried it once threw some cotton to help him/her.

    So both these pigeon’s a suburban and a SoBo made me think – when we do something for “Good” e.g. swapping for cleaning roads, are we really doing something good for the nature? Who knows!

    Is it butterfly effect – no matter how small, an event can change the course of the universe forever.

  • Keynes







    I enjoyed learning economics in my MBA, thanks to Prof Mankad for teaching Macroeconomics as a well narrated story of History of the world. He taught it so brilliantly that we all used to sit, go through the roller coasters up and down the history lane by-lanes and learn the development in economics and policy making.

    Being an average engineer, I too was unaware (still am) about economics before taking the course with Prof Mankad. This was the class where I came to know about John Manyard Keynes and keynesianism. I buy into his theory of Govt intervention (which wont go down well with many capitalists); however the way I have seen recent past is – challenges and largely corruption in implementation. In India, Govt has launched Food Security, Employment schemes – seems good as Keynes suggested, but the money is not reaching the right place.

    Well, I thought to write on Keynes because something moved me deeply in Prof Mankad’s class. That statement itched profoundly, whenever I thought about future that sentence resounded. Prof Mankad talked about Great Depression in his lectures. He introduced us to the Keynes and his idea, opposition to his idea and so on. In the lecture Prof Mankad said – what Keynes was – “in the long run we are all dead”.

    This statement is right however we can think on this two ways –

    1. (bad one) Anyway I will die one day – why worry, indulge and enjoy. [may be Tarun Tejpal (recent Tehelka sexual harassment case) and many others think this way]

    2. (Good intentions) Yes, if I am going to die, everyone dies, so what is the purpose of my being here? Am I like any other animal or plant, or I have some brain, who gave it to me? And so on…

    So, if …in the long run we are all dead… why all this drama (delusion)? in Hindi – यह प्रपंच क्यों?

  • Impermenance







    Recently, I relocated from Posh South Mumbai to Suburban Mumbai. There were reasons for this move. I used to travel 2+ hours one way in different public transports (a meager 35 KM distance). Not that I cannot afford a personal vehicle (or can not drive); I do not want to buy one. Considering various issues in Mumbai (India) – parking, traffic jam and notwithstanding petrol prices.

    So, after a troublesome one year travel of 4+ hours each working day, I decided to move on from the coveted South Mumbai (SoBo) to Suburban Mumbai. Now I travel 20-25 min (walk). Considering the kind of horrible experiences I had in last one year, this was a wonderful change. Alas! it had cost associated with it. (If you want to achieve something you have to let go of something else!) One one side I was happy that I am saving more than 3 hours of travel daily but the flip side was the kind of royal life e.g. three swimming pools (one Olympic size), track (again Olympic size well maintained) Golf Course at backyard (yes you can see a hole from 1 window of my bedroom), Happening place etc etc.

    I knew since day one of shifting to SoBo that I cannot afford it and I don’t belong here (at least currently). I always knew that this is not a permanent place for me. However, when I moved out of that comfort I felt strange as if that was my permanent abode. While I am yet settling down in Suburb, I know this is also a temporary abode (rented apartment). Yet, slowly we try to settle down as if we are to stay here forever. This transfer taught me good lesson on impermanence and our inability to come to terms with life and change. Change is difficult and change makes us uncomfortable.

    As an individual I found a very important change difficult; this must be even more difficult for organizations where many do not even realize the need for change, many are not willing to change and many just can not withstand change.

    Now I remember my MBA Marketing class with Prof Lopez, even more. He told me – “Pravin Marketing is like playing golf, you need to swing naturally.” Now there is no Golf course view from my bedroom and I did not move out of SoBo Naturally! Everything is impermanent even Sachin Tendulkar (God of Cricket) playing Cricket for India.

  • Neeraj in Kabir’s style







    Gopaldas Neeraj is an Indian poet. He wrote many poems, some I studied in my course work may be. I remember his Bollywood songs such as O meri sharmilee (from the movie Sharmilee) and Phoolon ke rang se, dil ki kalam se (from the movie Prem Pujari) etc. Read more poems here, and one of his poetry book.

    The most I like (rather love) is below – Neeraj ka Kabirana andaz. This poem I copied in a diary in 1998, found that diary when I was relocating recently. The poem title in English can be Neeraj in the style of Kabir. Kabir is (was) a sufi saint in India in 1500’s. Kabir wrote many things (called Doha) and tried uniting Hindu’s and Muslims (against their religious “blind belief system” to an awakened self). Here goes Neeraj (trying to translate in English – bold part below – for readers of other than Hindi readers). This translation is line by line translation. In some places a line should be read after the next line e.g. Line Number N+1 should be read before line number N.

    नीरज का कबीराना अंदाज़

    दिल के काबे मे नमाज़ पड़ (Dil ke kabe me namaz pad – pray in your heart)
    यहाँ वहाँ भरमाना छोड़ (Yahan vahan bharmana chhod – do not shout everywhere)
    सांस सांस तेरी अज़ान है (Sans sans teri azan hai – every breath is a call for prayer)
    सुबह शाम चिल्लाना छोड़ (Subhah sham chillana chod – do not shout day and night)

    उसका नूर ना मंदिर में है (Uska noor na mandir me hai – HIS glory is neither in temple)
    उसकी ज्योति ना मस्जिद मे (uski jyoti na masjid me – nor HIS glory is in any mosque)
    जिस मोती को ढूंड रहा तू (jis moti ko dhund raha tu – the pearl you’re searching for)
    वो है दिल के समंदर मे (vo hai dil ke samandar me – is within the sea of yourself)
    भीतर गोता मार बाहरी (bhitar gota mar bahari – jump Within O! worldly person)
    ये सब खोज खजाना छोड़ (ye sab khoj khajana chhod – do not search outside)

    जो कुछ बोले है पैगंबर (Jo kuch bole hai paigambar – whatever Paigambar said)
    वही कहा सब संतों ने (vahi kaha sab santon ne – same is said by other saints too)
    लेकिन उसकी मानी बदले (lekin uski mani badle – but the meanings have been changed)
    सारे भ्रष्ट महंतों ने (sare bhrast mahanton ne – by all the corrupt religious representatives)
    पंडित मुल्ला सब झूठे है (pandit mulla sab jhute hai – Pandit, Mulla all are liers)
    इनसे हाथ मिलना छोड़ (inse hath milana chhod – leave them, dont follow them)

    खुदा खलक से अलग नही है (Khuda khalak se alag nahi hai – God is not separate from creation)
    इसमे ही वो समाया है (isme hi vo samaya hai – God is within the creation)
    जैसे तुझमे ही पौषिदा (jaise tujhme hi poshida – as your own body)
    तेरा अपना साया है (tera apna saya hai – has its shadow)
    दुनिया से मत दूर भाग (dunia se mat dur bhag – do not run away from the world)
    बस मन की दौड़ लगाना छोड़ (bas man ki daud lagana chhod – stop running within your mind)

    पूजा पाठ नमाज़ जप (puja paath namaz jap – worship, Namaaz, chant everything)
    सब छलना और दिखावा है (sab chhalana aur dikhava hai – are show-off & cheating)
    दिल है तेरा साफ तो (dil hai tera saf to – if you heart is pure)
    तेरा घर ही काशी काबा है (tera ghar hi kashi kaba hai – your home itself is Kashi & Kaba)
    मकड़ जाल है ये सब जग के (makad jaal hai ye sab jag ke – this all is a cob-web)
    इनका ताना बना छोड़ (inka tana bana chhod – leave these framework)

    तू ही तो संसारी है रे (tu hi to sansari hai re – you are the worldly)
    और तू ही संसार भी है (aur tu hi sansar bhi hai – you are the world)
    कैदी तू ही, जैल भी तू ही, (kaidi tu hi, jail bhi tu hi – you are the jailer, you are the jailed)
    तू ही पहरेदार भी है(tu hi paharedar bhi hai – and you are the sentinel/guard)
    तीन गुनो वाली रस्सी मे (teen guno vali rassi me – a knot with these three attributes)
    अब तो गाँठ लगाना छोड़ (ab to gaandh lagana chhod – do not knot this rope)

    Specially in this I like the last bit (I would not want to write that in English, as the translation seem to lose the meaning –

    …दुनिया से मत दूर भाग
    बस मन की दौड़ लगाना छोड़…

    …कैदी तू ही, जैल भी तू ही,
    तू ही पहरेदार भी है…

    Whole world is created by our mind – we are the jailer, sentinel and jailed…

    Kabir Good read

  • Lesson from the Twitter…







    Twitter is a funny thing, at times, It teaches you some lessons unintentionally. This is what happened to me which made me think – am I writing what I feel is my opinion or I am writing what makes others feel good about my opinions? For a mere mortals – like I am – this question is of existence on twitter. So here comes my thoughts on survival on twitter.

    I wrote last month The Master is the Servant’s Servant. I remember reading this in the Book of Mirdad. Recently, I revisited this line – Master is the servant’s servant and vice versa. In this “virtually socially connected world” There is a new paradigm to looking at this saying of Mirdad.

    During Diwali, I purged my list of people I am following on Twitter. I unfollowed whom I thought I should not follow now. Similarly I looked at the list of people who are following me. I realized, that there was a time when I had more than 250 follower e.g. more than 250 people following me and getting my tweets on their timelines. Slowly this number had declined. Many people did what I did to few during Diwali ‘cleaning’! They simply “Unfollowed” me. So, I was wondering, how come I reached 250+ followers? I tweeted about 1. political opinions, 2. my view on economics 3. spirituality and 4. Business e.g. Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation, Startups, Entrepreneurship & VC/PE deals, Analytics, Big Data etc.

    Actually, many people followed when I tweeted what “sounded” good to their ears. Me being me – later on – I might have written something against those thoughts or something irrelevant to those followers – the simply went. No regrets – actually, that growing number gives you a false sense of pride – believe me it feels like that initially. I realized that ok – writing this or that makes people follow you. Should I start writing in this or that manner? I was getting in the trap of being salves of those few people who wanted to hear what suited most to them. Well, that was what making me servant (of others opinion) and them the master (of my owns opinion).

    So, it is a kind of question of one’s existence. cogito Ergo Sum (I think therefore I exist) or my thoughts echo with thoughts of the People therefore I exist (at least on twitter).

    Anyways the reality is – we are all interdependent and therefore the definition of salve and master is incorrect in itself.

    Disclaimer – I do not intend to demean those 1. who followed me, 2. later unfollowed me, 3. still following me 4. whom I follow, 5. I unfollowed and 6. I am still following etc on Twitter.

  • The Price of Inequality







    I have read Dr Joseph Stiglitz. He is a Nobel prize awarded economist. The book I read first was Globalization and its discontents and recently I started reading The price of Inequality.

    I realized that Dr Stiglitz may not be the so called capitalist economist, he is capitalist but with a touch of a Just and relatively Equal society. So, when I started reading “The price of Inequality” I started wondering what kind of wealth difference exist in the US. Since, I have never been to the US so the picture of the USA I have always created is – no poverty, everyone having enough and more to not only survive but also a lavish life, a home with front garden, a car parking (of course too), wonderful interiors of the home etc. This picture is largely because of the Movies we watch – on a lighter note Hollywood is responsible for that ;).

    Well, while reading the book, I came across a video on Facebook (watch below).

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM]

    Though, some may argue this video is shared for more socialistic reform e.g. healthcare reform, but that is not the point of contention for me. Watch Margin Call to understand the point of view of the bosses of the investment banks – well to sum up “They do not care! Everything will be fine in sometime.”

    My perspective is not a fight on any economic approach e.g. socialism Vs Capitalism, I favor inclusive growth and I believe for achieving that we need to follow a middle path wherein a mixed approach be used.

    Read my previous blogs related to the book – Globalization and its discontents

    Blogs here

  • The virtue of Truthfulness







    Rummuser, Ramana Rajagopaul, is my friend, mentor and uncleji. He recently felt that I should read a book and sent it to me. The book is titled – Yoga in day-to-day life. This book is published by Sri Ramkrishna Math. Still reading the book and thought to share a story of this book. Chapter 2 first para.

    The young Kauravas and Pandavas were learning their first lessons. The Acharya pronounced the vedic text: Satyam vada, dharmam chara, (सत्यम वदा , धर्मं चरा) “Speak the truth, follow the path of righteousness”, and asked the pupils to repeat.Every one repeated. The teacher asked them to memorize the text. Next day, he asked what they had learnt from previous day. All pronounced: Satyam vada, dharmam chara, except Yudhishthira. Surprised, the acharya asked why could he, the eldest and the brightest among the one hundred and give pupils, not learn such a simple lesson? What Yudhishthira said in reply was an indication of his future greatness as the exemplar par-excellence of truth. He plainly confessed that he had not yet learnt to speak the truth. Others might have memorized the few words, but that certainly was not the purport of this short but profound precept: Satyam vada – speak the truth. Unless one speak the truth in day-to-day life, what use was it merely memorize a few words?

    Do not we do this often in our life, present something heard somewhere as your opinion, thought or brain child. Perhaps this blog – where I am taking the story of Mahabharat (published in some book). Is it plagiarism? I think many things of Indian origin are beyond petty Intellectual Property Rights!

  • Big data – lesson on spirituality







    I was talking to my MD – Dr Vivek Damle. I said, Big data is “relevant information provider” for real time. One cannot rely on old data generated by a person, say in 2010, for marketing strategy (I am writing this blog in 4th Quarter of 2013). The discussion went on a very strange yet lovely tangent, Dr Damle said – “… so big data would take us on the road of spirituality, is it? I mean to say – like suggesting us to live in the present!”

    I was impressed with this thought. So here comes the lesson learnt from spirituality and applied to the Big Data and vice versa.

    Big-dataBig data is all about volume, variety and velocity… so data generate say 2 yrs back is likely to be irrelevant for today’s marketing campaign. In coming days or say months – all analytics would move to the real time e.g. at the moment of truth. Spirituality teaches us this very simple lesson (difficult to apply in real life though) – “live in the present moment”. As Master Oogway says in The Kung Fu Panda – Yesterday Is History, Tomorrow Is a Mystery, but Today Is a Gift. That Is Why It Is Called the Present.

    I was thinking – is technology forcing us today to spiritual concepts? Or unknowingly are we moving towards concepts of spirituality through technology?

    Big data can help identify a persons choices and predict his or her future course of action… but what in case of older data? That data would have lesser significance. Take an example in India, Narendra Modi (PM candidate in India from Opposition Party – BJP) for someone was communal few years back now is a hope, why? because perceptions changed. Vice versa for Dr Man Mohan Singh (PM of India). Old data less relevance. If I talk about my owns example of last month – I was searching for rental apartment, not now. The data I created while searching for a rental apartment last month is irrelevant now. The marketing campaigns will be more real time e.g. the present not based on “Historical” data.

    Earlier in my professional engagement as a marketing analytics consultant, we made a predictive model. The client executed the recommendation more than 8 months later. result – failed. no one wanted to take the blame. That’s what is the case is in a fast moving world.

    Live in the present.

    For Business people – try to be more real-time data based decision makers.

    Image source – http://www.greenbookblog.org/2012/03/21/big-data-opportunity-or-threat-for-market-research/