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	<title>Exploring uncharted waters &#187; conscious living</title>
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		<title>The counter intuitive theory</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/the-counter-intuitive-theory/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/the-counter-intuitive-theory/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Dec 2010 19:23:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1618</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Intuition is probably the second highest level of knowledge humans can gain with the highest being, spiritual truth. With Intuition, we know answers, but we just cannot reason out and justify them.  So much closer is intuition to the real knowledge of life and its meaning. When i was very young, my father once told me a story. A story of a rich man who wanted to give away all the money he had. The more he gave away to the poor, the more he got. Unlike other stories, this wasn&#8217;t intuitive. Ever since i heard this story, there has been something unexceptionably attractive about counter intuitiveness. Looking at everyday life, we see whatever tastes good is most probably not healthy for our body. And without exception, we all feel fresh and active after a tiring physical exercise. There is a clear unintuitiveness about these established theories that are a part of our everyday life. It&#8217;s not trivial things like food or exercise that are a part of this undoubtedly subtle expression of nature. Human expectations reverently follow this theory with almost no exception.  The moment we decide to give up our expectation about something, we seem to be well placed to get it &#8211; and that is counter intuitive. There is no explanation as to why this theory works the way it works, but it does! So the question is, is intuition really the second best knowledge known to us? Is there more to counter-intuitiveness than intuitiveness? Can we understand more about life and its purpose by following counter-intuition than intuition? Prahlad Jani, a holy man in India claims not having eaten for the past 70 years. While science generally strives to be the first to ridicule such news, i wonder if he has gotten better in understanding the counter-intuitive theory. May be by not eating we wouldn&#8217;t die like we might intuitively believe? But then, there are literally thousands of people dying everyday because of hunger. If counter intuitive theory works, then surely they all should thrive like Mr.Prahlad Jani. I think the answer could be down to our belief system and consciousness. It might sound a bit lame, but our mental power truly outweigh our physical capabilities. There have been a few sightings of saints and sages meditating in the Himalayas without much clothing to protect them from adverse weather. Such events are down to mental power rather than just physical ability to brave the cold. Our body is filled with numerous switches &#8211; switches that our brain can use to control everything from moving arms and legs to heart rate and breathe. Some controls like moving are consciously controlled while other ones like breathing are sub-consciously controlled. The sub-concious is like a machine that is programmed and can only do tasks it knows. It requires mental ability to take control of this sub-concious part and consciously control all the switches in the body. I have even read a story of a man who by staring at a wall for a while was able to crack it &#8211;  just by focusing his mental power. Call it coincidence or magic, there is something that is not intuitive in these things. And the explanation why only a few are able to do it is because they are concious of themselves and know what their own body is capable of. Perhaps, our body is a lot more capable than what medical science currently understands. But to utilise it completely we need to believe that it is capable of things. And that belief only comes from taking over the sub-conscious and becoming conscious. Thinking on these lines, there is another thought. The world we see is extremely logical. Its just that we can&#8217;t understand what we haven&#8217;t learned yet. But more on this thought later! Related posts:How conscious are you?Weird Thought:The energy domainRevisiting &#8216;the purpose question&#8217;


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/how-conscious-are-you/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: How conscious are you?'>How conscious are you?</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/weird-thoughtthe-energy-domain/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Weird Thought:The energy domain'>Weird Thought:The energy domain</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/revisiting-the-purpose-question/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Revisiting &#8216;the purpose question&#8217;'>Revisiting &#8216;the purpose question&#8217;</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<title>Persistence or Desperation &#8211; What breeds success?</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/persistence-or-desperation-what-breeds-success/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/persistence-or-desperation-what-breeds-success/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:54:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership qualities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[observations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1539</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The story of infamous Persian king Mahmud of Ghazni whose persistence to invade is talked about even after a 1000 years. Its not just Ghazni or its not just kings that have succeeded by extraordinary Persistence. Take trees for example. They don&#8217;t give up making new leaves every spring and they do it for decades, sometimes for centuries. Persistence, truly is the essence to succeed. But what about those who succeed within the first few times or even the first time? Is that down to just luck? But how can some be lucky all the time? Isn&#8217;t that just against the laws of nature? May be its down to ability and knowledge? The answer, I think lies in desperation. How many times have we all thought &#8220;this is my last opportunity. After this i will give up&#8221; and emerged successful? I can say with confidence that has worked out more than any other strategy or plan i have devised, in order to succeed. By dedicating ourselves to a cause, we learn from our repeated failures, while with desperation we come under tremendous pressure that we sometimes can&#8217;t even logically think, let alone learn. So, how does it work? How could possibly desperation &#8211; a human emotion &#8211; help us achieve more than what systematic planning could do? A creationist, who sees everything in this world as the will of god would say that god possibly understands desperation more than anything else and gives a helping hand. A rationalist, who seeks reasoning behind every thought, might say that we subconsciously gather help and resources when we are desperate and that subconscious planning helps us achieve more than what we plan and execute. To me though, the reason is of second nature. Clearly, desperation seems to have a special place in the success map. But i think the price comes with an &#8220;If&#8221; clause. Desperation needs to be natural and should be a true occurrence rather than self-perceived pity. A naturally occurring desperation definitely seems to hold the key for success! Related posts:Success is not just luck!Four phases of successA secret recipe to success


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/05/success-is-not-just-luck/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Success is not just luck!'>Success is not just luck!</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/07/four-phases-of-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Four phases of success'>Four phases of success</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/12/a-secret-recipe-to-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: A secret recipe to success'>A secret recipe to success</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<title>Sync or Swim</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/11/sync-or-swim/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/11/sync-or-swim/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Nov 2010 21:27:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Well being]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[successful life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1597</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There used to be a program on television called &#8220;sync or swim&#8221; where the host Jamie Aditya travels to various countries with strong cultural roots and tries to learn and perform their traditional dance and music, all in a week&#8217;s time. As the name suggests he is left with two options &#8211; either sync and learn the local culture or swim, meaning lose the competition! It is a wonderful idea which i think depicts the truth of our every day life where we are left with exactly same choices &#8211; either sync or swim! Whether it is taking up a new job, moving to a new country, venturing into a new business or just learning something new, we are realistically left with only these two choices. And, the sooner we sync in this unknown territory, the easier we make it for ourselves. Being an inquisitive person, i always wanted to try new things and learn new stuff. This often put me outside my comfort zone, sometimes too far away from it. But from my experience i can say that life hands us a secret energy boost to tackle an uncomfortable situation, every time we encounter it. But even then, only some of us choose to take it and go for a head-on fight, thereby stretching our comfort zone and increasing it day by day. Sadly, most of us choose to shy away from it due to the fear of stepping into an unknown territory. Expanding the comfort zone has clearly been on my agenda ever since i started working. I admit i won&#8217;t be able to throw myself into awkward position all the time and come out of it successful, though that is something i aim to achieve. The truth nobody shares about conquering comfort zones is that it gets easier every time it is done and to some extent addictive. It probably is addictive because of the satisfaction it gives after it is done. Adversity, truly brings the best in us. If you look at the people who have succeeded in life, they all should have passed the &#8220;expanding the comfort zone test&#8221;. Without being in uncomfortable situations and successfully conquering them, there is very less chance that any of us can go all the way up. But syncing is not just about being successful in an uncomfortable zone. It is also about jiving with the environment and emotionally bonding with the surroundings. As we sync, we subconsciously learn what surrounds us and form an untold yet personal relationship with them. Humans can communicate between each other and so the benefit of syncing is apparent and the need to sync with other creatures becomes very blurry. The truth is any being cannot exist on its own and everything in this world has to co-exist. So its the untold symbiotic relationship that is formed between all the beings that makes the world going. By syncing with this environment we live in, we form a synergy with the world and are in a position to recognise and respect others. The awareness we obtain by syncing is enormous and this is exactly where the worldly pleasure of being &#8220;successful&#8221; meets the spiritual pleasure of being &#8220;together&#8221; with our environment. Related posts:How far would a Million pounds go?A secret recipe to successLiving a worry free life


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/how-far-would-a-million-pounds-go/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: How far would a Million pounds go?'>How far would a Million pounds go?</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/12/a-secret-recipe-to-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: A secret recipe to success'>A secret recipe to success</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/living-a-worry-free-life/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Living a worry free life'>Living a worry free life</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Weird Thought: Why aren&#8217;t we programmed?</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/weird-thought-why-arent-we-programmed/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/weird-thought-why-arent-we-programmed/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Oct 2010 20:31:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alternate Theories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1543</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Its not that spiritual leaders copy what each other say, yet they all come up with the same old message. Every leader talks about inching towards eternal love, harmony, peace and the beauty that these bring. And what&#8217;s amazing is that these claims are entirely irrelevant of what philosophy they preach or which religion they follow. Jesus Christ asked his fellow followers to be loving and peaceful, so did Mohammad, Buddha and Aurobindo. From the oldest of spiritual leaders to the newest and the youngest, they all ask us for the same thing. Though what they ask us all to do, appears very easy and doable, it sometimes contradict the interpreted truth. I say contradictory because, every spiritual leader believes that god created this world, or at least, that god had a hand in creating this universe &#8211; from all the rocks and animals to plants and humans. If a powerful creature of this incomprehensible capability can create all or a part of this universe, giving us the power to think, the power to talk and walk, the power to understand and execute, then it probably would have been very easy for him to have programmed us with lot more love and strategically omitting hatred by all means. This exactly is what bemuses me. Why would such a super power create everything and leave us to sort ourselves out? If the intention for sustainable living is to shower each other with love and peace, then why not just give us that? Why give us a choice in the first place to either love a thing or hate a thing? I don&#8217;t think i will call all the spiritual leaders naive &#8211; I truly believe that they have a better understanding of the system that i (or most of us) haven&#8217;t got. Accepting their call for love and peace is the ultimate truth, it confuses me why the almighty lord stands with his hands tied back, not forcing what he wants, but patiently waiting for us to align with what he wants! If the final point of this extraordinary journey of life is perpetual happiness, why do we go through all the hassle? Why not just hand this happiness over to all the beings and let them exist perpetually? Some may argue that we were born with happiness and all the problems and sadness are men made. But what about premature death due to ill health and earthquakes? If the target is to make everyone happy forever, then why create sadness? Or why let us perceive something to be sad? I can&#8217;t believe that all spiritual leaders would have been wrong and so probably the ultimate intention is to attain never ending peace. Either that, or what love and peace means to us is way too shallow than what they claim it to be. May be if we spiritually grow to understand what love truly means, we probably can decipher the exact meaning behind their preaching. Or even, love and peace could be the only understandable terms for commons like us to embark on a spiritual journey. Once we start the journey striving to achieve love and peace, we probably end up finding the real truth and the ever existing question of &#8220;WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?&#8221; Either way, in my eyes, the world appears to be precisely balanced in a conflicting mix of a definite, clearly written down goals and a genuine effort to provide choice. Related posts:Weird Thought: The world and the universeWeird Thought:The energy domainWeird thought:Our Brain-Master or Slave?


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/03/weird-thought-the-world-and-the-universe/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Weird Thought: The world and the universe'>Weird Thought: The world and the universe</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/weird-thoughtthe-energy-domain/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Weird Thought:The energy domain'>Weird Thought:The energy domain</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/03/weird-thoughtour-brain-master-or-slave/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Weird thought:Our Brain-Master or Slave?'>Weird thought:Our Brain-Master or Slave?</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Revisiting &#8216;the purpose question&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/revisiting-the-purpose-question/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/revisiting-the-purpose-question/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:45:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1528</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Almost a year ago, i tried writing my ideas about life and its purpose. There were many comments and further discussions followed, both online and offline. A question such as this, is the pinnacle of knowledge, that once we know the answer to it, we probably lose interest in this life. Looking this life from a non-scientific way, keeps telling me that nature is restricting us not to know the reason of our own existence. Hence the dis-interest in many of us to know that answer to this question. But at the same time, diversity is embedded in every bit of nature&#8217;s creations. Hence the interest in some of us to know the answer to the same question. When I read what i wrote earlier, i see that i have had a sense of urgency in concluding this topic. Childishly, i have thought that this question can be discussed in a 1000 word article. Though i concluded the earlier article, the question never faded in my mind and none of the answers sufficed. Its always good not to have an answer to a question &#8211; the lack of knowledge helps understand the question and analyse the answer better. I felt that this question doesn&#8217;t have a logical answer, so there is really no point trying to derive one. But i thought may be there are clues in this very world, surrounding us everyday, showing what the purpose of our life is! The thought, i felt was an interesting one. So i went about observing small things that happen around us and trying to generalise what i saw into a response to the purpose of our very own existence. Though i find pleasure in building new things, by virtue of being an engineer, the pleasure i obtain by observing nature is incomparable. Nature in its very minimal of tasks makes me baffled. Every thing i have tried to observe makes me think, this must be the work of a genius. Either we are designed to perceive nature&#8217;s acts as a sign of ingeniousness or not, i don&#8217;t know. But looking at every single element in this world, i get the feeling they have a definite place and purpose. They do exactly what they are meant to do and if they didn&#8217;t, the system, it appears, would collapse! The year long observations taught me two facts of nature. We all have to learn We all have to ensure our species survives. The facts are simple and i honestly don&#8217;t know why they have to be followed. If you look at the world, you could see everyday from a tiny ant to a massive elephant, every being has to learn as it grows. It could be where to find water, or it could be how to run away from a predator. In some sense, this learning is necessary to make sure we are up to speed on the ever changing world. Without learning and adaptation, many species might not have survived at all. So we could say, learning is a requirement to ensure the existence of the species. That brings us to a more mesmerising fact &#8211; the  need to ensure we continue to exist. What could be the reason for that, I don&#8217;t know. But it seems it has to be done. We all are doing what we are doing to ensure this golden rule is unharmed. Everything else like ambition, love, emotions, target, success, failure, friendship and what not are only second nature and are tools to aid us achieve this golden rule. Apart from this, you, me or anyone, really doesn&#8217;t seem to have any other purpose to exist! &#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211; Do i really believe in what i have written? Yes, I passionately do. Do you have any alternate thoughts that you think i should know? Then, please don&#8217;t hesitate to comment. Related posts:The purpose of Life!Weird Thought:The energy domainThe counter intuitive theory


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		<title>Living a worry free life</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/living-a-worry-free-life/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/living-a-worry-free-life/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:06:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Well being]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1519</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Long back i had this question in my mind &#8211; &#8220;Can i live a worry free life at all?&#8221;. The immediate and intuitive answer was &#8220;No, that&#8217;s impossible&#8221;. In this busy world, where we run for our everyday food and necessities, it is rather impossible to live worry free. And to top that, some if not most people, do find some sinister pleasure in creating worries for others. No body can change the way others behave, but we all have some control on how we allow others to behave to us. So, going by that, there is definitely control over what pain and worry others can inflict upon us. I took this up as a challenge to myself and decided to give this thought, a try. So, i set upon a journey of identifying and eliminating things that made me worried. Right or Wrong? We in this world have laws to punish if something is done wrong. Its not just governmental laws i am talking about, but untold social rules and behaviours. Even our workplace has defined and undefined rules and etiquette. We spend a lot of our time, thinking about doing the right thing and not doing any mistakes. Thinking about it, what is exactly right and what is exactly wrong? Isn&#8217;t it a matter of personal preference? And yet, we spend so much energy on this!! Success and Failure As if being right all the time is not sufficient, the society we live in always asks us to win in whatever we do. Failure is not only unacceptable by the society, but by individuals as well. We are so tuned into succeeding that any minor glitch causes worries. It is a pity to see the amount of worry a single failure can bring when compared to the amount of happiness a handful of success brings!! Extraordinary Needs Our needs have been constantly growing over time and i believe it has just peaked now. Forget basic needs like food, shelter and clothing, our needs are more high-tech nowadays. I think it is fair to say, we are addicted to these needs, so much so that we feel worried and stressed without them by our side. Peer pressure Most of our needs are driven by pressure. Pressure that is falsely created within our society by big corporations. I do not criticise all gadgets and tools we possess. Some of them genuinely make a difference. But most don&#8217;t. We just use them because our friends have it and it is expected to have to maintain our social status. What if we cannot afford it? We invite worries! The big picture My biggest concern in today&#8217;s world is the inability to understand the big picture. Though nature shows us that we are living in this tiny world surrounded by billions of lifeforms and celestial objects, we seem to lack the interest to look at the picture. We spend most of our time worrying selfishly about ourselves and our tomorrow. Rather, if we try and understand what nature is trying to teach us, we might learn worrying about trivial things doesn&#8217;t mean a thing!! Blind faith I believe in a super power and i believe we humans have very limited ability to think and do things. For example, our capability is limited to manipulating the present. We can&#8217;t do anything about the past nor can we know what the future holds. But i believe there could be a higher power that could have the ability to understand things with no relation to time. Like humans trying to help a hurt dog that asks us for help, this super power could be very much willing to help us through our miseries. Most of the time, we don&#8217;t lose anything by believing in god. Instead, we can get rid of worries that occur due to things that are not in our control by just trusting that the super power would take care. Everything ends The only ultimate truth is, everything has to end. And if we think about it, we get worried and stressed for something that is never going to last forever?? If we realise this fact and understand that everything is very temporary, we might be able to handle our worries better. Fear I left fear close to the end, not because it is trivial, but because it is extremely difficult to get rid of. We are trained to be scared. And, today&#8217;s laws and regulations don&#8217;t help our fear levels at all. This is one of the difficult things to get rid of until we are plugged into this system. The best solution to handle worries is to do the best we can and not fear about the outcome of what we did. The truth is, whether we fear or not, what will happen will happen, as there are a million things out of our control. Possessions And, finally, possessions. Based on my personal experience, i have realised, the more we have, the more we worry about. When i walked to the cinema, i never worried about anything. When i drove, i kept thinking &#8220;Is my car safe?&#8221; Such is life!! Though i having been trying my level best, i haven&#8217;t quite managed to conquer all of these points yet. Especially, fear and Possessions. But i believe, if we all can make an attempt to live a worry free life we might be at least partially successful in achieving that. Related posts:How to lead a successful married life?How far would a Million pounds go?The purpose of Life!


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/09/how-to-lead-a-successful-married-life/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: How to lead a successful married life?'>How to lead a successful married life?</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/how-far-would-a-million-pounds-go/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: How far would a Million pounds go?'>How far would a Million pounds go?</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/10/the-purpose-of-life/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: The purpose of Life!'>The purpose of Life!</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<title>Innovative solutions to tackle climate change</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/07/innovative-solutions-to-tackle-climate-change/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/07/innovative-solutions-to-tackle-climate-change/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Jul 2010 13:37:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Well being]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1372</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We have forced ourselves into a situation where we need to act on climate change. Earth by itself has an amazingly wonderful capability to maintain diversity and at the same time balance it precisely. But, in the last few decades, due to technological revolution and continuous appetite for a better quality of life we have forced it to shift away from its balancing point. The unfortunate thing about earth&#8217;s climatic change is that it takes about 30 years to reflect. We could argue that we didn&#8217;t know about the damage we were causing 30 years ago. But we can&#8217;t go on saying that now. Though the result of whatever we decide to do today to offset climate change can only be felt and seen in 30 years time, we don&#8217;t have much choice (Check out this link if you want to know what you can do to help : Karthik Raj G: 51 steps to go green) Of course, following these simple steps would help, but it will in no way create a major reversal of climate to the 1900s in the near future. In order to achieve a major change we probably need some innovative solutions. Carbon Tax We have taxes for all things that need maintenance and improvement &#8211; road tax, public service tax, value added tax, etc. then why don&#8217;t governments tax us for maintaining the environment? Is it because it came for free? Though some countries have various forms of carbon tax like taxing vehicles that have high CO2 emissions and so on, not many countries have taken bold moves to introduce carbon tax on all CO2 generating products. Carbon tax can help us offset the amount of CO2 generated by investing in recycling and reducing deforestation and encouraging natural reserves. But at this economic climate, it is unfair to expect people to be taxed any further. So what&#8217;s the way forward? Carbon Credits and Debits Carbon credits and debits are an alternate to encourage people to become environmental friendly. Let us say, each product that is sold in this world is given CO2 rating points based on their impact on the environment. For example, plant seeds will have carbon credits while tyres will have carbon debits. Every month, just like how a credit card bill is generated, a carbon bill can be generated and a sum of money that equates to the carbon credits held for the month needs to be paid back to the government. The government or any private firm would invest this money to restore the environment back to its natural state. Buying and selling credits This system can also be expanded to buy and sell credits. Companies that emit a lot of CO2 can buy credits from individuals, which they will accumulate by growing plants in their own garden. These companies can pay them money for their carbon credit instead of paying the government. Goods carrying carbon data Almost all food products sold today have by default the nutritional information printed. This idea can be extended to providing CO2 information. Let us say all products carry a number (positive and negative based of CO2 generated or offset) on their package that says the amount of CO2 impact. Then this number can be fed into the bar-code along with the price information and CO2 credits will appear as a total figure in your shopping bill. Tracking it! Like the way financial credit history is shared, companies can share carbon credit history between each other enabling the system to associate a single carbon credit number per person or a family. These credits or debits can be stored in the web cloud, thereby providing instant access to information by the individual whenever needed. This is wonderful because in future, we might be able to take decisions to buy something not just based on our bank balance but also based on carbon credits/debits we possess. Let&#8217;s get together, shall we? A problem like climate change is not very easy to solve because most of the time, the generation that caused it doesn&#8217;t feel the complete impact. But with understanding and reasoning we might be able to do better to solve this problem. After all, quality of life means nothing when we thrive at other being&#8217;s expense. Quality of life is all about mutual existence and harmony. And the only way to achieve it is to work together &#8211; from big corporations to individuals &#8211; on problems that we face. Related posts:51 simple steps to go &#8216;green&#8217;Japanese Culture &#8211; What can we learn from them?How far would a Million pounds go?


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/11/51-simple-steps-to-be-green/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: 51 simple steps to go &#8216;green&#8217;'>51 simple steps to go &#8216;green&#8217;</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/09/the-japanese-culture/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Japanese Culture &#8211; What can we learn from them?'>Japanese Culture &#8211; What can we learn from them?</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/how-far-would-a-million-pounds-go/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: How far would a Million pounds go?'>How far would a Million pounds go?</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<title>Weird Thought:The energy domain</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/weird-thoughtthe-energy-domain/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/weird-thoughtthe-energy-domain/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:23:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1307</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I used to be a person who survived on meat for a long time. In the course of time, i have met many people, including some very good friends, who were vegetarians. Many have tried their shot at convincing me to give up non-vegetarian food. I always asked them for a good reason and promised to give up if the reason was good enough. And they gave. The main reason was to avoid causing suffering to a life form. But then my counter question was &#8220;How sure are you that vegetables don&#8217;t suffer?&#8221; Just because the vegetables don&#8217;t shout and cry doesn&#8217;t mean they don&#8217;t suffer! It is very typical of humans to look at the world only from their perspective. Though i never gave up eating meat, i have thought about giving up very seriously. The reason i never gave up is that because I had always believed in the theory that the whole world is made up of energy. So i see everything in the world (including the earth) in terms of energy &#8211; energy that can be transformed. So we could say a part of the energy of the universe represents itself in a physical form as the sun and the earth and as humans and other beings. All things (be it living or non-living) that exist in the world is nothing but a part of the energy that constitutes the whole universe. As i said before, some energy represents itself as a stone and some others are represented as humans, etc. The entities with a higher level consciousness have more energy associated than an entity with lesser consciousness. So, as humans we potentially are made up of more energy than a piece of stone which is less complicated. This is very clear from the number of things that happen in our body and the number of things we are capable of doing. Like a more complicated machinery that takes more power, we humans are made up of more energy. So since we are all a part of the massive energy that exists, by eating meat, we are actually performing an act similar to chopping off our own arm and eating it &#8211; which sounds rather bizarre. But does it mean we should not eat meat at all? Also many other animals eat meat. How is that justified? Well, the term to look for is consciousness. If i know i am eating meat and only doing so to make myself satisfied and the same time not forcing an imbalance to the system, then i don&#8217;t think there is any problem. Animals, apart from humans, instinctively follow this rule. They don&#8217;t eat more than what they actually can, while humans went on to invent the refrigerator. So the world doesn&#8217;t really need vegetarians. Rather it requires conscious non-vegetarians. That way we would maintain the balance that nature likes to preserve. For some reason, nature likes to maintain diversity and it is our duty to appreciate it. Mother nature is extremely intelligent that it reacts very quickly to a crisis. We don&#8217;t want to create a crisis and risk being eradicated like our fellow dinosaurs. And on top of all these, we are a different species. A species that is spiritually knowledgeable. We have the right set of tools. All we need to do is to use them correctly and progress in the spiritual ladder. I don&#8217;t know what awaits us on the other side of the ladder. But i strongly believe there is a reason for our existence and there is a well defined purpose. Let us use this opportunity to learn why we do what we do! Related posts:Weird Thought: The world and the universeWeird Thought: Why aren&#8217;t we programmed?Weird thought:Our Brain-Master or Slave?


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/03/weird-thought-the-world-and-the-universe/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Weird Thought: The world and the universe'>Weird Thought: The world and the universe</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/weird-thought-why-arent-we-programmed/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Weird Thought: Why aren&#8217;t we programmed?'>Weird Thought: Why aren&#8217;t we programmed?</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/03/weird-thoughtour-brain-master-or-slave/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Weird thought:Our Brain-Master or Slave?'>Weird thought:Our Brain-Master or Slave?</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<title>How far would a Million pounds go?</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/how-far-would-a-million-pounds-go/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/how-far-would-a-million-pounds-go/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:12:51 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[Well being]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[philosophy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1314</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How far would a Million Pounds go in today&#8217;s world? I am not talking about spending a million pounds, rather i am interested to know how many lives can be changed with a million pounds. To realistically estimate this, first i probably need to list the top issues that the world faces. And i need to be careful to list the ones that can be solved using money. Poverty: First and the foremost is Poverty. It is just unacceptable to see people die in this world because of lack of food to eat. Whilst many people i know of, worry about lack of having the latest car, it is unbelievable to see people on the other side of the world actually starving to death. Unfortunately, the human society is dominated by money and the general population don&#8217;t even know if people who struggle to find food to survive do really exist or not. Illiteracy: The next major issue that dominates the world is Illiteracy. About half the people alive in this world cannot read or write. These people have no real chance of improving their life because they were denied education or were not interested in being literate. Illiteracy is horrible because it is the knowledge that helps us solve issues and fight ourselves out of other problems. By not possessing the very basic requirement of education, it is impossible to improve the quality of life. Good Health: After all, we all want to live a healthy life until we die. But most of us are not so fortunate enough to enjoy such a basic requirement. Of course, some health problems are outside our control. But health problems that are being caused due to lack of money are regrettable. It is one of the worst situation a man can be &#8211; knowing he/she can live if someone helped them with some man made money. Environmental impact: Due to continuous growth that is fuelled by economy and psychology, humans are constantly pushing mother nature to her uncomfortable zone. From clearing the amazon at an alarming rate and fencing free lands in Africa to restrict wild animals to allowing the arctic ice shelves to melt because of excessive pollution, we are consciously committing a serious blunder. There are a number of good hearted people who protest against these moves and also some interesting organisations who collect donations from people and try and help the environment. But the problem looks unsolvable just by these good hearts. A Million pounds it is! So, now that i have 4 main topics in my agenda, i did some basic research on the Internet to see how many lives can be changed by giving off a million pounds. Remember, these problems are listed in the decreasing order of magnitude. So, i think poverty is more severe than illiteracy and illiteracy is more severe than health and so on. So, If i give away all my £1 million to help the poor, then i can probably feed about 5000 people for a year. On the other hand, if i wanted to spend on educating the illiterate population i might just manage to train around 10,000 people with a specific skill. If i decide to spend the million on providing a better health to the needy, then i might be able to help build about 10 hospitals with basic amenities and employ enough doctors in these hospitals to help people. Also a part of the money can be used to buy stuff to help reduce diseases &#8211; like mosquito nets to fight malaria. And finally, if i had to give it away to protect the environment, i could help save about 20,000 acres of rain forest from deforestation. Well, there are a handful of difficult choices here. Right from the start, i have hated to learn that people die of hunger everyday. The world as it exists has enough resources for all beings that live here. It&#8217;s a shame that humans have shown their jealousy to own what they really don&#8217;t &#8211; the world! It&#8217;s decision time&#8230; So, by default i would have gone ahead and helped the people in hunger. But looking again at the options, i now believe i will decide to give away a substantial percentage  of the £1 million to train people on a specific skill. This skill, once acquired will go a long way and it might help them earn their food for their entire lifetime. Not just theirs but probably for their entire family. The skill with not only fetch food, but medicines and an overall improvement in quality of life. Once everyone is educated to take a conscious decision we probably won&#8217;t have environmental issues on today&#8217;s scale. Then, people will be capable of putting forth their views even against corrupt politicians and evil business men and make this world a better place to live. Related posts:Poverty and inheritanceLiving a worry free lifeInnovative solutions to tackle climate change


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/02/poverty-and-inheritance/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Poverty and inheritance'>Poverty and inheritance</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/living-a-worry-free-life/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Living a worry free life'>Living a worry free life</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/07/innovative-solutions-to-tackle-climate-change/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Innovative solutions to tackle climate change'>Innovative solutions to tackle climate change</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<title>How conscious are you?</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/how-conscious-are-you/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/how-conscious-are-you/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 06 Jun 2010 20:22:43 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1199</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Humans are blessed with something that other life forms don&#8217;t enjoy &#8211; to consciously make decisions. While other beings can also make decisions, we can think, analyse and then decide. Most decisions that other beings have to make are driven by their instinct without much choice, while we have the ability to choose. The important point to note is it&#8217;s not just decision making that makes us unique, but making them consciously does. So what do i exactly mean by making conscious decisions? Defining Consciousness: Let us say, I decided to have some tasty fish for dinner. I can actually understand the life cycle of the fish and how much pain I would have caused by hooking it and killing it. I also know how tasty it would be when i cook it with the right ingredients. In this case, i can say i am conscious of both the pain i am causing and the happiness i bring to myself. Mind you, this has nothing to do with non-vegetarian food &#8211; the same applies to potatoes and aubergines. So, when i take a &#8220;decision&#8221; to eat fish, it is no more because of some unknown and uncontrollable internal push to eat fish &#8211; the so called &#8220;instinct&#8221;. The issue with Instinct But this is not the case with most of us. Not many take conscious decisions. We tend to give our lives in the hand of the instinct. So, the next obvious question is why should i not go with my instinct? Well, as Osho puts it in one of his books, there are three levels where a mind can be in &#8211; instinct, intellect and intuition. Instinct is what is passed over by our genes and comprises of all mundane stuff like beating of the heart and blinking of our eyes. It is carried over from one generation to another. Intellect on the other hand is learnt by experience and by the application of the brain. Intellect can be passed on to the next generation and the genetic makeup gets better from one generation to another because of the addition of this intellect. Intuition is a separate case all together. It has to be learnt but cannot be taught. It descends on to a person as a knowledge that does not reason. Hence there is no need for the brain to parse intuition or understand it. Intuition is what explains the purpose of this very existence. It is the one that provides us with answers to all questions. Unfortunately, it cannot be passed on or shared. So, by just going with instinct, we are no different from the cows that gaze grass everyday monotonously without second thoughts. They take no effort to understand why they have to gaze. They don&#8217;t care if their milk is adulterated or not when sold. They are driven by instinct. They just do what they are programmed to do. Being Conscious: We humans are definitely better than cows in many respect. Then why should we stay where we don&#8217;t belong? Now that the question on why we shouldn&#8217;t be in the hands of our instinct is answered, it is time to understand how this links to taking conscious decisions. Forget intuition, even intellect is a gift that not many other beings enjoy. A tiger cannot turn herbivorous, even if it wanted to, because of its very own instinct. With intellect, fortunately we are not forced into this trap of following the orders of our ancestors. On the other hand, we have the ability to change and rewrite the way we and our future generations can lead their lives. The only way to make such a change is by understanding the world better and taking conscious decisions that have an impact on every being in this world. Decisions like climatic change, competition and wealth. These decisions not only define today but they define tomorrow as well. So ask yourself! How conscious am I? Am i just driven by peer pressure to &#8220;succeed&#8221;? Am I driven by hastiness to earn more than everyone else? Am I ready to do something I wouldn&#8217;t do to my own family, just for business? Am I the person who i want to be? It&#8217;s time to get these answered!!! Rise up, you are human. Related posts:The counter intuitive theoryWeird thought:Our Brain-Master or Slave?Weird Thought: Why aren&#8217;t we programmed?


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/the-counter-intuitive-theory/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: The counter intuitive theory'>The counter intuitive theory</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/03/weird-thoughtour-brain-master-or-slave/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Weird thought:Our Brain-Master or Slave?'>Weird thought:Our Brain-Master or Slave?</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/weird-thought-why-arent-we-programmed/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Weird Thought: Why aren&#8217;t we programmed?'>Weird Thought: Why aren&#8217;t we programmed?</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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