BlissTarang

 Last two decades have seen some really intense effort on part of scientific community to collaborate the distinct faculties of science for better understanding. In a recent panel discussion of one such gathering in San Diego, there were fundamental discussions around social primates, self identity and xenophobia. I have attempted to  further the interpretation in the following manner for Corporate Use. 1. “We are social primates”…we are primed to be social…to have interpersonal relations or equations with family, neighbours, relatives, occupational, society, ecosystem at large. This is exhibited humungously more in humans than any other species. 2.” Deriving self identity also on basis of groups we are a part of”…identity of self has a big component of “belonging ness ” to a group… ….”birds of a feather flock together”…is a classic reference point. In fact in the Corporate Environment, the employees quickly figure out seeming like-minded ness and align ...

World roars, “Who Are You?”, Ignorant Follower…the Mind… doesn’t Argue. To become “The Who”, you join the race, The Climb to become the Followed “Few”. “Is” versus  “The Ought” lives few moments in your busy life, “The Who” shouts back, “Ought” is a mirage…the endless-meaningless strife. “The Who” enslaves you, en-corrupts you, Un-ethics you, Un-humans you, You say just some more distance you will cover and then, You will leave the chase of “The Who” “The Who” as defined in Scriptures, also the Science necessitates, Is “The Who” who Lives Life of Values-Virtues; Million Years of Human Existence, Billions walked this Earth, Few made it to “The Who” and Many a Billion mere Clueless Clue, Values-Virtues are super abundant and needs only to be mined, “The Who” is No-Thing but brutal battle inside and of the Mind. Everytime you become ‘The Who”, you want to be “Another Who”, From “One Who” to “Another Who”, If you can discover … The One witnessing inside of You...

  In the vastness of inattention, there is a thread of attention In the ocean of forgetfullness, there is a drop of memory In the galaxy of vacuum, there are some grains of matter In the continuum of existence, there is figment of space In the moment called billion billion years, there is a tick of time For what we chose to attend, there is vastness of wilful or default ignorance. In Corporate Scenario, one hunts for statistics, analysis, etc to reduce the vast dimension of data. This in debate of sages vs scientist is refered to as “reductionist” approach where we reduce everything to mind-friendly patterns or equation or theories. And this precisely what is contradicted by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book Black Swan where the affinity to the known makes us enemity or dislodger  to the infinity of unknown. In Corporate, One has to be mindful and awareful of wider gamut of data always to see if one is missing the assimilation of outlier in quest to pat...

“Why don’t employees in my company rise above the monetary gains to selves?” “What is the missing link between “professionalism” and “emotional being” that we are?” These and many questions haunt many a leaders nowadays. Since time immemorial, humans have existed in communities. These communities transformed depending on thrival-instincts and survival extincts. These communities took different shape, size, localizations and thrived on varied occupancy around basic food, shelter, clothing, social interactions. From ancient times of everyday food gathering to food preservation for long term to “subsistence” to barter systems to “mudra” systems to monetary systems, the skill levels kept changing and expanding. During each change, the social purpose also kept changing in terms of “time devoted for social interactions”, ” geographical reach of social interactions”, “physical presence during social interactions”, “physical space of social interactions”, “blending economic...

“How are you feeling?” started the conversation for Rajesh. Dilip replied, “Nothing good”. Their learned friend standing by the side switched the awareness… …nothing good …no thing is good …all things are not good …all things that matter are not good …all things that matter are not giving the matterless-the good …all matters are not giving the matterless …all forms failing the formless. For all the formless to exist, there is a form that delivers the emotion or experience. For example…redness which is a formless quality cannot exist without a matter or form which carries the redness. Redness waves need the form for the necessary qualia or subjective experience. It is said in wisdom scriptures that one should constantly carry feelings/formlessness of happiness, purity, bliss, peace, love, power of will, compassion. A deep inquiry sets a question as to -where do we carry this? And an integral question is, “ is this feeling the effect we look for or the ca...

Bandra Western Express Highway, Mumbai. Two trees in the background of the picture. One laden with blushing leaves, swinging branches, smiling bark. The other tree impoverished and famished. My vehicle pulled over to the side and  I walked a few curious steps towards the nearest residence and submitted by inquiry, “what’s the story with the two trees?”. The neighbor smiled and said that till a few months back, both of them completed a beautiful partnership like Sachin-Kambli school-cricketing historic partnership of 664 runs. Then somehow one of them lost its way and to the sway. Somehow this seemingly adjacent but contrasting outcomes to almost same inputs (as like above) remains the ever so mysterious enigma. It was this stroke of insight that even drove Deepak Chopra towards spirited Spiritual quest. He was unable to comprehend how two patients with almost same history, health,potential , treatment from same Dr…would give conflicting outcomes. One ancient acco...

“let’s quickly leave” quipped Chandi. Nandy smiled “why don’t we just stay a bit and help Kishan”. Chandi’s mind which had already left the office was annoyed at being called back. “Why should I bother? It’s not my job. Besides it doesn’t figure in my KPI”. “My job is different from your job and I would do my bit and move on”…is the common attitude at most workplaces. Many a times this very approach also leads to dismal understanding about the fact that while each department has to be named differently and having specific objectives, it is intricately, un-removably intertwined with other department. Some Ancient scriptures talk about a philosophy of non-dualism which means that …there is no distinction between the self (purusham) and the nature/universe (prakriti) or …in other words the subject-object experience that makes up all our experiences are one (this is even revealed in the latest scientific leap called qualia which means that ultimately all experie...

“We are poised for quantum leap” “we have what it takes to grow really big” “scale is the game of the name and the name of the game” …Roared Sukchar…CEO of a Small Sized Company. His Guru asked Sukchar as to, “What is growth?” and “Why growth?”. Sukchar said that everybody everywhere is expanding. Growth is life, and  stagnancy or degrowth is death. Guru asked “does growth guarantee no-death of a corporate?”. Sukchar paused and then stuttered and then could offer only blank wide eyes. Guru then turned the gaze and said…”look at the universe”. At any given point of time, the Universe is massively expanding (scientists have numerous  researches to support this) and they say that there shall come a time when successive scale would lead to implosion. Guru continued to explain that it is Nature’s nature to teach…we should learn. He then added that there is a beautiful balance and cosmos in the way nature manages itself. Guru then quizzed Sukchar to...

 A man went to a Wise one and asked, “what and where is consciouness?” Wise man pointed to the man’s hand and asked, “what is this?”. Replied the man, “That’s my hand”. The wise one then went on and asked about the person’s legs, ears, eyes and hair. He then went to the level of asking as to who answered these questions. The man said that his thoughts helped him answer his questions. So the wise one asked, “Are you the thoughts?”… To which the man said “no”. This inquiry went on and finally the conclusion was that the “awareness” that is aware of itself being the witness of the body, thoughts, emotions is the consciousness. Deepak Chopra says that consciousness is non-local…one that exists not in time, space and matter. The world calls it the new scale called the plank scale at which time, matter and space seize to exist. Now turning to the corporate or company. Is Marketing the company? No. Is sales the company? no is HR the company? no. And forth so, it i...

Bliss Series (Inquiry into Existance) Corporate Desires and what are they? …The Financial Gaze (banks, equity holders) desire higher and higher return; …The Customer Gaze (Higher Quality at Lower Cost); …The Vendor Gaze (Higher Order @ Higher Price); …The Employee Gaze (Higher Salary with Life Balance); …The Nation Gaze (Higher Employment, Higher Taxes); …The Society Gaze (Prudent Resource Usage, Give back higher to the society). All the Gazes indicate Rajas or Expansive Expectations from almost all stakeholders. Is it really possible to maintain equanimity or poise or in other words “sattva” in amidst this ever growing mountain of expectations and desires. Will any of the above stakeholders forego their expansive posture? And if they do, will it really lead to equanimity or poise? Is expansiveness innately bad? Inherent in the concept of expansiveness as desired by all stakeholders is the idea of -fair reward for the effort or contribution, -fair returns fo...

We are all subjected to reviews in every moment… in all places…in all matters of life. Some reviews are structured [repeatable, reproducible, over time, over  different people], periodic while some are ad-hoc, one-off, unstructured. Then again some reviews are personal while there also are professional reviews. Each passing moment of review is actually a moment of judging or analyzing where our chitta [awareness channel], jnanedriyas [sensory organs] interplays with the vivek [discretion],  memory bank and the unfolding ever-growing “desires”. If at several times the reviewer is not anybody else, then for surely it is our self reviewing self. Communities in ancient times inquired, imbibed, assimilated,  handed-down several ways of making -sense of life, nature, cosmos in chaos. Some of them became foundational texts of “way of being” and some of them later got wrapped in the womb of religion. These texts even articulated modus operandi of an institution. Such insti...

Last few days, I spent some time chatting with employees of large Organisation while doing daily chores. I met front line executive of leading Privilege Banking firm, I spoke to senior staff of a reputed hotel in Mumbai, also chatted with a senior member of a Public Sector Unit. I made seven such contacts. I asked a question, “what do you make of current scenario building in India…the political stand-off, the capex slowdown, the stress on most balance sheets and seeming recessionary trends” I got some interesting answers ranging from …it’s doom time …we are completely lost …the company is taking rash decisions …we don’t know about our future …india will go back to draconian times …India shining is passé . Now let’s unveil the above…any such environment of economic slowdown or stand-offs have something in common…natural slowing of pace of business, slow decision making, slow movement of money, less communication, increased caution in newer things….underlying s...

Innovation has been called as the eternal life-saving sanjeevani (medicine) of many a corporations. Some have been able to successfully build it as a company wide culture whilst many have somehow scripted only boardroom innovations. If we go back into mankind’s evolution then innovation has been both an autonomous function at the cellular level where adaptations, survival instincts got developed and then again there were conscious innovations at the mind and conscience level. Modern management deploys several tools for fostering innovations such as brainstorming, brain tree, blue oceans (reduce, raise, create, eliminate), out of box thinking, some esoteric epistemology tools. However in Vedic Scriptures, there was a beautiful method imparted for exercising oneself in the practice of innovation such that it becomes natural response. There is a mention of “Adbhuta” or deliberately looking for wonderment in simple things. This would then be further classified as 1. ...

Names changed for confidentiality. True Story. “JV” is a middle-aged successful professional. He pioneered a whole new industry in India with a company named ABC. And for 10 long years literally ruled the industry until the time one of World’s TOP 10 private equity bought out the company in which JV was the CEO. The promoter of the company sold ABC for a great deal but didnt fairly share the rewards with JV. JV then quietly wore the hat of Buddha (let go) and walked out with proper handover. This time to start his own venture. A leading international company found promise in his potential and committed to invest. For approx two long years, JV marched with zeal and set the stage for creating another biggie. However the international company tricked tactics for cornering JV to a non-vocal, docile minority in the new venture. JV initially moved with great anguish…in thoughts…in words…in feelings…in action. The battle turf was drawn and there were hot and cold war bein...

The Dope of the Known, The Fear of the Unknown…haven’t we heard this often. In Corporate Inc, very often the “experiencer” counts on the “experience” of the “experienced”. And this “experience” stays in the memory bank and is referred or consulted whence any similar situation arise. Only that this time the context in which “to-similar-experience” has changed. In Taoism, it is said that every perspective has a limitation. It goes on to propose that such limitation arise owing to one’s partiality or affinity of the past experience. The same reflection can be seen in Bruce Lee’s words, “Man…the creating individual…the living individual is more important than the erstwhile …the system…the style” . He emphasised the true meaning of spontaneity where despite the endless and tiring workouts with zillion situations and moves, one still has to act spontaneously in the ring. Similarly when Sachin Tendulkar would take every new guard, his past belt of experience and creden...

Asatho ma Sathgamaya …lead me from untruth to the truth, Tamasho ma jyotirgamaya …lead me from darkness to light Mrityormaamritamgamaya …lead me from death to eternity For everything that is manifest or “vyakt” …there is a co-relate of unmanifest or “avyakt”. The universal “avyakt” is said to be the omnipotent and omnipresent…the supreme being ….behind the obvious and apparent veil of worldly perceptions. One needs to develop the ability to cultivate oneself to see the truth behind the presented “untruth” …to see the light behind the dark picture…to look at sustainable behind the destructible. Several philosophers have depicted this age as an age of ever-so-high “delusion”. Delusion or misplaced definitions of “values giving way to valuation”, “from circle of sentiments to sentiments to the circles” “long term giving way to short term” “from Yama, Niyama of Life to cut-throat strife” “from purpose to power” “from duty to designations” As DevduttaPatnaik says...

There are multiple references to Jnana in ancient scriptures… JnanaBandhanam …as in shiv sutra which means One needs to have knowledge that knowledge can be binding. “That which binds cannot liberate” Nahi Jnanena Sadrashem Pavitram Iha Vidyate…there can be nothing more purifying than knowledge. But here the reference is the knowledge of keeping the quest “on” for the supreme knowledge. Jnana Bhakti Vairagyam Siddhiartham Ahamidam Pujyam Karishye…for attainment of knowledge for knowledge, faith-devotion, worldly-withdrawal, one has to continuous “ritual” and “tapas” (strive). In Nyaya philosophy, it is said to have four valid source of knowledge perception (pratyaksha), inference (anumana), comparison (upamana). &testimony (sabda). Modern Scientific inquiry has subject called epistemology which is …what is knowledge? …how do we acquire it? .. To what extent is it possible for a given subject to be known? As Deepak Chopra says that everybody’s world is...

In the gaze of the tangible and intangible pursuit in the world…one thing that is being taught from day one and it sort of stays with everyone is the fact that we have to be different because if we are not different, the world as taught to us will choose our substitute and we become redundant. Redundancy threatens survival. Be different, Be different Chants and echoes our ears, Be different, be different, Becomes habit, trait over the years The quest wipes the shame The quest fires for the fame   Request becomes command Love, peace no longer an available virtue but a hopeless demand What so different can we be When eyes turn wild, tongues turn bitter,   What so different can we be When homes turn asylum, world goes shatter Different…sure we ought to be Different…else scary it is for “naught” to be Different…not in every sense Different…while maintaining purity, peace, bliss, loving, happiness as common sense Different…sure we got to be Differen...

We are all subjected to reviews in every moment… in all places…in all matters of life. Some reviews are structured [repeatable, reproducible, over time, over different people], periodic while some are ad-hoc, one-off, unstructured. Then again some reviews are personal while there also are professional reviews. Each passing moment of review is actually a  moment of judging or analyzing where our chitta [awareness channel], jnanedriyas [sensory organs] interplays with the vivek [discretion],  memory bank and the unfolding ever-growing “desires”. If at several times the reviewer is not anybody else, then for surely it is our self reviewing self. Communities in ancient times inquired, imbibed, assimilated,  handed-down several ways of making -sense of life, nature, cosmos in chaos. Some of them became foundational texts of “way of being” and  some of them later got wrapped in the womb of religion. These texts even articulated modus operandi of an institution. Such ...

Difficult to remember, easier to forget Difficult to concentrate, easier to wander Difficult path to success, easier path to status quo Difficult is to discover, easier is to cover Difficult to stand and for truth, easier to lie and lie Difficult to stand up for a cause, easier to “because” Difficult to think institution, nation first but easier to think about self first Difficult to tolerate, but easier to blame Difficult to stand criticism, easier to criticise stand Difficult to think…but easier to think it is difficult Definition of Difficult is nothing but opposite of “cult”…diffi + cult. Cult is culture…beliefs, thoughts, feelings, manifested in various “forms” of behaviour. Anything which is against the erstwhile or “used to” or “habituated” becomes against or new to the cult or culture. Hence to push oneself out of the cult is something that is difficult. In ageless wisdom it’s called the “sanskara”  संस्कार  which gets programmed over many lives ...

An Interesting article from the fast company, published last week Guest contributor Roberta ChinskyMatuson is an internationally recognized expert on increasing profitability by maximizing employee contribution. Her website is www.yourhrexperts.com . She is the author of  Suddenly in Charge: Managing Up, Managing Down, Succeeding All Around , a Washington Post Top-­5 Leadership pick. Download a  free bonus chapter . Her new book, The  Magnetic Workplace: How to Hire Top Talent That Will Stick Around  will be published in 2013. Sign up to receive a subscription to Roberta’s complimentary newsletter . ARTICLE BEGINS Sometimes we forget that the most productive people in an organization aren’t the ones who make the most noise. In fact, it’s often the quiet ones who out-produce everyone else. Here are some reasons I think this is so. Being quiet strengthens focus.  It’s hard to focus on the task at hand when you yourself are making so much noise. The...

 The more of what you do, the more it comes natural to you and it becomes your habit…it becomes your behaviour…your character…your trait. If one does more cycling…he becomes a good cyclist, If one does more driving…he becomes a good driver, If one does more criticism…he becomes a critic…criticising everything and every time, If one always looks at only the problem…he becomes a problem manufacturer, If one always looks and thinks solution…he becomes a solution finder, If one always believe and spreads rumours…over a period he loses face and credibility, Recurring thoughts results in reinforced belief resulting in repeated actions (behaviour). Robin Sharma calls the mind a garden and says that each of us can decide what to plant in it. If we plant in it seeds of negativity, out of it positivity can’t be grown and reaped… If we plant in it seeds of failure, success can’t be resultant… If we plant in it seeds of disturbance, peace would not be a guest… So on and so...

Rings…five of them Rings…entangled of them Rings…enticing of them Rings…competing of them Rings…Citius (faster) Rings…Altius (higher) Rings…fortius (stronger) Rings…bringing world together Rings…measuring world together Rings…suffering for larger goal Rings…striving for patriotic dole Rings…body sport Rings…mind court Rings…narrator of victory Rings…moorings of creating history Rings…life and death for a many Rings…can be a story of any Rings…bring home golds even for Kazakhstan Rings…elude hope for a massive Hindusthan Rings…what’s lacking in our mass-vast-country Rings…it’s bundle of excuses and blame-lame-factory Rings…country please pull up the bearings Rings…country please dull up the bickerings Rings…you can win too Rings…we don’t need once in four years’ Olympic’s woo Rings…aren’t restricted to sport, with a few day’s strife Rings…are a lesson for life Rings…YOU can be RINGS too Rings…perform everyday you Rings…cheer self and every other you ...

Passing through Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg better known as lbsmarg and crossing one of Central Mumbai Suburbs.. …on 4th August for a meeting …approx 11 45 am …my eyes wandered the several stand alone old format shops…jewellery, paan shop, restaurant, hardware shop, utensil, cloth shop, etc. my eyes were thirsty to find a single shopkeeper with a smile amongst approx 30 shops that went pass by.. … None of the shops were in good shape with positivity, …footfalls of customers… I got down and asked few of the shopkeepers as to how is business coming along? Some of them did reply and then some of them shrugged off in frustration. The replies were as follows (translations) …new formats are fooling customers but the customers are happy being fooled …what can we do, the business is like this only …we can’t reach out the customers and force them to come to our shops …somehow things will change …we have done business in this manner and it has always succeeded and the new way...

One look at Ashtang Yoga which has eight elements of Yama, Niyama, Aasana, Praanayam, Pratihaar, Dhaaran, Dhyaan, Samaadhi. The element of Niyama has again five element of shauch (cleanliness), santosh( contentment), swaadhyay (continuous inquiry and learning), tapas (karma, hard work), ishwapraanidhan ( submission to God). The element of shauch is highlighted frequently and more because it is the easiest to pursue by many. Neuroscience research has done some interesting experiments to prove that if one cleans his work desk or participates in general cleaning of office ( sometimes though) or house, there is an enzyme or hormone generated that finally gives a feel-good factor. Even an interesting experiment where on a periodic basis if the cleaning (done by others) is highlighted in different and intelligent manner…it leads to a better perception and better feeling in the onlooker. In some sense, cleaning in auto mode is in-built in nature. Nature cleans it owns water...

Aristotle  when asked what is human good..”.is it the gratification of appetiser as defined by Plato?” “NO” says Aristotle. When asked if it is the gratification of the spirit, NO says Aristotle. When asked if it is gratification of higher self, intellectual and reasoning…YES says Aristotle. Only that Aristotle differs from Plato in that Plato looks at external form and Aristotle looks within. He goes on to say that the highest good lies in manifesting the functional element of any self …a knife is supposed to cut and that is its functional element, …paperweight has to be apt in its function of lending weight and not letting papers fly ….so what is the functionality of human …he says human has to be good in reasoning and accord with virtues Rene Descartes posit says in a single statement, “I think therefore I am”. Which means that if you cease to think you would cease to exist. Indian word for philosophy is darshanshaastra. The etymology or meaning of the const...

  RELIGION IS BASIS OF MORALITY…true or false? Hearing Richard Dawkins would smell of someone who is a complete agnostic and disbeliever in God. I was Into a self inquiry into his work and he mentioned that there is no evidence to prove that if you take religion away from people then morality would die. I disagree with him and would say that if we indeed look at corporate enterprise and the way they are structured…the morality takes super normal existence where people from multi faith and multi background assemble for economic purpose. But the more closely I see the corporate space in India and elsewhere, there are more people throwing the veil of morality for achieving urgent purpose…so people working in corporate would cheat, would back bite, would spread rumours, would even sabotage somebody else’s hardwork, even weigh every work ( which needs to be looked at as karma) with payscale to the penny…I am not proposing religion to be misunderstood or introduced in...

Yesterday en route to Mumbai from Delhi, we were caught in a difficult air pocket. There was extreme turbulence. …..suddenly the cabin crowded with laughters and whispers hid behind people’s fear … various things inside of the cabinets in the aircraft started tumbling inside and making noises. The turbulence would offer difficult jerk sometimes and then sometimes almost a free fall. God’s name visited the most during that time of the flight. Finally as safe landing. The fear of death exists at cellular level and even at the cognition level. The cells have been programmed to individually analyse fear of different forms…jerk, push, fall, prey-predator, etc. And at the cognition level, the survival has many layers of insecurities that lead to death and direct fear of death itself. A great poet once said: It’s not sad that we all die but it is sad and appalling that we let a lot die inside of us even when we are alive. The same exact thing resonates in the speech give...

Over the weekend, I could catch a beautiful movie based on a true story…”Not without my Daughter”… It dated back to the 80′s and showed the struggle of a woman who fell in love with an Iranian while being in USA. Both of them got married and had a beautiful daughter. The man then persuaded the woman to visit Iran once and …once she was in Iran, she had the experience that changed her life. She was home arrested in her own in-laws house and was treated with abject vlolence. Her passport was seized by her husband and was not allowed to either divorce nor leave the country. Even the USA embassy couldn’t help her. This movie depicted the draconian laws that made mockery of civil rights and especially the treatment to women. The movie is also in some way a triumph or victory of the will and determination where it shows as to how the woman rescued herself amidst terror struck home, terror struck country and terror struck neighboring country. While our country may be going ...