My niche in blogosphere

Buddhist philosophy believes in rebirth or reincarnation but it is different from the Hindu philosophy. The Hindu philosophy believes that God judges the person on his or her activities of the present life and then according to that He decides on what type of life that person should get in his or her next birth. However, the Buddhist philosophy believes in Kamma, which reflects the actions a person does or have done in his or her life and no God judges their life. The book Good Questions, Good Answers by Ven. S. Dhammika tells more about it. A paragraph from that book:

QUESTION: What decides where will be reborn? ANSWER: The most important factor, but not the only one, influencing where we will be reborn and what sort of life we shall have, is kamma. The word kamma means ‘action’ and refers to our intentional mental actions. In other words, what we are is determined very much by how we have thought and acted in the past. Likewise, how we think and act now will influence how we will be in the future. The gentle, loving type of person tends to be reborn in a heaven realm or as a human being who has a predominance of pleasant experiences. the anxious, worried or extremely cruel type of person tends to be reborn in a hell realm or as a human being who has a predominance of painful experiences.

The person who develops obsessive craving, fierce longings, and burning ambitions that can never be satisfied tends to be reborn as a hungry ghost or as a human being frustrated by longing and wanting. Whatever mental habits are strongly developed in this life will continue in the next life. Most people, however, are reborn as human beings.

The reader should note that the concept of hell and heaven is also totally different from all religions, therefore more research on that topic is suggested. There is a good scientific evidence to prove this matter. Two websites I found out are Home page of Dr. Ian Stevenson, Division of Personality studies at University of Virginia Home page of Dr Erlendur Haraldsson, University of Iceland. Both these researchers have published lots of papers in the field of parapsychology. Dr. Haraldsson has some papers on his site. Very intriguing and interesting indeed. As a question of my belief, I don’t believe in rebirth, I believe my kamma will treat me accordingly in this life. Anyway, the important thing is weather you believe in rebirth or not but to keep on doing the right things, right way as much as possible in your whole life.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Indian boy tops Nasa examination: "Indian boy tops Nasa examination By Sutapa Mukerjee BBC News, Ballia, Uttar Pradesh Saurabh came top of 200,000 students worldwide A 17-year-old boy from an obscure village in northern India's Uttar Pradesh state has topped an international exam run by Nasa. Saurabh Singh beat 200,000 students worldwide to top the prestigious International Scientist Discovery exam conducted by the National Aeronautical and Space Administration. The other two Indians who passed the exam are President APJ Kalam and the late Nasa astronaut, Kalpana Chawla. President Kalam was seventh in 1960 and Chawla 21st in 1988. "

An Overview of the Project: "For thousands of years the world's enduring monuments have provided powerful symbols, reminders of society's most treasured values. During the 20th century most of the world's great buildings and public development projects have been 'monuments' to commercial interests: high-rise business buildings, airports, shopping malls, theatres and theme parks. The Maitreya Buddha statue will provide the world with a much-needed and enduring monument to spiritual values, a reminder of the benefits of creating peace at every level through practicing loving-kindness. Maitreya Project's 500ft / 152m bronze statue will be built at Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh in northern India. The Maitreya Buddha statue and its throne-building will provide the public with temples, exhibition halls, a museum, library, audio-visual theatre and hospitality services. All will be set in beautifully landscaped parks with meditation pavilions, beautiful water fountains and tranquil pools. The buildings and grounds of the Project will contain a remarkable and inspiring collection of sacred art. "

Tanishq
Originally uploaded by a7n9.

Tanishq-My best friend's (Prasanna) just born baby.

I got lots of visits on this page, so I figure lots of people are having this problem, that's why I'm modifying this page. Here is a stepwise solution. 1. There is a good chance that your PC is infected with W32.Sircam.Worm@mm 2. Go to this Symantec's page to remove this virus. 3. Follow the instructions and you should be able to successfully remove the virus. 4. If you're still getting the same message, probably the virus is removed but it left the infections. 5. Sadly, you'd have to reinstall these utilities/software which are giving you error 6. Before installing though, you'd have reinstall your installshield engines (the utility which does the process of installing/uninstalling programs) 7. Go here to reinstall the installshield engines Link1 Link2 8. Now, you can uninstall the programs and install them again. ------------original entry------------ I went to India last summer and when I came back after three months I saw my PC was infected with W32.Sircam.Worm@mm, which gives you an application error

Is Not a Valid Win32 Application.

My friend had removed the virus but it’s effects were still there. I had to install many applications again but the worst part was somehow I was not able to install some software and it still gave the message that

ikernel.exe Is Not a Valid Win32 Application.

I searched all the over the net to find a solution to that, I also emailed Dell Support, but in vain. I was so bugged at the end. However, I managed to find a solution by myself. If you notice ikernel.exe is the installshield engine file and although I did install the operating system again, it didn’t update the installshield engine, which was infected by the W32.Sircam worm. So I went to installshield's website and found these two links and installed the new engine. Link1 Link2 Done! Problem solved. Also, careful removal of the W32.Sircam worm doesn’t need installation of the applications again. Read this

Indian IT market @ $21.9 billion: "The Indian IT market grew 26 per cent year-on-year in 2004 to touch Rs 95,277 crore (Rs 952.77 billion), according to a study by consultancy firm Skoch. Of the total Indian IT market, IT services and IT-enabled services exports grew 32 per cent to touch Rs 59,948 crore (Rs 599.48 billion), the study said. While exports of ITeS were up 49 per cent to Rs 22,181 crore (Rs 221.81 billion), IT services exports showed a growth of 24 per cent to Rs 37,767 crore (Rs 377.67 billion). The total IT and ITeS exports were worth $13.7 billion. The domestic IT market also showed a robust growth in the year gone by. The personal computer market expanded 28 per cent in value terms and 44 per cent in unit terms. The sales of PCs grew to be worth Rs 11,653 crore (Rs 116.53 billion) in 2004. While 32,67,885 desktops were sold in 2004, the notebook market grew 64 per cent to 1,43,268 units. The share of grey market fell from around 55-56 per cent over the last 4-5 years to just 38 per cent in 2004. "

A few things I have observed during my 3 hour classes are:

• If it’s the first class I would be asleep in the first half of the class
• When I see time for the first-time- at least half of the class is over
• When I see time for the second-time- five or ten minutes have passed.
• When I see time for the third-time- just five minutes have passed.
• If it’s the last half hour of the class then nothing is going inside the brain.
• If it’s the last 15 minutes of the class then I’m hungry.

Any comments??

Hmm.. Ever thought that there can be some other animal smart like a human being. Well, there is, these parrots, are trained really fine and they can count, reply to your questions, tell you the colors. I watched a show on animal planet they were showing that there. You never know, human era might end and they might take over everything. heheh.. Just kidding. Anyway, check out this link. There's a small video of Einstein, the brainy bird.

Hurray! Finally there is a day (in this case a week) that I like and can appreciate. Otherwise, I hate all other days, such as, Valentine’s day, friendship day, mother’s day, father’s day, etc. Why? First, these days are commercial days. Hallmark and others are making money out of it. Second, I don’t need a special day to tell someone that they mean something to me. Third, you spend money (not necessarily though) to make someone feel special (Every Kiss begins with Kay). Of course, now you’d say, why do you need RAKW to do the acts of kindness? You’re absolutely right, you don’t need a special week for that. Do it anyways and always. But I like the concept of it. People, who often are unappreciative of the things or are frequent complainers, might change themselves by this week. Just small acts, really small acts, like saying thank you, or opening the door for someone, can change everything. The seed of mindfulness, inner peace and happiness is thru kindness. One more reason that I like this week is that kindness is the main stream of Buddhism and it was always taught by the Buddha, it is better known as metta (loving-kindness).

"In Compassion lies the world's true strength"-The Buddha

Please read the article on meditation on loving-kindness by Ven. Bhante Henepola Gunaratana of Bhavana Society, the first Theravada Buddhist Monastery in the USA. Remember to practice patience and kindness towards everyone you meet in your life without expecting anything of it, and you’ll see the change in yourself. Grasp the concept of this document and start rehearsing it in your own version. If you think this is all B.S., then why don’t you just try it once. You've nothing to lose.

Now, you're not a bum if you sit at your home. Now, work-from-home BPO jobs- The Economic Times: "Now, work-from-home BPO jobs REUTERS[ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 09, 2005 11:35:51 PM] Sign into earnIndiatimes points NEW YORK: People who reach Esther DeJesus when they call Office Depot Inc.'s customer service center have no idea that she's sitting at home in a room decorated with pictures of Garfield and Betty Boop. "

I was planning to do something to show my love for Excel and VBA :), and I could not think of anything, but after some time I thought a blog can be a good start. Yesterday I launched it and I also added Amit (my elder brother) and Subodh (my roomie and a good friend) as members in it. Check it out!!

Google Job Opportunities: "Google Copernicus Center is hiring Google is interviewing candidates for engineering positions at our lunar hosting and research center, opening late in the spring of 2007. This unique opportunity is available only to highly-qualified individuals who are willing to relocate for an extended period of time, are in top physical condition and are capable of surviving with limited access to such modern conveniences as soy low-fat lattes, The Sopranos and a steady supply of oxygen. The Google Copernicus Hosting Environment and Experiment in Search Engineering (G.C.H.E.E.S.E.) is a fully integrated research, development and technology facility at which Google will be conducting experiments in entropized information filtering, high-density high-delivery hosting (HiDeHiDeHo) and de-oxygenated cubicle dwelling. This center will provide a unique platform from which Google will leapfrog current terrestrial-based technologies and bring information access to new heights of utility."

Deep Impact: Mission: Biographies: Kavitha Kaur: "Kavita Kaur Software Stress Tester, Deep Impact What's the coolest thing about Deep Impact? The most amazing thing about Deep Impact is that we are attempting to hit a comet to unravel the mystery about its structure and composition and the universe at large for the very first time ever. Why do you like working at Jet Propulsion Laboratory? I joined JPL roughly 3 years ago and since then I have enjoyed every moment I have spent here. It's great to work with smart and motivated individuals involved in creating various awe-inspiring space missions. How did you end up in JPL? I ended up at JPL through campus recruitment. This is my first job after graduating with a Masters in Computer Science."

I was a DJ 2 years back for an ISA's function and I was irritated that time. I thought I'd never do it, but becuase of the software (Virtual DJ) I'm using I got all excited. However, the same stuff happend yesterday, as soon as I played few Hindi songs, while people were eating their food, people started jumping on me, saying play some Telugu songs. Come on, now you are eating food, how does it matter????? All right, then I play my first Tamil or Telugu song, one person comes and says, "Why don't you play a song, which we can understand?". I said this is my first Tamil or Telugu song, wait I'm gonna play all songs. Well, then one more person kept coming saying play Telugu songs, don't play full songs, but play mass numbers. aaaaaaaaarrgggh...They never let you to be a DJ, they never request, they order and fight. Good thing, it was a small function, very few people were there, imagine when there are more than 400 people of this type. hmmm.. so I've decided I won't do DJn' ever for ISA's function. Actually, they should not term this as DJn', it's just you're playing songs that's it, there's no beatmatching, intro or rythm for that matter, just mass lyrics of every langauge, and that sucks.

Guess what? I'll be DJ'ing tonight at the ISA's Spring Fresher's welcome party- 2005 and India's Repbulic Day celebrations. I've done this once before, but that time I was more interested in dancing than DJn'. So let's see how do I do it. BTW DJ'n for ISA functions is not easy, you've to play songs from all languages, even if it goes with the beat or not. If I've to play my taste, I'd play Reggae, Hip-hop, Techno, and European dance music. All the best to me!

The following is a result of my reply to a person who mentioned on his/her website that Buddha is 9th incarnation of Vishnu, the Hindu god. I have a very strong objection to that statement, not because it makes a lot of a difference to me, any Buddhist or Buddhism, but because it is just totally hypocritical to say that. I’ve edited my reply and posting it down here: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Let’s first look at the definition of God, Merriam Webster has this: Main Entry: 1god 1 capitalized : the supreme or ultimate reality: as a : the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshiped as creator and ruler of the universe b Christian Science : the incorporeal divine Principle ruling over all as eternal Spirit : infinite Mind 2 : a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship; specifically : one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality 3 : a person or thing of supreme value 4 : a powerful ruler If you see the definition do you see Buddha fitting any of that description? He was not a creator, he didn’t have any supernatural abilities and powers, he doesn’t need any human worship, he doesn’t control the reality, and he is not a powerful ruler. However, if you compare this to all of the Hindu gods they perfectly match this definition. All of them have some supernatural ability or they control some portion of the reality. You can also find the definition of God here. Ok. For the sake of this discussion let’s consider that Buddha was indeed 9th avatar of Vishnu and I’ll talk about what you said. “Every being is born as a Vishnu (or Super natural being, or whatever name one wants to give). It is up to each to search for him within oneself.” Is that right? Then why all the other castes other than Brahmins are looked down by the Brahmins? If everyone is born as Vishnu then why the caste system has not been abolished yet? “Buddha is as dear to the Hindus as to the Buddhists. So dear that Buddha came to be considered as one of the Hindu Gods” Are you serious here? Please read the last line on this page and if that link was not working last time I checked, but you can see the Google cached snapshot by this here. It reads “Buddhism grew very popular in India and therefore Adi Shankarcharya installed the four Shankarcharyas, each of for one direction to save the Hindu religion from the influence of Buddhism” Can you believe that? Hmm. Buddha is a Hindu god but still Hindus try to save Hindu religion from Buddhism? Doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it? Nevertheless, if we say that this information is not correct, Buddhism is still looked in India as a religion for the lower caste people and they are still looked down, discriminated, and tormented. Also, if Buddha is so dear to the Hindu people and the Hindu religion why there hasn’t been a single “Stupa” built by the Hindu people? Why the teachings of human equality are still not being absorbed? Why women are still not given the equal treatment? Why still there are lots of lower castes people killed in Bihar and other states? Why not a single Hindu group or organization has tried to abolish the caste system and accept Buddha’s teachings? And at last you said, “These are historical facts. Sentiments of our nation. Not my views. But the view of thousands of generations before us”, well, if Hindus really feel proud about calling Buddha the 9th avatar, why they don’t accept with the same zest the facts of castisim and tell the world proudly about it? Very strange sentiments. Also, it cannot be thousands of generations before us as Buddhism declined around 300-500 AD and Hinduism started gaining popularity again. So if the belief that Buddha is 9th avatar of Vishnu must have grown/laid around that period. Everything said and done, I agree with when you say this “There would be very few Buddhists and Hindus who have really understood his teachings”. Absolutely true, had they understood it they would have appreciated it and not acted against it. This might look a personal attack on your views and opinions but I tried my best to not to make it look like that. I am really sorry if I’ve offended you by any means. It’s just the hypocrisy I cannot digest, and I’m against it and not against you or any other Hindu.