Tuesday, December 25, 2012

"What the world wants is Character................"

Below is a reflection on the various current global issues like US College Shooting, Delhi Gang Rape, ongoing Terrorism through an essay that I had submitted as a Graduate Student to Goi Peace Foundation in 2004.


My first six months of hostel life during my undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering from a Government University in India were challenging in a different sense. Complexity adorned my thoughts and confusion prevailed in my day-to-day life. The reason was that I was in a place that was totally different from ‘my world: a world of amazing perfection’. I saw people from all walks of life and with so much varied qualities, both good and bad. I saw majority of my hostel mates drinking, watching adult videos and films, gambling, smoking, using bad language, etc. I took a decision that I won’t talk to all these persons because they are ‘bad’. Since I was brought up in a totally secured and faultless environment, these observations made my mind to wander. The question came to my mind: ‘what is good and what is bad and how do you differentiate between the two?’ I struggled in isolation but to no result. One fine day I asked my roommate, an exceptionally intelligent and  ‘big’ hearted fellow, who had all the bad qualities that I mentioned, the answer to my most conflicting question. He said that the answer is very simple. He continued that good and bad is a relative term and it depends upon the way the person is brought up and what all he experiences and observes as a part of growing up. He said: “ drinking and smoking is perfectly fine with him because he has seen his father doing the same. At the same time it’s bad for you, as your father doesn’t”. He concluded beautifully: “ there will be times when you will be confused and divided in deciding between the right and wrong; but always remember if in following a certain direction or path you feel afraid and scared, then that path is not good for you even though many would be following the same”. This answer was indeed a respite to all the complexity that occupied my mind.


In the words of a great person, Swami Vivekananda: “The present is merely a line of demarcation between the past and future, and of the two tendencies in man, if the good preponderates he will move to a higher sphere, if the evil has power, he degenerates. These two are continually at work within him; what elevates him is virtue, that which degenerates is evil.” The continuous fight against the devil that resides in every man has been tough for me, but each and every time I have evolved as a better human being in that process.


My undergraduate life provided me with strong leadership skills, perseverance and discipline. I graduated as a mature and responsible person with a desire and passion to help humankind in whatever way I can. I got a mission that always guides me during tough times and teaches me dedication. I had realized that hatred towards humanity, mass destruction, mass killing and the lack of self-awareness in individuals in following this evil path is much more devilish in nature than the acts of my college friends casual drinking and smoking and indulging in acts of short term pleasure. At least they didn’t kill babies and students, they didn’t rape young women and definitely they didn’t kill innocent people in the name of religion superiority. In the words of Swami Vivekananda: “What the world wants is character. The world is in need of those whose life is one burning love, selfless. That love will make every word tell like a thunderbolt.”


I often take pride in the qualities that I have cultivated in myself with minute observation and careful thought. They deal with the finer aspects of life. My best lies in my selfless and giving attitude. The desire to help others without expecting anything in return is a governing principle in my day-to-day life. Truly, nothing gives me more satisfaction than my ability to help others in the most adequate way as possible. There is a whole bunch of people who are in need of a helping hand. I am always ready to extend my hands for the needy. Apart from this, my love for animals, a quality that I inherited from my father has made me more compassionate and caring. I love every person I meet, irrespective of his color or religion. 




Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Only for my dear siblings


To All My Lovely Siblings,

 
This is something I always wanted to do and this is something I’ll continue doing as long as I feel the need. I’m here to talk about thoughts and how inspiring and powerful they are if channeled in the right direction. I’m here to discuss intuition and how to develop the required confidence to trust them. Before I start and discuss many of the above-said, I wanted to congratulate all of you for where you are in your lives and for all the struggle and hard work you underwent to accomplish the present standing.

 

Here I go. I want to emphasize upon a lot of things that I feel are important and I’m sure many of you would have felt the same at certain point of time during your journey of life. I want you to be creative in your thought process and stress hard in trying to get the message here. Please don’t blind yourself with my thoughts because you have the power to think uniquely and in a much more advance way. I have confidence in you and want you to develop more thoughts by going through the following that I believe are important to survive in today’s world.

 

1)    Think ‘Global’

 

The world global encompasses a lot of things. It brings in thoughts about different people, different religions, different languages, different cultures, different customs and practices, different countries, different….. But, if we start thinking about all the different things and try to keep tabs at all the different aspects of this world, it becomes overwhelming after a while. It’s very difficult to learn all the differences between all the people and nations of this world but much easier to find out about the commonalities between ‘successful people’ and ‘successful nations’.

 

I personally never think about the differences even though I do talk on occasions for the sake of it. I always thought the differences were meant for us to appreciate more about other people, other cultures, and other nations but realized I was wrong. I always thought that the differences were meant to create more tolerance and the feeling of respect and love for other people, other cultures, other religions and other nations but I found this was incorrect too. If you look around you won’t have to try hard to see it’s the differences that create ‘real’ problems in this world. People who encourage them and nations who foster these people will degrade eventually. I believe I’m becoming a little complex here. I don’t want to confuse you and make you believe to stop taking pride in what you are, what religion you belong to and what country you belong to. What I want to communicate is the fact that the pride shouldn’t interfere with your love for other people, love for other cultures and religions, and love for other nations. Please read the message I wrote to all my friends sometime back when my mind was troubled to see what was happening globally.

 

“I want to share what I've observed in these years. We are living in a time that's changing at a dramatic pace. Technology is creeping into our lives like never before. It's an era of knowledge that the world has never seen before. Thoughts have crossed all the limitless boundaries in pursuit of making things happen.

We have made progress beyond our wildest imagination. Why do you think that it has been possible? Is it our strong belief and commitment in religion that's leading us to progress? Or is it our blind belief in customs and rituals that's leading us to victory? Please take time to clear your mind with any pre-conceived thought and belief or anything that will hinder you to be objective in making my effort somewhat understanding. I belong to a generation where my religion is governed by the principles of freedom of thoughts and expressions but not necessary being rebellious in achieving our aims, love for all people and respect for people of all belief, faith and religion.

According to me this world has made progress by being able to combine talents from all religion, race, color and sex. Talent is not limited to one particular religion or place. It's a beauty of one's own commitment in making this "mother earth" a better place to live not only for yourself but for many more generations to come. These people share the common passion and incessant desire to work hard in bringing lives together to live peacefully and be able to tolerate each other's views and opinions without being too critical about them. On the other hand there are people who are just trying to do the very opposite and repeat everything that has happened in the past. Well, these people have definitely not learnt from the past that's full of stories of people destroying the creation on the name of religion. These people have been brainwashed so that they just believe in what they are told to accomplish the most heinous crime on the name of religion.

I want you to think deeply as to what good these religion theories have given us. They bring different traditions and beliefs that are good. But, if people start thinking that they are the best and their religion is superior to everyone else; that's where the doors start closing.”

The other aspect of thinking global is to see and think as to what is happening around you and not just your city or just your country. I want you all to focus very hard on these for many more years to come:

·         Develop mastery and command over the universal language English. It’s imperative for all of you to get into the habit of reading, writing and discussing in English. Any person, organization, nation that will not encourage the progress of English will meet its doom anytime in the coming future. We are living in a world where English rules and we are in a better position because the medium of instruction is in English. We have to make sure we read, read and read. I’ll lay special emphasis on literature and encourage reading poetry, short stories and novels. Reading the newspaper is equally important and please develop a habit of discussing news and current events amongst yourself and with your family just like you discuss any favorite subject of yours with your friends.

 

·         Learn Economics. No matter what field you belong to you have to learn economics. As time will pass by you’ll find yourself into situations where that little knowledge acquired might prove to be beneficial. Economics is after all how people deal with ‘scarcity’. It could be scarcity of things, scarcity of resources, or scarcity of money. Please learn the subject and you will start appreciating global events and their impact. Recently, you would have noticed the news that America is already into a recession. The entire world got affected. You are the future ‘global’ citizens and it is very important to understand how the real world functions. I’m learning and I would encourage all of you to take the lead. The subject will influence probably all the major decisions of your life and I’m sure people already affected will agree. It helps in better planning and management of your life and you are the only commander of your life.

 

·         Be curious. Curiosity keeps a person going. The world around us is amazing and a lot can be appreciated if we are curious. I took an online course and found an interesting quote saying: ‘Study the art of science and the science of art’. The curiosity factor plays a dominant role in bringing out the real creative genius residing within. Always remember a creative person has more solutions than a logical person. Creativity results from curiosity and makes life interesting. That’s what I call living life to its fullest.

 

·         Take good care of your health. The saying ‘Health is wealth’ will always be valid no matter what time of life you are in. Be very disciplined with good health related practices. It’s never too late to learn about human body and how it functions. Learn ways to develop better health of yourself and your loved ones. Discuss new ways to tackle problems and get to the roots to find causes related to the problems. Develop good oral hygiene. I know for sure that nobody flosses and that’s so important. I learnt that flossing helps preventing gums problems like gingivitis more than just brushing twice a day. Make sure you learn flossing and don’t sleep without brushing and flossing. Indulge yourself in any kind of physical activity you enjoy and maintain the schedule. Regular exercise brings longevity and helps in reducing stress. Learn Yoga and basic meditation. You will notice enhancement in your concentration and improvement overall in your mental and physical health. Also, I want you to eat healthy and not indulge in smoking, and drinking. Please don’t develop these habits and resist the temptation as much as possible. Drink socially but I will emphasize never to get into hard liquor habit. Hard liquor is damaging and trust me it makes a man act like a dog. The question is do you want to abuse yourself and be a ‘dog’ or enjoy socially. Red wine is a great drink for your overall health, but sadly people lack the wisdom to acknowledge it.

 

2)     Lessons learnt from Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro.

 

This is from one of the speeches given by him. Enjoy it; it’s very powerful and I enjoyed every bit of it and I’m sure you will appreciate it too.

 

          “I am very happy to be here with you. It is always wonderful to be with young people. The funny thing about life is that you realize the value of something only when it begins to leave you. As my hair turned from black, to salt and pepper and finally salt without the pepper, I have begun to realize the importance of youth. At the same time, I have begun to truly appreciate some of the lessons I have learnt along the way. I hope you will find them useful when you plan your own career and life.

The first thing I have learnt is that we must always begin with our strengths. From the earliest years of our schooling, everyone focuses on what is wrong with us. There is an imaginary story of a rabbit. The rabbit was enrolled in a rabbit school. Like all rabbits, it could hop very well but could not swim. At the end of the year, the rabbit got high marks in hopping but failed in swimming. The parents were concerned. They said, "Forget about hopping. You are anyway good at it. Concentrate on swimming." They sent the rabbit for tuitions in swimming. And guess what happened? The rabbit forgot how to hop! As for swimming, have you ever seen a rabbit swim? While it is important for us to know what we are not good at, we must also cherish what is good in us. That is because it is only our strengths that can give us the energy to correct our weaknesses.

The second lesson I have learnt is that a rupee earned is of far more value than five found. My friend was sharing me the story of his eight year-old niece. She would always complain about the breakfast. The cook tried everything possible, but the child remained unhappy. Finally, my friend took the child to a supermarket and brought one of those ready-to-cook packets. The child had to cut the packet and pour water in the dish. After that, it took two minutes in the microwave to be ready. The child found the food to be absolutely delicious? The difference was that she has cooked it! In my own life, I have found that nothing gives as much satisfaction as earning our rewards. In fact, what is gifted or inherited follows the old rule of come easy, go easy. I guess we only know the value of what we have if we have struggled to earn it.

The third lesson I have learnt is no one bats a hundred every time. Life has many challenges. You win some and lose some. You must enjoy winning. But do not let it go to the head. The moment it does, you are already on your way to failure. And if you do encounter failure along the way, treat it as an equally natural phenomenon. Don't beat yourself for it or any one else for that matter! Accept it, look at your own share in the problem, learn from it and move on. The important thing is, when you lose, do not lose the lesson.

The fourth lesson I have learnt is the importance of humility. Sometimes, when you get so much in life, you really start wondering whether you deserve all of it. This brings me to the value of gratitude. We have so much to be grateful for. Our parents, our teachers and our seniors have done so much for us that we can never repay them. Many people focus on the shortcomings, because obviously no one can be perfect. But it is important to first acknowledge what we have received. Nothing in life is permanent but when a relationship ends, rather than becoming bitter, we must learn to savor the memory of the good things while they lasted.

The fifth lesson I learnt is that we must always strive for excellence. One way of achieving excellence is by looking at those better than us. Keep learning what they do differently. Emulate it. But excellence cannot be imposed from the outside. We must also feel the need from within. It must become an obsession. It must involve not only our mind but also our heart and soul. Excellence is not an act but a habit. I remember the inspiring lines of a poem, which says that your reach must always exceed your grasp. That is heaven on earth. Ultimately, your only competition is yourself.

The sixth lesson I have learnt is never give up in the face of adversity. It comes on you suddenly without warning. One can succumb to self-pity, wring your hands in despair or decide to deal with the situation with courage and dignity. Always keep in mind that it is only the test of fire that makes fine steel. A friend of mine shared this incident with me. His eight-year old daughter was struggling away at a jigsaw puzzle. She kept at it for hours but could not succeed. Finally, it went beyond her bedtime. My friend told her, "Look, why don't you just give up? I don't think you will complete it tonight. Look at it another day." The daughter looked with a strange look in her eyes, "But, dad, why should I give up? All the pieces are there! I have just got to put them together!" If we persevere long enough, we can put any problem into its perspective.

The seventh lesson I have learnt is that while you must be open to change, do not compromise on your values. Mahatma Gandhiji often said that you must open the windows of your mind, but you must not be swept off your feet by the breeze. You must define what your core values are and what you stand for. And these values are not so difficult to define. Values like honesty, integrity, consideration and humility have survived for generations. Values are not in the words used to describe them as much as in the simple acts. At the end of the day, it is values that define a person more than the achievements. Because it is the means of achievement that decide how long the achievements will sustain. Do not be tempted by short cuts. The short cut can make you lose your way and end up becoming the longest way to the destination.

And the final lesson I learnt is that we must have faith in our own ideas even if everyone tells us that we are wrong. There was once a newspaper vendor who had a rude customer. Every morning, the Customer would walk by, refuse to return the greeting, grab the paper off the shelf and throw the money at the vendor. The vendor would pick up the money, smile politely and say, "Thank you, Sir." One day, the vendor's assistant asked him, "Why are you always so polite with him when he is so rude to you? Why don't you throw the newspaper at him when he comes back tomorrow?" The vendor smiled and replied, "He can't help being rude and I can't help being polite. Why should I let his rude behavior dictate my politeness?

In my youth, I thought of myself as a rebel and was many times, a rebel without a cause. Today, I realize that my rebellion was another kind of conformity. We defied our elders to fall in line with our peers! Ultimately, we must learn to respond instead of reacting. When we respond, we evaluate with a calm mind and do whatever is most appropriate. We are in control of our actions. When we react, we are still doing what the other person wants us to do.

I wish you all the best in your life and career. I hope you achieve success in whatever way you define it and what gives you the maximum happiness in life.

Remember, those who win are those who believe they can.”


 

 

Thank you for finding out the time to read the thoughts and hopefully they will help you in one way or the other. Enjoy life and please share some of your stories with me that you think were life changing for you. If you are in a situation where you need some help or guidance, please don’t hesitate to email me. I cannot promise that I know all the solutions but I’ll try my best to direct you in the right direction.

 

Yours Lovingly,

 

Abhinav Dada

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Living In Your Present

I am writing this article because I was approached by a trainee from BIM-Plumbing last month who got so much worried about what just happened in the past that he completely lost his focus in the present. Now think what will happen, you cannot change the past because it is over and now the entire future is getting affected because of your actions in your present. This is exactly what was happening with the concerned person and the person was losing the sensitive emotional intelligence balance that is required for day to day upbringing.


Life is a blessing and to enjoy the bliss, one has to live life to its fullest. One might think that it is easier to say than to apply. But over the passing years I am convinced that life can be only lived to its fullest when people are living their present, both mentally and physically. We have always been told that ‘Life is a journey, not a destination’, but despite the words of wisdom, people fall in the trap of either letting their past dominate their present or they get so much concerned about their future that they will forget to live their present.


People stress for little-little things in life that has no real meaning in the long and beautiful journey of life. Well, everyone learns from their own experience. People who apply wisdom early on live a more fruitful life and their life is free from comparison with others for minor things.

“Live in day a tight compartment”- Dale Carnegie


What the above quote means is shut off your past and shut off your future, but never shut off your present, i.e. today. Color your present like the above painting with all kinds of activities that you can possibly pursue in a day without stressing yourself out. Take new hobbies that help you in living a more compassionate and full life. Live your today with confidence and be a role model for others.