Happy Ugadi

April 4th (Monday) is Ugadi. Its a very important festival for Hindus and marks the beginning of the New year. This year is called "Khara Nama Samvatsara".

On this day, elders in home distribute a mix of the leaves of neem and jaggery. Neem is extremely bitter to taste and jaggery is very sweet.This actually signifies that we accept equally ,both the aspects of human life – sorrow and joy in the coming new year.Such meaningful and beautiful concepts our forefathers have made for each festival. I feel its very important that our generation retain as much as possible and pass on to our next generation.

Here's wishing all a very Happy Ugadi and little bit more of jaggery than neem in the new year :-)

Shri Raghavendraya Namah

Chanting ‘Raghavendra” actually results in chanting the names of  Sri Rama,Hanuma and Sri Guru Raghavendra. if we describe the word Raghavendra as the most revered person in Raghuvamsha then Shri Rama is “Raghavendra” , if we describe the same word as he who has Sri Rama as his lord, then Hanuma is Raghavendra , and if describe him as the one who cleanses the sins of his devotees and protects them, then we are chanting the most renowned lord of mantrayala Shri Raghavendra. 

Sri JagannathadAsaru says:-

gururajashtaksharam syat mahapatakanashanam |

Ekaikamaksharac chatra sarvakamyartha siddhidam ||

Which means the 8 letters of “ShrI raghavendraya namah”  destroys all the mighty sins, every letter in this name, will result in fulfillment of all the wishes, 

Jagannatha dasaru also composed a separate work named “ShrI Raghavendra Ashtakshara Stotra” which describes the results of chanting each letter of SrI Rayara name as below :

Chanting of “ra” relieves one from all the diseases,

Chanting of “Ga” enhances longevity, glory and strength of the person

chanting of “va”  will result in gain of worldy riches

chanting of “dra” will drive the sins of person chanting

He who chants “ya” will not be troubled by yama

Chanting “na” will bestow higher positions

By chanting “ma” one will be blessed with riches equalling that of devendras.

- from Kalpavriksha Kamadhenu

PMP Certified !

On Jan 10th , I passed my PMP Certification exam on first attempt. I started preparing in Sept 2010 with the 4 day mandatory course at PMI, Bangalore Chapter. But , to be honest, my actual preparation for the exam happened in Dec 2010. The last week being a holiday season, there was slowdown of work and i could take time off to prepare for my exam.

Below are some of the steps which helped me :

1) Attend 35 hour preparation course from PMI,Bangalore Chapter
2) HeadFirst PMP text book- This is the only referance book i used. Some friends recommend other text books , but i didnt bother to check them.
3) PMBok guide provided by PMI - be thorough with this. Go through this as many times as possible.Really , revision of this helped me.
4) Be generally aware of all ITTO - Its not possible to memorize this. So dont waste your time and effort to mug up the ITTO. Instead, I tried to follow each item and ask myself relevant questions which made me think further and cross refer other processes. This actually helped me in co-relating all the processes and get the big picture.
5)Take as many mock tests as possible. Atleast 2 full length ( 4hr ) tests.
Time your mock tests so that you have atleast 30 mins to visit the marked questions.
6)Watch out for tricky questions with words "Except for" , "Next step" , "Including" , etc
7)Questions which involve math are good ones to score. On exam day, write down all the formulae in the 15 minutes instruction time before start of the test.
8)Plan your commute to the exam center in order to be atleast 15 minutes before your appointment time.
9)Being relaxed helps to a great extent.Initially, its natural to be a bit tensed and so the first 10-15 questions took me more time. As the number of questions increases , i felt my confidence level rising.
10) Finally , i didnt take any break during the 4 hour exam.For some people , its pretty difficult to sit for long hours with focus , but this is where the full length mock tests helped me. I could complete all the questions within 3 hrs 20 mins , which gave me 40 minutes to revise the marked questions. Ample time.

Knowledge from the Master - The Washing Machine

From Guruji in "Notes to Intimate Seeker" : "Our body is like the washing machine.Mind is like the cloth. Love is the pure water and knowledge is the detergent. Each lifetime is like one life cycle. The mind comes into the body to get cleansed and pure. But if you put it in mud instead of detergent, your clothes will become dirtier than before. You would have to keep putting the clothes into the washing machine again and again and again."

Watching our words

Continuing from my previous post , below are some of my thoughts about how to watch our words.

Before speaking , lets look at a process of watching what we going to speak. We can visualise that as a three-level checkpoint :

1)First checkpoint :Check if what you are saying is the truth.If yes , proceed to second checkpoint.If not, drop it.

2)Second checkpoint : Check to see if your words are going to harm anyone. They maybe true but if its going to bring more harm, then filter them off.Drop it , no point in uttering those words. Once you are sure its not going to harm anyone , proceed to the next checkpoint.

3)Third checkpoint : Check to confirm that your words are not against people who are not present when you speak. Avoid speaking against a person who is physically not present.

Its useful to go through the above checks mentally while speaking. It may seem difficult initially , but if we make a practice of it , it will become a habit.

Remember,words can create bridges or walls.

Gems from my dad over todays first cup of coffee

Anna (my dad)tells me that he heard this from GP Rajaratnam when anna was his student in college. It has impressed anna so much that he shares this with us time to time.Today morning at 5AM, while Anna and myself were having our fist cup of coffee together, he told me this and i made a note to share this on my blog for my dear friends.

WATCH stands for : ( Each of the below is in very condensed form. I shall try to post more about each of the below topics )

Watch your Words.Our words should to be kind and truthful.It should not hurt others and so watch what you speak.

Watch your Action.Our actions should always be helpful to others. If not helpful , atleast it should not harm anyone.

Watch your Thoughts. Our thoughts reflects the state of our mind. Watch that you have positive thoughts.

Watch your Conduct (can be Character also). Our conduct and character shapes and makes us human beings. Watch how you behave.

Watch your Heart. These are the words Anna told me today morning "Watch that Your heart beats for others". I think that line summarises both this post and also the way Anna is.

Am grateful for the early morning coffee....its really been the best start of the day.

Welcome , 2011

Its been a long time since i switched on my laptop.Infact, this is my first post in 2011.Courtesy the viral named kikuchi. Anyway , now I am fighting it and bidding goodbye to it with the help of the various medicines and more importantly the kind care and wishes of all. I am on the road to speedy recovery. Doc says to give another couple of weeks for the joint pains to go away and for the stitches to heal. I had read somewhere in AOL blogs that even a fever is because of the past karma.Going by that ,I sure am happy to be relieved of the karma over the past month.

Now ,eager and raring to kick start 2011.