Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Power of internal dialogues and thoughts



Let this blog find you aware of your internal dialogues and the power behind your thoughts.

A friend gifted a book “Powers Within” – (Selections from the works of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother – compiled by AS Dalal.)

It is quite an interesting book and may assist you in travelling within as you explore your life.

Everything we think turns into vibrations and gets communicated to whoever it is meant to. We cannot tamper the original vibes. They go AS THEY ARE to the universe.

The excerpt below from the book is in line with this thought. You may find it useful.

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…Everyone has in him… the power to give form to his mental activity and use this form either in his ordinary activity or to create and realize something. We are all the time, always, creating images, creating forms. We send them into the atmosphere without even knowing that we are doing so – they go roaming about, pass from one person to another, meet companions, sometimes join together and get on happily, sometimes create conflicts… There are battles; for often, very often, in these mental imaginations there is a small element of will which tries to realize itself. Everyone tries to send out his formation so that it can act, so that things can happen as he wants and, as everyone does this, it creates a general confusion.

If our eyes were open to the vision of all these forms in the atmosphere, we would see very amazing things: battlefields, waves, onsets, retreats of a crowd of small mental entities which are constantly thrown out into the air and always try to realize themselves. All these formations have a common tendency to want to materialize and realize themselves physically, and as they are countless – they are far too many for there to be room enough on earth to manifest them – they jostle and elbow one another, they try to push back those which do not agree with them or even form armies marching in good order, always to take up the available room both in time & space….

So, individually, this is what happens. Some people do all that without knowing it – perhaps everybody – and they are constantly tossed from one thing to another, and hope, wish, desire, are disappointed, sometimes happy, sometimes in despair, for they don’t have any control or mastery over these things.

But the beginning of wisdom is to look at ourselves thinking and to see this phenomenon, become aware of this constant projection into the atmosphere of small living entities which are trying to manifest. All this comes out of the mental atmosphere which we carry within ourselves. Once we see and observe, we can begin to sort them out, that is, to push back what is not in conformity with our highest will or aspiration and allow to move towards manifestation only the formations which can help us to progress and develop normally.

This is the control of active thought…

How many times you sit and become aware that the thought is beginning to form images for itself, to tell itself a story?... when you have become a little expert at it, not only do you see unfolding before you the history of what you would like to happen in life, in your own life, but you can take something away, add a detail, perfect your work, make a really fine story in which everything conforms with your highest aspiration. And once you have made a complete harmonious construction, as perfect as you can make it, then you open your hands and let the bird fly away.

If it is well made, it always realizes itself in the end. And that is what one doesn’t know.

But the thing is realized in the course of time. Sometimes long afterwards, when you have forgotten your story, can no longer remember having told it to yourself. You have changed much, are thinking about other things, making other stories, and the first one no longer interests you. If you are not very attentive, when the result of the first story comes, you are already very far away from it and no longer remember at all that this is the result of your own story.

That is why it is so important to control yourself, for if within you there are multiple and contradictory wills --- not only wills but tendencies, orientations, levels of life --- all this causes battles in your life. For example, at your highest level you have fashioned a beautiful story which you send out into the world. But then, ... perhaps a little later, you have come down to a much more material level, and these things from above seem to you a little … fairy like, unreal… You begin to make very concrete, very utilitarian formations which are not always very pretty….and these too go out.

I have known people with such opposite sides in their nature, so contradictory, that one day they could make a magnificent, luminous, powerful formation for realization, and the next day a defeatist, dark, black formation – a formation of despair – and so both would go out. And I was able to follow in the course of circumstances the beautiful one being realized, and while it was being realized, the dark one demolishing what the first one had done.

That is how it is in the larger lines of life as in its smaller details. And all that because one does not watch oneself thinking, because one believes one is the slave of these contradictory movements, because one says, “Oh! Today I am not feeling well, Oh! Today things seem sad to me”, and one says this as if it were an inescapable fate against which one could do nothing. But if one stands back or ascends a step, one can look at all these things, put them in their place, keep some, destroy or get rid of those one does not want and put all one’s imaginative power … only in those one wants and which confirm with one’s highest aspiration. That is what I call controlling one’s imagination.

… And instead of being a cork afloat on the waves of the sea and tossed here and there by each wave, defenselessly, one becomes a bird which opens its wings, flies above the waves and goes wherever it wants.

THE MOTHER (POWERS WITHIN)
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May you become more and more aware of your inner thoughts and the realities they create. May you get mastery in tuning those thoughts to bring consistent laser quality energy vibes; which in turn materialize what you designed.

Warm regards,

Rohan

Friday, 16 November 2012

Prosperity, plentitude - some thoughts & learnings



Let this blog find you spreading light, joy & prosperity on this occasion of Diwali.

I had earlier written 2 blogs on relationship with money:
These thoughts are in continuation to that.

I had mentioned about the book “The richest man in Babylon” by George S Clason: Babylon became the wealthiest city of the ancient world, despite limited natural resources. This book explains how all the citizens became prosperous. Its concepts are still very relevant in current times. The king of Babylon once found that the economy is in doldrums. He was informed that no one has any money despite so much city development & construction work funded by the treasury. All the money has finally been channeled to very few people who are now very rich. The wise king, instead of taxing the rich people, called the richest man ARKAD. He asked him whether the art of making money can be taught. Arkad proposed to the king that he be given 100 people. He will teach them this art and they can then teach the entire city. That was how the city then turned into the richest city. This book contains many simple practical insights & teachings that are still applicable in our times:
  • How to come out from loan trap
  • How to manage finances well
  • How to be consistent in investing
  • How to honour your money instead of lending it out of obligations and pity

Some inspiring stories in this book include:
  1. Story of DABASIR, the trader who got into a debt trap, ran away from the creditors, got sold into slavery & finally returned to face his debtors and repay them all.
  2. Story of the ARKAD on how he became a rich man from zero, by utilizing the opportunities available. How he lost all his earnings initially and later learnt to invest appropriately.
  3. Story of a rich man who gave his son NOMASIR a pot of gold & a tablet containing 5 rules of wealth. The son initially lost all the money and later managed to recover and earn lot more using the 5 rules.
  4. Story of RODAN, spear maker, who got 50 gold coins as a special reward from the king (equal to 50 years net savings). His sister requested him to lend that money to her husband so he can become a merchant. How he learnt the logic of lending prudently.

Please do read the book if you can.

Inspired by this book, we have been discussing about how prudent management of personal finance becomes a critical factor in maintaining a glowing energy field in one’s life. Some very interesting examples were shared by some participants:
  • One participant was in armed forced many years back. During the early part of his career, his take home was Rs 650 per month. His food bill in the army canteen was Rs 300. His reporting officer reviewed his salary slip and asked ‘what are you doing with the balance amount? Start investing Rs 50 per month in Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF). He ignored the advice. Next month the reporting officer checked the salary slip again. This time he wrote on the slip: ‘Invest Rs 100 in VPF’. He also circled it with red ink. This probably was equivalent to an order!! The payroll person promptly came and told him, ‘boss has ordered that you invest Rs 100/- in VPF. Here is the form to sign!’ He signed. The deduction continued for many years. The participant shared with us that this single step led to a good amount of fund for him when he retired from the army. He is still thankful to his boss.

  • One participant’s boss used to always ask him and other colleagues: ‘How much money are you carrying in your wallet? Why so much extra? What will you do with so much cash? Keep the basic requirement and give the balance to me’. He practically snatched extra money from them. The boss kept all the cash in separate envelops in the name of each of the subordinates. Every six months, he will go and buy gold coins out of the cash accumulated. He used to give them the gold coin with a strict warning: ‘keep this gold safely.’ The participant shared that he had many gold coins due to this style and that formed a key component of his wealth.
 
Based on all the above learnings and the book, we conducted a session for a company which has 750+ employees. We asked them to select 15 key opinion makers in their factory from various levels & departments. A special workshop was conducted for these 15 people on:
  • How to be financial strong
  • How to practically track expenses
  • How to first invest and then spend
  • Various tips and methods to bring financial prudence

The team then discussed on practical ways on how each of them can mentor at least 10-15 people in their factory and ensure that each of them becomes financially strong. Many practical ideas came up. One immediate result reported by a participant is that after he conducted these sessions for his team, at least 20 persons have instructed HR to deduct 20% of their salary in Voluntary PF. These people wanted to do so for last 3 years but did not act. Magic has begun.

These examples may not directly suit you in current times. However it is still possible for a person to own up financial wellness of his/her team members and colleagues. That is why this mail has come to you. You may be at whatever level of financial prudence in life, you may also be at any level in your organization, you can still choose to play a role in bringing financial awareness and prosperity in people’s life around you.

We feel that in order to get best, heart level performance from your team you may want to actively encourage and handhold them to be:
  • physically fit
  • financially prudent
  • emotionally balanced with a progressive attitude

We have attempted this with a few people and got interesting results. The joy of seeing people prospering is priceless.

Wishing you prosperous times ahead for you, your family and your teams.

Warm regards,

Rohan

Sunday, 7 October 2012

How they win customers - a true story

Let this mail find you getting inspirations from stories around you and being live inspiration for others!!

In one of our recent workshop, people expressed about how unreasonable targets given to them pushes them into a low energy mode. I remembered this story. You might have read this earlier.

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This is a true story as told by Dilip Upmanyu about his Edible Oil days!
It was way back in 2004 when one fine morning his boss told him, “Pack your bags and park yourself at Gwalior, where you will start work from tomorrow. Your objective is to establish our brand in Gwalior.” The brand as they say was then in doldrums at Gwalior. His company’s brand is a heavy premium brand. Curiously no distributor was interested in dealing in their brand. And worst, no one was able to explain the reasons for such an utter failure of a well known premium segment brand.
Dilip was quickly able to find a party and appoint them as a distributor for his brand. His real difficulties were to surface when he started launching his product in bazaar (market). In his first month at Gwalior, he did not get any response from the market. Each passing day, he became more depressed. The boss was constantly bugging him for business. The distributor who had invested money as a result of Dilip’s pitching, started feeling he had made the mistake of his lifetime.
In such circumstances it was natural that that they frequently sat together to discuss the market scene.  They discovered that there were many brands of packed cooking oil that were engaged in malpractices. Dilip’s company packed one litre of oil at standard temperature so their pack weighed 910 grams, where as many unscrupulous re-packers packed only 750 grams to 840 grams of cooking oil in 1 litre pack. These brands sold their pack at Rs 36 to Rs 40 to the retailers. Retailers were then selling that pack to consumers at Rs 48, the price charged by Dilip’s brand. But his company sold the 1 Litre pack at Rs 46 to be sold at Rs 48 to consumers. This unethical arrangement between unscrupulous re-packers, traders and retailers had completely blocked the entry of Dilip’s brand in Gwalior market. Almost similar difficulties were being faced in marketing of 15 litre packing.
One day over a meal, Dilip and Distributor were discussing their woes and same questions kept coming up before them, “What to do? How can we break this unethical nexus of re-packers and retailers? Where to make a beginning?” The Distributor casually commented, “Sab brand bik rahe hein, sirf apna wala nahi bik raha hai. Marriage season aane wala hai. Tumne mujhe marwa diya! ” (All brands are selling, except ours. Marriage season is coming up. You have got me stuck!!)
Dilip suddenly had a flash, a few months back he had helped a close friend at his sister’s wedding. Being from FMCG background, the friend had requested Dilip to make purchases for Halwai (Master Chef) who was hired to make food for guests. The halwai arrived and came armed with a list of groceries to be bought. When Dilip saw his brand of oil didn’t figure in the list, he asked his friend if he could change the oil brand. Suddenly, his friend’s mother, who was passing by & overheard the conversation, interrupted and told Dilip not to make any changes, and he should buy exactly what their halwai had prescribed.
After this flash, a new idea emerged in Dilip’s mind. Why not approach all the halwais who are in catering business at Gwalior, Datia and Dabra? The Distributor did not know how to locate these people. What happened next was even more surprising. Dilip suddenly quipped, “If you do not know how to locate them, it means they were never approached by any one. May be here lies a solution for us.” Dilip then went from one marriage venue to the other until he was able to locate a very low profile and elderly President of Halwai Sangh (literally: Chefs’ Union). With his help he obtained a list of members and went on to meet each of them and personally invite them for a gathering of halwais.
Halwais of Gwalior were in for a new experience. Being from hospitality trade while they understood the invitation process and the rest, yet they were pleasantly surprised that someone had taken pains to invite ‘a poor me’ to an organized gathering and be a recipient of someone else’s hospitality. During the gathering the guest halwais were shown their lunch being cooked in the Dilip’s brand of cooking oil. There was live demonstration of all good qualities like no surfing, no odours, no fumes etc. Then came the clincher - Dilip said in his address, “Anyone who buys a pair of shoes, walks a few steps in the new shoes to see how it feels. But we take the matter of cooking oil very lightly and casually say, ‘Give any oil!’ We conveniently forget that cooking oil is closely connected with our health. He then went on to establish importance of a product trial and invited them to carry back a no-obligation 1 litre pack for their personal trial at home. A very few of them, not all of them, did carry a trial pack later on their way out. A scheme was also announced for those halwais who cared to prescribe Dilip’s brand. On the whole, the gathering was a great success. Halwais were very happy that they were recognized as responsible people with important task of preparing and serving food that would delight the guests wherever they went to work.
In that marriage season many shopkeepers were surprised by buyers asking for 15 litre packs of Dilip’s brand of cooking oil. The embarrassed shop keepers were now telling the customers that, it just got over and will be available in an hour or two. There was a mad scramble to find who the distributor is, and finally orders were flowing to the distributor like never before. It is often said, “One good thing will lead you to another!” And it happened in Dilip’s case and happened soon enough.
The success of 15 litre pack though brought relief to both Dilip and the Distributor yet their smile was miles away. They were still facing the blockade created by unethical re-packers. The break came in the shape of a famous Gwalior Trade Fair. That year a local television channel had undertaken to telecast a few evening hours of the Trade Fair, live. When they came to Dilip’s stall and asked him, “What is your message to the public of Gwalior?” A hypnotized Dilip found himself speaking to the camera in somewhat this way, “Every pack of honestly packed cooking oil weighs 910 grams. So when you buy your next 1 litre pack of cooking oil, just ask the shop keeper to weigh it for you and if it is less in weight, demand from him a pack that weighs 910 grams!”  The honest appeal and sincerity of the message hit the consumers. Next day the shop keepers across Gwalior were in short supply of 1 litre packs that weighed 910 grams. And Dilip’s distributor had an ample supply waiting to be dispatched. Rest as they say was history. Gwalior soon became a huge consumption point for Dilip’s brand of cooking oil – a town with zero sales was consuming 180 metric tonnes per month when Dilip was called back later from that territory.  

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May this story inspire you into facing your life challenges head on and setting a benchmark of excellence!

Warm regards,

Rohan