Monkey Business

oh well, this Seymonds-Bhajji row is turning completely into monkey business! Esteemed cricketers fighting like small children! Worst is finger pointing and counter-pointing is just not stopping! Now Ponting is showing his displeasure in media about Hansen's ruling!
Any ways my two cents in terms of couple of questions
1. When it was Seymonds who instigated Bhajji by abusing him first, why no punishment for him?
2. I do stand behind Gavaskar's question - How can Proctor decide not to believe Tendulkar that Bhajji has abused Seymonds in Punjabi and rather took Seymonds words?
3. I am actually disappointed in Ponting, his own player can abuse others but vice-versa is not acceptable?!!

well thats that :) I am happy that last test was drawn and Australia 'won' series by only one match and we all know who was the man of the match for that test! :)

Anyways .. Chak de India.. bash 'em up in one day and 20-20!

PS: Buddy is doing quite fine. He has adjusted well to home and I am still getting used to a baby in my hands! :) He is snoozing ON my feet while I type this in! I forgot to mention this in my last post, Buddy is a Saint Bernard.

Chak de India!!

I absolutely love this!
http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/56515/tired-of-waiting-for-vip-people-throw-flyover-open-for-public.html

New Delhi: The new Rao Tularam Marg-Palam flyover has been ready for almost two weeks now, but till Monday, it was not open to the public. Traffic jams, chaos on the streets and heartburn for the common man meant nothing to the authorities and the construction company heads, who were not willing to open the flyover for public use till a VIP came to inaugurate it.
However, that was till Monday evening — till people's patience wore thin and they decided to take matters in their own hands.
Taking the initiative, a crowd of over 100 people got together, chanted shlokas, performed a small puja, broke coconuts and cut a ribbon, inaugurating the flyover for their own use. People said that they had been tired of the congestion that was being caused simply because the flyover was not being open for public use — the people for whom it was actually made.
A similar inicident had taken place in Goa in 1983, when super cop Kiran Bedi had insisted that the Zuari bridge — which was to be inaugurated by then prime minister Indira Gandhi — be opened for public use, to ease the congestion. She took the step after Indira Gandhi cancelled her visit to open the bridge four times.
The Rao Tularam Marg-Palam flyover has three toll plazas and Delhi residents going to the international airport will have to pay Rs 11 per trip; they won’t have to pay while coming back. People going via Vasant Kunj and Mahipalpur village will not have to pass through any toll plaza. Daily commuters to Gurgaon will be charged less than the occasional commuter, who will have to pay Rs 16 per trip.

Truely, Chak de India! I congratulate the group of people who took this initiative and made this happen.

Calm the mind through breathing meditation

Lately I have been suggesting lot many people to do Meditation and thus this post to suggest it to the world at large. As the human mind is socially conditioned to ask the benefits before doing any activity, here are the benefits of Meditation:
1. First and foremost is much deeper level of relaxation which no form of exercise, massage or entertainment can provide. The amount of calmness it can bring to your stress levels is huge. I have personally experienced this relaxation and calmness even with a few minutes of shallow levels of meditation.
2. The above benefit of relaxation and calmness over period of time brings about greater detachment and poise to our day to day worries. We will surely become more effective in taking decisions with calmer mind than one which is turbulent and reactive to small problems encountered daily.
3. Once the above starts happening, one would surely see much improvement in our health too especially for ones who have stress related disorders or disorders which have gotten aggravated due to stress like blood pressure, diabetes, cold

Process of Meditation
1. Wear most comfortable clothes. Idea is to not have any reason for mind to bring about any kind of thoughts. Discomfort usually draws immediate attention. I like meditating in my night clothes.
2. Find a comfortable place to be seated or even lying down. I like to be seated on a pillow on a carpet with back rested with pillow or wall. Whatever position where bodily discomfort cannot draw attention.
3. Close your eyes. Quite preferred again so that attention is not drawn away from meditation.
4. Breathe normal and try bringing your focus to breath going in and out. Start to feel the good energy of oxygen coming in and bad energy of carbon di-oxide going out. Feel your lungs expanding when you breath in, stomach coming out due to diaphragm being pushed down. The reverse happening and pushing the bad breath out of the system. While feeling your breathing also notice how musical is this rhythm of life. If possible try inhaling deeper and exhaling also deeper; though avoid putting noticeable effort in it. As much as the natural breathing's tempo allows. With your eyes closed many a times back of your eyelids would seem to change from dense black to fiery red, especially if you are doing this early in morning in sunlight. I love that affect, feels quite surreal. In the meanwhile if any thoughts percolates into your mind, just try to look at the thought without reacting to it. I sometimes think of the thought as an object and even a person and focus away from it, back to breathing. Do not get frustrated with inability to focus away from the thoughts. Keep trying gently to monitor the breathing. For beginners, doing this itself for about 5 minutes and gradually increasing the time by say a minute or two everyday to about 20mins would be quite sufficient. Well, first thing one will notice is that five minutes by the clock can be really very long. Slowly one would also realize that twenty minutes can pass so fast!
5. Also do not just snap out of meditation. I have found that coming out of meditation should also be very gentle process else I actually get a bad headache!! First I slowly reduce the concentration on breathing, then I try to feel my body not by hands but inner consciousness, then try to listen to the activities, noise in the background. Many times I light a dhoop/agarbatti before I start meditation and just feeling the smell of that and where it is coming from etc slowly brings my consciousness back to the real world.

Breathing meditation is considered the most basic of the meditations but with this itself I found so much peace and benefits that I have not considered any other type or further steps in meditation. Maybe I will explore further. Do share with me if any one does a different type and feels it to be much more beneficial. I think I am ready to go to the next stage.

Well at the end I will also like to mention about 'instant meditation' I do many times when I am in tricky situations. Many a times I am in a meeting or at work or stuck at airport or traffic and things are not going the way I like them to be, I do this trick which I have named 'conscious detachment'. I am still listening in to activities or discussion happening but my focus goes a bit higher on my breathing and blanking out the negative thoughts by chanting in mind mantra 'This too shall pass'. Believe me, it works :) Probably the only trick is NOT reacting to a situation many times problem resolves by itself, but to stop one from reacting and making things worse can bring tremendous peace.

"A promise is a promise," - People's Car - Tata Nano

Well, Congratulations to Tata Motors to have fulfilled their promise to bring the people's car to market priced just right for the common man in India. There exists a huge potential for such cars especially in smaller cities, towns and larger villages. With India modernizing by leap and bounds, Households do have residual income in form of business profits or second income of spouse or children etc. Its quite disheartening to see people pile up their whole family including small children precariously on dainty two wheelers and be part of the hustling traffic. Even if we take monthly salary of average middle class to be around Rs12 thousand [say high school teachers salary] The on road price of such a car will be less than a year salary. The car loan can be worked out say @ 4thousand per month for 3years or so, keeping in mind one will put some 25 thousand as down payment. This is well within budget of people who would have otherwise bought likely two two-wheelers for the family to move about.
I understand that 1lakh rupees ($2500) dealer price will transcribe to about 1.15 lakh ( <$3000) on road which will include VAT, transport, registration, insurance etc.
The car will have a 624-cc petrol engine generating 33 bhp of power. It will sport a 30-litre fuel tank and 4-speed manual gearshift. The car will come with air conditioning, but will have no power steering. It will have front disk and rear drum brakes. The company claims mileage of 23 km per litre. The car conforms to the prevalent Bharat Stage 3 (BS III) emission norms, and will meet the Euro 4 standards. The car is eight per cent shorter than Maruti 800 on bumper to bumper length, but is 21 per cent more spacious, claimed Tata. In the photograph it does look a bit more spacious due to its ambassador type top curve and front. I actually like the looks of the car, reminisces of old amby and VW beetle etc. I think its cute especially in yellow!
I would also remark on Ratan Tata's statement ""A promise is a promise," Well, He, justify-ably, had all the reasons to NOT keep the price at a lakh but maybe a little bit more to about a lakh twenty five, and still make the world cheapest car! It does seem that Tata would be really chipping on their profits to keep the price this low, even if they would not be making losses. I appreciate this kind of integrity in corporate world where it is not even seen commonly in personal space!

Heart of Hinduism

In many discussions and arguments I have had tried to explain to many about true Hinduism which is quite distant from "hindutava". In my browsing I found this website really putting details in a very understandable way. It was usually next to impossible for me to explain Hinduism but this website does it quite well.
http://hinduism.iskcon.com/concepts/100.htm

Overview of Hindu Theology
Almost all Hindus believe that the real self (atman) is distinct from the temporary body made of matter (prakriti). The eternal soul identifies with matter and is entrapped by maya (illusion). Impelled by lust, greed, anger, etc., he undergoes samsara (the cycle of repeated birth and death). Each soul creates its unique destiny according to the law of karma (the universal law of action and reaction). Under the influence of eternal time and the three gunas (material qualities) he moves throughout the creation, sometimes going to higher planets, sometimes moving in human society, and at other times entering the lower species.

The goal of most Hindus is moksha, liberation from this perpetual cycle, through re-identification with the eternal brahman (Supreme). Hinduism accepts different paths towards this common goal (union with God). Nonetheless, it stresses strict adherence to universal principles through the practice of one's dharma (ordained duty) as revealed through authorised holy books nd usually received through the guru (spiritual mentor).

Key Concept Key Questions
1. The Atman (the Soul) = Who are we? What is the real self?
2. Reincarnation and Samsara = What happens after death, before birth?
3.The Law of Karma = Why is there suffering?
4. Prakriti (Matter) and Guna = How does the world work?
5. Maya (Illusion) = Why do we get into difficulty in this world?
6. moksha (Liberation) = What is the goal of life?
7. God (Brahman/Ishvara) = Is there a God? If so, what is He/She like?
8. Dharma (religious duties) = Which is the right way to act?
9. One Goal, Different Paths = How can we explain Hindu diversity?
10. Scripture and Guru (Authority) = How are the teachings preserved?
11 .Time = When did it all start and when will it finish?
12. Creation = How and why was this world made?

I am recording this on the blog because I have recently got very interested in the 'Karma Theory'
The law of karma underpins the process of transmigration of the soul. Karma literally means "action," but more often refers to the accumulated reactions to activities. Thus we talk of "good karma" and "bad karma," which are stored reactions that gradually unfold to determine our unique destiny. The self-determination and accountability of the individual soul rests on its capacity for free choice. This is exercised only in the human form. Whilst in lower species, the atman takes no moral decisions but is instead bound by instinct. Therefore, although all species of life are subject to the reactions of past activities, such karma is generated only while in the human form. Human life alone is a life of responsibility.
The Bhagavad-gita categorises karma, listing three kinds of human actions: (1) Karma: those which elevate, (2) Vikarma: those which degrade and (3) Akarma: those which create neither good nor bad reactions and thus lead to liberation.

Also, does anyone really believe or has experienced a "Soul-Mate" or "Twin-Flame"?