Ne'er cast a clout till May be out.

With most phrases and sayings the meaning is well understood but the origin is uncertain. With this one the main interest is the doubt about the meaning. So, this time, we'll have the origin first.

Origin

'Ne'er cast a clout till May be out' is an English proverb. The earliest citation is this version of the rhyme from Dr. Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732, although it probably existed in word-of-mouth form well before that:

"Leave not off a Clout Till May be out.

Meaning

Let's look first at the 'cast a clout' part. The word 'clout', although archaic, is straightforward. Since at least the early 15th century 'clout' has been used variously to mean 'a blow to the head', 'a clod of earth or (clotted) cream' or 'a fragment of cloth, or clothing'. It is the last of these that is meant in 'cast a clout'. This was spelled variously spelled as clowt, clowte, cloot, clute. Here's an early example, from the Early English Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, circa 1485:

"He had not left an holle clowt, Wherwith to hyde hys body abowte."

So, 'ne'er cast a clout...' simply means 'never discard your [warm winter] clothing...'.

The 'till May be out' part is where the doubt lies. On the face of it this means 'until the month of May is ended'.

There is another interpretation. In England, in May, you can't miss the Hawthorn. It is an extremely common tree in the English countryside, especially in hedges. Hawthorns are virtually synonymous with hedges. As many as 200,000 miles of hawthorn hedge were planted in the Parliamentary Enclosure period, between 1750 and 1850. The name 'Haw' derives from 'hage', the Old English for 'hedge'.

The tree gives its beautiful display of flowers in late April/early May. It is known as the May Tree and the blossom itself is called May. Using that allusion, 'till May is out' could mean, 'until the hawthorn is out [in bloom]'.

Other rhymes in which May is ambiguous are:

- April showers bring forth May flowers.

- Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date. (Shakespeare's Sonnet 18)

The Hawthorn has long been a potent symbol of rebirth and appears, as May, in other old rhymes. For example, 'Here we go gathering nuts in May'. That is probably a corruption of 'here we go gathering knots of May [blossom]'. After all, there are no nuts to collect in England until Autumn - certainly not in May.

Putting the case for the month, as opposed to the flower...

A French proverb - 'En avril, ne te découvre pas d'un fil; en mai, fais ce qui te plaît'. This translates as 'In April, do not shed a single thread; in May, do as you please', which has much the same meaning as 'ne'er cast a clout...'.

Captain John Stevens's work, 'A New Spanish and English Dictionary', published in London in 1706, translates a Spanish proverb, as "Do not leave off your Coat till May be past".

Those rhymes may well have originated in England and migrated across the Channel. It is difficult to understand why the Spanish would coin such a proverb, which would seem a little cautious for that part of the world - the average temperature in Seville in May is 20°C.

There is a homegrown version that supports the 'month' theory - a fuller version of the rhyme, which goes:

"Button to chin, till May be in,
Cast not a clout till May be out"

The first line appears to have been added later and can't be found earlier than the 20th century. It clearly refers to the month though, as May blossom can come out, but can hardly be expected to go back in again, which indicates that whoever coined this additional line thought that way.

There's an explicit mention of the month in the version of the rhyme from F. K. Robertson's Whitby Gazette, 1855:

The wind at North and East
Was never good for man nor beast
So never think to cast a clout
Until the month of May be out

Wise words for the North Sea-facing Whitby, which can't match Seville and can be icy cold even in mid-summer.

All in all, although the May blossom interpretation seems appealing, the 'May' in this proverb is the month of May.

It's quite timely that, here in Yorkshire at the end of May, it's turned sunny and warm - having been cold and wet until now. I'm just about ready to take my coat off and head into flaming June.

"The Skilled profession of Child-Rearing."

Bringing children into this world is not only a nature given right, but also carries with it a God given responsibility. Society demands training if one is to be a lawyer,Accountant or any other profession for that matter. But how come few are prepared for parenting - the most demanding of occupations!!

I believe that ideally no one should graduate from school/college without having taken classes on how to be responsible adult and a good parent.Children are taught how to cook, sew,to keep books, even how to operate computers today.This is all indeed good, but they also need to be taught how to deal with life.

The proper training of children begins in the home. The schools have "gone to pot" so to speak.But the deteriorating environment there , is not entirely the fault of the schools/colleges. We must lay the blame where it belongs-lack of right education in the home.

I do admit raising children is a hard task in this day and age. But no parent has the right to bring a child into this world and then abdicate his/her responsibility to guide the child rightly. Who would plant in their garden a seed or a little plant and leave it to develop by itself, with out care and protection? If you want it to grow healthy and straight you have to put beside it a strong support, so that it does not bend over or break when the winds blow.

We have a responsibility to our younger ones, and it is a shame when parents neglect that responsibility. If God had not intended that parents guide their children, babies would be hatched from eggs, produced and then abandoned by the parents-left to hatch and grow by themselves, like turtles do !

Children need loving discipline. You have to guide children with firmness but also with Love. Children are like tender plants,to grow properly and to blossom into their full potential, they need nurturing and pruning-guidance with love and the understanding only parents can give to them.Every child needs to have dialogue with some one who has that understanding which he has not yet gained , but will develop if he is given the right guidance, and this can be done only by parents.

The formative years of a child is very important during this period , should be taught right moral attitudes and right behaviour-not only through words but also as living examples.Lack of such parental guidance is a major factor in the tragic breakdown of moral standards and behaviour,which has done more than anything else to destroy the family unit(y)- and the end result-emotionally crippled children and gradually becomes emotionally crippled adults, who has developed a feeling of rejection which leads to bitterness towards family and society as a whole. They feel that the world has not given them their just due- Mind you, their parents are their world,and they have to ensure that such situation does not arise.

Mother and Father each have different role in the upbringing of children and both are equally important.The Mother is the principal one to nurture the children in their infancy-It does not mean that she is the only one, but she is the logical parent to give the most of the early care and to instill in the children the training that is so necessary in the primary years. It is she who nourishes the infant from her own body and at the same time father should also bear his share of responsibility. As the child grows it needs the companionship, nurturing and understanding of both the parents, and therefore it is the common duty of both father and mother to attend to the raising of the children.

It is indeed a skilled profession to bring up children,to understand their needs as each one is different. In the eyes of God we are all souls, possessing the same qualities as the Divine.But each one has free will and independent intelligence, we have developed in different ways with unique pattern of 'karma'(the effects of past actions), each child must be understood as an individual.

It is very important that parents cultivate the right relationship with their children.Do not try to be like your children. You are their parents, and not their brothers and sisters.Teach them and guide them to Love and respect you as parents. I don't believe in the "buddy-buddy" relationship- It is either healthy or helpful to a child, instead it is always better to be a responsible father and mother.

Keep effective communications open with children in order to train them.Let them have a feeling that they can confide in you. Encourage them to be truthful by allowing them to say whatever is in their mind. If you turn your child away because he has told you, something you do not like,the child will become evasive, trying to mask his true feeling and to hide behaviour of which you will know will disapprove and he will instead will seek out for some one else as his confident. It is far far better you be that friend, the one to whom he can always turn for understanding.

Take time to talk with your children. Answer their questions and explain your guidance to them in a language , they can understand- You just can't say, Don't do it.You have to have reason with the child in a way that will get him to listen. Remember, one
learns with listening, even if one does not agree with everything that is said". Encourage the child in willingness to listen. Constructive words will remain etched in his consciousness. He will be grateful for them when one day he himself becomes a parent.Good rapport with your children has to begin in the early years. If you wait until a problem arises,it will be far more difficult to open those lines of communication at that time.

Never force your spiritual views on your children. Don't tell them, ever, just because 'am meditating you 're going to meditate-No No, it's an incorrect approach and totally refrain from it. Children are like flowers ,allow them to grow up and develop their own personalities and there is nothing wrong with that. Your part is to provide them with the right examples and sense of direction that they love to accept to carry on with their responsibilities.

It is important to teach children to accept responsibility. I have seen and known of families in which parents do everything -all the cooking,cleaning,gardening etc. and the child is engrossed in TV watching, or goes off to visit his/her friends and has no chores. This is not right. Why do parents feel that they must do everything? Why are they not giving the child the kind of guidance that will help him/her to develop skills and responsibility?The child grows up to be a careless and unreliable man or woman who does not know how to train his/her own children. These habits are passed on from generation to generation, as today many young people are the victims of our having failed in our duty to them.

Children should be taught to learn at an early age that nothing comes without effort. One has to work,he has to merit what he receives in this world.This principle is important.If a child is given everything he wants, he does not learn the value of anything. Teach the child that he should contribute his part to the family,to his circle of friends, to his community. That prepares him to cope with what others will expect of him as an adult.

Parents are often too indulgent with their children "I want to give my child everything I didn't have-"mere nonsense" Give him a chance to unfold to achieve, to meet the challenges of life with your help and support so that he becomes a strong individual. You cannot protect him from everything, nor can you assure his happiness by catering to his whims, and in the long run, it will not help him, if you try to do so.

One thing I would like to emphasise is, if you give your child an assignment, see that he fulfils it.Do not spank the child, but insist. Once good habits have been formed, the child will automatically do what is right.

Young ones will do what is asked of them if they feel they are helping and contributing.Make them feel they are sharing. Give praise and encouragement.Make them want to do it. Be sure that the responsibility is not greater than the capacity of the child, and when he does it give a reward.

Each of us has within us intelligence endowed by God with which we are to accept responsibility for ourselves,and to learn how to make the right choices in life. The duty of parents is to help guide their children along these lines while giving them freedom to follow their own natures. Do not make a general rule,because every one is unique in their own way and different, as some are more matured than others of the same age.

So many parents do not even know the friends with whom their children are associating-and then the children in turn think "My parents don't care". Very often children are glad that parents care enough to put their foot down and establish rules. But this has to be begun at an age when the children respect the training.Do not wait until they are teenagers, because by then it may be too late, as they would have accustomed to more independence than you will want them to exercise.

To summarise, would like to to leave you with one vital point i.e The best chance for success in raising children is if the parents themselves set the right standards by their own examples .Children need to see that the results of those standards imposed on them are beneficial. When guidance is given by example with love and understanding, it will enhance the Karmic good already present in the children and provide opportunity for further growth.

To thus nurture inherent good tendencies and to plant seeds of new ones in young lives given into their care is the God given duty of parents-
A HIGHLY SKILLED PROFESSION,INDEED IS CHILD REARING!!

AND NOW LET ME CONCLUDE WITH A SAYING OF
SRI SRI.PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA.

"There is a power that will light your way to health,happiness,peace and success, if you will but turn toward that light."

Source:-

This article is a compilation from the writings of
Sri Sri Daya Mata, YSS/SRF from "How to live-series."

For the benefit of the Readers please.

Crisis Management.

Crisis management is the systematic attempt to avoid
organizational crises or to manage those crises events
that do occur . A crisis is a major, unpredictable
event that threatens to harm an organization and its
stakeholders. Although crisis events are
unpredictable, they are not unexpected. Crises can
affect all segments of society – businesses, ,
educational institutions, families, non-profits and
the government and are caused by a wide range of
reasons. Although the definitions can vary greatly,
three elements are common to most definitions of
crisis:

(a) a threat to the organization,
b) the element of surprise, and
(c) a short decision time.

There are four types of organizational crises:

Sudden Crises, such as fires, explosions, natural
disasters, workplace violence, etc.

Smoldering Crises, problems or issues that start out
small and could be fixed or averted if someone was
paying attention or recognized the potential for
trouble.

A one-of-a-kind crisis;

And, Perceptual Crises, such as the long-running
problem Proctor & Gamble used to have with their
former corporate logo, that included a half-moon and
stars, which critics would claim were symbols of
devil-worship, calling for boycotts of P&G products.

The practice of crisis management involves attempts to
eliminate technological failure as well as the
development of formal communication systems to avoid
or to manage crisis situations , and is a discipline
within the broader context of management.

Crisis management consists of skills and techniques
required to assess, understand, and cope with any
serious situation, especially from the moment it first
occurs to the point that recovery procedures start.

Crisis management consists of methods used to respond
to both the reality and perception of crises such as a
Crisis Management Plan. Crisis management also
involves establishing metrics to define what scenarios
constitute a crisis and should consequently trigger
the necessary response mechanisms. It consists of the
communication that occurs within the response phase of
emergency management scenarios.

The related terms emergency management and business
continuity management focus respectively on the prompt
but short lived "first aid" type of response (e.g.
putting the fire out) and the longer term recovery and
restoration phases (e.g. moving operations to another
site). Crisis is also a facet of risk management,
although it is probably untrue to say that Crisis
Management represents a failure of Risk Management
since it will never be possible to totally mitigate
the chances of catastrophes occurring.

Crisis management is occasionally referred to as
incident management, although several industry
specialists such as Peter Power argue that the term
crisis management is more accurate.


1A Framework for crisis management and crisis
management planning
2 Models and theories associated with crisis
management
3 Crisis management success stories
4 Lessons learned in crisis management
5 Public sector crisis management
6 Examples of organizational crises

A Framework for crisis management and crisis
management planning.

The United Kingdom’s Department for Business,
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (2008), describes a
crisis as "an abnormal situation, or even perception,
which is beyond the scope of everyday business and
which threatens the operation, safety and reputation
of an organization. The department advocates that
businesses treat crisis management planning with the
same attention as other business plans.

"... The crisis should be dealt with as an operational
management issue that is simply being undertaken in
extreme circumstances. The crisis management framework
for response is normally based on existing management
structures and responsibilities. It must also reflect,
or improve upon existing lines of communication, both
within the company, and with other organizations which
may be affected. This approach, when developed in
conjunction with the operational managers, will
confirm ownership of plans and prepare the proposed
framework for practical implementation."

During the next five years, 83 percent of companies
will face a crisis that will negatively impact the
profitability of a company 20 and 30 percent,
according to new research by Oxford-Metrica, an
independent adviser on risk, value, reputation and
governance . Crisis management is the process by which
the organization manages a wider impact, such as media
relations, and enables it to commence recovery.

Irrespective of the size of an organization affected,
the primary aims or benefits of crisis management
would normally include:

1. Ability to assess the situation from inside and
outside the organisation as all stakeholders might
perceive it.
2. Techniques to direct action(s) to contain the
likely or perceived damage spread.
3. A more effective way to rapidly trigger that part
or parts of business continuity management.
4. Better organizational resilience for all
stakeholders.
5. Compliance with regulatory and ethical
requirements, e.g. corporate social responsibility.
6. Much better management of serious incidents or any
incident that could become serious.
7. Improved staff awareness of their roles and
expectations within the organisation.
8. Increased ability, confidence and morale within the
organisation.
9. Enhanced risk management insofar that obvious risks
will be identified, mitigated (where possible) and
through crisis and business continuity management - as
prepared for.
10. Protected and often enhanced reputation a much
reduced risk of post event litigation.



2Models and theories associated with crisis
management.

Crisis Management Model:


Successfully diffusing a crisis requires an
understanding of how to handle a crisis – before it
occurs. Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt created a
four-phase crisis management model process that
includes: issues management, planning-prevention, the
crisis, and post-crisis (Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt,
1995).

Management Crisis Planning:

No corporation looks forward to facing a situation
that causes a significant disruption to their
business, especially one that stimulates extensive
media coverage. Public scrutiny can result in a
negative financial, political, legal and government
impact. Crisis management planning deals with
providing the best response to a crisis.

Contingency Planning:

Preparing contingency plans in advance, as part of a
crisis management plan, is the first step to ensuring
an organization is appropriately prepared for a
crisis. Crisis management teams can rehearse crisis
plan by developing a simulated scenario to use as a
drill. The plan should clearly stipulate that the only
people to speak publicly about the crisis are the
designated persons, such as the company spokesperson
or crisis team members. The first hours after a crisis
breaks are the most crucial, so working with speed and
efficiency is important, and the plan should indicate
how quickly each function should be performed. When
preparing to offer a statement externally as well as
internally, information should be accurate. Providing
incorrect or manipulated information has a tendency to
backfire and will greatly exacerbate the situation.
The contingency plan should contain information and
guidance that will help decision makers to consider
not only the short-term consequences, but the
long-term effects of every decision.

Business Continuity Planning:

When a crisis will undoubtedly cause a significant
disruption to an organization, a business continuity
plan can help minimize the disruption. First, one must
identify the critical functions and processes that are
necessary to keep the organization running. Then each
critical function and process must have its own
contingency plan in the event that one of the
functions/processes ceases or fails. Testing these
contingency plans by rehearsing the required actions
in a simulation will allow for all involved to become
more sensitive and aware of the possibility of a
crisis. As a result, in the event of an actual crisis,
the team members will act more quickly and
effectively.

Structural-Functional Systems Theory:

Providing information to an organization in a time of
crisis is critical to effective crisis management.
Structural-functional systems theory addresses the
intricacies of information networks and levels of
command making up organizational communication. The
structural-functional theory identifies information
flow in organizations as "networks" made up of members
and "links". Information in organizations flow in
patterns called networks.

Diffusion of Innovation Theory:

Another theory that can be applied to the sharing of
information is Diffusion of Innovation Theory.
Developed by Everett Rogers, the theory describes how
innovation is disseminated and communicated through
certain channels over a period of time. Diffusion of
innovation in communication occurs when an individual
communicates a new idea to one or several others. At
its most elementary form, the process involves:

(1) an innovation,
(2) an individual or other unit of adoption that
hasknowledge of or experience with using the
innovation,
(3) another individual or other unit that does not yet
have knowledge of the innovation,
(4) a communication channel connecting the two units.
A communication channel is the means by which messages
get from one individual to another.


3. Crisis management success stories.


In the fall of 1982, a murderer added 65 milligrams of
cyanide to some Tylenol capsules on store shelves,
killing seven people, including three in one family.
Johnson & Johnson recalled and destroyed 31 million
capsules at a cost of $100 million. The affable CEO,
James Burke, appeared in television ads and at news
conferences informing consumers of the company's
actions. Tamper-resistant packaging was rapidly
introduced, and Tylenol sales swiftly bounced back to
near pre-crisis levels.

Johnson & Johnson was again struck by a similar crisis
in 1986 when a New York woman died on Feb.1986 after
taking cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules. Johnson &
Johnson was ready. Responding swiftly and smoothly to
the new crisis, it immediately and indefinitely
canceled all television commercials for Tylenol,
established a toll-free telephone hot-line to answer
consumer questions and offered refunds or exchanges to
customers who had purchased Tylenol capsules. At
week's end, when another bottle of tainted Tylenol was
discovered in a store, it took only a matter of
minutes for the manufacturer to issue a nationwide
warning that people should not use the medication in
its capsule form

Odwalla Foods:

When Odwalla's apple juice was thought to be the cause
of an outbreak of E. coli bacteria, the company lost a
third of its market value. In October 1996, an
outbreak of E. coli bacteria in Washington state,
California, Colorado and British Columbia was traced
to unpasteurized apple juice manufactured by natural
juice maker Odwalla Inc. Forty-nine cases were
reported, including the death of a small child. Within
24 hours, Odwalla conferred with the FDA and
Washington state health officials; established a
schedule of daily press briefings; sent out press
releases which announced the recall; expressed
remorse, concern and apology, and took responsibility
for anyone harmed by their products; detailed symptoms
of E. coli poisoning; and explained what consumers
should do with any affected products. Odwalla then
developed - through the help of consultants -
effective thermal processes that would not harm the
products' flavors when production resumed. All of
these steps were communicated through close relations
with the media and through full-page newspaper ads.

Mattel:

Mattel Inc., the country's biggest toy maker, has been
plagued with more than 28 product recalls and in
Summer of 2007, amongst problems with exports from
China, faced two product recall in two weeks. The
company “did everything it could to get its message
out, earning high marks from consumers and retailers.
Though upset by the situation, they were appreciative
of the company's response. At Mattel, just after the 7
a.m. recall announcement by federal officials, a
public relations staff of 16 was set to call reporters
at the 40 biggest media outlets. They told each to
check their e-mail for a news release outlining the
recalls, invited them to a teleconference call with
executives and scheduled TV appearances or phone
conversations with Mattel's chief executive. The
Mattel CEO Robert Eckert did 14 TV interviews on a
Tuesday in August and about 20 calls with individual
reporters. By the week's end, Mattel had responded to
more than 300 media inquiries in the U.S. alone”.


4.Lessons learned in crisis management

Bhopal:
The Bhopal disaster in which poor communication
before, during, and after the crisis cost thousands of
lives, illustrates the importance of incorporating
cross-cultural communication in crisis management
plans. According to American University’s Trade
Environmental Database Case Studies (1997), local
residents were not sure how to react to warnings of
potential threats from the Union Carbide plant.
Operating manuals printed only in English is an
extreme example of mismanagement but indicative of
systemic barriers to information diffusion. According
to Union Carbide’s own chronology of the incident
(2006), a day after the crisis Union Carbide’s upper
management arrived in India but was unable to assist
in the relief efforts because they were placed under
house arrest by the Indian government. Symbolic
intervention can be counter productive; a crisis
management strategy can help upper management make
more calculated decisions in how they should respond
to disaster scenarios. The Bhopal incident illustrates
the difficulty in consistently applying management
standards to multi-national operations and the blame
shifting that often results from the lack of a clear
management plan.

Ford and Firestone Tire and Rubber Company:

The Ford-Firestone dispute transpired in August 2000.
In response to claims that their 15-inch Wilderness
AT, radial ATX and ATX II tire treads were separating
from the tire core--leading to grisly, spectacular
crashes--Bridgestone/Firestone recalled 6.5 million
tires. These tires were mostly used on the Ford
Explorer, the world's top-selling sport utility
vehicle (SUV).

The two companies’ committed three major blunders
early on, say crisis experts. First, they blamed
consumers for not inflating their tires properly. Then
they blamed each other for faulty tires and faulty
vehicle design. Then they said very little about what
they were doing to solve a problem that had caused
more than 100 deaths -- until they got called to
Washington to testify before Congress.

Exxon:

On March 24, 1989, a tanker belonging to the Exxon
Corporation ran aground in the Prince William Sound in
Alaska. The Exxon Valdez spilled millions of gallons
of crude oil into the waters off Valdez, killing
thousands of fish, fowl, and sea otters. Hundreds of
miles of coastline were polluted and salmon spawning
runs disrupted; numerous fishermen, especially Native
Americans, lost their livelihoods. Exxon, by contrast,
did not react quickly in terms of dealing with the
media and the public; the CEO, Lawrence Rawl, did not
become an active part of the public relations effort
and actually shunned public involvement; the company
had neither a communication plan nor a communication
team in place to handle the event—in fact, the company
did not appoint a public relations manager to its
management team until 1993, 4 years after the
incident; Exxon established its media center in
Valdez, a location too small and too remote to handle
the onslaught of media attention; and the company
acted defensively in its response to its publics, even
laying blame, at times, on other groups such as the
Coast Guard. These responses also happened within days
of the incident.


5. Public sector crisis management.

Corporate America is not the only community that is
vulnerable to the perils of a crisis. Whether a school
shooting, a public health crisis or a terrorist attack
that leaves the public seeking comfort in the calm,
steady leadership of an elected official, no sector of
society is immune to crisis. In response to that
reality, crisis management policies, strategies and
practices have been developed and adapted across
multiple disciplines.

Schools and crisis management

In the wake of the Columbine High School Massacre, the
September 11, 2001 attacks, and shootings on college
campuses including the Virginia Tech massacre,
educational institutions at all levels are now focused
on crisis management.

A national study conducted by the University of
Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Arkansas
Children’s Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) has
shown that many public school districts have important
deficiencies in their emergency and disaster plans .
In response the Resource Center has organized a
comprehensive set of resources to aid schools is the
development of crisis management plans.

Crisis management plans cover a wide variety of
incidents including bomb threats, child abuse, natural
disasters, suicide, drug abuse and gang activities –
just to list a few . In a similar fashion the plans
aim to address all audiences in need of information
including parents, the media and law enforcement
officials.

A wide variety of programs have been developed that
are dedicated to crisis response training for schools.
Dr. John Dudley, an educational consultant, who has
helped school districts across the nation prepare for
and respond to school tragedies (Crisis Management,
2003) has developed such a training program. Dr.
Dudley suggests that there are plans that are
strategically designed to fit varying levels of crisis
readiness:

Level I

This training is for newly organized school crisis
response teams and for school staff and community
members new to existing school crisis response teams.
The focus of this training is on student and staff
deaths.

Level II

This training is for existing school crisis response
teams and focused on responding to school crisis other
than deaths.

Level III

This training focuses on communicating and talking
with students and staff during times of school
tragedies.

Level IV

This training focuses on School Violence: Prevention
and Response.

Level V

This training is for school crisis response teams who
have responded to student or staff deaths.

Level VI

This training is for school crisis response team
leaders and school administrators.

Level VII

This training is for school crisis response teams and
focuses on retro-fitting crisis response protocols as
well as preparing to respond to a pandemic impacting
schools. (Crisis Management, 2003).

Government and crisis management

Historically, government at all levels – local, state,
and national – has played a large role in crisis
management. Indeed, many political philosophers have
considered this to be one of the primary roles of
government. Emergency services, such as fire and
police departments at the local level, and the United
States National Guard at the federal level, often play
integral roles in crisis situations.

To help coordinate communication during the response
phase of a crisis, the U.S. Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) within the Department of
Homeland Security administers the National Response
Plan (NRP). This plan is intended to integrate public
and private response by providing a common language
and outlining a chain-of-command when multiple parties
are mobilized. It is based on the premise that
incidences should be handled at the lowest
organizational level possible. The NRP recognizes the
private sector as a key partner in domestic incident
management, particularly in the area of critical
infrastructure protection and restoration.

The NRP is a companion to the National Incidence
Management System that acts as a more general template
for incident management regardless of cause, size, or
complexity.

FEMA offers free web-based training on the National
Response Plan through the Emergency Management
Institute.

Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is a relatively recent
mechanism that facilitates crisis communication across
different mediums and systems. CAP helps create a
consistent emergency alert format to reach
geographically and linguistically diverse audiences
through both audio and visual mediums.

Elected officials and crisis management

Historically, politics and crisis go hand-in-hand. In
describing crisis, President Abraham Lincoln said, “We
live in the midst of alarms, anxiety beclouds the
future; we expect some new disaster with each
newspaper we read.”

Crisis management has become a defining feature of
contemporary governance. In times of crisis,
communities and members of organizations expect their
public leaders to minimize the impact of the crisis at
hand, while critics and bureaucratic competitors try
to seize the moment to blame incumbent rulers and
their policies. In this extreme environment, policy
makers must somehow establish a sense of normality,
and foster collective learning from the crisis
experience

In the face of crisis, leaders must deal with the
strategic challenges they face, the political risks
and opportunities they encounter, the errors they
make, the pitfalls they need to avoid, and the paths
away from crisis they may pursue. The necessity for
management is even more significant with the advent of
a 24-hour news cycle and an increasingly
internet-saavy audience with ever-changing technology
at its fingertips.

Public leaders have a special responsibility to help
safeguard society from the adverse consequences of
crisis. Experts in crisis management note that leaders
who take this responsibility seriously would have to
concern themselves with all crisis phases: the
incubation stage, the onset, and the aftermath. Crisis
leadership then involves five critical tasks: sense
making, decision making, meaning making, terminating,
and learning.

A brief description of the five facets of crisis
leadership includes:

1) Sense making may be considered as the classical
situation assessment step in decision making.

2) Decision making is both the act of coming to a
decision as the implementation of that decision.

3) Meaning making refers to crisis management as
political communication.

4) Terminating a crisis is only possible if the public
leader correctly handles the accountability question.

5) Learning, refers to the actual learning from a
crisis is limited. The authors note, a crisis often
opens a window of opportunity for reform for better or
for worse.

6. Examples of organizational crises
Extortion
Bribery
Hostile Takeover
Terrorist Attack
Copyright infringement
Vehicular fatality
Information sabotage
Workplace bombing
Natural disaster that destroys organizational office
Computer tampering
Sexual harassment
Natural disaster that disrupts product/service
Executive kidnapping
Product/service boycott
Work-related homicide
Malicious rumor
Hazardous material leak
Plant explosion
Personnel assault
Assault of customers
Product recall
Counterfeiting
Natural disaster that destroys corporate headquarters
Natural disaster that eliminates key stakeholders

Justifications for Vegetarianism

Vegetarianism has for thousands of years been a principle of health and environmental ethics throughout India. Though Muslim and Christian colonization radically undermined and eroded this ideal, it remains to this day a cardinal ethic of Hindu thought and practice. A subtle sense of guilt persists among Hindus who eat meat, and there exists an ongoing controversy on this issue. The Sanskrit for vegetarianism is shakahara, and one following a vegetarian diet is a shakahari. The term for meat-eating is mansahara, and the meat-eater is called mansahari. Ahara means "food" or "diet," shaka means "vegetable," and mansa means "meat" or "flesh."

Amazingly, I have heard people define vegetarian as a diet which excludes the meat of animals but does permit fish and eggs. But what really is vegetarianism? It is living only on foods produced by plants, with the addition of dairy products. Vegetarian foods include grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, milk, yogurt, cheese and butter. The strictest vegetarians, known as vegans, exclude all dairy products. Natural, fresh foods, locally grown without insecticides or chemical fertilizers are preferred. A vegetarian diet does not include meat, fish, shellfish, fowl or eggs. For good health, even certain vegetarian foods are minimized: frozen and canned foods, highly processed foods, such as white rice, white sugar and white flour; and "junk" foods and beverages--those with abundant chemical additives, such as artificial sweeteners, colorings, flavorings and preservatives.

In the past fifty years millions of meat-eaters have made the decision to stop eating the flesh of other creatures. There are five major motivations for such a decision.

1) Many become vegetarian purely to uphold dharma, as the first duty to God and God's creation as defined by Vedic scripture.

2) Some abjure meat-eating because of the karmic consequences, knowing that by involving oneself, even indirectly, in the cycle of inflicting injury, pain and death by eating other creatures, one must in the future experience in equal measure the suffering caused.

3) Spiritual consciousness is another reason. Food is the source of the body's chemistry, and what we ingest affects our consciousness, emotions and experiential patterns. If one wants to live in higher consciousness, in peace and happiness and love for all creatures, then he cannot eat meat, fish, shellfish, fowl or eggs. By ingesting the grosser chemistries of animal foods, one introduces into the body and mind anger, jealousy, fear, anxiety, suspicion and a terrible fear of death, all of which are locked into the flesh of butchered creatures.

4) Medical studies prove that a vegetarian diet is easier to digest, provides a wider range of nutrients and imposes fewer burdens and impurities on the body. Vegetarians are less susceptible to all the major diseases that afflict contemporary humanity, and thus live longer, healthier, more productive lives. They have fewer physical complaints, less frequent visits to the doctor, fewer dental problems and smaller medical bills. Their immune system is stronger, their bodies purer and more refined, and their skin clearer, more supple and smooth.

5) Finally, there is the ecological reason. Planet Earth is suffering. In large measure, the escalating loss of species, destruction of ancient rainforests to create pasture lands for livestock, loss of topsoil and the consequent increase of water impurities and air pollution have all been traced to the single fact of meat in the human diet. No single decision that we can make as individuals or as a race can have such a dramatic effect on the improvement of our planetary ecology as the decision to not eat meat. Many conscious of the need to save the planet for future generations have made this decision for this reason and this reason alone.

For readers benefit please.

When was Lord Rama Born?.


Lord Ram was born on the noon of January10 in the year
5114 BC. In Hindu calendar, it was the ninth day of
Shukla Paksha in Chaitra month. Stunned! Well, this
exact date of the birthday of Lord Rama is found in
the book ‘Dating the Era of Lord Ram’ by Shri Pushkar
Bhatnagar. The exact date was obtained by entering the
planetary configuration at the time of the birth of
Lord Ram as mentioned in the Valmiki Ramayana in
Planetarium Software. Interestingly, for thousands of
years Hindus have been celebrating Ram Navmi, the
birthday of Lord Ram, exactly on the same time and
date.

In the original Sanskrit Ramayana written by Sage
Valmiki, while mentioning about the birth of Lord Ram,
Valmiki had mentioned the astronomical details of the
precise moment. Valmiki himself was present in the
palace of Dasaratha and he mentions it thus in Bala
Kanda of Ramayana.

On completion of the ritual six seasons have passed by
and then in the twelfth month, on the ninth day of
chaitra month when the presiding deity of ruling star
of the day is Aditi, where the ruling star of day is
punarvasu, the asterism is in the ascendant, and when
five of the nine planets viz., Sun, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, and Venus are at their highest position, when
Jupiter with Moon is ascendant in Cancer, and when day
is advancing, then Queen Kausalya gave birth to a son
with all the divine attributes like lotus-red eyes,
lengthy arms, roseate lips, voice like drumbeat, and
who took birth to delight the Ikshwaku dynasty, who is
adored by all the worlds, and who is the greatly
blessed epitome of Vishnu, namely Rama.

When this data was entered in the Planetarium
software, the day was January 10, 5114 BC. But how
could Chaitra Shukla Navami occur in January? We
celebrate Ram Navami in March or April. The answer to
this was found in an article in Organizer.

There is an astronomical phenomenon called ‘precision’
of the sun as also of the equinoxes. According to the
latter, the star which is now taken to be the Pole
Star (Dhruv Tara), would yield the place to the Star
Abhijit (Vega, alpha Lyrae), 14,000 years from now. So
when the lunar month of Chaitra occurred seven
thousand years ago in the month of January, 7000 years
later, it occurs in the month of (generally) April.

Further, Valmiki had mentioned about other planetary
configuration. One such was the planetary
configuration when King Dashratha decided to make Lord
Ram the king of Ayodhya. According to the book, such a
planetary configuration was prevailing on January 5,
5089 BC. Lord Ram was then 25 years old and there are
indications in the Ramayana that Lord Ram left Ayodhya
when he was 25.

The solar eclipse mentioned in the Ramayana work out
precisely to the Ramayana period. From an article
written in 2003 in the Tribune by Saroj Bala on the
book ‘Dating the Era of Lord Ram’

Valmiki Ramayana refers to the solar eclipse at the
time of war with Khardushan in latter half of 13th
year of Shri Ram’s living in forests. Valmiki has also
mentioned that it was Amavasya that day and planet
Mars was in the middle. When this data was entered,
the computer software indicated that there was a solar
eclipse on October 7, 5077 BC (Amavasya day) which
could be seen from Panchvati. On that date, the
planetary configuration was the same as has been
described by Valmiki i.e. Mars was in the middle, on
one side were Venus and Mercury and on the other side
were Sun and Saturn. On the basis of planetary
configurations described in various other chapters,
the date on which Ravana was killed works out to
December 4, 5076 BC. Shri Ram completed 14 years of
exile on January 2, 5075 BC. That day was also Navami
of Shukla Paksha in Chaitra month. Thus, Shri Ram had
come back to Ayodhya when he was 39 years old
(5114-5075).

To understand the book ‘Dating the Era of Lord Ram’
one needs to have some elementary knowledge of
astronomy.

When we try to prove the birth of Hindu icons, it must
be understood that these Hindu icons rarely bothered
about birth and death. Through Sanatana Dharma they
teach us to rise above birth and death. It believes
that life is a continuity. And therefore it scoffs at
the debates like ‘No Ram’ and ‘Yes Ram lived.’

For readers benefit please.

Importance of Pradakshina or Going Around the Deity or the Sanctum Sanctorum in Hindu Temple

Pradakshina or circumambulating is an important customary act performed in a temple by Hindus. Going around the Deity or the Sanctum Sanctorum in a Hindu Temple is of great significance and it also has symbolic meaning.


Everything begins and ends in God or Bhagvan or Ishwara. God is the point of origin of everything and we are constantly connected to it. After praying to the deity we go around the deity or the Sanctum Sanctorum to recognize the fact that we begin in him and end in him.


While circumambulating, we kill our ego and we realize, we are moving at the end of the thread which is controlled by him.


It is also believed that the deity in the sanctum sanctorum is placed in such a way that it absorbs and sends out vibrations and radiations. And a person going around the deity will be benefited from this.


‘Pradakshina’ means ‘moving rightward.’ Some people also go around themselves or turn in a full circle suggesting that the divinity resides in them.


It must be note that the devotees do not the complete the full circle in Shiva Temples. Usually, people only walk the ¾ part of a circle. They stop at the position from where the water flows out of the sanctum sanctorum. This is because it is believed that after receiving Ganga River in his hair, Shiva turned to one side and Ganga came down to earth from this side. The channel through which water comes out from the sanctum sanctorum is believed the channel through which Ganga flows.

Fake Swamis.Godmen,Masters, Babas etc- Beware and do not get carried away.

Fake Hindu swamis, sanyasis, babas, gurus and godmen thrive in a society which lacks awareness about the true essence of Hindu spirituality. Therefore Hindus and other sections of the society which provide the opportunity and fertile ground for fraudsters to thrive in the name of Hinduism are equally at fault. No fake swamis/Gurus/Babas/Godmen can survive without ignorant and fortune-seeking followers.


The Bhagavad Gita which narrates the essence of Hindu spirituality contains only 700 verses. There are excellent translation and commentary of Bhagavad Gita which cost less than 100 rupees. But majority of the Hindus have no time to read the 700 verses but spend money, energy and time visiting ashrams and spiritual centers of such fake babas and gurus.


If you make this an issue, immediately comes the answer, Bhagavad Gita is hard to digest for common people like us, we are ignorant. It is for the common people that the learned men of yesteryears have translated the Gita into all regional languages. They have provided excellent translations and have interpreted the great dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna into the simplest language.


Is not understanding Gita the real issue? NO


The real issue is that Gita doesn’t talk about methods to become super rich overnight. Neither do Gita have mantras to find treasures hidden underground or to get promotions or provide miracle cure to diseases. Gita also does not recommend pujas to destroy your enemies. And above all Gita does not predict the future.


But the fake swamis and godmen only talk about future, money and predictions, pujas and innumerable homams to cure diseases where medical science has failed. Sadly, this is what many Hindus want to hear.


Daily we get to hear about such fake swamis and their notorious activities – which include rape, amassing wealth through dishonorable means – but this has not deterred many Hindus from approaching fraudsters. But, why?


Both the fake Godmen and his followers are fortune seekers. Godmen is using religion to become rich and conduct other antisocial activities. Followers are fortune seekers who want the help of an outside agency to reach God and bribe God and amass wealth and know future.


Shri Krishna never fought for Arjuna. Arjuna had to do all the fighting in Kurukshetra. The ultimate truth that we have to do our work and no God will come to do it is not still acceptable to many.


A true Sanyasi will never advertise. He/She is like a flower. People reach them following the fragrance. They will not even bother to talk to fortune-seekers. Silence is there best weapon which frustrate most fortune seekers in minutes. They might open up the knowledge treasure to a genuine seeker whom a true Sanyasi will easily identify – just like Ramakrishna identified Vivekananda.


No Sanyasi or Godmen has said anything new that is not found in the Upanishads, Gita, Ramayana, Yoga Vasishta and Mahabharata. All these texts are readily available in the market. Pick any of these Holy Scriptures and read a few pages daily. Soon we will realize the futility of going to such fake gurus.


Hinduism believes in individual self realization and not borrowed or rented or bought self realization. Always remember the Brahman that resides in the most respected guru or spiritual leader also resides in us. The only difference is that we have not bothered to realize it and bring out.


If we are falling into the trap of fake Sanyasis and Godmen, it is our fault. And if you find that a swami is fake, never hesitate to report it to the authorities. Such fake swamis and Godmen should not find protection in Hindu religion

For Readers benefit only pl.

The Power of Observation

Observation is the first faculty to appear in the awakening of the superconscious regions. Observation, when perceptively performed, is cultivated by abstinence from excessive talk. Talk dissipates the energies of the aura and of the vital body of man. A mystic generally does not talk very much, for his intuition works through reason, but does not use the processes of reason. Any intuitive breakthrough will be quite reasonable, but it does not use the processes of reason. Reason takes time. Superconsciousness acts in the now. All superconscious knowing comes in a flash out of the nowhere. Intuition is more direct than reason, and far more accurate. Therefore, the mystic does not ask many questions or enter into lengthy conversations.

Ponder over this and apply it to yourself. Take this into yourself and feel it is for you. Do not feel it is being shared with you to simply know more about the mind and its processes. Apply it to yourself, for you are on the spiritual path toward merger with Siva. Begin to feel that observation is one of your finest faculties, one that you most cherish. It is the first faculty of the awakening of your superconscious. Mentally say to yourself many times, "I have good observation. Therefore, I am superconscious." This will help you to program your subconscious to accept the fact that, yes, you are a superconscious being, not a temporal being that is only on this planet a short span of years and then disappears forever. Remember, your powers of observation are cultivated by abstinence from excessive talk. That is all you have to do to begin with--be more silent and observing, not wasting or dissipating this most vital power. Some people on the spiritual path cannot wait to talk about their meditations even before they come out of them. They really should stop doing this. It lessens their vital energies and proves to perceptive people that they are not superconscious beings.

Source KHM: For readers benefit pl.

Tapping into Your Intuition:-

Begin to feel that your intuition works rather rapidly and is generally very reasonable, but does not use the process of reason. When you really want to reason something out, it may take a lot of time, but when you get an intuitive flash, it's right there. Then if you want to prove it, you have to reason it out. You will find that reason and intuition agree. Intuition is more direct than reason. That is why you should always use intuition. Always go in and in and in and find answers from within yourself, rather than wasting time scurrying around in the externalities of the mind.

Take this teaching in and apply it to yourself, making every metaphysical and philosophical area work within you. Do not carry all of this around with you as knowledge in the intellect. It will burden your intellect, and soon you will have to forget it, because the subconscious will have more than it can handle of inner teaching. It takes a while to convince the subconscious that you are a spiritual being whose existence does not begin and end with this life. Therefore, this inner teaching must begin to be applied as soon as it has begun to be understood.

The superconscious mind is the most wonderful area of the mind there is, although awareness is not always in it. We are not always aware in the superconscious mind, because we are generally aware in the conscious mind, or aware of our own subconscious or that of another. But the more and more we detach awareness from subconscious binds and conscious-mind attachments, the more we become superconscious. When we feel as if we are living totally in the moment, as if there is no past and there never has been any past or future, we are becoming subconsciously certain we are an intense, vibrating entity of the eternal now. That is superconsciousness, and that is very real. More real than a table, a chair, an automobile or a person sitting next to you is this feeling of being an intense sheath of energy right in the eternal moment, with no past, no future. This is superconsciousness.

Source KHM: For readers benefit pl.

Die-hard:-

Meaning

A person who holds stubbornly to a minority view, in defiance of the circumstances.
Origin

The title of the 1988 film Die Hard was chosen to signify both the 'hardness' of the lead character and the difficulty that he and the bad guys had in killing each other. In choosing not to hyphenate 'die-hard', which is the currently accepted spelling, they reverted to the original meaning of the term - to 'die hard' was to die reluctantly, resisting to the end. This meaning of the term was recorded in 1703, in Psychologia: or, an Account of the Nature of the Rational Soul. The text argues the pros and cons of a condemned man's approach to death:

Against this Reason he [William Coward] urges the case of those that die hard, as they call it, at Tyburn who will therefore, according to him, out-brave the Terrors of the Lord.

Tyburn, near what is now Marble Arch, in London, was the principal location for public hangings in England until 1785. The 'drop' method of hanging wasn't then in use and the process was sometimes a prolonged affair. There are records showing that some of those who were about to be hanged opted to take the opposite course to the 'die hards' and paid people to hang onto their legs so that they died quickly. There's no evidence however for the commonly repeated notion that this is the derivation of the phrase 'pulling one's leg'.

The wider use of the term came into being in the following century. At the Battle of Albuhera in the Peninsula War in 1811, William Inglis, the commander of the British 57th Regiment of Foot, ordered all ranks "Die hard the 57th, die hard!", i.e. to fight until the last. The regiment later became known as the Die-hards.

In the early 20th century, 'die-hard' was more usually used to describe a member of the political faction who were prepared to 'die in the last ditch' in their resistance to the Home Rule Bill of 1912. In 1922, the meaning took a step away from actual deaths, toward our present-day figurative meaning, when the members of the Conservative Party who followed the leadership of the Marquess of Salisbury named themselves 'The Die-hards'.

Like 'zigzag', 'meanwhile', and countless other terms which are coined as two words, later to become hyphenated and later still to merge into a single word, the 'diehard' spelling will probably come to be preferred before long.

The Great Study Of Awareness

The study of awareness is a great study. "I am aware." The key to this entire study is the discovery of who or what is the "I am." It is the key to the totality of your progress on the path of enlightenment. What is awareness? As you open your physical eyes, what is it that is aware of what you see? When you look within, deep within, and feel energy, you almost begin to see energy. A little more perception comes, and you do actually see energy as clearly as you see chairs and tables with your physical eyes open.

But what is it that is aware? When awareness moves through superconsciousness, it seems to expand, for it looks out into the vastness of superconsciousness from within and identifies with that vastness. This is what is meant by an expanded state of awareness. What is awareness? Discover that. Go deep within it. Make it a great study. You have to discover what awareness is before you can realize the Self God. Otherwise, realization of the Self God is only a philosophy to you. It is a good philosophy, however, a satisfying and stable philosophy. But philosophies of life are not to be intellectually learned, memorized and repeated and nothing more. They are to be experienced step by step by step. Get acquainted with yourself as being awareness. Say to yourself, "I am awareness. I am aware. I am not the body. I am not the emotions. I am not the thinking mind. I am pure awareness."

It will help for us to make a mental picture. Let us now try to visualize awareness as a round, white ball of light, like one single eye. This ball is being propelled through many areas of the mind, inner and outer, and it is registering all the various pictures. It has, in fact, four eyes, one on each side of it. It is not reacting. The reaction comes when awareness is aware of the astral body and the physical body. It is in those bodies that reaction occurs. We are aware of the reactions in these bodies, for the physical body and the astral body are also part of the vast, vast universe of the mind.

Each individual awareness, ball of light, is encased in many bodies. The first and nearest encasement is the body of the soul. The second encasement is the astral, or intellectual-emotional, body. The third encasement is the physical body. The radiation from awareness, this ball of light, is the aura.

Awareness is an extension of prana from the central source, issuing energy. Energy goes where awareness flows. When awareness focuses on relationships, relationships flow. When awareness focuses on philosophy, that unfolds itself. Ultimately, when awareness focuses on itself, it dissolves into its own essence. Energy flows where awareness goes. I was always taught that if one foot was injured, for example, to focus on the other foot and transfer the healthy prana from that foot to the ailing foot.

Source KHM; For reader's benefit pl.

Compensating For Misdeeds.

The soul's response to wrong action comes of its own force, unbidden, when the person is a free soul, not bound by many materialistic duties--even while doing selfless service--which can temporarily veil and hold back the spontaneous actions of the soul if done for the expectant praise that may follow. The held-back, spontaneous action of the soul would, therefore, burst forth during personal times of sadhana, meditation or temple worship. The bursting forth would be totally unbidden, and resolutions would follow in the wake. For those immersed in heavy prarabdha karmas, going through a period of their life cycle when difficult karmic patterns are manifesting, it will be found that the soul's spontaneity is triple-veiled even though the subconscious mind is impregnated with right knowledge.

To gain absolution and release, to gain peace of mind, one should perform pilgrimage, spiritual retreat, the practice of mauna, recitation of mantras through japa, deep meditation and, best of all, the vasana daha tantra. These practices will temporarily pierce the veils of maya and let the light shine in, bringing understanding, solutions and direction for future behavior.

Having hurt another through wrongdoing, one has to pay back in proportion to the injury, not a rupee less and not a rupee more. The moment the healing is complete, the scar will mysteriously vanish. This is the law. It is a mystical law. And while there are any remaining scars, which are memories impregnated with emotion, much work has to be done. Each one must find a way to be nice if he has been not nice, say kind words if previous words have been unkind, issue forth good feelings if the feelings previously exuded were nasty, inharmonious and unacceptable. Just as a responsible doctor or nurse must bring the healing to culmination, so the wrongdoer must deal with his wrongdoing, his crime against dharma, his crime against right knowledge, Vedic-Agamic precepts, his crime against the yamas and niyamas, restraints and practices, which are in themselves right knowledge--a digest of the Vedas, we might say. He must deal with his wrongdoings, his errors, within himself until rightness, santosha, returns.

There are no magic formulas. Each one must find his own way to heal himself and others until the troublesome situation disappears from his own memory. This is why the practice called vasana daha tantra, writing down memories and burning them in a fire to release the emotion from the deep subconscious, has proven to be a solution uncomparable to any other. Only in this way will he know that, by whatever method he has applied, he has healed the one he wronged.

True forgiveness is the greatest eraser, the greatest harmonizer. It is this process of misdeeds against dharma, followed by shame and remorse, as people interrelate with one another, that moves them forward in their evolution toward their ultimate goal of mukti.

The Japanese, unlike most of the rest of the world, have a great sense of loss of face, and a Japanese businessman will resign if he has shamed his family or his country. This is hri and is very much ingrained in the Japanese society, which is based on Buddhist precepts. Buddhism itself is the outgrowth into the family community from a vast monastic order; whereas Hinduism is a conglomerate of many smaller religions, some of which are not outgrowths of a monastic community. Therefore, hri is an integral part of the culture of Japan. They have maintained this and other cultural precepts, as the Buddhist monastic orders are still influential throughout Asia.

A materialist who loses face smiles and simply puts on another mask and continues as if nothing had ever happened. The saying goes, "Change your image and get on with life." No shame, repentance or reconciliation is shown by such people, as is so often portrayed on American television, and much worse, as it actually happens all the time in public life.

Source KHM: For readers benefit pl

Awareness and Consciousness

Consciousness and awareness are the same when awareness is totally identified with and attached to that which it is aware of. To separate the two is the artful practice of yoga. Naturally, the Shum-Tyaef language is needed to accomplish this. When awareness is detached from that which it is aware of, it flows freely in consciousness. A tree has consciousness. Awareness can flow into the tree and become aware of the consciousness of the tree. Consciousness and mind are totally equated as a one thing when awareness and consciousness are a one thing to the individual. But when awareness is detached from that which it is aware of, it can flow freely through all five states of mind and all areas of consciousness, such as plants and the Earth itself, elements and various other aspects of matter. Here we find awareness separate from consciousness and consciousness separate from the five states of mind attributed to the human being. In Sanskrit we have the word chaitanya for consciousness, and for awareness it is sakshin, meaning witness, and for mind the word is chitta. Consciousness, mind, matter and awareness experience a oneness in being for those who think that they are their physical body, who are convinced that when the body ends, they end and are no more.

We have three eyes. We see with our physical eyes and then we think about what we have seen. Going into meditation, we see with our third eye our thoughts. Then we choose one or two of them and think about them and lose the value of the meditation. It is the control of the breath that controls the thoughts that emerge from the subconscious memory patterns. Once this is accomplished, and the ida, pingala and sushumna merge, we are seeing with the third eye, which is the eye of awareness, wherever we travel through the mind, inside or outside of our own self.

The minute awareness is attached to that which it is aware of, we begin thinking about what we were aware of. Controlling the breath again detaches awareness, and it flows to another area of the mind, as directed by our innate intelligence--this intangible superconscious, intelligent being of ourselves that looks out through the eye of awareness in a similar way as do the two eyes of the physical body. This then divides what we are aware of and thinking of what we were aware of, or distinguishes the process of thinking from that of seeing during meditation.

Awareness travels into the wonderful strata of thought, where thought actually exists in all of its refined states. First in these strata of thought is an area where ideas are only in a partial, overall, conceptual stage. Deeper into this stratum, they, as concepts, become stronger and stronger until finally they almost take physical form. Finally, they do take physical form. But you are the pure individual awareness, the ball of seeing light that is seeing all of this occur within these strata of mind and not identifying too closely with them. The quest is to keep traveling through the mind to the ultimate goal, merging with Siva. When you are conscious that you are awareness, you are a free awareness, a liberated soul. You can go anyplace in the mind that you wish.

The mission is: don't go anyplace. Turn awareness back in on itself and simply be aware that you are aware. Try to penetrate the core of existence. Become conscious of energy within the physical body and the inner bodies, flowing out through the nerve system and drawing forth energy from the central source of the universe itself. Now, try to throw awareness into this central source of energy and dive deeper and deeper in. Each time you become aware of something in the energy realm, be aware of being aware. Finally, you go beyond light. Finally, you go into the core of existence itself, the Self God, beyond the stillness of the inner areas of mind. That is the mission and that is what humanity is seeking--total Self-God Realization.

Source KHM For readers benefit pl

Constraint Management.

Theory of Constraints (TOC) is an overall management philosophy. Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt introduced the theory of constraints in his seminal 1984 book titled 'The Goal'. It is based on the application of scientific principles and logic reasoning to guide human-based organizations. The publicity and leadership behind these ideas has been dominated by Dr. Goldratt through a series of books, seminars and workshops.

TOC is geared to help organizations continually achieve their goals.

TOC is based on a set of basic principles (axioms), a few simple processes (Strategic Questions, Focusing Steps, Buy-In processes, Effect-Cause-Effect, logic tools (The Thinking Processes ) and through the logical derivation of these some applications to specific fields (Operations, Finance, Distribution, Project Management, People Management, Strategy, Sales and Marketing).

According to TOC, every organization has - at any given point of time - at least one constraint which limits the system's performance relative to its goal (see Liebig's law of the minimum). These constraints can be broadly classified as either an internal constraint or a market constraint. In order to manage the performance of the system, the constraint must be identified and managed correctly. Over the time the constraint may change (e.g., because the previous constraint was managed successfully, or because of a changing environment) and the analysis starts anew.


1 Basic Principles of TOC

1.1 Convergence
1.2 Consistency
1.3 Respect

2 Basic Processes

2.1 The Five Focusing Steps
3 Applications

3.1 Operations

3.1.1 Plant types
3.2 Supply chain / logistics
3.3 Finance and accounting
3.4 Project management
3.5 Marketing and sales

4 The TOC Thinking Processes

5 Development and practice

6 Criticisms

The principles are treated as axioms, and therefore have no proof. Even so Goldratt provides some indication on why he chose these as basic assumptions or principles to base TOC upon.

The first two are a derivation of Newton's words: “Nature is exceedingly simple and conformable to herself, while the third is a bridge on how to deal with human reactions and motivations.”

Convergence.

The first principle: Convergence, also called "Inherent Simplicity" states that "The more complex a system is to describe, the simpler it is to manage." Or that the more interconnected a system is the fewer degrees of freedom it has, and consequently the fewer points must be touched (managed) to impact the whole system. A corollary of this principle is that every organization has at least one constraint active in any given point of time, otherwise it would achieve infinite performance relative to its goal. The more complex and interconnected the organization is the lower the number of constraints it will have.

Consistency.

The second principle: Consistency, also called "There are No Conflicts in Nature" states that "If two interpretations of a natural phenomenon are in conflict, one or possibly both must be wrong". That is, when in an organization with a common goal, two parts are in conflict or in a dilemma and this means that the reasoning that led to the conflict must contain at least one flawed assumption.

Respect.

The third principle: Respect, also called "People are not stupid" states that "Even when people do things that seem stupid they have a reason for that behavior". In other words, this principle is stating that people are not inherently bad.

Basic Processes.

The Five Focusing Steps:-

One of the most important processes of the Theory of Constraints is based on the premise that the rate of goal achievement is limited by at least one constraining process. Only by increasing throughput (flow) at the bottleneck process can overall throughput be increased.

The key steps in implementing an effective process of ongoing improvement according to TOC are:

0.(Step Zero) Articulate the goal of the organization. Frequently, this is something like, "Make money now and in the future."

1. Identify the constraint (the thing that prevents the organization from obtaining more of the goal)

2. Decide how to exploit the constraint (make sure the constraint is doing things that the constraint uniquely does, and not doing things that it should not do)

3. Subordinate all other processes to above decision (align all other processes to the decision made above)

4 Elevate the constraint (if required, permanently increase capacity of the constraint; "buy more")

5. If, as a result of these steps, the constraint has moved, return to Step 1. Don't let inertia become the constraint.

Applications.

The focusing steps, or this Process of Ongoing Improvement has been applied to Manufacturing, Project Management, Supply Chain / Distribution generated specific solutions. Other tools (mainly the TP) also led to TOC applications in the fields of Marketing and Sales, and Finance. The solution as applied to each of these areas is listed below.

Operations.

Within manufacturing operations and operations management, the solution seeks to pull materials through the system, rather than push them into the system. The primary methodology use is Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR), and a variation called Simplified Drum-Buffer-Rope (S-DBR).

Drum-Buffer-Rope is a manufacturing execution methodology, named for its three components. The drum is the physical constraint of the plant: the work center or machine or operation that limits the ability of the entire system to produce more. The rest of the plant follows the beat of the drum. They make sure the drum has work and that anything the drum has processed does not get wasted.

The buffer protects the drum, so that it always has work flowing to it. Buffers in DBR have time as their unit of measure, rather than quantity of material. This makes the priority system operate strictly based on the time an order is expected to be at the buffered operation. Traditional DBR usually calls for buffers at several points in the system: the constraint, synchronization points and at shipping. S-DBR requires only a single buffer at shipping.[5]

The rope is the work release mechanism for the plant. Only at "buffer time" before an order is due does it get released into the plant. Pulling work into the system earlier than a buffer time guarantees high work-in-process and slows down the entire system.


Plant types

There are four primary types of plants in the TOC lexicon. Draw the flow of material from the bottom of a page to the top, and you get the four types. They specify the general flow of materials through a system, and they provide some hints about where to look for typical problems. The four types can be combined in many ways in larger facilities.

I-Plant: Material flows in a sequence, such as in an assembly line. The primary work is done in a straight sequence of events (one-to-one). The constraint is the slowest operation.

A-Plant: The general flow of material is many-to-one, such as in a plant where many sub-assemblies converge for a final assembly. The primary problem in A-plants is in synchronizing the converging lines so that each supplies the final assembly point at the right time.

V-Plant: The general flow of material is one-to-many, such as a plant that takes one raw material and can make many final products. Classic examples are meat rendering plants or a steel manufacturer. The primary problem in V-plants is "robbing" where one operation (A) immediately after a diverging point "steals" materials meant for the other operation (B). Once the material has been processed by A, it cannot come back and be run through B without significant rework.

T-Plant: The general flow is that of an I-Plant (or has multiple lines), which then splits into many assemblies (many-to-many). Most manufactured parts are used in multiple assemblies and nearly all assemblies use multiple parts. Customized devices, such as computers, are good examples. T-plants suffer from both synchronization problems of A-plants (parts aren't all available for an assembly) and the robbing problems of V-plants (one assembly steals parts that could have been used in another).

Supply chain / logistics

The solution for supply chain is to move to a replenishment model, rather than a forecast mode

Finance and accounting.

The solution for finance and accounting is to apply holistic thinking to the finance application. This has been termed Throughput accounting. Throughput accounting suggests that one examine the impact of investments and operational changes in terms of the impact on the throughput of the business. It is an alternative to Cost accounting.

The primary measures for a TOC view of finance and accounting are: Throughput (T), Operating Expense (OE) and Investment (I). Throughput is calculated from Sales (S) - Totally Variable Cost (TVC). Totally Variable Cost usually considers the cost of raw materials that go into creating the item sold.


Project management.

Critical Chain Project Management is utilized in this area. Based on the realization that all projects look like A-plants: all operations must converge to a final deliverable. As such, synchronization of activities is a common problem that CCPM seeks to address.


Marketing and sales.

While originally focused on manufacturing and logistics, TOC has expanded lately into sales management and marketing. For effective sales management one can apply Drum Buffer Rope to the sales process similar to the way it is applied to operations (see reengineering the Sales Process book reference below). This technique is appropriate when your constraint is in the sales process itself or you just want an effective sales management technique and includes the topics of funnel management and conversion rates.


The TOC Thinking Processes.


The Thinking Processes are a set of tools to help managers walk through the steps of initiating and implementing a project. When used in a logical flow, the Thinking Processes help walk through a buy-in process:

Gain agreement on the problem
Gain agreement on the direction for a solution
Gain agreement that the solution solves the problem
Agree to overcome any potential negative ramifications
Agree to overcome any obstacles to implementation
TOC practitioners sometimes refer to these in the negative as working through layers of resistance to a change.


Development and practice

TOC was initiated by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Dr Goldratt is still the main driving force behind the development and practice of TOC. There is a network of individuals and small companies loosely coupled as practitioners around the world. TOC is sometimes referred to as "Constraint Management" but this understates enormously what TOC is. TOC is a large body of knowledge with a strong guiding philosophy of growth.


Criticism

The criticism fails to acknowledge that the earlier approaches did not explain the Theory nor did they lead to the level of results being achieved through TOC. Dr Goldratt has always said the methodologies should not compete they should work together to create better results and generate and disseminate more knowledge.

Some academics in the Operations Research and Management Science communities claim that the TOC founder, Eliyahu M. Goldratt, and some of his followers display a strong guru-like and sales pitch attitude that it is not compatible with the spirit of true scientific investigation.

In particular, people claim Goldratt's books fail to acknowledge that TOC borrows from more than 40 years of previous Management Science research and practice, particularly from PERT/CPM and JIT.

D. Trietsch from University of Auckland argues that DBR methodology is inferior to competing methodologies

Let the cat out of the bag

Meaning

Disclose a secret.

Origin

There are two commonly heard suggested origins of this phrase. One relates to the fraud of substituting a cat for a piglet at markets. If you let the cat out of the bag you disclosed the trick - and avoided buying a pig in a poke (bag). This form of trickery is long alluded to in the language and 'pigs in a poke' are recorded as early as 1530.

The other theory is that the 'cat' referred to is the cat o' nine tails, which was used to flog ill-disciplined sailors. Again, this has sufficient historical record to be at least possible. The cat o' nine tails was widely used and was referred to in print many years prior to the first use of 'let the cat out of the bag'. The 'nine tails' part of the name derives from the three strands of cord that the rope lashes were made from. Each of the cords were in turn made from three strands of string. When unbraided a piece of rope separated into nine strings. The 'cat' part no doubt alluded to the scratches that the knotted ends of the lash made on the victim's back, like those from a cat's claws.

Of the two explanations, the 'pig in a poke' derivation is the more plausible, although I can find no direct documentary evidence to link 'letting the cat out of the bag' to the selling of livestock. The cat o' nine tails story is dubious at best. It is reported that the lashes were sometimes stored in bags, but the suggested nautical punishment origin fails at the critical point, in that it doesn't match the 'disclose a secret' meaning of the phrase.

The first known use of the phrase in print that I have found is in a 1760 edition of The London Magazine:

"We could have wished that the author... had not let the cat out of the bag."

There are several other literary references to the phrase in the 1760s and 1770s, most of which place it in quotations marks - a sure sign of it being not commonly understood and consequently, newly coined.

Cats feature very often in English proverbs:

A cat may look at a king - 1546
All cats are grey in the dark - 1596
Curiosity killed the cat - 1921
There are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream - 1855
When the cat is away, the mice will play - 1607

This routine appearance of cats in the language is no doubt a consequence of them being widely kept as mousers and pets in domestic houses. As to 'who let the cats out?', we can't be certain; but it probably wasn't a sailor

It's all about "AUM"

The syllable AUM or OM, with which every recital of the Vedic chants begins, is represented in the first stanza of Chandogya Upanishad as the symbol of the Supreme and therefore the means of the meditation of the Supreme.


In meditation, the soul is furnished with a symbol on which we fix our gaze, on which we concentrate all our imagination and reasoning. When meditation reaches its end, when there is no distraction or disquiet, when there is calm repose, sweet tranquility, there is the vision. We start with prayer, we pass on to meditation. When the discursive acts cease, we have contemplation.


The Chandogya Upanishad opens with the instruction to concentrate on the syllable aum, to draw our thoughts away from all other subjects, to develop ‘ekagrata’ or one-pointedness.


Symbol cannot be taken as final. It has a number of aspects. When it is transposed into the words of ordinary language it becomes dim and rigid. We then tend to confine the meaning within narrow dogmatic frames. Even though the syllable AUM, like all symbols covers the reality as by a veil, to those who know how to look, the veil becomes transparent.





(Source: The Principal Upanishads - Chandogya Upanishad first stanza interpretation)

Keeping Pure Surroundings.

Cleaning the house is an act of purifying one's immediate environment. Each piece of furniture, as well as the doorways and the walls, catches and holds the emanations of the human aura of each individual in the home, as well as each of its visitors. This residue must be wiped away through dusting and cleaning. This regular attentiveness keeps each room sparkling clean and actinic. Unless this is done, the rooms of the home become overpowering to the consciousness of the individuals who live within them as their auras pick up the old accumulated feelings of days gone by. Small wonder that a dirty room can depress you, and one freshly cleaned can invigorate.

In these years, when both mother and father work in the outside world, the house is often simply where they sleep and eat. But if a home receives all of the daily attentions of cleaning it sparkly bright, both astrally and physically, it becomes a welcoming place and not an empty shell. The devas can live within a home that is clean and well regulated, where the routine of breakfast, lunch and dinner is upheld, where early morning devotionals are performed and respected, a home which the family lives together within, eats together within, talks together within, worships together within. Such a home is the abode of the devas. Other kinds of homes are the abodes of asuric forces and disincarnate entities bound to Earth by lower desires.

It is very important that the samskaras are performed properly within a shaucha abode, particularly the antyeshti, or funeral, ceremonies so as to restore purity in the home after a death. Birth and death require the family to observe a moratorium of at least thirty-one days during which they do not enter the temple or the shrine room. Such obligatory ritual customs are important to follow for those wishing to restrain their desires and perfect shaucha in body, mind and speech, keeping good company, keeping the mind pure and avoiding impure thoughts.

Purity and impurity can be discerned in the human aura. We see purity in the brilliancy of the aura of one who is restraining and disciplining the lower instinctive nature, as outlined in these yamas and niyamas. His aura is bright with white rays from his soul lightening up the various hues and colours of his moods and emotions. Impure people have black shading in the colours of their aura as they go through their moods and emotions. Black in the aura is from the lower worlds, the worlds of darkness, of the tala chakras below the muladhara.

Source KHM: For readers benefit pl.

Donkey's years:- meaning- A Very Long time.

Origin

A query at the Phrases and Sayings Discussion Forum asked if the British slang term for 'a very long time' was donkey's years or donkey's ears. My first thoughts were, "donkey's years of course - what would ears have to do with it?". It turns out that I was being rather hasty. Donkey's years is now the more commonly used slang term when meaning 'a long time', but donkey's ears, although used little in recent years, has been a jokey alternative for some time - certainly from the early 20th century, viz. E. V. Lucas' Vermilion Box, 1916:

"Now for my first bath for what the men call 'Donkey's ears', meaning years and years."

This slightly pre-dates the earliest printed version that I can find of donkey's years, in the US newspaper The Bridgeport Telegram, 1923:

"With a heavy make-up, you'll be the cutest vamp I've seen in donkey's years."

It is quite likely that donkey's ears was the earlier form and that it originated as rhyming slang, in an allusion to the length of the animal's ears. Donkey's ears/years is often shortened just to donkeys. That is characteristic of rhyming slang, as in syrup (of figs) - wig or plates (of meat) - feet.

Donkey's ears works as rhyming slang whereas donkey's years doesn't. In rhyming slang the last word of a short phrase is rhymed with the word that gives the slang meaning. For example, trouble and strife - wife, apples and pears - stairs, etc. It makes little sense for the phrase to have originated in slang form as donkey's years, as that would rhyme 'years' with 'years'.

The migration from donkey's ears to donkey's years was no doubt aided by the belief that donkeys live a long time. There's some truth in that. Lively Laddie, a donkey who had lived up to his name for many years while plying his trade on Blackpool Pleasure Beach was, at age 62, a contender for the 'oldest living donkey' title.

To Die a Conscious Death

If you were to die at this very moment, where would what you call you go? Where would your awareness be drawn? The laws of death and reincarnation tell us that your awareness would go into various refined force fields of the mind, similar to some states of sleep, according to where you are in the mind at the time of death. By a similar law on this plane, when a wealthy executive and a mendicant enter an unfamiliar town, one finds himself lodged at the finest hotel among other businessmen of his caliber, and the other is drawn of necessity to the slums. The entire process of reincarnation is the inner play of magnetic force fields.

Should you reincarnate now, you would undoubtedly enter a force field which would approximate where you are inside yourself, unless, of course, you had broken through barriers into a force field different from the one in which you are now living. In other words, to use an analogy that can also be applied to states of instinctive, intellectual and superconscious awareness, if you were living in America, but had your mind centered in the force field called France, owned things imported from France and spoke fluent French, you would undoubtedly reincarnate in France and act out that drama to its conclusion.

Reincarnation and karma in its cause-and-effect form are practically one and the same thing, for they both have to do with the pranic forces and these bodies of the external mind. The sannyasin's quest is Self Realization. To make that realization a reality, he always has to be conscious consciously of working out these other areas. Why? Because the ignorance of these areas holds and confuses awareness, preventing him from being in inner states long enough to attain the ultimate goal of nirvikalpa samadhi.

Little by little, as he goes on in his esoteric understanding of these mechanics, he unwinds and reeducates his subconscious. He conquers the various planes by cognizing their function and understanding their relation one to another. This knowledge allows him to become consciously superconscious all the time. He has sufficient power to move the energies and awareness out of the physical, intellectual and astral bodies into sushumna. Then the kundalini force, that vapor-like life force, merges into its own essence.

It is therefore the great aim of the aspirant on the path of enlightenment to live a well-ordered life and control the forces of the mind that propel him into cycles of life and death. He must strive to gain a fundamental knowing of the life-death-reincarnation processes, and to be able at the point of death to leave the body consciously, as a matter of choice, depending upon the consciousness leading to the moment of transition. He must throw off the false identification with this body or that personality and see himself as the ageless soul that has taken many, many births, of which this is only one, see deeper still into the total unreality of life and death, which only exist in their seeming in the outer layers of consciousness, for he is the immortal one who is never born and can never die.

Source KHM: For readers benefit pl

Sudden Death, Boon or Bane?

As the physical forces wane, whether at sudden death or a lingering death, the process is the same. All the gross and subtle energy goes into the mental and emotional astral body. In the case of a sudden death, the emotions involved are horrendous. In the case of a lingering death, the increasing mental abilities and strength of thought is equally so. As we know, intense emotion manifests intense emotion, and intense thoughts manifest intense thoughts. These intensities would not remanifest until entering a flesh body again. This is why it was previously explained that sudden death--with its intense emotion, the intellect not having been prepared for it--would produce difficulties in getting born and in the first few years of getting raised, leading to miscarriage and abortion and later child abuse. All these experiences are a continuation of the emotional upheaval that happened at the sudden departure. The emotional upheaval of the person is compounded by the emotional upheaval of the friends, family and business associates when they finally hear of the sudden departure. Similarly, when that person reincarnates, the family and friends and business associates are aware of the special needs of the child, anticipating the crying and emotional distress, which eventually subsides.

However, if the person was prepared for death, no matter when it might arrive, sudden or otherwise, his mental and emotional astral body would have already been well schooled in readiness. Sudden death to such a soul is a boon and a blessing. The next birth would be welcoming and easy, one wherein he would be well cared for and educated by loving parents.

Nevertheless, the thought force of the departing person is very strong, as his energy transmutes into the mental body. That's why nobody wants the departing person to hate them or curse them, because the thought force is so strong. Even after he has departed, that same thought force will radiate many blessings or their opposite on the family or individuals. In the case of blessings, this is the basis of ancestor worship. Ancestors are even more immediate than the Gods, so to speak. They will help you hurt somebody, or to help somebody, depending on who they are. Ancestors are even more accessible than the Gods, because you don't have to be religious to contact them.

People wonder whether death is a painful process, such as in the case of cancer victims. Cancer, which produces a lot of pain, is a process of life which results in death, but death itself is not painful. Death itself is blissful. You don't need any counseling. You intuitively know what's going to happen. Death is like a meditation, a samadhi. That's why it is called maha (great) samadhi. A Hindu is prepared from childhood for that mahasamadhi. Remember, pain is not part of the process of death. That is the process of life, which results in death.

When somebody is about to have a tremendous accident and, for example, sees his car is going to run into a truck or his plane is going to crash, he experiences no pain whatsoever, as he dies before he dies.

Source KHM: For readers benefit pl.