What is called Love?

What is called love may be divided into three categories.

We love great men for their high qualities, I mean distinguished men, men of truth,
philanthropists, jnanins, men of grace.

We mix with our friends and relatives intimately and affection develops between them and us. Then we love people- love them ostensibly for a specific purpose, for the reason that we stand to gain from them. For instance, we may seem to love a rich
man hoping that he would help us in our business or some other enterprise.
We may love our employer because he pays us our wages.


These three types of love are neither true nor everlasting.

If our employer sacks us we will cease to have either respect or affection for
him. If people with whom we have had close contacts leave for a distant
place or die or if we lose touch with them, we are likely in due course to
forget them.

All the sorrow we felt in the beginning because of being separated from them will eventually be forgotten. Were it true love the grief also should be enduring. Even our love for a great man is not lasting. If there happens to be a diminution in his qualities- or if he seems to us not as great as we thought he was- we will love him in correspondingly lesser measure.

All three categories of love have some reason [or motive] behind them.
That is why they are not everlasting. We love great men because they
possess certain qualities: there is an element of selfish interest in our
feelings for them: because we think they will be helpful in our
advancement.

True love knows neither reason nor motive.We must, to start with, learn to have disinterested love for an individual, that is love that is not tainted by self-interest.

Before parting
We must not look for any reason to love our preceptor. If we constantly "practise" to have such love for our guru we will be the recipients of his blessings. Our love for him will eventually grow into love that will encompass all. If our love is manifested in this manner there will be fullness, tranquility and bliss.


.

Slum Dog Sweeps 8 awards

Slum Dog Sweeps 8 awards in its final tally !!!

Best picture - Slumdog Millionaire

Director - Danny Boyle, for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor - Sean Penn, for Milk

Best Actress - Kate Winslet, for The Reader

Supporting actor - Heath Ledger, for The Dark Knight

Supporting actress - Penelope Cruz, for Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Animated feature film - WALL-E

Adapted screenplay - Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire

Original screenplay - Milk, written by Dustin Lance Black

Art direction - Donald Graham Burt; set decoration: Victor J. Zolfo for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Donald Graham Burt

Cinematography - Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire

Costume design - Michael O'Connor for The Duchess

Documentary feature -Man on Wire

Documentary short - Smile Pinki

Film editing - Chris Dickens for Slumdog Millionaire Chris Dickens

Foreign language film -Departures," Japan

Makeup - Greg Cannom for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Original score - A.R. Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire

Original song - Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire, music by A.R. Rahman, lyrics by Gulzar

Sound editing - Richard King for The Dark Knight

Sound mixing - Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty for Slumdog Millionaire

Visual effects - Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Life is largely a matter of expectation.

Thought sharing this stroy, I know you might have heard the story 100s of times but nevertheless read this.

A shopkeeper watching over his shop is really surprised when he sees a dog coming inside the shop, He shoos him away. But later, the dog is back inside again. So he goes over to the dog and notices that it has a note in its mouth. He takes the note and it reads "Can I have 12 soaps and a shampoo bottle, please. The money is with the dog." The shopkeeper looks inside the dogs mouth and to his surprise there is a 100 rupees note in his mouth. So he takes the money and puts the soap, shampoo and change in a bag, and then places it in the dogs mouth.

The shopkeeper is so impressed, and since it is the closing time, he decides to follow the dog. The dog is walking down the street, when it comes to the zebra crossing, he waits till the signal turns green. He walks across the road till the bus stop. He waits on the stop and looks up the timetable for the bus. The shopkeeper is totally out of his mind as the dog gets into the bus and sits on a vacant seat. The shopkeeper follow the dog. The dog waits for the conductor to come to his seat. He gives the change to the conductor and shows him the neck belt to keep the ticket. The shopkeeper is almost fainting at this sight and so are the other people in the bus.

The dog then moves to the front exit of the door and waits for the bus stop to arrive, looking outside. As soon as the stop is in sight he wags his tail to inform the driver to stop. Then not even waiting for the bus stop to arrive the dog jumps out and runs to the house nearby. It opens an big iron gate and rushes towards the door. As it approaches the door, he changes his mind and walks towards the garden. The dog walks up to the window and beats his head several times on the window. It then walks back to the door and waits. The shopkeeper maintaining his senses walks up to the door and watched a big guy open the door.

The guy starts beating, kicking and abusing the dog.

The shopkeeper is surprised and runs to stop the guy. The Shopkeeper questions the guy "What in the heaven are you doing The dog is a genius he could be famous in life."

The guy responds "You call this clever? This is the 3rd time in this week that the dog has forgotten the door keys."

Note :

Don't be surprised when you do something good and if someone passes comment on you saying "Idhu Enna Gajakarna Vitthai"

The moral of the story:

Life is largely a matter of expectation.

Is lonelyness kills

Mindless recruitment,mindless lay-offs

I do not exactly remember where and when I heard this stroy (in a different version). This was in the context ...."WHEN YOU CREATE MORE NEEDS, YOU END UP PROBLEMS". But what I know is this would be more relevant now considering prevailing scenario

Story line goes like this :

Once upon a time the government with Ruling Party XYZ.. had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert.

Ruling Party XYZ Said.. - "Someone may steal from it at night."

So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job. Then Ruling Party XYZ
Said..

- "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?"

So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies. Then Ruling Party XYZ Said..,

- "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?"

So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One to do the studies and one to write the reports. Then Ruling Party XYZ Said.. ,

- "How are these people going to get paid?"

So they created the following positions, a time keeper, and a payroll officer, then hired two people. Then Ruling Party XYZ Said..,

- "Who will be accountable for all of these people?"

So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary. Then Ruling Party XYZ Said..,

- "We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $18,000 over budget, we must cutback overall cost."

So they lay off the night watchman.

Moral of the story:

"Mindless recruitment leads to mindless lay-offs"

Bank Account for all

Like PAN, each individual in the country should be given bank account. With volume and size, Govt should conceptualise "Bank Account for all". Any subsidy, grant to any individual has to be credited to idividual account. Most importantly, "single identity", like PAN need further focus. This will ensure less cash transactions, more specifically there will be too little bogus transactions(hopefully).

murari or bhairavi

Gold medalist from Madras University, music is her life. When I first attended her concert on a marghazhi evening.......... somewhere in the year 2000 at Luz Chruch Club, I never knew much about this personality.

Later on,I read so many articles in press about her concert held at various places
- from Tiruvaiyaru to Cleveland. She is Gayatri Girish.

If I am not mistaken she is from Nanganallur, the palce near to my locality, sourrounded by both music and bhramin society (hey! don't mistake me that I talk about caste)

Recently, I had oppurtunity to attend Pancharatna Kritis program held at Chettinad Vidyashram (organnised by Jaya TV and it was telecated as Repulic Day program). The program was totally out of world feeling for the entire 120 minutes.Many carnatic artists participated in that; to name few, Sudha, Ganesh, Bombay sisters and so may others, Gayatri was one among. I could met her personally and speak to her few words.

But why these things in this blog ?........Youngsters should think of learning to understand and appreciate the depth, range and the varieties that carnatic music has to offer.(especially when visual media and artificial music instruments like key board becoming more and more in practice). Let us develop traditional music - murari or bhairavi

Suggestions,ideas and views regarding this are welcome.

Looking forward to your comments

Naras

Bank Account for all

My first log as on . Once again on the same suject ut this time ith different

Financial Wisdom

With continuous press notes on global economic crisis, I am sure most of us would become completely immune to such news.Till the time when a crisis really hits someone, it is like seeing raod accident of someone on road. When I see mail from my management stressing four main issues viz, Work Force Reductions, Reductions in Discretionary Spending, Freezing of Wages and Hiring and Reductions in Capital Expenditures, it was no surprsie to me. What is most essential is proactive thinking (one of the most essentials of 7 habits).

I know some of you may think my constant emphasis on financial tips but still I do that coz I strongly believe there is a lot to do proactively when it comes to financial planning, especially when there is crisis or possibility of nearing crisis.


The following is apparently hand picked from a letter by Warren Buffett to his shareholders...

"We begin this New Year with dampened enthusiasm and dented optimism. Our happiness is diluted and our peace is threatened by the financial illness that has infected our families, organizations and nations. Everyone is desperate to find a remedy that will cure their financial illness and help them recover their financial health. They expect the financial experts to provide them with remedies, forgetting the fact that it is these experts who created this financial mess. Every new year, I adopt a couple of old maxims as my beacons to guide my future. This self-prescribed therapy has ensured that with each passing year, I grow wiser and not older.


This year, I invite you to tap into the financial wisdom of our elders
along with me, and become financially wiser.


Hard work
All hard work brings profit; but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Laziness
A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.

Earnings
Never depend on a single source of income.

Spending
If you buy things you don't need, you'll soon sell things you need.

Savings
Don't save what is left after spending; Spend what is left after saving.

Accounting
It's no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking.

Auditing
Beware of little expenses; a small leak can sink a large ship.

Risk-taking
Never test the depth of the river with both feet.

Investment
Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

I'm certain that those who have already been practicing these principles remain financially healthy. I'm equally confident that those who resolve to start practicing these principles will quickly regain their financial health. Let us become wiser and lead a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful life.