The Bhagavad Gita Talks

The Bhagavad Gita is the ultimate book of knowledge and is duly recognized as such throughout the world. Its wisdom transcends the limits of time and space. I publish daily one message from the book which can be related to our daily life titled: Thought4TheDay

These are widely read and highly appreciated by my connections on LinkedIn, friends on Facebook and followers on twitter totally about 27000 people. As recommended by some friends, I am posting the same here. You may ask questions and/or post your comments which be appreciated. Hope you will find the initiative very rewarding.  

Thought4TheDay (10.09.2017)

 

In the first chapter of The Bhagavad Gita, Arjun overwhelmingly tells Lord Krishna that he doesn't want to fight with his own relatives. He philosophises his decision putting forth imagined arguments like it is not good for their larger family and not in the interest of humanity. 

In the second chapter Lord Krishna describes qualities of and differences between 'Karmayoga' and 'Sankhyayoga' and also the characteristics of 'Stithpragya purush' or stable minded person.

In the third chapter the Lord talks about 'Karmayoga' and why Arjuna should follow the path of 'Karmayoga'. 

Arjuna, who considered Krishna his dear friend, a relative and a guide is quite surprised at the way Krishna talks to him with conviction and authority. When the Lord told him that He had imparted this sacred knowledge to the sun-God, Vivasvan, Arjuna asked Lord Krishna: 

Arjuna, "You have said that you imparted this transcendental knowledge to the sun-god, Vivasavan, who in turn passed it on to Manu, the father of mankind. But Vivasvan was born ages ago. How could you have advised Vivasvan in the circumstances?" 

Lord Krishna answered, "Arjuna, both you and I had many births earlier. While I remember them, you cannot."

Thought4TheDay (11.09.2017) 

Lord Krishna explained to Arjuna that in ancient times people who were seeking liberation were performing their duties. Just as those wise men, Arjun should also, following their example, carry out his work. 

Further, Lord Krishna said, "What is action and what is inaction is a question that has bewildered even the intelligent and the wise. Let me explain the facts regarding action and inaction. Inaction in this context is not lack of action due to laziness or any other reason. 

Inaction here simply means lack of your expectations from your efforts. Without expecting if a person performs his duty; it amounts to inaction in his action. This is desirable. 

Action in inaction means that your nonperformance is deliberate as you find it best for the occasion. Your inaction is because of your decision which you have taken due to some reasons." 

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Attitude & determination

Determination is the key to implement any worthwhile project. Determination brings consistency in our efforts. It also motivates us to work hard for a task we have undertaken. Determination triggers perseverance which is an almost essential element in achieving significant success. But this indispensable quality of human being depend entirely on their attitude.

What is determination?

It is the process of becoming resolute, of bringing firmness in your endeavour. Without determination one cannot hold conviction which is essential to convince people. Unless you are determined to follow your path, distractions may attract you attention. You lose focus. In such cases the efficacy of your efforts is bound to suffer.

How is determination related to your attitude?

Your attitude to life is extremely important in deciding your daily performance and how you want to lead your life. Your attitude will help you to set goals which need to be achieved. Each of your goals will require a separate plan of action. It you lack determination, due to your casual attitude, even written specific and SMART goals may become meaningless. Because your plans need to be implemented, these require perseverance which can come only when you are determined to do. The implementation will happen with determination to perform. Thus attitude and determinations are inter-related. In fact, these are intertwined.   

People who make significant progress are often called lucky. But they do not know how much hard work was put in to achieve that success. As Colin Powell said, “A dream does not become a reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” Any worthwhile goal or project is achieved with determination, dedication, self-discipline and lots of efforts. Further if your determination is fixed, your efforts are never wasted. Few things cannot be achieved if you have skill, and use diligence.

How determination works?

Determination is also doing. It is not just a decision. It pushes you to do what you have decided to do. it makes you do things what need to be done at what time even if you don’t like it. It is said, “Wake up with determination, go to bed with satisfaction. Whenever you strongly desire to acquire something, you can’t stop thinking about it. Determination tells you that if you can’t stop thinking about it, don’t stop working for it. Road to success is under construction till it is completed. The same passes through many terrains; some are easy but others are difficult. Determination drives you ahead through difficult terrains which happen to be the strength of determination.

Finally, determination enhances your self esteem. Self esteem in turn helps you to make you attitude positive impeccably.

Thanks for reading.

11 tearing elements of Negative attitude!

It is necessary to identify the negativity in your attitude. What is negative attitude? Negative attitude is when you start focusing on the problems that you might face during your efforts to achieve your goals. It is the lack of hope that things will happen to help you out in your mission. It is the feeling that people will not help you because on earlier occasions you met with rejections. Negative attitude is the lack of your conviction that you can overcome the hurdles that you might face during your journey. In a sense, negative attitude is also a lack of belief in you. Some more symptoms of negative attitude are enumerated below:

1. Laziness: When you think you don’t have the energy to get up and do the work. Sometimes you don’t even think and realize that laziness is simply whiling away the time. It is not even procrastination which will be described separately.
2. Low self esteem: It is an extremely harmful attribute in your personality. You start thinking that you are good for nothing. You accept the situations in which you are because your self esteem is so low that you think you can do nothing better.
3. Low productivity: Work has a strange tendency of expanding as per the time available. Even worse is when no time is allotted for the completion of a task. This gives you a feeling of solving certain important problems whereas in fact you are just being satisfied in remaining busy. This approach will never allow you to increase your productivity. For doing more in a given time, you have to stretch yourself. Therefore is it necessary that you allot specific time duration for a task. In the beginning, the allocation may seem difficult, but once you form a habit it will become much easier. Difficult or easy, it is necessary.
4. Lack of initiative: For any significant progress, initiative is necessary. What is initiative? Initiative is your first step for going ahead with a task. When it is something new, you have to creatively think and courageously take the first step, even if there is some risk. No risk is the biggest risk in life. Any significant initiative cannot be taken to move forward without accepting this reality. So don’t be afraid to take initiative.
5. Not listening to understand: In the course of conversations, sometimes we tend to focus so much on what we have to say, that we stop listening to the other person. This is particularly so when the speaker has said something for which we have a ready argument to negate what he has said. Unfortunately, such a habit does not allow us to listen and assimilate what the speaker says after that. Evidently it leads to miscommunication and problems. The solution is first understand and then be understood.
6. Faking: We feel envious of some people who are more successful in the material sense than we think that they deserve. Such a feeling leads us to a myth that it is their style which makes them successful and we try to imitate their conduct. This is a extremely bad situation. We lose belief in ourselves, and how can we expect that others will believe us.
7. Not trying to express: When we have certain ideas, but either we do not want to express, or we are afraid to express, is also indicative of our negative attitude. It is necessary to develop an ability to express without hesitation. The fear of rejection which takes away your ability to act is one of the serious handicaps.
8. Not learning lessons from mistakes: There is no one who does not commit mistakes. Whenever we undertake something new, mistakes may happen. This is normal. However, repeating the same mistake again and again, is neither normal, nor should be acceptable. Thus we must learn lessons from our past mistakes and use these lessons to direct our future efforts.
9. Ego: Ego happens to be another aspect of personality which does not allow us to grow. Ego comes in the way of our approaching people to help us. It makes us believe that it is below our dignity to seek help. A success Guru had said that there are eleven principles of achieving success. And what are these eleven principles? These are, ask, ask, ask….(eleven times).
10. Jealousy: Jealousy is a negative emotion which keeps sapping our creative energies. We gain nothing in the process. It makes us feel as victims of fate or poor destiny. Jealousy may even take away our sound sleep. The worst part is that sometimes it cannot be contained, it goes on swelling. Jealousy must be thwarted out of the personality.
11. Avoiding hard work: There is only one way to success, and that is the hard way. If we habitually seek short cuts it will be very difficult for us to work hard. What is working hard? When you are fully devoted to completing the job and you forget even your surroundings, you continue to work even when you are tired because you want to complete. That aspect of work may be termed as hard work. Initially it may be very difficult, but then one can form a habit. For any significant progress, hard work is necessary.

Thanks for reading.

Who will bell-The Grammar Cat

When we are asked to stand up and speak, we tend to run out of words; sometimes ideas too; even though we have already prepared. The stage fright is often a common occurrence.

When we sit to write, we feel like timid mice in presence of a ferocious Grammar Cat. When we know the subject there is no reason whatsoever that we should not be in a position to sit down and write @ 20 words per minute, faster if you type.

We don’t have to do all the grammar exercises that scared us during our school days. But we definitely have to brush up tenses, auxiliaries & modals, prepositions, articles etc. Not a tall order; just a few hours of serious work.

How it will help? You will be able to express yourself clearly, effectively and more importantly in a style that is appreciated because it is easy to understand. And then, there are FOUR simple rules to follow:

                  i.            Choose nouns over adjectives. Nouns give you the crisp information. Adjectives make the reader wonder. In our written communication, our objective should be ‘the ease of business’; If it’s a businessman, he doesn’t want any unnecessary hurdles, and so the reader would not like to face any hurdles in understanding your message.

                 ii.            Choose verbs over adverbs. Verbs are giving information about the actual action, while adverbs describe the quality of action. For example instead saying “he went to the hospital quickly” it will be more effective to say, “He rushed to the hospital”.

               iii.            You can make your message more effective by using specific words instead of general words. Instead of saying, “ I will call you next week about this problem,” say “I will call you on Thursday (or any other day) afternoon about request by Ramesh for transfer.”

               iv.            Choose short sentences instead of the long ones. But vary the length of the sentences. Otherwise it will appear boring.

You can easily follow the above simple precepts to make your communication natural, precise and interesting only when you have belled the Grammar Cat.   

Thanks for reading.

Ragging in Schools & Colleges

In spite of the law against ragging in schools and college, the problem seems to have gone unabated. Some Institutions have taken many initiatives at their level but the results are far from satisfactory. Schools in U.S.A. also suffer this problem. But the reasons there are often different. Children of different races study together. Oftentimes problems take place due to racism. Unfortunately in India too, the bullies have become rampant which results in extremely unwarranted results. Bullied students lose their confidence. Self esteem suffers to such an extent that it lasts years after such incidents have taken place.

Due to the current education system which is a continuation of the education policy by the British who wanted to breed meek white collar workers and clerks the children are not assertive. Many brilliant students who are excellent in their study find it difficult to express themselves. How to be assertive? They don’t even know.

In such a situation, the only remedy lies in encouraging professionals & academies wich have specialised in the area of personality development and other related soft skills. We have a special skills development ministry. Hard skills areas are duly covered in their various programmes. But soft skills do not feature as essentials. Needless to say that it is essential that people must have an appreciable ability to express themselves.

Hope necessary steps will be taken in this direction by the concerned authorities.

Language and speech should be a part of curriculum of all professional colleges. Good communication is an essential pillar of a developed nation. And so, it need to be recognized.

Thanks for reading.