Seven Habits Evangelism at Rajasthan Youth Association!

I was invited by the Rajasthan Youth Association to give a talk on "My Personal Experiences in implementing the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in my life". A good friend of mine Mr. Sanjay Kumaar having requested me, I agreed to give a brief talk on this subject which is so near my heart.

Most ofthe participants had not even heard of the Seven Habits! In fact, when I asked them to share any of the Habits that they knew,one of the participants ingenuously remarked that Be Punctual was one of the Habits!

Given the time constraint I gave them a broad overview of the Seven Habits, the Maturity Continuum and the interconnection of the several parts of the entire discipline. I made my usual comparison with the multi storey building for which the First Habit (Be Proactive) is the deep pile foundation.

They were eagre listeners and during the activity that I conducted following the lecture, they were quite participative.

I am sure a few of them would buy or borrow the book.

Pondering on the Life Stream

Do we live our lives in chapters that have a beginning and an ending? I don’t think so.
It is not as if life occurs in a series of incidents that are complete in themselves. Life is a continuous link that connects a person’s youh through adulthood to old age.

There is an obvious continuity between the young boy, who ran rough and free; joyous and deeply resentful; boisterous and contemplative, and the mature (?) adult who is writing these words.

Life links. Life is the thead that links. Life just happens, so it cannot give meanings. But, meanings are perceived by people who look at their life stream in its entirety and ponder upon it.

Powerful patterns emerge that transcend the apparent motivations that drive present actions to the latent subconscious roots of all behavior.

The boy becomes the man. The man rarely ceases to be the boy, if not externally, definitely through his internal urges and spontaneous thoughts. He just learns to articulate them in ways that seem logical to the adult world.

We live as we once played.

The 32nd Chennai Book Fair

Money can buy books, never knowledge.

For three years now the Chennai Book Fair is being conducted at the St George Anglo Indian Hr. Secondary School Chetpet. I visited the fair on 10th Jan as well as yesterday (16th Jan).

The new venue is definitely an improvement on the earlier Quaid-e-Millat College Grounds. The area is bigger, the stalls are wider. The arrangement is rectangular with wide aisles running both vertically and horizontally. The aisles facilitate easy movement. The horizontal interstices enable retracing of our steps to locate a shop we had seen earlier and decided to visit later. The earlier circular arrangement meant one couldn’t do this when the fair is crowded. Ample parking space is another great advantage.

In the RK Mutt Stall the representative congratulated me on selecting the book ‘The Christ we all Adore’ by Swami Ranganathananda. I thanked him for the compliment. I bought many books on Philosophy, Religion and Tamil Literature.

Sugarcane Juice

On the way back from Shani Singnapur to Nashik, we passed through a belt of sugarcane fields. Throughout the route on both sides, we saw stalls selling freshly pressed cane juice. The juice was being prepared by squeezing the cane through wooden presses operated by oxen yoked to the wheel! This was a quaint sight and we decided to stop a one of these shady strips and enjoy a swig of the sweet fluid.

The dark, thick, brown drink was definitely sweeter than the watery variety available in cities, which stinks of the diesel fumes from the engine that operates the press.

A lively argument ensued between my wife and sister-in-law as to the efficacy of using oxen to do this burdensome task. My sister-in-law a gentle soul took the part of the dumb animal and argued that they should not be subjected to such tasks that were cruel. My wife who is of a more practical frame of mind countered that they had always been so employed since time immemorial and these tasks as such were not burdensome at all. The conclusion was that unnecessary cruelty should be avoided and that the animals be treated with affection and care both when useful and when old and useless.

Shani Singnapur

After spending time at Shirdi we went to Shani Singnapur about 70 kms away. This place is famous for the shrine of Saturn. The Swayanbhu or emanation of the God is placed on quadrangular terrace where it stands majestically. The myth says that about 350 years ago Shanidev came to this village. No one steals from this village which is under the protection of this malevolent God who meets ou the just punishment for all evil deeds. The shops and houses in this village have no doors!
In fact the four peculiarities of Shingnapur are
God is but templeless (Yes, the shrine is open to the sky!)
Houses are but Doorless
Tree is but Shadeless (The branches of a neem tree which spread over the idol keep breaking away!)
Fear is but enemyless (Where Shani protects, fear no enemy!)
There are some rituals that people perform here to ward of the "curse" of Shani.
Dr. Bapurao Desai, in his book "significance of Shani Shingnapur" argues that Shani is not malevolent at all. On the other hand Shani blesses all who obey the dictates of fate and accept the troubles and travails of their life as a just result of their own past actions and crimes. To accept and suffer is to remove the effect of the result of our actions. To those who are thus liberated by suffering, Shani showers his choicest blessings and, what is more, protects them forever. And if the feared Shani were to protect you, who can oppose you?

Visit to Shirdi

The New Year began on a pretty dismal note, with the global financial crisis, economic recession etc. etc. The SATYAM-MAYTAS fiasco has added fuel to the fire and has ensured that the Market Indices would take a little longer to start their march to the north-east!

This year we decided to spend the Pongal holidays visiting Shirdi. We reached Mumbai on 13th and left by surface to Shirdi. The amost eight hour ride is covered by good roads. NH3 takes you right up to Nashik. Thereafter the road to Shirdi is single track. To reach Nashik you have to climb a small range of hills and pass through a canyon. The route is picturesque with a series of flat topped mountain ranges that are coloured in multiple stripes of grey, black and green.

We reached Shirdi late in the evening and were able to have great Dharshan of Baba! “Whoever puts his feet on Shirdi soil, his sufferings would come to an end,” this is the first of the Eleven Sayings of Shirdi Sai Baba. As my feet touched Shirdi soil I prayed that Baba should chase away all my sorrows and (why not?) the sorrows of the whole world. As we entered the Samadhi Mandir and approached the murthi or idol of Baba sitting resplendent in on a golden throne with a Golden chatra over his head Baba seemed to smile enigmatically at me, as if challenging the validity of my prayer!

I bowed my head in humility and prayed instead for his presence with me throughout the year and his guidance and support in all my lawful undertakings.


The next day we visited the other places of interest like Dwarka Mayi, the Masoodhi-Mandir where Baba spent the day and the Chavadi where he spent the night. Those who have read Sat Charitram will understand the divine importance of these two places, as the shrines where Baba lived, loved and spread his light of Knowledge to the whole world.

We were also able to visit the house of Lakshmi Bai a devotee who was allotted the blessed task of feeding the Baba regularly. Once Baba gave Lakshmi Bai 9 (Nine) coins. This was symbolic of the nine types of devotion that have to be shown to the supreme Godhead. These coins, bearing the faces of the British emperors, are on display in this small shrine together with a small marble idol of the recipient.

We then went to the Kandhoba temple where Mahalsapathi the Priest of this shrine greeted Baba and said, 'Avoji Sayee Baba' when Baba entered Shirdi along with Shanti Patil's Marriage group. This spot where Baba placed his feet on Shirdi soil is a place of worship here.

Inside the Mandhir complex we can see the neem tree where Baba was first seen as a sixteen year old lad. This is called Gurustan.

When we were moving around the temple premises, there was a lot of activity and devotees were made to move aside and make a pathway. Assuming that it must be a politician or a film star, we moved to corner of the path and awaited the arrival of this VIP. This was none other than Shri Shri Ravishankar who then sweeped by with a whole gang of fawning devotees and “followers”. As the retinue passed there was a lot of shouting of “Jai Guruji” etc. The same procedure was followed when the “great man” left the temple. I colud feel no aura or power emanating from him. What truly pained me was the fan fare and unnecessary pompousness that was quite unbecoming in the shrine of the greatest saint who lived like a fakir and begged for his daily meal. Baba did not burn wood in his Dhuni. No! he burnt our sins in it, and purified in the fire of knowledge we may come out to lead lives of simplicity and happiness! He did not grind flour in his mill, he ground our ego there that we may emerge selfless, pure and emancipated!
I am sure the “Divine Fakir” was standing somewhere in the corner of the temple looking at Guruji Ravishankar as he made his way to the shrine of Shirdi Sai Baba. I am sure he was repeating the words “Allah Malik, Allah Malik,” as he watched this display of unnecessary and avoidable pomp and glory for someone who is, after all, a human being and thus equal to all. A true Sadhu considers himself to be nothing; he has no identification with the I. He observes as Saakshi, he is not tainted by actions!