Dr. Niskinchana Bhakta Dasa
Akshayapatra Foundation
Speaker's biography
Dr Bhakta Das is by profession a doctor and worked throughout India to serve the needy. Unique to his career is his expertise in using Vedic medical Knowledge to benefit youth at workplace. He was an expert trainer, eloquent speaker, eminent scholar and counselor at BASICS Foundation and has conducted many training sessions at premier universities like IITs, NITs, NLUs, Manipal University, Bangalore University and many more across the country.
Currently the President of Hare Krishna Movement – Visakhapatnam a pioneer to groom this organization to the next level under the guidelines of ISKCON Bangalore, based on the teachings of ISKCON Founder Acharya His Divine Grace A C Bhakti Vedanta Swami. He was key in starting the project SUBHOJANAM at Govt. Hospitals with an objective of feeding nutritious meal to patient attendants of these hospitals, at subsidized. He is also Unit President of "The Akshaya Patra Foundation'of Visakhapatnam branch, feeding 45,000 beneficiaries.
Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People
Students of GITAM Institute of Management
27.12.2016
The lecture was based on the Karma Theory which states that every karma/action determines our future. According to the law of nature each and every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Similarly, we must have to suffer/enjoy the consequences of our actions as our own.
One may often wonder why bad things happen to good people or vice-versa. The Vedic knowledge reveals that the good or bad in this life is the result of the activities that we have done either in this life or in the previous birth. As the proverb says “As you sow, so shall you reap”, we must we careful about our own activities. If we want good result we need to do good things in our life.
In a tree’s life there are various stages. First one is of the Bija or Seed. Second is Kutastha or maturing stage. Third one is of Phalonmuka or fructify and the last is Prarabhda or active stage. Each stage requires its own time. We need to understand the law of life and calm down to get the result. The feeling of “good” or “bad” is relative and it should not be for a long time.
What we need to understand from this Karma theory is that we have to learn from our mistakes and to do good things for a meaningful life.
Facing Life’s Challenges: The Bhagvat Gita Way
Students of GITAM Institute of Technology
14.12.2016
Life throws numerous challenges at us. Psychologists say that for every challenge there is a flight or fight response by the individuals. There is no absolute principle that this is the right thing or that is the wrong thing. There is a requirement and urgency to learn that some challenges will help us not to develop symptomatic solutions to the problems. The Bhagavad Gita is touted as ‘the’ authority that would elucidate on how people can face life’s challenges.
The ancient scripture gives us the solution to get to the root of the problem and helps us in facing challenges. It shows how people need to come out of illusions and how they should pursue a challenge. People should look at every problem as a stepping stone to rising to the next level. Every rise we get requires a push from our own selves.
Bhagavad Gita talks about basic laws and principles of life and what happens between birth and death. The very context where Krishna imparted knowledge to Arjuna holds a lot of salience…as the context is the battlefield. Why was the entire message to Arjuna delivered in the battlefield? A battlefield is symbolic of or is a true depiction of the complexities and confusion that people may undergo in their lives in different circumstances.
Focus
Students of GITAM Institute of Technology
7.12.2016
The lecture started with an incident from the epic Mahabharatha. Once Guru Dhrona set up a wooden bird upon a tree and asked his disciples to shoot it down by striking its eye. When he asked Duryodhana what he could see, he answered that he could see the tree, green leaves, and the fruits. Bheema replied he could see even the sky and the birds flying through it. When he asked Arjuna, he told he could see only the eye of the bird. Dhrona asked Arjuna to shoot the arrow and Arjuna did strike the bird down. This example itself shows the need for 'Focus' to achieve success in our efforts.
Human Mind is very complex to understand and analyse. Psychological studies show that about 60,000 thoughts are passing through a human mind every day. Almost 77 % of these thoughts are negative and working against us. Medical Science also agrees that almost 75% illnesses are self induced. In order to succeed in life, we need to approach our life through a positive way. The first principle of getting focused is to give priority to solutions than to problems.
The second Principle to achieve success is to focus on positive aspects of life. There is a natural tendency to project our negatives, but once we are focused on our strengths we can concentrate much on our goal or target. The distinction between Honey Bee and House Fly is that one produces sweet while another is in favour of dirty things.
