Universal Business: Life’s Lessons in Vignettes

By Maanasa Jain

Ordinary life has a way of being the greatest teacher for each of us, yet all too often we turn to celebrities and their grand lives as a model for success. So what if instead we were to imagine an average woman with a life full of ups and downs to perhaps guide our way?

In Universal Business, author Maanasa Jain shares a witty and honest compilation of stories and lessons from her journey in life. With the heartfelt intention of leaving these writings for her sons, she has articulated life’s lessons both in her personal universe as well as in her public and professional one. And in each of her reflections, Maanasa holds dear the idea that a person’s life journey and self-evaluation truly define his or her emergence and success as a public leader.

Although Maanasa is not a best-selling author nor a CEO, superstar, professional athlete, or celebrity of any kind, she hopes her sons and those who share in her reflections will learn from her honesty and join her on her ongoing journey to improve herself and be a shining light in the universe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Aug 31, 2018
• ISBN: 9781982209100

Maanasa Jain

Maanasa Jain was born in India and raised in India, Scotland, and Texas, and she is an ordinary person with a life full of divine moments. She is a wife and a mother with two boys, and for over twenty-five years she has been a consultant and auditor for a top professional services firm. She now works helping her husband run a multimillion-dollar family business, and she focuses on her children and family, nurturing her soul by meditating, writing, traveling, volunteering, and just observing this amazing life around her.

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Prologue

With a seemingly unending barrage of information on TV, newsstands, radio, and the ever-looming internet, we often find ourselves fascinated by the tales of survival, scandals, and yes, even the happy endings of famous people. Somehow, we tend to focus on the happenings of the ever-popular celebrities. I live in a society that helps athletes, actors, politicians, and the like ascend the stairs of fame and acclaim and readily pushes them to the depths of scandal. Through it all, I often have wondered if it is just the inherent human nature of ardent curiosity that lends to the need to peer into the lives of people we somehow believe we know.

I have found myself more fascinated by watching ordinary people—people who do not grace the covers of magazines but whose seemingly mundane lives are still bound to be as fascinating as the publicized ones. I often look at my own life and feel the stories I have to tell are indeed worth telling. I certainly have not ascended the corporate ladder, nor do I grace the cover of any magazine. I surely don’t believe that I am a celebrity-in-process. Yet, as I reflect on my life, I find a strange fascination and allure to the ordinary nature of it all. Amidst the simplicity lies the complex yet comforting force who has journeyed with me. I find that the most common episodes of my life have been graced with a twist and a companion who has somehow made my life more interesting and more fascinating than the most sensational news story of the day.

I have lived my life with a grace that has been guiding me all my days on this earth, and thanks to him, I have lived a life that in my mind bears a story worth telling.

Why? you might ask. Would it even be worth reading? But it is the notion that we all walk this earth with a commonality and an underlying story to tell that drives me to share my humble story. All too often, we find ourselves blinded by the false glamor of obvious tales when in fact, the most awe-inspiring tales belong to all of us who silently partake of the everyday miracles of life.

Life has a way of being the greatest teacher for each of us, and certainly mine to date has proven to be so. The business of life and God is a one-way ticket to a destination that allows our souls to soar and our spirits to be one with the great Divine. Each anecdote, realization, and turning point in my life has been just that, a stepping stone that reveals the universe’s plan for me. My writing is simply a journaling of the many moments and realizations that continue to mold me to be more aware of my higher self. Each vignette is a result of often many moments that cumulated into two categories: personal business (how I view myself and improve upon the life that God has granted me) and public business (the personal values that should and could permeate all the activities, professions, successes, and positions we hold in the external world). Collectively, the reality exists that we are all connected; all that we think, act upon, and emote accumulates and weaves the tales of a universal business.

PERSONAL BUSINESS

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On the Way to Grandma’s House

Like so many typical Indian couples, my parents were brought up in traditional homes with large families, even larger extended families, and an educational background that made my grandparents proud. While my father came from a family of lesser economic wealth than my mother’s, the values imbued in each were a true balanced act. I suppose the fact that my father turned down my mother’s hand in marriage and then returned to reclaim her might constitute a mild drama or the beginning of a saga, but alas, it was nothing more than a man who to this day gets lost in his endless thoughts and who at times needs some prodding before making decisions. A brilliant and wonderful man though he is, it is my mother who represents the bubbly and