Why fighting about religion is just plain stupid?

Think of 2 people, both named John Doe. One of them says, "My name is John Doe." The other one says, "मेरा नाम जॉन डो है|"
Now the first one says, the only right way to say it is mine, "My name is John Doe." The other one insists that his way is the right way, "मेरा नाम जॉन डो है|"
Actually from an independent perspective, both of them are correct.

That is all that the fighting about religion/community is.

Everyone is trying to say that their religions shows the "only" correct way, but they are actually the same thing, just in different language or script or methodology or just a different path. Every religion teaches compassion, be helpful to others, don't be selfish, live an honest life etc. basic things that will help you lead a better life, whether you believe in any religion or you are an atheist. No religion (religious "god", whether Prophet, Mahaveer, Buddha, Christ, Guru Nanak or whoever it is that you believe in) ever said that fight with them because they do not follow me.

The methods maybe different, but the goal is the same, to live a happy & peaceful life & help others do that.

Look at it this way : You want to reach Jaipur from New York, now there are many ways to reach Jaipur from New York. Now there are many routes & flights that will take you from New York to Jaipur.

• Air India flight from NYC -> Mumbai -> Jaipur
• Etihad flight from NYC -> Abu Dhabi -> Jaipur
• Jet Airways flight from NYC -> Brussels -> Mumbai -> Jaipur
• Etihad flight from NYC -> Duesseldorf -> Abu Dhabi -> Jaipur 

All of these flights (& many more) will take you to Jaipur from NYC no matter which flight or route you have boarded. There is no point in fighting over which flight/route is the best, the only best route is the one that you feel the most comfortable with.

That is just how religions work, all of them teach you humanity, no matter who said it or what that religion or its followers are called.

"सच तो सच है, चाहे किसने कहा हो" Kanhaiya Lal ji Lodha.

The Real Value of Money

The real value of money is not in what you can buy using it, but what good have you done using it.

Have you created a school for the underprivileged or a world class hospital for them, did you donate to that charity you really believed in (such as Jaipur Foot) or did you really do something worthwhile & something that one can never repay you for, without expecting any repayment?

That is the real value of money.
It gives you the means to make a meaningful difference to the world. But you need to make that difference. Money by itself us utterly worthless.

Still more to be written here. Thinking.

Related Post : http://sambhav.jewelove.in/2014/05/contentment-is-key-to-happiness.html

Wonders of the World : Bank that credits Rs. 86,400 every day!

There is a bank account that credits your account each morning with ₹ 86,400. Think of it, a bank giving away ₹ 86,400 everyday, without fail till the day you are alive. 
There are just 2 caveats : 
1. It carries over no balance from day to day.
2. Because it carries over no balance, it pays no interest. 
Every night the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw / invest every paisa, of course? Not even leave a single rupee in that account, right?

To know how to open an account with this bank, please scroll down.

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Victory, Glory, Success, Happiness should Transcend

I am watching Bhaag Milkha Bhaag right now & I have just realised the real domain of X. (x = success, fame, glory, happiness etc.)

It is & should not be limited to personal success, fame, glory or happiness but transcend. 

Transcend into the lives of the self, the family, employees, friends, close ones, locality, city, state, country further into the humanity across the world & even the world itself, & finally into the true self.

Eg. Sachin Tendulkar, once upon a time it was the pleasure of a few to watch him play & succeed, then of Mumbai (Ranji) then of India, later of the people all over world. Even further he became an inspiration for not just sportsmen but a role model for personal lives & professional ethics. Similarly Rahul Dravid, Milkha Singh (as depicted in the movie) & numerous other people.

Similarly Bhagwaan Mahaveer.

Remember it should transcend to your self & it will complete you.

Because it is not just about money. It is about a lot lot more.

Ill-effects of Peer De-Pressurisation

Peer De-pressurisation. Something very similar & profound yet so new. On October 8, 2013 Kruti & I were talking about piracy. How it is so easy to Pirate stuff, courtesy of the internet.

& how it is so wrong.

That is when this concept occurred to me.

We have a very high mental resistance to traditional 'bad-activities' such as stealing someone's wallet. Why? Because we have been taught & have come to realise that it is a very bad thing to do. & nobody around us does it.

However for piracy (which is  almost the same as stealing a wallet) everyone around us (in college) is doing it, someone downloads a movie torrent, another guy downloads a T. V. series etc. which simply reduces the mental resistance to piracy, it just looks like, 'everyone is doing it, including these good people, so maybe it isn't that bad.' but it is only when we look deep that we realise piracy is the same as stealing someone's wallet.

Similarly for smoking & drinking too.

Luck, Hardwork & Success

Luck gives you an edge, but it is your hard work that makes that luck into success.

More on this, later.

Happiness = Reality - Expectations

Happiness = Reality - Expectations

If your expectations are zero, Happiness becomes a reality & your reality becomes your source of happiness.

Related posts : Contentment is the key to happiness, Happiness is a Choice, not just a Chance

Unconditional Forgiveness & Gratitude

Unconditional Forgiveness & Gratitude are the essence of Paryushan.

I have been thinking about this since yesterday. Paryushan & Samvatsari, the Kshamaparv are not just about forgiveness to those who seek forgiveness but they are about unconditional forgiveness to each and every organism on the planet, whether they seek it or not & seek forgiveness from each & every organism on the planet.
Such unconditional forgiveness then fills our mind with gratitude towards everyone.

Isn't this also the very essence of humanity?

Shree Amar Bharti : September 1997 issue : A review

संतोषामृततृप्तानाम।

This is the essence of the September 1997 issue of Shree Amar Bharti. Imo

@Kruti, संतोषामृततृप्तानाम is a conjunction of 3 words, संतोष, अमृत, तृप्ति, a sanskrit word, actually a sentence said in a single word, संतोष रूपी अमृत तृप्त करती है।
संतोष = be happy with what you have
अमृत = nectar
तृप्ति = fulfilment

What it really means is, (IMHO) no matter how much worldly possession (money, land, investments, laptops, phones, gadgets, cars etc.) you have if you will experience fulfilment only when you are happy/satisfied with what you have. If you keep on wanting more & more, no matter how much you have, you will never experience fulfilment.

Future as a function of the past

Himanshu Kateja uploaded a status today, 

"the future is independent of the past, given the present" - Andrey Markov, 1856-1922

Food for thought - aisa sirf theory mein hota hai

This has prompted me to think about it & I have come to the realisation that the past affects are future to a varying degree depending on the time difference between the past & the future.

P. S. : present is a past for the future. So present by itself is already affecting the future as a past.

f(t) = f(t-$t)•e^(-$t) + c(t-$t)f(t-$t)

Where $ = delta (a variable time difference measured backwards from now) 

c(t-$t) is special relation function. For eg. If this the college entrance time, then the c function of t-$t = entrance exam time becomes significantly important for your present.

What I am basically trying to say is, that the dependence of any time on the past reduces with the time difference between the past & the said time, but for special events dependent entirely (or majorly) on a specific point in the past, the relation with the particular time in past may have a peak.

& $t is a variable time difference, so all previous value of function f at past times are considered.

Also the present is being determined by the past, to a certain degree, & the future is being determined by the present which is in turn affected by the past.

(considering a general event, for which c = 0) However due to the repetition of the exponential reduction, the dependence of the future on the past is much lower than either of the following two :

1. Dependence of the present now on the said past.

2. Dependence of the future on the present now.

So, my dear friend, start working in the present instead of futilely musing on the past because the effect, on future, of what you are doing right now is much higher than what you did in the past.

Quotes about life & more, a collection

This is a collection of quotes, not self-made. Sources or original speakers are quoted where known.

1. "It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple."
 Rabindranath Tagore

2. Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he recieved during a heart surgery in 1983.

From the world over, he recieved letters from his fan, one of them conveyed: "Why does God have to select you for such a bad disease?".

To this Arthur Ashe replied: The world over--50,000,000 children start playing tennis, 5,000,000 learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn profesional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach the Wimbledon, 4 to semi finals, 2 to finals. When I was the one holding the cup, I never asked god "Why me?".

And today in pain, I should not be asking GOD "why me?".

3. Steve Jobs

"If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done
and whoever you were and throw them away.
The more the outside world tries to reinforce an image of you, the harder it is to continue to be an artist, which is why a lot of times, artists have to
say, “Bye. I have to go. I’m going crazy and I’m getting out of here.” And they go and hibernate somewhere. Maybe later they re-emerge a little
differently."

4. You can do anything, but not everything.

—David Allen

5. Dream is not that what you see in sleep..

Dream is the thing which does not let you sleep.
---Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

6. 

• Dont be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin
• The truth will set you free, but first it will drive you insane
• "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
• "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams .
• "Speaking comes by nature, silence by understanding" - German Proverb
• "The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear." - Rumi

He who asks question remains fool for 5 minutes , who does not ask question remains fool forever.

"Never tell your problems to anyone. Eighty percent of the people don't care, whereas the remaining twenty percent are glad that you have them."

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't-- either way you're right.” : Henry Ford

I traveled the road less taken & that has made all the difference. Robert Frost

This too shall pass.

You miss 100 percent of a chance you don't take.

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
— Will RogersBelieve those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.

"Yesterday is History,Tomorrow is a Mystery,But Today is a Gift that's why it is called PRESENT"

A country is not DEVELOPED when the poor have cars...A country is DEVELOPED when the rich use public transport!

“In the heart's deepest place, where the burden of ego is dropped and the mystery of soul is penetrated, a man finds the consciousness there not different in any way from what all other men may find. The mutuality of the human race is thus revealed as existing only on a plane where its humanness is transcended. This is why all attempts to express it in political and economic terms, no less than the theosophic attempts to form a universal brotherhood, being premature, must be also artificial. This is why they failed.” -- Paul Brunton

It was true that I didn't have much ambition, but there ought to be a  place for people without ambition, I mean a better place than the one  usually reserved. How in the hell could a man enjoy being awakened at  6:30 a.m. by an alarm clock, leap out of bed, dress, force-feed, shit,  piss, brush teeth and hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where  essentially you made lots of money for somebody else and were asked to  be grateful for the opportunity to do so?

Factotum,Charles Bukowski(1975)

It's the possibility that keeps me going, not the guarantee.

"power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't"Schindler's List

Twice the pride, double the fall.

"Low minds discuss people, Moderate minds discuss events, whereas the High minds discuss ideas."

Giving Money to a cause is easy, giving time is difficult. Mahendra Banthia

जो तेरा है वो जाता नहीं, जो जाता है वो तेरा नहीं।

गुस्सा : अक्ल को खा जाता है

अहंकार : मन को खा जाता है

चिंता : आयु को खा जाती है

लालच : ईमान को खा जाता है

रिश्वत : इंसाफ़ को खा जाती है

गालो मुस्कुरालो, महफिले सजा लो।

क्या पता कल कौ नसा साथी छूट जाए।।

ज़िंदगी की डोर, बड़ी कमज़ोर।

क्या पता कब टूट जाए।।

जीवन का सबसे बड़ा रोग, क्या कहेंगे लोग। - contributed by Bulbul Tunkalia

Life is too short for hatred, but long enough for love & peace. - Self

क्षमा करें और क्षमा माँग लें, जीत है इसमें हार नहीं।

क्षमा वीर का भूषण है, यह कायर का व्यवहार नहीं।।

गुण न हो तो रूप व्यर्थ है

विनम्रता न हो तो विद्या व्यर्थ है

दया न हो तो धन व्यर्थ है

भूख न हो तो भोजन व्यर्थ है

होश न हो तो जोश व्यर्थ है

परोपकार न करने वाले का तो जीवन ही व्यर्थ है

Life is a pendulum between joy & sorrow.

This too shall pass

• The best gift you can give somebody to show you love them, is freedom. 

This explains why my parents put very few restrictions on me. They knew I wouldn't misuse the freedom. Being responsible and respecting the space others give me- definitely changed me(positively)!

• There is (almost) nothing universally right or wrong. Rightness is a relative concept. If you think something another person is doing is wrong, it might be perfectly right for them. Before knowing the purpose of why they did it, you shouldn't point at their action.

- Navneet Munot (contributed by Kruti Munot) "almost" edited by me.

There is always someone more intelligent, or prettier, or stronger, if not today, then maybe tomorrow, but there will be. So be humble, always.

At the same time, there is noone as You as you. So be your self, in fact your best self. self realistaion

In a few 100 or a few 1000 years (or anyway, a few billion years) from now, nothing will be as we know it, none will be for all that I know, make the best of life while you have it. Dad, Dada

My true inheritance is the knowledge & my experiences that I can share with you, the good things in life that I am able to teach you. Dada

Trust is the only thing that lasts. Dad, Dada

Your character is everything, & the only thing that will be with you no matter what. Prof. A. K. Mallik, ME 101, 1st. year

If suit be thy honour, it is but temporary.

But if honour be thy suit, it shall last a lifetime. Prof. Amit Ray, Art 102, 1st year

Happiness = Reality - Expectations.

Reduce your expectations to zero & happiness becomes a reality.

Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwara

Guru sakshat Param Brahma, tasmai Shree guru ve namah।

Luck gives you an edge, but it is your hard work that makes that luck into success.

Watch your thoughts

           For your thoughts become your words

Watch your words

            For your words become your actions

Watch your actions

            For your actions become your habit

Watch your habits

            For your habits become your character

& your character is everything.

The Reason For Praying Is Not To Have All We Want,

But To Thank GOD For All He Has Given Us. (where God is the same as Father, Mother, Grandfather & Grandmother in my case.)

इक दिन बिक जाएगा माटी के मोल।

इस जग में रह जाएँगे प्यारे तेरे बोल।।

Love is freedom

अविनाशी जब विनाशी से मिलता है तो मैं जागता है, मैं का function मन है| Kushal Chand Karnawat, source : Kanhaiya Lal ji Lodha

Don't just be successful, be meaningful. Self

The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it  Kruti Munot

It takes 2 years to learn how to speak, but a lifetime to learn when to. Sambhav Karnawat

Wo sangharsh sangharsh hi kya, jo khudke liye kiya jaye, asli sangharsh to wo hai, jo samaaj ke liye kiya jaye. This quote reminded me of my Iitk Batchmate, Nandan Misra. Quote by Lord Krishna from the animated movie, Arjun the Warrior Prince.

Retry & do what I really want to do. Because I have realised, life does not give up on you as long as you don't give up on yourself. Sambhav Karnawat

“His tales of the Imass - he said the greatest proof of strength a male warrior could display was found in not once touching his mate with anything but tenderness.”

Excerpt From: Erikson, Steven. “Malazan 9 - Dust of Dreams.”

This material may be protected by copyright.

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought” - Buddha

To give money to something is easy, to give time is much more difficult.

Quotes

“There is no struggle too vast, no odds too overwhelming, for even should we fail - should we fall - we will know that we have lived.'

- ANOMANDER RAKE, SON OF DARKNESS”

Excerpt From: Erikson, Steven. “Malazan 08 - Toll the Hounds.” iBooks. 

This material may be protected by copyright.

Worrying won't stop the bad stuff from happening, it just stops you from enjoying the good.....GM Prof. Bardia

Santoshi aadmi sada sukhi

Lobhi aadmi dukhi

Paropkar is Punya, Paropeeda is paap

Sacchi taareef Wo nahin hoti jo log aapke mooh pe karte hain, sacchi taareef wo hoti hai jo log aapke peeche se karte hain

Koi pagal machal raha hai, Sansar ke sukh bhog kar

Koi pagal machal raha hai, tyag ka nritya dikha kar

Aham to aham hai, chahe kaisa bhi ho

Jeevan mein vish ghol raha hai

- Shri Mad Ranchal, through Khushboo, credits Niya

Live & let live. Mahaveer

Robots, love, every once in a while

This was my Facebook status a long time when I was deeply in love. It was not phrased like this I am sure, but I will try & reproduce the summary.

Sometimes you are so deeply involve in work that you start working like a robot. No emotions, no sentiments, just work. Sometimes just then, a person walks into your life & reminds you of your human-ness.

I think it was better being a robot.

Now I am not sure if it is better beig a robot or the sentimental human. Wasn't sure even then, I think.

Philosophy & Innovation : Cognitive Thinking, the common link?

Is there a relation? I think so. In my opinion it is quite similar to evolution. Both have their roots in the same ground, just the context or the environment in different. Sometimes  even the environment is similar.

IMO, both innovation & philosophy involve thinking. Thinking at a deeper level than usual. (technically you are 'thinking' when your brain 'commands' your hand to pick up the spoon & feed you, but I am referring to thinking in its more complex usage). 
When I 'innovate', the process involved thinking, I need to find a scope, a need, a method to fulfill that need & then think how to implement it & implement it.
Philosophy is not much different. When I am musing about life, the purpose of life and such other rudimentary concepts, I am often trying to find a need, for life, a way to explain what is happening & why is it happening & apply it to life.

So is it just that they are 2 different types of thinkings? Maybe. Yet to figure it out.

This was my answer to a question about the relation between innovation & philosophy.

Destiny as a concept

Actually this post could have two titles, The Problem with Destiny or as it has been named, Destiny as a concept.

I just thought, I will write it in 2 parts, here is the first part. Edit : Third part, just thought of : Is death then destiny?

The problem with destiny :

Given : Destiny is defined as whatever is bound to happen will happen & whatever is happening was bound to happen.

To prove : destiny cannot be disproved.

Proof : Let us assume there exists a complex mathematical expression using which you are able to prove that destiny as a mathematical function does not exist.

 However from the very definition of destiny (as given above), it is right to comment that it was your destiny to prove that destiny does not exist.

Hence, your proof for non-existence of destiny is invalid.

Hence proved the problem with destiny by contradiction.

This brings me to the next point, destiny as a concept. 
Destiny is so defined to encompass & explain everything yet inexplicable or unfathomable by the human mind.

The fear of the unknown has troubled mankind since time immemorial. The human mind wants absolute predictability  about everything except itself. What is the best way to achieve that? Define a concept which says everything is as it is because it was (divinely ?) supposed to be this way. This concept is destiny. Whether a child dies young, or whatever the trouble, the victim has a concept to support himself, it was his destiny & nobody can escape destiny. Then destiny becomes a concept, a (almost scientific, in the sense that it was so well thought out) figment of mind that keeps people from despair & gives people something to cling to, even in the toughest times, such as harsh famine or terrible floods, 'honi ko kaun taal sakta hai।' & a very apt observation by a philosopher, 'You often meet destiny on the path you take to avoid it.'

Which brings me to the third part, is death then destiny?

Death is the inevitable, the paramount truth of life. 

'जो जन्मा है, वह मरेगा ही।

जो आया है, वह कभी न कभी जाएगा ही।

मृत्यु जीवन का शाश्वत सत्य है।।'

Who has been born, will die. (some day)

That which has come (or been created) will be destroyed some day.

Death is the paramount, static truth of life.

Does this not lead to the concision that death is destiny?

To end the post with a self-thought & belief,

Destiny may be made in heavens, but you need to work hard in Life to achieve it.

Wisdom from a teenager : Perspectives & Anekantvada

This is a (long awaited) guest post written by Kruti (www.KrutiMunot.com)

She presents a different perspective or rather, maybe an analogy between science & religion wrt my last post, What if our understanding of the universe is like the three blind men & an elephant.

Kruti writes

I came across a slightly different version of The Blind Men and the Elephant while reading something about Jainism. Anekantavada, or multiplicity of perspectives. 

Each of the blind men was right and wrong at the same time. He was right from his point of view- well, the leg of the elephant was like a pillar, wasn't it? But the elephant, in all, was not, so he was wrong from the perspective of somebody who had seen the elephant in its entirety. The same applies to people, to peoples' decisions...

Similarly, one of Jainism's key principles is the multiplicity of viewpoints. No human can independently proclaim that s/he knows the absolute truth; everything is relative. Be it good or bad, ugly or beautiful, it is the perspective that matters. Today, something that seems correct to me might seem terribly wrong to you tomorrow. Who judges what the truth is? We don't know, we perhaps never will. Maybe the next time we think someone is doing something unlikable, we could put ourselves in their shoes and try to reason it out.

PS: This is a little off-track from Sambhav bhaiyya's post, but the thought just came to my mind! Yet another example of varied perspectives, eh?

------------------##---------------

Thank you Kruti

What goes around comes around

One day a man saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her.
Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe; he looked poor and hungry.
He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was those chills which only fear can put in you.
He said, “I’m here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.”
Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.
As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn’t thank him enough for coming to her aid.
Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped. Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty, who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.
He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, “And think of me.”
He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.
A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn’t erase. The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan.
After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress quickly went to get change for her hundred dollar bill, but the old lady had slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back. The waitress wondered where the lady could be. Then she noticed something written on the napkin.
There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote: “You don’t owe me anything. I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I’m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do: Do not let this chain of love end with you.”
Under the napkin were four more $100 bills.
Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day. That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard….
She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, “Everything’s going to be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson.”
There is an old saying “What goes around comes around."

Reblogged via storyforsoul.blogspot.in