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• Five factors that influence your performance

Arun daya

September, 2015

To Enlighten, Inspire and Guide Hare Krishna Youth Journal

• Be your own mentor - A working model

• Art of deriving happiness from your work

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Bhagavad Gita - The King of Education

Five factors that influence your performance

these five causes. For example, if a student aims at

high rank in studies then he should ensure the follow-

ing factors - a place to study, himself (with fitness for

study), all the necessary things (such as books, com-

puter, pens, table, etc.), his concentrated efforts, and

finally the Supreme Lord will give rise to positive re-

sults.

For example if one wants to hold a glass of water in

hand then all the five fingers have to hold the glass

tightly. Of these five fingers, if the thumb doesn‟t sup-

port the endeavor of the other four fingers, the above

said action cannot take place. Thus, thumb is the

deciding factor or super cause for holding the water

glass. Another important point to be noted here is

thumb alone also cannot hold the glass. First, four

fingers surround the glass, then final fix is done by

the thumb. Thumb neither alone makes efforts to

hold the glass nor can hold by itself. Similarly, the

Supreme Lord never takes initiative in your endeav-

ors; you have to begin your efforts for four factors,

and then look for fifth super cause‟s contribution.

Thus everyone should ensure complete arrangement

of the four factors for successful completion of the

chosen task. He then should invoke the sanction

from the Supreme Lord. It is also important to under-

stand the God‟s desire; He may sanction something

for encouraging us from a situation, but His desire

may or may not be one with what we as individual

desire. Bhagavad Gita also tells us how to know

God‟s desires.

Thus everyone should ensure com-

plete arrangement of the four factors

for successful completion of the cho-

sen task. He then should invoke the

sanction from the Supreme Lord.

Author: H.G. Vaishnavanghri Sevaka das holds Ph.D. in Polymer science, working as technology special-

ist in Polymer Industry at Mumbai, India. He passionately derives working models, from Bhagavad-Gita,

for successful life in the modern age. He translated Srila Prabhupada‟s Bhagavad-Gita, Srimad Bhaga-

vatam, and Sri Chaitanya Charitamritam into Telugu (South Indian language). He actively contributes for

Telugu BTG (Bhagavaddarshan).

We often think that only I am responsible for ac-

complishment of my work and nothing else. But how

far is this true? Lets see what Lord Sri Krishna said

about it in Bhagavad Gita.

“O mighty-armed Arjuna, according to the Vedanta

there are five causes for the accomplishment for all

actions. Now learn of these from me.” (BG. 18.13).

“The place of action (the body), the performer, the

various senses, the many different kinds of en-

deavor, and ultimately the Super soul-these are the

five factors of action.” (BG. 18.14)

For success in all activities one should consider

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Be Your Own Mentor [Part-1]

A working model for you

After learning, at every instance of using the learning,

you need to „recall‟ the acquired relevant conceptual

knowledge, practical learning, related data/facts and

any experience or best practices. Such recall „invokes‟

a mentor within you guiding you to successfully apply

the acquired learning. The mentor thus invoked inside

you always gets inspiration from the actual mentor,

who motivated and guided you to learn.

„Be your own mentor‟ refers to the mentor invoked

within you before applying the acquired learning to a

real life situation.

Can the invoked mentor within you fail to adequately

equip you with the crucial data, information, frame-

work and analysis required by you to be able to suc-

cessfully leverage the acquired skills for passing a

test or examination in real life? Answer is „yes‟.

„Be your own mentor‟ series will aim to equip you with

the knowledge and techniques required to ensure

that the invoked mentor has capability to deal with

the internal (mind) and external factors in real life

situation and leads you towards the success.

Your skills and learning will then remain evergreen

guaranteeing the success in every test or examination

you face in your life!

Author: Harsha Lalitha devi dasi (Dr. Hima Bindu), M.D.. Presently working as Associate Professor in the

Dept of Pharmacology, Kakatiya Medical College (KMC), Warangal (TS), India. She is very sought after

faculty and recipient of the best teacher award at KMC. Earlier she worked as surgeon at a Primary

Health Center (PHC). She also served as Girls‟ VOICE coordinator, for preaching youth of NIT, Warangal.

How is „mentor‟ different from a „teacher‟? The men-

tor has a personal connect with the mentee, whereas

a modern teacher may or may not have personal con-

nect with the student.

Despite of the personal connect, when faced with a

real life test or examination, do we have the teacher

or mentor physically present next to us for any help?

Answer is „no‟. A mentor motivates the mentee ena-

bling him or her to learn through self study.

Every month the subsequent articles under this topic

will present the data, information and framework

available from scriptural sources.

The author will also aim to equip the readers with

certain tools and techniques for analyzing and using

the acquired learning.

It will lead to evolved thinking and activated intelli-

gence of the readers to successfully mentor them-

selves before any test, examination or decision mak-

ing in their life.

„Be your own mentor‟ refers to the

mentor invoked within you before

applying the acquired learning to a

real life situation.

Your skills and learning will then

remain evergreen guaranteeing the

success in every test or examination

you face in your life!

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Art of Work [Part-1]

Turning work into art

Why is it „mission accomplished‟ for someone and

„mission impossible for others? Can ordinary way of

doing things guarantee success? Answer is „No‟. Then

what an achiever does differently?

Every moment, each one of us does some work know-

ingly or unknowingly, by putting considerable effort or

almost effortlessly. However, only some of us are able

to derive satisfaction, happiness, peace, sense of

achievement and appreciation for the work. The Key

differentiator leading to such an outcome is the „art‟

or „art of work‟.

For example, an arbitrary spreading of colors on a

canvas can only spoil the canvas, while doing the

same work differently may give it the look of a beauti-

ful painting. The painting is perceived as a piece of

„art‟ as it is the outcome of some special skills ap-

plied differently than normal work. An artist, thus

performs a particular art, whereas a worker just does

the work. Also there is a large difference in accom-

plishment by performing an art vis-à-vis doing some

ordinary work. Hence, an intelligent person will like to

know what it takes to turn the ‟work‟ into „art‟ and

how can one be sure of achieving this? A step-by-step

process to achieve this objective is given below.

1. Adopting reliable and authentic methodology –

available from recognized educational institutions

or art centers run under a well established and

regulated system.

2. Learning from an expert guide or trainer – who is

accomplished with proven credentials that can be

traced to the originators of the art.

3. Practicing with perseverance („tapa‟) to attain re-

quired skills. It should be done with full faith and

determination. Ingenuity and creativity play an im-

portant role during this phase.

4. Identifying clear goals and milestones to be

achieved. Aspiration and dreams of acquiring the

art must be intelligently turned into achievable and

measurable goals.

5. Planning and executing the plan taking into ac-

count the available time and resources for every

milestone of the plan.

If we intelligently perform the above steps, we can be

sure to turn the „work‟ into „art‟ for many of the things

that we do in our life. Then, our efforts will lead to

satisfaction, happiness, peace, sense of achievement

and appreciation.

Intelligent person will like to know

what it takes to turn the „work‟ into

„art‟ and how can one be sure of

achieving this?

Author: Amogh Gauranga Das, M.S. (Systems & Information, BITS Pilani). He currently leads IPR team

for corporate R&D of a large MNC. Earlier worked for Technology & Product development in IT industry

and served engineering education for long as faculty at BITS Pilani & Mumbai University. He learnt

multimedia and other technical skills to support KC preaching activities.

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Material Problems - Spiritual Solutions

is becoming alarming, because youth are following

western culture more than our own Vedic culture.

The stress can be either positive (Eustress) or nega-

tive (Distress). The eustress helps us to perform cer-

tain activities and motivates us to face challenges in

our lives in addition to keeping us alert. But the same

eustress if it exists for longer periods it becomes as

distress. While distress creates havoc in life and fur-

ther results in making our mind over reactive in cer-

tain situations. When the stress levels in our body

goes beyond eustress levels, then our psychological

Human society is now-a-days facing most dangerous

and alarming disease named as “STRESS”. Stress is

a condition of physical or emotional tension which

arises due to the person‟s reaction for different situa-

tions in life especially when they are threatened or in

anxiety. This stress factor is found to be most difficult

to manage. People especially in their young age are

facing disturbances in their emotional, family and

social life. Further, the stress leads to dissatisfaction

due to reduced creativity, enthusiasm and commit-

ment.

The research at medical college of Cornell University,

USA found that stress can affect the person both

physically and mentally. It may lead to restlessness

and sometime making youth addicted to either smok-

ing or drinking and sometimes even to forbidden

drugs. People are even opting to commit suicide when

they are unable to tolerate the stress. Surprisingly

amongst all the species it is only the human beings, con-

sidered to be more intelligent, who think of committing

suicide. As per statistics, over 1 million people commit

suicide every year, in other words one death in every 30

sec. Further, people who are attempting suicide are even

more – for every 4 sec one person is attempting (10

times more than the actual number of deaths).

Even in the cultured countries like India, the situation

An American Journal of Epidemiology in their issue (March 2002) reported that the suicide risk among atheists is 3 to 6 times more than spiritual minded people (aged between 20 to 34 years). Research find-ings by West Virginia University, USA concluded that the spiritual practices like Yoga, meditation along with prayers and chanting the Holy names of the Lord will surely reduce the levels of distress and gives mental strength to control our mind for such activi-ties. Here are some of the healthy ways or practical tips to reduce the stress levels especially during

young age of our lives.

Try to balance academics with extracurricular ac-

tivities such as sports and exercises.

Avoid addiction to bad habits and inculcate good

habits.

Manage the most valuable time, so that we can

complete our works well within time.

Have a regulated life style.

Associate with people whose company will help in

cultivating values, morals and ethics .

Study the Holy Scriptures like Bhagavad Gita, Srimad

Bhagavatam, Ramayanam etc.

Suicide risk among atheists is 3 to 6

times more than spiritual minded

people (aged between 20 to 34

years).

Author: Hare Krishnananda Das, Ph.D. [Civil Engineering from NIT, Warangal] presently works as Associate

Professor at NIT, Warangal. He has vast experience in engineering research and teaching with more than 60

technical publications in reputed journals and conferences including the ones honored as best paper awards.

He is actively associated with KC preaching activities for several years.

How to deal with the Most Dangerous “STRESS” Among Youth?

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When I do my work perfectly,

where is the need to worship God?

Though this question appears to be logical, after

analysis, it becomes clear that it is meaningless. To

work is the nature of not only human beings but also

that of animals. All living entities from tiny ants to

huge elephants do some work. We often see a big

line of ants carrying food and sometimes two to three

ants together carrying big food particles. We see oxen

and horses drawing carts for long distances and ele-

phants carrying heavy loads. Therefore, it is not

sufficient so say „I do my work perfectly‟. There is a

proverb which says „All skills are for livelihood‟. Hu-

man beings and animals work for their livelihood.

Then, what is the difference between human beings

and animals. Have you ever thought about this?

The striking difference between human beings and

animals is only intelligence. Animals do work only by

intuition. They do not have intelligence. But human

beings have intelligence and analyzing capabilities.

Human beings do work using them. We should at first

recognize this. Using his intelligence, if a man does

work that could not be done by animals, and if this

work is not just for livelihood, then, it proves that man

is different from an animal.

Another important point is that man should, at first,

If a man spends all his life in only doing work, then he

will only be equal to an animal. But if he is in intelli-

gent state and completes the activities, then he will

succeed as a man. Thus, the human form of life is an

excellent opportunity to behave with intelligence,

even here, if one is satisfied with only work, then it is

equal to only animal form of life. Therefore, staying

away from sinful life is a good beginning for develop-

ment in a person‟s life.

Author: This answer is excerpted from the writings by H.G. Vaishnavanghri Sevaka Das in Bhagavaddar-

shan, Telugu edition of BTG. [English Translation is done by Bhakta Krishna Yerrapragada, Ph.D., IISc

Bangalore. He is a senior scientist at Defense Research and Development Laboratory, Hyderabad. He

has wide experience in development of aerospace structures with specialization in structural dynamics.]

stop all sinful activities. Meat eating, liquor consump-

tion, illicit man-woman relationship and gambling are

the four sinful activities of Kaliyug. If man is able to

stop these sinful activities, he would have done a

great favor. When a man is involved in the sinful ac-

tivities and also worships God, then it is a waste. As

long as a man keeps away from the above four sins,

he is far away from being a sinner and one day by the

mercy of God, would become His devotee. Everybody

cannot get an opportunity to directly worship God.

Some may not worship God, but get involved in devo-

tional activities of God. Though some cannot directly

get involved in devotional service, offer the fruits of

their hard work to God and donate generously. Some

people, who could do even this, will go in pursuit of

divine knowledge, some will practice meditation and

some more would sacrifice the fruit of their work. All

these will indirectly be equivalent to establishing a

relation with God. In this way, man will progress slowly

and steadily and will one day become devotee of God.

The human form of life is an

excellent opportunity to behave with

intelligence, even here, if one is

satisfied with only work, then it is

equal to only animal form of life.

Therefore, staying away from sinful

life is a good beginning ...

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Spirituality and Science

HIGGS Boson - The God Particle

is a theory which attempts to describe the forces,

components and reactions of the fundamental parti-

cles that make up matter. It deals with atoms, their

inner components. The Standard model has serious

gaps including gravity and some experimental contra-

dictions too. The only particle which has not been

experimentally verified is the Higgs Boson” humor-

ously referred to as “God particle”. Recently, there

had been a claim in LHC (Large Hadron Collider), Swit-

zerland, that “God particle has been detected, but still

there are many questions which are unanswered yet.

The Spiritual Perspective:

According to Bhagavad- Gita (9.10),

“This material nature, which is one of my energies, is

working under my direction, O son of Kunti, produc-

ing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule,

“this manifestation is created and annihilated again

Here the Supreme Lord, Krishna is illustrating clearly

that whole material nature is strictly working under

His direction. Lord Krishna is the Supreme controller

of all laws (social, economic, scientific, etc.) and the

ultimate lawmaker too. He is not simply a particle

waiting to be found in a laboratory and a particle can-

not simply describe God in its entirety. The Higgs

boson, claimed to be a God particle is a subtle mate-

rial particle which is bound by the laws of material

nature. In Brahma Samhita (5.35), it is described that

in God‟s work of creation of millions of worlds, His

potency remains inseparable. All the universes exist

in Him and He is present in His fullness in every one

of the Atoms that are scattered throughout the Uni-

verse at one and same time.

Hence a particle bound by the laws of material nature

will surely be unable to describe God. Instead under-

standing the God‟s creation may appropriately an-

swer the open questions regarding Higgs Boson.

Recently, there had been a claim in

LHC (Large Hadron Collider), Switzer-

land, that the “God particle has been

detected but still there are many

questions which are unanswered yet.

Author: Srikrishna Gauranga Nitai Das is an independent researcher in astrophysics, condensed matter

physics and atmospheric physics. Presently he is a faculty member of Physics in an international school

in Maharashtra. His research interests span from quantum mechanics to Vedic cosmology. He fre-

quently visits international schools, research organizations, attends conferences, symposia (presenting

research papers) in India and abroad.

The God particle is the nickname of a sub atomic

particle called the “Higgs Boson”. In a scientific

sense, different sub atomic particles are responsible

for the different properties of matter. Some particles

like protons, electrons, neutrons etc. possess mass (a

mysterious property of matter which gives rise to the

gravitational force) while some particles like photons

do not possess mass. The Higgs Boson or God Parti-

cle is believed to be the particle which gives mass to

matter. The “Standard model” in Particle Physics

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Learning Around

Ankusha When compared to a human being, the elephant is

a huge animal with great strength. The quantity of

food taken by an elephant is also very large. The hu-

man being is of no match to an elephant in the above

parameters. But, man has a technique to tame the

elephant and get many things done. This is Anku-

sha*. However, using Ankusha even a strong ele-

phant can be made to surrender. Man has intelli-

gence to tame an elephant using Ankusha. If man

does not use his intelligence, then he cannot tame an

elephant. Man cannot compete physically with an

elephant.

Even though the human body is small, using intelli-

gence, he can conquer anything. Using his knowl-

edge, man landed on moon, crossed the oceans,

does aerobatics in the skies and is able to control the

most powerful animals. All this is due to the mental

strength of the man.

In spite of having enormous physical strength, an ele-

phant surrenders to the sense of touch. The elephant

becomes a slave to the sense of touch of she ele-

phant. Thus, to capture an elephant, a she elephant

is positioned in front of it and made to run. The ele-

phant follows the she elephant and falls in the trap

laid by the man. Though the animals have senses and

will, due to lack of intelligence, they become slaves of

one of the senses. And man, with his intelligence, is

using everything in this creation to his advantage.

Ankusha is the best example for this. Man‟s brain

should work like Ankusha and overcome obstacles

like the elephant, succeed in completing major tasks.

youth should progress and sharpen their intelligence

and it should become like the pointed end of the

Ankusha. Only then, he can achieve success in han-

dling gigantic tasks like taming the elephant.

[*Elephant goad or Ankusha (Sanskrit, Aṅkuśa) is a

tool employed in the handling and training of ele-

phants, the largest land animals. It consists of a hook

(usually bronze or steel) which is attached to a 60 –

90 cm handle. The hook is inserted into the ele-

phant's sensitive skin, either slightly or more deeply,

to cause pain and induce the elephant to behave in a

certain manner].

Author: This answer is excerpted from the writings by H.G. Vaishnavanghri Sevaka Das in Bhagavad-

darshan, Telugu edition of BTG. [English Translation is done by Bhakta Krishna Yerrapragada, Ph.D.,

IISc Bangalore. He is a senior scientist at Defense Research and Development Laboratory, Hyderabad.

He has wide experience in development of aerospace structures with specialization in structural dy-

namics.]

If man does not use his intelligence, then he is equal

to an animal. But, man should put in special efforts

for the development of intelligence. It is said that any-

thing can be achieved with dedication. Therefore,

Youth should progress and sharpen

their intelligence and it should

become like the pointed end of the

Ankusha. Only then, he can achieve

success in handling gigantic tasks

like taming the elephant.

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A leader must be peaceful, self-controlled,

austere, pure, tolerant, honest, wise,

learned and religious.

Message

from ISKCON Founder Acharya

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta

Swami Prabhupada

Our aim is to disseminate the Vedic knowledge to all the

youth in Navi Mumbai through this “Arunodaya” youth jour-

nal from ISKCON, Navi Mumbai, which is being built to be-

come the „Glory of Maharashtra‟ soon.

With all blessings,

Surdas, Temple President

Message

from Temple President

Dear youngsters,

Hare Krishna. Please accept blessings from Sri Sri Radha

Madanmohan ji. We are very happy to launch the Hare

Krishna Youth journal “Arunodaya” as a monthly e-

magazine to guide you towards excellence in all aspects of

your life. This is purely based on the time-tested Vedic

knowledge, which is presently obscure due to godless mod-

ern civilization. Generally, people think that talking about

the God is the nature of inefficient person. But, there are

many examples in the history and present day that show

the submissiveness to the God and success in the world go

well together. Also, many celebrities have staunch faith in

religion and service to Sri Krishna.

In this youth journal we wish to bring many practical guiding

principles and concepts from various devotees with strong

academic and spiritual background for great impact in your

life. This monthly magazine will reach you first day of every

month to boost your enthusiasm and confidence. This

magazine gives information about the youth programs that

Editor:

Vaishnavanghri Sevaka Das, Ph.D.

Editorial Assistance:

Bhakta Krishna Yerrapragada, Ph.D.

Address: ISKCON Navi Mumbai - Sri Sri Radha Madanmohan ji Temple. Sector 23, Hare Krishna Land, Central

Part, Opposite Golf Course, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. PIN 410210. India.

we conduct on regular basis for the

spiritual and moral growth of the

youth. We invite all of you to take

advantage of such youth festivals

and also inform your friends for their

benefit. We are also ready to give

personal attention on weekends and

other holidays for your spiritual and

personality development.