SunCorp

Life has two layers: the essential, and the accidental. The essential is never born, never dies. The accidental is born, lives and dies. The essential is eternal, timeless; the accidental is just accidental. We become attached to the accidental and we tend to forget the essential.
    You become attached to money but money is accidental. It has nothing to do with essential life. You become attached to your house or car, spouse, children and relationships. Relationship is accidental; it has nothing essential in it. It is not your real being.
    You have become attached to ‘my’ and ‘mine’ — to possessions. And you have completely lost track of your being. You have completely lost track of ‘i’. ‘My’ has become more important. When ‘my’ becomes more important then you are getting attached to the accidental. When ‘i’ remains more important and ‘my’ remains a servant, then you are a master. Then you live in a totally different way. Using the word ‘i’, in an absolutely nonegoistic sense it means your being. The accidental man lives on the periphery. The essential man remains centred.
    You create a world of illusions around you. You get attached to things which are not going to be with you when you die. You go on being identified with things which are going to be taken away from you. Become more and more essential and less and less accidental. Only that which is eternal is true; only that which is going to be for ever and ever is true. That which is momentary is untrue. The momentary has to be watched and not to be identified with.
    This game of ‘my’ and ‘mine’ is an absurd game — but this is the whole game of life. This earth was there before you ever came here, and this will be here when you are gone. The diamonds that you possess were there before you ever came here, and when you are gone those diamonds will remain here — and they will not even remember you. This game of possessiveness is the most foolish game there is — but this is the whole game.
    People who become certain about the accidental are going to be frustrated, their certainty is going to create much frustration for them. Their certainty will create expectations, and they cannot be fulfilled — because the universe is not there to fulfil your expectations. It has its own destiny. It is moving towards its own goal. It does not care about your private goals.
    All private goals are against the goal of the universe itself. The essential man comes to know, to feel, that ‘I am not separate from the Whole and there is no need to seek and search for any destiny on my own. Things are happening, the world is moving. There is no need for me to make any struggle, any effort; there is no need for me to fight for anything. I can relax and be’.
    The essential man is not a doer. The accidental man is a doer. The accidental man is, in anxiety, tension, stress and anguish, continuously sitting on a volcano — it can erupt any moment, because he lives in a world of uncertainty and believes as if it is certain. This creates tension in his being: he knows deep down that nothing is certain.
    When things are no longer important, only consciousness becomes important. When things are no longer significant, a new search, a new door opens. Then you are not rushing towards the without: you start slipping into the within. The kingdom of godliness is within.

The very first phase of Mumbai Metro, the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar link, may be delayed if the authorities cannot get around a speedbreaker that has come in the form of problems in acquiring a 30-acre plot of land at Versova. That land is needed for a carshed, a very important component of the project.
    The seriousness with which the authorities are treating the problem shows what is at stake. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) joint commissioner Milind Mhaiskar said all efforts were being made to get the land for the project. And Mumbai Metro One director Krishna Maheshwari said that the team was looking at contingency plans to start work on the Metro if the land was not acquired and allotted soon. “We are looking at alternatives to ensure that work begins soon,’’ he said. Mumbai Metro One is the special-purpose vehicle floated for constructing the Metro Rail project; it comprises the MMRDA, Reliance Energy Limited and Connex of France as joint-venture parteners.
    The car-yard is needed for parking the rakes as well as undertaking repairs and maintenance work on them. A second yard for the rail link has been earmarked at Ghatkopar.
    The Mumbai Metro project was inaugrated with much fanfare in June 2006 and the project was awarded to the Mumbai Metro One Consortium on a buildoperate-own-transfer (BOOT) basis. But work — which was supposed to begin after the monsoon — was yet to start because of the problem the authorities were facing in acquiring the 30 acres of land at Versova, officials admitted on Tuesday. The land in question is now under litigation and efforts are on to sort things out.

    Maheshwari was confident that the issue would be settled and that alternatives could be tried out so that no major delay took place. “Looking for alternatives has become necessary as the contracts for civil work, rolling stock, signalling equipment and several other issues related to construction are ready and will be issued once the green signal on the land is obtained,’’ Maheshwari explained. MMRDA officials pointed out that all other major components of the work were on schedule. The ground survey has been done and plans for shifting the utilities have also been finalised; 3,500 project-affected persons have also been rehabiliated. The corridor from Versova to Ghatkopar is now being cleared of obstacles. “There are some structures on the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar route at Subhash Nagar (near Asalpha) which are yet to be moved but this is not a major problem,’’ an official said.
    The MMRDA has unveiled plans to rehabilitate shopkeepers, being displaced near Andheri station, in a shopping mall situated nearby. Most of them have accepted the offer to shift.
ON TRACK
The ground survey and survey for shifting of utilities have been completed on time.
Around 3,500 project-affected persons have been rehabilitated along the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor.
A detailed project report has also been completed on schedule, claim officials.
There has been no delay in getting approvals from the government of Maharashtra.
THE ROADBLOCK: GETTING LAND FOR A CARSHED
    30 acres of land at Versova was earmarked for the carshed.
    But the proposal ran into problems during acquisition of land as it was under a private owner and fell within the purview of the Urban Land Ceiling Regulations Act. Insiders say the land is owned by a big builder.

San Francisco shoppers will have one less choice in the checkout line as the city prepares to put its plastic bag ban into effect.

A city ordinance passed in March and set to go into effect Tuesday forbids the use of traditional plastic bags by large grocery stores.

The stores can still use biodegradable plastic bags, typically made from corn byproducts.

Officials say the estimated 180 million plastic bags handed out in the city each year cause litter, hurt wildlife and often end up in a massive patch of swirling plastic junk in the middle of the Pacific.

The ban also requires pharmacy chains to eliminate similar plastic bags within six months.