Abhay Bhattad

  When I was in Primary school (Age 7-8 years), our teachers used to teach a lot of traditional Proverbs during classes.  I am sure all the 1990's kids will relate with me here.............. Those age-old proverbs were actually a treasure trove of wisdom expressed in very simple words.    Our teacher (Respected Panaskar Madam) taught us some amazingly simple Marathi Proverbs. I was in a Marathi school (Nagar Parishad Shala Kramank 6. If any alumni reading this then, "Haat varti kara..." ).       I remembered one such proverb today. It is in Marathi :  दिसते तसं नसते , म्हणून जग फसते So Apt... So amazing... Pure wisdom conveyed in 6 simple words.... It can guide us in taking any major decisions to double check the reality and to not believe something on face value. Heck, its a complete Risk-Management framework in itself.....!!  The proverb is ofcourse about perceptions and propaganda. It is more useful in todays life than any other time ...

                                                                          Gods cannot be more  "Cool"  than what our Indian Gods are..! Just think of it….They have literally provided us a full menucard/roadmap to reach/meet them with exact blueprint. (In Part 1 and Part 2 of my article series, we saw how reaching God/Moksha/realizing god should be the grand goal of human life as per various Veda & Upnishad texts and philosophies) ** "Come find me, I am here, this is the way to reach me....." Don't believe me? Ok, lets check out what Upanishads and later on the Bhagvad Gita says. We will then elaborate on it.  Lets concentrate on a particular dialogue between Arjun and Krishn- Arjun (to Krishn) :  "Bro, I understand what you are saying. But I have a practical problem. How ...

  What is the theoretical Background of my earlier post   in the Brahma-Sutras and other Vedic Texts? Well, Vedic texts are extremely vast to say the least. I am reading them over the weekends just for the passion about the subject. In my humble reading of the Vedic texts, t he closest theoretical background which I found was the “Shad-Darshan”  The Vedic period ended when all four Vedas (Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda) were conceived.  After 800 BC, the evolution of knowledge moved towards philosophy.  There were 2 branches in it - One which considered Vedas as its core and the other which denied it. Furthermore, there are 6 schools of Indian Philosophy or the "Shad Darshan" with Veda at its core -  Mimansa Darshan Vedanta Nyyay Darshan Sankhya Darshan Vaisheshika Yog. The Non-Veda branch worked on a different line of thought  Jainism Buddhism Each of these philosophies is again extremely vast, all of them have their dedicated f...

Have you ever thought to yourself that Moksha (God realization/meeting God) is possible for YOU as well. Its not only for the Saadhus or Mahatmas. We just brush it aside as some weird thought.   “Oh that’s not for me…definitely not”.  We all go to our Mandirs and Temples, Pray, Sing Bhajans and That's it. This is just for the "Feel Good" factor. But as soon as "serious spirituality" is concerned, we tend to have some sort of "fear" about it...  This fear about serious spirituality and moksha is inexplicable. Again the thought comes  “Oh that’s not for me…definitely not.. I cant think weird...” Well, please stand corrected. Because as per our Vedic texts, Moksha is equally available for everyone.  (call it by any name- either God or the supreme Cosmic Energy).  And actually the ones who are not thinking about it are somewhat weird because that is the only supreme reality. Swami Vivekanand even calls all the humans as "Children of immortal Blis...

(* Note- This is a pinned post. For newer posts, please check below.) Advaita Vedanta is the classic thought process of nondual philosophy.  In Sanskrit ' Brahma Satyam, jagat mithya, jiva brahmaiva na para'.  In simpler language, the core teaching is 'The Absolute (Brahman) is the only reality, the world (jagat) is an appearance (of that nondual Absolute) and the sentient being (jiva) is none other than the nondual Absolute'.   Don't confuse Brahman with Brahma.  Brahman  means the single cosmic energy (i.e. The infinite, formless reality beyond the physics dimensions of space and time). Adi Shankaracharya was the proponent of this Philosophy.                                                  There are two steps to Advaita—first,  'neti, neti'  which means  'not this, not this' leading to the realization of our s...

  Vairagya is such a beautiful concept...!!  Unfortunately our society views it negatively. Its because 99% people don't understand the true meaning of Vairagya. Vairagya doesn't necessarily mean going to Himlayas. We can practice vairagya in normal life as well. Vairagya Comes from Vivek (Differentiating between the right and the wrong) and then becomes strong through Abhyas (Constant practice of detachment from worldly objects and desires) VIVEK = >    VAIRAGYA     <= ABHYAS A proper definition given by Maharishi Patanjali in the Yogashastra: "दृष्टानुश्रविकविषयवितृष्णस्य वशीकारसंज्ञा वैराग्यम् ।"  i.e. Vairagya means the absence of desire for seen & unseen objects. When one's mind no longer desires for worldly objects, it naturally inclines towards contemplation of the supreme reality.  King Bhartruhari's  (भर्तृहरि) "Vairagya Shatakam"  वैराग्य शतकम is a good book to read for those who are intereste...

Satisfaction from materialistic desires is inversely proportional to the desire itself. Human Desires give continuously diminishing returns. More the desires, lesser the satisfaction out of it. So what's the solution..? Vairagya as described in the ancient Vedic traditions is the only way to lasting peace and bliss. A smaller version of Vairagya is known as "Minimalism" in many parts of the world. #Vairagya   #Minimalism - योगी अ..

Well, I am always amazed by these 1 room, roadside banks in France…. This is a branch (agency; as they call it) of LCL (Le credit lyonnais: if I got it right) bank just down the road from my place. Accepted that it’s in a residential area, but still how lean can it be? And despite that, you can do almost everything in the branch may it be International wire transfers or opening an IBAN. To my amazement there are only 2 people working there and one of them is the branch manager. The other guy is a one stop shop for everything starting from exchanging Forex to learn signing a French chequebook (Yes, it’s different).  If you drop in to take a look into the branch manager’s area, she will offer you some chocolates and some help if you want....!  Atleast the branches I visited till now   have a bowl on the employees table’s filled with candies & chocolates and you can help yourself while the guy is stamping your tc’s.  I had heard a lot about French bure...

I was just reflecting on some of my experiences of working with people of different nationalities. In the past few years during my employment, I got a chance to work with various people from around the world. I must have worked closely with atleast 15 nationalities until now. And this has been a real eye opener to the kind of cross cultural team issues which might face an organization. Even in daily life, its just so exciting to see the reactions of people from different nationalities & cultures on the same issue..... You can be almost sure that in a case team of 6 people with 6 nationalities; you will get radically different reactions on the same issue being handled. That's when we realise that 'Diversity' is not just a buzzword; you have to experience it to know its power. If you want to be a global organization, you need to have a diverse and global workforce: It's as simple as that! Just compiling a brief summary of what I observed. Some of...

The title sounds strange enough, but when you are subjected to a long movie, you ought to think of strange things. 3 hours gone but an important analogy made: Between Benjamin Button & the process of creating operational plans from strategic plans in order to execute your strategy! The film shows Brad Pitt being born as an old man and living his life growing younger. He relates events which for him had already happened. Now imagine you, as an org anization, are standing at the end of a long time line - you have already achieved your strategy. Imagine, how did you do it? What actions did you take? What resources did you secure and how you deployed them? Which products/markets/segments did you serve? How did you secure finance? What was the reaction of the market & shareholders? And many such questions depending on the industry. Ask these questions in a stepwise fashion starting from the end. What was the last significant thing you had to do just before reaching the goal. Put ...

Private equity firms will focus on turnarounds by buying distressed debt, file for protection from creditors under insolvency law, and lead a restructuring. Venture capitalists will historically invest in seed stage fundamentally strong businesses. PE's will change the existing management and hire either a consulting firm or their own team to act as top management in the interim. On the other hand, VC's obviously believe in the entrepreneurs whom they funded and hence they dont alter with the operating management but they generally sit on the boards of such firms. For the PE, an exit will generally mean appointing a permanent top management and either sell it completely or partially to achieve a target of anywhere from 15 to 80 percent returns. For the VC, an exit generally means taking the firm to a successful IPO and venture out with similar returns.

The day I landed in Paris was a very hectic one. I had a morning 6 o' clock flight from Mumbai and I hadnt slept almost the whole night before. Infact the situation was not too different from the time of the GMAT....... The exam preparation, exam, the app' ing, the calls, interviews, conversions, scholarships, edu loans, packing, forced shopping, resigning from TCS..... The process was already taking a toll on me. After finalising the packing until 3 AM, I still had an hour before I had to leave. I decided to use it productively by sleeping. I was also counting on the time during the journey to fullfill my quota of sleep. But I could barely sleep and the clock moved on. It was 04:30 already. In between cursing myself for careless-ness & checking the luggage for the last time, I hurried towards the airport. It was a boring flight with people asking for an exchange of seat citing the reason of their kids. The sight of a lady with 2/3 kids looking furiously for a potential hun...