IN GHTAn Insight into Sai through Glance, Heart and Thought

VOL 2, ISSUE 8

MUDDENAHALLI CAMPUS

90

|OCTOBER 2015

Years of Divine Guidance

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

PUBLISHED BYMUDDENAHALLI CAMPUSSRI SATHYA SAI INSTITUTE OF HIGHER LEARNING

SAI SAMBHASHAN

DR SAYEE MANOHARSRI S SAI MANOHARSRI V BHASKARANSRI CHANDRASHEKARSRI S MOHANSRI VENKATRAMANA

A few doctors who were devoted to Swami had justreturned from an international medical service camp inAfrican countries. When Swami granted them aninterview, He asked them… “Why did you do this?”For this different answers came from the members ofthe team. Some said, “to serve the poor”While others said, “to alleviate suffering and eradicatedisease”.But Swami was not satisfied with their answers. Hewent on repeating his question: “Why did you do this?”

Then the Lord said, “You served them because they areyour mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers. All belongto the same universal divine family. If you can’trecognize the man before you as your brother, howwill you recognize the divinity inherent in him. Howwill you see God in your fellow beings? Whenever youengage yourself in service do it with this feeling.”

ContentsOCTOBER 2015 VOLUME 02 \ ISSUE 08

QUICKNAVIGATOR

05

10

11

19

21

09

DUSSEHRA

WHAT LIES INSIDE

TEARS AND I

ANYTHING CAN BE ACHIEVED THROUGH PRAYERS

TALES OF SAI - 5

MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE

38

24

30

41

33

DHIRUBAI AMBANI

THE ART OF BREATHING

LEARNINGS FROM ‘LIFE OF PI’

LEADERSHIP IN SPORTS

INVITATION FOR ARTICLES

harat, the spiritual guru of the

universe, is known for its rich heritage,

diverse culture and celebration of festivals

which are inter-related to spirituality. These

festivals teach man to lead a spiritual life

while carrying out worldly activities. It is to

teach this truth to mankind, that Avatars

made their advent on earth from time to

time.

Dussehra is one of the festivals

celebrated in various parts of Bharat with

great pomp and splendour. In the Northern

parts of Bharat it is celebrated as

“Navratri”, the victory of Lord Rama over

the ten headed demon king Ravana. In the

southern parts of Bharat it is celebrated as

“Vijay Dasami”, the victory of the Divine

B

mother over the demon kingMahishasura. The significance ofDussehra festival lies in its religiousvalue. It teaches us that good alwaystriumphs over evil.

Navratri is celebrated for nine daysand during the nine days, the divinepower (Para-Sakthi) in its variousmanifestations, as maa Durga (tamasik),

Durga Puja in Kolkata

maa Lakshmi (rajasic) and maa Saraswathi (satwik),overcame the forces of vices, wickedness and egoism andfinally on the tenth day, the day of victory, the magnificenceof the Divine mother is worshipped as Vijayadashami orDussehra.

The first three days of “Navratri”, are dedicated to theworship of maa Durga who manifests as dynamism, nextthree days to the worship of maa Lakshmi who manifests inthe form of will power and the last three days to worshipmaa Saraswathi who manifests in man as the power ofspeech (vaak).

On many occasions Swami has given different

Mother Saraswathi Mother Lakshmi

regarding the celebrations ofNavratri and its importance inday-to-day life of man.Human being is the

quintessence of body, mind andsoul. Purposeful action –kriyasakti comes from the body; thepower that activates the inertbody and makes it vibrant is themind, the repository of will-power-ichcha sakti and thepower that induces thevibrations of will power is Atma,the power of discernment-Jnanasakti. All the three dwell in thehuman heart as Durga, Lakshmiand Saraswathi.The Navratri celebration is anoccasion for revering Prakruthi(nature) and considering hownatural resources can be usedproperly in the best interest ofmankind. Economy in the use ofevery natural resource is vital.Practices like nagar sankeertan

and Bhajan which fill theatmosphere with sacredvibrations and holy thoughts areto be followed so as to reducethe evil consequences of thenature pollution to some extent.From ancient times the holyrituals and sacrifices like yagnaswere performed to createpowerful agents in theatmosphere and to help keepthe environs clean and healthy.Swamy revived the practice byperforming the yearly VedaPurusha yagna. These ritualsare performed to rid man of thebad qualities such as Lust(Kama), Anger (Krodha),Attachment (Moha), Greed(Lobha), Arrogance (Mada),Jealousy (Matsara), Selfishness(Swartha), Injustice (Anyaaya),Cruelty (Himsa) and Ego(Ahankara).

We can imbibe the essence of thisfestival in our daily lives by making aneffort to redeem ourselves of the badand immoral qualities and adopt thesimple axioms given to us by Swamiviz.,

On this auspicious occasion let usall pray Bhagawan to guide us in theday-to-day life to harmonise ourworldly affairs in accordance with Histeachings and make our spiritualjourney purposeful.

- Faculty Desk

'If I were to squeeze this orange as hard as I could, what would come out?' I asked him

He looked at me like I was a little crazy and said, 'Juice, of course.'

'Do you think apple juice could come out of it?'

'No!' he laughed.

'What about grape juice?'

'No!' 'What would come out of it?'

'Orange juice, of course.'

'Why? Why when you squeeze an orange does orange juice come out?'

He may have been getting a little exasperated with me at this point. “Well, it's an orange andthat's what's inside.”

I nodded. 'Let's assume that this orange isn't an orange, but it's you. And someone squeezesyou, puts pressure on you, says something you don't like, offends you. And out of you comesanger, hatred, bitterness, fear. Why? The answer, as our young friend has told us, is becausethat's what's inside.'

It's one of the great lessons of life. What comes out when life squeezes you? When someonehurts or offends you? If anger, pain and fear come out of you, it's because that's what's inside.It doesn't matter who does the squeezing: your mother, your brother, your children, your boss,the government. If someone says something about you that you don't like, what comes out ofyou is what's inside. And what's inside is up to you, it's your choice. When someone puts thepressure on you and out of you comes anything other than love, it's because that's what you'veallowed to be inside. Once you take away all those negative things you don't want in your lifeand replace them with love, you'll find yourself living a highly functioning life."

WHAT LIES INSIDE ?

Courtesy : Sri Prasad Sir

hatever GOD does is for the welfare of the world.

You must the world is the very form of the GOD. The

creator and the creation are not different from each other.

We should not worship GOD for the fulfillment of worldly

desires. “We should pray GOD to attain Him.”

No one can comprehend the ways of GOD as stated by

Thyagaraja:

“Not even a blade of grass will move without divine will.

Right from an ant to Brahma, GOD pervades everything.

But some people do not understand this and take pride in

their intelligence.

But no one however mighty knows what is going to

happen in the next moment.”

No one can predict when GOD will shower his grace on

an individual. Only god knows the answer to the questions

like who, when, where, why and how. If one forgets GOD

and gets carried away by ego and sense of doer ship one will

not meet with success in one’s endeavors. Anything can be

achieved through prayers. There is nothing greater than

prayer. Hence, everyone must necessarily offer his prayer to

GOD.

However one should not pray for worldly gains. ”Oh

GOD! I want your love and nothing else”. This should be

our constant prayer. Once you become the recipient of

GOD’s love, you can conquer the entire world.

Do not pray to GOD for the fulfillment of your worldly

desires. Instead, leave everything to GOD’s will. Have full

that he will do what is good for you. When you discharge

your duties surrendering everything to God’s will, you will

certainly achieve success in your endeavors. But GOD’s will

takes shape at the appropriate time without any prompting

or planning.

W

SATHYA SAI SPEAKS; Vol. 37

- Sri. Sundararajan Mohan

Tales of SAI-5GATHERING THE DEVOTEES- PHASE II

We have seen that the identification of devotees took place in both the Sai Avataras in three phases. We have briefly studied the trends that took place in the first phase.

In the second phase, Sai in both cases attracted devotees from outside Shirdi and Parthi respectively.

Das Ganu Maharaj the Kirtankar

In the case of Sri Shirdi Sai,news of His presence in Shirdi spreadat first to adjoining villages. One of thefirst people to get interested in Sai wasone Ganapathrao DattatreyaSahasrabudhe. He was a policeconstable and when he came to Shirdito see Sri Sai for himself, having hearda lot about Him, he was not onlywarmly welcomed by Baba but advisedto give up his job as police constable.It took Ganapathrao many months totake the decision but after manyproblems in his work, when he finally

decided to quit his job, Baba wasdelighted and naming him ‘Das GanuMaharaj’ instructed him to take tosinging Kirtans at Shirdi. UltimatelyDas Ganu Maharaj not only sang aboutBaba but took to the road and wouldsing all over Maharashtra in villages.That was how the news of Shirdi Babaspread in the villages. Sai entrustedhim with singing Kirtans on theoccasion of Rama Navami at Shirdi.Several songs that are currently sungat Shirdi during arathi to Baba werecompositions of Das Ganu Maharaj.

The second importantdevotee of this period was a youngman called Abdul. Baba came in thedream of his Guru and advised himto send Abdul to Shirdi. Abdul cameas a young man of twenty or so andremained with Him for the rest ofhis life. He was asked primarily tocarry out jobs like cleaning thestreets of Shirdi and bringing water

for Baba at the Lendi. He sat alwaysclose to Baba and read the Quranand recorded various statements ofBaba in a notebook. After Baba’sMahasamadhi he used to refer tothis notebook for guidance whenpeople came to him for guidancewhether it was about progeny orabout careers. All his predictionsand guidance came true.

Abdul

H V Sathe

Rao Bahadur Sri HariVinayak Sathe was DeputyCollector at Ahmednagar. Hecame to hear of Baba andvisited Shirdi. Baba was verycivil with him and helped himin all sorts of ways in hiscareer and his personal affairs.Baba got him to build a‘Wada’ or a kind of hostel forvisiting pilgrims. It is calledSathe Wada and exists now.

Sri H S Dixit

Sri Hari Sitaram Dixitlived in Vile Parle in Bombayand was a solicitor. When hecame to Baba, he received a lotof spiritual instruction fromBaba who guided him to readseveral Pothis for his spiritualenlightenment. Sri Dixit alsobuilt a Wada for the stay ofpilgrims.

Somnath Deshpande Nimonkar also called Kaka by Baba

He came from the village of Nimon veryclose to Shirdi. Baba bestowed His Grace with agreat deal of affection on Nimonkar and hisfamily. In particular, He understood thatNimonkar had not studied Sanskrit but was verykeen to read and understand the scriptures.Baba assured him that He would guide him inhis studies and advised him to start reading anybook. When Kaka started reading a book he wasamazed to find he understood what was beingsaid. He got so excited by this that he startedsharing what he intuitively understood withothers. Baba specifically advised him againstthat practice.

Nana Saheb Chandorkar

When Appa told Nana about this, Nana felt “Why is this fakir calling me and what does he want from me”. He declined to go. AppaKulkarni had to go again and Baba ordered again to ask Nana to come to Shirdi. This time Appa was hesitant to ask his boss.

Nana did not pay attention this time also. Then the third time the same thing repeated. This time Appa was afraid to ask Nana as he had declined twice before. But this time the reaction was different. At last, Nana agreed to see Baba at Shirdi, came up and inquired why he was sent for. Baba said, “We have so many rich people and people of higher authority than you Nana, did I send messages for anybody else?

Because we have a relationship for past 4 lives, I asked you to come and renew that relationship. Whenever you can visit me come and visit. Now you can return”. Nana Saheb Chandorkar and Nana Saheb Nimonkar worked together to renovate and improve the Dwarakamayi masjid. Baba would not agree. So they decided to do the renovation on alternate days when Baba was sleeping at the Chavadi. Narayan Govind Chandorkar was the first and foremost of Baba's devotees whose work was the basis of the spread of Sai faith for many decades. If Mhalasapathi was the seed, Chandorkar was the stem and trunk of the spreading Baba movement.

In 1892, Appa Kulkarni was supposed to go and meet Nana in Kopergaon for some government related transactions. Appacame to take permission from Baba to leave Shirdi. Then Baba told him to invite Nana to Shirdi.

When we look at the development ofevents at Puttaparthi, it is apparent that theperiod we are looking at is from something like1940 to 1960. The evolution of the Saimovement was quite dramatic by comparisonwith Shirdi.

On that fateful day of October 20,1940, Swami left His brother’s house atUravakonda and took up residence at the ExciseInspector’s house. He used to sit on a stone inthe garden of the house and lead the people whogathered there with the Bhajan “Manasa BhajareGuru Charanam…” . Many people startedbringing Prasadam which He would bless anddistribute to the gathered devotees.

Goddumarri S. Anjaneyulu (1904-1979),

a simple, devoted and orthodox Brahmin

He had taken more than a simple liking for young Sathya. The liking was strange for Sathya was neither his relative nor his neighbor. While Sathya lived with his teacher brother, Seshama Raju, on Brahmin Street in Uravakonda, Sri Anjaneyulu, this middle-aged Salt (Excise) Inspector, lived in a spacious bungalow outside the main town. But Sathya was his son’s schoolmate.

Anjaneyulu had then been asked by Sathya to procure a Shirdi Sai Baba statue for worship.

Pennohobilam was situated thirteen kilometres away fromUravakonda. True to Sathya’s word the statue was found there.Every Thursday, returning to the Anjaneyulu house, from school, Sathyawould bathe, then cast off his white shirt and khaki shorts school uniformand don silk dhoti and angavastram. He would then perform puja to theShirdi Sai Baba statue and then lead the bhajans. One of the bhajans, hesang then was "Manasa Bhajare Guru Charanam, dusthara bhava sagarataranam". He would also sing the song. "Baba Raava, Sai Baba Raava".He would ask everyone else to follow the song in chorus.

The Thursday bhajan sessions were great spiritual experiencesfor the Anjaneyulu family. During these sessions, Sathya would stand indeep concentration, glowing in splendor, his body swaying forward andbackward as in a trance. He would remain in this state for three to fourhours. He would advise, instruct, bless and materialize vibhuti, pieces ofcloth reportedly from the kafni of Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi, pictures andfruits for visitors. He would raise his hand, pick up the things fromnowhere and give them away. The devotees would open their mouth athis bidding and he would put fruits and candies into the open mouths. Heinstructed them to eat them immediately and take home post hastewhatever other article he gave them. His instructions were specific forspecific people and not meant to be shared with others. Sathya wouldeven call people at specified time and place for special spiritual advice.

To pleasethe young boy,Anjaneyulu lookedfor it in the localmarket, but couldnot find any. Sathyathen told him, "Go totheLakshminarasimhaswamy Temple festivalat Pennohobilam andtry".

The rest has become famous in history. Later in the morning whenAnjaneyulu had come to know that Sathya had declared his divinity, herushed to Seshama Raju’s house. Seeing Sathya, he immediately observed,"He is not Sathyam, he is Sai Baba Himself" and prostrated before him. Hethen reminded the boy, "You said you would come home for lunch. All thechildren are hungry and we are waiting for you." Sathya immediately got up,said, "Let us go" and left for Anjaneyulu’s house with brisk steps and thechildren struggling to keep pace. Sathya asked Anjaneyulu’s wife, "Where isthe boy?" Anjaneyulu asked Sathya, "Sathyam, my dear child, what is thematter?" Sathya replied, "I am not Sathyam, I am Baba. I have to live forthe welfare of mankind. Do not stop me."Anjaneyulu was dumbfounded,understanding the purport of what the boy said. He was sure beyond doubtthat Sathya, their Sathyam, was Sai Baba, whom he so long worshipped. Soon the very stone, the shrine of his Sai Baba of Shirdi, Anjaneyulu spread atiger skin and made Sathya sit on it. The Sai Baba Gundu (Sai Baba rock)became the first pedestal for the new avatar and Anjaneyulu his first herald.Later when He returned to Puttaparthi, He was received by KarnamSubbamma in her house and He preferred to stay there. News of Hisstatements and actions at Uravakonda had spread fast and large numbers ofpeople from Parthi and nearby villages started thronging at the house.Swami would lead them in bhajans which extolled Shirdi and Shirdi Sai.People at Parthi were hearing these names for the first time. There was atacit agreement with His parents before they left Uravakonda that theywould not interfere with His ‘work’.

On the way home, on October 20, 1940, following the visit to Hampi, he met Anjaneyulu. Anjaneyulu, seeing a brilliant light around the boy’s face asked him what had happened. Sathya did not answer but proceeded home.

Slowly people started coming from Kamalapuram and Mysore. Occasionally He would also travel to Mysore and Bangalore. It becomes obvious that this Sai would be a traveler and would attract many thousands of people. There were detractors in Puttaparthi who refused to accept that Swami was Divine. They accused Him of trying to unduly influence the poor illiterate people of the village. He selected specific places to stay at Bangalore and Mysore. Two localities at Bangalore that He was focused on were Basavanagudi and Vyalikaval.

Tears and I- Sandeep Sahu ( II BCA)

Every night tears roll down from the corners of my eyes. I just keep quiet and let them go. But one night I dared to ask them-

I: Why in God’s name do you come out every night? How many times have I warned you to stay inside? I even locked you all inside my sorrow-house.

Tears: Because, we can’t stay in that house. It’s stinking inside your sorrow-house due to the rotten smell of the ‘memory’ garbage you have kept inside…Yes, you locked us, but our population is rising at the rate of 2N. So we just used the ventilator to come out.

I: Sorry. I too want to take that garbage out, but I’m not able to. Mere thinking of this act is frightening my mind. Mind, my servant, gets frightened, and it forces me to erase this thought. But this time I promise. I promise that I would be harsh on him, and would order him to clear the garbage.

Tears: You do not know of our sufferings. We are betrayed by everyone...for making man remind his mistakes. It is said that we are a shame to the mankind because we resemble his weakness.

I: Those who do not know of your real nature say that. In fact you are blessed by God to perform the task of giving solace to the grief-stricken and wash away the memory which causes the grief as river Ganges washes away sins of innumerable people.

Tears: We agree, but few people know this!

I: I also request you not to come out whenever you please. I don’t want to lose my honor because of these few drops on my countenance. I’ll see the right time and release the ‘Dam Gates’.

Tears: You spoke brave words and now you worry about losing your honor.

I: I don't have a choice. Because there are people who attach conspiracies to my tears.

Tears are a natural expression of pain, let them flow. They are silent prayers to the almighty, seeking grace in testing times with an attitude of surrender to His will.

Making The World A Better Place, One Person At A Time…-ARUN SAI PV (I BBA)

I stood at the window of my room gazing at the mountains, sipping milk from my cup at about fifteen minutes past six in the morning. I was wondering why there was smoke at the foot of the mountain at this hour of morning. “Wow! See there yaar! It’s so beautiful. Clouds are cruising so low!” a friend of mine exclaimed.

I turned around to see that the thick white array I saw was not smoke, but clouds! What a fool I was! Luckily I did not shout like my friend.

We couldn’t stay in the room; so, placing the cup of milk on the table, we rushed to the terrace. We were not the only ones on the terrace, there were many others too! The mild chill in the breeze that sailed freshened me up.

An array of clouds voyaged caressing the ground and formed a circular band around the foot of mountains. Our campus was in the center of this magnificent creation of nature. It was as if it was the aura of our Campus.

I spread my arms wide and looked up at the sky which was unblemished and composed. The day being Krishna Janmashtami, nature kicked the start of the day incredibly.

I felt so nice living the moment. The world that is in the world, but different. Given a camera any one would have captured wonders, as a click in any direction would give a beautiful picture even worthy to be framed.

But then the world is not always the same, things change faster than we can adapt to. When we visited the old age home the next day, I wasn’t enjoying the nature. I felt so abashed of our society where parents do not have a place to rest under their own roofs. The only thing that could take me away from this remorse was the smile that gilded the faces of many grannies and grandpa’s.

Some of them narrated stories about themselves. It was really distressing to hear that they had three or four children, all educated, but none were interested in looking after their old parents who worked all their youth just for the better future of their children. Then why did they provide education for them?

When we visit cities, the so called abode of highly civilized men what do we see? No one cares for others; we can see people lying on the road knocked out and people ride away, turning their vehicle away from them. Most of the garbage dumps are again found in cities. Then what did education really teach them?What is today’s education teaching? It has not taught a man how to behave! They send parents to old age homes. Girls are afraid to roam alone in the streets after dusk.

Everybody tag themselves to be so busy that they don’t even know who lives in their next flat, forget about the same street. Joint families no longer exist in the society; it’s acknowledged only in the social primers. People are afraid that they would have to spend more money in a joint family. They are so much torn apart that when they go out for an excursion, they don’t want their family members to know about it. They are troubled if they would accompany them. Even worse some don’t want others to visit the same place. This is how they display their so called ‘Status’.

We expect everything from our society. We want good infrastructures, hygiene, domestic help, provision, and the list goes on. But then we never even conceive ourselves doing the service what we expect. We only anticipate to acquire and never to provide.

These days there are a lot of variances amid the classes of the society. Equally the deprived and opulent are reliant on each other, but they do never approve this. Seeds of discrimination are sown in the minds of children right from a small age.

“Son, don’t play with those children, don’t touch them, and don’t give your toys to them. Stay away. They are inferior people” is what an educated, status conscious father tells his son when he plays with the children of workers in the apartment.A father doesn’t want his son to mingle with the worker’s children. But he critically needs the workers. If at all someone takes a courageous step to ask “Why don’t you let your son to mingle with them? Let him play, it’s his age to play.”

The reply comes almost in no time, “What is your problem? I’m paying them for their work”. Ultimately, money is the king. Relations are being erected on the foundation of money. A piece of the printed paper handled by all hands has got a significance more than the one handling it. Nowadays, ‘It’s just the life of currency ‘.

But surely this trend has to come to an end someday. We have to contribute to the society. Without our contribution how do we expect the world to be a better place to live?

It is important to remember that just as our words are our thoughts verbalized, so our deeds are our beliefs actualized. No action, no matter how small, is insignificant – how we treat someone defines how we treat everyone, including ourselves.

Every moment in front of another human being is an opportunity to express our highest values and to influence someone with our humanity. We can make the world better, one person at a time.

HEALTH TIPS- Sri C. Praveen Kumar

THE ART OF YOGIC

BREATHING

We hope you have fully appreciated

the need for proper breathing, the mechanics

of how the body breathes and the benefits of

proper breathing.

In this final section on breathing, we

would like to inform you of the three types of

breathing and the way all three types of

breathing are integrated into one continuous

practice of what is called YOGIC BREATHING.

We can split the process of breathing

into three parts: abdominal or diaphragmatic

breathing, intercostal or middle breathing and

clavicular or upper breathing.

1. Abdominal breathing.

This type of breathing is associated with the

movement of the diaphragm and the outer wall of

the abdomen.

When relaxed this muscle arches upwards towards

the chest. During inhalation it is flattened as it

moves downwards, which compresses

the abdominal organs and eventually pushes the

front wall, the belly, of the abdomen outwards. This

movement enlarges the chest cavity, downwards,

allowing the lungs to expand and thereby draw in air

from the surroundings. Relaxation of the muscles

which pull the diaphragm downwards allows the

diaphragm to move upwards again to reduce the

volume in the chest cavity and

thereby cause exhalation. This

form of breathing draws in the

greatest amount of air for the

least muscular effort. It is often

hampered, however, by tight

belts and clothing which prevent

movement of

the belly outwards.

2. Middle breathing.

This form of breathing

is achieved by movement of the

ribs. During expansion of the

ribcage outwards and upwards

by muscular contraction, the

lungs are allowed to expand -

this results in air being drawn

into the lungs from the front

side and inhalation taking place.

When the muscles which control

the movement of the ribs (the

intercostals) are relaxed, then

the ribs move downwards and

inwards. This compresses the

lungs and exhalation takes

place.

3. Upper breathing.In this case the

inhalation and deflation of thelungs is achieved by raising theshoulders and collarbone. Thismethod requires much effort forlittle output. Very little air isinhaled and exhaled since thismovement cannot change thevolume of the chest cavity verymuch.

4. Yogic breathing.Yogic or deep breathing

combines all these three modesof breathing - abdominal,middle, upper - into oneharmonious movement. It is thistype of breathing that we areinterested in developing, sinceonly yogic breathing can givethe maximum inhalation andexhalation of breath.

Preparations

The purpose of thispractice is to make thepractitioner aware of the threedifferent types of respiration,and incorporate them into yogicbreathing.Do not wear any clothing thatwill impede movement of yourchest and abdomen. Practise ona folded blanket, lying on a solidfloor.

This exercise can beperformed lying down inshavasana', or sitting in a cross-legged position, in which caseyou should make sure that yourspine is as straight as possiblewithout straining. Place acushion or folded blanket underthe buttocks if necessary. Allbreathing should be performedthroughthe nose and not through themouth. The place to practise isin a well-ventilated clean room,with no breeze that might causeyou discomfort.

1. ABDOMINAL BREATHINGRelax your whole body.

Place one hand on the front ofthe abdomenon the navel. This is to indicateto you that your abdomen doesindeed move up and down.

Breathe out slowly andcompletely, and remember thatit is this movement of yourdiaphragm that is responsiblefor your abdominalbreathing. As you breathe outfeel your abdomen contract;the navel will move toward thespine. At the end of exhalationthe diaphragm will be totallyrelaxed and will be bowingupwards into the chest cavity.Hold your breath for a second orso. Then breathe in. Try not toexpand the chest or move theshoulders. Feel your abdomenexpand, thenavel moving upwards. Try tobreathe in slowly and deeply. Atthe end of inhalation yourdiaphragm will be bowing in thedirection of the abdomen;your navel will be at its highestpoint. Hold your breath for a

second or two. Then exhaleagain, slowly and completely.Again try to feel your navelmoving towards the spine. Atthe end of exhalation yourabdomen will becontracted, the navel will be atits nearest point to the back.Hold the breath for a short time,inhale and then repeat thewhole process.This is abdominal breathing.Continue this practice for 10 to20 respirations,or more if time permits.

2. MIDDLE BREATHINGAssume a lying or

sitting position as alreadydescribed. Ensure that you areas relaxed as possible. In thispractice the idea is to breatheby utilizing the movement of theribcage.

Throughout thepractice try not to move theabdomen; this is done byslightly contracting theabdominal muscles.

If you wish you canplace your hands on the side ofthe chest to feel the expansionand contraction of the ribs.Breathe in slowly by expandingthe ribcage outwards andupwards. You will find itimpossible to breathe deeplybecause of the limitation on themaximum expansion of thechest. Remember, try not toutilize the abdomen forinhalation. At the end ofinhalation, hold your breath fora second or two. Then slowlyexhale by contracting the chestdownwards and inwards. Keepthe abdomen slightlycontracted, but withoutstraining. At the end of

exhalation hold your breath fora short time. Again breathe inslowly. Repeat this process 10to 20 times or more if timepermits.

3. UPPER BREATHINGIn this type of

breathing you should try not toexpand and contract eitheryour abdomen or chest. This isnot so easy but try. Keep yourhands on your chest so thatyou can determine whetheryour chest is moving or not.Slightly contract the muscles ofthe abdomen. Now try to inhaleby drawing your collarbone andshoulders toward your chin.This might be a little difficult atfirst. A good method is toinhale and exhale with asniffing action; thisautomatically induces upperbreathing. Exhale by letting the

shoulders and collarbone moveaway from the chin. There is noneed toperform this type of breathingfor very long; just enough toappreciate its operation, andthe fact that it requires mucheffort and does not induce orexpel very much air from thelungs. We have practiced andexperienced the three differenttypes of breathing. Now wehave to integrate them into oneharmonious whole to achieveyogic breathing.

4. YOGIC BREATHINGThis combination of

three types of breathinginduces optimum volume of airinto the lungs and expels themaximum amount of waste airduring exhalation.

Inhale slowly by allowing yourabdomen to expand. Try tobreathe so slowly that little orno sound of breath can beheard. At the end of abdominalexpansion, start to expand yourchest outwards and upwards. Atthe end of this movement drawyour collarbone and shoulderstoward your head.This completes 1 inhalation.The whole process should beone continuous movement,each phase of breathingmerging into the next, withoutthere being any obvioustransition point. There shouldbe no jerks or unnecessarystrain.Your breathing should be likethe swell of the sea. The rest ofthe body should be relaxed.Now start to exhale.

First relax your collarbone andshoulders. Then allow yourchest to move, first downwardstowards the feet and theninwards. After this allow theabdomen to contract. Don'tstrain but try to empty thelungs as much as possible bydrawing or pulling theabdominal wall as near aspossible to the spine. Again thewhole movement should be aharmonious whole.This completes 1 round of yogicbreathing.

Hold your breath for a secondor two at the end of eachinhalation and exhalation.Inhale and do another round.Do up to 5 rounds on your firstday of practice. Don't strain.Every day increase yourpractice by 2 rounds,

or as time permits. Ten minutesyogic breathing is a reasonablelength of time to eventually aimat. With enough practice youwill find that the wholemovement will occur naturally.No effort will be required.

Summary

A few minutes of yogicbreathing daily can workwonders. It will make you muchless susceptible to illness, andyou will acquire more power,vitality and calmness in yourdaily activities. Your thinkingand clarity of thought willimprove.

The deep systematicyogic breathing will tend toretrain breathing nerve reflexesthat may have ceased to beactive by lack of use.

Technique

In other words, at present you might be breathing only from the chest, hardly using the abdomen at all. Yogic breathing will start to make you breathe abdominally, intercostallv and clavicularly during the day, and therefore allow you to inhale the full amount of air that your body requires for nourishment and good health. To develop the yogic breathing as an automatic and normal function of the body, try to develop the habit of consciously breathing yogically for a few seconds or minutes. If you feel tired or angry, sit down, or if possible lie down, and practise yogic breathing. If you can breathe slowly then your mind will become calm and revitalized.

An ordinary man with extraordinary visions

Born: 28 December 1932 (Chorwad, Gujarat, India)

Died: 6 July 2002(aged 69, Mumbai, India)

Cause of death: stroke

Nationality: Indian

Ethnicity: Gujarati

Occupation: Founder of (Reliance industries, Reliance power, Reliance capital)

Spouse: Kokilaben

Children: Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Nina Kothari, Deepti Salgaonkar

Parents: Hirachand Govardandas Ambani & Jamanaben

He was from his very babyhood days extremelydemanding, robust of health and difficult toplacate. Dhirubhai was precocious and highlyintelligent and when asked to choose a task athome or school, he always chose the moststrenuous task that called for immense physicalenergy and stamina. Formal education was not hisforte, he realized very early in life.

Example: As his elder brother Ramnik Bhai andhe grew up/grew into boyhood, Jamanaben(mother) began exhorting them to helpsupplement their father’s meager income. “Beginearning some money,” she nagged at them. Thatangered Dhirubhai. “Phadia, phadia su karochho,”he snapped at her, “paisa no to danglokarees.”(Why do you keep screaming for money?I’ll make heaps of money one day.) Just to showthat that was not an empty boast, he onceprocured a tin of ground of oil on credit from alocal whole seller and sold the oil in retail sittingon the roadside, earning a profit of a few rupeesthat he gave to his mother.

Ambani was an Indian business magnate whofounded Reliance industries in

Mumbai with his cousin. Dhirubhai Ambani builtIndia’s largest private sector company. He alsocreated an equity cult in the Indian capitalmarket. Reliance is the first Indian company tofeature (qualify) in Forbes 500 list. Dhirubhai wasthe most enterprising Indian entrepreneur. He isremembered as the one who rewrote Indiancorporate history and built a truly global corporategroup.

He was always determined to do what hewanted to do in exactly the way he wanted it to bedone, come Hell or High water, as the phrasegoes.

Marvels of Ambani:Dhirubhai Ambani started his entrepreneurialcareer by selling “bhajias” to pilgrims in mountGirnar over the weekends. After his matriculationat the age of 16 he moved to Aden, Yemen. Heworked there as a gas station attendant, and as aclerk in an oil company.

He returned to India in 1958 with Rs.50000 andset up a textile company named “VIMAL”.Extensive marketing of the brand “VIMAL” in theinteriors of India made it a household name.

Over time his business has diversified into a corespecialization in petrochemicals with additionalinterests in telecommunications, informationtechnology, energy, power, retail, textiles,infrastructure services, capital markets,entertainment, and logistics.

Dhirubhai is credited with shaping India’s equityculture, attracting millions of retail investors in amarket till then dominated by financialinstitutions.

Dhirubhai revolutionized capital markets. Fromnothing, he generated billions of rupees inwealth for those who put their trust in hiscompany. With innovative instruments like theconvertible debenture, Reliance quickly becamea favorite of the stock market in the 1980’s.In1992, Reliance became the first Indian companyto raise money in global markets, its high credittaking in international markets limited only byIndia’s sovereign rating.

Learnings from ‘LIFE OF PI’

‘Life of Pi’ is an excellently made movie which shows how ahuman being interacts with his environment. It focuses onhow all the components in our ecosystem are extraordinarilyinterconnected with each other. It depicts the ancient andvaluable process of coordination among these componentswhich is the secret of their continued survival.

Pi the protagonist of the story, a boy with a strong spiritualbackground, is all of a sudden thrown in the Pacific Ocean tosurvive. Though surviving alone would have been a faintpossibility, the presence of a Royal Bengal tiger on the sameboat made it entirely unpredictable and impossible to imagine.

In his childhood he tried to imbibe the essence of a number of religions like Hinduism,Islam, and Christianity. His world was full of mythology, spirituality and traditions untilone day his father decided to teach him rationality. But fate didn’t give up on him anddue to an extraordinary turn of events, he loses everything he had, his family, hisnative place, all the material comforts of life and moreover whatever little faith thathe still had in God, but all this to grasp it stronger than ever. It was certainly amiracle that he managed to survive against all odds that he faced in his voyageacross the largest ocean in the world. But that is where we take our learnings. Whatis life without miracles?

- SAUNAK DEY (I BBA)

COORDINATIONWe have learnt the virtue of coordination with one’s ecosystem.On the life boat Pi was accompanied by four animals, a female orangutan, a hyena, azebra and a royal Bengal tiger by the name of Richard Parker. Three of them die andeventually he has to cope with the most dangerous of them, the tiger. He tries tocoordinate with the tiger but he fails many a times. Finally when he succeeds, the tigerno longer posed as a danger to his life. In any ecosystem, where humans, plants,animals and the wide nature are the components, we have to learn to co-ordinate witheach other to make our lives smooth. We need to respect each other’s needs. Themodern attitude of consumerism and selfishness has destroyed many ecosystems bycompletely deleting some of its vital components which has made them unfit for soundsurvival. The ancient Vedic philosophies of selflessness and working for the overall goodwill help in this juncture to bring about stability. Co-ordination in this context doesn’tmerely mean working in togetherness but there has to be a compassionate bond withthe nature and being the most intelligent and judicious of all the creatures, it is ourforemost duty to practice eco-friendly ways to fulfil our needs so as to maintain theecosystem in all its diversity.

LOVELove is that which can change anyone. The boy was taught by hisfather that the tiger is a ferocious animal and the only thing it caresabout is satisfying its desires. “The love that you see in its eyes isnothing but a reflection of your own feelings”. Initially Pi had tomake a separate arrangement for himself a little away from the lifeboat because he didn’t trust the tiger. Then he tried to train the tigerto make it understand that he was the boss, the master in themonotonous voyage. He had a fair amount of power over the tigerbut he lacked a companion. When a huge storm struck the oceanand both were fighting for their lives, Pi demanded the Gods to savethe helpless creature, Richard Parker and not himself, Pi had learntselflessness. Even when the tiger was starving for weeks and itsbody was shrinking in strength and size, even then it did not makethe boy its food.

LOVE MAKES IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE.

DETACHMENT Initially the tiger had been the primary motivation for Pi to strive forhis own survival. And that was by not becoming its food. Later itbecame his only reason to survive at all. He lived to save the life ofthe tiger from the turbulent storms and unknown dangers of theocean. With time he had become so obsessed with the presence ofthe tiger in his life that when the tiger left the shores of Mexico intothe woods without paying him even a single glance, Pi felt a deepemotional trauma. He wasn’t able to bear this separation.Thus detachment is a great virtue that we must practice. It is ourweapon against the bonds of Maya. It brings forth our true Atmicnature which guarantees fulfillment and bliss.

BLISSFUL COEXISTENCEOne of the best lessons that we learnt from the movie is that of blissful coexistence! Itis the same land where the predator chases and the prey escapes, wherein live thestrong and the weak, the fastest and the slowest, the tallest and the shortest, themost beautiful and the ugliest.It is from the same source of water from which all quench their thirst from and it is thesame air that all inhale. It is so amazing that so many diverse forms of life with somany differences, peacefully coexist.Yes of course there are challenges of survival and the game is a fair play. There’sstruggle for food and area of domination. There are differences among the species.Fear, anger, possessiveness and peer pressure are felt.

In this perspective their life is quite similar to that of humans. The only difference isthat animals are able to coexist happily in spite of differences, whereas we humanscant in spite of our sixth sense and highly developed intelligence.

The movie “Life of Pi” was shown to the first year undergraduate students of the Muddenahalli Campus and they were asked to write what they have learned from the movie. The above article is a composite of the views expressed by all the students.

All the images depicted are screenshots from the movie.

LEADERSHIP IN SPORTS

A TRIBUTE TO SACHIN TENDULKAR

“Son! Life is like a book. It has many alesson in it. It is made up of a wide variety ofexperiences and resembles a pendulum wheresuccess and failure, joy and sorrow, are merelyextremes of the central reality. As a parent, Iwould be happier hearing people say, “Sachin is agood human being” .

Those were the words by SachinTendulkar’s father, Ramesh Tendulkar who was anacclaimed Marathi poet, critic and professor whilehis wife, Rajani worked for the Life InsuranceCorporation of India. Humility, sincerity andmodesty were their hallmarks.

When Sachin entered the field of cricket,his sister Savita gave him his first cricket bat atthe age of five. He started playing cricket at theage of eleven in the year 1984. At first he used topractice in the nets under sub-juniors levels.He started his career by playing for his school

regularly which helped him to achieve big scoresand get used to batting for a long time. Duringholidays, he used to play practice matches for hisclub. In his first year at Shardashram, he played55 practice matches during the summer break of60 days.

The summer session used to start at7.30 am and he would bat for two hours split intoa few net sessions. During the break his coachwould often give him some money to go and havea Vadapav (a popular Mumbai fast food) or a softdrink as a treat.

After his practice sessions, occasionallyhis father would come and take him back home.On the way back home, his father would give hima treat at a special fruit juice center near thecricket club.

- B Sai Krishna (III BBM)

In the year 1986-87 season, hestarted to score runs consistently and alsoscored his first century. As he was trying toestablish himself as an international cricketer,his personal life changed dramatically inAugust 1990 when he met Anjali, his futurewife.He was deeply involved in the World Cup in1999 when he lost his father. He returnedhome, a little sad and forlorn, but after a fewdays with his mother, he rejoined his teamand played the next match against Kenya. Inthat match against Kenya, he scored what is amost cherished century because he dedicatedit to his father. After scoring the century, helooked up at the sky and thanked his father.Since then whenever he scored a century, hewould look up at the sky and thank his father.This shows the love and respect he had for hisfather.

Sachin got engaged on 24th April1994, which also happened to be his 21st

birthday. On the 25th May 1995, Anjali Mehtamarried Sachin and became Anjali Tendulkar.Before their engagement she was pursuing MDafter completing MBBS degree. But after theirmarriage, she gave up her career.

Sachin has two kids, Sara and Arjun. Duringhis busy schedule of cricket, it was his wifewho looked after the kids. He is deeplyappreciative of her dedication for their family.After the 2011 World Cup he was amazed tofind how tall the kids had grown.

Once during Swami’s Birthdaycelebrations, Swami expressed that it wouldbe good to have an international cricket matchone day in Puttaparthi. People were worriedabout the accommodation for the cricketersand the venue for a cricket match.

Swami replied that the Hill ViewStadium was already there and that is how, onDec 30, 1997, the Sri Sathya Sai Unity CupMatch was held in Puttaparthi. The match wasbetween an India 11 and a World 11. TheIndian team was headed by Sachin supportedby a galaxy of famous cricketers. The Worldteam included famous cricketers fromPakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka and led byArjun Ranatunga. India won the match but thepresence of the Indian Prime Minister SriGujral and Swami was wonderful and thepeople of Puttaparthi got a chance to see anInternational Cricket match.

In June 2011 Sachin had already achieved 99international centuries and in the tour of the WestIndies that took place, he was expected to attempt toachieve his 100th century. When it did not materialize,there was a lot of criticism and talk of his ‘failing’.He however did not lose his confidence and in the nextmatch against Bangladesh, there was a great deal ofpressure on him. With patience and his customarycoolness, Sachin achieved his 100th century.

One of the classic lessons one learns from hislife is that when you want to achieve something inyour life, and for some reason, it seems you are goingto miss it, you need a lot of courage and strength toface the criticism that may be levelled against you.When Sachin failed to achieve his 100th century therewas a lot of criticism. But the remarkable thing washow he was totally unmoved and cool and patient.Later as we have seen above, he achieved it inanother place and at another occasion.

During the 2011 World Cup, in the finalmatch against Sri Lanka, Sachin stepped down fromhis captaincy and later only played for India.

His was a phased withdrawal from public lifein the world of cricket. His approach was always full ofhumility and serenity. This came to the fore when hewas playing in the IPL season in 2011 and came toknow that Swami was hospitalized. When he came to

know that Swami had left His body on 24th April 2011,Sachin excused himself from the IPL match and cameto Puttaparthi with his wife to pay his humble homageto Swami.

Throughout his life he has been devoted tohis own family and to his parents. He has never put onany airs as though he is superior to anyone.Cricket is extremely vibrant. It is the only sport thathas three distinctive formats and each format has aconstituency of its own. When people asked him abouthis future, Sachin invariably answered that he doesn’tknow anything about the future. He started his careeras a cricketer at the age of eleven and he was nothaving any idea that he would go on to play for Indiaor would play for 200 Test matches or achieve 100centuries. All he knew, he said, was to play the gamewell and enjoy every moment.

TEAM IN GHT

Years of Divine Guidance

90

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