Will Power – or the lack of it?

Will Power – or the lack of it?

Many times in our conversations we come across will power being the driving force behind success. Will power is stated to be the ‘control’ deliberately exerted to do something or restrain impulses. It’s also known as the faculty by which a person decides on and initiates action. Some people also call it the adult voice within that overcomes with great effort the powerful impulses that may be actually harmful to the human concerned.

In one such conversation with a gentleman who had totally given up smoking and drinking the day doctor told him that he has to change his ways or he would die soon. The successful businessman was in his mid forties then and could see his children still in their teens and a wife to support. While the day of the doctor’s advice was truly tumultuous and shocking, he had to decide one way or the other. He gave up smoking and drinking immediately and never touched them again. Now an octogenarian, I was appreciating him for his will power. What he said was more alarming! He said it was not will power but the lack of it. Surprised? Well, he further explained that he could never stop at a peg or two or stay put after say five cigarettes. Instead he found it far easier to give it all up rather than limit him.

We come across this phenomenon too often. People who can do away with sweets and desserts totally, find themselves devouring dollops of ice-cream the day they take the first scoop. The way I look at it is that will power (intellect – or adult voice or inner voice) and mind power (mind – or child voice or outer voice) are the two sides of the same coin. The coin being the thought power. We have two driving forces. The one that finds the easy way but not necessarily the right way and the other that knows that the way is difficult but the right way. If the mind is let loose it will get berserk into all attractions of the world. While it is the will that controls this mind from going astray. So it is only through will power that life can be disciplined.

We always have simultaneously several thoughts running through our mind. Have you not realized that when you are reading a book, the eyes continue to read the words but your thoughts are already elsewhere. Then a voice alarms you and guides you back to concentrate on the book. Some also term it as the conscious mind and sub conscious mind. While the sub conscious mind has immense capacity, it is at the will of the conscious mind. Hence we need to be very careful about the thoughts that run through our conscious mind because the sub conscious mind does not have the power to analyze. It just accepts. So the need of consciously following a process of positive thinking.

In fact it is sad but we as humans have so many negative thoughts and the worst part is we do not even realize that our thinking is negative. We often go one length further to  term it as reality. Let me give you an example: Let us say you are drawing a plan to achieve something. While working on it, you also think of Plan B as a fall back. However the moment you think of Plan B subconsciously you have already failed plan A and the whole energy gets directed to Plan B. If the energy is so guided it’s obvious that Plan A fails. Then you say – see, I told you. However, you totally forget that you had actually given more energy to Plan B than what you should have given to Plan A. If you are fully focused on Plan A, you would do everything under the sun to achieve it and you will. This is where the guiding will power helps.

So it is essential to filter our thoughts and assure ourselves to only let the positive thoughts sink within. It is not being in denial but guiding the path to get positive results.

Anagha Hunnurkar

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Biting the apple - My take

As we grew up, almost all of us have come to know the story of Adam and Eve. The love of God overcome by the influence of the snake culminating into biting of the apple , that resulted into banishing of Adam and Eve from the high echelons of the Paradise to Earth.

In fact there is a Hindu sect that believes that this earth is the prison from where we have to strive to go to Heaven by continuously chanting the Lord's name.

Over the years have also realised that these tales, parables and happenings of the yore are instilled in the young mind and on a gross level may appear vague or distant, surely enough enshrined within though symbolic in nature , a deep subtler meaning.

As we mature our perspective changes and we are able to unfold those inner meanings like the petals of a bud that are inaccessible but the moment the flower blooms the glory is all revealed.

To my mind the banishment symbolises losing our purer qualities by the influence of exterior environment that creates ripples in our value system and over the years the divine qualities in us get shrouded by negative tendencies , popularly known as षड्रिपू or six enemies : lust, anger, greed, attachment, ego and envy.

Mind you, it could happen over a life time or over generations but the degeneration is slow and sure , although may not be manifest immediately.

A case in point is all the professions. Teaching and Medicine , long considered to be noble professions are seen today not in the same context as in the past . Doubt, mistrust, helplessness - these are the predominant feelings today when someone is hospitalised. While there are definitely dedicated teachers or doctors on a summation we do not find these proffessions to have that past glory.

During the initial phase after India attained independance , corruption was considered to be a vice. Yet as money gained more importance over means , corruption which was once a taboo has become a way of life especially for politicians and key government positions. Again there are exceptions yet the degeneration is very apparent.

Call it by any name economics , commercialisation, consumerism or any other name. After all what's in a name ? A rose would smell as sweet even if called by any other name -said Shakespeare.

Take natural calamities as an example. Some excesses of mankind result in ill effects elsewhere. In fact the ripple effect of the flapping of the wings of a butterfly has the ability to cause a tsunami - it is said. There was a landslide recently in Rwanda and the Nyabugogo river which is known as a very calm river - so much so that am told there is a saying in Kinyarwanda that loosely translates to :' this river is so calm that one has to come to it to be dead'. That very river , which was never known to go beyond its banks , was in full spate as a domino effect of the landslide resulting in many people losing their lives and property.

Public infrastructure like bridges, including the one on Nyabugogo River, were also temporarily submerged making them impassable for a few days.

The transition could also symbolise the first premordial sound - OM ! When Brahman initiated action - The Creator created the Universe.

So these timeless tales bear a lesson for us and although as children we may have heard or read several times,it is worthwhile to read them again , to bring that discipline in our life that helps one to elevate to be a better soul.

The Vedas, upanishads, Bhagwad Geeta , Ramayan ,Mahabharat et all have in them the divine wisdom and so whether reinterpreted by Devidutta Patnaik or cast as TV serials these continue to woo the audiences by their timeless potency.

Perform or Perish…is it ?

Perform or Perish…is it ?

We are so used to some old adages and sometimes even quote them often in awe of the great wisdom of the wise ones. Yet as the world becomes a global village , as technology advances the word ‘perform’ itself no more means just being better at the things that you do but in fact perform becomes old wine. The new adage should read ‘transform or perish’.

Let me give an example. I do not want to go as early as the IBM or General Motors story though it is just about two decades old. At one time when internet was through computers land lines cable manufacturing, cable laying was big business. Then came mobile phones, then wi fi and now even cloud computing where data storage has become a matchbox case. Another example is that of photography. Again I am not mentioning the old film roll and washing. I am citing the digital age , the social media and the speed with which information flows today. Your cell phone is the office tool. The Nokias, the Kodaks were iconic. In fact Nokia was so busy in perfecting their cell phones that they never even realized when the touch phone technology just pulled the rug off their feet and in no time taken over by Microsoft. Hacking is another big thing – remember the saga of Sony pictures having to cancel the December 25 release of The Interview because of security concerns from threats related to the film.

I am consciously quoting big names – the too big to fail types as well as well entrenched players . Take the case of Amazon . Amazon began selling its own smart phone, the Fire, in late July,2014 but failed to entice anywhere near the number of customers it had hoped would be interested in the mobile device. The company took a $170 million write-down during the third quarter of 2014, much of it attributed to unsold Fire smart phones, Amazon announced in October, a month after the online retailer dropped the price of the phone with a two-year contract from $199 to just 99 cents. The company reported it had roughly $83 million worth of unsold Fire inventory as of the end of the third quarter. Do you think they would not have done their own research? Yet somewhere down the line one incorrect decision can cause a big hole in profitability.

From the Jungle Raj to today we have come a long way. Now it is not enough to say that ‘the lion has to be faster than the slowest deer but the deer has to be faster than the fastest lion’. Now the rules of the game have so drastically changed that one has to not just perform but TRANSFORM or perish. What you did in two years has to be performed in half that time at double the speed is ‘performing’. Yet while doing so one eye has to be on the changing technology that throws up both – new opportunities as well as challenges.

So I guess the new mantra is : Transform or perish!

Anagha Hunnurkar

November 2, 2015

Come September!

Come September!

Yesterday was 5^th September 2015 celebrated as Janmashtami and Teacher’s day in India and as Kwita Izina -  the naming ceremony of 24 baby monkey gorillas that is a big draw as it attracts a lot of tourists to Rwanda. As a coincidence I was watching the film ‘3 idiots’ in which 5^th September had its unique relevance. September also evokes nostalgia of the super movie of yesteryears - Come September. So many ways in which one can refer to September, I thought.

As I sat listening to the bhajans at the Janmashtami celebrations at Hindu Mandal in Kigali, I realized that Lord Krishna is also addressed in so many different names. While one knows that these avtars being super human their qualities and their achievements are described through these names -  Like the Vishnu Sahastranam that describes Lord Vishnu in a thousand names or even the stotras that describe a deity in several names and forms – yet the question remains as to why is it that one needs to describe something in so many different ways.

Even a mother and child bond, the children address their mother as Ma, or Mum or amma, awwa , aai and the mother too calls out to the child with so many lovable names. As I kept pondering , I thought of another possibility. The vividness in names is not just to describe qualities but perhaps has a much expansive scope. It is a result of the expression of ever flowing love. As the human intellect blossoms it is able to capture the subtler meanings or emotions that need to be encapsulated in words. That gives rise to rich vocabulary. A mere action of tears flowing from eyes can be described in several ways: cry, sob, weep, wail, moan, bawl so on and so forth.

In contrast there are some words that have no synonym so to say. Words like infinity, cloud, are not called by any other name. William Shakespeare had said that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. What is in a name? Yet each name evokes a different feeling and as human sensitivities become subtler the language oozes in a free flowing prose or verse with figures of speech, vocabulary, rhythm that makes the heart beat and life joyful. After all variety is the spice of life, isn’t it? 

Anagha Hunnurkar

September 6, 2015

Mind Game

In a temple or at a common meeting place if someone asks you to write one quality or am emotion that you see or feel among the persons around you highly probable that you may turn around and say: Are you crazy, I don’t even know them. Yet if you read your mind carefully,it keeps making silent notes of all that you see or feel around you. People who do it with awareness end up developing observation skills.

Having heard so much on positive thinking I took this idea a little further, so that the next time that I was at a public place I started the same mind game but with a twist. I started the same mind game but with a rule or a menu to the mind. The mind had to observe and explore a quality or a virtue in the person around, be it a passerby, a woman selling fruits,a car driving past or a bird flying above. By the way, did you know that anything that is flying in the air is addressed as ‘ndege’ in Kiswahili? So funnily, a bird as well as an airplane is a ‘ndege’.

So coming back to the main point,as I started this new mind game, to my delight I came across things that I had never observed before e.g. all Rwandan women have a beautiful skin and feet with no cracks at all, be it your housemaid or even an old woman begging on the road. Another thing I found that disabled persons sit at select vantage points (read high foot falls) on the walk paths but never have a begging bowl or even an extended hand for begging. If passersby give, it’s OK, if they don’t, that is also OK. As you bargain with fruit selling women, if you make a counter offer to their price, they will simply say ‘Oya’ with absolute no expression on the face.You would think that she has agreed and would now want to buy. It only dawned on me latter on that sadly, ‘Oya’ means NO. She has not taken the counteroffer.

This mind game was now becoming both positive as well as funny. So then I extended it to observing shoppers at the mall or shopkeepers at smaller stores. It’s really hard to find a virtue in total strangers except for physical attributes. Yet the depth of the eyes, the smile on the face and the gestures do start telling a story. Being all alone sometimes,you are so engrossed in your own that sometimes you forget the game and have to remind your mind to commence. Once you get accustomed then you also start reflecting on those relations that you would want a better bonding. By and by you find that each one of us have so many good qualities. The competitive nature seeks to find out that missing 2 % rather than being happy about the 98%.
I remember when my daughter was about a 5 year old and I was perusing through her answer paper. She had missed the 100 mark by just one mark. I said to her, ‘Sonu, how could you do such a silly mistake’ The innocent replied: Ma, if I had known it is a mistake, would I have made it ? So actually we don’t do or make a mistake, it happens. Making mistake is a wrong English usage I guess.

Remember the score of 90 + of Sachin Tendulkar and the tense moments every time he missed the record? As they say the story of the 99 club. Once you reach 99, you want to get 100 and you lose all sleep.

Instead we reverse the order and be happy of the abundance around rather than finding faults and the world automatically becomes a better place to live, irrespective of its challenges.

Anagha Hunnurkar
Sunday, August 23, 2015

The flame of life

Many years back, one of the very first spiritual workshop I had attended was a training program organized by my office of a Swamiji , who was a sought after Guru in corporate circles. It is not really relevant who the speaker was as I have latter on attended so many other discourses and Yoga training/ workshops  , which in turn have helped immensely to progress in life, that I continue to be grateful to each of the masters and the line of thought. One of the things that one tends to do at such workshops is to seek all those unanswered questions about life. At that young age, one does not realize the wise saying: Don’t try to answer life’s questions cause by the time you are ready with answers, life itself changes the questions.

Well the reason I was reminded of this was because of a conversation with a youngster who said he can never forgive people for the wrongs that they afflicted on him. I had exactly similar strong emotions when Swamiji had asked all of us to forgive. Let go, he had then said. The whole idea was not whether who was right or wrong but whether you wanted to be hooked in the past, so that the present fritters away and  you deny yourself progress. To a young mind this is all very strange, to some extent unappealing and perhaps bizarre. Some even said it is denying the reality and living in Utopia.
So continuing the thread of forgiveness or being thankful and filling oneself with the emotion of gratitude is mainly for the subconscious to be free from the heavy weight of depression,sorrowful and sad thoughts to enable it to feel light and elevate itself to happier feelings of love, affection and abundance. It is only when one has emptied oneself of the dark feelings that one can fill oneself up with desirable qualities. One of my Guru used to tell me, look at those who do not have and you will appreciate how blessed you are.I used to respond by saying that it is no fair way of feeling happy by realizing that more people are in a despondent state than me. How can I feel better at the misery of others, I used to ponder. What sometimes elders fail to point out is the purpose. The rationale is akin to what we say – wealth begets more wealth. So feeling content with whatever you have right now  is the starting point to magnetize joy.

Another beautiful oft repeated example is that of an orange. When one squeezes an orange, one gets orange juice. Why is it that we do not get apple juice or mango juice out of an orange? Obviously, the reason is that an orange is filled with orange pulp. Similarly, if one’s subconscious is filled with depression, sorrow, remorse, negativity then when squeezed ( read challenged) all that will vent out is anger, frustration and the like. Hence the need is to fill the subconscious with positivism. The power of attraction ( remember 'The Secret'? ) advocates exactly that. The subconscious has to learn that it has to gear up to the thoughts which makes it feel cheerful and consequently it attracts happiness.

With these thoughts when I started to reflect as to whom I would like to thank – my life went into a filmy style flashback. Foremost were those who taught me – my Gurus –parents, my sisters,  teachers, bosses, friends and even my own children. All those who supported me in thick and thin , who instilled confidence in me.  Then came the benefactors – again parents were in forefront of the list, followed by a certain set of teachers, bosses,relatives. Then I thought of my supporters and admirers - your very own personal fan mail so to say. As the thought process churned,  to my amazement I found that I have more to thank those who harmed me than those who helped me. Surprised? Well, let me explain. The challengers, the attackers, the enemies and above all one time friends turned foes, know very well that an open competition would not work out well as they would get defeated hands down. So when meritocracy is wanting,they indulge in politics. At this moment I may sound pompous but let me complete. What do these people do? They create obstacles and  life becomes tough for you. One has to doubly prove oneself to singly match with such scheming mechanisms. The best example that I can give is that of the Mahabharat  fame wily Shakunimama who help the Kauravas to win over Pandavas. So coming back to our main point, I realized that these people are designed to be planted in one’s life so that one is able to surface the turbulence caused by the bitter experience, just as gold shines brighter when subjected to fire. So all ye people I thank you from the chore of my heart for hitting me on my weak spots as it has helped me to evolve and emerge.  You have done a service that even the most benevolent well-wisher of mine has not been able to do. Every prayer ends with thanks. We give thanks three times to cover all the categories, I guess.

Summing up, our soul or subconscious is also like a flame. If it glows like a lamp (read a calm and stable mind) it has the power to create magic. However, if it flickers like a faltering flame in a storm (read wavering mind) or like a blaze (read disturbed mind) then no guesses to tell that the result would be a disaster. The flame of life is happiness, the wick is the forgiveness, the oil is the gratitude and the lamp holding it all is the soul.
So the forgiveness is not for them but for you. It is for programming the soul to be happy. Even our prayers are sung in praise not because the Lord needs it but because we need to feel ecstatic and happy. This is the  key to our well being, which our forefathers knew very well and packaged it as a religion.
 
Anagha Hunnurkar
Monday, August 17, 2015

Jungle Raj

Jungle Raj

A cousin of my mine sent a video yesterday of a chase between an eagle and a squirrel. The eagle had to really work hard to get its prey. There were maneuvering tactics, a display of speed and rising emotions of valor, fear that gripped the viewer. In the end the squirrel managed to shelter itself by scurrying into a tree hollow. So for the eagle it proved to be a wild goose chase so to say.   Not wanting to give up, the eagle tried to put its beak in the hole but to no avail. Finally took the flight to find another prey. The maxim ‘survival of the fittest’ so aptly applied to that chase. It could have been anybody’s guess as to who would win. Yet since winning of the eagle meant death of the squirrel, as we watch the video our sympathies naturally rest with the squirrel. So when ultimately the panting squirrel peeps out of the hollow after the eagle has given up and flown away, one does tend to heave a sigh of relief and the beautiful large eyes of the squirrel leave their mark in our memory.

As I finished seeing that video was reminded about the hunt we witnessed at Serengeti park way back in 2005. It’s been ten years but some memories are so vivid. The wild buffalo was protecting its calf against a pack of lionesses. The hunt is strategic. It is no less a team work of a cricket or a football team. The vast grasslands of Serengeti are a perfect camouflage for the lionesses who position themselves like pawns on a chessboard or should I say like the game of kabbaddi, with two of them taking the lead and others waiting to cover the prey, but settled at a  calculated distance. The lion lay slothfully on a rock giving lazy glances once in a while to the hunting pack but otherwise blissfully enjoying the sun. The calf was closely following its mother and the daredevil buffalo was taking the lionesses by the horns flinging them far away. Again and again the lionesses were trying to hunt the calf but the buffalo was valiantly protecting it with its powerful nudges, use of hooves to kick and the horns to fling them away. 

The driver was telling us, by and by the buffalo will get tired as there are were about eight lionesses. So the game was that of the cat and the mouse. Tiring the prey until it gives up. Once tired the pounce and the hunting down becomes easy. However it needs a lot of strength even for that. That is the point where the lion will finally come and hunt the prey with his powerful attack. Again like the squirrel, our heart ran out to the meek calf. Lo and behold, after some time some more wild buffaloes – mainly bulls  joined in the struggle and in no time the mamma buffalo had gone very very far away with its calf, out of reach of the lions. The hunt had failed. The bulls were too powerful for the pack and the lions had to beat a retreat.

As I thought about all this I realized that nature has not been too kind with the hunters. Although the eagle had a sharp beak and claws or the lions had power, if one observes, one finds that the eagle was not able to fly with wings wide open as the squirrel was scampering through twigs and branches across trees. So with wings half open, the eagle had to space out itself and yet maintain speed. Similarly the deer and buffaloes have hooves and horns but the lion have soft paws. The sharp nails and teeth of the lions or the claws of the eagle are good enough for tearing off the prey once hunted but the hunting by itself is a lot of sweat and that too on a daily basis.

They do not have bank accounts for retirement, in fact forget retirement they do not have a store for even few days’ food. They have no rest or holiday nor financial planning for future. They have to earn their daily bread. Once into safety, the squirrel too has to search for nuts and can even store them for the icy days when there is no food available. Thus here again the herbivores are better off than the carnivores. As I said nature has not been too kind to them.

Although our sympathies go out for the squirrel or the calf, yet we do not stamp the eagle or the lion as beings accumulating bad karma. Nor does the squirrel think – O why this has happened to me? What have I done wrong that the eagle has to hunt me?  There is no mind chattering and it goes about in search of food. Living in the present, so to say.

It is we humans who waste a lot of energy in worrying for the future or ruing on the past. The power of thought and discretion, given to mankind is for creating value,  by living in the present. Plan for the future, learn from the past and move on.

Incidentally, yesterday -  also happened to be the day known as August Kranti Diwas, more popularly known as the launching day of the Quit India movement ,  when way back in 1942 , Gandhiji gave the call of ‘Do or die’ to attain sampoorna swarajya or independence. The call is as relevant today as it was way back in 1942. We have to keep putting effort or we perish. So whether we inculcate the philosophy of Lord Krishna, Gandhiji , Lord Buddha , Swami Vivekananda et all , the truth is to live in the present. The nature trail also teaches us just that, what say?

Anagha Hunnurkar

Sunday, 9^th August 2015