The Shiva trilogy

The true history and the religion of India is the encyclopedic book which managed to catch my fancy and brought me back into the realm of reading books. Held a book in my hands with a desire to read it after ages. Had some how lost interest in the concept of books after reading "Living with the Himalayan masters."

While reading up on my favorite topics had never ceased, had always been doing it, online, there was this emptiness and lack of joy which only comes when you actually hold a book in your hands and feel the pain in your back which makes you realize you've been in the same position for more than half a night and need to shift.

Then came this marvelous author, Amish Tripathi, with his concept of Indian mythology based fiction weaved in a compelling tale of real world historical characters and the philosophies behind creation of the most reverently followed customs & traditions. This being one of my super favorite topics, obviously had me hooked! So much, that the first two books of the trilogy were done in 3.5days flat! Felt damn nice.

Some interesting things which got through and reinforced beliefs are:

(The immortals of meluha)

- Defiant under pressure, magnanimous in victory. Page 234.

- The curse of constant strife is that we forget better life is possible. Page 210.

- Do not tempt fate! You still have to keep on winning. Page X?

- The most powerful force in a man's life is his immense desire to please the one he loves most. And the most powerful force in a woman's life is her need to be appreciated, loved and cherished for what she is. Page 152, 153.

- Whether a man is a legend or not, is decided by the history, not by the future. Page 141.

(Thoughts from here|there, discussions)

- People are to be loved and things, to be used. Not the other way round.

- The only realities of life are hunger, thirst & death. (Uma)

- You can't be entertained by what you can't become. (Uma)

- Compromise, more often than not leads to mediocrity.

- What's with fate, destiny and most importantly karma? Everybody should think about it.

- The content of your mind is not your choice - Sadguru.

Want & wanton's

Sometimes love is for a moment,
sometimes love is for a lifetime,
sometimes a moment is a lifetime.

Now, moving on to penning down a few do's and don't s learnt randomly over the years.

1. Find your strengths.
2. Always cherish, nurture and practice your strengths. Make choices based on it.
3. Don't invest too much time in improving your weaknesses, in the end, you will become average at the most. If you must, do it as much as is required to move along.
   One of Google's management principle's: Feed the winner, Starve thee loser.
4. Earn everything. Everything! The joy and satisfaction derived out of earning is something different altogether.
5. Treat winning and losing equally. Both are natural. Allow neither of them to wander anywhere near your head.
6. If you lose, which eventually happens to everyone, don't ever lose the lesson. Do a mental post-mortem if you need to, either on the situation which happened or on the role you played. But find that lesson.
7. Be humble. Even if it's about our parents, near n dear ones, relatives & well-wishers, don't postpone, tell them what they mean to you and acknowledge their sacrifice's(even if its a blessing/goodluck wish).
   No one is perfect and we should not expect perfection from anyone but God. So do not put your anger and frustration out to throw on the faces of people who love you!
8. Excellence, is not an act, its a habit. Imbibe it in yourself. It should come from mind, heart and soul!
   Your reach must always exceed your grasp. Observe the ones who are better, learn from them, become better!
9. Never back down in the face of adversity, it shows up as a surprise without warning. Remember, the hardest steel had to endure the fiercest of fires to reach its destiny. If we persevere long enough, things will come into perspective.
10. Be open to change without compromising on your core values. There's a saying in Marathi:
    ऐकावे जनाचे, पण करावे मनाचे| It means, listen to the world with an open mind and heart, but do what 'you' really feel like(after weighing in all the options and narrowing on the best one acceptable to your heart and soul).
11. Keep the faith. Always. There will always be the ones, even from the closest of all people who with all good intention wish to tackle, so you shatter and lose the faith. Be strong. Keep the faith.

Steve Jobs went to a better place

As the morning sun rose ushering in the Dashami, the 10th day of Navaratri - Dussra, came in the news of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs passing away. It was a very surreal moment. On one hand people knew of his ailments and fight with cancer but on the other hand, there was this expectation of him always bouncing back and being on top like he always did in life.

I somehow never admired him or understood his deal when he was alive, tried to always be confrontational, questioning - so what? But them moment I read the news, it was as if I actually lost something even though I have never met him or used any of apple's products. Realized later that the nemesis is often as important as an ally. It was an object to throw rage at. Its the balance in life. The sponge absorbing the water is no less important than the bucket pouring it.

Stories of Steve's life are abound and there's no dearth of information on him, so no point in highlighting anything from there. Now that he's gone, there's a sense of a strong & deep personal loss. Everyone on the internet and in the tech world is feeling it.

He was one of those very few men who was alive, as a mortal. Whom the world has seen at his most vulnerable. And he was rare because he bounced back in the glare of everyone's gaze. He bounced back and infused life back into something unique which had died, something the world would cherish in the form of Apple, Inc.

Steven Jobs - you were the learned man who learnt his wisdom amidst the torturing gaze of constant attention and pressure from the world. You are the rare colourless diamond, baked under the intense pressure of the entire earth. And you didn't need to hide to know the actual reality of life.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."