WAKE UP...

Vicky Mane, one of the avid readers of my blog, suggested that I write up something about the recent events or happenings. I usually do not write about the national events or on sports because, thousands of web pages are being published on such topics in the web-world every day. So just for what Vicky lovingly suggested I crawled all over the net in search of "good" news I can post in my blog. I traveled from Times of India to Ind. Exp. to Deccan herald to Hindu...and over to Washington post, BBC.UK, New York times. I searched for all news except from "pink papers" They all carried the following keywords: riots, terror, pain, brutal, suicide, stress, violence, attacks, victims... Do you as a reader find the above words, beautiful?? Would you like these words to be associated with you?? No one, in their sane minds, would prefer it. Then why should I write about it . Is there any dearth of stress and violence in our world? What can we achieve by reading such awful words in the daily noose(news, i mean). Just by writing scores of articles on such topics does the violence or terrorism end?? So what can we do to stop the advent of dark age & tyranny back into our world? Can we stop the terrorist or terrorism ?... Can we fight the "invisible" & "face-less" group of havoc creators all alone ?? Can we sabotage their horrific plans ??? The common answer for all the Qs above is .... NO! So what can we do?? WE CAN do a good activity. WE CAN spread the goodness in our environment. WE CAN be of help to the society. WE CAN spread so much goodness around us that the negativity can be at least nullified!!! CAN shows the ability. Everyone has the inherent ability to be of use to the society one lives in. But most of them are unaware and have no desire to do or achive anything, for themselves and for the society. They them selves are so much stuck in their own lives that they are not able to contribute anything to the society. They are, forgive me, a burden for this planet. Why join a group that is ANTI-TERRORISM?? JOIN a group that is PRO-PEACE... Joining anti-terrorism will not stop terrorist from surprising us with their bloody gifts. Peace in every human heart will deter them in their mis-adventures. Trust ME... It always has, and it always will! What's the difference between bad people and good people...do you know?? Bad people plan a tyrannical act and STICK to it. Do you think that those bloody terrorists would give silly excuses like, "tomorrow my sister is getting married, i can't execute the plan now" OR "i am having a headache/stomach-ache, Sorry i cant be of any help to u". If that were the case then there would have been no blasts at all !!! These lame excuses are given by the "duffer" good ones. When I ask people to experience the life transforming YES!+ course, these are the reasons they(good people) put up. The similarity between the good and bad people is that they both plan. The difference is that the bad ones EXECUTE the plan, while the good ones...discusses... analyzes... argues... the plan they came up with and they discuss more...analyze more... argue more on the same plan. In the process, they get tired... they take a pillow and go to SLEEP. WAKE UP. WAKE UP...NOW. Enough of LAZINESS and SELF-CENTEREDNESS. BE OF SOME, AT LEAST A LITTLE, USE TO THE SOCIETY !!! GOT THAT??? Thanks to Vicky, I could write something that had been in my heart for a long time. जय गुरुदेव -- OAK Tree

GURU... What does it mean??

The etymological scholars will agree that the words "Guide" and "Gravity" have been derived from the word GURU. Guru means heavy. Heavy in knowledge. You see, Guru's every word matters! Each word Guruji utters carries voltage. Who can have such tremendous weight in knowledge? Obviously, one who has complete knowledge in it. And one who has complete knowledge in the particular field can also guide anyone easily thru’ it. So guru also means a guide. But what’s the need of a GURU. If you have to go to an unknown place, what do you do?? Ask directions. Don’t you?? You see, when you require a person to guide you on the route to an unknown place then do you think you know the routes of life very well?? If life was like Australian highways, no curve for miles together, then everyone would have become an Einstein. Who needs a guru? (Here starts an amazing paradox) One who is light in knowledge drowns in the ocean of samsara (Worldly life)!! A Guru is like a swan, swims “on” the water but does not get wet!!! It is amazing that Guru, who is heavy, floats over the ocean of samsara like a boat and one who is light (in knowledge) drowns in the material world like a stone. Now guru who floats, sinks in the ocean of samsara without getting wet and brings up the “drowned” to the surface and makes him/her heavy, so that they too can float!! Confused?? I guess your head might be spinning by now. Despite all the complexity, guru remains so simple. If guru is not simple then who else will simplify the complexities of life?? -- O.A.K. Tree

A Pic with in a Pic!

Just click here... P I P

Lesson 1. Managing the expenses

As promised, but one day late. Before starting with the lesson 1, there are three habits you need to inculcate in yourself, if you want to become rich and wealthy. Discipline, consistency and Sincerity with yourself. Without these habits, it will be very difficult to be wealthy. I start with the very basic step of managing the expenses. Everyone writes some kinda "accounts". Whenever I spend for any necessary items(also unnecessary items) I write down the amount. In short, record it. After one week, I do some balancing act. What's that?? I deduct the amount I spent from the amount I had in the beginning of the week. This happens every week. I do all that stuff on excel. If you see carefully the above picture, you will observe that the expenses are categorized in two classes: Budgeted expenses and non budgeted expenses. Generally, budgeted expenses are those expense which you expect to occur once in a day/week and you do not know how much amount you will be spending on it. Like Food-stuff, traveling, etc. You can arrive at the budgeted figure by calculation (22 days x Rs 8 per seat in rickshaw) or by using your gut feeling! Un-budgeted expenses are those for which you need no budgeting. Such expenses may happen suddenly, unexpectedly. Or in some cases you may know the amount and the period when you will be paying. Like Railway pass in my case is non- budgeted as I take a quarterly pass. So it happens only once in three months. I know when I need to buy a pass, I also know the amount I need to pay. I do not require any "budgeting" for it. Now, why undergo such an ordeal? Well, budgeted expenses helps you understand whether you spend within the budget or you overspend. Un-budgeted expenses lets you know how much have your spent on the "uncontrollable" part of you expenses. When I know this I get a fair idea of how my expenses will be in next month. That's the estimation part. We shall learn that later. Over the period you will be able to know the trend of the expenses. Is your actual more than the budgeted? Is your budget increasing every month? etc. Go ahead and check out the new style of expense management. You can make modification in the statement as per your requirement. The above photo is what & how I maintain the expenses. Next lesson will be on "Personal" Finance. It gonna be very personal... P.S. The next blog on finance will be published on Aug 2, 2008 Saturday as next Saturday I'll be busy with YES!+ जय गुरुदेव -- O.A.K. Tree