The role of GURU in Indian culture

The role of GURU in Indian culture:-

Meaning of the word GURU:

The word ‘Guru’ is derived from the Sanskrit language and has a deep spiritual meaning. Its two syllables Gu and Ru stand for the following:

Gu denotes the spiritual ignorance that most of humankind is in.
Ru represents the radiance of spiritual knowledge that dispels the spiritual ignorance.
In short, the Guru is the One who dispels the darkness of spiritual ignorance in humanity and bestows upon them spiritual experiences and spiritual knowledge.

In the Aapastambgrah Sutra it is said:
“The mother and father give birth to physical self. It is the Guru who gives true birth. Wise people call it a special birth.
Wise people say that without Guru nobody can be successful in his spiritual life.

The human soul, even though initiated in the spiritual path, cannot love an abstract power; and it is for this reason that the scriptures advise us to venerate those who lead us to God and to love their physical presence as the Divine manifesting itself in human form. The Guru's physical body is just a receptacle of the mighty Divine, and as such worthy of the utmost devotion and reverence.
God as the abstract Creator eludes our imagination, but when a human temple enshrines divinity we begin to understand through this familiar medium the purpose of our own ultimate destiny. Thus, when God assumes a human form, He establishes Himself as the Guru. Guru is manifested God- this is perhaps the most succinct and satisfying definition of the word, and eliminates the false claims of some so-called Gurus who are ready to assume the mantle of spiritual authority without the true manifestation of the divine principle.The Guru as manifested God soon becomes the Light, the inspiration and the great exemplar.

The Guru and God are one because the Almighty and his medium of manifestation cannot be different. The Guru embodies not only the Saguna (characteristics) but also the Nirguna(quality) of the Supreme Being, and so to that extent the Guru is approachable and accessible to man's needs and comprehension.

Once a contact between the Guru and the bhakta(disciple) is established, the relationship between master and disciple becomes a thing of beauty. This leads us to consider the principle of reciprocity which operates in this relationship. In return for the innumerable demands which a bhakta makes on the Master, it is but natural that the Guru too should impose a few conditions on the bhakta. The Guru expects total surrender, absolute obedience ,and, the last and most important, supreme effort.

||Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu Guru Devo Maheshwara
Guru Sakshath Parambrahma Tasmai Shri Gurave Namaha||

Meaning: The guru is the creator, the guru is the preserver, and the guru is the destroyer. The guru is the Absolute. I bow before you!
by: Bharatiya samskruthi/Indian culture

The Law of the Seed

Take a look at an apple tree. There might be five hundred apples on the tree, each with ten seeds. That's a lot of seeds. We might ask, "Why  would   you need so many seeds to grow just a few more trees?" Nature has something to teach us here. 

 

 It's telling us: "Most seeds never grow. So if you  really  want to make something happen, you had better try more than once.

 

This might mean:

 

You'll attend twenty interviews to get one job.

You'll interview forty people to find one good employee. You'll talk to

Fifty people to sell one house, car, vacuum cleaner, insurance policy,  or   idea. 

And you might meet a hundred acquaintances to find one special  friend.

When we understand the "Law of the Seed", we don't get so disappointed.

We  stop feeling like victims. Laws of nature are not things to take  personally.

We just need to understand them - and work with them.

 

IN A NUTSHELL

 

Successful people fail more often. They plant more seeds.

 

When Things Are Beyond Your Control Here's a recipe for permanent  misery...

 

a) Decide how you think the world SHOULD be.

b) Make rules for how everyone SHOULD behave.

Then, when the world doesn't obey your rules, get angry! That's what  miserable people do!

 

Let's say you expect that:

Friends SHOULD return favours.

People SHOULD appreciate you.

Planes SHOULD arrive on time.

Everyone SHOULD be honest.

Your wife/husband SHOULD remember your birthday.

 

These expectations may sound reasonable. But often, these things won't  happen! So you end up frustrated and disappointed.

 

There's a better strategy. Have less demands.

 

Instead, have preferences!

 

For things that are beyond your control, tell yourself: "I WOULD PREFER "A",

 

BUT IF "B" HAPPENS, IT'S OK TOO!" This is really a game that you play in your head. It is a shift in attitude, and it gives you more peace of  mind.

 

You prefer that people are polite ... but when they are rude, it doesn't  ruin your day. You prefer sunshine ... but rain is ok!

 

To become happier, we either need to

a) change the world, or

b) change our thinking. It is easier to change our thinking!

 

IN A NUTSHELL

It's not what happens to you that determines your happiness. It's how you  think about what happens to you.

 

Everything is okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end.

What a man!

Man O Man !
 

When he is without money, he eats vegetables at home;
When he has money, he eats vegetables in a fine restaurant.

When he is without money, he rides bicycle to work;
When he has money, he rides bicycle to exercise.

When he is without money, he walks to eat food;
When he has money, he walks to burn food.

When he is without money, he wishes to get married;
When he has money, he wishes to get divorced.

When he is without money, his wife becomes secretary;
When he has money, his secretary becomes wife.

When he is without money, he acts like a rich man;
When he has money, he acts like a pauper.

He says share market is bad but he keeps on speculating;
He says money is evil but he keeps on craving for it.

He says high positions are lonely but he keeps on struggling for it;
He says gambling & drinking is bad but he keeps on indulging in it.

Man O Man !
He never means what he says and never says what he means !
He simply cant tell a simple truth !!!

Murungai Elai Essence – Drumstick Leaves Juice

Pluck a few branches from the Murungai Maram – Drumstick Tree.

Wrap them in a wet towel and leave the roll overnight. 

The leaves will fall of the branches.

Gather a fistful of leaves.

Wash and rinse the leaves in plain water.

Boil plain water in a vessel.

Put the leaves in boiling water. Boiling will stop.

Let the water with the leaves boil again.

Remove the vessel from the fire and let it simmer for few minutes.

Strain the leaves and throw the leaves away.

Do not add any salt or sugar or any other item to the essence.

The warm essence of drumstick leaves is ready for you to drink and enjoy the taste.

Generally Murungai Leaves are readily available in most localities. If the leaves are tender, the colour of the drink is pale yellow, if the leaves are more mature, then the colour is dark yellowish green. The drink is refreshing, tasty and very healthy.

The juice is very easy to prepare, very good to drink and is very nice to serve to guests at any time.

If you do not get fresh leaves, then you can buy the powder of Murungai Leaves from authentic herbal shop.

The powder is prepared by sun drying the leaves. The leaves will have to be separated from the stem. Only leaves can be used to make a dry powder, not with the stalk/stem or twigs.

You can use 2 teaspoonful powder to prepare 2 glasses of the drink. After boiling the water, add the powder, let it boil again, then take the vessel off the fire, let it simmer for a few minute, then strain/filter through thin clean cloth and drink the warm juice.

Benefits of this healthy drink:

Enhances your body strength, stamina and energy.  

Helps your eyes, bones and nerves.

Helps normalize, balance and maintain blood pressure and corrects Hypertensiveness.

What is so special about a drumstick tree?

Most of you may know that even if you plant a twig of this tree in a good soil, it will take roots and grow very fast. This tree knows only growth. It grows very straight and strong. The essence that pervades its tiny multitude of leaves is very good for giving you strength and stamina.

Since the twigs/stalk and stem are not fit for human consumption, the leaves must be properly separated.

In olden days, the home makers were using Muram to sift the leaves and separate the unwanted twigs/spikes from the bare leaves.

It is very interesting to note that in many plants, one part will be edible and some other part will not be edible/poisonous. For example in betel leaves, the Kambu is to be discarded. In Arugan Pul, the white stem must be discarded and only the green blade of grass must be used to powder it and use as  medicine. Likewise in Murungai, the kutchi has to be discarded and only clean leaves must be used when you make a dry powder.

The authentic source of medicinal values of most plants can be studied from Dravya Guna Shastram.

A Conversation With: E. Sreedharan

Conversation of The New York Times correspondents Heather Timmons & Pamposh Raina with Sreedharan in question-answer form is reproduced below. It is an interesting read.

 

A Conversation With: E. Sreedharan

By HEATHER TIMMONS AND PAMPOSH RAINA

 

E. Sreedharan, on the platform of the Indraprastha station of the Delhi Metro.

At a time when corruption seems to stalk nearly every corner of the Indian government, the Delhi Metro’s star shines brighter than ever. Under Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, the 9-year-old Metro provides stellar service, completes projects on time and under budget, and is making a profit, despite having the lowest fares of any metro system in the world outside of Kolkata.

The Delhi Metro’s more than 200 clean, comfortable trains now carry 2 million passengers a day, and it has embarked on a third phase of expansion, a new line that will ring Delhi, connecting suburbs like Gurgaon with Dwarka.

Mr. Sreedharan, 79, a life-long bureaucrat with more than three decades in the country’s railways, has been the architect of this Metro’s success, building a 7,000-person organization that, to all appearances, is corruption-free, from the ground up.

Ahead of his retirement at the end of this year, he spoke to India Ink about how Indian society and government need to change, and the ways his spirituality makes him a better manager.

Q.  The Delhi Metro has continued to be a success at a time when many other agencies are mired in corruption. What did you do to keep this agency on the straight and narrow?

 

A.  That’s a big question that cannot be answered in one or two sentences.

When we wanted to build the Delhi Metro, we said we would do it in a different way, creating a new organization and a new company with a lot of freedom for taking decisions.

The board of directors is supreme in taking decisions, we depend on the government only for only two or three items like funding and land acquisition, and the rest is entirely left to us.

We have built up a team here drawn from the Indian Railways which is highly motivated and professionally competitive, a very competent team. The whole credit should go to the team backing me.

Q.  How did you pick the team?

 

A.  I was with Indian Railways for 36 years so I knew a lot of people. So I could hand pick, choose the right person for the right job and then get him trained.

The main thing was the reputation for integrity, then the reputation for hard work, professional competence and the knowledge and the aptitude to work in a team. If they work as a lone worker, that is not going to help us.

Q.  Could you apply these same principles to an existing organization? If someone said to you, “Go fix Air India,” would that be possible?

 

A.  It is possible. What is required is the right work culture of the organization, the values of the organization, the way the team is built up and the way they are motivated. You need to define the roles and the goals, very precisely.

 

Q.  What’s the best way to motivate people? Is it praise, or salary or something else?

 

A.  The best way to motivate people is to set an example for them. I can’t sit in an air-conditioned room and make others do all the work. Here I try to set an example in all manners, everything, whether it is punctuality or inspections or the standards for specifications, finishing of the work, anything.

 

Q.  Does this organization pay more than other government jobs?

 

A.  We pay exactly the same, these are government salaries. What is a motivation is the good work environment that they have, and a good environment for learning things. Once people work in Delhi Metro for five or six years, their market value is so high, they are in demand by everyone afterwards.

 

Q. Yet, many say a reason for corruption in government agencies is that salaries are too low?

A. It is not true. No one can say that government salaries are low, so they have to be corrupt. It is totally wrong. Today the government salaries are very decent. It may not compare well with the private sector, but it is very, very comfortable.

Corruption has become a part of public life in this country mainly because of a lot of black money going around.

There are many laws, regulations, agencies and institutions already set up to prevent corruption, but they are not effective. We have an anti-corruption bureau, a vigilance organization, a big strong audit organization, we have got a huge police force, but the police themselves are corrupt, so what is the use?

Q.  How do you fix that?

 

A.  Some basic transformation is required. I would start with the police themselves. We have been talking about police reform in this country for the last so many years. The Supreme Court has given a directive to the governments in 2001 to implement these reforms, but not even one state government or central government has implemented these reforms.

Why? Because it does not suit the politicians, it does not suit the police, themselves.

Corruption has somehow spread into the national fabric, and it takes time to get rid of it.

People want to make easy money, particularly the politicians, and they are the people who are breeding corruption in this country.

Q.  What is one rule or regulation that should change to curb black money, and hence corruption?

 

A.  A simple thing — most of the black money is coming today through property dealings. The government knows very well that a particular property has a certain market value, but it is registered at one-third the market value, so two-thirds goes as black money. Why can’t the government insist that the registration be at the market value?

And when people are caught for corruption, why are they not punished immediately? It takes years and years. It takes years to get justice.

But this has nothing to do with the Delhi Metro. We have had tried to have a very clean organization. When we suspect anybody is indulging in unethical matters, immediately he is sacked.

Q.  Can you tell us about bringing spirituality into this organization – you give copies of the “Bhagavad Gita” (a Hindu scripture) to all managers. How does that help you and them?

 

A.  You see, spirituality has no religious overtones. The essence of spirituality is to make a person pure in his mind and his thoughts.

When I started reading our old scriptures, like the “Baghavad Gita,” I found it was useful for day-to-day life, so I started practicing it.

I consider it an administrative gospel, one that will help you in doing things like running an organization like this.

Q.  Do you have a favorite quote you share with employees?

 

A.  Mainly I tell them “Do your work without expecting any return out of it.” It is called Asangathu Vaa*. You do it for the sake of the society, of the organization you work for.

 * I think there is an error in  reproducing the word

Q.  You’ll be serving as an adviser on the Indian Railways safety committee. What else is in your future after you retire?

 

A.  No particular plan, except to retire really and spend more time on spirituality.

 

Q.  Would you sit on the Lokpal board if asked?

 

A.  No, no I would not like to take up any of these responsibilities. I am in the fag end of my life.

AN AMAZING INTERVIEW WITH TRAVANCORE RAJA ( AN EX COLONEL TOO!!)

The head of a former royal family renounced any personal claim to billions of dollars' worth of ancient treasure discovered in a temple in Thiruvanantharam, the kingdom his ancestors once ruled. Excerpts of an interview with Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Verma, the former King of Tranvancore by *Padma Rao Sudarji*. *(Padma Rao Sundarji is South Asia bureau chief of Der Spiegel)*

PRS: What is your family's connection with the Padmanabhaswamy temple?

VARMA: We are the Cheras, one of the four erstwhile royal families of South India and have a long and dynastic family tree. By 1750 Travancore had become rich and big. So my ancestor, the then king, made a unique spiritual and historical contribution. He decided to surrender all his riches to the temple - Padmanabhaswamy is also our family deity. He said our family would look after that wealth, the temple and the kingdom forever. But he did want the ego that comes with possessing it. He was influenced by Emperor Ashoka's catharsis in the killing fields of Kalinga. So he declared our family to be Padmanabha's 'dasas', devotees. A servant can resign his job, but a dasa can do so only when he dies.

 

PRS: You are one of the wealthiest families in India and yet, you live in a spartan way, unlike many other ex-royals. Why?

VARMA: I have to go back a bit in time, to explain why. Everybody thinks that we Indians first rose against British colonial rule in 1857. Wrong. In 1741, Travancore was the only Asian power to defeat the Dutch when they arrived here. After the battle, all the Dutch soldiers kneeled before my ancestors. One Dutchman, Benedictus Eustachius, even joined our army. We called him the Great Kapitan. Later, I learned that he was [US president] Franklin Roosevelt's ancestor when the latter's grandson came to look at our
historical records.Then in 1839, almost two decades before the mutiny, we rose against the British. Our punishment was severe. They disbanded our police and army of 50,000, transferred our capital to Kollam, dumped two British regiments on us, and ordered us to pay for their upkeep. Thomas Munroe named himself  Diwan of Travancore. When our spirit still did not flag, they brought in missionaries. But we did not get gobbled up by Western thought. We travel abroad occasionally, but it has not affected or changed our simple way of life. Why am I telling you this? So that you get an idea of how much our life has revolved around our faith, despite so many outside influences and kept us going. 

PRS: How do you feel about what is happening around the temple right now - its cellars being opened up, your donations being discussed around the world, the criticism, the furore?

VARMA: Sorry, I cannot comment on what is happening there - the matter is sub-judice. But this much I will say. I have no problem with the inventory and additional security being provided by the state to the temple. But please don't remove those objects from the temple. They belong to nobody, certainly not to our family. They belong to god and our law permits that. All these debates swirling around the riches is unfortunate. That's all I can say - I have to listen to my doctor, lawyer and auditor. Our family has been donating objects to the temple for centuries. As chief patron of the temple, I go there every day. If I miss a day, I am fined Rs 166.35 - an old Travancore tradition.

 

PRS: But you cannot deny that such wealth could be put to better use for the poor.

VARMA: We Indians are more educated now. But this reaction to donations inside a temple is anything but progressive. We are slowly losing our Indian identity. Money has become everything. But I am not surprised. I would rather be philosophical than disillusioned because I can't change the world.

 

PRS: Then there is the rationalist argument that this is blind faith.

VARMA: Please think of England's Henry VIII in the late 1500s. He had two passions. Wives and money. So he pillaged churches. Finally, he ran into a problem because he wanted a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. The church refused, because she was a zealous Spanish Catholic. His cardinal advised him to invent his own church. So he did that - just to get a divorce. Is that rational?

It is rather difficult to explain our faith to the new world where people have none anymore. When selfishness grows, everything you do seems right, and everything others do seems wrong. It's all about what do I get, not about what do I do. I like the memory of my trip to a game reserve South Africa. After seeing many wild animals, I asked the guide which was the most rapacious and fearsome. He showed me a mirror.

 

PRS: What is your source of income? What does your family live off ?

VARMA: We have travel and hotel businesses. I am chairman of a former British company that exports various items from Kerala - but no, not pepper to Buckingham Palace, as reported. We also run seven trusts. We spend R5-8 lakh a year on education, health and housing for the poor. We pay good salaries. And the family itself contributes money every month. No government has acknowledged our work but that is all right. We do it because we want to do it.

 

PRS: Gold statues studded with rubies and diamonds, saphhires, gold coins of the Napoleonic era and the East India Company. Is all that true?

VARMA: I have never been inside those cellars. Our philosophy has always been not to look at such objects and get tempted. But of course I know what  is inside them.

 

PRS: Are the younger members of your family angrier than you about the heated public debate?

VARMA: I am the most hot-blooded in this family but on this matter, we all feel the same. I was a soldier - a colonel for 15 years in the Madras Regiment. I would like to ask those criticizing us for donating these objects: why are they bothered about what someone else has done? What are they doing in the name of faith themselves ? Why the hot gossip over a donation to God?

 

 

PRS: At 90, you don't even use a walking stick. What is your daily routine ?

VARMA: We have all been brought up very strictly and frugally. My day starts at 4 am with yoga. I only drink milk, I am a vegetarian and a teetotaler. I read the Vedas everyday. I go the temple for a ten-minute private audience with the deity every morning. After that, I indulge in one of my hobbies - "media surgery." I read the newspapers and clip articles over breakfast. I have a collection of the past 30 years. I will give those to the Trust because my children may not be interested. People come to meet me, they invite me to inaugurate functions. I speak extempore. I go from vertical to horizontal for about 20 minutes in the afternoon. I am in bed by 945. I have always slept well. Since there is nothing on my conscience, sleep comes swiftly.

 

 

PRS: Are you now thinking of insuring those treasures, now that the whole world is talking about them, or are they already insured ?

VARMA: (laughs) I am least worried that they will be stolen. If that happens, then it was the Lord's will.

 

 

PRS: Among your ancestors were famous Carnatic musician Swati Thirunal and painter Raja Ravi Varma. What are your passions?

VARMA: Those two ancestors gave music and art divinity and humanity respectively. That continues. I love art. I once saw a piece of exquisite china in Venice. It was a girl on a swing with the sand looking worn just where her feet touched the ground each time. It cost 100 pounds, I could only afford 40, as foreign exchange was limited those days. So I went away. The dealer called me back and gave it to me. He said he could tell that I was not one of those who ordered 200 pieces of one kind, that I valued minute details.

 

 

PRS: Kerala has been a Communist bastion for more than 50 years. Don't you find it peculiar that people here still flurry around you, they respect you, they still call you Your Highness.

VARMA: Yes, that is quite amazing because I am a simple man, I don't expect it at all. At religious gatherings in Haridwar where one of my two gurus lives, I always sit in the last row and am always dressed like this - mundu and bush-shirt. People who don't know me come looking for the Raja of the South. When I raise my hand, they don't believe me.

 

PRS: How wealthy is your family, compared to the other - and internationally more famous - royals of Rajasthan and elsewhere?

VARMA: That is a mere technicality and has never been relevant to me. But I'll tell you a story which will give you an idea. There used to be a British gun salute for the princely states of India: 21, the highest for the richest ruler, 11 for the poorest. When Tranvancore refused to contribute soldiers to the British Army in World War I, our slipped from 21 to 19.

 

 

PRS: Who is your heir?

VARMA: We have a matriarchal system of inheritance. I have a daughter and a son but it is my sister's son who will be king after me. I remember a European lady visiting us. I explained this complicated law of succession to her. When she went back, she told her friends that she had not understood a word, but only knew that whatever it was, it was good for women. Kerala is slowly turning patriarchal again. That is not good. Overall in our country, we treat women as second-class citizens. When you look at a man, you are looking at a human being, when you look at a woman, you are looking at a family.

 

 

PRS: What is the feeling you get, when you spend those ten minutes at the Padmanabha shrine ? The daily communion between ruler and master, as you put it ?

VARMA: Gooseflesh. Everything is surrendered. It is a great, elating feeling. My hair stands on end with joy. Each and every time.

You cannot change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying over the future".

On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged.


Randy’s lecture has become a phenomenon, as has the book he wrote based on the same principles, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. Sadly, Randy lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008, but his legacy will continue to inspire us all, for generations to come.

This is amazing, he died of pancreatic cancer in 2008, but wrote a book ‘The last lecture” before then, one of the bestsellers in 2007. What a legacy to leave behind…

In a letter to his wife Jai and his children, Dylan, Logan , and Chloe, he wrote this beautiful "guide to a better life" for his wife and children to follow.
 

POINTS ON HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE

Personality:

1. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
2. Don't have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment
3. Don't overdo; keep your limits
4. Don't take yourself so seriously; no one else does
5. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip
6. Dream more while you are awake
7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
8. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner of his/ her mistakes of the past.  That  will ruin your present happiness.

9. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
10. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present
11. No one is in charge of your happiness except you
12. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the  curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
13. Smile and laugh more
14. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Community: 

15. Call your family often
16. Each day give something good to others
17. Forgive everyone for everything
18. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6
19. Try to make at least three people smile each day
20. What other people think of you is none of your business
21. Your job will not take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

22. Put GOD first in anything and everything that you think, say and do.
23. GOD heals everything
24. Do the right things
25. However good or bad a situation is, it will change
26. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up
27. The best is yet to come
28. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful
29. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it
30. If you know GOD, you will always be happy. So, be happy.

While you practice all of the above, share this knowledge with the people you love, people you school with, people you play with, people you work with and people you live with.
Not only will it enrich YOUR life, but also that of those around you