Science: Buddha and Life by Ram Nayan Singh

SCIENCE: BUDDHA AND LIFE  by Ram Nayan Singh (2013), published by the author, price - Zero, p 178

This book was given to me by one of my friends who thought I would enjoy reading this book.  In fact the author of this book Dr Ram Nayan Singh had given a personal copy to my friend and that is how it reached me and I got into reading this title with keen interest.  The journey of life for achieving our purpose and the interrelationship of science, psychology, Buddhism and spirituality is well explained in this book by the author and as one reads on, one tends to get a feel of author's personal interpretations of many concepts and practices as followed in academics and spirituality. The tenets of Buddhism have been elaborated and linked to the personal experiences which makes the book practical in its approach. Man being his own master as preached by Buddha needs to understand that good and bad that occurs, the cause lie within the self of the individual and that is where one needs to work on understanding and rationalizing the act and this approach in a way helps one to understand the music of life rather than having a complaining attitude towards external factors for their attribution towards anything unwanted happening.  This philosophy of Buddha is well explained in the book and the ways through which one can deal with the problems of the modern day world can be handled.  

The study of time and space through the eye of spiritualism is the main focus of the book which starts with a strong belief that any material entity exists in space as well as in time and throughout different chapters it is maintained to justify the existence of energy all around.  The first part of the book provides scientific background of the physical existence of human beings with the help of Einstein’s equation which we have grown studying (E=mc²). So the movement, speed of light and their interaction results in energy.  The author integrates these elements and develops an argument for defending cosmic powers and takes the reader to the world of consciousness which I found interesting and convincing.  The discussion on scientific issues reminds me of a book by Mani Bhaumik entitled ‘CodeName God’.  As author puts it this discussion leads to five principles of natural order viz., deep form equivalence (all material forms are same); rule of law (predictability of the results); interdependence and interconnection (mutuality); paradoxical duality (reaction for every action, opposing existence); and all-inclusiveness (space for everything). The spiritual journey finds its root in the physical existence, space, time and nature which needs to transcend the self towards knowing the psycho-physical system and that is where the author believes that Buddha’s journey becomes important. 

From theoretical physics and pure science the author takes the reader to the world of life sciences and narrates the complex aspect of DNA and the nature of evolution in simple words through chromosomes, molecules, acids, plants and human beings. Before introducing the reader to the world of Buddha, the author cites many scientific works of the west which deny intervention of deities and demons (or effect of worship or otherwise) in the causation of diseases.      

The author has used the works of Newton, Einstein, Skinner, Pavlov, Freud, Dawkins, Simpson, etc to weave through the argument for existence, nature and behavior. And his belief in Buddhism and its explanation may help the reader to find a connect and defense for capabilities of Buddhism to follow the path of knowing the inner self.  This is where I appreciate the author who through his own experiences of and about life supports the cause of leading a life towards enlightenment.  The teachings of Buddha about dhamma, suffering, four noble truths, middle-path and life of moderation, illusions, impermanency, anatma (non-egoness) are explained candidly in the book. 

The last chapter of the book provide the ways following which one can lead a better life. The foremost principle that I could appreciate is the principle of managing energy positively.  Individuals have to manage the inner as well as outer energy within the space provided and that can lead to putting efforts in right direction and using the time effectively. I get reminded of yin-yang of Chinese wisdom which demonstrates co-existence or complementariness of two opposite sides and that is really important understanding for leading a balanced life. The interpretation of dharma, arth, kaam, moksha as religiosity, wealth, desires and independence is explained to suggest right style of life. 

I would like to mention eye-catchers which caught my attention: 

Natural conditioning generates awareness of self while social conditioning turn it to ego. Man can develop power to go beyond both. 

Modesty is shyness in doing evils. 

Life as well as understanding of whole universe is incomplete without the experience of one’s own internality within and without. 

A man appears as a body. He has to live in matter by matter in social relations. But he actually is much more than that, energy of awareness. All inclusive purpose of life is to witness one’s purest form, the elixir of life.

Though there are some typographical errors in the text yet the book leaves me with an impressive and rich feeling of the link between Science, Existence, God and Buddhism and that is the reason I recommend that one should read this book. I am sure the author of the book must have had a strong feeling of self-satisfaction after penning down this piece and putting it in public domain.

F?@K Knows by Shailendra Singh

F?@K KNOWS by Shailendra Singh (2013), Rupa, p 234

Last month I was reading a business magazine and found this book reviewed.  First the title caught my attention and as I read the brief review. I got inclined to buy this title and read it. So that's how I got this book. I knew about Percept and its foray into advertising and people management. I admired this company and gave its example many times to my students in the class. But I did not know Shailendra Singh as a person.   

After having gone through this book, I can really admire the individual as well for his guts and grain to have penned down his experiences and the journey so wisely traveled. Many of the lessons are quite similar to my personal growth as more or less we belong to same generation, which has witnessed the growth (economic) of India and the upsurge of organisations resulting in huge shift in work behaviour of people involved in managing the resources of the organisation.

Jack Welch's Straight from the Gut taught four key lessons, It's nice to be small, however big you become, it's all about people, boundaryless organisations, efficiency over quality. I somehow learnt these lessons through this very unconventional and crude title F?@k Knows. Personally I have strong belief in what Shailendra mentions - Journey is more important than the destination. We need to focus on journey and enjoy every bit of it and rest assured you are going to go places, you are going to reach to a perfect destination. If one is destination driven, one misses on enjoying the journey. I have been sharing my views on happiness at many formal as well as informal fora and in that sequence this title adds some more value to my learning so I have something more to share with the defense of F?@k Knows. Interestingly this book seems to be the target of the the author and as he mentions at many places in the book, he has been wanting to write the book.  I wonder was it his ambition or he wanted to honestly motivate people through his life lessons.

I really liked two of his chapters which directly focus on having opposing view on Robin Sharma, as Shailendra suggests, one does not need to sell one's ferrari in order to lead a happy life (the monk who sold his ferrari) and I'd rather have them laugh with me while I'm alive, than cry for me when I die (who will cry when you die). The logic is convincing. It shows the originality in this title as one flips through chapters after chapters, though the author suggests that one should read one chapter at one time.  

The family wisdom that he conveys through his relationship with his father, brother, wife and mother makes the book quite grasping and honest. I am sure many of us also find ourselves somewhere in the book, though he keeps addressing the younger generation at many places in the book. The language is crude at times and gives a very different feel (may be that is what Shailendra is known for, so his original style), yet I think it makes sense as it is coming through the heart of the author and at that he scores points for being blunt and bizarre in some chapters.

It makes a good read and I assure, though it may not have a capacity to become a bestseller, it would not disappoint the reader. Time spent on reading this book is worth and it does teach many things in simple and practical way. Thanks Shailendra for having shared your journey.

>>>Some Lessons<<<

Make a 'to do' list

Enjoy every bit of life

Stop thinking, start doing

Give 100 percent

There is nothing which is right, or which is wrong

Being wealthy rather than being Rich

Being Healthy rather than being fit

Replace 'have to' with 'want to'

Smile increases your face value

Your body is your temple

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How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M Christensen, Allworth and Karen Dillon

HOW WILL YOU MEASURE YOUR LIFE? - finding fulfilment using lessons from some of the world's greatest businesses (2012) by CLAYTON M CHRISTENSEN, JAMES ALLWORTH & KAREN DILLON, HarperCollinsPublishers UK, p 221

We have an inherent instinct and desire to live longer, healthier and wealthier.  During the course of performing our duties we try to achieve our set goals and in cases where goals are not set, take up things and activities into our stride and perform our best in the interest of the stakeholders.  This is an ideal thinking and many a times we ignore this ideal expectation and pursue something which is not so desirable of us. This is what makes our life miserable and we regret later but at that time it is already too late.  Clayton M Christensen, along with James Allworth and Karen Dillon brings out this book entitled How Will You Measure Your Life to get us focused and to let us introspect whether we are on the right path. 

A personal experience sharing style of presenting this book through the real life examples of business organisations make this book engrossing, interesting and convincing. It is sheer a coincidence that I picked up this book just after reading Breakout Nations by Ruchir Sharma, who is a regular columnist with Wall Street Journal without really having any clue as to Clayton while in his early 20s wanted to become the editor of WSJ.  Though Clayton could not become the editor of WSJ, he chose his career otherwise.

The book is written in a very simple, easy to understand, and common self-help book style though it refers to some of the most cited researches like Michael Jensen's Agency/Incentive Theory, Herzberg's Hygiene theory, McCall's Right Stuff, Todd Risley & Pretty Hart’s contribution on Talking amongst Parents and children, etc.

The book is divided in three sections as Finding Happiness in Your Career, Finding Happiness in You, and Staying Out of Jail.  These three sections are basically titled out of his personal oath to the students while they leave the college.  Each section has chapters on different related fields.  Management theories have been explained briefly in a layman’s style and their application in organisations and then in personal lives are elaborated so convincingly that one starts thinking of those theories as the ones primarily meant for individuals and not organisations.  His personal recount of the events in his personal life makes the book more authentic and authoritative.  Clayton has been advisor and consultant for many firms and government agencies and he is primarily known for the concept of 'disruptive innovation'.  He has been quite successful in documenting his interactions with CEO's and others and through that reaching out to lot of life lessons.  The examples of Andy Grove of Intel, Steve Jobs of Apple, Sam Walton of Walmart, Nolan Archibald of Black & Decker, are well placed.  His experiences with the students and their queries further establishes the link between theory and practice and reiterates his conviction on seeing through his students fulfilling their life goals.  Though the book is authored by three of them, but as the first author, Clayton writes the book and narrates many incidents in the first person. Hence I too took this liberty of mentioning ‘him’ and not ‘they’.

The strategies adopted by Honda while making an entry into American market (big bike segment) to compete with HarleyDavidson through Triumph and then shifting to introduce SuperCub (small bike) is elaborated through the landscape of emergent and deliberate strategy which is often applicable and used in personal lives.  That’s where his philosophy of giving more importance to JOURNEY than DESTINATION becomes relevant and important.  In fact, I have always been sharing this with my students and friends.  Personally I too strongly feel that it is the journey which is more important than the destination.  At times during the course of walking on a path we tend to change or shift our destination and that keep happening all through life.  It is true for organizations as well.  I wish there is some hard core research in this direction to further validate this thinking.

The organizational examples of Walmart's location selection, Disney's failure in Paris (because of wrong assumptions and calculations), Sonosite's introduction of ultrasound machine (its excellent features, usability, marketing, selling and wrong provision of incentives), Motorola's sponsoring Iridium Satellite Network for inventing mobile phones, Sweden's IKEA furniture store and its unique approach, Dell’s outsourcing to ASUS (price of overdependence), ENRON’s debacle, Marginal Thinking at Netflix as against Blockbuster, are some of the real organizational stories which could be helpful in problem solving in personal lives as well. 

The emphasis on Resources, Processes and Priorities is well explained in the book and their interrelationship as practiced in the organizations is illustrated through examples.  The authors have quite successfully linked their applicability in the personal lives as to learning, knowledge, actions, choices, decision making etc.  I really liked him quoting an old saying 'find a job that you love and you will never work a day in your life'. So philosophical yet so practical.  The book emphasises on leading a good family life through inculcating good values in children so that they learn to respect work and develop a sense of compassion for others.  It also helps in building strong culture in the family which helps one to make choices and take decisions at work places.    

Just This Once is something which really got my attention as many times we get carried away with compromising on some of our personal principles just for some minor gains or under environmental pressures.  As mentioned, it really becomes the beginning point for a series of compromises.  Clayton warns the readers and tells that 100% of the time is easier than 98% of the time as he mentions one of his own example of getting pressure on playing on Sunday, the day he keeps aside for Sunday service (committed to God). Ultimately he takes a decision otherwise and does not compromise on taking just this once as told to him by his fellow players. Towards the end of the book in the epilogue, the authors discuss the importance of Purpose and its three important components – the person I want to become (likeness), becoming committed, and finding the right metric. The examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Dalai Lama are well cited here. I wished that the book had a reference section at the end and some suggested readings with it which could have guided the reader further.

As the hypothesis on the primacy of life satisfaction over job satisfaction and the other way is getting tested and retested, questioned and re-questioned, there seems to be no two opinions about one simple thinking and practice that job satisfaction and life satisfaction are interrelated.  At this time this book certainly makes a mark, though it does not directly talk of positive psychology, subjective well being, hedonic treadmill, etc, however the book leaves a strong imprint in the practical literature relating life satisfaction with job satisfaction.  Clayton successfully sails through the journey from disruptive innovation, to the innovator's dilemma, to prescribing how to measure life, especially when he cannot cogently verbalise his concerns and contributions due to his health.  I wish him great health ahead and expect another bestseller from him or/and his team on the modern ways of measuring life.  Isn't it important?