Krishna: A Beyond Boundary Bonding

Krishna, one of the many Gods we Hindus worship is also our most famous God internationally. Krishna also has huge international fan following or devotees. What makes him so special? Well, as per my opinion, following can be some of the reasons:

1. Krishna’s whole life, since birth till the very end has many fascinating, interesting stories and achievements. He is loved equally by all age group, genders and intellectual capacity people. My children have always celebrated Janmashtmi with more excitement than any other festival. 

2. Krishna’s life is full of challenges and he kept challenging the orthodox wisdom of those times emphatically and above all conquered over them successfully.

3. Krishna’s methods and approaches are yet debatable by some but results were guaranteed. One may not truly understand or comprehend his methodology but his intentions are beyond any doubts. Krishna also attracts people because of his unpredictability yet predictability of results. A rule bender or breaker may be, but never a deal breaker. 

4. The only smiling, playful and dancing God, which looks so friendly and amenable. 

5. A God with flute and Sudarshan Chakra (deadliest weapon of his times). 

6. Krishna’s Detached Karma philosophy is till today the basis of many renowned philosophers or psychologist, who are of course yet to experience the depths of it. 

7. Krishna’s teachings in Shrimad Bhagwad Gita is till today a subject of intellectual and spiritual discourses. These learning despite of so many years of scrutiny, debate, interpretations, court cases and documentaries are still relevant and as fresh as ever. 

8. I of course, can’t claim to know or have experienced the depths yet I know the immensity and profoundness of it. There is so much more to learn but whatever little I could understand has transformed my life for better. 

I am absolutely OK if some people don’t wish to treat Krishna as a God because then that makes him more respectable and loved across religions. Till the time we are implementing his learning and making ourselves better it does not matter, how we perceive him. 

I am personally fascinated by his practice of intense involvement in life, detached Karma, equanimity and pleasant & playful way of fulfilling responsibilities. I wish I could practice 1% of it. Well, I am working on it. 

Happy Janmashtmi to all my dear Krishna Lovers or Devotees.    

Which files do you maintain?

I watched a movie The Last Castle, which is based on a true story of a special prison for soldiers. Yes, the movie was fascinating and I liked it. 

One dialogue of the warden triggered an idea, which I would like to share with you. He said, “Whenever I start becoming a little emotional or lenient towards any inmate, I immediately take out his file in which his history & description of crime is written. That reading helps me to maintain my balance and ruthlessness.” Well, as a warden to a prison where prisoners, who have committed heinous crimes, you are supposed to maintain a certain protocol to ensure discipline. That warden character in the movie commits extreme brutalities in order to punish the inmates for their crimes. I would like to leave it to experts to comment on it, whether this thinking or style of a prison warden is justified or not. I am not capable enough to comment on such complicated issues.

There was a marine who had served 10 years as a fantastic soldier but in one 10 second lapse in judgment he committed a murder and was treated as a criminal for next 20 years in the prison. He is kept with same hardened criminals who have always broken law of the land. Is it justified? You decide. Should we be judged by our deviations or consistent behavior? I am sure in legal system there must be some provisions to differentiate it. I am certainly not talking about extreme criminal mistakes. My point of view in this article is restricted to ordinary people with ordinary day to day mistakes of anger, jealousy, envy, arrogance, insecurity, superiority, procrastination, laziness etc. 

The question that propped in my mind was, “Do I also keep such files in my mind for people around me?” I am not dealing with criminals; I am surrounded by ordinary people like me, who are neither white nor black. We are all black & white. We are all work-in-progress. Do I also behave like that warden in my conduct? Do I also maintain a mistakes file of some people, who I have decided to hate, punish or isolate? Do I conveniently discard the achievement file of same people? Which file do I maintain more? Do I ever forget to make a new entry in mistakes file? Do I maintain the achievement file of the same person with same precision? Well, I know my answers and am not disclosing here for obvious reasons.

People around me are not perfect, so am I. I am sure if somebody wants, can maintain a similar file on me too. I have also committed hundreds of mistakes in behavior (will be making more for sure) and can easily be remembered for them too. At the same time I also have done few fantastic things in life. Which number is more? Well, you can guess. 

Do I prefer to be treated by my mistake file or achievement file? How will I behave with a person who always treats me on the basis of my mistakes file? Will I be more productive around such person? Would I like to be around that person at all?

What do you do with these files? Are you keeping any such files in your mind about people around you? How does it impact your life? Should we be judged by our deviations or consistent behavior? Should we be judged by our mistakes (ad-hoc/unintentional)? What about others?  

I have been thinking a lot on these questions and have gotten a bit clarity about what I should be doing and have already started working on it. What about you? I would not like to suggest anything more here, you decide. I would love to hear your reflections on this article. How does it resonate with you? 

Think about it.

Money invariably finds its way back to same pockets

Out of total 2755 total billionaires worldwide 86% are richer than they were a year ago with $5 trillion increase in wealth in 2020.

One person’s loss is another person’s gain. You have heard, I know. Would you be surprised if I tell you that the ‘one’ person who loses and the ‘other’ person who gains are generally the same? People who were poor before pandemic are still poor and people who were wealthy have become wealthier. Wealth might shift from one wealthy person to another but it remains in the same pool. Funny, isn’t it?

Jezz Bezos lost his No.1 richest man’s title recently to Bernanrd Arnault. In the most recent article (2/8/21) Katherine Wiles has stated that the French Tycoon Bernard Arnault has claimed the No.1 spot of the ultra-wealthy from Jeff Bezos whose net worth tumbled by $13.9 billion in one day due to less-than-anticipated second quarter growth.

We assumed that a global pandemic and economic recession would set the luxury goods market back a bit, but Arnault remarkably grew his wealth by nearly $100 billion during first year of pandemic. Arnault’s net worth sat at $195.8 Billion as of Monday, while Bezos’ hovered at $192.6 billion. Bezos is the first person ever to be worth $200 billion, as Amazon enjoyed big gains from pandemic lockdowns.

Out of total 2755 total billionaires worldwide 86% are richer than they were a year ago with $5 trillion increase in wealth in 2020. 

“Whatever the circumstances, one is losing and other is gaining.” The real question is where do we belong?

If we divided all the money in the world equally, in a short time the rich would be rich again, and the poor would be poor. Many people think that if they could just get their hands on a large sum of money, they would be set for the rest of their lives. Money invariably finds its way back to same pockets.