Business to the Buddha

Category: Misc

  • Dichotomy on happiness…







    “There are some things money cannot buy…” I am not talking about Master Card! Generally speaking, I was thinking that there are many things money cannot buy. In fact, the Buddha left his whole empire! He too knew there are “somethings money cannot buy”. This is where I had two minds, and thought to share these thoughts and request for feedbacks.

    The first and foremost thing money cannot buy is LOVE, you are a better judge for this. Other important thing is happiness, in a spiritual context ‘bliss’.

    Sometime back I decided to leave a very lucrative offer the reason was I knew at my heart of my heart, I would not want to do this work and would not enjoy the work. The other option was – nothing! So, it was a tough decision to leave something (something immensely rewarding) for nothing. Recently, I met one of my friends (he knew my previous decision) his first and repeated question to me was – ‘Are you happy?’ And all the time my answer was – ‘YES, are not you happy with what you are doing?’ His response was with many riders – “yes for ‘X’ I am happy, but because of ‘Y’ I have some issues, you know this and you know that and this is what and whatever whatever etc”.

    I thought we take so many decisions “for” or “because of” some or the other things e.g. money. We tend to give drivers seat to our ‘mind’ for making criteria and decision too, while a rear seat to our ‘heart’. Relationship, emotions, all these relate to heart and we largely overlook these while making decision. However, being human we are driven largely by emotions and therefore there has to be a balance between rationality and emotion in decision making too.

    Then came the second perspective – if one wants to be happy no one can stop him/her from being happy. Happiness is a very personal matter. Two persons in similar circumstances could have different feelings (one ecstatic and other wretched). Peace of mind cannot be bought in the market, it has to be felt. If it has to be felt, why cannot one be peaceful while doing whatever he/she is doing? … So the dichotomy is – do we make decision based on few factors and that is the reason for us to be happy or we are happy because we want to be happy and irrespective of the decision we make or irrespective of what happens in our life.

    The question to ask is – happiness requires fulfillment of the CONDITIONS we create for being happy or it is a feeling irrespective of what happens in our life/to us? These conditions, to me, are never ending… as it happens to the squirrel in Ice Age-Trilogy and to Chaipau in Salaam Bombay“. Dichotomy of happiness is you decide on what you enjoy doing or you remain happy irrespective of the situation you are in….

    Related blogs – Cause…, the Middle Path, No judgement its all about perception and Balancing Act, When will we stop?

  • God be the CEO!







    From The book of Mirdad –

    God is your captain, sail, my Ark!
    …
    Love is your compass, ply, my Ark!
    …
    Faith is your anchor, ride, my Ark!

    Today I was wondering about what if the world is an organization and the God is the CEO! What would be the situation, in the boardroom and what must be going through His mind?

    Situation – the countries and continents are a department each. There is a cost center – USA – this department is in debt and there seems to be no way out for it to survive. The likely other cost center is the EU – European Union. Operations and manufacturing unit is China. Parts of Middle-East and India a chaotic department wherein the left hand ‘does not know‘, ‘does not want to know‘ and ‘does not want to support‘ what the right hand is doing. The chaos is such that the department is rather a destruction center, not even a cost center. Only good department seem to be Africa and the South East Asia region. Would the CEO resign? Or He would dismiss few those who are responsible for this. For namesake – Former president of USA George W Bush (he forced the world to a war – to me which was unnecessary – the Iraq war), Gaddafi, many politicians including Indian politicians, leaders of the terrorist organizations (Osama is already dead) and those others who are the culprits.

    Keep aside the joke of the God being the CEO. Do you think that the situation is really dire – accounts (economy), production and administration everything is in a chaos. If yes, do not you think that it is our responsibility to improve everything round us. Should one take life of the other in the biggest organization – The World? (terrorism). Should one be corrupt in the organization where her/his family will also be at the receiving end? (India). Should one produce products which could be contaminated by Lead (China – some toys), be prone to fail and take life (cars)? Should one be so extravagant that the whole organization is under debt because of that department? (USA).

    Even if we still continue thinking the God be the CEO, would not the CEO want every employee to do his/her job responsibly, be moderate and ethical? Let us hope that the CEO succeeds in his mission and vision of making the organization profitable with the triple bottom-line and make it an ethical organization. With that hope what we need is ‘responsible we’ – each one of us – and committed employee to make the organization a better place.

    Note – those who are agnostic, for the time being consider God exists. Or do not read the blog, or shoot your concerns/comments. Even if we do not want to consider God be the CEO, I thought about another philosophy from India – ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’. It means that the whole world is one single family. Would you kill your brother or sister, would you do something for which you may have to feel sorry in your family?

  • When will we stop?







    I watched this movie – Salaam Bombay! directed by Meera Nayar (1988). This movie was nominated for Oscars as Indian entry. A sad movie with only one good thing – a character ‘Baba’ dies, receiving the fruits of his deeds.

    The end of the movie seemed very artistic, philosophical and thought provoking to me. The hero – Chaipau or Krishna – is back to square one. Khali haath aaya tha aur khali hath hi hai. (in Hindi) He comes to Mumbai (Bombay of that time) empty hands and is empty hands in the end too. He has a beyblade (or torque) in his hand. That toy to me was the vicious circle of life.

    The protagonist has to collect INR 500 for his elder brother for a damaged bike. Circumstances happen such that he could never save that much. It seemed similar to me as the Ice Age 1 2 3 squirrel on which I wrote earlier in the blog Cogito Ergo Sum meaning “I think, therefore, I Exist”. The squirrel is behind the corn and our protagonist is for collecting INR 500. A sad truth – we are always running behind something. When the Buddha told to Angulimala – “I stopped long back, when will you stop?” Angulimala – a hardened criminal – stopped.

    Our INR 500 will never be saved and the corn will always elude us… When will we stop?

  • Cogito ergo sum







    I always wonder about these things… what is the difference between we human beings and animals? They are also living being, then what is the difference? This thought comes again and again in my mind. Recently when I was watching the movie Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. The thought again came in my mind – whats the difference? Most interesting part is – the protagonists in the movie are animals.

    Whenever I watch that movie, one character pops out – “on the face” – often and it reminds me of us – the human beings. It is the squirrel – Scrat. In every screen it is fighting for its corn – similar to our life. The corn represents our jobs, loved ones and issues faced regularly etc etc and alas! the list never ends. And secondly, the fight and the run never ends!

    Cogito, Ergo Sum is a philosophical statement by Descartes, meaning – I think, therefore I exist. Yes the proof of ‘my existence’ is that at least I am thinking that whether I exist or not, right? And the question of my existence is not just about existence; it is deeper, why are we doing what are we doing? And even further it goes to why do we exist? Because perhaps even without thinking of existence animals exist, right? And here the logic fails, I have heard saints saying – life does not listen to your logic. There has to be some reason of us having a more developed brain which gives us the capabilities to think about our existence and the question – why we exist? It is similar to phophobia – fear of phobia, existence of the question of existence :).

    Whatever the case is – I think, therefore I exist! And we all exist like the Scrat in the mids of the fish (e.g. ourselves, our friends and enemies) trying to save our corn e.g. ourselves, job, loved one etc etc.

    Image source – www.imdb.com

  • You cannot drive car looking at the rear view mirror







    I was watching a movie “Do Aankhen barah haath”, a very old Hindi movie directed by V Shantaram and also the lead role played by him. Since it is a very old movie acting is melodramatic, could be questioned and people can find many faults too, however as I wrote earlier in one of the blogs “Lost in translation” what is more important message or the presentation? So, you can watch the movie for the message.

    I related the movie to a part of the Buddha’s life. Many of us must have heard the story of Angulimala, a bandit. However, how many know the story of him before he became Angulimala and after the meeting with the Buddha?

    Angulimala was a bandit, killer of people just to get their fingers and make a garland. Yes thats what is known about him. The real name of Angulimala was “Ahinsak” or “Ahimsak“, a Sanskrit/Pali word meaning “nonviolent”. The pre Angulimala view about Ahinsak is on the link. What happened to him after he met the Buddha? When he met the Buddha, he became a Bhikku.

    The following part is from the book Blog – Old path white clouds (Book – Old Path White Clouds). Soon after he became a Bhikku he died, how? As a Bhikku he went to the same village where he killed people for making the garland of fingers. People attacked him to take the revenge, not noticing that he is a Bhikku, completely changed person now and he is not even reacting to the attack. The message of the attack reached the Buddha, he rushed to the place. Severely wounded, Angulimala, died in the laps of the Buddha.

    Similar situation arrives in the movie “Do Aankhen barah haath”, I could relate those sequences to the story of Angulimala.

    My Engineering college professor Dr Anand Swaroop Saxena told me way back (in 2001 some time) – “inherently people are not flawed, situation drive people to react in the way they react.” Dr Saxena taught me a great deal, I worked with him on my undergraduate project (published in a national journal :)). He always intrigued me with his simple, profound and ruminating words. For one question he said “…situations are responsible.”. Later I met a Sant Sai Kaka, he too said almost the same thing with more details and profundity. The reaction part comes from the prior experience (sanskar) one had in life. These statements changed the paradigm for my thinking. Yet it is the responsibility of the person to control oneself not to be driven by the situation/sansakar/prior experience.

    Two points to make here – 1. inherently people are not flawed, situation drive people to react in the way they react and 2. past experiences are the milestone you have left behind while you drive to a destination. You cannot drive car looking at the rear view mirror – is not it right!

  • Life is trouble. Only death is not…







    Wait, wait, wait… well the title has to be understood completely. I was reading something by J. Krishamurti (JK), liked the following and posting here. JK was a philosopher of last century, more on wiki or just search on net….

    When we close
    the windows and doors of our house
    and stay inside, we feel very secure, safe.

    But life is not like that.
    Life is constantly knocking at our door,
    trying to push open our windows that we may see more;
    and if out of fear we lock the doors, bolt all the windows,

    the knocking only grows louder.

    The closer we cling to security in any form,
    the more life comes and pushes us.

    – Life Ahead. p 54

    I recall the following statement of Zorba a character in Book – “Zorba The Greek” a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis.

    Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and *look* for trouble. – Zorba the Greek

    Think it over, life is a trouble only death is not… take challenges, uncover yourself, open the doors of possibilities and fly as high as you can. As much as I try to explore myself and push the envelop I realize I can go even further… it is all about getting to know oneself.

    Therefore take trouble, undo your belts and open the doors to possibilities.

  • Music and Yoga







    For a long time I refrained from writing on this topic on my blog. Here it is today…

    I was learning Indian Classical Music (ICM) during 2008-2010. I felt that there is relation between ICM nd Yoga (the chakra of Human body). There are seven swars (Notes) in ICM and seven chakras in body, can any raaga be used to invoke a chakra or help in spiritual practice of an individual? This was the question when I started working on this. My Art of Living teacher (Dr Shikant Agashe) and my Guruji of Music class (Mr B G Tilak) helped me explore this further until I left for further academic pursuits.

    Honestly speaking, I do not have any conclusive research report/measure for the same currently, however a strong feeling says there is some relation. With a few challenges we also devised an experiment and in fact we communicated with few other doctors and experts of ICM.

    People have helped us in providing information about use of ICM in medicine as alternative method and Nad Yoga. So, there are many paths going out from ICM, the path I am considering here is ‘ relation between ICM and The Chakras of human body.

    At a later stage, I happened to read a book titled Music As Yoga by Patrick Bernard (visit PatrickBernard.com). In the book I found something interesting – Page 109 – …According to Young: “when a specific series of harmonically related frequencies are continuous, in more definite way, the sound thus produced stimulates a psychological state which is felt by the listener given the fact that such a series of frequencies will continually trigger a specific series of auditory nerves which, in turn, will carry out the same transmission operation from a periodic model of impulses to the series of points determined by their counterparts in the cerebral cortex…” The above part I feel – somehow – relates to the ICM and yoga. The term written above “specific series of harmonically related frequencies” seems to be specific raaga.

    Still the search (research) is to be continued and for that measurement system is needed, things to do and cart to move… Just thought to share it on my blog – perhaps some strings can vibrate, some can resonate and some find the right tune… and we find something interesting.

  • Fruit will arrive in its season…







    We talk about long term sustainability, but want to gain in short term. Shareholders want quick dividends as well as long term performance of the company. If reserves and surplus (R&S) are given in dividends where would company get money for growth. In such cases our actions and desires conflict. I initially thought about the Japanese currency crises in similar fashion (common cause Vs individual gain). Though later Prof Mankad told me that the reason of the appreciation of Japanese Yen could be the computer triggered buying/selling, the way people put stop loss trigger in share trading.

    In operations, different departments try to optimize their performance, what happens to the overall performance? It is synergy that matters rather than the individual performance. Thats where ‘Theory of Constraints’ plays an important role to achieve global optimum against the local optimum.

    I was thinking about the same for some time in a different fashion. What is long term goal of an organization and an individual? How do both the goals meet and how to build synergy between individual’s aspirations and organizations perpetuity? Why did the question arise at the first place? A branding expert told us that marketing managers want to start new brand building exercise (to gain in short term for writing on their resume – ‘I started this initiative’) and move to next level. New manager comes he/she too does the same. Short term gains are there for the marketing manager; yet for long term the brand is diluted perhaps no one knows what would the brand stand for in future. I believe, Sataym fiasco started similarly – to show the investors that Satyam is growing, numbers were made up.

    Effectively, the question to ask is – how many times we look at the bigger picture? The question goes back to Why are we doing what are we doing? I recall Prof Lopez digging deeper and probing us to the fundamental reasons and the importance of asking right questions. Where does the bug stop?

    In school we learnt couplets (termed as Doha in Hindi) of a mystic Kabir, one of them was –
    धीरे धीरे रे मना धीरे सब कुछ होय
    पानी सीचे रे घणा ऋतू आये फल होय
    Literal translation (courtesy) of the same is –
    O mind! everything happens at its own pace, slowly
    Gardner may water a hundred buckets, fruit arrives only in its season.

    I am hopeful that some day those questions would be answered and we individually and collectively would balance between the long term Vs the short term perspective. there would not be much (if not any) of opportunism. We as human beings will evolve. I am optimist, “…fruit will arrive in its season…” and we are nearing the season.

  • To Sir, with love…







    I watched a movie sometime back – To Sir With Love. The long and short of the story is – To Sir With LOVE. I want to thank all my teachers for making me what I am. The following lines are dedicated to all my teachers, those who have taught me outside or inside the class. The Buddha’s of my life, who taught me – either the Buddha’s way or the business way.

    The time has come,
    For closing books and long last looks must end,
    And as I leave,
    I know that I am leaving my best friend,
    A friend who taught me right from wrong,
    And weak from strong,
    That’s a lot to learn,
    What, what can I give you in return?

    If you wanted the moon I would try to make a start,
    But I, would rather you let me give my heart,
    To Sir, with Love

    Thank you so much all of you, you made a great positive impact on my life.

  • Chhoti Si Baat (Small things…)







    This post is dedicated to all my friends whom I met exactly one year back at SP Jain Center of Management Singapore Campus. Video on the link of Youtube. This is a song from an old Hindi Movie (Chhoti Si Baat). Bold are the lyrics in English for my international friends… for Phuong – please don’t try to learn Hindi from the below translation you may get confused 🙂

    Na Jaane Kyu, Hota Hai Yeh Zindagi Ke Saath
    Achaanak Yeh Mann, Kisike Jaane Ke Baad
    Kare Phir Uski Yaad Chhoti Chhoti Si Baat
    Na Jaane Kyun …
    I wonder why, this happens with life
    this mind suddenly remembers
    small things about someone; after he is gone
    I wonder why

    Jo Anjaan Pal, Dhal Gaye Kal, Aaj Woh
    Rang Badal Badal, Mann Ko Machal Machal
    Rahen Hai Chal, Na Jaane Kyun Woh Anjaan Pal
    Saje Bhi Na Mere, Naino Mein
    Toote Re Hai Re Sapno Ke Mahal
    Na Jaane Kyun …
    Those unknown moments,
    happened earlier,
    are playing in mind today I wonder why
    Without you my dreams of palace are shattered
    I wonder why it happens with life

    Wohi Hai Dagar, Wohi Hai Safar
    Hai Nahin Saath Mere Magar Ab Mera Humsafar
    Idhar Udhar Dhoonde Nazar Wohi Hai Dagar
    Kahan Gayi Shaamein, Madhbhari
    Woh Mere, Mere Woh Din Gaye Kidhar
    Na Jaane Kyun …
    The road is same the jorney is the same
    my eyes are searching for my companion
    I wonder why…
    Where did my evenings go
    where did my days go
    Wonder why is this happens with life
    suddenly this mind
    remembers small things
    about someone after he is gone
    I wonder why…

    Good luck to you all, do well. It was a wonderful learning experience with wonderful classmates and Professors.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL6Sc9SU5jE]