Luxury Or Overvaluation

Prakash Srinivasan

A smartphone that is priced at Rs 51,500, Samsung Galaxy S5 (as costly as a high-end laptop)

A car priced at Rs 5 crores (Bentley, costlier than a premium villa)

The list is endless….welcome to the age of overvaluation which is conveniently cloaked as “luxury.”

When I came to know that the recently launched Samsung phone is priced around Rs 50,000 I was aghast. The price and convenience of portability cannot be so much! It’s also very unethical that companies can make profits of 100-200%. The value of a brand cannot be so sky-high that it starts overpricing its products. Brands and products go through phases and once they get established and become famous, they start getting a little arrogant and then the problem begins. Its starts hoodwinking customers and overcharging them and the psychological value of the product (riding on the brand perception) makes customers fall prey to it.

Sunshine Cafe- The Night Series

T.R Mist

Continuation of The Night-IV

As I walked back that evening to my home, I noticed a beggar a few meters away from the entrance of my home under a streetlight dozing. “If this guy is a municipality agent then he should have thought up of a better disguise,” I thought to myself, because this part of the city was extremely uneconomical for his profession. There were hardly any people living around on the fringes.

I walked up the stairway to my home and spread myself on the bed, thinking about the strange encounter I had had with Corto. Suddenly a realization came to me that I was famished. My entire plan to visit Bro’s café apart from chatting up with him and K was to have dinner, which was spoiled by Mr. Corto. I decided to make do with some salad for the night.

 With the kind of enlightenment Corto had provided me, I quietly walked into my office the next day and settled in my seat looking lost. I listlessly opened a file and kept gazing at the printed words for a long time and finally I had success. Buck Tooth came to me and asked, “what man you look completely lost. Is everything OK with you”?

The World Through A Child’s Eyes

Here is the account of the experience of a small child, recounted in later life. I have taken it from Edward Robinsons's book Living the Questions.

It was a summer day and I was playing out back of the house, in an alley in the city where we lived. It was one of my happier days, when I had found playmates. A sudden storm came up and interrupted our play. I sat alone out there between the garages behind the house and waited for it to end. It was near noon. The rain ended almost as soon as it came, and the sun shone hot and bright once more. All at once I felt as if I were seeing everything for the first time. The light seemed like gold, the smell of the wet foliage was like perfume, with the rainwater shining and running about in little rivulets, the humming and the buzzing of insects and bees was pleasant to my ears. Everywhere I looked there was beauty. In that dirty alley wherever there was a leaf or a blade of grass it sparkled. I was filled with a great sense of comfort and peace. Now I watched a beetle going about its business, and then a small garden spider, and I was glowing with warmth.

It was as if all that was outside of me, I felt to be part of it. Then a thought came, It said “See! Everything is alive, everything lives. That insect, it has life, the grass, the air even.” And then I felt joy, and with joy, love and then a feeling of reverence.”

Swami Vivekananda on Muhammed

Source : http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_1/Lectures_And_Discourses/Mohammed

   
The ancient message of Krishna is one harmonising three — Buddha's, Christ's and Mohammed's. Each of the three started an idea and carried it to its extreme. Krishna antedates all the other prophets. [Yet, we might say,] Krishna takes the old ideas and synthesises them, [although] his is the most ancient message. His message was for the time being submerged by the advance wave of Buddhism. Today it is the message peculiar to India. If you will have it so, this afternoon I will take Mohammed and bring out the particular work of the great Arabian prophet....

From Team Venugaanam

We are delighted to bring you the 33rd edition of Venugaanam this April with our wishes for Rama Navami. Swami’s discourse brings out the significance of the festival and how Ramayana is actually the story of each of our lives. Starting with the precious discourse of our beloved SWAMI, we have the SKM updates for the month of March.

In Atmajyothi, we further continue sharing the knowledge on devotion as indicated in Naradha Bhakti Sutras. Here we discuss the various aspects of the devotion.

Sreenidhi Sivakumar shares a beautiful Must read article entitled Swami- My Best friend.

The final article on Buddha’s message to the World is taken from the Complete worls of Swami Vivekananda.

We are happy to have your feedback on how to make ‘Venugaanam’ a better communication tool. Please mail us at contactus@saikrushnamandir.org . Do feel free to share with us your articles, thoughts and ideas.

We pray to Swami to bless all the children and inmates so that they may all come up to His expectations. May Swami turn our lives into a celebration of His message of love, sharing and caring.

With All our Prema,

Team Venugaanam

Swami’s Discourse on Rama Navami

The Rama story is ours

THE five basic elements that compose the Universe are cognised by the sense organs in man as sound, touch, form, taste and smell. The response of the person to these impacts can be either pleasure or pain, beneficent or maleficent, for it depends on how and in what spirit they are welcomed and accepted.

Man has three vital tools which can handle these impacts---body, speech and mind--capable of deed, word and thought. The body is essential for every act and achievement. "Man is human because of the body, it is the first requisite for moral living." Man has been blessed with the body in order that he may realise the purpose of life---revering elders, serving parents, and loving God.

The body has to be sanctified by the study of scriptural texts and the lives of holy personages; further it is rendered pure and sacred by engaging in the promotion of the happiness of others and earning affection and appreciation of all.

SKM Updates

School Examinations:  Between March 20^th and 28^th the children of Sharavathi Higher Primary School had their final examinations. The children prayed to Goddess Saraswathi – the epitome of knowledge and wisdom in the first week of March.  The examination test papers had been screened to ensure that the children are tested more on the basis of skills and basic information than focusing on rote learning. Besides basic subject information, the children were also assessed on oral skills so that it helps teachers to identify improvement areas. 

New English Medium school coming up shortly:

The school committee came up with its recommendations which were presented in the trust meeting.  The Trust will be coming up with a new English medium school soon. The new school will also provide completely free education to the children. The model of schooling will be largely skill based wherein children move from class to class based on skills developed. Also the classrooms will be specially designed to encourage collaborative and experiential learning. The trust firmly believes that the children should be provided with the best opportunities for self-development.  Applications are sought for English medium teachers willing to help the school to grow from its nascent stage. This is a very exciting and involving role and only genuinely interested candidates need apply. The right applicant will be suitably compensated with added benefits.

Currently the building is in architectural drawings stage. Alternative building technologies which may be cost effective and durable are being explored.  It is expected that once drawings are finalized, the construction will be completed within 12-16 weeks.

Summer Vacation at SKM:

 

It is summer time and the children have gone for the vacations. Even as the children have gone home for a vacation, the SKM team is now actively engaged in identifying suitable children to be enrolled in SKM from next year. The team is also invites applications for a  warden on paid basis. The major duties of the warden will involve supervising the children, helping them with their homework and co-curricular activities. Knowledge of computers, record maintenance and driving skills will be bonuses on this job.

We look forward to all your active involvement and participation in this God given opportunity. We also welcome you to come and visit the site and participate in the activities of Sai Krushna Mandir. We pray that Swami’s grace will crown our genuine intentions and He will continue to guide and bless the children and residents to live in a happy home and grow to his ideals.