Book: Perfect Questions Perfect Answers

Book: Perfect Questions Perfect Answers

By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust

· A man is important when he is attractive. Unless you are powerful, how can you be all-attractive?

· Our formula of God is that He is the source of everything.

· Everyone is hankering after someone because he realizes some mellow (taste, pleasure) in it.

· What is your body? This external body – that is your energy. Do you know that? Your body is made out of your energy. For example, I am eating, so I am creating some energy and therefore my body is maintained. If your energy supply is not proper, then your body becomes weak and unhealthy. Your body is made out of your energy. Similarly, this gigantic cosmic body – the universe – is made of Krsna’s energy. How can you deny it? As your body is made out of your energy, similarly the universal body must be made by somebody’s energy. That is Krsna.

· Maya – another meaning is “illusion”. So foolish persons accept the energy as the energetic. That is Maya. Just like sunshine. Sunshine enters your room. Sunshine is the energy of the sun. But because the sunshine enters your room, you cannot say that the sun has entered. You cannot say that sunshine is not the sun. Without the sun, where is the sunshine? So you cannot say that sunshine is not the sun. But at the same time, it is not the sun. It is the sun and not the sun – both. That is our philosophy.

· Man is attached to woman, and woman is attached to man. Not only in human society – in animal society also. That attachment is the basic principle of material life.

· Sex life increases the bodily concept of life.

· ISKCON movement is especially meant to enable a human being to reach the real goal of life; to go back home, back to Godhead. That is the real goal of life. Same like the water that comes from the sea forms clouds, the clouds fall down as rain, and the actual goa is to flow down the river and again enter the sea.

· No! Some knowledge will not do. You must have perfect knowledge.

· You are covered by a dress, by a shirt. When this shirt is unusable, you change it. Similarly, this body is just like a shirt and coat. When it is no longer workable, we have to change it.

· God is there in everyone’s heart. God is also within every atom. So this is the first information. And then, by the yogic process, you have to realize it.

· There are three kinds of charities – good, passionate and ignorant. Goodness is giving charity where charity must be given. And if one gives charity for some return, that is passion. And if somebody gives in charity in an improper place and time, without respect and to an unworthy person, that is ignorance.

· Devotees are neither in goodness, passion nor ignorance. They are transcendental to all these qualities.

· First make your life perfect. Then try to teach others.

· If you always keep yourself spiritually engaged, your body will act spiritually, although it is material.

· People do not know how to become happy. They do not take the standard path to become happy. They manufacture their own way. That is the difficulty.

· Don’t manufacture your ways of pleasing god.

· Material life means – when you desire to gratify your senses that is material life. And when you desire to serve God that is spiritual life.

· Suppose you are trying to do something. Due to your inexperience if you sometimes fail, that is not a fault. You are trying. There is a verse in the Bhagavatam – that if a devotee is trying his best but due to his incapability he sometimes fails, Krsna excuses him.

· The whole human life is meant for purification. A human being is not meant to labor like an ass and enjoy like a dog. Purification means coming to a higher level of consciousness.

For more information and guidance, visit http://www.iskconbangalore.org or www.folknet.in

Note – The above points are notes I have scrubbed down while reading the book “Perfect Questions Perfect Answers” written by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. I am blogging this material only to encourage the readers who see my blog to read the book and is not meant for any commercial purpose. It is just sharing information about a good book.

Regards,

Tirumalanath

tirumalanath@gmail.com

Book: Wise and Other Wise (A salute to Life)

Book: Wise and Other Wise (A salute to Life) – Sudha Murthy MAMI (as we call Narayana Murthy as MAMA)

Published by East West Books Pvt. Ltd, Hyderabad.

Is there any relation with the book title with book publisher? Wise or other wise published by east west publishers. Think!

This book I have read in State Library, Hyderabad. In those days, MAMI was writing columns in newspapers every week and I was a regular reader of those columns. I came to know few things about Sudha Murthy Father, about her son and also about how marriage proposals are decided and how they are rated.

Below are the extracts/notes I have taken from that book.

· There is a grace in accepting also.

· Had our lives become so busy that grief had become proportionate to the usefulness of the loved one we have lost?

· The youngsters listened without saying a word. And without chewing. (Thiru – we always did the same in the class and now in the boardroom)

· Friendship means faith between the two.

· If you want to be happy, you will learn on your own.

· Education doesn’t mean scoring good marks in exams or getting certificates. (Thiru – I am not in Infosys because of good marks only. No campus selection without good grades. No Infosys campus interviews if you are not from the good engineering college. I am one of those unlucky guys with no campus selection, no good marks….)

· Life is an exam where the syllabus is unknown and question papers are not set. Nor are there model answer papers. There are various types of questions, which can come from any direction, but one should not run away.

· To face difficulties, education and financial independence are just tools, but one must develop confidence throughout life.

· Your best friend is yourself and your worst enemy is also yourself, isn’t it? (Thiru – it depends …situation based. Best friends are few but we have worst enemy always. Teacher in the school, lecturer in college and manager in the office)

· Educated people always comment on others. Their intelligence is spent in criticizing others. They always think that there is foul play in everything. We dream of so many things in life, but we may not be able to achieve it. Achievement is the product of many factors and not of hard work alone. You require the right opportunity, the right people to work and the right time. May be, there is an element of luck too.

· An achiever has to work hard and have faith in his works. So many times, people may work hard but may not achieve much. That does not mean that they are any less than others who are more successful. If I am unable to realize my dream and somebody else does, it is better for me to feel happy for the other person rather than to feel sorry for myself. (Thiru – I suffered from this problem throughout my college life. But the feeling of myself not able to achieve is more than the feeling of happiness for someone success. Only recently I realized how much happy I felt when one of my close college friend achieved success in his life. It was a tremendous feeling altogether. But for everyone I don’t. Many times we feel jealously for those unknown and unrelated people who had the success. May be, the craving for the success is making us to behave like that.)

· The best culture is one in which we rejoice in each other’s glory. We should have a positive attitude. We should be able to admire, rather than feel jealous or resentful of the achievement of others.

· Be fair to others. One may not achieve a lot in real life but being fair to others is a great quality. We must realize that.

· Vision without action is merely a dream, action without vision is merely passing time; but vision and action together can change the world (Thiru – I think this is my MAMA’s saying……)

· Every drop makes an ocean; every grain makes a granary. (Thiru – likewise, every employee makes an company)

· It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness. (Thiru – what if u don’t have the candle, what if u have the candle but not the matchbox, what if u have the both, but there is heavy wind and rain, what if u have both, but your manager has told not to light them and more over what if – u have candle, matchbox, no wind or rain, permission, but u r unable to light up the candle)

A good parable or story: by Sudha Murthy

A beggar and the young girl were playing on the road because there was no traffic. They were laughing, clapping and screaming joyously as if they were in paradise. Hunger and rain did not matter. They were totally drenched and totally happy. In envied their zest for life.

That scene has forced me to look at my own life. I realized I had so many comforts, none of which they had. But they had the most important of all assets, one which I lacked. They knew how to be happy with life as it was. I felt ashamed of myself. I even started to make a list of what I had and what I did not have. I found I had more to be grateful for than most people could imagine. That day, I decided to change my attitude towards life using the beggar as my role model. (Thiru – almost same incident happen with me..after 2 0r 3 years into my career, there came a time where there were lot of doubts on job security and it started affecting my professional and personal life. During the same period, I happen to read an excellent article by Mind Tree CEO about a ‘Tomota seller’. [ I will try to blog that column soon…I have the paper cutting somewhere..i need to search it] It was an eye-opener for me and made me realize that there is more in life than just a good career and there are lot more people who look very ordinary to us but are leading life on the edges of danger but are able to enjoy the life as it is. That is what we have to learn…..the art which our school or college education has not given…but definitely life will teach us..but even better if we can learn as soon as possible before life teaches its own lessons. Because life lessons are always painful, which the world calls them as “experiences”.)

Sayings of Sudha Murthy Father:

Tears cannot solve age-old problems. We can only try to reduce them. You cannot change the life of every single person. In your lifetime, if you can rehabilitate at least ten such people, I would be a proud father. Proud that I have given birth to a daughter who could change the lives of ten helpless women.

Everybody should know their own capacity and strength. One should also know one’s own limitations. It is more difficult to recognize our weaknesses than our strength. Don’t aim for the sky. Keep your feet firmly on the ground and work around you. There is so much misery and darkness. Try to light as many candles as possible.

Note – The above points are notes I have scrubbed down while reading the book “Wise and Other Wise (A salute to Life)” written by Sudha Murthy. I am blogging this material only to encourage the readers who see my blog to read the book and is not meant for any commercial purpose. It is just sharing information about a good book.

Regards,

Tirumalanath

tirumalanath@gmail.com

Book: Gita-In-Action

Book: Gita-In-Action

By - O P Sharma, University Book House.

It is a small but very good book written telling us how to manage ourselves. I have read this book very long back may be in 2004 or 2005 and below are the extracts/notes I have taken.

· SELF is the CAUSE and SELF is the EFFECT.

· Action is thy concern & not the results. (Thiru - I don’t this…as whatever we do…we do it for the result)

· Keep working. Results will follow.

· Perform your worldly duties enthusiastically according to your respective positions in life for the universal good without concerning yourself with the results with a self identifying vision.

· Self realization is activated by the individual’s initiative and abiding sense of commitment.

· VED – means to know, to be, to obtain, to consider, to feel, to tell, to dwell.

· Why do you worry; Fear what; who can kill you; the soul never takes birth nor it dies.

· What has happened is good; whatever is happening is good; whatever will happen will be good. (Thiru – I used get angry when I read or hear this sentence in the past. But after reading this book, I realize that whatever has happened in the past, either good or bad is due to your past karma. And your karma is what you have done in the past. If you have done good, u would have acquired good karma and good things will happen to you. So if something or someone or you have done good or bad for you, then it is due to your karma. If bad things happened to you, u must realize that the bad karma u have done in the past has been worked out and u r free from that past bad karma. In the same way, based on your past karma, good or bad things will happen in the future also….This sentence alone can summarize the concepts of all the spiritual literature.)

· Do not regret the past. Do not worry for the future. The present is ongoing. Take care. (Thiru – Another great realization after reading this sentence from this book. Normally we have read or heard about these in our life, but it the greatest of the author who brings this point to the notice of the reader and makes him realize the important of that sentence by giving examples or explaining the same in detail. 90% percent of our worries are due to our thoughts on the past or on the future. If we look at ourselves, normally we will be OK in the present situation.)

· What have you lost; why do you cry; what did you bring with you; you accumulated everything here; you leave everything here; you enmassed things on his behest, you return these things to him; you came empty handed; you leave empty handed; what you possessed today belonged to someone else; it will pass on to an another after you depart. You rejoice taking all these possessions as your exclusive. That is what causes misery. (Thiru – rightly said above but the problem with all of us is not something we brought by birth. The biggest problem are with those things which we accumulated in this life (experiences, feelings, ambitions, relationships, attitude and many more) and more important we are not able to leave them even thought we know that these are harming our life to large extent. It is not about bringing something by birth and leaving by death but having something during this lifetime which is the problem. And we are not able to handle properly the possessions we have.)

· Change is the law of nature.

· You! Then fight for the cause of fighting, without considering the effects of happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat. By so doing you shall incur no sin. (Thiru – This I tried but not possible for me and for the people surrounding me. Everyone wants only the results and all we do in this life is for the results only….)

Note – The above points are notes I have scrubbed down while reading the book “Gita-In-Action” written by O.P.Sharma. I am blogging this material only to encourage the readers who see my blog to read the book and is not meant for any commercial purpose. It is just sharing information about a good book.

Regards,

Tirumalanath

tirumalanath@gmail.com