Category: transformation

Imagine Lord Krishna manifests momentarily in front of us. What are we asking him?

A bonus, a promotion, leading to plenty of wealth. But wait, what if we can get this wealth without even having to work. That’s a better ask. And then solid health. Not just for us, but all our family members as well. And a good lifestyle. The various modern comforts. And then just enough social interaction that would be enough for us to maintain such a lifestyle. A few (or many) nice foreign vacations too. Perhaps also a resolution to various relationship issues that might be ongoing with friends and relatives.

It’s already a decently long list, and we can only hope that Krishna has the time and patience to listen to us.

But He is God, and has all the time and patience in the world (universe, all of creation)!

Another option is that we could consider not asking Him for anything at all. Simply being happy that we already have everything, and thanking Him in gratitude.

What might He prefer?

And His manifestation isn’t just a hypothetical question. He is truly around us and with us all time, even if we do not realize it. What are we thinking about asking Him all the time then?

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Our scriptures tell us to live “in the moment”.

But from personal experience, I can say that most of these “in the moments” are fleeting, momentary!

How to make these moments more permanent?

Two words, as per a lovely article I came across. 1) gratefulness and 2) wonder

These are the secrets to living in the moment. Living in gratitude means that we pay attention to everything around us, and wholeheartedly agree on the impeccable design of creation, bringing strong feelings of satisfaction.

Living in wonder on the other hand means a state of heightened awareness, observing the world around us with fresh eyes of curiosity, delight and contemplative attention.

“A sense of wonder is connected to our desire to feel a part of something larger than our everyday reality and we take time to be immersed in this, and yes, to be grateful for this.”

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As a child, I loved reading Marvel Comics, especially the adventures of the Fantastic 4. But now, as an adult, I have a new set of Fantastic 4 heroes: the four elements of healthy living.

Just like the original Fantastic 4, these four elements have unique powers that can supercharge our health and well-being. And I came across these on a recent amazing podcast. Here’s the new fantastic 4:

What we put into our bodies: Think of this as the power of elasticity, like Mr. Fantastic. We need to stretch and flex our diets by incorporating whole, nutritious foods into our meals. This means avoiding junk and processed foods and opting for natural, nutrient-rich options instead.

What we put on our bodies: This is like the power of invisibility and force fields, like the Invisible Woman. We need to shield our skin from harmful chemicals and pollutants by using natural and organic skincare products.

Sleep more: This is like the power of pyrokinesis, like the Human Torch. We need to rest and recharge our bodies with enough sleep each night. Getting at least 7 hours of sleep each night is essential for our physical and mental health.

Stress less: This is like the power of superhuman strength and durability, like the Thing. We need to learn to endure and manage stress to come out stronger and healthier on the other side. This can be achieved through exercise, meditation, or spending time with loved ones.

By harnessing the power of these Fantastic 4 elements, we can become our own superheroes and lead healthier, happier lives.

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Was watching a short clip by a physicist known as Brian Cox. He was answering a question about people wanting more.

What did he say?

That we are all formed from dead stars. These disintegrated stars and planetary bodies, somehow came together and created the earth and all the life on it as we know it today.

And all this over billions and billions of years. So much so that it’s just been such a short span of time that we humans have been able to come about and observe such awesomeness. In the future,, we too and everything around us will become those dead stars again.

So we have this amazing short span of a 100 years or so where we each are able to get a peek into Creation itself.

So what more could/should we ever want?!

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We all know that old adage about how beauty is only skin deep. I had a first hand experience recently.

After the surgery performed on a family relative, the hospital handed over a DVD to me, saying it contained the video of the operation. This was a first, for me at least. After hunting for a way to load up a DVD (who uses these anymore!?), I thought to see what it is that was recorded.

“Guts and glory”, they say. Guts there was, glory maybe only for the doc who succeeded in his work. And for the person being operated upon of course, that they made it out safe and sound. But the innards of a human being… that stuff does not look pretty!

The Creator in his infinite mercy has made our outsides look so cool compared to the slushy mushy almost yucky insides. But the outside, is far too temporary. White hair, bald spots, reduced energy, wrinkles, crows feet, saggy skin, warts and all – these escape no one, not royalty, not celebrities, not the most beautiful and handsome people in the world. And yet, we run after exactly these things. We must ask ourselves why.

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Transporting a computer to India in the 1960s was no easy feat. Apart from using a bullock cart, and also breaking a wall, the team had to get the machine through road blocks that collected customs taxes for road maintenance, for which the money had to come through additional AID grants.

The computer room wasn’t finished, and monsoon season had left an inch of water on the floor where the computer was to go. To add to the difficulties, the power in India ran at 50 cycles, while the computer needed 60 cycles.

Through numerous telegrams between IBM and Kanpur, they were eventually able to convert the power and adjust the voltage, and after three long weeks, the machine was up and running.

We today have the power of 1000s of those super computers, just in the palm of our hands. According to Barclays’ analysts, if human productivity was 100 units in 1765 (when the steam engine was invented), it increased to 1500 in the 1960s, and has doubled to over 3000 in just 5 decades thereafter. We are so productive but has that led to increase happiness as well? We should each introspect, and make peace with whatever we already have.

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What are we without tech today? I couldn’t even be writing this blog. The word blog itself wouldn’t exist.

How far have we come? Ridiculously far, by all accounts.

Even a country like India – today known as an IT superpower – just a few decades ago was nowhere on the tech-map.

Even the premier Indian institutes of today, like the IITs, did not have computers. The story of IIT Kanpur getting it’s first (super)computer is thought provoking.

It was back in the 60s, or August 1963 to be precise. Transporting the IBM 1620 computer to IIT Kanpur was no easy feat. At that time, the bad roads of Kanpur made it difficult to transport such heavy and fragile electronic equipment. The team was worried that the vibrations from the truck could damage the electronic circuits, so they decided to transport it by bullock carts with inflated tires!

But the difficulties didn’t end there. When the computer arrived at the IIT Kanpur computer center, they found that the door was too small to take it in. The team had to break down a wall to install the computer!

Concluded tomorrow!

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Technology is just wonderful. It’s made us solve problems that we previously couldn’t even fathom overcoming.

So tech is cool this way.

But some tech is also scary. It’s making us closer and closer to goldfish. No, not the color of the iPhone case, but our attention span.

Apparently our attention span is now lesser than that of a goldfish, some 8 seconds or less. If you’ve read this far, then congratulations, you do not belong in an aquarium!

But as if phones aren’t distracting enough, people now look to their smartwatches first! Mid-conversation yesterday, a friend looked at his watch, realized he got a message, so then took out his phone to read it in full.

It’s not like I was hurt, because he didn’t interrupt me while I was speaking… He interrupted himself because he was the one who was talking in the first place!

Apparently Google Glass was going to be a cool thing, where’d you’d get all notifications and inputs in your glasses itself. And then they decided to shelve the project. Good they did that perhaps. We may then go from attention span of a goldfish, to what? An amoeba?

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Much fanfare has been made and much more has been written about Yuval Harari’s book called Sapiens. This post isn’t about that book at all. I wish it could be, but I haven’t read it.

This post is simply about the word itself. Sapiens.

I’ve always read “homo-sapiens” in so many places and never thought about it much. What does it mean? Oh it means human beings. That’s what we learned in school, and that’s what I remember. End of story.

Until I accidentally highlighted the word on my Kindle last night. The Kindle has a nifty feature where a highlighted word is immediately and automatically defined using the in-built dictionary.

And it threw up the meaning of the word sapien. “Wise”, it said. Wow. Wise. We have named ourselves wise. We are wise, at times. But mostly we are angry, cranky, greedy, jealous, scared, anxious… the list is endless.

We should live up to our biological name better.

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Concluding post today, of a series revealing very important secrets!

The first thought that usually comes to mind when one talks of a leader, at least in a business context, is the role of CEO. What is a CEO’s job really? The E in CEO is a bit of a giveaway. But does the CEO him/herself execute? Hardly.

Guy Raz interviewed a guy named Mark King – who once ran TaylorMade golf, was the North America CEO of Adidas, and then ran Taco Bell. What did Mr. King have to say about his own role as CEO? Something simple, yet profound. “My job as the CEO is not to have the answers; my talent is to find the people who have the answers.”

How to do this in a workplace setting? What happens in companies with great leaders? Here’s what Guy says.

Successful companies are those that create a collaborative environment where new ideas are valued and encouraged. To foster collaboration, it’s important to enable people to throw out radical ideas, even if they may not be actionable. However, in team meetings, often only 5-10% of people dominate the conversation due to fear of judgment for their ideas. To encourage more participation, it’s important to create an environment where people feel comfortable sharing their worst or silly ideas, as this can spark new conversations and lead to innovative solutions.

Time to practise and implement the leadership secrets wherever and whenever we can!

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