A Colombian friend of mine sent this to me about Indian Spirituality. Though these are great as principles, I wanted to add my thoughts, so read on…

The First Principle states:

 “Whomsoever you encounter is the right one”

This means that no one comes into our life by chance. Everyone who is around us, anyone with whom we interact, represents something, whether to teach us something or to help us improve a current situation.

The Second Principle states:

 “Whatever happened is the only thing that could have happened”

Nothing, absolutely nothing of that which we experienced could have been any other way. Not even in the least important detail. There is no “If only I had done that differently…, then it would have been different…”. No. What happened is the only thing that could have taken place and must have taken place for us to learn our lesson in order to move forward. Every single situation in life, which we encounter, is absolutely perfect, even when it defies our understanding and our ego.

The Third Principle states:

 “Each moment in which something begins is the right moment”

Everything begins at exactly the right moment, neither earlier nor later. When we are ready for it, for that something new in our life, it is there, ready to begin.

This is the Fourth Principle, the final one: 

 “What is over, is over”

It is that simple. When something in our life ends, it helps our evolution. That is why, enriched by the recent experience, it is better to let go and move on.

It is no coincidence that you are reading this, but it strikes a certain chord in you. In my analysis these are based of Karma, an Indian philosophy.  Intelligent design.   Karma.  Maybe!!

Here are my thoughts...

Yeah, sure I am happy, always, even at times when objectively I shouldn’t be. What is so annoying about those four laws is that they are just not true. You can play this game of "what if"??

What I have trouble is “the wrong place”. Who knows? Sometimes the wrong place is the wrong place. Sometimes the wrong place turns out to be a good place. Sometimes the right place turns out to be just so much misfortune. 

Also “What is over, is over”, it is completely wrong. Sometimes we can resurrect the things that are over, because it is up to us.. Many times it is just a misunderstanding or miscommunication that causes the problem, just because of that you cannot leave it on luck or destiny, because you have the power to change things.

We the humans use our intellect in order to make us feel better/justify our existence, our decisions, and the things we cannot explain we say "that's how the things should be" or "god made it this way".

I believe sometimes we have control on our lives and sometimes we do not, and not because....but because of circumstances such as government, laws, etc. 

I hope that "Whatever happened is the only thing that could have happened" is because I had some say in it.

Life’s a bitch and then you die. If somewhere along the way you meet some good folk and wring some enjoyment out of your time here then you win. Regardless how many toys and money you have. But it’s best to be civil and treat others the way you’d like to be treated…Peace!!

Jobs one of the world’s greatest human beings died after battling with cancer for the past several years of his life.  Steve Jobs’ is considered as one of the great entrepreneurs of our lifetime; during his lifetime he gave us innovative products like iMac, iPod, iPhone, iTunes, iPad, and characters like Woody, Buzz, Nemo and Carl.

From dropout to success, he did all by following a simple mantra – Focus and Simplicity… A Zen priciple..

He was a fan of Beatles and dropped out of college to make a pilgrimage to India in 1973 in search of enlightenment. He visited Neem Karoli Baba at his Kainchi Ashram. He returned home to California, complete with a shaved head and traditional Indian clothing and a philosophy that may have shaped much of his corporate values. He was often seen walking barefoot in his trademark blue jeans around the office.

Calligraphy, Spirituality, and Zen embodied in all his products. The Irony of his inventions is that the simplicity of the products he has provided has made generations of enslaved users...

I just wanted to share few of my favorite quotes from Jobs.

• You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
• The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.
• You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers……So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
• Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
• Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
• Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish

• I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn’t that important because I never did it for the money.
• Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
• Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.
• It's not the customer's job to know what they want.
• Simple can be harder than complex, you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple….But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.

Here are some amazing Portraits by Charis Tsevis..

Apple filed a suit last Friday where Samsung's Galaxy tablets come under fire. Claiming that Samsung's phones and tablets infringe its own patents, Apple is seeking for compensation and injunctions that will damage Samsung's tablet line.

Here they (Apple) go again. Apple’s iPad is the pioneer of bringing tablets to the masses but that does not give them a right to control what other companies can do. In my humble opinion there is only so much you can do with Tablets due to its nature. I feel that Apple doesn't have a potential case, Apple is using its monopoly to crush the competition.

I love Apple products but Apple needs to stop this madness, and just concentrate on bringing great products into the market and let the end-user decide.

This is based on a true story that happened recently in Karnataka, India. 

A rich business man (Mr. Greed) saw a dead black cat in his living room while vacationing in his farm-house with his family. Mr. Greed immediately called his Poojari (priest) about this event. Two priests, Mr. Harichandra and Mr. Georgeappa, came promptly to the farm-house and saw the cat and identified it as a male cat. They advised Mr. Greed, since the cat was male; he had to conduct the Pooja (offering a worship to God) at the premises to cleanse all the women of the house. The Pooja had to be set in a private setting and the women naked. If he did not conduct the Pooja, then another male would come and take over his business and wealth. The first Pooja date was set on a Wednesday at 12:01 pm because this was an auspicious time.

On Wednesday all the arrangements were done for the Pooja, and the priests came on time and the Pooja proceedings started. Mr. Greed with no hesitation sent his wife completely naked for the Pooja and ceremony was completed. After the Pooja, priests mentioned that both Mr. Greed’s daughters need to be cleansed too. The Muhurat (auspicious time) for the next Pooja was selected as Friday 11:42 AM. On Friday, like previous Pooja the ceremony started and Mr. Greed sent his two daughters (18 years and 19 years old) naked for the Pooja. During the Pooja, the 18 year old daughter started screaming, and everyone in the house came in to the Pooja room. The girls complained that the two priests Mr. Harichandra and Mr. Georgeappa, had touched them inappropriately in their private parts. Later the mother also mentioned that she was molested. The priests were beaten up and the police were called. Upon further investigation it was determined that there are 30 pending cases against the priests with similar behavior. 

Moral of the story: A greedy money hungry business man is willing to sell his wife and daughters in the name of blind faith, religion and money. And the priests have found a nice loophole in the name of religion and lust. 

Story: Sense of Sarcasm Linked to Right Brain, Evolution - A University of California scientist recently discovered that the ability to use and understand sarcasm happens on the right side of the brain and served a purpose in the evolution of human beings. 

Sarcasm serves as a link to human evolution, WOW, what a concept.  With the media and political correctness sarcasm has no place in our society. Everyone has to be from the same mold, belonging to the same class, similar thinking’s, same iPOds, no more questioning, agree to the higher being (GOD), or to the corporate structure. 

Do not believe in the hype from our soulless government, corporations, and religious leaders. If we were more Cynical then we would have questioned our government. With the fear that they (Bush and his cronies) fed us about Saddam Hussein- weapons of mass-destruction, linking Iraq and al Qaeda, and the best of all Bush’s own words, the attack can happen “…on any given day.”, meaning the threat was imminent. We believed this propaganda. Our media which uses our airways to profit, failed to do their job, and instead of being more inquisitive and dig deeper into the issues, just blindly believed Bush administration and the neo- conservatives propaganda. We cannot just blame the media; we have to blame ourselves too. American people were unable to accept that our President, the most powerful man in the world, could lie to us . If we were more cynical about our government we may not have rushed to the Iraq war. 

Corporations want us to be of the same mold like a ‘Sheep’, so we can be obedient and without questioning do as they say, and follow everyone else blindly. The sheep represent the lowest class of the social system, the proletariat. They are oblivious and exploited, ‘only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air’, as so eloquently Roger Waters wrote in the song “Sheep” from Animals. We believe in the hype and advertisements. Everything is revolved around Buy Buy and Buy. While we were under attack Bush did nothing to mobilize public opinion to accept the sacrifices that war implies instead asked us to “Go shopping” and with Recession Looming, our government tells America To ‘Go Shopping More’.

Religion scares us with hell and heaven and easily manipulates us, so we would be unaware when they take us to the slaughterhouse.

What happened to the individual? I thought America was built on individualism, free thinking, and progressive people. It is time that people become more Cynical, think for themselves and questions everyone and everything. 

Let’s not buy into the hype, and be dummies – we can leave that for Creationists. By using our brain we may help the Evolutionary process and in turn save ourselves. 

So what?  I mean really, who cares? Oh for God's sake. You don’t have anything better to do that read this column? Get off this computer and “Go Shopping and help the Economy” for Christ sake!!