Happy Deepawali

I wish you a very happy, peaceful and prosperous deepawali. Hopefully we will also have another Deepawali this Nov'19 when our beloved Ram ji will finally get his rightful place after this century old legal battle. Nothing came easy for him but ultimately he won all battles. Maybe this is the learning He wants us to learn, 'how to pursue the right without becoming wrong ourselves'. Upholding highest virtues & values with dignity & determination. Jai Shri Ram!!

Peace of mind

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.”

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!” So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be ... and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water... Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”

What did Buddha emphasize here? He said, “It is effortless.” Having 'peace of mind' is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process. When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. It spreads around you and in the environment, such that people around start feeling that peace and grace.

Working under incompetent boss?

At times due to many reasons we are headed by a person who is not so competent technically and otherwise. The person may have reached that position due to:

1. Lack of another competent person available, so was chosen as best option out of only option

2. Job rotation policy of the organization

3. The person is good technically but incompetent in people skills which gets discovered later after talent drain.

I have seen these people and generally I would like to divide them in three categories:

1. Who knows they lack competence and therefore make an extra effort to get along very well with the team so that incompetence does not hinder the achievement of department goals

2. Who knows it and doesn't want others to know and create terror in the team by using authority and surrounding self with chamchas - talented people are subverted

3. Those who are blissfully unaware – they normally come to know only when the organisation informs them in a subtle way

The organisations having the second category of people (who use authority to put people in their place) are able to retain only such sycophants and ultimately the organization goes down the drain.
We all probably like admiration and dislike criticism but who is doing it with us is very important....

In such cases where due to any reason talented person is not able to jump the ship and adapts to sycophancy and stop contributing with his/her full potential. And that to my mind is the biggest loss.
So, What should be done? Is it down the hill after this? Fortunately, NO

Subordinates who are working under such bosses should take the following steps (not in any order), in order to successfully tide over this difficult scenario –

1. Chances are your boss may lack in some critical technical competency – so here’s your chance to ensure your boss doesn’t take you for granted – become an expert in that critical skillset and “Make yourself indispensable”

2. Make them aware of this habit at an opportune time & place and let them know how you feel

3. They would not be terrorizing all the times. So, praise them appropriately when they do something right

4. If things become unbearable and you feel like quitting yesterday, then go to your boss’s boss or HR and inform them.

5. But, if your boss is the ultimate boss – then quit.

Finished drawing

Drawn by Mr. Suresh Mohan Semwal

Do we  ever get  to finish our drawings or it always remains incomplete? Or whatever we drew, however we drew, till whatever point we drew that was supposed to be our drawing? Is there any The End or whenever it Ends that is The End? Is there any perfect drawing or whatever we drew was perfect for us? Intriguing questions... Isn't it? By the way, my first abstract drawing..... 

We all have heard the advice that live to your fullest, do your best, unleash your potential etc. Isn't it? It's like creating your perfect drawing or piece of work.. It's about completing everything the way you wanted to complete, in short, bidding goodbye with satisfaction.

Let's recall the names of some people who are hugely respected and are considered to be role models be most of us I believe...

Martin Luther King, died without fulfilling his dream. Mahatma Gandhi, saw two nations being created on the basis of religion and almost no one practices what he preached.

This list can be endless, isn't it so? 

Therefore, the question, does anyone ever gets to complete his drawing as per his satisfaction? Not many I guess. 

On a second thought, maybe the ending that we plan were not achieved but they're

complete in its own way. 

Just because a child is at a certain age doesn't mean that it's unfinished or incomplete painting. Ageing and dying, is it the completion, achieving what one wants to achieve, is that the completion? 

Our list of wishes never end, therefore we keep adding more after what we have already achieved. Should we just focus on underachieved or also look at what we have achieved as milestones. Is milestone not an achievement? Dying with unfinished goal, is it incomplete? Or it just shows that the person aspired for more than the available time? 

Is there any completion at all? is it complete the moment we decide it to be? Should we label completion as per success parameters of the world? 

I guess, everything and every moment is complete in its true nature. If we are living with wakefulness every step is complete in its order. Nothing is ever incomplete. Everything is perfect. It is how it is meant to be. To realise it we just need to be awake, alert and aware...

Routine defines us not ad hoc activity

We are what we do in our routine. Our routine is a reflection on quality of goals we are pursuing. We should not be judging anyone on the basis of deviations rather with routine. 

Our ad hoc behaviours (good bad both) may occur due to various controllable or uncontrollable circumstances but our routine behavior is surely a reflection of who we truly are. 

For example, some people might drive rash once in a while due to specific emergency, but they can't be called rash drivers. Some may drink alcohol once in a while but can't be labeled as alcoholic. 

Similarly some may work sincerely once in a while, we must not label them as sincere. Isn't it? 

Doing right things on a routine basis, however, tiny they are may take us to superior heights one day and cutting corners in a tiny way will also become a big reason for unsatisfactory results. So, what do you do in routine? Think!