Politicians as usual....

Five surgeons from big cities are discussing who makes the best patients to operate on.

The first surgeon, from New York, says, "I like to see accountants on my operating table because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered."

The second, from Chicago, responds, "Yeah, but you should try electricians. Everything inside them is color coded."

The third surgeon, from Dallas, says, "No, I really think librarians are the best; everything inside them is in alphabetical order.

The fourth surgeon, from Los Angeles, chimes in, "You know, I like construction workers.Those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over."

But the fifth surgeon, from Washington, DC shut them all up when he observed, "You`re all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There`s no guts, no heart, no brains, no spine, and the head and the ass are interchangeable.

An article written by my father on "THE MIND"

The mind has such an effect on us that all our actions are guided by our mind. We arrange for many worldly possessions to please our mind. But worldly possessions alone do not give us the real peace. The more we possess the more our mind demands. Whole our life passes in pursuit of happiness through possessions but the real happiness continues to evade us.

One who has no control over his mind cannot have peace of mind. We cannot expect happiness unless we have peace of mind. We may turn obstinate and irrational as victims of passions, emotion and tension. On the other hand one can succeed even in adverse circumstances through control of mind.

The worldly possessions alone cannot give us the happiness we are trying to seek. The happiness comes through control of mind. But controlling the mind appears difficult . However, difficult though, it is possible to control the mind to a great extent with strong will, by knowing nature of mind and following certain techniques to control the mind.. We cannot control our mind without renouncing pleasure. It however dose not mean that we renounce joy (bliss). Total control is possible only through pursuit of spiritual life. In order to control our mind we need to understand its basic nature.

Mind is a finer body within the gross body. It is distinct from organ of the body. Behind mind is Atma.The matter is convertible into mind. Mind, even though has no form is part of the body. One affects the other. Mind in its basic form is pure and transparent like pure water, it is a reflection of our inner Spirit, `Atman`. We fail to feel the true nature of our mind because of impurities around it. These impurities are `The three Gunas` i.e.Tamas, Rajas and Sattava. The constitution of individual mind is determined by various combinations and permutation of these Gunas Once these impurities of minds are removed control of mind becomes easier.

Some of the difficulties which come in our way of control of our mind are :-

 Strong likes and dislikes
 Immoral life
 Harming others
 Intoxication
 Inordinate inquisitiveness
 Unbalanced life e.g. Eat,drink, talk, work or sleep too little or too much.
 Over ambitious
 Feeling of guilt ie. lack of faith in one self

In order to build up favorable inner climate we need to understand certain inevitable in life like old age, disease, death, separation and loss of worldly possessions.

The impurities of mind can be gradually removed by changing its constitution. First the Sattava must predominate over the other two Gunas. Finally, it is true, Sattava has to be transcended; but first it has to predominate. In order to purify our mind we need to know the causes of impurities of our mind. The list is long, starting from Pralabhd to our present day environment. Since we have no control on our past except for praying forgiveness, we need to pay attention to our food and environment in which we live. (Here food means all intakes through our sense organs), affecting our mind. Food should be light (Alap Ahar-Guru Gobind Singh) and the type which does not lead our mind to Tamas Guna, ie. inertia. The company we keep has great affect on our mind. So has the environment which includes place, time, and cleanliness (swaschhatha).


Having attended to the food we need to pay attention to its restlessness. In Raj Yoga Swami Vivekananda describes the restlessness of mind:

`How hard it is to control the mind! Well it has been compared to the maddened monkey? There was a monkey, restless by his own nature, as all monkeys are. As if that were not enough some one made him drink freely of wine, so that he became still more restless. Then a scorpion stung him. To complete his misery a demon entered into him. What language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey? Human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature; then it becomes drunk with wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession comes sting of scorpion of jealousy of the success of others, and the last of demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance. How hard to control such a mind? `
.
Having purified our mind we make an effort to deal with its restlessness nature The mind is initially in scattered form. The next stage is darkening then gathering followed by concentration and finally one pointed. While Gathering and concentration stages can be achieved through practice (Abhyas) and dispassion (Vairagya), one pointed concentration is not possible without spiritual pursuit ie., meditation.

Last aspect about the mind is its nature to be under the mistaken impression (Bharam) that we are different from all pervading limitless Him (whatever name we give) ie. false identification of one's real Self with the non-self , giving rise to the idea of `me and mine` Effective practice of positive thought can overcome this Bharam. This aspect is basically spiritual and can be pursued through spiritual exercise.

Life?

School: A place where Papa pays and Son plays.

Life Insurance: A contract that keeps you poor all your life so that you can die Rich.

Nurse: A person who wakes U up to give you sleeping pills.

Marriage: It's an agreement in which a man loses his bachelor degree and a woman gains her masters.

Divorce: Future tense of Marriage.

Lecture: An art of transferring information from the notes of the Lecturer to the notes of the students without passing through "the minds of either"

Conference: The confusion of one man multiplied by the number present.

Compromise : The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.

Dictionary : A place where success comes before work.

Conference Room : A place where everybody talks, nobody listens and everybody disagrees later on.

Father: A banker provided by nature.

Criminal: A guy no different from the rest....except that he got caught.

Boss: Someone who is early when you are late and late when you are early.

Politician : One who shakes your hand before elections and your Confidence after.

Doctor : A person who kills your ills by pills, and kills you by bills.

Classic: Books, which people praise, but do not read.

Smile : A curve that can set a lot of things straight.

Office: A place where you can relax after your strenuous home life.

Yawn: The only time some married men ever get to open their mouth.

Etc .: A sign to make others believe that you know more than you actually do.

Committee: Individuals who can do nothing individually and sit to decide that nothing can be done together.

Experience: The name men give to their mistakes.

Atom Bomb : An invention to end all inventions.

Philosopher: A fool who torments himself during life, to be spoken of when dead

Just for laugh

Interesting.....

The Secret behind the number 11 - Pretty Chilling

Read to the bottom. Try it out. I did and I got goose bumps

If you are a sceptical person - still read on as it's actually very interesting!!

This is actually really freaky!!



(Mainly the part at the very end, but read all this first)

1) New York City has 11 letters
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.
3) Ramsin Yuseb has 11 letters. (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993)
4) George W Bush has 11 letters.





This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets interesting:




1) New York is the 11th state.
2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.
3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11
4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5 = 11
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 =11
6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911.

9 + 1 + 1 = 11

Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:



1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254.

2 + 5 + 4 = 11.
2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year.

Again 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.
3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.
4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.

Now this is where things get totally eerie:



The most recognized symbol for the US, after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle.



The following verse is taken from the Koran, the Islamic holy book:

"For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The
wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah while some
of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the
Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace."

That verse is number 9.11 of the Koran.
Unconvinced about all of this Still ..?!



Now, try this and see how you feel afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:

Open Microsoft Word and do the following:


1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers.
2. Highlight the Q33 NY.
3. Change the font size to 48.
4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS 1




What do you think now?!!

Meaning of Ganesha

I was relaxing on a holiday today when I came across this article on "the image of Ganesha and its meaning". the article had been written by Kishore Asthana in the newspaper Times of India dated third September. I'm reproducing the article below as I liked it and thought that it would be nice to share.

IMAGE OF GANESHA AND ITS MEANING

The elephant's trunk has the strength to uproot a tree as well as the finesse to pick up a needle. The Ganesha's trunk symbolises the fact that the wise person has both the immense strength and fine discrimination.

Ganesha has large ears. The wise person he has all. He has four hands. In one hand he holds a Lotus, the symbol of Enlightenment. In the other hand he holds a hatchet. That is, the old karma, -- all your sanskars, the accumulated good and bad of past deeds -- get cut when enlightenment comes.

The third hand holds Laddus, the ground sweetmeats. They are the rewards of wise life. Ganesha is never shown eating laddus. The Wise men never partakes of the rewards of his deeds.Hhe is not attached to them. The fourth hand is shown placing the people. The wise man wishes the best for everyone.

Ganesha has only one tusk; the other is shown broken. There is an interesting story is to Ganesha happened to get an elephant's head and one tusk broken. The symbolism of broken tusk is that the wise person is beyond duality.

We tend to think that we end when our bodies end in the material world. We are the first person. All else is different. This duality is created by the mind which creates the ego to help us survive in this world. This 'me-other' duality is the screen keeping us from realising our real self, which is beyond body and mind.

Once we transend this duality, we see the entire universe as a single whole and we become aware of a true selves. The single tusk of Ganesha symbolises this non-duality. Wisdom allows us to see all as one and ourselves as integral part of the whole.

Ganesha is shown in sitting with one foot on the ground and other resting on his knee, above the ground. The wise person is of this earth, yet not entirely of the earth.

Ganesha is shown seated on a rat. The reason for saying that the Ganesha 'rides' on the rat is that rat is among the greatest of all animals. It will keep nibbling at whatever is available, eating everything it can.

Scientifically, too, the rat's teeth keep growing and it has to keep chewing on something to keep these within limits. The rat is a symbol of our senses, which are never satisfied. They crave new experiences, new tastes. Left uncontrolled, they keep growing for ever. The wise person rides on his senses. He keeps them under control.

Ganesha is often shown seated in front of a tray of sweets. In these images the rat is shown sitting in front of the Ganesha, perhaps a bit to one side looking up at him. The senses of the wise persons are under his control and the rat dare not eat the sweets without the permission of the Ganesha.

Ganesha is the son of Shiva and Parvati, the GOD governing the Life-force and the earth mother. This symbolises the spirit and the body of the vice person. Finally, the wise person has the dignity of an elephant.

When we say 'Aum Gansesha Namah' before starting anything what we are saying is that "In what we are about to do, let wisdom be our guide." in a sense, Ganesha is our most powerful GOD, and he is usually remembered before starting any rituals for other deities.

One and a half month......... a lot of water has flown beneath.

It is so long since I came to this blog and updated - one half a month - and the list of the movies that I have seen thorough this period - crazily long - to include "Singh is King" (a repeat telecast also seen on Indian political scene), "Phonk" (Psst just went there for a good popcorn), "Bachna ae Hasino". On the english movies front - the list is longer than this - "Mummy", "Indiana Jones", "Kungfu Panda", "Wanted", "Taken", "An inconvenient Truth"

Not bad considering that most of the times I had to fit this schedule in my Night Flying phase. This time I have broken my own records on that account also. Night flying from 1230 at night to 0330 was the worst and the best at the same time.

Talking about the movies - "Singh Is King" - it was a kind of movie that sent shivers down my spine when I heard its name. Then came the controversy with the Sikh Clergy - and believe me it made me feel - OH shit here goes Khalsas' again. It will show down the entire community. Well after all this I had to see it for myself. I took my children along. I was however pleasantly surprised. The movie turned out to be a very good time pass - infact I will go ahead and say that it was a good one time watch. I being of the same community am proud that this is one community with sense of humour to feel proud at cracking a joke at themselves and laughing along with other on the same joke. I enjoyed it and so did my wify and children. (Infact one of the reason of liking this movie was that -- come closer psst: I am in love with Katrina)

"Bachana ae Hasino" started and I started whacking my brain as to which english movie had the director picked up the story line from. (It is difficult to believe that it was an original) But I soon gave up trying to draw up comparisons and concentrated at the movie. I loved it as an average make good/feel good movie. Can see once. (I just don't know when I really fell in love with Deepika) Any way Deepika and Lamba were good. Bipasa was not looking her age especially with Ranbir. It could have dropped down in my chart had the story line not been this neat. Not Bad. Infact good time pass - this one too.

I went to see Phoonk only because they said that it is drawing crowds. Maybe - I was not impressed. Had to use my Hip Flask (Hic!) to sit through the movie. No don't get me wrong - I am a Horror fan - but it just stretched it too much.

See we have a difference of taste as far as the movies are concerned - with my wify. She likes Hindi movies - so most of the Hindi movies are logged for her sake by me and I love english movies that I enjoy with my children. I started with "Mummy" - I really did not like it much - I thought the previous versions were better. The Chinese angle was not too good perhaps with the movie. However my children thought that it was great - they liked the special effects - so the vote is theirs!

Thereafter I saw "Indiana Jones" - the critics has written so much about it that I could just not miss it. I once again took children with me voluntarily and my wify involuntarily (Caramelised popcorn does the trick). WOW - I relived my childhood for those two odd hours. I loved it and so did my children. And yeah the critics were right about the movie - it had so much that any die hard fan would love to talk about. It was wonderful.

KungFu Panda was another movie that had made so much and it had reviews that made me see it. I downloaded the movie and watched it with home made popcorn and my children. I slept off half way so I will not be able to tell you much about it except that my daughter really liked it. (She is the non Techie member of the movie fan club of my house)

Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" is not a movie really - it is more of a documentary. I made it compulsory for all my family members to see it. Being a naturalist myself I wanted them to learn how we are Sc**wing up our planet. At the end of it I was impressed. These Americans certainly have style. In any case Al Gore has won Nobel prize for his work on environment. It was as good a movie that I expected. I could see that the lesson has been driven home to my kids and for two days they made effort of switching off all lights before we left home.

Wanted and Taken too were good one time watch but without kids around. It can be embarrassing with kids with Angelina in any movie. But the movie was good - though not great.

Now let me see what is due next.