Unleash your natural intelligence

Courtsey: CO S M I C U P LI N K 24 Sep 2009 //Author:PARAMAHAMSA NITHYANANDA

INTELLIGENCE is not something to attain; every single being is endowed with intelligence. Each one of us has intelligence. It is an inherent, inborn quality of life. Most of us have lost touch with our natural intelligence; that is why we are not able to live life to its fullest potential. We mistake our acquired knowledge for intelligence.

Every single being in nature has been endowed with inherent intelligence. Birds have a natural intelligence that enables them to fly. From the caterpillar to the chimpanzee, every animal lives its life beautifully using the natural gift of intelligence. Plants and trees have natural intelligence; this is what enables them to produce food directly from the sun. Man also has tremendous natural intelligence. He is a more evolved, higher form of consciousness than birds, animals or trees.

By nature we have all the intelligence in our human body. The difficulty is we strongly believe we are limited. We have been conditioned to think that we have only limited capabilities, so we have forgotten how to use these capabilities. Hence we are not tuned to the technique of tapping into all the dimensions of our being. You have a natural, spontaneous intelligence inside you. As a child, you are born intelligent. You looked at things in a very simple, straightforward way and were so spontaneous and enthusiastic. But family, society and conventional schooling destroys the natural intelligence within us. As a result we sacrifice our priceless creativity and uniqueness, and we are not even aware of it.

By constantly thinking that you are not enough, you try to imitate others and waste the wonderful natural energy bubbling inside you. I

f you blindly imitate another person’s performance or behaviour instead of acting from your own inner spontaneity, your own intelligence, you will be cheating yourself out of wonderful possibilities.

Intelligence is the ability to respond to a situation or challenge. As the situation differs, the dimension of intelligence that responds to the situation also differs.

Everyone is born intelligent; it is a question of just discovering each one’s unique dimension of intelligence.

Allow your complete being to simply express itself and you will see your natural intelligence flowering beautifully. You will become integrated and fulfilled.

Be Blissful!

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Changing evolution by compassion

by: Mukul Sharma

COMPASSION for all living creatures doesn't come easy because scale matters. A squished ant will not evoke the same visceral response as a squashed human being. Swatting flies or mosquitoes, for instance , is routine and emotionless whereas the sight of a mangled hit-and-run accident victim makes us recoil in fear, disgust and sorrow. Enlarge the ant, however, to the size of a person and it would suddenly make things change a little; just like if we saw the remnants of a bug-sized human obliterated by the stamp of a boot, probably wouldn't .

But, again, not quite. Compassion for all living creatures also doesn't come easy for another reason: we're having to constantly fight conditioning and evolutionary biology because we're hardwired to be fond of smaller, softer versions of us who have large eyes in a head that's largely out of proportion to the rest of the body. This inbuilt compassion is important .

After all in order to ensure the survival of the species we have to love, look after and nurture our helpless young till they're able to fend for themselves . Only after that, and by extension , the default programming spreads to liking those things that resemble babies in structure, size and perceived vulnerability such as koalas, kittens and, of course, teddy bears.

Now take passionate animal lovers. Operating out of generally unfeeling cities, they do a truly remarkable job taking in and caring for starving street dogs, abused cats, injured birds, dying cattle and even, on many occasions , the odd battered snake or sick tortoise. Sometimes they get together in big groups and thanklessly attempt to rescue beached whales; sometimes they form powerful associations to protect endangered seals and tigers. But how come one needs to understand this they never take in their care a blind slug or a wasp with a broken wing ?

How absurd is it really to pose a question like that when sages of some of the greatest religions of the world never compromised on their compassion To them "all creatures" often included microbes. Yes, we need to eat living things, but vegetarians also know there aren't enough certified naturally dead cabbages to go around. Instead, if we can just begin to extend our compassion to creatures that don't resemble us in the least, like a cockroach or spider, then we will have freed ourselves from a binding biology and begun approaching a newer phase of evolution .

Courtesy: ET Cosmic Uplink (11 Sep 2009)

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I Caught it -- Can I keep it ?

Keeping Your Client Out Of The Competitive Pool

The conventional wisdom is that it costs more to get a new client than to keep an old one. And for once, the conventional wisdom is correct. Yet, many professionals too readily take clients for granted. Or don't look for opportunities to increase revenues from perfectly satisfied clients.

Then there's the classic story of the client who went to another firm for a particular service. Why didn't you come to me for that service?" "Because I didn't know you did it." It happens too often.

Some firms have full-scale client retention programs. Some firms simply have a philosophy about clients -- a point of view that says that new business is terrific, but “our business is built on our existing clients.” And on the other hand, some firms don't seem to grasp the dynamic of client service. There's the story about the guy whose wife was suing him for divorce. "Judge, he never tells me that he loves me." And he answers, "I told you I love you when I married you. It holds good till I revoke it."

The reality is that this new world is competitive in ways that it's never been before. Ask your clients how many times they've been approached by your competitors, and pursued aggressively. And then ask yourself if you can continue to be sanguine about keeping your clients happy, on a day-by-day basis.

There are, of course, some things that are clearly necessary in client retention. Doing good work, obviously. Being responsive, obviously. Being timely in delivering promised reports and material. Being polite to clients. But these are things that should be taken for granted – things inherent in the meaning of professional. It's what the client is paying for. You get no credit for doing them, but you lose clients for not doing them. The larger picture of client retention, on the other hand, is predicated upon recognizing the competitive and changing nature of the marketplace.

Sophisticated marketers have a strong handle on who your client company is, what the company does, what its needs are, and how to address those needs in marketing approaches. Which means that if you don't have that same knowledge, and the kind of relationship that means total involvement in the client's concerns, then you're in danger of losing that client.

Client retention, then, requires more than the obvious factors of doing good work and delivering it on time. And in fact, in a dynamic business world, it's often more than a personal relationship. It's at least . . .

Being immersed in a client's business and industry. While the professional has a stake in some aspects of arms length relationship, this doesn't preclude knowing enough about a client's business to anticipate problems in your professional area, and to seek new ways in which other of your services can help the client.

** Frequent contact points, beyond the engagement. You do, of course, what you've been hired to do. But you help both the client and yourself when you send a brochure on a subject of mutual interest. Or a copy of a clipping in which you've been quoted on a subject the client might care about. Or a simple newsletter, either your own or one of the excellent packaged ones, covering information of interest or concern to the client. The client should know you exist between contracts, between matters, between consultations.
** Maintaining personal relationships. Not just drinking and dining to keep the client happy, but establishing and reinforcing a sense of mutual understanding and trust. The degree to which the client calls on you for business advice is as much a matter of personal trust as it is professional trust.
** Visible quality control systems. You may have your internal quality control systems, but if the client doesn't know that, then the client has no reason to believe they exist. More importantly, the quality control systems should relate to the client's business, not yours.

Quality, a buzzword frequently used in business, relates to the client, not the professional firm. If the client doesn't perceive quality in terms of the client's needs, then your service can be the best there is, but not for that client. The client-driven, rather than the practice-driven, firm is the only safe way to compete in today's market. Recently a major accounting firm took a highly conservative position on a matter pertaining to a client's matter. The problem was not the position, but that the position was taken for the law firm's protection, and not the client's -- and the client was made aware of this.

** Needs change. Your services change. By constantly reviewing the client's needs, you not only assure that you're giving the client the best service, and that you're maximizing the relationship, but you're also telling the client that you're concerned.
** Regular client surveys. New York's former Mayor Koch used to walk the streets of the city, asking people, "How'm I doing?" He didn't always like what he heard, but he always knew. Anybody who doesn't take active steps to keep aware of client attitudes toward the firm is somebody who likes surprises. A simple one-page survey, annually, goes a long way.

Successful professionals are those who've learned the difference between client relations and client service. Both are important, but one is not the substitute for the other. In client retention, you have to have both.

It's the peculiar nature of professional services that quality plays little or no role in getting new business, except perhaps in terms of reputation. It plays a crucial role in client retention, on the other hand, if you define quality as giving the client what the client needs, wants, and expects. Most frequently, in order to know what the client needs, wants, and expects, you have to be immersed in the relationship. And you have to ask. Here, quality is not an abstraction -- it's a reality.

Those who are most successful at client retention are those who actively work at it. They have programs and checklists. Even small firms that are aware of the need for it have programs that focus on paying attention. They listen. They contact. They understand the economics, and know what kind of return they're getting on their investment in it.

And they know, at first hand, why it's true that keeping a client is still cheaper than getting a new one.

Courtesy: The Marcus Letter

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Dilemma of a liberal Hindu

Courtesy: TOI

With the rise in religious fundamentalism, it is increasingly difficult to talk about one’s deepest beliefs, says Gurcharan Das

I was born a Hindu, in a normal middle-class home. I went to an English-medium school where I got a modern education. Both my grandfathers belonged to the Arya Samaj, a reformist sect of Hinduism. My father, however, took a different path. While studying to be an engineer, he was drawn to a kindly guru who inspired him with the possibility of direct union with God through meditation. The guru was a Radhasoami saint, who quoted vigorously from Kabir, Nanak, Mirabai, Bulle Shah and others from the bhakti and sufi traditions.

Growing up Hindu was a chaotically tolerant experience. My grandmother visited the Sikh gurudwara on Mondays and Wednesdays and a Hindu temple on Tuesdays and Thursdays; she saved Saturdays and Sundays for discourses by holy men, including Muslim peers, who were forever visiting our town. In between, she made time for Arya Samaj ceremonies when someone died or was born. Her dressing room was laden with the images of her gods, especially Ram and Krishna and she used to say in the same breath that there are millions of gods but only one God. My grandfather would laugh at her ways, but my pragmatic uncle thought that she had smartly taken out plenty of insurance so that someone up there would eventually listen.

I grew up in this atmosphere with a liberal attitude — that is a mixture of scepticism and sympathy for my tradition. Why then do I feel uneasy about being a liberal Hindu? I feel besieged from both ends — from the Hindu nationalists and the secularists. Something seems to have gone wrong. Hindu nationalists have appropriated my past and made it into a political statement of Hindutva. Secularists have contempt for all forms of belief and they find it odd that I should cling to my Hindu past. Young, successful Indians, at the helm of our private and public enterprises, have no time or use for the classics of our ancient tradition.

A few years ago, I told my wife that I wanted to read the Mahabharata in its entirety. I explained that I had read the Western epics but not the Indian ones. She gave me a sceptical look, and said, “It’s a little late in the day to be having a mid-life crisis, isn’t it?” To my chagrin, I became the subject of animated discussion at a dinner party soon after.

“So, what is this I hear about wanting to go away to read old books”, asked my hostess, “aren’t there any new ones?” She gave my wife a sympathetic look.

“Tell us, what you plan to read?” asked a retired civil servant who had once been a favourite of Indira Gandhi. He spoke casually as though he was referring to the features of a new Nokia phone. I admitted that I had been thinking of the Mahabharata. “Good lord, man!” he exclaimed. “You haven’t turned saffron, have you?”

I think his remark was made in jest, but it upset me. I found it disturbing that I had to fear the intolerance of my “secular” friends, who seemed to think that reading an epic was a political act. I was reminded of a casual remark by a Westernized woman in Chennai who said that she had always visited a Shiva temple near her home, but lately she had begun to hide this from her fiercely secular friends, who she feared might paint her in saffron.

With the rise in religious fundamentalism around the world, it is increasingly difficult to talk about one’s deepest beliefs. Liberal Hindus are reluctant to admit to being Hindu for fear they will be linked to the RSS. Liberal Christians and liberal Muslims abroad have had the same experience. Part of the reason that the sensible idea of secularism is having so much difficulty finding a home in India is that the most vocal and intellectual advocates of secularism were once Marxists. Not only do they not believe in God, they actually hate God. As rationalists they can only see the dark side of religion — intolerance, murderous wars and nationalism and cannot empathize with the everyday life of the common Indian for whom religion gives meaning to every moment. Secularists speak a language alien to the vast majority, so they are only able to condemn communal violence but not to stop it, as Mahatma Gandhi could, in East Bengal in 1947.

Part of the problem stems from ignorance. Our children do not grow up reading our ancient classics, certainly not with a critical mind as youth in the West read their works of literature and philosophy in school and college. In India, some get to know about epics from their grandmothers; others read the stories in Amar Chitra Katha comics or watch them in television serials.

If Italian children can read Dante’s Divine Comedy in school, English children can read Milton and Greek children can read the Illiad, why should “secularist” Indians be ambivalent about the Mahabharata? It is true that the Mahabharata has lots of gods and in particular that elusive divinity, Krishna, who is up to all kinds of devious activities. But so are Dante, Milton and Homer filled with God or gods?

I suspect Mahatma Gandhi would have understood my dilemma about teaching the Mahabharata in our schools. He instinctively grasped the place of the epic in an Indian life and he would have approved of what V S Sukthankar wrote: “The Mahabharata is the content of our collective unconscious .... We must therefore grasp this great book with both hands and face it squarely. Then we shall recognize that it is our past which has prolonged itself into the present. We are it." The epic has given me great enjoyment in the past six years and I have become a Mahabharata addict. I feel sad that so many boys and girls in India are growing up rootless, and they will never have access to these forbidden fruits of pleasure.

As we think about sowing the seeds of secularism in India, we cannot just divide Indians between communalists and secularists. That would be too easy. The average Indian is decent and is caught in the middle. To achieve a secular society, believers must tolerate each other’s beliefs as well as the atheism of non-believers. Hindu nationalists must resist hijacking our religious past and turning it into votes. Secularists must learn to respect the needs of ordinary Indians for a transcendental life beyond reason. Only then will secularism find a comfortable home in India.

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