The Wisdom Park

"Life is like a game of tennis - in order to win, you have to serve well." For two consecutive years, 2011 and 2012, we organised a contest for the school children across Goa called Gita Champions League (Henceforth referred to as GCL). We had a massive success with 3800 children participating the first year and 8600 children participating the second year. But, all this didn't come easily, we had to literally slog it out. Well, for that matter nothing wonderful comes easily, does it! THE BURDEN OF LOVE I took up GCL or rather GCL came to me at a time when I was going through intense personal struggles on literally every front - physically, mentally and institutionally. Yes, I was desperately praying for a service that could literally pull me out of the quagmire of my problems. I have always believed and witnessed the power of service. Service has always saved me in difficult times. The only reason, I am intact in my spiritual life despite the numerous challenges is beca...

"In the end we only regret the chances we didn't take." A few weeks ago, I was doing a training program for our devotees at our ISKCON center in Siolim. My theme that day was to highlight the need for devotees to find their hidden potential. I was explaining, how important it is for every devotee to feel successful in life; how the growth of every organisation depends on the growth of the individuals within the organisation. I explained to them, how in the name of growth of the organisation, we can't overlook individual growth - both are interconnected. One devotee asked me a very intelligent question. He asked me, "What does success mean?" I told him, "Success, doesn't mean to become successful in the eyes of people. It doesn't mean name, fame or any other external things." I told him that, " Success means to feel that you have done your best, that you have lived up to your full potential. Others are not the judge of our succe...

"One who experiences the real world in thier life, don't need the reel world experience to keep them alive." Man has always been crazy about movies ever since they came into being with Hollywood leading from the front. And the craze seems to  keep increasing more and more with the advancement of technology. The thinking, eating, dressing, talking and practically every aspect of the lives of people is influenced by movies in small or big ways. Hollywood of America has not only influenced film industries in Asia but also the world over. Most of the film industries have associated with Hollywood to promote and market their films both locally and abroad. Here is the list of the name of film industries across the world that are inspired by Hollywood. This list will leave you spellbound. Bollywood - Mumbai-based Hindi language film industry. Pollywood - Punjabi language film industry in India.  Lollywood - Urdu and Punjabi films of Pakistani film industry in Lahore. Chho...

" People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. " - Theodore Roosevelt CAREFUL In my nearly two decades of being an active member of the preaching engine in ISKCON, I have seen so many people come and go - very few people remain committed, year after year. As responsible members of the organisation, we should see this partly as our fault that, we are not able to create systems to take care of them. We should feel sad for them that they have lost a wonderful opportunity to quickly perfect their life and we should feel sad for ourselves that we couldn't take care nicely of those whom Krishna sent to us. After all, the process of spiritual life is not such an easy one, the amount of tests and diversions are quite a lot. Therefore, constant support and encouragement is needed for one to keep continuing in this process especially if one is relatively new just like a budding sapling needs a lot of attention and care. You see, care is a noun and ...

A few days back, I had to come from our Vasco center to our Panjim center. I took, three different vehicles to reach the destination. From the Vasco center, my friend dropped me to the Verna bus stop in a brand new, high end, air conditioned car. From there I took a crowded, government Kadamba bus to Panjim. The contrast of the previous ride in the comfortable car to this one was distance apart. At the Panjim bus stand, I was picked up by another colleague of mine in our old rundown car. Again, a huge contrast to the previous two vehicles. But, I thoroughly enjoyed all the three rides in the three different vehicles. Just in a short journey, three completely different situations. Isn't life also something like this, where situations change completely and quickly! I reflected that our experience of life is not in the situation per se but in our interpretation of the situation. No situation, is entirely good or bad in and of itself - it is depends on our perception of the sit...