Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Seek culture, not a religion...
A Hindu was flying from JFK New York Airport to SFO San Francisco Airport CA to attend a meeting at Monterey, CA.
An American girl was sitting on the right side, near window seat. It indeed was a long journey - it would take nearly seven hours.
He was surprised to see the young girl reading a Bible unusual of young Americans. After some time she smiled and we had few acquaintances talk.He told her that I am from India
Then suddenly the girl asked: 'What's your faith?' 'What?' He didn't understand the question.
'I mean, what's your religion? Are you a Christian? Or a Muslim?'
'No!' He replied, 'He am neither Christian nor Muslim'.
Apparently she appeared shocked to listen to that. 'Then who are you?' “I am a Hindu”, He said.
She looked at him as if she was seeing a caged animal. She could not understand what He was talking about.
A common man in Europe or US knows about Christianity and Islam, as they are the leading religions of the world today.
But a Hindu, what?
He explained to her - I am born to a Hindu father and Hindu mother. Therefore, I am a Hindu by birth.
'Who is your prophet?' she asked.
'We don't have a prophet,' He replied.
'What's your Holy Book?'
'We don't have a single Holy Book, but we have hundreds and thousands of philosophical and sacred scriptures,'
He replied.
'Oh, come on at least tell me who is your God?'
'What do you mean by that?'
'Like we have Jesus and Muslims have Allah - don't you have a God?'
He thought for a moment. Muslims and Christians believe one God (Male God) who created the world and takes an interest in the humans who inhabit it. Her mind is conditioned with that kind of belief.
According to her (or anybody who doesn't know about Hinduism), a religion needs to have one Prophet, one Holy book and one God. The mind is so conditioned and rigidly narrowed down to such a notion that anything else is not acceptable. He understood her perception and concept about faith. You can't compare Hinduism with any of the present leading religions where you have to believe in one concept of God.
He tried to explain to her: 'You can believe in one God and he can be a Hindu. You may believe in multiple deities and still you can be a Hindu. What's more - you may not believe in God at all, still you can be a Hindu. An Atheist can also be a Hindu.'
This sounded very crazy to her. She couldn't imagine a religion so unorganized, still surviving for thousands of years, even after onslaught from foreign forces.
'I don't understand but it seems very interesting. Are you religious?'
What can He tell to this American girl?
He said: 'I do not go to Temple regularly. I do not make any regular rituals. I have learned some of the rituals in my younger days. I still enjoy doing it sometimes'.
'Enjoy? Are you not afraid of God?'
'God is a friend. No- I am not afraid of God. Nobody has made any compulsions on me to perform these rituals regularly.'
She thought for a while and then asked: 'Have you ever thought of converting to any other religion?'
'Why should I? Even if I challenge some of the rituals and faith in Hinduism, nobody can convert me from Hinduism. Because, being a Hindu allows me to think independently and objectively, without conditioning. I remain as a Hindu never by force, but choice.' He told her that Hinduism is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. It is not a religion like Christianity or Islam because it is not founded by any one person or does not have an organized controlling body like the Church or the Order, I added. There is no institution or authority..
'So, you don't believe in God?' she wanted everything in black and white.
'I didn't say that. I do not discard the divine reality. Our scripture, or Sruthis or Smrithis - Vedas and Upanishads or the Gita - say God might be there or he might not be there. But we pray to that supreme abstract authority (Para Brahma) that is the creator of this universe.'
'Why can't you believe in one personal God?'
'We have a concept - abstract - not a personal god. The concept or notion of a personal God, hiding behind the clouds of secrecy, telling us irrational stories through few men whom he sends as messengers, demanding us to worship him or punish us, does not make sense. I don't think that God is as silly as an autocratic emperor who wants others to respect him or fear him.' He told her that such notions are just fancies of less educated human imagination and fallacies, adding that generally ethnic religious practitioners in Hinduism believe in personal Gods. The entry level Hinduism has over-whelming superstitions too. The philosophical side of Hinduism negates all superstitions.
'Good that you agree God might exist. You told that you pray. What is your prayer then?'
'Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavantu. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti,'
लोका समस्ता सुखिनो भवन्तु !!! ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः !!!
'Funny,' she laughed, 'What does it mean?'
'May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. Let there be Peace, Peace,and Peace every where.'
'Hmm ..very interesting. I want to learn more about this religion. It is so democratic, broad-minded and free' she exclaimed.
'The fact is Hinduism is a religion of the individual, for the individual and by the individual with its roots in the Vedas and the Bhagavad-Gita. It is all about an individual approaching a personal God in an individual way according to his temperament and inner evolution - it is as simple as that.'
'How does anybody convert to Hinduism?'
'Nobody can convert you to Hinduism, because it is not a religion, but it is a Culture, a way of living life, a set of beliefs and practices. Everything is acceptable in Hinduism because there is no single Authority or Organization either to accept you or to reject you or to oppose you on behalf of Hinduism.'
He told her - if you look for meaning in life, don't look for it in religions; don't go from one cult to another or from one Guru to the next.
For a real seeker, He told her, the Bible itself gives guidelines when it says ' Kingdom of God is within you.' I reminded her of Christ's teaching about the love that we have for each other. That is where you can find the meaning of life.
Loving each and every creation of the God is absolute and real. 'Isavasyam idam sarvam' Isam (the God) is present (inhabits) here everywhere - nothing exists separate from the God, because God is present everywhere. Respect every living being and non-living things as God. That's what Hinduism teaches you.
Hinduism is referred to as Sanathana Dharma, the eternal faith. It is based on the practice of Dharma, the code of life. The most important aspect of Hinduism is being truthful to oneself. Hinduism has no monopoly on ideas. It is open to all. Hindus believe in one God (not a personal one) expressed in different forms. For them, God is timeless and formless entity.
Ancestors of today's Hindus believe in eternal truths and cosmic laws and these truths are opened to anyone who seeks them. But there is a section of Hindus who are either superstitious or turned fanatic to make this an organized religion like others. The British coin the word 'Hindu' and considered it as a religion.
He said: 'Religions have become an MLM (multi-level- marketing) industry that has been trying to expand the market share by conversion. The biggest business in today's world is Spirituality. Hinduism is no exception'
He said "I am a Hindu primarily because it professes Non-violence - 'Ahimsa Paramo Dharma' means - Non violence is the highest duty. I am a Hindu because it doesn't condition my mind with any faith system.
A man/woman who changes his/her birth religion to another religion is a fake and does not value his/her morals, culture and values in life.
Hinduism is the original rather a natural yet a logical and satisfying spiritual, personal and a scientific way of leaving a life..
An American girl was sitting on the right side, near window seat. It indeed was a long journey - it would take nearly seven hours.
He was surprised to see the young girl reading a Bible unusual of young Americans. After some time she smiled and we had few acquaintances talk.He told her that I am from India
Then suddenly the girl asked: 'What's your faith?' 'What?' He didn't understand the question.
'I mean, what's your religion? Are you a Christian? Or a Muslim?'
'No!' He replied, 'He am neither Christian nor Muslim'.
Apparently she appeared shocked to listen to that. 'Then who are you?' “I am a Hindu”, He said.
She looked at him as if she was seeing a caged animal. She could not understand what He was talking about.
A common man in Europe or US knows about Christianity and Islam, as they are the leading religions of the world today.
But a Hindu, what?
He explained to her - I am born to a Hindu father and Hindu mother. Therefore, I am a Hindu by birth.
'Who is your prophet?' she asked.
'We don't have a prophet,' He replied.
'What's your Holy Book?'
'We don't have a single Holy Book, but we have hundreds and thousands of philosophical and sacred scriptures,'
He replied.
'Oh, come on at least tell me who is your God?'
'What do you mean by that?'
'Like we have Jesus and Muslims have Allah - don't you have a God?'
He thought for a moment. Muslims and Christians believe one God (Male God) who created the world and takes an interest in the humans who inhabit it. Her mind is conditioned with that kind of belief.
According to her (or anybody who doesn't know about Hinduism), a religion needs to have one Prophet, one Holy book and one God. The mind is so conditioned and rigidly narrowed down to such a notion that anything else is not acceptable. He understood her perception and concept about faith. You can't compare Hinduism with any of the present leading religions where you have to believe in one concept of God.
He tried to explain to her: 'You can believe in one God and he can be a Hindu. You may believe in multiple deities and still you can be a Hindu. What's more - you may not believe in God at all, still you can be a Hindu. An Atheist can also be a Hindu.'
This sounded very crazy to her. She couldn't imagine a religion so unorganized, still surviving for thousands of years, even after onslaught from foreign forces.
'I don't understand but it seems very interesting. Are you religious?'
What can He tell to this American girl?
He said: 'I do not go to Temple regularly. I do not make any regular rituals. I have learned some of the rituals in my younger days. I still enjoy doing it sometimes'.
'Enjoy? Are you not afraid of God?'
'God is a friend. No- I am not afraid of God. Nobody has made any compulsions on me to perform these rituals regularly.'
She thought for a while and then asked: 'Have you ever thought of converting to any other religion?'
'Why should I? Even if I challenge some of the rituals and faith in Hinduism, nobody can convert me from Hinduism. Because, being a Hindu allows me to think independently and objectively, without conditioning. I remain as a Hindu never by force, but choice.' He told her that Hinduism is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. It is not a religion like Christianity or Islam because it is not founded by any one person or does not have an organized controlling body like the Church or the Order, I added. There is no institution or authority..
'So, you don't believe in God?' she wanted everything in black and white.
'I didn't say that. I do not discard the divine reality. Our scripture, or Sruthis or Smrithis - Vedas and Upanishads or the Gita - say God might be there or he might not be there. But we pray to that supreme abstract authority (Para Brahma) that is the creator of this universe.'
'Why can't you believe in one personal God?'
'We have a concept - abstract - not a personal god. The concept or notion of a personal God, hiding behind the clouds of secrecy, telling us irrational stories through few men whom he sends as messengers, demanding us to worship him or punish us, does not make sense. I don't think that God is as silly as an autocratic emperor who wants others to respect him or fear him.' He told her that such notions are just fancies of less educated human imagination and fallacies, adding that generally ethnic religious practitioners in Hinduism believe in personal Gods. The entry level Hinduism has over-whelming superstitions too. The philosophical side of Hinduism negates all superstitions.
'Good that you agree God might exist. You told that you pray. What is your prayer then?'
'Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavantu. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti,'
लोका समस्ता सुखिनो भवन्तु !!! ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः !!!
'Funny,' she laughed, 'What does it mean?'
'May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. Let there be Peace, Peace,and Peace every where.'
'Hmm ..very interesting. I want to learn more about this religion. It is so democratic, broad-minded and free' she exclaimed.
'The fact is Hinduism is a religion of the individual, for the individual and by the individual with its roots in the Vedas and the Bhagavad-Gita. It is all about an individual approaching a personal God in an individual way according to his temperament and inner evolution - it is as simple as that.'
'How does anybody convert to Hinduism?'
'Nobody can convert you to Hinduism, because it is not a religion, but it is a Culture, a way of living life, a set of beliefs and practices. Everything is acceptable in Hinduism because there is no single Authority or Organization either to accept you or to reject you or to oppose you on behalf of Hinduism.'
He told her - if you look for meaning in life, don't look for it in religions; don't go from one cult to another or from one Guru to the next.
For a real seeker, He told her, the Bible itself gives guidelines when it says ' Kingdom of God is within you.' I reminded her of Christ's teaching about the love that we have for each other. That is where you can find the meaning of life.
Loving each and every creation of the God is absolute and real. 'Isavasyam idam sarvam' Isam (the God) is present (inhabits) here everywhere - nothing exists separate from the God, because God is present everywhere. Respect every living being and non-living things as God. That's what Hinduism teaches you.
Hinduism is referred to as Sanathana Dharma, the eternal faith. It is based on the practice of Dharma, the code of life. The most important aspect of Hinduism is being truthful to oneself. Hinduism has no monopoly on ideas. It is open to all. Hindus believe in one God (not a personal one) expressed in different forms. For them, God is timeless and formless entity.
Ancestors of today's Hindus believe in eternal truths and cosmic laws and these truths are opened to anyone who seeks them. But there is a section of Hindus who are either superstitious or turned fanatic to make this an organized religion like others. The British coin the word 'Hindu' and considered it as a religion.
He said: 'Religions have become an MLM (multi-level- marketing) industry that has been trying to expand the market share by conversion. The biggest business in today's world is Spirituality. Hinduism is no exception'
He said "I am a Hindu primarily because it professes Non-violence - 'Ahimsa Paramo Dharma' means - Non violence is the highest duty. I am a Hindu because it doesn't condition my mind with any faith system.
A man/woman who changes his/her birth religion to another religion is a fake and does not value his/her morals, culture and values in life.
Hinduism is the original rather a natural yet a logical and satisfying spiritual, personal and a scientific way of leaving a life..
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The biggest challenge Indian Startups are facing
No it isn’t lack of capital or lack of role models or lack of infrastructure or too many accelerators or too much of fokat gyan. Nope. Wrong. These are too first world problems. The biggest challenge Indian startups are facing is the nemesis of prospective in-laws. Nemesis of doting parents and their self-inflicting concern for you to have a job and a wife as the single channel of nirvana that a human being can possibly have. Whether the job is shitty-rewriting-someone-else’s-code-bitching-at-watercooler-making-snore-worthy-ppts-spending-rest-of-day-bitching-about-job-how-you-will-quit-to-startup-someday job, it doesn’t matter.
I mean, what were you really thinking. Really. What were your chances. First, you have to survive one of the most outdated education systems that there is. You are already like 23-24. You are expected to marry and settle down by 27. So, that leaves you with 3-4 years to
- Figure out life and its nuances, after slogging through first 23-24 years
- Figure out what you will like to do for next 5 years (which is ~13% of your work life)
- Get a job (Oh ya!) and do well
- Get a girl
- Get married
- In between, if you get time, get an MBA & fool around or get an MS & fool around or get a PhD and die.
Or if you are insane like I am, then you will startup, two years into the grind. Not the brightest idea, especially if you are from IIT. World expects you to be some millionaire by now. 3 years is like the litmus test of survival for any startup. And that’s when you are expected to marry. Well, a broke founder(ok, not really broke. Yet) of a crazy idea isn’t a hot selling product, after all. Is this bad? Na na. It gets worse. Most likely, at this stage, your idea is hardly understood by anyone. Mostly, they will be other founders and few angels (if you are lucky). Your parents won’t get it. And your ex will be happy cuddling to her new found job-wala-guy, thanking her stars for breaking up. But your parents want you to get married, so that you become more “responsible” as you are not responsible enough by leaving a well-paying job and not thinking of taking up a job and doing the mainstream stuff. And here is when you are introduced to random folks, carefully curated from the greatest Indian-web-tech-innovation matrimony sites.
Next moment you are pitching yourself to girl’s mama, chacha, jija, dudhwala or anyone remotely educated, that your prospective in-laws can get their hands on, to pass judgments on you, your idea and your startup’s potential.
Nothing is more emasculating than this. Nothing. Yep, you will be judged by the prospective in-laws in-house expert, who has a shitty-rewriting-someone-else’s-code-bitching-at-watercooler-making-snore-worthy-ppts-spending-rest-of-day-bitching-about-job-how-you-will-quit-to-startup-someday job. To make matters even worse, in most likelihood, you will be rejected, firming your parents opinion that startups are shit, you are irresponsible, IIT has screwed up your head, no one will marry you, job is the path to attain moksha, job is what chicks dig for, job is what makes iron man, iron man. Ok, not the iron man bit. But ya, you get the drift.
And this repeats. It’s an in-efficient carnot cycle, the one I call “in-laws carnot cycle” where the maximum temperature is based on your stubbornness(your will) and parents decide the sink temperature, while all sort of prospective in-laws suck up all the work. This goes on and on, till something gives away. Mostly, your will, because you are responsible towards your parents after all, whether or not they believe it. And another startup bites the dust.
If you are still reading this and are a girl. Don’t let this happen and marry a founder. Trust your instincts, your guts and choose the right person. Trust me, you won’t find more passionate, intelligent guys anywhere else. They will try to solve problems and not aggravate them. They will be pleased with even slightest bit of pampering, as they have never been pampered. And most of all, they will be extremely loyal. They are loyal to one idea, remember. Only catch being, be a little patient with finances. Educate your parents. If there is anything that India needs, its more startups. We are a growing economy and have shit loads of huge problems to solve. Else, you will be sending your kids to Dhirubhai Ambani school instead of having the chance of owning the school.
[YS Lounge]
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Satyameva Jayathe Sucks...
I think Mr. Aamir Khan is trying to be Indian Oprah... or something similar...
Everyone was initially drawn towards #SMJ due to people's perception on his work, which is always intriguing, if not always good...
but on the long term, his agenda, it seems, is to capture the audience who are used to watching Soap Operas and Koffee Shows...
Why else would he chose such topics which we are all very eager to discuss but none of us has any solution for them... Even Mr. Aamir Khan don't have any solution for those, I bet... except his final word that such practices are / aren't desired...
Taare Jameen Par, however critically acclaimed it might be, is a bad movie for a reason... it is more of an Aamir Khan's movie than it was Darsheel Safary's... It is all about Ram Shankar Nikumbh, not about Ishaan Awasthi... and that sucks...
Satyameva Jayathe is exactly treading that path... and that sucks too...
Don't say he's at least trying... he's just being himself... (For God sakes, I'm an Aamir Khan fan)
Monday, January 23, 2012
Doomsday Algorithm
Often we see in the news or read in some article about an extraordinary person who can name the day of the week when given an arbitrary date… It seems unbelievable…
All it requires is a bit of skillful math, some amount of talent, practice and knowledge of Doomsday Algorithm or Doomsday Rule…
It is all about having an information that:
§ For any given year, 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10, 12/12 and the last day of february falls on the same day…
Ø For odd months, it’s a bit tricky…
ü January – Its 3rd if its not a leap year, 4th if leap year…
ü March – Its 7th – exactly a week after the last day of February…
ü And remaining are a bit simple… 9/5, 5/9, 7/11, 11/7
§ It is called the Doomsday
§ Eg: This year the Doomsday is a Wednesday…
Calculating the Doomsday for a particular year…
For calculating the Doomsday for any particular year, we need an Anchor Day
§ An Anchor Day is the Doomsday for the zeroeth year (1800, 1900, 2000 etc.) of the century…
Ø For the purposes of the Doomsday rule, a century starts with a 00 year and ends with a 99 year
§ Eg: the Doomsday of 1900 is Wednesday, hence Anchor Day for 1900-1999 is a Wednesday, similarly for 2000-2099 it’s a Tuesday…
Then it’s all about calculations using some simple formulae (like the odd+11 method etc.)… unless you have a great memory…
So, when is this years Christmas???
Doomsday 2012 is Wednesday
So, December 12th (12/12) is a Wednesday, so are December 19th and 26th
So, December 25th is a Tuesday…
Reference:
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