Why I am a Donkey

Because

I am the Whole; I am Perfection; I am Eternal Bliss.

Yet I delude myself that I am this

 limited, imperfect, unhappy 

combination of Body, Mind and Intellect!

A Tale of Two Swamijis

I was a  bit reluctant to publish this post as I have done my best to avoid negative comments. Yet, the sentiments expressed here are meant to promote thought rather than provoke comment. 

There was a swamiji. He was the local head of a spiritual organization. The swamiji was a great orator. People loved to hear his fiery discourses. Some even felt he was almost like the founder of the organization.

The organization was a registered society. To increase the number of members the organization forced the parents of children joining their schools to become life members. A life member is someone who will be your member till he dies. But these parents lost their interest once their children finished school and went to college and then abroad and so on; some stayed connected. Most did not.

So although there were thousands of LMs on the record only a very few helped the organization. These were people who admired the founder and loved his teachings But  the monthly News-letter had to be sent to ALL the LMs. That was the rule! This cost money!

Now, the swamiji was upset. But as he was a brilliant swamij and he got this idea. So he called a meeting of the LMs. A few attended. At that meeting the swamiji made them pass a resolution that any LM who did not attend two General meetings will cease to be a life member (No! The swamiji will not kill them! But they cannot be life members! How? I don’t know! Luckily I am not a swamiji. ;-)

Then the swamiji called another meeting. The swamiji did not call the meeting. He has to be detached. Someone else did it. In the invitation to that meeting it was stated that any LM who did not come will cease to be one! The LMs who were connected to the organization and who admired the founder came to that meeting.

They came because they valued their membership.

But many LMs did not come. May be they were parents of children who had left the school and had gone to college and then abroad and so on.(I don’t know).

The swamiji was upset. He started haranguing the LMs who had come. He was upset with the people who had not come. But he gave a severe lecture to the people who had come! The swamiji was quite upset. A few people mildly pointed out that some of the things the swamiji was proposing to do were not correct. The swamiji lost his cool then! He pounced on these blasphemers and started accusing them of disloyalty and arrogance,

The swamiji became an Angry Man.

Huh!

An angry man can become  a swamiji by conquering anger,

How can a swamiji become an angry man?

But this is what happened. Forget it.

There was another swamiji. He was a brilliant writer of spiritual essays and books. These essays were published in popular magazines. The swamiji was famous all over the world. He had many rich devotees. These devotees gave him lot of money so that the swamiji could lead a luxurious life. They themselves preferred to live like beggars.

The swamiji liked to have young girls near him. It is good for a young girl to be near a swamiji. But, is it good for the swamiji?

Hinduism says it is better to enjoy life and then become a sanyasi. But many swamijis is think it is better to become swamiji and then enjoy life.

Why can’t we all enjoy our life and allow others to enjoy theirs? You don’t have to be swamiji to be spiritual. Just be a good human being.   

Success and Failure

An important learning from 2012

God does not assure success;
but he helps us to accept and understand failure.

God on our side need not mean we will win every time;
it means His presence will ensure that we never feel dejected or depressed by failure.

IOCL Program on MaNAGERIAL sKILLS

13.12.2012

Conducted a program on Managerial Skills for the Executives of Indian Oil Corporation. It was quite well received. 98% of the participants rated my program as excellent. The rest gave Very Good.

Here are some pics:

Friends Forever Forum

I was invited by the Friends Forever Forum to address them on 9^th June 2012. The meeting was at The YWCA at Egmere. They were a small group of like-minded intellectuals who come together every second Saturday to discuss matters of common interest, interact with each other, have a nice dinner over further sparkling conversation and part with a sense of friendship and companionship. The members take turns to host the dinner. The speaker is either one of themselves or a guest like me is roped in to deliver a brief speech and lead the interaction.

  My good friend Dr. Radhika Nanwani is a member, and on 9^th June it was Dr. Radhika’s turn to be host. I was asked to speak on the topic Transformation. I explained how transformation at an individual level is possible by truly applying the fourth habit, Think Win/Win and the fifth habit Seek First to Understand and then to be Understood. When a person is willing to Transfoorm he automatically improves relationships and bondings as he is able to see things from a holistic perspective rather than the tunnel-vision that is induced by self-interest or obsessions. He also overcomes weaknesses like anger through a process of self-introspection.

I shared experiences from my own life when I had failed in relationships and how I used the Seven Habits to help me transform myself to become something somewhat better than my earlier self. But as we all agreed personal transformation is a continuous and never-ending journey.

Here is a gist of what I spoke. My actual speech was a longer and we had numerous interactions that took us down diverse paths.

Transformation means a change from one state to another state. It is preferable that the change should not be merely cosmetic or external but rather internal. In fact, transformation should be through growth and evolution. That is to say, it must be a positive movement from a lesser state of existence to a better and more preferable one.

Transformation becomes possible only if we accept that we are imperfect and are willing to listen to feedback about ourselves. Once we understand the expectations that others (especially our near and dear ones) have about us, we can attempt to transform into something better. We must accept that our current behavior is unacceptable; thereafter we may find approaches to transform ourselves.  In fact a willingness to transform proactively can result in better relationships with other people. We can become a better spouse, parent, employer, employee, friend and so on.

According to C S Lewis, growth is better than change. He says, “a tree grows by adding rings to itself; a train does not grow by going from one station to another.”

To quote the Bhagavad Gita:

“vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya  navani grhnati naro 'parani  tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany anyani samyati navani dehi”

This translates as follows:

As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.

Transformation is truly like the development of a bright and iridescent butterfly from an ugly caterpillar through the stage of being a chrysalis or pupa. Those of us who have read Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach can understand this.

As constant practice of thinking and contemplating on life continues, one would come to the unerring conclusion that this life itself is but one state and that death is merely a transformation from a gross to a subtle state of existence of the spirit.

Our lives should, thus, be a series of transformations. Each transformation should take us to a higher plane of existence. The ultimate goal of these successive transformations should be realization of God and becoming so luminous as to merge into his effulgence.Every religion has a name for this like Paradise, Nirvan or Moksh.

The Friends Forever Forum is open to all. The stress is on Friendship, so the atmosphere is non-judgmental and supportive. While divergent views are expressed, the tone is always polite and friendly. The idea is to learn and grow rather than influence others. I like the Friends Forever Forum and strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to spend an evening every month in relaxed intellectual conversation with friends. It is better not to go with an evangelistic motive. Your can  share your knowledge and views while at the same time you should be perfectly willing and able to listen, understand and value the inputs given by the other person.

Are bookshops going to become redundant?

Sitting in Hyderabad Airport doing something I always love to do. I am just outside the Airport Bookshop ordering books online. What astounds me is that the very same books that I could have bought at the shop for huge cover prices are available online at 40% below the cover price. It takes about a week for the online bookshop to supply my order. So what? I have saved so much money. I already have books to read on flight. These are books I would love to read; but not so desperately and immediately.

Browsing in bookshops is definitely cool! But buying there is definitely uncool!

Actually the online browsing experience is awesome as every title is at your fingertip and a search away! At Landmark you have to request the sullen and surly TATA employee for the title you want and wait pathetically while he asks around apathetically and returns with the usual, "sorry sir or madam (as the case maybe! Because he's too busy to notice anyway!) It is not available.

Online book shopping allows you to search different editions and compare prices If you don't want to buy you can put it on your wishlist and later buy it.

Finally, the payment can be made on delivery! (At least on Flipkart and Homeshop18 it is possible.)

Odyssey has suspended its 360 website! In fact I was an Odyssey customer online till my 14 year old son put me on to flipkart. Then I discovered Home Shop 18 and put him on to it!

Landmark is the same snooty entity online too and the prices are not at all competitive. No wonder they are forced to sell books at discount by putting them in 3 for 2 and 2 for 1 bundles. Why don't they simply accept that the book selling business is going online and work on a friendly on line presence.

Finally as of now and for the record Homeshop 18 is the cheapest in India! Check it out! May be they are cutting their own throat!

But why should we care! Happy online book shoppuing!

Beyond Auditing

CA G Narayanaswamy’s Autobiography was released yesterday at a function at the Sivakami Pethichi Auditorium. Usually at most book releases, the function starts as and when enough people arrive. For Beyond Auditing, the hall was packed about half an hour before the appointed time! The function started exactly on time. This, by itself, was an indicator of the tremendous importance of the event.

The luminaries on the dias included Dr. M S Swaminathan, The Father of India’s Green Revolution who released the book. Mr. B.S.Raghavan, IAS (Retd.) presided over the meeting. Mr. Era. Sezhiyan, Ex-MP, Mr. K. Vaidyanathan, Editor, Dinamani                          and Mr. S. Gurumurthy, FCA, Columnist felicitated. The function was organized by the Rajaji Centre for Public Affairs and D Rangaswamy Academy for Fiscal Research.

On returning from the function I went out for dinner with my wife. On return, being an insomniac I decided to dip into the book which I had purchased at the stall immediately after the release. Believe me, I was enthralled by the book! It was a page-turner that kept me going and suddenly I found I had travelled with GN, the author from his school days in Kumbakonam to his taking up practice in Madras! The book is as gripping as a Jeffrey Archer novel. The story of an impoverished kumbakonam boy who goes on to become a highly influential Chartered Accountant and Public Figure is endearing and interesting. I kept turning the pages eager to know what happens next as GN relates anecdotes involving his contemporaries who were all men of influence and reputation in their respective fields. If this book had been written as a novel in Tamil it would need a writer of Balakumaran’s skill to tell it!

But GN tells his story like a true accountant. Without a trace of hyperbole! The words are so matter-of-fact yet, they evoke emotions that strike at the very root of one’s soul. Every one who believes in the value of values will find themselves relating to GN’s story.

GN says, “one need not boast of one’s poverty striken past, nether should one forget or be ashamed of the same.” This is a classic example of the balanced approach that epitomizes the profession of accountancy.

This is not mean self-congratulatory retelling of GN’s achievements. It is a veritable chronicle of our times and a vital document that historians in furture times will rely on to get a better understanding of the events described by GN from first-hand experience.

The book should be a must-read for every Chartered Accountant. Every page will make everyone of us proud to belong to the same profession that can count this colossus in its list of members! GN is truly the Charteres Accountant’s Chartered Accountant!

 In fact every Indian who wants to make meaning out of this mindless morass that our country has become should read this book to get their bearings straight on their journey through life. GN is a beacon light standing tall and proud showing us both the way ahead as well as the dangers that will beset greed and falsehood.

Here is a giant among men who shows the way not by command but by example and a quintessentially Gandhian humility that is gentle yet strong!