Finally, back to blogging after a long time. The one big change in my life: I'm now working for a different employer. The article below was started sometime in March, and I've finally gotten around to completing it.
I was thinking the other day, that we are not being blessed enough. Or we are not utilizing our blessings enough. Look at all the smiling benevolent faces of the gods, goddesses and saints with their outstretched blessing hands in our places for prayer. Surely they all mean it?
Even though in reality there is just one absolute omnipotent God, who in Hinduism is called 'Vishnu' (among other names), we don't all just pray to him. We could, in theory, but we don't. Instead, we have created and recognized over the ages several religions, and gods specific to these religions, their feminine counterparts, standalone goddesses, each representative of certain special qualities and implementors of certain specific wishes. The 'creation' of gods, goddesses and saints is an ongoing process. In India, at the time when Lord Rama ruled, if you'd mentioned Krishna, people would've said, Krishna who? Every generation recognizes someone worship worthy - today's holy man is tomorrow's godman. And if the godman remains genuine throught his life, he gains more followers... and soon, millions are swayed. This is how our numerous gods have been created. This is sort of like the stars in the night sky - even though it can seem like they've been around forever, in reality they were all born at various points along the timeline of the universe... and stars continue to be born to this day. (An interesting common factor amongst godmen is their talent for creating miracles. For the influencible masses thirsting for worship, the sight of a miracle is proof of divinity).
So where was I? Yes, all these various gods, goddesses, godmen and godwomen adorning our altars. Let us make an assumption that these folks are not fictional, and that they have actually lived on Earth at some point in time... perhaps not in the physical forms that the various religions worship them today (like Hindu deities having an elephant's or a lion's head, or with multiple hands) - but as normal humans. These folks did something good which generally pleased a lot of people, and also said stuff that inspired and guided them (take for example Krishna - his Bhagavad Gita dialogue with Arjuna totally rocks, even to this day). And some of these good guys wiped out the bad guys of their times. These baddies were planning world domination, or were just plain pains. Or had made a huge mistake of kidnapping a good guy's wife (take for instance Ravana. Oh boy was he asking for trouble when he laid his eyes on Rama's wife). Anyway, so these good folks became immensely popular. So popular that some of them were worshipped as incarnations or children of the supreme omnipotent God, and have been, to this day. The rest of the good folks were designated as incarnations of the friends, or the dearest devotees, or folks associated in other ways with the various Incarnations of the Supreme God.
Ok, so we have these folks who've done great deeds and are worship-worthy. But why should we worship folks who've done some great stuff in the past? Well, here's what happens. When you pray to your favourite god/saint or sing and praise his/her virtues, you are establishing a virtual connection to the one universal and eternal supreme God who is listening to you. Some call this "cosmic ordering", where your prayer is essentially placing an "order" for the cosmos to fulfill. From a rational perspective, what you are really doing is filling your mind with positive thoughts, and optimism. The words that praise the Lord are words that describe his greatness. When these positive words resonate in your mind, it creates bouyant thoughts and a sense of peace. The secure feeling of having an ever-supporting god on our side lifts us from the depressing depths of pessimism. As those joyous words of prayer flow from you, you start feeling better, thanks to the positive thought vibrations that these words stimulate in your mind.
This is why it is suggested that you should know the meanings of the words in your prayers. Take for instance the Sanskrit prayer called the Vishnu Sahasranama (which is essentially a recitation of a thousand names given to the Supreme God describing his pristine qualities). It is recommended that this prayer is chanted with awareness of the meanings of the words. While just the sounds of this prayer create a positive and pious atmosphere, knowing its meanings boosts the positive thoughts that get created in your mind as you chant. The constant generation of positive thought energies in the mind daily begins to influence the body too, making it healthier and livelier that ever before. So essentially, our prayers, while establishing a connection to the Supreme God, help in clearing up and refreshing our minds and bodies - filling it with hope and health. As you continue with your prayers to your gods, something else happens. The mind starts to get more clarity and elevation. This elevation gives you a new perspective over your life, and your current situation. What seemed a desperate problem is no longer so, when you've risen above the fog that clouds the mind at lower levels.
Ok, so you've been saying your prayers diligently over a period of time. But you may feel that nothing has changed. The problems in your life still exist. The issues you've been battling are still painful. Somehow, all your prayers appear to be falling on deaf ears. Your favourite god or saint seems not to care. Why does that happen? Why does it feel like you're not establishing a contact with the Supreme? Surely all those gods you pray to haven't turned hostile - so why aren't you receiving their blessings?
To truly receive blessings, there are three things you must do. First, you need to dissolve a barrier between you and God, created by your ego. Your ego skillfully prevents you from having faith in God, and blocks the reception of His blessings. Approach God with complete humility. When you realise, even slightly, his magnitude, your ego really does not stand a chance. Simply drop your defenses - when the ego is sublimated, a sense of peace and innocence dawns in your mind. There's a serene feeling of relief when you find yourself connecting better to the supreme diety.
The second thing to do is to quieten the mind. Typically, there are always several thought streams in our minds - moving in and out of focus. If you want to establish better communication with God, all that clutter in the mind should be cleared, and quietened. When there are several random thoughts jostling like bubbles arising from boiling water, your attempt at prayer becomes just another insignifant struggling bubble amongst others. Drop every other thought stream, and just bring your prayer into focus. All else should go, and your voice alone should reverberate inside you. Imagine your body to be a temple with just you inside - quiet, focussed and reverent. It takes practice to attain and sustain this meditative state of mind.
The third thing you must do to help blessings flow freely has to do with what you beseech for in your prayers. Our standard prayers, based on existing scriptures or just made up impromptu all revolve around praising or thanking God or the specific deities, seeking cleansing or pardon, or making specific requests or as some say placing "orders". Here's my suggestion about what requests you can make: do not ask for material benefits or changes. While this may seem radical, remember this: God really knows what's best for you. So instead of asking specifically for a specific thing to happen, like say, wishing for a better job, or wealth, or that doe-eyed damsel's attention - do this: ask for guidance, ask for the right knowledge to be stimulated inside you. Ask for inspiration and direction for your intellect.
This is the essence of the ancient Hindu prayer called the Gayathri Mantra. This Mantra starts off acknowledging the expanse of the supreme God, his omnipresence and his omniscience. It then offers thanks to God for sustaining life, and then genuflects to this supreme power in reverence. And then, it asks for just one thing: Please stimulate, inspire, illuminate and guide us to the right knowledge and onto the right path. Notice the 'us' in the previous sentence - one makes this request for all of humanity, selflessly - and not just for oneself.
So the next time you sit in prayer, having a problem that's been vexing you, simply, in complete humility, tell God about your problem and ask for his divine guidance on how you can face and bear with the problem, and what you can do to alleviate the suffering inside. As you sit, quiet and in a meditative state, talking to God, asking for his inspiration, you will begin to realize a channel opening up. You will begin to experience a sense of sweetness, arising from contact with the higher power. You then realize you are not alone, battling it out while the world fares better than you. You start feeling the presence of God, his love for you pouring over you in cascades, reaching every part of your body, and bringing a sense of relief, peace and lightness. As you chant your favourite prayers, you will feel surges of joy inside. In those quiet peaceful moments, you will begin to see the hints of a path ahead, ideas get created inside and you regain confidence in yourself to survive, overcome and thrive.
And that's when, full of gratitude, you realize: all those gods, goddesses and saints in your altar are indeed blessing you, and this time you can actually feel their blessings flowing to you.
Monday, July 03, 2006
Monday, May 01, 2006
Tadaima!
I was in Japan for four weeks - and no woman barged into my room demanding her stockings be lipped. Which is a good thing, ofcourse :)
My visit was a good one, on both professional and personal fronts. It was a nice experience of a unique culture. One thing we Indians can learn from the Japanese is to have pride in our traditions, and our way of doing things. In our blind rush to emulate Western ways, we tend to ignore, or not pay the respect due to our traditions. I now think we've been bending over backwards too far, to please the West and make our ways easier for them. While the Japanese are extremely courteous, with so many occasional bows, I think what they've really achieved is to make the Western visitor bow to them and make efforts to understand, respect and admire their traditions.
I must say that I have now a new and refreshed sense of pride in my nation. I think it's time that we start respecting, promoting and cherishing our customs and ways of life. I realize that we often have an apologetic tone when we describe something unique to us to outsiders. That should change to a tone of self-respect and quiet pride. It took me a trip to Japan to think this way - I hope we can instill this sense in our people without requiring them to take this trip.
One other thing that I have learned from my visit to Japan is that I should stop being critical of our weaknesses in English. I was always wishing (to myself) that some of the folks I know would improve their grammar skills. I have even taken the extreme step of fully editing technical documents because the writer had tendencies to skip using articles, or had made similar trivial errors. Not that I am William Safire or anything close, but I sometimes tend to be obsessive. Anyway, after seeing the level of Japanese English, I realize that we are relatively excellent - and I should stop feeling pangs of despair. Never mind the spoken language, even a few public notices had errors, causing me to suppress urges to tell someone to correct them. One notice I saw at the Landmark Plaza: Be careful your child do not fall in the pond.
Some Japanese find English not easily learnable. One reason for this, I think, is that their language is technically inadequate to faithfully transliterate the sounds of English. One illustration - I was at a restaurant serving vegetarian garlic and jalapeno spaghetti (among other things). After I had placed my order, the waiter said something in Japanese - and when I couldn't figure out what he was saying, he repeated a key phrase over and over. It sounded like "saala dubba". I still couldn't get it. Then he said, "begetables". Then it suddenly flashed to me - he was saying "salad bar". This is a common problem. At a drug store, I requested the assistant to read out the ingredients for a cough syrup. These were English words, like 'Codeine Phosphate'. But it was sounding completely different when read in Japanese script - it required some rapid processing to understand what the words were in English. Just take my name, for instance. It can be written as Pramodo, or Pramoda - and not as Pramod in Japanese script. So my Japanese business card says Pramoda now. And oh, yes. They tend to switch L and R sounds (which is rather famously known). Less well known, at least to me, was that they also (like Bengalis?) switch the V sound with a B. So they have Bodafone instead of Vodafone, and ofcourse, begetables.
The great thing about the Japanese is that they can have conversations in pure Japanese without resorting to mixing in English like we do. This works fine when they are in Japan - but when they step out, they suddenly realize that English is a universally used language (well, almost). For instance, the plane I was returning from Japan in had all printed notices in English. I had a seat near the restrooms - and I was observing that many of the Japanese folks couldn't immediately figure out how to open the restroom door. It said 'Push' on it - but they obviously couldn't read it! And when someone was inside, the door would say 'Occupied', but people would still try the door... It was good to see some Japanese folks having culture shocks, for a change :)
Last week, I got an opportunity to travel on the Shinkansen (the "bullet train") to Kamisuwa, to meet with a client. This particular route was not very fast - slower than the Eurostar, I think. But the train itself is comfortable, and quiet. The countryside enroute was beautiful... very serene. I could even see snow-decked mountains in the distance - the Japanese Alps. Kamisuwa has an onsen (a natural hot-water spring bath) right at the train station. We had some time while waiting for our train getting us back home, so I stripped and jumped right in, joining some cute Japanese girls who were already in there. Erm, I should qualify that. I stripped just my feet - I was at a Foot Bath :) It was quite cool outside, but the water was delightfully hot - my feet really enjoyed the surprise treat.
What's a visit to Japan without committing a social gaffe? Mine came at a Japanese restaurant where I was invited to, for an office dinner. The custom here is to remove the shoes at the entrance to the restaurant, and walk in to the low tables. At this same entrance, they have sandals, meant to be worn for visits to the restrooms. I was following another Indian colleague into the restaurant - and he wore these sandals, and I followed suite. I went to my table, and no one had noticed my restroom sandals yet. The appetizers came - my share was some Japanese beans. The rest were food items from creatures that once swam, hopped or crawled. One item that looked like beetroot slices, was not. Anyway, after eating my beans, grasping each one tenderly with chop-sticks (which was another adventure), I walked over to talk to a colleague at an other desk. That's when one of the restaurant's vigilant staff politely walked over to me and pointed at my sandals. This table was full with my Japanese colleagues - and I asked one of them what this man wanted about my sandals. I wasn't ready to part with them easily. This colleague said something about this man wanting my sandals. I didn't understand - should I remove the sandals before stepping into the lower deck where the tables are? The other colleagues were busily looking nonchalant - I could imagine later what they were thinking :) Anyway, I reluctantly removed my sandals, and handed them over to the man - with the others looking on (some glaring, I now think).
So, there you go - my first social error. I had read about this custom with sandals in the Rough Guide to Japan, but this guide had said that one changes into sandals upon entering - and would use separate sandals for the restroom, placed at the restroom entrance. But this particular restaurant had placed it's restroom sandals at the main entrance - very cruel for unsuspecting 'gaijins' (Japanese for 'foreigners'). I left this restaurant without waiting for the main course. Not because I was humiliated or anything - I just could not stay there any longer inhaling the polluted cigarette-smoke filled air. This is one thing I have disliked about Japan - smoking is allowed in many restaurants and coffee houses. Some establishments have a separate smoking area - but, as I had read somewhere, it's like having a peeing area in a swimming pool - you wouldn't want to be in it.
Houses, flats and hotel rooms in Japan tend to be on the smaller side, and they are generally expensive too. My home for four weeks was in a "Weekly Mansion" - I think the "mansion" part is a joke. The total size of my home was around 10 feet x 20 feet. This included a single room with a bed, TV and a microwave oven, a bathroom, and a sink, stove, a tiny fridge, and a washing machine in the corridor from the main door to this single room. That's all there was to it. All utilities and internet connectivity was included in the rent. The rent was around 180,000 Yen per month, which converts to a little over 70,000 Rupees! The good thing is people staying in Japan for a longer term can get into longer leases in real (bigger) apartments, and at lower rents than what I was paying.
I think the Japanese are taking their golfing too seriously. In my four weeks there, I occasionally saw them practicing their swings in public places - like while waiting on railway platforms. And more recently, while waiting for the restroom on the plane.
All in all, it was a good trip - and now onto sorting out the 600+ photos and video clips I have taken over there...
PS. The title of this blog is supposed to mean "I'm back home!" - if it implies anything else, do let me know!
My visit was a good one, on both professional and personal fronts. It was a nice experience of a unique culture. One thing we Indians can learn from the Japanese is to have pride in our traditions, and our way of doing things. In our blind rush to emulate Western ways, we tend to ignore, or not pay the respect due to our traditions. I now think we've been bending over backwards too far, to please the West and make our ways easier for them. While the Japanese are extremely courteous, with so many occasional bows, I think what they've really achieved is to make the Western visitor bow to them and make efforts to understand, respect and admire their traditions.
I must say that I have now a new and refreshed sense of pride in my nation. I think it's time that we start respecting, promoting and cherishing our customs and ways of life. I realize that we often have an apologetic tone when we describe something unique to us to outsiders. That should change to a tone of self-respect and quiet pride. It took me a trip to Japan to think this way - I hope we can instill this sense in our people without requiring them to take this trip.
One other thing that I have learned from my visit to Japan is that I should stop being critical of our weaknesses in English. I was always wishing (to myself) that some of the folks I know would improve their grammar skills. I have even taken the extreme step of fully editing technical documents because the writer had tendencies to skip using articles, or had made similar trivial errors. Not that I am William Safire or anything close, but I sometimes tend to be obsessive. Anyway, after seeing the level of Japanese English, I realize that we are relatively excellent - and I should stop feeling pangs of despair. Never mind the spoken language, even a few public notices had errors, causing me to suppress urges to tell someone to correct them. One notice I saw at the Landmark Plaza: Be careful your child do not fall in the pond.
Some Japanese find English not easily learnable. One reason for this, I think, is that their language is technically inadequate to faithfully transliterate the sounds of English. One illustration - I was at a restaurant serving vegetarian garlic and jalapeno spaghetti (among other things). After I had placed my order, the waiter said something in Japanese - and when I couldn't figure out what he was saying, he repeated a key phrase over and over. It sounded like "saala dubba". I still couldn't get it. Then he said, "begetables". Then it suddenly flashed to me - he was saying "salad bar". This is a common problem. At a drug store, I requested the assistant to read out the ingredients for a cough syrup. These were English words, like 'Codeine Phosphate'. But it was sounding completely different when read in Japanese script - it required some rapid processing to understand what the words were in English. Just take my name, for instance. It can be written as Pramodo, or Pramoda - and not as Pramod in Japanese script. So my Japanese business card says Pramoda now. And oh, yes. They tend to switch L and R sounds (which is rather famously known). Less well known, at least to me, was that they also (like Bengalis?) switch the V sound with a B. So they have Bodafone instead of Vodafone, and ofcourse, begetables.
The great thing about the Japanese is that they can have conversations in pure Japanese without resorting to mixing in English like we do. This works fine when they are in Japan - but when they step out, they suddenly realize that English is a universally used language (well, almost). For instance, the plane I was returning from Japan in had all printed notices in English. I had a seat near the restrooms - and I was observing that many of the Japanese folks couldn't immediately figure out how to open the restroom door. It said 'Push' on it - but they obviously couldn't read it! And when someone was inside, the door would say 'Occupied', but people would still try the door... It was good to see some Japanese folks having culture shocks, for a change :)
Last week, I got an opportunity to travel on the Shinkansen (the "bullet train") to Kamisuwa, to meet with a client. This particular route was not very fast - slower than the Eurostar, I think. But the train itself is comfortable, and quiet. The countryside enroute was beautiful... very serene. I could even see snow-decked mountains in the distance - the Japanese Alps. Kamisuwa has an onsen (a natural hot-water spring bath) right at the train station. We had some time while waiting for our train getting us back home, so I stripped and jumped right in, joining some cute Japanese girls who were already in there. Erm, I should qualify that. I stripped just my feet - I was at a Foot Bath :) It was quite cool outside, but the water was delightfully hot - my feet really enjoyed the surprise treat.
What's a visit to Japan without committing a social gaffe? Mine came at a Japanese restaurant where I was invited to, for an office dinner. The custom here is to remove the shoes at the entrance to the restaurant, and walk in to the low tables. At this same entrance, they have sandals, meant to be worn for visits to the restrooms. I was following another Indian colleague into the restaurant - and he wore these sandals, and I followed suite. I went to my table, and no one had noticed my restroom sandals yet. The appetizers came - my share was some Japanese beans. The rest were food items from creatures that once swam, hopped or crawled. One item that looked like beetroot slices, was not. Anyway, after eating my beans, grasping each one tenderly with chop-sticks (which was another adventure), I walked over to talk to a colleague at an other desk. That's when one of the restaurant's vigilant staff politely walked over to me and pointed at my sandals. This table was full with my Japanese colleagues - and I asked one of them what this man wanted about my sandals. I wasn't ready to part with them easily. This colleague said something about this man wanting my sandals. I didn't understand - should I remove the sandals before stepping into the lower deck where the tables are? The other colleagues were busily looking nonchalant - I could imagine later what they were thinking :) Anyway, I reluctantly removed my sandals, and handed them over to the man - with the others looking on (some glaring, I now think).
So, there you go - my first social error. I had read about this custom with sandals in the Rough Guide to Japan, but this guide had said that one changes into sandals upon entering - and would use separate sandals for the restroom, placed at the restroom entrance. But this particular restaurant had placed it's restroom sandals at the main entrance - very cruel for unsuspecting 'gaijins' (Japanese for 'foreigners'). I left this restaurant without waiting for the main course. Not because I was humiliated or anything - I just could not stay there any longer inhaling the polluted cigarette-smoke filled air. This is one thing I have disliked about Japan - smoking is allowed in many restaurants and coffee houses. Some establishments have a separate smoking area - but, as I had read somewhere, it's like having a peeing area in a swimming pool - you wouldn't want to be in it.
Houses, flats and hotel rooms in Japan tend to be on the smaller side, and they are generally expensive too. My home for four weeks was in a "Weekly Mansion" - I think the "mansion" part is a joke. The total size of my home was around 10 feet x 20 feet. This included a single room with a bed, TV and a microwave oven, a bathroom, and a sink, stove, a tiny fridge, and a washing machine in the corridor from the main door to this single room. That's all there was to it. All utilities and internet connectivity was included in the rent. The rent was around 180,000 Yen per month, which converts to a little over 70,000 Rupees! The good thing is people staying in Japan for a longer term can get into longer leases in real (bigger) apartments, and at lower rents than what I was paying.
I think the Japanese are taking their golfing too seriously. In my four weeks there, I occasionally saw them practicing their swings in public places - like while waiting on railway platforms. And more recently, while waiting for the restroom on the plane.
All in all, it was a good trip - and now onto sorting out the 600+ photos and video clips I have taken over there...
PS. The title of this blog is supposed to mean "I'm back home!" - if it implies anything else, do let me know!
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