Ancient wisdom - Vadani Kaval Gheta !!!

"Vadani kaval gheta nam ghya shree hariche.

Sahaj havan hote, nam gheta phukache

Jeevan kari jivitva anna he poornabrahma

Udarbharan nohe janije yadnya karma"

Jai Jai Raghuvir Samarth

Jai Jai Raghuvir Samartha!!!

Translation of the famous marathi prayer which we chant before eating food.  Sant Ramdas was well known saint from the 17th century.  I am working on my relationship with food. I started observing myself since last few months. Yesterday, I remember this beautiful verse and it gave me goosebumps.  I have been looking for meaning of eating food.  This has a perfect description of it. It resonated with the thing I am trying to understand since last few days. When i started translating this in English, it become little challenging. I understand the meaning of this verse  but the translation was pointing towards different meanings. So I asked my friends to translate it for me. Here, I am presenting all the translation. Jai Jai Raghuvir Samartha!

While taking a mouthful of food, chant the name of God

The food is easily offered as a offering to god when his name is said

The food gives life to us as it is completes God Principle

Having food is not just filling the stomach but is a type of fire-sacrifice (Yajna) - http://le-bouffe.blogspot.c

It's the strength of his name, which assimilates the food we eat,

The power of bread lies in providing life energy, converting the whole into one,

Eating is not only to provide fuel to body, but it is a worship to our soul.  - By Anjali

It makes a good combustion by your agni.

Life is made livable (by providing energy), 

Anna is complete avatar of the Almighty,

Don't treat it like an act of fulfilling hunger,

Its comparable to a religious ritual.  - By Manasi

Putting food in the mouth, Take God's name

It will be easily digested when eaten with his name

It gives life to life, food is god itself. 

It is not an act of filling your stomach, It is actually offering to fire of life.  By Sharvari

Remember and thank god for every bite,

Remember him and pray energy for every bite,

Remember water and food builds you.

Remember food is whole world

Remember its not filling stomach

Remember its not satisfying to taste

Remember its for existence

Unchanted words : Present

Life is in the present!

Open your eyes to see the present,

Your past was present and your future will be present

Because life is in the present, 

You can breathe to live

Your dream is present and your wish will be present

Because life is in the present

Yes, if you are present, then it's life..

Unchanted words : Change to change

Everyone is busy because our definition of the word idle is narrow,

Everyone is unhappy because our definition of the word happiness is shallow,

Everyone is sad because our definition of the word cheerful is mellow,

Everyone is struggling because our definition of the easement is darrow,

I hear these words busy, unhappy, sad and struggle from everyone.

I hear that life is hard and it’s not fair from everyone.

Think twice before we say these words busy, unhappy, sad and struggle.

Change the words, change the thoughts and to change your emotions.

It’s only a journey …….

Unchanted words: No fear

We fear, fear of failure

We fear, fear of death

We fear, fear of rejection

We fear, fear of loss

We fear, fear of hurting yourself or others

We fear, fear of uncertainty in life.

Nothing worse happens or everything worse happens.

Ultimately, we survive, we revive and we move on to the next moment.

So why to fear anything in life.

Let’s redefine fear which does no good. 
Let's there be no fear!

What really matters in child development?

I am on this journey to become a good mother. Yes, I am a mother of a two year old. I have my ups and downs.  I am reading about parenting, discussing with friends. I want to teach him empathy, to be humble and kind. I want him to learn to be happy and to live in the present. I want him to be healthy.  I  have a long wish list for him.  This wish list does not include anything about learning or study. I  am trying to put a lot of efforts to teach him all the values.  Every time I give him food or I am cooking for him. I start thinking about teaching him good eating habits. Giving him more nutritious food.  Yes, I feel stressed and overwhelmed about everything as a parent.

Now, I am contemplating on this thought what really matters in child development.  Actually, the most important thing matters is how I behave, eat, drink and do things.  Nothing matters, when I think about myself as an adult. How I ate and what I ate has shaped me?  Why I am obsessed with eating healthy food? What bad food I am eating and how much I am eating?  I am trying to understand that what’s going on within my world. What I eat is determined by many factors. For example, what I can buy around me cheap?  Next if I have a little more money,  then I can buy from a health food store or organic food.

I am a mirror for my son. At this small age, they  learn through repeating and copying. This thought has helped me to stop worrying and start changing/ improving myself. He will be empathetic, happy, creative and healthy. I ask myself these questions.  Am I happy? Am I empathetic or creative. If, I get answer positive, then I do not have to do anything. If no, then I have to use my time to improve. 

Happy Parenting. 

Three key stories of my life - Part III -the END

This is the third and the last key story of my life. If I tell you that during the five years of my time in IIT Bombay, I lost only six keys. Yes, I lost almost six keys of the hostel room lock. Friends teased me for my carelessness and absent mindness only related to the key and  mobile too. Yes, I mentioned only related to key and mobile because I have a wonderful memory. I am using it for only important work. I can still remember all the data, file names and location of files from my first PhD. I call that I have a long lasting relationship problem with the key. So we are  unable get along. The key doesn't like me. 

This story began during my second year of a PhD. I was working in the lab late at night. My standard time to reach hostel was 2:00am. I am a jhola person.  Jhola means a big cloth bag without any pockets. I use to dump everything inside. One day I reached the hostel at 2am. I tried to take the keys out from my jhola. I could not find it. I emptied it on the floor. It confirmed me that I lost it. I started thinking when I had my keys last time. I had two choices. I could knock my friend's door and sleep at her place for the night. Or I can go back to the  lab and check if I forgot my key there. I selected the second option with a confidence that I might keep keys in the lab. I was wrong that time. I could not find the key. I came back and finally used my first choice. In the morning, I went to the hostel mess, I borrowed hammer to break the lock. With this I end the first key lost part of this story. 

Then I became wiser and I bought a lock with three keys. I kept one with me, one in the lab and one I gave it to my friend. I reached in the third year of my PhD. Anyone who has done Phd will agree that its most stressful year. So there is a possibility  to lose a key. I somehow lost the key again. I went to room in the evening. I  did not have a key. I had two choices again. I could call my friend to bring my key. I could go back to the lab and get the spare key. My friend was out of town so it was not an option. I did use the third choice. I broke the lock again. I borrowed the hammer again from the mess and broke the lock. Why I did this? I was very frustrated that day. Everything was going wrong. I was so tired and when I could not find a key. I just went down and broke it. This is the way I not only one key, but three keys. This is the second half of the three key lost story. 

Finally, let's hear the great third key story. I bought a lock with two keys. Again, I kept one key in the lab and one with me. In the meantime, I lost a key. I used the first choice. I went back to the lab and got the spare key. I used it for few months. I was happy that I am not losing key anymore. One fine day, I was travelling to London for a conference. It was my first trip abroad. My parents and my boyfriend were there at the hostel to drop me to the airport. We packed everything. We went down had dinner and came back to the room. I was carrying the key in my hand. After dinner, we went upstairs to grab the luggage. When I reached and tried to find a key to open the room. To my surprise, I did not have the keys in my hand. I listened to all the lectures from them to be careful about my passport during my visit. If I lost anything during the trip I would be in trouble. I had no choice this time. I went straight down. When I entered the mess, the mess worker smiled and gave me the hammer. I broke the lock. This time my door knob also broke because it could not take any more blows. I happily went on my trip. This is the end of the key story. 

Today, I look back and I thought that indeed those are wonderful three key stories of my life. 

Life advice from a wise

This is a summary of an amazing interaction 

1) Count your blessings when you are in the middle of a problem.

2) Accept the disorder  and then it becomes easy to manage difficulties or problems.

3) Focus on the solution and you will not be worried or panicked

4) Entropy of a system - everything is disordered - and things get ordered to a higher state       

     within  the disorder

5) Difficulties or challenges are the opportunities to grow wiser

6) Do the small tasks when you come to work. And focus is a habit.