Persistence

Persistence is the number one reason for our success.

Joe Kraus

Goliath

"If you ever have success, don't think you are a giant, there always is a David out there to take down the Goliath"

-Sundar Swaroop

No situation is without a lesson, no situation at all

No situation is without a lesson, no situation at all.

One of the great Sufi Masters, Junaid, was asked this when he was dying. His chief disciple came close to him and asked, ?Master, you are leaving us. One question has always been in our minds but

we could never gather courage enough to ask you. Who was your Master? This has been a great curiosity among your disciples because we have never heard you talk about your Master.?

Junaid opened his eyes and said, ?It will be very difficult for me to answer because I have learned from almost everybody. The whole existence has been my Master. I have learned from every event that has happened in my life. And I am grateful to all that has happened, because out of all that learning I have arrived.?

Junaid said, ?Just to satisfy your curiosity I will give you three instances.”

Dog and the Begging Bowl

 “Once, I was very thirsty and I was going towards the river carrying my begging bowl, the only possession I had. When I reached the river a dog rushed, jumped into the river, started drinking.

I watched for a moment and threw away my begging bowl, because it is useless. A dog can do without it. I also jumped into the river, drank as much water as I wanted. My whole body was cool because I had jumped into the river. I sat in the river for a few moments, thanked the dog, touched his feet with deep reverence because he had taught me a lesson.

I had dropped everything, all possessions, but there was a certain clinging to my begging bowl. It was a beautiful bowl, very beautifully carved, and I was always aware that somebody might steal it. Even in the night I used to put it under my head as a pillow so nobody could snatch it away. That was my last clinging-the dog helped. It was so clear: if a dog can manage without a begging bowl, I am a man, why can?t I manage? That dog was one of my Masters.”

The Patient Thief

?Secondly,? he continued, ?I lost my way in a forest and by the time I reached the nearest village that I could find, it was midnight. Everybody was fast asleep. I wandered all over the town to see if I could find somebody awake to give me shelter for the night, until finally I found one man. I asked him, ?It seems only two persons are awake in the town, you and I. Can you give me shelter for the night??

?The man said, ?I can see from your gown that you are a Sufi monk….??

The word Sufi comes from the word ‘suf’ which means wool, a woolen garment. The Sufis have used the woolen garment for centuries; hence they are called Sufis because of their garment. The man said, ?I can see you are a Sufi and I feel a little embarrassed to take you to my home. I am perfectly willing, but I must tell you who I am. I am a thief. Would you like to be a guest of a thief??

For a moment, I hesitated. The thief said, ?Look, it is better I told you. You seem hesitant. The thief is willing but the mystic seems to be hesitant to enter into the house of a thief, as if the mystic is weaker than the thief. In fact, I should be afraid of you. You may change me, You may transform my whole life! Inviting you means danger, but I am not afraid. You are welcome. Come to my home. Eat, drink, go to sleep, and stay as long as you want, because I live alone and my earning is enough. I can manage for two persons. And it will be really beautiful to chit-chat with you of great things. But you seem to be hesitant.?

And then I became aware that it was true. He asked to be forgiven. He touched the feet of the thief and he said, ?Yes, my rootedness in my own being is yet very weak. You are really a strong man and I would like to come to your home. And I would like to stay a little longer, not only for this night. I want to be stronger myself!?

The thief said, ?Come on!? He fed the Sufi, gave him something to drink, helped him to prepare for sleep and he said, ?Now I will go. I have to do my own thing. I will come back early in the morning.? Early in the morning the thief came back. Junnaid asked, ?Have you been successful??

The thief said, ?No, not today, but I will see tomorrow.?

And this happened continuously, for thirty days: every night the thief went out, and every morning he came back empty-handed. But he was never sad, never frustrated–no sign of failure on his face, always happy –and he would say, ?It doesn?t matter. I tried my best. I could not find anything today again, but tomorrow I will try. And, God willing, it can happen tomorrow if it has not happened today.?

After one month I left, and for years I tried to realize the ultimate, and it was always a failure. But each time I decided to drop the whole project I remembered the thief, his smiling face and his saying ?God willing, what has not happened today may happen tomorrow.?

Junnaid said, ?I remembered the thief as one of my greatest Masters. Without him I would not be what I am.

The Lit Candle

?And third,? he said, ?I entered into a small village. A little boy was carrying a lit candle, obviously going to the small temple of the town to put the candle there for the night.?

And Junaid asked, ?Can you tell me from where the light comes? You have lighted the candle yourself so you must have seen. What is the source of light??

The boy laughed and he said, ?Wait!? And he blew out the candle in front of Junaid. And he said, ?You have seen the light go. Can you tell me where it has gone? If you can tell me where it has gone I will tell you from where it has come, because it has gone to the same place. It has returned to the source.?

And Junaid said, ?I had met great philosophers but nobody had made such a beautiful statement: ?It has gone to its very source.? Everything returns to its source finally. Moreover, the child made me aware of my own ignorance. I was trying to joke with the child, but the joke was on me. He showed me that asking foolish questions ?From where has the light come?? is not intelligent. It comes from nowhere, from nothingness, and it goes back to nowhere, to nothingness.?

Junaid said, ?I touched the feet of the child. The child was puzzled. He said, ?Why you are touching my feet?? And I told him, ?You are my Master–you have shown me something. You have given me a great lesson, a great insight.?

?Since that time,? Junnaid said, ?I have been meditating on nothingness and slowly, slowly I have entered into nothingness. And now the final moment has come when the candle will go out, the light will go out. And I know where I am going to the same source. I remember that child with gratefulness. I can still see him standing before me, blowing out the candle.?

Courtesy: http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2018/06/21/

Wise or vice?

Flummoxed by the today's world,

When I was a kid I was told that education makes us wise,

has the education made us vice?

Look at the hatred, enmity, gossips, non-sense and brutality being spread on social media. I can write / post something on a social media platform means I am educated. Has my education not given me the brains, common sense and discipline to respect the fellow humans?

Reason for missing oppurtunity

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work"

- Thomas A. Edison

Heartbreaking

415 babies die in a single month in a state run hospital.

Unable to digest the news.

http://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/gorakhpur-uttar-pradesh-gorakhpur-tragedy-brd-hospital-baba-raghav-das-medical-college-yogi/83369

How can I, as the the citizen of country, contribute to make sure that these never repeat in future?
Where is the money I paid under taxes going?

Price and value

"Now a days people know the price of everything but value of nothing"

- Oscar Wilde

Our silence ends our lives

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.”

- Dr. Martin Luther King

Start and Great

You don't have to be great to start.
But you have to start to be great.
- Zig Zaglar

Shape-memory polymers : Next big thing?

Shape-memory polymers (SMPs) are polymeric smart materials that have the ability to return from a deformed state (temporary shape) to their original (permanent) shape induced by an external stimulus (trigger), such as temperature change.
(Courtesy: Wikipedia)

Broken mobile screens that heal themselves (patent owned by Motorola) on exposing to a specified temperature.

No more broken things?

Is this the next big revolution?

a ≠ b ≠ c ≠ d

Life I have in my mind (a)

Life I live for real (b)

Life as seen by others (c)

Life as remembered when I am gone (d)

where:

Masako Wakamiya

Very inspiring and challenging.

Masako Wakamiya - 82 yr old woman from Japan is the oldest iPhone App developer known. She has developed a game Hinadan. This game is inspired from a Japanese festival Hina Matsuri, a doll festival.

Courtesy: http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/internet/meet-japans-82-year-old-app-maker/article19446207.ece

Empty Yesterdays

 
You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.
- Professor Harold Hill

Angry and cruel

Sometimes we are angry,

and we have the right to be angry,

but that doesn't give us the right to be cruel.

- Adultery, Paulo Coelho

Dancers looking insane

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”

― Friedrich Nietzsche

Technology for a better life

“Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons”

R. Buckminster Fuller

Technology is not just about having a high-configured mobile with unlimited bandwidth; it’s beyond, much beyond. There was a time when people craved for acquiring knowledge. The goal was achieved by lots of efforts, travel, age and places. The knowledge gained by them was passed on to the next generations through teachings or documents. Times change so do the ideals and theories and doctrines and minds. Technology is something which is created by us, the humans. Minds of people who are focused and determined in specific areas of interest do invent things; things which would be labeled as the craziest and most demonic at that point of time. These specific people bore it all; when they were called crazy, foolish and mad. Least would those people who mocked them knew the future would be controlled by those inventions.

As the time progresses, human race would expand their thought process, raise their bars, widen their horizons over the universe. We have progressed in every aspect of luxuries and sophistication. What once was termed as impossible is a reality today. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, which is absolutely true; inventions were based out of the basic needs of humanity.

Technology is supposed to be aiding the humans and be controlled by humans. We have been versioning the sophistication leaving behind the basic human needs.

We were lazy to go to the television to change channel or volume, so we invented remote which made us stationary and causing obesity; as a solution for obesity we invented treadmills. Have we invented obesity here?

Our busy lives forced us to invent foods which could be cooked and consumed in few minutes. Now we debate about the diseases caused by these. Have we invented cancers and ulcers here?

We invented refrigerators for storing food items. Now we debate about the damage caused to the ozone layer.

We invented the social media apps to share our opinions and connect people. We use these apps for trolling, abusing, stalking, hurting people and spreading false news and rumors across. Have we invented tools for fuelling hatred and invading privacy?

We have invented the fusion of hydrogen nuclei as a source of energy, but this knowledge led us to develop bombs. Have we invented tools for genocide?

We invented mobiles for sophisticated communications and access of data, we complain about our partners not spending time and getting glued to their n-inch-screen virtual worlds. Have we invented relationship breakers and spoilers?

We invented bath showers for luxury. We complain about scarcity of water.

We invented high speed vehicles. We complain about the safety.

We have vehicles to reach Mars. We don't have transportation modes in many villages.

We cut the trees for urbanisation. We complain about no trees and environmental issues.

We invent robots which work like human. We fire people from companies.

We invented plastic. We plan campaigns for a plastic free world.

Technology has two faces – business and humanitarian. “Assumption and a global practice is a technology which is for a useful cause but does not generate revenue is never a technology and is never encouraged” This must change. 

What are we going to give to our future generations?  Mobiles with 1 TB RAM? High speed internet services? Voice controlled homes? Fancy amphibian flying cars? Drones to play?

• 1 of 8 people is dying because of hunger
• 1 in 9 people worldwide do not have access to safe and clean drinking water
• Half of the world's hospital beds are filled with people suffering from a water-related disease
• More than a million deaths due to road accidents
• 28000 deaths caused by terrorism
• 60 million children do not have access to education
• 240 millions in India alone do not have electricity facilities as of 2016 statistics

It's high time to focus on technology to have nutritious, energetic, fresh food; build homes for everyone; get cheaper medication; to generate cheaper and quality solar and wind energies for zero pollution; which spreads peace and harmony across the world. 

Let us take a pledge to use the knowledge and build technology for a better human life.

This article was published in Q2 bulletin - 2017, Lore Software Solutions.

Hello world!

Hello world!


First program for any programmer.


Looks like I have to start all over again.


Life has been good n exciting so far.


Many more curves to take, humps to jump, circles to round, hoping few straight paths as well :)

Am back!

It has been around 2 years since I have written something in this space...

Lets call the gap may be isolation or self-exile or invisible, but it was worth it....

Hope I will continue posting regularly again...

Nick Vujicic

Nick Vujicic

http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/


A motivational Personality, I admire u Mr Nick.

Closing Cycles

One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through.
Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters – whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished.

Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents’ house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden? You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened.
You can tell yourself you won’t take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that. But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister, everyone will be finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill.

Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away.

That is why it is so important (however painful it may be!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home.
Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts – and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place.
Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them.

Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood.
Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.

Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date, decisions that are always put off waiting for the “ideal moment.”
Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back. Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person – nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need. This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important.

Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because that no longer fits your life.

Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust.

Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.