The way I see it

Image is taken from Guns, Germs and Steel Origin of humans in Africa from the African ape about 7 million years ago. Homo erectus was the first one to reach Java island around 1 million years ago. Humans in Europe = 1/2 million year ago called as Home Sapiens. Neanderthals in Europe from 130,000 to 40,000 years ago. Cro-Magnons around 40000 years ago. They were very similar to modern humans. Home erectus -> Home Sapiens -> Neanderthals (western Europe)->Cro-Magnons Great Leap Forward -> 50,000 years ago. Colonization of Australi/New Guinea -> 40,000 years ago. They must have come from south east asia using some form of watercraft. Siberia was colonized around 20,000 years ago by north European people. Then around 12000 B.C. Alaska was colonized and from there humans went down to South America within a couple thousand years. The entire American continent was colonized by 11000 B.C.

This is from one of the podcasts by Swami Tyaganandaji from the Boston Vedanta Society. He talks about four spiritual exercises that we must do every single day in order to practice Vedanta in our daily lives. They are: 1. Forget the good that we have done to others. 2. Forget the bad that other people have done to us. 3. Always remember that everything is impermanent. 4. Always remember that God alone is Real. Beautiful! Thank you Swamiji.

In Marathi we have a saying which goes: "Sant jana yeti ghara tochi Diwali, Dasara". It gets translated as: "The day a holy man comes to your house, it should be celebrated like Diwali or Dasera". Last Monday September 13th, I got an opportunity to celebrate early Diwali and Dasera! I had the good fortune of welcoming my Guru to our house. There were lights, flowers, rangoli, fragrance, food around and we all were blessed by his presence. I can never forget this day in my life. Jai Gurudev...

Today we had a send off party at Fender for our CEO Mr. Bill Mendello. He has been a part of Fender for 33 years. In 1985 a group of people (Bill Shultz, Bill Mendollo and a few others) decided that the Fender brand was too precious and they cut off from the parent company CBS and decided to give Fender, as an independent company, a new chance. It was a new beginning! I work for them today because a few people believed in the brand and in themselves many years ago. I have never worked with Bill Mendello personally and hence had no idea how this person is. But you will always find a common personality/character trait in all the stories that people tell about the person....that's what Swami Vivekananda used to say, and I of course agree :) Today at the send off party, there were a few things that I got to know about the CEO Fender. First is that Fender was his passion. He considered it as his second family. Second was that he loved music, which explains why he would be so passionate ...

I have decided to make this bold attempt of putting forth my views on the Indian caste system. For many years now I have wondered about the caste system. I know many people who told me that yes certain castes are superior and some aren't and it was decided merely on the basis of your birth. This always seemed incomplete to me....how could this be? In modern India it is a sin to say this but many people still believe in it deep down their hearts. I pondered over this question as a teenager and then left it for other important things that time. But since a past few years this thought has again popped up in my mind. A few months back, one of my friends happened to give his opinion over it and he thinks that caste system has been the worst thing that Hinduism brought to the masses. He said it was in the Vedas and I somehow could not digest that theory. But I could not say anything that time since my knowledge of my own religion was much more limited that time. This argument was one o...

These ideas are inspired by this one quote by Sri Ramakrishna: "God is everywhere but He is most manifest in man. So serve man as God. That is as good as worshiping God." The best way to get started is to write down the ideals and then take up ideas which will fulfill them. Our ideals here are as follows: 1. Work for a good cause 2. Expect nothing in return. The work done will be entirely voluntary...no obligations. 3. Impart your knowledge and ideas. Education goes a long long way in people's lives. Helping someone is one thing but imparting knowledge and making them independent so that the help lasts with them forever will be the highest thing. 4. Build up self-confidence in individuals. Swami Vivekananda says that every individual is potentially divine. We just need to manifest that divinity within ourselves. Higher self esteem, higher morals will help people take their lives and goals to a higher level. 5. Work Work Work....incesssantly. The best way to ach...

I decided to pick a random verse from the Bhagwad Gita today and see if it did help me with something that I have been thinking about. These are the verses that came to me: 3.30: Dedicating all actions to Me, with your mind intent on the Self, free from expectations, free from selfishness, devoid of fever, engage in battle (or fight). 3.31: Those who constantly practice this teaching of Mine with faith and without carping, they are also liberated from actions. Thank You Krishna.