Break The Rules if Dharma is Upheld !!!

Narada had the power to travel through space and time. One day, he decided to pay a visit to Ayodhya , the city of the rule-following Ram and to Vrindavan, the village of the rule-breaking Krishna. At Ayodhya, he told the story of Krishna; the residents did not appreciate the rakish, mischievous cowherd at all.

He is not serious at all, they said. At Vrindavan, he told the story of Ram; the residents did not appreciate the upright and rather serious king at all. He is no fun, they said. Narada then went to Hanuman, the mighty monkey, and asked him who he preferred : Ram or Krishna? And Hanuman said, "What is the difference? Both are Vishnu to me; Lakshmi follows him, whether he is Ram or Krishna."

So what is the difference between Ram and Krishna? Both belong to two different contexts: Ram lives in Treta yuga and Krishna in Dvapara yuga. One context demands Vishnu to be the upright rule-following Ram and the other context demands Vishnu to be the lovable rule-breaking Krishna. Both are same, but different. Both are upholding social order, dharma; one by keeping the rules and the other by breaking them!

In corporations, we seek people who comply and frown upon people who do not. But people love breaking rules. Often being in a senior position is an excuse to break rules. Being in the creative profession is seen as a chance to be undisciplined. But being Ram or Krishna is not about whether rules are upheld or broken; it is about the reason why rules are upheld or broken. Few pay attention to that.

Ankita is the chief operating officer of a large design studio. She has a staff of designers , colourists, architects and painters. It annoys her a great deal that they never come to office on time, never keep deadlines , never stick to timelines, and plan things only when compelled to. How can she run the company like this? The staff argued , they are all creative artists who cannot function with rigid rules. It hampers their innovative spirit.

One day, the following month, salaries did not reach people on time. Ankita took a vacation that day and was not reachable on phone. When she returned to office on the following Monday, after a long weekend, she saw an angry mob of employees demanding an explanation . "Surely , I have the right to be creative too and not keep deadlines and commitments," she said. The staff was not amused, but the message was passed loud and clear. It was a risk Ankita took and it paid off.

We all want to be Krishnas and want others to be like Ram, without really understanding what it means to be either. To be Ram or Krishna, we have to be Vishnu and to be Vishnu, we have to ensure there is social order that brings Lakshmi our way. 

( By Sh.  Devdutt Pattanaik in Economic Times /23 March 12)

Use of Death Fear for Betterment of Life.

  Longback , during a train journey, I met a person who told me that he was a devoted Anandmargi. For those who are unaware of Anand Marg Sect , I would like to tell that Anandmarg originated in Indian state of West Bengal in 1955. And very soon this sect became very well known across India because of their one strange practice. The followers of this sect would make a procession on road in full public view , while each follower wore a human skull in his neck like a garland. Later on that practice was stopped because of public hue and cry and Government intervention.

   So, when I was told by my fellow passenger that he followed Anandmarg, I asked him about the philosophy behind wearing a human skull. His reply had an excellent piece of wisdom. He said  that  DEATH IS THE ONLY CERTAINTY IN THIS WORLD BUT HUMAN BEINGS ARE PROGRAMMED IN SUCH A WAY THAT ALL HUMAN BEINGS CONSIDER THEMSELVES IMMORTAL UNLESS A DOCTOR GIVES A TIMEFRAME OF DEATH. 

    This , according to him, was primary reason behind Aasakti आसक्ति or attachment to the world and consequent corruption of various nature. He further told me, that by wearing a human skull, the follower is constantly reminded of mortal nature of human life and therefore preventing him from committing a bad deed as sooner or later everybody has to reduce to a human skull , seeing which nobody can decided if it was a President or begger's skull. 

    I agreed with him but I asked whether they still wore it. He told me it was not compulsory and if you can reach that Anaasakti ( detachment) अनासक्ति without  a skull , there is no need to wear it.

      The fear of death can bring such positive changes in human life. And one really good contemporary example is of Steve Jobs , the founder of APPLE. Six year before his death in 2011, Jobs had talked about how a sense of his mortality was a major driver behind his vision of iphone. He was suffering the cancers of pancreas and liver and doctors had predicted a very short life for him.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life,” Jobs said during a Stanford commencement ceremony in 2005.

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

  Imagine if  our octogenarian  rulers start wearing  a skull , India would be a different country.....  

Left Brain -Right Brain -II

“I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feat. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.” 

 “I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am.”

DECIDE  WHO IS  CORRECT ???

Using Left-Right Brain Theory To Understand People

What does it mean to be left brain dominant or right brain dominant?

Scientists have explored theories about the two hemispheres of the brain and the ways that they differ in function and control of the body. According to recent research, people who are right brain dominant and those who are left brain dominant, process information and respond in different ways.

CHARACTERISTICS OF LEFT-BRAINERS

Left-brainers are logical and analytical. They thrive in structured environments. They smoothly articulate what they wish to communicate to others. They may even enjoy a 'good argument'. They perform well under stress, as in job interviews, laying out the answers to the questions, in a sequential and orderly way. 

Left-brainers easily rise to the top of office management. They coolly and clearly look at the facts and make unemotional decisions. They are leaders who are not afraid to tell others what to do and how to do it. To them, there is only one way to do things and that's the right way - the way that makes the most practical sense. Trying out new ways of doing things can seem like a waste of time.

Key left-brain functions

• Uses logic in decision-making
• Detail oriented
• Facts rule
• Prefers words and language
• Present and past oriented
• Math and science
• Comprehension
• Knows
• Acknowledges
• Order/pattern perception
• Remembers an object's name
• Reality based
• Forms strategies
• Practical
• Prefers safe course of action
• Rule conscious

CHARACTERISTICS OF RIGHT-BRAINERS

For right-brained people, following a regimented, rigidly prescribed office routine is deadly. It goes too much against their creative Free Spirit. They like to imagine new possibilities, and enjoy looking at the many different angles of a problem. Inevitably, they want to try new and different ways of doing things. And this can clash with the lefties sense of orderliness and practicality.

Right-brainers visualize the big picture, ignoring the details of how to get there. If they are being interviewed by left-brainers, the right-brainer may appear to speak in generalities. They can even seem to be off point and scattered at times. They like to respond emotionally during interviews, laughing or telling stories to illustrate a point. Left-brainers, who are looking for a direct, concise, structured and unemotional answer, are unimpressed.

Key right-brain functions

• Uses feeling in decision-making
• "Big picture" oriented
• Imagination rules
• Prefers symbols and images
• Present and future oriented
• Philosophy and religion
• Gets the "general meaning"
• Believes
• Appreciates
• Favors Spatial Perception
• Remembers an object's function
• Fantasy based
• Presents possibilities
• Impetuous action takers
• Risk Taking
  Following  exercises will definitely help your communication skills when you need to get through to a person who functions using the opposite brain preference than you. You will know or have a feel for how they think.
  
  

  If you are a Left-Brainer, try these Right-Brain Exercises to see how it feels

   

• Pay more attention to how you say things vs. what you say. Right-brained people are more influenced by the tone, pitch, and rhythm in the sound of your voice when you are telling them something. 

•  Try to feel how the other person is responding to you. Right brained people are more emotionally expressive and intuitive. The right brain tells them when something "feels" right. 

• Look more at the big picture, the possibilities, the broad vision with as much sensual information as possible. The right brain wants to see, feel and experience what is being said. 

•  Ask more open-ended questions: "Why?" and "How?" 

•  When you go on vacation, try going with the flow, and just let things happen, without planning it out beforehand.

 

      If you are a Right-Brainer, try these Left-Brain    

      Exercises to see how it feels :

• Become more detailed, and present your points in a clear, concise, logical order when you are trying to convince others.
• Challenge your mind with new ideas, such as learning a foreign language, doing crossword puzzles, or solving brainteasers.
• Focus more on what you are saying rather than how you are saying it.
• Try to see the linear sequence of events rather than going for the whole picture first.
• Before going on vacation, try planning it out in detail, so each day you know what you'll be doing.

Where You Fit at the Workplace :

 

 Left-brainers love keeping records, doing calculations and working with the facts. They are in the minority in the expressive and performing arts, involved in discovering inventions, designing, or in creative marketing. 

The arena of right-brained thinkers is any work that requires long range visionary or exploratory thinking, and motivating others. Left-brained scientists and engineers also need these qualities to shine in their fields. 

In this predominantly left-brained world, we need both of these types to thrive. Without right-brainers, we wouldn't have most of the exciting innovations in the world. 

And without the left-brainers behind the scenes, cooly directing and managing, organizing and controlling all the administrative details, that drive right-brainers batty, things wouldn't run as smoothly.

Keep this in mind the next time you are tempted to pass judgment on your opposite type!!!

पहले पैसा फ़िर भगवान

These are Osho's views on God & Richness . Enlarge the image by clicking on above.

What is missing in Management Education - III ?

       In my last two posts , I had tried to explore the missing element in management education. It is sad that we are ignoring our rich knowledge base given by our ancestors and trying to ape western practices with huge cost implications.

    Even the religious preachers have infected this disease. An interesting , personal real life example is narrated here :

The Missing Mathematics of GITA - I

In the winter of 2007 , one morning , at my place of posting in a sleepy town of Bihar ( Darbhanga) , my neighbor called on me and suggested to accompany him that evening in a local 3 day Satsang called Gita Gyan Yagya, where apart from the local preachers, one TV channel type preacher from Delhi was also invited. After learning that the discourse is to be centred around GITA , I expressed my dilemma.

I said that I have already undergone many hours on Gita by such monotonous preachers on TV and there is no point in attending another one on a chilled evening under a tent with open surroundings. But , I told him that I can accompany him , not as a part of audience, but if allowed to speak on my understanding of GITA . Then he briefly discussed my point and after getting convinced , he told me that he would talk to organizers for a time slot that evening.

I reached there at 8 PM . And as happens routinely in such get-togethers , while preacher after preacher was delivering his rote learning in a monotonous somnolent speech , people were sitting struggling cold , some of them yawning, talking on mobile , taking a nap etc.

I was called on the dais at 9 pm with 15 minutes time and was introduced as project manager of Powergrid project at Darbhanga( perhaps that was the reason enough to allow me speaking ! ). Sitting among the professional preachers, who memorised entire Gita by rote while I remembered hardly 3-4 shlokas from Gita ( I had read entire Gita long back), I planned a debate . I humbly told them that neither I am an expert on the academic side of Gita nor I am a professional preacher or an orator. I said that I relate more to the people sitting in the audience than persons on the dais and my speech will have that point of view.

My candid confession immediately established my rapport with the audience and people started listening me, leaving their other activities. I asked the preachers to answer some questions which I was raising as a representative from audience.

I started “ Like this 3 day satsang on Gita , in entire India , thousands of conventions are held every year by many Gurus and preachers , which are attended by millions. There are similar discussions and write ups in print and electronic media also. There must be lakhs of speakers on the Gita and thousands of books written on it. And these activities are happening for years and increasing day by day in India. That is, when everybody already knows in India that Gita says do your work with utmost sincerity( Karma Yoga ) and leave the result in the hands of God. And everybody accepts this theory in India at least.

My first question is about this national paradox : A country, where GITA originated and with lakhs of its full time exponents all the time explaining to the public the virtues and benefits of Gita's doctrine, still this country remains  the most dishonest , corrupt, unethical , lazy , dirty and shying away from even routine works and responsibilities. Whereas developed countries in Europe , the Scandinavian countries of Sweden,Norway and our South East Asian countries like Singapore etc are living in excellent ways without any trace of Gita and its preachers. ”

I asked the preachers to find the answer for this paradox ! It simply means that either the audience is not communicating and connecting with preachers or there is some flaw in the doctrine of Gita itself. Further I told that had there been any flaw in the Gita , then it would not have survived for 5000 years and it would not have inspired millions of people in these 50 centuries . 

 

The audience was now listening in pin-drop silence. I fired another question, citing my own experience in an AC compartment train journey, where I had politely asked a bearded Mahanth of a Mathh , who was quoting Gita all the time, to answer honestly that whenever he faced a crisis, did he remembered and applied Gita's solutions. He candidly accepted that he did not !!

I repeated my question to the preachers on the stage. I said that answer here also, must be in negative !

I continued that when the exponents of Gita themselves are the disbelievers in Gita , then audience can be pardoned for not connecting with Gita. My engineering institute had a moto “ Gyanam Bharah Kriyaam Bina ज्ञानम् भार: क्रियां बिना " meaning knowledge is burden if not applicable . So , prima faci , it was proved that the present practice of Gita preaching is nothing but an exercise in futility as it is out of sync with the present age and it is a religious burden.

This led us to a deeper question. Is it the same Gita which was delivered in Mahabharata 5000 years ago ? If it is the same , then why it is not effective in this age ? Is it not an all time great classic ? But again, most of us agree that it is the same Gita of 18 chapters and it has mesmerised peoples of all ages in the past. Then what is lacking in Gita at present ? What makes it lack lustre now ?

The organisers had allotted me 15 minutes and the entire program was to be wound up by 10 PM . I had already taken up 30 minutes but organizers were helpless as the audience was listening in rapt attention. Here , an engineer was asking fundamental questions on Gita's very existence to the religious preachers, to which they had no answers !

Then somebody from audience shouted “ Have you found that missing link in Gita and if yes then tell us. ” I said “ Yes ! I know but will you listen for another 45 minutes , because I will not be here again ?” And the audience roared in unison “ Yes , as long you speak , we are ready to listen .”

Organizers were now in a trap. They had casually allowed a dark horse speaker , who had now hijacked the show and they were unable to do anything as the audience was clearly enthralled .

The Missing Mathematics of GITA - II

After getting assurance from audience , I started .....

" As you are showing extra ordinary interest, I would also like to tell you how I found that missing link. Surprisingly, the clue for the missing link lies in the Gita itself. I got that idea when somebody once asked me why a person would work if he should not think of the remuneration ( Phal) and leave it to God , as Gita says do karma and leave the result to the God.

And his comment made me think for days. It is very natural for a human being to expect the result of the action immediately. So, when somebody kills a person , everybody expects killing the killer immediately. A worker cannot be simply wished away after he completes the work and he will ask for his wages payment.

Suddenly it appeared to me perhaps Gita has been misquoted in modern times. Then , I again read entire Gita and I found that modern preachers , film songs and bhajan writers have over simplified the original doctrine of Gita and very few people read and understand the original text.

Gita never says that do your action and leave the result to the God , rather it says that between any action and its result , there must always be a time delay. So, Gita says don't expect instantaneous results every time. Further , it says, that though the result of the action would always be proportionate , but because of time lag , at the time of delivery of result , it may not appear to be proportionate for various factors. This may confuse people.

For example , a person committed a murder and was immediately arrested and put in jail. The court proceedings may take some years. In the mean time, he becomes a good person in jail premises. Everybody likes him . But after 2 years, one morning court awards him death penalty. Now , a person who is not aware of his previous misdeed of murder may find a dichotomy in his present situation and death penalty.

This is a very simple and crude example of time lag between an action and its result. Every human being indulges in various actions every moment and the results of these actions are always following in a sequential manner like in a conveyer belt. We see that in an accident , some persons unexpectedly survive , some do not. That is because for most persons bad action results in an accidental loss but for few people , simultaneous arrival of good results of previous action results in their survival .

Because of complex nature of delivery of results at various moments and in mixed quantities, Gita advises the common man, not to worry and waste time in understanding this complex system , but have faith in the delivery system and keep working in the best possible positive way.

To explain it , I always give an example from salaried class people. They never get the gross salary , their PF and other things are deducted and PF etc is paid after decades. Now , if everybody starts asking what happens to that PF, how it is managed etc. then it would be very difficult for government to run a PF scheme. The PF system runs because we have faith in the system.

Once , when I was giving this example , a person remarked that in PF system also , people are given a time frame and the expected amount and there are some guidelines also. Then only people get convinced about that system. 

 

I got his point. In total absence of a time-frame , a person will not act at all. This is very natural. So even if God descends on Earth and asks to follow Gita , people will not act. In absence of a time mechanism , the teachings of Gita become useless.

     After that, restlessly I started thinking that there must be a way or method , which lets you know the probable periods of Karma Phal delivery and its approximate quantity . Otherwise, Gita cannot appeal the general public and learned persons in particular. And after few years , after I undergone a basic course in Astrology in Delhi , it striked me that only Shastra available for such knowledge of timing is JYOTISH SHASTRA or Hindu Astrology ! 

 

EUREKA I screamed !!! All questions and doubts immediately vanished in thin air after this idea. Astrology exists in India from immemorial times, even before Gita was delivered and it is based on mathematics and astronomy.

The mathematics is the core and backbone of science and technology , hidden from public eyes but very much visible to the scientists and technologists. The existence of science and technology happened only after development of Mathematics. Gita too has its own mathematics , which when, it was created made a wide spread appeal on Indian society. And based on that mathematics called astrology, it was accepted , worshipped and lasted for 5000 years. Gita's author always assumes that you are aware of basics of astrology.

Gita talks passionately about the theory of Karma ( human action ) and its Phal (result) and says that while you should , rather you have to do Karma because of environment you are trapped in , but don't expect its Phal and leave it to God. Now , modern man gets stuck up , why one should not ? Then what is the need of action ? etc.

Gita is like an electronics / computer technology theory book , discussing a marvellous and fascinating subject yet it is either abandoned or worshipped but is not practiced in modern daily life . The reason being the absence of its mathematical support of astrology for validating its confident use.

The Missing Mathematics of GITA - III

Once when I was explaining the need of knowing astrology for actual understanding and applicability of Gita , some body raised a question why Gita does not have any reference to astrology .

I said it was not required at that time and for that you will have to study the history and social conditions of that time as described in Mahabharata .All of us know that Gita was written as a poem ( Gita - Songs ) about a very deep meaning subject, as a literary work, much after the war ended .

If we study Mahabharata even today , we find many instances of astrological references. The stalwarts of both sides of Kauravas and Pandavas are seen quoting via astrology using Nakshatra & Planets . Using Astrology , they confidently knew even the result of the impending war.

Particularly, Bhishma and Karna were very well sure about the defeat of their side before start of war despite being the stronger side, because of the knowledge of Nakshatra based astrology. Later, Bhishma postpones his time of death for this reason only. We also know that Sahdev, youngest of the Pandava brothers was a practising astrologer , whom even Duryodhan consulted !

This only proves that astrology was a very well known and widely practised subject , though in literate and educated society. When Gita talked about Nishkaam Karma, then society was already knowing and practising it via Astrology. And it is next to impossible to do Nishkam Karma ( desireless action ) without understanding astrology.

It is astrology , which informs you that some situations in life , are beyond the control of human actions and you have to undergo the loss and pain at some particular moments, despite your best intentions and efforts at that moment. Man has not been designed to win always. This , when seen repeatedly, will result in Nishkam Karma automatically, as happened to Bhishma and Karna. Their side did not win but Individually they won their name in history.

That is the reason , Gita does not include any astrological reference , because its author thought it too elementary to mention it in that Age, even to include it as an appendix .

It was like, taking for granted that a person sitting in a shop knows basic arithmetic or a professional today in India is supposed to know English, computers etc. It was a very normal assumption that any person studying Gita knows some basics of astrology , so that he does not raise why & when for its theory.

And once a person is astrologically aware, Gita assumes a larger than life size and becomes an all time great Classic and becomes The Constitution of God . Further, we know that Gita survived all through 5000 years in India except last 200 years, which were also the years of decline in astrological education. These 200 years are nothing but the period of Western Industrial Revolution and its influence in all segments of Indian life.

Gita deals with inner needs of human beings , talks about soul and mind , happiness and unhappiness , reasons behind these and finally how to detach oneself from them. These are eternal subjects which were and shall remain the subjects close to any human heart in future as well. And so Gita and its mathematics called astrology, the Hindu Astrology ,will never lose their appeal, though it may diminish for some time ,as happening now, because of onslaught of materialistic achievements. ”

With that I ended my speech. It was already 10:30 PM . The audience was sitting in a total freeze all through this. The main organizer ostensibly appreciated my point while concluding the session but visibly he looked disturbed, because an outsider had stolen the limelight of their annual event .

 

The event was covered by next day's newspaper also              ( 22/12/2007 Dainik Jagran).

How Varaha Mihira got his name "Varaha" ?

The importance of Varaha Mihira warrants a brief biographical sketch. The date of Varaha Mihira is controversial, some say circa 100 BC others 500 AD. The date is unimportant for presenting an episode from his biography. The following adumbration from Life of Varaha Mihira, by Suryanarian Rao gives many salient qualities of Varaha Mihira.

   Mihira was a Brahmana, the son of Aditya Dasa, from the region of Avanti, near present day Ujjain, in Western India. He was instructed in astrology by his father and was a devout worshipper of Surya Narayana, that is, Krsna who manifests as the Sun. By performing severe austerities to please Surya Narayana, Mihira got blessed with knowledge of ganita, hora, and samhita.

   Mihira was one of the Nine Gems, navaratna, in the court of the great king, Vikramaditya of Ujjain. He was greatly honored by the king for his vast learning and correct predictions. Once, after the birth of the King's son Mihira was asked to make predictions about the prince's future. Going into meditation after studying the chart Mihira "observed that a serious and irremediable danger beset the path of the longevity of the royal child and that he would be killed by a varaha, or boar, on a particular day in a certain month of his 18th year and no human remedies could save the prince from the jaws of death."

  Having learnt of this danger to his son from his most reliable of court astrologers, Vikramaditya consulted with Bhatti, his Chief Minister. It was decided that a special palace would be constructed with stupendous walls 80 feet high. Ten thousand elite troops would patrol both inside and outside the property as well as in the palace. Such careful watch was taken of the palace that not even a cat or rat could enter the compound what to speak of a wild boar. 

  Every precaution was taken and the prince was under constant guard and practically under house arrest, he was not allowed to leave his compound for any reason. In fact he was ensconced on the seventh floor and not allowed to go to a lower floor. The precautions were so thorough that they boasted that the prince may die but certainly not by the agency of a varaha.

   After such security measures were put into place Mihira was asked if he would like to reconsider his former prediction. He emphatically stated that there was nothing that could save the boy. As the date grew near he was again asked to reconsider, and again gave the same reply. 

   Tension began to mount, not so much for the sake of the boy but for the reputation of Mihira. His detractors thought that Mihira's reputation exceeded his ability, and though the boy might die, the possibility of it be caused by a boar was so remote that Mihira would be publicly disgraced. Even his friends, who had implicit faith in him and knew of his great abilities, had doubts as to how his prediction would be successful, because it was impossible for even a rat to move about undetected in that palace.

On the fateful day Vikramaditya held court. Reports were brought to him every hour on the safety and health of the Prince, now 18 years old. All the chief pandits were assembled as well as the navaratnas, the nine greatly learned men, of the King's court.

   The whole city was waiting for the result of Mihira's prediction. Would it come true or not? The time of death had been fixed at 5:00 PM in the afternoon. The King, though a great admirer of Mihira, was beginning to doubt Mihira's abilities. With a condescending smile he addressed Mihira, did he still want to maintain his previous prediction that the boy should be killed by a wild boar this afternoon. Did any new calculation possibly change his mind, would the child just die, this was possible, but death by a wild boar would be impossible. 

   The King suggested that Mihira gracefully back down from his former stance, without losing face. The King vowed that if the impossible happened he would give Mihira the highest honor and bestow on him the golden and be-jeweled Royal ensign or emblem, the Varaha, wild boar, that was currently on his crown and transfer it to Mihira's head-dress and that for posterity he would henceforth be given the title Varaha Mihira. Everyone applauded the King.

   All eyes focused on Mihira. He rose and gave a speech in which he deprecated his own learning, that unfortunately no great rishis such as Vasishta were present to reverse the karma of the Prince. He took a vow that if his prediction failed he would never practice astrology again, he would never enter the court of the king, and indeed, would leave Ujjain altogether and go deep into the forest to practice tapasya, austerities, till his last day. But Mihira stated that indeed the death would come true as predicted, there could be no thwarting of fate and the Prince would be killed by a boar. He then calmly sat down.

   In the afternoon at 2:00 PM the King again convened his court. Senior military commanders came every half hour with news of the Prince. He was hale and hearty. Everything was going smoothly. The King had given orders that the guard be on the highest alert and was confident that no harm could befall his son. But Mihiracarya was totally calm, how could this be so, in only a few hours his prediction would be proven wrong, yet he was still placid. Time went on, a half hour after the appointed time of death a guard reported that there was no disturbance in the Prince's palace.

   Mihira calmly told the King that the boy had already died at the appointed time and they should go see for themselves. Just then another guard came to report that all was still peaceful in the palace. On the way to the palace other guards confirmed that all was quite and calm at the palace. It was now about 6:00 PM and the King told Mihira that his prediction must have been wrong because nothing at all wrong had been reported, he couldn't believe that his officers were liars.

   Mihira replied: "Victorious Monarch! the prince has died at the hour, minute, and second, I have named and none of your watchmen has noticed it. It is a sad event no doubt but it has happened and your son is lying dead in a pool of blood, unnoticed by his watchmen and personal companions, and you will see the truth of my prediction. Let us go and examine."

   On entering the palace they noticed on every floor that peace and calm prevailed. On the 7th floor they found a dozen or so of the Prince's friends engaged in assorted games such as chess. When the Emperor made inquiries about the Prince, they all replied that he had been playing with them a little while ago and that he was quite hale and hearty and that he had just gone out to take some air on the open terrace of the 7th floor.

   Mihira said: "The Prince must be lying dead in a pool of blood caused by the injuries of a boar, and if you go to the terrace you will be shocked to find him dead as predicted by me. This wonderful prediction is not mine. My knowledge is too humble and too limited to make such inconceivable and surprising predictions. I have made all my predictions under the guidance of Surya Narayana. Could such predictions inspired under His grace ever fail?"

   They all went to the terrace and saw with horror and sorrow the Prince lying dead on a cot in pool of blood. He was disfigured by the iron hooves of the artificial boar-the Royal Emblem-that was attached to the flag staff. Everyone was thrown into simultaneous gloom and ecstasy by the successful prediction. Vikramaditya awarded Mihira with the Royal Emblem and he was hence forth called Varaha Mihira.

    The Prince's death had transpired in the following way. At about 4:00 PM, the Prince, who had been playing with his friends, began to feel a sort of oppression in his chest and giving over his cards to a nearby friend asked him to play in his place. He then rose without complaint and went out to the terrace. A tall flag staff, emblem of Royalty, rose high in the air, it had an artificial boar attached to its top.   As this emblem of royalty was affixed to all important turrets and towers of all the Emperor's palaces no one took any notice of them. Near the flag staff was a cot with soft cushions for the Prince to take rest whenever he felt fatigued. The Prince feeling tired while playing games with his friends came to lay down in the cool air.  

   At 5:00 PM precisely, a very strong gust of wind knocked loose the iron boar. This fell down onto the Prince who was lying on his back. The hooves struck severely against his breast and stomach and the tusks struck his head and mouth. The Prince lost copious amounts of blood and died immediately. The mattress on the cot absorbed the sound of the crash so no one heard it fall. And as the Prince would often go to the terrace, and as the game was very absorbing, no one noticed the Prince's absence.

( Courtesy  : shyamasundaradasa.com )