Life Transitions! Even more memories.

 

Sunday 17^th Aug 2025          Day 23255   (Today is Shyamala Gopal's 95th Birthday!!) 

1995-2004: Parenting, Career Transitions.

-          Managing an Infant!

-          Maalish waali, diapers, baby talk, late nights, first walk

-          Vaccinations, paediatricians, Tirupati mundan

-          Severe fever and ice-cold baths

-          VS enters his schooling phase in Mumbai

-          VS and NS relocate to New Delhi

-          Getting comfortable with the Delhi winters, razaais and room heaters

-          Vasant Kunj rented homes

-          Eicher International and international business trips

-          Buying our first home at DLF Ridgewood

-          Gruha pravesh and transfer to Mumbai Ramon & Demm!

-          Pradeep Kapse and the Thane team

-          Life in Hiranandani Thane

-          School admission JK School Thane

-          Theory of Constraints, Gear manufacturing, Aftermarket strategies and OEM business

-          Month end billing scenarios, closure of sales, synergy between marketing and plant operations

-          Turn-around strategies for the gear business

-          Buying our second property at Hiranandani Estate, Ghodbunder Road

-          Promotion as GM at Eicher

-          Meeting Aftermarket distributors and retailers all over India

-          Girish bhai at Ahmedabad

-          10 day Vipassana shivir in my 40^th year December 2001

-          Village Bada Bhuj Gujarat

-          Goenka ji, Dhyaan, Meditation, Anicca

-          Bhavathu sabba Mangalam

-          Return back from Bhuj, giving up alcohol and non veg at the 2001 New Year party at Thane.

-          Career opportunities outside of Eicher

-          Preparing for a role at an American company Eaton

-          Joined Eaton Feb 2004, Heading Marketing, Uday Yadav as Country Manager

-          Moving up as Eaton India Country Manager

-          Rented home at Mantri Lawns, Gaikwad Nagar Aundh Pune

-          Vipassana Shivir at Pune

-          Autobiography of a Yogi – Paramahansa Yogananda!

-          Different possibilities: Time travel, Out of body experiences, past life regressions

-          Dr Brian Weiss books on past life regressions

-          Readings, readings, readings on spirituality

-          Deeper yearning and seeking

-          What really is Life?

-          Making a Living v/s Living Life. 

-          2001 – 2004 a major shift in perspectives

Living Life!....part 03

 

10^th Aug 2025   Day 23248

(to be read in continuation of two earlier Posts, dated 27^th July 2025 Living Life!...Part 01 & 03^rd Aug 2025….Living Life!...Part 02)

The earlier two posts (referenced above) summarised the following seven Life Learnings

1.       Never Alone. (Grace & Abundance)

2.       Infinite Potential. (Live Life To The Maximum!)

3.       School of Hard Knocks. (Learning & Evolving)

4.       Limited Time. (Each day a gift of 86400 seconds)

                                    & 

5.       Enhancing Perception. (Perceiving everything “as they truly are”)

6.       Precious Energy. (Making one’s energy rise to its most potent levels)

7.       Consciously and not compulsively. (Exercising true & free choices, unshackled by the past)

Today, I write about the balance 4 learnings that I have gleaned thus far in my life’s journey of 23248 days.

8.       Making a LIVING vs Living Life. Right from our teenage days, we are groomed to focus on how we shall make money and generate wealth in financial terms. We are taught that in order to be “successful”, you have to make lots of money. To be the best at school, college and workplace, to beat the others and rise above. And to what end? When my final moment comes, I leave all the accumulated wealth, fame, prestige and go away into the oblivion, as empty-handed as when I was born. Isn’t making a living just one small dimension off life?  Little do we pause and wonder that the Creator who has created me, will also have a grand plan for me to survive and thrive. Is there a grander purpose of my life that I have not fathomed at all? Is every moment of Life itself not an opportunity to evolve to my highest potential?

 

How do I explore my fullest potential and really live Life to the maximum?

 

9.       Widening one’s circle of impact. Inclusion is a choice. Apart from oneself, we may choose to identify with wider and wider circles of influence and impact. Immediate family, the broader family, the community, the state, the region, the country, the world, the solar system, the galaxy and the Universe and the wide unknown beyond. Can we look beyond the blood-line and linkages to siblings and family and consider every piece of creation as my own?

 

How do I become a Mother to the Universe?

 

10.   Giving is LIVING. We are taught to accumulate and extract value from every transaction. The ruling thought is “What is in it for me”? In the market place, the one who is said to win is the one who gets more for less. But that is purely transactional. In reality, life is all about the wonderful relationships that we create in every moment of our life. The tapestry of relationships that we weave in this Life can be the most beautiful one that we create. But for that to happen, we have to shift the premise away from TAKING towards UNCONDITIONAL GIVING. Be like a tube through with GRACE and ABUNDANCE flows to every piece of creation that you come into contact with.  It is not you who is the Giver. You are just a medium for that flow to happen. In doing so, you make your own life the most precious and the most valuable.

 

By giving unconditionally, you make a great Life. And that is true LIVING.

 

11.   Understanding Cause and Effect. K.A.R.M.A. Every thought, word, action and intent does create a ripple. The ripple impacts the ecosystem and we ourselves are part of the ecosystem. The law of Action and Reaction works everywhere. The Cause and the Effect. Because the Reaction, Effect etc are not instantaneous, we may be lulled and fooled into believing that there is no impact to all that we think, say and do. At all moments off our Life, we have a choice to exercise. This choice determines the outcome / impact. Not just immediately, but also into the future. This is the real play of free-will. We are always the true creators of our destiny. If we live our life with this realisation, we can truly create our own destiny in a more conscious and aware way. Dissolve the past accumulated karma, do not create new unnecessary karma. Head towards zero karma.

 

This Life is an opportunity to dissolve and evaporate all your karma. That is moksha.

 

Tap into your fullest potential. Live Life To the Maximum!

 

 

Life is a G.A.M.E ….play on…

05^th  Aug 2025   Day 23243

Yesterday was Day 25 of the 5 match India England Series being played away from home for the India team. The last day of the 5^th and final test match at the Oval.

England resumed @ 339/6 in the final innings, needing 35 runs to pocket the match and the series. England already up 2-1 in the Series. So, the math was simple and clear.

England makes 35 runs, wins the 5^th test match and also the Series 3-1

OR

India takes 4 wickets quickly before England gets to score 35 additional runs, wins the 5^th match and levels the Series 2-2.

A first time Test Captain for India Shubman Gill has been tested hard in this Series. Off the earlier 4 matches in the Series many pundits will say that India played sub-par and could have won more of the earlier matches.

But all that is in the rear view mirror.

Day 5 begins….England needs 35 runs and India needs 4 wickets.

Shubman trusted the old ball and did not take the new ball. Placed trust on his key bowlers and placed the fielders well. Obviously, India did not have the luxury of affording boundaries. And no misses on the field.

Every ball was a tense moment. Folks at the Oval and on the online screens did get to consume a lot of finger nails!

Runs were taken steadily, Wickets too fell. Chris Woakes walked in with his dislocated left shoulder packed tight in a sling under his T Shirt and sweater. Ready to swing his bat with his one good right arm. He was visibly grimacing in pain. He had to be kept at the non-striker’s crease. Gus Atkinson had to play smart and ensure that Woakes did not have to face a ball.

From the earlier day’s play, Siraj would have had the missed wicket of Brooks etched in his mind. He had taken the catch but stepped on the rope. A wicket was lost and six runs were gifted away.

Mohd. Siraj and Prasidh Krishna bowled really well. Atkinson was swinging his bat too. There was a missed stumping chance when Woakes was trying to get to the striker’s side on the last ball of an over. With gloves on, Jurel missed a sitter.

The Indian team rallied on.

Eventually Siraj took Atkinson’s wicket with six runs to spare. India won the match. Levelled the series.

Till the last ball was bowled, the last run was taken, the last wicket fell…. Both teams gave their best. What was seemingly impossible for Team India at the start off Day 05, was made possible!

Never has a drawn match caused so much revelry and celebration! Never has a 5-day test match been so tense.

Life too is like that.

You show up in each moment of your Life. You believe. You BE the best version of yourself. Give it your all.

Play the Game Of Life to its fullest.

Live Life To The Maximum!

Living Life!....part 02

03^rd Aug 2025   Day 23241

(to be read in continuation of Post, dated 27^th July 2025)

Last Sunday I wrote about the following:

1.       Never Alone ( Grace & Abundance)

2.       Infinite Potential (live Life To The Maximum!)

3.       School of Hard Knocks (learning & Evolving)

4.       Limited Time (Each day a gift of 86400 seconds)

Today, I shall put down into words, three other major learnings in my journey of Life.

5.       Enhancing Perception. Every moment of our life is an experience. If we perceive 100% of all that has to perceived, it would be the richest experience. Imagine you are at a concert or at a movie. If you are able to capture every sight and sound in their fullest intensity, you would have extracted fullest value of that experience. As we navigate through life, we have numerous experiences. Each like a gemstone woven on a necklace. Each as precious as the next. It is only when we have raised our perception to the ultimate level, can we really experience all the nuances of the moment and make it our richest experience. Not just from our five physical senses, but also from all the subtler senses that we could access. If we can keep our antenna (our meru dhand, the spine) at its peak level of receptivity and sensitivity we shall be able to enhance our perception. Likewise, if our ajna chakra is the most vibrant, we can enhance the reach and receptivity off all that is around us to be perceived. Possibly even beyond the range of frequencies within the normal audio / visual spectrum.

There are kriyas and sadhanas that we can use to raise our sense of perception. We will make our life the richest when we have the best sense of perception.

 

6.       Precious Energy. I am not the Body and I am not even the Mind. There is the subtle life energy, praana, that is eternal and within me. That is what is housed inside my mortal body and transient mind. Like petrol in the fuel tank which decides the performance of the engine. Likewise, the quality of the praana within me can be managed to be at its most effective level.

 

One has to ensure that our energy is as Satvik as possible and not just Tamasik and Rajasik. Being consciously aware of every moment in our Life, we can attempt to make our life energy into its most potent form.

 

7.       Consciously and not compulsively. Be aware of your thoughts, words, intent, energy.

If there is one learning that is the most important one, this is it. A deeper understanding of free-will, fate and destiny is needed. The fact that in every moment, my ability to RESPOND is limitless. Every moment I have a choice to make on how I respond. If I do so compulsively, driven by my past vaasanas and compulsions, then I am running my life in auto-repeat mode. I have to break free from my samsaaric circle and unravel life to a tangential path.

 

I should recognise that I have an unlimited choice of responses in every moment. And live that moment in the most conscious way with deepest awareness.

More to follow next week……..Live Life To The Maximum!

Living Life!

 

27^th July 2025   Day 23234

 

Today and in the next few blogposts, I shall put into words, a set of relevant learnings about “Living Life” that I have garnered in my journey of 23233 days thus far.

Looking back on the days behind me, I feel a tremendous sense of gratitude for all the experiences that I have had. Without looking at them as good or bad experiences, I choose to look at each of them as a learning opportunity and a step up in my evolution in this lifetime.

1.       Never Alone. At every major decision point in my life thus far, I seem to have had the right gumption, triggered by some unseen, unfelt FORCE around me. For want of a better word, I choose to name this force as GRACE. I now realise that I have never been alone in all those moments. In fact, I know now that I am never ever alone. No one is alone. There is Grace and Abundance everywhere indeed.

 

The greater the awareness and receptivity to this grace & abundance, better is the way we navigate through life.

 

2.       Infinite Potential. Each of us have the ability to make our lives most colourful and very interesting and impactful. Looking beyond our limiting beliefs and conditioning by social / peer pressures, one can get a glimpse of this immense possibility of being human. Looking back at each of our experiences, one can seek take-aways on what worked for us and also, what could have worked better for us. Crafting a strategy to continuously expand one’s boundaries is a powerful way to Live. This requires CURIOSITY to learn, COURAGE to explore and HUMILITY to accept that I don’t know so many things.

 

One has to make a choice. To tap into one’s unlimited potential. To live a life of mediocrity or a Life Maximum!

 

3.       School of Hard Knocks. Not every effort has led to the desired outcomes. Some experiences have been rude awakenings. Some have been major disasters or disappointments. Many experiences have panned out very differently from what was envisaged and some outcomes have been unpleasant. Many occasions where our deepest yearnings and longings have never materialised at all. A sense of desperation and frustration creeps in many times. I have had the capacity to step out of these quagmires and swamps. To believe, to persevere and to emerge into better times. Each event like this, has left me with immense learnings and has provided me with sustenance to navigate through the rough and tumble of life.

 

Every tough / “not-so-comfortable” situation in one’s life, comes for a reason. It is upon us to make the best out of it and emerge stronger and wiser.

 

4.       Limited Time. Recognising that it is not time that is slipping away, but in reality, one’s LIFE that is slipping away. While this moment is inevitable, it will never come back again. There is no action-replay mode in life. It is ideal to measure our Life in moments and not years. It may be impractical to measure every second of our Life. At least we can measure our life in days and not years. Every morning when we wake up and discover that we are alive, is a new birth. A gift of another day. A gift of 86400 seconds. Each of which is irreversible. It is upon us to recognise this reality of the value of time and make the most of every moment.

 

 

In this moment, I choose to Live My Life To The Maximum! Focus intensely on my perception of this moment and invest my efforts in extracting the biggest impact for me and every piece of creation around me.

 

More to follow in the next post. Stay ALIVE !

 

Live Life To The Maximum!

 

Quality over Quantity

 21st July 2025       Day 23228

My mother-in-law turns 95 next month. 

She had a medical emergency on 02 July and was rushed to GKNM Hospital, where she spent 17 days and returned home on 19th July. Of those 17 days at GKNM, she was in ICU for 5 days and in a very comfortable private room for the remaining days. 

All in the family are rejoicing her return home……and wishing that she be the centurion in the family! 

She is hooked into an Oxygen concentrator, a BiPAP machine, a Nebulizer, an Oxymeter, a catheter and a potpourri of 17 oral solid dosage medicines and an array of syrups, lotions and creams. She is lying prone on an airbed, with diapers and underpads. Her plumbing mechanisms are down and hence needs assistance to manage her liquid and solid excretion. 

Is this LIFE? Is this the “quality” of life that we would wish on our beloved family member? However much others in the family may urge you to do to “extend” her lifetime, do they even fathom what she has to endure? The ignominy, the pain, the distress and the sheer helplessness? And also the very important aspect of the many challenges that the caregivers have to experience? 

She is a woman who enjoys playing Sudoku and word games like Quordle and Wordle on her Samsung tablet. She enjoys writing messages that spell out her vivid imaginations related to images of flowers in the Karaikudi Brigade WhatsApp group. She enjoys tasty food, pickles,.spiced papads, ghee etc. She does her finger mudras for all aspects of health. She relishes a few Tamil TV serials a d also a few programs on TV that show live temple rituals and shlokas etc. She enjoys mathematics as a subject. She loves watching English news on TV. She used to walk twice a day albeit with a walker for support. This is the Shyamala Gopal we know. Living her life to the fullest. 

Does sheer quantity (number of additional days alive) override the aspect of quality? How long will you tinker around with a beat up car and keep repairing it…and when will you trade it in for a new vehicle? 

Life does not mean just staying alive and breathing…it means that we experience all aspects of life to the fullest and truly staying “alive”. 

Let us wish that everyone lives their life to the fullest and richest experience. Let us not merely wish that they live longer…..let them live to the fullest. 

Live Life To The Maximum!