A school principal

A school is like a company in some sense. A school also has employees, products, expenses, revenues, profits, balance-sheets, etc. So, a school also needs the equivalent of a CEO, CFO, CTO and a COO. Recently, there also has been the emergence of a new post called the Chief Belief Officer (CBO). As the CBO of Future group, Devdutt Pattanaik's main role is to bring the wisdom of Indian mythology into Indian businesses. This reminds me of the moral science classes that we used to have in school. And these classes were always taken by the principal or the vice-principal. This probably hints at the fact that one of the major roles of a principal is that of a CBO. The principal does not necessarily have to be an expert in mythology. But s/he should surely be able to instill some moral values in the students and teachers alike. However, there should not be any element of moral policing in the process. Instilling moral values should be done in a way such that the students are themselves able to relate to the ideas and accept them whole-heartedly. It's a tough task for sure!

The age of measurement

In the beginning of the 20th century, physicists discovered that measurement was not only a means to quantify things, but something intrinsic to the definition of reality itself. In Newtonian mechanics, objects were defined by their precise location in space and time and had a precise velocity attached to them. But this description of reality is no longer true from the point of view of quantum mechanics. In this new view of the world, all objects merely have a wave-function associated with them. And unless an act of measurement is made, things like precise location and velocity no longer have any meaning for objects. So, an act of measurement is now not only to know the position and velocity of an object, but also to impart these things to the object itself. Unless this measurement is made, the object itself has no precise location or velocity. It could be anywhere and have any velocity (with certain probabilities, of course)!

A seeker in search of reality

A seeker went in search of reality,
At every step he was met with duality.
It seemed hard to choose based on logic,
Following the path of absolute reason suddenly seemed so tragic.
Just when everything seemed so meaningless,
An Angel came by and provided great solace.
The Angel whispered in the seeker's soul,
And the seeker got new energy to again strive for the goal.
The goal did not lie in resolving the duality,
But in accepting both and realizing each one's credibility.
If there was a precise definition of perfection,
On this planet, there would not be so many organisms.
What is there to seek, what is there to find,
We already have that which will finally soothe the mind.
Its something deep within each one of us,
And it stays there in the quiet while we go around making all the fuss.
Turn towards the soul, turn towards the Self,
Turn inwards, and your peaceful months shall always be twelve.

Living in the Present

You must live in the present,
launch yourself on every wave,
find your eternity in each moment.

Social impact of marketing

While on a trip recently, an interesting thought occurred to me about the impact of marketing on society. On the night of May 5, we had a bonfire which was accompanied by singing and games. Since most of it was in another language, I took solace in delving into my philosophical thoughts. And what I observed during that night added some new directions to my thought process. I had always been an avid supporter of marketing, but am no longer sure about the real impact it has on society. From the company perspective, marketing is essential to maximize profits. But seen from the point of view of the society, the repercussions now seem to be far from obvious to me.

The world is not enough

If you can't trust a Swiss banker, then what's the world come to?  

I wonder if these lines would have been there in the movie if it was made after the financial market collapse of 2008. An example from the Swiss side of the story is that on 18 February 2009, United Bank of Switzerland (UBS) agreed to pay a fine of $780 million to the U.S. Government and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States by impeding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). For the greed of man, the world is surely not enough! Oh, grow up, double-O Seven!

Dalai Lama: The modern Vibhisana

There is a very interesting analogy between the story of Ramayana and the modern world.

In Ramayana, there are two main characters: Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, and Ravana. Ravana, the king of Lanka, abducts Rama's wife, Sita. In order to rescue Sita, Rama gathers a huge army to fight a battle with Ravana. But Ravana is very powerful and cannot be defeated so easily in battle. To Rama's help comes Vibhisana, who is Ravana's younger brother. Vibhisana pleaded before Ravana many times and asked him to return Sita to Rama, but to no avail. Finally, Vibhisana decided to join Rama's camp and help him in securing a victory in the battle with Ravana. And, of course, Rama won the battle and Sita was rescued!

Teaching: Past, present and future

In ancient India, education was imparted in Gurukuls, and teachers were called Gurus. To translate the word Guru as teacher, would, however, be a gross misrepresentation. The Guru of ancient India not only imparted education to the kids but also stood as the symbol of knowledge in the society. The Guru was also the adviser to Kings and other people in the society. The concept of Guru in ancient India is beautifully depicted in this well known Sanskrit sloka:

Guru Brahma Gurur Vishnu

Guru Devo Maheshwaraha

Guru Saakshat Para Brahma

Tasmai Sree Gurave Namaha

Guru is verily the representative of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

He creates, sustains knowledge and destroys the weeds of ignorance.

I salute such a Guru.

As time went by, the above verse met the same fate as that of many ancient things. The words remained, but the meaning was lost.

Free Will, Destiny and D-Will

While delivering a lecture in New York on Jan 10, 1896, Vivekananda said:

There cannot be any such thing as free will. The very words are a contradiction, because will is what we know, and everything that we know is within our universe. Everything within our universe is moulded by the conditions of space, time, and causation. Everything that we know, or can possibly know, must be subject to causation, and that which obeys the law of causation cannot be free.