An Interview with the author Satish Shitut

Recovery-Key denominator in all success stories

 

Recovery-Key denominator in all success stories

The recent astounding victory of Phil Mickelson in a PGA Golf Tour major championship in South Carolina at the age of 50 is a testimony to his never say die approach, self-belief, determination, skills, passion and art to recover. Having remained in top 50 players in the world for 26 consecutive years till 2019, he had lost out in the race and was ranked 115 at the start of the championship on 21may 2021, with an odd of 1:2000 by the bookies, competed with most of the golfers half his age to win the 6^th Major title of his career to create a PGA tour legacy.

His recovery shot on 5^th hole in the final round where he holed from a sand bunker to make a birdie and increase the lead over the competitor must have not only boosted his own confidence but also demoralized to an extent Bruce Koepka – the title contender. Earlier in 2019, the legendary Tiger Woods, an all-time greatest player had also won his 15th major title after a long gap of 11 years at the age of 43 overcoming injuries and personal setbacks. In their decade long fierce rivalry, most of the time Tiger won because of his better recovery shot skills.

Quite often while playing golf you land up either in a hazard, water body, sand bunker, behind trees, difficult lies and or on the wrong end of the greens and those who win are the ones who recover from these spots better than others in the competition. In tournaments which are played over 4 days with a round of golf each day, any player is bound to go through phases of anxiety, emotional stress, crowd pressures, loss of focus due to periods of inactivity in between and either momentary or long lapses of concentration. Phil and Tiger had learnt the art of recovering from these bouts quite well apart from their hunger to remain in the hunt.

In short, they took the responsibility on themselves to keep their fitness levels up to recover from any given situation, assessed the options, had the belief in themselves and the skills which were developed over a period with hard work, continuous practice and determination to excel in their chosen field of passion viz golf, mastered it to the extent that any match situation might have been etched already in their minds and execute it to perfection in times of those recovery shots to remain in the fray and progress in pursuit of their dreams and successes.

Phil had to undergo personal trauma in 2009 due to the health of his wife Amy and even stayed away from the game and then returned to win, while Tiger is now a legendary folklore in Golf with his multiple injuries, personal setbacks, umpteen surgeries and comebacks to recover the lost grounds and be a winner. Similarly in life we all face setbacks and failures and only those guys who master the art of recovery do succeed and even go on to make history. Going further it also applies to health, wealth, business, nations and economies where failures and difficult times are deemed to occur and those who recover are the winners.

All of us are bound to face difficulties and or fail in our endeavors at some point or the other and the option is either to recover and grow or bog down and sulk. Accept and duly respect that setback/fall with grace, adjust to the new equation, focus on recovery plan with a proper understanding to execute the plan with acquired skills fearlessly, positively and with oneness to invoke the lady luck smile at you and extricate from the dire straits to evolve victorious.

Simply shift from why me? to I Can mode, make peace with emotions of anger, fear and frustration, trust your abilities, muster courage, deal with the situation understandingly, focus on the action wholly to recover and leave the rest to the divine willpower for a bounce back. Eternal principles of Respect, understand, love and evolve (RULE)are essential Sutras as well as the surefire mantra to keep our internal recovery mode always on and live life effectively.

Satish Shitut

Author

Effective R.U.L.E.

 

#Disruption #A trending mindset #An endgame in the hands of few?

 

I first wrote with a chalk and progressed with pencil, ink pen, ball pen, typewriter, teletypes, computer keyboards then the writing pads, smart pens, the digital pens and if not yet done but shortly and surely via voice over with AI. I first listened to music, news and commentaries on radios with bulbs then tubes to LED to circuits to battery operated transistors, advanced with the digital radio, T.V., podcasts, you tubes, listening apps so on and so forth while future may be AI based alerts, translations and listening. Similarly in all walks of life our lifestyle has undergone a tremendous change towards progress.

I have always seen things evolving within and outside in the world, the matters and the species too keep evolving gradually and also as per the need of the hour. While evolution is constant and natural, there were also phases of revolutions where revolutionary changes took place to change the systems and/or way of living viz- the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, the Green revolution, the cultural revolution, automation, information technology revolution and many democratic revolutions around the world fundamentally to give more value to all concerned and advance at a better pace.

Currently it seems we are going through yet another phase of transformation which is sadly termed too disruption. We were used to inventions, advancements and innovations for betterment but now we have everything with disruptive adjectives whether it is digital, technology, innovation or transformation. I have yet to understand how anything which is disruptive can be constructive at the same time for all. The pace of evolution was known as Hindu rate of growth (slow but steady), the revolutionary phase as the western model of growth (fast paced) while this disruptive transformation sounds like a Giant-Killer.

The innovators in the earlier two phases were known as geniuses who shaped a better world while this crop of disruptive innovations is termed as ingenious, guess because of the cleverness with which they disrupt the status quo, create a desire for a complete changeover, generate a want and then convert it into a universal need. All other players are wiped out, the disruptive element rules the roost and monopolizes the world. Of course, this does give windfall to few but is a landfall to many and sadly the divide between haves and have nots keeps growing, very few control many more in the name of value.

Now I am a lost person in the milieu of these disruptions all around us. Is my money with the banks safe, is my data safe in my computers, if blockchain and cryptocurrencies and AI are projected as the future of the world, how can I cope with it and who shall control the new system, will the govts become subject to these monopolistic hegemonies and I become a guinea peg and or a sacrificial goat.

The doubts do rise in my mind not necessarily due to lack of my understanding and the fear for change which is a human failing but because of the disruptive mindset of these ingenious people and their hidden agendas. These game-changers ultimately seem to be more interested in weeding out the current players and dominate the space to rule the roost. Whether these so-called disruptive changes bring in positive and constructive values to mankind or only few is a billion-dollar question?

From what started as disruptive methods to gain market share, one-upmanship and lead in business now seems to have become a mindset. Disruptive politics, disruptive technology, disruptive digitization, disruptive viruses and the wars, disruptive narratives and disruptive ideas are resulting in disrupted economies, livelihoods, Janata and the world at large and benefits only to a handful privileged entities. Is this for the progress of mankind or is it a devolution of values. Are we now just stones in the game for thrones? Guess that is the “New Normal”- change or perish, be trendy or become obsolete, disrupt or get disrupted.

The problem is with mindset, as deep technology and scientific advances are as important as the spiritual thinking for the sustainable progress of mankind and sadly in the race of materialistic gains, we have lost the values of Respect, understanding and love for all in pursuit of selfish gains thus not evolving together for a better world. Need a spiritual mindset and not disruptive one to live in harmony with all and nature.

 

Satish Shitut

Author, "Effective R.U.L.E."

Covid-19-21, WHO let the guards down(!)

 

Who is responsible for this pandemic, the resultant pandemonium and the loss of precious human lives? Of course, a tiny invisible virus who came out of either Wuhan wet market bat or a lab, found a friendly ally in an ignorant human body, started replicating and mutating itself with the help of human cells for its own survival while this human being who is a very social animal carried and transmitted it to others in this well-connected world, all over.

Initially WHO was blamed for the delay in alarming the world on the formation and the spread, who in turn blamed China for the same, who in turn blamed USA and the pharma companies as a man-made biological disaster. While the who did what blame game was on, the infected travelers were merrily traveling all over spreading the same, all the governments were caught off-guard and by that time it had already spread far and wide. The infrastructure was never sufficient to cater to the medical needs and as there was neither any data or medicine available to contain and cure thus lockdowns were imposed to buy time to improve combative health infrastructure, curative medicine and as a preventive measure the tried and tested method of social distancing and hygiene were propagated, by WHO.

The disciplined societies and their respective governments in the world took stringent, proactive and workable measures suggested by WHO and ensured containment while the who is who in the world(developed/developing, democratic and Industrialized nations) where, in the name of freedom individual rights are sacrosanct while duties are expendable, faltered in building consensus, decision-making, enforcement of do’s and don’ts, could not foresee the gravity thus failed to bolster the infrastructure and the system to cope with the unfolding of the waves and ensuing loss to the economies as well as the humanity.

The virus, in the meantime is thriving and fighting the odds, after all like many others it also has come into this world to exist and having found a friendly partner in the human body is even mutating variants. Individuals who are affected are also fighting for survival, the stressed-out medical fraternity has done it’s best to build medicinal protocol for cure with trial and error, treat the patients and have even invented vaccines to save lives and contain the spread. The battle is on, who will win over the other? No one but the vaccine should surely nullify and or contain the destructive cells of the virus, over a period of time-WHO knows.

Earlier it used to take a decade to come out with vaccines but thanks to the technological advancements, the scientific research, data analysis and the hard work of the community, the same has been made ready within a year, though due to the imbalance between production and he size of the population it could be the end of year 2022 when the majority population could be immunized, so till then who is to take care and behave response-ably , it is the missing I in it, the I who is arrogant, callous, disrespectful, selfish, and exists all over in many govts, institutions, politics, media, executive, judiciary and the public and these are the people who believe in I-Me-Myself  who are responsible for the current mess and will continue to do so.

The societies which were able to save lives, contain the spread and continue to take care of the people are the ones with the attitude of I-We-Us and oneness. Thus, the character building of the societies of developed/developing nations need to change and must inculcate the thinking of “I am part of a whole and not a whole in itself”, instead of I as a part of a problem I need to become a part of a solution (dutifully right) as we all seek to survive, coexist and look beyond to live in harmony with humanity and the nature. Who will bell the cat(!) only I- We-Us attitude towards oneness, the ultimate truth can do and not I-Me-Myself towards self-destruction?

Satish Shitut

Author, Effective R.U.L.E

To live life effectively- A life changing process

Broad-Chest v/s Narrow mind, Courage v/s Cowardice

 

A case of chappan inchi seena v/s dimagiya khokhlapan 

The current use of words and oratory in parliament and outside by the opposition members speaks more of their immaturity, lack of sensitivity and respect to the chair and thoroughly exposes their negative mindset bereft of any factual data and genuine concern but stinks of a personal attack on the current Prime-minister using his own phrase of having a chappan inchi-seena to ridicule him of pettiness, arrogance, cowardice and bigotry, reflecting sadly more on their own mindlessness.

If I am not wrong Mr. Narendra Modi had used the 56-inch chest comment at a 2014 election rally in Uttar Pradesh elections where he dared the then chief of the ruling Samajwadi party Mr. Mulayam Singh, a wrestler as this term is used more within the wrestling community in jest that you need a 56-inch chest to convert a hugely populous state like U.P. into a developed state like Gujarat. In reality except Arnold Schwarzenegger no other politician has a 56 inches chest though most have that waistline due to their appetite for corruption and power by hook or by crook and stomach it, too.

In true sense, a broad chest means that you need a bigger vision/guts and heart to do great things and not chest thumping or bravado bordering on foolhardiness, as depicted by the opposition. Given the chronological events, election wins, progress made by Uttar Preash and India domestically as well as internationally on various fronts, their continuous dare to him on courage and cowardice is nothing but a reflection on their own follies and bankruptcy of ideas and alternatives.

Metaphorically, such a big chest can be only attributed to Lord Hanuman, the Sevak of Lord Ram who was so devoted to him that he bared it open to show that the divine king resides within his heart and soul and not in the most precious necklace which Sita gave it to him as a token of appreciation for his loyalty and services towards the master for his sharpness, firmness, dexterity, competence, modesty, prudence, virility, prowess and ever-present intelligence.

The current P.M. had declared himself as Pradhan Sevak of 130 crore people of India on the day he took the oath of the prime minister ship thus if a parallel is drawn with above metaphor, the opposition is targeting wrongly the person rather than the mistakes and follies in policies or the lack of pace and developments, if any and could be many. As he said himself content and intent need to be probed and the opposition is just failing on that front.

He is wisely investing the available resources for the upliftment of poor, skill development of youth, reforms for ease in doing business, progress of the nation, defending the borders, elimination of the terrorists and the anti-national elements thus leaving very little scope and ground for the opposition to counter him unless they get a mindful person at the helm of their affairs  who is truthful, honest, and selflessly devoted to the cause of the nation and have the courage to build a positive narration and an alternative vision.

Playing with words, promoting false narratives, creating divisions in the society, opposing even good reforms which are introduced in the interest of the people and targeting the person with lies and false propaganda will never work as the man concerned is courageous and relentless enough to have embarked on his mission to serve his country and the countrymen to the best of his abilities with good intention and a team of do-gooders.

We need more metaphorical 56-inch Chester’s and not mindless court jesters.

 

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

Farmers protest - A regressive step to thwart reforms.

 

Middle-man syndrome, political conundrum and a Dilemma for the Govt.

The current impasse on the farmers protests due to an obdurate stand of the protesters, opportunistic jump of opposition in the burning fire and the Government’s willingness only to defer the implementation of the three new laws with valid amendments, if any but not repeal as demanded and sheer inability or willingness to remove the protestors from the sites due to political constraints and fear of a backlash is a clear democratic infringement by all.

A situation like this is always a readymade breeding ground for separatists, anarchists and vested interests who do not want a progressive and developed India, thus have jumped the bandwagon but the most worrying part is the joining hands of the middlemen of our society who feel threatened and are very much keen to maintain status quo in their self-interest at the cost of reforms and progress.

India has long suffered due to these middlemen over centuries due to the invaders and the foreign rule, we are continued to be ruled and exploited by them even after independence in some form or the other at the cost of common man and national growth. Whether the satraps of Mughal era or the zamindars and courtiers of British raj or the politicians, their cronies, crony capitalists, Lutyens or the vote bank consolidators of the post-independence era, the ecosystem was designed and used only to suit their objectives and hidden agendas.

Since 2014 and the arrival of Modi, this evil construct of the middlemen has been severely dented and is being dismantled gradually with various reforms to get the rule of law in the country to benefit common man to the last mile, thus this middleman community is threatened of their livelihood (mostly ill-gotten) and are at the core of this movement with the name of the poor kissan (blackmail) in the forefront to ensure a status quo of their own wellbeing.

It all started from day one of Modi taking over the charge in south block of New-Delhi where all the middlemen, wheelers dealers and powerbrokers were barred from entering the corridors of power and rendered jobless, followed by curtailing the junkets, favors and so-called influence of the Lutyens and the press in general and both these powerful middlemen (mostly corrupt) are up in arms against the current dispensation thus the antagonism and hatred.

Further the direct benefit schemes ensured 100% reach to the direct beneficiary rather than 15% only, digitalization, service charters, direct access to the govt hurt the middlemen who were making money as intermediaries at the cost of the end beneficiary and good governance. Election bonds hit the political parties hard while demonetization was the biggest blow to these middlemen as the shell companies and the black money got exposed and now on the wane though not completely eliminated.

Having got hurt badly and now on the backfoot, abolition of article 370 and 35a was a death nail on corrupt practices while the CAA and NRC was an extreme blow to their survival thus the severe protests based on presumptuous hardships. The current three farm laws are reforms meant to improve the ecosystem in the farmers interests but here again mostly the middlemen are going to lose (hold and black money) as they are the loan sharks, mandi managers, contract farmers, distillers, procurers, in literal sense traders and not farmers but earn tax free income(agriculturist).

We all need to have proper perspective and better understanding of the situation, need of the hour, hidden agendas, clear motives of govt, the interest of the common man, the nation at the heart and evolve a rational approach to thwart anarchists and help usher rule of law.

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

Monarchy to Anarchy- Via democracy

 

Once upon a time there was a benevolent king who always had the state welfare in his mind and deeds, he firmly believed in wellbeing of all stakeholders in his kingdom and earnestly strived to fulfil the same thus was liked by majority, people were happy, and kingdom prospered.

Suddenly, one fine morning a tribal chieftain rebelled with his followers, stormed into the Kings palace with arms and ammunition to seek freedom from the King but was overpowered by the men of the King and brought in front of him for punishment. Being a conscious and a principled man, the King heard the grievances of the chieftain, realized that the region of these tribes was truly deprived of the progress due to administrative failure thus pardoned them all and took the chieftain on board for progress.

Thanks to the visionary King, the kingdom was prospering and the life of the people peaceful and enjoyable, four decades down the above incidence yet again a similar rebellion took place from the same region, the rebels captured, this time the King punished them all with a life imprisonment. The ombudsman in the kingdom was astonished and asked the King as to why he punished this chieftain while forty years back he had not only pardoned his father but even made him a regional satrap.

The King replied that forty years back the rebellion then was genuine, he could see the deprivation and hunger in  the rebels eyes thus it was he who had to make amends, take them into confidence, alleviate their problems to be inclusive thus he made amends to ensure the prosperity in that region but this time he could sense from the body language of the chieftain’s son greed for power and  filthy prosperity  for selfish gains and not the wellbeing of the people  thus had to be taught a lesson and punished.

Three decades back Mr. Mahendra singh Tikait had led a farmer’s agitation and succeeded in evolving a dialogue-based settlement to become a Mahatma for Kissans of India. History is now repeated with his son Rajesh Tikait trying to become one but the intent now it seems not a satyagraha (fight for truth) but svagraha (Selfish interests) deserving punishment. Of course, in democracy, he has right to protest but should not be at the cost of inconvenience, loss to property, wealth, lives and progress. The democratic king is helpless thus time for silent majority to stand up and teach them a lesson in their own dose.

The world moved from monarchy to democracy objectively to make the society participative and inclusive to give equal opportunities for all with constitutional guarantees in form of rights and their duties as principled guidelines. Sadly, the duties are forgotten, principles are hanging in the air, right has become might, democracy has become mobocracy, nepotism has replaced despotism, rich richer, poor poorer, north south divide wider, western materialism overpowers eastern values while disrespect, hate, violence, corruption has turned people against people.

The current deplorable political situation in USA, U.K., France and India all democratic societies can easily be attributed to vote-Bank politics over a period of time which has demeaned the voter’s intellect and exploited the gullible Janata. It is high time that the responsible citizenry which has remained silent majority to the ever-deteriorating situation rises to the occasion and raise the voices in a democratic fashion to bring all culprits to books and save ourselves from anarchy.

Initiate a dialogue to evolve a consensus towards developing a vote-bank free society which respects the law, their own as well as rights of other citizens along with full understanding of their own duties, value of their vote with an effective “Just “system to ensure fair play, equal opportunities and freedom to thrive and prosper.

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

 

Personality cult-a Congress creation and a warning to BJP

 

The current crisis in congress party, where they are not able to look beyond the Gandhi Parivar to revive the sinking fortunes of a 150-year-old party is the result of last 70 years of gradual surrender of their ideological and democratic character to become a personality driven party. Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru can be squarely blamed for fostering a personality cult around him which gave birth to a narrative penned and propagated by an army of court jesters who built a visionary persona for him and lived off it.

Mrs. Indira Gandhi ruthlessly capitalized on it, in fact during her time, “India is Indira” and “Indira is India”, was coined, sadly all the democratic process in the party were muzzled, opposition eliminated to the extent it became Congress(I) and the era of divide and rule, coterie & high command culture took its root, which is the only game Sonia Gandhi learnt to survive and remain leader for last two decades.

The result is very obvious, today they do not have a single leader to take over the mantle of congress, their two generations have just been subservient and loyalists, not to mention corruption mired rather than character-based party workers. They still root for the failed charisma and aura of Gandhi family to cling to their positions and usurp power rather see the daylight to transform and rebuild the party.

The irony is that none of the current three Gandhi’s have either a strong character or the so-called big following in the country. They are scripts without any content, glorified personalities without any ethical character, as a matter of fact the tried and failed heir apparent is already a laughingstock. Not to mention all three have cases of corruption, fraud and quid pro quo against them.

Congress and most of the Indian political parties thrived on this personality cult and over the years translated into a dynastic submission. Instead of building a party cadre on the works and ethics of Tilak, Gokhale, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Dr. Rajendra prasad, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Narasimha Rao  they propagated the sacrifices and  contributions of only Nehru-Gandhi equation which resulted in sycophancy and subservience rather than ownership and responsibility for a cause.

As a quick fix, it suits any political party to create a personality cult around their leader to ensure a following to help them in their pursuit to remain in power with their loyalty. Most of the Indians also over centuries have been hero worshippers and always look for a Hero to fulfil their own aspirations and    relief from any sufferings. This weakness is fully exploited by all the political parties to remain in power rather than serve the nation earnestly.

The current dispensation in power BJP, came to power proclaiming itself as a party with a difference with a development plank for all. Their resounding victory in 2019 elections consolidated their position. Their approach of Nation first is laudable, cultivation of character-based party workers, creation of growth opportunities within the party to develop future leaders is the way forward.

BJP need to be on guard and check on the Modi-cult to ensure that they do not go the congress way. They benefit from the backing of RSS, which works solely on developing a character-based cadre who are committed and devoted to the nation building and then loans them to BJP. This is a continuous process desired for a sustainable growth of the any political party and the nation it serves. A good institution breeds leaders with character while a personality cult destroys the institution itself.

Party above “I” and Nation above party is the Mantra. One Parivar understands, the other does not.

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

Exemplary M.S.D. (Captain Cool)

 

Mahendra Singh Dhoni who let the sun set on 14^th August at 1929 hours, to retire from international cricket, shall definitely leave many cricketers and his avid followers disheartened but shall also leave a strong legacy behind for almost all the youngsters of India, to emulate and grow in their lives, regardless of any career or sport, they feel like pursuing, to be effective in their own lives.

A small town boy from Jharkhand, coming from a lower middle class family, dreams of playing cricket for India, leaves his paltry job of a ticket collector in the city, focuses on playing cricket, rises from a local cricket sixes player to a Captain of Indian cricket team and plays international cricket for 16 long years in all formats, where he dominates, endears, conquers and finally renounces with a run out.

His story is a perfect example of “Make your own dreams come true”. In his journey of the life so far, both on and off the field , he was never bogged down, by any situation or circumstance but ensured that he persevered coolly what he believed in, carried the responsibilities, on his shoulders nonchalantly, to succeed in any given situation, no wonder that he was revered to as a  “Captain Cool”

His life story, exemplary exploits on the field, his behavior on and off the field, his contributions to the game and his teammates, his relationships with the administrators and the competitors alike, his love for his family, friends and his fans shall now become a folklore with a tag or “God of Cricket”.

He may have renounced from International cricket but will be serving our country in many ways, is rest assured. He is  already an honorary Lieutenant Colonel  in the Indian army for the services he does for love for his country and the servicemen, we will not be surprised when we shall see him devoting more time for our Defense Services  as a “True son of our country”.

There shall by many statistical details on his glorious cricketing career which you either know or shall read and remember but for any youngster in any part of the world, the key takeaways from him are-:

Everything happens twice, once in dreams and then in reality, so think big and persevere till the end. The process is continuous and lifelong on the lines of sow a thought, reap an action, sow an action reap a habit, sow a habit reap a character, sow a character and reap a destiny.

Be a child in your heart so that you are always curious to learn, fearless and courageous in your actions, laugh at any failure, be happy and move on, as each failure is always a step towards the success lurking just next door, each given situation is an opportunity to learn from and gain from the same thus be cool and be always determined.

Be aware of your abilities and have the self-belief to act with a strong resolve to work hard on various aspects of skills, knowledge, understanding and social behavior to become a self-respecting person first and then selfless to help people around you and build a team to lead them by example. This journey from self-respect to selflessness in the life is a hallmark of any successful person, in any field.

His fundamental principles in his life, which he applied in all aspects of his life starting with self, family, friends, game, fans, teammates, competitors, his country and the countrymen of Respect, Understanding and Love shall always stand him good as “What goes around always comes back”

His rise from a small-town boy to a poster boy to a “God of Cricket” is a perfect example for others to follow these principles of natural laws and “evolve” in their lives, too.

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

 

P.M. a True Pradhan-Sevak (Chief Servant)

The Bhoomi-Pooja (worshipping of five elements of nature and a ritual devoted to earth) before beginning the Shree Ram temple construction, to remove the negativities and impurities at the hands of P.M. Modi, is not a coincidence but looks like an act of god, because Mr. Modi had declared himself in 2014 itself that he is a Pradhan Sevak and not a Pradhan Mantri.

The legend goes that When Lord Shree Ram immersed himself in Sharayu river in Ayodhya to return to his abode, Lord Hanuman his (Bhakt) chief servant also wanted to go with him but Lord Shree Ram told him that he will have to remain on earth till the kalyug(era of downfall of spiritualism) and perform his duties to fight for truth against evil and wrongdoings.

Ramayan the epic is a gripping story of victory of good over evil, love, compassion, relationships and social behavior of all stakeholders, the conversations at crucial junctures of decision making are value based, philosophical and keeping in tune with Dharma( natural laws of right behavior and social order).The temple symbolically represents and reminds us of those virtues & our great civilization.

Lord Shree Ram “The Maryada Purushottam”(a perfect man-symbol of many virtues) who always stood for Dharma and truth, established his kingdom, “Ram Rajya”, a society based on Righteous principles of morality, justice and equality as an ideal form of good governance in the interest and wellbeing of his Praia(people) the central character.

 In fact Mahatma Gandhi’s dream at the time of the independence was also to have “Ram Rajya” in India, even our constitution is framed based on those ideals, but the ideals were lost during the course  of misrule and time has come for the people of this country to unite and fight, and once again free our country from the clutches of corruption, illiteracy, poverty, injustice, and other evils—the anti-people creations of our own fellow countrymen.

Service is simply an action of doing something to help someone, In Christianity it is an act of doing work for showing GOD's love to others with a willing heart, In Islam it means giving preference to others over yourself and considering their happiness and welfare before your own, In Sikhism, apart from other services(Karseva)as we all know, it means serving the wisdom (Gyan) ,i.e. to cultivate the service as a state of mind and then act unconditionally.

Seva in Sanskrit means a selfless service which is an outcome of seva-Bhav i.e. an inner feeling (Bhav) born out of love and the act borne out of this feeling is Seva, it is considered the most important part of spiritual practice to serve others with no expectation of outcome. Mr. Modi being honest with no materialistic attachments has been serving selflessly & relentlessly since 2014, working 16 hours a day, 365 days to serve the nation and all the people of India.

We may differ on his policies, politics and gaps in walk and talk but must give due credit to his Sevabhav and the ideals which do reflect in most of his policies to reach the last man in line(Antyodaya), unite all with  “sabka saath-sabka vikas-sabka vishwas”, remove corruption towards making a New India which is spiritual and the belief in oneness of the world at large (Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam)

Thus, a person who achieved wisdom through spiritualism and experience, who is selflessly serving the nation with total dedication(Tan-Man-Dhan), who believes in the Ideals of Lord Shree Ram and has vowed to usher in Ram Rajya(an ideal form of governance and society) deserves to be our Pradhan Sevak to perform this ritual and usher in the “Ram Rajya”. Guess, the right man for the right job at the right time for this temple (Symbol of all virtues and our rich heritage)

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

 

Ego- Part of a whole and not a whole in itself

We are all born with an ego, in fact, it is our survival tool and is the platform to board and begin our journey in search of the truth. But for ego, which is the self-esteem and or self-importance, we may remain ignorant, passive and many possibilities may remain unexplored with our immense abilities.

We are all born dependents and gradually move towards Independent- Intradependent-Interdependent. In simple terms as we do not live in isolation but in a society , we have to first establish our identity and then embark on life journey from  I to we, We to us and finally towards the whole(ultimate truth). I is a means to achieve an end and not an end, while ego is just a shadow of that I, let it be that small part.

The problem arises when we start overindulging in this “I” rather than moving towards the whole as mentioned above, we end up moving from I to Me to Mine and Myself.  The self assumes such huge proportions that we become indifferent to impact of our actions on others. we become Possessive, greedy, righteous, self-centered and start appropriating everything as our entitlement to lose the plot.

If we want to be a “GOOD Human being”, we need to first invoke “I” to make it happen, use it for our growth to ultimately surrender and witness life, the way it should be. In the process we rise in our own self esteem through self-awareness and self-respect. If we overindulge here, “I” gives rise to the ego, makes it bigger and we become utter selfish and egoists instead of moving towards selflessness i.e. us.

In order to lead an effective and balanced life, we all strive for growth in following areas and need to be aware that ego can be a spoilsport thus consciously  using the ”I” rather than working for “I”, will help.

Physical growth: Of course we have to take care of our body to be fit and maintain it properly , look beautiful, stay healthy live long and it is a must but quite often we start admiring our own growth, start indulging in the acquired beauty, muscle strength, the fitness and flex it in front of others  which in turn creates problems for everybody and we get mired in our own self-centric behavior.

Mental growth: The continuous process which we all follow for our mental growth is to collect data-analyze- convert to information-acquire knowledge- apply- experience-validate- wisdom- ultimate truth. Most often we end up as I know all, I have done it, I know it, I am right before even experiencing it and the growth stumbles, whereas with each experience we need to go back to “ I do not know” & restart.

Financial growth: of course we cannot become self-dependent without acquiring skills and abilities to make money and support ourselves and later the families as well, it is a must but still only a part of our overall growth, to achieve the end and not an end in itself. The attachments of this material world and the inherent desire to accumulate is infinite because of me. Here you need to take a call and follow the path from I to We-Us-whole and surely dump me-mine and myself.

Spiritual growth: This is a clincher as it helps our “I” to slowly surrender to the whole, as this aspect is about reaching out and connecting with our inner soul. It is a continuous process to develop our inner feelings and powers to harmonize with life around & slowly dissolve the “I” with our responsible actions.

To avoid the pitfall of ego and lead a balanced and effective life, better to build a principled character based on the four natural principles of Respect, Understanding, Love and Evolve. Focus on them in each of the daily activity, practice, make it a habit to become a whole and not remain just “yet another I”.

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

Emotions, Temptations and Thoughts are our personal baggage

All human beings are equally born with mind, body, spirit and soul. We also carry personal baggage of emotions, thoughts and temptations(evils)which make our lives complicated and particularly challenging. The beauty is that these three are the cause of human sufferings as well as the happiness. It is honestly said that “they can be our best friends and our best enemies” thus managing them to our own benefit (WIIFM) is the way forward.

All the avatars or prophets also had to go through the human lives to experience maximum human sufferings and come out victorious to prove their godliness. They are the symbols of all virtues and set an example for us to learn from and humanly put into practice. Both sufferings and death are inevitable in our life, a continuous effort to minimize the suffering and maximize the happiness, to the best of our abilities and enjoy the journey, is the name of the game.

Emotions: Fear, anger, shame, disgust, sadness, surprise, curiosity & Joy are main emotions which play a part in our life, first four bring negativity & last three positivity, we have the abilities and energies to minimize and maximize both with our actions. For example, a feeling of disgust due to an action of others can be given a pass and if it is out of our own action, correct it.

Temptations:  Lust, wrath, greed, attachment, jealousy and ego are our internal enemies. If Adam and eve in spite of warning by none other than God were tempted to eat the forbidden apple, who are we to suppress or avoid them thus the best way is to go through the process of self-realization i.e. Experience-Introspect- Conclude, beware and act consciously in future.

Thoughts: Our mind is a processor and is always in a thinking mode, it churns out thoughts by second. That being a neuro process, they come from anywhere and everywhere. They may be good, bad, ugly, beautiful, innovative, critical, novel, lofty, destructive, constructive and all sorts. Let them come and go but do practice cognitive thinking process and skills to channelize them to acquire knowledge, comprehend, process, remember and apply accordingly. They say that all creations happen twice, once when thought or dreamt and second time in real. Make them happen.

Our life is a long journey, this trio is our preloaded baggage which remains with us throughout the life. Emotions are a mixed bag thus it is in our interest not to overload further by being too emotive over sensitive or insensitive. Learn from each thought and temptation to offload them, let them pass and focus on those which benefit you. This is a continues process to follow with the following natural endowments to manage them as per the best of our abilities and efforts.

Self-Awareness:

We have the ability to reflect on our own selves, introspect the inner self with our intellect so use it to analyze, understand  the thoughts, the emotions, the temptations and act based on the best known idiom ”what is in it for me”. Regular introspection and meditation is the way forward.

Freedom to choose action:

Once you have ascertained the WIIFM through the awareness process, experience the same and act consciously based on your own conclusions to evolve your own baggage policy. Never be afraid of failure and or seek advice. Do trust the source but verify as well, to grow.

Always remember that this personal baggage is a normal phenomenon in our lives, be human and enjoy the game of Rummy(pick and discard) to minimize the suffering, maximize the happiness, take both of them in your stride, a win after a loss is more sweeter, they say!

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat   

Live life golf like- some similarities spiritually

A lot has been said about life being similar to golf and in some ways it is, both are four letter words like the other one which give you ecstatic moments while living or playing and we spend our lifetime in search of them and they remain either sporadic or elusive. Apart from this both life and golf have a huge aspirational aspect to them, easy to look at but complex and complicated to play or live effectively.

In golf, you are a solo player( of course there are competitors but they too are playing their own game like we live our own lives) with 14 clubs in your armor to choose from, to hit a stationery ball at a target determined by you, till you sink it into a hole, there are 18 holes and you are supposed to finish a game in 72 shots. In general, an average golfer takes around 90 plus shots to finish a round of golf, professional take between 67 to 75 plus shots and beginners around 120 plus shots.

In the process, to begin with you need to have a strong desire to play golf, learn, practice, invest time, money, start playing and gradually progress to higher levels with your skill, you are on your own- a player, a referee and a scorekeeper who signs his own report card, you have to play the ball as it lies, overcome all hurdles created by surroundings, weather, ground conditions, take the breaks in your stride and use your clubs ably to reach the target area, approach, land and sink the ball in the hole.

You are not only fighting the external battle as above, but you must overcome the internal issues as well to achieve your desired targets. A strong foundation on basics of the game, fit body, deep breathing, high spirits, alert mind, and soul fully into the game is a perquisite. Self-belief, awareness of the game, understanding of its rules and etiquettes, consideration for others, passion to excel, determination, practicing the skills, execution, fail-succeed-learn and in the process evolve, is the name of the game. We do face similar situations and require the skills in personal lives as well, to progress.

Now to be an effectively a good player, you need to strengthen internally as well, because any perfect shot demands oneness, spiritually too that is the way to progress in life. In golf, it takes roughly 4 and half an hour to finish a round in 72 shots, execution of these shots requires just two seconds each for that oneness where the body, mind and the club are in unison during that swing to impact a stationery ball and propel it to the desired destination. Total 144 seconds (72 X 2) of oneness of two seconds each spread in between periods of inactivity and wavering mind is a tough act and everybody’s nemesis.

Spiritualism says that you are only a part of a whole and you need to dig deeper within you consciously to find the truth of who you are to become one with that whole. and they meditate regularly to seek that oneness and evolve on that path. It is a proven fact that even those who meditate, to focus for two seconds, it requires regular practice as thoughts keep flowing every second. Years of focused regular practice helps them first to scrape the surface, dig deeper and then walk the path of oneness.

Oneness can be achieved by organizing your mind, body, emotions and energies to focus in one direction. Once your physical body, wavering mind, floating thoughts and the energies within are in unison in that direction you reach your destination. Similarly, in your “golf swing” during each shot a skilled golfer must aim, take the right club and posture, head still, eyes on the ball and balance evenly

on the legs and knees. Then leave out emotions, keep the mind and energies on the ball, move the arms, hips, shoulders slowly and swing in unison to achieve the desired shot. Result is the moment of ecstasy.

Practice may not make you perfect but no practice surely makes you imperfect thus keep trying, love the process, forget the momentary lapses and enjoy the moments of ecstasy, that is the way to play golf, live life, lifelong, to evolve with each ecstatic moment to be a better player and or a better human being.

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

We are products of environment Fact, Myth & reality

Let us do a reality check on the myth that all humans are product of environment based on facts

Facts:

Birth: The place, time and where we are born is not in our hand.

Race, Religion & Nationality: it comes as a birth tag for us.

Parents: We cannot choose parents, but we are their product.

Upbringing and Education: we are raised and educated by others and conditioned by them.

Surrounding and Neighborhood: It is based on the financial affordability, not choice.

Peer group: More time by default is spent with those of similar age, status and background.

Circumstances: Things around us are changing constantly and affect our behavior.

Emotions: Fear, Anger, shame, disgust, sadness, surprise, curiosity & Joy is our baggage.

Temptations:  Lust, wrath, greed, attachment, jealousy, and ego are our internal enemies.

Life:  It is a complex system in a complex environment.

Myths:

Few myths we believe in, could be true or false as scientifically not yet proved but important.

We are all born equals with immense abilities and infinite possibilities for growth.

Cosmic energy and astronomical patterns play an important role in our lives.

Our destiny is sealed at the time of birth and is a result of our past deeds (Karma).

Religious practices and spirituality help us controlling the ever-wavering mind.

Reality:

It is true that most of us are conditioned and live as per our understanding based on above facts and myths thus end up being products of circumstances and conditioning. Here, if we apply the 80: 20 rule, 80 percent of the humanity lead their lives within these parameters due to following.

Be Passive: accept the fact that life is a product of environment and live a dormant life.

Be Reactive:  Keep reacting to ever changing situations or frustrate and bring more misery.

Be Active: Use the abilities to bare minimum, make the ends meet and manage their lives.

Game-changers:

The 20 % who rise above this and lead effective lives are those who realize the two natural endowments they possess, use them and rise above others to make the difference.

Self-Awareness:

Human beings are the only living creatures who can reflect on themselves, introspect the inner self with their intellect. They respect and understand their own immense abilities, love to take on challenges, overcome them and make things happen.

Freedom to choose: Be Proactive

We are all born free and have the right to choose the way we want to live our life. Those who have hunger for change, persevere and are patient reap the dividends. They consciously take the initiative and passionately pursue their goals to do better and keep evolving.

Best examples are Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri, Savitribai Phule, Mr. Abraham Lincoln, Dr APJ Abdul kalam who in adversity, created opportunities with their strong desire, karma, high principles, belief in themselves and love for all achieved their goals to write their own destiny. All is in the mind, I can make it happen, is the paradigm shift required to be your own product.

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

       

Evolve-Make it happen

In general, we all nourish an intense desire to progress in our lives, look forward to a change for better. A better tomorrow, but for that we need to make that change today, now, in the present. A change in either the situation or others is not in our hands, but a change within ourselves is very much a conscious choice we can make, to develop a process of self-growth culminating into progress in our own life.

We can always go for a change in our lives with quick fix changes in our image by learning personality development techniques, attitudes and behavior skills but the results may only be deceptive, outwardly and short lived unless we also cultivate the principles of Respect, understanding and love internally as pillars of our way of our life to be effective, long lasting and gradually evolve inside-out.

Evolving inside-out is a continuous process of development where you work on your own abilities consciously to learn, unfold, and gradually blossom on your path to progress. In simple terms, you are the script writer of the story of your own life and for it to become a hit, the content has to be good, thus build a  respectful  and a loving character which has a good understanding, live it, love it, expose it to various live situations, fail, adapt, learn, deal effectively and most important enjoy the script. 

Fundamental problems we all face in changing ourselves is the old habits die hard, we are generally happy in status quo, difficult to get out of the comfort zones, procrastinate, lethargy and contentment. we cannot offload this baggage overnight but complete focus, perseverance and hard work on your character building can help to overcome these hurdles, effectively.

It is just a matter of your mental state to be changed from negative to positive by simply igniting your positive energies of I can do it, do it and enjoy it loudly and clearly. The process is sow a thought, reap an action, sow an action reap a habit, sow a habit reap a character, sow a character and reap a destiny.

 The best example in annals of history is of Rishi Valmiki, who was a dacoit  who went to rob saptrishi but the sage felt pity on him, pardoned him and showed him the path of meditation, this in turn transformed him so much, that he went on to script the first and the most revered epic poem  on the earth, “Ramayana” on love, righteousness and shastras which depicted Rama as the ideal man,  Sita as a gem of a lady, Laxman symbol of duties and Bharat a symbol of devotion and sacrifice.

Knowing above, which ever your state of mind and or situation you may be in, if you wish to transform and progress  in your own  life, just become your own programmer, write your own script based on principles of Respect, understanding and love, act as a hero, use your immense natural abilities of the mind, body and soul to  defeat the enemies and negative energies within to evolve victorious.

The moment is now, thus make a choice, be responsible for your own life, choose your script to progress, enjoy every moment of action, keep failing as each failure is an experience in itself and the moment for self-realization, learn from it  and move forward to keep evolving in upward spiral mode.

Satish Shitut

Jaihind

Love-An enjoyable journey of Seeker to become a Spreader

Love is a reality and not a mere sentiment, our soul is love which is eternal and universal, love is pure consciousness. Love cannot be found in duality, it is just oneness thus it can never be found in other or any relationship but within yourself, in your mind, though elusive. One and only thing above all of us is love, highest experience anybody can imagine- the ultimate truth.

In literal and practical world most of us consider and experience it as intense feeling of affection, great interest or liking, sexual act, beloved one, friendship, sweetheart, fondness, admire or cherish, pleasure, enjoy, passion and compassion. We do get happiness out of these acts of love & relationships, but these are temporary, as they come from external source thus bringing with it the fear of loss while any disillusionment can also lead to hatred and despair.

In order to understand in simple and easy way, the difference in practice of love as per above two perspectives, I am taking liberty of broadly dividing these two practices in four categories, two each of seekers and spreaders of love and also apply the 80:20 rule to see which category each one of us belong to and what can we do to reach higher levels of pure love as follows-:

Seekers

1.Those who seek love in others, relationships and worldly things like food, wealth, career, profession, entertainment, drugs, liquor, possessions, power, name and fame.80% of the humanity belongs to this category, few of us do long and try to get in higher category but quite often oscillate between the seeker and spreader due to lack of conscious efforts and meditation.

2.Those who seek love in their passion of things like artists, sportsmen, professionals,

scientists & spiritualists.15% belong to this category who do spread love to others while seeking it, the best examples are Sachin Tendulkar, Roger Federer, Dr A P J Kalam, Ratan Tata, Narayan Murthy, Lata Mangeshkar and many more in their respective fields.

Spreaders

3.Those who are compassionate towards others, care for their wellbeing, treat all equally and consciously work towards alleviation of their sufferings. 4% belong to this category whose life is dedicated and devoted for humanity, best examples are Baba Amte, Florence Nightingale, swami Vivekananda and many more who are the torch bearers of Love in any society.

4.Those who transcend all above, enlightened to have witnessed pure love the “ultimate truth”.1% belong to this category who experience true and infinite love, and then share, teach and bless the whole humanity with their wisdom, best examples are Dalai Lama, Sadhguru and many more honorable saints and sages of our glorious civilization.

In short, all of us have the ability to practice pure love but 80% of us remain entangled in seeking love from other while 20% are able to do better because they consciously respect their abilities, understand the fallacy of temporary love thus consciously work hard to taste the ecstasy of permanent love ,experience it , share it and keep evolving as loving human beings.

The temptations, emotions and the wavering mind are natural distractions thus we all normally end up in first two categories and seek love. The journey of unconditional love is painful but is also the most joyous, like that of a mother giving a birth to a child. Our own journey from a seeker to a Spreader, to total surrender for oneness, may not take us to the higher levels but surely help us in leading an effective, joyful and a balanced life.

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat

           

To Understand- a Seeker’s process

Understand is one of the key four fundamental principles of natural laws of life, the process of understanding self, life, relationships and the matter plays an important role in building a character-based lovable personality in your pursuit to lead a balanced and an enjoyable life.

Understanding could mean to know well ,perceive, interpret, learn, memorize, get the meaning, know the significance, be empathetic, inference, comprehend, believe, assume & in literal terms “stand under” to get a 360 degrees view of things rather than stand over and view only half of it, to form your own understanding thus we quiet often differ on the same except in science.

Total understanding is a process which involves relevant data, collective information, analysis, conversion of that to knowledge, application, experience, practice, improvisations and then perfection to become wisdom. it is all about focus, observing power, listening skills, care and judge by yourself to make it clear for the best possible understanding on anything.

Understanding requires our brain to think about any person, subject or a situation and use the concepts learnt to deal with them adequately. The abilities of both left and right side of the brain as well as the intelligent and emotional quotients as per the need are used, to grasp any given information mentally and then act upon to process the same, to have a full understanding.

It sounds tough and difficult but if you develop a habit of constructive questioning as a tool to reach lasting and positive conclusions, you shall easily evolve as a very understanding person.

Following aspects help you in your pursuit of “seek to understand” rather than be understood.

 Be a child: Start with, I do not know anything as well as desire to know everything(curious).

Be aware: know well your own abilities and use them to satisfy the needs of person or subject.

Be sensible: Aptly use all your senses viz feel, touch, hear, taste, smell and importantly common sense to analyze, comprehend and respond to any given person object or situation.

Be empathetic: Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself, be respectful to all.

Self-realization: Based on each interaction and experiment, you shall learn and improve your understanding. It is an enjoyable and ever evolving learning process to find the truth. There is no better teacher than your own experience, each failure is a forward step towards success.

All human beings have a common basic need to be understood thus most often we want only to be understood as we feel we know everything though we may know nothing and mess up. Always remember that lack of understanding and or misunderstanding has only negative consequences thus it is better to try and seek to understand first and then be understood.

For a True seeker, understanding is the key to the gateway of love, which is the “ultimate truth”.

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat