Human Archives - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

Destiny – Human Effort and Divine Grace

During the course of my writings, one interesting comment that I received from a reader friend said, “God said to Job from the whirlwind; ‘Who is this that darkens council with words and not knowledge?’ There is only one who has the ability to describe heaven, and that is the one who created it, the one who watched it form, that is Jesus Christ, who came to Earth to explain it to you, and did so quite simply. If you are going to talk about Heaven, or hell, these are God’s to define, not yours”. ….The idea seems to clearly indicate that there should be no room for self-effort in one’s salvation, and that all human thought in religion must, of necessity, be dogmatic. …..So I thought I’ll clarify.

“Yesterday I was clever.

That is why I wanted to change the world.

Today I am wise.

That is why I am changing myself”.

– Sri Chinmoy

Talking of Spirituality, the first question we must ask: Are we at the mercy of Destiny? I have heard –

One day the Sultan of Damascus was in his palace when a young man who was his favourite, agitatedly came rushing into his presence and proclaimed that he must immediately leave for Baghdad, and begged that he be allowed to take His Majesty’s swiftest horse. The Sultan asked: ‘But why are you in such haste? and the man replied, “As I passed through the garden of the palace I saw Death with his arms stretched out in my direction and it thoroughly frightened me, so I must lose no time in escaping him”.

The favourite was allowed to take the horse he wanted, and then later when the Sultan went to the garden, he saw that Death was still standing there. “Why did you threaten my favourite?” demanded the ruler. “I did not threaten him”, Death replied, “I threw up my arms in surprise at seeing him here, for I was to meet him tonight at Baghdad”…Is that the work of Destiny or Fate?

Whenever we run into struggles and reverses in the course of our lives, the question arises: Are we playthings in the hands of the forces of nature or slaves of a God who presides over the affairs of the world? Or, are we helpless creatures lying at the mercy of some whimsical Fate, believed to be the guide of our destinies?

Going by this fatalistic or confusing approach, there is then no place for self-effort. We are plain slaves, bound and stuck until God finds time to look at our ‘sufferings’ from his long list of ‘priority job’ of saving others who are higher placed in suffering hierarchy than us. Hope too seems to vanish into thin air when we are plagued by such a thought.

It is not so asserts the Hindu scriptures by stressing the importance of self-effort in our spiritual life. Meditate on these words:

This Self cannot be attained by the weak, by the inattentive, nor by one who practices spiritual disciplines improperly. The wise who strive through proper means realize the Infinite Spirit. — Mundaka Upanishad.

“Know thy Self to be the Master, sitting in the chariot of the body. Consider the intellect as the driver and the mind the reins. The senses are the horses and the sense-objects are the roads. The wise call the Self the enjoyer when He is identified with the body, the senses and the mind”. — Katha Upanishad.

“Men obtain desired objects by personal effort. Those wanting in self-effort speak only of destiny. Neither the lazy nor those who depend solely on destiny reach their goal. Therefore, a person should, by all means, persist in self-effort”. —-Matsya Purina.

“Success of actions rests equally on destiny and one’s efforts. Of these two, destiny is the expression of the efforts made in a previous life”. ——— Yajnavalkya Smriti.

“Surrendering all actions to the Supreme Spirit, fixing the mind on the indwelling Self, and abandoning all longings and Selfishness, fight the battle of life without fear or excitement”. —Bhagavad Gita.

Heaven and hell are, let us undersand it clearly, not physical locations somewhere, but are the states of one’s being. When you are not, you are heaven; when you are, you are hell. It depends on the effort as to whether you make your mind a friend of your self, or make it your foe.

Reflecting on the above passages that are so close to real-life experiences, one will not be left in any doubt that self-effort and surrender should go hand-in-hand. Both are to be regarded as expressions of Divine Grace.

The Five W’s of Human Resource

Why have an HR function?

A well-established HR function will:

• increase your productivity

• reduce your overheads

• increase your employees commitment to your business

• improve your employee/employer relationship

• minimise risk in employment relationships

• assist in establishing your business strategy

• help put your strategy into an operational plan

• enable you to measure significant milestones in your operational plan

What will an HR function provide?

An HR function is designed to provide you with some practical tools and advice such as:

• an employment agreement

• a robust recruitment process and tools

• a performance management system

• tools and support for managing performance problems

• metrics regarding your people

HR will contribute to your construction of a strategic business plan integrated with sound people plans.

Following on from your strategic business plan is the compilation of operational objectives and action plans for employees with measures to monitor the progress and results.

These operational objectives mean you will have a way to measure and reward employee behaviour.

As your company grows and requires more resources or changes to your organisational structure the right HR person will be able to work with you to identify your business needs, establish a process and guide you through the change process to achieve maximum employee buy in and minimisation of risk. This would apply to change involving downsizing as much as change resulting from growth.

When should you put in an HR function?

Human resources starts from the moment you no longer can run your business with just you and you start on the process of planning how to meet your business requirements by hiring staff. It is the quality and intentionality of your HR function which drives when you should consider a dedicated HR resource to manage the HR function.

The rule of thumb is when you have 80 plus full time employees, you warrant having a dedicated full time resource in your own company. Up to that number you can outsource your function to qualified professionals who will achieve the same objectives on a part-time or contract basis.

Where would you find qualified professionals?

You could find suitable resources from finance/management consultants who offer HR resources as part of their auditing services as do some recruitment/management consultants. Lawyers may offer employment agreement templates. Some business associations offer templates and have internal advisors to assist businesses in employment related matters. Using non-HR specialists, particularly management consultants can be an expensive option, and often they lack the whole of business approach.

Another avenue for help with this function is through human resource experts who have set up their own consulting business. They offer the HR function on an hourly or monthly fee basis and work with you in your business on an as need basis. This is a more holistic and cost effective way of having a function which can be fully integrated into your business. These people can be found on the internet, through your human resource institute or local business association.

Who is the best consultant to choose?

The best people are those who are experienced Human Resource consultants. They should have both the qualification and the experience in order to understand your whole business and can partner with you. Look for someone who has worked either in your industry sector and/or over a broad spectrum of organisations, who has a proven ability to understand business needs. Check to ensure they have sat on management teams and can talk sales, marketing, operations etc., and can understand finance and customer service. You want someone who can think strategically but yet are operational. Also check to ensure they have personal credibility. Will they do what they say they will?

Conclusion

A quality human resource function is a major asset to your business. The sooner you ensure you have such a function the earlier you will start to see positive results in your company. It may not need to be a large financial commitment, but it does involve finding the right professional to manage that function for you.

The Human Factors

Many of us don’t realize how truly unique each of us is. DNA molecules can unite in an infinite number of ways. The number is 10 to the 2,400,000,000th power. The number is the likelihood that you’d ever find someone just like you. If you were to write out that number with each zero being one inch wide, you’d need a strip of paper 37,000 miles long!

To put this in perspective, some scientist have guessed that all the particles in the universe are probably less than 10 with 76 zeros behind it, far less than the possibilities of our individual DNA. Our uniqueness is a scientific fact of life.

Our uniqueness is what creates variety in human interactions. So with such uniqueness what common characteristics bring us together? The human makeup can be categorized into four elements: 1) Intellectual, 2) Physical, 3) Emotional and 4) Spiritual. Our life experiences shape each of our four elements and together with our DNA we become defined. Collectively our elements represent the gifts and abilities of life we have both the good and bad that we ultimately share with others through exchanges and future experiences.

When we enter the virtual world we do so with the history and experience in human relations of our physical world. What and whom we associate with tends to follow form of our physical world thus creating our technological DNA of affinities. Our personality will affect how and where we use our gifts and abilities within virtual communities. For instance, two people may have similar intellectual knowledge and experiences but if one is introverted and the other is extroverted, that intellectual knowledge will be expressed differently.

The more we participate within virtual worlds the more pronounced our technological DNA and virtual personalities become. Like stained glass, our different personalities reflect different shades of light within virtual communities. Our virtual life takes on different shapes as we begin to express ourselves to others individually and collectively through the groups we participate in. Our virtual life also takes shape based on what groups we belong to and whom we are connected. Our physical life is shaped by our physical world experiences of the past. In determining our shape within the virtual world one should consider what they desire for experiences in the future.

The physical life experiences we bring into our virtual life include:

Family experiences: what did we learn?
Educational experiences: what subjects interest us the most?
Vocational experiences: what jobs have we been most effective in and enjoyed most
Spiritual experiences: what have we learned from our own spiritual walk?
Community experience: what have you learned from and about providing service to communities?
Painful experiences: what problems, hurts, thorns and trials have we learned from? What has these experiences taught you that others may benefit from learning from and through you?

The virtual world human factor connects people where they are and provides the means to help individuals gain from others for the purposes of getting to where they would like to be. The essence of community in the virtual world is helping others learn, connect, gain and exchange in meaningful ways not unlike our physical world but the technological medium extends our reach and enables richness of relations.

Social networks enable individuals to leverage their human factors for the benefit of others thus creating a giving exchange that provides enrichment. This feature is one of the factors that create attraction for individuals to participate within social networks. The technological medium has accelerated individual abilities to reach more people than we ever could in the physical world. This new reach extends the promise of satisfaction through human relations which enriches human experiences of giving, sharing, learning, relating and re-enforcing or improving ones identity.

Our virtual world can either extend current factors in our human relations in the physical world or create new opportunities for us to improve the factors for ourselves and those we are connected to, both physically and virtually.

What say you?