What is fate or destiny? Is our life pre-determined? If it's pre-determined what should we do? These are some of the questions that sometimes trouble us when something bad befalls. I am not wise enough to give answers on these topics but we can also turn towards the experts for answers. Below is an explanation.

Karma is of three types. Prarabhda Karma, Sanchita Karma and Agami Karma. Prarabhda Karma is that which we are presently undergoing and experiencing. Sanchita means all the past Karma, Agami refers to Karma that will follow in future. Prarabhda is in between the Sanchita and Agami, and we are experiencing this Prarabhda on account of the previous Sanchita Karma. The result of what we do now will come in future. I shall give you a small example from our daily life. We have got a storeroom in which we stock all our rice. We have already the old stock of rice in the store. What we have stored in the room is called Sanchita. When we want to cook, we remove some rice from the storeroom and begin to cook it. What we bring from the storeroom for cooking today is called Prarabhda. What we cook now and what we eat today will pass out of our body tomorrow. Sometimes what we eat may come out in the shape of a belch. Therefore, we cannot escape from Prarabhda, we must experience it in this life. In the storeroom, there is only rice. When we bring it we will be able to convert it into many preparations. In this way, we can make the rice into food, we can make it in the form of 'Pulihora'; we can cook it in the shape of 'Chakrapongal'; we can make from it 'Idlies' and also 'Dosas' and so on, all of which are names for different preparations from rice. We never change the base which is always rice. You have to start any preparation with rice only. Even though there is Sanchita, if you try to behave in a Sathwic way, in a pious and good way, you will be able to change even Sanchita. You may say that in the rice store, there are big stones. They are the result of our bad actions. They are in the store mixed with rice. Before we cook, do we not try to remove the stones from the rice? So it is quite necessary that when we experience Sanchita, we can overcome the bad effects to some extent or a great extent and make them clean, just as we make the rice clean.

Here is another example. Prarabhda can be compared to the dust that follows in the wake of a bus. When the bus is going, the dust also will be following it. So when the Karma which can be compared to the bus, is running, the Prarabhda, which can be compared to the dust, will be pursuing it. When the bus stops and does not travel, then the dust comes and falls over it. But when the bus does not stop and keeps on running, the dust will be only at a distance. So when we are satisfactorily doing our daily duties without interruption, the dust or the Prarabhda will be at a distance and behind us without affecting us. You may ask how long can we travel in a bus? We have to stop somewhere. It is not so. This road is of three kinds: work, worship and wisdom. This work is related to Karma and dust will be only there. You may take this as a village road. But if you pass some distance, then you will have a better road, a tar road. When the tar road comes, the dust will never fall on the bus. If you go still further you shall reach the trunk road, the highway. So the road of Karma is called the village road. Bhakthi or worship is the town road or the tar road. Wisdom is the highway wherein there is no possibility of the dust coming. When we are following only the path of Karma, this Prarabhda will never come to an end. But, if we do the Karma in a way that we perform all actions for the pleasure and for the satisfaction of God, in worship and dedication to Him, no Prarabhda will trouble us.

                                     - By Sathya Sai Baba delivered in a discourse on May 1972

We are on the threshold of a landmark agreement and there is varied opinion on the nuclear deal. Is the deal good for India, should we surrender to the policies of the US, is this a bait to stop strengthening our nuclear arsenal etc. The UPA government needs a count of 272 to stay in power and sign the deal. Horse trading and black mailing has already begun to vote in favour or against the government. We are not sure how many of the country's representatives are aware of the deal but as citizens of India I believe it is our responsibility to know about the ABC's of the nuclear deal.

Countries with H Bomb

There are ten countries that possesses nuclear arsenal. They are USA, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, Iran and North Korea

USA, Russia, Britain, France, China, Iran and North Korea signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and India, Israel and Pakistan have refused to sign it. The treaty is aimed to limit the spread of nuclear weapons and any country that signs up for the treaty should refrain from possessing nuclear weapons. North Korea which signed the treaty earlier, withdrew from it and tested its own bomb. Similarly Iran has also violated the treaty and possesses the dreaded bomb. India has strongly refused to sign the treaty and performed nuclear testing on 1974 and 1998.

Big brother is watching

There is one country who claims to be the big brother of all countries and decides what is good and bad for others. In the name of "War on Terror" they were able to successfully get rid of Saddam Hussein and also create a military base for themselves in Afghanistan. They are not too worried about Israel possessing nuclear weapons because Washington holds the key to it. Iran is being threatened now in the name of invasion hoping that Iran would decommission its nuclear facilities. North Korea has been coerced over the years to abandon it's weapons program. Pakistan is an ally of Washington and depends entirely on US. There were also rumors that the US sent troops to Pakistan to safe guard its nuclear facilities and preventing it from falling into al-qaeda hands during the Afghan war. US has enough information on Pakistan's nuclear facilities that would help them to decommission or destroy it if necessary. That leaves us with India.

India - Until Now

India is the world's largest democracy and has a growing economy. US cannot follow the same route as it did to the other countries to stop India from building its nuclear arms. US tried by imposing sanctions after the nuclear test that India made on 1998. But India was able to recover and showed the world that it could handle things on its own. Also it is important to note that India has claimed that it would use nuclear energy only for peaceful purpose and the nuclear weapons would only act as a deterrent. The nuclear power plants are not under IAEA supervision. No one knows which facility is used for power generation and which one is used for arms manufacture. Also no one knows the methodology that India has to produce nuclear energy.

But still India has few problems that it needs to address. India has to depend on other countries for Uranium, the raw material, for nuclear reactors. Also the uranium has to be shared for power generation and weapons manufacture. It's important to note that until now India has only around 15 nuclear bombs. The Big 5 countries have close to 25000 bombs among themselves. India produces close to 3 % of power through nuclear power plants whereas the Big 5 produce an average of 16% using nuclear power. India's power consumption is addressed through thermal and Oil. The cost of producing thermal energy has gone up and the cost of oil has risen considerably. Moreover both the thermal and Oil power generation produces lots of pollution whereas power generated through nuclear is clean.

To catch with other growing economies like China & Brazil, India needs to speed up its industrial production and is severely lacking in power.

The Nuclear Deal

Let's come back to the big brother. US found out that it cannot stop India from building nuclear arms but at the same time it found out the weakness that India had with respect to the shortage of raw material for nuclear plants. A deal is drafted and it is placed on the table. According to the deal, Mr Bush says

"Look Boss. I know that you are looking for uninterrupted supply of Uranium. Why do you worry when your big brother is there. Ask and you shall receive".

Wow!! Seems like a very good deal. India is ready to sign it up when our brother interrupts and says

"But.....There is one condition. I believe you have 22 nuclear reactors in India. I am interested in giving you Uranium but I don't want you to build bombs from it. You should use the unlimited fuel that I give for power generation alone. Is that a deal."

Yeah. It seems valid enough. India is ready to sign but still there is nothing called a free lunch.

"Oh. There is one more thing I forgot to tell you. Look. No one knows what is going on inside your power plants. So I cannot know if you are going to use my fuel for power generation. What if you use for building nuclear arms? So I propose that you separate your nuclear facilities into two groups. One for civilian purpose and the other for military purpose. Can we call it a deal?"

A time to think. But still why would we want to build a nuclear arsenal. One or two bombs is enough for Pakistan and China cannot be stopped anyway. But I get unlimited supply for power generation which is important for our growing economy. Are there any other clause, Mr. Bush?

"Nothing else. But I believe that you will give good welcome to our friends from the IAEA...What's that look on your face? Our friends from IAEA will inspect your civilian reactors to make sure that all your requirements are met. It's nothing but an informal audit. Don't worry about that. They won't visit your military facilities. You military secrets will not be leaked by them. I promise on that."

But Mr. Bush. Everything looks wonderful. But what's the catch?

"Oh. There's no catch. Customer satisfaction is very important for us. Don't worry. Please go ahead and sign on all those places marked x."

But sir. Why do we need a 30 page document for such a simple deal. The terms and conditions are printed so small that I cannot even read them and I need to sign on all these pages. What happens when I do more testing. Will I be punished for that? Do I have to pay any penalty?

"Oh. Don't worry. It's too early to talk about those things. We can handle them when it comes. But remember that India currently produces only 3% of energy by nuclear means. It will move up to 6% by 2020. Isn't that a great achievement?"

The Verdict

The arguments that are put forward by those opposing the deal are

• We are selling out our military secrets
• US will dictate us and will ask us to follow their policies
• If US decides to invade Iran, it would ask for India's help in setting up a military base in India.
• We cannot build our nuclear arsenal
• The terms and conditions are not clear if we decide to cancel the deal later

The arguments that are put forth by those supporting the deal

• We get unlimited supply of fuel for power generation
• The economy would grow
• Even if we cancel the deal later and US puts a sanction on us, we will be economically strong enough to take care of ourselves

I believe this is going to be a landmark decision and where our country is going to proceed might depend a lot based on this deal. Are we going to join hands with the US or are we going to take our own path remains to be seen.

So Dear readers. Do you think this is a good deal? Are you for it or against it?

For the last 2 years every kuppu and suppu have been filing law suits against Kamal, claiming that their story is plagiarized for Dasavatharam. I wrote this story almost 2 years back and can I claim that I think on the same lines as Kamal?

My blood just ran cold on seeing the below picture.

An Iraqi women hugging her dying son. Here is the description from the photojournalism website

A woman takes her dead son into her arms, as she grieves for her six-year-old son, Dhiya Thamer, who was killed when their family car came under fire by unknown gunmen in Baqouba, capital of Iraq's Diyala province, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, on Sunday, Sept. 16, 2007. The boy's ten-year old brother, Qusay, was injured in the attack as the family returned from enrolling the children in school, where Dhiya was to begin his first year. "Last Touch"

The mother looking straight into the kid's eyes and the little child catching hold of his mother tells us all the tale about the life in Iraq. What have this kids done to deserve such a life. How many civilian lives have been lost due to this stupid war. The American soldiers did not kill this kid, alright, but who is responsible for the rise of insurgents in Iraq?

America, Please choose a good president this time. We don't want to see the one who says this or the one who still defends her war on Iraq vote.

Try the below cool game.

If you have trouble viewing the flash, play the game here.

My traveler IQ is 102 and I can't get past level 8!! I need to learn more about Africa and South America. An excellent resource to teach your kids about geography. You can also play by choosing individual continents.

What's your Traveler IQ?

Run, don't walk, to the newly launched language learning site, Mango. It's awesome and more than that, it's FREE. It's a flash based audio interactive site with a nice look and feel. The audio quality is very good. A learning course is divided into lessons and each lesson is in turn divided into slides. There are around 100 lessons for each course.

 The slides starts with formal introductory speech to more casual ones and our learning is tested at the end of every slide. The Mango languages available now are

• Spanish
• French
• Italian
• Russian
• Mandarin
• German
• Japanese
• Greek
• Portuguese

I am hooked on to this site for now but at the same time I am also not sure how the site is going to make money in order to provide free lessons. Will they be free for ever or once the beta testing is done, will they charge for the courses? Let's wait and see but until then, this is one of the coolest web sites around.

61% The Movie Quiz

Not bad. I passed. How much do you know about Hollywood movies made in the past 25 years?

Khaled Hosseini has done it again with his second novel 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' , presenting an emotional and beautiful story of two women, Mariam and Laila, set in the backdrop of a troubled Afghanistan starting with the Russian Invasion to Taliban and the American Invasion.

His first novel The Kite Runner was a huge hit. In this novel Khaled Hosseni takes us on a tour of Afghanistan, a country that most of us know little about. He mixes fact with fiction which keeps us engrossed as well as makes the story move at a fast pace.

It is very difficult to keep our emotions in check as he portrays the lives of women in conservative Islamic countries.

The Kite Runner is already being made into a movie and I believe this one will follow suit. However both of the novels portray a lot of emotions and feelings, I wonder if they can be visualized as described in the book.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a highly recommended and must read novel.

I was searching the Internet for information on the recent change of Hindustan Lever Limited to Hindustan Unilever Ltd and hit upon the below site.

Marketing Practice - Online Resource on Indian brands. Harish, the blog owner, is a marketing evangelist and he has analyzed various Indian brands on his blog from shampoos to mobiles. There are lots of information on the products, the manufacturers as well as the type of advertising used to market them.

Have fun reading about your favourite products and the next time you see the brand on TV, throw some gyan about it to your family.

There was once a king who ruled over his subjects well. All his people were happy and his kingdom prospered. One day the King called all the religious heads of his land. Some were well renowned and well versed in Vedas and Puranas and some in the Bible, and yet others in the Koran and other scriptures. When all were gathered together, the King asked, "Oh holy ones! Today, at the request of my subjects, I wish to declare one particular religion as the religion of my land. I leave it to you O learned ones, to decide amongst yourself and to arrive at a unanimous decision as to which religion deserves royal patronage. However I feel only that religion should be chosen whose teachings are not refused by anyone."

Years rolled past, but no decision was taken. Each felt that his religion was the best, but none of the others agreed.

One day a traveling saint arrived in the kingdom. Upon learning about the king's unfulfilled desire, he immediately went up to the king and said "O! Mighty one! I am willing to show you the religion whose teachings nobody can refute."

The king was delighted. At last after long years of waiting an answer was at hand. "Please tell me soon my dear saint. I am impatient. I have waited for many long years." The saint replied "Be patient my king. I shall reveal the name of this religion to you, only at a quiet, secluded spot. Tomorrow at twelve noon, I shall be waiting for you near the banks of the holy River Ganga. We shall go across to the opposite shore and then I will reveal the best religion."

As decided, the saint and the king met at 12 noon the next day. The king ordered a boat to take them across the river. Immediately a boat was brought. Before the king could step inside, the saint expressed the desire to inspect the boat. "No this boat will not do as one wooden plank at the bottom of the boat is loose," he complained.

Another boat was brought. After close inspection, the saint observed that a few nails were missing along the side of the boat. The king ordered another boat to be brought. After close scrutiny, the saint rejected the boat saying that the paint was chipped. This was repeated many tunes over and over again. The king was slowly loosing his patience and could not stand it any longer

"Respected sir!" he said, "For the past so many hours you have been inspecting one boat after another. You have rejected each one of them. After all, what does it matter whether the paint is chipped or a few nails are missing or a plank is loose? As long as the boat is capable of taking us across the river, I feel that these minor faults should be overlooked."

The saint turned towards the king and smiled. Softly he explained "You have finally discovered that no boat is incapable of taking us across. The religions prevalent in our land are like the boats. Each one of them is capable of taking you to the Lord. To find faults in each other's faith is mere foolishness. Go back to your kingdom and continue to rule wisely, giving each religion as much respect as your own. Live in unity."

The king fell at the saint's feet. When he got up again, he felt himself richer - richer in knowledge and in wisdom, and better able to understand God’s plan.

- From Heart2Heart Magazine.