Motivational

Message For The Day…You Are Essentially a Bliss!!!

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Believe Me, your nature is Sath-Chith-Ananda (Existence, Consciousness and Absolute Bliss). That is why you behave in the way you do. You desire to exist for ever; you enjoy life and avoid all talk of your own death. That is enough evidence to conclude that you are Reality in essence (Sath-swarupa). Then, again, you are filled with wonder and curiosity and a desire to know the world around you. You ask continuously what, why, how and when, about all and sundry. This is the prompting that is given by the Consciousness (Chith). Lastly, you are always seeking joy and try to avoid grief. It is your nature to do so, for you are essentially Bliss. When someone asks you, “How do you do?” and you answer, “Quite well, thank you,” they do not stop to enquire why you are well. It is only when you answer that you are ill, you are further questioned anxiously. “Well-ness” is natural; “illness” unnatural. Anxiety is caused only by the unnatural. So, in essence you are happiness.

 Sathya Sai Baba

Message For The Day….Meditation is Like Learning a Bicycle Ride !!!

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Sathya Sai Baba

 

When you learn to ride a bicycle, you do not get the skill of balancing immediately. You push the cycle along to a safe and open ground, hop and skip, leaning now and then on one side and another, and make many an attempt to get the balance. Once you get the skill, you never even think or worry about balancing. You automatically make the necessary adjustments. You can now ride through narrow streets and lanes, and even through crowded alleys – you no longer need the large, safe, open ground! So too, practice alone will equip you with deep concentration, that will sustain you even in your most difficult situation. Hence, do not get discouraged that you are not able to concentrate on prayer or meditation for long. It is just the start!

 

Swami Sathya Sai in one of  HIS  discourses..

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With Humour, You Can Fight Many a Battle !!!!!

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Humour is a bulletless gun, an anger dousing foam, a tension reliever, a face-saving shield, a pin to prick bloated egos!!!!

In primitive days, nations settled their disputes only through wars. In feudal times, gentlemen settled all their quarrels with gun duels as if bullets could decide the justice or otherwise of things. In all dictatorships the army and suppression are of critical importance to the survival of the regime. Modern man tries to settle differences through the more civilised ways of diplomacy and dialogue. In his arsenal of non-lethal weapons humour occupies the prime place in negotiating potholes in both the public domain and private lives. For the civilised man a sense of proportion of things and a razor-sharp intellect replace the savage’s fist of fury. Perhaps like our shrinking integrity in public life, our sense of humour is taking a beating and intolerance is becoming pervasive and shooting up by the day. Like the paradoxical common sense it is becoming rare to find.

Humour is a bulletless gun, an anger dousing foam, a tension reliever, a face-saving shield, a survival tool in the face of grim oppression, a social friction lubricant, a pin to prick bloated egos. So it is heartily loathed and outlawed by dictators who ban all cartoons. But it is the refuge of the underdog, and the unfailing weapon of debaters. It is the essence of the democratic spirit. Autocrats dread and proscribe it since they cannot silence ideas with bullets.

Great men and women possessed it in abundance. They never attempted to cage or muzzle it. Wise kings of old kept court fools who had the freedom to jest about imperial follies. We see a number of such ‘wise fools’ in Shakespearean plays. Even in the circus we have clowns who ape the artists clumsily, arousing peals of laughter, thereby relieving the tension of the high-strung trapeze artists.

Winston Churchill, who successfully led England through two world wars, was an exceptionally witty man. Once a society lady insulted him saying if he were her husband she would poison him. He coolly quipped that if she were his wife he would drink it.

Another time dramatist Bernard Shaw attempted the snob game with him saying. “I invite you to the first performance of my play and bring a friend … if you have one.” Pat came his blistering reply: “Impossible to be present for the first performance. Will attend the second … if there is one.”

When Gandhiji was visiting King George in London he made no change in his sparse attire, with no shirt to his back. A palace officer condescendingly dropped a hint, “Mr. Gandhi, do you think you are sufficiently dressed for the occasion? “ On the instant came his unfazed reply. “His majesty has enough clothes for both of us”.

Pomposity and petty jealousies can be seen even in religious circles. Once a hushed dispute arose among the close disciples of Jesus over who was the greatest among them. The wise master called a child and, placing it in the centre of their circle, said: “Unless you become like this little child, you will not enter the kingdom of God.” Their egos then shrank to healthy dimensions.

John Paul II, while fighting communist oppression in Poland when he was a young bishop, was forbidden by the government from holding the annual traditional procession with the picture of the famous Black Madonna. He did not despair. He held the procession all the same with just the frame of the picture and the knowing huge crowd of devotees gallantly joined in. The bamboozled authorities were at their wits’ end at this out-of-the-box thinking coming from the unlikely quarter of a churchman.

Once an emperor was visiting prisoners in a crowded jail and he asked each of them his life and crimes. All of them protested their innocence and blamed the government and the courts for their plight. One man alone confessed his crime honestly and had no complaints against the authorities. The emperor ordered his immediate release and told the rest that the presence of such a criminal would be undesirable among so many innocents.

We can see this subtle irony in Shakespeare in the classic speech of Mark Antony after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Not even once did he speak disrespectfully of the chief conspirator Brutus but he rubbed in layers of irony with his repeated epithets of ‘honourable’ and ‘noble Brutus.’ When wit takes a back seat, then the powers that be order arrests and detentions. Great statesmen like Nehru never objected to any cartoons and, in fact, looked forward to be amused by the great cartoons of R.K. Laxman.

(The writer’s email: adukanildb@gmail.com)

Keywords: humour sense, tension reliever, R.K. Laxman

source:::: THE HINDU ….English Daily
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Message For The Day…Move From Karmakshetra to Dharmakshetra With The Help Of Guru…

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You are all pilgrims, moving along this land of action (Karmakshethra) to the goal – the land of righteousness (Dharmakshethra). The literary men, the poets and teachers who address you are all guides who help you along; but, the road has to be trodden by you, every inch of it. “Kavim Puranaam Anusaasitharam” – scriptures declare that a kavi (a poet or the learned one) places the rules of right conduct before people and warns them when they go astray. These individuals should also be very careful that they themselves do not stray, while professing the right path. The learned are those that have a noble vision, whose role is to interpret God for the benefit of one and all. They should not indulge in meaningless talk or writing about less significant topic.

source:::: Swami Sathya Sai in one of His Discourses

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Famous Indians In Silicon Valley…Part 2… Sundar Pichai….An Indian To Head Google”s Android Division !!!

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In continuation of my earlier blog post on the ” Famous Indians In Silicon valley ”  published on Dec 12 2012 wherein Mr. Sundar Pichai “s profile appeared,  i  am delighted to publish Part 2 of that Blog covering Mr. Sundar Pichai”s  yet another successful milestone in his career . We are all very proud of you Mr. Sundar Pichai…

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Andy Rubin, the architect of Android, the world’s top-selling mobile operating system, has decided to step down as Google Inc combines mobile software divisions under one roof, the company said on Wednesday.

 

Sundar Pichai speaks during Google I/O Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California June 28, 2012.Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Google Chrome, speaks during Google I/O Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California June 28, 2012. REUTERS/Stephen Lam                                        

 

Google appointed Sundar Pichai, the executive overseeing its Chrome web browser and applications like Google Drive and Gmail, to take over Rubin’s responsibilities, hinting at how the company with the dominant Internet search engine intends to address the rise of mobile devices.

In a blog post, Larry Page, Google’s chief executive and co-founder, credited Rubin for evangelizing Android several years ago and building it into a free, open-source platform that runs on nearly three-quarters of the world’s smartphones and is used by the world’s largest handset manufacturers, from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to HTC Corp .

“Having exceeded even the crazy ambitious goals we dreamed of for Android – and with a really strong leadership team in place – Andy’s decided it’s time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google,” Page wrote. “Andy, more moonshots please!

The merger of the Chrome and Android divisions helps resolve a longstanding tension in the Mountain View, California-based company’s corporate strategy, and reflects a convergence of mobile and desktop software.

When Google poured resources into launching the Chrome web browser five years ago, the company laid out a vision of the Internet and an ecosystem of Google apps based on the Web. But the Android operating system, acquired by Google in 2005, has also been a runaway success, enabling third-party handset makers like Samsung to overtake Apple Inc while also spawning a massive economy of third-party apps that are only loosely affiliated with Google.

Under Pichai’s direction, Google has released several netbook computers using the Chrome operating system. Last month, when Pichai unveiled the Chromebook Pixel, the first Chrome-based laptop with a touch-screen interface, analysts noted that Chrome and Android appeared to be on converging paths.

“You had this Chrome OS and this Android Group that were building in many overlapping products,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Gartner.

Gartenberg argued that despite Android’s overwhelming popularity, it is Chrome that remains at the core of Google’s strategy.

“For Google, it’s not about the platform, but the ecosystem,” Gartenberg said. “They’re more concerned long-term about Google Docs, Google Voice, Google Books, and less about helping Samsung sell more phones.”

Chrome, Gartenberg added, “is the purest expression of Google’s philosophy.”

“Sundar has a talent for creating products that are technically excellent yet easy to use – and he loves a big bet,” Page wrote. “So while Andy’s a really hard act to follow, I know Sundar will do a tremendous job doubling down on Android as we work to push the ecosystem forward.”

Android is now installed on roughly two-thirds of the world’s smartphones, supplanting Apple Inc at the pinnacle of the fast-moving mobile arena.

Android tablets are also expected to overtake Apple’s iPad in terms of shipments in 2013, IT research house IDC predicted on Tuesday.

But Android’s explosive growth – and the companies it has boosted – have also concerned Google’s leadership. Rubin himself has warned other Google executives that Samsung could use its heft to renegotiate its ad revenue-sharing deals with Google, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.

LEADING VOICE

The re-shuffle reinforces Pichai, a senior vice president, as one of the leading voices within Google.

Trained as an engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, before moving to the United States, Pichai holds degrees from Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He joined Google in 2004.

In 2008, Pichai aggressively pushed Google’s Chrome browser, when Microsoft Corp’s Explorer lorded over the market. Chrome now commands a roughly 35 percent market share according to Web traffic analyzers StatCounter.

He is also credited with the development of some of the company’s most successful cloud-based apps, such as Calendar and Gmail, and has also steered Google Drive.

“Today we’re living in a new computing environment,” Page wrote. “People are really excited about technology and spending a lot of money on devices.”

source:::: yahoo news

With Samsung Galaxy S4 launching, it wouldnt have been a better time for Sundar Pichai to take the reins of Android.

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Message For The Day…Japam and Dhyanam For Divine Grace….

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Repetition of God’s Name (japam) and meditation (dhyana) are the means by which you can accelerate the concretisation of Divine Grace, in the Name and Form you yearn for. The Lord has to and will assume the Form you chose, the Name you fancy and the way you want Him to be. Therefore do not change the Name and Form you adore mid-way; but select and stick to the One that pleases you most, whatever the difficulty you encounter or however long it takes! All agitations must cease one day, is it not? The dhyana of the Form and the japam of the Name – that is the only means for this task.

Swami Sathya Sai in one of HIS Discourses

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Indian American Elected To Royal Society of Canada …

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Indian-American elected to Royal Society of Canada
Ponisseril Somasundaran, an Indian American member of the faculty of Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been chosen as the sole foreign fellow of the prestigious Royal Society of Canada.

The only one from outside Canada to be elected this year, Somasundaran, who has been at Columbia since 1970 will be inducted in a ceremony on Nov 17 at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ottawa with 70 other fellows.

“Somasundaran is recognized for his ground-breaking contributions towards unraveling complex nano-scale structures and energetics of surfactant self-assemblies and polymer-surfactant hybrids at interfaces,” according to the citation announcing his election.

“He pioneered the use of spectroscopic methods for probing surfactant self-assemblies. His work forms the backbone of many of the current practices in ultra-lean ores beneficiation, hazardous materials/waste water treatment and personal care industry,” it said.

“His seminal work continues to be vital for meeting today’s environmental and sustainability needs,” the citation added.

Founded in 1882, the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) comprises the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada. Election to its academies is considered one of the highest honours a scholar can achieve in the Arts, Humanities and
Sciences.

Somasundaran was named La von Duddleson Krumb Professor in 1983 and was the chairman of the Henry Krumb School from 1988 to 1992 and of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Material Science and Mining from 1992 to 1997.

Somasundaran is currently Director of the National Science Foundation Centre for Advanced Studies in Novel Surfactants and Langmuir Centre for Colloids and Interfaces.

He was one of the youngest members to be elected in 1985 to the National Academy of Engineering, the highest possible distinction then in engineering in the US.

Somasundaran was also elected to the Chinese Academy of Engineering (1998), Indian National Academy of Engineering (1999) and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (2000) and Balkan academy of science/Mineral Technology.

He was honoured as the only 1989 Distinguished Alumnus and the first Brahm Prakash Chair in 1990 from the Indian Institute of Science.

Elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2009, he was awarded Padma Shri civilian honour by the Indian Government in 2010.

source::::::siliconindianet

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Two Indian Americans among ‘Intel Science Talent Search’ Finalists…

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The recent high school research competition that was conducted by the Intel Science Talent Search has proved the capability of the young in the field of innovation these days. Indians too have a reason to celebrate here with the ninth and tenth place among the finalists being bagged by two Indians namely Akshay Padmanambha and Sahana Vasudevan. Let’s proceed to know more about them here.

 
Akshay Padmanambha, the son of Poombady Padmanambha and Asha Padmanambha was one of the finalists at the Intel Science Search this year. Originally from Karnataka, the young talent of sixteen years resides in Collierville.

 
His project mainly addressed the topic of bioengineering. A Vagus Nerve stimulator ( VNS ) can now be used in the treatment of those patients with seizure disorders, especially those with a resistance for surgery or drugs.  The treatment helps in delivering to the brain, a signal which is constant and of low voltage.

 
However, this is not free from its side effects namely a risk of heart disease and sleep apnea. However this can be avoided by the activation of the VNS with the use of an algorithm at the onset of the seizures. This has been developed by Akshay through the analysis of epileptic EEGs. The algorithm can get the oncoming seizures detected. The use of this algorithm has thus been simulated by Akshay into the triggering system of the VNS.

 
Akshay’s other hobbies involve playing the jazz and electric bassoon. He also served in Germantown’s Houston High School Band where he was the principle bassoonist. A player of the Ultimate Frisbee, he serves as the captain and founder of the Math Bowl team. He also leads the Horizon where the interactions between students with general needs and those with special needs are promoted.

 

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Having entered the mathematics project at the Intel Science Talent Search the sixteen year old Sahana Vasudevan from Palo Alto is another among the finalists at the event. The “carry” is an important aspect in arithmetic. It is usually handled by a carry bit in computing. She has here contributed a good result to “groups”, some mathematical structures. In this way she has proved a certain necessary condition

 
Originally from Tamil Nadu, Sahana now resides in Palo Alto in the U.S. She is also a violinist and a classical vocalist having won an award for her performance. Her singing began at the age of four and the playing of the violin at the age of seven. The daughter of Jayaraman Vasudevan and Vanaja Narayanaswamy, she was homeschooled at the Gnynam Academy.

 

source:::::siliconindia net

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An Indian Village Where 60 Millionaires Live !!!!!

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India is a leadership driven society—it suffices to look at Popatrao Pawar, the village head of Hiware Bazar in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. In the span of twenty years, he transformed his drought-struck poverty-ridden village into one of the best models India has seen.

Before he took over the reins, the village suffered many problems: there was hardly any agriculture in the village from a lack of water, causing villagers to migrate elsewhere as daily wage labourers; the school was non-functional; domestic violence and village fights punctuated lives as alcoholism was rampant; and the surrounding eco-system was seriously degraded.

So how does one actually make a village rise against such problems?
The first thing Pawar did was get rid of the 22 illicit liquor dens, ban consumption of liquor all together, and ban tobacco and gutka.

Then he inspired the villagers to pitch in to build dams and dig ponds to trap the little rain that came in. This new water management system helped immensely as the wells soon filled, allowing farming to begin anew with fields becoming lush and green.

Not wanting to take change for granted, Pawar got water audits done so that there was a close check on water availability. Water was never wasted, as selfless villagers built 52 earthen bunds, two percolation tanks, 32 stone bunds and nine check dams—All through the use of the same government funds available to any other village.

Before 1995, there were 90 open wells with water at 80-125 feet, whereas today, there are 294 open wells with water at 15-40 feet. To put this into context, other villages in the Ahmednagar district have to drill nearly 200 feet to reach water.

Farming flourished as Pawar got farmers to invest in milch cattle, making milk the new gold of the village. While milk production was only 150 litres per day in 1995, today, it has crossed the 4,000 litre threshold! All this helped reverse migration see over 60 families return with the desire of becoming farmers once again to live life with dignity.

Now there are decent-looking houses all over and villagers look content, glowing with happiness. The monthly per capital income has crossed Rs. 30,000, and in a village of 235 families and 1,250 individuals, there are 60 millionaires!

Today there are only three families who live below the poverty line, but the village is now working to help them improve their income with hopes that in another year, no villager be poor. All this is more amazing when taking into account that in 1995, there were 168 BPL families in the village.

But Pawar has not only tackled the economic needs of the village. With regards to the waning ecosystem, he facilitated the planting of over ten lakh trees to fuel languishing bio-diversity; even Babool trees that were earlier cut for fuel are now cared for, as villagers began harvesting its gum that sells for Rs. 2,000 a kilo.

One would think that these accomplishments already make Pawar one of the great leaders of India, but on top of everything, Hiware Bazar is spotlessly clean—all without sweepers; villagers take pride in keeping their home clean, and defecation or urination in public is unheard of. Best of all, now that cleanliness has overtaken the village there is a crucial benefit for the villagers: widespread disease has become a thing of the past.

In addition, to get children to learn the benefits of good governance, Pawar began a children’s parliament giving them specific roles to work under. The “Education Minister” for example, goes from house to house inquiring if the school is functioning well. Even the teachers themselves learn from their students and respect this monitoring to incorporate the childrens’ advice into their work!

But how did Pawar address caste and communal conflicts that often divide society into sparring aggressive groups? It was very simple: he relentlessly stressed that change could not be brought about without communal amity, and his efforts were so beautifully embodied when the village Hindu community built a mosque for the only Muslim family in the village for them to not have to pray in the open.

And how has Hiware Bazar brought a new respect to women in the face of strong gender inequality in India? First of all, Pawar has got the gram panchayat to take care of the education and marriage expenses of the second daughter of any family, but also, out of the seven-member panchayat, three are now women. In addition, Pawar has stepped down from the village headman’s position (remaining as deputy sarpanch) to allow a woman to replace him.

Finally, to bring in holistic change, Pawar is now motivating villagers to adopt family planning. A lot of stress is being put on health and hygiene as it is crucial for the future of the village. In fact, Hiware Bazar is also the first village in India to persuade couples take an HIV test before marriage.

Interestingly, none of Pawar’s suggestions or schemes are opposed as the village has full confidence in him as he goes about trying to better their lives.

Hiware Bazar has shown that stimulating change is easy.  All it requires is good leadership and the political will to empower others in rising to a better future.

source:::::yahoo news

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