Celebrate Every Day !

Celebrate Every Day !

Saturday 02 April 2022: DAY 22022 for me.

Saturday 02 April 2022. The start of the Hindu New Year 2079 as per Vikram Samvat. We humans may use many different calendars to mark the passage of time. And celebrate many different days as their own individual New Year day. The folks in Andhra & Telengana, Maharshtra, Kashmir, and the Sindhis celebrate today as Ugadi, Gudi Padwa, Navreh, Cheti Chand etc. And many others will celebrate it later this month as Bihu, Vishu, Puthandu etc.

It is all about celebration and the marking of the passage of Time.

For Life is so precious and absolutely worthy of celebration today and every single day!! When the sun appears to come up over the eastern horizon on account of the spinning of planet Earth, a new day dawns. There is an ebb and flow in life, as there is in every inhalation & exhalation, as there is in every sunrise and sunset. And every new day is one of hope, opportunities and new experiences & relationships.

Likewise all of us tend to celebrate the day of our birth in any calendar as our Birthday. Many of us have an English birthday and a Star birthday. A once-a-year celebration of the fact that we came into this life on that day and are alive to celebrate it every year.

So why celebrate only on a New Year Day or a Birthday, once a year? Why not every day?

I chose to measure my life in Days and celebrate each day as a new day! Grateful that I have the breath in me for one more day!

So today is DAY 22022 for me on planet Earth in this lifetime.

02-04-2022 is 22022. 02 April 2022: Day 22022 for Shriram Parameswaran

I may surely have added a lot of value to those I have had the opportunity to interact with, in these 22022 days. I surely hope to continue to do my best to add value in the remaining days of my Life.

Live Life To The Maximum

#lifemaximum

www.lifemaximum.in

Ps: I use the Days Calculator on www.timeanddate.com to keep track of the number of Days.

a few words that I penned today....

 

A rare drop ...then a trickle.....a stream, a river and probably a deluge

Steadily becoming proximal in degrees of connectedness

Instances of humankind dropping their mortal coil

Irrespective of age, gender and general physical health

Bringing with it a numbness and a drought of tears

Each death, merely another statistic, a meaningless count

Social distancing, WFH, virtual meetings etc is already in our vocabulary and now it is digital condolences

Repeated reminders of our definite mortality, the drifting away of our allotted time

Reminding us to strive even harder urgently, at spreading hope, support and whatever we can

To the mass of humanity that we may not today include as our own

While we cocoon ourselves in our private sanitized, secured spaces and fortify with vaccinations

Thinking first of me and mine alone, self-preservation foremost?

Will this insulation be any consolation for those at the frontlines battling out and for those already afflicted, those who have lost livelihood and lives of their dearest

Self-preservation first, letting the frontliners battle it out? Is that the only way or is there another?

Statistics and theories of waves, mutants and vectors, encourage us to shrink further into our shells?

When life is always about expansion and inclusion, is this virus being allowed to reverse our purpose?

Time for all of us, not just the trained and prepped healthcare system, to do our bit to overcome this pandemic

If not for anything but solely because it is upon us and it is our karma. 

Our body: a chemical soup......and an immense possibility of LIFE !

Our body has its own inherent capabilities to generate different chemicals that are required to be in appropriate proportions. There are many chemical factories i.e glands within us, which do these jobs of production. 

Whenever any of these capabilities becomes deficient (underactive or overactive) is when we face illnesses. Eg insulin, thyroxine, adrenalin, testosterone, oestrogen etc And then we address those illnesses by simply taking medicines which are nothing but chemicals to either address the deficiency or to kickstart the internal factories to produce the right chemicals, thereby supplementing the chemical soup that is inside us. These may appear to be quick fixes or short term interventions. However if we live life consciously and manage our lifestyle better, we can keep our internal chemical factories humming innoerfect rhythm and harmony.

There is obviously a strong connect between our body and our mind. All actions and thoughts that we engage in, directly result in the appropriate chemical secretions into the blood stream and result in various after effects. Simple examples are : When we have a sudden scare or fright, our body releases adrenaline in an instant and our heart rate goes up, enabling the after effect of fight or flight. When one sees an erotic image or scene, appropriate hormones get released resulting in male erections and female vaginal lubrication.

So there is a direct correlation between our thoughts & acts and the constitution bof the chemical soup inside us. This being the case, if we can consciously engage in specific acts and thoughts that would enable the release of the relevant chemicals that generate positive effects on us as a human being.

D.O.S.E ...i.e Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin and Endorphins are the wellness / happiness chemicals. We need to have these in the appropriate D.O.S.E within us. And if these are in sufficient quantities, then each of us will have an overall elevated level of wellness within us and would also automatically spread this wellness around us.

The image above in this page and this YouTube link : https://youtu.be/ldPuBk7a9V4
.....and also this post I found on the internet....

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hacking-into-your-happy-c_b_6007660......which clearly states that "Dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins are the quartet responsible for our happiness. Many events can trigger these neurotransmitters, but rather than being in the passenger seat, there are ways we can intentionally cause them to flow."

.......all these guide us to the appropriate actions that we could do consciously to ensure the right dose of D.O.S.E.


Likewise the internal "life-energy" also determines how we conduct our life. The quality / nature of our internal life-energy and where is based within the body determine the conduct of our life. Vice versa how we conduct nour life also determines the nature of our life-energy. The chakras (there are supposed to be 114 chakras for a human ...112 within us and two around us. And of the 112 within us the main ones that are commonly referred to are the seven chakras.....Mooladhara, Swadishthana, Manipooraka, Anahatha, Vishuddhi, Ajna and Sahasrara) and the physical structure of the body (skeleton and organs etc) are depicted in this image and also in these write-ups.

https://kinesiology.co.uk/life-force-energy-and-chakras/

https://www.expressionsofspirit.com/yoga/chakras.htm


One can consciously determine and alter the state of our life-energy by appropriate practices, our lifestyle etc. All yogic masters teach us various kriyas and sadhanas (loosely translated as actions and tools) that help us enhanvebour life-energy.

Having been given the gift of a human life, we can consciously exercise our free will to determine the true impact that this lifetime has on us as individuals and also on the rest of humanity and the planet. We can and should determine what footprints 👣👣👣 each of us leaves on the sands of time.

🙏🙏🙏 Namaskarams 🙏🙏🙏

Shriram Parameswaran
13 Aug 2020

Brevity of life... yet with immense fragrance...

Had penned these few lines earlier this week, at the spur of the moment.....when a cousin in Mumbai shared photos of many BrahmaKamals blooming in her home........ 

And today as a BrahmaKamal blooms in our own small garden, am sharing these words again.

Read on..…...

In the darkest depths of the silent midnight hours
They bloom magnificent these fragile white flowers

Weaving a mystical, magical, virginal tale of promise
Demanding an alert vigil from us, lest the moment we miss

Pristine bridal white and with a fragrance so subtle
They leave a message for all, without any hustle and bustle

Our BEING on this planet, our home, is indeed very brief
Our LIVING can be silent and powerful, spreading joy abundant, never causing grief

Life is akin to that very brief moment of a small part of a dark night
And in that brevity we can play our role well, that is our birth-right

And before the new day dawns, the blooms they shrivel and close.....a withering remnant, quite easily missed, forgotten & ignored ..............................
But with the silent knowledge that fragrance is to be shared, not to selfishly hoard

May our brief lives be equally wondrous
And as we breathe out our last, there is no other judge, but us.

अदवन्तेचेति न्यायः

अदवन्तेचेति न्यायः

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖒𝖆𝖝𝖎𝖒 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖇𝖊𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖊𝖓𝖉.

 

𝕴𝖋 𝖆𝖓𝖞𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖍𝖆𝖘 𝖆 𝖇𝖊𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌, 𝖎𝖙 𝖒𝖚𝖘𝖙 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖆𝖓 𝖊𝖓𝖉;

𝖆𝖓𝖉

𝖎𝖋 𝖎𝖙 𝖍𝖆𝖘 𝖆 𝖇𝖊𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖆𝖓 𝖊𝖓𝖉, 𝖎𝖙 𝖍𝖆𝖘 𝖆 𝖒𝖎𝖉𝖉𝖑𝖊 𝖆𝖑𝖘𝖔.

 

Palakkad Iyers migration in the years immediately after India's Independence

21st June 2020 was Father’s Day. And a few of us cousins were reminiscing through WhatsApp messages, about our fathers. A band of five Palakkad Iyer brothers (Irinjalakkuda, Thrissur origin) who decided to shift base out of Kerala to Bombay in the early 1950s, in search of a new life.

In their own way our fathers, our heroes, lived life king size in Irinjalakuda, a town in the Thrissur district famous for the Koodalmanikam temple. Our Thaatha was a kind hearted and loving soul who practised law. They lived in a big house near the temple. Their origins were however from Thaikatusherry near Ollur, which is also in Thrissur district. Our great grandfather had lot of land where he did krishi.  

After their basic education in Kerala, armed with shorthand-typing skills, many such Palakkad Iyer men set off towards Bombay to find jobs in the corporate world (and many to Delhi as well to seek employment as Government clerks and officers). That generation of males demonstrated the courage of moving out from Kerala. And their spouses took on the challenge of adapting to an alien state.... new language, lack of joint family support system, culture etc. Hats off to these bravehearts.

The small Palakkad Iyer community in Bombay of that time (1930-1950 I guess?) probably did offer a semblance of a supporting ecosystem for such "migrants". E.g the mess facilities at Matunga etc. They migrated out of Kerala in a steady trickle. The earlier set of migrants settling in and then calling for the next batch to move out. Completing their education under the streetlights of Bombay (not Mumbai), adapting to life in a different State, maintaining cultural roots and network (music, dance, religious rituals, sourcing and making South Indian specialities like vadu maangai, karuvadaams, maahaani, veppilakatti, nenthram chips.....), providing the best that they could afford in terms of education for their kids, supporting each other and the newer set of migrants from their Kerala brethren.....such was their life. Single pointed focus: get a job, steady income, save and secure a good education for their children, support the next batch of migrants.

They must have deprived themselves of many of their own needs, saved money for basics and a few luxuries and provided us with a cocoon of comfort. I remember the movies at Aurora theatre (Tarzan was my favourite), trips to Shanmukhananda hall for music-dance and more so for their samosa, bonda delights,  Phantom and Chandamama, surprises in the form of salted peanuts in pudiyas, potato wafers, Bhel Puri etc bought for us on the way back home from office in the Bombay local trains. And the specials in terms of novels...Sudden, Perry Mason, ViewMaster slides etc.

We are a generation of Palakkad Iyers, born in the decades immediately around India's Independence. Fortified with aracchuvitta sambhaar and mologootal, mezhukkuvaratti and podimas, karuvadaams and parikka vetthal and the special Paal payasams and nei payasams. Education and moral values were our guiding principles.

It is that pioneering spirit of our fathers, supported ably by our mothers, their moving away from Kerala, that provided for all of us a platform and foundation to set up our lives. We were enabled a pursuit of good quality education extending to post graduation and beyond in many parts of India and overseas too.

Our childhood i.e 1960-1980 gave us unique experiences. I remember the foodgrain shortage times when dad and I used to go early morning by train to Ambernath to buy good rice directly from farmers  to supplement ration store supplies. Playing goti (marbles), rubber ball cricket, lagori, borrowing novels from libraries, like Famous Five, Secret Seven, James Hadley Chase etc. Playing indoor games like cards and carrom in the stairwell of the buildings. Going to Madhu Book Store in Matunga for notebooks and textbooks, fixing brown cover and labels to books, exchanging labels with others. Sharing textbooks as a pass-me-down from older cousins to younger ones.

And the blanking out of window panes with paper for the night "lights-out" when the siren blew and the skies lit up with anti-aircraft trace flares.

The summer holiday train rides to Kerala and back was indeed a major highlight....and filled with such joy....today's kids do not even know what a “hold-all” is!!! Packing food for the long train journey in three tiered tiffin dabbas, playing games in the train, climbing up to the middle and top berth in the third class compartment!!! Enjoying the ride through the dark tunnels, enduring the black soot and dust of the coal fired steam engine. Or taking a quick shower at Arakkonam station.

Many of these memories will fade away with our generation. Our kids would not even be able to fathom these experiences.

Our kids face a brave new world confidently today. Now the migration is not from Kerala to Maharashtra, but to lands in different continents. Global citizens they are.

All thanks to our Palakkad Iyer fathers and mothers who dared to make a new life in Bombay.

The four yugas

Sadhguru explains the science behind the cycle of four yugas, calculates the timeline since the beginning of the Kali Yuga after the Kurukshetra War.

Did you know that Kali yuga has already ended, and a new era of enhanced perception is about to begin? Sadhguru explains how Krishna foresaw a great period of spiritual growth and enhanced human intelligence 5000 years before its advent.
Kali Yuga– When Did it End and What Lies Ahead?

We are in Dwapara Yuga now. In the year 2082, we will complete Dwapara Yuga and move on to Treta Yuga. (Many of us may not be around then in the present life form).

And what are the implications for Human Consciousness?

Read Sadhguru's explanation:

 https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en/wisdom/article/kali-yuga-end-lies-ahead

An Opportunity to Reinvent Your Destiny !

Every moment and every situation offers each of us a New Opportunity. So does Covid19 !  For Business enterprises and Entrepreneurs, here is a great Opportunity to Reinvent Your Destiny.

An opportunity to reinvent ourselves: Yes, the Universe could have used the medium of the Corona Virus to shake us off our stupor. This is a great opportunity indeed. These are great times for turning inward, re-assessing and re-purposing your own life, reinventing one’s own destiny.

New Paradigms, New Realities: Many paradigms would get transformed in an elastic manner and bounce back to the old pattern in a few weeks or few months. Many paradigms would get transformed in a plastic manner and get tweaked to a different permanent-set. Many paradigms would get completely shattered in a brittle manner and just disappear. New paradigms could manifest themselves, thereby offering us newer situations either as opportunities or as challenges. All said, the world as we know it before Covid19 and the world after Covid19 would be two distinct realities. One that we may not be able to fathom clearly today, but one that we can clearly gear up for.

The virus does not recognize boundaries and passports, does not discriminate based on gender, faith, political ideology, economic status or any other criteria. In that sense it is truly a great leveler. It serves a greater purpose of helping erase these human-made discriminators from our minds. The mightiest armies are impotent against this virus, the most reputed management consulting firms and visionaries could not predict this event. Now, as always, these same armies, consultants, visionaries will gear themselves up and help us recover and flourish. This planet Earth that we call home and the Humanity that is the most evolved species on Earth, will both survive this pandemic. We will get ushered into a new reality.

Gearing, Coping & Thriving: There could be a lull till demand really picks up for your business or till your supply-chain and operational processes gear up to a full flow. What should Business enterprises and Entrepreneurs do immediately and for the next few months, till a semblance of a new normalcy gets established? How do we cope in the short term and thrive in the long term?

And these were my ideas:

A. Alternate Imperative Actions: Set into motion many alternate actions that your enterprise really needs. Re-direct your organisational energy and resources to aspects that you may have postponed on account of the earlier routine rush. Re-assessing your inventory model, House-keeping activities, Re-designing process flows etc.

B. Boost Team Morale: Your biggest resource is your team and they will look up to you for a sense of direction, a sense of support and encouragement. They will need your help to make sense of the many uncertainties and grapple with their anxieties. Talk to them virtually, engage with them, communicate on emails and messaging apps frequently and in an articulate manner. Help them appreciate the new opportunities that could emerge. Generate and sustain hope. Be their guiding beacon.

C. Conserve Cash & Resources: As we are in an uncertain time-line, it makes sense to conserve all your vital resources and deploy them in a very discretionary manner. Do not attempt this alone. Engage with your teams and stakeholders to determine how the organisation could tighten its belts but still survive and be ready to thrive. Nurture the essentials, do away with the nice-to-haves.

D. Drive digital discipline: We were already riding a digital wave. It just got more massive. Work-from-home, virtual meetings, e-learning webinars, e-communiques, digital supply chains and digital marketplaces etc demand that each functional aspect be revisited to adopt a digital methodology. In doing so, you have to put in place solid governance mechanisms and checks-balances to drive discipline into the digital workplace. Because, the existing governance mechanisms may not be completely adequate in the digital workplace.

E. Engage with your Stakeholders: Maintain and reinvigorate your connect with all the stakeholders. Investors, Suppliers of Products and Services, Channel partners, Customers / Buyers, End Users. Have a keen perception to assess what has changed in their domains. Your organisation too has to factor these changes into your work-flow. A proactive outreach now will help build and nurture a stronger relationship with all stakeholders. If you RESPOND to them now, you will not need to REACT to them later.

F. Find New Opportunities: It surely is not all doom-and-gloom. A new horizon beckons. It will bring newer opportunities. Learn to read the tea leaves that lie in your market-place tea cup. Seek these out now and make your organisation more agile to these newer opportunities. Seek out new opportunities, gear up the organisation, breast the new tape!

G. Govern and Manage with a newer Consciousness: This is the cliched “last- but-not-the-least”. In fact, in my humble opinion, the Virus has a greater purpose of awakening each of us to a higher frequency. Making us more aware and conscious. Help us realize that we are “of-the-planet” and also “for-the-planet”. See how your business can align with the larger purpose of serving the wellness of humanity and wellness of our home Planet Earth. Yoga is about realizing the concept of Union. The union between the self and the larger whole: The Universe. We all are and shall always be a part of the Universe. Re-look and re-design your governance and management practices with a newer Consciousness. As Peter Block says: Choose Stewardship over Leadership, Choose Service over Self-Interest.

_/\_ Namaste _/\_

Shriram Parameswaran
LifeMaximum

05th April 2020
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

"Uttama Purusha".....the Ideal Human

Today is ShriramaNavami.....



The day we celebrate Lord Shriram.....But why is Lord Shriram worshipped?

His life was in no way what one could call a successful life in the normal sense.....it was actually a serial disaster.

His place in the kingdom was usurped, he and his wife were banished into the jungles, his wife was kidnapped, his wife had to undergo an agni- pariksha, he almost killed his own children unknowingly......

Yet he is worshipped.



Because he was the "uttama-purusha".

Despite being bombarded with curve balls all through his life, he always behaved in the right way and did what was right. Did not allow the situations to overcome his composure . And to that quality in a human, we bow down.



Let us all get that quality into us in these times and not just today....let us always have the sense to do the right thing. Be it WhatsApp forwards, be it social+physical distancing, be it handwash with soap, be it following a lockdown strictly, be it supporting the less privileged, putting service unto others above our own self-interests......🙏🙏🙏🙏

#dotherightthing

Leadership, Stewardship, Service....

The traditional model of "Leadership" has these three corner-stones :

(1) #INSIGHT - the ability to see things that others cannot, and to see things as they truly are, unbiased by past tendencies and experiences

(2) #INTEGRITY - the ability to adopt the correct set of values and then have the courage to be true to these values in all that one does

(3) #INSPIRE - the ability to communicate your Insight and your Integrity to a vast set of stakeholders and then help propel them forward on their own steam.

These are times when we realize the greater connected-ness between our-selves, our small circle of family / friends and the larger circle of humanity and all the other creations. These times warrant / recommend a different approach.... and the future will surely require something more than great Leadership.

Beyond Leadership, there is a sweeter choice of #STEWARDSHIP & #SERVICE. It is even more evident that the planet and all businesses on the planet need more of Stewardship. Enjoyed the small excerpt of 54 pgs from the book by Peter Block "Stewardship, Choosing Service Over Self-Interest".

This lays out the fundamental shifts that Stewardship advocates. I hope that you find it relevant.

https://www.bkconnection.com/static/Stewardship_2nd_EXCERPT.pdf

Cannot have just one day a year as a Woman's day. Every day is her day. Here is to HER !

There was a time, not very far away in the past, when Indian women rarely stepped out of their homes. They were bound down by constraints under the garb of tradition / culture etc.

In the last decade or so, many women have broken these shackles and established their own space in the work-domains outside their homes. And excel at that too, whilst juggling their duties at home.

Many men too have stepped up to this and started contributing their equal might at the home-front, so that the woman can survive and excel in the world outside their homes.

Signs of good times, surely.

However, the scourge of crimes against women, some very subtle, some very explicit, some utterly evil, still make a woman's journey on this planet far more tougher than that for a man.

Let not the absence of a Y chromosome, let not the body features of a woman make their journey unequal. Let us see the human in everyone before we categorize someone by gender.

In count, they may be just around 50% of humanity in the world, but in reality, they create the remaining 50% too!! Salutations to the feminine energy Shakti, Prakriti.

To all MEN and WOMEN....let us all remember that the journey is side-by-side. That is how Nature designed us to be. Each with its uniqueness, but incomplete without the other. Each having yin & yang, purusha & prakriti, ida & pingala.

Let us all get to see the Devi in every woman !! All of us come from the womb of a woman!! It is SHE that creates a HE too!! Here is to HER !

Cannot have just one day a year as a Woman's day. Every day is her day. Don't all men know that!!! 😆

The importance of the choice of LANGUAGE in the Indian context

India, as we all know, has a tremendous diversity of languages and dialects as we traverse our country. According to the Census of India of 2001, India has 122 major languages and 1599 other languages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_India

Whenever we wish to drive change in any aspect of life, be it at home or at the workplace, we have to articulate and communicate the need for change to the target audience. The context and the content would vary from instance to instance: for e.g. it could be safety and process-discipline related on the factory shop-floors, it could be company performance related data sharing to our team at an open-house session, it could be sharing market realities to our dealers and channel partners at a product launch, it could be related to sharing some life-truths to our children at home, it could be related to purchasing vegetables at the local grocery etc.

In a manner of speaking and in my personal view, change of any form happens when the cycle of "COMMUNICATE - CONNECT - COLLABORATE - CREATE" happens effectively. For this to happen the first process of COMMUNICATE has to be very effective.

Among other aspects, the most critical to me is the choice of the language of communication. Unconsciously we do make a shift when we speak to audiences that we really care about (for e.g to some of our senior relatives, we may shift to our mother tongues instead of English and Hindi). We could make this a more conscious and deliberate choice of using the correct language when we speak orally as well as in the written text on our slides , posters , display material etc.

At many plants and factory shop-floors, I notice that some of the safety instructions / process- descriptions are not necessarily in the local language. Recognizing that many States in India have local workforce (specifically plant associates) who are more comfortable in their local language rather than just Hindi and English, we may have to reconsider our choice of language.

Likewise in events involving our local level channel partners, I have seen the "connect" happen far more effectively if the key slides and their content, the medium of spoken communication etc. were in the local language. 

The choice of the language should not be to suit the convenience and comfort of the person/s communicating but more to suit the convenience of the target audience.

In all International destinations, one would see such content in the local languages, right from the airport to the streets and road-signs, to public transport and even in work-spaces.

As senior leaders of organisations, we could bear this in mind when we communicate with Suppliers, Dealers, End-Users, Plant associates etc.

My Kailash Manasarovar Aug 2015 Yatra.... Isha KM2015..... links to my blog posts

Namaskarams, 

SHAMBHO !!!!!

Had the divine grace and opportunity to undertake the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in Aug 2015 through Isha Foundation's Sacred Walks......... I call it Isha KM2015..... 

Here are the links to my relevant blog posts. Some of these posts contain relevant information for Kailash Manasrovar Yatris, and the others are Day wise posts of our Isha KM2015 trip. Wherever I have compiled information from other sources, I have made sure that I have mentioned the source name in the appropriate blog post itself. If I have forgotten to mention the source name in any blog post, it is not willful and is purely by omission only.  

IMPORTANT : These are glimpses and observations of a group of Kailash Manasarovar Yatris, of which I too happened to be a member. While this is being offered to you for your own use, PLEASE respect the privacy of the yatris. If you wish to forward this to any other individual beyond yourself, please do inform me on in advance on my email shriram.parameswaran@gmail.com. Please do not use this in any commercial manner whatsoever. I wish that all those who have got the gift of life as a human being, get the opportunity to visit Kailash Manasarovar at least once in their life time. 

Information  https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/08/to-kailash-and-manasarovar-journey.html   post dated Aug 13 2015  

Information  https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/08/about-mt-kailash.html post dated  Aug 14 2015

Day 0 Isha KM2015 https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/08/tomorrow-15th-aug-2015-day-0.html  post dated Aug 14 2015

Day 0 Continued Isha KM2015 https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/08/to-kathmandu-then-to-lhasa-and-then.html post dated Aug 14 2015

Day 1 Isha KM2015 https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-1-15th-aug-2015.html  post dated 15 Aug 2015

Day 2 Isha KM2015 https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-2-sunday-16aug-2015-arrived-chennai.html  post dated 31 Aug 2015

Day 3 Isha KM2015 https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-3-monday-17aug-2015-kathmandu-to.html   post dated Aug 31 2015

Day 4 Isha KM2015 https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-4-18-aug-2015-from-lhasa-to-lha-tse.html  post dated Aug 31 2015

Day 5 Isha KM2015 https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-5-19-aug2015-stayed-put-lha-tse.html post dated Aug 31 2015

Information https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-few-thoughts-popped-into-my-mind-at.html  post dated Sept 01 2015

Day 6 Isha KM2015      https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/day-6-thursday-20-aug-2015-lha-tse-to.html  post dated Sept 01 2015

Day 7 Isha KM2015   https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/day-7-friday-21-aug-2015-long-drive.html post dated Sept 04 2015

Information  https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/tibetan-autonomous-region-china.html  post dated Sept 04 2015

Day 8 Isha KM2015   https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/day-8-saturday-22-aug-2015-dip-at-lake.html post dated Sept 04 2015

  

Day 8 Continued Isha KM2015    https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/day-8-continued-saturday-22-aug-2015.html post dated Sept 04 2015

Day 9 Isha KM2015   https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/day-9-sunday-23-aug-2015-from-darchen.html  post dated Sept 04 2015

Day 10 Isha KM2015   https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/day-10-monday-24-aug-2015-at-dirapuk.html post dated Sept 04 2015

Day 11 Isha KM2015   https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/day-11-tuesday-25-aug-2015-return-leg.html  post dated Sept 04 2015

Day 12 Isha KM2015    https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/day-12-wednesday-26-aug-2015-saga-to.html  post dated Sept 04 2015

Day 13 Isha KM2015    https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/day-13-thursday-27-aug-2015-lha-tse-to.html  post dated Sept 04 2015

Information   https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-few-glimpses-of-tibet-as-we-were.html ppost dated Sept 05 2015 

Information   https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/contemplations-kailash-manasarovar-trip.html post dated Sept 05 2015

 Day 14 Isha KM2015    https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/day-14-friday-28-aug-2015-exit-from.html post dated Sept 05 2015 

Day 15 Isha KM2015    https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/woke-up-early-and-completed-my-kriyas.html Sept 05 2015

Day 16 Isha KM2015    https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/day-16-sunday-30th-aug-2015.html  Sept 05 2015

 Day 16 Continued Isha KM2015    https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/on-arrival-back-home-on-30th-aug-2015.html  post dated Sept 06 2015

 Information    https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/travelling-to-tibetan-autonomous-region_6.html   post dated Sept 06 2015

 Information    https://shriramsspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/some-learnings-as-tips-for-future-yatris.html post dated Sept 11 2015 

If any additional information is needed, please fell free to contact me on +91 8940003443 and I shall try my best to respond. I wish all future Kailash Mansoravar yatris a beautiful life changing experience. 

Pranams,

Shriram Parameswaran

Independence

Independence: The dictionary meaning of this word would be “the fact or state of being independent”. And the word independent would mean “not influenced or controlled in any way by other people, events or things".

Yesterday 15^th Aug 2019, India and Indians all over the world celebrated our 73^rd Independence Day. Our tricolour flags were hoisted, patriotic hymns were recited, even tiranga sweets/pulaos were relished, march pasts and salutes done. For some it was a welcome break from routine, for some an extended weekend possibility promising a small holiday. And then life goes on as usual.

In 1947 it heralded our nation freeing itself from the British Empire. A momentous event in our timeline. One which held and continues to hold, a lot of promise for our future as a free nation and as free Indians.

But for the common Indian person in today’s age, one who did not directly witness our freedom struggle first hand, what should every 15^th August remind us of and in what way should each of us leverage this reminder? What is true INDEPENDENCE?

• Independence to do what one thinks is right or the steadfast willingness to abide by the laws of the land?
• Independence to cross a red light when there is no traffic or the patience to wait for the green light?
• Independence to throw trash around in public or the discipline to seek and find a trash can and use it?
• Independence to give and take bribes & transact under the radar or the determination to say NO to corruption and black money?
• Independence to just witness a crime or accident and be blind to it or the conviction to stop, assist and help?
• Independence to care for me-mine-myself or the willingness to broaden our inclusion beyond bloodlines?
• Independence to yield to compulsions or the awareness to lead our lives more consciously?

It may seem that genuine independence may be far more restrictive and demanding....... and far less liberating!  And therein lies the choice of doing the right thing and being truly independent of short term pains and discomfort for the larger good!

To accelerate our nation’s progress on its path towards a glorious future, let us be genuinely independent in every moment of our lives.  Jai Hind !!

Suicide: an abuse of the gift of Life?

On July 31 2019 the news that hit headlines in India was that of the finding of Cafe Coffee Day's V G Siddhartha's body. 


Circumstances may overpower a person's interiority and compel them to take their own lives.


Be it a young student depressed over grades or a business-person submerged under presumably unsurmountable challenges.. taking one's own life is an extreme step..defeats the gift of life!


Life....the duration between the first breath and the last breath....is just a play ......and we should not blow the close-out whistle ourselves. Keep the ball in play....and have the ability to manage our own interiority irrespective of external circumstances. Live Life to the Maximum.


Only when big names do this to themselves, the media splashes this in our faces. There must be many more lesser known humans who commit this drastic crime on themselves and this goes largely unnoticed by the general population barring immediate family and friends.


Am told that self realized beings know when their time has come...and go into a kind of samadhi and leave their corporeal body...and allow life to ebb out. Likewise have heard that animals and birds too know when their end is nigh...and depart to a place to shed their bodies.


But I don't think animals and birds commit suicide ahead of their time. This frailty is a human speciality I guess. One which we can do without. 

We as Indians have chosen our next PM...What next?

Most of the exit polls on Monday 20th May indicated a comfortable BJP + NDA majority. And the results of the 23rd May are very much in line with the exit polls. Congratulations to all the successful candidates of all parties and my best wishes to all those who contested but could not emerge as a victor.

Kudos to the entire Election Commission team and their machinery for having planned and executed such a mammoth democratic exercise. And to the security forces and paramilitary that guarded the booths and the ever popular EVMs and VVPATs. A massive accomplishment indeed that often goes unrecognised. Yes there have been a few acts of misconduct by various parties during the campaign, even some lives lost, property damaged, some codes of conduct breached, all of which need serious countermeasures. 

My salutes to every eligible voter within the country and outside, for exercising their franchise and helping determine the future course for the country. For those who could not or did not vote for any reason, I urge them to please do so in future opportunities. It is not just one’s right, privilege or authority....it is one’s clear responsibility as a citizen of India.

In many instances, parties and personalities, big and small, those in power and those out of power, all of them stooped very low and used unnecessary negative rhetoric that has inflicted wounds on other parties, personalities and even brought some disrespect to the Defence Forces, the EC and the Judiciary. Even the Mahatma was not spared!! As India fights to regain its rightful eminent position in the global order, such toxic mudslinging does a huge damage to the image and stature of India as a nation. After the elections, politicians may shrug these off as minor misdemeanours in the "heat of the campaign", but they should introspect on the scars that these will surely leave on the impressionable minds of the younger generation of Indian citizen voters and politicians and also on global opinion leaders. Our friendly neighbourhood countries too would manipulate these to India's disadvantage. Is it too much to ask and expect that future Indian elections be conducted in a more civil and dignified manner? 

There is a lot of talk about the "maturing of the Indian voter". That is a very good trend indeed. Can we as citizens also expect a "maturing of the politicians". The only time that most politicians fold their hands, bend their backs a little and appear to supplicate is in the few weeks before an election. They talk of the janata being the "maalik". But once the ballot is cast and counting is done, the hapless voter is forgotten and most of the promises made disappear into thin air. The elected candidates feel that their position and power is an entitlement and not a responsibility!!!  Can we Indians even dare to expect our politicians and national leadership to act more responsibly? How do we make them more accountable? How will our politicians realise that the "dharma" of a politician is to serve. How do we ensure that the power and trappings of an elected candidate does not go to their heads and corrupt them? 

How can we ensure that there is a clear demarcation between the Defence Forces and the Government? Unlike our neighbouring country where probably the Defence still has a major hand in the way their Government is run. How can we ensure that the Defence is not politicized and manipulated for election wins by any party? 

Today most Indians live and work in cities that are not their home town, not where their names are listed on the electoral rolls. And they cannot always travel back to vote. We live in the times of internet banking, e-commerce and demat trades. Huge sums of money are transacted digitally without physical paperwork, signatures or face to face meets & handshakes. Can we look forward to a time when every eligible Indian voter can exercise one's franchise from wherever one is, based on verification of biometrics and ones Aadhaar identity?

The results of the 17th Lok Sabha elections in 2019 hold a lot of promise and hope for the Indian economy, for an all-inclusive progress, for further strengthening India's standing on the global stage. Prime Minister Modi and his chief architect Amit Shah have strategized and executed their game plan, leading to a handsome majority and their party's number growth, even in hitherto uncharted territories. What do I as a citizen want from my PM, in his repeat five year term? 

Am sure that our PM and his cabinet are very focussed on all our national priorities and will deliver on their various promises. Apart from that I look forward to a few more aspects:

What I am looking forward to is that while the BJP leverages its absolute majority in a sensible manner, they have to have the humility to still carry their NDA allies along respectfully.

How will the PM allow the elected Governments in all the States and the UTs, whether it is a BJP government or not, to function well? And not destabilize them for the spread of the saffron colour? 

Today there is only one truly national party and that is the BJP.  It appears that the Congress has clearly lost it's compass. All others are smaller regional parties. How will the PM and the BJP maintain a healthy respect for national parties and regional parties? 

Talking of the Congress, which is the only other possible national party, how will they address their clearly lacking leadership issue? And their poor organisation structure?  Will they survive another 5 years or get lost in oblivion? 

We also know that there is no credible opposition inside the parliament. The situation that the Congress finds itself in is pathetic. For the institution of Democracy to function well, it is important that there be a very powerful but constructive Opposition to maintain a check and balance. How can the BJP generate a solid opposition for itself to function effectively? 

How can the PM ensure that each Central agency functions independently and efficiently, in clear alignment with national priorities and always keeping the Indian Constitution paramount? 

How can the actual data and reality of the country’s growth be measured and communicated clearly to one and all so there is no debate on the vital statistics of the nation?

Picking from the PM's own words of last evening, how can the Government focus and help the only two "castes" of relevance.....one is the impoverished and the other is those that can do / want to do something positive for the up-lift of the impoverished? 

For India and its 130 crore humanity, these next five years are very crucial. Almost of all us fall in that exclusive minority which is clearly and comfortably out of the poverty level. But many of our fellow Indians are way below the poverty levels. The real dance or “thaandav” of democracy is to be seen from their weary eyes. The Indian Government is tasked with bringing a huge mass of humanity out of poverty with no more time to waste.

I look forward with a lot of hope for another five years under our PM Modi. Whether I or anyone else voted for him, for BJP or for some other party is irrelevant. Today he is my country’s elected PM and I wish him well.

Jai Hind! 

Living LIFE to its fullest !!! Happy New Year 2017

As we step into the last week of 2016 and get ready to usher in the new year 2017, this is my last blog post for 2016. I had a tremendous urge today to pen this down and I succumbed to that urge. I swept every thing else aside and focussed on getting this done... Here it is.... 

-          All life forms continuously seek EXPANSION. A seed, an embryo, a child, a sapling, a plant. The correct metrics for this “expansion” is surely not weight, size, monetary wealth, real-estate property etc etc. These may be the means to help us in our “expansion” but they are not “expansion” itself !! EXPANSION not just in size and shape, but a ‘seeking for more’ .... a seeking for a larger slice of LIFE itself. In this context the ad jingle for a soft drink...“ Dil Maange More” is very apt  !!  So “expansion” in the context of “Life maange aur zyaada life” ...Life seeks much more out of life !! Living life to its fullest possible potential.

-          All life forms have been gifted a set of faculties to experience LIFE. The combined set of these faculties that a particular life form has can be loosely called its internal “life intelligence” ....its unique DNA code... its unique software program.  

-          This “life intelligence” or software is dormant until activated. For it to get activated it needs hardware!! Where is this available? This “hardware”,  the life-form seeks out from its environment. Just like a seed is dormant and remains as a potent seed, till it finds itself in the right soil condition / moisture etc for it to kick-start its own unique LIFE journey and then slowly starts to sprout and morph from a small seed to a mighty tree that will spawn a gazillion seeds in its lifetime. This “hardware” can be seen as different types of resources or “experiences”  : could be sunlight, moisture, soil nutrients, pressure, time, heat.... that is,  many varied types of “experiences” that the dormant life-form has to witness, for it to start its own journey of expansion.

-          Apart from the “hardware”, for a life-form to kills its dormant inertia and kick-start its life process, it also needs some form of energy, some form of the “juice of life”. Metaphorically speaking let us take the case of a computing system. If the Software (the computer programs) and the Hardware (the computing device itself) are powered up suitably by the right form of electric current, it will start functioning. The “juice of life” has to be of the right form and nature: AC or DC, 110 V or 240 V etc etc...  If the juice of life is not of the right form and nature, it may result in the malfunctioning of the hardware and the software or it can even destroy both the hardware and the software.  

-          So for the true expansion of a life-form to happen, these three essential building blocks are essential viz

o   the “life intelligence”

o   the “experiences”

o   the “juice of life”

-          If we can focus on each of these three elemental building blocks in our own lives, we could really make our individual “expansion” happen to its fullest and thereby LIVE LIFE TO ITS FULLEST POTENTIAL. It is vital that these three elemental building blocks within us are all compatible with each other and have to be in synergy with each other for LIFE to happen to its fullest. That is when the fullest “potential energy” within us gets utilised and converted to energy of actions... “kinetic energy” !!

-          While being huge in potential, individually each of us are nothing but tiny specks of life within the unfathomable cosmos and the cosmic intelligence. We are it and it is us. Aham brahmasmi ! Ultimately each of us as these tiny specks of life, “seek” to be one with the cosmos and seek “expansion” to be one with the unfathomable cosmos. We may be doing this “seeking” consciously and with awareness OR we may be doing this seeking in a wayward, drifting, slumbering manner. “Being” one with the cosmos or better still, “realizing” that we are already one with the cosmos is what Yoga is all about. The etymology of the word YOGA itself means to unite. In Vedic Sanskrit, yoga (from the root yuj) means "to add", "to join", "to unite", or "to attach" in its most common literal sense, designating the "practical" aspects of the philosophy, i.e. the "union with the supreme" due to performance of duties in everyday life.

-          Roga, Bhoga, Yoga .... and ......Rogi, Bhogi and Yogi:  I refer to an interesting piece I saw on the internet a few weeks ago that is quite relevant to quote here: https://trueayurveda.wordpress.com/2013/.../difference-between-yogi-bhogi-and-rogi/.  If we live a life of roga / disease,  as a rogi then it prevents us from the possibility of experiencing life to its fullest. So being free from roga of the mind and body is an essential precondition. As a generation, we are experiencing life in its most comfortable form. No other generation in the past has ever experienced the degree of comfort and material conveniences that our generation is witnessing. The modern world as we see it now is a tremendous excess of bhoga !! As each of us goes through each of the “experiences”, we are “bhogis”. A yogi is someone who realizes that all the actions of a bhogi are ultimately fruitless, that cravings and indulgences are only temporarily satisfying. Then the desire for something more real arises. Like in everything else, we could explain this as a spectrum....... with 100% Bhogi at one end and 100% Yogi at the other end. All of us are somewhere within this spectrum. All over the world one is witnessing a gradual shift in the aspect of “consciousness”.  A gradual shift from being more of bhogis to becoming more aware of our true nature of yogis !!

-       Each of us sees things from our own perspectives. Each of our unique perspectives are at different levels of perception. Enhancing ones perceptions itself, is a journey that each of us have to take wilfully and with awareness. Here our own free will comes into play and thereby one gets to write his/her destiny by our own free will. 

-          In Hindu traditions, moksha is a central concept and included as one of the four aspects and goals of human life; the other three goals are dharma (virtuous, proper, moral life), artha (material prosperity, income security, means of life), and kama (pleasure, sensuality, emotional fulfilment). Together, these four aims of life are called Puruṣārtha in Hinduism. The goal of YOGA is MOKSHA or MUKTI..... freedom from ignorance: self-realization and self-knowledge. All of us are seeking expansion. So essentially all of us are practitioners of YOGA, we are all yogis... now we may be yogis with awareness and consciousness or we may be yogis without awareness of this fact that we are yogis !!

-          In my own life’s journey ahead, whatever little time that I have remaining in this mortal life, I will consciously focus on these three aspects with total awareness:

o   the “life intelligence”: enhancing my receptiveness and try and access faculties beyond the five physical senses. I realise that while these five physical senses will be powerful allies in my daily material life, I have to be more sensitive to faculties beyond these 5 senses to accelerate my journey to live LIFE to its fullest.....

o   the “experiences”:  enhancing my awareness and consciousness to enable me to see things as they truly are. Developing my “insight”. Without colouring each moment with my own individual prejudices and biases which have been developed over the past lives and in this life itself. Thereby “responding” to each moment rather than “reacting” to each moment.....

o   the “juice of life”: making my life energies more potent with the intake of right food and right thought, with right sadhana and practices....

-          By doing this, I would hopefully gradually cleanse the balance sheet of my life!! Stop accumulating bad karma, slowly dissolve the past accumulated karma. Be receptive to HIS grace. And let that grace do its magic on me.

-          With tremendous gratitude to the LIFE that I have experienced thus far, I look forward to the new year 2017, striving to continuously enhance my awareness and consciousness of “being” a yogi.  Wishing everyone a very happy new year ahead!!

Jesus said “the kingdom of god is within you”... Yoga is about experiencing it. .... Sadhguru