Prabhakar reflections

***********************************************                      Life for most of us is a mixture of opposites. One day it is full of hope, hype and hubris and the very next day it turns out to be a matter of deprivation, despair and disappointment. Nobody can escape vicissitudes of providence. I feel in this world of uncertainty it is quite necessary to brave the situation by our wit and perseverance.  For this we need to be motivated so long we live. I have drawn from different sources the following points that could be of use towards keeping ourselves motivated to our purpose; general or particular. *********************************************** Have a look at these- *1* Stay in your lane,keep your eyes and faith in yourself. *2*It doesn't matter how many resources you have if you don't know how to use them,it will never be enough. *3*Being late doesn't mean failure.May be it means getting ready for a great launch. *4*(...

******************************************** Let us begin with what the Dalai Lama has said-         The purpose of life is to be happy. Everyone wants to live a long and happy life. But not everyone does the needful to that end.  The reason for that lies in the fact that it requires a conscious effort to be healthy and happy.  Also we, either out of ignorance or lack of aptitude to reflect upon, fail to explore ourselves that may provide us clue to be healthy and happy. ******************************************** Recently I happened to read a book titled "Ikigai" by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles. The book is said to be an international bestseller and it deals with Japanese secret to a long and happy life.           The authors,without defining the term  Ikigai say that everyone has an Ikigai- a reason to jump out of bed each morning. What prompted the duo to come out with this book was their findings based on  exte...

विवादे विषादे प्रमादे प्रवासे जले चानले पर्वते  शत्रुमध्ये अरण्ये शरण्ये सदा मां प्रपाहि             गतिस्त्वं गतिस्त्वं त्वमेका भवानी ***********************************************                     सदैव-             (चाहे उस समय भी जब तुम मेरे स्मरण में न भी रहो और मेरा किसी से विवाद (शास्त्रार्थ) हो रहा हो या फिर मैं अपने अज्ञानांधकार-अहंकार के प्रमाद से पीड़ित रहूं या प्रवास(घर से बाहर) में रहूं अथवा शत्रुओं के बीच घिरा रहूं या मैं प्रारब्ध/परिस्थितिवश उस असाध्य स्थल के अधीन हो जाऊं जहां जल, जंगल,पर्वत और अग्नि का हीं डेरा क्यों न हो;         हे मां ! मैं तुम्हारी हीं शरण में हूं और इसलिए बस समझ लो कि मेरी रक्षा की जिम्मेदारी भी तुम्हीं पर है;क्योंकि)               मां! मेरी एकमात्र गति तुम्हीं हो,मेरी एकमात्र गति तुम्हीं हो.  ***********************************************         ...

Development-What is it and what constitutes it?                Everyone wants to develop economically & socially if not spiritually to say the least. Individuals, countries, governments, instrumentalities, political parties-all are mad after it. Elections are fought making development as a central issue. In fact Development happens to be the key-concern of the post colonial world.           Even if we leave spiritual aspect of development from our domain of discussion defining even material development is not easy. It means differently to different people.  For some it is all about doing such things as help increasing growth rate.  Economists and governments around the world, generally speaking, are busy giving shape to development by expanding their economic capacity through working upon growth rate. They believe that high growth rate is nothing short of a panacea which can cure all ailments in the society. ...

For quite some time I have found my daughter pursuing her graduation preparing,on a part time basis,for competitive examinations of different levels.                 One day she, perhaps out of curiosity or some need of revisions,happened to ask me a number of Special Days which form part of general knowledge & general awareness if not general studies.                      Upon having found myself deficient,I decided to collect these Special Days and present the same for her in a classified way.                         In fact, classifying things based on certain properties,attributes or events of same/similar nature has always been my favourite pastime in varying degrees in varying times.  Here is a modest endeavour to that end- A. States' Foundation Days.      1.Bihar Diwas- 22 March.      2.Gu...

The following represents an attempt to enlist some of the positive skills that can hone our managerial or administrative career.                      In fact they lend quality to our life as well as quality of work life (QWL). ***********************************************                 Check whether you are proficient or deficient in these skills for them to be refined or improved as per your aptitude, attitude and requirements relevant or specific to the job or service you are in. Here are some positive skills---- 1.Performing 2. Producing 3. Acting 4.Motivating  5. Mediating 6.Eliminating 6.Translating  7.Drawing 8.Conceptualising 9.Supervising 10. Reviewing 11. Selling 12.Classifying 13.Initiating 14.Adapting 15.Arbitrating 16. Preparing 17.Publishising 18.Enforcing 19.Explaining 20.Team-building 21.Negotiating.22. Typing 23.Visualising 24. Organising.25.Compiling 26.Co-ordina...

The other day I had some discussion with one of my friends on matters of skills and values.         While we found that positive values like honesty,sincerity, punctuality, truthfulness, promptness,fidelity etc. are limited in numbers; positive skills are difficult to count to the extent of exhaustion.                   However we can safely imagine that all verbs indicating positive knowledge driven actions are skills.               The discussion that ensued touched upon various aspects of Skill-Value propositions by way of following examples-        * If a person usually arrives late anywhere it means he attaches least importance to punctuality.So punctuality as value counts low for him.         * If a person always tries his best to speak the truth it can be taken to mean that truthfulness as a value is very high for him.   ...

               विश्वामित्र को राजा कहना सुनने में थोड़ा अस्वाभाविक लगता है क्योंकि जनमानस में वे ऋषि के रूप में हीं जाने जाते हैं.ऋषि भी ऐसे वैसे नहीं बल्कि ब्रह्मर्षि वशिष्ठ के समकक्ष! न उनसे जरा भी कम न ज्यादा. अपने चिरविरोधी वशिष्ठ के मुख से उन्होंने अपने लिए ब्रह्मर्षि कहलवा के ही अपने तप की पूर्णाहुति की.                यही इस कथा का climax है ******************************************** किंतु उनकी कथा का आरंभ उन्हें राजा कह के ही हो सकता है क्योंकि विश्वामित्र जन्म से एक क्षत्रिय वंशज राजा ही थे. यह उनका दुर्धष तप हीं था जिसके बदौलत वे ब्रह्मर्षि कहलाये. विश्वामित्र के एक प्रतापी क्षत्रिय वंशज राजा से ब्रह्मर्षि होने की कहानी उनकी ब्रह्मर्षि वशिष्ठ से सुदीर्घ संघर्ष और उसमें उन्हें मिली पराजय की कहानी है.                     बाल्मीकि रामायण में इसका विस्तार से किंतु सुंदर वर्णन है. यह संघर्ष कथा अत्यंत रोचक तो है ही इससे यह भी सीख लिया जा सकता है क...

Very often by default we tend to interpret Dharma from the view point of religion that we profess.  Dharma is far from it.  If we make an attempt to understand Dharma we are led to the conclusion that it epitomises the righteous code of conduct  which remains the same across all religions. It is useful to make a distinction between Dharma and its English translation Religion. Whereas Dharma seeks to emphasise  the substantive aspect of one’s personality; religion is interested in focussing the formal part of it by delineating the methods  of observing various forms of worships. Dharma has nothing to do with worships and its paraphernalia. In fact these are the core concerns of religion. *********************************************** Our scriptures say that which is agreeable to our conscience is Dharma.  In A.S Narayana Deekshtulu v. State of Andhra  Pradesh, AIR 1986 it has been explained as follows: Word ‘Dharma’ denotes, upholding, supporting, nour...

***उगना रे मोर कतय गेला*** मैथिल कोकिल विद्यापति भगवान शिव के अनन्य भक्त छलाह. विद्यापति केर भक्ति सं प्रसन्न भऽ भगवान सोचलैन जे नोकर बनिकऽ अपन भक्त केर सेवा कैल जाय. भगवान अपन भक्त के दुआरे की की नै करै छथि. ओना तऽ हम सब गोटे इ जनैते छी जे भगवान सदिखन भक्त केर बस में रहै छैथ तथापि इ जनैतो एहि दिस प्रायः उपेक्षे भाव रहैत ये. अस्तु.                तखन विलम्ब कोन बात के! शिवजी तुरंत विद्यापति के ओहिठाम मनुखक भेस में नोकर बनय खातिर ठाढ़ भऽ गेलाह. (अहि संदर्भ में हुनकर एक लोकप्रसिद्ध खिस्सा- उगना रे मोर कतय गेलाह-जे प्रायः सबगोटे जनैत छथि अपन भाषा में लिखैक प्रयत्न कऽ रहल छी. सुधी पाठक लोकैन से निवेदन जे ओ तथ्यगत वा भाषागत त्रुटि के क्षमा कऽ देता.) ********* *********** ********** ******* विद्यापति अपन दुआर पर बैसल छलाह; मनहि मन आंखि मूनि किछु सोचिए रहल छलाह तावत एक बालक अवस्था करीब १४-१५ बरिस उपस्थित भऽ बाजल. बालक- सरकार! हम बड गरीब छी. हमरा अहां अपन नोकर राखि लिय. हम अहांक सेवा टहल करब. वि०- तों कतऽ से उगि गेलाह! तोहर नाम कि छौ; कोन गाम तोह...

Afghanistan has fallen. Talibans have taken full control of it. They now are impatiently waiting for August 31 to come. This is the scheduled date of final departure of american troops. Common afghan stands duped by the way America withdrew. All of a sudden life and safety of not only the people of Afghanistan but foreign nationals too who are there for any reasons whatsoever stands severely compromised. Women and children are left at the mercy of their fate which is now under the control of the Taliban.                        Meanwhile anarchy through Talibani Dictates is ruling Afghanistan.The result is people are desperate to leave the country at any cost. In a desperate bid to do so lots of people risking their lives don't hesitate clinging to even the wings of planes ready to take off.  The panic and impatience can be readily gauged from this uncommon traits of sane minds gone irrational. Scenes of women being oppress...