LOVE

Let me start this piece with my three most favorite love quotes by Swamiji (Swami Vivekananda)
1. The first sign of love is when love asks nothing, [when it] gives everything
2. Love is the easiest of all, it waits for no logic, it is natural (talking about Bhakti Yoga among other forms of Yoga)
3. God is Love, and Love is God

Followed by lines from his holiness Dalai Lama: "When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace”

And in the words of Pope Francis "Men of good will must work, each with his own strengths and expertise, to ensure that love for others increases until it is equal and possibly exceeds love for oneself" 

These quotes are a blazing reminder of the importance and all-pervasiveness of Love. Why then does our modern society and learned worldly methods try to educate us into selfishly loving what is 'mine'? From securing grades in school, to cheating others to possess the best tangible things for oneself, to evaluating other using the yardstick of 'wealth' and not love and compassion? Why have we been 'taught' to only love ourselves? This question, I am yet to find an answer to.

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself" Matthew 22:39
"Those who believe and do good deeds, the Gracious God will create love in their hearts" Al Quran 19:97
Based on my personal experiences and the collective wisdom in various books of faith (a few examples shared above), I feel confident that we as humans are capable of being in love with every living thing around us. Where love stands for acknowledging that the universal energy-consciousness conglomerate within me is the same as that within other life forms around me, at different levels of manifestation, intensity, and complexity. Once we are able to come to terms with this fundamental truth, being in a state of Love is easy and natural. 

Love is immortal and transcends the finite boundaries of body, space and time. We are at the center of an infinite effulgence of Love. Let me give an example; a man dearly loves his wife and from their union, a child is born (same is true for most life forms, as they are capable of reproducing their kind). With the birth of this child, the man loves the baby most dearly (sometimes even more than himself). Does this phenomenon look like a natural process where Love was manufactured? To me it does. Before the baby, man loved his wife with all his heart. After the baby, man loves both his baby and wife most dearly, completely, with the fullest fervor; without compromising his love for either of them. With arrival of a second baby, man loves both his children and wife most dearly and so on. An interesting prose from Upanishads explains this idea wonderfully

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पुर्णमुदच्यते
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Which Translates to:
Outer World is 'Purna' (full with external Love consciousness); the Inner World is also 'Purna';
From Purna comes Purna, Taking Purna from Purna, Purna Indeed Remains (because Love is infinite).
Om Peace, Peace, Peace.

So dear friends, immerse thyself into this eternal flood of Love. Once you drown, only then shall you arise awakened in His Kingdom of Love

Tableau Cost Vs Opportunity

Its been more than three years of my fantastic relationship with Tableau, nothing short of a 'love-affair'. Having worked on other BI tools earlier including Eclipse BIRT, OBIEE, Cognos, Hyperion and Microstrategy over the last 10 years of my IT career run; was swept off my feet when i first used Tableau to create Visualizations and BI Reports!

Tableau has a few core strengths that allows:

1. Self-Serve BI to IT development 'non-savvy' Business/Functional SMEs
2. Easy to create BI Visualizations by mere drag-and-drop (SQL queries get built by the tool internally)
3. Complex statistical calculations (like Bell-Curve, Trend, Correlation, Forecasting) within a few clicks
4.  Run-time calculation of complex business logic on the presentation layer without detrimentally affecting performance 
5. Published reports to be presented across devices (PDAs/Monitors/LCD TVs), printable and shareable as image exports/PDFs. The data under the hood could be exported to CSV for more traditional 'Excel' savvy users
6. Fast run-time query on VizQL, data compression, incremental refresh of extracts enable users to massage and render TeraByte(s) of data on an actionable, visually rich dashboard

The way i look at it, the best people to build reports are leaders and owners of the data. Why?

• The data experts know their data best (relationships, correlation between KPIs and metrics)
• Leaders know the past business direction, BI reports serve as a feedback loop helping them make informed business decisions based on past observations

Think about it, if an organization could empower their data experts/SMEs and leaders to prepare reports when they needed BI the most (not having to wait for IT to condition data and build reports) how effective would that business model be? How proactive and dynamic would the informed decisions be? The Tableau license fee is a mere cost-to-opportunity with a massive ROI.

'Lets make data beautiful' and chose to live in an informed, capable and 'quick-n-easy-anybody-can-build' BI savvy world!

Significance of 108

I have come to believe that 108 is a very special number. There may be a longer list of significance. But i am sharing some very interesting facts:

 - 108 connects the Sun, Moon, and Earth: The average distance of the Sun and the Moon to Earth is 108 times their respective diameters

 - 108 Puranas and 108 Upanishads in Hindu Ancient Literature/Philosophy

 - 108 Shakti-Peeth (where Sati's body fell on earth)

 - 108 energy lines converging to form the heart chakra: The chakras are the intersections of energy lines that connects one with the universe.

 - 108 is 12 times 9: River Ganga spans a longitude of 12 degrees (79 to 91) and latitude of 9 degrees (22 to 31)

 - 108: where 1 stands for One God, 0 stands for 'Shunya' the eternal circle of completeness and 8 stands for infinity. God is infinite completeness.

 - 2 Sin (108^○/2) = ø, the Golden Ratio. Anything that is organized per this Golden Ratio appeals to human eye

Varanasi: The Ancient Holy Land of India

Varanasi is one of the oldest living cities in the world. According to the historians, this city was founded almost ten centuries before the birth of Christ. Many Hindu scriptures, Buddhist text, travelogues from ancient travelers have significant references to this ancient city. Ancient sages like Shankaracharya, Ramanujacharya and Vallabhacharya carried out philosophical disputations in Varanasi.

The City is names after the two rivers around it, the Varana to the north and the Asi to the south. Many refer to Varanasi as Kashi, translation of its Sanskrit meaning is 'City of Light', referring to the light of Shiva. Mythology and legend has it that Shiva never deserts this city, thus also named as 'Rudravasa' (place where Shiva-Rudra resides). Varanasi's associations with Shiva extends to the beginning of time, after his marriage to Parvati, Shiva left his Himalayan abode and came to reside in Kashi.

A Hindu beleive, to die in this city beside the river of eternal-life is a ticket to transcending the endless cycle of life-death-rebirth by gaining 'moksha'. This beleif has led many to Varanasi in their last days and thousands to-date bring ashes of the dead to immerse in the holy waters of Ganges in Varanasi.

The most sacred burning-ghat is Manikarnika, one of the 108 Shakti-Peeth where the ear-ring Devi Sati (avatar of adi-Shakti and consort of Lord Shiva) fell. When Sri Ramakrishna visited Varanasi, on a boat-ride of the city over the Ganges, while crossing over the Manikarnika Ghat, he had a divine vision. He saw, Lord Vishwanatha (another name of Shiva) whispering 'taraka' mantra in the ear of the 'jivas' from one side of the funeral pyre and on other side, Adi-Shakti removing bondages of the soul from cycle of transmigratory existence

Glory to Varanasi!

Shri Krishna Govind Hare-Murari

Hum Hari so lagan lgayenge
Charno me preeti badaynge
Ek din to karuna karke  Karuna-nidhi daude aayenge
Rasikan ke sang baith baith hum Madhav ke gunn gaayenge
Komal hiye keu na pighle ko jab ro ro vyatha sunayenge

I wish to attach my heart and soul with 'Hari' the Divine
Offer my devout love at the feet of 'Hari' the Master
One day (if i keep at my devotion) out of His grace, God shall rush to bestow his 'Karuna' eternal bliss
I shall spend my days singing the glory of 'Madhav' the Lord
Why would His heart not melt when i offer my pined tears?

Shri Krishna Govind Hare-Murari hey Naath Narayan Vasudeva

Shri Krishna, O Govinda, the divine cowherd!
O Hare, the one who steals our hearts!
O Murari, destroyer of demon Mura!
O Naath, the master of beings, Narayan!
O Vasudeva, the divine Soul of this Universe!

The Secret of Krishna's Flute

The devotees and Gopis of Krishna were very jealous of the Divine Flute (Murali) that got to spend the most time with the Lord, closest to his rose-petal like lips. On being approached by the devotees, the Divine Murali of Lord Krishna revealed its secret in these words:

I know neither magic nor the art of attraction. 
I do not possess any merits either. 
I am simply a forest reed, hollow within and bereft of any beauty. 
Krishna, my lord, finds this attitude of mine as the greatest virtue. 
In turn, i encourage you to ‘Empty yourself and He will fill you’ 
It is He whose breath blows through me and enchants you all. 
My dear friends, if you too empty yourselves of all pride and ego, 
He will fill every atom of your body with His love!"

Swami Vivekananda: Hymn of Samadhi

নাহি সূর্য নাহি জ্যোতিঃ নাহি শশাঙ্ক সুন্দর।
ভাসে ব্যোমে ছায়া-সম ছবি বিশ্ব-চরাচর॥

অস্ফুট মন আকাশে, জগত সংসার ভাসে,
ওঠে ভাসে ডুবে পুনঃ অহং-স্রোতে নিরন্তর॥

ধীরে ধীরে ছায়া-দল, মহালয়ে প্রবেশিল,
বহে মাত্র ‘আমি আমি’ — এই ধারা অনুক্ষণ॥

সে ধারাও বদ্ধ হল, শূন্যে শূন্য মিলাইল,
‘অবাঙমনসোগোচরম্’, বোঝে — প্রাণ বোঝে যার॥




Lo!  Neither the Sun nor the Moon, all light deluded, 
In the great voids of creation, floats shadow-like the image of universe.

In the voids of mind involute, floats the fleeting universe, 
Rises-floats, sinks again, incessantly in the currents of one's stream of ego.

Gradually the multitude of shadows, entering the primal womb, 
Subsequently ensued the stream of 'Ami', flowing ceaselessly.

Lo! even that stream of 'Ami' flows no more, void merges into void
Beyond sensory faculties, only he understands whose 'atman' (soul) realizes.

Hindu Temple and The Golden Ratio

A Hindu temple aligned to the Vedic architecture (Brihat Samhita) has a deep yogic relation to the human body and the spiritual chakras therein. Refer the image for more

 - The feet represent the spire. 

 - The hands represent the walkway/exterior porch around the temple. 

 - The main hall represents the abdomen.

 - The entrance porch represents the heart.

 - The sanctum (garbha-griha) represents the head where the deity is consecrated

There is proportionality between the size of the deity in the sanctum and the sizes of the temple. As per the Samhita

 - The height of the temple should be double its width. 

 - The height of foundation above ground should be equal to a third of temple height. 

 - The sanctum should be half the width of the temple 

These guidelines translate into various interpretations of the Golden Ratio of 1.618 (Refer diagram, point C divides the line in such a way that the ratio of AC to CB is equal to the ratio of AB to AC)

Parashuram: The Warrior Rishi

Jamadagni, was a direct descendant of Brahma. But Before the birth of their fifth son, Jamadagni with his wife Renuka, meditated for divine boons. With the blessing of Lord Shiva, Vishnu was born in his sixth Avatar, as the youngest son of Jamadagni-Renuka, Parashuram.

As he grew older, Parashuram left home to do devout austerities and pleased Lord Shiva. Shiva presented Parashuram with Divine weapons along with the indestructible axe, ‘Parashu’ and advised him to go and liberate the Mother Earth from ill-behaved extremists, demons and those blinded by pride.

One day, while Parashuram was away in the forest cutting wood, King Kartavirya came to the hermitage of Jamadagni. In honor of the King, the Rishi served him a grand feast. Surprised by the grandeur, the King asked how the Rishi was able to serve up such magnificent food with limited resources. Jamadagni showed him the 'Kamadhenu' calf given by Indra. King Kartavirya wanted to take the calf. The Rishi refused and Kartavirya stole the sacred 'Kamadhenu'. On returning home, Parashuram was infuriated and traveled to the royal palace, he decimated the royal guards and killed King Kartavirya, thus retrieving the calf. Parashuram went on a pilgrimage of holy places for one year as penance of this act. Meanwhile, the sons of Kartavirya attacked the hermitage and murdered Jamadagni. When Parashuram returned home, he found his mother next to the body of his father, crying hysterically as she beat her chest twenty-one times in a row. Parashuram then vowed to rid the earth of the war-mongering Kshatriyas twenty-one times over, once for each time his mother beat her chest.

Parashuram among many heroic feats, once clipped the thousand arms of 'Sahastrarjun' (incarnation of Vishnu's Sudarshan Chakra') with his Parshu and killed him. Lord Indra pleased with this feat, gifted the Vijaya bow (of Lord Shiva) to Parashuram. Later, Parashuram had given this ‘Vijaya’ bow of Shiva to King Janaka, the father of Sita. As a test of worthiness, Sita's suitors at the 'Swayam-var' were asked to lift and string the mystic bow. None were successful until Rama, who in the process broke the bow into half.

Parashuram traveled to the Himalayas to pay respect to his teacher, Shiva. While travelling, his path was blocked by Lord Ganesha. Enraged, Parashuram threw his axe at the later. Ganesha, realizing the weapon to be that of Lord Shiva, paid its due respect and allowed it to sever his left tusk (thus named 'Ekadanta', meaning One Toothed). Parashuram on realizing the gravity of this event, sought forgiveness from Shiva-Parvati. Upon being forgiven, he gave this divine axe to Ganesha and blessed him.

Parashuram has the gift of immortality, he was witness to Vishnu's later avatars as Ram, Krishna and the rest that followed

Nandi: An Embodiment of Meditation

Nandi is a symbolism of eternal ‘bhakti’ and meditation on inaction (a.k.a waiting). In Hindu Mythology waiting is associated with patience, tolerance, receptivity and considered one of the greatest virtues. Spiritually, Nandi represents the Jiva-Atman (Soul) that is meditative on the Param-Atman (God)

Prayer is our conversation with God. However, meditation expresses our willing to listen to God. Later is the quality of Nandi, full of alertness, selflessly waiting to listen and abide by his master's instructions. Reason why Hindu Mythology claims that Nandi had received the boon from Lord Shiva that any devotee of Shiva, who say their prayers into the ears of Nandi, their prayers would definitely reach the Lord!

While writing this piece, I am reminded of the sonnet 'On His Blindness' by John Milton; the concluding line: 'They also serve who only stand and wait'