Readers Adieu!

Dear readers

I regret to inform you that for various reasons, I will stop writing here and start writing elsewhere. You will see one final post where I will point you to my new blog. Hopefully, you will find it much more useful and engaging.

Let go of the gas pedal, floor the clutch and put your hand around the gear knob because we are going to change gears!

Can the East make the West happy?

An Indian expatriate, who returned to India with her family after many years,  quotes an American cab driver who says, 'America? It's just drugs, rock and roll, and sex, no?' That perception of America makes me feel sad. I have felt a deep sense of respect for the way American values individuality.

Americans' divorce rates are among the highest in the world: somewhere around 50%. Millions of broken families and millions of children who grow up with single parents? That makes me feel sad too. But then, this separation from one's families may be what instills the individuality in Americans.

Many yogis agree that pain and suffering are caused by the pursuit of pleasure and desire. The Declaration of Independence signed by the founders of the United States of America grants the right to the pursuit of happiness to its citizens.


If what these yogis agree on is right and it's true in the case happiness and sadness, the American Constitution and the code of its establishment inevitably grants sadness to its citizens. All Americans have the right to be sad. Do Americans make themselves sad while they pursue happiness, their birthright? If so, where do they look outside their community to find true happiness?

Robert Pirsig, the author of 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', and 'Lila', studied at Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India. He was on a quest for a complete understanding of the virtue he calls 'Quality'. After reading his book, I think that he might have realized the true meaning of Quality. He returned to his country after staying for a while in India and continues to live there.

Steve Jobs used to go to the local Hare Krishna temple on Sunday nights for food. After listening to his speech to Stanford students in 2005, I think that he may have picked up some deep Hindu values. He roamed India looking for enlightenment. I sincerely hope his seven-month trip to the country I was born into was helpful to him.

The West seems to be glancing occasionally, out of the corner of its eye, at the East for true understanding of itself. If great Americans have looked for happiness, enlightenment and liberation in the Orient, can India and other Asian countries offer happiness to the large masses of the West?

Seeking to create a great business?

Are you wondering how to make your good business a great business? Here are eight ways to build a great organization:

1. The first step is to choose your business values. Once your values are chosen, your vision and mission have to be aligned with them.
2. Execute those projects by completing which your business will move closer to your values.
3. Get out of the way: enable continuous and frequent feedback to each individual directly from the client. The worst any business can do to ruin itself is by doing more of what it's not supposed to do entirely: management.
4. Before you attempt to drive out fear by encouraging leadership, set and communicate the ethical framework within which your company will operate.
5. Have each individual’s productivity openly and positively advertized every minute at the workplace.
6. Grant each employee the right to the alarm button. This should alert you about present or future events that could make the employee or your business unproductive.
7. Encourage critical opinion and kill cynical opinions in open forums.
8. Have unrestricted and unlimited access for employees to add to and tap from knowledge within the company.

From a ruffled search to a spotlight

Whenever someone used to say to be open-minded, my mind used to ache from all the blame it was trying to pour out on that person and his theories, and from my unfounded arrogance that I knew everything.

Some months later, happening to watch a video of a speech by a psychoanalyst helped alleviate my mind-ache. In the middle of his somewhat technical talk about the trauma of immigration, he asked if we thought about our thyroid, and stated that we only thought about them when they went haywire. This out-of-the-blue example of thinking about the thyroid gave me a hint toward what open-mindedness meant. For some reason, his question and answer seemed extremely insightful. There could be so many such things I didn't think about regularly or even once in my life and took them for granted, that it indicated how closed my mind was everyday.

A few years later and very recently, I realized that blaming was one of the hurdles to clear thinking. I especially felt very connected to a quotation that went "In shallow men the fish of little thoughts cause much commotion. In oceanic minds the whales of inspiration make hardly a ruffle."

I realized that the pain my mind felt while I was attempting to open it was not because I was trying to drill a hole into my skull. My fish-like thoughts were causing a lot of commotion. They were disturbing my own mind, muddling its clarity and inhibiting my view of the ultimate purpose. All the pain I felt was really the frustration in trying to locate the shiny pebble of purpose on the river-bed while disturbing the water of uncontrolled thoughts during my search.

I learned that I had to be patient and stand back, while I identify the pattern in which my thoughts flowed. This didn't take more than a minute in most cases. Once I understood the pattern, I could visualize the deep and stable underlying pebbles of interesting insights. In some cases, these were round and shiny and were really valuable.

Now that I know what to do in order to open my mind, I see myself getting better at it. After some practice, I find that I can also see patterns among the insights themselves. Just as pebbles are easy to see once I identify the pattern in which the water flows, I come across some even more valuable things when these insights themselves have a pattern to them. Shall I tell you what they are?

The gems of truth.

Sneaks on a plane

To attend my sister's engagement, I flew from Delhi to Hyderabad. Towards the end of my flight, just before the cabin lights were going to be turned on, I noticed that a reading light in the row behind me was on, and another man was reading a book in its light. I longed to see the cover of the book and find out its title, but I didn't get that opportunity.

I wondered how many other people on the plane were reading. Was this man and myself the only people out of about 180 passengers on the plane? I decided to find out. I lifted myself slightly above my seat, and counted that 15 reading lights were on at that time.

I assume most of these passengers were reading on the plane, and that's why they had their reading lights on. This means that about 8% of flight passengers read on the plane.

I take comfort in the fact that it's not just 1 out of 180, but it's 15 out of 180, and that I am not the only oddity, as some people would have me believe.

We readers might sneak into our bags and pull out our books while the others are asleep in the semi-darkness, but we believe that it's productive and more efficient to learn or entertain ourselves while we relax and travel, don't we?

Time and money

Few people know how to manage their money. Even fewer can actually effectively manage their money. We have all heard the clichè "A penny saved is a penny earned". Our parents and grandparents have endlessly repeated it to us and etched it on the inside of our skulls. Just because the famous Benjamin Franklin said it does not validate it or make the statement more credible than when your father or mother tells you the same thing. The statement is true because of the keen insight it gives us into the fundamental nature of human behavior.

Not a lot of people think in terms of time the same way they think about money. These are the exceptional people who found their way to eternal freedom from stress, frustration and the resulting chaos-filled events in their lives. It's unfortunate that I have not heard of a similar quotation about time that's repeated as often as the quotation that equates a saved penny and an earned penny.

If I had a trumpet and access to sound channels that can carry my voice to willingly-lent ears in the world, I would blow it and yell into these ears, "A minute saved is a minute earned". Time and money are equatable.

Just like when you say to yourself, "I am not going to buy this. It's a waste of money, and I will buy something better with the money I save.", people who have learned to effectively manage their time tell themselves in addition, "I am not going to do this. This is a waste of my time. I will do something better with that time."

Those who can effectively manage both their time AND money are the people who live in heaven while their bodies roam the earth. They inspire us simply by existing, by leadership of example, by resonating with our deepest values, and by speaking the language of heaven translated into the language of the earth.

Let us learn this heavenly method of living a full life and relieve ourselves of stress and frustration. Let us hold on to the safe principles of eternal wisdom they teach us and keep ourselves from falling into the deep chasm of ignorance filled with chaos. Let's not think in terms of money. Let's not think in terms of time. Let us think in terms of time AND money, leading us to live wiser lives.

Time and quality pell-mell

About, I hear many professionals tell
me projects they are trying to sell.
They start with the clang of the bell
and end to deliver in blazing hell.

Of desire and fear, the urn

So much to read, so much to learn,
so much knowledge to gain I yearn.
Toward wherever my mind does turn,
I feel my curiosity intensely burn.

A test of human ability

On a bright day with a clear sky, a table like the one you see in a physician's office is placed in a large football field. A person, the subject of the experiment, is laid on his back on the table, facing directly upwards. He closes his eyes until asked to open them again.

Two poles, as high as the ceiling are planted on the left and right of the table, a few meters apart from each other, so that the person has to turn his head left and right to see that there are poles in the field.

The experimenter brings a new and shiny steel wire of small thickness, about 1-2mm, but nevertheless clearly visible to the human eyes, and ties it straight, flat and horizontally between the poles, directly above the subject's eyes. The only condition for this experiment is that the subject, when asked to open his eyes, must see only the wire and the cloudless sky in front of him.

Now, the subject is asked to open his eyes. He is not allowed to turn his head and see the poles or the ground, or the test is considered invalid.

The test is this: Will the subject, regardless of his birth and origin, be able to tell the distance between his eyes and the wire with a reasonable accuracy, say with a +/-10% error in his estimate?

Based on my experience, humans usually lose their focus no matter how hard they try in this experiment. Even if they are able to focus on the wire, they lose it again after a few seconds. So, what is it that the subject should do to estimate the distance of the wire from his eyes, given that he has not seconds, but hours to keep looking at the wire? Do you know the answer?

Goal-orientedness

At the beginning of the process, one must be far-sighted to be goal-oriented. Critics call this instability, fickle-mindedness or simply ‘looseness’.

Never mind them.

Towards the end of the process, one must be short-sighted to be goal-oriented. Critics call this narrow-mindedness, stubbornness or arrogance.

Never mind them.

What should one be during and in the middle of the process to be goal-oriented, and what do critics call it? Of course you will have to ignore them then too, but you should be aware of the critics’ movements so that you know you are going in the right direction and if not, let them correct you with their criticism.

You have to let the critics live too.

The universal language

Since time immemorial, some human minds have wanted to develop the ability to learn, speak, read, write and understand any language spoken by humans in the world. That which differentiates animals from humans understands the languages spoken by animals also, not only those spoken by humans.

I have been looking for a long time to find a way to interpret, learn and speak any language. We have all heard about great people who could speak ten or twenty languages in their lives. Here's the way I found — the way of meaning.

Every language can be broken down into lectures, conversations, debates, arguments and numerous forms of oral communication. Each of these can be reduced to monologues or dialogues, the process of reduction which if we continue to follow, we see that they can be reduced to essays, paragraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases and words. Few people go beyond words to their roots. Those who understand that every word in any language has a root, or is a root by itself when it stands alone and independent of fixations, realize that any language can be learned on the go. These are the people who understand not the language of the human tongue, but the language of the human mind and heart, the language of meaning and that of God.

Kiran at lunch

He was known to be ideal and perfect in all respects. Some thought of him as a sage. Some thought of him as a great professional leader. But, he had always thought of himself as a simple-minded and straight-forward person.

One day, he was at lunch with some friends and two of them, a man and a woman, were new to the circle. He had known the new woman only for a few days, maybe two weeks. The casual conversation they had been having about human relationships and personal intimacy slowly turned slightly vulgar and obscene, one hinting that the other was "going both ways". He began feeling signs of shame and guilt for being a listener to such talk.

Inside his heart, he began getting angry at fate that he had to find himself in such a position and that he has no control over the context or the conversation. If he got angry at the speaker, it would not be righteous, for he has to find a way to make the speaker understand what he truly wants to tell her. At that moment, the only line of thought he was able to carry was the following:

"I will first wait for her object of discussion to turn towards the person that I feel the closest to. That would be one reason to chide her. If the object turns towards me, then I would feel even more righteous in being eligible to teach her about what topics are considered acceptable at lunch with one's friends. The worst question I would be expecting from such a person would be something like, 'What about you, Kiran? Are you straight, gay or bi?'

First, I will ignore her question. I hope she will give up and talk about something more pleasant.

If she insists on continuing such a discussion, I will change the topic myself. I will say, 'Hey, who has the earliest deadline or deliverable this week?' That will take all the fun out of the conversation, and remind them that they are bound to work and duty and probably fate too, if they are negative-thinking. If I want to change the topic into something more pleasant, I will ask, 'Hey, what are you guys planning to do this weekend? Shall we all visit the Red Fort?'

Yeah, that would be the perfect change in the conversation to what I think everyone in the group should be looking forward to every time we get together for lunch.

The last straw will break my back when she repeats her question. This is what I plan to tell her:

'Let me tell you what I am thinking right now. I consider such topics unacceptable at lunch with one's friends. The first time you asked that question, I ignored it. The second time you asked it, I tried to change the topic to something more acceptable or pleasant to all of us, while we are all eating food that helps us live a life of pleasure. You have now repeated your question for the third time, and I am now angry with you. Please do not bring such discussions to the table. If you want to find out how straight I am, let's talk about that in private. I will show you how charming I can be and that will prove to you that I am straight.'

By now, she should be looking guilty, which means I have made my point. I will smile, indicating that I am glad that she understood what I was trying to convey. If she looks hurt or angry, I will continue chiding her until I sort out her error, in the following manner:

'Let me also tell you what I plan to do the next time you repeat your mistake. I will first warn you, just as I am warning you now. If you continue, I will request the others to tell you to stop talking about it and ask you to talk about something more positive. If they are uncooperative, I will tell you that I am going to leave the table. If you are still defensive, I will never go to lunch with you again, and start having lunch with those friends that I consider pleasant.'"

Repetition

I am a man of logic. I live a life of logic. I maintain my money using logic. I utilize my emotions using logic. I live for logic. I die for logic. This will keep going until the word 'logic' begins sounding cliched.

I learn using logic. I learn to learn using logic. I learn to use logic. I learn to misuse using logic. I learn to do using logic.

I can only do one task at any instant. The mind has only one state at any instant. The state of mind I can have, because I was born a man, is a state of logic.

Choice

When people come to realize, after innumerable mind-numbing cycles of pleasure and pain, that they have to choose between logic and emotion, men will find it "easier" to continue on the path of logic and women on the path of emotion.

Two breaths

The breath of consciousness isn’t the breath of the lung,
It is deeper and fulfilling. Come back to me, O Peace!
It is ever-widening and satisfying; gone if it is,
I feel so mortal, my soul stuck embodied.

What are they?

It is a question motivational speakers are asked at the end of all talks. That is the question which is bubbling under the surface of all our minds. That is the question that is the subject of numerous debates. That is the question that cannot be answered by words and actions, events and lectures. That is the question for which no demonstration can give you an answer.

“Are leaders born or made?”

Curious voices in my head ask me that question. I tend to think that their curiosity is genuine, whether it indicates a real need for a satisfying answer. To me, it represents a much deeper question,

“How do I become a true leader?”

I am I

Oceans drowned the breaths of unheard voices,
but I was the same.

Blind eyes have been seeing illusions and plays,
but I have been the same.

Masses are jostling to find that elusive thing,
but I am the same.

Planets may tumble around in the box of the universe,
but I will be the same.

Throw down a rope, please!

There are a number of facts and assumptions about human nature that I can not reveal unless the listener is appropriately developed, but which surface in my mind when I am angry and are hence most prone to revelation. Released in such a manner, they only take the form of insults at the human race and indirectly at the less developed listener's mind. 

They are not facts and assumptions any more. They are not truths now. They are platitudes. They are silly and obvious things that everybody knows but have no idea what to do with. What am I doing even saying those things to others? How dare I insult them? Am I ready to face the long chain of consequences of my lack of self-control in one minute of life? I know the answer. No.

The knowledge of these facts and assumptions in their truest form, their purest and most absolute form, I immensely cherish, but I need caution more immense than the value of their truth, purity and absoluteness.

Oh God, help me survive this short battle. Even more than that, please help me win it, my Lord!

Prettiness!

There are some girls who feel worthless if they don't look pretty. So, they make themselves up to the point of feeling and making others feel sick deep inside. And there are some who don't disregard prettiness because life is more important to them. So, they only make themselves up basically. Then there are some who don't really care how they look. So they sometimes do and the other times don't make themselves up. And then there are some who hate others who make themselves up, and would hate themselves if they made themselves up. So, they do not and never make themselves up.

Some girls look pretty, but you do not know if they are pretty or they only look pretty. And some look pretty and would look pretty even if they didn't try to, because you saw them when they didn't try and found them just as pretty. Then some look pretty when they need to and don't look pretty when they don't need to. And some are not pretty because they never tried to look pretty because they hate trying.

That girl who feels contented when she doesn't look pretty, who feels just the same when she does look pretty, who knows just how pretty she needs to look when required, and who doesn't concern herself whether others look pretty or not, that girl to me, my dear, is a beautiful woman.

You whom I cannot name

I have never seen you wearing heels,
no matter what the other person feels,
or growing too long a fingernail,
which women are too eager to reveal.

True, I have known so little about you,
but I haven't seen you angry or frustrated,
which is a quality within you
that by me is most appreciated.

Oh, how much I wonder what else there is
to know about a beautiful lady that is.
Is this what they call a deep crush,
which would only make my face blush?

Caught I am in a dilemma right now,
about whether or not I should confess how
I feel about you, I wonder what you'll say,
and get my heart caught in a fray.

How long will I be stuck, oh God?
Will my people ever understand,
that I am a bird in a mental cage,
or that I am too old for my age?
What should I say to convince them that
my goals are only too high, not flat?

Is only this generation unique,
stretched, alone and off oblique,
or is it me that is thinking so,
because I feel depressed and low?

Do you know whom I am writing about, o girl,
or are you even reading this pearl?
I want you to know and yet I don't
because if you do, be free I won't.