Open Your Heart, Stop Judging Yourself

Q. I am constantly criticizing myself and judging other people. I want to open my heart and I don’t know how to do it.

Every child is always told he is wrong in everything. Slowly, slowly he catches the disease of criticizing himself. And a person who criticizes himself cannot forgive others. How can he forgive? His whole life simply becomes a condemnation – condemn yourself, condemn others. Then love becomes impossible, friendship becomes impossible, and he simply suffers.

Whenever you say to somebody, “No, you are wrong,” you feel powerful. It feeds your ego. Wherever the child goes, everybody is enjoying power, and the child is crushed. And when so many people are saying that he is wrong, naturally he has to believe it.

But remember, as a reaction, he starts judging others. When everybody else is judging him, there is no reason why he should not judge others. You are teaching him to judge, to judge everybody and as much as possible to judge negatively.

And this is our world  where everybody is judging himself as wrong and judging everybody else as wrong. How can you be loving, friendly, trusting? How can you open your heart? It is not a beautiful situation. You have to understand: asking me, “How to open my heart?” is not the real question. The real question is how you managed to close it.

Whatever you are doing, if you like doing it, do it. There is no question of judgment; nobody else has the right to say that what you are doing is wrong. If you enjoy it, you are not harming anybody, you are not disturbing anybody.

So instead of judging, start accepting yourself with all your imperfections, frailties, mistakes and failures. Don’t ask yourself to be perfect. That is simply asking for something impossible, and then you will feel frustrated. You are a human being after all.

Once you accept yourself, you will be able to accept others because you will have a clear insight that they are suffering from the same disease. And your acceptance of them will help them accept themselves.

We can reverse the whole process: accept yourself. That makes you capable of accepting others. And because somebody accepts them, they learn the beauty of acceptance for the first time  how peaceful it feels  and they start accepting others.

If humanity comes to a point where everybody is accepted as he is, almost 90% of misery will simply disappear and your hearts will open of their own accord and your love will be flowing.

Nobody is perfect, so you have to accept a state of no-love, or accept that it doesn’t matter whether somebody is imperfect. Love can be shared, shared with all kinds of people. Don’t make demands.

Love them, respect them, and perhaps your love and respect may help them change many of their weaknesses, many of their failures  because love will give them a new energy, a new meaning, a new strength. Love will give them new roots to stand against strong winds, a hot sun, heavy rains.

If just a single person loves you, it makes you so strong that you cannot imagine it. The heart will open by itself. Don’t be worried about the heart. Just do the primary spade work.

Are You Comparing Yourself To Others?

“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it, it just blooms.” There is also a saying, that the only person you should try to be better than is who you were yesterday.

In a competitive world, where social media is a popular platform for news and views, we are tempted to constantly compare ourselves to others. We get bothered by what others think of us, and when we see their achievements, we feel inadequate. This is because we are not sufficiently aware of our own self-worth.

The trouble with being preoccupied with the achievements of others is that we tend to ignore our own accomplishments.when we focus on other people, we lose time we could otherwise invest in ourselves. We don’t grow grass by focusing on our neighbor's garden; we do it by nurturing our own. That is why she advocates self-acceptance, in which we love our past, because it has made us – with all the mistakes we have made  into a better, wiser and more courageous version of ourselves. By embracing our own story and the way we have grown from it, we change our mindsets, attitudes and the direction we take in life.

The measure the world uses today to gauge our successes is based on material achievements and peak performances and not on what we have overcome. People are endowed with many gifts. While one person may be a good writer, another may be a good cook, or an orator, mason or carpenter. The secret is to develop the talents we have and to put them to good use. If we are content with who we are, that is the best antidote to making comparisons.

Serving others is yet another way of overcoming the tendency to make comparisons. When we serve others, we focus on our strengths and what we have to offer to the other. Service increases our value, both in our own eyes and in the eyes of others. When we serve, we do not focus on the accomplishments of others, but on our own talents and ability to reach out to them.

Social media often makes us restless, unable to perceive the underlying reality of our own lives. We are challenged daily to discover our own unique path in life. The only healthy way to compete and make comparisons is when we try to better our own performance by looking at others who have achieved much. Their achievements can act as a spur to do what we are capable of doing, better.

The business world thrives on competition; it makes them manufacture better products at lower cost. Sports persons compete for titles and organisations compete to render better service. In the process, people do make comparisons. If we use the high standards set by others as a benchmark to improve our own act, there is no harm in making comparisons. But, if we use comparisons to switch lanes and to take on ourselves what we are not comfortable with, we may make a serious mistake. It is only when you recognize your own potential and strive to better yourself that you gain confidence and improve the quality of your actions.

Your Beliefs And Thoughts Impact Your Life

We are so sure of our beliefs, views and opinions. We call it the truth. We say that’s how things are. But have we ever examined whether any of this is true? Why or how, are we so sure?

How do we know that what we think is true? Right or wrong, everyone is equally sure. We don’t ever doubt our own thinking. Even though we have put in no effort to learn how to think or verify whether what we think is true.

We are sure of what to eat, what to drink, how to behave, which medical cure will work, what is best for our children, what is God’s role in our lives…. The list is endless. The beliefs are strong. But can we say that the application behind the belief is equally strong?

And what is the result of this sure-ness? That our life continues with the same, frustrating helplessness. Parts of life never seem to get resolved. Our problems never seem to get solved. Our potential is never fully realized. We then attribute it to God, luck, vaastu or the stars. We do not see that our opinions and beliefs are the prime movers of our lives.

If a person believes that money is the be all and end all of life, how will his life be? What kind of life will he create for himself? If a person believes that family is the be all and end all of life, how would his life be? What would be his problems, his situations? Each one has the kind of life that his beliefs render. As long as those thoughts remain the way they are, his life will ever remain the same – the same problems, the same frustrations, the same aspirations and the same cycle of hope and despair.

Do parents review the way they are looking at and dealing with their children? Do business people review the way they are doing their business? Do teachers come up with different ways of being more effective teachers? If they don’t, how can they expect different results? Everything will continue the same way.

Not only is our life created by our thoughts, it is also interpreted by our thoughts. The same event is bliss for one and misery for another. For one the glass is half full, for another it is half empty. Life for one is delightful. The same life for another is horrible. All this is created by our thoughts. In the same world, at the same time, Duryodhana could not find a single good person and Yudhistira could not find a single bad one!

So it would be well worth our time to examine our thoughts, especially in areas where things don’t seem to be turning out well. Find out if your thoughts are correct. Are our thoughts proving beneficial in our lives or are they hindering progress? Any kind of dissatisfaction, frustration or irritation indicates that we need to re-examine the way we are looking at things, we need to take another look at how we are seeing things.

It is not easy to do this. But it is this kind of objectivity and honesty to ourselves, that will unfold the life of our dreams. We will lose the feeling of victimization and become a powerful player in life.

Managing Self Before Managing Others

Management stands for ‘managing’. The word ‘managing’ has to be followed by an object of managing, like managing finances, or managing people, or managing a function. The word ‘management’ therefore has a necessary external bias. But what about managing self, who is going to be the key actor managing external situations?

No one can be a successful manager if his own body, mind and intellect are not tuned properly. A successful manager is one who can put in long hours without feeling the stress and have complete focus on all that he does. He has the capacity to take tough decisions. He also has a proper attitude in dealing with various stakeholders.

Develop these qualities by managing the self. Self-management requires attending to two main aspects – body and mind. Most people are conscious of the need for physical exercise to remain fit and active but very little attention is paid to training of mind. There is no better way than yoga to develop focus of mind and make our mental responses sturdy.

The first part of yoga is meditation. Sitting in silence in a quiet place with no activity has to be part of one’s daily routine. It is not easy but with persistence one can increase the duration to an hour also. All kinds of thoughts will come when you sit for meditation. Just witness them dispassionately. Gradually, try to focus your mind on a single thought. The thought could be that of seeing a deity or of formless pure consciousness pervading the Universe. Meditation brings focus to the mind and makes it less jumpy. Both these are most essential for a successful manager.

The second part is our attitude towards work. That is part of karma yoga philosophy. Karma yoga means putting in one’s best efforts in all our roles without selfishness and without ego. Performing our job with top class efficiency and proactive attitude. And not calculating, ‘what will I gain out of this activity’ for all actions. Good actions always bring good fruits. Too much anxiety for results spoils the quality of actions.

Also, ‘ego’ should not rule our actions. Individual ego has no place in the overall scheme of the universe, wherein everything is interconnected and good result is always coming out of efforts of many stakeholders. Acknowledging this fact, one has to keep giving credit to others, which then can become the reason for further success.

The third and the most important part of mind-training is our attitude to results. How does a manager react when the results are extraordinarily buoyant? Or how does one take in one’s stride the most disappointing results? There is no need to start jumping and dancing when the results are spectacular. And also there is no point in lamenting or grieving when the results are unfavorable. Tough times never last, but tough people do. Success has come to those who have converted adversity into an opportunity instead of feeling defeated. It is possible that in spite of one’s best efforts the results may not be as expected. Results depend on many factors including geopolitical and macro economic situations. It need not be linked to managerial failure. Maintaining a cool attitude in both success and failure is called equanimity, which is described as yoga in the Gita ‘Samatvam yoga uchyate.’

Make The Effort, Bring Joy Into Your Life

Do you want to wake up joyful every morning, jump out of bed with enthusiasm, excitement, with a thirst for life irrespective of your circumstances? Everybody wants happiness. Yet only a few really find it. Why is it so difficult to find joy? We are looking for it in the wrong place!

Life is designed such that anything that gives pleasure in the beginning yields sorrow in the end. True happiness appears in the mask of sorrow. Yet people seek instant pleasure, only to find pain. Learn this basic truth and you can avoid a lot of anguish. Ancient Indian seers discovered many such laws and presented them as the science of Vedanta. They led us away from momentary excitement to lasting happiness.

What makes you prefer junk food over healthier options, prefer to laze around than exercise? Why do you give up a lifetime of happiness for a few seconds of ‘joy’? You are acting on the whims and fancies of the mind, disregarding the advice of the intellect. The mind is attracted to instant gratification. The intellect picks short-term pain for long- term gain. The mind is irrational, unstable and undependable. The intellect is rational, stable and dependable. Consult the intellect and embark on a concerted programme to develop the intellect.

Most people act with the attitude of taking, rather than giving. It is so pleasing to take, and painful to give. Yet the law is – give you gain, grab you lose. The mere thought of giving empowers you, makes you creative and successful. All givers are happy. And giving transforms you from an ordinary mortal to an extraordinary Immortal. Follow this simple principle and miracles will unfold.

It is regulated contact with sense objects that gives lasting enjoyment. Let the intellect decide the quantum and frequency of contact and you will enjoy life fully till the last day of your life.

In relationships you want others to cater to you, pamper you, and meet with your expectations. You vociferously stipulate your demands. Rarely do you consider the other person’s needs. Little do you know you are signing up for a life of conflict, pain and loneliness. Love people for what they are, not for what they do for you. Love must be unconditional. It has no reference to any return, tangible or intangible. The more you reach out to people with love, the more they adore you. You become fulfilled.

You want better homes, luxurious cars, exotic food, fancy vacations and more of everything. You are fanning desire. Ride on desire, the object of desire runs away from you. Rise above desire, and the object comes to you. Fix a higher ideal. Dedicate yourself to the well-being of others. Your desires will get fulfilled.

Some people seek knowledge. But they operate out of mere curiosity. They are information gatherers. They look outwards in the world. This leads you nowhere. Turn your gaze inward. Discover the infinite resource of energy, vitality and happiness within.

Life is precious and your only duty is to live it joyfully. Tap into the wealth of Vedanta to experience abundant joy. At your core, you are peace and joy. Sense it. Embrace it. Live it. Become one with it.

You Can Learn To Manage All Kinds Of Stress

Stress levels of students are on the rise, as they are under pressure to perform superlatively in examinations. Stress is also the bane of executives who are dogged by competition and ambition. Stress means different things to different people. To a mountaineer, it is the challenge of pushing physical resources to the limit by striving to achieve a demanding goal. To the motorist, it can be the hassles of heavy traffic and pollution.

Stress is a major problem for many, but curiously, it is also a matter of pride in certain circles. The perception is that if you are not stressed, you are just not working hard enough. You toss and turn all night. The alarm doesn’t go off. You’re late for work. There’s a deadline to meet, but your computer is down with virus. Three cups of coffee later, your head still throbs. Your back hurts. Your eyes sting each time you blink.

Stress is the inability to cope with a real or imagined threat to your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being, which results in a series of physiological responses and adaptations. It can be caused by both good and bad experiences. The Upanishads say that we are a part of the world and the world is a part of us. As human beings, we live at several levels. Coping refers to our efforts to manage stressful situations.

Make a list of possible sources of stress; it will help you understand and pay attention to issues that are a source of stress. We might have a classic case of ‘‘stress overlap’’ when everything seems to be going wrong, all at the same time. Be aware. Take a moment to determine your main source of stress at the current time, and work towards managing it.

People are often reluctant to reveal that they are stressed and will resist any suggestion that action needs to be taken, as such stress sits in the ‘shadows’, hidden from view. This will continue until it bursts out into the open, by which time it might be either too late for remedial action, or damage control becomes costly. A further shadow can be seen when an executive chooses not to intervene in a potentially difficult situation, where someone appears to be stressed. This might be because he doesn’t know how to deal with it, and so feels embarrassed at exposing his lack of knowledge. Alternately, he might take a ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ approach and just hope that it will go away.

Either way, the stress situation gets worse and recedes deeper into the shadows, and thus becomes harder and costlier to address at a later date. Everyone responds differently to stress. That is why some people seem to thrive during stressful situations, while others are exhausted. Pressure is inevitable. The solution lies in active management. Pressure is a neutral force; it can be channelled for good or bad. Pressure can be the stimuli; we need to enjoy our lives and learn new skills, experience excitement and get things done. It can also be the force that causes depression and anxiety, breaks relationships, making one miss deadlines, and even become seriously ill.

Resilient people accept responsibility for their life and their choices, and they understand what’s gone wrong, and then try to fix it. So, they are able to cope with stress. Those who are not naturally resilient can learn from the examples of others.

There Is No Reality Other Than Shiva

Shiva has a unique place in the Hindu pantheon. Being incorporeal, Shiva alone is usually not represented by a deity, and instead, is depicted by the lingam. The names of Shiva temples in India bear the suffix ‘nath’ or ‘ishwar’ to indicate that he is the preceptor of all beings. One of the many names of Shiva is Sarveshwar, Lord of all. Images of the deity Shankar often show him meditating in front of a Shivalingam.

Hindu mythology speaks of Krishna and Rama as avatars, they were born and they died. They are said to have worshipped Shiva. Other gods also take physical birth, but Shiva neither takes birth, nor dies.

Shiva incarnates himself in a human body, an occurrence that is celebrated during Shivaratri. Shiva’s incarnation is associated with ‘ratri’ or night because he manifests in this world when it is enveloped in the darkness of ignorance and evil. Omniscient Shiva dispels the darkness by giving humans the light of knowledge. The three parallel lines on the Shivalingam are symbolic of Shiva’s knowledge of the three aspects of time. The eye in the middle of the lines indicates the eye of wisdom he gives to human souls.

The Mahabharata refers to the regenerative role of Shiva, saying that when the world had plunged into darkness and vicious proliferation, “an egg-like form of light descended and established a new order”. In the Dharma Samhita part of Shiva Purana, it is said that at the end of Kaliyuga, during the time of destruction, a magnificent light revealed itself, blindingly luminous, radiant and eternal, and the world was created through this light.

Shivaratri is commemoration of the arrival of Divinity in this world to salvage humanity. In the Bhagwad Gita Krishna says that whenever righteousness declines and unrighteousness arises, he manifests for the protection of the good, destruction of the wicked, and reestablishment of a righteous order.

The Gita hints at this role of Shiva when Krishna says: “I am ‘mahakaal’ (God of Death). Death can never approach me.” Such an assertion can be made only by Shiva, the Supreme, Paramatma.  Soul, one who never takes birth, is Mrityunjaya, immortal.

There is no room for confusion about the roles of Shiva and Krishna, because there is but one God, though deities may be many. The Supreme of all souls, across different faith traditions, is understood as being incorporeal and omnipotent. The Ocean of Peace, the Saviour and Almighty, is forever beyond the limitations of a physical existence.

He performs his tasks by giving power to his spiritual children, these gods and goddesses, the slayers of demons, who are also embodiments of purity, love and wisdom. They are not supernatural beings, but humans with divine qualities. They foster these qualities in their fellow humans, nurturing a new, elevated consciousness, and thus serve as divine instruments in the task of creating a righteous world order.

This is the secret of Maha Shivaratri, which will be observed on March 4 this year, the night the Supreme comes to liberate his children from suffering and sorrow, as promised in the Gita.

Digital culture

Shortcomings in organisational culture are one of the main barriers to company success in the digital age… In our experience, executives who wait for organisational cultures to change organically will move too slowly as digital penetration grows, blurs the boundaries between sectors, and boosts competitive intensity.

Executives must be proactive in shaping and measuring culture, approaching it with the same rigour and discipline with which they tackle operational transformations. This includes changing structural and tactical elements in an organisation that run counter to the culture change they are trying to achieve. Building a culture where people feel comfortable trying things that might fail starts with senior leaders’ attitudes and role modelling.

They must break the status quo of hierarchical decision making, overcome a focus on optimizing rather than innovating, and celebrate learning from failure. Although companies have long declared their intention to get close to their customers, the digital age is forcing them to actually do it, as well as providing them with better means to do so.

So, a customer-centric organisational culture, in other words, is more than merely a good thing — it’s becoming a matter of survival. The good news is that getting closer to your customers can help reduce the risk of experimentation (as customers help co-create products through open innovation) and support fast-paced change.

Hardware & Software

What do we have in common with computers? The basic design. Like the personal computer we interact with everyday, we have two parts to our self: the hardware, or the body, and the software, or spirit.

To deny the spirit, to reject spirituality as nonsense, is analogous to bringing home computer hardware, and dispensing with the software as unwanted.

You may set such a system upon your desk — it will look good. You may clean it everyday, meticulously, but what is all your effort worth? You are labouring over a useless box. So it is if you tend your body and neglect the spirit.

You render your existence worthless. You are only adding to the crowd in the world, just as the useless system would be crowding your desk.

What is the essence of spirituality? It is to appreciate the interdependence of all beings and non-beings in creation. It is to understand the common denominator, non-duality, or advaita.

Such understanding marks the culmination of knowledge: it is Vedanta. The force that suffuses all beings and objects alike is also the substratum of creation.

Call it by whatever name you will. The Upanishads call it Bramhn. Freedom from mundane existence requires that you be logged on to Bramhn always.

You — like everybody and everything in creation — are, in fact, always logged on to Bramhn.

The need is to be conscious that you are so logged on. This helps attune your mind to the cosmic rhythm. This quickens in you powers you never suspected you possessed.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is one of the most important leaders in Indian politics . 

Vajpayee Krishna Devi and Krishna Bihari Vajpayee were born on December 25, 1924 at Gwalior. His grandfather Pandit Shyam Lal Vajpayee settled in Gwalior from his native village, Pateshwar, Uttar Pradesh. 

Father, Krishna Bihari Vajpayee, is a poet and school teacher in her home town. Vajpayee completed his primary schooling at Gwalior. Gwalior graduated from the current Laxmi Boy College in Hindi, English and Sanskrit. DAA at Kanpur He earned a degree in Political Science at College. 

In 1942 he was sentenced to 23 days imprisonment for participating in the Quit India Movement. Arya Kumar Sobha, a youth wing of Arya Samaj, served as general secretary in 1944. In 1939 he joined the RSS. Due to his involvement in Baba Saheb Opti, he went to the RSS training camps in 1940-44. Full time RSS in 1947 Became a propagator. At that time, his law was interrupted by the riots that broke out between India and Pakistan.

Following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, Movement blocked. He joined the Hindu nationalist right-wing party Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which started with Diyya Prasad Mukherjee in 1951 by Dindhya Upadhyaya. He was appointed as the Northern Secretary of the Northern Province. Vajpayee, who had transformed himself as a follow-up to Siyama Prasad Mookerjee, was accompanied by an indefinite hunger strike against the oppression of Kashmir in Kashmir in 1953. After Mukherjee's death in the battle, Dindhyaal Upadhyaya was responsible for directing the Jana Sangh. 

In the 1957 election, he won the Balarampur constituency in Uttar Pradesh and became a Lok Sabha member. After the demise of Dindhya Upadhyaya, the Vajpayee was given the responsibility of the Jana Sangh leader in 1968. With him Advani, Nanaji Deshmukh and Balraj Madhok were also the main leaders of the Jana Sangh. 

Morarji Desai became Prime Minister when the Janata Party won the election in 1977. Vajpayee became the foreign minister. This rule only survived until July 28, 1979. 

In 1980, his colleagues LK Advani and Baron Singh Shekhawat join the Jan Sangh and RSS. Vajpayee created the Bharatiya Janata Party by integrating volunteers. He became the first chairman. Thus, Vajpayee became the strongest critic of the Congress government. 

Vajpayee was declared the BJP prime ministerial candidate in the 1996 Prime Ministerial Election. But the then BJP leader LK Advani Advani. Vajpayee became the 10th Prime Minister of India on May 16, 1996 after the election results were announced. His tenure lasted just 13 days. 

He won again in the 1998 election. But this time only 13 months in office. The coup that fell from the vote on April 17, 1999 with a single vote defeat. This 13-month rule was conducted on May 11 and 13, 1998 at the Pokhran desert in Rajasthan, where five atomic explosions were conducted. It was in this place that India conducted its first nuclear explosion experiment in the name of 'Smiling Buddha' in 1974, 24 years ago. 

Vajpayee also gave importance to the peace talks between India and Pakistan. He started the first bus service between Lahore and Delhi. Also in 1999, the two countries signed a contract at a meeting in Lahore. This historic treaty, known as the Lahore Agreement, was aimed at negotiating further negotiations with India and Pakistan to improve trade relations and to strengthen bilateral relations. In 1998, Pakistan and other South Asian countries were welcomed by the disastrous bombs in Pokhran. 

In 1999, the party general secretary Jayalalithaa declared that the AIADMK's party was withdrawing support for the Vajpayee-led United Democratic Alliance. Thus, the Vajpayee regime fell. The election was announced in October. Vajpayee built the strong United Nations coalition to coordinate many of these parties and held the prime minister's office for the third time. This time he has completed five years of full power and he is the first Prime Minister of India to be the Prime Minister of India to complete his tenure as prime minister. 

The Indian Army planned a Operation Vijay attack on Pakistani Army in the Kargil war between India and Pakistan in June 1999. The Pakistani army attacked the army by causing great damage. The Pakistani Forces withdrew; The Kargil War ended with India's victory. 

In December 1999, when the Indian Airlines flight was kidnapped in December 1999, the terrorists were involved in the Parliament building in December 2001, killing about a thousand Hindu and Muslim civilians in the 2002 Gujarat riots. Notable projects, such as the National Highway Project and Education Movement for everyone, were implemented. Improved international relations, private sector and foreign investment promotion. 

Vajpayee did not get married. But she adopted Namitha. He has a special interest in nature. Manali in Himachal Pradesh is one of the favorite places of his choice. He is interested in music and dance. She has a trademark involvement in the school since her schooling. He worked as a teacher in Punjabi Raja and Rashtrasarma in the monthly magazines and Arjun and Swethesh. He wrote many poems and autobiographies. Vajpayee poetry has also been published in Tamil in his poetry. 

Since 2001, he has done 10 surgeries for various reasons. A kidney has been removed. Stroke has not been able to speak properly. Diabetes has suffered from many years of hard work. He left the public life after 2005 and struggled with his body. 

Vajpayee, who served as a Member of Parliament for over 50 years, has not been in the minds of everyone. In 1962, he was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha. Later, he was elected 7 times Lok Sabha member and 2 member Rajya Sabha member. Morarji Desai was also the Minister of State in 1977-79. The then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru praised the Vajpayee's speech at the youngest Parliament. Nehru released his prediction: "This young man named Vajpayee will one day become Prime Minister of India." Vajpayee made Nehru's prediction by his performance. 

The Three Stumbling Blocks To Success

Despair is a major obstacle to progress. It scuttles the process of gaining success .“It cannot be done!” This sentence is a great stumbling block to any kind of success. It was my sutra, never to despair. Why should we think something cannot happen? When we believe that the soul has infinite potential, then, why should we think something will not happen?

The second stumbling block on the path to success is laziness, lack of effort. It can be done, but we do not do it. There are those who have the ability but because they put in less than the required effort, they are not successful. Therefore, build up your capacity to work commensurate with the goal to be achieved. Disappointment comes when we desire something, but do not work toward it or we have not built our capability to achieve it.

If you place hard work in front of you, and not destiny, then automatically, your hard work pays off and what it yields becomes your destiny.

The third deterrent to success is carelessness, negligence. It is alright, it will be done, it does not matter…this attitude hinders success. People work a lot but are not able to consolidate it because of their casual attitude.

These are three stumbling blocks to success: despair, laziness and carelessness.

Additionally, I had resolved that work should be executed with patience, for, hurry yields nothing. No work that is undertaken, goes waste, if you have patience. If you are impatient, then the unripe fruits that your work yields will be sour. A fruit is said to have come to fruition only when it is fully ripe. A ripe mango tastes many times sweeter than a raw one.

A young man asked Tolstoy, “How long to be patient. Can water ever hold in a sieve?” Tolstoy replied, “It will hold, be patient. When water turns into ice it will be held even within a sieve.”

Patience is a very great mantra to success…I have seen that those who remained patient have gone far ahead in life. Those who were impatient and restless got left behind, lost.

Another sutra for success is pleasant conduct. A person may be very knowledgeable, very wise but if he is not good with people, he is not able to achieve anything.

When does a person’s fate turn inimical? When he starts wishing others ill. My resolve was not to ever think ill of anybody. I do not remember ever having imagined anyone in poor light. All through over my nine decades I do not think I have done or thought ill for anybody.

I had one strong conviction: I should never let inauspicious or useless thoughts about anyone enter my mind. I should be able to respect everybody. Be he illiterate, knows less, whatever be the traits — I should not look upon them with any less respect.

I also thought it necessary to keep my emotions under control and did do so. In nine decades of my life if someone were to ask me how many times I got angry, I would have to think. I believe that a person who seeks success has to bring his emotions under control or else they might have to negotiate  a slippery ground. 

Users, Keepers Of Their Data

Privacy is finally getting the public attention it deserves in India. Spearheading this is the gatekeeper of all things telecommunicative, the Trai, which has laid down a core principle on digital data protection, coming in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on privacy being a fundamental right.

Consumers have been now pronounced as owners of their data. Telecom and internet service providers, mobile device-makers and other intermediaries transmitting, storing, controlling and processing consumers’ information have been rightly deemed “mere custodians and do not have primary rights over this data”.

Effectively, the user is the copyright holder of his content and data no matter what the platform or the service provider is. With such great power — the right of choice, consent and the right to be forgotten (the erasure of personal data concerning the use without undue delay) — comes great responsibility.

This requires India to enact its own data protection law, and set up an independent regulator to monitor the use of data and hold data-collectors to account.

The Justice Srikrishna committee, looking into data protection, will soon finalise the framework for legislative action. It should be in general conformity with the EU’s General Data Protection Regime that imposes debilitating (and, thus, deterring) fines on companies collecting or using personal data without the consent of users.

The writ applies to controllers and processors too, thereby making data security also their responsibility. But laws are limp if law enforcement is lax. A decade ago, resistance to the telemarketing onslaught forced Trai to start a ‘Do Not Call’ registry that was a disaster.

So, a data protection law must be accompanied by capacity building — vast skilling and technical competencies — to safeguard users’ interests.

Why Goals And Results Are Important To Us

Why is it that we seek results, goals? Why is it that the mind is ever pursuing an end? And why should it not pursue an end? In coming here, are we not seeking something, some experience, some delight? We are tired and fed up with the many things that we have been playing with; we have turned away from them, and now we want a new toy to play with. We go from one thing to another, till we find something that is entirely satisfying; and then we settle down to stagnate.

We are forever craving something; and having tasted many things which were mostly unsatisfactory, we now want the ultimate thing: God, truth, or what you will. We want a result, a new experience, a new sensation that will endure in spite of everything. We never see the futility of result, but only of a particular result; so we wander from one result to another, hoping always to find the one that will end all search.

The search for result, for success, is binding, limiting; it is ever coming to an end. Gaining is a process of ending. To arrive is death. Yet that is what we are seeking, is it not? We are seeking death, only we call it result, goal, purpose. We want to arrive. We are tired of this everlasting struggle, and we want to get there – “there” placed at whatever level. We do not see the wasteful destructiveness of struggle, but desire to be free of it through gaining a result. We do not see the truth of struggle, of conflict, and so we use it as a means of getting what we want, the most satisfying thing; and that which is most satisfying is determined by the intensity of our discontent. This desire for result always ends in gain; but we want a never-ending result So, what is our problem? How to be free from the craving for results, is that it?

I think that is it. The very desire to be free is also a desire for a result, is it not? We shall get thoroughly entangled if we pursue that line. Is it that we cannot see the futility of result, at whatever level we may place it? Is that our problem? Let us see our problem clearly, and then perhaps we shall be able to understand it. Is it a question of seeing the futility of one result and so discarding all desire for results? If we perceive the uselessness of one escape, then all escapes are vain. Is that our problem? Surely, it is not quite that, is it? Perhaps we can approach it differently.

Is not experience a result also? If we are to be free from results, must we not also be free from experience? For is not experience an outcome, an end? “The end of what?”

The end of experiencing. Experience is the memory of experiencing, is it not? When experiencing ends there is experience, the result. While experiencing, there is no experience; experience is but the memory of having experienced. As the state of experiencing fades, experience begins. Experience is ever hindering experiencing, living. Results, experiences, come to an end; but experiencing is inexhaustible. When the inexhaustible is hindered by memory, then the search for results begins. The mind, the result, is always seeking an end, a purpose, and that is death. Death is not when the experiencer is not. Only then is there the inexhaustible.

How to use Google Maps offline on Android and iOS

Google Maps are a lifesaver when it comes to commuting as it is one of the most reliable source of navigation. One needs a good and stable internet connection for the Maps to work smoothly. However, in our country we often face bandwidth issues which results in a patchy internet connection which often leaves us in the middle of nowhere. But, the navigation app has a solution for that as well. So, if you are packing up for a road trip or are travelling to another city, then you can use the offline Maps feature offered by Google. The feature enables you to download the map of any area so that you use it without a working internet connection. So, here is the guide to download the Google Maps offline both for Android and iOS users.

Download a map to use offline on iPhone and iPad
Step 1: On your iPhone or iPad, open the Google Maps app.
Step 2: Make sure you're connected to the Internet and signed in to Google Maps.
Step 3: Search for a place, like Bangalore.
Step 4: At the bottom, tap the name or address of the place and then tap More.
Step 5: Select Download offline map.

Download a map to use offline on Android device

Step 1: On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Maps app.

Step 2: Make sure you're connected to the internet and signed in to Google Maps.

Step 3: Search for a place, like Bangalore.

Step 4: At the bottom, tap the name or address of the place and then Download. If you 

Searched for a place like a restaurant, tap More and then Download offline map.

After you download a map, use the Google Maps app just like you normally would. If your Internet connection is slow or absent, Google Maps will use your offline maps to give you directions.

Feel & Show Respect

Respect is to never laugh at someone. Every one of us is unique. So be respectful keep yourself equidistant between strength and weakness. With a child, not saying you’re such a good painter, but just giving it paper and brushes with a child, not saying: you’re a hopeless painter, but just giving it paper and a pen instead. Never ignore weakness, for that is disrespect, just provide a different focus.

Where there is real respect, there is the understanding that talents are constantly changing and sometimes it is just a matter of where the light is falling and what is seen. Where the sun isn’t shining doesn’t indicate a gap only that something is resting in the shadows. You just never know what’s there, so it’s best not to categorize people.

Respect values space, for everyone needs a pause, a chance to breathe quietly, alone.

Where there has been disregard for anyone or anything, there is hurt. The repercussions are enormous. Where a person has been hurt, the rebound is often obscure and dangerous, hard to identify, because you can’t just say you’ve hurt me.

It’s hard to be direct, so someone walking by suddenly gets hit instead and a whole chain begins. Where a thing has been abused, disrespected, then it causes trouble.

Where there is respect, it is like forging a straight path through life, so that you can reach a point of stillness and then, looking back, see only light.

You’ve walked poised through life, observing the ups and downs with dignity. The result is that the respect you’ve given, comes back to you.

The Purpose Of Education!!!

Why are you being educated? Your parents send you to school. You attend classes, you learn mathematics, you learn geography, history. Why? What is the point of your passing examinations and getting degrees? Is it to get married, get a job and settle down in life as millions of people do? The whole world is questioning the basis of education. We see what education has been used for.

 Human beings throughout the world are being educated to conform, to fit into society and into their culture, to fit into the stream of social and economic activity, to be sucked into that vast stream that has been flowing for thousands of years. Is that education, or is education something entirely different?

Can education see to it that the human mind is not drawn into that vast stream and so destroyed; see that the mind is never sucked into that stream; so that, with such a mind, you can be an entirely different human being with a different quality to life? Real education means that a human mind, your mind, not only is capable of being excellent in mathematics, geography and history, but also can never, under any circumstances, be drawn into the stream of society.

 Because that stream that we call living, is very corrupt, is immoral, violent, greedy. That stream is our culture. So, the question is how to bring about the right kind of education so that the mind can withstand all temptations, all influences, the bestiality of this civilization and this culture.