Why Puttaparthi and not Pittsburgh? (Why did I choose to focus on spiritual quest and spiritual ashram stuff in India instead of doing some great software development work in USA?)
I request the kind indulgence of readers for some comments that praise me. I felt that I need to be accurate and share it, in the interests of truth.
In a Facebook post in one of my former software company ex-employees group, I had shared the link of the 15th April 2019 draft version of my autobiography part 1 book.
On that post, a former colleague from one of my former software companies wrote the following (slightly edited and excludes some unrelated part; he was OK with public sharing):
Had a quick glance at the book and also shared the same with my family members.
...
I need to go through the pages again on why you moved to spirituality.
You were technically very good and also very good communicator. You had excellent analytical skills. You were also part of evolving software industry. I admired you a lot.
For the talent you had, you could have been an architect / creator of new technology in Google or a similar organization. I am not talking about the monetary part but satisfaction of being part of a software research and innovation product. You were very well admired even at that young age. The certificates you had attached showed recognition in the industry.
...
Why Puttaparthi and not Pittsburgh is what I need to understand.
----
I responded (slightly edited):
Thanks for the kind words about my skills though you have been very effusive. I think I was strong in my technical areas but not as great as you make me out to be.
You have raised an interesting point: Why Puttaparthi and not Pittsburgh is what I need to understand.
What I will do sometime later is go through the book version that I have shared on this post and see whether there are sections that address this, and if they do, share it with you. If not, this point may lead me to add additional material to the book to address the question. Thanks for raising it.
...
[A later response.]
Why Puttaparthi and not Pittsburgh? (Why did I choose to focus on spiritual quest and spiritual ashram stuff in India instead of doing some great software development work in USA?)
Some parts of my book, 15th April 2019 Draft version (link deleted), that are relevant to answering this question, are given below:
[Please visit https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/p/autobiography-of-indian-software-techie.html for latest version download link. Note that the page numbers given below may be slightly off in latest version.]
Page 104 makes a reference to my spiritual interests even when I was in Datamatics. Here's that small section, "I also did attend many spiritual meets to get a feel about them and also read rather deeply on scripture especially Vedanta. However I did not have Bhakti (faith in God and love for God) - I was looking at it only from a rational/intellectual point of view and missed out the emotional/Bhakti experience of God."
[BTW I recall that you had invited me to attend a spiritual function in Bombay (most probably sometime in second half of 1980s) and that we both had attended it. I recall that a very interesting speech was made by the main holy personage (a Swami) at that event. I think I can still recall his explaining BLISS and saying that it is not some capital B, L, I, S, S, implying that it is not some explosive 'fun' thing but more of an inner joy experience.]
Pages 109 to 113 detail how the BTC startup failure impacted my mental and physical health.
I have given some paras from Page 114 to 115 below (relating to BTC company) as they are very germane to this question:
[A view was put forward that running a company did not suit me.] My response: Well, I would say that I expected the top man to handle the marketing bit and my failure was in not properly assessing the top man's marketing skills and contacts for the software consultancy export business. I think I did a reasonable job of my role of "Software Development Manager". I was not expected to play the marketing role. The top man who was expected to play the marketing role could not deliver orders.
So I tend to disagree with the view that running a company did not suit me. Many software and other entrepreneurs in the USA had failed in their initial enterprises, learned their lessons, and moved on to found/co-found and run successful companies. In my case, I am quite sure, I would have licked my stress wounds and healed them over some time, and then could have rejoined the software consultancy export management/business fray a wiser man and succeeded. In fact, quite a few companies in SEEPZ, including my first company, Datamatics, would have welcomed me with open arms. A lot of other businesses, including a flourishing financial firm started by a family friend, who wanted to move into software, were keen on hiring me to start their software consultancy business effort!
But destiny had other things in store for me. I deeply analyzed my goals in life and felt deep inside that running a software company was not really my destiny/my calling. I turned my enthusiasm to exploring spirituality and my cultural roots, and looked upon my software development/engineering profession as just a means to support me but not as my main goal in life.
--- end paras from Page 114 & 115 ----
I think the above explains the reason why I chose to follow spiritual stuff with software development as only a means to support me financially, rather than software development stuff as the main goal of my life.
Further the spiritual stuff that I was interested in, which were traditional Hindu devotional and Jnana marga (knowledge path) paths, eventually led me to an ashram in South India. That was just a natural outcome. Had my focus been mainly on software development successes, I think I may have been led to settle down somewhere in the USA, most probably in California as I had really liked Santa Barbara, California during my 2 month stint there in the early 1990s, and as California is one of the software hubs of USA.
Hope that is a decent answer to your question.
----
The former software colleague and friend thanked me for my detailed reply. He also mentioned that the Swami I mentioned would have been Swami Dayananda who he knew (about) from his school days in Cement Nagar, Kurnool Dist., AP.
----
I responded that yes, the name Swami Dayananda rings a bell and it must have been him (for whose event we both had gone in Bombay).
...
I asked him: Is it the same Swami Dayananda as is shown here: http://www.dayananda.org/teachers-india.html?
Here's a 1976 Gita lesson video of Swami Dayananda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDTsDSFrBm4
----
My friend responded that it is the same Dayananda.
----
In a Facebook post in one of my former software company ex-employees group, I had shared the link of the 15th April 2019 draft version of my autobiography part 1 book.
On that post, a former colleague from one of my former software companies wrote the following (slightly edited and excludes some unrelated part; he was OK with public sharing):
Had a quick glance at the book and also shared the same with my family members.
...
I need to go through the pages again on why you moved to spirituality.
You were technically very good and also very good communicator. You had excellent analytical skills. You were also part of evolving software industry. I admired you a lot.
For the talent you had, you could have been an architect / creator of new technology in Google or a similar organization. I am not talking about the monetary part but satisfaction of being part of a software research and innovation product. You were very well admired even at that young age. The certificates you had attached showed recognition in the industry.
...
Why Puttaparthi and not Pittsburgh is what I need to understand.
----
I responded (slightly edited):
Thanks for the kind words about my skills though you have been very effusive. I think I was strong in my technical areas but not as great as you make me out to be.
You have raised an interesting point: Why Puttaparthi and not Pittsburgh is what I need to understand.
What I will do sometime later is go through the book version that I have shared on this post and see whether there are sections that address this, and if they do, share it with you. If not, this point may lead me to add additional material to the book to address the question. Thanks for raising it.
...
[A later response.]
Why Puttaparthi and not Pittsburgh? (Why did I choose to focus on spiritual quest and spiritual ashram stuff in India instead of doing some great software development work in USA?)
Some parts of my book, 15th April 2019 Draft version (link deleted), that are relevant to answering this question, are given below:
[Please visit https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/p/autobiography-of-indian-software-techie.html for latest version download link. Note that the page numbers given below may be slightly off in latest version.]
Page 104 makes a reference to my spiritual interests even when I was in Datamatics. Here's that small section, "I also did attend many spiritual meets to get a feel about them and also read rather deeply on scripture especially Vedanta. However I did not have Bhakti (faith in God and love for God) - I was looking at it only from a rational/intellectual point of view and missed out the emotional/Bhakti experience of God."
[BTW I recall that you had invited me to attend a spiritual function in Bombay (most probably sometime in second half of 1980s) and that we both had attended it. I recall that a very interesting speech was made by the main holy personage (a Swami) at that event. I think I can still recall his explaining BLISS and saying that it is not some capital B, L, I, S, S, implying that it is not some explosive 'fun' thing but more of an inner joy experience.]
Pages 109 to 113 detail how the BTC startup failure impacted my mental and physical health.
I have given some paras from Page 114 to 115 below (relating to BTC company) as they are very germane to this question:
[A view was put forward that running a company did not suit me.] My response: Well, I would say that I expected the top man to handle the marketing bit and my failure was in not properly assessing the top man's marketing skills and contacts for the software consultancy export business. I think I did a reasonable job of my role of "Software Development Manager". I was not expected to play the marketing role. The top man who was expected to play the marketing role could not deliver orders.
So I tend to disagree with the view that running a company did not suit me. Many software and other entrepreneurs in the USA had failed in their initial enterprises, learned their lessons, and moved on to found/co-found and run successful companies. In my case, I am quite sure, I would have licked my stress wounds and healed them over some time, and then could have rejoined the software consultancy export management/business fray a wiser man and succeeded. In fact, quite a few companies in SEEPZ, including my first company, Datamatics, would have welcomed me with open arms. A lot of other businesses, including a flourishing financial firm started by a family friend, who wanted to move into software, were keen on hiring me to start their software consultancy business effort!
But destiny had other things in store for me. I deeply analyzed my goals in life and felt deep inside that running a software company was not really my destiny/my calling. I turned my enthusiasm to exploring spirituality and my cultural roots, and looked upon my software development/engineering profession as just a means to support me but not as my main goal in life.
--- end paras from Page 114 & 115 ----
I think the above explains the reason why I chose to follow spiritual stuff with software development as only a means to support me financially, rather than software development stuff as the main goal of my life.
Further the spiritual stuff that I was interested in, which were traditional Hindu devotional and Jnana marga (knowledge path) paths, eventually led me to an ashram in South India. That was just a natural outcome. Had my focus been mainly on software development successes, I think I may have been led to settle down somewhere in the USA, most probably in California as I had really liked Santa Barbara, California during my 2 month stint there in the early 1990s, and as California is one of the software hubs of USA.
Hope that is a decent answer to your question.
----
The former software colleague and friend thanked me for my detailed reply. He also mentioned that the Swami I mentioned would have been Swami Dayananda who he knew (about) from his school days in Cement Nagar, Kurnool Dist., AP.
----
I responded that yes, the name Swami Dayananda rings a bell and it must have been him (for whose event we both had gone in Bombay).
...
I asked him: Is it the same Swami Dayananda as is shown here: http://www.dayananda.org/teachers-india.html?
Here's a 1976 Gita lesson video of Swami Dayananda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDTsDSFrBm4
----
My friend responded that it is the same Dayananda.
----
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