Warrier's COLLAGE July 7, 2021 : Mentoring

Welcome to Warrier's COLLAGE On Wednesday July 7, 2021 1) Destiny : Gaur Gopal Das https://youtu.be/EwU-ePbWue0 (Link Courtesy : T J Kurup Thiruvanantapuram) 2) Talk on Ramayanam* (Malayalam) : P V Viswanathan Nambudiri https://youtu.be/-oxa9NVWsY8 (*Yesterday a wrong link was erroneously given under this caption. Apologies-Warrier) Good Morning Nice Day M G Warrier Analogy of old age : V T Panchapagesan Chennai Yes, It is very true cent per cent. Because of lingering attachment we do everything to our near & dear forgetting ourselves. We realize this when we are aged but it is too late as our physical body does not cooperate. This is the predicament everyone faces when aged. When you are 50 : You are like a basketball, everyone wants you, because you can still earn an income or be an unpaid babysitter. When you are 60 : You are like a volleyball, if you can still work everyone will aim for you, never ending babysitting job. When you are 70 : You are like a football, A will kick it to B, B will kick it to C, C will kick it to D, Children are grown up and you have grown old, no one wants you any more. When you are 80 : You are like a golf ball, a swing of the club.... wherever you land is where you perhaps will end your life !! Therefore, when you are in your fifties and sixties, pay attention and take good care of your own self and do not let your self be tortured by life or other people. Feel free to buy what you want and eat all you want, do not hesitate! Do not be stingy to yourself. Or, by the time you realise, you'd be gone into the Golf Ball Era...!! *Love yourself and be kind to everyone" V T Panchapagesan A Responses 1) C V Subbaraman Mysuru The Collage of Today is wonderful. It started with E embedded in everything superior and covered the Universal Truth in a simple and effective manner invoking the E - less Upanishad! Subbaraman 2) Vishnu Kelkar Collage in Classroom Mathematics May be useful for school children. How to write Table of any two digit number? For example Table of 87 First write down table of 8 then write down table of 7 beside it 08 0 7 (08+0) 87 ------------------------------------ 16 1 4 (16+1) 174 24 2 1 (24+2) 261 32 2 8 (32+2) 348 40 3 5 (40+3) 435 48 4 2 (48+4) 522 56 4 9 (56+4) 609 64 5 6 (64+5) 696 72 6 3 (72+6) 783 80 7 0 (80+7) 870 Now table of 38 03 0 8 (3+0) 38 06 1 6 (6+1) 76 09 2 4 (9+2) 114 12 3 2 (12+3) 152 15 4 0 (15+4) 190 18 4 8 (18+4) 228 21 5 6 (21+5) 266 24 6 4 (24+6) 304 27 7 2 (27+7) 342 30 8 0 (30+8) 380 33 8 8 (33+8) 418 36 9 6 (36+9) 456 Now table of 92 09 02 (09+0) 92 18 04 (18+0) 184 27 06 (27+0) 276 36 08 (36+0) 368 45 10 (45+1) 460 54 12 (54+1) 552 63 14 (63+1) 644 72 16 (72+1) 736 81 18 (81+1) 828 90 20 (90+2) 920 99 22 (99+1) 1012 108 24 (108+2) 1104 VNKelkar B Different versions of Ramayanam : Vathsala Jayaraman I had an opportunity to read a book from the District Central Library containing various versions of Ramayana in India and abroad written by an Indian author, a Research Scholar.The book was in English, a pretty big book. While almost all versions in India are more or less similar,many of the overseas versions are very much grave casting abusive terms on both Shri Rama & Sita. While all along we have been under the firm belief that shri Rama is a blemishless Eka Patni Vrata follower and an incarnation of Mahavishnu, and Sita as an embodiment of chasticity,there are many contradictory details which may wound the feelings of spiritually inclined. We as grown ups ,having attained maturity may not be influenced by such versions and ignore them.Being alien to our culture we may not expect any emotional or spiritual bonding from foreigners. Any how when the character of the main hero or heroine is tinged with blasphemy,certain facts are totally indigestible and I feel children and youngsters may not be allowed to read such texts. I would like to quote a small episode. Rama and Lakshmana return from Lanka with Sita.After sometime Rama becomes ill & he goes to the forest with Lakshmana to relax leaving Sita in the palace.On that occasion a Rakshasi comes to the palace & talks to Sita & laments with compassion how she suffered at the hands of Ravana. Sita becomes upset and tells angrily that she would have killed Ravana.Slowly as the conversation drags on Sita is made to paint the picture of Ravana. While she is about to complete, Rama comes back and Sita hides the picture somewhere in the room. Rama is mentally upset about some evil vibration in the room . Lakshmana makes a thorough search and finds out the portrait of Ravana. Rama feels hurt that Sita is thinking about Ravana & starts doubting her fidelity. He sends her away to the forest.Sita takes the form of a bird and loiters all through the 14 lokas talking ill of Rama. The demoness seems to have been sent by Ravana's men to avenge Ravana's killing. There are so many other anecdotes which violate the decency norms inexpressible in words. Actually I brought the book only to know different styles of literature. It was a total blow to me. But there certain versions of Ramayana stressing importance of characters other than Rama,but beautifully constructed. Vathsala Jayaraman C Current Affairs 1) Webnair on Mentoring Policy* Thiruvananthapuram office organised a webinar on mentoring policy on June 14, 2021 for benefit of the mentors and mentees in coordination with Reserve Bank Staff College, Chennai. In his inaugural address, Shri R. Kesavan, Principal, RBSC, Chennai extended a warm welcome to all the participants and highlighted the significance of mentoring policy in the Reserve Bank. Smt. Reeny Ajith, Regional Director, in her opening remarks mentioned that mentoring is a continuous process, which augment the confidence and encouragement in the new recruits to increase their productivity. The webinar was conducted in two sessions, which included the “Mentoring Matters for Mentors and Mentees” and “Common Issues in Mentoring" followed by a quiz. *Source : RBI News Letter 2) One dose Rs 18 crore vaccination : Funds mobilized https://indianexpress.com/article/india/kerala/humanity-shines-as-rs-18-cr-pooled-in-for-kerala-kids-treatment-within-7-days-7390544/ (Collage had covered this initiative last week) D Collage in Classroom Mentoring https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCDV_72.htm What Is Mentoring? Mentoring is a relationship between two people with the goal of professional and personal development. The "mentor" is usually an experienced individual who shares knowledge, experience, and advice with a less experienced person, or "mentee." Mentors become trusted advisers and role models – people who have "been there" and "done that." They support and encourage their mentees by offering suggestions and knowledge, both general and specific. The goal is to help mentees improve their skills and, hopefully, advance their careers. A mentoring partnership may be between two people within the same company, same industry, or same networking organization. However the partners come together, the relationship should be based on mutual trust and respect, and it typically offers personal and professional advantages for both parties. 2) Leisure a) Let's take a break : I'm sure you will enjoy this. I never knew one word in the English language that can be a noun, verb, adj, adv, prep. It’s always nice to be able to send something educational! UP Read until the end ... you'll laugh. This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is 'UP.' It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v]. It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is itUP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UPthe leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car. At other times, this little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out, we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it soaks UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP. One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now . . . my time is UP! Did that crack you UP? Don't mess UP. Send this on to everyone you look UP in your address book . . . or not . . . it's UP to you. Now I'll shut UP! Vathsala Jayaraman b) We need a mentor : M G Warrier https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/warriersviews/never-stop-learning-24915/ "At the initial stages, one needs a “Guru”, whom one could identify as a friend, philosopher and guide, in later life. I have been fortunate to have a team of “Guru’s” around to select from, all through my life, since 1963. Let me introduce two of them for the benefit of those, who have kept their urge for learning live, despite constraints." E Readers' Contribution 1) Bathtub with a difference : V Babusenan Thiruvananthapuram When some good proposal is going to be dropped owing to the insistence on a bad idea, one can legitimately plead : "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater." By implication, the bathtub finds a place in this English idiom and reminds us of the great Archimedes running in the nude from his bathtub calling out "eureka,eureka". For us, Indians, there was one more occasion to remember the bathtub thanks to the well-known cartoonist Abu Abraham who showed us the then President of India signing the declaration of Emergency, lying in the prime bathtub of Rashtrapathi Bhavan. It is delightful to learn, after some years, that the inventor of ATM, which has become an inalienable part of our lives, had got the idea while lying in his bathtub. Thus, it will not be wide off the mark to say that horizontal bath in a tub has advantages over vertical bath under the shower, though many cannot afford the former. For instance, the present writer glanced through Ronald Clark's biography of Einstein to find out whether the great man got his magnificent ideas about the Theory of Relativity, at least in parts, while taking bath in the tub. It was a cruel thought as he couldn't have dreamt one such bath in those days of severe hardship. He developed his theory with pencil and notebook in one hand while, with the other, rocking the cradle, sitting in the drab drawing room of his flat near the Swiss patent office in Berne. The bathtub played a different role once. That was in the French Revolution. Just a glance of the Revolution brings to our minds three names responsible for the notorious Reign of Terror : Robespierre, Danton and Marat. 17000 lives perished under the guillotine and roughly another 23000 on the streets and in jails. The guillotine was like a tuberculosis patient of yester years, in the last stages of his life, spitting blood without a stop. The first two mentioned were destined to die under the guillotine, as if by the operation of what is called 'poetic justice', and the last in his bathtub. It happened like this : A young French woman, Charlotte Corday by name, who was an ardent royalist, wanted to avenge the execution of king Louis16th and of her own brother, both under the guillotine. She was convinced that the leader mainly responsible for the killing was Marat. She wanted to kill him publicly, but Marat had stopped making public appearances on account of a very itching skin disease contracted while hiding in the drain pipes of Paris. Most of the time he would be in his bathtub, filled with medicated water, that gave him some relief. Charlotte gained entrance to his house pretending that she had some very vital information to pass on and, while Marat was noting down the names of some so-called conspirators, she stabbed him to death. Charlotte did not try to escape. She was caught and condemned to death. She kept her cool throughout the trial. Her last wish was that she might be permitted to have her portrait done by a painter of her choice. It is said that she suggested a few alterations to the artist and coolly walked towards the guillotine! She was hardly twenty-four. 2) Pebbles & Ripples : Vathsala Jayaraman A man was sitting by a lake. He was throwing small pebbles into it from time to time. A young boy happened to cross by. He was intrigued to see that after every few minutes or so, the man would toss a pebble into the lake. The boy went up to the man and said, "Good pastime, this stone throwing, he?" "Hmmm," said the man. He seemed to be deep in thought and obviously did not wish to be disturbed. Sometime later, the man said softly, "Look at the water, it is absolutely still." The boy said, "Yeah, it is." The man tossed a pebble into the water and continued, "Only till I toss a pebble into it now do you see the ripples?" "Yeah," said the boy, "they spread further and further." "And soon, the water is still again," offered the man. The boy said, "Sure, it becomes quiet, after a while." The man continued, "What if we want to stop the ripples? The root cause of the ripples is the stone. Lets take the stone out. Go ahead and look for it." The boy put his hand into the water and tried to take the stone out. But he only succeeded in making more ripples. He was able to take the stone out, but the number of ripples that were made in the process were a lot more than before. The wise man said, "It is not possible to stop the movement of the water once a pebble has been thrown into it. But if we can stop ourselves from throwing the pebble in the first place, the ripples can be avoided altogether! So too, it is with our minds. If a thought enters into it, it creates ripples. The only way to save the mind from getting disturbed is to block and ban the entry of every superfluous thought that could be a potential cause for disturbance. If a disturbance has entered into the mind, it will take its own time to die down. Too many conflicting thoughts just cause more and more disturbances. Once the disturbance has been caused it takes time to ebb out. Even trying to forcibly remove the thought may further increase the turmoil in the mind. Time surely is a great healer, but prevention is always better than cure." MORAL: Before you allow a thought or a piece of information to enter your mind, put it through the triple filter test of authenticity, goodness and value. Well said. but the thoughts don't need a visa to enter our minds.They simply take the green channel and occupy our minds.They become a part and parcel of yourself long before you start to perform the test of authenticity. Vathsala Jayaraman F Collage Profile : Steven Spielberg https://amblin.com/steven-spielberg/ G Quotes about Mentoring https://www.mentorresources.com/mentoring-blog/20-inspiring-mentoring-quotes Like : "The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” — Steven Spielberg H Story Time with Vathsala Jayaraman (Source : Chandogyopanishad) In yoga Indra is more than a sky god who makes sudden loud noises, but is a spiritual seeker too. The story relating to the god Indra and the demon Virochana reveals that they both had heard stories about a divine Self. If you mastered its secrets, it was rumored, you would attain all your desires. Wanting to know more, the two of them sought out the great guru Prajapati and served him diligently. And when their probationary period was over the adept explained, “The Self is the one who sees through your eyes.” “The Self is the one you see through your eyes.” Neither disciple got it. They figured they had heard wrong; Prajapati must have said, “The Self is the one you see through your eyes.” Realizing his students hadn’t understood, the master decided not to waste any more time with such unpromising pupils and told them to look in a mirror and they would see their Self. Peering at their reflections, the two agreed: “My body is my Self.” From now on they would worship their bodies, taking the best possible care of them, doing their exercise programs and their hatha yoga and eating only the best foods. Then all their desires would be fulfilled. And they went on their merry way. Well, to this day Virochana and the rest of the demon race still believe this. But halfway home Indra had second thoughts. “Hey, wait a minute—that can’t be right,” he mused. “The body is subject to sickness, old age, and death. It can’t be the immortal Self!” He quickly returned to his guru and told him that this teaching didn’t make sense. “You’re right, Indra! I’m pleased you passed my test,” Prajapati responded. “The real Self is the one you experience in dreams. That is the reality that lies beyond fear and death.” Indra was delighted with this information. It was much more logical. Even if your eyes are blind, you can still see in dreams; even if your legs are lame, you can still walk in dreams. And the yogis say this dream self continues to exist even after the physical body dies. But halfway home Indra again started having reservations. “What about nightmares?” he wondered. “The dream self is subject to pain, fear, doubt, and despair. It can’t be the real Self.” He returned to his guru and expressed his misgivings. “Can’t fool you for a moment, can I?” Prajapati laughed. “The real Self is the one you experience in the state of deep sleep.” This actually made more sense. In deep sleep you’re completely beyond pain and fear. But once again, when he was halfway home Indra had another thought. “Wait a minute! What’s the use of remaining unconscious? I might as well be annihilated. I don’t see any value in this teaching.” So he returned to his master a fourth time. “The Self is none of these states,” Prajapati revealed. “The Self is the one who perceives these states, but who exists beyond them, illuminating them like lightning illuminates the sky. Find the one who sees with your eyes, hears with your ears, and thinks with your thoughts. That is your immortal Self. The great masters meditate on this pure inner being and attain the highest goal of life. Shake off all evils like a horse shakes dust out of its mane, and free yourself from body-consciousness like the moon frees itself from an eclipse. Establish your awareness in the undying reality in your heart.” At last Indra was satisfied. He returned home to meditate on the innermost Self.-Chandogya Upanishad.