GURU WON D ER

Since ancient times, Indians have called humans as 'Manav' or 'Manas' (Sanskrit for 'the being with a mind'). The powerful conscious and imaginative mind of humans with great memory has resulted in the rapid development and evolution of the human mind. Human intellect and superior intelligence has permitted us to dominate all other creatures. The evolved human mind has given us literature and language, the arts and science, spirituality and philosophy, technology and producti

Ego, ambition, self esteem, self respect, pride and arrogance are commonly used terms which are easily confused with one another. Ego, is our identification with the self. 'Who am I? What am I?' The ego defines our relationship with ourselves and our world, essentially providing meaning to the self to ensure survival, success and procreation. Ego is an abstract construct we have of ourselves. The ego feels real because we attach our ego to some perceived parameters in some fo

There is so much talk about not having an ego. Yet everyone has an ego no matter how humble they appear to be. The 'Ego' provides each individual a sense of identity of the 'self'. The self that must do or not do, that takes actions to ensure security, survival and procreation. The self we refer to is not one, but actually a number of selfs. The material, social, intellectual and emotional selfs we all know to some degree, and this is what we know as the ego. The same ego tha

With winds reached speeds of 200 km/hr, two powerful cyclones, Taukate and Yaas lashed India in May 2021, leaving a trail of destruction in their path of awesome fury. When storms come, one can only brace oneself. If we have anticipated and prepared for storms we will be better off, otherwise we have to pay the price of our lack of understanding of and respect for nature. Our lives are just like these cyclones, we too can prepare and condition ourselves so as to escape the fu

We are all constantly being bombarded with ideas and advice on how to achieve success, but rarely are we guided on how to realise happiness. Most people believe that if and when we becomes successful we will be happy, but this is not the case. Older folks always tend to ask youngsters, and children, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Many youngsters will answer that, they want to be this or that profession. It is shocking, how few of them show any enthusiasm at all f

Life is like a marathon, in fact a number of parallel marathons. We all start our social life together with siblings, friends, associates and classmates. We run sporting marathons, intellectual marathons, political marathons, financial and business marathons, etc. Each marathon is different in its own way. We all start our individual lives at some stage, bunched together. Then as the marathon progresses some stragglers are left behind, some too weak or those who meet some mi

Like other members of my family I pursue goals with passion, and surprise myself and others by often succeeding. Could this have something to do with what my wife describes as our obsessive nature? Are Demons at work, when we are supposedly Obsessed or Possessed? What do we really mean by obsessed? Is obsession a bad thing? Permit me to throw some light. Obsession, from Latin 'obsidere' (to besiege), is a form of insanity caused, according to an invading spirit which takes o

The so called 'secrets of success' are no secrets at all. They are actually keys consisting of attitudes, skills, knowledge and discipline. One of the keys to success in any and every field is managing processes. What is a process? A process could be defined as a series of actions directed to some end. We may not realise it but everything we humans do is a process. In fact, every human initiated activity whether by design or default is a process. Life becomes easy when we ha

Experience and knowledge which usually comes with age and tells us what has happened. So we form strong opinions on what works and what does not, what is good or what is bad. We become fixed in our mind and we rigidly assume what happened in the past will happen in the future. In a sense we believe we have arrived at that intellectual destination where we smugly feel that we need little or no new learning. Almost impossible for adults to imagine a future much different from t

All individuals that achieve success, commit errors, even blunders. Success or failure occurs only when we do something. If we are not making mistakes, we are probably not making anything. Fearful of failure, most of us dare not do anything. We often forget that, the path to success and happiness always passes through numerous disappointments, setbacks and failures. It can easily take ten years of hard struggle, mistakes and failures to become an overnight success. It is only

An American tourist desired to meet an Indian Mystic. So his hosts arranged for him to meet a Rishi (an enlightened being). On entering the small room, the American was astonished to see the Rishi's room and living space, so bare and simple. The only furniture was a mat and a few wooden utensils. Tourist :"With due respect, may I ask where's your furniture and other household things?" Rishi : "Where is yours?" Tourist : "Mine? But I'm only a visitor here." Rishi : "So am I..

There is so much beauty, and wonder in the universe, but it seems, we spend most of our lives, wondering, 'What is wrong with the world?' Nothing and yet everything. Nothing is wrong with Nature and Creation, its exquisite and unfathomable. So what we do not understand, we condemn. Humankind, now that is a completely different matter, for here, everything seems to be wrong. Which leads us to the question, 'What is the root cause of all that is wrong?' The 'will to power', the

Nothing in life is absolute. Everything comes in pairs and opposites. Day and night, light and darkness, joy and sorrow, sweet with bitter and success always accompanied by some failures. Those who seek the rose will also get the thorn, whether they want it or not. Therefore those who fear the thorn are unlikely to get the rose. To seek success is natural. However to succeed one needs to, 1. Study, strategise and plan 2. Make preparations and be adequately resourced 3. Implem

Many years ago, a friend shared an anecdote with me. Which I now recall every 'Father's day'. A little girl was walking along a path with her father, when they came to a rickety and treacherous bridge. Instinctively the father stretched out his hand to his daughter and said; "Here, take my hand." The daughter replied; "No father, you please hold my hand." The father was confused, "What is the difference, whether you hold my hand or I hold yours?" The little girl smilingly sai

"The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly and with unflagging attention. It must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over. Here, as so often in this world, persistence is the first and most important requirement for success." ~ Adolf Hitler Hitler managed to use democracy to gain absolute control of Germany and its people. in the name of 'German Workers Socialist party.' ab

Ask any adult, which teachers do they respect? At one time we may have been angry and displeased with some of them, for being so demanding of us, but years later always remember with gratitude those who pushed us to better ourselves, and realise our true potential. The same goes with parents, and seniors. Those who pampered us we may remember with a fondness but rarely with respect. Like a potter, who moulds the lump of clay into a fine piece of pottery, so it is with a good

Charlie Chaplin (1889 - 1977) is considered a great humanitarian and one of the most important persons in the history of film making. He loved to entertain himself and people. In 1975 Charlie Chaplin, decided to enter a Charlie Chaplin look alike contest held in France. His entry was amongst one of many entrants. Well, what do you know? The experts on the panel of judges placed Charlie Chaplin third. This incident begs the question, 'Who is an expert?' An expert is defined a

We often ask, why can't they see the obvious. What is obvious to us, is not necessarily obvious to others. A man is usually stretched between two women, both who who desire to monopolise him. The mother and the wife. The affection they have for the man is of different types, but yet he must belong to them both. Both women are right but not entirely. This is because we recognise things, events, relationships and experiences through the window and filter of our mind. We like to

Work never ends, especially if you are looking for it. There is always something new to be planned, and executed, or something that needs to be attended to. Such people who are obsessed with work are known as workaholics. If one is focussed, result oriented and fortunate, success is bound to come. The danger is workaholics become magnets for more work and challenges, especially if one commands necessary resources and authority. The danger for workaholics is that they grown d

A mother accompanied by her young son came to meet the Indian Saint, Baba Farid ji. The woman pleaded, "Babaji, my son consumes an excessive amount of sweets, and I want him to stop. But he does not listen to me. Please I beg you, to scold him, or bless him with some common sense and get him to stop eating so much sugar." Babaji asked the woman to return in a months time. The woman could not understand why a person of Baba ji's fame and stature needed a month's time to simpl