The Idea of Ganesha

Life can be fun. Life can also be painful. Sometimes we wish to experience all the exitement of life. But then, we experience sorrow and frustration. We wish to withdraw from life. Our ancestors experienced this too and concluded that there are two ways to live life: as a hermit who steps back and contemplates on the nature of the world and as a householder who stays in the world and experiences all it has to offer fearlessly. Our ancestors visualized the hermit as Shiva, the male form of divinity, or God, and the householder as Shakti, the female form of divinity, i.e., the Goddess. Shiva does not want to be a father and to deal with the trials and tribulations of worldly life. Shakti wants to be a mother and to engage with all things worldly, but she knows she can’t do so with Shiva’s support and participation. From this tension between hermit and householder, God and Goddess, is born Ganesha, his animal head representing material joys and his human body representing spiritual bliss. In Ganesha, God and Goddess attain balance, material pleasure and spiritual wisdom in harmony.

- by Devdutt Pattanaik from the book "99 thoughts on Ganesha"

Leadership ...

• The deepest principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated. - William James
• Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. - George S. Patton
• The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already - John Buchan
• Leadership is a verb, not a noun. Leadership is action, not a position. Leadership is defined by what we do, not by the role we are in. - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead
• The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. - Amelia Earhart
• Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it is the ONLY means. - Albert Einstein

Happy Diwali ...

 

The walk...

For last few days it has been raining heavily in Chennai and everywhere it is muddy and muddy; maybe because Chennai roads were never prepared for this kind of sudden and heavy rain. After such days of heavy rain, one early morning I was finding difficult to walk across a road that comes in my regular morning walk. When I saw from a distance, it looked that I can not make it that day without getting my shoes muddy and wet; a mission impossible with the strict restriction that I should not make my shoe or my trouser wet and muddy. Then, I applied the law of local optimum; I stopped looking to the end of the road. I said, let me cross one step, by jumping on a small place that is not so much muddy to make my shoes muddy. So I started hopping from one end to another on the road and finally, hurray, I had completed the mission. I said, wow, why can not this be used in real life. EVerytime, I get a project or feature, I say, it is too big, will I be able to handle or take care of this? But things happen in its own course of time. Maybe, I should start applying the law of local optimum; instead of worrying too much for the final destination, I should break it into smaller milestones that could be realized and achieved. The total distance that I may have travelled that day could be more than the usual distance I would have covered if that was not a muddy road. Nevertheless, instead of worrying too much at the initial stage, I thought it was real cool and wise to walk a little more distance and to reach the destination. To solve a complex problem, we need to break into many simpler problems and then tackle each of them which is a lot easier process to accomplish...

LIFE

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.

-Mother Teresa

F.R.I.E.N.D.S