Monday, December 31, 2007

Estudante da Vedanta

http://geocities. yahoo.com. br/estudantedave danta/

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Important queries on 10g performance

to get breakup of wait
-------------------
select wait_class,time_waited from v$system_wait_class order by time_waited;
pga target allocation
----------
select pga_target_for_estimate "size",
pga_target_factor "factor",
estd_extra_bytes_rw/1000000 "extra Mb r/w",
estd_overalloc_count "over allocations"
from v$pga_target_advice;
db_cache advice
---
select name,size_for_estimate, size_factor, estd_physical_reads from v$db_cache_advice;

Friday, November 23, 2007

quotes from swami vivekananda

People always insist to do whatever makes one happy. Therefore, we see that everyone doing what makes them happy. In this way, this is what has happened-

A group of people believes smoking makes them happy and they are smoking.

Some believe that happiness lies in alcohol and they are consuming it.

Some see happiness in movies and hotels so they go there.

Some see happiness in flirting, and they are doing so.

Some believe that happiness is in making materialistic relationships with others, so they do so and hurt others.

Some people get happiness in burning crackers (money), so they do so.

Now, a group of people feels that happiness lies in killing others, in doing bomb blasts..so they are doing so.

We see, that everyone is thinking of happiness, but not about the truth...about the right and the wrong.

I feel, that the target should be the truth and not happiness.

Irrespective of outcome, if everybody starts according to their own will, it seems very likely that there will be confusion, chaos everywhere, which is exactly seen in today' world.

Especially in a country like India, where the greatest saints have taken birth, the place from where all the holy texts come from.... It is very surprising to see the ignorance of our people about our culture.

I can see in many educational institutions and organisations that there are cultural days and festivals are celebrated. In most of these celebrations, we have loud noise, cheap hindi songs and dance, alcohol and sort of Page 3 scene....... ..

I feel pity for those who feel that Indian culture is about clothes, crackers, loud music...etc.

At the same time, human beings like Swami Vivekananda make me feel proud of my Indian culture, which is not about clothes and crackers, but which is of human values.

Its high time, we realise that our culture doesn't lie in alcohol, tobacco, clothes, parties, loud music, but Indian culture is about human values.

I remember Swamiji's comments about India-

"....when religion in the West is only in the hands of the ignorant and the knowing ones look down with scorn upon anything belonging to religion, here comes to the fore the philosophy of India, which displays the highest religious aspirations of the Indian mind, where the grandest philosophical facts have been the practical spirituality of the people. This naturally is coming to the rescue, the idea of the oneness of all, the Infinite, the idea of the Impersonal, the wonderful idea of the eternal soul of man, of the unbroken continuity in the march of beings, and the infinity of the universe.( CW3 FIRST PUBLIC LECTURE IN THE EAST )"

"But mark you, if you give up that spirituality, leaving it aside to go after the materialising civilisation of the West, the result will be that in three generations you will be an extinct race; because the backbone of the nation will be broken, the foundation upon which the national edifice has been built will be undermined, and the result will be annihilation all round."( CW3 REPLY TO THE ADDRESS OF WELCOME AT RAMNAD )

"Go back to your Upanishads the shining, the strengthening, the bright philosophy and part from all these mysterious things, all these weakening things. Take up this philosophy; the greatest truths are the simplest things in the world, simple as your own existence. The truths of the Upanishads are before you. Take them up, live up to them, and the salvation of India will be at hand.( CW3 MY PLAN OF CAMPAIGN )"

"In India, religious life forms the centre, the keynote of the whole music of national life; and if any nation attempts to throw off its national vitality the direction which has become its own through the transmission of centuries that nation dies if it succeeds in the attempt. And, therefore, if you succeed in the attempt to throw off your religion and take up either politics, or society, or any other things as your centre, as the vitality of your national life, the result will be that you will become extinct. To prevent this you must make all and everything work through that vitality of your religion. Let all your nerves vibrate through the backbone of your religion. ( CW3 MY PLAN OF CAMPAIGN )"

"You must go out to preach your religion, preach it to every nation under the sun, preach it to every people. This is the first thing to do. And after preaching spiritual knowledge, along with it will come that secular knowledge and every other knowledge that you want; but if you attempt to get the secular knowledge without religion, I tell you plainly, vain is your attempt in India, it will never have a hold on the people. Even the great Buddhistic movement was a failure, partially on account of that.( CW3 MY PLAN OF CAMPAIGN )'

"We must go out, we must conquer the world through our spirituality and philosophy. There is no other alternative, we must do it or die. The only condition of national life, of awakened and vigorous national life, is the conquest of the world by Indian thought. ( CW3 THE WORK BEFORE US )"

Let us remember Swami Vivekananda' s words regarding conversions:

"And then every man going out of the Hindu pale is not a man less, but an enemy more."

At the same time, let heed his warning:

"Religion and religion alone is the life of India , and when that goes, India will die, in spite of politics, in spite of social reforms, in spite of Kubera's wealth poured upon the head of every one of her children."

In the above context of Swamiji's words, India has not progressed anywhere, and it is high time we think seriously about these statements.

LONGING FOR GOD


`Sir, how can one develop divine love?'

Through restlessness- -the restlessness a child feels for his mother.
The child feels bewildered when he is separated from his mother, and
weeps longingly for her. If a man can weep like that for God he can
even see Him.
(Ramakrishna, `The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' )

Developing such deep, dynamic inner whispers is sure to bring a
response from God. Constantly, unceasingly, whisper to Him of your
eternal love, of your burning desire to commune with Him.
Of greatest help in your development is the habit of mental
whispering to God. You will see a change in yourself that you will
like very much. No matter what you do, God should be constantly in
your mind…Transmute petty desires into one great desire for Him.
Your mind should continually whisper, `Night and day, night and day,
I look for Thee night and day.'
(Paramahansa Yogananda, `God First, a Retreatant's Pocket Companion)

Desire Me, you are under My Grace; desire Me, your God; desire Me,
your Father - let Me feel that you do not belong to the world. Please
Me flower and turn to Me, seeking My Light. Be thirsty for Me. Just
like a flower which needs a keeper to maintain its beauty, need Me,
need My Light, need My Springs. … Come now, rest in Me. We, us?
Forever!
(Jesus to Vassula, True Life in God)

on fanaticism

MAYA AND ILLUSION - Swam Vivekananda
Shall we not work to do good then? Yes, with more zest than ever, but what this knowledge will do for us is to break down fanaticism. The Englishman will no more be a fanatic and curse the Hindu. He will learn to respect the customs of different nations. There will be less of fanaticism and more of real work. Fanatics cannot work, they waste three-fourths of their energy. It is the level-headed, calm, practical man who works. So, the power to work will increase from this idea. Knowing that this is the state of things, there will be more patience. The sight of misery or of evil will not be able to throw us off our balance and make us run after shadows. Therefore, patience will come to us, knowing that the world will have to go on in its own way. If, for instance, all men have become good, the animals will have in the meantime evolved into men, and will have to pass through the same state, and so with the plants. But only one thing is certain; the mighty river is rushing towards the ocean, and all the drops that constitute the stream will in time be drawn into that boundless ocean. So, in this life, with all its miseries and sorrows, its joys and smiles and tears, one thing is certain, that all things are rushing towards their goal, and it is only a question of time when you and I, and plants and animals, and every particle of life that exists must reach the Infinite Ocean of Perfection, must attain to Freedom, to God.

Let me repeat, once more, that the Vedantic position is neither pessimism nor optimism. It does not say that this world is all evil or all good. It says that our evil is of no less value than our good, and our good of no more value than our evil. They are bound together. This is the world, and knowing this, you work with patience. What for? Why should we work? If this is the state of things, what shall we do? Why not become agnostics? The modern agnostics also know there is no solution of this problem, no getting out of this evil of Maya, as we say in our language; therefore they tell us to be satisfied and enjoy life. Here, again, is a mistake, a tremendous mistake, a most illogical mistake. And it is this. What do you mean by life? Do you mean only the life of the senses? In this, every one of us differs only slightly from the brutes. I am sure that no one is present here whose life is only in the senses. Then, this present life means something more than that. Our feelings, thoughts, and aspirations are all part and parcel of our life; and is not the struggle towards the great ideal, towards perfection, one of the most important components of what we call life? According to the agnostics, we must enjoy life as it is. But this life means, above all, this search after the ideal; the essence of life is going towards perfection. We must have that, and, therefore, we cannot be agnostics or take the world as it appears. The agnostic position takes this life, minus the ideal component, to be all that exists. And this, the agnostic claims, cannot be reached, therefore he must give up the search. This is what is called Maya -- this nature, this universe.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page :101 ] (Lecture Delivered in London)

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Sri Ramakrisna Sutras @ urge for religion/god

MASTER: "Yes, it is good to listen to these things. But nothing will happen except at the right time. What can quinine do for a fever patient when he runs a high temperature? Only when his temperature comes down through the use of 'fever mixture' or a purgative should quinine be prescribed. There are patients who get rid of their fever even without quinine. A child said to his mother, when he was put to bed, 'Mother, please wake me up when I feel the call of nature.' The mother said: 'My child, I shall not have to wake you. The urge itself will wake you.'

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

on youngsters and sadhana

"The youngsters are now in the stage of sadhana. They are aspirants.
For them the only thing now is renunciation. A sannyasi must not look
even at the portrait of a woman. I say to them: 'Don't sit beside a
woman and talk to her, even if she is a devotee. You may say a word or
two to her, standing.' Even a perfect soul must follow this precept
for his own protection and also to set an example to others. When
women come to me, I too say to them after a few minutes, 'Go-and visit
the temples.' If thev don't get up, I myself leave the room. Others
will learn from my example
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

Excerpt from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (Swami Nikhilananda Pub
1944) Vol 2: At the Star Theatre (I): Friday, September 19, 1884

Sunday, October 21, 2007

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrisna

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrisna

Self in the body

Story Indra and Virochana


A god (Indra, the supreme among the gods) and a demon (Virochana) went to learn about the Self from a great sage. They studied with him for a long time. At last the sage told them, 'You yourselves are the Being you are seeking.' Both of them thought that their bodies were the Self. They went back to their people quite satisfied and said, 'We have learned everything that was to be learned; eat, drink, and be merry; we are the Self; there is nothing beyond us.' The nature of the demon was ignorant, clouded; so he never inquired any further, but was perfectly contented with the idea that he was God, that by the Self was meant the body. The god had a purer nature. He at first committed the mistake of thinking: I, this body, am Brahman: so keep it strong and in health, and well dressed, and give it all sorts of enjoyments. But, in a few days, he found out that that could not be the meaning of the sage, their master; there must be something higher. So he came back and said, 'Sir, did you teach me that this body was the Self? If so, I see all bodies die; the Self cannot die.' The sage said, 'Find it out; thou art That.' Then the god thought that the vital forces which work the body were what the sage meant. But, after a time, he found that if he ate, these vital forces remained strong, but, if he starved, they became weak. The god then went back to the sage and said, 'Sir, do you mean that the vital forces are the Self?' The sage said, 'Find out for yourself; thou art That.' The god returned home once more, thinking that it was the mind, perhaps, that was the Self. But in a short while he saw that thoughts were so various, now good, again bad; the mind was too changeable to be the Self. He went back to the sage and said, 'Sir, I do not think that the mind is the Self; did you mean that?' 'No,' replied the sage, 'thou art That; find out for yourself.' The god went home, and at last found that he was the Self, beyond all thought, one without birth or death, whom the sword cannot pierce or the fire burn, whom the air cannot dry or the water melt, the beginningless and endless, the immovable, the intangible, the omniscient, the omnipotent Being; that It was neither the body nor the mind, but beyond them all. So he was satisfied; but the poor demon did not get the truth, owing to his fondness for the body.
This world has a good many of these demonic natures, but there are some gods too. If one proposes to teach any science to increase the power of sense--enjoyment, one finds multitudes ready for it. If one undertakes to show the supreme goal, one finds few to listen to him. Very few have the power to grasp the higher, fewer still the patience to attain to it.
But there are a few also who know that even if the body can be made to live for a thousand years, the result in the end will be the same. When the forces that hold it together go away, the body must fall. No man was ever born who could stop his body one moment from changing. Body is the name of a series of changes. "As in a river the masses of water are changing before you every moment, and new masses are coming, yet taking similar form, so is it with this body." Yet the body must be kept strong and healthy. It is the best instrument we have.

But we must always remember that these are only the means; the aim, the end, the goal, of all this training is liberation of the soul. Absolute control of nature, and nothing short of it, must be the goal. We must be the masters, and not the slaves of nature; neither body nor mind must be our master, nor must we forget that the body is mine, and not I the body's.

- Swami Vivekananda

Thursday, September 27, 2007

CHISELED BY OTHERS

CHISELED BY OTHERS

…you are like the stone that must be chiseled and fashioned before
being set in the building…Some will chisel you with words, telling
you what you would rather not hear; others by deed, doing against you
what you would rather not endure; others by their temperament, being
in their person and in their actions a bother and annoyance to you;
and others by their thought, neither esteeming nor feeling love for
you.
You ought to suffer these mortification and annoyances with
inner patience, being silent for love of God and understanding that
you did not enter the religious life for any other reason than for
others to work you in this way, and so you become worthy of heaven.
(St. John of the Cross)

The day you make up your mind to smile, you will see that everything
seems to conspire to try to make you cry! That is life. The day you
make up your mind to be patient and forgiving, it will seem that
others suddenly become harder to get along with. That is life. We
are often crucified by others, but their meanness should not affect
our resolutions to be kind. Let others pursue their way; you be
bigger and adhere to your way.
(Paramahansa Yogananda, `Journey to Self-Realization' )

Thus the wise man, indifferent to himself, is the greatest among
them, and taking no care for himself, he is nevertheless preserved.
By being the most unselfish he is the most secure of all.
(Lao-tse, ` The Adepts in the Eastern Esoteric Tradition')

Saturday, September 15, 2007

anyway

ANYWAY

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered,
LOVE THEM ANYWAY
If you do good, people will accuse you of
Selfish, ulterior motives,
DO GOOD ANYWAY
If you are successful,
You will win false friends and true enemies,
SUCCEED ANYWAY
The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow,
DO GOOD ANYWAY
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable,
BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY
What you spent years building may be
Destroyed overnight
BUILD ANYWAY
People really need help
But may attack you if you help them,
HELP PEOPLE ANYWAY
Give the world the best you have
And you'll get kicked in the teeth
GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU'VE GOT ANYWAY.

Friday, September 14, 2007

the definition of minority

The over emphasis on particular aspect of an individual's associations in the duration of their existence has played havoc with the lives of numerous people.

THE REAL NATURE OF MAN - Swami Vivekananda (cont'd)

THE REAL NATURE OF MAN - Swami Vivekananda
We are not individuals yet. We are struggling towards individuality, and that is the Infinite, that is the real nature of man. He alone lives whose life is in the whole universe, and the more we concentrate our lives on limited things, the faster we go towards death. Those moments alone we live when our lives are in the universe, in others; and living this little life is death, simply death, and that is why the fear of death comes. The fear of death can only be conquered when man realises that so long as there is one life in this universe, he is living. When he can say, "I am in everything, in everybody, I am in all lives, I am the universe," then alone comes the state of fearlessness. To talk of immortality in constantly changing things is absurd. Says an old Sanskrit philosopher: It is only the Spirit that is the individual, because it is infinite. No infinity can be divided; infinity cannot be broken into pieces. It is the same one, undivided unit for ever, and this is the individual man, the Real Man. The apparent man is merely a struggle to express, to manifest this individuality which is beyond; and evolution is not in the Spirit. These changes which are going on -- the wicked becoming good, the animal becoming man, take them in whatever way you like -- are not in the Spirit. They are the evolution of nature and manifestation of Spirit. Suppose there is a screen hiding you from me, in which there is a small hole through which I can see some of the faces before me, just a few faces. Now suppose the hole begins to grow larger and larger, and as it does so, more and more of the scene before me reveals itself and when at last the whole screen has disappeared, I stand face to face with you all. You did not change at all in this case; it was the hole that was evolving, and you were gradually manifesting yourselves. So it is with the Spirit. No perfection is going to be attained. You are already free and perfect. What are these ideas of religion and God and searching for the hereafter? Why does man look for a God? Why does man, in every nation, in every state of society, want a perfect ideal somewhere, either in man, in God, or elsewhere? Because that idea is within you. It was your own heart beating and you did not know; you were mistaking it for something external. It is the God within your own self that is propelling you to seek for Him, to realise Him. After long searches here and there, in temples and in churches, in earths and in heavens, at last you come back, completing the circle from where you started, to your own soul and find that He for whom you have been seeking all over the world, for whom you have been weeping and praying in churches and temples, on whom you were looking as the mystery of all mysteries shrouded in the clouds, is nearest of the near, is your own Self, the reality of your life, body, and soul. That is your own nature. Assert it, manifest it. Not to become pure, you are pure already. You are not to be perfect, you are that already. Nature is like that screen which is hiding the reality beyond. Every good thought that you think or act upon is simply tearing the veil, as it were; and the purity, the Infinity, the God behind, manifests Itself more and more.

To be continued..

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 80 ] (Delivered in London)

Thursday, September 6, 2007

teachers' day entry

Former President of India Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s message

on the eve of Teachers’-Day (05.09.2003)

(few introductory sentences could not be recorded)

To begin with, I am going to talk to you about my father who taught me as a teacher.

My father taught me a great lesson when I was a young boy. What was that lesson? It was just after India got independence. At that time, Panchayat board election took place at Rameshwaram. My father was elected as Panchayat board member and on the same day he was also elected as President of Rameshwaram Panchayat Board. Rameshwaram island was a beautiful place with 30,000 population. That time, they elected my father as Panchayat Board President not because he belonged to a particular religion or particular caste or spoke a particular language or for his economic status. He was elected only on the basis of his nobility of mind and of being a good human being. Dear listeners, I would like to narrate one incident that took place on that day he was elected President of Panchayat board. I was at that time studying in School. Those days we did not have electricity and we used to study under rationed kerosene lamp. I was reading the lessons loudly and I heard a knock on the door. We never used to lock the door at Rameshwaram in those days. Somebody opened the door, came in, and asked me where my father was. I told him that my father has gone for evening Namaz. Then he said he has brought something for him, Can I keep it here? Since my father had gone for Namaz, I shouted for my mother to get her permission to receive the item. Since she was also under Namaz, there was no response. I asked the person to leave the item on the cot. After that, I continued my studies. I used to learn by reading aloud in my younger days. I was reading loud and fully concentrating on my studies. At that time my father came in and saw a tambulam kept in the cot. He asked me, “What is this? Who has given that?” I told him somebody came & he has kept this tambulam on the cot. He opened the cover of the Tambulam and found there was a costly Dhoti, Angavastram, some fruits, some sweets and he could see the slip that the person has left behind. I was the youngest child of my father. He really loved me and I also loved him a lot. He was upset at the sight of the Tambulam and gift left by someone. That was the first time I saw him very angry. And also that was the first time, I had got a thorough beating from him. I got frightened and started weeping. My mother embraced and consoled me. Then, my father came and touched my shoulder lovingly with affection and advised me not to receive any gift without his permission. He quoted an Islamic haziz, which states that “when the Almighty appoints a person to a position, he takes care of his provision. If a person takes anything beyond that, it is an illegal”. Then, he told me that it is not a good habit, gift is always accompanied with some purpose and a gift is a dangerous thing. It is like touching a snake and getting the poison in return. This lesson stands out always in my mind even when I am in my seventees. This incidence taught me a very valuable lesson for my life. It is deeply embedded in my mind. I would like to also to mention a writing in Manu Smriti which states that “by accepting gifts, the divine light in the person gets extinguished”. Manu wants every individual against accepting gifts for the reason that it places the acceptor under an obligation in favour of the person who give the gift and ultimately it results in making a person to debt which are not permissible according to law. I am sharing these thought with all of you, particularly the young ones. Do not be carried away by any gift that comes with a purpose and through which one loses one’s personality greatly. Do you think you can follow this in your life? I will be very happy if you can practice this sincerely.

My second teacher, primary school teacher, Sri Sivasubramani Iyer. When I think of my second teacher, I am reminded of my childhood days when I was studying in 8th class at the age of 13. I had a teacher, Sri Sivasubramani Iyer; he was one of the very good teachers in our school. All of us liked to attend his classes carefully. One day he was teaching about a bird’s flight. He drew a diagram of a bird on the blackboard depicting beak, tail, the body structure with the head. He explained how the bird takes the lift and fly, he also explained how they change the direction while flying nearly for 25 minutes. He gave the lecture with various information about lift, drag, how the bird fly in the formation of 10, 20 and 30. At the end of the class he wanted to know whether we understood how the birds fly. I said, “I did not understand how did the bird fly”. When I said this, the teacher asked the other students whether they understood or not. Many students said that they could not understand. He did not get upset by the response since he was a committed teacher. Our teacher said that he would take all of us to the seashore. That evening the whole class was at the seashore of Rameshwaram. We enjoyed the roaring sea-wave, knocking at the sandy hills in the pleasant evening. Birds were flying in the formation of 10 to 20 in numbers. We saw the marvelous formation of birds with a purpose and we were all amazed. He showed us the birds and asked us to see how the birds fly, what they looked like. We saw the wings flapping. He asked us to look at the tail portion with the combination of flapping wings and twisting tail. We noticed carefully and found that the birds in that condition flew in the direction they desire. Then he asked us a question. Where the engine is, and how it is powered. Bird is powered by its own life and the motivation of what it was. All these things were explained to us with in 15 minutes. We all understood the whole bird’s dynamics from this practical example. How nice it was! Our teacher was a great teacher. He could give us a theoretical lesson coupled with a live practical example available in nature. This is a real teaching. I am sure many of the teachers in schools and colleges will follow this example. For me, it was not an understanding of how birds fly. The bird’s flight entered into me and created a special feeling. From that evening, I thought that my future study has to be with reference to flights and flight systems. I am saying this because of my teacher’s teaching and the event I observed I decided about my future career. Then, one evening after the classes I asked the teacher, “Sir, please tell me how to progress further in learning all about flight?” He patiently explained to me that I should complete 8th class, and then go to high school, and then I should go to engineering college that may lead to education on flight. If I complete ordinary education with excellence, I may do something connected with flight sciences. This advice and the bird’s flying exercise given by my teacher really gave me a goal and a mission for my life. When I went to the college, I took Physics, and then I went to Engineering in Madras Institute of Technology and took Aeronautical Engineering. Thus, my life got transformed as a Rocket Engineer, Aerospace Engineer, and technologist. That one incident of my teacher teaching the lesson, showing the visual life example proved to be turning point in my life, which eventually shaped my profession.

A student during his school life up to 10 + 2 spends 25,000 hours in the school campus. His life is more influenced by the teacher and the school’s environment. Therefore, the schools must have the best of teachers with ability to teach and live teaching and bring moral qualities. Teacher should become a role model. Similarly, the student must be allowed to build himself or herself with the best of qualities and to get ignited with vision for his or her future life.

My third teacher, the design teacher Prof. Dhawan. I would like to share with you another experience with my teacher Prof. Satish Dhawan. First I worked in Delhi with Ministry Of Defense, later I
joined Defense Research and Development Organisation in 1958 at Aeronautical development establishment in Bangalore. There, with the advice of the Director, I took up the development of Hovercraft. Hovercraft design needed the development of a ducted contra-rotating propeller. I didn’t know how to design the contra rotating propeller, though I knew how to design conventional propeller. Some of my friends told me that I could approach Prof. Satish Dhawan of Indian Institute Of Science who was well-known for his Aeronautical Research and he would help in designing the ducted contra-rotating propeller. I took permission from my Director and went to meet Prof. Satish Dhawan who was sitting in a small room in Indian Institute Of Science with lot of books in the background and the blackboard on the wall. Prof. Satish Dhawan asked me what the problem was that I would like to discuss. I explained the problem to Prof. Satish Dhawan about my project work. He told me that it is really a challenging task he would teach me the design if I attend his class in Indian Institute of Science between 2 pm. to 3 pm. on all Saturdays for next 6 weeks. He was a visionary teacher. He prepared the schedule for the entire course and wrote it on the blackboard. He also gave me the reference material and books I should read before I start attending the course. I considered this as a great opportunity and started attending the discussions and starting meeting with him regularly. Before commencing each meeting, he will ask critical questions and assess my understanding of the subject. That was the first time that I realised how a good teacher prepares himself for teaching, with meticulous planning and prepares the student for acquisition of knowledge. This process continued for the next six weeks. I got the capability for designing the contra-rotating propeller. Professor told me that I am ready for developing the contra-rotating propeller for the Hovercraft configuration. That was the time I realised that Prof. Satish Dhawan was not only a teacher but, also a fantastic development engineer of aeronautical systems. Later, during the critical places of testing Prof. Dhawan was with me to witness the test and find solution to the problems. After reaching the smooth test phase, contra-rotating propeller went through 50 hours of continuous testing. Prof. Satish Dhawan witness the test himself and congratulated me. That was a great day for me when I saw the contra-rotating propeller designed by my team performing to the mission requirement in the Hovercraft. However, at that time, I didn’t realise that Prof. Satish Dhawan will become chairman, ISRO and I would get the opportunity to work with him as the project-Director in the development of a satellite launch vehicle SLV3 for injecting the Rohini Satellite into the Orbit. Nature has its own way to link to the student’s dream and the real life later. This was the first design in my career, which gave me the confidence to design many complex aerospace systems in future. The Hovercraft could fly just above the ground level carrying two passengers. I was the first pilot on this Hovercraft and I could control and maneuver the vehicle in any direction. Through this project, I learnt the techniques of designing and developing the contra-rotating propeller. Above all, I learnt that in a project problem will always crop up and we should not allow the problems to be our masters but we should defeat the problems. Then, the success will sparkle.

The three teachers in my life, what did they give me? In an integrated way it can be said that any enlightened human being can be created by three unique characteristics. One is moral value system that I got from my father, the hard way. Secondly, the teacher becoming a role model, not only does the student learn but, the teacher shape his life with great dreams and aims. Finally, the education and learning process have to culminate in the creation of professional capability given to confidence and will power to make a design, to make a project, to make a system bravely combating many problems. What a fortune and blessings I had from my three teachers.

Among the listeners, there may be many parents, many teachers and a large number of students. Every one of us in this planet creates a page in human history irrespective of who he or she is. I realise the experience is a small dot in human life. But that dot has a life and light. That light let it light many lamps. My best wishes to all of you on this occasion of “Teachers’ day”.

Thank you.

Please visit this link and put your comments.

http://www.uttishth ata.org/2007/ 09/05/teachers- day/

teachers' day entry

Former President of India Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s message

on the eve of Teachers’-Day (05.09.2003)

(few introductory sentences could not be recorded)

To begin with, I am going to talk to you about my father who taught me as a teacher.

My father taught me a great lesson when I was a young boy. What was that lesson? It was just after India got independence. At that time, Panchayat board election took place at Rameshwaram. My father was elected as Panchayat board member and on the same day he was also elected as President of Rameshwaram Panchayat Board. Rameshwaram island was a beautiful place with 30,000 population. That time, they elected my father as Panchayat Board President not because he belonged to a particular religion or particular caste or spoke a particular language or for his economic status. He was elected only on the basis of his nobility of mind and of being a good human being. Dear listeners, I would like to narrate one incident that took place on that day he was elected President of Panchayat board. I was at that time studying in School. Those days we did not have electricity and we used to study under rationed kerosene lamp. I was reading the lessons loudly and I heard a knock on the door. We never used to lock the door at Rameshwaram in those days. Somebody opened the door, came in, and asked me where my father was. I told him that my father has gone for evening Namaz. Then he said he has brought something for him, Can I keep it here? Since my father had gone for Namaz, I shouted for my mother to get her permission to receive the item. Since she was also under Namaz, there was no response. I asked the person to leave the item on the cot. After that, I continued my studies. I used to learn by reading aloud in my younger days. I was reading loud and fully concentrating on my studies. At that time my father came in and saw a tambulam kept in the cot. He asked me, “What is this? Who has given that?” I told him somebody came & he has kept this tambulam on the cot. He opened the cover of the Tambulam and found there was a costly Dhoti, Angavastram, some fruits, some sweets and he could see the slip that the person has left behind. I was the youngest child of my father. He really loved me and I also loved him a lot. He was upset at the sight of the Tambulam and gift left by someone. That was the first time I saw him very angry. And also that was the first time, I had got a thorough beating from him. I got frightened and started weeping. My mother embraced and consoled me. Then, my father came and touched my shoulder lovingly with affection and advised me not to receive any gift without his permission. He quoted an Islamic haziz, which states that “when the Almighty appoints a person to a position, he takes care of his provision. If a person takes anything beyond that, it is an illegal”. Then, he told me that it is not a good habit, gift is always accompanied with some purpose and a gift is a dangerous thing. It is like touching a snake and getting the poison in return. This lesson stands out always in my mind even when I am in my seventees. This incidence taught me a very valuable lesson for my life. It is deeply embedded in my mind. I would like to also to mention a writing in Manu Smriti which states that “by accepting gifts, the divine light in the person gets extinguished”. Manu wants every individual against accepting gifts for the reason that it places the acceptor under an obligation in favour of the person who give the gift and ultimately it results in making a person to debt which are not permissible according to law. I am sharing these thought with all of you, particularly the young ones. Do not be carried away by any gift that comes with a purpose and through which one loses one’s personality greatly. Do you think you can follow this in your life? I will be very happy if you can practice this sincerely.

My second teacher, primary school teacher, Sri Sivasubramani Iyer. When I think of my second teacher, I am reminded of my childhood days when I was studying in 8th class at the age of 13. I had a teacher, Sri Sivasubramani Iyer; he was one of the very good teachers in our school. All of us liked to attend his classes carefully. One day he was teaching about a bird’s flight. He drew a diagram of a bird on the blackboard depicting beak, tail, the body structure with the head. He explained how the bird takes the lift and fly, he also explained how they change the direction while flying nearly for 25 minutes. He gave the lecture with various information about lift, drag, how the bird fly in the formation of 10, 20 and 30. At the end of the class he wanted to know whether we understood how the birds fly. I said, “I did not understand how did the bird fly”. When I said this, the teacher asked the other students whether they understood or not. Many students said that they could not understand. He did not get upset by the response since he was a committed teacher. Our teacher said that he would take all of us to the seashore. That evening the whole class was at the seashore of Rameshwaram. We enjoyed the roaring sea-wave, knocking at the sandy hills in the pleasant evening. Birds were flying in the formation of 10 to 20 in numbers. We saw the marvelous formation of birds with a purpose and we were all amazed. He showed us the birds and asked us to see how the birds fly, what they looked like. We saw the wings flapping. He asked us to look at the tail portion with the combination of flapping wings and twisting tail. We noticed carefully and found that the birds in that condition flew in the direction they desire. Then he asked us a question. Where the engine is, and how it is powered. Bird is powered by its own life and the motivation of what it was. All these things were explained to us with in 15 minutes. We all understood the whole bird’s dynamics from this practical example. How nice it was! Our teacher was a great teacher. He could give us a theoretical lesson coupled with a live practical example available in nature. This is a real teaching. I am sure many of the teachers in schools and colleges will follow this example. For me, it was not an understanding of how birds fly. The bird’s flight entered into me and created a special feeling. From that evening, I thought that my future study has to be with reference to flights and flight systems. I am saying this because of my teacher’s teaching and the event I observed I decided about my future career. Then, one evening after the classes I asked the teacher, “Sir, please tell me how to progress further in learning all about flight?” He patiently explained to me that I should complete 8th class, and then go to high school, and then I should go to engineering college that may lead to education on flight. If I complete ordinary education with excellence, I may do something connected with flight sciences. This advice and the bird’s flying exercise given by my teacher really gave me a goal and a mission for my life. When I went to the college, I took Physics, and then I went to Engineering in Madras Institute of Technology and took Aeronautical Engineering. Thus, my life got transformed as a Rocket Engineer, Aerospace Engineer, and technologist. That one incident of my teacher teaching the lesson, showing the visual life example proved to be turning point in my life, which eventually shaped my profession.

A student during his school life up to 10 + 2 spends 25,000 hours in the school campus. His life is more influenced by the teacher and the school’s environment. Therefore, the schools must have the best of teachers with ability to teach and live teaching and bring moral qualities. Teacher should become a role model. Similarly, the student must be allowed to build himself or herself with the best of qualities and to get ignited with vision for his or her future life.

My third teacher, the design teacher Prof. Dhawan. I would like to share with you another experience with my teacher Prof. Satish Dhawan. First I worked in Delhi with Ministry Of Defense, later I
joined Defense Research and Development Organisation in 1958 at Aeronautical development establishment in Bangalore. There, with the advice of the Director, I took up the development of Hovercraft. Hovercraft design needed the development of a ducted contra-rotating propeller. I didn’t know how to design the contra rotating propeller, though I knew how to design conventional propeller. Some of my friends told me that I could approach Prof. Satish Dhawan of Indian Institute Of Science who was well-known for his Aeronautical Research and he would help in designing the ducted contra-rotating propeller. I took permission from my Director and went to meet Prof. Satish Dhawan who was sitting in a small room in Indian Institute Of Science with lot of books in the background and the blackboard on the wall. Prof. Satish Dhawan asked me what the problem was that I would like to discuss. I explained the problem to Prof. Satish Dhawan about my project work. He told me that it is really a challenging task he would teach me the design if I attend his class in Indian Institute of Science between 2 pm. to 3 pm. on all Saturdays for next 6 weeks. He was a visionary teacher. He prepared the schedule for the entire course and wrote it on the blackboard. He also gave me the reference material and books I should read before I start attending the course. I considered this as a great opportunity and started attending the discussions and starting meeting with him regularly. Before commencing each meeting, he will ask critical questions and assess my understanding of the subject. That was the first time that I realised how a good teacher prepares himself for teaching, with meticulous planning and prepares the student for acquisition of knowledge. This process continued for the next six weeks. I got the capability for designing the contra-rotating propeller. Professor told me that I am ready for developing the contra-rotating propeller for the Hovercraft configuration. That was the time I realised that Prof. Satish Dhawan was not only a teacher but, also a fantastic development engineer of aeronautical systems. Later, during the critical places of testing Prof. Dhawan was with me to witness the test and find solution to the problems. After reaching the smooth test phase, contra-rotating propeller went through 50 hours of continuous testing. Prof. Satish Dhawan witness the test himself and congratulated me. That was a great day for me when I saw the contra-rotating propeller designed by my team performing to the mission requirement in the Hovercraft. However, at that time, I didn’t realise that Prof. Satish Dhawan will become chairman, ISRO and I would get the opportunity to work with him as the project-Director in the development of a satellite launch vehicle SLV3 for injecting the Rohini Satellite into the Orbit. Nature has its own way to link to the student’s dream and the real life later. This was the first design in my career, which gave me the confidence to design many complex aerospace systems in future. The Hovercraft could fly just above the ground level carrying two passengers. I was the first pilot on this Hovercraft and I could control and maneuver the vehicle in any direction. Through this project, I learnt the techniques of designing and developing the contra-rotating propeller. Above all, I learnt that in a project problem will always crop up and we should not allow the problems to be our masters but we should defeat the problems. Then, the success will sparkle.

The three teachers in my life, what did they give me? In an integrated way it can be said that any enlightened human being can be created by three unique characteristics. One is moral value system that I got from my father, the hard way. Secondly, the teacher becoming a role model, not only does the student learn but, the teacher shape his life with great dreams and aims. Finally, the education and learning process have to culminate in the creation of professional capability given to confidence and will power to make a design, to make a project, to make a system bravely combating many problems. What a fortune and blessings I had from my three teachers.

Among the listeners, there may be many parents, many teachers and a large number of students. Every one of us in this planet creates a page in human history irrespective of who he or she is. I realise the experience is a small dot in human life. But that dot has a life and light. That light let it light many lamps. My best wishes to all of you on this occasion of “Teachers’ day”.

Thank you.

Please visit this link and put your comments.

http://www.uttishth ata.org/2007/ 09/05/teachers- day/

Friday, August 17, 2007

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda



What is needed is a fellow-feeling between the different types of religion, seeing that they all stand or fall together, a fellow-feeling which springs from mutual esteem and mutual respect, and not the condescending, patronising, niggardly expression of goodwill, unfortunately in vogue at the present time with many. And above all, this is needed between types of religious expression coming from the study of mental phenomena -- unfortunately, even now laying exclusive claim to the name of religion -- and those expressions of religion whose heads, as it were, are penetrating more into the secrets of heaven though their feet are clinging to the earth, I mean, the so-called materialistic sciences.

To bring about this harmony, both will have to make concessions, sometimes very large, nay more, sometimes painful, but each will find itself the better for the sacrifice and more advanced in truth. And in the end, the knowledge which is confined within the domain of time and space will meet and become one with that which is beyond them both, where the mind and senses cannot reach -- the Absolute, the Infinite, the One without a second.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 68 ] (Delivered in London) The End.

Excerpt from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

One can realize God through intense renunciation.
But the soul must be restless for Him, as restless as one feels for a
breath of air when one's head is pressed under water.

A man can see God if he unites in himself the force of these three
attractions: the attraction of worldly possessions for the worldly
man, the husband's attraction for the chaste wife, and the child's
attraction for its mother. If you can unite these three forms of love
and give it all to God, then you can see Him at once.

Monday, August 13, 2007

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda

We can see it in its effects. It is the greatest motive power that moves the human mind. No other ideal can put into us the same mass of energy as the spiritual. So far as human history goes, it is obvious to all of us that this has been the case and that its powers are not dead. I do not deny that men, on simply utilitarian grounds, can be very good and moral. There have been many great men in this world perfectly sound, moral, and good, simply on utilitarian grounds. But the world-movers, men who bring, as it were, a mass of magnetism into the world, whose spirit works in hundreds and in thousands, whose life ignites others with a spiritual fire -- such men, we always find, have that spiritual background. Their motive power came from religion. Religion is the greatest motive power for realising that infinite energy which is the birthright and nature of every man. In building up character, in making for everything that is good and great, in bringing peace to others and peace to one's own self, religion is the highest motive power and, therefore, ought to be studied from that standpoint. Religion must be studied on a broader basis than formerly. All narrow, limited, fighting ideas of religion have to go. All sect ideas and tribal or national ideas of religion must be given up. That each tribe or nation should have its own particular God and think that every other is wrong is a superstition that should belong to the past. All such ideas must be abandoned.

As the human mind broadens, its spiritual steps broaden too. The time has already come when a man cannot record a thought without its reaching to all corners of the earth; by merely physical means, we have come into touch with the whole world; so the future religions of the world have to become as universal, as wide.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 66 ] (Delivered in London)

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda

Thus, apart from the solid facts and truths that we may learn from religion, apart from the comforts that we may gain from it, religion, as a science, as a study, is the greatest and healthiest exercise that the human mind can have. This pursuit of the Infinite, this struggle to grasp the Infinite, this effort to get beyond the limitations of the senses -- out of matter, as it were -- and to evolve the spiritual man -- this striving day and night to make the Infinite one with our being -- this struggle itself is the grandest and most glorious that man can make. Some persons find the greatest pleasure in eating. We have no right to say that they should not. Others find the greatest pleasure in possessing certain things. We have no right to say that they should not. But they also have no right to say "no" to the man who finds his highest pleasure in spiritual thought. The lower the organisation, the greater the pleasure in the senses. Very few men can eat a meal with the same gusto as a dog or a wolf. But all the pleasures of the dog or the wolf have gone, as it were into the senses. The lower types of humanity in all nations find pleasure in the senses, while the cultured and the educated find it in thought, in philosophy, in arts and sciences. Spirituality is a still higher plane. The subject being infinite, that plane is the highest, and the pleasure there is the highest for those who can appreciate it. So, even on the utilitarian ground that man is to seek for pleasure, he should cultivate religious thought, for it is the highest pleasure that exists. Thus religion, as a study, seems to me to be absolutely necessary.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 65 ] (Delivered in London)

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda

The religious ideals of the future must embrace all that exists in the world and is good and great, and, at the same time, have infinite scope for future development. All that was good in the past must be preserved; and the doors must be kept open for future additions to the already existing store. Religions must also be inclusive, and not look down with contempt upon one another, because their particular ideals of God are different. In my life I have seen a great many spiritual men, a great many sensible persons, who did not believe in God at all, that is to say, not in our sense of the word. Perhaps they understood God better than we can ever do. The Personal idea of God or the Impersonal, the Infinite, Moral Law, or the Ideal Man -- these all have to come under the definition of religion. And when religions have become thus broadened, their power for good will have increased a hundredfold. Religions, having tremendous power in them, have often done more injury to the world than good, simply on account of their narrowness and limitations.

Even at the present time we find many sects and societies, with almost the same ideas, fighting each other, because one does not want to set forth those ideas in precisely the same way as another. Therefore, religions will have to broaden. Religious ideas will have to become universal, vast, and infinite; and then alone we shall have the fullest play of religion, for the power of religion has only just begun to manifest in the world. It is sometimes said that religions are dying out, that spiritual ideas are dying out of the world. To me it seems that they have just begun to grow. The power of religion, broadened and purified, is going to penetrate every part of human life. So long as religion was in the hands of a chosen few or of a body of priests, it was in temples, churches, books, dogmas, ceremonials, forms, and rituals. But when we come to the real, spiritual, universal concept, then, and then alone, religion will become real and living; it will come into our very nature, live in our every movement, penetrate every pore of our society, and be infinitely more a power for good than it has ever been before.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 67 ] (Delivered in London)

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda

It has been said that too much attention to things spiritual disturbs our practical relations in this world. As far back as in the days of the Chinese sage Confucius, it was said, "Let us take care of this world: and then, when we have finished with this world, we will take care of other world." It is very well that we should take care of this world. But if too much attention to the spiritual may affect a little our practical relations, too much attention to the so-called practical hurts us here and hereafter. It makes us materialistic. For man is not to regard nature as his goal, but something higher.

Man is man so long as he is struggling to rise above nature, and this nature is both internal and external. Not only does it comprise the laws that govern the particles of matter outside us and in our bodies, but also the more subtle nature within, which is, in fact, the motive power governing the external. It is good and very grand to conquer external nature, but grander still to conquer our internal nature. It is grand and good to know the laws that govern the stars and planets; it is infinitely grander and better to know the laws that govern the passions, the feelings, the will, of mankind. This conquering of the inner man, understanding the secrets of the subtle workings that are within the human mind, and knowing its wonderful secrets, belong entirely to religion. Human nature -- the ordinary human nature, I mean -- wants to see big material facts. The ordinary man cannot understand anything that is subtle. Well has it been said that the masses admire the lion that kills a thousand lambs, never for a moment thinking that it is death to the lambs, although a momentary triumph for the lion; because they find pleasure only in manifestations of physical strength. Thus it is with the ordinary run of mankind. They understand and find pleasure in everything that is external. But in every society there is a section whose pleasures are not in the senses, but beyond, and who now and then catch glimpses of something higher than matter and struggle to reach it. And if we read the history of nations between the lines, we shall always find that the rise of a nation comes with an increase in the number of such men; and the fall begins when this pursuit after the Infinite, however vain Utilitarians may call it, has ceased. That is to say, the mainspring of the strength of every race lies in its spirituality, and the death of that race begins the day that spirituality wanes and materialism gains ground.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 64 ] (Delivered in London)

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda

Utilitarian standards cannot explain the ethical relations of men, for, in the first place, we cannot derive any ethical laws from considerations of utility. Without the supernatural sanction as it is called, or the perception of the superconscious as I prefer to term it, there can be no ethics. Without the struggle towards the Infinite there can be no ideal. Any system that wants to bind men down to the limits of their own societies is not able to find an explanation for the ethical laws of mankind. The Utilitarian wants us to give up the struggle after the Infinite, the reaching-out for the Super-sensuous, as impracticable and absurd, and, in the same breath, asks us to take up ethics and do good to society. Why should we do good? Doing good is a secondary consideration. We must have an idea. Ethics itself is not the end, but the means to the end. If the end is not there, why should we be ethical? Why should I do good to other men, and not injure them? If happiness is the goal of mankind, why should I not make myself happy and others unhappy? What prevents me? In the second place, the basis of utility is too narrow. All the current social forms and methods are derived from society as it exists, but what right has the Utilitarian to assume that society is eternal? Society did not exist ages ago, possibly will not exist ages hence. Most probably it is one of the passing stages through which we are going towards a higher evolution, and any law that is derived from society alone cannot be eternal, cannot cover the whole ground of man's nature. At best, therefore, Utilitarian theories can only work under present social conditions. Beyond that they have no value. But a morality, an ethical code, derived from religion and spirituality, has the whole of infinite man for its scope. It takes up the individual, but its relations are to the Infinite, and it takes up society also -- because society is nothing but numbers of these individuals grouped together; and as it applies to the individual and his eternal relations, it must necessarily apply to the whole of society, in whatever condition it may be at any given time. Thus we see that there is always the necessity of spiritual religion for mankind. Man cannot always think of matter, however pleasurable it may be.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 63 ] (Delivered in London)

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION - Swami Vivekananda

Ethics always says, "Not I, but thou." Its motto is, "Not self, but non-self." The vain ideas of individualism, to which man clings when he is trying to find that Infinite Power or that Infinite Pleasure through the senses, have to be given up -- say the laws of ethics. You have to put yourself last, and others before you. The senses say, "Myself first." Ethics says, "I must hold myself last." Thus, all codes of ethics are based upon this renunciation; destruction, not construction, of the individual on the material plane. That Infinite will never find expression upon the material plane, nor is it possible or thinkable.

So, man has to give up the plane of matter and rise to other spheres to seek a deeper expression of that Infinite. In this way the various ethical laws are being moulded, but all have that one central idea, eternal self - abnegation. Perfect self - annihilation is the ideal of ethics. People are startled if they are asked not to think of their individualities. They seem so very much afraid of losing what they call their individuality. At the same time, the same men would declare the highest ideals of ethics to be right, never for a moment thinking that the scope, the goal, the idea of all ethics is the destruction, and not the building up, of the individual.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 62 ] (Delivered in London)

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

quality of education in india

It seems that the indian education quality is facing a quality problem due to over-centralisation and inability of the authorities to manage and foster healthy competition.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Thursday, June 28, 2007

BHAKTI OR DEVOTION - Swami Vivekananda (some articles)

BHAKTI OR DEVOTION - Swami Vivekananda

The third is a still higher test. Love is always the highest ideal. When one has passed through the first two stages, when one has thrown off all shopkeeping, and casts off all fear, one then begins to realise that love is always the highest ideal. How many times in this world we see a beautiful woman loving an ugly man? How many times we see a handsome man loving an ugly woman! What is the attraction? Lookers-on only see the ugly man or the ugly woman, but not so the lover; to the lover the beloved is the most beautiful being that ever existed. How is it? The woman who loves the ugly man takes, as it were, the ideal of beauty which is in her own mind, and projects it on the ugly man; and what she worships and loves is not the ugly man, but her own ideal. That man is, as it were, only the suggestion, and upon that suggestion she throws her own ideal, and covers it; and it becomes her object of worship. Now, this applies in every case where we love. Many of us have very ordinary looking brothers or sisters; yet the very idea of their being brothers or sisters makes them beautiful to us.

The philosophy in the background is that each one projects his own ideal and worships that. This external world is only the world of suggestion. All that we see, we project out of our own minds. A grain of sand gets washed into the shell of an oyster and irritates it. The irritation produces a secretion in the oyster, which covers the grain of sand and the beautiful pearl is the result. Similarly, external things furnish us with suggestions, over which we project our own ideals and make our objects. The wicked see this world as a perfect hell, and the good as a perfect heaven. Lovers see this world as full of love, and haters as full of hatred; fighters see nothing but strife, and the peaceful nothing but peace. The perfect man sees nothing but God. So we always worship our highest ideal, and when we have reached the point, when we love the ideal as the ideal, all arguments and doubts vanish for ever. Who cares whether God can be demonstrated or not? The ideal can never go, because it is a part of my own nature. I shall only question the ideal when I question my own existence, and as I cannot question the one, I cannot question the other. Who cares whether God can be almighty and all-merciful at the same time or not? Who cares whether He is the rewarder of mankind, whether He looks at us with the eyes of a tyrant or with the eyes of a beneficent monarch?

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 49 ]

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Entry for June 24, 2007

[This excerpt is taken from "Making Life out of a Life" by Srimat Swami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj - http://www.sriramak rishnamath. org/magazine/ vk/2000/12- 3-1.asp]

In the Mahabharata, we get a powerful verse. Whenever and wherever I have quoted that verse, it always had a tremendous impact on the mind of listeners. It is a short Sanskrit line containing a profound message of the beauty of an intense life. There was a king by name Sanjaya in the Northern Sindh region; his mother bore the name Vidula. She was a heroic queen-mother. How she inspired her son to be brave is what the story conveys. This young king went out for battle, got defeated, became weak-minded and depressed. The mother tried to rouse his royal spirit in several ways; it did not happen. Then, finally, she uttered a sentence conveying a tremendous power that helped to rouse the courage of the prince. That line conveys so much inspiration in so few words. That is the uniqueness of great literature-- the capacity to convey great meaning to humanity in a few words. And what that great queen-mother conveyed to her princely son ages ago, our Mother India conveys to every child in this country today:

Muhurtam jvalitam shreyo,na tu dhumayitam chiram.

'It is better to flame for one instant, than to smoke away for ages!'

A short intense life, burnt out in a great struggle and achievement of the humanistic impulse, is preferable to a humdrum life of long duration. That is the message to us from our own past. In this modern period, we had a Vivekananda. During his brief 39 years, he made a tremendous impact on both East and West; even in that short span of life, his actual public work was only during the last nine years.

Live such a life that when you die, you will leave a permanent wholesome impact, small or big, on the world.

........

Friday, June 22, 2007

BHAKTI OR DEVOTION - Swami Vivekananda

BHAKTI OR DEVOTION - Swami Vivekananda

A disciple went to his master and said to him, "Sir, I want religion." The master looked at the young man, and did not speak, but only smiled. The young man came every day, and insisted that he wanted religion. But the old man knew better than the young man. One day, when it was very hot, he asked the young man to go to the river with him and take a plunge. The young man plunged in, and the old man followed him and held the young man down under the water by force. After the young man had struggled for a while, he let him go and asked him what he wanted most while he was under the water. "A breath of air", the disciple answered. "Do you want God in that way? if you do, you will get Him in a moment," said the master. Until you have that thirst, that desire, you cannot get religion, however you may struggle with your intellect, or your books, or your forms. Until that thirst is awakened in you, you are no better than any atheist; only the atheist is sincere, and you are not.

A great sage [Sri Ramakrishna] used to say, "Suppose there is a thief in a room, and somehow he comes to know that there is a vast mass of gold in the next room, and that there is only a thin partition between the two rooms. What would be the condition of that thief? He would be sleepless, he would not be able to eat or do anything. His whole mind would be on getting that gold. Do you mean to say that, if all these people really believe that the Mine of Happiness, of Blessedness, or Glory were here, they would act as they do in the world, without trying to get God?" As soon as a man begins to believe there is a God, he becomes mad with longing to get to Him. Others may go their way, but as soon as a man is sure that there is a much higher life than that which he is leading here, as soon as he feels sure that the senses are not all, that this limited, material body is as nothing compared with the immortal, eternal, undying bliss of the Self, he becomes mad until he finds out this bliss for himself. And this madness, this thirst, this mania, is what is called the "awakening" to religion, and when that has come, a man is beginning to be religious. But it takes a long time.

All these forms and ceremonies, these prayers and pilgrimages, these books, bells, candles, and priests, are the preparations; they take off the impurities from the soul. And when the soul has become pure, it naturally wants to get to the mine of all purity, God Himself. Just as a piece of iron, which had been covered with the dust of centuries, might be lying near a magnet all the time, and yet not be attracted by it, but as soon as the dust is cleared away, the iron is drawn by the magnet; so, when the human soul, covered with the dust of ages, impurities, wickednesses, and sins, after many births, becomes purified enough by these forms and ceremonies, by doing good to others, loving other beings, its natural spiritual attraction comes, it wakes up and struggles towards God.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 45 ]

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

BHAKTI OR DEVOTION - Swami Vivekananda

BHAKTI OR DEVOTION - Swami Vivekananda

So we find that in almost every religion these are the three primary things which we have in the worship of God -- forms or symbols, names, God-men. All religions have these, but you find that they want to fight with each other. One says, "My name is the only name; my form is the only form; and my God-men are the only God-men in the world; yours are simply myths." In modern times, Christian clergymen have become a little kinder, and they allow that in the older religions, the different forms of worship were foreshadowings of Christianity, which of course, they consider, is the only true form. God tested Himself in older times, tested His powers by getting these things into shape which culminated in Christianity. This, at least, is a great advance. Fifty years ago they would not have said even that; nothing was true except their own religion. This idea is not limited to any religion, nation, or class of persons; people are always thinking that the only right thing to be done by others is what they themselves are doing. And it is here that the study of different religions helps us. It shows us that the same thoughts that we have been calling ours, and ours alone, were present hundreds of years ago in others, and sometimes even in a better form of expression than our own.

These are the external forms of devotion, through which man has to pass; but if he is sincere, if he really wants to reach the truth, he goes higher than these, to a plane where forms are as nothing. Temples or churches, books or forms, are simply the kindergarten of religion, to make the spiritual child strong enough to take higher steps; and these first steps are necessary if he wants religion. With the thirst, the longing for God, comes real devotion, real Bhakti. Who has the longing? That is the question. Religion is not in doctrines, in dogmas, nor in intellectual argumentation; it is being and becoming, it is realisation. We hear so many talking about God and the soul, and all the mysteries of the universe, but if you take them one by one, and ask them, "Have you realised God? Have you seen your Soul?"-- how many can say they have? And yet they are all fighting with one another! At one time, in India, representatives of different sects met together and began to dispute. One said that the only God was Shiva; another said, the only God was Vishnu, and so on; and there was no end to their discussion. A sage was passing that way, and was invited by the disputants to decide the matter. He first asked the man who was claiming Shiva as the greatest God. "Have you seen Shiva? Are you acquainted with Him? If not, how do you know He is the greatest God?" Then turning to the worshipper of Vishnu, he asked, "Have you seen Vishnu?" And after asking this question to all of them, he found out that not one of them knew anything of God. That was why they were disputing so much, for had they really known, they would not have argued. When a jar is being filled with water, it makes a noise, but when it is full, there is no noise. So, the very fact of these disputations and fighting among sects shows that they do not know anything about religion. Religion to them is a mere mass of frothy words, to be written in books. Each one hurries to write a big book, to make it as massive as possible, stealing his materials from every book he can lay his hands upon, and never acknowledging his indebtedness. Then he launches his book upon the world, adding to the disturbance that is already existing there.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 43 ]

Sunday, June 17, 2007

5 Ways to Combat Stress


Stress is a disease that can be partially cured. Here are a few thoughts that may help you live more in peace with yourself.

Read complete article at our blog with Wisdom from Tirukural” Deliberate Before Acting”. Mostly our stress develops due to lack of organized thinking. Thiruvalluar gives his advice on how to think prior to any action so that later stress is avoided.

Visit the following link:
http://www.uttishth ata.org/2007/ 06/17/5-ways- to-combat- stress/
............ ......... ......... ......... ..
You can start lowering your stress level starting today.
All you have to do is choose your priorities!
............ ......... ......... ......... ...
Quote:
If you have faith in all the three hundred and thirty millions of your mythological gods and still have no faith in yourselves, there is no salvation for you. Have faith in yourselves, and stand up on that faith and be strong; that is what we need.
- Swami Vivekananda
………………………….

Monday, June 11, 2007

Religion- What it means.

Sanjay Chacharkar
Subject: Religion- What it means.

Swami Vivekananda defined religion in such away that it would be equally acceptable to people professing any religion or belonging to any country. His definition of religion was divested of dogmas and creeds, and external aids like sacred books, rituals and ceremonials, some of his famous and cryptic definitions of religion are:
  • Religion is the struggle to transcend the limitation of the senses.
  • Religion is the idea of raising the brute unto man and man unto God.
  • Religion is the eternal relationship between the eternal soul and eternal God.
  • Religion is the idea of evolution of the individual soul towards the infinite.
  • Religion is the manifestation of divinity that is already in man.
  • Religion is realisation
Swamiji said that in essence, the concepts of spirituality in different religions do not differ from one another. He Pointed out that whatever be the mode of practice in whichever religion, the following four disciplines alone form the basis of all spirituality.
  1. Control of the mind.
  2. Dispassion towards the things of the world.
  3. Company of holy men
  4. Love for fellow beings.
Be happy and contented.
Om Shantih Shantih Shantih.
Jai Swamiji.
Religion leads one by hand and shows him the way to realisation of the Self. That is, not only how to live the life but also how to give up the life (mundane) and achive the eternal life. Yad gatva na nivartante tat dhama paramam mama - Gita.

Entry for June 11, 2007

Excerpted from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna p.137

Sunday 10/6/07

The Master Said: [with a laugh]

"Of course you can realize God without complete renunciation !
Why should you renounce everything? You are all right
as you are, following the middle path.
[note: Thakur was speaking to a BrAmho devotee]
- like molasses partly solid and partly liquid.
Do you know the game of nax? Having scored the maximum
number of points, I am out of the game. I can't enjoy it.
But you are very clever. Some of you have scored ten points,
some six, and some five. You have scored just the right
number, so you are not out of the game like me.
The game can go on. Why, that's fine !"

This comment caused much mirth among the devotees

om tat sat

~~~~~~ om shanthi om~~~~~~

elly

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

DETACHMENT

DETACHMENT

Give me Thy grace, good Lord
to set the world at nought;
To set my mind fast upon Thee,
and not to hang upon the blast of men's mouths;
To be content to be solitary,
not to long for worldly company;
Little by little utterly to cast off the world,
and rid my mind of all the business thereof;
Not to long to hear of any worldly things,
but that the hearing of worldly phantasies
may be to me unpleasant;
Gladly to be thinking of God,
piteously to call for His help;
To lean unto the comfort of God,
busily to labor to love Him;
To know my own vileness and wretchedness,
to be humble and meeken myself under the mighty hand of God;
To bewail my sins passed,
for the purging of them patiently to suffer adversity;
Gladly to bear my purgatory here,
to be joyful of tribulations;
To walk the narrow way that leads to life,
to bear the cross with Christ;
To have the last thing in remembrance,
to have ever before my eye my death that is ever at hand;
To make death no stranger to me,
to foresee and consider the everlasting fire of hell;
To pray for pardon before the Judge come,
to have continually in mind
the passion that Christ suffered for me;
For His benefits unceasingly to give Him thanks,
to buy the time again that I before have lost;
To abstain from vain conversations,
to eschew light foolish mirth and gladness;
Recreations not necessary to cut off,
of worldly substance, friends, liberty, life and all,
to set the loss as nothing
for the winning of Christ;
To think my greatest enemies my best friends,
for the brethren of Joseph
could never have done him so much good
with their love and favor as they did him
with their malice and hatred.
These attitudes are more to be desired of every man
than all the treasure of
all the princes and kings Christian and heathen,
were it gathered and laid together all upon one heap.
(Saint Thomas More, `A Meditation on Detachment')

Thursday, May 10, 2007

File system alert script

Filesystem alert cron
##Run as a cron on hourly basis
echo "Date: `date`">/$CRONPATH/cronscr/fstemp
for y in `cat /$CRONPATH/cronscr/fsalert.lst`
do
x=`df $y|grep -v Used|awk '{print $4}'|tr -d '%'`
##Threshold set to 70
if [ $x -gt 70 ]
then
echo 1 filesystem $y space alert current usage is:$x>>/$CRONPATH/cronscr/fstemp
fi
done
ret=`cat /$CRONPATH/cronscr/fstemp|wc -l`
if [ $ret -gt 1 ]
then
mailx -s "Caution: Filesystem alert:" DBA@
fi
echo `date`>/$CRONPATH/cronscr/fsalertcronlogj1
cat /$CRONPATH/cronscr/fstemp>>/$CRONPATH/cronscr/fsalert.log

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Best Inspirational Quotes form the Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore with a message for our life

Best Inspirational Quotes form the Gurudev with a message for our life

Nirvana is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.

Emancipation from the bondage of the soil is no freedom for the tree.

We gain freedom when we have paid the full price.



We live in the world when we love it.



Life is given to us, we earn it by giving it.



We cannot cross the sea merely by staring at the water.



Age considers; youth ventures.



Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless when facing them.



Never be afraid of the moments - thus sings the voice of the ever-lasting.

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky.



The burden of the self is lightened when I laugh at myself.



I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.

I have become my own version of an optimist. If I can't make it through one door, I'll go through another door - or I'll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present.

When I stand before thee at the day's end, thou shalt see my scars and know that I had my wounds and also my healing.



Do not say, 'It is morning,' and dismiss it with a name of yesterday. See it for the first time as a newborn child that has no name.

If you shut the door to all errors, truth will be shut out.



We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility.



Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on



Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.



Gray hairs are signs of wisdom if you hold your tongue, speak and they are but hairs, as in the young.



What is Art? It is the response of man's creative soul to the call of the Real.



Facts are many, but the truth is one.

He who wants to do good knocks at the gate; he who loves finds the gate open.

Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom.

Love is an endless mystery, for it has nothing else to explain it.

Love is not a mere impulse, it must contain truth, which is law.

Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation.

Love is overbrimming mystery joins death and life. It has filled my cup of pain with joy.

Love's gift cannot be given, it waits to be accepted.

Praise shames me, for I secretly beg for it.

The newer people, of this modern age, are more eager to amass than to realize.

Approximate english version of Tagore's Gitanjali

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--

Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.

"Lord Father, strike {the sleeping} Bharat ( India ) without mercy,

so that it may awaken into such a heaven.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

exporting the oracle sid within unix id on cluster when they share the filesystem

#!/usr/bin/ksh
hs=$HOST
echo $hs
case $hs in
sun1)export ORACLE_SID=ABC1;
echo $ORACLE_SID;;
sun2)export ORACLE_SID=ABC2;
echo $ORACLE_SID;;
*)echo Not a valid host
esac

to check details of id running the processes which are identified from ps listing

to check details of id running the processes which are identified from ps listing

select b.username,b.schemaname,b.osuser,b.process,b.machine,b.terminal from v$session b,v$process a where b.paddr=a.addr and a.spid='&1'

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

currently executing sqls for the users

Following gives the active SQL all current users are executing

select v.sid,
v.username,
optimizer_mode,
hash_value,
address,
cpu_time,
elapsed_time,
sql_text
from v$s s, v$session v
where v.sql_hash_value = s.hash_value
and v.sql_address = s.address
and v.username is not null

Entry for April 11, 2007

buffer gets for cpu util
disk reads for disk i/o
sorts for sorting in sqlarea

to get buffer gets higher than some large value
SQL> select a.buffer_gets,a.disk_reads,a.sorts,a.address from v$sqlarea a where a.buffer_gets>1000000;

use similar for getting the other address of interest for disk i/o or sorts

once the address is found for ex.070000002ADDE608 for the highest sorts of 284

BUFFER_GETS DISK_READS SORTS ADDRESS
----------- ---------- ---------- ----------------
1557764 1553482 284 070000002ADDE608
1405968 27827 1 070000002879F370
1407953 27862 0 07000000287D4330
6897100 2659578 0 0700000029F8D330



use
SQL> select SQL_TEXT,PIECE from v$sqltext where address='070000002ADDE608' order by PIECE;

SQL_TEXT PIECE
---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
SELECT DQD_FIN_ID , DQD_DIS_NO , SUM(DQD_DEMAT_QTY) FROM DMAT_QT 0
Y_DIS_ELEC WHERE DQD_NPN = :B1 GROUP BY DQD_FIN_ID , DQD_DIS_NO 1
2




Thursday, March 29, 2007

compressed export

ORACLE_SID=TEST1;export ORACLE_SID
export ORACLE_HOME=/oracle9i/product/9.2.0
set `date`
filename=/oracle9i/expTEST1full.$3$2$6
export filename
PIPEDIR=/oracle9i/pipedir;export PIPEDIR

/etc/mknod $PIPEDIR/pipeabc p

echo "nohup compress $filename.comp &" > write_pipeabc

sh write_pipeabc

sleep 5

date >> /oracle9i/pipedir/TEST1full.$3$2$6.out

echo ' Full Export of TEST1 is going on........... Please wait'

$ORACLE_HOME/bin/exp \'/ as sysdba \' buffer=1073741824 feedback=100000 file=$PIPEDIR/pipeabc \
statistics=none grants=Y direct=y \
indexes=Y rows=Y full=Y compress=Y 2>> /oracle9i/TEST1full.$3$2$6.out

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

getting the sql text of particular process

getting the sql text of particular process

1)pid obtained from OS commands
ps auxgw|grep oracle|head -5
1667200

2)v$session SQL_ADDRESS

use spid from v$process to join with paddr of v$session and addr in v$process to get the sql_address from v$session

select a.serial#,a.spid,b.sid,b.sql_address
from v$process a,v$session b
where a.addr=b.paddr and a.spid='1667200';

SERIAL# SPID SID SQL_ADDRESS
---------- ------------ ---------- ----------------
7 1667200 40 0700000020F9C268

3)Use the SQL_ADDRESS from previous entry to get the sqltext
select * from v$sqltext where address='0700000020F9C268';
ADDRESS HASH_VALUE COMMAND_TYPE PIECE SQL_TEXT
---------------- ---------- ------------ ---------- ----------------------------------------------------------------
0700000020F9C268 1739069764 47 0 begin DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO.SET_MODULE(:1,NULL); end;

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

reading the oracle alert log daily

following script reads the entries for entire day to end of alert log

set `date`;
gret=`grep -n $1\ $2\ $3 /ora/admin/ORACLE_SID/bdump/alert_ORACLE_SID.log|awk -F: '{print $1}'|head -1`
dy=`cat /ora/admin/ORACLE_SID/bdump/alert_ORACLE_SID.log|wc -l`
di=`echo $dy-$gret|bc`
tail -$di /ora/admin/ORACLE_SID/bdump/alert_ORACLE_SID.log>filtemp
mailx -s "daily alert log" abs@dhdjh.com<filtemp


Wednesday, February 28, 2007

From the gospel of sri ramakrishna

Excerpted from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Page 206

Tuesday 27/2/07

The Master Said:

"They are indeed bound souls who constantly dwell with 'woman and
gold'
and do not think of God even for a moment. How can you expect noble
deeds
of them? They are like mangoes pecked by a crow, which may not be
offered
to the Deity in the temple, and which even men hesitate to eat.
Bound souls, worldly people are like silk-worms. The worms can cut
through
their cocoons if they want, but having woven the cocoons themselves,
they are too much attached to leave them. And so they die there."

om tat sat

Spiritual(TOTAL SURRENDER)

TOTAL SURRENDER

I asked God to take away my pain.
God said, No. It is not for me to take away, but for you to
give it up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.
God said, No. Her spirit is whole and her body is only
temporary.

I asked God to grant me patience. God said, No. Patience is a
byproduct of tribulations; it isn't granted, it is earned.

I asked God to give me happiness.
God said, No. I give you blessings. Happiness is up to you.

I asked God to spare me pain.
God said, No. Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings
you closer to me.

I asked God to make my spirit grow.
God said, No. You must grow on your own, but I will prune you to make
you fruitful.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.
God said, No. I will give you life so that you may enjoy all things.

I asked God to help me LOVE others, as much as he loves me.

God said... Ahhhh, finally you have the idea.
(Unknown)