DID YOU KNOW: Swami Vivekananda visited Dehradun twice

Swami Vivekananda came to Dehradun for the first time in 189o. He stayed at Baori Temple on Dehradun Mussorie road on his way to meet his guru bhai Swami Turiyananda. Swami Turiyananda meditated in this place for 48 days. Swami Vivekananda came to Dehradun again in the year 1897. In those times, Baori mandir used to be a stop over for the monks and itinerants during their travel to Gangotri and Yamunotri. The room where swamiji stayed is still there under the maintenance of Ramakrishna Mission.

Courtesy: Dainik Hindustan

Swami Vivekananda and the making of modern India

In several ways, the life and work of Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) mark the historical process of India rediscovering herself in modern times. These are also emblematic of the ways in which a tradition modernizes or creates alternative forms of modernity. Today, as the nation celebrates the 150th birth anniversary of the Swami, it is only apt that we critically reflect on his life and legacy.

Generally speaking, his contribution to India and to the larger world may be summed up in four ways. First, in modern India, it was Vivekananda who first emphasized that our everyday lives would become more meaningful only when spiritualized. It was in this spirituality that he re-discovered, as it were, India's message to herself and to the world. For Vivekananda, this spiritual self-realization led to people more fully realizing their own potentialities. Especially in the context of a colonized society like that of 19th century India, this was tantamount to men and women locating greater self-belief in themselves.

The human soul being free, suggested Vivekananda, more than compensated for the loss of political freedom.

Second, even though the Swami rejected political praxis and Westinspired social and religious reforms, his essential message was the empowerment of the people: through education, collective thought and action but above all, realizing he underlying unity of all human existence. In the Hindu tradition, ascetic detachment from the world had been criticized even before Vivekananda but it was he who first actively joined the idea of individual renunciation to committed social service. In this sense, he gave new meaning or signification to the very idea and institution of sanyas.

The Ramakrishna math and Mission is today, an active embodiment of this legacy.

Third, there is the love that Vivekananda consistently exhibited for the socially marginalized and oppressed. He could be equally at home in poor homes and princely quarters, be sumptuously hosted by the rich and the powerful and also share the coarse chapatti of a scavenger or share the hookah with a cobbler. It is he, who even before Gandhi, reinvented and effectively used the older religious idiom of God especially residing in the lowly and the poor (daridranarayan).

Vivekananda anticipates Gandhi in yet another aspect and that lies in his prioritizing social amelioration to political work. In this sense, his critique of the Indian National Congressrepresenting only a handful of privileged men anticipates later day criticism. Like the Mahatma again, he insisted on first closely acquainting himself with the people of India before he launching any schemes of social or political work. Through this he hoped to understand pressing contemporary problems, to energize a nascent nationhood and to restore to man, his innate dignity and selfconfidence. 'Man-making, as it has been often said, was Vivekananda's first mission.

This, I find, has some contemporary relevance inasmuch as the Swami's project absolves the state from invariably taking the first step towards bringing education, enlightenment and progress to the common man. In his perception, the movement had to originate in the common people and benefit such themselves. Vivekananda always insisted on grass-roots reforms, not agendas imposed from above of which the common man had little or no understanding.

Fourth, it was the Swami's consistent desire to bring back India's pride of place in the assembly of nations, as a civilization which, notwithstanding momentous historical changes, had yet retained subterranean threads of commonness and unity. At the same time, like his guru, Sri Ramakrishna, Vivekananda fully believed in universality, cosmopolitanism and compassion. As he saw it, mutual kindness and compassion between man and man was more important than that coming from a distant God.

The Buddha was his ishta (favoured ideal), he once admitted, for he was so readily compassionate towards fellow-men.

It is quite usual to have polarised perceptions of Swami Vivekananda either as a patriot or a prophet. Apparently, this is based on the commonplace assumption that at least in the Hindu world view, politics and religion are two distinct, unbridgeable worlds. I would say, however, that his life and work belie such polarization. Vivekananda took patriotism out of its political confines and vested it with larger possibilities and meaning.

Similarly, he took religion not to be some private feeling or idiosyncracy but that which was socially committed and responsible. Freedom for him was really a larger concept; it had more to do with the freeing of the mind than the body. The Swami pinned his faith in individuals, not institutions and hence chose a path that was silent, indirect, organic. One can only hope that the more enduring aspects of his life and work continue to inspire us in the days to come.

(The writer is a professor in the Department of History & Culture, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi)

TIMES OF INDIA JANUARY 13, 2013

Life lessons from Narayana Murthy

N R Narayana Murthy chief mentor and chairman of the board, Infosys Technologies, delivered a pre-commencement lecture at the New York University (Stern School of Business) on May 9. It is a scintillating speech, Murthy speaks about the lessons he learnt from his life and career. We present it for our readers:

Dean Cooley, faculty, staff, distinguished guests, and, most importantly, the graduating class of 2007, it is a great privilege to speak at your commencement ceremonies. I thank Dean Cooley and Prof Marti Subrahmanyam for their kind invitation. I am exhilarated to be part of such a joyous occasion. Congratulations to you, the class of 2007, on completing an important milestone in your life journey.

After some thought, I have decided to share with you some of my life lessons. I learned these lessons in the context of my early career struggles, a life lived under the influence of sometimes unplanned events which were the crucibles that tempered my character and reshaped my future.

I would like first to share some of these key life events with you, in the hope that these may help you understand my struggles and how chance events and unplanned encounters with influential persons shaped my life and career. Later, I will share the deeper life lessons that I have learned. My sincere hope is that this sharing will help you see your own trials and tribulations for the hidden blessings they can be.

The first event occurred when I was a graduate student in Control Theory at IIT, Kanpur, in India]. At breakfast on a bright Sunday morning in 1968, I had a chance encounter with a famous computer scientist on sabbatical from a well-known US university.

He was discussing exciting new developments in the field of computer science with a large group of students and how such developments would alter our future. He was articulate, passionate and quite convincing. I was hooked. I went straight from breakfast to the library, read four or five papers he had suggested, and left the library determined to study computer science.

Friends, when I look back today at that pivotal meeting, I marvel at how one role model can alter for the better the future of a young student. This experience taught me that valuable advice can sometimes come from an unexpected source, and chance events can sometimes open new doors.

The next event that left an indelible mark on me occurred in 1974. The location: Nis, a border town between former Yugoslavia, now Serbia, and Bulgaria. I was hitchhiking from Paris back to Mysore, India, my home town.

By the time a kind driver dropped me at Nis railway station at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, the restaurant was closed. So was the bank the next morning, and I could not eat because I had no local money. I slept on the railway platform until 8.30 pm in the night when the Sofia Express pulled in.

The only passengers in my compartment were a girl and a boy. I struck a conversation in French with the young girl. She talked about the travails of living in an iron curtain country, until we were roughly interrupted by some policemen who, I later gathered, were summoned by the young man who thought we were criticizing the communist government of Bulgaria.

The girl was led away; my backpack and sleeping bag were confiscated. I was dragged along the platform into a small 8x8 foot room with a cold stone floor and a hole in one corner by way of toilet facilities. I was held in that bitterly cold room without food or water for over 72 hours.

I had lost all hope of ever seeing the outside world again, when the door opened. I was again dragged out unceremoniously, locked up in the guard's compartment on a departing freight train and told that I would be released 20 hours later upon reaching Istanbul. The guard's final words still ring in my ears -- “You are from a friendly country called India and that is why we are letting you go!"

The journey to Istanbul was lonely, and I was starving. This long, lonely, cold journey forced me to deeply rethink my convictions about Communism. Early on a dark Thursday morning, after being hungry for 108 hours, I was purged of any last vestiges of affinity for the Left. I concluded that entrepreneurship, resulting in large-scale job creation, was the only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in societies.

Deep in my heart, I always thank the Bulgarian guards for transforming me from a confused Leftist into a determined, compassionate capitalist! Inevitably, this sequence of events led to the eventual founding of Infosys in 1981.

While these first two events were rather fortuitous, the next two, both concerning the Infosys journey, were more planned and profoundly influenced my career trajectory.

On a chilly Saturday morning in winter 1990, five of the seven founders of Infosys met in our small office in a leafy Bangalore suburb. The decision at hand was the possible sale of Infosys for the enticing sum of $1 million. After nine years of toil in the then business-unfriendly India, we were quite happy at the prospect of seeing at least some money.

I let my younger colleagues talk about their future plans. Discussions about the travails of our journey thus far and our future challenges went on for about four hours. I had not yet spoken a word.

Finally, it was my turn. I spoke about our journey from a small Mumbai apartment in 1981 that had been beset with many challenges, but also of how I believed we were at the darkest hour before the dawn. I then took an audacious step. If they were all bent upon selling the company, I said, I would buy out all my colleagues, though I did not have a cent in my pocket.

There was a stunned silence in the room. My colleagues wondered aloud about my foolhardiness. But I remained silent. However, after an hour of my arguments, my colleagues changed their minds to my way of thinking. I urged them that if we wanted to create a great company, we should be optimistic and confident. They have more than lived up to their promise of that day.

In the seventeen years since that day, Infosys has grown to revenues in excess of $3.0 billion, a net income of more than $800 million and a market capitalization of more than $28 billion, 28,000 times richer than the offer of $1 million on that day.

In the process, Infosys has created more than 70,000 well-paying jobs, 2,000-plus dollar-millionaires and 20,000-plus rupee millionaires.

A final story: 

On a hot summer morning in 1995, a Fortune-10 corporation had sequestered all their Indian software vendors, including Infosys, in different rooms at the Taj Residency hotel in Bangalore so that the vendors could not communicate with one another. This customer's propensity for tough negotiations was well-known. Our team was very nervous.

First of all, with revenues of only around $5 million, we were minnows compared to the customer.

Second, this customer contributed fully 25% of our revenues. The loss of this business would potentially devastate our recently-listed company.

Third, the customer's negotiation style was very aggressive. The customer team would go from room to room, get the best terms out of each vendor and then pit one vendor against the other. This went on for several rounds. Our various arguments why a fair price -- one that allowed us to invest in good people, R&D, infrastructure, technology and training -- was actually in their interest failed to cut any ice with the customer.

By 5 p.m. on the last day, we had to make a decision right on the spot whether to accept the customer's terms or to walk out.

All eyes were on me as I mulled over the decision. I closed my eyes, and reflected upon our journey until then. Through many a tough call, we had always thought about the long-term interests of Infosys. I communicated clearly to the customer team that we could not accept their terms, since it could well lead us to letting them down later. But I promised a smooth, professional transition to a vendor of customer's choice.

This was a turning point for Infosys.

Subsequently, we created a Risk Mitigation Council which ensured that we would never again depend too much on any one client, technology, country, application area or key employee. The crisis was a blessing in disguise. Today, Infosys has a sound de-risking strategy that has stabilized its revenues and profits.

I want to share with you, next, the life lessons these events have taught me.

1. I will begin with the importance of learning from experience. It is less important, I believe, where you start. It is more important how and what you learn. If the quality of the learning is high, the development gradient is steep, and, given time, you can find yourself in a previously unattainable place. I believe the Infosys story is living proof of this.

Learning from experience, however, can be complicated. It can be much more difficult to learn from success than from failure. If we fail, we think carefully about the precise cause. Success can indiscriminately reinforce all our prior actions.

2. A second theme concerns the power of chance events. As I think across a wide variety of settings in my life, I am struck by the incredible role played by the interplay of chance events with intentional choices. While the turning points themselves are indeed often fortuitous, how we respond to them is anything but so. It is this very quality of how we respond systematically to chance events that is crucial.

3. Of course, the mindset one works with is also quite critical. As recent work by the psychologist, Carol Dweck, has shown, it matters greatly whether one believes in ability as inherent or that it can be developed. Put simply, the former view, a fixed mindset, creates a tendency to avoid challenges, to ignore useful negative feedback and leads such people to plateau early and not achieve their full potential.

The latter view, a growth mindset, leads to a tendency to embrace challenges, to learn from criticism and such people reach ever higher levels of achievement (Krakovsky, 2007: page 48).

4. The fourth theme is a cornerstone of the Indian spiritual tradition: self-knowledge. Indeed, the highest form of knowledge, it is said, is self-knowledge. I believe this greater awareness and knowledge of oneself is what ultimately helps develop a more grounded belief in oneself, courage, determination, and, above all, humility, all qualities which enable one to wear one's success with dignity and grace.

Based on my life experiences, I can assert that it is this belief in learning from experience, a growth mindset, the power of chance events, and self-reflection that have helped me grow to the present.

Back in the 1960s, the odds of my being in front of you today would have been zero. Yet here I stand before you! With every successive step, the odds kept changing in my favour, and it is these life lessons that made all the difference.

My young friends, I would like to end with some words of advice. Do you believe that your future is pre-ordained, and is already set? Or, do you believe that your future is yet to be written and that it will depend upon the sometimes fortuitous events?

Do you believe that these events can provide turning points to which you will respond with your energy and enthusiasm? Do you believe that you will learn from these events and that you will reflect on your setbacks? Do you believe that you will examine your successes with even greater care?

I hope you believe that the future will be shaped by several turning points with great learning opportunities. In fact, this is the path I have walked to much advantage.

A final word: When, one day, you have made your mark on the world, remember that, in the ultimate analysis, we are all mere temporary custodians of the wealth we generate, whether it be financial, intellectual, or emotional. The best use of all your wealth is to share it with those less fortunate.

I believe that we have all at some time eaten the fruit from trees that we did not plant. In the fullness of time, when it is our turn to give, it behooves us in turn to plant gardens that we may never eat the fruit of, which will largely benefit generations to come. I believe this is our sacred responsibility, one that I hope you will shoulder in time.

Thank you for your patience. Go forth and embrace your future with open arms, and pursue enthusiastically your own life journey of discovery!

• ALSO READ: The amazing success story of Infosys

COURTESY: REDIFF.COM

SB Special: The History of Kumbha-Mela by Lokanath Swami

The Inhabitants of the earth benefit from a cosmic fight for immortal nectar.

THE LORD'S pastime of protecting the devas (demigods) from the asuras (demons) by producing nectar from the ocean of milk is described in detail in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto 8, chapters 5 through 11.

Millions of years ago, the sage Durvasa visited the capital of Indra's kingdom in the heavenly planets. While Durvasa Muni was passing on the road, he saw Indra on the back of his elephant and was pleased to offer Indra a garland from his own neck. Indra, however, being too proud of his material wealth, took the garland and placed it on the trunk of his carrier elephant. The elephant, being an animal, could not understand the value of the garland. It threw the garland between its legs and smashed it. Seeing this insulting behavior, Durvasa Muni cursed Indra to become poverty-stricken.

The asuras, the natural enemies of the devas, took this opportunity to attack Lord Indra and steal all the riches and virtuous possessions in his kingdom. A fierce battle for supremacy of the heavenly planets raged. Bereft of all influence and strength, the devas were defeated.

The devas then went to Lord Brahma for help. Unable to offer a solution, Lord Brahma took them to Svetadvipa, the abode of Ksirodakasayi Visnu in the ocean of milk.

Snake-And-Mouse Logic 

Lord Visnu advised the devas to cooperate with the asuras and churn the ocean of milk to attain an immortal nectar that would make the devas invincible. He told the devas to follow the logic of the snake and the mouse in dealing with the asuras. A snake and a mouse were once caught in a basket. The snake said to the mouse, "Look, I could eat you very easily, but it's more important for me to get out of this basket. So why don't you make a hole so that we can both escape?" The mouse agreed and started working. But as soon as the hole was big enough, the snake ate the mouse and came out of the basket.

Similarly, the Lord wanted the devas to take help from the asuras, but He had no intention of giving any of the nectar to the asuras. He would appear as Mohini-murti and cheat them.

The asuras and devas uprooted Mandara Mountain to use as a churning rod and requested Vasuki, the king of the serpents, to serve as the churning rope. With the churning, the mighty golden Mandara Mountain began to sink slowly into the ocean of milk. The devas and asuras became discouraged at the turn of events.

Then the Lord took the form of a tortoise, known as Kurma-avatara. He entered the water and held the great mountain on His back. The mountain moved back and forth with the churning motion, scratching the back of Lord Tortoise, who, while partially sleeping, was pleasingly experiencing an itching sensation.

Soon a fiercely dangerous poison was produced from the ocean, covering all directions. The compassionate Lord Siva drank the poison and held it in His throat, turning his neck bluish and earning him the name Nilakantha, "one who has a bluish neck."

Products of The Milk Ocean

The milk ocean then produced many wonderful items: a surabhi cow, a beautiful horse named Uccaihsrava, the elephant Airavata, eight great white elephants that could go in any direction, eight she-elephants, the crescent moon, a conch shell named Pancajanya, a bow named Haridhanu ("the bow of Hari"), the goddess Varuni, the precious Kaustubha jewel, a desire-fulfilling parijata flower, Apsaras (the most beautiful women in the universe), Laksmi (the goddess of fortune), and Dhanvantari.

A partial incarnation of the Lord, Dhanvantari rose slowly from the ocean. Srimad-Bhagavatam (8.8.32-33) describes his beautiful form:

He was strongly built; his arms were long, stout, and strong; his neck, which was marked with three lines, resembled a conch shell; his eyes were reddish; and his complexion was blackish. He was very young, he was garlanded with flowers, and his entire body was fully decorated with various ornaments. He was dressed in yellow garments and wore brightly polished earrings made of pearls. The tips of his hair were anointed with oil, and his chest was very broad. His body had all good features, he was stout and strong like a lion, and he was decorated with bangles. In his hand he carried a jug filled to the top with nectar.

The jug of nectar was the prize everyone was waiting for. The asuras quickly stole the jug, and they began to fight over who should take the first drink. While they argued, the Lord assumed the form of an extremely beautiful woman known as Mohini-murti and slowly approached them.

Mohini-murti said, "The demigods are very miserly and are excessively anxious to take the nectar first. So let them have it first. Since you are not like them, you can wait a little longer. You are all heroes and are so pleased with Me. It is better for you to wait until after the demigods drink."

The asuras, overwhelmed by Her beauty and charm, gave Her the jug of nectar, and She promptly delivered it to the devas.

The asuras were furious at the deception and attacked the devas with all their force. According to the Skanda Purana, at one point during the fight, Jayanta, a son of Indra, took the kumbha (jug) and ran away toward the heavenly planets. The asuras followed, eager to retrieve the nectar, and the fierce fighting continued. From time to time during twelve days of fighting, circumstances compelled Jayanta to place the kumbha at four places on earth: on the bank of the Godavari River in Nasika, Maharashtra; at the Shipra River in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh; at the Ganges in Haridwar, Uttar Pradesh, and at the Triveni-sangam in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.

When the kumbha was lifted at each location, some drops of nectar fell onto the earth. That same nectar appears at these sites during certain planetary configurations. Even today, millions of people come to partake of the nectar, to become immortal by bathing in the holy rivers and drinking the nectarlike waters. Because the fighting between the devas and the asuras lasted for twelve earth years (twelve demigod days), Kumbha-melas are held at each of these sites once every twelve years.

Lokanath Swami is the director of ISKCON Padayatras ("walking pilgrimages") worldwide and the author of the recently published book Kumbha: The Festival of Immortality.

Adi Shankara: jnanadeva tu kaivalyam (“ज्ञानादेव कैवल्यम्”)

Adi Shankara said, 

jnanadeva tu kaivalyam prapyate yena muchyate

“ज्ञानादेव कैवल्यम्” means…

 'Only through knowledge one attains liberation.'

 'Only through knowledge one attains liberation.'

‘Only the Knowledge of Self bestows Final Liberation’

 Regards,

 Vineet Ramananda

Are you living the good life?

NONA WALIA

Everyone is in pursuit of a good life. But what exactly constitutes a good life? Luxury trimmings, big money, snazzy cubicles, fancy duplexes, BMWs, designer clothes, desirable BMI et al does make one happy for a while; but are they assurances of a happy and fulfilling life in the long run? Psychology Today reports that people who enjoy close ties with friends and family are happier and have fewer health problems than those who don't. These people are more resilient to the stress of our times and with hurdles in their in a far better way. In short, la dolce vita isn't just about material possessions. A recent research at Washington University,St Louis, also indicates the same. Based on years of research, the experts came to the same conclusion: Happiness isn't about money or success. What is it all about then? 

For Ria Chakraborty, housewife, happiness is all about Kolkata monsoons. "People complain about the traffic and the clogged drains but pouring rain is just beautiful to watch. It lifts my mood," she says. Ajit Sharma, a Pune-based software engineer, who stays at a boy's hostel, says, "Everyone is on their own. But when I come back from work, and my friend makes me a cup of tea and sits down to chat with me... that makes me happy. He is busy too but he finds the time to ask. It's heartening, makes me feel good at the end of the day even if it has been shitty." Suchana Sarkar, a Delhi-based marketing professional, says, "Talking till I get breathless makes me happy. As soon as I come back, I have to share my day's stories with my friend or my roommate. I feel a void if I don't get to do that." 

You may think these are momentary pleasures, but it's these small things that make people most happy. Life guru Robin Sharma says, "Ultimately, life goes by in a blink. Material possessions aren't the only route to happiness. Life is a skill. And like any other skill, once you know the ground rules and make time to practise, you can get better. One has to engage in life and live it fully. When you near the end, you shouldn't be left with regret of a life half-lived." 

The next logical question would be: how does one understand whether he or she is leading a good life? In his website, another guru of good living, Jamison Fox, asks a few fundamental questions to make people conscious of the kind of lives they are living. Would you like to be happier, healthier, wealthier, or make the world a better place, he asks. "Impressing others, advancing your career will not give you a very satisfied life. Living a good life is about being happy with what you have, and pursuing your dreams at the same time," says Fox. 

Naysayers may still disagree. They may say that money solves most problems in life. It definitely gives you comfort. That's unchallenged, but the problem is that the pursuit of money is often confused with the pursuit of happiness and vice-versa. 

A team of researchers led by Jordi Quoidbach, from the department of psychology at Harvard University, reported in Psychological Science magazine that wealth does grant us opportunities to purchase many things, but it simultaneously impairs our ability to enjoy them. 

BK Shivani, a Rajyoga meditation teacher, asks, "Why do you go to work? To get the money to pay the bills, buy the food and clothes etc.? That's fine. But why do you want more money than you need? To buy the bigger car because you think these things will make you happy. But are you?" 

Life coach Rohini Singh, also the author of The Only Way Out is Within, says, "Money is a medium, an energy. There are people who have an abundance of it but they still feel empty. They often find themselves wo n d e r i n g what's missing. The answer is happiness. Everyone needs to add to the external factors of well-being. People need to have a sense of purpose, spiritual practice, stillness, time to just be. To live life in gratitude, not giving energy to critics or negativity, going outside the comfort zone to help others gives you the kind of happiness you never hoped to achieve." 

New age guru Deepak Chopra believes becoming more conscious makes people more successful in every sphere of life. "People tend to approach life on a day-today basis, doing three things: Following a set routine; coping with challenges as and when they come up; and fulfilling shortterm desires. By and large, it's routine that dominates. Even the thoughts we have today are generally the same thoughts we had yesterday. The hidden potential in all of us that doesn't get expressed lacks in only one place: your awareness. As you open your awareness, life opens its innumerable possibilities," he says. 

London-based industrialist Bina Goenka believes a good life is about creating one's own parameters of happiness. "You have to understand what drives you as an individual, what inspires the people you work with and how to grow as a unit. Focus on what you love, the restwill take care of itself." 

In his book, Ten Golden Rules on Living the Good Life, Michael Soupios writes, "Worry only about the things that are in your control. Keep your life simple. Seek calming pleasures. Avoid excess and live life in harmony and balance." 

Author, entrepreneur and lifestyle innovator Jonathan Fields, produces a TV show called The Good Life Project that draws inspiration from the real life experiences of acclaimed entrepreneurs, artistes, authors and thought leaders. Says Fields, "A few years ago, I would have said, 'I need to get a good life'. Now, I've come to believe that once your basic needs are covered, life welllived is more about mindset than circumstances. Happiness is not a place you arrive at, it's a lens you bring to the place you are standing right now."

Times of India, Jan 6, 2013

Let’s resolve to stay healthy this year!

This new year, let us all resolve to live healthy. HT spoke to several health experts about certain changes that people can make to their daily routine to help them lead a disease-free life in the long run. One thing that all health experts unanimously agreed upon that everyone, despite age and gender, must begin their day with exercise.

There is no running away from it, no matter how lazy you feel. Having said that, it does not mean you are expected to exhaust yourself completely. Six packs is by choice, not by compulsion. Doctors say a moderate amount of exercise three to five times in a week is sufficient for a regular person wanting to maintain normal body weight and to build stamina.

“If you lead a sedentary life or consume junk food regularly, it is necessary to devote at least an hour daily on the treadmill to sweat it out. Exercising reduces one’s chances of getting heart diseases or other lifestyle disorders such as diabetes, significantly,” said Dr AB Dey, professor, department of medicine and head of geriatrics department, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

“Higher levels of good cholesterol have also been found in those who exercise regularly,” added Dr Dey.

Smoking has to be deleted from your daily routine— not even one cigarette a day, which most smokers use as an excuse. Nicotine is the culprit. Recent studies have substantiated that light smoking is as injurious to health as heavy smoking.

Smoking is a leading cause of developing cardiovascular diseases as it increases blood pressure and pulse rate, along with decreasing level of oxygen in blood, tendency to form blood clots and eroding blood vessels internally.  

“One must know that smokers are twice at risk of getting a heart attack as compared to non-smokers, and passive smokers are no better,” said Dr Anil Bhan, senior cardiac surgeon at Gurgaon’s Medanta-The Medicity.

How about solving a few puzzles daily. Believe neurologists, who heavily recommend optimal use of the brain for it to remain active and healthy for a longer period.

Mental exercises could be of any form—trying to subtract quickly a particular digit from 100, writing your name on a piece of paper backwards, solving puzzles such as Sudoku or making use of brain games loaded in cell phones these days.

“Meditation, yoga and healthy reading habits are important for brain health,” said Dr Manjari Tripathi, additional professor, department of neurology, AIIMS.

 For your liver’s sake, look back and see what you have been eating: has it mostly been junk because you didn’t find time to prepare tiffin? This new year, let us resolve to add fruits and vegetables to our daily diet and cut down on eatables high on salt and sugar, drink alcohol in moderation to make our liver happy.

“Also, get tested for fatty liver when you get your annual blood test done. Fat in liver is an early sign of liver disease and needs to be treated early. Healthy liver prevents BP, diabetes and even heart attacks,” said professor Shiv Kumar Sarin, director, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences.

Talking of preventive vaccines, gynaecologists advice HPV vaccine shot for women under 25 years of age. “Cancer of cervix is fast becoming common, so if can prevent it why not take early measure,” said Dr Debjyoti Karmakar, consultant, department of gynaecology, Medanta.

 Eyes being the most neglected by us, eye specialists say it’s about time we paid attention to the pair.

Most of us forget to blink for hours when glued to the computer screen. “Promise yourself that after every 20 minutes, you will take a gap of 20 seconds to decrease strain on your eyes,” said Dr S Bharti, medical director, Bharti Group of Eye Hospitals. “Apart from that eating green-leafy vegetables does help.”

Healthy Life FAQs

How much does one need to exercise to remain fit?

There was a time doctors advised strenuous exercise thrice a week, but with the kind of lifestyle changes that people observe these days, an hour of strenuous exercise is recommended daily. Usually, an hour of brisk walk is good enough but only if one sweats is it effective.

 

Does one need to avoid junk food completely to remain fit?

No one advises complete abstinence. A pizza slice or a burger once in a month is not that bad if you exercise regularly. The idea is to not put on excess weight that can lead to various non-communicable diseases such as blood pressure, diabetes and thyroid.

 

Apart from obesity, what are the other risk factors for developing lifestyle-related disorders?

Smoking, erratic sleep hours, stress or anxiety and lack of exercise, coupled with family history, put you under the high-risk bracket. Once every year, thorough medical check-up after 30 years of age is recommended by the health experts. 

 

How much fruits and veggies should a person have in a day?

Four to five servings (one small bowl approximately) in a day is sufficient normally, but then it will also depend on a person’s individual requirement.

HT Dec 31, 2012

Vivekananda 150: The monk who served Truth

By Tulsi Badrinath

Vivekananda’s teachings help us recognise the true purpose of human life

In my first novel, Meeting Lives, I wanted to map not only the geographical space we occupy but also the rich, vertical spiritual space. To explore the practical application of vedanta in my protagonist Aditi's life, her journey of self-discovery, moving from ‘lower truth to higher truth', I had to find a way of describing both the worldview of vedanta and what it meant to Aditi. Weaving in the story of the rational, questioning Narendra, which altered forever by one touch from Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, and his becoming Swami Vivekananda, allowed me to do this. To read Vivekananda is to recognise the true purpose of human life, 
and to understand one's own self in relation to others.

Narendranath Datta was born in Calcutta on January 12, 1863, to Bhuvaneswari Devi and lawyer Vishwanath Datta. Thirty years later, he became known worldwide as Swami Vivekananda when, on September 11, he began his address at the Parliament of Religions with the words ‘sisters and brothers of America', speaking extempore, his heart ‘fluttering' and ‘tongue nearly dried up'.

Harriet Monroe, who was present at the parliament, wrote: ‘His personality dominant and magnetic, his voice rich as a bronze bell, the controlled fervour of his feeling, the beauty of his message to the western world—all these combined to give us a rare moment of supreme emotion.' 

The need to meet someone who had seen God brought a sceptical 18-year-old Narendra in 1881 to the master of Dakshineshwar, Ramakrishna, whom he thought ‘stark mad' at their first meeting. To Narendra's burning question—Have you seen God, sir?—Ramakrishna affirmed, ‘Yes, I see Him just as I see you here'.

Over the next five years, until Ramakrishna passed away in 1886, Narendra questioned every step of his spiritual journey. Eventually, Narendra was won over by the visible proof of Ramakrishna's immersion in God—made “his slave by his love for me”. And, he was gifted the entire force of his master's spiritual practice by one gaze. Said Ramakrishna: “O Naren, I have given you everything I possess, now I am no more than a fakir, a penniless beggar. By the powers I have transmitted to you, you will accomplish great things in the world, and not until then will you return to the source whence you have come.” And his gentle command to Narendra was: “You have work to do.”

On Christmas eve, 1886, Narendra renounced the world, “One eye shed tears of grief when I left home, because I hated to leave my mother, grandmother, brothers and sisters; the other eye shed tears of joy for my ideal.” 

It was no easy decision because his father's death in 1884 had left the family in debt. As the eldest son, Narendra inherited all the troubles. Having known involuntary poverty and hunger during this period, Narendra went on to embrace it voluntarily as a sanyasi, accepting alms not only in India, but also in Chicago when he arrived too early for the Parliament of Religions.

In 1890, he left his guru-bhais, the fellow monastic disciples of Ramakrishna, with strict instructions not to follow him. The young sanyasi travelled all over India under the names Satchidananda and Vividishananda and at times anonymously. For three years as an itinerant monk, he carried only a staff, coarse blanket, begging bowl and two books, Bhagavad Gita and The Imitation of Christ.

As a guest of the maharajas, or the Muslims or the poor untouchables, the swami witnessed the state of the Indian people under the British rule. His heart wept for what he saw and his mind blazed: “So long as millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them.”

It was at Kanyakumari in late 1892 that he synthesised all that he had seen and found a way to help the daridra narayana (the poor). To him, a monk's goal of personal salvation must be sacrificed at the prospect of helping others, for Ramakrishna wanted them to serve all beings as Shiva. The young monk put aside his personal inclinations to accomplish his master's work, but at the cost of his health.

The swami was only 30, and without money or fame. So, how could he find the money to fund his vision? It was then that an idea slowly took shape. To find more means for the salvation of the poor in India, he decided to go to America.

His ‘Madras boys' led by a devoted Alasinga Perumal went from house to house to collect funds for the trip. And his benefactor and devotee, Maharaja Ajit Singh of Khetri, bought him a first class ticket on the ship S.S. Peninsular and his silken ochre robes, and bestowed on him the name Vivekananda.  

Swami Vivekananda spent three years abroad, travelling, lecturing and suffering calumny from Christian missionaries and fellow Indians, only to find that he had been cheated of his earnings by an American lecture bureau. However,  donations from three western women—Henrietta Mueller, Sara Chapman Bull and Betty Leggett—made it possible for Vivekananda to establish the Belur Math in 1898. On his triumphant
 return to India, a year earlier, Vivekananda had laid the foundation for setting up the Ramakrishna Mission. Today, it is one of the wealthiest charitable organisations in India, funded by contributions of thousands of ordinary people.

Cutting short his second trip to the west in 1899-1900, Vivekananda returned to Belur Math. Severely ill with asthma, dropsy and diabetes, he was at peace in his room that overlooked the Ganga. His ill health did not stop him from fulfilling his mother's wish to go on a pilgrimage. “I have brought only misery to my people all my life. I am trying to fulfil this one wish of hers,” he had said.

On July 4, 1902, before he reached the age of 40, Swami Vivekananda passed away in his room at Belur Math. “After so much tapasya and austerity, I have known that the highest truth is this: He is present in all beings. These are all the manifested forms of Him. There is no other God to seek for. He alone is worshipping God, who serves all beings.”

Soon, the Indian freedom struggle intensified and freedom fighters were inspired by Vivekananda's pride in the Hindu heritage and fierce love for the motherland. But Vivekananda had shunned politics. 

“Let no political significance be ever attached falsely to any of my writings or sayings. What nonsense!” he had exclaimed in 1894. “I do not believe in politics. God and Truth are the only policies in the world. Everything else is trash.” 

In more recent times, the sayings of Vivekananda have been appropriated out of context by politicians for their own ends. 

In this context, it becomes necessary to reiterate that he was a sanyasi, who had renounced the world. And his aim was: “The dry advaita should become alive—poetic—in everyday life; out of hopelessly intricate mythology must come concrete moral forms; out of bewildering yogi-ism must come the most scientific and practical psychology— and all this must be put in a form that a child may grasp it. That is my life's work.”

What is advaita-vedanta? He expressed it thus: “All is one, which manifests itself, either as thought, or life, or soul, or body, and the difference is only in degree.” To mouth a few choice phrases from his entire works on the one hand and spread communal hatred on the other is a complete negation of everything Vivekananda stood for. 

Vivekananda did not hesitate to speak his mind about any religion, its great truths and its drawbacks in practice. He did not shy away from the truth that ‘practical advaitism, which looks upon and behaves to all mankind as one's own soul, is yet to be developed among the Hindus.' “On the other hand our experience is that, if ever the followers of any religion approach this equality in an appreciable degree in the plane of practical work-a-day life, it is those of Islam.”

While he believed that advaita-vedanta ‘is the religion of the future-enlightened humanity' he was ‘firmly persuaded that without the help of practical Islam, theories of vedantism, however fine and wonderful they may be, are entirely valueless to mankind'. Therefore, “I see in my mind's eye the future-perfect India rising out of this chaos and strife, glorious and invincible, with vedanta brain and Islam body.” Ultimately, “we want to lead mankind to the place where there is no Vedas, Bible or Koran; yet this has to be done by harmonising the Vedas, the Bible and the Koran. Mankind ought to be taught that religions are but the varied expressions of THE RELIGION, which is oneness, so that each may choose the path that suits him best.”

We take pride in being secular, but generations of Indians are growing up knowing very little about what it is that makes Hinduism or sanatana dharma, which is so accepting of other religions. If we do not understand why our worldview makes us all-inclusive, we cannot fight fundamentalism of any kind.

To any human being who embarks on the inquiry of the self, Vivekananda's relevance is a given. More than a hundred years later, one can still enter into a direct relationship with Vivekananda by reading his writings, in which the most difficult of Upanishada concepts are explained with the greatest simplicity. And his letters reveal a man who got a childlike joy in learning new things, and who used up every dish in the kitchen while cooking.

The words of French historian Romain Rolland hold true for all time: “His words are great music, phrases in the style of Beethoven, stirring rhythms like the march of Händel choruses. I cannot touch these sayings of his... without receiving a thrill through my body like an electric shock. And what shocks, what transports, must have been produced when in burning words they were issued from the lips of 
the hero!”

Tulsi is a Chennai-based writer and dancer. Her novels Meeting Lives and Man of A Thousand Chances were on the Man Asian Literary Prize long-list in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

COURTESY: THE WEEK, DEC 23, 2012

Swami Vivekananda: The original feminist

By Prema Nandakumar, The Week

Today, we speak a lot about women's empowerment. More than a hundred years ago, a young, wandering sanyasi noticed that the condition of women all over India was deplorable. Swami Vivekananda noticed that the sorrows of women were mainly due to illiteracy. They simply bowed to karma. He dreamt of the day he could change this state of affairs and give them a new deal. He posited a tremendous spiritual victory over the western consciousness by opening his epoch-making Chicago address with “Sisters and brothers of America”. Woman had been given the pride of place even in the west, and it promised a brighter future.
Interestingly enough, even before he spoke in the Parliament of Religions, he was giving talks in Breezy Meadows (Massachusetts) and one of them was to the inmates of Sherborn Reformatory, a prison for women. He spoke highly of Indian women and their heroic past but he was also looking around for ideas to improve their present condition. Was there any hope for the poor women of the land, condemned to illiteracy, life-long drudgery and misuse in a male chauvinistic society? The self-confidence exuded by the American women made him realise that education held the key. Hadn't he seen his sister commit suicide, a victim of sheer obscurantism?
At the same time, on watching American women closely, Vivekananda understood that Indian women should not go in for mindless westernisation. Speaking to a New York audience, he boldly said: “I should very much like our women to have your intellectuality, but not if it must be at the cost of purity.” He never liked the idea of men paying compliments to women, and would not accept it as mere pleasantry. Are women no more than lovely dolls?
“Now the ideal woman in India is the Mother—the mother first and the mother last. The word ‘woman' calls up to the mind of the Hindu, motherhood; and God is called Mother,” he said at a lecture in California in 1900.
At the same time, unless the mother was educated and self-confident, how could she be an ideal mother? That was why Vivekananda thought about empowering women in India in a big way. Born free, he found her everywhere in chains. Even the richest woman from the most enlightened community bowed to societal pressure in many ways. Obviously, the fight had to be two-pronged. On one hand, it was the duty of the enlightened people in the community to reject obscurantism like child marriage and the treatment of widows. “Writing down smritis and binding them by hard rules, the men have turned the women into mere manufacturing machines,” he had pointed out.
On the other hand, women had to work out their own salvation. Women needed to be educated about their rights as a human being so that they would become creative partners in managing a household. To a question about the syllabus for women's education, he said, “religion, arts, science, house-keeping, cooking, sewing, hygiene” and, of course, a thorough knowledge of the epic heroines. For this purpose, he wanted to start centres for teaching women. Daring the restrictions imposed by society, he invited Sister Nivedita to come to India and work for women's education. What she and Sister Christine did for women's education is now history.
Swami Vivekananda's vision in all matters had a rare clarity. When a question was raised on whether educated girls would be able to marry at all, given the conditions of the day, Vivekananda said when good work was undertaken with moral courage, victory was assured: “You have not understood the trend of  society. These learned and accomplished girls will never be in want of bridegrooms. Society today does not follow the texts recommending child marriage nor will it do so 
in future.”
And there was also the path of a brahmacharini to become an achiever and be of use to society. Swami Vivekananda had a strong sense of history. He knew that India's greatness down the centuries depended heavily on the contribution of women to society. In spite of a million hurdles, Indian women had a natural turn towards the spiritual and were not unfazed by the sufferings undergone by the great epic heroines. Rather, this was how they had empowered themselves to face life, generation after generation. “The height of a woman's ambition is to be like Sita, the pure, the devoted, the all-suffering,” he once said. Suffering was thus accepted with instant readiness by all our women. Rani Chennamma of Kittur, Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan and all others who entered the Independence movement, and social activists of today, including women who participated in the Chipko Movement, have all suffered for a noble cause.
So the swami did not want any deliberate sculpting of the new Indian woman. Education would help her re-assemble her spiritual forces. There was no need to order her life. She needed to be given freedom and she was sure to do the right thing, for wasn't she a child of India's ancient heritage that she had guarded zealously through religious practices? Such was his faith in Indian women. Had he not seen Mother Sarada Devi and his own mother, Bhuvaneswari Devi?
A hundred years ago, he thundered to a questioner: “Educate your women first and leave them to themselves; then they will tell you what reforms are necessary for them. 
In matters concerning them, who are you?”
Women of India must remember with gratitude this spiritual warrior whose tradition has continued to this day.


The author is a vedanta scholar and an eminent educationist.