Atithi Devo Bhava: Experiencing True India - A day to remember...

When visitors come to India, they see "Atithi Devo Bahava" (i.e. "Visitors are like God") advertisements and as majority of them only visit metros, they leave India with an eagerness of where can they experience "Atithi Devo Bhava". Many of them leave with the unpleasant experiences of beggars almost snatching things from their hands; or people trying to make a fast buck out of foreigners. I have heard those stories so many times, and I am sure you did too...

But June 5, 2013 had something different in store for us. I was accompanying 11 students from Exeter University of England to a cultural field trip to Shantidham Gurukul near Sangam along with a visit to a nearby village.  

As soon as we reached the Gurukul, we were received by the students and the acharyas with pleasant and auspicious Vedic chants. As we all walked towards the Yajna-shala, we could only hear the chanting or the birds chirping - adding to the chorus. Living in the city for so long, not hearing traffic noise and impatient ALL OF US honking; is a peaceful experience in itself.  

After a warm welcome ceremony, the Gurukul reverberated with the Vedic chanting of 60+ young bramhcharis. Their heartily charting created mesmerizing environment in the middle of nature's abode. After many other informative and interesting sessions on Indian culture; we were served a traditional lunch on Banana leaves. I have been a regular visitor to this Gurukul; and if you want to experience "Atithi Devo Bhava" in action; this Gurukul is the place to go.

Arya ji from Gurukul had also arranged a village visit for us. I never imagined that the next phase of our visit will be a unique experience even for me as well. As we took a mud road, a gentleman appeared who then led us to the village center. We were standing in front of a 300 year old house in which people were still living. Marvelous piece of architecture, with stone foundation and beautifully carved wooden pillars. What took my breath away was the provision this house had for rain water harvesting. As you will see in the picture, in the middle of the house was a rectangular corridor, with roof sloped inwards and there was an opening. On a sunny day, the opening brings light and fresh air into the house. On a rainy day, water gets collected into the reservoir below. The reservoir also had water removal duct that could be opened at will. I was amazed at the planning this house overall had.

There was was water tank; special earthen pots to keep grains for years.We even saw a woman grinding Raagi using a hand mill. The residents of the house were happy to receive us in their home and offered whatever they had available. We had home grown peanuts with Jaggery, the combination was loved by all of us.

As all of us moved around the village, the curious residents were outside their homes; and I felt life in the village came to a standstill.  But that is how life in India villages probably is - they value people and the time they can spend in human interactions. We where offered some of the sweetest coconut water I have ever had. When we tried paying the villagers, they felt offended and told us that we are their guest and they are doing what a good host should do. They wanted us to carry pleasant memories of the visit.

The picture of smiling grandmas' made me think, how materialistic conveniences of life have nothing to do with happiness and true smile. These people in picture might not have gadgets, fancy cars or expensive clothes; yet they have big hearts and loving thoughts for fellow human beings.

The experiences of the day surely touched hearts of visiting students, in addition, we were left in awe and proud to be an Indian. When you next time see a celebrity talking about "Atithi Devo Bhava" and you wonder "where", especially after what happened in recent months in New Delhi and other metros; do visit any Indian village, which is still untouched by the modernization. And you can yourself see Spirituality in Action; not as a fancy concept but as a Way of Life. 

Can be a Life Saver: Do you go for Preventive Maintenance

We are so caught up in the world of THINGS that we have forgotten that we work to live not live to work... This thought can take several dimension but today I want to pick the one that can be a different between life and death.

We were in a state of shock when we found out that just a floor below our home, our neighbor's relative - a very bright young executive barely 37years of age, after a family get together and banter went to sleep and never woke up. The family members can not get rid of the guilt that he was asked to sleep because "he was talking too much, and didn't let others speak". Never had any symptoms one would worry about. Another shock came just a few days ago when one of our researcher friends went home and while giving dance lessons, just collapsed. And never opened her eyes.

These two events were shocking, more so because I don't know when I went for a complete physical exam and totally unaware of the Inside Story. While living in the US, preventive health checks were at least an annual affair; but in India, too caught up on the roads and procrastination that in the last five years never went to hospital for a complete checkup.

We treat our cars and other toys better than our bodies. We go for regular oil change, regular maintenance services, tire re-balancing etc.  We observe performance degradation of our laptops and mobile phones and go for upgrades. But I wonder if we care about our own body and mind the same. If I had a very expensive dog or horse, I will never let them smoke, drink or stay awake all night - too expensive to risk. But we often mistreat our own bodies even worst.

The recent events did alarm me and I did go for a complete health check. End result - my sedentary life style has started showing up on the health performance numbers. Fortunately, the effect is yet only showing up around my belly and regular exercise offers me hope of recovery. I will not forget Dr. Chavi's one liner - "60min of exercise daily, diet control because I don't want this fat that is currently on the belly to accumulate on your arteries". She also seeded in my mind - "Feel guilty if you are sitting for eating without completing your 60min workout". Both her pearls of wisdom are so far doing the trick. I feel much better that at least I am inspired to do what is in my control.

How about you ? When was the last you went for a health check? Especially if you are above 30 and even more important if you are above 40. Let us at least offer our bodies same respect that we are offering to our cars and other gadgets. The intent of this writing is not to scare you; but to invite you to reflect on "do you know your inside story?" and "are you doing your best to stay healthy?".

arunb's Golden Nugget: Triple Filter Test to Live in the Excellence Zone

This week's Golden Nugget comes from Ancient Wisdom of Socrates.

Referring to the popular saying "Silence is Golden", once a disciple asked Socrates, when shall one speak. Socrates replied that everyone should apply a triple filter test before speaking anything.

First filter is the filter of "Truthfulness" i.e. what you are saying it is absolutely true? If you are not certain then you will end up promoting something untrue. Many times we keep promoting hearsay without knowing the truth.

Second filter is the filter of "Pleasantness". What you are going to say, is it pleasant?  This filter eliminates empty remarks and vain statements made to hurt others or just spoken for no reason in idleness.

Third filter is the filter of "Usefulness". Is the statement we are going to make benefits the listener? Will our words bring comfort and joy to someone?

If what you want to say does not pass this Triple-Filter Test i.e. it is not true, not pleasant and of no use, then those words are better unspoken.  Only the words that are carrier of truth, provide comfort to someone and result in some benefit to the listener; are worth speaking.

Triple-Filter Test not only create extra time for desirable activities, it also helps in maintaining peace of mind as well as healthy relations with others. I invite you to reflect on this golden nugget and use triple filter test to live in the Excellence Zone. 

Degradation of Values and Our Future

One thought is very close to my heart - "It is the degradation of inner values that is causing the destruction of outer environment". Please give it a thought. All unfortunate events that we see today (or we ourselves cause) are a result of degradation of inner values.

Nurturing of Values in a society has two dimensions - first, the right values need to be inculcated in the growing minds (and by the way it is proven that our mind grows beyond 75 years, Ref: Neuro-plasticity);  we need to make sure wrong values do not corrupt the growing minds. 

With parents getting busy and grand-ma; grand-pa living in a distant town; the tradition of moral story telling to kids is vanishing. The story telling these days mostly is through television or video-games; which are mostly oriented towards getting kids hooked on to junk-food and toys representing violent or romantic characters. 

As we grow up, we get exposed to more television and movies that will test anyone's determination of living a virtuous life. I fail to understand purpose of Big-boss and similar shows; and item-numbers in movies. The only contribution they can make is erosion of values.   

If money, education or power could compensate for lack of values so many of known, rich, highly educated and powerful people will not be sitting behind bar losing all the respect they had earned. 

So what then helps to build a society with values; and how can values be protected / nurtured in increasingly vicious environment? 

As there is no single answer, I am leaving this as a open question for you to provide your thoughts and view on "How to build virtuous India and how to prevent degradation of inner values"?    

Golden Nugget: Ancient Wisdom From Hitopadesha

As the year 2012 came to an end, and 2013 ushered in; I wish you a year of peace, prosperity and joy. This time, the Golden Nuggets are based on Ancient Wisdom of Hitopadesha. Written in the form of stories and advice couplets, Hitopadesha captures the essence of Ancient Wisdom from Indian scriptures including Gita and Panchtantra. I hope you will not only enjoy reading them, but meditate on them and may the ancient wisdom from these golden nuggets make 2013 a joyful year for you.

The wise will strive for wealth and learning, As if to time and age immune;

But not delay good works, realizing, that death may strike one anytime soon.

We often procrastinate on projects where our passion lies, waiting for some event in the future to happen. I pray that 2013 inspires us all to do things that we always wanted to do, especially sharing what we can with those who are less privileged.

To worthy people what you give, and that on which you daily live.

That alone your wealth people merit: The rest you guard, others inherit.

Someone asked a saint, “Who is RICH?”  I invite you to give a thought – “Who do YOU think is rich?”

The saint responded, “The one who after taking care of his needs and responsibilities; shares his / her resources with others – WITHOUT expecting anything in return”. I pray that in 2013, we all will experience “The Joy of Selfless Giving”.  

If you have a contended mind, wealthy yourself you will find.

To one with shoes on his feet, all roads are covered with soft leather sheet.

A king once had a whim that his kingdom roads should be covered with carpet so his feet never fall on dusty roads. The wise minister knew impracticality of the whim, so he asked the shoemaker to make shoes with carpet lining. And now wherever the king went, he always had carpet under his feet. I wish that 2013 will bring contentment to our life, so we can enjoy what we have; instead of wanting to have something more to enjoy.

Even after studying the sacred knowledge, or by going every day to college

You will gain little just by doing this; unless you put your learning into practice

A well-made medicine for the sick, cannot do any magic trick

The suffering you cannot tame; just by uttering the medicine’s name.

I hope you will reflect on these golden nuggets and put to practice what you find good out of them. I wish your family and you a very happy new year!

Why we need work life balance...

Have you ever wondered how important it is to enjoy time at work for Joyful Living (read "iRecharge with Joyful Living" for Joyful Living context)?

Let us do some math - 24 hours in a day. We are in the office for at least 10 hours in everyday. Living in SF Bay Area and Bangalore, my experience is that we spend average 2hours daily in the traffic - that makes it 12hours out of home. Doctors suggest that we need at least 8 hours of sleep to be healthy - that is 20 hours of no interaction with our loved ones. We also spend at least 30min in the bathroom or other activities where there is no interaction with the loved ones. That is startling.....

OUT OF 24 hours in a day; you spend at least 20.5 hours away from your loved ones OR just 3.5 hours with your family. This is without even accounting for occasional business trips.

Nice realization, isn't it? On an average working day, you spend 3.5 hours with your family whereas you spend 10 hours with your office colleagues.

In a 5 day week you spend 50 hours in the office where as only 17.5 hours with your loved ones. Even if you spend every minute of your active weekend with your family, it would still mean 31 + 17.5 = 48.5 hours.

Look at that number in your own context. You spend more time with your office colleagues than with your loved ones. So when you go to office tomorrow, don't just think "Yet another day"; think of how to make every minute of the day more enjoyable to achieve Joyful Living.

Meaning of Character

This week’s Golden Nugget “Meaning of Character” is inspired Vedic philosophy and books published by Sri Ramakrishana Math.

“Personality is who we are when everyone is watching; and character is who we are when no one is watching”. The meaning of character proposed by Vedic philosophy can be beautifully described by taking analogy of a lake. In a lake, winds create waves, and those waves not just disturb the surface of the water, they also affect shores and bottom of the lakes as well. Over a period of time these waves gradually build banks of sands and rounded pebbles on the lake bottom. The shapes of sandbanks and pebbles created by waves are much more permanent and solid than the waves themselves. Now taking this analogy to humans, the mind (like lake) is continuous flow of thoughts (waves). And over a period of time these thought-waves create tendencies, capabilities and habits, which are more permanent than the thoughts themselves. In Vedic terms these are called – samskaras. Samaskaras build up by the continuous thought-waves; and samaskaras also create new thought-waves. Hence, there is a continuous cycle. If you expose your mind to pleasant thoughts and perform selfless acts of kindness, you will experience joy in your daily life. A person with selfless-giving samaskara will be known as “a kind person”. If you expose your mind to constant thoughts of anger and resentment, you will find that these anger-waves build up anger-throughout your daily life. A man with well-developed anger-samskaras is said to have “a bad temper”. The sum total of our samaskaras is our character at any given moment. As the sandbank can shift and change their shapes as the tide or the current changes, so also the samaskaras may be modified by the introduction of other kinds of thought waves into the mind.

The seeds of good and evil are latent in all of us. It is up to us to decide which ones we want to cultivate. The ones nurtured more by our thought-waves will become our dominant character. Yoga offers the process of reflection and meditation to ensure we are building intended samaskaras.

I wish that all of us will feed the goodness with our thought-waves, so we can look forward to a better future of Joyful Living.