A bit on cultural sensitivity

“Who Am I?” – such a profound multi-dimensional question! The quality, and the timing, of the answer are directly proportional to worldly and spiritual success.

When answered sincerely at the end of a profound meditation, it creates moksha. When answered correctly, during preparation of college admission essays or job interviews , it helps make smart decisions and achieve career success. Interviewers are always trying to gauge the candidate’s persona and genuineness through their questions. When introspected before a social gathering, it could lead to interesting conversations and new friends.

Yet, it is a hard hard question to answer. How do we arrive at the answer? A rare few individuals manage to answer this question on the basis of pure insight. Most of us discover the answer by scanning people around us. Ok so that guy is tall, which means I am short. That guy is poor which means I am rich. That girl scored 75% while I scored 90%, which means I am smart. Obviously, we have certain dreams of how we want our lives to be, things that would make us happy. Now, wise men say that happiness is a choice – but the devious mind calls for confirmation and proof to trust oneself and others and be content. Either one can trust that he/she is capable of facing the challenges in life, or he/she can face the challenges, succeed and then trust that this is possible. The two often form a circle, with trust leading to accomplishment leading to more trust and bigger challenges.

I read a wonderful article recently from the Harvard Business Review on how to adapt to cultures and work with people. Titled “Cultural Intelligence” , Earley and Mosakowski, HBR October 2004, this paper indicates two kinds of intelligences – emotional intelligence, which allows us to define who we are and how we are different from others, and cultural intelligence, which is understanding the values and beliefs that drive different groups. Meditation helps develop both – a keen awareness of who I am and going beyond the emotions, and a sharp perception to discern what works and does not work with people. One need not be a football of anyone’s culture, but being sensitive is important. There are three ways of doing this – through the head, through the heart or through the body. Training through the head involves understanding the beliefs, customs, and taboos of new cultures. Learning form the body involves mimicking small gestures the way others do it – it could be a simple way of shaking hands or small mannerisms. A Michigan professor found that candidates who were perceived to be culturally more similar to recruiters often had better chances of landing the job. Learning from the heart involves being strong to face setbacks and failures and keep moving. People can do that if they believe in their own efficacy. If they persevered in the face of challenging situations in the past, their confidence grew. Confidence is always rooted in mastery of a particular task or set of circumstances. This is where seva is so important, it teaches one to persist, to redefine their limitations and to break them, and to keep moving ahead.

Competition and Contemplation in a 10k race

I ran my first 10km race today. Organized by the Living Well foundation and the University of Florida, it was a contest between students and faculty. The track was pretty, with a lake and woods along the way.

What was most interesting was watching the thoughts and emotions arising in my mind:

1. Pre-Race:

I was a little awkward for this was my first competitive 10k run. I have always run alone, for my own sake, and was nervous about running with others. What if i burnt out, or couldn't finish? What if the others were really good? How could i hope to compete with americans who are so much fitter and train so much more for such events? Maybe i should have stayed at home and studied for the imminent exams.

I just kept saying 'No' to these thoughts. Afterall, how can i ever know what is good/bad for me without doing new things? How would i know how good/bad i am without doing things? I am scared by the thought of restricting myself to a limited set of beliefs and learning little about the world. And this kept me going on.

2. During the race -

I had nearly 25 people ahead of me in the first 5k lap. A part of me was saying run or you would be left behind, another part kept saying go slow, dont burn yourself out. I ignored these thoughts, as they are so tiring, and settled into a steady breathing rhythm and kept running at a pace slightly faster than comfortable. Instead of looking to the leader, i would look to the next person ahead of me and catch up to them one by one. By the second lap, i was in third place.

I was helped by the interval training i have done for the last month and a half. This involves alternating between jogging and sprinting. Plus i have been having a more protein rich diet.

3. End of the race-

Throughout the second lap, i kept my focus on the two guys ahead of me and kept gently accelerating to catch up. They had a 120 m lead which i eventually cut to 20m, and i finished third in the race, at 44:11 seconds, 20 seconds behind the second placed guy. Not a bad debut!

I felt a mixture of emotions - euphoria, that i had not only completed the run but had actually been successful against runners who had participated in many more events. My small mind, which was filled with doubts at the begining, was now dying to get back and announce to the whole world that i had won, i had won.

And then i thought, how futile, how juvenile is this mind, which measures my worth based on how the world is, rather than trusting my capability. Guruji had mentioned in 'Feelings and Fools - "How can a piece of wood (an award) be the most important thing in your life? Don't you know that you are good?" And i felt much calmer and clearer then.

In all competitions i have participated in, the winner is always a person who believes in himself, before comparing himself/herself with others. And that self belief is beautiful.

Jai Gurudeva!

Jesus is the only way

Saw a brilliant Jewish preacher lecture untiringly for 5 hours today at an open courtyard about why Jesus is the only way. Students heckled him incessantly but the man was unrelenting. He fervently believed that the Bible was the only way and all those who were not Christians were not good human beings. He was jeered, abused, ridiculed and challenged incessantly by students for the whole time but he kept talking, he never yielded. This was a man who was ready to face anything for his faith and could not accept that there was any other way other than that of Jesus.

I asked him "I am not a Christian does that mean i am not a good human being?" He said, "No". I asked "Are only Christians good human beings? He said "Yes". I asked him "Why is that?" He said "Do you believe 2+2 is 4?" I said "No." He was at a loss. Then he said "I cannot explain to you why 2+2 is 4. It would take too much time." I said, "Then you are being illogical". I said "I have seen another Muslim leader who was 5 times as convinced as you are that his was the onlyway. He addressed an impressionable crowd like you today and He was also right." At which he started objecting "There is a reason why muslims are not right, do you want to know?". I said "You know people like you are the reason why there are suicide bombers in the world today." And he repeated "There is a reason why muslims are not right, do you want to know?" I said "No" and i walked away with the man speechless.

Been ages

Its been a quiet life for some time. Florida Gators are rated the top (american) football team in the country, and we have a 85,000 capacity stadium on campus. Fooball games here are a festival - preceded by tailgate parties, which mean music and beer being served outside the back of a truck and people pitching small tents and picnic at spots around campus. The college football season commenced a couple of weeks ago and the opening game was fun - with a packed stadium covered in orange and blue (our colors), chants, noise and cheerleaders.

I have a lighter term with fewer courses than the summer, so the pace is more sane. Have been playing more basketball and doing a lot of running. Also started swimming recently, which is now my favorite exersise. It is light on the joints and heavy on the muscles and lungs. Plus the recreational facilities in the university are phenomenal - we have two olympic sized swimming pols available free of charge to students.

The university is very very colorful at present, with 49,000 new students entering this fall. The boys hostels (fraternities) and the girl's hostels (sororities) got done with their rush weeks - which is the week where these halls finalize which students get into their halls. Gainesville has beautiful weather presently, with plenty of student-run activities to commence in the weeks to come.

The aftermath of a hard exam

I survived the summer term, where in barely 12 weeks, the students took 10 courses, which meant dealing with 20 exams, 28 assignments and case studies, 2 presentations, 4 professional development seminars, in a culture I naively thought I understood based on all the TV and movies I had seen. Who said being a nerd was easy? Competitive studying is so similar to competitive sports. They require brutal focus, stamina, a disregard for self-preservation, willingly yielding the right to life and prioritization to the extreme. Not to forget, keeping up the self-motivation when everything else seems so rosy and pretty and tempting. I have always been impressed by good students who perform in their acads and extra-curriculars. Unsurprisingly, most of the toppers I have known since 7^th grade have been very well-balanced individuals.

Although I am no expert in the field, there are a few things about studying I can share.

What does it take to do well in studies? Greed would suffice. I am yet to come across high scorers who did well in exams without meaning to. Our society demands performance, results. A good, high-paying job largely goes to a well-performing individual. Companies talk about hiring well-rounded individuals, but that means they want good students with good social skills as well. So what can we do to get better?

As mature individuals, we need to realize that exams exist! They are a part of your life, not an anomaly recurring every 3 months. I wonder how some people manage to live through 20 years of studies claiming how bad this exam was and how well they would do in the next one. There is no next time. The subjects can change, the questions may change, but the basics for studying stay the same. That’s why good students stay good students almost throughout.

Taking exams and studying well have helped me personally as well. As an individual, I would often be scared when held accountable for a job. I would often be the last person to take on new challenges. Exams are brutal because they seem to inaccurately summarise your complex, multi-dimensional personality in cold, impersonal numbers. To do well, you would have to get involved with your time, energy and emotions. You would have to respect those grades. The shortest way out of a problem is through it. When you work completely towards doing well in exams, you would discover greater confidence and mental toughness, because of all the challenges you willingly undertook.

How to do better? Here’s the age old formula – have a time table and a schedule for how you shall cover your syllabus. This is really important because it channelizes all your energy towards the task at hand. Scheduling is an art, practiced and renewed. The next, more important step is, sticking to the schedule. This part usually hurts. Your mind will play tricks on you, not co-operate or focus, etc. But you are greater than your mind, and regularly doing kriya, meditation and short satsangs by yourself will help you recharge your prana and come back to your commitment.

You may have to swallow your instincts of self-preservation and study like it’s the last thing you have to do before you leave the planet. The mind may alternate between dementia, depression, whoops of elation, dullness, lack of energy, loss of muscle tissue, throbbing headaches, vacation fantasies but you will be perfectly fine with some kriya and exersise. i mean, studies never killed anyone, although my roommate at IIT came close when he contemplated poking his finger in the switchboard to end his 'final exam' misery. But you shall live, and with good marks!

Guru Poornima Chicago 2009

Guruji ushered a breeze of love, knowledge and shakti in the Windy City. The Hilton Chicago, the venue of the event, throbbed with his presence and the purity of a huge advance course, the Guru Poornima celebrations, a YES course and the ongoing TRM. Guruji stayed at the south imperial suite, which we devotees would inevitably refer to as kutir, and Bhanu didi, arvind and ajay were with him. Devotees came from all over the US, Canada, Brazil and Argentina. Blissful bustle marked the celebrations, with every elevator crammed with devotees. The buttons pushed were not all found on the elevator panel, but all the smallness fell aside in the magnificent satsang and Guruji's discourse on the eve of the celebration.

He spoke on the Guru principle, whose excellent verbatim transcript can be found here. Nearly 3000 devotees meditated, sang and celebrated in the beautifully-decorated, grand ballroom.

Once the satsang had reached a crescendo, Guruji asked - "How many of you are confused? That is good - do you know confusion is a sign of intelligence. Only intelligent people can get confused.

A Guru's job is not to convince, it is to ? confuse :). Good good good". And then the joy of satsang continued.

Guruji travels to LA and Montreal in the coming weeks.

Jai Gurudeva!

Gattaca - a review

I discovered this gem of a movie released back in 1997. Directed by Andrew Niccols, who directed one of my favorites - Lord of War, Gattaca is a movie that weaves elements of sci-fi, romance, suspence and drama around the theme of human spirit.

The movie's tagline "There is No Gene for The Human Spirit" reverberates in the rousing tale of its protagonist, Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke), an in-valid living in a future of genetically tailored humans who dreams the impossible - of flying into space. Asthma, a weak heart and physical frailness do nothing to deter his courage and perseverance to succeed. As he overcomes his challenges through his will, he inspires his stronger, more-gifted friends by the resilience of his spirit.

The plot is full of interesting twists and turns, and is extremley aesthetic. The screenplay, the cinematography, and the background score exude excellence, but never overshadow the fantastic drama that unfolds between the well-developed characters. Ethan Hawke, Jude Law and Uma Thurman bring their roles to life. The movie is filled with inspiring moments. In one, when Vincent and his younger, genetically-superior brother Antoine are swimming out in the sea to see who can swim farthest before chickening and turning back, Antione says "We are too far out. You do realize every stroke forward means a stroke back." Vincent says "That's the difference Antoine, I never planned on swimming back."

The movie reminded me of Guruji. No obstacles lessen his love, sincerity and efforts to care for creation, which are provided with utmost simplicity, sincerity, innocence and humility. I am reminded of the Vikram Batra IOCL advertisement, which read "For every step we take, there is an inspired Indian leading the way."