Vijai Gandikota

• Home
• Professional
• Personal
• My Blog:Thoughts
• Contact Me

Most of these hobbies follow my interests and I picked these up from either my parents or teachers in school or friends. My Dad once told me when I was going through a very tough time in my life, "Vijai, you must have a hobby that you are so passionate about that no matter whatever else is happening this is one thing that you will always enjoy. No matter how good or bad other things are going this is something that you have in your control to do as much or as little as you please and which will engross your mind so much that you will forget everything else and gain immense happiness and peace of mind". That proved to be true many times afterwards. Everything I have pursued I have loved immensely. My Mom once said, "Pursue your work and learning like a hobby and pursue those hobbies that will help you with your work and learning". Both these pieces of advice from my parents have been very helpful in changing not just how I spend my time but my level of satisfaction with how I spend every minute of my day.

Check our my latest article "Mind, Body, Breath - a personal study"

A Wikipedia link on the Shikamate Pathway

Kadampa Buddhist Meditation

Books I highly recommend:
How to solve our human problems - Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Breath & Mind

A Kadampa Buddhist teacher or a temple has all the resources for learning how to use breath and various techniques to do meditation and acheive focus and relaxation

Kadampa Buddhist Temple in Dallas, TX

Kadampa Buddhist Temple in Austin, TX

Yoga

Breath, Body & Mind

While there are so many aasanas, pranayamas and meditation techniques and even yoga practice types which I will try to list (as a treatise for myself to refer to and learn from) but also for you. For now I will list what I find most useful and interesting and add to the list as time goes by

Sketching

Pencil & Paper

Here is a small collection of my sketches. I will try to add the images of the others as I and when I can scan them

Show more

Painting

Oils and Watercolors

Photography

Birds Photography

Feathers, colors, antics and delight

Astro-Photography

Camera! Telescope! Lights-off! Action!

Show more

• Sudarshan Kriya

  I highly recommend this set of breathing exercises for anyone, but especially for anyone dealing with stress, strain, anxiety, worry, fears etc etc. In the following videos from you tube I have included some sections of this whole exerice that takes me about 30 mins everyday to do (including 10 min relaxation) but I am not including anything about Kriya, OM etc. I recommend that anyone interested in using these techniques take a course at any Art Of Living center or from a qualified teacher and then use this as a reference only. The course I found is very enlightening and beneficial. One can go back and practice what we learn in the course at the Art of Living center or by ourselves at home.

  Three stage Pranayama
  I find this starting set of three pranayamas to be very relaxing and also helps to center or ground my mind and prepare me for the next sets. This is done in the Vajrasana yoga asana.
  

  Bhastrika
  I find this very relaxing and at the same time energizing. We do three rounds of 20 breaths each with a 30 second break in between each round. This is done in the Vajrasana yoga asana.
  

  Om
  Chant "Om" 3 times as "aaa", "ooo", "mmmm"
  My recommendation is to best learn it at an Art of Living center or from a qualified Art of Living teacher.

  Kriya
  I highly recommend that the technique be properly learnt at an Art of Living center or from a qualified Art of Living teacher via a course and then practice it. I find this very beneficial to me. Some friends of mine have described this technique as "Coffee + Relaxation"

  Naadi Shodana
  This can be done by itself everyday in the morning as a practice to help start the day with a cool relaxed mind and body. After the completion of the kriya this is a very useful technique of relaxation for me before I lied down for further relaxation.

  Relaxation
  Immediately after completing all the above we lie down on the yoga mat for a 10 minute relaxation and then either go on to do meditation or get started with the day.

• Sahaj Meditation

  Easy meditation:

  Sahaj Samadhi meditation at the Art of Living. This technique too I recommend anyone interested in learning to do via a course at the Art of Living. Though it is an easy way to meditate I personally find this a bit difficult to do due to the restlessness I feel during a meditation technique like this one. I then make use of guided meditations to help me relax and be able to meditate

• Pranayamas

  What is Pranayama?
  Here is a very useful link from Wikipedia on what is Pranayama and the multiple forms and techniques of Pranayama

  Naadi Shodana: The following video shows how one can practice the Naadi Shodhana breathing technique.
  

• Robotics

  Arduino:

  • CamBot with Remote Control
  • Ultrasound based Sonar obstacle finder
  • Weather Station

  RaspberryPi:

  • Solr Cloud
  • Node.js WebServer
  • Vagrant VM
  • Docker VM

  Actobotics:

  • Rover

• Reading

  Book list I recommend

  The Wright Brothers - David McCullough
  Destiny of the Republic - Candice Millard
  Lawrence In Arabia - Scott Anderson
  Dead Wake - Erik Larson
  Hero of the Empire - Candice Millard
  Columbus The four Voyages 1492 - 1504 - Laurence Bergreen
  A brief History of time - Stephen Hawking
  Out of Africa - Isak Dinesen
  The Martian - Andy Weir
  The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
  A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
  Brick Lane - Monical Ali
  Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
  Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri
  Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse
  The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
  Asura - Anand Neelakantan
  The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
  The Hungry Tide - Amitav Ghosh
  Conversations of Socrates - Xenophon
  

• Nature & Conservation

  Solar, Wind, Water, plants, animals etc.

  • Making electricity from nothing but dirt and wires
  • Setting up your own Solar Power Plant complete with Alternating Current at 110V

  • Hiking, Backpacking & Camping

    Places, people, trips, gear, experiences

    • Backpacking and hiking the Adirondacks
    • Hiking up Mount Washington
    • Backpacking in Isle Royale
    • Hiking in Pennsylvania
    • Hiking in Shenandoah Valley
    • Hiking at the Enchanted Rock, Texas
    • Backpacking and hiking in Acadia National Park
    • Hiking to the Big Sandy, West Virginia
    • Surfing in the waters at South Padre Island, Texas
    • Hiking in and around Austin, Texas
    Things needed for a camping trip

    Show List

    Ground cover for tent Tent Tent Rain Sheet Rope Mallet Stakes Sleeping bag Pillows Chairs Headlamps and Flashlights Batteries Lantern Lantern Batteries Stove Fuel for Stove Matches Frying pan Pot Portable Coffee maker Tablecloth Water Can Water bottles Cups Plates Spoons Forks Knives Ladles Iodine tabs for water Hand Sanitizer

    Soap Toothpaste Toothbrush Papertowels Trash bags Insect Repellent Hats Medications Handtowels Camera and Lens Telescope Campsite reservation printout Food for Dinner Food for breakfast Maps Phone Numbers First Aid Kit Night wear Rainwear Camera Macro lens Zoom lens 30mm-80mm lens Flip-flops Hiking boots Hiking socks Whisle Compass Live Action Camera Camcorder

  • Gardening

    Growing organic vegetables and gardening to help life along

    Wheat and other foods, hybrid plants, pesticides and chemicals and the effects on our body

    A few years ago my hands and feet started to swell up and I started to develop swellings on my face. For a while I was pumped with all kinds or anti allergic medicines while my primary care doctor sent me from one specialist to another for the root cause determination. Finally I reached a neurologist who, after an hour of examination and questioning of my diet and changes in it said, "Stop eating wheat and for the next few weeks take some Vitamin D and Vitamin B12.". Upon asking the reason he said that wheat is not what it used to be a few hundred years ago. Plus since I grew up on a rice diet and the wheat being what it is today it was probably inflaming my intestines and since there are no pain recepters in the intestines we dont know that there is inflammation. However we see it manifest in other ways. Our intestines absorb nutrients from food. Among other things Vitamins like D and B-12. In my case my levels had dropped tremendously. I did what he said for three weeks, quit wheat and took the vitamins and I was back to normal.
    Every time since if I eat something with wheat for a few days I notice the same physical symptoms. "It is not celiac disease or anything but an intolerance for wheat or gluten", he said. I found this video on Wheat and putting it here without any endorsement for the purpose of general knowledge on various interconnections of diet, mind and our bodies for your perusal and to make your own judgements.
    

  • Care-giving principles

    ALOHA
    -Ask
    -Observe
    -Listen
    -Help
    -Ask Again
    1.Give Care but not care too much
    2.I cannot take care of another unless I first take care of myself
    3.My needs are equal to the needs to the person to whom I am giving care
    4.Care giving is difficult all I can do is try my best and maintain a positive a positive attitude