Thursday, December 27, 2007

Being God !

God, this is unfair, yes, I call it unfair.
I know you have your own logic, but
Do you think I can’t call it unfair?
Else you prove that I am wrong.

But I have a request to you.
Please don’t try to prove it.
I know you can prove it, but
Do you want to hurt me?

You already saw me getting hurt.
I know that you don’t want it again.
You won’t try to prove anything
So mum is the word for you.

But still, I want to ask you. Why did?
You could have avoided it.
Well, don’t try to answer me.
God, I might ask it all again

And I don’t want you to answer me!
I want to sit on your lap, like a child.
I might argue or fight with you.
But you just smile and look at me

Please take your magic wand
If you don’t have, make it now
But I want you to use a magic wand
And make it happen this very moment

Being God is not easy, but
I know you are God !

I am not Modern

The other day, during a chat conversation, a friend of mine used a swear word. This was for the first time somebody using that with me and hence it was a shock for me. Bad words from a woman’s mouth is not a pleasant thing to hear. She immediately said sorry but it wasn’t that easy for me to digest. After that I explained to her why it was difficult for me to digest it. And in reply, she said

“Jay you have to be modern”

If being modern is dressing like a gentleman and using swear words, sorry, I don’t want to be modern.

There are many things in our life which we can not buy using our money power (for other things there is Master Card…hahahaahaha)

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Astrology



I don’t know when I wrote about astrology. Some years ago I wrote about astrology. May be it was a mail to somebody. Now I don’t remember. But it was a bit detailed one and now I don’t know where that mail (or whatever) is.

But the other day, once again astrology came into discussion. Since that talk was a for a few minutes, I dropped the idea of explaining it and decided to mail my friend. I did not understand the real tone when that person talked about astrology. Was is sarcastic? Teasing? Skeptical? I still don’t know.

I had studied astrology for a very small time. But I am not a great follower of it. I don’t have the habit of consulting an astrologer for everything I do. I haven’t even seen an astrologer for the past 12-14 years. But still I wont say astrology is all nonsense coz, it actually makes some sense. Am not talking about its accuracy and all. But its not fully inaccurate. If we know the exact date, time and place of birth person, an accomplished astrologer can predict a lot of things with somewhat accuracy. But some of these predictions can be altered by that person by his/her faith and will power.

Why are the people around us are not all the same? Why our fingers, nails, skin, hair and many other characteristics different? Is this all coincidence? I don’t think so.

Our ancestors might have observed too much coincidence happening around them and then they might have become curious about it and they might have kept a record of their observations and the result was the origin of astrology. I don’t know the history but when I write this, that is what came into my mind.

For the time being, I will just post the mail I wrote to that person, the other day. This is not a fully explained one and I leaves some space for that person to think.

......... * * * ...........

If I say there is a place called ‘ooty’, what will be your response? I expect you to say ‘ I don’t know’ and not ‘no, there is no such place’.

If you google for ooty, you get more than 1,220,000 results for ooty coz its such a known place in India (and somewhat abroad too). One not knowing doesn’t mean that there is no such place. I hope you got my point. And this is applicable to everybody , including me, for almost every aspect in our life. Our ignorance about something is not a proof of non existence of something. (And I expect you to use this sentence against me, sometime in future….coz that is what usually people do).

Can you prove to an atheist that God exists? No, you can’t. I believe in God but can I prove it to another? Nope. There are many people in the God business who ‘creates’ miracles (at their will, wish, time, sked etc) and makes millions. Even such ‘professionals’ can’t prove to an atheist that God exists.

And may be that is one reason why religions are also called ‘faith’. Coz, it’s just a mind game and it all ‘depends’ on your faith. Ever heard of a thief bitten to death by a snake while stealing? I personally know many incidents where agricultural crops being got stolen at night where there are lots of snakes too. And why is it so? Where did this gentleman God go?

Why am I talking about religion? May be I have some reasons…hehehe

Same thing is applicable to astrology. Somebody’s ignorance or skeptical view about it doesn’t make it foolish or stupid. (You won’t believe that an astrologer told me that my sister’s first child died, without him knowing anything about me or my family. He lived hundreds of miles away and I met him accidentally). Coz, it has man’s thousands of years of observation about the nature/universe. Why our finger prints/shape/lines are different? Do you think a palmist is all fake and a finger print expert is right?

Fortunately for the human race, there are people who learn from nature and think beyond ‘books’, even now.

If I take lots of effort to explain astrology, it’s a total waste of our time, that too me not being an expert. But still, you are my friend and hence I have some time for you. So, I just want to give you some clues.

One of the greatest (western) astrologer of all times was a Christian, do you know that? William John Warner, who is known as Cheiro. Same goes to Linda.

Do you know how tides happen? If that silly moon can influence such abundant water, do you think that it can not influence you? Do you know from where the word Lunatic originated and why? If you know any asthma patient, go and ask them what happens when the full moon comes. I suspect, even you might have been under the influence of it and did not observe (once you said you became sad without any reason).Moon can make one hyperactive, depressed, violent, trigger migraine headaches and asthma…..astrologers speak in a different language and science speak in a different language. But many a times, what both say are same thing.

(what is different language? Once there was a king. He wanted to know when he will die. So, he called one astrologer and asked. Astrologer predicted his death within a month and the king cut the astrologer’s head and laughed – ‘ fool, he didn’t even know his own fate’. Then he called another astrologer and the astrologer said this way – ‘ Oh King, I don’t see any death, but I see the prince becoming King, so it’s a happy moment’ . And the king rewarded him. But the king died and the prince became the king. This is what I mean by ‘different language’ )

Science understood this and now calls this as ‘Full Moon Ion Effect’. I know the scientific side if this. You can ask me, if you are genuinely interested. I have seen some people around me, who hesitate to learn something coz they have a fear that the knowledge will destroy their faith. This is not true. One needs to start from the religion and grow to spirituality (no need for anyone to change his/her faith). And science and spirituality goes hand in hand. It complements each other.

The other day I talked about bacteria in our mouth. It has no idea where it lives. Lets divert a little from there.

(removed some part and here I talks about that person’s identity with respect to the place of living)


.....Then you will grow to asian, “earthtian”, “solar systian”, “milky wayian” and so on…..think as BIG as you can…travel at light speed and cover as much as you can….are you just a (person's identity based on nationality)?

If somebody calls you up now (from thousand of miles away) and abuse/scold you, you will get irritated and you will transfer that negativity to others around you (you might get angry at them etc). So, didn’t they influence you? How does a prayer work? How does your prayer influence me? Now combine the ability to influence and what you really are and now you have the answer.


God did not create those big balls just for fun or for a different ball game. It has a purpose and role to perform in this universe.

( Removed some personally identifiable contents)

Just be open and look at the moon with love and acceptance….it might even talk to you, who knows?

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas !!

The Christmas is over now. This year’s Christmas was very special for me. As many of my friends know, I am not a Christian, still this year’s Christmas was really special. May be I wont forget it till I die. I could not spend this time with any of my friends, personally. But this was the year that I got lots and lots of wishes. And I am very much thankful to Friendster, my social network portal, for such thing to happen. Am sooooo happy about it. Also, I never got a chance in my life to wish this many friends, in my life.

I was lucky to be called (fone) and to call to exchange wishes. I got touched. Some of my friends were in touch with me, though they were busy.

There came Santa in our place too and I gifted my son with a book and card through Santa, which made him so happy.

My Christmas Eve too was one of the most memorable moments. We had a dinner though my son wasn’t feeling well. And a friend of mine was in touch with me, till late night (and wee morning at the other end). I am touched, again.

Apart from these greetings, I even got a greeting card for real.

Friends, thank you all for giving me a memorable day (days may be, coz every day I got new greetings). God bless you all !

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

My First Job!

What was my first job? I started earning by giving tuitions. This was mainly to manage the petrol cost of my then mobike. ( a Bajaj M-50).



This was during my first year graduation. I became bit popular, as a teacher, and I got lots of students but I did not take much. Just two students. Mainly coz, I was into many other social activities and I wanted to make only a small sum to manage my petrol cost.

It can’t be considered as a job, rite? Well, then my first job was with guy. This guy was a friend of one of my friends (who is no more). And thus he became my acquaintance. He took an agency to market an electronic hobby kit and was looking for a guy to manage his paper works. On my friend’s suggestion, I took up the job and I was asked to report to his house. This was just after me giving my last exam and before results.

What I saw was just a house. He didn’t even have a separate room for his office. Kits are lying at one room and I was offered a seat somewhere else. Why he preferred me? I was doing my graduation in Accounting but I had a fair idea about electronics too. So he gave me a kit to get familiarized with.

He was lucky that there came an article in the local news paper about this electronic kit. And he was the only agent in that area. Thus there came lots of inquiry letters and my first assignment was to answer them all. Before finishing it, he asked me to write an article about his product. I wrote an article and we both went to one news paper office and handed it over. I was sure that they will not publish it coz, another paper already mentioned about this product (as I mentioned earlier). News paper people are looking for unique news for them else we need to pay and publish it. I did not see them publishing my write up. (my first published work was a letter to the editor..hahaha)

I used my bike for his marketing visits and to post office for sending parcels, for which he put petrol. 3-4 days left….once or twice I had lunch from his house. My salary was fixed as 300 bucks per month.

May be on the fifth day, he came out the idea to visit the Government Engineering College and give a demo. That college was a collection of brains. And I remember that, during that time, some of the students came out with an assignment on robotics which gathered appreciation. I said ok. And?

Next day, I did not turn up. He was a very thick skinned man but not me. My employer waited for two days and then contacted my friend and came to know that I have given up the job. He offered to pay the salary for those days which I did not accept.

So, I did not get paid for my first job…huhuhu

Monday, December 17, 2007

New Year Gifts !

What has happened to me? I have never been like this. Three mails are pending. One to one of my cousins and two to my friends. Usually I do reply within a day or two. Yes, it is true that I was bit lazy than busy, these days.

“Jay, friends are like gifts”

Said one of my friends and it sounded true to me. This is Christmas/New Year time, a big festive time and a time of exchanging gifts. God was very kind to gift me with friends this month, both new and old.

I had a friend, may be a friend whom I trusted very much and I lost him about 7 years ago. He gave me a surprise call this weekend. It was he who broke the friendship and now he joined it. And I even talked to his mom who was a mother figure for me too. We were colleagues and now he is in a very good position and traveled to US and UK, officially. I got updated that the company I was working with, before moving to this city, grown like a giant and now has got 90 branches including one at Dubai.

I happened to talk to a couple of friends in Philippines. I used to talk about a friend of mine with whom I spent many Christmas…I called him up and did not hesitate to admit that I missed him. A lost friendster friend of mine came back. I got some new friends too.

Last Saturday I visited my brother-in-law. To see his seven month old daughter. This baby had some ‘issues’ with me. Usually babies like me. It all started when I took her without her knowing and seeing my face all of a sudden. I knew it that we are not supposed to take a baby like that….. But this time she was very friendly and allowed me to take her and she was all smiles and it was like she paying it back with interest.

I don’t know how many of my friends miss me. Comments are not always truthful. (No offence meant to anybody but just after adding as friend, if somebody post ‘ You are my best friend’ , its bit hard to digest). But I have a feeling that some of them like me, proving that friendship is beyond country, culture and religion. I don’t know whether they miss me or not, I don’t know whether they love me (as a friend) or not…but isn’t a good feeling to know that somebody missed you?


On the other side, two of my friends fell ill. One of them is yet to recover, fully. It is not at all a good feeling to know that one of our friends fell ill. But I think, they are leaving the unwanted things behind and getting ready for the New Year..May be the New Year has more good things to offer to them..

So, so far, this month connected me to many of my friends. Dear friends, you are all gifts to me…Thank you all for giving me a feeling that I too have somebody in this world..

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Stress



Stress has become part and parcel of our life. What happens when you are stressed out? Headache? Not just headache. For example, look at this:

Me sitting in front of the doc, about seven years ago


Me: Doctor, I cant see properly…. I am not able to see even you properly…

Doc: What happened? Anything wrong with your eyes?

Me: No, I don’t think so.

I could make out that he was staring at me (his trademark) Then he checks my eyes first, then my BP

Doc : You have very high BP…..

Then we discuss and I goes out of the clinic with a prescription.

Yes, when you are stressed out and if you think that it started affecting your day to day life, its high time you address it. Medication works for the short term (and to get an immediate relief) and Meditation/Yoga is the best for the long run.

If you are stressed out, you could face the following issues:

Headache
Chest pain
Pounding heart
High blood pressure
Shortness of breath
Muscle aches
Back pain
Clenched jaws
Tooth grinding
Stomach upset (including ulcer)
Constipation
Diarrhea
Increased sweating
Tiredness
Sleep problems
Weight gain or loss
Sex related problems
Skin breakouts
Anxiety
Restlessness
Worrying
Irritability
Depression
Sadness
Anger
Mood swings
Job dissatisfaction
Feeling insecure
Confusion
Burnout
Forgetfulness
Resentment
Guilt
Inability to concentrate
Seeing only the negatives
Overeating
Under eating
Angry outbursts
Drug abuse
Excessive drinking
Increased smoking
Social withdrawal
Crying spells
Relationship conflicts
Decreased productivity
Blaming others

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Is God Male?

Is there any male God sitting above us? A Father? With male sex organs? Or ‘He’ has got female sex organs too? A hermaphrodite? Or genderless?

Why cant God be a She? After all it’s God who created or ‘gave birth’ to this universe.

This world is male dominated, without any doubt. Rama, Krishna (there are female deities in Hinduism, but most of the teachings are from male side), Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, all the authors of the Bible, the author of Mahabharat, Ramayan, Koran …..its a list of males. That is the only reason why God became He.

Some religion’s idea of heaven is fully male dominated (full of beautiful women, grapes… and a place where man has his say) .

After all, Bible says, God created mankind in his image. And we can see that mankind includes female (as per the Bible, its not just the physical feature which is considered as the ‘image’, I understand that). So it is not a HE. We (at least I ) use He for easy addressing.

Hinduism considers God (Brahman) as formless, omnipresent, omnipotent, immanent and pure consciousness . I think Islam also has similar view (the form aspect) about Allah. And what about Christianity?

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God”

John 1:1

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”

John 4:24

How does a spirit look like, as per Bible? Jesus says:

"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."

Luke 24:39


So, there is no scope for confusion. The scriptures and common sense agrees at least here. God is not male.

God is sprit or in other words, a form of energy. And thus the first law of thermodynamics, the law of conservation of energy, is applicable to Him

“Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed”


So?

So, dont ask me who created God...

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Why Not Christmas?

After a long time’s break, once again religion came for a discussion. The subject that I don’t prefer for a discussion (with people who don’t know me well, and vice versa).

But it wasn’t totally unexpected. I was sure that this person will talk religion one day or other.

Its part of them, people who are too much into religion. They might bring religion between everything, even between friendships. May be such people keep their kind of people around them.

It all started like this

“do you celebrate Christmas?”

And I answered by asking another question, since she knew that I am not a Christian.

“why should we?”

Then comes this

“why not” and

“Christmas is about Christ and Christ is God……….”

She also added:

“you celebrate your birthday right? and during Christmas we remember God's reincarnation, God becoming human being”

Nicely put but to a wrong person, I think. I was a person who used to spend my Christmas with my Christian friends and I have never negated celebrating it. What I did not like is the attitude of imposing it on to people of other faith. Had she invited me to celebrate it, I would have been sooo happy to hear that.




During my childhood, I used to buy and send lots of Christmas cards. Many a times, a Christian friend of my mom used to bring a cake for us. Then Christmas became my best friend’s first festival. Thus Christmas always was part of me.

But when I asked

“do you celebrate Krishna jayanti?” , I did not get any answer. When I mentioned Rama, Krishna, Shiva, Vishnu etc. She asked

“did he/she became human?”

This question definitely shows how much she knew about my culture. Is ignorance bliss? Not in this context.



(Btw, if I get a chance to celebrate Christmas with her, I would definitely do that, but I did not tell her that ..hehehehe… I have another reason – long ago I wrote that I wish to spend this Christmas with somebody but that person rejected that offer)

If I say there exists a place called ‘Ulsoor’ , in what way my foreign friends should react? I expect

“I don’t know” and NOT “No, there can’t be such a place”.

You does not knowing something doesn’t mean that there is no such thing. The second answer shows ignorance.

I had touched the subject religion in some of my earlier blogs. But that person hesitated to read my blogs. She even hesitated to know about other religion and its scripture (I think this would have given a better idea about Jesus). The typical expression from a staunch religious person.

If Christ can be God, why cant Krishna? Why not Allah? Why not Buddha? Whats wrong with the Jewish God?

And there is a common thing about all religions. If an atheist asks:

“Can you prove that God exists?”

None of us can prove it, including those who are in the miracle creation business.


I started writing this blog in the noon and had lots of thing in mind to write about. I even did some research.

But am I angry with that friend of mine? Not at all. Its coz her that I did some research, and in that process I had to read Bible. So, in fact I am thankful to her.


It is believed that Jesus did visit India and practice yoga. If Jesus visited India (He did not visit my friend's country), he should have some reason. He might have heard of its spiritual richness. His style of telling parables is just like our Upanishads, which originated thousands of years before Jesus.

As I said, I had lots in my mind but that time another friend of mine said ‘Hi’ to me. She too was from the previous friend’s country and she too was a Catholic, just like her. We happened to talk abut Christmas. Better put, I dragged this subject to find out her view. She too asked same question.

“why you don’t celebrate Christmas?”

I said, “ you people don’t celebrate Krishna Jayanthi, the birthday of Krishna, in the same way, we don’t celebrate Christmas”

She just said “ I see”

Then I asked why didn’t she go further (than ‘I see’) and her answer was

“ I respect other people’s faith”

She is not too much into religious activities. She believes in Jesus, she reads Bible, she goes to church, and she attends mass. But what I saw was maturity. I had seen a similar maturity even from a teenage friend of mine too. But the common thing was she too was not too much into religion.

To understand Jesus, there is no need to become a Christian by birth, there is no need to get converted, there is no need to attend mass, there is no need to attend meetings and gatherings and spiritual boost-up camps. But you need one thing for sure, a heart!!! (well, not just a physical organ)

Heart symbolizes love and Jesus speaks that language.

Now, can my ‘religious’ friend tell me why Jesus shows that hand symbol? Is that his way of saying hi?






I wish to post this today itself and its getting late. So I wish to end this post with the following quotes from the Bible, which I happened to read today.

“This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you”

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends”

John 15:12-13

(And after a few verses later comes a greatest secret reveled by Jesus and of course through symbols)

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Get Well Soon!

A friend of mine called me ‘a special friend’. What is a special friend? I did not ask that person why I am special. Anyway I was happy to hear that. Are all of my friends the same type? Not at all. They all have got their uniqueness and thus they are special too. Some are extra ordinarily special. Why?

If somebody says I am their best friend and when I cry they also cry, without knowing me, isn’t that very special? Yes, its fake I understand. But sometimes this makes me laugh and feel light.

Profession wise also many of them are different. CPA, Grocer, Student, Call Center (related), Scientist, Housewife, Administrative staff, Sales , Engineer…..and one of them is even a beauty competition pageant too.

* * * * *

Today was my son’s Sports Day at school. The school does not have a play ground/stadium, so, they booked a stadium to conduct the events. Since my son was part of the ‘display’ (sort of PT Drill), I was there at the stadium till noon, from early morning. Seeing all these students, events and all gave me a nostalgic feeling (this is for the first time me attending his sports day). This also happened to be my Karate practice ground(when I used to practice it, about three-four years ago). Today was Thursday and it was a Karate day. Since the ground was booked by school, I did not see them coming to the ground for jogging. That too was a nostalgic feeling.

* * * * *

Two of my friends are not feeling well. One is recovering fast and another one seems to be bit slow in the recovery process. Not pleasant a news. My readers, please pray for them.

GET WELL SOON, both of you…. God bless!!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

A Prayer for Weight Loss

Ever wondered why some people cant reduce weight even though they skip breakfast? It happened with one of my friends. Its simple. She used to skip breakfast but used to take decent lunch. What happens here is, since the stomach is empty for about 6 hours, we might feel more hungry and hence we might eat more. And what happens when we have a heavy lunch? We might feel bit drowsy. And if we are at work, this will certainly affect our productivity. The easy way to control over eating is to have a cup of water before having meal.

So it is not wise to skip break fast. Eat moderately. There is no need to skip any meal if we want to lose weight. All we need to do is to have an eye on what we eat. And yes, workouts. Do that also wisely.

* * * *

Today I got a forwarded mail. It was a prayer. The mail asks us to do that prayer and forward it. The subject line had a number, the count. When we forward it, add one to the number. When I got the mail, it was forwarded about 10 times. And what was the number?

1,305,089,983,278

And what is the world population?

6,635,466,609 !!!!

Can’t these people avoid cheating at least in things related to God? May be some people think that if they are doing some religious activity, they can do it in any way. Many people got converted to another faith at gun point. Some people believe that if they kill a person of the other religion, they get a place in the heaven. What a pity !!!

When you are doing God related stuffs (or better put - stuffs carried out by “religious” people who carry out religion related acts) , be more truthful. Be truthful to God and understand that everything in this universe is created by God and nobody is superior or inferior to anybody. Even every faith has its place. May be that is the reason why there exists hundreds of faith groups in a single religion which has only one common scripture book (this always was/is a wonder to me)



Monday, December 03, 2007

Where are my blogs?

Was my today a bad day? I don’t know. Today was/is very cold, that I know. It looked like a bad day. But was it really? Or was it a bad day for some others? It was a bad day for at least a couple of my friends. Sometimes, may be, ignorance is bliss

I was still sleepy when I woke up. It was a lazy day than a bad day. I was tired than worried.

Now that the list of ‘to be blogged’ is getting longer.

Waiting for a situation is more fearful than actually facing the situation. Same about fear of losing something/someone. Living through fear is more painful than facing the reality.

Yesterday I was worried about my laptop and its DVD drive. Today it was something else that I got to worry about.

I remember my doc’s words when I asked on an incidence

“So, there is no need to worry?”

“I don’t see any reason. But if you want, you can worry”

(He takes that freedom with me to joke in such a way). So, I better not to worry.

In a chain mail, I was asked to accept Jesus as my savior. Not only that. I was asked to forward it to 10 more people. And the mail tells us to not to care about what the recipient thinks about it. Nice attitude. Jesus asked people to care about others!! I did not give a reply to that mail since I thought it might be waste of time. But still I feel like giving a reply asking them to take Him to their heart than forwarding mails.

Today I am forgetful. I thought of writing something and I forgot what it is. At some point of time I had too many topics in hand and had confusion as to which topic I should take first. Yesterday my mind was full of blogs…..where does it go? Blogs, blogs, where are you?