My Interview with IMS

I am an enigma of duality...
A simple guy with a complex mind…
I like to learn new things and know more about whatever interests me…
But cannot hold on to them for long and move on to explore again…
I am a thinker, sometimes a philosopher…
And yet very impulsive by heart wanting to enjoy life to fullest…
I play and fight with kids with as ease as I converse with elders...
I inspire and motivate others with as ease as I get inspired by others…
I follow the rules and am disciplined…
Yet I can think out of box and am the greatest proponent of free will...
I want to attain peace and stability, but I still look out for challenges and difficulties…
I am an extremely friendly guy, but I still make friends very slowly and steadily...
I have got all my life planned up, but I still love getting surprises from life...
….recites Shankhadeep Banerjee about himself in conversation with Reshma Majithia, IMS Correspondent for Advanc'edge Magazine


My blueprint
I was raised in a middle class Bengali family and was educated at a well-respected school in Kolkata. Both my family & school gave great emphasis on all-round education, culture and values, and this strengthened my fundamentals. I have done well not only in academics but have also achieved in the fields of arts, music, sports, etc.

As I have a passion for computers I decided to pursue my B.Tech in CSE from NIT Durgapur. After completing my studies, I worked for Computer Sciences Corporation for 3 years for their client eBay Inc at Chennai. I joined IIM Calcutta last year.
I wanted to be a part of the booming IT industry and a B.Tech in CSE allowed me to do just that. But it had its limitations as after a couple of years in the roles of technical lead, engineer and subject matter expert, I felt that my learning curve got stagnated. The time was ripe to shift gears and pursue a challenging management career in the IT industry, and this required an MBA. But this was not just a reactive decision but also an inevitable step towards a long-term career blueprint i.e. ‘To gain enough technical experience, go for higher studies to learn the management aspects, work for 8-10 years in executive roles for IT companies, further studies and research for 7-8 years and at the age of around 42-45, with hopefully enough maturity, knowledge, connections, funding and experience, put into action my entrepreneurial plans to start a fairly large business enterprise. By the time of retirement, the company should be one of the global leaders in its domain.’

My work experience
I was deputed from Computer Sciences Corporation to work as a consultant for their client eBay Inc in the Billing Quality Assurance team at their India Development Centre from Aug’07 to May’10.

My job was to lead teams for various projects to test, certify & improve the quality of the billing related products before they went live on eBay sites across 30 countries. I also worked in training, automating, mentoring, technical support & SME roles.
Impressed by my knowledge and ability to deliver quickly without compromising quality, eBay-US team chose me to be the first person to work on the projects of massive Turnaround-08/09 initiative taken by eBay Inc. I had worked in more than 20 projects, which was by far the highest in my team. I was also the first Billing-QA Shadow TC (Train Conductor) & also eBay-QA Shadow-TC to manage release of build-trains for entire eBay.

My achievements
My achievements range from school to national level in computer programming, football, chess, social service, quizzing, singing, reporting, business ideas, NCC, etc, I was also a good tabla player and a painter. My current interests lie in spirituality, photography, trading in stocks and I am also learning guitar and French. I am a big believer in extracurricular activities. And it does help in selections too. After all that’s why all the forms have a mandatory section on this. Some institutes like SPJIMR even have a minimum cutoff score in extracurricular to get a call. Interview questions from extracurricular section are common and it helps to be prepared beforehand. I would like to add that extracurricular is just one of the many facets that is tested in selection, and I personally know some friends who did not have any big extracurricular achievements in their applications but still made through to IIMs.

My CAT preparations
I took no classroom coaching or test series and tried to do it my way. My work pressure was not very high and I was able to squeeze in 1-2 hours daily and 5-6 hours in weekends. Initially I focused on basic areas like speed reading, vocabulary, grammar, mental math, basic formulas etc. I read a lot of books during that period from a variety of topics, watched grammar lessons in YouTube and memorized Word Power Made Easy for vocabulary building. For the quantitative section, it was mostly from Arun Sharma’s book.
Later on, when I felt my basics were good enough, I started solving previous years’ CAT papers and some mock question papers from T.I.M.E and IMS on a regular basis. When the final day came, I went to the exam centre 2 hours early and sat silently in meditation for an hour, so as to have a calm & confident state of mind. After the results were out, I started preparing for GD/PI mostly on personal questions. I also attended a 2-day GD/PI workshop by IMS, which helped me gain more confidence, and brought awareness to the areas I needed to work on (like knowing more about the institutes and the courses they offer) to finally make it through.
All in all, I would say that one could crack CAT through a mandatory combination of intellectual skills, persistent effort, self-confidence and luck.

My GD-PI experience
I appeared for interviews of IIM L, I, K and SPJIMR. I cracked all except L. The GDs were almost always the same – a generic topic, many candidates and very limited time. The trick for the candidates is to make the best out of whatever little time is available by bringing in some new creative and relevant points and explaining them in the briefest way possible. A good thing about IIMC GD is that at the end, they give a minute to each of the candidates to put forth their final opinion.
Interviews were mostly on personal questions which are aimed to find out what kind of person you are, what motivates you, what are your goals in career and life, etc. Since I had work experience, I got a lot of questions about my work at all the interviews. At IIMK & IIMI, I also faced academic questions from engineering studies. Sometimes questions were also asked on life situations like team effort, failures, ethical dilemmas, etc. In my experience, though the content of the answers are important, what matters more is the way you answer them. It helps to be smiling, cheerful and confident. Since the interviewers are sitting from the morning listening to same kind of answers, it is better if you can provide something fresh which can get them interested. Another tip would be to give real life examples to back up the claims and statements that you make.
There is an incident that I remember from the SPJIMR group interviews. They asked us a question on the biggest challenge that we recently faced. All the other guys in our group answered the almost the same thing - either a work related issue or some college event related stuff. I was the last person in the line and could see the interviewers were getting thoroughly bored. I too had a work related challenge ready for answer but when my turn came I changed track and instead replied, “My biggest recent challenge was to convince my orthodox parents to accept my girlfriend.” There was silence for a couple of seconds and then everyone burst out laughing. For next 5-6 minutes they just asked about my love life. Even before the group interview was over, the interviewers told me that they are taking me in.

Life at IIMC
It is usually said that C stands for “Chill” and that life at IIMC is very easy and relaxed. Well, I definitely found it otherwise! Life is pretty challenging here, especially till the summer placements. There are 12-14 classes a week, 1.5 hours each starting from morning 8am to 4pm with a mandatory attendance requirement of 75-80 percent. There are surprise quizzes, long case studies, project assignments, presentations and tutorials (or crashers as we call it) that take up a lot of our time.
There are 3 terms in a year covering around 20 subjects, each having both mid-term and end-term exams with relative grading system. Then, from 2-3 months before the summer placements, executives from various companies visit the campus on a daily basis to take 2-3 hours presentations. During summer placements hundreds of GD and interviews are conducted on a span of 4-5 days, which can be nerve wrecking.
Apart from these, there are more than 15 clubs ranging from Finance, Marketing, Consulting, etc to Photography, Entrepreneurship, Movies, Spirituality, etc. which conduct competitions from time to time. Business Ideas and Case Study contests are also organized by many companies at a national level. In short, life at IIMC is challenging, competitive and an exciting learning experience.

My thoughts
From all the competitions that I have been a part of, I have learnt that the most important thing is to enjoy them without thinking about winning or losing. Of course, winning matters and the destination should be clear in mind, but if the path can be walked with interest, the journey becomes fun.
I have seen people sitting for the CAT just because everybody else is doing so and even after getting in and out of IIMs, many are not happy as they find themselves in unsuitable domains. And that is because they are not clear on what it is that would make them happy. So, I would urge all the aspirants to introspect and find out what it is that you actually want from life and whether you are ready for the inevitable tradeoffs of the management career.

Nonsense & Insensibility - Mind It!!

Rajni jokes are all over facebook these days. And they are too stupid to NOT get laughed at! I present here a small collection -

Once upon a time Rajnikanth used a tooth powder to get strong teeth..... . . . . . . . . today that powder is used as AMBUJA CEMENT

Once Rajnikanth was playing Cricket and Rain Stopped due to Heavy Play

Once Rajnikanth gone for a walk and after one hour police arrested him u know why He reached USA and having No Visa with him

Rajnikanth was practicing for spelling test. The rough sheet he used is today known as the oxford dictionary!!

Hrithik tried to participate in a dance competition with Rajnikanth. Result: He is in a wheel chair in Gujarish.

Rajnikanth was once told to choose 3 subjects when he got admission in jr.college................ He chose science,arts and commerce!!!!!!!

Rajnikanth can make calls from his iPod to his iPad...!!!

One nite, while asleep, Rajnikanth was mumbling some random numbrs... Thats how the Log table was invented.

One day Rajnikanth bunked school. Since then it is known as Sunday

Once Rajnikanth was on the hot seat of KBC....
And the computer needed lifeline to choose the question. Mind it!

Micheal Jordan to Rajini: I can spin a ball on my finger for over two hours. Can you?
Rajini: Rascala, how do you think the earth spins!?

Roger Federer: I know everything about tennis. You can ask me anything.
Rajnikanth: Ok. Tell me, how many holes are there in the NET??

All scientists failed to answer this but rajnikanth did...
Ques: Which liquid turns solid on heating?
Ans: Dosa... mind it!!!

Nonsense & Insensibility : My B'Day Fames @ IIMC

Writing b'day fames is something unique I have seen in IIMC...Here is mine! :)

OurWeb @ IIMC
Uniting the IIMC B-School community online

Gairik Datta
12/18/2010 12:40:42 AM

Presenting the fames of Sri Sri Shankhasree Deepanand a.k.a Shankhadeep

Shanky the "Philosopher and Historian"...

Claims he was a Bengali scholar in his previous life fame
Claims he was a Chinese Warrior in the life before that fame
Only club he's a member of is Sattva fame

"Sab moh maaya hai "

Thinks he resembles "Oogway" from "Kungfu Panda" fame
Claims to be a scholar in palmistry fame
Has only predicted utter destruction to people who showed their hands
to him fame
Santa swears by his name never to show his palm again after the ass
kicking predictions fame
Claims to have understood the Mahabharata and Ramayan more than anyone else fame
Reinterprets the meaning of the "Naak kaatna" episode of Surpanakha to
an entirely whole new level!
Has a special liking for levels of Humans fame
Pegs himself at level 4 while putting all else below himself fame

"Sab moh maaya hai”

Special friend in class who comes to him only to get himself screwed
by Shanky fame
Shanky gives him tips how to woo girls through his weirdo ideas.
Needless to say the poor chap is still on the hunt!

“Shanky and Fines”
Probably fined most number of times by Placecomm fame
After being fined for not shaving, xmails placereps about his "rare
tropical skin disease" which prevents him from shaving fame
Says the disease is "contagious" to get out of attending further
placement crashers fame
"I being a responsible student of IIMC understand my responsibilities
and will shave only when there is a company ppt" fame
Never paid a single fine to date fame
Fined by PGP Office for not filling up course feedback fame
Goes and shouts at everyone in the PGP Office and the HCL guys fame
Gets fine waived for himself and everyone else as a result fame

“Shanky & the Opposite Sex”
Very orthodox, didn't approve of many of the steppers' dresses fame
But regularly found casting looong glances at those very dresses fame
"Yaar abhi tak yeh sab dress page 3 mein dekhta tha, ab toh Mess me
dekh raha hun" fame
Committed to someone to the extent marriage plans are already underway fame
Spends an average of 4 hours on the phone every day fame
Can do any task while on the phone.. and by “any” we mean literally ANY fame

“Shanky the Batch topper”
Incoming batch rank 1 (according to CAT selection criteria)
Among finalists for ABG Scholarship fame
Hence primary target was GenMan during summers fame
But forgets to upload CV for ABG fame
Yet received a shortlist fame
Showed summers CV to 0 seniors fame
Gave 0 mock interviews to seniors fame
Converted 1st interview he appeared for fame

“Shanky the Localite”
One of the most low-key people on campus fame
Found only in room, class, dining hall and (recently) gym
Goes home every Friday and returns every Monday fame
Jealous of frontie who is the only one on campus who goes home more
frequently than he does fame

Random Ramblings
Legendary dialogue fame - "Delhi chalo bolta tha.. Woh toh Bangladesh
border bhi nahi cross kar paaya"
Makes Santa claim that Shanky is the greatest traitor alive fame
Takes crashers for friends before midterms which turn into discussions
on Indian philosophy fame
Read the entire CFR book the night before the exam and gets an "A" fame

"Mera lakshya yahaan se teen "6" lena hai...6 pack abs, 6 pointer and
16 lakhs salary" fame

We would have invited you for the celebrations but Shanky Baba has
returned to his ashram....

~ Contri by Sarada, KK, GD, nothing by freerider roomie
Hon'ble mention Santa

Digital SLR - Buying criteria

Posting the expert advice of my friend Somak on the things to consider for Digital SLRs -

Assuming you’ll mainly focus on still images, you need to really consider few things like (this is general gyan and may not related to the cameras you are eyeing now) –

1.Auto Focus – most will have, but remember this is the mode you’ll be taking most of your photos in, so this better be good. The number of AF points will vary from Camera to Camera. Remember that this is the property of the Camera body (sensor) and not the lens. So you will remain with the number till you remain with the camera. Therefore higher the number the better. A camera with 20 AF points is way better than one with 15 AF Points. In general a difference of more than 5 AF Points should definitely contribute to your decision making, with 15 AF Points very good and anything above 25 is too much to handle J. AF points are required for those crisp clear images you must be planning to take. You would definitely need to be able to choose what you want to focus on while shooting at a speed (spontaneous shooting) which mostly you will.

2. Resolution – Anything above 10MP is good enough and anything above 12MP is no brainer photography. Most DSLR cameras will definitely have more than 10MP. This is required to bring in the crisp ness of the image. Your images won’t look good if you don’t have a good MP value in your camera.

3.The LCD Panel on your Camera and a good View Finder. Remember that when you are out shooting you won’t have a laptop/desktop to immediately check your photos. By design photos are of ‘moments’ and they don’t repeat. And it’s heart-breaking to come back home and figure out that you have screwed up on focus/composition or whatever. So the view finder should be able to guide you and the LCD panel should be able to show you the photo with immediate effect (including zooming into the photo) and with high resolution. So that you at least have a fighting chance to recover the moment for a second try. This is very important especially for subject photography which will be a substantial part of the photos you take.

Note: Also check that your camera has a Diopter Adjustment Control. It corrects the optical viewfinder to match your eyesight. This is required for both of us as we wear specs. But this should be in most cameras.

4.Lens: Lens compatibility is at par on both models and most of the lenses are awesome! J. Take a lens with range of 28-140 or 18-105mm. which roughly estimates to 5X optical zoom. You should be good. This is like not too less nor too big. Start with this and you can graduate to Telephotos later.

5.Sensor size – Again these are standard but DX on Nikon is very good. But still the lesser the crop factor the better the camera is! Because since we mostly take landscapes the lesser the crop factor the better…right!

6.ISO Range (the larger the better). But also check how much noise you are getting in higher ISOs, higher ISO alone doesn’t make sense. This is essential in low light/night photography which you definitely will. So read the reviews and figure out which camera gives lesser noise in higher ISOs.

7.Flash mode – flicker mode and red eye reduction mode is a must. And you’ll obviously have the standard exposures. But remember Nikon has better reviews at flash and exposure modes.

8.Image stabilization which Nikon calls VR and Canon calls IS.

9.SD Cards – If you want to do HD photography then SDHC support (High Speed SD cards). For normal photographs SD is just fine.

10.Image editing option inside the camera, like color balancing etc. This is more of a good to have feature and is very subjective. But some basic imaging should be there. You’ll need it occasionally.


Other than this everything you see in sites/brochures are pure marketing gimmick and mostly not very useful for us. But again give importance to your own judgment.

Some very good links (although you must be doing lots of studies already! J):
1. Always read reviews from www.dpreview.com

2. A good buying guide: http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/best-digital-slr-camera.html

Symbolism - Sagar Manthan

Every Indian (and also the Thai, Indonesian, etc) have heard about the story of the Sagar/Samudra Manathan - Churning of the Ocean by the Devas and Asuras to get the nectar of immortality. But very few people know the symbolism and the real meaning hidden in the story. Here it goes (special thanks to wikipedia) -

The story represents the spiritual endeavor of a person to achieve self-realisation through concentration of mind, withdrawal of senses, control of desires and practice of austerities and asceticism.

* The Devas and Asuras represent the positives and negatives respectively of one's personality. The participation of both the Devas and the Asuras signifies that when one is seeking bliss through spiritual practice, one has to integrate and harmonise both the positive and negative aspects and put both the energies to work for the common goal.

* The ocean of milk is the mind or the human consciousness. The mind is like an ocean while the thoughts and emotions are the waves in the ocean.

* Mandhara, the mountain symbolises concentration. The word Mandhara is made up of two words Mana (mind) and Dhara (a single line) which means holding the mind in one line. This is possible only by concentration.

* Mount Mandhara was upheld by Lord Vishnu as a Kurma (tortoise). The tortoise here symbolises the withdrawal of the senses into oneself (just as a tortoise withdraws its head & limbs into its shell) as one practices mental concentration and meditation or contemplation.

* Vasuki symbolises desire. Vasuki used in the churning of the ocean denotes that the Devas and the demons held desire (to seek immortality) as a rope and churned the mind with the help of concentration and withdrawal of the senses. Desire, if not controlled will overpower and destroy an individual.

* The Halahala poison symbolises suffering and pain (counter-reaction of the mind and body) that one undergoes at the beginning of spiritual sadhana (practice). When the mind is subjected to intense concentration, the first thing that comes out of the process is intense suffering and great inner turmoil. These must be resolved otherwise further progress is not possible.

* Lord Shiva symbolises the ascetic principle. His role in this story as the consumer of poison suggests that one can deal with the early problems of spiritual life by cultivating the qualities of Lord Shiva, namely, courage, initiative, willingness, discipline, simplicity, austerity, detachment, compassion, pure love and asceticism.

* The various precious objects that come out of the ocean during the churning stand for the psychic or spiritual powers (Siddhis) which one gains as s/he progresses spiritually from stage to stage. The seeker should be careful about these powers as they can hamper her/his progress unless s/he uses them judiciously, not for selfish gains but for others' welfare. This is the reason why the Gods and demons distributed these objects as they did not want to lose sight of their original aim which was to gain immortality.

* Dhanvantari symbolises health and signifies that immortality (longevity, to be correct) or spiritual success can be achieved only when the body and the mind are in a perfect state of health.

* Mohini symbolises delusion of the mind in the form of (or originating from) pride. It is the pride of achievement to which the asuras or the demons succumbed and thus lost sight of their goal. Pride and egoism are the last hurdles one has to overcome in spiritual life before experiencing self-realisation.

* The Amrit symbolises the ultimate achievement of the goal of self-realization.

* Lakshmi represents universal enrichment which comes as an automatic by-product of the internal self-realization or Amrita

This kind of spiritual symbolism is present in many of the Hindu stories; one just has to open his mind to see it!

Nonsense & Insensibility - Series Intro

A lot of serious posts, I have written..To change my blog mood, the time has come!!

Ok ok..I know I copied the 'Yoda' style but then the 'Force' has to be with someone while he is not around ;) He he..So the phenomena has started already..I am ON now with this kind of nonsense. What gave me inspiration for such perspiration was a very dangerous and an unlikely event - I read my own blog posts!!! :O

My ongoing blog series 'Phor the Phil of Sophos' was like so full of dry funda-baaji that I was like - 'Did I write all this crap?? From when did I become so wisdomous!!' I don't want to read back my own posts years after my last grey hairs fall off and wonder 'Was I such a boring geek at 23??' Well I am not...and I am gonna prove that to future old me that 'Oho..So I was also a childish freak' ;D

Today I checked out Twitter..some micro-blogging microsite which eating popularity charts like a parasite (notice my rhyming alankar ;P )..Bhuni my friend..also known by net alias samudranb (which may be his real name if I remember right) had been tweeting for some time now and I went to see what on earth is he upto after resigning from his job just bcoz his boss didn't give a damn about his leave request for a biking trip!! And I found what looked like more or less like orkut scraps or facebook wall crawls just with '@' symbols added in front...
I found his one tweet -
@gulpanag my 6 month old cocker spaniel pup Leo hides between my legs the moment he sees a stray... any advice from @super_milo ?

I got suspicious...Is he talking bullshit to the same Gul Panag that we feel wetty even if we talk to her only in dreams!! I clicked on it and got redirected to Gul Panag's tweeting home with her supersexy photo on left...I was like 'Wooooowwwww!'

But that was not just it!! I scrolled down on her page and found this -
@samudranb just be cool he says'

I was like 'What the ...!!!' Dude that Samudra is, I never expected he be asking Gul Panag about his cocker between his legs (yeah that sounds very un-innocent ;P) and she would be actually replying to that!!!

Well, a celebrity is what celebrity does...Way to go Bhuni!! :D

Phor the Phil of Sophos - Religion & Spirituality

I have listened to many understandings of 'religion' varying from 'praying to a personal God' to 'observing rituals'. Also I heard definitions of 'spirituality' from the common men. They range from 'doing meditation' to 'drinking spirit(alcohol)'!! Some people even consider 'religion' as theistic and 'spirituality' as atheistic. I find it a bit disappointing to find my fellow Indians so ignorant on this topic though they feel proud in hailing from this 'Ancient Land of Spirituality'. I do not claim to be a doctorate myself but at least I try my best to fan out my ignorance. And what follows is my current understanding on the subject.

I consider spirituality as the core of religion, any religion. In fact I would like to divide religion into 3 layers inside out -
1. Spiritual - Based on experience
2. Philosophical - Based on intellectual understanding of the 1st layer
3. Ritual/Cultural - Based on lifestyle created in harmony with the 1st & 2nd layer

Any religion begins with the actual experience. The seed of Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam, etc was the experience of Siddharta, Mahavira, Jesus, Muhammad, etc respectively. Of course, Hinduism was based on the experience of not just any particular person, but on collective experiences of rishis,yogis and swamis. So we see that 'experience' is the foundation of religion.

Now the question comes what exactly this experience is. We say 'I myself experienced this or that' but have you heard anybody saying 'I experienced myself'? Self is consciousness. It is the awareness of the innate understanding that 'I' am. 'I' is the experiencer and everything else is being experienced. But when this 'experience-r' itself becomes the 'experience-d', then it is the 'experience' we are discussing here. So in simple words, it is the experience of pure consciousness. There are 4 states we can experience by the combination of the 2 states of mind & 2 states of consciousness -
1. Waking State - Thoughts with consciousness
2. Dream State - Thoughts without consciousness
3. Deep State - No thoughts and no consciousness
4. 4th State - No thoughts and just consciousness

We experience the first 3 states commonly. But its this 4th state of experience which proves elusive. This 4th state is the 'God','enlightenment','Self','superconsciousness','no-mind state','samadhi', etc etc. Whatever you may want to call it, but this experience is the ultimate bliss. And in this state also comes the awareness that the cosmos, you and I are not separate but manifestations of the same 'I'. The whole science of 'yoga' & 'tantra' deals only with how to get this experience and is a vast topic in itself. This experience is like the waking up from the dream world to reality. And here is where the seed of religion gets planted.

Of course, when you wake up from a nightmare and find others screaming in their sleeps, what will you do? You will try to wake up the other guy and show him that his misery is just caused by his own illusion. This process of 'waking-up' others to show them the truth where there is no misery is what starts the movement which becomes a religion over time.

The philosophical layer is also an important part of religion as it tries to answer the questions asked by the intellectual minds. The questions can be anything like - Who am I? Whats the purpose of existence? Is there a creator? Why should we do good to others? etc...More often than not these questions lead to more questions, and thus the quest continues till the answers are given not through books or lectures but through direct experience itself. And then again as one tries to explain the experiences, more philosophy gets created.

Based on the experience and the intellectual understanding of the experience comes the lifestyle - the way to live. This way of living is designed in such a way that people get happiness, peace, prosperity and evolve more rapidly towards the ultimate. Of course dry philosophical lectures cannot be enough to make the common man follow this lifestyle. For that, the philosophy get woven into stories, the spiritual practices get embedded into rituals and the formless God gets limited to some forms. This completes the religion.

It all sounds very logical and so where is the damn problem one might ask. The problem is that the people start idetifying only the 3rd layer as 'religion' and forget about the first two. Instead of maturing towards the inner layers they get stuck with the 3rd layer and stubbornly & fearfully refuse to move from there. Then you will see the mothers telling the same stories to their children but not teaching them their true meaning because they themselves do not know or even care to know. You will find men following rituals daily without knowing their purpose. People will be fighting over which 'God' is superior without the understanding that all are one and the same. In many cases people this ignorance becomes so rock solid that even when some enlightened masters with the 'experience' try to show them light, they attack the masters with the charge of 'blasphemy'. History has repeated itself again & again witnessing the fate of Jesus, Socrates, the Sufi masters and many others.

We need to move over from this kind of ignorance to omniscience. We need to first understand the truths and experience them. We need to loosen up the hold the 3rd layer has on us and be liquid enough to seep through the inner layers. We need to mature from rituality to spirituality.

And we will, eventually. After all that is the ultimate stage of evolution and we all are moving towards it with our own velocities. Its just that why keep riding on a bullock cart when aeroplanes are parked in front of us!