Success matter

 It’s subtle!

 

There is an undercurrent of material gain in most of the success stories that we read.

The show of beautiful cars, vacation at an exotic place, enjoying the stay at an expensive resort, clothing etc.,

And those sublime messages will connect successful life with material possessions alone!

Being in meditation is a matter of making unnecessary material immaterial!

Don’t be against cash and kind, however, do not tie up success only to that end!

#Echoes from #suswasaSapce!

Refreshing Juice (of Life!)

 Like to Enjoy the refreshing juice?

.

 

The juice of life!

Watch the video, please!

 

#suswasaSpace

MY FIR WITHIN!

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https://imojo.in/rippleOfJoy

 

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https://www.amazon.in/MY-FIRE-WITHIN-SUBRAMANI-SARODE-ebook/dp/B0773YCMJ8

How to get more & more of what we want?

If you wish to receive more and more health, wealth, peace, happiness, comforts, status and appreciation – here is an insight shared by Suswasa.

Few months ago when the discovery of Higgs Boson particles at CERN was announced, I read those article with amusement. Then I casually sent an email to Suswasa asking his views on this important discovery.

I am sharing the reply got from Suswasa with you all;

Whole scientific community is rejoicing the fact that Boson particles have been discovered. Boson particles impart mass to the matter. The weight we perceive is because of interaction of Boson particles with the matter!

The fact of the matter or rather irony is Weight was there even much before the postulation of Boson particles. In fact all great scientific revelations were always existed even before they came into our awareness. For example Newton’s law of motion, Gravitational law, theory of relativity etc. (Apples were falling down in every orchard but one of them managed to land on the Newton’s head!)

When some of the scientists had acute awareness about these things, they simplified and found out applications relating our physical world. These applications have greatly contributed to our comforts in the civilized world.

We are all in search of ways and means to be happy, healthy, wealthy and peaceful. However long ago our learned Masters, teachers and others have propounded that like Boson particle which imparts mass to the matter, just one virtue imparts the worthiness of being happy, healthy, wealthy and peaceful in life. Alas! We keep pursuing innumerable ways and means to be happy.

And this virtue is giving – giving without any thoughts whatsoever.

Now the question arises as to why we need to give? Why giving is more important than receiving?

Actually giving and receiving are complementary.

It’s like in a stable atom (basic unit of matter) the number of positively charged protons are equal to number of negatively charged electrons.

We have been and are receiving free of cost continually the sun light, air and water which are essential to sustain the life. Even this very life is a greatest gift we have received. So it’s natural that giving is the only thing which makes our life complete.

The important point to be kept in mind is that whatever we give will return with a multiplying factor of happiness with which we have given. (Refer formulae of thought world). 

So go ahead and start giving money, comfort, peace, joy, prestige, power, status, commitment, effort, appreciation and whatever you like to have in your life!

Boson particle imparts mass to the matter, giving imparts happiness to living a complete and meaningful life.  

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SUSWASA'S JUICE.

Suswasa is a simplistic guy who looks like any neighborhood person we come across at city bus stations or vegetable market place. But his looks are deceptive. Though he is a man of deep insights and immense knowledge, the way he shares his thoughts appeals to people across the spectrum – layman to erudite.

His explanation of Enlightenment on which endless debates go on in spiritual circles proves the point. 

He uses Einstein’s famous formula E = mc², where E is enlightenment, m is materialistic life and c is consciousness. Suswasa further clarifies that to sustain life we need food, water and shelter which are all material. And only humans are aware of their consciousness. Therefore leading materialistic life with heightened consciousness is nothing but enlightenment!

He strongly believes in being human being! And nothing else.

One day while Suswasa was addressing a gathering of about hundred persons, one of the audiences interrupted him; “Sir, many times you have told that you too come under the influence of emotions, juggle with interpersonal relationships, and have health issues like all of us. Then how is that we don’t perceive happiness as you do?”

 “I have been expecting this question ever since I shared the formulae of thought world and enlightenment” replied Suswasa. Then he opened a small bag and spread out salt and pepper dispensers, bowl of sugar, some essence bottles, lemon, ginger and a bottle of water on the table. “How each one of them tastes?” Suswasa asked the audience.

“Salty, spicy, pungent, sweet, bitter, tasteless, and sour”: as these replies started coming from the audience, smiling Suswasa said “Though each one of them tastes differently, they all become part of the yummy juice when mixed in proper proportion.

Similarly health, wealth, behavior, attitude, emotions and interpersonal relationships are essential ingredients of juice called life. And finding out the right proportion is nothing but living life with awareness just like how we keep sipping juice and adjust ingredients till we get the right taste!”

A long round of applause echoed in the auditorium.

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LIFE IS A सफ़र & suffer !

It’s a holiday season now in India. Though it’s almost coming to an end in the southern part of India, holiday season is approaching its peak in the northern part of the India.

You might have noticed that I have not shared any ‘gyan’ obtained from Suswasa for a long time. Because Suswasa is on a holiday!

One day as I entered the park for my evening walk, I was surprised to see large gathering of people over there. The pushing and shoving all around transported me to the centre of the gathering. I was very happy to see Suswasa, responsible for the large crowd, standing there.

Everyone was curious and longing to listen to Suswasa. He gestured at the crowd to settle down. Soon there was a total silence and anticipation in the crowd.

“I was on a long vacation and during this period I learnt that being happy always is simple!

Life is a -  suffer – both in national ( सफ़र ) and international language!

Just this awareness of ‘what is life?’ is the key.

Yes, life is a journey ( सफ़र )  and life is a suffering. The most important point is journey and sufferings are inseparable like two sides of a coin.

Whenever we aspire to achieve something in life, isn’t it true that we always try to reach the top?  Take for example, mountaineering. Though mountaineering is a most arduous journey with enormous suffering, the joy, happiness of doing mountaineering is no less than the Everest peak!

Another example is pilgrimage to Tirupati. People’s journey does not end on reaching Tirupati. They have to stand in the long queue and amid pushing and shoving, suddenly they are in front of the deity. Though they get very few moments to look at the deity and are pushed away, their happiness does not have any boundary!

Therefore, Life is a -  suffer – both in national ( सफ़र ) and international language! Life is a continuous journey and struggle. Just this awareness helps us to face the struggle in a better way and keep enjoying the destinations along the long journey!” concluded Suswasa.

There was a harmony between the spontaneous applause of the people around Suswasa and the chirping of birds in the park.

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SUSWASA’S ETHICAL STRENGTH.

It was 10’O clock in the morning and the visuals at this office canteen looked very different than the usual days’. Generally people working in the office come here for a cup of coffee/tea, and few others will have some snacks to compensate for missed breakfast.

Today is a special day. The canteen is celebrating its 10th year of operation and hence offering free tea/coffee and snacks to its patrons. Everyone in the office is busy helping themselves to many rounds of snacks and coffee. However Suswasa is enjoying his usual cup of tea among the ‘mayhem’ of his colleagues. This stark difference was inescapable. So, one of Suswasa’s friends asked him – “Sir, why are you not utilizing this opportunity to savor your favorite dishes for free?”

“I am utilizing the opportunity albeit to build my Ethical strength” uttered Suswasa and continued “I had breakfast in the morning so I can’t eat more. I am happy that I need not pay for my usual cup of tea.

Now everyone in the canteen is listening attentively to Suswasa.

“Few days ago I booked my ticket to attend a workshop conducted by world renowned motivational speaker. I had to drop my idea of carrying camera since the list of do’s and don’ts had clearly indicated that recording of voice, image and video was prohibited. However, when I went into the hall I was surprised to see that many people were happily clicking photos. This continued even after the organizers requested not to record image, voice and video. For a moment my mind waivered and a thought came that I can request my neighbor carrying iphone to click my photo and send by email. But I shook off this idea and resolved to abide by the rules and regulations.

During the course of workshop the motivational speaker emphasized that true leader should not only have strong ethical values but should be implementing in his/her daily life. So when I came out of the hall after the workshop I had the satisfaction of growing the trait of ethical value in my life.

It is a general tendency to stack up things especially when something is available for free. This tendency will drive the person to stack up even when that person is not yet worthy of getting it. This will eventually lead the person to snatch the things from others. Here things refer to money, comforts, status, favors and all such things.

So better way to avoid getting into the vicious cycle of unethical practices is, to remember that when we stack up things which truly does not belong to us, we also stack up stones in gall bladders, we stack up tired muscles in our heart and we stack up cancerous cells in our body.

So for me choice is clear” concluded Suswasa with his last sip of tea and walked towards his office cubicle.
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For Details of Dream Workshop - Summer camp.

3G AND K SCAM

Suswasa was surfing news channels just to keep the boredom at bay. Soon his boredom turned into ennui as every channel is obsessed with reporting one or the other scam. The great mining scam, land scams, CWG scam and 2G scam. After listening to supporters as well as detractors, Suswasa went crazy. Every one seems to be right and wrong!!

At that instant the doorbell rang and Suswasa went to check the visitor. As he opened the door, two constables showed the arrest warrant and took him away.

Extremely surprised Suswasa was in the witness box of a special court by the time he realised what had happened. The prosecutor started reading the charges against him; the investigative agencies had got hold of the log of his channels tuned in from the DTH service operator. As Suswasa seemed surfing only the channels reporting scam related stories, it was assumed that he is somewhat involved in those scams!

Suswasa was flabbergasted. However, his regaining of composure was astonishingly swift. Suswasa politely refused the services offered by government appointed defence counsel and started presenting his defence;

“My lord I agree that I am part of a scam, not just scam but mother of all scams. There was a stunning silence in the courtroom as he continued. It’s just not me but all common people like me are part of this mother of all scams being played out for ages. But I like to emphasise that we, the common people are all part of this huge scam as victims and not as perpetrators.

And this scam is 3Gs and K scam. This 3Gs and K is not related to the auctioning of spectrum for 3G services but it is about some vested people’s communication about 3Gs and K. These people with their myriad and contradicting interpretation about 3G and K are vying to take control of large sections of the society.

The first G is God, second G is Guru and the third G is genes, K is Karma. Some people claiming to be the representatives of God, Chosen one of Guru’s, some medical practitioners and faith healers have woven a beautiful web of rituals, doctrines, statements and explanations. They have built nice business model, in fact running parallel economy by sucking gullible people into the vortex of 3G and K making them to fall for it and then urging them to stand for 3G and K!

For example, there is fairly unanimity with regard to God being omnipresent and omnipotent, Guru is nothing but self-awareness, Genes are the basic building blocks of life form and Karma the actions and its cause and effect.

However, 3G and K people make us believe that God is present only in certain places (places of worship) and certain direction only (Vaastu practitioners?) and devised elaborate rituals to be carried out by a set of people only, in order to get the benefits from God.

Gurus are supposed to guide us towards self-realisation. However many people pretending to be Guru and some people claiming to be in the inner circle of the Guru, keep insisting on certain methods and rituals to be followed. Each group or sect insists only their method/philosophy is the right one and others are waste of time! Experimentation and questioning by the individuals is not allowed. Because 3G and K people want a herd of sheep as it is convenient to mend and lead up to their path! This in spite of great Gurus clarifying that spirituality is a journey of the individual.

Then comes the Gene. Very less is known about the genes. The very definition of genes is undergoing change. Even the number of genes human being posses is constantly estimated downwards to around 23,000 to earlier estimate of 2 million! The Karma is also as mysterious as gene.

In these circumstances, 3G and K people inform the people that accumulation of materialistic things is to be avoided. However in case anyone want piece of land, jewellery, money, comforts, status and power then that person has to follow what 3G and K people prescribe! That’s why we see a nexus between political and religious persons throughout the history, all over the world.

So my lord, I pray that this court take note of this and initiate actions against perpetrators and not harass the victims of 3G and K scam. I also like to draw your attention about the Steve Jobs. His life is a mix of everything that most of us go through (Like 99.9% of genes are same for all!). Still he was class apart. Steve jobs wanted to retain his own persona whatever be the circumstance and didn’t want to change just because someone liked it.


We can save ourselves from 3G and K scam if we heed to Steve Jobs and try to understand our nature, our very own nature.”

Exhausted Suswasa asked for water. He lifted the water bottle and it slipped out of his hand spilling water on his face. Wiping his eyes he muttered, “I am very sorry” and surprised to look at his wife sprinkling water on him! And the report being telecast on the TV was about a scam!!
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Note: "Understanding nature, our very own nature" is the theme dealt in my Happy workshop by re-engineering thoughts, rebuild life priniciple. This workshop is purely commercial and you are welcome to participate in the program. However, you are also free to exchange the views on the program for free!

SUSWASA AND THE TELEPHONE - 4

[ This is a sequential story. So please read the story in the following order ; suswasa and telephone, suswasa and telephone-2, suswasa and telephone-3 and Suswasa and telephone-4]
So far…: Suswasa is a lazy looking man but with lots of common sense. The misty man in his noontime dream shows a black telephone lying in a junkyard and tell Suswasa that if he finds that telephone instrument and keeps it in the northeast portion of the living room, fortune would follow him like his own shadow.

Suswasa succeeds in finding the black telephone. The telephone informs Suswasa not to speak until he reaches home, in order to get the fortune. Spotting the black telephone seen in his noontime dream made Suswasa to firmly believe that the dream will turn real. He was determined to bring the black telephone and install at northeast portion of his living room so that he can enjoy the fortune that is going to follow.

However, each time he was tricked to speak out and the telephone vanishes, saying it can be found at the junkyard again but only after the next sunrise.
THE LAST BREATH.
Suswasa got into his car and started driving towards Telepuram that morning too. He was desperate to bring the black telephone home. His thoughts were perched on the previous day’s happening when his attempt to hoodwink the telephone could not succeed. He was compelled to speak up as the story was very short and he could not reach home before the telephone completed the story.

Suddenly he got excited as a brilliant idea struck him. If it is possible to know  what the story is and the length of the story then, Suswasa thought, he could drive back home within that time and avoid talking. So he pulled out his mobile and sent the message ‘NATURE’ to 7NL, hoping to know about the story. Immediately his mobile beeped and the display showed – “message not sent try again later.”

Dejected Suswasa continued his drive. Soon he reached the junkyard of Telepuram, picked up the black telephone and started driving back home.

The usual loud “Tring, Tring, Tring” emanated from black telephone, but there was a perceptible change in its tone. So Suswasa took a glance at the telephone. The deep voice from telephone said “Suswasa, the messaging from your mobile to 7NL is possible only in my presence!”

Suswasa was surprised at the ability of telephone to detect all his moves. “Today also I will be failing to install the telephone at home.” Just as this thought was ringing in his mind, the deep voice from the telephone continued “Suswasa you are a man of common sense, yet why did you try to hoodwink me? So, I will change the rule of the game”…

At this juncture Suswasa felt that his last breath is going out. However he regained his balance and continued to listen to the deep voice.
“Instead of you listening to a story, today if you speak all that you know about breath, you take me home!”

Suswasa took a deep breath and it felt very refreshing. Now he was very confident of taking the telephone to home. Relaxed Suswasa started his monologue about the breath.

“The journey of life starts with the first breath drawn in and ends with the last breath going out. However, in order to sustain the life, there has to be series of breath-in and breath-outs between this first and the last breath. So a breath taken-in, though stays for a brief period, has to go out. Similarly the incidents that happen during the course of our life keep coming, stay for a while and then leave. This will repeat till the moment the last breath goes out. We label these incidents as happy, joyous, sorrowful, upsetting, exciting, irritating, dull, sad, unbearable, enjoyable, etc. Whatever be the label we assign them, the incidents keep coming, stay for a while and leave us, similar to breathing. Another thing to be noted here is – an incident has to leave us before any new incident is allowed in. Just like our breath. Is it possible to breath in before we breath out?

So the life has to be experienced in its totality without getting bogged down by the labels we assign to the incidents that happen. Further, breathing is the process of taking in the air, a mixture of Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide, Pollutant particles and water vapour. However the body absorbs only the essential component Oxygen and breath out other components that are not needed.
Each incident will be a mixture of things and situations, out of which we like some, dislike some, we love some and hate some, associate with some and disassociate with some. The living in totality and holistically is the ability to keep the one required at that particular instant and let go. This is quite similar to the breathing, the life sustainer.

So being aware of breathing is the simplest way of unravelling the secrets of life. This is precisely what our ancient sages and new age Gurus exhort us to do during meditations.”

Suswasa after finishing his monologue changed the gear and stepped on the accelerator. There was absolute silence till he parked the car in front of his home. Then Suswasa slowly looked at the black telephone and it was lying there intact! He carried it inside home almost running. He straightaway headed to northeast portion of his home, placed the telephone on a table and sat down with his eyes closed. It took few moments to sink in the fact that now he is going to be rich and famous. Then he slowly opened his eyes and could not believe the sight.

The black telephone has morphed into a misty man. Stunned Suswasa kept gaping at it. The misty man started speaking – “ Suswasa, now there is no need for me to be here! You are truly a person of common sense. It is very clear by the way you answered the questions at the end of each story. You are aware of the thought patterns that arise in our mind. In fact every thing has its origin and end point in the thought. For example, if you want to eat a sweet, the thought of eating sweet arises first. After eating the sweet, the satisfaction of having done the desired thing is also a thought.
Your thought on utilising the precious resource TIME, balancing the odds and evens of life, understanding and enjoying the life till the last breath will guide you in choosing the path, on which you enjoy the journey.
In fact, whenever we pause in our journey called life, we will be standing at the crossroads. Since all the roads lead to destination, choosing the road we feel comfortable at that point and enjoying the journey is the key.

Finally I like to unravel the secret behind the number 7NL, which rhymes with ‘Heaven and Hell’. It represents the common number, connecting the call centres of both Heaven and Hell. Meaning we experience the Heaven and Hell, here and now during the course of journey called life. Just like the series of breath-in and breath-outs between that first and last breath.

Now, stop worrying about Vastu, Feng Shui and many many rituals that are in vogue. Just become aware of the nature, your very own nature. Then you will stop chasing name, fame and money. As you start becoming comfortable with your own nature, they all will be following you!”

Suddenly, the misty man turned into a mini whirlwind and rushed towards the Suswasa. Gaping Suswasa closed his eyes and tried to duck. As the swirling mist hit the face of Suswasa, big and cool droplets of water started dripping from his face.

When Suswasa opened his eyes wiping off the dripping water, he saw his wife and two children were standing around the bench on which he was sleeping and sprinkling the water on his face!

Wife: “Your mobile is ringing so loud, still you are sleeping?!”

Children : “Daddy, we finished playing the slide, sea-saw, swing and all other things in this park. We are hungry now. Come let’s go to a restaurant!

Suswasa had unusually long dream but never regretted for having slept the whole afternoon – for, he had woken up a lot wiser.
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N-JOY BABA ON TERROR.

There was unusual crowd at the house of N-Joy Baba.

Who is this N-Joy Baba?

N-Joy Baba is a very learned person who is totally in harmony with teachings of - be it Hinduism, Buddhist, Christianity, Islam and the present day Gurus.

Few people, who knew of him, visit him to seek guidance on all sorts of matter. Yet N-Joy Baba never called himself as Guru and also was not interested in having an organisation to propagate his understandings. N-Joy Baba is aware of the fact that the spiritual corruption that sprouts and spreads among the people managing the affairs of the organisation does more harm to the society.

N-Joy Baba firmly believes that every one is capable of becoming whatever he/she thinks of and will certainly find his/her way in achieving it.
He always emphasises that everyone should enjoy the life in totality and stop worrying about IQs, EQs and SQs (Intelligent, Emotional and Spiritual Quotients).
The emphasis is on living and ENJOYING this world without thinking of leaving it, and hence he is known as N-Joy Baba.

When Suswasa joined the crowd at N-Joy Baba’s house, the discussion had turned towards the terror attack on Mumbai. People gathered there were voicing their opinions, concerns.

“This is a dastardly act and our politicians are the real culprits”

“Our brave security personnel fought against all odds to save us”

“We are appalled to see the lack of - even the bare minimum facilities required for the saviours of our country” …..

Suswasa on listening all these became emotional, stood up and almost shouted “N-Joy Baba! All these politicians are so insensitive towards people, they all should be hanged publicly!”

N-Joy Baba, who was listening patiently till then, said “Suswasa you are the root cause for this terrorism”.

There was a stunned silence all around.

N-Joy Baba continued, “ Are you not concealing part of your income to avoid taxes? Are you not paying up money to avoid the harassment of civic authorities, just because you have violated the rules in the first place? Many a time you pay up tips on your own, in order to get your work done out of the way. Are you not justifying this, saying everyone does this? Do you care to ring up and complain about leakage in water supply pipe, if it does not affect supplies to your home?
Now you want to hold huge rally to show that you care for the nation. How is it different from the rallies held by the sons of the soil to show off their strength, so called saviours of Kannada pride, saviours of Marathi manoos, saviours of gujjar backwardness, saviours of Hindu sanctity etc? Are you taking proper care that the rally you are planning does not inconvenience the general public?

You are very well aware that the graft money paid (even though it is disguised as tips, bakshis and speed money), end up with top-level corrupt officials and corrupt politicians. They all have private army of thugs and antisocial elements for their protection. Proximity to the powerful authorities, embolden these people to get into all sorts of businesses like extortion, drugs, arms trade, etc. in which terrorist elements are also involved.

Therefore, please remember that each rupee that you give out as graft will feed the terror groups. So stop blaming the system, politicians for the ills of the society and try to mend your own ways first.

If you care to contribute to the well being of the society you live in, start with the following three things immediately.
1. Keep ATS help line number handy, as it is useful in case of emergencies. But extensively use the help line numbers of civic services to register your complaints with regard to deficient services.

2. Resist the temptation of getting your jobs done through short cut methods and avoid all types of graft.

3. Do not invite any politicians to the functions that you organise. “

Then N-Joy Baba got up signalling end of discussion.
Suswasa and all the people gathered started dispersing out of the house but N-Joy Baba’s words made them to focus on self-introspection.
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SUSWASA AND THE TELEPHONE - 3

[This is a sequential story. So, please read the story in the following order; suswasa and telephone, suswasa and telephone-2, suswasa and telephone-3 and suawasa and telephone-4]
So far…: Suswasa is a lazy looking man but with lots of common sense. The misty man in his noontime dream shows a black telephone lying in a junkyard and tell Suswasa that if he finds that telephone instrument and keeps it in the northeast portion of the living room, fortune would follow him like his own shadow.
Suswasa succeeds in finding the black telephone. The telephone informs Suswasa not to speak until he reaches home, in order to get the fortune. Spotting the black telephone seen in his noontime dream made Suswasa to firmly believe that the dream will turn real. He was determined to bring the black telephone and install at northeast portion of his living room so that he can enjoy the fortune that is going to follow.However, each time he was tricked to speak out and the telephone vanishes, saying it can be found at the junkyard again but only after the next sunrise.
DHONI’S INTERVIEW.

Suswasa got a brilliant idea to hoodwink the black telephone. Now he had known the pattern. So he decided to reach Telepuram early in the morning just before sunrise. So that he can pick up the black telephone soon after the sunrise and drive back home fast, as there will be no traffic. This way he can reach home before it finishes its story and Suswasa can avoid speaking!

Suswasa was waiting for the sunrise at Telepuram junkyard. The black telephone appeared as soon as the first rays of the sun touched the earth.
As planned, Suswasa grabbed the telephone immediately and started driving home fast.

Then as usual the black telephone started ringing…. And Suswasa dutifully followed the instructions and put on his blue tooth earphone. Suswasa was confident of reaching home before the end of the story, as the road was free of traffic. He was ready to listen to the story.

Taka and Naka  couple were watching TV together on a Sunday morning. They wanted to enjoy the Sunday thoroughly and make it memorable, as it was their wedding anniversary day. So they had decided not to fight and argue on any issue, the whole day. So they did not touch the remote and were watching the channel being displayed, when they put on the TV.

Interview with Dhoni was being telecast.
Interviewer : “Sir, you have become the most popular figure among cricket loving fans. Your fans were sporting long hairs and even a head of the state admired your long hairs. Now that you cut your hairs, it has set a trend and your fans are all opting military cut. With such a close scrutiny and the pressures of leadership, how are you maintaining your cool?”

Dhoni: “Yeah, I was amazed at the adulations received on winning T20 world cup from the same fans that had drubbed us when we failed to qualify for the world cup matches held earlier in West Indies. So in order to understand the handling of ups and downs of life and to bring a semblance of balance in my life, I sought a counsel from my guru N-joy Baba. That was a wonderful experience. When I entered his room, I was surprised to see its transformation into a five star hotel suite from its dilapidated status earlier. N-joy Baba reading my mind, told me that this transformation was courtesy 'The all India association of hair dressing salons'. The office bearers were doubly happy because you had won the T20 world cup and more so because you had cut your hairs. But the fact is none of your fans turned out to be Dhoni, whether they had long hair or not. You remain as Dhoni only.

Then N-joy Baba blessed me touching my head and became silent. I felt a great surge of energy flowing through my body and there was a perfect understanding of myself.

At this point, the interviewer said “Dhoni’s understanding will be brought you in a few moments, till then stay tuned” and there was a commercial break.

Now Taka and Naka started surfing the channels. There were advertisements, serials, news, cricket match replays, cooking lessons and so on. After all these, they tuned back into the channel where Dhoni’s interview was being telecast.

The interviewer was shaking hands with Dhoni and the programme was over.

Taka and Naka were very much interested to know Dhoni’s experience but their surfing habit did not allow them to come back quickly to the original channel. The resolution of wedding anniversary broke down. They started blaming each other.

“What was the necessity to watch the highlights of the match, when you had seen whole match’s live telecast?”

“But you wasted more time by waiting for the new recipe’s ingredients”.

“No, you wasted the time to watch nauseating news”.

“But didn’t you stop at that serial showing 300th episode? Any way it will be repeated again”…..

After this there was a silence for a moment and suddenly there was a loud laughter from the black telephone. “Suswasa you can not hoodwink me. Now you tell me what was the Dhoni’s understanding?” Said the black telephone!

Suswasa got frightened. The story was very short unlike previous ones and he was still one and a half kilometre away from his home. So he had no other choice but to speak up.

“N-joy Baba gave a very good example of the people who flaunted long hair, today are rushing to salons to cut their hair. The intention is same – to look like Dhoni. The irony is, none of them became Dhoni in the past and none will be in future too. But their action surely affected some other people.

So Dhoni started following his own ways irrespective of what the media, fans and self-styled advisers were professing. However, he kept the interest of the team foremost, behind everything else.

He never thought of becoming like a swash buckling Kapildev or record breaking Sachin Tendulkar while batting and the great captains like Gavaskar or Steve Wagh while leading.

He is also aware that all our actions will affect others in some or the other way. And that is the way life has bundled the package deal. So instead of worrying about them, Dhoni simply kept choosing the actions which he thought was appropriate. So he was able to live each moment to its fullest potential.

This is the best way of balancing life against all odds and evens!
The N-joy Baba’s Zen type message had immense effect on Dhoni.”


Suswasa though in desperation, quickly came to term with fact that he needs to make another trip to Telepuram, the next morning.
***********************************************
Note: This is a work of fiction. The Cricketers name is used to give a proper context to the story.
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SUSWASA AND THE TELEPHONE – 2

[This is a sequential story. So, please read the story in the following order; suswasa and telephone, suswasa and telephone-2, suswasa and telephone-3 and suswasa and telephone-4]
Background: Suswasa is a lazy looking man but with lots of common sense. The misty man in his noontime dream shows a black telephone lying in a junkyard and tell Suswasa that if he finds that telephone instrument and keeps it in the northeast portion of the living room, fortune would follow him like his own shadow.
Suswasa succeeds in finding the black telephone. The telephone informs Suswasa not to speak until he reaches home, in order to get the fortune. However he was tricked to speak out and the telephone vanishes, saying it can be found at the junkyard again but only after the next sunrise.

MAGIC CASH CARD

Spotting the black telephone seen in his noontime dream made Suswasa to firmly believe that the dream will turn real. He was determined to bring the black telephone and install at northeast portion of his living room so that he can enjoy the fortune that is going to follow.

So, next day morning Suswasa went back to the junkyard at Telepuram. Suswasa found the black telephone exactly at the same location from where he had picked it up earlier.

As Suswasa started driving back home, there was a loud ringing sound from the telephone. Suswasa picked up the receiver and listened to the deep voice.
“Suswasa thank you for coming back and picking me up. I hope you will succeed in installing me at your home this time. However you will have to fulfil the condition of sending the message ‘NATURE’ to 7NL from your mobile and selecting the option 4 upon receiving the confirmation message. Then do not speak until you reach home” said the deep voice and continued “now you know that I will vanish and go back to junkyard, if you do not fulfil my condition, so be careful.”

Suswasa pulled out his mobile and composed the message ‘NATURE’ and sent it to 7NL. Immediately he got the following confirmation message:

“Thanks for registering with us. Now press 1 for dating services, 2 for astrology services, 3 for health tips and 4 for a story.

Suswasa pressed 4 without any further thought. The deep voice of telephone said, “Good, now put on your blue tooth ear phone and enjoy the story.”

Suswasa started listening to the story.

B.A.B.A. is a multi billion company having interest in manufacturing, food, energy, finance, retail chains, consulting and so on. The CEO of the company is people centric and a firm believer in ethical practices. He was worried about the future of the company. He needed to build a pool of leaders who are capable of steering the ever-expanding business units in an efficient and productive way. And it has to happen fast, within next ten years. Recruiting candidates from top grade B-schools alone was not enough. The melt down of financial sector giants in the recent past, who had employed them in hundreds, was a clear reminder of that fact.
So he wanted to identify the future leaders during the entry-level recruitment stage itself. So that it helps grooming them to shoulder the enormous responsibility from the very beginning. The chairman wanted a new procedure to be developed for recruitment to identify proper set of traits.

When the CEO conveyed this to his Human Resources Director, the director said he is ready with a plan and will be implemented from the very next batch of selection process.

So, about 250 candidates selected after the initial written test, were called to attend the new selection process. All candidates were required to stay for 5 days at the world-class training centre of the company. The candidates were asked to report at the centre on Sunday morning.

There was a customary welcome session. All the members of the company management attended the session to drive home the point that the specially devised selection process is to pick the future leaders and not just the employees. It was also made clear that the selected candidates will be leading the various business units in 10 years time.

After the welcome session, the HR manager started briefing the candidates assembled at the convention hall of the training centre.

The training centre has all the facilities you can think of. It has variety of restaurants for food, Malls with all sorts of shops, beauty salons for both men and women, laundry services, cinema halls, sports centre, swimming pool, gym, book shops. The computer centre is specially set up for you. It has inter-active gaming stations. Upon login, you can learn a lot about the company - the vision of the company, the challenges ahead, opportunities and processes employed – through various games.
So you can enjoy the next five days over here. Each one of you will be given a cash card, which you need to preserve carefully. The cash card enables you to access and avail the facilities in this premise. The cash card will have Rs.2400.00 at the beginning of each day. You can use this amount for availing any facility. However, the balance amount if any will not be carried over. The cash card will be loaded with Rs.2400.00 again on first swipe the next day. In effect the maximum limit that you can spend each day is Rs.2400.00 only.

The cash card will become operational from tomorrow, i.e., Monday morning. For the purpose of familiarisation, all the facilities except shopping can be accessed/availed for free today. So go around the campus and swipe the card to avail any facility and to login into gaming station at computer centre. In case of difficulty approach the help centres.

We wish you a memorable stay over here and the selected candidates will be notified on Saturday evening.
All the candidates dispersed and checked in to their allotted rooms. Then they were all over the campus. They went to restaurants, swiped the cash card and enjoyed variety of food. They went to swimming pool. Swiping the cash card enabled them to use swimsuit, towels, locker and obviously the pool. Some of them even went to Malls and tried to shop but the cash card was not operational as instructed earlier and so instead they went to watch a cinema.

By the end of the day, the HR department was pleased with the performance of cash cards as all of them were working as designed and there were no complaints at any of the help centres except for one. That complaint was also resolved immediately by replacing the cash card. The faulty card had been twisted and so was not working.

Next five days were hectic for the HR department. They were keeping a tab on each candidate’s use of cash card using a specially designed database.

The candidates were overwhelmed by the royal treatment extended to them. It never occurred to them even one bit that they were undergoing a selection process. For five days, the candidates used their cash cards to shop at malls, grooming at salons, splashing in pools, gaming station and even laundry services. Some candidates were so indulgent that they emptied their cash card by noon itself. This was despite the fact that the display panel at each swiping point was flashing the balance amount left in the cash card and the amount deductible for the service requested. Fortunately there were some good Samaritans who spared the amount out of their cash cards for lunch and dinner of such candidates.

Those five days were like dream for the candidates. On Saturday morning all were wondering why the selection process is not initiated so far. As there were no interviews, Discussions, personality assessment tests.

Meanwhile CEO with other functional heads was in a meeting discussing the report on the short listed candidates.
The report indicated that each candidate had Rs.12,000.00 at his disposal over a period of five days. Candidates who have spent minimum of Rs.3600.00 for logging in gaming station and a minimum of Rs.1200.00 each for (1) food and laundry, (2) Gym, swimming pool and sporting facilities (3) buying books and (4) Malls, movies and salons. So the minimum amount spent during five-day period totalled up to Rs.8,400.00. The spending pattern of balance Rs.3,600.00 was not considered.
Based on the above criteria, 62 candidates were short-listed.

Then CEO asked to find out the candidates who have spent the balance Rs.3,600.00 for buying food and medicine for others, for helping others to log into gaming station. When query was run on the database, 23 candidates among the initial 62 were found to be satisfying the additional criteria.

CEO wound up the meeting declaring that these 23 candidates are to be notified about their selection.

That evening all the 250 candidates were eagerly waiting for the results at the conference hall, the venue of farewell meeting.
When the names of 23 selected candidates were announced, all the candidates were astonished and confused about the selection procedure.

After telling this story, the voice in the Suswasa’s earphone continued, “ Suswasa, I am also confused about the selection method. I know you are good in applying common sense to unravel the life truths. So tell me quickly the logic behind the selection process otherwise you will be blown up and reduced to ashes like a ammunition laden terrorist car on a suicide mission!”

Suswasa with his application of common sense grasped the things immediately and started to speak out his mind.

“ The recent events in global financial sector suggest that they could not prevent the meltdown even with hordes of top grade B-school recruits. The educational qualification alone cannot make a person, a true leader. Moreover the highly qualified person will have the knowledge of methods used to analyse the overall personality during recruitments. So such person can work through the methods and present himself/herself as suitable candidate.
CEO and management of B.A.B.A. group of companies were aware of these facts and hence devised a novel method to find a true leader, which they were looking for.
A true leader is one who balances his/her professional interest and personal interest within the available resources and yet strives for progress. The true leaders also facilitate the progress and development of other people. They are always aware of troubles and have the ability to spot and to resolve them.

The philosophy of the test was simple. It analysed how each candidate utilises the most precious resource available to everyone – TIME. Every Rs.100.00 represented one hour and thus Rs.2400.00 being given to each candidate amounted to a day. Since time cannot be saved and carried over to the next day, the cash card was programmed to allow spending a maximum of Rs.2400.00 a day and did not allow to carry over any left over amount to next day.

The report presented by HR clearly indicates that the 62 candidates on the first list are those, who have spent minimum of 30% on using gaming station, and 10% each on food, sports facility, books and entertainment. That means these people will manage to put in about 30-40% of time for the work and another 30-40% time for their personal well being on a consistent basis. Further short listing was done by analysing whether the balance 20-30% is spent on food and medicine, gaming station and entertainment for others, specially who ran out of cash. This shows the person’s ability to spot the trouble and ready to help. The 23 candidates who passed these criteria were selected. Since these people have the traits of true leaders such as balancing the work and family life, taking time for self and care for the people around them.”

As soon as Suswasa finished telling this, there was a loud laughter from the black telephone. The deep voice followed the laughter saying, “Suswasa, you spoke before reaching home and so I am off to junkyard. You can find me there only after the sun rise tomorrow” and vanished.
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SUSWASA & THE TELEPHONE

BANANA-EATING TEST.

Suswasa is a lazy looking person but with lots of common sense. He wanted to experience all the things that a life can offer, particularly the luxurious ones! One afternoon, Suswasa was sitting on a bench overlooking beautiful lake in a city park. Within a couple of minutes the cool breeze transported him to a distant dreamland. But a little while later, his mobile started to chime dragging Suswasa back on to this earth. His temper shot up on learning that the call was from a credit card company, offering loan. Amazingly he regained his composure immediately as he remembered an article read in the newspaper that morning. It was a research report presented at the ‘world psychologists meet’. The report said noontime dreams are more likely to turn real compared to early morning dreams. The report also referred to the survey in which 53% of the volunteers’ dreams at noontime turned out real compared to only 49% of early morning dreams.

Suswasa’s intuition told him to believe his noontime dream;

The mist rising from the lakebed took the shape of a human being and carried Suswasa to a big junkyard and showed an old black telephone made of Bakelite with a rotary dial. (See the picture above. These telephones were in vogue from the time they were invented by Graham Bell till about 20 years ago. But today they are hard to find antique pieces. ) The misty man told Suswasa that if he finds that telephone instrument and keeps it in the northeast portion of the living room, fortune would follow him like his own shadow.

Suswasa knew where to find that telephone – Telepuram. It was on the outskirt of the city housing many industries. He looked at his watch. It was quarter to two. So he dropped the idea of venturing to that place. Since it was shift closing time and traffic jam was a certain thing. Suswasa dreaded the traffic jams so much that he was ready to forgo the fortune. He hated the endless wait at every road junction. So he decided to go to that place next morning.

Next day, early in the morning, Suswasa went to Telepuram. There was a factory manufacturing telecom related products. Once it was having a monopoly and lording over the market. But this company went into oblivion due to its inability to keep pace with the advancement in technology. The entire factory area resembled a big junkyard. Suswasa parked his car nearby a petty shop and straight away went into the ruined factory area looking for the telephone. He waded through rusted metal frames, broken pieces of electronic circuit boards, cables, cartons and spare parts of telephone instruments. But he could not find the telephone seen in his dream. It was already noon and Suswasa felt thirsty.

He came to the roadside petty shop and ordered limejuice. He was lost in deep thought with a blank look towards the junkyard. Mean while a customer bought a cigarette and turned toward the corner to light up. He had a problem in lighting up the cigarette and complained to the shop owner. The shop owner offered that customer a matchbox and started banging the black colour instrument and murmured to himself “I am fed up of answering hundreds of customers that this damn thing is not working for the past one week”. This made Suswasa to come out of his deep thought and look at the corner. It was the same telephone instrument the misty man had shown in his dream! The shop owner had modified it as a cigarette lighter with a small heating coil. Mean while the shop owner was ordering his assistant – “hey! Chotu, soon after serving the lime juice, throw this damn instrument in the junkyard”. He thought offering matchbox was a better option rather than answering every customer.

In a moment Suswasa gulped his juice, paid the money and followed Chotu. He waited in anxiety for Chotu to return to the shop. Then in one quick grab Suswasa scooped the telephone, went to his car and unloaded the telephone onto the front seat. Next moment Suswasa was driving on the main road, back home.
Suswasa turned on the FM radio. He was cruising on the road smoothly enjoying the music, as there was very little traffic on the road. Suddenly he heard a loud sound Tring, Tring, Tring, Tring. Suswasa could not remember setting that tone for any of his contacts. Yet he reached for his mobile. There was no call but the ringing sound was getting louder. Then Suswasa realised that the black telephone instrument was ringing!

He picked up the handset and a deep voice called out “Congratulations Suswasa for finding me. Before I proceed further, park your car on the side to avoid ticket from traffic police!”
Suswasa brought his car to a side and switched off FM to listen to the black phone.
The voice continued “Suswasa, now you will get all the health and wealth you desired but on one condition.”
“What condition?” interrupted Suswasa.
The deep voice said, “ Send a message NATURE to 7NL using your mobile...” Again Suswasa interrupted “to 7NL?”
Then the deep voice told him that if he speaks before it finished, the telephone would go back to junkyard and he would not be able to find it till next sunrise.
The deep voice continued “yes, the message has to be sent to 7NL and you will get confirmation message with four options. You need to select option 4 only and you should not speak anything till you reach home or else the telephone will vanish to the junkyard and will have to wait till next sunrise to find it there.

Suswasa composed the message – NATURE - and sent it to 7NL. Immediately he got the following confirmation message:

“Thanks for registering with us. Now press 1 for dating services, 2 for astrology services, 3 for health tips and 4 for a story.

Suswasa pressed 4 without any further thought. The deep voice came back to life “Good! You did the right thing. Now put on your blue tooth earphone and continue your drive. Please remember, not to speak till you install me at the northeast portion of your living room”.

Suswasa started listening to the story.

A person working in a BPO for a year now, was fed up with the pressures of the job brought upon day in and day out. So he wanted to have a break during the coming long weekend because of festival holidays. Now a day, providing leisure has become a big business keeping in mind, the people working in a high pay high stress jobs. Leisure shops come in all types. Yoga retreats, spas, meditation camps, dance therapies, naturopathy, aromatherapy and so on. The BPO employee logged onto his computer and started surfing the net to choose a package. He became more stressed when the google search spewed hundreds of listings. He simply started scrolling the list and accidentally clicked a link. It was a video-clipping put up on you tube – titled “Banana eating test - the last session of the meditation camp”.

It took few moments to load the video. It was a big meditation hall and there were about four hundred participants. It was a last session of a weeklong programme and the master was addressing the gathering.

“Dear friends, now it is time for test! I like to know whether my methods have helped in understanding your own self. The test will help me to fine tune the methods. But of late I came to know that participants are clever enough to learn about these tests from the previous batch students and are well prepared. So I have decided to devise a new test at the end of each programme. Here we go. Now every one sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed. Keep your palms open and be aware of your breath. Allow the thoughts, any kind of thoughts to come and let go.”

After a few moments, the master signals the volunteers to put a banana each on the participants open palms. As the volunteers were proceeding to place the banana, the master says, “Keep your eyes shut and do not get disturbed by what is happening around you. Sit still and keep watching your breath, until further instruction.”

After few more moments, the master says, “Slowly open your eyes and look at the banana in your palms. You have to eat the banana in such a place where all the people over here can see! And you have only ten minutes for this.”

Every one starts peeling the banana and is trying to attract the attention of other participants while eating. While there was a jostling among participants to be seen eating, suddenly one participant rushes towards the master. This act makes all the other participants to wonder what is happening and look at the master. Seizing this moment the participant who rushed towards the master, hides behind the master and after a brief while comes out with the banana peel in his hand. Other participants thought that something is wrong with that person and resumed their eating banana ensuring that others are watching them. After ten minutes, the master asks all the participants to sit down calmly and share their experience.


A participant comes on to the dais and tells, “Master, I thought this test is easy, but I did not succeed in making even about twenty five people watch me.”
Second participant comes and speaks “ Master, I have counted at least 100 people watching me eat. So I am the winner of this contest.”

Now there was a long line of participants in front of the dais waiting to share their experience. The volunteers started to regulate the queue.

The master intervened and told, “We have time only for three more responses.”

The next participant says, “Master, it seems one person got your question wrong and ate the banana behind you, where others can not see him.”

Another participant hopped on to the dais and said “ Master, I found it difficult to make others watch me since every one was busy counting the people who are watching them eat rather than they watching others eat!”

There was a roar of laughter all around.

The last one came and told, “ Master, as I counted the 81st person watching me eat, I had finished my banana. Definitely I would have been the winner, if you had provided one more banana!”

Again there was laughter among the audience.

The Master stood up and started talking, but at the same instance the audio failed but the video was running on the screen. The BPO employee was so engrossed that he continued watching the video though audio content was absent.

The picture showed the master calling some participants and in response to the master’s gesture, few participants in the audience were raising their hands. Then Master was standing with the person who had hid behind him. Then almost all participants raised their hands. Then the Master showed the banana pulp left behind him while continuing his speech. Then the video slowly faded out showing all participants standing and applauding.

Now the voice in the earphone of Suswasa continued, “ I am disappointed as terribly as the BPO employee due to failure of audio content in that video clipping exactly at the climax stage. Though I can guess who is the winner of the banana-eating test, I am desperate to know how the person was chosen.
Now, Suswasa if you do not speak in spite of knowing the answer and quench my curiosity, you will be blown up and reduced to ashes, like a ammunition laden terrorist car on a suicide mission!”

Suswasa with his usual zeal to unravel the riddles of life and simple common sense was able to gather the likely scenario and started speaking:

The Master first calls the participant who had claimed that hundred people have seen him eating the banana. Then the Master asks the audience to raise their hands if they had seen that person, eating banana. Only about 10 to 15 people raise their hands. Surprisingly only 10 to 15 hands go up even for other participants irrespective of their claim of having seen by 25 and 81 people.

Then the Master calls the person who had hid behind him and asks the audience to raise their hands if they think that person ate banana. Almost all participants in the audience raise their hands. The Master smilingly announces that person as a winner and shares his thoughts.

The banana-eating test is devised to mirror the daily life situation of facing dilemmas, paradoxes in our life. This person not only understood that such dilemmas and paradoxes are inherent part of our life but also came up with a solution to handle it.

It is virtually impossible that all the four hundred people will remember a person eating a banana. Even though it seems every one is watching, each one will be busy counting other people watching him eat!
The winner knew this and so acted in such a way that though he did not eat the banana, every one perceived that he ate!

The Master shows the banana fruit without the skin left behind him and continuing his speech tell the audience that the winner conveyed it very clearly that he couldn’t eat the banana where every one sees him eating - by not eating the banana. At the same time he made all the participants to perceive that he ate the banana by the act of waving the peel and hiding the fruit behind the master.

There is a lesson to take home from this test. We should find out the purposes of our life and keep pursuing them without bothering about what others might think.

The Master thanked the five participants who shared their experiences since they brought out the very message, which the test was intended to bring.
We need to be aware of the usual thought patterns that cloud and blur our vision and stop us from reaching our goals.

The usual thought patterns that occur are –
The initial enthusiasm makes us to believe that everything is going to be easy but get stranded on encountering the hurdles.

(This was brought out by first participant’s response. He had thought that the test was easy but not succeeded to get the attention of even twenty-five people.)


Only difficulties are seen and stop going further.

This was brought out by fourth participant’s response.
(“Master, I found it difficult to make others watch me since every one was busy counting the people who are watching them eat rather than they watching others eat!”)


Always want to be seen as a winner.

Most of the times we do things just to draw the attention of spouse, children, parents, peers, neighbours and the society at large. This struggle to prove self-worthiness is futile.
The second participant’s response clearly pointed out this thought pattern.(He declared himself as a winner saying at least hundred people have watched him eating banana).


Complaining and fault- finding just to mask the failures of the self.

This pattern was demonstrated by third participant’s response.
(“Master, it seems one person got your question wrong and ate the banana behind you, where others can not see him.”)


The resources at hand are always inadequate.

This thought pattern was brilliantly brought out when fifth participant shared his experience. - (“ Master, as I counted the 81^st person watching me eat, I had finished my banana. Definitely I would have been the winner, if you had provided one more banana!”)


The winner proved that being aware of these thought patterns was the key to shake them off and starting a new train of thought. The new thought pattern so generated helped him realise that eating banana where every one sees is impossible and lead him to an action plan to win the test.
On hearing this explanation by the Master, the spell bound audience gave him a standing ovation.


As soon as Suswasa finished telling this, there was a loud laughter from the black telephone. The deep voice followed the laughter saying, “Suswasa, you spoke before reaching home and so I am off to junkyard. You can find me there only after the sun rise tomorrow” and vanished.

[This is a four-part story. Please read other parts in the following sequence; suswasa and telephone-2, suswasa and telephone-3 and suswasa and telephone-4]

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