Category: reflections

First post for 2010 :)

On By PriyaIn Personal, reflections3 Comments

I didn’t really have a fresh start for the new year. I woke up in the morning as usual at 10am. I didn’t really plan to wake up earlier and offer prayers to God. But the day was the start of a new year. So it just naturally happened that after taking my shower, I lighted up the lamp in my prayer “room”. And also in my room.

I have a small Krishna shrine in my room. At one corner of the room. I have this because my prayer “room” in the hall is not really a conducive place to sit and worship with a peaceful mind. Well, I don’t really offer regular prayers in my room either, which supposedly I should be doing everyday, 3 times a day (morning, noon, and evening). So this year, my resolution would be the following:

1) Pray everyday, at least once, even if it is just lighting a small lamp in the main shrine in the hall, or in the small shrine in your room.

2) Chant a shloka or do japa of “Om Namah Shivaya” 108 times everyday, once would do.

3) Read and understand the Home Study Course of Bhagavad Gita Vol I everyday for atleast 5 minutes, before going to bed. After Vol I is finished, proceed to Vol II.

Out of the 3 resolutions above, I am successfully doing no. 3, but no. 1 and no. 2, I’ve been doing them irregularly. It is actually just a matter of making it a habit. When you do something everyday, you will automatically adopt it as part of your daily routine. It’s just like how you take a shower everyday without fail. You will never go like, “Oops! I forgot to take my shower today before I left my house!” right? So I hope to achieve the above 3 resolutions this year, in a proper manner!

When I was regularly going to my Hinduism classes, I do all the 3 above everyday you know. But when the semester got so hectic, and exams started nearing, I just couldn’t be consistent. And now it has become very irregular. And the worst part of it all is, I can actually feel the difference in my mental state! Like while I was praying, chanting, meditating and reading everyday, my mental state was calm and composed. Now, after I’ve stopped doing all these, I can see that things around me and even my mental state has changed. I’m feeling slacky more often, lazy more like. I’m not imagining anything, and neither is it something to do with psychology, I can tell this for sure. And I can’t even properly describe the feeling. So by starting to pray, chant and meditate everyday, I’m hoping to freshen up my mental state and start this new year properly.

My other resolutions would be:

4) This time around, be consistent in your studies. This might be your last semester, so put in all your hard work and do well. Increase your chances of improving your grades, try aiming for Honours.

5) Be more health-conscious, avoid junk food, try to exercise more this year and loose weight as much as you can. Walk 5 times a week for 45-60 minutes.

6) Enjoy your final semester in NUS as much as you can. But put your studies first when needed.

7) Put aside some time to catch up with friends overseas.

8) Put aside some time to spend time with yourself.

9) Buy more clothes in the second half of the year, for work (if you’re not doing Honours).

10) Keep this list of resolutions alive!

Haha… That should be all. Maybe there is more, maybe not.

Year 2007 and me…

On By PriyaIn 2007, Personal, reflections2 Comments

Ok. I was writing this post on 31st December 2007 at around 11pm. So now it should be 1st January 2008 when I posted it:) Therefore, this is my first post for the year 2008!

Last year has been really an enlightening year for me. I am not the same person now as I was at the start of last year. I have undergone a lot of changes. Although I am at a loss of whether they are good changes or bad ones. It depends on how my changes affect those around me I guess.

I’ve learnt a number of lessons last year, and I will share them here in my blog so that I will remember 2007 forever! I can never forget my dear 2007! This was the year, in which I worked an earned money first time in my life! Took a step in getting a driver’s license! (Passed the theory tests but not started with practicals yet!) Got into NUS!! Went through a semester of fun and studying! Got my results! Yey, I’m happy that the last year is finally over and I am stepping into another year of more fun and adventures!!!

As I have said, I’ve learnt a few lessons for life in this year. Particularly important as I am growing up, and will soon be 21 this year. I’ve learned who to trust and who not to trust. I’ve learned that giving help and love only to those who deserve them, is better than giving it to all. I have been hurt by people who have misunderstood me and who have not shown thanks to me for the help I gave them. This molded me into a person who doesn’t always trust a friend immediately and as someone who hates dishonesty to the core.

I’ve learned to give up and go with the flow. I used to hold onto things like as if they were dear life! Last year, I’ve learned to let go of them and just go with the flow. I’ve learned to keep on moving. Whenever I encountered a problem, I used to mull over it and keep thinking about it. But now I understand that mulling over and brooding over the past doesn’t help solve the problem. One needs to move on and act fast, thinking of “what can be done next?”.

I’ve been enlightened in a lot of issues the past year, and hope to learn more in 2008! Especially in the area of friendships and relationships. I’m clear and well-defined about what I want and where I stand in this matter. Hopefully there are no changes in my decision in the coming future. I’ve been enlightened about my viewpoints in certain matters. I became sceptical about the existence of God in the past year. My scepticism still holds on, but I strongly sense that there is a higher power above ourselves an beyond our control. I learned and I’m still learning more about myself when it comes to this issue. I hope studying and researching more on hinduism (or more accurately, Sanathana Dharma) helps me to find the Absolute Truth!

I’ve made a number of friends in the past year. Especially in the past year, I should say! Well, to list them out, they are: Jia Ying, Jeremy, Farah, Dominic, Mahi, Choon Peng, Jaya, Safiah, Jian Liang, Keerti Vasan (my nephew, but still a good friend to me!), Saravana Kumar, Susantharan, Vikneswari, Mathura, Subathra, Dave, Chanchal, Sandhya, Viknesh, Praveen Shamini, Priyadarsani, Arun and a few more. So many friends to name!! Most of my university friends are Indians. Kasturi and Kalpana are my best friends! But I woud say Kasturi is more than a best friend to me now. I would say a stage four friend!! Haha. I still need time to understand Kalpana better.

Last year, in 2007 that is, I met a vey unique person (one of the friends I’ve named in the paragraph above and some will know who I’m referring to). He is unique in the sense that I’ll never meet another person like him again anywhere! Haha. I hope we become good friends in the future. I want to add on “or probably more than friends”, but people always tend to mistake it for relationship, so I will not add that. I just wish we both will become great friends like what Kasturi and I are now. Well, what’s the harm of naming him? Haha. I am speaking about none other than Susanth!

Remember the surprising I promised of telling you all in this post?? Well, it is just that I’m going to write a book! I’m not going to write it alone. But this is going to be a joint effort by me and Susanth! I wish we could achieve a lot by writing this book. Personally, I want to see the youths taking up this book and by the time they finish reading the book, their mindsets about our culture, basically hinduism, should be changed for good! They should feel proud and inspired to be born in our culture and follow it righteously. This is not a religious book. Rather it is going to be a book about hinduism, the kind we have never seen before. Hopefully, we get to publish the book and also our aims are achieved!

It seems I’ve already touched on some of the upcoming events for 2008 for me! Haha. Thinking, bainstorming and writing this book is one of the items in a long list of agenda definitely! Hmm… What more? Oh, there’s a lot more! For 2008, my priority is going to be my education! Next will be Hindu Society! But my highest priority will always be my dearest family and dear friends! My focus this year will be to grow more on the inside and to hopefully achieve the goals I’ve set for myself. In my studies, I want to get a CAP closer to 4.0, compared to what I’ve got for this semester (3.4). The Bhagavad Gita. This is another goal I’ve set for myself. To read the the world’s highly esteemed scripture and learn more about myself in the process. I hope one year is enough for this. Hehe.

As for my other goals, they are simply too elaborate to be put up here on my blog. They mostly relate to the book we’re going to write, to hinduism, to Hindu Society (from here onwards, I shall refer to this as HS) and so on. So yeah, this is my first post for 2008. 2007 is gone, and 2008, here I come!!! ;P

Wishing you all a VERY PROSPEROUS HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR 2008. MAY ALL YOUR DREAMS AND GOALS COME TRUE IN THIS NEW YEAR!!