Business to the Buddha

Tag: Takers

  • Earth day







    Today is Earth day. Actually everyday should be The Earth Day, its ok at least we human have given recognition to earth that one out of the 365 days is celebrated as Earth day. Perhaps we have taken the liberty to pollute earth for 364 days after celebrating one day in the remembrance. If we keep our act as it is currently, the remembrance will soon become “remembrance” only. More precisely worst we wont be there to observe the remembrance either.

    Is there something that we can learn from Earth? Many! Just stick to the two here. It gives without any expectations. Thanks to the Earth, every cell in our body is made up of earth. We did not bring anything and would not take anything back with us. Can we learn to reduce our expectations?

    It holds us all without any ego that “you exist because of me”. We get into this kind of me, my opinion and my way of living (religion) better than yours faster than we learn to exist on this earth. Humanity is fighting for small little opinions for centuries, its lately that we have realized the value of Earth to at least celebrate the day. In fact this Earth day is a lesson to all of us – that we need to give up our dominion. This image represents it far better than words can.

    We believe we are free to take our actions, we forget that the consequences are also there. These consequences are not just for us but for everyone around us. Some of the species are extinct already other few are in line. The whole world is interdependent on each other. If we miss this point we wont exist sooner rather than later. I read it once – If all bees die, humans will die soon too.

    Let us celebrate this earth day with respect to the mother earth and to each and every creature on the face of the earth. Otherwise for long we have been the “takers“.

    Forget businesses and countries, humans wont survive if we do not learn the lesson of interdependent co-arising. No wonder we need to learn the lessons taught by previous spiritual masters – compassion, Non-attachment, Nonviolence, mindfulness and gratitude.

  • Give up Dominion







    Just imagine, there are only humans on the planet earth! I think that was what happened to the Dinosaurs. Perhaps they started killing other dinosaurs just to capture more land – territory – for their survival. They tried to prove their superiority and eventually got over powered by the universe with some meteoroid. Whatever the reality of dinosaurs was, try to see if there seems to be an analogy.

    We humans are almost doing what dinosaurs did. They were the kings of the planet, they tried to capture as much land from other species as well as their own species e.g. other dinosaurs. We are one step ahead – we are eating in the mind-share also.

    Wikipedia definition of mind-share – When people think of examples of a product type or category, they usually think of a limited number of brands. The aim of mind share is to establish a brand as being one of the best kinds of a given product or service, and to even have the brand name become a synonym for the product or service offered. For example – in India Colgate is Toothpaste, Maggi is instant noodle more recent across the world, searching something on net is – Google it!

    The mind-share in larger terms happens to be in many forms – Forbes creates a list of most rich, powerful, etc etc list. Recently, Economic Times published a list of 100 most power CEOs (business people) of India. Product or service as example given above, religion creates another different type of mind-share. But effectively, the problem with this kind of mind-share is – a complex of superiority. My brand is better, my religion is better, my company is better and I am most powerful etc.

    Here is another short video from the movie Instinct staring Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding Jr. This is in continuation of the previous blog – We the takers!

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGriwjHA8bM]

    Here, Dr Powell ( character of Hopkins) says something interesting (source – script) –

    …We have only one thing to give up – our dominion. We don’t own the world. We’re not kings here, not gods. Can we give that up?

    Too precious!

    all that control? Too tempting, being a god?

    Dominion - source- http://eremozoic.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/ego-eco.jpg

    Actually, at times I feel that physical ownership can be given and taken easily. You own land and sell it to someone else, now the owner is changed. Tougher is mental ownership. I am a born Hindu, for me Hinduism becomes most sacred religion because I was taught this. Think of a Muslim or Christan child he was taught the same. We fight more wars based on our religious belief rather than anything else. Though I am a born Hindu (actually a Lingayat who do not consider themselves as Hindus as such) but I think the method of giving up this dominion is Yoga, Meditation, Prayers (any religious prayer without superiority complex) or Service (check Sikhism & the Art of Living).

    Why I put Yoga first because Patanjali has said first few very important steps to get rid of this mind problem. Why I specifically put Sikhism and Art of Living because I have seen Sikhs that way (go to a Gurudwara – the richest would be serving) and I have been involved with few service projects of Art of Living.

    Thank you Vijay you made me watch Instinct.

    Related blogs –

    Illusion of control, Ego, Forbidden word, Evolution

    When will we stop?, What more we need?, Cogito ergo sum

    Dichotomy of happiness, Cause, What difference will it make?

    Image source – http://eremozoic.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/ego-eco.jpg

  • We the takers!







    It was 2004 or earlier, one of my friends – Vijay Sharma, fond of watching Hollywood movies – gave me a CD. He told me – must watch. Being a rental CD I went home watched the movie without delay. This movie was Instinct staring Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding Jr. Anthony Hopkins is playing an anthropologist – Dr Ethan Powell and Cub Gooding a Psychiatrist –  Dr. Theo Caulder. Ethan studies Gorillas in Africa and is lost in Jungles. After a couple of years caught, as he had murdered two people in Jungle.

    The movie starts with Hopkins leaving African jail to fly back to USA. While traveling from jail to the airbase, he is put in a closed enclosure vehicle with two ferocious doberman dogs. When the vehicle reaches airbase and guards open the enclosure, the guards find that the dogs are lovingly and peacefully sitting by Hopkins. What it means? Well, you should watch the movie to find it. But it is a subtle (well prominent) statement of what Dr Ethan Powell (Hopkins) is. After watching this movie way back, I started liking acting of Anthony Hopkins, a wonderful actor indeed. There are other wonderful clips in the movie on which I would write in future, here is one of the clips. You must watch the movie

    Between 10th and 11th minute in this clip, the gorilla is trying to open shoe lace of Dr Powell. Whatever the Director wanted to show, to me it was as if the gorilla is saying – “…leave your shackles… You are bound with your own stuff, do not be bound to what you have created. Just leave those jails of your own creation” The following is a dialog of the character Dr Powell (source – script)

    … ln there, deep in those forests, away from everything you know, everything you’ve ever been taught… by school or book or song or rhyme, you find peace, Juha, kinship, harmony, even safety. You’ll find more danger in one day in any city in the world… than you will ever find in those forests.

    Do you understand that?…

    In the end, of the clip Hopkins is calling humans as “takers”. We are the takers! We take stuff from others or nature and try to prove our ownership to it. In the movie clip above Cuba Gooding is a taker by asking for his time, saying “you are free, you can leave now”. In the overall movie he is taking Hopkin’s opinion  for his book, promotion and professional success. In Dr Powell’s words we have taken a lot from the nature and claiming it to be ours – for example the petroleum, land by deforestation etc. Apparently many problems such as depleting underground water is our creation, Uttarakhand flood to name a few.

    Lately, I have been working on a project related to sustainability. It was interesting that by chance, I watched the movie instinct once again. We are indeed takers. We have taken a lot from the nature, in many senses destroyed the ecology – natural calamity are results of that. We are the takers – we will die leaving everything here but still we boost our ownership!

    Related blogs

    Ego, Forbidden word, Evolution

    When will we stop?, What more we need?, Cogito ergo sum

    Dichotomy of happiness, Cause,