Dera - Settlement

चहचाहते पेड़ ,

मस्तानी पवन,

शोर करती चंचल सरिता ,

और संजीवनी देता सूरज। 

यही पा कर ही,

कल ही तो डेरा लगाया था। 

पेड़ भी मिले , पक्षी भी मिले ,

सरिता भी मिली, और सागर भी मिले,

सूरज भी मिला और चाँद संग तारे भी मिले,

उछलते कूदते जानवर,

और शिल्प गाथा गाते पत्थर भी मिले। 

तभी तो,

यहीं डेरा लगाया था। 

सब कुछ मिला पर कुछ अधूरा था ,

इस सुन्दर प्रकृति के बीच मैं अकेला था। 

जो भी पाया वह मैं था और मेरा सपना था। 

पर अपनी खोज में मैं सभी से दूर हो गया था। 

और जो साथ थे, अपनाते ही ना थे। 

तभी तो आज डेरा उखड़  गया।  

क्यों था मैं अकेला?

क्यों छोड़ गए मुझे सब?

प्रकृति की रचना अच्छी तो मैं क्यों नहीं?

मैं तो सोच रहा, तुम भी सोचो ना। 

सोचना फिर तो खोजना मुझे,

क्यों की कल ही तो डेरा लगाया था,

और आज उखड भी गया। 

Relief to ancestors

The river Ganga – one of the pillars of Indian Vedic culture is also known as "Bhaagirathi". This name came from Raja Bhagirath who is said to be reason why Ganga had to leave her heavenly abode and descend to flow on Earth. It is said that once there was a great king Sagar of the Surya dynasty. He was a Suryavanshi and a forefather of Lord Rama. Once he performed an Ashwamegha yagna in which his army follows the yagna horse. All the area that the horse travels upon then belongs to the king who performs the yagna. If anyone resists, he shall face the king's army. Unfortunately, Sagar lost his horse and then he ordered his 60,000 sons to find the same. They went all over the place uprooting life and burning forests to look for the horse. Finally they reached the ashram of Sage Kapila and found the horse tied in a corner. Enraged, they thought the meditating sage was the thief and disrupted Sage's meditation and tried to burn the ashram down. Horrified at the accusation and the enemity of the princes, the sage cursed the princes and turned them to ashes. Prince Bhagirath, one of the surviving descendants of King Sagar, approached Sage Kapila to forgive his forefathers and allow them to move to the next world by freeing their souls. He learnt that if the Ganga flows through the land where the ashes of his forefathers lay and the holy water carries the ashes, they shall be absolved of their sin. Bhagirath then worshipped Indra, Brahma, Shiva and Ganga to make her flow through the land.

Sage Agastya had a dream and saw his ancestors hanging upside down in darkness above the river Vaitarni. Upon inquiring the state of his ancestors, they responded that their condition is due to Agastya's celibacy and his refraining from producing offsprings. They told him to allow the nature to grow and help them pass on to the next world. Sage Agastya then married and had children. He found his ancestors happy then.

One of the sages held his desires close, practiced celibacy and thought of controlling nature through the power thus achieved. As a result, all women, animals, land around him became barren. The land around him started to experience draughts as there was no rain or water. In his attempts to control nature, the cycle of nature was stopped. To allow the nature to take its course, the sage had to enter matrimony and lead a the life of a household. This was Sage Rishyashranga – husband to Shanta – Lord Rama's elder sister.

In the chapter 1 of Srimad Bhagwat Geeta, Arjun examines the Kaurava army and then lays down his weapons in grief and tells Sri Krishna that he cannot fight. The most populist reason we all have heard is that how could he harm or kill he loved ones and relatives. But on detailed reading, he explains that through this war the Kauravas and their sons along with the sons of many others would die in the battle. This would destroy the families and finish off the family tree. Per his explanation, the sin of killing descendantss and one's family tree is more than not fighting in the battle.

All of the stories emphasize on the cycle of the nature. And another important aspect – when the next generation is born, the previous moves on to the next world. The cycle repeats itself. There are multiple rituals that take place during the course of this cycle. In my previous article, we saw some of the reasons for the pind daan ritual. This article emphasizes the role we play in the afterlife of our ancestors.

Pind Daan – Homage to ancestors

We celebrated Ganesha Chaturthi about a week ago. Right after the great veneration all of us immerse the Ganesha idol into water symbolizing he deportation and mingling with the five elements of the nature. When devotees carry the idol to the nearest water body or the place for immersing the idol, they chant hymns to invite the lord again next year. What we often overlook is the philosophy we emphasize through this ritual –the cycle of nature.

Hinduism follows the lunar calendar – based on the cycles of the lunar phases – waxing and waning of the moon. Following the lunar phase where we bid farewell to Lord Ganesha, the phase is used for remembering our ancestors and paying them homage. Well known as Pitra Paksha, this lunar phase lasts 15-16 days.

During the Pitra Paksha, it is expected for everyone to pay homage to their ancestors in form of "Pind Daan" and pray for their wellness in the other world. The "Pind" is actually a ball made of cooked rice & barley along with Ghee and black sesame seeds. While rice and barley define the rejuvenation hinting at the cyclical nature, the ghee and the black seeds denote the "Punya" (Good Deeds) and "Paap" (Bad Deeds). The pinda daan ritual is followed by a prayer to Lord Vishnu and Yama. Yama being the god of death and the keeper of the nether world is prayed to allow our ancestors a better stay. And the prayer to Lord Vishnu is to help our ancestors attain freedom from this cycle of life and death.

The pinda daan is performed by the living for their parents or siblings who have passed away. It is said that when the newer generation moves to the nether world after death, the generation before them enters the world again through a rebirth.

An important aspect and rather an unusual one is the prayer to crow! A good part of the pinda is separately arranged as an offering to crow. A crow is never considered as a symbol of beauty or happiness. A crow is considered as a bad omen and a piece of irritation as they sound like squeeking or Caw. Hence it is never invited into a household. But, the crow is considered as a messenger of Yama. His sound is actually understood as the first letter in Hindi alphabet – ka. The sound is also the start of many questions like what, when, how, why and where. It is said that in form of a crow, Yama comes to ask these questions for us to retell the stories that we have for our ancestors. These stories shall help him in his judgement.

As a ritual, after the prayers and the pinda daan, the devotees are expected to offer their gratitude to the Brahmins acting as agents connecting them with their ancestors. Incidentally this period is considered inauspicious for carrying out new initiatives. Practically speaking, with all the learned people busy dining and connecting the living with their ancestors, there aren't many left to bless the new initiatives. Thus come the inauspiciousness. Who is to blame – the ancestors or ____?

Diversity & Inclusion – 3

On the occasion of Janmashtami – day of Krishna's birth, we visited the temple. A large number of devotees had gathered together to offer their gratitude to the God for everything he gave us. I could see men and women of all kinds. The thought provoked me to write this post. In my previous post, I started thinking about efficiency in a diversified environment. Many communities have adopted ways to boost their efficiencies and put their differences aside.

Considering the thought of improving efficiency in a diversified environment, requires choosing the most applicable path. Talk to any statistician or a process expert and they would tell you innumerable ways to calculate the best fit line amongst the so many observation points (read individuals). Economists and even human resource organizations are the biggest proponents of finding the bell curves for the best fitting policies. Each of these measures improve efficiency in operations, actions and policies for future.

Unfortunately, I am interested in what the statisticians call "outliers" and also the region that is left out of the bell curve sections. Are they included in the decisions taken for improving the efficiency? Short answer is NO. Hence efficiency works on the principle of exclusion and not inclusion. This is where I am amazed at organizations and their policies. On one side they train us in "Diversity and Inclusion" and on the other hand expect us to be more efficient?

Talking of the outliers, one must carefully watch out for the gaps or the amplitude by which they differ from the "in" position. This gap results in feeling of being left out, distrust and eventually separation from the "in" stream. Feeling of being left out is a very sensitive issue for any one. We can see so many problems erupting everywhere demanding separation from the mainstream. To handle such a movement, one must introspect and understand the real cause. I wonder how many of us have seen these separatist movements in this light.

The Indian scriptures and sages realized this very problem long ago. They understood that efficiency and growth comes at the cost of exclusion and there is not a way that the boundaries can be drawn to include everyone. This is the reason they created 33 million gods for every community resembling them and their thoughts. With a god to represent them, each community has someone to look upon and a motive to move forward.

A poet once expressed similar thought in the Ram and Krishna forms of Vishnu. Rama was "Maryada Purushottam" – man of principles and "Ekampatnivrata" – a man with a single wife. Though much of Brahma's creation wanted nearness with Rama and gain eternity through his company. But Rama's principles created exclusivity and no one could get near. Hearing their cry, Vishnu promised that he would grant their wishes in his next form of Krishna. Krishna was thus "Leela Purushottam" – man of action and he performed "Maha Raas" to include every woman in Brij. Krishna taught the mode of devotion to achieve the God – "Bhakti". Bhakti is the path of inclusion and not exclusion.

Though growth is fuelled through efficiency, it comes at a cost of exclusion. If not managed well, the excluded groups slowly fade away from the mainstream causing separatist movements. Remember, inclusion may give a tardy growth line, but will help you grow with all.

Can the end justify the means?

Being brought up in a middle class family, I have always been taught lessons in ethics and moral conduct. I grew up listening to stories of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Rani Lakshmi Bai and other great heros epitome of morality. Having received high values, I married into another high valued family. My wife complements my quest and struggle to infuse our values into our kids.

Last night the whole family was watching Mahabharata and we saw how Duryodhana finally dies when Ashwathama kills the sons of Pandavas and shows him the blood stained weapons. Draupadi sees the horrific incident of her sons being killed at the hands of Ashwathama and realized the curse of Gandhari coming true. Tonight, we shall be looking at how Aswathama invokes the Brahmastra to kill Abhimanyu's unborn kids. Looking at the entire set of events we were discussing why so much of massacre? Why Krishna allowed so much of bloodshed? Why was he partial towards Pandavas – was it just his relation with Kunti that kept him on their side?

Interestingly, I was listening to BusinessSutra on YouTube featuring Dr Devdutta Pattnaik and Menaka Doshi where the question was – "Can the end justify the means?"

Looking at Mahabharata, let's revisit the question. In the end of the Mahabharata war, all the kauravas and their supporters are killed. They are viewed as the villains through out and have done despicable crimes towards mankind. Their death doesn't fills our heart with sorry but gives us happiness. At the same time, all the sons of Pandavas are also killed. Pandavas are destined to lead a great kingdom but remain heirless. Finally, Arjun's grandson Parikshit takes the crown after the Pandavas leave for their ascent to the heaven. Krishna is cursed by Gandhari to lose all his family and people in a civil war. Krishna is destined to die at the hands of a hunter in an unknown forest. So what was the end of Mahabharata? Who won? What means are we talking of to have been justified in this whole process?

Let's look at the reason for the war – an unfulfilled contract. Kauravas and Pandavas had agreed that when the Pandavas would return from their 13 years of exile they shall be given their kingdom back. Duryodhana refused to acknowledge that Pandavas had fulfilled their part. He kept arguing on technicalities. To make peace, Krishna even offered him to give away five villages to Pandavas and he still denied. When pushed to the corner, Duryodhana showed his true colors – his intentions of not being true to any code of conduct. If the peace had prevailed or Kauravas would have won, Duryodhana would become the king of Hastinapur and the entire mankind would have suffered much more. Krishna favored Pandavas to prevent this injustice from happening. So, while we were discussing about Krishna's partiality, we overlooked his intentions. Thus forgot the context within which the end was being perceived.

The epic story of Mahabharata, does not ends with the war. It has many more stories to tell. And each story, makes us think about the context and the intentions. The context changes the perspective involved. It also changes the rules and the requirements for every situation. Mahabharata helps us to identify such contexts and broaden our minds through such contradicting stories.

"Can end justify the means" – is based on the assumption that if the rules are followed, good would happen! But the rules change with context. Be careful, when you hear such large boasts or debates.

Diversity & Inclusion - 2

Thinking more about the diversity and the inclusion, I started to visualize the concept everywhere.

I was asked to take up a diversity and inclusion training at my workplace the other day. To make the matters worse, they had actually tied it to my job compliance. What they told me in the training was that we work in a multinational organization and we need to be aware of different cultures and their considerations. The training was mandated by the human resource group and requested us not to form judgments by just one or two incidents. It asked us to be cognizant of the difference in cultures and develop patience. In a subtle tone, it asked us to be able to develop the sensitivity towards others - their needs, their fears and their backgrounds.

Having said that, I wondered what is the organizational culture then? Why the same HR dept. does strives to instill a common set of values? Why are we all the time chased through the hallways for not following te corporate templates? Why should the deliverables from different teams in one organization look the same? What happens to diversity, sensitivity and the inclusion?

I found the answer while explaining the currency to my kids! I showed them the various currency notes in my possession –

Currency Name	Currency Note
Indian Rupee
Euro
US Dollar

 
You shall notice that Indian rupee has the payer' promise in 17 local languages displaying the variety in language and culture. At the same time, the Euro spans across multiple countries, yet displays the content in very limited languages. United States of America – which is also termed as the land of immigrants or the melting pot of the world, has attracted residents from all over the world. You'll see almost every language and culture in different pockets of US, yet the currency displays only one – English. Was US being insensitive to the various cultures living and prospering here? No. The answer comes from the efficiency of operations. The cost of producing the single language currency notes is far lesser than the same with multiple languages.

See the same thing in your organization, home or even with your friends. I was born and brought up in a hindi speaking place. Though, I had to move to a place for work where people only spoke Tamil. Later, I moved to another place where all work was done in Kannada. To top it all, all people I interacted with came from various backgrounds – with different values, languages and food. I found knowledge of English very efficient and helpful in establishing the common ground wherein we could connect and draw up the plans for future.

While not forgetting the wonders of mother tongue and its importance, at least there is one thing we must be thankful to British for – English. On the occasion of our 68^th independence day, call me a traitor, but I still root for the one thing that binds us together and unites us amongst all the diversity we have.

Diversity & Inclusion

My wife has already started on her project for the 68^th Indian Independence Day program in our town as well as the county. She is doing an amazing job convening the program with so many different volunteers and great helpers. Out of curiosity, I asked her the theme and her answer was "Of course, it's Diversity!" I started thinking the real meaning of the word diversity and its implications. Trust me it has been a very interesting journey through the thoughts.
Diversity means the state of being diverse or having variety to be precise. Variety can be in multiple forms – dresses, food, mannerisms, opinions and thoughts.
In the various interactions with people, systems and processes we all come across so many diversified characters on a daily basis. Yet we harp on the need to understand the diversity and understand it. This is what drive my curios and inquisitive mind to ponder. I believe diversity is a fact of life and nature. The Mother Nature supports so many living organisms – be it flora or fauna, so many non-living things, doesn't it offers diversity to us? I believe this is diversity in its fullest form. To help ourselves understand the various complex natural phenomenon, we tried to classify them in families and kingdoms. Interesting still, while we tried to study one phylum, we were still observing others and their effects. We applied the same classification (though modified) while understanding humans, their cultures and their societies. Then why did we forget the behavior and the impact of others as in plant or animal kingdoms?
Yes, diversity is not new. It has always existed and will always exist. We are just one very small miniscule creatures in the diversified nature. But what makes us superior to others is our ability to think and understand the differences. The same understanding and knowledge leads us to appreciate the capabilities of others and help us being sensitive towards others and their needs. The sensitivity leads to us being able to adjust and develop a cordial society for all to live together.
Of late many organizations have started training their staff on Diversity and Inclusion. The program is aimed at not only understanding that there may be people with diverse backgrounds but also with methods to include them all when working as a team and devising approaches to minimize the differences.
Some argue that this knowledge and the understanding came from the west. I recommend to visit the SriNathJi temple in Nathdwara, Rajasthan, India. SriNath Ji appears before the devotees 8 times a day for darshan. In each appearance he sports a new and a different outfit. All the year round, the dresses and Shriji's getup is never repeated. Quite a fashionable god? Yes he is. However, the point to note here is some of the various forms that ShriJi takes during the year include that of a 'Yavan', 'Mugal' and even 'maleccha' – forms that are not associated with Hinduism or are not viewed favorably. But look closely – the god himself is givin out the message of inclusion, sensitivity to others through the clothes he sports. When he can do so, how can we be so insolent?
Let's introduce another interesting twist to this whole paradigm – like the holy trinity of Hindu Gods – Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh; there is a holy trinity of Lakshmi, Durga and Saraswati – the female counterparts of Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma. The three goddesses symbolize different types of wealth we can have - Lakshmi indicates the material wealth, Durga indicates the emotional wealth, and Saraswati indicated the wealth of knowledge. In our quest for materials, we are always trying to achieve our emotional quests, but somehow we forget the knowledge that gives us sensitivity towards self and others.
Hence, to really understand Diversity and Inclusion, one must try achieve knowledge of one's own culture and that of others'.