Reflections

This article, or rather   -series of thoughts – is based on The Shrimad Bhagwad Geeta, Chapter 15, verses 5-9 and Chapter 18 verses 56-60; while reading these, some realizations and thoughts came to my mind – on the nature of our interaction with the outside world, our responses, thoughts actions and reactions. Before I go ahead – let me document the first verse and its translation so that the base can be established for our introspection. This is taken from Swami Mukundanand Version; (a similar translation can be found in the Geeta Press Version): निर्मानमोहा जितसङ्गदोषा अध्यात्मनित्या विनिवृत्तकामा : | द्वन्द्वैर्विमुक्ता : सुखदु : खसंज्ञै र्गच्छन्त्यमूढा : पदमव्ययं तत् || 5|| Those who are free from vanity and delusion, who have overcome the evil of attachment, who dwell constantly in the self and God, who are freed from the desire to enjoy the senses, and are beyond the dualities of pleasure and pain, such liberated personalities attain my eternal abode. ...

Nehru’s India : Essays on the Maker of a Nation is a collection of essays on the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, by a series of eminent personalities who have had   personal experience of the great man, or knowledge of some rarely known aspect.   The book is an excellent resource for all of us, and a short reminder of what a tremendous contribution he made to the nation, and that Modern India owes a debt of gratitude to this great personality. It brings out a series of rarely known aspects of the former Prime Minister and Freedom Fighter, and introduces us to him as a human being, a real person – not just a character or historical figure on the book pages. That is the strongest part of this book : its personal approach, and its success is creating a realistic image in our minds. The string of facts is suitably intermixed with personal quirks, or other characteristics that all come together to create a real person in our minds, the closest ...

A book on Economics is prone to be one that can be classified as a serious bit of study, and a truckload of hard complex reading, full for jargon and indecipherable terms {even to economists, ,no joke there};   a subject to be broached only in a particular mood and mindset. One does not normally look to find anything but the above, especially if the book has been penned by one of India’s better known economics writers on Business Media. Well, the above is just about exactly what this book – ReStart, Last Chance For The Indian Economy – written by Mihir S Sharma , is not. THE BOOK This is a book that approaches it the core question – how do we genuinely grow – in a refreshing new look, basis hardcore fundamentals, devoid of jargon and needless complexities. It is divided into 5 parts : Why We Fail, When and Where We Failed, The Real Reasons Behind What Went Wrong since 2011-2012, How and Why Private Companies Have Failed To Be Innovative & Failed to Drive Growth, ...

It was a lovely Sunday afternoon. I was at home, secure in my knowledge that the rain carrying clouds are of no concern to me. Yes, yes, yes – I know, arrogance, and colossal arrogance at that. Well, it so happens that those are the very words, almost – of those same rain clouds. They, as the passed on top, bethought themselves – what do we have here? An arrogant human. So, lets us attend to his arrogance, shall we. Cant have this arrogance. Now I have a habit of leaving doors and windows wide open. It lets in light, and makes the home airy you see. And, I do have floor to ceiling windows in my bedroom, and large, large windows in all other rooms. And, the icing on the cake, my home has  North facing windows. To top it all, the wind has never blown North to South in all my 19+ months of stay here. So, I was relaxed, and carefree as the rain started pelting – and I mean pelting! And there I sat, wide open doors and windows, in a pelting rain, enjoying the beauty of the e...

One of the most prominent questions in the modern world is the hunt for Peace of Mind, and the worries over Materialism that is fast rising in the developed and developing worlds. One stream of thought states that the real world requires Hard Work, Commitment, Discipline, Mental Focus and has myriad issues and crises to contend, and thus Peace of Mind {PoM} is hard to come by. Another stream maintains that it is very much doable…   the dominant narrative is that Peace of Mind and Materialistic Lifestyles don’t mix; that you have to sacrifice, and that Hard Work is the sole preserve of the materialistic chase, given that while the body exists, its needs are real. These both states are in reality a state of being , a state of mind, an entire lifestyle by themselves, that is the irreducible minimum. This transcends hard work commitment etc... these are paths to a goal. Going forward ,we need to understand that we are living in a material world, a world dominated by a West...