string(13) "lifes-lessons"

Hold On

During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a person named Zeng Shuqing who lived in the city of Jianchang, China. One time he bought a large amount of clay-ware from the Western River region and was planning to take it to sell in the north. Suddenly he heard that a famine had broken out in the north, so he decided to cancel his trip. Just then a person came to see him and wanted to buy his clay-ware.
After the purchase was complete, Zeng asked the person what he was planning to do with the clay-ware. The person replied,
“I am planning to take the pieces to the north and sell them there.” Zeng immediately said,
“I had originally planned to do the same thing. But I heard that a famine has just broken out in the north. If the clay-ware pieces are transported to the north, it might be difficult to sell them there. Therefore I cancelled my trip.” That person immediately backed out of the deal and left with the money that he had planned to pay Zeng for the clay-ware. Because he couldn’t sell the clay-ware, Zeng’s entire family soon fell into a destitute situation with no food and no way to keep warm.
Zeng Suqing demonstrated his high moral standard when he told the truth and refused to make life difficult for someone else even at the expense of his own family’s welfare. His conduct won the admiration of the people. Later he successfully passed the imperial civil service examination and ended up becoming a high-ranking official. That might have been a reward for his kind deeds.

The wood cutter

ONCE upon a time there was a man who went into the wood to cut hop-poles, but he could find no trees so long and straight and slender as he wanted, till he came high up under a great heap of stones. There he heard groans and moans as though someone were at death’s door. So he went up to see who it was that needed help, and then he heard that the noise came from under a great flat stone which lay on the heap. It was so heavy it would have taken many a man to lift it. But the man tilted up the stone, and lo! Out from under it crawled a dragon, which turned to swallow him up. But the man said he had saved the dragon’s life, and it was shameful thanklessness in him to want to eat him up.
“Maybe,” said the dragon, “but you might very well know I must be starved when I have been here hundreds of years and never tasted meat. Besides, it’s the way of the world. That is how it pays its debts.”
The man pleaded his cause stoutly, and begged prettily for his life; and at last they agreed to take the first living being they met should decide between them, and if his doom went the other way the man should not lose his life, but if he said the same as the dragon, the dragon should eat the man.
“See, over there comes one who looks as if he was sent to be a judge between us,” said the man, as he pointed to Reynard the fox, who came stealing between the stones of the heap.
“All good things are three,” said the man; “let me ask him, too, and if he gives doom like the others, eat me up on the spot.”
“Very well,” said the dragon. He, too, had heard that all good things were three, and so it should be a bargain. So the man talked to the fox as he had talked to the others.
“Yes, yes,” said Reynard, “I see how it all is; “but as he said this he took the man a little aside.
“What will you give me if I free you from the dragon?” he whispered into the man’s ear.
“You shall be free to come to my house and to be lord and master over my hens and geese every Thursday night,” said the man.
“Well, my dear dragon,” said Reynard, “this is a very hard nut to crack. I can’t get it into my head how you, who are so big and mighty a beast, could find room to lie under that stone over there.”
The dragon showed them how it could be there under the big stone. Once it was under t both left the place, quite cool.

The Raman Effort

Once, a magician from North India visited the court of Krishnadevaraya and the King of Vijayanagaram and exhibited several magic tricks. He even showed one special trick in which he separated his own head!
After this the magician challenged the members of the court and asked whether there was anyone in Vijayanagaram Empire to show such magic tricks. But there were none in the court that day to show any magic items. The king was ashamed that his court did not have a magician. Then, suddenly Tenali Raman came forward and bowed before the king and senior members. Further, he challenged the magician.
”I will do one item of magic with closed eyes. But you should do it with open eyes. Can you?”
‘Oh, it is quite simple. This fellow is doing it with closed eyes. I will not have any difficulty in doing it with open eyes!’ the magician thought. He accepted the challenge.
Raman brought a spoonful of chilly powder. He closed his eyes and dropped the chilli powder into his closed eyes. He waited for two to three minutes. Later, he removed all the powder and opened his eyes.
Then, he brought another spoonful of chilly powder and gave it to the magician. He asked him to perform the trick with open eyes.
The magician found himself trapped. He expressed several excuses. But people booed him and made fun of him. The magician, unable to perform the act left the scene hurriedly. The King was extremely happy. He offered Tenali Raman the post of court Jester immediately.

Still Blind

An old woman had lost her eyesight completely. So she went to a doctor to help her see again and made a bargain with him in the presence of a few witnesses. The bargain was that: if he could cure her, he would be paid handsomely. But if he couldn’t, she would not be obliged to pay him anything.
The doctor had a special ointment. When it was applied in the eyes for a certain period of time, it restored the eyesight of anyone who was sightless.
The doctor began to visit his new patient daily to apply the ointment. But knowing that she couldn’t see, he started stealing the valuables in her house, one by one. When there was nothing more left to steal, he decided to cure her and demanded his payment.
When the old woman recovered her eyesight, she saw that her valuables had been stolen and guessed that the doctor was the thief. So, saying that she was not cured, she refused to pay him. The doctor was astonished when she refused to pay and he insisted on his fees. But the old woman refused again and the two went to court.
The judge asked the old woman why she refused to pay the doctor. To this she said:
“The doctor is telling the truth. I did promise to give him money if I recovered my sight. However, if I remained blind, I was to give him nothing. Now he declares that he has healed me and so I should pay him. But I am still blind.”
Everyone in the court looked at the old woman in great surprise.
“How can you say a thing like that? Everyone in the courtroom can see that your eyesight has been restored.” said the judge sternly.
“Your honour,” replied the old woman. “I really can’t see. Before I lost the use of my eyes, I had seen a lot of valuable goods in my house. But now, though the doctor swears I am cured of my blindness, I am not able to see a single thing of value in it.”
The judge agreed that the old woman was indeed still blind, and let her go without a trial

Clever Jackals live

All her grandchildren chorused.
“Please tell us….a jackal story.”
“Alright, my children, carefully listen and learn!” Gogo settled her round self down more comfortably.
She began,
“One day long ago, a Jackal was trotting through a narrow, rocky pass. As he often did, he kept his nose to the ground as he ambled along, to catch the odd scent. ‘Never know when I’ll happen upon my next meal,’ he thought to himself. It was highly unlikely that he would find a rat out in the midday heat. But perhaps he could catch a lizard or two.
Suddenly he was aware of a movement ahead of him in the pass. ‘Oh, no!’ The Jackal moaned and stopped dead-still in his tracks. A lion was coming toward him. Realising that he was too near to escape, Jackal was filled with fear. He had played many tricks on the great lion in the past; he was sure that lion would take this opportunity to get his revenge. In a flash Jackal thought of a plan.
“Help! Help!” cried the Jackal. He cowered down on the cliff path, looking above at the rocks. The lion stopped short in surprise. “Help!” The jackal howled, using the fear he felt in the middle of his chest to accentuate his cry. The jackal glanced up at the lion.
“Oh, great king of animals! Help! There is no time to lose! See those great rocks above us? They are about to fall! We shall both be crushed to death!!!! Oh, mighty lion, do something! Save us!” And jackal cowered even lower, his paws covering his head. The lion looked up, most alarmed. Before he even had a chance to think, the jackal was begging him to use his strength to hold up the overhanging rock. So the lion put his brawny shoulder to the rock and heaved.
“Oh, thank you, great king!” yelped the jackal.
“I will quickly fetch that log over there to prop under the rock, and we will both be saved!” With that the jackal bounded out of sight.

Gifts

One day a king stepped out of the gates of his palace and found a man standing there. The man had a plump chicken in his hands. On seeing the king he bowed respectfully and said: ‘Maharaj, I gambled in your name and won this chicken. It belongs to you. Please accept it.”
“Give it to my poultry keeper,” said the king.
A few days later the king saw the man standing outside the gates again. This time he had a goat with him. “I won this goat in your name, Maharaj,” he said after saluting the ruler. “It belongs to you.”
The king was pleased.
“Give it to my goat keeper,” he said.
Some weeks later the man was at the palace gates once again.
This time he had two men with him.
“I lost 500 varahas to each of these men while playing in your name, Maharaj,” said the man. “I have no money to pay them.”
The king realised he had made a mistake in accepting the man’s gifts on the previous occasions. Now he could not refuse to help him. He paid off the two men and warned the gambler never to play in his name

Busy All Day Doing Nothing

I decide to wash my car.  As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the hall table.  I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the trash can under the table, and notice that the trash can is full.  So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the trash can first.
But then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.  I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.
I’m going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don’t accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decided that I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the coke a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye-they need to be watered. I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I’m going to water the lowers. I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won’t remember that it’s on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I’ll water the flowers.  I splash some water on the flowers, but most of it spills on the floor.  So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.  Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do. At the end of the day: the car isn’t washed, the bills aren’t paid, there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter, the flowers aren’t watered, there is still only one check in my check book, I can’t find the remote, I can’t find my glasses, and I don’t remember what I did with the car keys.
Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really baffled because I know I was BUSY all day long, and I’m really tired.

Master Game

An old man who lived in a small side street in the city of Mumbai had to put up with the nuisance of having boys play cricket outside his house, at night. One evening when the boys were particularly noisy he went out to talk to them. He explained that he was a pensioner who was happiest when he could see or hear boys playing his favourite game, cricket. He said he would give them 25 rupees each week to play in the street at night. The boys were thrilled. They were being paid to do something they enjoyed!
At the end of the first week they knocked at the old man’s house and asked to be paid. He did so.
The second week when they asked for payment he said he had run out of money and sent them away with only 15 rupees. The third week the man said he had not yet received his pension and gave them only 10 rupees. The boys were very disappointed but there was not much they could do about it.
The fourth week the man said he could not afford to pay them 25 rupees as he had promised, but would give them 5 rupees each week without fail. This was too much for the boys.
“You expect us to play seven days a week for a measly 5 rupees!” they yelled. “Go to blazes.”
They stormed away and never played on the street again.

Money Problems

Wali Dad was a carpenter who lived alone and worked hard the whole day long. His tastes were simple and his wants few, so he spent very little of the money he earned. One day he found that the jar in which he kept his money was full to the brim. “I must empty it,” he thought, “or I’ll have no container for my money.” He took the jar to the local jeweller, emptied its contents on the floor and asked the jeweller to give him a bracelet worth the sum. The jeweller gave him a pretty little bracelet made of gold.
Wali Dad wondered what he should do with the bracelet. He saw a merchant at the head of a line of camels laden with goods, and asked him where he was going. “To the palace,” said the merchant, importantly. “The princess has ordered some clothes.”
“Will you give her this bracelet too,” said the carpenter, handing over the bracelet he had bought to him. “Tell her it’s a gift from Wali Dad.” The princess liked the bracelet and sent him a camel-load of the finest silks in return.” What will I do with these silks?” groaned Wali Dad when the merchant brought the heavily-laden camel to him.” Give them to someone else,” suggested the merchant.
“Who?”
“Perhaps the Sultan of Kesh.”So Wali Dad sent the silk to the Sultan who, delighted with the gift, sent him six of his finest horses. Wali Dad sent them on to the princess. “Who is this Wali Dad? And why is he sending me gifts?” she asked her advisor. “Probably somebody who wants to impress you with his wealth,” said the advisor. “Send him a gift that he cannot match. That will humble his pride.”
The princess sent him 20 mules laden with silver. Not wishing to be burdened by so much wealth Wali Dad sent the silver to the Sultan. The Sultan was perplexed. “Who is this Wali Dad? And why is he sending me gifts?” he asked his advisor. “Probably somebody who wants to impress you with his wealth,” said the advisor. “Send him a gift that he cannot match. That should humble him.”
The Sultan sent Wali Dad 20 cartloads of precious stones, which Wali Dad promptly re-routed to the princess. The princess, her curiosity piqued, decided to pay him a visit. She set out secretly, taking only her maid with her. Their enquiries led them to the humble dwelling of the carpenter. As they were looking around in bewilderment, a handsome man of regal bearing came riding towards them. It was the Sultan of Kesh. He too had decided to make the acquaintance of the mysterious Wali Dad. The Sultan and the princess fell in love with each other, at first sight. After a short courtship, they announced their marriage. Wali Dad was now a famous man. As he refused to go to either of their palaces, the princess and the Sultan sent him a chest full of gold. But it was never delivered. When Wali Dad saw the Sultan’s men bringing the gold, he fled the village and was never seen again.

Dirty Pig

The tiger had had a good day at hunting and had eaten to his heart’s content. Now he wanted a drink of water and made his way to a pool.
A young pig was drinking at the pool and when he saw the tiger approaching, froze in terror. But the tiger ignored him and bent to drink, only to recoil in disgust — the water smelt foul.
He decided to go to another pool. The pig, puzzled by his behaviour, jumped to the conclusion that the tiger was going away without drinking, out of fear of him.
Suddenly feeling as strong as an elephant, he ran after the tiger and challenged him to a fight.
“Not today,” said the tiger, looking over his shoulder. “Meet me here tomorrow and we’ll fight.”
The pig took his reluctance to fight as further evidence of his fear of him and his spirits soared.
He rushed home and began to boast that soon he would be king of the jungle instead of the tiger.
When his family and friends heard he had challenged the tiger, they were appalled. They guessed why the tiger had turned away from the pool, and took the pig to task for his foolish action.
The pig soon realised that he had made a terrible mistake and was seized by a cold panic. Seeing his distress, his aged grandfather hastily worked out a plan to save him.
“Keep your appointment with the tiger,” he advised his grandson, “otherwise he will come here looking for you and slaughter us all. But before going to meet him, roll in the dirt and mud so that you stink to high heaven.”
Came the day of the big fight. The pig rolled in the mud and in elephant’s dung and in all the other rubbish he could find and then went to meet the tiger.
The tiger was waiting impatiently for him, but when the pig drew near, stepped back in disgust.
“What have you done to yourself?” he snarled. “You…you stink! Yeecch!”
He had come with the thought of feasting on delicious pig meat, but now he felt nauseated and his appetite vanished.
“I’ve come to fight,” squeaked the pig, stepping forward.
“Get away from me!” growled the tiger. “Go!”
The pig turned and ran.
The pig and his family and friends realised that being dirty was good for them, so they began to wallow in mud every day before going out.
They continue to do so to this day!

Sultan’s Robes

In the last century, there lived a sultan who waged war tirelessly and finally made himself master of a largish desert.
“Surely I’m the greatest monarch in the world,” he said to his vizier, one day. “What do the people say about me?”
“They’re all praise for you, Your Excellency,” said the vizier, “all except one man, Ali, a camel-driver by profession. He’s always running you down.”
“How dare he!” roared the Sultan. “Bring him here at once. I’ll cut out his tongue!!”
When Ali was brought to the palace, he threw himself at the Sultan’s feet.
“At last my dearest wish to see you has come true,” he said, obsequiously. “I used to say nasty things about you so that I might be brought into your august presence.”
“Why?” boomed the Sultan.
“So that I might recite the poem I have written in your honour, O Merciful One.”
“Recite!”
Ali began to recite a poem his grandfather had taught him in his childhood. It proclaimed the greatness of Alexander, the Great but Ali deftly substituted the Sultan’s name for Alexander’s whenever the need arose.
The Sultan was flattered.
“Good poem,” he said, when Ali had finished. “Describes me exactly. You deserve a reward. Choose from one of these magnificent saddles,” and he indicated a pile of saddles, lying nearby.
Ali chose a donkey’s saddle, and thanking the Sultan, bowed himself out of the palace.
The people from his village who were sure he would be executed, and were waiting for news about it, outside the gate, were astounded to see him.
“The Sultan let you go?” they asked, bemused.
“And why not?” he asked. “I recited a poem in his honour and he rewarded me with one of his best robes.”
“The sultan gave you his robe!” They gasped. “Where is it?”
He showed them the donkey’s saddle.

The Deacon and the Preacher

There once was this deacon and this preacher, and they had been friends for a long time. One day the deacon got sick and was admitted in the hospital, so the preacher decided to go and see his old friend. When he walked into the hospital room, the preacher noticed all the hoses and medical equipment attached to the deacon. The preacher walked over and kneeled by the bed and asked,
”How are you?”
The deacon motioned at a pad and pen on the nightstand.
”You want that?” The preacher asked him, and the deacon nodded his head yes. So the preacher handed his friend the pad and pen and the deacon began to write. All of a sudden the deacon died.
At his funeral, the preacher was asked to deliver the service.
”He was a good man and I’ll never forget him,” the preacher said,
”I was with him when he died and as a matter of fact I have his last thought in my coat pocket here.”
The preacher reaches into his pocket and pulls out the paper.
”Please, get up! You’re kneeling on my oxygen hose!”
That is what we sometimes do, with our unnecessary  and careless interventions we, sometimes,  block the life line for others.

Hereford Cows

An old-time rugged cowboy said he had learned life’s most important lesson from the ‘Hereford cows’. All his life he had worked at cattle ranches where the winter storms took a heavy toll among the herds. Freezing rains whipped across the prairies. Howling winds piled snow into enormous drifts. Temperatures might drop quickly to below-zero degrees. Flying ice cut into the flesh. In this maelstrom of nature’s violence, most cattle would turn their backs to the icy blasts and slowly drift windward, mile upon mile. Finally intercepted by a boundary fence, they would pile against the barrier and die by the scores.
But the ‘Herefords’ acted differently. Cattle of this breed would instinctively head into the windward end of the ranch. There they would stand shoulder to shoulder facing the storms blast, heads down against its onslaughts. ‘You most always found the Hereford alive and well,’ said the cowboy. ‘I guess that is the greatest lesson I ever learned on the prairies – just face life’s storms’.

Success is failure turned inside out.

A city boy, Raj, moved to the village and bought a donkey from an old farmer for $1000. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day. The next day the farmer drove up and said,
“Sorry Rajji, but I have some bad news, the donkey died while I was bringing him here.”
Raj replied: “Well then, just give me my money back.” The farmer said: “Can’t do that. I went and spent it already.”
Raj said: “OK then, just unload the donkey.” The farmer asked: “What you are going to do with him?”
Raj: “I’m going to raffle him off.” (Note: To raffle is like lottery – draw lot to a group of people each paying the same amount for a ticket and there is a big prize for the people who win.)
Farmer: “You can’t raffle off a dead donkey!”  Raj: “Sure I can. Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he’s dead.”
A month later the farmer met up with Raj and asked, “What happened with that dead donkey?”  Raj: “I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at $. 10 each and made a profit of $ 4990 with the donkey worth $. 1000 as the prize.
Farmer: “Didn’t anyone complain?”
Raj: “Just the guy who won. So I gave him back his $ 10.”
No situation is so bad that it cannot be turned around. You need to just think hard. So look at your glass always as half full (positive attitude ) rather then half empty. Do not lose hope……….

Fear

Once a king was sailing on the sea with some his courtiers. There was also this young man who had never been to sea who got very frightened with all tossing up and down of the ship. He was so terrified by it all that he sat in a corner screaming and wailing. Many tried to calm him down, and the king himself could hardly stand it any more.
The king’s physician offered to cure the young man, if His Majesty would give the permission, which was promptly granted.
The physician ordered the seamen to throw the screaming courtier overboard. They were all so annoyed with the courtier that they promptly executed the order. Gasping for air, as you can imagine, the young man thrashed about in the water and cried for help. After he has had a few gulps of seawater, and was nearly drowning with fear, the physician ordered him to be pulled out. From then on he sat quietly in a corner.
The king couldn’t understand and so he asked the physician for an explanation.
“He had never experienced the sea,” answered the physician, “and didn’t know how dangerous it can be. So he did not also know, how good it was to have a ship between himself and the sea.”
 Our worries often result from a lack of appreciation of the blessings that we have.

The Witness

A Thakur borrowed a large sum of money from a Bania and despite repeated reminders failed to repay it.
One day, the Bania went to the Thakur’s house when he was entertaining guests and demanded the money. The Thakur, embarrassed, promised to come to his place the next day with the money.
But he had no intention of repaying the loan. Instead, he wanted to take revenge against the Bania for humiliating him in front of his guests. So one evening, he waylaid the man on a deserted stretch of road.
“No one can insult me and get away with it!” he said, drawing out his sword. The Bania thought fast.
“I was expecting you would do something like this,” he said. “I’ve left a letter with my wife. If I do not return home by nightfall, she will take the letter to the Rana. The letter details the business transaction between us and the steps I took to recover the money. It also expresses the fear that you might do me some harm.” The Thakur lowered his sword. He knew that the Bania could be bluffing but he did not want to take a chance. The Rana was known to be harsh on defaulters and murderers.
“I’ll spare your worthless life,” he said, finally, “but I’ll chop off your nose. That’ll teach you a lesson you’ll never forget.”
“If I write off your loan, will you forgive me?” asked the Bania.
“I might,” said the Thakur, guardedly, “but you must give me a receipt to say I’ve paid you in full. I don’t trust you.”
“I’ll make out a receipt right away,” said the Bania, hastily opening his bundle of books.”But we’ll require a witness.”
“No witness!” cried the Thakur. “Just give me a receipt to say that I’ve paid you in full.”
“The receipt has no value unless there is a witness,” said the Bania. “
Why don’t we make that old banyan tree a witness?” The Thakur reasoned that there could be no harm in making a banyan tree a witness. It could not reveal the circumstances in which the receipt was made. So he agreed. They stood under the banyan tree, and the Bania wrote out the receipt and gave it to the other man. The Thakur pocketed it and went away, very pleased with himself. But the very next day, he received a summons from the Rana. When he went to the Rana’s palace he found the Bania there.
“Did you borrow money from this man?” asked the Rana.
“I did,” said the Thakur.
“Why haven’t you repaid it?”
“But I have,” said the Thakur and triumphantly taking out the receipt from his pocket, handed it over to the Rana. “So your witness was a banyan tree,” said the Rana, looking at the receipt.
“Yes,” said the Thakur, “there was nobody else there.”
“So you admit accosting him in a deserted spot?”
“No, no,” said the Thakur, panicking.
“I…I… just happened to meet him there.”
“Anyway this receipt is useless,” said the Rana.
“It does not carry this man’s signature, only the witness’s.”
“What!” gasped the Thakur, taking the paper from the Rana’s hand. He stared at it and turned pale. Instead of putting his signature at the bottom, the Bania had scribbled:
“Banyan Tree”.

A Great Lesson

Ryokan, the Zen teacher, was requested by his sister-in-law to come to her house and talk to her son.
“He does no work, squanders his father’s money in wild parties and is neglecting the estate,” she complained. “If he does not reform, we will be ruined.”
Ryokan went to his brother’s house and met his nephew who was genuinely pleased to see him. The two of them had spent many happy hours together before Ryokan had turned to Zen and entered the monastery. The young man knew why his uncle had come and braced himself for the scolding he was sure he would receive. But Ryokan said not a word in rebuke, the whole day. The next morning when it was time for him to go, he put on his garments and then said to his nephew: “Will you help me tie the thongs of my sandals? My hands shake and I cannot do it.”
His nephew helped him willingly.
“Thank you,” said Ryokan. “A man becomes older and feebler day by day. You remember how strong and robust I used to be?”
“ I do,” said his nephew, thoughtfully. “ I do indeed remember how you used to be.”
It was the moment of truth for him. He suddenly realised that his mother and all those who had looked after him had become old and that it was now his turn to look after them and to take on the responsibilities of the household and the community.
He gave up his dissolute life forever.

Fear Not

There was a lion who feared nothing except the crowing of cocks. A chill would go down his spine whenever he heard a cock crowing. One day he confessed his fear to the elephant, who was greatly amused.
“How can the crowing of a cock hurt you?” he asked the lion. “Think about it!”
Just then a mosquito began circling the elephant’s head, frightening him out of his wits. “If it gets into my ear I’m doomed!” he shrieked, flailing at the insect with his trunk. Now it was the lion’s turn to feel amused.
If we could see our fears as others see them we would realise that most of our fears make no sense!

Rumour World (The last story in Folk’s Track)

A pandit crossing a field felt that there was something in his mouth and spat it out. It turned out to be a bird’s feather. He could not understand how it had got into his mouth and it perplexed him a great deal. When he reached home he told his wife about it but asked her not to tell anyone lest somebody put a bad interpretation on it.
His wife was even more intrigued by the strange occurrence and felt the need to confide in someone. So she swore her neighbour to secrecy and told her what had happened.
Her neighbour got the impression that several feathers had come out of the pandit’s mouth. She was shocked. However, she assured the woman that such things could happen and advised her not to worry about it.
“My lips are sealed,” said the woman. But she was longing to tell someone and when she saw the dhobi’s wife going past, called her in and told her the whole story. Only, she made it sound as if a whole bird had come out of the pandit’s mouth.
“Never have I heard of such a thing,” said the dhobi’s wife, her eyes popping with excitement, “and he being a vegetarian and all that, but one can never tell…” She went away promising not to tell anyone but on the way she met her friend and the whole story tumbled out of her mouth.
The story spread, “flocks of birds” have come out of the pandit’s mouth. By evening the whole village and several other neighbouring villages also had heard the story and people began to arrive in droves at the pandit’s house to witness the miraculous happenings there.
Nobody would believe him and everybody begged him to demonstrate his wonderful power of producing birds from his mouth. Finally in exasperation, he asked them all to sit in front of his house and when they had done so, ran out of the back and hid in the jungle.

War of Words

A king sent a message to the ruler of a neighbouring country. The message read:
“Send me a blue diamond as large as a pigeon’s egg or else…”
The king on getting the message wrote back:
“We don’t have such a diamond and if we had…”
The first king got very angry and declared war on his neighbour. The fighting went on for several months till a third king arranged a meeting between the two warring rulers. So they met and the first king said to the other:
“What did you mean when you said, ‘Send me a blue diamond as large as a pigeon’s egg or else…’?”
“Why,” he replied, “I meant a blue diamond as large as a pigeon’s egg or else… some other diamond. I love diamonds. But what did you mean when you said, ‘We don’t have such a diamond and if we had-‘?”
“It is easy to guess my meaning,” said the other man.
“What I wanted to say was, if we had such a diamond we would have gladly sent it to you.”
The Kings pledged to write more clearly in future communications and embraced and made peace.

Pleasant Truth

Jyeshthadevi, goddess of poverty, and Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, once had an argument about who was more beautiful. As they were arguing, they saw a merchant coming towards them and decided to ask him to settle the matter. The merchant was filled with awe when they told him who they were, but he turned pale when they told him what they wanted him to do. It was plain to him that Lakshmi was the more beautiful of the two, but how could he tell Jyeshthadevi that? She would be furious and would probably reduce him to poverty.
But he was a clever man and quickly gathering his wits, said: “O Lakshmi, you are more beautiful than any other woman on earth or in heaven when you’re entering a house, but you, O Jyeshthadevi, words fail to describe your grace and elegance when you are leaving. There is none to compare with you in beauty then.”
It was a judgment that pleased both the contestants because each thought she had been adjudged the winner. But the real winner, of course, was the merchant. He had won the favour of the goddess of plenty without displeasing her powerful rival!!

Monkey Fast

A group of monkeys decided to go on a fast one day.
“Before we begin, I think we should keep the food with which we’ll break the fast ready,” counselled the old monkey chief. The youngsters were sent in search of food. They returned with huge hands of delicious-looking bananas.
“I think each of us should keep our share of bananas with us before we begin our fast, so that we don’t spend time distributing them after we break our fast. You can imagine how hungry we all will be by then!” said the chief’s wife.
The monkeys liked the idea and they collected their share of the bananas.
“Why don’t we peel one banana and keep it ready to eat?” said one of the youngsters.
“Yes, let’s do that,” shouted a fat monkey in agreement. Just looking at the bananas was making him hungry.
“All right,” said the monkey chief. “We shall peel the bananas but under no condition should we eat them.” All the monkeys peeled their bananas and carefully kept them ready for eating in the evening.
“Can I keep the banana in my mouth? I promise not to eat it till evening. Please!” a little monkey asked his father.
“Why don’t we all put a banana in our mouth? That way we can chew it immediately when we break the fast,” said his father. “As long as we don’t eat it, it should be fine,” he added.
So, the monkeys put the bananas in their mouths. One by one they eyed each other uncomfortably as they began their fast.
Within no time at all, the bananas disappeared down their gullets.

Getting Convinced

There was once a king who was so cruel and unjust that his subjects yearned for his death or dethronement. However, one day he surprised them all by announcing that he had decided to turn over a new leaf.
“No more cruelty, no more injustice,” he promised, and he was as good as his word.
He became known as the ‘Gentle Monarch’. Months after his transformation one of his ministers plucked up enough courage to ask him what had brought about his change of heart, and the king answered:
“As I was galloping through my forests I caught sight of a fox being chased by a hound. The fox escaped into his hole but not before the hound had bitten into its leg and lamed it for life. Later I rode into a village and saw the same hound there. It was barking at a man. Even as I watched, the man picked up a huge stone and flung it at the dog, breaking its leg. The man had not gone far when he was kicked by a horse. His knee was shattered and he fell to the ground, disabled for life. The horse began to run but it fell into a hole and broke its leg. Reflecting on all that had happened, I thought: ‘Evil begets evil. If I continue in my evil ways, I will surely be overtaken by evil’. So I decided to change”.
The minister went away convinced that the time was ripe to overthrow the king and seize the throne. Immersed in thought, he did not see the steps in front of him and fell, breaking his neck.

Lucky or Unlucky ?

Once upon a time there was a hare who was frisking up and down under the greenwood tree.
“Oh! Hurrah! Hip, hip, hurrah!” he cried, and leapt and sprang, and all at once he threw a somersault and stood on his hind-legs. Just then a fox came slouching by.
“Good day, good day,” said the hare; “I’m so merry today, for you must know I was married this morning.”
“Lucky fellow you,” said the fox.
“Ah, no! Not so lucky after all,” said the hare, “for she was very heavy-handed, and it was an old witch I got to wife.”
“Then you were an unlucky fellow,” said the fox.
“Oh, not so unlucky either,” said the hare, “for she was an heiress. She had a cottage of her own.”
“Then you were lucky after all,” said the fox.
“No, no! Not so lucky either,” said the hare, “for the cottage caught fire and was burnt, and all we had with it.”
“That I call downright unlucky,” said the fox.
“Oh, no; not so very unlucky after all,” said the hare, “for my witch of a wife was burnt along with her cottage.”

The Man and His Two Wives (Aesop)

A middle-aged man had two wives, one who was old and one who was young. Each one desired to see him like herself. Now the man’s hair was turning grey, which the young wife did not like, as it made him look too old for her husband. So every night she used to comb his hair and pull out the white ones. But the elder wife saw her husband growing grey with great pleasure, for she did not like to be mistaken for his mother. So every morning she used to arrange his hair and pull out as many of the black ones as she could. In consequence the man soon found himself entirely bald.
Moral: Yield to all and you will soon have nothing to yield.

The Spider Mark

A Tibetan story tells of a meditation student who, while meditating in his room, believed he saw a spider descending in front of him. Each day the menacing creature returned, growing larger and larger each time. So frightened was the student, that he went to his teacher to report his dilemma. He said he planned to place a knife in his lap during meditation, so when the spider appeared he would kill it. The teacher advised him against this plan. Instead, he suggested, bring a piece of chalk to meditation, and when the spider appeared, mark an “X” on its belly. Then report back.
The student returned to his meditation. When the spider again appeared, he resisted the urge to attack it, and instead did just what the master suggested. When he later reported back to the master, the teacher told him to lift up his shirt and look at his own belly. There was the “X”.

The Death of a Man

A great warrior did not return from the hunt. His family finally gave him up for dead. His youngest child but each day would ask, “Where is my father? Where is my father?”
The child’s older brothers, who were magicians, finally went forth to find him. They came upon his broken spear and a pile of bones. The first son assembled the bones into a skeleton; the second son put flesh upon the bones; the third son breathed life into the flesh.
The warrior arose and walked into the village where there was great celebration. He said, “I will give a fine gift to the one who has brought me back to life.”
Each one of his sons cried out, “Give it to me, for I have done the most.”
“I will give the gift to my youngest child,” said the warrior. “For it is this child, who saved my life. A man is never truly dead until he is forgotten!”

The Magic Mirror

Long time ago there lived a man and his wife in a remote village in the country. They had a little girl, whom they very much loved. One day the man went away on business to a distant city.
At last he returned to his home, with a basket full of gifts to his wife and daughter. Reaching home he opened a cane basket. He watched the curious eyes of her daughter, who was gazing at the basket. He took out a wonderful doll and a lacquer box of cakes and gave them to her outstretched hands. Once more he dived into his basket, and presented his wife with a metal mirror. Its convex surface shone brightly, while upon its back there was a design of pine trees and storks.
The good man’s wife had never seen a mirror before, and on gazing into it she was under the impression that another woman looked out upon her as she gazed with growing wonder. Her husband explained the mystery and told her that it is her own image that she sees the mirror.
Not long after this happy homecoming and distribution of presents the woman became very ill. Just before she died she called to her little daughter, and said: “Dear child, when I am dead take every care of your father. You will miss me when I have left you. But take this mirror, and when you feel most lonely look into it and you will always see me.” Having said these words she passed away.

Three Fishes

Three fish lived in a pond. One was named Plan Ahead, another was Think Fast, and the third was named Wait and See. One day they heard a fisherman say that he was going to cast his net in their pond the next day.
Plan Ahead said, “I’m swimming down the river tonight!
Think Fast said, “I’m sure I’ll come up with a plan.
Wait and See lazily said, “I just can’t think about it now!”
When the fisherman cast his nets, Plan Ahead was long gone. But Think Fast and Wait and See were caught!
Think Fast quickly rolled his belly up and pretended to be dead. “Oh, this fish is no good!” said the fisherman, and threw him safely back into the water. But, Wait and See ended up in the fish market.
That is why they say, “In times of danger, when the net is cast, plan ahead or plan to think fast!”

A Walk Learner in Handan

In the Warring States Period, a young man in the town of Shouling, the state of Yan, once heard that people in Handan, the capital of the state of Zhao, had an elegant way of walking. So he went a long way there to learn.
Arriving in the town of Handan, the young man set about watching how the people there walk in the street. He was well indulged in the study all day long; sometimes he followed one this way and sometimes another that way.
As time passed, the young man felt more and more worried because he had not learned to walk as the natives there. And worse luck, in the end, he found himself unable to walk in his own way. So he had no choice but to crawl home.

The Smuggler

A clever smuggler came to the border with two donkeys. The donkeys’ back were heavily laden with straw. The official at the border was suspicious and pulled apart the man’s bundles till there was straw all around, but not a valuable thing in the straw was found.
“But I’m certain you’re smuggling something,” the official said, as the man crossed the border.
Now each day for ten years the man came to the border with donkeys. Although the official searched and searched the straw bundles on the donkey’s back, he never could find anything valuable hidden in them.
Many years later, after the official had retired, he happened to meet that same smuggler in a marketplace and said,
“Please tell me, I beg you. Tell me, what were you smuggling? Tell me, if you can.”
“Donkeys,” said the man.

A Big Quiet House

There was once a man who wished his small, noisy house was larger and quieter. He went to the wise old woman of the town and explained his need. She said,
“I can solve your problem. Just do as I say.”
The man agreed.
“If you have a chicken, some sheep, a horse, and a cow,” she said, “bring them into the house with you.”
“That’s a silly thing to do,” thought the old man. But he did it anyway. Now his house was already small, and with all those animals in it, there was no room at all. He returned to the old woman and cried, “I need more room! The animals are so noisy I can’t think!”
“Take all those animals out of your dwelling,” she replied.
When he had put all the animals comfortably back in the barn, the man went into his house. To his amazement, it suddenly looked remarkably bigger! Without the animals inside, his house was now quiet too!

The Monkey and the Pea

The King of Benares was out on a hunting trip with his wise counsellor. They stopped to feed their horses some peas. Suddenly a young monkey darted down a tree and scooped a huge handful of peas out of the feeding trough. Halfway back up the tree one pea fell from the monkey’s furry hands and, in a desperate attempt to catch it, the monkey dropped all the peas he was carrying.
Peas scattered on the ground and the horses ate them. The monkey climbed back up the tree empty-handed and sat sadly on a branch. The King and his wise counsellor watched this episode with amusement. The counsellor chuckled,
“Great King, when far too greedy you be, remember that monkey and the pea.”

Fools of Motapur

A rich miserly farmer decided to appoint three men from Motapur, to work in his rice field. Motapur was a village, the inhabitants of which were mostly illiterate but straight forward. The farmer thought that he could easily cheat them somehow. The Motapur men joined his regular workers and worked hard thinking that they will get much money every month. The farmer, but found appropriate excuses each month to which all the fools had to agree with.
As many months passed by, the fools understood that the farmer is only repeating the old excuses and they are not likely to get any pay.
One day they saw the farmer shooting down a stork, for meals. The fools understood that this is a good technique to kill the farmer and loot all his money. They joined heads together and devised a plan, according to which the first fool has to force the farmer sit on that particular branch on which the stork was; the second one has to steal the rifle and point towards the farmer; the third one has to make a sound exactly as they heard while the farmer was shooting the stork and also make some smoke after that.

The Fate of Death

King Solomon’s servant came breathlessly into the court,
“Please! Let me borrow your fastest horse!” he said to the King. “I must be in a town ten miles south of here by nightfall!”
“Why?” asked King Solomon.
“Because,” said his shuddering servant, “I just met Death in the garden! Death looked me in the face! I know for certain I’m to be taken and I don’t want to be around when Death comes to claim me!”
“Very well,” said King Solomon. “My fastest horse has hoofs like wings. Take him.” Then Solomon walked into the garden. He saw Death sitting there with a perplexed look on its face.
“What’s wrong?” asked King Solomon.
Death replied, “Tonight I’m supposed to claim the life of your servant whom I just now saw in your garden. But I’m supposed to claim him in a town ten miles south of here! Unless he had a horse with hooves like wings, I don’t see how he could get there by nightfall . . .”

Prettiest of All

A Sportsman went out once into a wood to shoot, and met a snipe.
“Dear friend,” said the snipe, “don’t shoot my children?”
“How shall I know your children?” asked the sportsman; “what are they like?”
“Oh!” said the snipe, “mine are the prettiest children in all the wood.”
“Very well,” said the sportsman, “I won’t shoot them; don’t be afraid.”
But for all that, when he came back, there he had a whole string of young snipes in his hand which he had shot.
“Oh! oh!” said the snipe, “why did you shoot my children after all?”
“What, these children!” said the sportsman; “why, I shot the ugliest I could find!”
“Poor them!” said the snipe; “don’t you know that each one thinks his own children are the prettiest in the world?”

Out of the way

Once upon a time there was a priest, who was such a bully that he bawled out, ever so far off, whenever he met anyone driving on the king’s highway.
“Out of the way! Out of the way! Here comes the priest!”
One day when he was driving along and behaving so, he met the king himself.
“Out of the way! Out of the way!” he bawled a long way off. But the king drove on and kept his own; so that time it was the priest who had to turn his horse aside, and when the king came alongside him, he said, “Tomorrow you shall come to me to the castle, and if you can’t answer my three questions, you shall lose hood and gown for your pride’s sake.”
This was something which the priest never wanted to hear. Questions and answers were out of his power. So he set off to the clerk, who was said to be better in a gown than the priest himself, and told him that he has no mind to go to the king.
“For one fool can ask more than ten wise men can answer;” the priest said and he got the clerk to go instead.
The clerk set off, and came to the castle in the priest’s gown and hood. There the king, with the crown and scepter, met him out in the porch.
“Tell me first,” said the king, “how far the east is from the west?”
“Just a day’s journey,” said the clerk.
“How is that?” asked the king.
“Don’t you know,” said the clerk, “that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and he does it just nicely in one day?”
“Very well!” said the king; “but tell me now what you think I am worth, as you see me stand here?”
“Well,” said the clerk, “our Lord was valued at thirty pieces of silver, so I don’t think I can set your price higher than twenty-nine.”
“All very fine!” said the king; “but as you are so wise, perhaps you can tell me what I am thinking about now?”
“Oh!” said the clerk, “you are thinking it’s the priest who stands before you; but so help me if you don’t think wrong, for I am the clerk.”
“Be off home with you,” said the king, “and be you priest, and let him be clerk; “and so it was.

Her ‘Lordship’

There lived a mother, who was branded a virtuous and able lady, and her son in a country. At the age of 14, the son with the noble rank inherited from his father, became the feudal provincial governor of the state. When her son went to the tribunal to sit in judgment in public affairs, his mother would sit on a stool behind a curtain at the back of the hall and listen carefully to how her son analysed each situation and rendered his decision. Whenever her son failed to make a fair judgment or lost his temper during the proceedings, his mother would crawl under a quilt and cry when they returned home, eating nothing for the whole day.
“I’m not angry at you,” she would tell her son. “Rather, I am ashamed of myself! Your father was honest and upright and never used public office for private gain. He sacrificed himself for the country. I only wish you would hold firmly to your father’s principles.” She also told him,
“As a woman, too much love and too little strictness on my part has resulted in your ignoring virtue and neglect of your father’s principles. If things continue this way, how can you take up the mantle of justice for all and be loyal to your country? If this continues, you will undermine our family tradition and violate the directive of a public servant. If so, how could I face your father again when I die?”
Day after day his mother would spin and weave late into the night. His mother would tell him,
“Your father had wished to distribute his extra wealth to relatives and friends. How could I dare enjoy the wealth alone? Spinning and weaving are the duty of a lady. Everyone, noble or humble, has his obligations. How could I ruin my own reputation?”
Slowly, her son became diligent in his duties, maintained good self-control, and abstained from self-indulgent behaviour. He grew up to be a fair, incorruptible, aboveboard official. In time, the Emperor sent a delegate to honour him for his unselfish service to the public by bestowing upon him the rank of “His Lordship.”

Midas the King

Among the worshippers of Pan was a certain Midas, who had a strange story. Once a king of great wealth, he had chanced to befriend Dionysus, god of the vine; and when he was asked to choose some good gift in return, he prayed that everything he touched might be turned into gold. Dionysus smiled a little when he heard this foolish prayer, but he granted it.
Within two days, King Midas learned the secret of that smile, and begged the god to take away the gift that was a curse. He had touched everything that belonged to him, and little joy did he have of his possessions! His palace was as yellow a home as a dandelion to a bee, but not half so sweet. Row upon row of stiff golden trees stood in his garden; they no longer knew a breeze when they heard it. When he sat down to eat, his feast turned to treasure uneatable. He learned that a king may starve, and he came to see that gold cannot replace the live, warm gifts of the Earth.
Kindly Dionysus took back the charm, but from that day King Midas so hated gold that he chose to live far from luxury, among the woods and fields.

They were Frogs

Once upon a time in the country of Japan there lived two frogs, one of whom made his home in a ditch near the town of Osaka, while the other dwelt in a clear little stream of Kyoto. Funny enough, the frog who lived at Kyoto wanted to visit Osaka, and the frog who lived at Osaka wished to go to Kyoto.
So one fine morning, they both set out along the road. The journey was more tiring for they did not know much about traveling, and halfway between the two towns there arose a mountain which had to be climbed. It took them a long time and a great many hops to reach the top, but there they were at last, and both frogs met each other! It was delightful to find that they both felt the same wish – to learn a little more of their native country.
“What a surprise!” said the Osaka frog; “for we can see both towns from here, and even tell if it is worth our while going on.”
“Oh, that is easily managed,” returned the Kyoto frog. “We have only got to stand up on our hind legs, and hold onto each other, and then we can each look at the town he is traveling to.”
There they both stood, stretching themselves as high as they could, and holding each other tightly, so that they might not fall down. The Kyoto frog turned his nose towards Osaka, and the Osaka frog turned his nose towards Kyoto; but the foolish things forgot that when they stood up, their great eyes lay in the backs of their heads, and that though their noses might point to the places to which they wanted to go, their eyes beheld the places from which they had come.
“Dear me!” cried the Osaka frog, “Kyoto is exactly like Osaka. It is certainly not worth such a long journey. I shall go home!” The Kyota frog also agreed to his friend and they decided to return.

A Loss May Turn Out to Be a Gain

Long ago, near the frontier lived an old man. One day he found his horse missing. It was said that the horse was seen running outside the border of the country. The neighbours came to comfort him for the unfortunate loss. But the old man was unexpectedly calm and said,
“It doesn’t matter; it may not be a bad event, on the contrary, I think it can be a good one.”
One night the old man heard some noise of horses and got up to see. To his surprise, he saw another beautiful horse as well as his own. It was clear that his horse had brought a companion home. Hearing the news, the neighbours all came to say congratulation on his good luck. At the greetings, however, the old man was very calm and thoughtful. He added,
“It is true that I got a new horse for nothing, but it is hard to say whether it is good or bad. It may be an unlucky thing.”
What he said was testified right. The son of the old man was very fond of the horse brought home, and one day, when he was riding the horse, he fell down from the horseback and terribly hurt in his left leg. Since then he was never able to walk freely. “Nothing serious,” the old man said, “perhaps it is going to be good.”
A year later, many of the youth there were recruited to fight in a war and most of them died. The son of the old man was absolved from the obligation for his disability, so he escaped death.
The old story tells us that good and bad, disaster and happiness can be converting objects to each other sometimes.

Two Puzzles

In ancient India there lived a most virtuous Brahmin who was considered by all to be the best authority on philosophy. One day the local king ordered him to appear before him. When he did so, the king said:
“I have two questions that puzzle me. Where is God? And why don’t I see Him? I have learnt that you had been teaching God all your life. Now just prove it; otherwise, I will have your head cut off.”
The Brahmin did not know the answers; his execution date was set. On the morning of that day in which he was to be executed, the Brahmin’s young son appeared in the palace and he asked the king if he would release his father provided he answers the questions. The king agreed, and the son asked that a container of milk be brought to him. It was done. Then the guy asked that the milk be churned into butter. That too was done.
“The first two of your questions are now answered,” he told the king.
The king objected that he had been given no answers, so the son asked:
“Where was the butter before it was churned?”
“In the milk,” replied the king.
“In what part of the milk?” asked the boy.
“In all of it.”
 “Just so,” agreed the boy “and in the same way God is within all things and pervades all things.”
 “Why don’t I see Him, then,” pressed the king.
 “Because you do not ‘churn’ your mind and refine your perceptions through meditation. If you do that, you will see God; but never otherwise. Now let my father go.”
The Brahmin was released and his son was given many honours and gifts by the king.

Stopping Halfway

In the Warring States Period, there lived a man called Leyangtsi, who later became a very great scholar. He was born to a poor farmer and lived working hard in the fields until he got married to a wise lady. His wife was very angelic and virtuous, who was loved and respected dearly by the husband.
She requested him to learn classics under a talented teacher and get a job in the School. One day, quite reluctant to leave his loving wife he went far away to the teacher.  His passion for his wife was great and he could not continue there for long and he returned home one day. At his coming, the wife seemed to be worried, and she at once asked the reason why he came back so soon. The husband explained how he missed her. The wife got angry with what her husband did. Advising his husband to be determined and not too indulged in sentiments, the wife took up a pair of scissors and cut down what she had woven on the loom. His wife further said,
“If something is stopped halfway, it is just like the cut cloth on the loom. The cloth will only be useful if finished. But now, it has been nothing but a mess, and so it is with your study.”
The husband was greatly moved by these words. He left home resolutely and went on with his study. He didn’t return home to see his beloved wife until gaining great achievements.

The Wolf and the Lamb

A lamb was grazing with a flock of sheep one day. She soon found some sweet grass at the edge of the field. Farther and farther she went, away from the others. She was enjoying herself so much that she did not notice a wolf coming nearer to her.
However, when it pounced on her, she was quick to start pleading,
“Please, please don’t eat me yet. My stomach is full of grass. If you wait a while, I will taste much better.” The wolf thought that was a good idea, so he sat down and waited.
After a while, the lamb said,
“If you allow me to dance, the grass in my stomach will be digested faster.” Again the wolf agreed.
While the lamb was dancing, she had a new idea. She said,
“Please take the bell from around my neck. If you ring it as hard as you can, I will be able to dance even faster.” The wolf took the bell and rang it as hard as he could.
The shepherd heard the bell ringing and quickly sent his dogs to find the missing lamb. The barking dogs frightened the wolf away and saved the lamb’s life.

When the Winds Blow

Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the ocean, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals.
Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer.
“Are you a good farmhand?” the farmer asked him.
“Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work.
Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled,
“Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!” The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly,
“No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.” Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away.
The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he also returned to his bed to sleep while the wind blew.

Playing with Shadows

Once, a princess lost her beautiful precious diamond necklace. People searched everywhere but could not find it. Some said that a bird might have stolen it. The king announced a huge reward for the one who finds it. One day, a clerk was walking home along a river, which was muddy, polluted, filthy and smelly. To his astonishment, the clerk saw a shimmering in the river and when he looked into it, he saw the diamond necklace. He understood that it is the same  necklace  that  the  princess  had  lost and  it is going to fetch for him a  good  fortune.  He put his hand in the filthy, dirty river and tried to grab the necklace, but somehow missed it. He took his hand out and looked again and the necklace was still there. Next time he walked into the filthy river and tried to take the necklace. But strangely enough, he still missed the necklace!
He came out and started walking away, feeling depressed, but thinking to take some dependable help.  His dress had become so dirty. Just then a saint, who was walking by, saw him and asked what the matter was. The clerk mustered some courage and decided to put some faith in the saint. He told the saint about the necklace and how he tried for it but failed each time. The saint then told him that people might lose common sense when over ambitious. He looked up to the branch of the tree on the river bank there. The clerk also looked up to see the necklace dangling on that branch, just over the water, where he saw the necklace first.

Knowledge Worth More Than a Precious Stone

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler, who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.
The traveler who tried to sell it was convinced that the stone is quite priceless and he also was sure that the woman knew that. By no logic he could understand the cause of such generosity. A few days passed by and his curiosity over the strange behaviour of the woman increased.  At last he came back to the woman and returned the stone.
“I’ve been thinking,” He said, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you might give me something even more precious: Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.”

Reap What You Sow

There was a man in Isfahan who used to beat his wife but unfortunately she succumbed to his beating though he had not intended to kill her. But when she was dead he became fearful of her relatives. In a state of anxiety he came out of his house and met an acquaintance to whom he posed his problem.  The friend told him to invite a young man to his house and behead him and put the severed head next to the wife’s corpse. Then he would tell the wife’s relatives that he had found them together in bed and was unable to control his ire. And slew them both. The man liked the idea and sat at the doorway in anticipation of a young man.
After sometime, a handsome youth passed by his house. He invited him inside and beheaded him. Then he summoned the wife’s relatives and told them the fictitious story. They were satisfied but the person who had devised this plan had a teenage son who did not reach home that day.
The man was worried and when the son failed to turn up he came to the house of the one whom he had offered evil advice and asked him if he carried out the plan suggested by him. Yes, said he and took him near the dead bodies. He was shocked when he saw that the youth he had killed was his own son. His evil advice caused the death of his own son.

The Perfect Woman

One afternoon, Nasruddin and his friend were sitting in a cafe, drinking tea, and talking about life and love.
“How come you never got married, Nasruddin?” His friend asked him at one point.
“Well”, said Nasruddin, ‘to tell you the truth, I spent my youth looking for the perfect woman. In Cairo, I met a beautiful and intelligent woman, with eyes like dark olives, but she was unkind. Then in Baghdad, I met a woman who was a wonderful and generous soul, but we had no interests in common. One woman after another would seem just right, but there would always be something missing. Then one day, I met her. She was beautiful, intelligent, generous and kind. We had everything in common. In fact she was perfect.”
“Well”, said Nasruddin’s friend, “what happened? Why didn’t you marry her?” Nasruddin sipped his tea reflectively. He replied,
“It’s a sad thing. Seems that she was looking for the perfect man.”

The Mountain Story

A son and his father were walking on the mountains. Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams: ‘AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!’ To his surprise, he hears the voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain: ‘AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!’ Curious, he yells:
“Who are you?” He receives the answer:
“Who are you?” And then he screams to the mountain:
“I admire you!” The voice answers:
“I admire you!” Angered at the response, he screams:
 “Coward!” He receives the answer:
“Coward!” He looks to his father and asks:
“What’s going on?” The father smiles and says:
“My son, pay attention.” Again the man screams:
“You are a champion!” The voice answers:
“You are a champion!” The boy is surprised, but does not understand. Then the father explains:
“People call this ECHO, but really this is LIFE. It gives you back everything you say or do. Our life is simply a reflection of our actions. If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart. If you want more competence in your team, improve your competence. This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life; Life will give you back everything you have given to it.”

The Selfish Man

Once upon a time, there was a selfish man. He liked everything to be his own. He could not share his belongings with anyone, not even with his friends or the poor. One day, the man lost thirty gold coins. He went to his friend’s house and told him how he lost his gold coins. His friend was a kind man. As his friend’s daughter was coming from an errand, she found thirty gold coins; when she arrived home, she told her father what she had found. The girl’s father told her that the gold coins belong to his friend and he sent for him.
When the selfish man arrived, he told him how his daughter had found his thirty gold coins and handed them to him. After counting the gold coins the man said that ten of them are missing and might have been taken by the girl as he had forty gold coins. He further commented that he will recover the remaining amount from him. But the girl’s father refused.
The man left the gold coins and went to the court and informed the judge what had taken place between him and the girl’s father. The judge sent for the girl and her father, and when they arrived asked the girl how many gold coins did she find. She replied,
“Thirty gold coins.” The Judge then asked the selfish man how many gold coins did he lose and he answered,
“Forty gold coins.” The judge then told the man that the gold coins did not belong to him because the girl found thirty and not forty as he claimed to have lost and then told the girl to take the gold coins and that if anybody is looking for them he will send for the girl. The judge told the man that if anybody reports that they have found forty gold coins he will send for him.
The man took no time to confess that he had been lying and that he lost only thirty gold coins. the judge had already realised the trick and went out of his chamber cool, but not listening to the man’s sympathy generating appeals.

Heaven P O

A pious and poor farmer lived in a village. He worked earnestly but could not make a big difference in his fortunes. Still, he did not complaint the big Power, who he trusted to be providing him. One day he saw an exceptional dream.
What he dreamt was a fancy city, where cute little beings with wings were fluttering all over. A few of them came to him and told him that it is the very heaven, where he will finally come when he dies. The cute little flying things, which introduced themselves to be angels, took the farmer inside the gates. The first building he saw was heavily crowded by many such angels. One of the angels said that it is the reception counter, where complaints, grievances and petitions of human beings from all over the world are received, sorted and answered. The next building looked like a dump yard with heaps of papers. Angels were still bringing in more and more parcels and carelessly dumping there.
“This is the undelivered mails department. Most of the petitioners reveal not their true identity and intimations to them bounce,” said the angel.
The next building was the biggest of all with many counters but only one angel sitting sad idly aside the main gate.
“Come in,” the angel with him said. The angel told the farmer that it is the acknowledgement department, which is the only place where God appears in heaven. The farmer asked the angel what acknowledgment is. The angel said,
“Just think…. ‘Thank you God for all that I have now’ and remember that you had absolutely nothing with you when you were born.” The farmer looked at the angel with surprise. The angel continued,
“Every day God gets your acknowledgement and He arranges to send you a parcel of peace.”

The Angel

Once upon a time there was a child ready to be born. One day the child asked God,
“They tell me you are going to send me to earth tomorrow but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?” God replied,
“Among the many angels, I have chosen one for you. She will be waiting for you and will take care of you.” Said child,
“But tell me here in Heaven I don’t do anything else but sing and smile. That’s what I need to be happy!” God replied,
“Your angel will sing for you every day. And you will feel your angel’s love and be happy.” And, said the child,
“How am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me, if I don’t know the language that men talk?”
“That’s easy”, God said,
“Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.” The child looked up at God saying,
“And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?” God smiled at the child saying,
“Your angel will teach you how to pray.” The child said,
“I’ve heard on earth there are bad men. Who will protect me?” God replied,
“Your angel will defend you, even if it means risking life!” The child looked sad, saying,
“But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.” God replied,
“Your angel will always talk to you about me and will teach you the way to come back to me, even though I will always be next to you.”
At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from earth could already be heard. The child in a hurry, asked softly,
“Oh God, if I am about to leave now please tell me my angel’s name!” God replied, Your angel’s name is of no importance… you will simply call her Mother!

Mickey Mouse the Great

Mahatma Gandhi is ever spoken with much respect and admiration, not only by the Indian politicians but also by the masses in India. Not many know that there was a popular and much respected lady in India who frequently called him, “Mickey Mouse”. It was none other than Sarojini Naidu, who is known by the sobriquet, ‘The Nightingale of India’. She was a distinct personality. “We want deeper sincerity of motive, a greater courage in speech and earnestness in action,” Sarojini Naidu said; her words really charged the Indians in their struggle against the British rule. She grew up to be a bright student but ended up as a model politician. Life is not exactly what we plan but what destiny envisions.
She topped in her matriculation examination at Madras University and thus became a National Fame. She was writing poems right in her school days itself. It was her poetry and talents that compelled Nizam of Hyderabad, to give her scholarship to study abroad. At the age of 16, she travelled to England for her studies. Her whole interest still was in poetry. By the time she was 30 she could release many collections of poems.
Sarojini Naidu played a leading role during the Civil Disobedience Movement in India. In 1942, Sarojini Naidu was arrested during the “Quit India” movement and was jailed for 21 months with Gandhiji. She shared a very warm relationship with Gandhiji. It was at these days she began calling Gandhiji, ‘Mickey Mouse’. More than a cartoon character, Mickey Mouse is seen as an always cheerful, mischievous but adventurous personality. It is not clear if these were the only reasons why she called Gandhiji, by this name.
Mickey Mouse also has a strange story to say. The Disney studio was creating a series of cartoons by name ‘Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’. But Disney’s own staff betrayed him and Walt Disney virtually ended up with no rights on Oswald, though his own creation. It was then, urged by a flame of determination that Disney gave birth to Mortimer Mouse. The name Mickey Mouse actually was the proposal of Lilian, Disney’s wife. Thus in 1928, Mickey Mouse was born.  Sarojini Naidu might have intended the fire which Gandhiji contained all his life and how he inspired the spirits of the entire humanity.

Beware of Knowledge

As a young man I thought I had perfected myself and that I didn’t need any further teaching or study. I felt there was no swami in India as advanced as myself because I seemed to be more intellectually knowledgeable than others, and I was myself teaching many swamis. When I conveyed to my master this inflated opinion of myself, he looked at me and asked, “Are you drugged? What do you mean?” I said,
“No, really. This is the way I feel”.
He returned to the subject a few days later.
“You are still a child. You only know how to attend college. You have not mastered four things. Master them and then you will have attained something.
“Have a desire to meet and know God. But have no selfish desire to acquire things for yourself. Give up all anger, greed and attachment. Practice meditation regularly. Only when you have done these four things will you become perfect”.
Then he told me to visit certain sages. They were his friends who had known me from my young age because I had been with my master when he visited them. I had been quite mischievous. Whenever they came to visit my master they would ask,
“Is he still with you?”
First I went to see a swami who was renowned for his silence. He had withdrawn from worldly concerns. No matter what happened around him, he never looked up. He was lying on a hillock under a banyan tree, smiling, with his eyes closed. He never wore anything. When I first saw him lying that way, I thought, at least he should have a little decency”. Then I thought,
“My master told me to visit him and I know my master would not waste my time. I am only seeing his body”. I touched his feet. He was not sensitive to external stimuli; he was somewhere else. Three or four times I said,
“Hello, sir; How are you?” But he did not respond. Then I started to massage his feet. I thought he would be pleased but he kicked me. That kick was so powerful that I was thrown backward all the way down the hill and I ended up with many painful bruises. I was vindictive.
“What reason has he to do this? I came to him in reverence, started massaging his feet – and he kicked me! He’s not a sage. I’ll teach him; I’ll break both his legs!” I decided that perhaps my master sent me to teach him a lesson.
When I returned to the hill to vent my anger, he was sitting up and smiling. He said,
“How are you, my son?” I said,
“How am I? After kicking me and knocking me down the hill, you’re asking how I am.”  He said,
”Your master told you to master four things but you have even destroyed one. I kicked you to test your control of anger. Now you are so angry that you cannot learn anything here. You are not tranquil. You are still very immature. You don’t follow the spiritual teachings of your master, who is so selfless. What could you possibly learn from me? You are not prepared for my teachings. Go away”.
Nobody had ever talked to me like that. When I thought about what he said, I realised that it was true; I was completely possessed by my anger. He said,
“People ordinarily recognise you only by your face – but the face of the sage is not here; it is with his lord. People find only feet here, so they bow to the feet. You should have that humility when touching someone’s feet. You will have to go”.
A few days ago I thought I was perfect, but surely I am not. Then I said,” Sir, I will come back to you when I have conquered my ego.” And I departed. All the kicks and blows of life teach us something. No matter whence they come, they are blessings in disguise if we but learn their lesson. Buddha said,” For a wise man, there is nothing to be called bad. Any adversity of life provides a step for his growth, provided he knows how to utilise it.” I visited another swami and determined that no matter what he did, I would not get angry. He had a beautiful farm. He said,” I’ll give you this farm. Would you like it?” I said, “Of course.” He smiled. “Your master told you not to be attached, and yet you are very quick to tie yourself to a farm”. I felt very small.
Later I was sent to another swami. He knew that I was coming. There was a small natural fountain on the way where we used to go and wash. He left some gold coins there. I stopped there and found three of them. For a second I entertained the thought of picking them up. I did so, and tucked them inside my loin cloth. Then I reconsidered: “But these coins aren’t mine. Why do I need them? This is not good”. I put them back.  When I went to the swami, he was annoyed. I bowed before him and he said,” Why did you pick up those coins? Do you still have lust for Gold” Get out. This is not the place for you.” I protested, “But I left them there”. He said,” You left them later on. The problem is that you were attracted to them and picked them up in the first place”. From the experiences these sages gave me I began to realize the difference between book knowledge and experiential knowledge. I began to see many weaknesses, and I did not find it pleasant. Finally, I returned to may master. He asked,” What have you learned?” “I have learned that I have intellectual knowledge, but I do not behave in accord with that knowledge”. He said, “This is the problem all intellectuals have. They become overly proud of their knowledge. Now I will teach you how to practice, so that you will know.” A human being knows enough, but that knowledge needs to be brought into daily life. If this is not done, the knowledge remains limited within the boundaries of knowing only. We all know what to do and what not to do, but it is very difficult to learn how to be.

Creating Success is A Process.

The Law of Gestations says, “Ideas, Goals and Desires are spiritual seeds and they always move into form or a physical results.” In other words, “Your goals will manifest. Your dreams will happen.” The problem with this Universal Truth is most of us plant seeds (ideas, goals and dreams) and, if we don’t see a plant within a short period of time, we dig up the seed to see what’s wrong! Or, we leave that seed and go plant another one!
But you never do that… right? When you can accept that Success is A Process and your goals will manifest in due time, you will be able to stay focused, remain committed and continue to act in creating them.
Consider this:
A human baby takes about 42 weeks to grow full term. A carrot seed takes about 72 days. Chicken eggs take about 21 days to hatch. A caterpillar takes 10 days to 3 weeks to turn into a butterfly. Knowing that the process is happening, even if you can’t ‘see’ the result is an important aspect to Creating Success.
Success is a process.
Create a powerful stand for the seeds you’ve planted and choose to “Fall in Love” with the process of Creation! Here’s the Process I taught my Coaching Clients that gave them such great results:
4 Steps to Creating What you Desire:
Step 1: Decide what you want and Write it Down and Make a Vision Board. Decision means “to cut off” Be bold. Be brave. Make a decision. Focus intention. Plant the seed you really want and know with certainty that the seed will harvest when you cultivate it. It’s the Law!
Step 2: Feel the emotion. Act as if. Act as if you already possess the things pictured on your vision board — the house, the car, the dream partner, results in your business. Say, “this” is already mine. State your goals in the present tense like you have already achieved them. “I am so happy and grateful for…” “I am the owner of an Ocean front Home!” “the Leader of a profitable Organisation with 100,000 people or more!” “I am the #1 Salesman in my company.”
Step 3: Choose Your “Way of Being” Leadership! You are the Leader you’re waiting for! Look at your Vision Board and ask yourself, “Who does this person living this life need to be?” Ways Of Being: I Am grateful, leader, inspiration, joy, generous, focus, contribution, energy! Create your ‘way of being’ every day: Mine is, “I am Global Leadership and I make a difference!”
Step 4: Obey Inspired Action! You will receive a “call to action” this week. My coaching for you is to “obey it!” Take action. When you ‘obey’ the inspired action, the next step will be revealed to you.
“The universe likes speed. Don’t delay. Don’t second guess. Don’t doubt. When the opportunity is there, when the impulse is there, when the intuitive nudge from within is there, act. That’s your job. And that’s all you have to do.” — Dr. Joe Vitale. Create a powerful stand for the seeds you’ve planted and Choose to “Fall in Love” with the process of Creation! Choose to release struggle, frustration and doubt and take on your new way of being… Faith! Power! Intention! … knowing that the seeds you have planted (your goals and desires) will come to fruition. Make it a miraculous day!

Success tips from Lisa Jimenez

Are you like me and you want your dream to be manifested now?
Do you find yourself creating drama, struggle and doubt when your goals aren’t realised fast enough?
The Universal Truth about achievement is “Success is a Process”. Get that in your thick skull and receive it in your heart. The sooner you accept this truth, the more powerful you will be in your service to others, the more fun you will have, and ironically, the ‘quicker’ you’ll attract results. Several weeks ago I taught this principle to my Coaching Clients on a group call and the results have been extraordinary! When you can let go and surrender to the process; when you release your attachment to your goals, you create an ability to see things you would have missed. Take this principle to heart today and you open a portal for the Supernatural to guide, direct and empower you and the reality of your dreams.

Love Never Ceases to Flow

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare & serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness.
The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying,
“Yes I’ll do it if it will save her.”  As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the colour returning to her cheek. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice,
“Will I die right away, or how soon?” The boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he would have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her. (Author Unknown)

In Search of Happiness

There was a woman named Kisa who was much devoted to the Tathagata (Buddha) and liked to sit at his feet to listen to his preaching. Kisa had given birth to a baby daughter not many months before. But, as fate would have it, the child had fallen ill, and now lay dead in her arms. Nearly mad with grief she came to Buddha carrying the baby, and weeping loudly she fell at his feet.
“Lord,” she wailed, “you have divine power and can bring my daughter back to life. You are full of mercy and I know that you will honor my request. I am sure you have some remedy.” Buddha looked down at her and his heart burned with her sadness and misery. “Bring me,” he said slowly, “a handful of mustard seed; but it must come from a house where no one has lost a loved one.”
Now Kisa, thinking this to be part of a charm that might restore her baby, wiped her tears and, full of hope, set off on her quest. From house to house she walked. At the door of every one she heard: “Alas, not here. We lost our grandfather here.” “Last year my mother died.” “A beloved cousin was staying with us and she fell to a fatal disease.”
At last the light dawned upon Kisa that what had happened to her is what all beings are caught in, the ancient pair, life and death — the chain of becoming, in which all are bound. She gave last rites to her child, and came back to her Master. She was ready now for “entering the stream”, which means starting, with Buddha’s guidance, on the Eight Step Path to Enlightenment.

The Source

One day, four or five centuries B.C., when Buddha was out travelling with his monks (on foot, of course!) they came to a river where a fight was about to take place. The stream was a boundary between the lands of two tribes, the Sakyas and the Koliyas, and the farmers of both wanted to use the water. So heated the argument had become, that bands of armed men had gathered, shouting, on both sides of the river. Seeing this, Buddha walked among them and the men honoured him and became quiet. “Send me,” said Buddha, “six of your chief men from either side.”
These came and he said to them, “you have lived as neighbours for centuries, for all the history of India; why are you going to wage war now?”
“Because it is the hot season and there is drought, and these robbers (each pointing to the other) want all the water of the river for their fields.”
“Where does the water of this river come from?” Buddha asked.
“Sir, it gathers together from the slopes of the Himalaya mountains.” “Who owns those mountains?” said Buddha. The men scratched their heads and said, “Ah, who can say that ? The mountains are God’s. No man can claim or even climb them.” “And if war begins between your two peoples,” Buddha continued, “what will become of the crops? Will not your farmers lie dead in the mud, the rice not sown, your wives and children going hungry?” Buddha had good reason to think about this: he himself was from the Sakya clan, and Yashodhara, she who had been his wife, was a Koliya!
“Tell me,” he said to the angry farmers, “Can you hold back the water of this river, the way men tether a goat?”
“Of course not, sir, it flows and stops nowhere.” Then the Buddha made his judgment. It went like this:
“Let the Koliyas have freedom to draw the water today, and let the Sakyas dig their channels to the fields for them. Tomorrow let the Sakyas draw water and the Koliyas dig the channels. Thus working together you will bring life to your fields and fruition to the harvest.”

How poor we are!

One day a rich father took his son on a trip to the countryside, with the firm purpose to show him how poor people can be.
They spent a day and a night in the farm of a very poor family. When they got back from their trip the father asked his son, “How do you think was the trip, my son?”
“Very good Dad!” replied the son.
“Did you see how poor people can be?”
“Yeah !”
“And what did you learn?” the father asked.
The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog at home, and they have four. We have a pool that is hundred meters long, they have a stream that has no end. We have fifty imported lamps in our garden, they have countless shining stars. Our terrace reaches to the front yard, they have a whole horizon.”
When the little boy was finishing, his father was speechless.
His son concluded, “Thanks Dad, for showing me how poor we are!”

Obedience Respected

More than a century ago the nobility of England, in their colourful finery, were on a fox hunt. They came to an area with a closed gate where a ragged youngster sat nearby.
“Open the gate, Lad” said the leader of the hunt.
“No, this property belongs to my father, and he desires it left shut,” answered the boy.
“Open the gate, lad. Do you know who I am?”
“No, sir.”
“I am the Duke of Wellington.”
 “The Duke of Wellington, this nation’s hero, would not ask me to disobey my father.”
The riders of the hunt silently rode on.

Yoga

Maharshi Patanjali is a well honoured name in India and the world, mainly because he is the author of Yoga Sutra the one and only complete book on yoga. Yoga is growing more popular both in India and abroad. The Sanskrit word yoga refers to a physical, mental and spiritual discipline intended to reach an ecstatic stage of perfect inner vision. That is why it is also interpreted as ‘union’ (with the Absolute). Yoga is one among the six systems of Indian philosophical schools of thought.
Patanjali is considered the father of Yoga and it is he who developed the doctrines and rules mostly based on the teachings of Upanishads (part of Vedas). Much is not known about this great sage who is supposed to have lived around 250 to 500 BC. There is a traditional belief, which says that Patanjali is self-born and was a highly-evolved soul who incarnated on his own will in a human form to help humanity. The present records on him are mostly based on legends. It is also believed that he lived in Tamil Nadu state of India, at a place near Trichy. Several seals discovered at Indus Valley Civilisation sites, dating to the mid 3rd millennium BC, depict figures in positions resembling a common yoga or meditation pose, suggesting a precursor of yoga. The same Patanjali is also attributed to have written a few other authentic books also but they are all still a matter of dispute and confusion.
In his Yoga Sutra, which is the most condensed traditional outline of the yogic path, he has presented a set of 196 sutras or principles of yoga. They also describe the moral and physical disciplines needed for the soul to attain absolute Bliss or freedom from the body and self. Patanjali’s yoga is directed towards a supreme soul. Undoubtedly, his teachings promoted exploration of the inner self. The Indian epic Mahabharata has reference to Yoga and Gita mentions about three kinds of yoga. He established an eight-stage discipline of self-control and meditation under Raja Yoga which is popularly known as Ashtanga Yoga. The eight limbs are Yama (non-violence, ethics and restraint), niyama (acetiscism and cleanliness), asana (postures), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (sense withdrawal), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and finally Samadhi (oneness in eternal quality).

Redefining proper living

Here’s how a close friend of Gandhiji came to give up two of his possessions. This friend, a German named Kallenbach, was an engineer-architect whose earnings had made him rich. Kallenbach shared the beliefs and principles of Gandhiji and worked closely with him in the struggle against the white South African Government. This, however, was not always easy.
It was 1908. Gandhiji was being released from jail, having served his sentence for the Satyagraha struggle. At the gate he realised that his friend Kallenbach was so happy at his release that he had actually bought a new car to take him home. Gandhiji refused to enter the car.
“It is stupid to spend so much money on a car when other people are suffering. You must return it to the seller before doing anything else.”
On another occasion, Kallenbach and Gandhiji were returning to South Africa from England by ship. Kallenbach had a well-crafted and expensive pair of binoculars. This led to a serious discussion. What exactly is essential for a good and simple life? And if non-essentials are not required, shouldn’t they be discarded? The binoculars were costly, but not essential. Persuaded by Gandhiji, Kallenbach threw them into the sea. And felt greatly relieved.

All for a stone

Many people know that instead of soap, Gandhiji used a stone to scrub himself. Very few people, however, know how precious this stone, given by Miraben, was to Gandhiji.
This happened during the Noakhali march, when Gandhiji and others halted at a village called Narayanpur. During the march, the responsibility of looking after this particular stone, along with other things, lay with Manuben. Unfortunately, though, she forgot the stone at the last halting place.
“I want you to go back and look for the stone,” said Bapu. “Only then will you not forget it the next time.”
“May I take a volunteer with me?” asked Manuben.
“Why?” asked Bapu.
Poor Manu. She did not have the courage to say that the way back lay through forests of coconut and supari, (betel nut) so dense that a stranger might easily lose his way. Moreover, it was the time of riots. How could she go back alone? But go she did, and alone; after all she had committed the error. Leaving Narayanpur at 9:30 in the morning, Manu trudged along the forest path, taking the name of Ram as she went.
On reaching the village she went straight to the weaver’s house that had been their last halt. An old woman lived there. And she had thrown the stone away. When Manuben found it after a difficult search her joy knew no bounds. Carrying the precious stone, she returned to Narayanpur by late afternoon. Placing it in Bapu’s lap she burst into tears.
“You have no idea how happy I feel. This stone has been my cherished companion for the past twenty-five years. Whether in prison or in a palace it has been with me. Had it been lost it would have distressed me and Miraben as well. Now, you have seen that every useful thing is worth taking care of, even a stone.” Manuben said,
“Bapu, if ever I took Ramanaam with all my heart it was today.” Bapu laughed and replied,
“Oh yes, one remembers the Lord only when one is in trouble.”

Clash of Codes

India mainly lives by two codes of conduct – Indian penal code and our proud moral code. The second is individual choice while the first one is binding to all Indian citizens. An advocate is there to dissect the available Books of Law and demand the court exactly the nature of justice his/her party wants and effectively prove to the court that it is what his/her party deserves. Whatever the type of law we follow, British or American, since 6-7 decades we in India continue respecting our laws and suspecting all accused – always sending bright criminals free! We know that our official clauses, sub clauses are webs spun around loopholes.
The problem is with our interpretations. I remember the story of one Smiths. The Smith’s were proud of their family tradition. Their ancestors had come to America on the Mayflower. They had included Senators and Wall Street wizards. They decided to compile a family history, a legacy for their children and grandchildren. They hired a fine author. Only one problem arose – how to handle that great-uncle George, who was executed in the electric chair. The author said he could handle the story tactfully. The book appeared. It said, “Great-uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution, was attached to his position by the strongest of ties, and his death came as a great shock.”
Art of misinterpreting statements is not limited to IPC only. Holy Verses are the most misinterpreted. Religionists twist verses from Holy Scriptures in favour of the structure, which they control. That is why there is so much of religious intolerance all over the nation. Then came politicians. They are the best in this art of manipulating statements. They know how to replace a comma or how to spell a situation. Knowing that we live reading in between lines does not give us peace.

The Story of an Old Tree

This story is from an American city of Chicago, generally known as the windy city (though not the windiest in USA). The story opens as heavy rain and strong wind passes brushing an avenue of houses in one of its suburbs. In between two rows of houses, at their backsides, lay the ally with an old tall tree in it. It could not withstand the pressure of the wind and it slowly fell down with its heavy branches touching the compounds of three houses but only doing minor damages to them. The tree also had hit the local power line pushing some 20 houses into darkness the whole night.
Within some 10 minutes came in the police followed by ambulance. They fixed barricades and warning boards on the cross roads touching the ally. One gentle man visited the nearby houses and warned every one not to go near the fallen tree and power lines. The next day came electricity people; they cut just those small branches, which lay obstructing the power lines and went off. Two days later came the city people. They cut the main trunk and cleared the ally, which was under their administration, and did not touch the other branches. In USA, no workers are allowed to leave the garbage anywhere and so both of them had to remove what they cut.
The responsibility of clearing these branches and compensating the damages belonged to the insurance companies concerned. Fortunately or unfortunately all the three houses were under the care of three different insurance companies. Each company individually assessed the damages and cleared the branches under their responsibility in three different days. This fortunate tree thus had the privilege of being cremated in five holy centres followed by solemn ceremonies that continued for two weeks. Photographers were there, videographers were there and press people also were there for its wake. Common cents and common sense are different; right?

Just My Opinion!

Everybody asks for justice, no matter saint or criminal. Unfortunately, the idea of justice embedded in our minds is mostly the picture of a criminal being punished. This is definitely a negative attitude, for sure. Justice is defined as a virtue, which primarily is concerned with others; it is a noble virtue by which we to give others what is their due. A just person is said to be always working upon his obligations more than on his rights. Obligations? Does everybody owe something to anything else? Since the whole universe is a combination of everything in it and everything in it is dependent on everything else in it, the truth is that everything owes to everything else. Here, justice becomes living in consideration of other things and beings. But the general concept is that we owe only to humans and not to sub humans, slave humans or living beings of any nature or things of any quality. Declaring something else as not proper humans and justifying the injustice done to them continued to be the tactics of the powerful. Jews were sub humans to Hitler, so were all salves to their masters, so are all animals to non-vegetarians.
Our obligation to other elements in the universe is justified only when we see everything else in the perspective of Gods infinite love. The moment we divide everything else into atoms and elements, the stage we set fits only widespread injustice. In another words, the moment we go beyond needs and wander in the realms of wants, we serve injustice, knowing not that our happiness invariably depends upon the measure of justice we serve. When we graciously remember that we owe the universe for everything we have so far received, we also realise the magnitude of our obligations and there, religion becomes a matter of justice. Justice to others means good relationships. Justice and mercy are different; in justice we treat others with what they owe and in mercy we give others with more than they deserve. For a thriving relationship it is mercy that we want. The fact is that there is no justice without mercy. Our model should be the Divine Mercy, which is the abode of forgiveness and reconciliation. In justice, we develop relationships, in love we develop oneness. Without crossing the barrier of justice love is impossible to reach.

The Story of the Weeping Camel

Artists are best in surprising others with magnificent creations mostly from things and situations quite ignored by general public. Give a Marble boulder to Michael Angelo; he will definitely carve a heaven of angels from it. Sometime back, I happened to read a review on a 2003 German documentary, ‘The story of the Weeping Camel’. “Uniquely composed of equal parts reality, drama, and magic, this film is a window into a different way of life and the universal terrain of the heart” so said the review. The story was woven around a set of nomadic shepherds. The last of their camel to calve that season brought forth a cute rare white calf. Somehow, the mother camel refused to accept it and rejected it due care and milk. The matter grew into a great concern for the family of nomads.
The film beautifully draws every thread of sentiments in between the camel and the calf and also the camel family and the nomads. The film portrays the charm of human attachment with Nature. The nomads tried all known tricks to bring harmony between the calf and the camel, but miserably failed. The nomads finally take the help of a few lamas who suggested a series of tough rituals. A musician was brought from some distance and he plays his Mongolian ‘violin’ as part of the healing process. This however worked; mostly hit by the charming lullaby of the musician, the camel reconciles with its calf.
The documentary happened to be a total delight from start to finish, and it spoke volumes about the ties that bind human beings and animals together. It is considered as a tribute to the spiritual power of nurturing as an essential ingredient in keeping life bountiful and opening the hearts of all species. How this family of herders dealt with this small crisis delighted children and adults alike. The plot kindles within a craving to reconcile with everything. The energy of reconciliation sprouts from the springs of love; there we also weep. There, we understand that it was with our own elements that we had been fighting incessantly.

None of the Above

Quite recently, there were public uproars for admitting NOTA option in Indian General Elections. NOTA had been introduced, clearly because there were people who did not like to stand by any of the candidates in the list. When election rules were set in India, nobody might have thought that Indian politics is going to be a byword for open corruption. However, not too many have envisioned the problems this little NOTA might invoke in case it scores majority of the vote. Will NOTA save the nation is another question.
There was a time when every Indian citizen loved to be identified with the faith/religion, culture, or cast to which he/she belonged and so an application/submission form with a box to indicate the applicant’s religion was not at all an odd thing. This is not the case now. The number of people with indifferences towards religions is slowly increasing. This is not any kind of atheism which administers the doctrine that deities are not real but a movement limited to an understanding that the logics religionists follow are wrong. Once, if Indians were born into a religion and always died in a religion, now all those who are born in a religion are not buried in the same. Non religionists courageously say that they belong to None Of The Above (NOTA). These non religionists believe that in most cases religions are derailed and avoiding them could be better. This NOTA attitude is not restricted to elections and religions only; it has spread to social/family relationships too. People love to live maximum unattached. This has come to be a trend.
Recently, I read about entrepreneurial religion, that is founding one’s own religion. A month back, Indian Express had published news on unattached Christians staging a demonstration in Nagercoil, demanding separate burial grounds. Hinduism in India has ever been open; nobody cares too much about one’s religious faith exercises and almost all have entrepreneurial approach at least in some cases. Entrepreneurship is not alien to Islam too, where some people yearn for peace and tolerance while some others insist on might and rights. Elements of irresponsibility in total consciousness generated by this People, who have chosen to be entrepreneurial in faith and NOTA in action is enough to change the world, absurd in spirit. That is my concern.

The Three Apprentices

Three apprentices were one day making swords for their Master, who had commanded them to do so. The Master also had given specific instructions on how they were to be made. As the three apprentices worked, they debated over what were really the proper procedures and the many secrets of making fine steel.
The day finally came when the Master arrived to check on their work and to collect their swords.  The three apprentices stood side by side anxious to see which sword the Master would choose to be his sword.  The Master stood in front of the first apprentice and took the sword from his hand.  He then drew it from its sheath. The Master looked up and said: “You thought you could fool me, but you have only fooled yourself.  It is plain to see that you did not apply enough heat to the metal and therefore you failed to burn off the impurities in the metal and it will not hold its’ shine for long.”
“Leave me.” said the Master.  “You have not heeded my words nor did you have the patience to even test my wisdom and see if it was true.”
The Master held the sword for a moment and then again did as he had done before by chopping the blade into a tree.  The Master looked up as the second apprentice in an inquisitive manner and said:
“You too have deceived yourself.  You have done well in heating and folding the metal, but because you thought your wisdom was greater than mine you cooled the metal while it was still much too hot.”
“Leave me also,” said the Master to the second apprentice, “for if a man were to use either of these first two swords in battle, they would have surely perished.” The Master then stood before the third apprentice and took his sword also.  He then drew it from its sheath. The blade was smooth, brightly shined and there were also many characters and symbols beautifully engraved into the bottom. The Master then struck the tree with the flat of the blade not once, but five times, each time harder than the others.  The sword rang out loudly, but it did not break, bend or blemish in any way. Humbled by what he had just seen, the Master held the sword out for all to see and said to the third apprentice: “Come with me. For you have heeded my council and have endured the long hours of heat, pain and tempering and have produced a blade worthy of praise and because you have done this, I will show you even greater things. For you have now learned that through much time, heat, tempering and patience comes the finest metal and then it is ready to be used by the Master’s hand.”
I need not tell you the moral of this story; it is a known fact that the more we sharpen the axe the sooner is the wood cut. The more patiently we listen to our masters the stronger and exemplary our life becomes.

The Lizard Brain

The lizard brain is not merely a concept. It’s real, and it has its place on the top of our spine. ‘Why did the chicken cross the road?’ is ‘because its lizard brain told it to.’ Wild animals are wild because the only brain they posses is a lizard brain. But, is the lizard brain any way inferior?
This is a Japanese story; believe it at your risk. I share it in the very shape I got it. “In order to renovate the house, a man in Japan breaks open one of the house walls. Japanese houses normally have a hollow space between the wooden walls. When tearing down the walls, he found that there was a lizard stuck there, because of a nail from outside hammered into one of its feet. He sees this, feels pity, and at the same time curious, as when he checked the nail, it was nailed 10 years ago when the house was first built. Then he wondered how this lizard survived for 10 years, without moving a single step, since its foot was nailed! So he stopped his work and observed the lizard, what it has been doing, and what and how it has been eating. Later, not knowing from where it came, there appeared another lizard, with food in its mouth. Ah! He was stunned and touched deeply – another lizard has been feeding it for the past 10 years…”
The story would have touched your hearts and there could be some who might take it as real, because in animal life such things are probable.

Chasing the Smartest

Where does the world spend most of its energy? Chasing the smartest is the answer. Rather than trying to improve our own records we compete with that of others. Look at the defence; every country and every force has an eye on the gadget, which can outrun that of its enemy. Look at the penal codes; it’s always changing to include the smartest.
I remember the story of a smart farmer. His field was close to a public road and so he had problems with people stealing his water melons in the night. One day the farmer played a clever idea. He put a sign board saying that one of the fruits is poisoned. The trick worked and in the following night no fruit was stolen. However it was written under the sign board he put: ‘now two of the fruits are poisoned’. The story says that the more we think that we are smart the more we are humiliated. Look at the complex country rules with all its clauses and sub clauses. Every time we fix a loophole with a new sub clause, we see more loopholes developing in it. It never ends. See, two lawyers arrive at the pub and order a couple of drinks. They sit down and begin to eat the sandwiches they had brought in their bags. Seeing this, the angry waiter approaches them and says, “Excuse me, but you cannot eat your own sandwiches in here!” The lawyers looked at each other, shrugged and exchanged their sandwiches. We claim that the world has become a global village and everything has improved; the fact is that it hasn’t become a better place to live in. The more we advance the more we shrink towards ourselves. Unless we stop chasing the latest and the smartest and find more importance to values than inventions, things are going to be chaotic.

Orange Peels

Have you ever heard this? The first man to survive going over the Niagara Falls later died slipping on an orange peel. Yes, big people need not necessarily be masters of small things. But it should be admitted that quality of survival depends on one’s ability to manage small things too. Going through the success stories of great people we see that they had learnt to run over orange peels. Orange peels are our weaknesses.
Our weaknesses appear mostly as behavioural disorders. It could be that you always want to accomplish a certain task as perfectly as you can but if you fail it stresses you for a long time. It could be that you have had problems showing up to work on time; it could be that you frequently get annoyed when someone teases you. Your weakness could be taking everything serious and getting quickly angry. It is hard for some people to mix up with others easily. Always putting new things and new ideas at work could also be a weak point, because others might not like this. There are perfectionists who spend much time checking and rechecking to ensure everything is done correctly. Weakness to a few is helping and doing things for others before oneself though it is a good sign of good leadership. Being short tempered is the weak point of many. There are also people who are anxious to have a good poker face. The most important thing is that we should be able to identify them and rectify the problems concerned. Criss Jami, a popular US writer, philosopher and performer wrote, “To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength.”  Knowing your weakness leads to an awareness of own strength and learning to run over it through consistent practice make you the most powerful of the lot.
I remember the story of a young boy who decided to study Judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. All the time his master taught him only one move. The boy continued his intense training, just trusting his teacher. Several months later, the Sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won every step. His final was really tough. Amazed at his success, the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his master’s mind. “Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?” “You won for two reasons,” the Sensei answered. “First, you’ve almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of Judo. And second, the only known defence for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm.”

Cute Little Puppy

An old man of Baghdad dreamt that a great treasure lay hid in a certain spot in Egypt. He accordingly journeyed to Egypt, and there fell into the hands of the police. The police beat him severely on suspicion of being a thief. He told the police, all the particulars of his dream. On hearing him, one of them said, “You must be a fool to journey all this distance merely following a dream. I myself have many times dreamt of a treasure lying hid in a certain spot in Baghdad, but was never foolish enough to go there.” The spot in Baghdad named by this person was none other than the house of this dream walker of Baghdad. This old story came to my mind as a saw a post of my friend in face book. He had given three pictures. On the first there was a few dots spread all over. In the next, an effort to connect these dots through lines was shown. In the third was the cute picture of a puppy which was shaped when all the dots were properly connected. The comment below read, “Knowledge alone is not useful unless we can make connections between what we know.”

Snails of the Earth

One day, a man heard a knock on his house door. As he opened the door, he saw a snail. “Why are you here again?” The man asked the snail. The snail replied, “Six years back, I had knocked at your door and you threw me away that time. I want to know why you did it to me.” It is interesting to know that all the past six years, this little snail was on its’ march back to the house, burning with fury over the injustice that man did to it. A snail generally is a creature that has a coiled shell that is large enough for it to retract completely into. Those without shells are called slugs or semi-slugs.
A snail according to Greek traditional belief symbolises rebirth. Usually we refer to this creature to describe a slow and inefficient process. Since they feed on a wide range of agricultural wastes, they are helpful to humanity. In many parts of the world, snails are used as food. How much a snail is useful or how they live were not the problems that troubled me. What that disturbed me was the mere truth that the snail was spoiling half of its’ life span or rather all the pretty fruitful years of its life travelling back to the house burning in anger. I asked myself, ‘was not me the snail?’ I understood that I mostly live on past hurts and injuries. Whoever comes to me, I see them through lenses of conditionings. Whatever happens in my life I judge them through the many filters in my mind. Past ….. past …. Past…., it is in the past that I mostly live.

Returned Unopened

This is the story of an old woman who gently passed away. The final rites went on as scheduled and she was laid in the tomb. Later, there went on a discussion on the message to be inscribed on her tomb. Everybody knew that she was a good woman of a decent social standing. She was quite supportive to her husband, motivation to her children but never did believe in throwing a penny out to someone else. Everyone knew what she missed in her life. At last the parish priest suggested marking ‘Returned Unopened’ for epitaph.
We know that the universe has designed this world in a fashion that each being on the surface has a feeling that the whole creation is just for that. We take heavily from our society and environment. We but do not realise the fact that we would not have been this or that without drawing anything from what are around. If we do not compensate for all that we receive, the flow is interrupted and love gets stagnated within. There it becomes befitting to write: ‘Returned Unopened’. I think that the problem is that we have enough of everything and finds it comfortable to be closed in one’s own shell. The adage says: ‘Empty pockets teach you a million things in life, but full pocket spoils you in a million ways’.

There Always is a Chance

I’ve seen people lamenting over the bad luck befallen over them. At a close observation, we will find that all those situations would have been otherwise, if they had willed it properly and adopted a different befitting approach. The questions, ‘may I smoke while praying’ and ‘may I pray while smoking’ are same in effect. But both these questions invite different answers. The story of a millionaire and a few beggars comes to my mind. I pass it as I received it.
‘There was a good-natured millionaire in the town. Three beggars thought of approaching him for help. The first man went to the millionaire and said: “O Boss! I want five rupees. Give it to me.”
The millionaire was taken aback at this man’s impudence. “What! You demand five rupees from me as though I owe you the money! How dare you? How can I afford to give five rupees to a single beggar? Here, take these two rupees and get away,” he said. The man went away with the two rupees.
The next beggar went to the millionaire and said: “Oh Boss! I have not taken a square meal for the past ten days. Please help me.” “How much do you want?” asked the millionaire. “Whatever you give me,” replied the beggar. “Here, take this ten rupee note. You can have nice food for at least three days.” The beggar walked away with the ten rupee note. The third beggar came. “Oh Boss, I have heard about your noble qualities. Therefore, I have come to see you. Men of such charitable disposition are verily the manifestations of God on earth,” he said.  “Please sit down,” said the millionaire. “You appear to be tired. Please take this food,” he said, and offered food to the beggar. “Now please tell me what I can do for you.” “Oh Boss,” replied the beggar; “I merely came to meet such a noble personage that you are.
You have given me this rich food already. What more need I get from you?  You have already shown extraordinary kindness towards me. May God bless you!”  But the millionaire, struck by the beggar’s spirit, begged of the beggar to remain with him, built a decent house for him in his own compound, and looked after him for the rest of his life.

There was a Time

William Wordsworth wrote, ‘There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, The earth, and every common sight, To me did seem, Apparell’d in celestial light (Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood). These lines once again clouded in my memory as I strongly felt that a glorious period of Natures wisdom, which prevailed in my early days, is vanishing or has disappeared completely. It was a time when family, people and institutions … all seemed to me apparell’d in bonds of love and mutual concern.
We see that professionalism has taken over all areas in life, from begging to faith practices. No trace of pure love anywhere. People are concerned only about extracting the maximum, wherever they are. Recently, I was told that Microsoft has begun bus services for employees at Bangalore. Employees start working from the bus itself and their office hours are counted from the time they start work in the bus. I remember a live story from China. During a robbery in Guangzhou, the bank robber shouted to everyone in the bank: “Don’t move. The money belongs to the State. Your life belongs to you.” Everyone in the bank laid down quietly. When a lady lay on the table provocatively, the robber shouted at her: “Please be civilised! This is a robbery and not a rape!” We see absolute professionalism in every word the looter spoke.
When the bank robbers returned home, the bank manager told the bank supervisor to call the police quickly. But the supervisor said to him: “Wait! Let us take out $10 million from the bank for ourselves and add it to the $70 million that we have previously embezzled from the bank”. This is professionalism blended with knowledge and experience. The next day, the TV news reported that $100 million was taken from the bank. What the robbers got was hardly 20 million. The question here is not actually who is the bigger robber or the best professional, but how to sustain in this world of masks, where each word and piece of thought is a fabricated trap. It is important to get educated. The more woods we cut the more we need to sharpen our axes.

Wicks and the Shadows

A taxi driver was on his way to an Airport. Quite unexpectedly, the driver slammed on the brakes. The car skid away from the track a bit but saved a collision by a few centi meters. Another car had jumped into the drive way as if from nowhere. The other car driver whipped his head and began yelling at the driver in the story. The passenger in the car was surprised to see his driver smiling and waving at the other as if he is a good old friend of him. The passenger asked him,
“Why did you do that? He would have almost ruined us.”
It is this unknown taxi driver, who explained for the first time, perhaps the best finding of the century – ‘Law of the garbage truck’.
He said to the passenger in a soft voice.
“Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.”

Masters of Uncertainty

This story is about Shri Anand Kumar from Patna, Bihar (India). He has exceptional mathematical skills; many of his papers appeared in Mathematical Spectrum and The Mathematical Gazette. His ambition was to continue in Cambridge. He got an admission but did not join there, because his father could not afford to raise the necessary money. All their efforts to find a sponsor also failed. He had to give up his Cambridge dream for ever and live selling papads in the streets.
However, Anand was not in confusion of any sort. He also tutored students in maths and earned extra money. As a year passed by, it was not his papad sale that grew but the number of students that came to him. It continued growing fast and when three years were completed there were almost 500 students enrolled. It was in 2003 that Kumar started the Super 30 program, for which he is now well-known. He now takes thirty intelligent students every year from economically backward sections which included even beggars and hawkers. He provides them study materials and lodging for a year. His Ramanujam Institute does it all. Anand Kumar is not financed by any external agencies. What he could contribute turned out to be quite surprising. Out of the 270 students he tutored from 2002-2011, 236 students secured an admission to IIT. In 2010, all the students of Super 30 cleared IIT JEE entrance, making it a three in a row for the institution. Hearing about him through Time Magazine, even US President Obama is said to have come forward offering a pretty good support. It was not what Anand was looking for; he was not at all confused.
I admire his stability, consistency, integrity, and self-respect. He lives in the present, unscarred by the fancies of chances. He shows us how exploiting chances and utilising opportunities are different. He seems to have realised the purpose he is made for. That is what makes him very special on earth.

The Dead Sea Life

This is the story of a farmer who lived by the side of a forest. The farmer used to see a fox, which had lost both its front legs in an attempt to escape from a trap, roaming by the sides. He wondered how in this world it manages to earn its food. One day, the farmer decided to watch the disabled fox closely. As the sun grew hot, he saw a tiger approaching the place with a pretty big catch held in its claws. After filling its stomach, the tiger left the place leaving the remaining portion there. It was more than enough for a crawling fox. He saw the same thing repeated the next day too. He said to himself, ‘If this fox is taken care of in this mysterious way, why don’t I just rest in a corner and have my daily meal provided for me?’
He let the days pass, waiting for food. Nothing happened. He just went on losing weight and strength until he was nearly a skeleton. Close to losing consciousness, he heard a Voice which said: “O you, who have mistaken the way, see now the Truth! You should have followed the example of that tiger instead of imitating the disabled fox.”

The Green Thing

The story is about an old lady in a grocery store, to whom the store manager advised to bring her own grocery bags. The store manager said that because the old generation did not care enough to save our environment for future the current generation is under serious threats.
The old woman apologised the manager and said, “Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back all these glass items to the plant to be washed and sterilied and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truly recycled. But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags which we reused for numerous things. We didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house; not a TV in every room and none with a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen, we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
Back then, people took the street car or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had only one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 36,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
Isn’t it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?” Old is always gold; isn’t it?

Hotel Waldorf-Astoria

One stormy night many years ago, an elderly man and his wife entered the lobby of a small hotel in Philadelphia, USA. Trying to get out of the rain, the couple approached the front desk hoping to get some shelter for the night. “Could you possibly give us a room here?” – the husband asked.
The clerk, a friendly man with a winning smile, looked at the couple and explained that there were three conventions in town. “All of our rooms are taken,” the clerk said. “But I can’t send a nice couple like you out into the rain at one o’clock in the morning. Would you perhaps be willing to sleep in my room? It’s not exactly a suite, but it will be good enough to make you folks comfortable for the night.”
When the couple declined, the young man pressed on. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll make out just fine,” the clerk told them. So the couple agreed. As he paid his bill the next morning, the elderly man said to the clerk, “You are the kind of manager who should be the boss of the best hotel. Maybe someday I’ll build one for you.” The clerk looked at them and smiled. The three of them had a good laugh. As they drove away, the elderly couple agreed that the helpful clerk was indeed exceptional, as finding people who are both friendly and helpful isn’t easy. Two years passed. The clerk had almost forgotten the incident when he received a letter from the old man. It recalled that stormy night and enclosed a round-trip ticket to New York, asking the young man to pay them a visit.  The old man met him in New York, and led him to the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. He then pointed to a great new building there, a pale reddish stone, with turrets and watchtowers thrusting up to the sky. “That,” said the older man, “is the hotel I have just built for you to manage.” “You must be joking,” the young man said. “I can assure you I am not,” said the older man, a sly smile playing around his mouth.
The older man’s name was William Waldorf-Aster, and that magnificent structure was the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The young clerk who became its first manager was George C. Boldt. This young clerk never foresaw the turn of events that would lead him to become the manager of one of the world’s most glamorous hotels. This live story is complete in itself.

The Mystery of Success

All are born naked but some departs dressed in praise. In October 2011, we read the obituary reports of two middle aged Americans, Steve Jobs and Dennis Richie. Dennis Ritchie was a computer scientist. He began his career at the famous Bell Labs in the United States. By 1973 he developed the C programming language for use with the then-fledgling Unix operating system. Without Dennis Richie there would not have been any Windows, any Unix, any C, any Generic text languages and we would not have read in Binary. Steve Jobs was co-founder of Apple, who later influenced modern technology with undisputed status marks. Interestingly, Jobs was neither a computer scientist nor an engineer.
While Dennis Richie worked hard with dedication utilising all his expertise, Jobs was focusing on expertise he could mobilise from outside. Once when Jobs was working at Atari, Atari gave Jobs the task of designing a simpler circuit board for its Breakout game, offering him a bonus of $100 for every chip he could eliminate from the design. Jobs’ took the work to a long-time friend and electronics hacker Steve Wozniak, offering to split the $100-per-chip bounty with him. Woz is reported to have cut more than four dozen chips from the board. Jobs recognised opportunities, then got the best people he could find to work on them. That’s why Jobs could grow to a charismatic showman. Without Jobs’ there would not have been any iProducts.
Who among them was more important to technology? Certainly it was Dennis Richie. I don’t think that we require a long analysis to ascertain why Steve Jobs is more honoured. The difference is simple: Jobs was an organiser and a leader who democratised technology while Richie was a lone flower in Bell gardens.

Feel Appropriately

I remember an old folk story according to which there was a poor illiterate farmer who never prayed in his life. Somebody had told him that God will appear to everybody, once in his lifetime and grant one wish each. The farmer thought it to be true and patiently waited without ever praying until he got old.  When he was old, he turned his head upwards and prayed, “Oh God, now you may show up.” As he thought God would do, God appeared before him.
“Why did you call me?” God asked him.
“Grant me the boon that I get everything I wish.”
“You will feel whatever you wish,” answered God and then disappeared behind the clouds, without even waiting for a note of gratitude. As the farmer began feeling manifestation of wishes one by one, thoughts of God presence filled his time. The story continued saying that he lived happily all his life. He never wanted anything more.
This story came to my mind when I happened to hear about a farmer by name Dashrath Majhi, who lived in a remote village in Bihar. His wife died without any treatment, because the nearest town with a Doctor was 70 km away from their village. Well, that could have been a far shorter distance, if not for a hill in between the village and the town. Dashrath did not want anyone else to suffer the same fate any more. He felt like walking through a short cut done at the hill. He did the unthinkable: Dashrath Manjhi’s claim to fame has been the herculean task of single-handedly carving a 360-foot-long (110 m), 25-foot-high (7.6 m) and 30-foot-wide (9.1 m) road by cutting the mountain of Gehlour hills with a hammer, chisel and nails working day and night for 22 years from 1960 to 1982. This passage reduced the distance between Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya district from 70 km to just 7 km. Feel what we wish is the first step towards manifestation of what one wished.

Masks of Honour

There lived a very cruel king by name Virat Singh. All the people in the country feared this cruel ruler. The king had a dog called Jack, which he loved more than anything. One fateful morning Jack died. Virat Singh organised a ceremonial burial for the dog and the entire city was present at the royal cemetery. Virat Singh was very happy to see that his people love him so much. After a few days, Virat Singh died. The story tells us that no one from the city attended his funeral.
We know that the entire city came to see off the dog only because they feared Virat Singh. They pretended that they love Virat Singh. I’m of the opinion that not a human being, who hasn’t tried at least one mask in his/her whole life has crossed this world. A basic study over the masks we regularly use might reveal that the emotions we express and thoughts within never match. If we observe ourselves more carefully, we will be surprised to see the number of masks we wear each day. Perhaps we might not have appeared anywhere without masks. It could be because we are afraid to be natural by speaking what we think or doing what we say. Whom are we afraid of? The answer is certainly, ‘we ourselves’. Most surprising is the fact that each player thinks that he/she wears the best mask and nobody is going to break it. I remind my friends, the truth that every time we wear masks they are detected by some degree.
One fine day, Akbar lost his ring. Akbar told Birbal, “I have lost my ring. My father had given it to me as a gift. Please help me find it.”  Birbal said, ”Do not worry your Majesty, I will find your ring right now.” He said, ”Your Majesty, the ring is here in this court itself, it is with one of the courtier. The courtier who has a straw in his beard has your ring.”  The courtier who had the emperors ring was shocked and immediately moved his hand over his beard. Birbal noticed this act of the courtier. He immediately pointed towards the courtier and said, ”Please search this man. He has the emperors ring.”
How at peace each one would have been without masks? I don’t know. However I need not agree with those who argue that we need some masks every time. Anyway, the sale prices of masks also have gone up and fancy masks are very expensive these days because even the animals have begun using them.

Street Rhymes

A lady was on wheels through the Highway. Suddenly she noticed a man on the side with a card board sign and a dog aside. He seemed scary and was carelessly sitting on the grass. The lady was a sucker for anyone needing help. She pulled her car. She saw the man in the rear view mirror. He was youngish, maybe forty, tattoos all over; he was dirty and had a scraggly beard. He had neatly tucked in the black T-shirt, and his things were in a small, tidy bundle. Nobody was stopping for him. It was so hot out. She could see in the man’s very blue eyes how dejected and tired and worn-out he felt. The sweat was trickling down his face. The scripture suddenly popped into her head. “In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, so ye have done it unto me.”
She reached her purse and extracted a ten-dollar bill. Her twelve-year old son, Nick knew right away what she was doing. “Can I take it to him, Mom?” He asked. “Be careful, honey.” She warned and handed him the money. She watched in the mirror as he rushed over to the man, and with a shy smile, handed it to him. I saw the man, startled, stand up and take the money, putting it into his back pocket. “Good,” she thought to herself. “Now he will at least have a hot meal tonight.” She said.
When Nick got back into the car, he looked at her with sad, pleading eyes. “Mom, his dog looks so hot and the man is really nice.” She knew that she had to do more. “Go back and tell him to stay there, that we will be back in fifteen minutes,” She told Nick. He bounded out of the car and ran to tell the tattooed stranger. The man was surprised, but nodded his agreement.
She then ran to the nearest store and bought their gifts carefully. They finally settled on their purchases. A bag of “Ol’ Roy”; a flavoured chew-toy shaped like a bone; a water dish, bacon flavoured snacks (for the dog); two bottles of water (one for the dog, one for Mr. Tattoos); and some people snacks for the man. She rushed back to the spot where they had left him, and there he was, still waiting. She walked towards the man, all four of her children following her, each carrying gifts. She looked into his eyes and saw tears tripping down. He was fighting like a little boy to hold back his tears. How long had it been since someone showed this man kindness? She showed him what they had brought. He stood there, like a child at Christmas, while she felt like her small contributions were so inadequate. He snatched the water dish out of her hands as if it were solid gold and told her that he had had no way to give his dog water. He gingerly set it down, filled it with the bottled water they brought, and stood up to look directly into her eyes. He said, “Ma’am, I don’t know what to say.” She smiled through her tears and said, “Don’t say anything.” She waved cheerfully but fully broke down in tears.
She thought that she has so much; her worries seemed so trivial and petty then. She has a home, a loving husband, four beautiful children. She has a bed. She wondered where he would sleep that night. Her daughter, Brandie turned to her and said in the sweetest little-girl voice, “I feel so good.”  Although it seemed as if they had helped him, the man with the tattoos gave them a gift that she will never forget. He taught that no matter what the outside looks like, inside each of us is a human being deserving of kindness, of compassion, of acceptance.

Stealing Dreams

What could be the most heinous crime in the world? We are not going to settle on a particular answer. The story of a horse ranch which I happened to read quite recently but says that the most heinous crime with regard to future could be nothing other than stealing others’ dreams. A man by name Monty was speaking to an assembled group. He said, “I tell you a story. There was a poor boy, son to an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior in the School, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.
That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch. This little boy put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it over to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after the class.’
The boy with the dream went to the teacher and asked, “Why did I receive an F?” The teacher said, “Son, this is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you’ll have to pay large stud fees. There’s no way you could ever do it.” The teacher added, “If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.”
The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He told his teacher, “You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream.” Monty Continued, “I share this story with you because you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the fireplace.” He added, “The best part of the story is that two summers ago that same school teacher brought 30 kids to camp out in my ranch for a week.” When the teacher was leaving, he said, ‘Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption not to give up on yours.” After a small pause, Monty said, “Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.”

Beware of Silence!

The story goes on saying that there once was a farmer who discovered that he had lost his watch in the barn. It had sentimental value for him. After searching high and low among the hay for a long while; he gave up and enlisted the help of a group of children playing outside the barn. He promised them that the person who found it would be rewarded. Hearing this, the children hurried inside the barn, went through and around the entire stack of hay but still could not find the watch. Just when the farmer was about to give up looking for his watch, a little boy went up to him and asked to be given another chance. The farmer looked at him and thought, “Why not? After all, this kid looks sincere enough. So the farmer sent the little boy back in the barn.
After a while the little boy came out with the watch in his hand! The farmer was both happy and surprised and so he asked the boy how he succeeded where the rest had failed. The boy replied, “I did nothing but sit on the ground and listen. In the silence, I heard the ticking of the watch and just looked for it in that direction.”
Silence is a much discussed possibility in life. The story of the farmer tells us how silence was effectively utilised in recovering a lost watch. Generally, the purpose of silence is limited to maintenance of some sort of inner peace. However, silence can be meaningless and at the same time meaningful; silence can also be positive or negative, inner or outer.  For me, silence is not simply a situation of no sounds or absence of any communication. I believe in the theory that silence begins where mind and intellect ceases. It is in silence that we establish our connection with the subtle elements of existence and I am talking about a world beyond rational assumptions, where silence is a state of total communication. Whenever I brood over the concept, it comes to my mind that silence is the most powerful force in the world. A big roar can be dealt with a loud boom. But, how shall we deal a person who consciously practices silence in life? Shall I say, beware of silence? Silence is so powerful, the more we eat it the more it will swallow us.

Breathing in Vain

There was a time when I was deep in books, old and new. Even though it were the mystic books of Tuesday Lobsang Rampa (an early 20th c. Buddhist monk from Tibet, author of The Third Eye) that attracted me most, my weakness is Acharya Rajanish, popularly known Osho. Every time I go through one of his works, I used to convince myself that Osho has summarised his best advices, in that one book. My assumptions lasted only till the moment I opened his next book. Once Osho said, “A comfortable, convenient life is not a real life – the more comfortable, the less alive. The most comfortable life is in the grave. If you are alive there is inconvenience.
If you are alive, there are challenges. If you are alive then every moment you have to face reality, encounter reality. Every moment you have to be ready to change and to move. Reality has no security and that is its’ beauty. Life has no security and that is its’ beauty. Because there is no security, there is adventure. Because the future is unknown, nobody knows what is going to happen the next moment. That’s why there is challenge, growth, adventure. If you miss adventure, you miss all. If your life is not that of an adventure, of a search into the unknown, then you are living in vain.”
This quote I recalled once again, as I went through a few thrilling Indian success stories. The first was the story of a visually impaired 23 year old guy (blind from 11 years) from Hyderabad who has become India’s first blind CA (Chartered Accountant). The next was the sterling success story of a poor Tamil girl, Prema Jayakumar, who came first in the CA final exam last year. What is special with her is that she is daughter of a poor Auto Rikshaw driver in Mumbai and live with her family in a one room house in Malad there. The third story is about a guy who got into Google! Naga Naresh Karutura, son of illiterate parents is an IIT pass out, who has no legs. I’m sure that there are many more, who truly live according to the parameters set by Osho. The sad thing is that the number of people truly living is very low when compared to the many who breathe in vain.

Excellent Question!

One day, an Indian saint was asked, “How shall we measure the greatness of an individual?” Immediately came to him a question, “How tall is a lotus flower?” The saint explained that any lotus flower has a certain height and that is in reference to the depth of the water in which the plant is. There will be a thin bio-pipe line connecting the flower with the plant at its’ base, which determines its’ height. The saint further said that the growth of a human being is also determined in reference to the depth of God-consciousness he is in. This beautiful reply was in response to an appropriate question. The great thinker Socrates said that it was his father who taught him to ask right questions. He learned that excellent questions only fetch beautiful answers.
I remember another question somebody one day asked to another Indian saint. This time the Hindu saint was asked, “Why do people shout at others?” The saint replied that it is because of the distance between two hearts. People shout even if the other person is just next to them.” The saint explained, “When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other. What happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small.” The saint continued, “When they love each other even more, they do not speak, they only whisper. At a more loving stage, they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that’s all.”
We love to hear catching answers even to our wrong questions. We are not bothered about generating right questions? It is said, “Ask and you get.” It reminds us that we need to ask first. If you love to have something special, you need to ask something special. If somebody asks me to tell about the first thing an enthusiast (be from any stream) need to learn, I might answer, “Learn to ask right questions.”

Illuminated Cave

12-12-12 is an auspicious day. In literature 12th night is more discussed than first night. In trade 12 is a sales unit called dozen. In mathematics 12 is a composite number as well as a sublime number. This number is great to many religions, mainly Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In calendar system, we have twelve months in a year. In astrology, according to the West, Zodiac has 12 signs, and back on our computer key board there are 12 function keys. It continues….. Today I thought of sharing with you a story on our 12th (?) sense.
Long time ago, there were two swamis who lived in two neighbouring caves. They spent most of their time in deep meditation, except the time they ate or were visited by devotees. One cave was dark as usual, but in the other one there was sometimes a peculiar golden light illuminating the cave. The visitors believed that the one living in the illuminated cave possessed supernatural powers and was more advanced. One day another great sage was passing through the village. The villagers approached this sage and told him the story of the illuminated cave. They had a thousand questions to ask him. The sage spoke, “Pay attention to your inner self and not to outer phenomena. The outside world always changes, but inner self is constant. When in the presence of a teacher, listen to what he says and be aware of the influence of his words on you. Watch yourself, and see whether under his influence you become calmer and more peaceful, and your thoughts, at least for a while, slow down your mad race.” Their curiosity was not fully quenched.
The sage sat down, and started to explain: “Sometimes, when one works intensively on the spiritual path, and concentrates and meditates a lot, various phenomena may occur around him such as lights, sounds or visions. This is not supernatural. The mind has a creative power, and when concentrated, can produce various phenomena even unintentionally. It does not mean that one is more advanced than the other. Not all minds produce these things. Some do, and some don’t. Some of the people who produce these lights may be aware of the light, and some may not. It depends on their psychic sensitivity. So it is also with the people who watch them. Not all see this light. In any case, it has nothing to do with whether one swami is more advanced or less advanced than the other one.

Two Things in Life

I’m reminded of a family who went on to visit ‘Apple Computers’ headquartered in Cupertino, California in USA. The year was 1999. That time, ‘Apple’ was emerging into a great pride of the nation. The family was at the main building gate. They wanted a full family photo at the background of the main building. It was then that they saw a man getting into a car parked nearby. The father took no time to turn to him and request a help. The man paused a moment as the iPhone was handed over to him. The man however took a great deal of care composing the photo, backing up a few steps several times, tapping the iPhone screen to lock focus, then said, “Smile!” as he snapped the photo. He handed back the iPhone and they said, “Thank you, sir.”  The man stepped into his car, closed the door, and drove away. The family looked at the photo that the man had taken and all agreed that it looked great. The family went on their way, but the Apple staff, who crossed the spot to witness all these was given an unforgettable lesson. He whispered, ‘people generally live on assumptions not knowing what really is going on or what actually is the truth of the moment’. He only knew that the man who helped the family was none other than Steve Jobs, CEO of ‘Apple Computers’. Everybody admits that we are very good lawyers for our mistakes and very good Judges for other’s mistakes. That however is not living at human standards.

Wall Coffee

We all might have heard of different makes of coffee branded and home brew. But this was the first time I heard about another variety – Coffee on the Wall. This Venetian story was forwarded to me by a friend of mine a few days back. I could not resist sharing it with the Share and Learn readers the world over. The story goes saying,
‘I sat with my friend in a well-known coffee shop in a neighbouring town of Venice, the city of lights and water. As we enjoyed our coffee, a man entered and sat on an empty table beside us. He called the waiter and placed his order saying, ‘Two cups of coffee, one of them there on the wall.’ We heard this order with rather interest and observed that he was served with one cup of coffee but he paid for two. As soon as he left, the waiter pasted a piece of paper on the wall saying ‘A Cup of Coffee’. While we were still there, two other men entered and ordered three cups of coffee, two on the table and one on the wall. They had two cups of coffee but paid for three and left. This time also, the waiter did the same; he pasted a piece of paper on the wall saying, ‘A Cup of Coffee’. It seemed that this gesture was a norm at this place. However, it was something unique and perplexing for us. Since we had nothing to do with the matter, we finished our coffee, paid the bill and left.
After a few days, we again had a chance to go to this coffee shop. While we were enjoying our coffee, a man entered. The way this man was dressed did not match neither the standard nor the atmosphere of this coffee shop. Poverty was evident from the looks on his face. As he seated himself, he looked at the wall and said, one cup of coffee from the wall. The waiter served coffee to this man with the customary respect and dignity. The man had his coffee and left without paying. We were amazed to watch all this when the waiter took off a piece of paper from the wall and threw it in the dust bin. Now it was no surprise for us – the matter was very clear. The great respect for the needy shown by the inhabitants of this town welled up our eyes with tears.’
Yes, the Universe has provided us with plenty of walls all around; it has also given us enough chances to express ourselves. It is up to us to decorate the wall of our choice with sayings of our own.

Bad by Name; Bad by Nature?

In his book, ‘Long Walk To Freedom’, Nelson Mandela elaborates a touching incident from his life. At that time he was prisoned in Robben Island, where he had a very brutal officer, by name Badenhorst. A few days before Badenhorst’s departure, Mandela was called to the main office. General Steyn was visiting the island and he wanted to know if prisoners had any complaints. Badenhorst was there as Mandela went through a list of demands and complaints. When he had finished, Badenhorst spoke to him directly. He told Mandela that he would be leaving the island and added: “I just want to wish you people good luck”. Manadela became dumbfounded as he heard these kind words. He was amazed and says that his words resembled that of a passionate human being. Mandela soon realised that this officer had a different side of himself which they had never seen before. Mandela concludes the story saying that this incident could tell him that all men, even the most seemingly cold-blooded, have a core of decency and that, if their hearts are touched, they are capable of changing. Mandela says that he behaved like a brute because he was rewarded for brutish behaviour.
When we love somebody, we usually forget all those bad factors in the other and when we hate somebody we ignore all that are good in the other. That is how we usually express our personality. Mandela reminds us that every human being has two sides and every act one does is justified by his/her consciousness be it integrated or disintegrated. The main point in his sharing is not still that. He says that there is a password to open that passionate side of any human being. What to do? The world has become scared of passwords and enter tabs. They read what that appears on the screen. Our attempt to squeeze through we forget all the morals, most naturally only to fall prey to greater troubles in life. The best way out is looking at the possible finer side of the other and for all, always playing the finer side

A Day in Peace

Sometime back, I visited an old acquaintance of mine at his home. He was abed and was prey to multitudes of physical problems. On my way back, the auto driver commented, “So rich …. but no one to inherit.” I knew that he was hard working and industrious. I understood that it was about this person that the driver has commented. I am not the first one to write on the uselessness of our ambitious hoarding attitude. All around, we have examples only, still it is a puzzling question, ‘When shall we learn to live at least a day in peace’? We accumulate more than what we need on the assumption that others consider our efforts, and there will be generations to remember us.
I am reminded of an old Indian story: a young man called Rama Swami died an untimely death. His parents, wife and nine year old son were crying bitterly sitting next to his dead body. They all happened to be disciples of a holy man whom they called ‘Maharaj Ji’. When Maharaj Ji learnt that Rama Swami had died, he came to visit the family. He entered the house and found the family wailing inconsolably. Seeing Maharaj Ji, the wife started crying even louder. She sobbed saying, “Maharaj Ji, he has died too early, he was so young……. Oh! I would do anything to make him alive again. What will happen to our son? I’m so helpless and miserable.” Maharaj Ji tried to pacify the crying lady and the old parents, but the loss was too much for them to come to terms with so easily. Eventually, Maharaj Ji said, “Alright, get me a glass of water.” Maharaj Ji sat near the dead body and put the glass next to it. He said, “Now, whoever wants that Rama Swami should become alive again may drink this water. Rama swami shall come back to life, but the person who drinks the water shall die instead!” Silence..! “Come, did you not say that Rama Swami was the sole bread winner of the family? Who would die instead of him? It is a case of fair exchange, isn’t it?” The wife looked at the old mother and the old mother looked at the wife. The old father looked at Rama Swami’s son. But no one came forward…
Everyone had their individual excuses to say. Maharaj Ji at last asked the son, “Well little boy, would you like to give your life for your father?” Before the boy could say anything, his mother pulled him to her breast and said, “Maharaj Ji, are you insane? My son is only nine. He has not yet lived his life. How could you even think or suggest such a thing?” Maharaj Ji said, “Well it seems that all of you are very much needed for the things you need to do in this world. It seems Rama Swami was the only one that could be spared. That is why God chose to take him away. So shall we now proceed with his last rites? It’s getting late. Having said that, Maharaj Ji got up and left. God’s plan is impeccable.
The story is very relevant in our common life. We tend a plant only when the leaves are green; when they become dry and the plant becomes a life-less stick, we stop loving it. Love lasts as long as life exists …….. the rest is only memories of happy times..!

I Must At Least Try

In 1985, Joe Simpson and his partner Simon Yates made a first-ascent of the previously unclimbed West Face of the 6,344 meter high Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. On the descent, Simpson broke his leg and during the subsequent self-rescue in storm, the two became separated. Joe Simson, who later became a great motivational speaker and writer, wrote of his experience in ‘Touching the Void’, a much read book.
In his book he narrates how he could live to tell the world one of the best live motivational stories ever. Early in the descent, Simpson fell and smashed his right knee. Yates could have abandoned him but managed to find a way of lowering him down the mountain in a series of difficult drops blinded by snow and cold. Then Simpson fell into a crevasse and Yates eventually had no choice but to cut the rope, utterly convinced that his friend was now dead. The survival of Yates himself was extraordinary. Joe Simpson wrote: “As I gazed at the distant moraines, I knew that I must at least try. I would probably die out there amid those boulders. The thought didn’t alarm me. It seemed reasonable, matter-of-fact. That was how it was. I could aim for something. If I died, well, that wasn’t so surprising, but I wouldn’t have just waited for it to happen. The horror of dying no longer affected me as it had in the crevasse. I now had the chance to confront it and struggle against it. It wasn’t a bleak dark terror any more, just fact, like my broken leg and frostbitten fingers, and I couldn’t be afraid of things like that. My leg would hurt when I fell and when I couldn’t get up I would die.” That Simpson somehow found a way of climbing out of the crevasse after 12 hours and then literally crawled and dragged himself six miles back to camp, going three days and nights without food or drink, losing three stone, and contracting ketoacidosis in the process, would be the stuff of heroic fiction if it was not so true. Indeed, six operations and two years later, he was even back climbing.
If Simpson could once again come back to life, it is all because, against all the odds, he tried. At a time only a small fall is necessary to carve away all our hopes, this Simpson story is outstanding; it tells us ‘don’t be lost, always there is chance for a try’.

Options Please !

Everybody knows that just three apples were enough to change the world and our destiny; one of them Adam ate, next one fell on the head of Newton and part of the third one was with Steve Jobs. But, as of today no more apples are going to make any impact here, because the world has become either madly crazy or foolishly stupid. Tomorrow, ‘how do you do?’ might be replaced with ‘what are you, crazy or stupid?’ It is almost sure that the upcoming generation has got only these two choices to be.
I have heard the story of an executive who happened to be in a posh hotel just for something to drink. See the conversation in the restaurant. “Fruit juice, Soda, Tea, Chocolate, Milo or Coffee?” “Tea please.” “Ceylon tea, Herbal tea, Bush tea, Honey bush tea, Ice tea or green tea?” “Ceylon tea.” “Black or white?” “With milk.” “Milk, Whitener or Condensed milk?” “Milk.” “Goat milk, Camel milk or cow milk?” “Cow milk.” “Freeze land cow or Afrikaner cow?”  The executive understood that questions are never going to cease; he said, “Um….., I’ll take it black.” “With sweetener, sugar or honey?” “With sugar.” “Beet sugar or cane sugar?” “Cane sugar.” “White, brown or yellow sugar?” The executive was about to get mad. “Forget about tea, just give me a glass of water instead.” He said. “Mineral water or still water?” “Mineral water” “Flavored or non-flavored?” “Wait a minute.” He said and slowly rose up to leave the restaurant.
Choices are there everywhere; it never ends. We know how much in trouble a plus two pass out is; there appears an ocean of choices for him. Look at any patient; the physician floods him with a long list of choices. Neither the farmer nor a business man is free of choices. Even a religious aspirant has got more than a hundred ways to choose for his road to realisation. It is choice food we eat, choice dress we wear, choice mobile we use …. so goes. One exception is perhaps the air we breathe.  Instead of asking someone who your father is, it has become much more pleasing to him/her to have some options and a few clues too. Options have become our very need. After a brief review of similar classic situations, I understood that it is options that are going to decide the destiny of the world; never any apple. I also found that there are only two choices to recommend, ‘allow the world go crazy and people remain stupid or …… or the other way round’.

Reveal the Self

In a small village, in the valley, lived a man who was always happy, kind, and well disposed to everyone he met. He always smiled, and had kind and encouraging words to say, whenever it was necessary. Everyone who met him, left feeling better, happier and elated. People knew they could count on him, and regarded him as a great friend. One of the village dwellers was curious to know what his secret was, and how he could always be so kind and helpful. He wondered, how is it that he held no grudge toward anyone, and always was happy.
Once, upon meeting him in the street he asked him:
“Most people are selfish and unsatisfied. They do not smile as often as you do; neither are they as helpful or kind as you are. How do you explain it?”
The man smiled at him and replied,
“When you make peace with yourself, you can be in peace with the rest of the world. If you can recognise the spirit in yourself, you can recognise the spirit in everyone, and then you find it natural to be kind and well disposed to all. If your thoughts are under your control, you become strong and firm. The personality is like a robot programmed to do certain tasks. Your habits and thoughts are the tools and programs that control your personality. Become free from being programmed, and then the inner good and the happiness that reside within you will be revealed.”

In Fear We Live

A generation living in fear – that is what precisely we are. Everywhere we hear stunning stories of psychics speaking tongues or predicting future and finally skulking away with thousands in cash and kind. Hear a few recent stories: Tammy Mitchell, the phony psychic from Midtown Manhattan ensnared a former Wall Street trader by telling him that his family was cursed. After his first week of sessions with Mitchell he was $200,000 poorer. Another lady Sophie Evon was caught and was charged of first degree theft. She persuaded a Chinese immigrant to give Evon $200,000 to win back her boy friend. If similar things happen in most advanced countries like USA, what could be the fate of under developed religious countries like India? Well said, the situation here in India is worse than the creature peddling between the devil and the deep sea. The people here are choked by God men and doctrines. At every nook and corner of the country there are fear factories and solution venders. No religion here lets a man be himself or know the truth.
Two men went out for trekking and happened to spend one night under the tent they had brought. One of them, a well educated scholar, woke up in the dark and looked up. He shook his friend also up and asked him to look up and began explaining theories concerning terrestrial bodies, which they were seeing in abundance. He finished his discourse and asked his friend, “What do you understand?” He awfully looked at the scholar and said, “I understand that somebody has stolen our tent.” The story is relevant in our everyday life. In our eagerness to keep away from day to day misfortunes we forget what we basically lose or where we want an urgent repair.

The Winner

The whole of humanity is on a mad race, to be always the first or the best. The present day market economy and its’ corresponding trends have made us slaves to such a blind race. Unfortunately, our curriculum also is designed to generate competency in every phase of life. The sad truth is that we compete not with our own files but with that of others, on a false assumption that success is being at least an inch ahead of many others.
I have heard the story of a race-crazy boy who always wanted to win the applause of the public. In every competition, the boy dug deep and called on his determination, strength and power. He used to finish first. The boy had a wise father, who took him to a running competition organized in a nearby school of physically handicapped children. The father thought of showing his son some unexplored areas of human life. But that day he could demonstrate something more. As the race at the school began, one of the contestants fell down. The boy who had gone much ahead of all others heard his friend’s cry; he turned back and helped the boy stand up and further continued the race together with him all the way holding his hand tight. This simple gesture of love and compassion moved the crowd. There came up a long and loud applause which the race-crazy boy had never heard. The wise man said to his son, “A person is a person because of another person.”
I think, this is truly the great knowledge the present world misses. There is definitely a difference between knowledge and wisdom. It is said that if knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit not a vegetable, wisdom is knowing not to include it in a fruit salad. A knowledgeable person always walks to the optimum at his level but how far others go is not his concern. What the world asks for is hearts filled with compassion; the problem is that each one wants others to be compassionate considerate but not oneself.
Once a farmer found an abandoned eagle’s nest, with an egg in it. The egg was hatched and a baby eagle came out. It grew up along with the other chickens, the farmer grew. It spent its life pecking within the farm yard and rarely looked up. One day it lifted up its’ head and saw above it an eagle soaring high above in the sky. The farmyard eagle sighed and said to itself, “If only I’d been born an eagle”. We appreciate charity and all acts of empathy not knowing who we are and our purpose here. We keep lamenting, ‘If I had been a human being!’

Short and Small

I have heard the story of an English school teacher, looking for rooms in a small town in Switzerland. He asked the local school headmaster to make recommendations. He showed her several different places and she finally settled on a small cottage not far from the town centre. However, on her way home, it occurred to her that she didn’t notice a Water Closet (WC); so she immediately sent an email to the headmaster asking if there was a WC in or near the cottage. On receiving the email, the headmaster was troubled, because he was not totally familiar with many English abbreviations. He then decided to ask his friend, the local parish Priest, who concluded that the lady was referring to a ‘Wayside Chapel’, so they sent her the following reply: ‘I am delighted to inform you that the WC is situated only 2 miles from the cottage you rented, and it is set amongst a beautiful grove of trees with wonderful scenery, and it is capable of seating up to 250 people, however there is also standing room for another 100 people. In fact, sometimes it is so busy, we actually have people standing outside the open doors peering inside to observe the various proceedings inside! The WC only opens on Wednesdays and Sundays. My father recently donated a bell and the bell rings every time somebody enters the WC’. The Email had a Post Script too which read, ‘Remember to bring your camera, as I am sure you will want to keep a memento of your visit to our WC. Our newspaper editor attends every session of the WC and he usually publishes selected photographs in our town newspaper ‘The Sentinel’.
It is Benjamin Disraeli who said, “Life is too short to be small.” As Albert Einstein once put it, “Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds.” They should be right, as we reduce ourselves to the minimum, we unknowingly miss our ability to expand.

Miracles on Sale!

What’s the price of a miracle? Believe it or not, it is a simple truth that miracles are sold in distinct shapes. We have religious institutions, personality experts, corporate schools and isolated God men, all simultaneously handling wholesale deals of miracles too. Prices vary as to the size and magnitude of the requirement.
Sometimes back, I happened to go through a strange story of a little girl, who went to a drug store to buy a miracle for her sick brother. She was hardly eight years when she happened to hear her parents talk about her sick brother. They had decided to sell their house and move to an apartment, just to raise some money for a major operation, which the boy badly needed. She heard her Daddy say to her tearful Mother with desperation, “Only a miracle can save him now.” Little Tess immediately withdrew to her bedroom and took out a jelly jar from its hiding place and began counting all the coins in it. It was her long time saving chest. Three times she counted the collection and then slipped out through the back door of the house and rushed to the drugs store six Blocks away.
It took some time for her to get the attention of the Pharmacist, who was seriously talking to a middle aged man. She waited patiently. Neither her scuffing noise nor her throat clearing sound could catch his attention. Finally she took a coin from the jar and banged it on the glass. That did it!
“And what do you want?” the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. “I’m talking to my brother from Chicago, whom I haven’t seen in ages,” he said without waiting for a reply to his question.
“Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,” Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone.  “He’s really, really sick …… and I want to buy a miracle.”
“I beg your pardon?” said the pharmacist.
“His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says that only a miracle can save him now.  So, how much does a miracle cost?”
“We don’t sell miracles here, little girl.  I’m sorry, I can’t help you,” the pharmacist said, softening a little.
“Listen, I have the money to pay for it.  If it isn’t enough, I will get the rest.  Just tell me how much it costs.”
The pharmacist’s brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, “What kind of a miracle does your brother need?”
“I don’t know,” Tess replied with her eyes welling up. “I just know he’s really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation.  But, my Daddy can’t pay for it, so I want to use my money.
“How much do you have?” asked the man.
“One dollar and eleven cents,” Tess answered. “And it’s all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to.”
“Well, what a coincidence,” smiled the man, “A dollar and eleven cents – the exact price of a miracle for little brothers.”
He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her and said, “Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let’s see if I have the kind of miracle you need.”
That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a neuro-surgeon from Chicago. The boy’s operation was completed in his hospital without any charge and her brother went back home quite fine. Only little Tess and the surgeon knew how much it costs for a miracle for brothers. Everybody learned how coincidences transform into miracles, but……but only a few could see the miracle as blooming out of a jelly jar of pure trust.

The Worst of Winter

This story is from a Red Indian settlement. The villagers asked their new Chief if the coming winter was going to be too cold or moderate. The new young Chief was not taught the secrets of forecasting weather. He behaved to be modern but was not much educated. He looked up at the sky, but could not connect himself to the cosmic secrets. However, he boldly replied to his people that the winter was indeed going to be cold and the people began collecting firewood. A few days passed by, the Chief wanted to make sure what actually was going to happen. He went to a telephone booth and called the Weather Forecast Service and asked, “Is the coming winter going to be cold?” “It seems that it is going to be the same as the previous,” the meteorologist answered. The young Chief knew that the previous winter was somewhat cold. The Chief went back to his people and told them to collect more wood in order to be prepared. A week later, he called the Weather Forecast Service again. “Is it going to be a very cold winter?” “Yes,” the man replied, “It’s definitely going to be a very cold winter.” The Chief returned to the village and ordered his people to collect every scrap of wood they could find. Two more weeks passed by and it was winter but the weather was still not as cold as expected. The Chief called the Weather Forecast Service once again. “Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?” “Damn sure,” the man replied. “How can you be so sure?” the Chief asked. The man replied, “The Red Indians are collecting all scraps of wood.”
This story crossed my mind, as I thought of the present status of the fast increasing crimes all over the world. No political leader dares to move out without at least some category of protection, most portion of wealth are on bonds of insurance and every moment of human life is technically unsure. If we ask the State Crimes Statistics Department, what they might say is that the upcoming year is definitely going to be worse. Do not ask them why? They might reply that a man by your name is turning increasingly resistant to the laws of the land.

Map of Life

Motivational stories teach us valuable lessons in life, so are lost attempts. Throughout history, inspiring examples were effectively used to motivate people. Nobody is complete and everybody needs boosters in every phase of life, something to lift them up and make them smile. Inspiring messages, people and situations have a vital role in our life, provided we decide to respond the moment we feel for that.
If we propose to go out for a pleasure tour, somewhere far off, don’t we check the place map? It would be great if we have a map of life that could give us helping tips throughout the journey of life. Appropriate motivating messages fixed at critical junctions of growth in life might make a map of life for a successful person. Quite recently, I got a surprise mail from one of my friends, who work in a reputed firm. He was nothing special, as I knew him, but he could rise to the status of a senior executive in the company, he worked. I attributed his fortune to inexplicable twists in life. His letter read, ‘It has been nine long years since I had been in this company. It is with mixed feelings that I tell you that I have decided to initiate my own business in my home city. Mr. Praveen Rathod is replacing me and please offer him all the support you had been gracefully giving me till date. I will still be in my seat for another two more weeks, just to help him settle down comfortably. Living in this city and working with the company has given me a lot of unforgettable experiences. I sincerely thank you for all that I have lovingly received – they definitely make my adventures more colourful.’
I could imagine how carefully he was treasuring each minute experience he had in his life, all in hope of a unique adventure of his own. Definitely there could have been moments of shock and awe in his life. But his words are that of gratitude and his attitude is that of acceptance. He is sure to win in life; such is his revealed ability to focus on the ‘present’. It seems that he has a clear map of life, made of experiences and inspiring episodes.
It is said that ‘any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.’  I like to say that you can do anything, but not everything. The basic thing is to learn to be in the present where you are, giving all to whatever you’re currently doing. There only you will be able to get motivated. Focused energy is power, and it’s the difference between success and failure. It appears to me that my friend takes all achievements as mile stones, not as mountain peaks. In his life, past glories do not outweigh his future dreams. Without being complacent, he enjoys the adulation, respect and comfort that success brings. Blessed are those who relax and relish all past experiences at each landmark in life. They always set the bar higher and higher. They find inspired at every moment of life; they fall motivated at every word they hear.

Strangers’ Paradise

Once I happened to hear a web joke. A middle aged man was searching ‘Google’ with these key words, `How to handle a wife?’ Soon came the search result, `Good day sir, Even we are searching`. Since long, I am in search of a solution to bring humans out from the culture of lie we live in. No search engines could figure out a link to a solution bank in this case. We are so double faced that we throw off a 100 Rupee bill to a hotel waiter, as if it is an insignificant figure in our life; but when it comes to a beggar, the same figure turns out to be a big amount to be disposed. This is not all; praying God for three minutes looks hard for us but never a three hours long, Hollywood movie. We do not offer a piece of bread to a hungry child, but will pay millions for a realistic painting of the same poor child. In every sphere of life we see this type of contradictions. If ever somebody is aware of this, the human style of solving problems is more or less like an addict giving up reading to avoid knowing about the damage liquors do.
There was a milkman who became very wealthy through dishonest means. He had to cross a river daily to reach the city where his customers lived. He mixed the water of the river generously with the milk that he sold for a good profit. One day he went around collecting the dues in order to celebrate the wedding of his son. With the large amount thus collected, he purchased plenty of rich clothes and glittering gold ornaments. But while crossing the river, the boat capsized and all his costly purchases were swallowed by the river. The milk vendor was speechless with grief. At that time he heard a voice that came from the river, “Do not weep. What you have lost is only the illicit gains you earned through cheating your customers.” This story reminds me that all ‘strangers’ in this strange world are destined to reap the fruits of the masks they wear every moment. People refuse to live ‘real’; that is the great tragedy of the times. If ever somebody does what he says and says what he thinks, he only deserves to be called a man; truly, it is such people who hold the universe and not the other way round.

A Long Withheld Secret

“Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all of the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the burden. As they walked Mark discovered the boy’s name was Bill. They arrived at Bill’s home first and Mark spent some time there also before returning to home. Their friendship grew, both graduated from junior high school. Finally the long awaited senior year came and three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk. Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met. “Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?” asked Bill. “You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stolen away some of my mother’s sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I realised that if I had killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more, you saved my life.”
This is a story in my collection. Don’t know wherefrom I got this. But I earnestly believe that when we help somebody or spent some time with somebody on creative ideas, we truly create history. These silly things could be quite insignificant to us. We think that big is strong and might is everything, but the adage says that small is beautiful. The difference something makes in life depends not on the size of a thing but the power embedded within. It is not a big mountain that burned Hiroshima and Nagasaki to ashes, but a small atom bomb. A small extension of charity, a small collection of kind words, a small deed of support ….. they make big differences in this universe. The theory of ‘morphic resonance’ says that even a minute change in the tiniest of atoms create simultaneous ripples all over the universe. Our inability to experience such micro changes is not a mighty reason to deny this. As human beings, what we have always ready with us are ‘small’ things only. Great people are never mountains of big bergs but oceans of small drops. Never miss out a chance to share the small things with you. Never miss a situation that would be of some help to another. The story also reminds us that everything we do in life counts, some way or the other.

Universe dot com

The legendary Cherokee Indian youth’s rite of passage to manhood is interesting. The father of the boy takes him into a forest; further, he is blind folded and left there alone. He has to sit there on a stump the whole night and is not allowed to remove the blindfold until next morning. Once he successfully survives this forest test, he is declared a man. It is natural that the boy would be terrified. But in the morning, as the blind fold is removed, each boy is destined to be surprised to see his father waiting aside on his guard. No Cherokee boy is allowed to share his forest experience to another boy and so no one on test is told of this protection. This story teaches us a great moral; either we are aware or not, nobody here is left astray. Any Cherokee boy could have cried aloud or trembled in fear which would have only helped to substantiates ones’ inefficiency to be a man. In the morning, the boy but understands that it would have been much greater, if he could have spent the night on the stump unmoved and unbothered. If our immediate caretakers are so much worried on our good health what could be the attitude of this great universe from which we emerged? The truth is that we are never alone. Even when we don’t know it, God is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us.
God talks to us through chances and situations. It is our inability to remain always in gratitude that creates havoc. Everything happens for a reason; be it illness, injury, or sheer stupidity – all occur to test the limits of our soul. This rule is not limited to a particular cast, sex or community; this is applied to every particle in this universe. This protection is the birth right of everything in this universe. Without painful burning acid tests, life would be like a smoothly paved, straight, flat road to nowhere. If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your heart, forgive them for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to whom you open your heart to. If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you, but because they are teaching you to love and open your heart and eyes to things you would have never seen or felt without them. Appreciate every moment and take from it everything that you possibly can, for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people whom you have never talked to before; tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself, for if you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will believe in you either. You can make out of your life anything you wish. The old Indian adage says that ‘you are your own master and you make your own future’. Create your own life and then go out and live it. Always remember that a great power is sitting aside on the next stump guarding you from all possible problems. All that you need to do is keep listening to His voice and trusting His ambience. Trust does not mean just an understanding or simple belief or hard blind faith but a life in absolute surrender to His Presence.

The Marching Tuskers

How much do you invest in yourself? According to me, there are two kinds of people: those who opt for short cuts and those who insist on straight cuts. This differentiation turns awesome when we evaluate, how much one could enjoy his/her goals. Once upon a time, a bear, a wolf and a jackal thought that it would be better to join hands with a lion for hunting. They approached the lion and it too agreed. All the four went off for hunting. The hunting party came across a buffalo. The fox and the wolf chased the buffalo; the bear intercepted the buffalo and finally the lion killed it. The fox made shares out of the buffalo. When they were about to take their shares, the lion roared and said,
“Well friends, the first share is mine for my leadership. The second share is mine for, it is I who killed. The third share is also mine for I need it for my cubs. Anyone who needs a share can take the fourth. But before that you will have to win me.” All the three left the place without a single word. These three management experts could have easily chased a deer and eaten a sumptuous meal with the same effort, perhaps less than that with the lion.
This truth crossed my mind as I once again remembered the strange story of a typical bridge in Kerala. This live story is about a suspension bridge built across river Kallada in Punalur town of Kerala state in India. It was a British engineer by name Mr. Albert Henry who designed and built this in 1877. It was the only suspended–deck type bridge in South India. He completed it using rare exclusive wood panels and strong steel ropes, but he was shocked to see that people were afraid to use this. But Albert Henry was not lost. He arranged a country boat and stayed in it under the bridge with all his family, while six big elephants were marching over the bridge. It was a remarkable show of trust in himself and his design. People watched this with enormous enthusiasm. Now, though the bridge is virtually abandoned and has only archeological interest, it was widely used for many decades without any problem. He could try the tuskers only because he had enormous trust in his own self. Self-confidence is neither confidence in the self nor knowledge of the self but realising that he/she is the self. It is this awareness that makes all endeavours complete, all goals perfect. We see a lot of heroes around but not enough with necessary confidence in oneself. Everybody loves to be known by some pleasing attributes but never prepared for an acid test. Their castles might look aesthetically beautiful but not sensibly strong at foundation. We are for short cuts. I am damn sure that unless we refuse to be confident and practical, all our fictitious game plans in life would be sliced mercilessly by the same reality.

Full Open

I remember an old advertisement; it was, ‘guitar, for sale … cheap … no strings attached’. This came to my mind as I thought of the uneven modern life, where most of us express ourselves with the strings of values detached. It could be because of the false assumption that power, name and money are the only requirements that counts in a real life. The strings are the parts that make a guitar a guitar. Just for the sake of money and power we see people compromising everywhere. They interpret and reinterpret Scriptures, etiquettes, traditions, rules and what not, the way it fits their limited conscience and logic. Quite recently I heard a strange news from USA.
A small Base Ball Club – Lennox Little League happened to be in big financial troubles. The one-square-mile community near Los Angeles runs a Little League with about 300 kids. The doubled field-usage fees imposed by the School District really was the beginning of their woes. It was then that they received a donation offer of $1,200 from Jet Strip cabaret. Officials from the Lennox Little League but decided that taking $1,200 from cabaret was inappropriate and they rejected this offer. Lennox Little League could not forget the way Jet Strip earned money. Their main income source is lap dance shows of pretty girls; the ticket charges are $30 for topless and $40 for full open. What that surprised most was the news that Little League was not the only group to refuse donations from them. Remember that this happened in USA, where most cities are more or less in the ‘sin city’ class.

Bee Waggle Dance

Life on earth, plant life or animal life has its own means of communication. When one beehive gets too crowded, a queen bee will split off from the hive with a group of 300 and 500 scout bees. These scout bees fly out individually in search of a befitting place for their home. They evaluate different sites and return to the bee cluster to report on what they have found. Each scout expresses the grade of her choice site by performing waggle dance. If she repeats the swirling dance many times, say up to 300 times in a ten minute period, she would be saying, ‘I‘ve found a great place.’ If the waggle dance is limited only to some 100 times, then her site should only be just okay. This bee life story came to my mind as I slipped through an old Islamic example of charity at home.
It was when Seyyed Bahrul Uloom, a great Islamic teacher, was about to sit for the dinner that he happened to hear about a poor family, living without wheat or rice, since a week. He stood up and sent word to one of his students, living nearby this poor family, to report immediately. As Sayyid Jawad Ameli, his student, who also was about to sit for the dinner, reported in a hurry, Bahrul Uloom virtually burst upon him, “Sayyid Jawad! You have no fear of Allah! Don’t you feel ashamed of Allah?” Sayyid Jawad was taken by surprise for he had no knowledge of this neighbour. “That is why I am displeased all the more. How can you be unaware of your own neighbour? Seven days of difficulties have passed and you tell me that you do not know about it.” Uloom was burning out like anything. Bahrul Uloom instructed Jawed to take all the dishes of food before him to the neighbour. “Sit with them to eat, so that they do not feel ashamed. And take this sum for their future ration. Place it under their carpet so that they are not humiliated and inform me when this work is completed. Till then, I shall not eat.”
Mother Teresa once shared a live story from her life. “One night a man came to our house and told me, ‘There is a family with eight children; they have not eaten for days,’ I took some food and went to that Hindu family. I saw the faces of those little children disfigured by hunger. I gave the rice to the mother. She divided it into two and went out, carrying one half of the rice with her. When she came back, I asked her, ‘Where did you go?’ She gave me this simple answer, ‘To my neighbours, they also are hungry.”

Acres of Diamonds

There is a saying that a thousand miles journey begins with the first step. Behind every memorable feat in human history, there is an unknown story of a humble beginning. Whatever, word action and thought are the fundamental principles of creation. The theory is the same with the meek and the mighty. In India, which is mostly a religious country, where each one is born into a particular religion, most people leave everything to destiny. In the disguise of a powerful religious base, instead of initiating something or realising their role as co-creators, people wait with infinite patience for an unknown power to help manifest their dreams. This is not positive thinking, which believes in expression of individual selves first. This negative attitude has become the prime reason for almost all the misfortunes an average religionist goes through. In my opinion, this is the greatest damage religions have inflicted on humanity.
Let us see what a positively thinking average man could contribute. Russell Herman Conwell, a 19th century man, was first a lawyer for about fifteen years and a clergyman thereafter. He was not an unusually skilled or rich individual, just an ordinary clergy man. One day, a young man came to him and told him that he wanted college education but couldn’t swing it financially. What that first came to Conwell’s mind was the inspiring true story of an African farmer, who went on in search of diamonds. Diamonds were already discovered in abundance on the African continent and this farmer got so excited about the idea of millions of dollars worth of diamonds that he sold his farm and wandered all over the continent. As years slipped by, the man became desperate; he could not find any diamond anywhere. Eventually, he threw himself into a river and drowned. Meanwhile, the new owner of his farm picked up an unusual looking rock about the size of a country egg and put it in his mantle pocket for curiosity. A visitor stopped by and in viewing the rock practically went into terminal convulsions. He told the new owner of the farm that the funny looking rock with him was about the biggest diamond that had ever been found. The new owner of the farm said, “Heck, the whole farm is covered with them” – and sure enough it was. The farm later turned out to be the Kimberly Diamond Mine, the richest the world has ever known. The original farmer was literally standing on ‘Acres of Diamonds’ until he sold his farm.
Dr. Conwell had told this story many times and had attracted enormous audiences. ‘Am I too in the midst of diamonds?’ He asked himself. Charged by the disappointed young man who could not go to a university, Dr. Conwell decided to initiate a college itself. ‘Each of us is right in the middle of our own ‘acres of diamonds’, he began reminding his folks. He wanted to raise enough money to start a college for the underprivileged deserving students. What ultimately came to him was nearly six million dollars and the university he founded, Temple University in Philadelphia, has at least ten degree-granting colleges and six other schools now. This story does not get old. Opportunities do not just come along – it is there all the time. We just live in ‘acres of opportunities’. Do you need anybody to come over to your premises and pick out the diamonds that lie strewn all over?

Am I Still a Monkey?

Two men were out on the ocean in a boat. One of them began drilling in the bottom of the boat, and the other, aghast said “What are you doing? Stop drilling!” And the first man replied: “It’s all right. I’m only drilling on my side.” Just like this man in the boat, many people are used to drilling their sides, in the disguise of religion, politics, science, culture, cast, gender, tradition etc. It is hard for such people to admit the damage they cause to the society in which they live. Such people insist on a ‘monkey hold’ everywhere, assuming that they have only that option. Prompted by an instinctive urge, monkeys catch snakes by its neck for fear of being bitten. Monkeys know that snakes are dangerous and it never take the risk of letting any snake they encounter, free. But the problem with it is that it neither squeezes the snake’s neck to kill it nor it ever releases the snake from its outstretched fist. The monkey thus decides its own destiny of dying starved, unmoved.
I am reminded the story of a realist. He was always a headache to the drama troop manager. He always insisted reality everywhere. He was not ready to compromise with water in drinking scenes or with fake swords in fighting scenes. People loved his performance; there was great applause always. It so happened that in the new drama the hero had to drink poison and the manager insisted on real poison. The actor was in a fix; he realised his mistakes. As part of the universe, we are destined to play exactly the role assigned to us, sometimes with fake tools and sometimes with the real. Anyway, how efficiently we carry out our assigned role determines how much we could evolve.

An Ounce of silence

Once, Gautama Buddha was walking to another town with a few of his chosen followers. On the way, they came across a river with no much water flowing. They stopped there and Gautama Buddha asked one of his disciples, to bring some water for him drink. When the disciple reached the river, a bullock cart had begun crossing the river; the water soon became muddy and turbid. The disciple returned without water and told Gautama Buddha what happened. After about half an hour, the disciple once again went back to the river. This time he found that the river had absolutely clear flowing water in it; all the mud had settled down. Without hesitation he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.
Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be … and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water… Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. All the disturbances will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen on itself. It is effortless.” We see that Buddha emphasises on the effortlessness of the process. Having ‘peace of mind’ is not at all a strenuous job; it is truly an effortless process. When there is peace inside you, it naturally oozes outwards filling every space in and around. The whole environment begins feeling the ripples of that peace.
A few weeks back, I got a mail forwarding on silence that begins with a comment from Blaise Pascal which said, ‘All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.’ Pascal was both a catholic philosopher and a mathematician. With silence aside, he could play better in distinctive areas. A few moments of stillness in life are definitely panacea to most of the problems we face in our everyday lives. The text continued saying that if you’re content to sit alone quietly, you will be released from the rule of impulses; instead, you come to a stage in which you need nothing else. In my opinion, without silence, there is no music; without space there is no picture; without emptiness within, there is no realisation. Living in a house simply means that we utilise the space in it. But I am for the definition that ‘silence is total communication’.  Silence is the den of fierce creativity, for me.
Anyway, how many of us have ever tried to sit alone in silence for a few minutes? It definitely is a habit to be seriously cultivated. You can practice silence, inner and outer or spiritual and physical, while your morning coffee is brewing or when you are roaming through your compound garden. Slowly you will learn to listen to your thoughts and communicate with your own self. As you learn to watch yourself, you learn to be contented in stillness. Celebrating silence is an art. Just like an all time chocolate, it is a sweet healing cake for the spirit. As you grow, an empty room might turn a luxury. Being alone is a pleasure we too often neglect. Without TV and internet, in harmonising void moments with the emptiness of nature, we find ourselves in queue with the happiest creations in the universe. Can you practice being alone, being still, being quiet? Just a little at first, then perhaps a bit more. In silence, nobody craves for anything except more of the same.

Lessons Online

There is a saying that means: ‘thousand words equal a picture and thousand pictures equal an act’. No doubt, a solid example always pierces through any being. Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, in his lecture at the University of Puerto Rico, once shared a quite touching episode from his life.
At that time, Arun was with his parents in an Institute, founded by Mahatma Gandhi, 18 miles away from Durban, in South Africa. It was a place totally surrounded by sugar plantations. One day Arun had to drive his father’s car to the city of Durban. His father had a whole day conference in the city. His mother passed him a long list of groceries to be purchased and his father loaded him with some pending chores, including the vehicle service. Arun dropped him at the conference hall and assured to be there back at 5.00 PM, as required.
In a hurry, Arun purchased all the grocery and finished other chores too. Then he straight away went to the nearest movie theatre. Unfortunately, when he reached his father back, it was already 6.00 PM. His father anxiously asked Arun, “Why were you late?” He hid the movie story and replied, “The car wasn’t ready, so I had to wait,” not realising that he had already called the garage. He was caught red handed. His father said, “There’s something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn’t give you the confidence to tell me the truth. In order to figure out where I went wrong with you, I’m going to walk home 18 miles and think about it.” In no time he began to walk home in the dark, through the unpaved and unlit roads. Arun couldn’t leave him, so for five-and-a-half hours he drove behind him, watching his father go through this agony for a stupid lie that he uttered. It was the last lie Dr. Arun Gandhi uttered in his whole life. A powerful act on a gloomy evening changed the destiny of his son.
Disciplining is a measure to be handled with care, says Sri Yogananda Parama Hansa. In one of the schools founded by him, a boy was about to be dismissed for repeated mis-conduct. The matter came to Yoganandaji; He asked the teachers, “Remember all the things that you have done during and since your childhood. Can you tell me that you have never done anything reprehensibly wrong?” They all hung their heads. “If that boy were your son, would you send him out?” An expulsion meant that in the coming four years he won’t be able to procure an admission in another School. Yoganadaji said, ”I won’t do that to him; I cannot sponsor such an idea. He might have done wrong, but I shall reason with him and forgive him.” There was a big commotion of disagreement. So he said to the teachers,” He is my son, and I will hear him.” He called the boy; he came in very defiant: “Go ahead, I know you are going to throw me out.” “What makes you think so?” Yoganandaji asked the boy. Again he challenged him rebelliously: “Go ahead.” Yoganandaji replied, “How Childish of you. You have done wrong, and you are proud of it. What is the matter with you? Suppose you did do wrong, that doesn’t mean you have to do wrong again.” He hung his head. “Don’t do it again,” Yoganandaji said. He looked at me like the little child that he was. “You mean you won’t send me away?” “You know that what you did was wrong, don’t you?” Yoganadaji asked. He said, “Yes” “Isn’t that enough?” he said. “Don’t repeat it.” Tears came in his eyes and the boy told him, “You know, I had made up my mind that if you sent me away, I would use my life to do all the evil things that I could.” Then he went on, “I am sorry for what I have done, and promise you that I will never do it again.”
Years passed by, and one time when Yoganandaji came to India, this boy also came to meet him in tears and asked, “Do you remember me?” Yoganadaji greeted him lovingly. He said, “That day that you forgave me made me what I am today.” He then had a successful career, was very spiritual, and had a wonderful family too. “It is all due to your faith in me.” Yoganadaji embraced him and he cried like a child. Let us remember, love changes people; nobody can resist the power of love. Nobody can resist a solid example too. Let us not advise anything that we cannot ever do in life. Otherwise, the words might go out but not the message.

Power Glasses

We have great difficulty to believe that God cares every creation, big or small. Usually, our limited logic does not stretch that far. Everything that happens around is truly part of a great planning. There is a saying that the ‘best thought out is the most foolish’ because it is there that we try to distort the universal flow. Looking back into situations we have gone through, we easily spot enough examples to prove this theory. The story that I refer here, actually happened a few years back. A carpenter in Chicago used to make crates for the cloths, his church was sending regularly to an orphanage in China. One day, as he was going back home, he reached into his shirt pocket to find his glasses, but they were gone. He realised what happened; the glasses had slipped out of his pocket and fallen into one of the crates, which he had nailed shut. His brand new glasses were heading for China! He had spent $20 for those glasses that very morning. He was upset by the thought of having to buy another pair. “It’s not fair,” he told God as he drove home in frustration. “I’ve been very faithful in giving off my time and money to your work, and now this.”
Several months later, the Director of this Chinese orphanage was on Furlough in the United States. He wanted to visit all the churches that supported him in China, so he came to speak one Sunday at this small church in Chicago, where this carpenter worked. The missionary began thanking the people for their faithfulness in supporting the orphanage. “But most of all,” he said, “I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year. You see, the Communists had just swept through the orphanage, destroying everything, including my glasses. I was desperate. Even if I had the money, there was simply no way of replacing those glasses. Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day, so my coworkers and I were much in prayer about this. Then your crates arrived. When my staff removed the covers, they found a pair of glasses lying on top. The missionary paused long enough to let his words sink in. Then, still gripped with the wonder of it all, he continued: “Folks, when I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been custom-made just for me! I want to thank you for being a part of that.” The people listened, happy for the miraculous glasses. But the missionary surely must have confused their church with another, they thought. There were no glasses on their list of items to be sent overseas. But sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, an ordinary carpenter realised that the Master Carpenter had used him in an extraordinary way.

The Matter Factor

A woman came to see Vinoba Bhave, the well-known social leader in India, and said, “I am very unhappy.” Vinoba asked, “What is the matter?” In a voice full of grief, she replied, “My husband is an alcoholic. He drinks everyday and abuses me. Sometimes, he beats me up. My life is hell.”
Vinoba asked, “When he gets drunk, what do you do?”  She replied, “I get upset. Earlier, I used to scold him. That did not help. So now I have started to observe fasts.” “You do not eat or drink during the fast?” asked Vinoba. “No,” she said, “I eat fruit.” Vinoba said in a simple natural tone, “Oh, then your husband must get very upset. Your eating fruits must have increased the household expenses.” The woman kept quiet. Tears filled her eyes. Vinoba said, “Nobody can be made to give up wrong things by our getting angry or by our giving up food. We can change others through love and patience. The love that can make the difference comes from within. Our hearts should be pure. If there are bad feelings in our hearts and we show insincere love, it makes matters worse.” Purity of heart is something which is badly misunderstood.

The Most Beautiful Woman

A husband once searched Google for an advice, `How to tackle wife?’ Google answer was, ‘Good day sir, even we are searching’. Life has become so ‘digital’ that the modern trend is to find an answer to individual problems through exclusive short cuts. Nobody is ready to design his own possibilities or take up challenges that come by. It is said that with no fresh challenges in sight, with no more mountains to scale, what we deserve is a nervous breakdown. Too often, people passively sit around waiting for their dreams to come true. As time goes by, they begin to think that things will never change for them and the longer the wait the more frustrated they become.
I’m reminded the story of a lady. She was so big that she had to lower herself slowly, squeezing her ample bottom into any seat, filling all available space. But never forgot to greet another, who passed by. She once opened a conversation with her fellow passenger in the flight. She turned to the man and said, “Hai, How are you? My name is Laura. I’m from Britain. How about you? Japan?” Quite embarrassed, the man replied, “Malaysia.” Laura understood that the man is reserved. She said, “I’m so sorry! Will you accept my heartfelt apology? If we’re going to spend six hours side-by-side on this flight, we’d better be friends, don’t you think?” He shook her hand reluctantly, still silent.
Laura started a conversation; she talked excitedly about herself and her trip to Hong Kong to see her friends. She rattled off a list of things she was going to buy for her students in the boarding school where she was teaching. The man gave her one-word answers to her questions about him. Her voice was warm and caring. She was considerate and obliging when they were served meals. Laura was an interesting conversationalist. She was well read in many subjects from philosophy to science. She turned a seemingly unimportant subject into something to explore and understand. Her comments were humorous and inspirational. In the meantime, Laura managed to make every cabin crew walk away laughing at her jokes. When a flight attendant was clearing our plates, Laura cracked several jokes about her size. The man sitting aside finally asked her, “Have you ever thought about losing some weight?”  “No. I’ve worked hard to get this way. Why would I want to give it up?” He continued, “You aren’t worried about cardiovascular diseases that come with being overweight?” She replied, “Not at all. You only get the diseases if you’re worried about your weight all the time. You see advertisements from slimming centres that say, ‘Liberate yourself from your extra baggage so that you are free to be yourself.’ It’s rubbish! You’re liberated only if you’re comfortable about who you are, and what you look like any time of the day and anytime of the year! Why would I want to waste my time on slimming regimes when I have so many other important things to do and so many people to be friends with? I eat healthily and walk regularly; I’m this size because I am born to be big! There is more to life than worrying about weight all day long.”
The story goes on telling that by the end of the flight, almost half the cabin crew was standing near the aisle by them, laughing and joking with Laura. The passengers around them also joined in the merry-making. Laura was the centre of attention. When the man waved goodbye to Laura at the arrival lounge at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport, she was walking towards a big group of adoring adults and kids. Cheers sounded as the group hugged and kissed Laura. The man was stunned, before him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.

Two Long Days

Recently I came across a typical story written by one Chong Sheau Ching. The story, live or fabricated, contained a strong moral. The author was waiting at the Portland airport (Oregon) to pick up a friend. While he was straining to locate his friend from among those deplaning from the Jet, he could not resist noticing a man coming toward him carrying two light bags. His family, just next to him, was waiting to welcome this man.
The man laid down his bags; first he moved to his six years old youngest son and gave a long loving hug. As they separated enough to look into each other’s face, the father said, “It’s so good to see you, son. I missed you so much!” His son smiled somewhat shyly, averted his eyes and replied softly, “Me, too, Dad!”
Then the man stood up, gazed in the eyes of his oldest son (maybe nine or ten) and while cupping his son’s face in his hands said, “You’re already quite the young man. I love you very much, Zach!” They too exchanged a most loving and tender hug. While this was happening, a baby girl (perhaps one or one-and-a-half) was squirming excitedly in her mother’s arms, never once taking her little eyes off the wonderful sight of her returning father. The man said, “Hi, baby girl!” as he gently took the child from her mother. He quickly kissed her face all over and then held her close to his chest while rocking her from side to side. The little girl instantly relaxed and simply laid her head on his shoulder, motionless in pure contentment. After several moments, he handed his daughter to his oldest son and declared, “I’ve saved the best for last!” and proceeded to give his wife the longest, most passionate kiss I ever remember seeing. He gazed into her eyes for several seconds and then silently mouthed. “I love you so much!” They stared at each other’s eyes, beaming big smiles at one another, while holding both hands. The author of knew by the age of their kids that they couldn’t possibly be newlyweds.
Quite puzzled at this reunion for a moment and excited at their expression of unconditional love, the author asked the man, “Wow! How long have you two been married?” “Been together fourteen years total, married twelve of those.” He replied, without breaking his gaze from his lovely wife’s face. “Well then, how long have you been away?” he asked again. The man finally turned and looked at him, still beaming his joyous smile. “Two whole days!”
The author says that he was stunned. He said, “I hope my marriage is still that passionate after twelve years!” The man suddenly stopped smiling. He looked him straight in the eye, and with forcefulness that burned right into his soul, he told him, “Don’t hope, friend… decide!”  The author concludes saying that these words left some long lasting marks in him. I also wish, if we too decide to fill every moment of life with love unconditional.

The Lakeside School

A man was sitting by a lake. He was throwing small pebbles into it from time to time. A young boy happened to cross by. He was intrigued to see that after every few minutes or so, the man would toss a pebble into the lake. The boy went up to the man and said, “Good pastime, this stone throwing, he?” “Hmmm,” said the man. He seemed to be deep in thought and obviously did not wish to be disturbed. Sometime later, the man said softly, “Look at the water, it is absolutely still.” The boy said, “Yeah, it is.” The man tossed a pebble into the water and continued, “Only till I toss a pebble into it now do you see the ripples?” “Yeah,” said the boy, “they spread further and further.”
The wise man said, “It is not possible to stop the movement of the water once a pebble has been thrown into it. But if we can stop ourselves from throwing the pebble in the first place, the ripples can be avoided altogether! So too, it is with our minds. If a thought enters into it, it creates ripples.”
The thought that develops within is critical in the life of any being. Thought-word-action is the formula of creation – everything begins from a thought.  The episode mentioned above carries a great moral, but the task of blocking a thought from entering the mind is a risky affair. Any thought is energy and energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. So, it is reasonable to think that all thought waves beginning from the original Fundamental Vibration still exist in this universe and we are living in a dense pool of thought vibrations. In a prayer hall if spiritual thoughts are more intense, in a liquor bar it could be vibrations of sensual pleasures that dominate. This is why it is said that it is very important to generate and maintain positive vibrations in and around. It will not only protect you and your group but also saves all those who pass by.

Gold or Silver?

A great mathematician was living in a village outside Ujjain. He was often called by the local king to advice on matters related to the economy. His reputation had spread as far as Taxila in the North and Kanchi in the South. So it hurt him very much when the village headman told him, “You may be a great mathematician who advises the king on economic matters but your son does not know the value of gold or silver.”
The mathematician called his son and asked, “What is more valuable – gold or silver?” “Gold,” said the son. “That is correct. Why is it then that the village headman makes fun of you, claims you do not know the value of gold or silver? He teases me every day. He mocks me before other village elders as a father who neglects his son. This hurts me. I feel everyone in the village is laughing behind my back because you do not know what is more valuable, gold or silver. Explain this to me, son.”
So the son told his father the reason why the village headman carried this impression. “Every day on my way to school, the village headman calls me to his house. There, in front of all village elders, he holds out a silver coin in one hand and a gold coin in other. He asks me to pick up the more valuable coin. I pick the silver coin. He laughs, the elders jeer, and everyone makes fun of me. And then I go to school. This happens every day. That is why they tell you I do not know the value of gold or silver.” The father was confused. His son knew the value of gold and silver, and yet when asked to choose between a gold coin and silver coin always picked the silver coin. “Why don’t you pick up the gold coin?” he asked. In response, the son took the father to his room and showed him a box. In the box were at least a hundred silver coins. Turning to his father, the mathematician’s son said, “The day I pick up the gold coin the game will stop. They will stop having fun and I will stop making money.”
Sometimes in life, we have to play the fool because our seniors and our peers, and sometimes even our juniors like it. That does not mean we lose in the game of life. It just means allowing others to win in one arena of the game, while we win in the other arena of the game. We have to choose which arena matters to us and which arenas do not.

The Great Vietnam War

A soldier, who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco. “Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve a favour to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring home with me.” “Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.” “There’s something you should know,” the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come and live with us.” “I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.” “No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.” “Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live his own.” At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few a days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognised him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know. Their son had only one hand and one leg.

Self-Discipline

What is the most important factor in the making of a successful man? Man or woman, the answer is ‘self-discipline’. Disciplining simply means following a particular code of conduct or order in life. Without self-discipline, success in life is almost impossible. All of us possess some degree of self-discipline. According to ‘A WHIP’ theory, the five contributing elements to self-discipline are Acceptance, Willpower, Hard Work, Industry, and Persistence. If you take the first letter of each word, you get the acronym ‘A WHIP’. Self-discipline is a very powerful tool which empowers you to overcome almost all problems in life, be it a habit issue or a disorder issue. Considering the problem solving capacity of this quality, self-discipline is simply unmatched. Self-discipline can be easily combined with other individuality development tools to reach desired goals; there it has tremendous powers. The more you practise self-discipline, the stronger you become.
I am reminded of the famous ‘marshmallow test’, done by the psychologist Walter Mischel, during the 1960s. He chose fourteen four-year-olds from the preschool at Stanford University, for the experiment. He just wanted to assess each preschooler’s ability to delay gratification. Each four-year-old was given one marshmallow (a sweet confection originally made of corn syrup) each. They were told that they could eat it immediately or, if they waited until the researcher returned in 20 minutes, they could have two marshmallows. It was very hard for these kids to wait. Still some of them waited.
Twelve years later, these same kids were reevaluated as teenagers. The differences were astonishing. Those who had been able to control their impulses and delay gratification as four-year-olds were more effective socially and personally. They had higher levels of assertiveness, self-confidence, trustworthiness, dependability, and ability to control stress. Their Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores were 210 points higher than the “instant gratification” group!
In real life, we see many people struggling to reach key positions in life; what they lack is self-discipline. Perhaps the best gift we can give our new generation is undoubtedly a passion for self-discipline. No great man has forgotten to tell us the very key strategy to win life. Buddha said, “It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles.” Plato said, “The first and the best victory is to conquer self.” It is Abraham Lincoln who said, “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.”

The Great Vibration

The story goes saying that a rich man who owned nineteen horses had prepared a Will according to which half the horses he owned should go to his only son, one forth to the village temple and one fifth to his faithful servant. The village elders could not stop scratching their heads. Even cutting a few horses into halves would not solve that puzzle. It was then a wise man came along riding on his horse. He lined up all the 19 horses and added his own horse also to make the number twenty. He gave ten horses to the son; five horses to the temple and four horses to the servant. After all the business, there remained his lovely horse, undivided. He gently mounted his horse, turned to the villagers and said, “In our daily lives, in our daily affairs, especially when there are problems, simply add God’s name and then go about facing the day’s happenings.”
Moral stories and profound discourses that ask us to add the name of God every moment of our life is sold at discount rates; still we are hesitant to follow them, mostly because we are not sure of a positive resultant experience. Similar messages never go to the programming part of our brain. The reason is three fold: first we believe that we are sinners unworthy of divine care and protection; next is our ignorance on our own relevance in this universe and finally comes our misunderstanding of God.

Love Parlours

‘A friend in need is a friend indeed’ is a much heard and referred adage. In practical life, we are least interested to become one of that kind and we also have great difficulty to identify either a friend or a neighbor. We think of an acid test to prove their worth, before actually using them. Once, Jesus was asked to define a neighbour. The parable of the Good Samaritan which He told his disciples is known all over the world. The low caste Samaritan, who while on a journey saw a wounded man left helpless, took no time to lift him to the nearest Inn. The parable says that two other dignitaries had already passed the road, leaving this looted merchant as such. The contradiction is that everybody wants love at agape level, nobody but thinks that letting out the same is the only way to invite more of that kind.
I remember a live story from the World War – I front. A soldier saw his lifelong friend fall in battle. Caught in a trench with continuous gunfire whizzing over his head, the soldier asked his lieutenant if he might go out into the “no man’s land” between the trenches to bring his fallen comrade back. “You can go,” said the lieutenant, “but I don’t think it will be worth it. Your friend is probably dead and you may throw your life away.” The lieutenant’s advice didn’t matter, and the soldier went anyway. Miraculously he managed to reach his friend, hoist him onto his shoulder and bring him back to their company’s trench. As the two of them tumbled in together to the bottom of the trench, the officer checked the wounded soldier, and then looked kindly at his friend. “I told you it wouldn’t be worth it,” he said. “Your friend is dead and you are mortally wounded.” “It was worth it, though, sir,” said the soldier. “What do you mean; worth it?” responded the Lieutenant. “Your friend is dead.” “Yes, Sir” the private answered. “But it was worth it because when I got to him, he was still alive and I had the satisfaction of hearing him saying, “Jim…, I knew you’d come.”
Jim knew the power and value of love. Let us assume that he even knew that nobody on earth exists without any trace of love, up or down. Love is the most misinterpreted word in any language. Deepak Chopra has said that today, ‘I love you’ only means ‘I trade you’. I firmly believe that it is the fundamental energy from which everything we experience emerged. Love never pollutes anything; there is not a place where it won’t fit. Love needs only little energy but yields enormous results, it invigorates your happiness and elevates your self-esteem; it is the perfect drug that heals off all disorders. Today we have oxygen parlours in metros; tomorrow we will have love parlours even in villages, where loving words will be spoken on pay. We are always busy with multitudes of things forcing time and space to shrink further and further every time. I think that a busy world of netizens deserves neither a good friend nor a good neighbour. We have rules to govern, prisons to sleep and discourses to thrill but not examples that out spell. In our anxiety to be individually perfect, we hesitate to experience the present. What would be the fate of the world, if it is filled with lives that hesitate to offer oneself for another’s welfare?

Carpenters Wanted !

There lived two farmer brothers side by side. For long, they shared their machinery and traded labour and goods together. There happened a small misunderstanding one day and it unknowingly grew into a major difference. Finally, it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence. One morning, a man with a carpenter’s toolbox came to the older brother. “I’m looking for a few days’ work,” he said. “Can you help me?” The carpenter asked. “Yes,” said the older brother. “Look across the creek at that farm. That’s my neighbour. In fact, it’s my younger brother! Last week there was a meadow between us. He recently took his bulldozer to the river levee and now there is a creek between us. Well, he may have done this to spite me, but I’ll do him one better. See that pile of lumber by the barn? I want you to build me an eight-foot fence, so I won’t need to see his place or his face any more.”
The carpenter said, “I think I understand the situation. Show me the nails and the post-hole digger and I’ll be able to do a job that pleases you.” The older brother had to go to town, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day. The carpenter worked hard all that day measuring, sawing and nailing. About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer’s eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped. There was no fence at all! It was a bridge… a bridge that stretched from one side of the creek to the other. A fine piece of work! To his surprise, he saw his neighbour, his younger brother, coming towards them, hands outstretched…
The two brothers stood at each end of the bridge, and then they met in the middle, taking each other’s hands. They turned to see the carpenter taking his toolbox onto his shoulder. “No, wait! Stay a few more days. I’ve a lot of other projects for you,” said the older brother. “I’d love to stay on, but I have many more bridges to build,” said the carpenter. He moved on.
This story came to my mind when I happened to see an executive one day, who appeared in all the glamour of a typical white collar. His sun glasses were made in USA, his watch was Swiss make, his shoes were German, his car was Japanese, his Jeans looked like imported from Singapore and his face (I could not see clearly) was laminated with cosmetics from Gulf (so I assume). Everybody lives here indebted to many cultures and countries all around. This attitude of acceptance of all should have helped us develop a healthy relationship between countries and cultures. But what we experience in reality are cut-throat competition between manufacturers, fierce wars between countries, fights between colours and mud games between religions. I think what the world most requires today for easy sustenance is carpenters like the one in the story. If each of us would have graciously used all situations to build bridges, there would have been hundreds of invisible bridges around us, making society much more tolerant and peaceful.

Encyclopedia Humanica

There is an old saying that the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is the fact that it has never tried to contact us. This came to my mind as an ad joke of a man which read, ‘For sale, newly bought 45 volumes of Encyclopaedia Britannica, at half the price. I got married recently and my lady knows everything’, crossed my eyes. Many people marry similar Encyclopaedia Humanicas and we personally know at least a few of them who not only behave as if they know everything but also believe their choice to be the most appropriate at a given situation. What would have been the fate of the world if everyone was of a similar mindset? Benjamin Franklin once frankly stated that the doorstep to the temple of wisdom but is knowledge of our own ignorance.
Actually, it is these ‘Knowledge Banks’ which appear in all areas of life that make life miserable. They appear in crucial meetings, crucial positions and in every policy determining activities. They think that their inner conscience is everything. They are yet to learn that even the criminal doing the most heinous of crimes is justified by his conscience! Anyway, not all the aspects of intelligence can be reliably measured. Now-a-days a new conception of intelligence has been developed, and accordingly, intelligence is the determination, simply expressed as a skill to solve complex problems in changing circumstances. Every expression of intelligence and strategies of leadership would have been fine unless they hadn’t any impact on the life of the source/reason. Most people do not at all envision the effects of their decisions at a larger stage of this universe. Physics clearly states that even a minute change that happens inside a tiny atom ends up in corresponding changes in the entire universe. In its’ core, genuine religious philosophies say that everything in this universe is part of the greater Self. That is, we are related to God like the trunk and the branches of a tree; if God is the creator, we should then be co-creators.
It turns fearful when we look into the deeper meanings of this relationship, according to which each doer is proportionally responsible for the experiences he causes. Laws of cause and effect run both the physical and the spiritual world. That is why a sinner invariably goes to hell; this is not just a possibility only, it is a rule. The philosophy of ‘karma’ precisely is on this cause and effect chain, to the tunes of which each spirit on world journey is ever dancing. Truly, we come here on a predetermined mission of self-cleansing. But unfortunately, instead of self-healing ceremonies, most of us yearn for damages all around and are attached to the subsequent emotional pleasure and thrill. We thus do terrible harm to our individual consciousness and return back to the realm of spirits stained with more critical causes. The poor intelligence we praise is the villain. The wise remains silent, ever an observer, always healing the past and cleansing at all levels every moment!

Attitude decides Altitude

I think, I would not have been so struck with the relevance of attitude in everyday life, unless two powerful stories would have crossed me in sequence. The first story was about an old lady, who woke up one morning and noticed that she had only three hairs on her head. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I think I’ll braid my hair today.’ So she did and she had a wonderful day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. ‘Hmm…,’ she said, ‘I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.’ So she did and she had a grand day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.’ So she did, and that day also she had enough fun. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head.  ‘Yeah!’ she exclaimed. ‘I don’t have to fix my hair today!’ That day also was equally funny for her.
The next story was that of a smart boy. The story says that long ago there lived a monster in a small village. The villagers were all terrified of it, and felt their village was cursed to have such a creature living in their midst. One man attacked the monster with a sharp sword. The monster grabbed the sword and almost magically pulled out another sword, twice as large, twice as sharp and cut the man into half. People were surprised, and despite their disbelief, went along to see a little boy take on the monster. As the boy looked up at the giant, the monster just flared his nostrils and glared back. The little boy then took out an apple and offered it to the monster. The monster grabbed it, held it to his mouth, and then thrust his clenched fist in front of the boy. Bang! As the fist slowly opened, the people were astonished to see two delicious apples there, twice as red and twice as large as the apple that the boy had offered. The people grew ecstatic. They suddenly realised that the monster is not a curse – but a boon to the village.
These stories might be fictitious; but not the moral. If we take a closer look at those situations that we brand to be problems, I think that right attitude is strong enough to burn them into ashes. Attitude is everything. Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… It’s about learning to dance in the rain.

Gullibility Virus

The faster we get amalgamated into the charm of present day fancies the more we are deprived off many precious things in life. In another ten years, we might be totally cut off from many of the services we now enjoy. Neither the post offices nor the booking offices could be there in the future; courier companies and online services have already swallowed better part of it. The new generation is addicted to ATMs and they also simply do not read news papers or books. Who wants a landline connection now? Land lines already have become a household ornament. TVs are under constant threat! Our practice of stacking everything in hard disks, CDs and pen drives are also getting ready to pack off. The world is going to be enshrouded by ‘clouds’. Your operating system will directly be tied to the internet and your stock will be saved in the ‘clouds’. Our privacy is sure to vanish in the clouds. The frightening thing is that an entire world submits to the mercy of a few giant service providers, to whom we are destined to pay heavy subscription fees too. Our memories might continue unless Alzheimer takes over that too.
The world as a whole has gone so topsy-turvy that if it was man who shot the fox so far, now it is the fox that shoots the man. Quite recently, the strange story of a farmer was reported. The young farmer went to a nearby forest to hunt. He wounded a fox in the leg but to spare the skin, he hit the animal with his rifle butt. The struggling animal (may be accidental) triggered a shot that hit him in the chest and killed him instantly. An investigation agency has stated that we are infected by the worst of viruses, the Gullibility Virus. Because of this irregular Internet Phenomenon, we have not only begun believing all nonsense that appears in the internet without another question on its credibility but also have begun living half-foolish.
The former USSR President could be the best example of this virus disaster. He is said to have read a full speech on culture, instead of the one on science at a South Russian science conference. Another anecdote on him says that he once spoke for six hours, unknowingly reading the carbon copy too. Why blame others? Don’t we also like to write ‘portable hand-held communications inscriber’, instead of ‘pencil’ when preparing our shopping list? Undoubtedly, all these innovations are only going to put us in chains, more or less leading to the experience of one Michael J. Schmidt, a man living in Superior, had. Because he had been burglerised several times, he thought he could catch the culprits in the act of installing a hidden camera. He set up one at his home; the burglars came back and were captured on tape, which Schmidt turned over to the sheriff. Among the items the burglars took from Schmidt’s house was a box containing eight marijuana plants. Schmidt was charged with misdemeanour drug possession and arrested. ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’ ……. but I’m not that sure about the current digital clouds.

The Problem Magic

There was an Old Iranian who was intensely proud of two things – his long, white beard that reached down to his chest, and his ability to sleep the moment his head touched the pillow.
One day, somebody asked him how he keeps his beard when asleep. That night the old man got into the bed and pulled the blanket over himself but acutely conscious about the position of his beard. He lifted it from under the blanket, and placed it above; then he tucked the beard under the blanket again. But he soon felt it would be better if it was out. In and out went the beard; the old man spent a sleepless night that day.
In our everyday life, a lot of similar situations arise. I am reminded of three friends who went to a hotel. They got a total bill of Rs 75. Each one shared Rs. 25 each and they passed the waiter the bill amount of Rs. 75. The story would have been over unless the manager hadn’t given them a discount of Rs. 5, which he passed to the waiter. Since Rs. 5 is not perfectly divided by three, the waiter took Rs. 2 for himself and returned one Rupee each to these three guys. But it soon grew into a great problem for the waiter. He calculated and calculated but could not find out the missing one Rupee. He knew that each one has now spent Rs. 24 each. That is, 24 X 3 = 72.  He has snatched for himself Rs. 2. Still, the total now is only Rs. 72+2=74. The waiter wanted to know where the remaining one Rupee (75 -74 =1) is. He might have spent many sleepless nights over this.
This is exactly what we also mostly do with many harmless situations in life. Either handling a situation in the wrong way or unknowingly allowing a simple situation to strike hard, we spend much of our energy and health every day. This is not a silly mistake at all. By interpreting a situation to be a problem, we initiate a serious mental process, perhaps the most complex of all intellectual functions. A problem solving process requires a high order cognitive efficiency with increased usage of fundamental skills. It is said, ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’. This does not mean that there are no real problems at all. Every time be confident that there is a solution to every problem. It is said that if you can’t go through the mountain, go around it; if you can’t go around it, go over it, if you can’t do that too sit down and ask yourself, if going the other side is that important. If you feel so, set about digging a tunnel.

The Eaglet Show

An eaglet’s way of learning to fly is one of the best lessons I have learned from nature. The mother eagle takes her eaglet to a very high point in the sky and then simply drops it. As the eaglet falls, the mother swoops down and picks it back up again. She does this over and over until the eaglet spreads its wings and soars through the air. The moral could be that all those failures, obstacles and threats which appear in life are part of an intensive training that Nature organises with an intention of empowering us. Again, we see the mother eagle relentlessly trying to transform her eaglet from lacks to completeness.
In real life, most of us resort to an egg’s way of making another egg, travelling through the most trodden paths, following the most accepted social etiquettes and being religiously spiritual as best as one can, all ending up in the making of a disoriented being – neither an animal nor a human. We have great difficulty in accepting all that comes in, instead we are programmed to resort to a series of religious torments, beginning from repeated petitionel prayers to planned self-tortures. No institutions focus on sharing the fact that everything that happens in life either heals us or empower us. It is the commitment of the mother eagle that touched me the most. I feel that it is not simply the outcome of an instinctive response. The mother eagle lives by a conscious enthusiasm to live the way of an eagle, all through life. Eagle is not the only animal that has a natural operating system installed within. The inner urge to be a human being is a dominant passion within us too, but we either refuse to respond to that or waits for an appropriate occasion to express ourselves.  But, men of integrity never wait for a motivating word or a logically acceptable situation to appear for a cause. They live a human life every moment.
Recently, we received a mail from one of the ‘Share and Learn’ subscribers. The man said that he was born at so and so place, qualified from so and so university and chose to work in a remote village as a School teacher. Let me quote his own words, “…….I chose to live a life of service, empowering and uplifting the life of children and underprivileged because I found if given them a chance they will extend their wings and soar high into the sky and it’s very enriching. And that’s the best I can do for humanity and for our country.”  He is not the only one of that kind I know. I think that if at least religions would have promoted the mother eagle’s style of helping others, the world would have been a better place to live in. We have babe’s associations to spirit’s associations. But, how many among them care to help another humanet soar high?

The Law of Spiritual Refraction

Dedicating the Bose Institute, one of the earliest research Institutes in India, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose spoke, “I dedicate today this Institute as not merely a laboratory but a temple.” Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose is generally acknowledged as the father of modern scientific research in India. He was not only a scientist but also a great Indian. Yognanda Parmahansaji, in his ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ refers to a conversation between a few foreign Professors that he happened to overhear. “Jagadish Chandra Bose’s wireless inventions antedated those of Marconi.” One of them said. “What do you mean, sir?” The other one asked. The first professor obligingly explained. “Bose was the first one to invent a wireless coherer and an instrument for indicating the refraction of electric waves. But the Indian scientist did not exploit his inventions commercially. He soon turned his attention from the inorganic to the organic world. His revolutionary discoveries as a plant physiologist are outpacing even his radical achievements as a physicist.”
Bose loved to share everything with the world he lived in. Bose did not at all consider himself to be the proprietor of anything he enjoyed; he never yearned for a patent even. Still he lives in the hearts of every Indian, though not in their brains. Gautam Buddha said, “Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” Bose was always for the bare minimum with regard to his existential requirements; he was filled by the noble teachings of the past Indian saints. As time scrolled on and as the world became one single village ruled by a strange market economy, people think of only accumulating the maximum, irrespective of the means. A great spiritual refraction has occurred. Scriptures are interpreted and reinterpreted, letting the meanings refract degree by degree every time. Things develop as if there is the law of spiritual refraction according to which we are destined to become more and more opaque to finer waves of realisation.
I remember the story of an Abbot and an aspirant. The young man who newly joined the monastery was asked to help the other monks to copy the old canons. The young new comer notices that they are all someway copying from copies, not from the original manuscript. He goes to the Head Abbot and expresses his doubt that if someone made even a small error in the first copy, it would never be picked up! The head monk goes down into the dark caves underneath the monastery where the original manuscripts are held as archives in a locked vault that hasn’t been opened for hundreds of years. Hours go by and the old Abbot did not return. The young monk gets worried and goes down to look for him only to find him banging his head against the wall and wailing, ‘We missed the ‘R’! We missed the ‘R’! His forehead is all bloody and bruised and he is crying uncontrollably. The young monk asks the old abbot, “What’s wrong, father?” With a choking voice, the old abbot replied, “The word was ‘Celebrate’ not ‘Celibate”.

Alexander the Human

There is a famous story about Alexander the Great. One day King Philip, his father, bought a fine horse called Bucephalus. He was a noble animal but was so savage and wild that no man could mount upon him, or do anything else with him. At last the king bade his servants to take him away. “It is a pity to ruin so fine a horse as that,” said Alexander, the king’s young son. “Those men do not know how to treat him.” “Perhaps you can do better than they,” said his father scornfully. “I know,” said Alexander, “that, if you would only give me leave to try, I could manage this horse better than anyone else.” “And if you fail to do so, what then?” asked Philip. “I will pay you the price of the horse,” said the lad. While everybody was laughing, Alexander ran up to Bucephalus, and turned his head toward the sun. He had noticed that the horse was afraid of his own shadow. He then spoke gently to the horse, and patted him with his hand. When he had quieted him a little, he made a quick spring, and leaped upon the horse’s back. It was on this horse that he stormed over kingdoms one after the other.
Success is more or less a relative term which might mean a level of social status or achievement of goals. We do not have too many great people like Alexander the Great means that the society as a whole has become a battalion of cowards always trying to drill through the problems, rather than transforming it in favour. Alexander became great, because he always yearned for new experiences (learning) and took on all related challenges in his life. We do not effectively use our talents to face with challenges and grow in for new experiences. According to us, an academic course is the dead end of learning and we assume that the theories we have read is enough to reap success all through life. This shows that we live more in the past relying on the experiences of the losers. At the maximum, we might allow others to think for us, that’s all. If the experience of a man who fell from the third floor of a building was death, need it necessarily be the same fate that awaits a man who happens to fall down today? No, that is why it is said ‘history never repeats’ exactly in strict measures. The world is constantly changing and it is new learning that we require to master the distinct problems that come across. If ever any one earnestly wants to thrive successfully, what he requires is a mindset to grow updated with the latest of knowledge. Positive attitude to risks and chances come only next. A chain is as strong as its weakest link.

Dr Frankl the Jew

Some years ago, the famous Viennese psychiatrist, Dr Viktor Emil Frankl, went to Melborne in Australia to give a talk. Dr. Victor Frankl was given a boomerang as a gift. Dr Frankl thought for a few minutes and then said that he felt the boomerang symbolised human existence. He said, “People assume that the function of the boomerang is to return to the thrower. But this isn’t true. The boomerang returns to the thrower only when it misses the target. The same is true of in life. We return to ourselves to become self-centreed and self absorbed when we have failed to find meaning in life. If we live for ourselves, spend our money only on ourselves or those closest to ourselves, if we squander our time, and exert our strength only for those things that please us, we pay the price of a meaningless existence.”  Dr. Viktor Emil Frankl was one among the very few researchers who spent most of life exploring the meaning of life. He is the founder of logotherapy, a form of Existential Analysis. He also was one among the survivors of the Great Holocaust. Dr Frankl is thought to have coined the term Sunday Neurosis referring to a form of depression resulting from awareness in some people of the emptiness of their lives once the working week is over. This arises from an existential vacuum, which Frankl distinguished from existential neurosis.
Dr Frankl actually poses a few big questions before us. Are we struggling with the experience of an existential vacuum? Could we find the real meaning of our existence in this universe? For sure, only very few have tried to answer these questions. I am reminded the story of an elderly woman who was so afraid of burglars. She decided to put a certain sum of money aside, in case burglars broke in. Of course, eventually a burglar came, and the woman said, ‘Ah! There you are! I’ve been waiting for you. I have something ready for you…’ As for her, she did not know that by expecting a burglar she had attracted one. Most of us live expecting some misfortunes and the purpose of life turns to be limited to our expertise to tackle varying situations. Instead of trying to realise the truth for ourselves, we live pitying on people like Dr Frankl the Jew. There is a popular joke according to which the difference between a good lawyer and a great lawyer is that a good lawyer knows the law and the great lawyer knows the judge. It would be appropriate to say that a good individual knows the world and a great individual knows the purpose.

Salute, Impromptu

As one more year passes on since Indian Independence, I remember this live story, much shared during the post-Kargil War (India with Pakistan) period. Vivek Pradhan, the Project Manager of a software company, had to take the Shatabdi Express train. As the train left the station, he opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.
“Are you from the software industry sir?” The question was from a sixty plus old man sitting aside. Vivek mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it was an expensive car. The man continued, “You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside.” Vivek smiled deprecatingly. “It is not as simple as that my friend. Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in. Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office doesn’t mean our brows don’t sweat. My friend,” he concluded triumphantly, “you don’t know what it is to be in the line of fire.”
The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realisation. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek. “I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire,” He was staring blankly as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time. “There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. In the morning when we finally hoisted the tricolour at the top, only 4 of us were alive.” “You are a..?” “I am Subedar Sushant from the ‘13 J&K Rifles’ on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a land assignment. But tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier. On the dawn of that capture one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain refused me permission and went ahead himself. He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost, followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded. He was killed as he shielded that soldier into the bunker. Every morning now as I stand guard I can see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir; I know what it is to be in the line of fire.”
Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of his reply. Abruptly he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a word document in the presence of a man for whom valour and duty was a daily part of life. The train slowed down as it pulled into the station and Subedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight. “It was nice meeting you sir.” Vivek fumbled with the handshake. This was the hand that had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger and hoisted the tricolour. Suddenly, as if by impulse he stood at attention and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute. It was the least he felt he could do for the country.
As we walk like giraffes, head away from our hearts, do we ever remember these patriots who guard our borders, or busy in power and money games? ‘Can one give up duty just because it makes life easier?’ The question is still haunting my senses.
PS: Major Batra sacrificed his life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. He was later awarded the Param Vir Chakra – the nation’s highest military award.

Coin Therapy

Oliver Goldsmith was an Anglo-Irish writer, poet and physician known best for his novel ‘The Vicar of Wakefield.’ Not much is known about his early life. He graduated in 1749 as a Bachelor of Arts; later studied medicine and became a qualified physician too. He is the author of many delightful books.
One day, a poor woman asked Dr Goldsmith to go and see her husband, who was sick and could not eat. Goldsmith did so. He found that the family was in great need. The man had not had work for a long time. He was not sick, but in distress; and, as for eating, there was no food in the house. “Call at my room this evening,” said Goldsmith to the woman, “and I will give you some medicine for your husband.” In the evening the woman called. Goldsmith gave her a little paper box that was very heavy. “Here is the medicine,” he said. “Use it faithfully, and I think it will do your husband a great deal of good. But don’t open the box until you reach home.” When the woman reached her home, she sat down by her husband’s side, and they opened the box. It was full of coins of different values. On the top was the direction, ‘To be taken as often as necessity requires.’ Dr Goldsmith had given them all the ready money with him. No doubt, Goldsmith did the right thing – the right cure. All through life we see many qualified persons of dignity but very few are found to be doing the right thing.
One summer, Socrates built himself a house, but it was so small that his neighbours wondered how he could be content with it. “What is the reason,” said they, “that you, who are so great a man, should build such a little box as this for your dwelling house?” “Indeed, there may be little reason,” said he; “but, small as the place is, I shall think myself happy if I can fill even it with true friends.” Socrates was challenging a world of friends to prove their worth. This has to be read with the Diogenes story. Diogenes was always found carrying a lighted lamp even in bright sun, in the lookout for a real man.
Aren’t there enough real men, true friends or men of dignity always doing the right thing, in so vast a world like ours? East or west, the world over is earnestly looking for mask less folks; the picture of a hot sun is never hot. Who will set himself/herself a model? Where shall we find a human being, who is so natural that he speaks what he thinks and does what he speaks? Searching is of no use; it is much more easy to become one. A solid example is a million fold effective than a stream of sweet advises.

The High priest of Jagannath

All his life, Brij Bihari had only one dream to cherish, become the mahant (chief priest) of Maharajganj’s Jagannath temple. He lived a life of celibacy, remained a staunch vegetarian, observed all disciplines and prayed every day. In 1987, at the age of 82, his intention was almost about to manifest and it was then that in disguise of an objection from devotees, his appointment was reversed. On the fatal day of June 15, 1987, together with 15 others, he pounced upon the one whom he suspected to be plotting against him. As the attack ended, four people lay dead. In June 2011, Brij Bihari (108) came out of the Lucknow jail, setting a new record on his name – the oldest prisoner in Indian Jail.
How could such a pious person have committed so heinous a crime? Bihari, it seems, has been after the social charm and glamour of being a mahant; God was nowhere in his search and nobody told him that too. Leo Tolstoy (Three Questions) tells that a king wished if he always knew the right time to begin everything; the right people to listen to and the most important thing to do at a time, because he believed that if he answers all these three questions, he would never fail in anything he might undertake. Tolstoy has been asking us to live in absolute awareness of the present, only where we are likely to get the right answers for the three questions. If Bihari was genuinely in pursuit of moksha (heaven), he could have easily won over the humiliation.
Bihari remains an icon of modern spirituality. Today, the world seeks God in the pleasures of the market. It is certainly a very dangerous shift that has occurred to spirituality in most religions. The Buddhist Scripture ‘Dhammapada’ says, “You are your own master and you make your own future.” It specifies the relevance of being individually responsible to oneself and the universe. A moment of lose awareness is enough for a fall. Years of training, sacrifices and suffering are no guarantee for an escape. Judas thought that 30 silver coins will remain in his pocket while Jesus finds His own way out as He used to do before. Things did not move the way Judas thought. Our fall also is sure, unless we also care to be aware of the precepts we follow – religious white collars are no exceptions.

Sum and Substance

This is an extract from the conversations between two Indian saints, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Swami Vivekananda. The questions are from Swami Vivekananda.
Q:- “I can’t find free time. Life has become hectic.”
A:- “Activity gets you busy. But productivity gets you free.”
Q:- “Why has life become complicated now?”
A:- “Stop analysing life. It makes it complicated. Just live it.”
Q:- “Why are we then constantly unhappy?”
A:- “Worrying has become your habit. That’s why you are not happy.”
Q:- “Why do good people always suffer?”
A:- “Diamond cannot be polished without friction. Gold cannot be purified without fire. Good people go through trials, but don’t suffer. With that experience their life becomes better, not bitter.”
Q:- “You mean to say such experience is useful?”
A:- “Yes. In every term, Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lessons later.”
Q:- “Because of so many problems, we don’t know where we are heading.”
A:- “If you look outside you will not know where you are heading. Look inside. Eyes provide sight. Heart provides the way.”
Q:- “Does failure hurt more than moving in the right direction?”
A:- “Success is a measure as decided by others. Satisfaction is a measure as decided by you.”
Q:- “In tough times, how do you stay motivated?”
A:- “Always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. Always count your blessing, not what you are missing.”
Q:- “What surprises you about people?”
A:- “When they suffer they ask, “why me?” When they prosper, they never ask “Why me?”
Q:- “How can I get the best out of life?”
A:- “Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear.”
Q:- “One last question. Sometimes I feel my prayers are not answered.”
A:- “There are no unanswered prayers. Keep the faith and drop the fear. Life is a mystery to solve, not a problem to resolve. Trust me. Life is wonderful if you know how to live.”

Clayware School

There is a Chinese story which underlines the worth of a value added life. A merchant by name Zeng lived in the city of Jianchang. One day he bought a large amount of clay-ware from the Western River region and was planning to take it to sell in the North. It was then that he heard about the famine in the North.  He cancelled his trip. Just then a person came to see him and wanted to buy his clay-ware. After the transaction was complete, Zeng asked the person what he was planning to do with the clay-ware. The person replied, “I am planning to take the pieces to the north and sell them there.” Zeng immediately said, “I had originally planned to do the same thing. But I heard that a famine has just broken out in the North. If the clay-ware pieces are transported to the north, it might be difficult to sell them there. Therefore I cancelled my trip.” That person immediately backed out of the deal and left with the money that he had planned to pay Zeng for the clay-ware. Because he couldn’t sell the clay-ware, Zeng’s entire family soon fell into a destitute situation with no food and no way to keep warm. His conduct but won the admiration of the people. The story ends up as the king honours him with a crucial job in the treasury department.

Vanilla Ghost

The Pontiac Division of General Motors received a complaint: ‘This is the second time I have written to you, and I don’t blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family to have dessert after dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies; so, every night, after we’ve eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It’s also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem. You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car won’t start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I’m  serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds “What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?”
The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well-educated man. The two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn’t start.
The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start. Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man’s car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavour. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavour, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pick up. All the other flavours were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavour.
Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn’t start when it took less time. Eureka – Time was now the problem – not the vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: “vapour lock”.
In real life, all of us might have experienced mysterious things like that of the ice cream family. The story reminds us that there could always be a scientific reason behind all inexplicable developments around us. It is a universal truth that any action has a reason and until the reason is modified, the effect will continue to be the same. But our innate nature is to cling around the effects with assumptions of our own. Infinite patience and relentless enthusiasm take you to the reason; those who reach it are called ‘winners’.

Exactly Fifty Seven Cents

Recently, a touching story of an innocent little girl caught my attention. A little girl stood near a small church from which she had been turned away because it was ‘too crowded’. “I can’t go to Sunday School,” she sobbed to the pastor as he walked by. Seeing her shabby, unkempt appearance, the pastor guessed the reason and taking her by the hand, took her inside and found a place for her in the Sunday school class. The child was so happy that they found room for her, and she went to bed that night thinking of the children who have no place to worship Jesus.
Some two years later, this child lay dead in one of the poor tenement buildings. Her parents called for the kindhearted pastor who had befriended their daughter to handle the final arrangements. As her poor little body was being moved, a worn and crumpled red purse was found which seemed to have been rummaged from some trash dump. Inside was found 57 cents and a note, scribbled in childish handwriting, which read: “This is to help build the little church bigger, so more children can go to Sunday School.” This was what she had saved for this offering of love.
When the pastor tearfully read that note, he knew instantly what he would do. Carrying this note and the cracked, red pocketbook to the pulpit, he told the story of her unselfish love and devotion. He challenged his deacons to get busy and raise enough money for the larger building. But the story does not end there…
A newspaper learned of the story and published it. It was read by a wealthy realtor who offered them a parcel of land worth many thousands. When told that the church could not pay so much, he offered to sell it to the little church for 57 cents. Church members made large donations. Checks came from far and wide. Within five years the little girl’s gift had increased to $250, 000.00, a huge sum for that time (near the turn of the century). Her unselfish love had paid large dividends. When you are in the city of Philadelphia, look up Temple Baptist Church, with a seating capacity of 3,300. And be sure to visit Temple University, where thousands of students are educated. Have a look, too, at the Good Samaritan Hospital and at a Sunday school building which houses hundreds of beautiful children, built so that no child in the area will ever need to be left outside during Sunday school time. In one of the rooms of this building may be seen the picture of the sweet face of the little girl whose 57 cents, so sacrificially saved, made such remarkable history. Alongside of it is a portrait of her kind pastor, Dr. Russell H. Conwell, author of the book, “Acres of Diamonds”.
It is hard to find out another similar story that explains what we need to do to get our intentions manifested. We dream too much but don’t dare to move a step in trust, hoping that it is Nature’s duty to manifest our dreams. But the truth is that Nature understands our wish only when we express it in matter. A student who hides not his intention of becoming a doctor becomes that; same is the case with every successful endeavours in life. Let us speak out what we mean to reach; let us shape out things as if we have reached that and I assure you that you will surely be there at the right time.

Hitler the Tool

The famous French profile writer Voltaire once said, “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” This quote came to my mind as I was brooding over the tragic end of Osama Bin Laden. The question I tried to answer was if Bin Laden is individually responsible for all the assaults attributed to him. The US government could perhaps prove that it was he who ordered this and that; it was he who organised this and that and it was he who led all that. Well, even his opponents but won’t say that he was in action spots when his suicide squads virtually burst over people and places. My point is that Laden alone could not have brought down the twin towers or fought against the well-armed US troops. He was helped by many thousands and invariably the responsibility is shared. A human being has three layers of existence – spiritual, mental and physical; he can support another using any of these.
In his famous book, ‘Conversations with God’ (‘Conversations with God’ is a sequence of books written by Neal Donald Walsch – a dialogue in which Walsch asks questions and God answers), Walsch asks God where Hitler now is. God is said to have explained that Hitler was only a tool through whom the tiny thoughts of atrocities and cruelty that were generated by people the world over manifested. Sustained thoughts gaining manifesting potential! Voltaire might have been referring to the impact of sustained positive thoughts that manifest. Aristotle is said to have sought the correlation of his thought awareness to the experience he was witnessing. He could obviously realise that physical notion is not self-sustaining, it has to have a source; and that source was hidden in the confines of thought. This proves that physics is an inseparable part of metaphysics.
About thoughts and its impacts, much can be said. The beginners may kindly take in three proved conclusions: the first is that any thought is energy; the next is that it also can neither be created nor be destroyed and finally it is convertible into other forms of energy. This proves why we are what we think. It was a theosophist by name Charles Leadbeater, who presented the concept of elementals. He said that the intention that a thought contains can be called an elemental. An elemental, according to Leadbeater manifests on itself the moment it gains enough strength. The strength of an elemental can be raised to manifestation levels by adding more of the same kind again and again or adding more of its kind from other people all over the world. Since energy is not destroyable, thoughts of all beings that lived here at some span of time or still living here should necessarily be here; so is it. What God said to Walsch is just that Hitler had the support of powerful elementals of the same pattern. Hitler was just a tool.
An average human being is said to be entertaining some sixty thousand thoughts each day and unfortunately most of them are thoughts of disappointment and harm. A thought of aggression and assault, how silly it is, adds to similar thoughts of that kind and one day manifests through somebody. Don’t people anxiously scanning news columns for tickling and sensational news get them regularly? The truth that the world is yet to realise is that the status of the world proves what we are. Then why blame Osama Bin Laden or Hitler? Indian sages knew how to think; ‘loka samastha sukhino bhavanthu’ (let there be peace to all beings in the world) was the summary of their prayers.

Shsssssssss……..Silence Please!

A merchant, having suffered a loss of thousand dinars, enjoined his son not to reveal it to anyone. The boy said: ‘It is thy order and I shall not tell it but thou must tell me of the utility of this proceeding and of the propriety of concealment.’ He replied: ‘For fear the misfortune would be double; namely, the loss of the money and secondly, the joy of neighbours at our loss.’
A recent research project on silence, co-founded by the European Commission found out that 3% of heart attacks in Germany are due to road traffic noise. The percentage may vary from country to country. That is about the choking noise that man cause. On the other side, silence truly saves both body and mind; but I think that we are not that familiar with this panacea. The merchant referred above knew how much an inappropriate communication would damage oneself and how important it is to live in silence. ‘Silence’ in spirituality often refers to a state of inner stillness, while outer silence refers to all sorts of sounds – natural and artificial. Inner stillness is about coming in contact with the divine. Late Sri Sathya Sai Baba categorically said, “You can hear the footsteps of God when silence reigns in the mind.”

Eating to Live

There is a saying that ‘you are what you eat’.  It is true; the food we eat determines to a great percentage, our caliber, character and attitude. Some people eat to live while some others live to eat; some are vegetarians while some others are non-vegetarians. If Cambodians eat Tarantulas (a kind of spider), raw Herring (fish) is eaten in Holland, Stink Bugs in Indonesia, Tuna eyeball in Japan, raw Octopus in China, Duck fetus egg (Balut) in Southeast Asia, Mopane caterpillars in Botswana and grasshoppers in Mexico…….the list of weary items never cease.
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. Just as physical body needs energy, subtle body (mind) also needs to be nourished regularly. While physical body can accept only the gross elements in the food we eat, mind is attuned only to the subtle energy content in what we eat. Any food invariably contains subtle and gross energy within, but is different in content ratio. Food in India is classified into sattvic (pure), rajasic (moderate) and tamasic (harmful), depending upon the quality and quantity of pure energy it contains. Non-vegetarian items generally come under the tamasic category. Just like gross and subtle energy are extracted from solid food, some quantity of gross residue is extracted from subtle energy fields to which our energy body is always in contact. This is why spiritually elevated humans ask for less solid food. They generally have a powerful aura that is connected to the Source Energy. There are even stories of non-eaters. An ideal food in this sense should positively nourish both body and mind. An animal knowing that it is going to be killed fills all its body with deadly hormones, which does not die out even while cooking the meat. Much of the body energy is wasted in resisting these hormones from creating havoc in the body, but tamasic food might give a physical uplifting experience for a while. In ancient Tibet people ate only the meat of animals killed by accidents like falling down from a cliff.
Right spiritual growth and optimum energy accumulation are related closely and require strict eating disciplines, like being a vegetarian, following definite sitting posture, eating pattern, eating frequency, nature of cooking the items and finally the percentage of awareness within. The more we eat with awareness the more subtle energy is transferred. Everything is life and we need to approach food as if it is willingly sacrificing itself with satisfaction and joy. Our attitude should be that of gratitude to the things we eat and the Power that provides.
Eating food well crushed and ground helps early digestion and loss of energy. It increases efficient breakdown of the food at enzyme level. The more we chew and grind any food, it is made softer and warmer and the enzymes in saliva easily break down carbohydrates in the food. Even liquid food is advised to be taken well masticated. Mastication is primarily an unconscious act, but can be mediated by higher conscious input, if silence is observed. Digestion requires much body energy; this is systematically saved by eating food only during day time, when solar energy is available for digestion. At noon, when the sun is maximum radiant, Indians still take the heaviest of day foods. Indians also knew the relevance of periodical fasting. Usually people eat three times more than the actual requirement. The more one eats, the more diseased one becomes; the more irregular the eating habits are the more closer we are to a physical breakdown. Right eating saves body and spirit.

‘Poor You!’

It was high autumn. An olive tree and a fig tree stood near each other. The fig tree lost all its leaves and became quite bare. The olive tree laughed at the fig tree saying, “How unlucky you are! You lose your leaves every autumn to be bare. But I flourish all the year round.” The fig tree calmly replied, “Friend! It’s my destiny to be bare and yours to be evergreen. There is nothing to feel humble or proud about it. It is out of control of both of us.” Few days later, there occurred a heavy snow-fall. The snow settled on the leaves of the olive tree for days. But as for the fig tree, the snow fell to the ground through its bare branches and it easily survived the snow-storms.
This parable highlights a great truth; it says that everything in this universe is well in time and place, though we might call the olive tree experience unfortunate or the fig tree experience fortunate. When we categorise situations and experiences into good/bad, appropriate/inappropriate or right/wrong, we forget that we are demonstrating our mistrust on the way things happen in this universe. The same engineer designs the rest rooms and the living rooms of a house. Qualities and attributes are always referential. What is wrong today could be right tomorrow or what is wrong to someone could be right to another. Same is the case with what we categorise good/bad and appropriate/inappropriate. The same snow fall gave distinct experiences to the fig and the olive.

Can You Imagine?

A school teacher scolded a boy for not paying attention to his mathematics and for not being able to solve even simple problems. She told him that he would not become anybody in life. His mother however believed in him and coached him in maths. The boy went on to become Albert Einstein. His mother helped him to explore his hidden potentials and as a result Einstein could imagine his success. Imagination is the greatest of forces. It is the seed bed of everything manifested. Even God had to imagine what He later created. Creation has the three steps of thought, word and action.
It is the quality of imagination that decides anyone’s future. If we take just one minute each day and imagine the rest of the day to be pleasant, successful and joyful, it will make a world of difference in our life that day; it is proved. Imagination need not be confined to a day only; it can be extended to a week, a month, a year or a whole life. There is a famous story of three stone cutters. When asked what they are doing, the first one answered that he is breaking stones, the second one answered that he is cutting stones in perfect shapes and the third one said that he is partaking in the construction of a magnificent temple. All these three were doing the same work. See how their imagination and attitudes are different. Suppose three young executives are chatting in a coffee house. One of them says that a villa in the city is put for sale. One other guy says that he cannot afford to buy a posh villa now and straight away drops the idea of thinking over it. The third one says that he will be visiting the villa after office hours the same day. Who will first occupy an own house? Certainly the third guy, who only could imagine himself to be buying it. Imagination is something more than just a positive mind set.
Recently, I got an inspiring example of creative imagination. A young lady by name Jill is a noted discus throw athlete. Though she used to win almost all competitions she participated, her throws were almost always between 106’ 1” and 110’ 10”. Her coach decided to remove the psychological barrier in her. During her training session, the coach deceived her, first telling her that she is much below one time. In her attempt to retain the old rating, Jill put on the best efforts and that time he lied the measurement to be really 112’ 2”.
Jill went crazy. In the district meet that happened after 24 hours, she won with a personal best toss of 114′ 10″! Eleven days later at the State Discus Event the same Jill finished with 118′ 1″! Amazing!!! What changed her in the 12 days was the trick, the coach played. It was not her technique, not her workouts, not her strength level, not her build. The coach had deceived her at measurements, finally giving her an idea that she has broken all past ratings. The entire change occurred between her ears and her heart. She believed that she had broken through. The coach later said that it was not he who was lying but it was Jill who was deceiving herself by affirming that it was her maximum that she is doing.
There was nothing strange in what Einstein’s mother also did; disappointed parents naturally give special training to their children. The difference with Einstein could be that his mother could set a clear goal in him and could help him not to lie to himself. Psychologist, Shad Helmstetter reminds us that God has awarded each human being with tremendous abilities and talents. Those talents are to be exploited. It is possible with taking control of the mind. She says that 70% of our self-talk is negative. (Self-talk is what we say to ourselves about ourselves).

Look, He is Moving

Three friends from the local congregation were asked, ‘When you’re in your casket, and friends and congregation members are mourning over you, what you would like them to say?’
The first one said: ‘I would like them to say that I was a wonderful husband, a fine spiritual leader, and a great family man.’ The next one commented: ‘I would like them to say that I was a wonderful teacher and servant of God who made a huge difference in people’s lives.’ The third guy said: ‘I’d like them to say, ‘Look, he’s moving!’
The third guy certainly represents an average human being, ever anxious to continue in this world, though in pain and agony. People are afraid to die; the truth is that the real reason of this fear is our own ignorance only. It is humorously said that religions owe greatly to human fear of death. Whatever, those who have realised the depth and meaning of death advise that it is not a thing to be afraid of. Sages remind us that we are not humans on a spiritual journey but spirits on a worldly journey.
Every moment molecules and atoms in our body are being replaced and we virtually get a new body each year. This however is not death or resurrection. So far, no body is heard to have returned to the old physical home alive with the same old consciousness to authenticate or deny any of our assumptions/conclusions in this regard. An exclusive study on a batch of people who have been through near death experiences shows that they later lived at no fear of death. Study on ‘Near Death Experiences’ (NDE) was virtually initiated by Raymond Moody. Some consider NDE to be hallucinatory and some others evidence of afterlife. However, researches show that it is not a matter of awakened awareness or increased intuitive feelings. NDE is defined as the reported memory of the whole of impressions during a special state of consciousness. Moody’s book (Life after Life) published in 1975 actually sparked much research interest and it continued through ‘International Association of Near Death Studies’ – IANDS). NDE experiences however vary from sensations like detachment from the body, feelings of levitation, extreme fear, total serenity, security, or warmth, the experience of absolute dissolution and the presence of a light. Dr. Jeffrey Long explains that people who have survived death shares in common, a travel experience to another dimension of light. One another common factor was that almost all seemed to have understood the cosmic law that everything one does to others will ultimately be returned to oneself: hatred and violence as well as love and compassion.
All NDEs have reported that after regaining consciousness, they had experienced clear consciousness with memories, emotions, and perception out of and above their body during the period of their coma, also “seeing” nurses, physicians and family in and around the bed.  Many questions like ‘what is actual death?’ and ‘what happens to consciousness when we die?’ come to our mind. According to most of us, death of our body is the end of our identity, the end of our thoughts/memory world and also is the end of our consciousness. NDEers have shared a feeling that they have apparently taken off their body like an old coat and to their surprise they appear to have retained their own identity with the possibility of perception, emotions, and a very clear consciousness. Is it not what Indian Scriptures say? Is it not the truth that most religions unanimously agree? Is it not the very concept we need to realise? Either we put on the gloves of a scientist or the gown of a priest, the truth remains the same; unless we are determined to realise the truth, we continue to be the wood cutter, who refuses to sharpen his axe. In the context of all these studies and understandings what we can conclude is that death could be just (one among the many?) a spiritual transition of the spirit, on its way from eternity to eternity. In reality, from the spirits point of view, life on earth could be nothing more than a bubble size experience on its infinite journey through known and unknown realms. But it is the greatest of known fun that we sweat too much for money and status clearly knowing that the next breath is not guaranteed.

One, Two, Three, Four….

Gautama Buddha once explained how to handle insult and maintain compassion. One day Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up and began insulting him. “You have no right to teach others,” he shouted. “You are as stupid as everyone else. You are nothing but a fake.” Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead, he asked the young man, “Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?” The man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, “It would belong to me, because I bought the gift.”
Gautama Buddha said with a smile, “That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself.” Buddha looked into the eyes of the guy. Buddha’s eyelids were hung with compassion and concern. He continued, “If you want to stop hurting yourself, you must get rid of your anger and become loving instead. When you hate others, you yourself become unhappy. But when you love others, everyone is happy.” His words changed the young man. Later we see him following the great master.
Redford Williams and Virginia Williams together have presented a deep study on anger – ‘Anger Kills’. The very title tells us how they have concluded their years long research. Modern vision on anger but varies: express, repress, suppress..…all are argued for. In medical history, there is a strange story of a child falling dead while being breast-fed. Later investigations proved that the feeding mother was burning with anger towards her husband. The anger within her could change her body chemistry so drastically, producing deadly hormones all over. Researches have shown that no matter how much we exercise or eat correctly, we are putting ourselves at risk whenever we are angry. While in anger, we experience muscle tension, grinding of teeth, higher blood pressure, chest pains, excessive sweating and severe headaches. This is because all the energy on stock rushes forward to maintain our being (the major portion is consumed by the heart) – mostly leaving only the very necessary for critical mechanisms like breathing and thinking. Our regret on the words used and deeds done are the best example. It happens because we haven’t enough energy to think appropriately.
One of the major effects anger has on the body is the release of chemicals and hormones, primarily the adrenaline and non-adrenaline. Aura readers say that black darts go out random from our bioenergy field, when we are angry. That is why nobody feels comfortable near an angry. Diseases like peptic ulcers, constipation, diarrhea, intestinal cramping, hiccups, chronic indigestion, heart attacks, strokes, kidney problems, obesity, and frequent colds are found to be the results of prolonged anger. Diseases like rashes, hives, warts, eczema and acne are mostly reserved for those holding anger within. Suppressed anger can also have psychological effects, causing depression, eating disorders, addictions to drug and alcohol, nightmares, insomnia and self-destructive behaviours. Do you want to control your anger? There are many techniques that might help you; the easiest but is taking a deep slow breath and counting 1 to 10 or 10 to 1. If this is a physical solution with limited results; absolute forgiveness but is a spiritual panacea that completely heals. It is up to us to explore within for hidden marks of anger and thus clean the spirit from ‘causes’ that might spread havoc physically.

Fear Wall

This is a live story from the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. When he was a small boy, he was afraid of ghosts. Whenever he was alone in the dark, he was afraid that a ghost lurking in some dark corner would suddenly jump upon him. One night, Mohan had to go from one room to another. As he stepped out of the room, his heart began to beat like a drum. Rambha, their old maid servant, was standing by the door.
“What’s the matter, son?” she asked with a laugh.
“I am frightened, Dai,” Mohan answered.
“Frightened, child! Frightened of what?”
“See how dark it is! I’m afraid of ghosts!” Mohan whispered in a terrified voice.
Rambha said, “Listen to me: Think of Rama and no ghost will dare come near you. No one will touch a hair of your head. Rama will protect you.”
Rambha’s words gave Mohan courage. Repeating the name of Rama, he left the room. From that day on, Mohan was never lonely or afraid. He believed that as long as Rama was with him, he was safe from all dangers. This faith gave Gandhiji strength throughout his life, and even when he died the name of Rama was on his lips.
Fear is something we are afraid of. Nobody is free from all sorts of fears. If crowing of cocks easily scares a lion, a mosquito is enough to frighten an elephant. Position wise, if love is at the higher side of the energy frequency chain, fear forms the opposite end. However, they are neither absolute opposites nor of the same kind, because love is energy while fear is an emotion. All the emotions we have so far named are combinations of love and fear only. This emotion of fear need not also be fully the result of our unwillingness to confront. The Mohandas Gandhi story tells us that the more we move towards love (God) the more we turn away from fear (devil). Religions that insist its followers to be in fear of something are unknowingly asking them to move away from God.

Re-routing Wizards

Money and luxury are the most sought out attractions in the world. The law but is, ‘what we insist resists’; in another words, the more we try to amass something, interestingly, the more it struggles to keep away from us.
Money is energy in motion and it cannot exist inert. If ever it remains with us, it is only because of its vibrant nature. The moment we try to obstruct this attribute of the universe, always worrying over the money that goes out, it will cease to come in or even might bounce back. The theory underlines the truth that it is not hard work or determination or intention that actually contributes to the major cause of prosperity, but the volume of flow we cause (the quantity of the thing we wish in others). The activity can be compared to the electric current flow through a bulb filament. Electrons flow in only to substitute those electrons that were let out. The more we let something out, the more of it will flow in. Whenever we refuse to spend, what the Universe understands is that we do not have enough of that. The Universe is likely to hold us in the same platform, with an understanding that it is a similar situation that we always want in our life. The best way to invite money into our life is showing the Universe that we have it in abundance or we are scared of money as in the story of Wali Dad. This is why ‘prosperity consciousness’ is recommended a must for all. This is what the scriptural verse ‘Haves will have more’ also means.
Wali Dad was a carpenter who lived alone and worked hard the whole day long. His tastes were simple and his wants few, so he spent very little of the money he earned. One day he found that the jar in which he kept his money was full to the brim.  “I must empty it,” he thought. He took the jar to the local jeweller, emptied its contents and got a gold bracelet worth the sum. Wali Dad wondered what he should do with the bracelet. He saw a merchant going to the palace. “Will you give the princess this bracelet too,” said the carpenter, handing over the bracelet.
The princess liked the bracelet and sent him a camel-load of the finest silks in return. “What will I do with these silks?” groaned Wali Dad. As suggested by the merchant, he sent the gifts to the Sultan of Kesh. The Sulthan sent him six of his finest horses.  Wali Dad sent them on to the princess. The princess ordered her advisor to send Wali Dad a gift that he cannot match. The princess thought that it will humble his pride. The princess sent him 20 mules laden with silver. Wali Dad sent the silver to the Sultan. The Sultan was perplexed.  “Send him a gift that he cannot match. That should humble him.” He also said. The Sultan ordered his advisor to send Wali Dad 20 cartloads of precious stones which Wali Dad promptly re-routed to the princess.
The story goes on saying that his re-routing business continued for a few more turns and as the load kept on increasing each time, he chose to run away to a distant village. The Wali Dad story might seem to be strange or rather impossible. Given the situation, the development could not be untrue at all.

“Time, Please?”

In a Zen ⃰ Buddhist monastery, the monks were frantically running all around; they were trying to find their senior, Tara, who they thought only could help them. She was finally located sitting by the river, enjoying the late afternoon sun.
 “What’s this entire ruckus about?” she asked, rather alarmed at seeing a gang of anxious monks approaching her. “And why is one side of each of your faces red?” she continued, noticing the glowing redness on the left cheek of every monk.
 “Master Blumise has lost his marbles,” replied Chin. “He is running around the monastery asking everyone what time is it? As soon as you tell him the time, he gives you one tight slap and moves on to the next victim. In fact, he has already slapped monk Gzan twice today; see both his cheeks are red!” Chin exclaimed.
 “The old bugger is still pretty strong,” muttered Gzan. Just then Master Blumise burst onto the scene.
 “Tara!” he yelled, “What time is it?”
Tara looked up calmly, smiled and said, “The time is now, Master,” and that was the end of that. Master Blumise bowed deeply to his beloved student and left the now awakened congregation of monks to reflect on this right answer.
Were the true to the present answers the disciple monks gave worth tight slaps? I would say that they deserved much more, because they should have understood the time they live in. Almost the whole of humanity can be accused to be living either in the past or in the future. Both are unreal, they do not exist at all. Past is gone and tomorrow can appear only as the reality of ‘now’, i.e. the ‘present’ – a valuable gift of the Universe. Everybody intend this and that but nobody is available in the present to receive them. Albert Einstein stated that time and matter does not exist; instead of scientifically understanding the concept, we handle time as real and eternity as mystery. Only a man in absolute awareness exists in the present.
The main allegation against the ‘present’ is that it too is not fully real – just half real at the maximum, because the moment we identify the present it becomes past. Also it is not at all sensible to think of living without any experience of the past for support. However, the more we are in the present the more we get control over our own selves. Unless we learn to manage our own selves, how can we dream of shaping our spirit power? Without experiencing the basic blocks of ‘now’, how can we be ‘here’?
⃰Buddhism grew into two major Schools, the Mahayana and Thervada. Zen belongs to the Mahayana tradition. The word ‘Zen’ actually comes from the Chinese word ‘Chan’ which in turn derived from the Sanskirit word ‘Dhyan’, which roughly means meditation. Zen system of thought means enlightenment through introspection and insight. Zen puzzles served the purpose. Each Zen monk gets a ‘koan’ (problem without solution) to contemplate.

“Yes, My Son”

A woman was at work when she received a phone call that her small daughter was very sick with a fever. She left her work and on the way back stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication. She got back to her car but found that she had locked her keys in the car. She didn’t know what to do; she called home and told the baby sitter what had happened. The baby sitter told her that the fever is getting worse.
She bowed her head and asked God to send her help. Within five minutes a beat up old motor cycle pulled up, with a dirty, greasy, bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag on his head. The woman thought, “This is what you sent to help me?” The man got off of his motor cycle and asked if he could help. She said, “Yes, my daughter is very sick. I stopped to get her some medication and I locked my keys in my car. I must get home to her. Please, can you unlock my car?” He said, “Sure.” He walked over to the car with a rusty coat hanger he picked up from the road side, and in less than a minute the car was opened. She hugged the man and through her tears she said, “Thank you so much! You are a very nice man.” The man replied, “Lady, I am not a nice man. I just got out of prison today. I was in prison for car theft and have only been out for about an hour.” The lady was surprised at how God arranged a competent man to help her. She also was surprised to see how such a useful coat hanger, which was left unnoticed at the very place she most wanted it, happened to be of help to her.
This story projects the best of lessons that a successful human being most follows. God is not only merciful but also all powerful; He always is aside, ready to help His creation. But there are a few conditions: The first of it is that you should be sure that God help is possible; the next condition is that you should not be conditioned with a belief that God help appears only the way you think; the last of it is that you should be in absolute surrender.

Zen Zeng Theory

The Zen Buddhist teacher Ryokan, was requested by his sister-in-law to come to her house and talk to her son. She complained that her son doesn’t work, squanders his father’s money in wild parties and is neglecting the estate. She said, “If he does not reform, we will be ruined.”  The great Master agreed to come to her house.
As Ryokan came to his brother’s house, he was cordially received by his nephew. Ryokan was pleased to see hm. Even though Ryokan spent many hours in the house, he said not a word in rebuke, the whole day. The young man who knew why his uncle was there was surprised. The next morning Ryokan put on his garments and then requested his nephew; “Will you help me tie the thongs of my sandals? My hands shake and I cannot do it.”His nephew helped him willingly. “Thank you,” said Ryokan. “A man becomes older and feebler day by day. You remember how strong and robust I used to be?” “I do,” said his nephew, thoughtfully. “I do indeed remember how you used to be.” It was the moment of truth for him. He suddenly realised that his mother and all those who looked after him had become old and that it is his turn now to look after them. That very moment he decided to give up his dissolute life forever.
Everybody wants the world to change. Master Ryokan but reminds us that the best technique to effect a change is a powerful live situation. It has its own impact. According to an old adage, an exemplary act equals one million advises. There was once a thief who wanted to cart away a heavy bell. He decided to break it first. As he hit the bell, a loud noise was heard. Not wanting others to hear the sound, he is said to have covered up his ears. Even while the society is badly in need of thorough reformation, we do not hear too many raising their hands for the cause. The reason simply is that most of us are under covers of some sort. There is a way out; it is nothing else but uncovering ourselves for an example. It might help us look into ourselves.

Fox Skin for Sale

I am reminded of a foolish young guy, who asked the fox its skin. The young guy had just married a beauty. One day, his wife had an idea that a coat of fox fur would look pretty on her. So she asked her husband to get her one. But the coat was rare and too expensive. The helpless husband was forced to walk around on the hillside; just at the moment, a fox was walking by. He lost no time to catch it by the tail.
The man said, “Well, dear fox, let’s make an agreement. Could you offer me a sheet of your skin? That isn’t a big deal, is it?” The fox was shocked at the request, but she replied calmly, “Well, my dear, that’s easy. But let my tail go so that I can pull off the skin for you.” The delighted man let the fox free and the moment the fox got free, it ran away as quickly as she could into the forest.
All guys need not be as foolish as this man. But if we turn back and look into ourselves, it won’t be too hard to find out a heap of foolish decisions we have taken. This guy was taught to keep promises and he believed that the fox also would keep what she promised. Whenever we try to generalise another’s experience, the same thing happens. The fact but is that history never repeats as such and every moment is ‘new’. Jump from the same floor from where one day a boy fell down but was saved. No man of proper sense will guarantee you the same fortune. Every time we keep on analysing each possibility using the impressions and programs well set in the mind. We follow history…..with a belief that it is wisdom. It is more or less like allowing others to decide our destiny. Unless we utilise our common sense and accept God given chances with an understanding that we are responsible for what we do, life on earth could be miserable. If Abraham Lincoln would not have dared to buy the barrel of old books, which according to him were of no use at that given time, he would not have ever entered the American White House. Accepting chances that come by, without reference to a past experience, is real success. There is trust in it. Most of us but call it ‘risk’.

The How of Things

One day Columbus was at a dinner which a Spanish gentleman had given in his honor. Several persons present there were jealous of the great admiral’s success. They told Columbus, “You have discovered strange lands beyond the seas, but what of that? We do not see why there should be so much said about it. Anybody can sail across the ocean; and anybody can coast along the islands on the other side, just as you have done. It is the simplest thing in the world.”
Columbus made no answer; but after a while he took an egg from a dish and asked the company, “Who among you, gentlemen, can make this egg stand on end?” One by one those at the table tried the experiment. When the egg had gone entirely around and none had succeeded, all said that it could not be done. Then Columbus took the egg and struck its small end gently upon the table so as to break the shell a little. After that there was no trouble in making it stand upright.” Gentlemen,” he said, “What is easier than to do this which you said was impossible? It is the simplest thing in the world. Anybody can do it…… after he has been shown how!”
The world has advanced too much in all areas of growth; fine arts or hard science makes no difference. Undoubtedly the common public is the end user of almost all these inventions and discoveries. I doubt, if we have learned to respect those men of great competence, who virtually opened for us the possibilities of innovative concepts. We live as if things are as simple as anything and that we owe none for anything. In most cases, if history is true, great pains were there behind most inventions that changed the face of the world. Steinmetz, who first introduced an AC motor, retired as an engineer from General Electric Company. The company could not realise his worth until a very complex system was broken. No one could fix it no matter how hard the technicians tried. So they got Steinmetz back. He traced the systems and found the malfunctioning part and marked it with a piece of chalk.
Like that in physical innovations and discoveries, spirituality related activities also are under the shadow of a similar public attitude. The world has miserably failed to recognise the worth of those Great Masters who taught the world the meaning of life and relevance of ‘truth’. According to the world, there is nothing new in it. As a result, the present world has truly become more or less like a hornet’s nest. If General Electric Company knew that there was a problem and nobody there could fix it, we are differentiated by the fact that we are yet to acknowledge that there is a problem and we require competent masters back to fix it.

I Was One of Them

A young, 18-year-old orphan student, with practically nobody to support his studies was struggling to pay his fees at Stanford University, in 1892. One of his friends came up with a bright idea of hosting a musical concert in the campus. Accordingly, they struck a deal with a poplar pianist of the times, Ignacy J. Paderewski, at a stake of $2000. The big concert day arrived; Paderewski performed at Stanford. But unfortunately, the total collection was only $1600.
They gave Paderewski the entire $1600, plus a cheque for the balance $400. “No way!” said Paderewski. “This is just not acceptable!” He tore up the cheque, returned the $1600 and told the two boys, “Here’s the $1600. Please deduct whatever expenses you have incurred. Keep the money you need for your fees. And just give me whatever is left!” The boys were surprised, and quite overjoyed. It was a small act of kindness which clearly marked out Paderewski as a great human being -someone special. Great people think of the differences  an act of kindness could make in the life of others.
In due course of time, Paderewski became the Prime Minister of Poland. He was an able leader, but unfortunately when the World War began, Poland was ravaged. There were over 1.5 million people starving in his country; the state hadn’t enough money to support them. Paderewski reached out to the US Food and Relief Administration for help. The head there was a man called Herbert Hoover – who later went on to become the US President. Hoover agreed to help and quickly shipped tons of food grains to feed the starving Polish people. A calamity was averted. Paderewski was relieved! He decided to go across to meet Hoover and personally thank him. When Paderewski began to thank Hoover for his noble gesture, Hoover quickly interjected and said, “You shouldn’t be thanking me Mr. Prime Minister. You may not remember this, but several years ago; you helped two young students go through college in the US. I was one of them.”
Everybody is on the run to achieve this and that. It is worth remembering that the key to achievements is the simple theory that achievement in your life depends upon how you help other people achieve what they wanted in their lives.

Love So Fierce

A visit to Paris holds many wonders for the modern tourist. The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, countless artistic and architectural wonders, but these are all trumped by the magnificent and stately Cathedral called Our Lady, or in French ‘Notre Dame’. This building built in 1160stands as a testament to history, entertainment, artistic dedication and Gothic architecture.
The famous French writer Victor Hugo wrote his much acknowledged novel, ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’, in the background of this Cathedral. As narrated in the story, Quasimodo, a deformed man, was the bell-ringer of Notre Dame. Altogether there are five bells in the Notre Dame cathedral towers. The bell, Emmanuel, which was used to mark time and alert people, weighed thirteen tons. Victor Hugo says that there was a beautiful gypsy lady by name Esmeralda, in Notre Dame. A kind and generous heart made her very special. Esmeralda captured the hearts of many, including that of Claude Frollo (the Arch Deacon of Notre Dame), the adopted father of Quasimodo. ‘Frollo was torn between his lust and the rules of the Church’.However, he orders Quasimodo to kidnap her; but his attempt was spoiled and he was caught red handed.
Later we see that Quasimodo is sentenced to be whipped and ordered to be tied down by the fire. As he was being punished, Esmeralda, the beautiful young barefoot Gypsy dancer, seeing his thirst, offers him water. The story goes on saying that because of this, Quasimodo falls fiercely in love with her, even though she was too disgusted by his ugliness even to let him kiss her hand.
This situation in the story has contributed much to the glory of this novel. The streams of love that broke out from Quasimodo are described as ‘fierce’. It could have been so wild and irresistible like the burst of molten lava. Quasimodo also loved Esmeralda. But the love which developed to be ‘fierce’ had no trace of the old lust filled passion. It was pure and powerful. Throughout the history, there are stories of fruitful individuals who could generate ‘fierce love’ in others. May be because of this ‘fierce love’, the world exists as it is. Whatever be the quantity of wealth we could accumulate, we need a world to spend it, as we wish. It is time for us to think on how much we have contributed our share in generating ‘fierce love’. We owe the world at least one situation, where we are the only physical cause.

The Master Key

According to Zeno, ‘The goal of life is living in agreement with nature’. However, we are free either to decide to live in agreement with nature or keep asking for improvisations everywhere; life gives us unending choices to tune to. Whatever be our decision, success in life depends upon how much we accept the tidings of this universe. Wilson Mizner once said, ‘Be nice to people on your way up because you’ll need them on your way down’. He was stressing on the importance of accepting people and nature.
Once a man asked his father-in-law, “Many people praise you for a successful marriage. Could you please share with me your secret?”
The father-in-law answered with a smile, “Never criticise your wife for her shortcomings or when she does something wrong. Always bear in mind that because of her shortcomings and weaknesses, she could not find a better husband than you.”
Another man while walking down a street heard a voice from behind, ‘If you take one more step, a brick will fall down on your head and kill you.’ The man stopped and a big brick fell right in front of him. The man was astonished. He went on, and after a while he was going to cross the road. Once again the voice shouted, ‘Stop! Stand still! If you take one more step a car will run over you, and you will die.’ The man did as he was instructed, just as a car came careening around the corner, barely missing him. The man asked. ‘Who are you?”I am your guardian angel,’ the voice answered. ‘Oh, yeah?’ the man asked ‘And where the hell were you when I got married?’

The Name of the Clinic?

Two elderly couples were enjoying a friendly conversation when one man asked the other, “Fred, how was the memory clinic you went to last month?”
“Outstanding,” Fred replied. “They taught us all the latest psychological techniques – visualisation, association – it made a huge difference for me.”
“That’s great! What was the name of the clinic?”
Fred went blank. He thought and thought, but couldn’t remember. Then a smile broke across his face and he asked, “What do you call that red flower with the long stem and thorns?”
“You mean a Rose?”
“Yes, that’s it!” He turned to his wife.” Rose, what was the name of that clinic?”
Is this just a piece of joke to smile away? I think, ‘no’, because it contains a great moral. As New Year dawned in, we reassured ourselves that we have learned many things and are going to make corresponding changes in life. The fact is that most of us are no better than Fred. The memory clinic could install in him, a belief that it is the best establishment of that kind. But Placebo does not cook! Human mind is loaded with thousands and thousands of similar believes, to which we are precisely enslaved to. It is clear that unless we are aware of this fraud business within, our destiny could even be worse than that of Fred.
Nobody has banned anyone from accessing one’s own mind-capsules and learning what sort of believes are hidden there. This attempt but requires much patience and enough expertise. Observing the environment and evaluating its’ response to our presence at distinct situations is easier. Both are same, because the rule is that what appears to you is just the reflection of what is within. If you experience love all around, assure yourself that it is love that you radiate. If you could locate a man who hates you, just realise that there is hatred within yourself. Saintly persons, who might consciously invite negative passions for transformation and healing are exceptions. The problem with those who could locate the crisis area could be another inner program that warns him/her to wait for the most appropriate solution. But alas! The best book is yet to be written and the best advice is yet to be pulled out.

The Plus Sign

Little Zachary was doing very badly in math. His parents tried everything……..tutors, mentors, flash cards, special learning centres. Finally, in a last ditch effort, they took Zachary down and enrolled him at the local Catholic school. After the first day, little Zachary came home with a very serious look on his face. Day after day, Zachary became more and more serious and began scoring high marks too. His mother could no longer hold her curiosity. She went to his room and asked, “Son, what was it? Was it any nun?”  Little Zachary looked at her and shook his head, “No.” “Well, then,” she asked, “Were it the books, the discipline, the structure, the uniforms? What was it?” Little Zachary looked at her and said, “Well, on the first day of school when I saw that guy nailed to the plus sign, I knew they weren’t fooling around.”
Good, little Zachary could change his life just because of a plus sign and the solid structure of a young man nailed to it. Fear was his saviour. I think that the man kind knew the effects and possibilities of fear, eons back. The reason for my assumption is that there was wide spread spirituality even among primitive cultures and also religious orders that dictated some sort of disciplines orders.  Deepak Chopra, one among the noted writers on spirituality, once said that any religion is indebted to man’s fear of death. On a closer analysis, we see that unless people had no fear of diseases, disasters and disorders of all kinds, they would not have cared to turn to a super human power that could interfere. So there happened theologies and philosophies, all cooked in a pattern that could create awe and fear. I should not ignore the few, who grew in love and knew no fear.
The question is, ‘why should we bother about the technique, once if the result is good?’ There is the problem. God is love and the entire universe is manifestation of this one energy called love. Love manifested into thousands of emotions through its’ union with fear – the extreme opposite of love. When an object moves to fear, is it not clear that it is sliding away from love? The upper Energy realms always ask us to move closer for an effective communication.  So angels, who appear first warn anyone, ‘do not be afraid’. In  some  other  situations, a  communication  with  the  Divine happens in sleep patterns  where  there  are  no  fears  and  our vibratory level is so high and close to the source frequency of love. It is time for us to redefine fear and think more on, ‘Does God wants us to live in fear?’
We are so fortunate that we have both a cruel and punishing God and an unconditionally loving kind God in the same chapter of the same Scripture….that is how we have transcribed Discourses into Scriptures and translated Scriptures into languages.

Discipline Code

The story goes saying that once a beggar came along to a man who was waiting for a taxi. The man ignored him, but the beggar kept on pestering him. At last he told the beggar, “If you tell me what you want to do with the money, I will certainly help you.”“I would have bought a cup of tea,” replied the beggar. The man said, “No man. I can offer you a cigarette instead of tea.”“I don’t smoke as it is injurious to health.”’The man took a bottle of whiskey with a smile and from his pocket and told the beggar, “Here, take this bottle and enjoy the day.” “Alcohol muddles the brain and damages the liver.” The man smiled again and told the beggar, “I am going to the race course. Come with me and I will arrange for some tickets and we will place bets. If we win, you take the whole amount and leave me alone.”  As before, the beggar politely refused the latest offer also by saying, “Sorry sir, betting on horses is a bad habit.” Suddenly the man felt relieved!! He asked the beggar to come to his home with him. Finally, the beggar’s face lit up in anticipation of receiving at least something from the man. But he still had his doubts and asked the man, “Why do you want me to go to your house with you.” The man replied,“ I always wanted to show my wife, how a man with no bad habits looks like!”
Discourses, religious rituals/codes, moral classes, exemplary teachers, enough of Scriptures, all are there around us…all meaning to help us lead a disciplined life of values. But most of us find pleasure in presenting funny examples like this, just to prove how futile it is to be totally disciplined to values. Discipline brings order to everything in life, while observance of values in life rewards us with peace and happiness every moment. Discipline, as many considers it to be, is not total submission to rules or codes; instead, disciplining is taking more and more control over once on self. Discipline is very relevant when it come to the matter of social regeneration of any kind. A society of undisciplined members is more or less like an orchestra, where each one plays his choice tunes at a time while a disciplined man is like a woodcutter who cares to sharpen his axe frequently. He cuts the tree much faster, for sure. Success might continue to be a mirage in our life, unless the focus is not on discipline and values.

Jai Jai, Jay Thiessens

Jay Thiessens of B&J Machine Tool Co. was honoured in Washington, D.C., as one of the six national winners of the ‘1999 National Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative Award’. The Award recognises small business entrepreneurs who have triumphed over adversities. This is a strange story of a linguistically handicapped guy who could build a world of his own, literally from ground zero. Jay Thiessens graduated from School but guess his standard for he could not read. After graduation, Thiessens moved to Reno, where 10 years later he started a small machine shop with hardly $ 200 to invest. He slowly built his machine and tool company into a $5 million-a-year enterprise. Recently he is after a new 54,000 square-feet expansion.
For decades, he could successfully behave as if he is too busy to review any contract or go through the mails. Nobody knew that he doesn’t read even the headlines of a news paper. His wife, Bonnie, helped him to sort out the mails and do the paper works at late hours of the day. As the Company grew, Thiessens delegated correspondence tasks to his Managers at B&J Machine Tool Co, who never had any doubt on his reading skill. “I worked for him for seven years and I had no clue,” said Jack Sala, once his Manager. “He would bring legal stuff to me and say, ‘You’re better at legal issues than me.’ I never knew I was the only one reading them,” so said his General Manager.
Thiessens but couldn’t hide this secret for long, mostly because of the tension within him. “It became too hard to continue to hide it,” said Thiessens, who slowly learned to read at the age of 56. “Since I made the decision to let everybody know, it’s a big relief.” He said. In 1998, Thiessens confessed in the ‘Executive Committee’ of a local chapter of business champions that he could not read. “He was a little teary. His voice was shaking,” recalled Doug Damon from the group. People, who automatically had assumed that he knew to read were surprised by Thiessens’ confession. He but was overwhelmed by support; that could change his attitude considerably. Thiessens found an hour a day, five days a week to learn reading. He now successfully reads everything. His wife says, “There is no shame in not knowing how to read. The shame is but not doing anything about it.”
Almost all modern societies are more or less tuned to think that they have enough experts or knowledgeable people in it and label the illiterate or someway handicapped many as natural combinations of it. I have read that psychologists have categorised aptitudes into forty or more. I was surprised to read further about their finding that any human is invariably proficient in 6-8 of them and a ‘could be genius’ in one or two of them. The Thiessens case is different. He found out his aptitudes and developed it. The problem was that he was reluctant to transform himself to a more efficient tool; more or less like the woodcutter refusing to sharpen his axe.  Thiessens but grew up to give us a good message to the present day blooming entrepreneurs – refuse to be content with what one has. His revised decision could fetch him the prestigious ‘National Blue Chip Award’. True, ‘there is no shame in not having all the aptitudes. The shame is but not doing anything about what we have’.

Cloth Washers Behind

An academically excellent person was being interviewed for a managerial post in a big company. The Director discovered from the CV, that the youth’s academic result was excellent all the way. The Director asked, “Had you any scholarship in school?” The youth answered “No”. The Director further asked, “How did you pay your School fees?” The youth answered, “My father is no more and it was my mother who earned for me.”The next question was, “Where does your mother work?” The youth answered, “My mother works as cloth cleaner.” The Director looked at his eyes and then asked, “Have you ever helped your mother wash clothes?” The youth answered, “Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books, furthermore, my mother washes clothes faster than me” The Director then said, “I have a request, when you go back today, go and help to clean your mother’s hand, and then see me tomorrow morning.”
The youth felt that the chance of landing the job was high and when he went back, he happily wanted to clean his mother’s hands. His mother felt strange. With happiness mixed with fear, she showed her hands to the kid. The youth cleaned his mother’s hands slowly and his tears fell as he did that.  It was the first time he noticed that his mother’s hands were so wrinkled, and that there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that she shuddered when his mother’s hands were cleaned with water. This was the first time that he realised and experienced that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes every day to earn him the school fees and that the bruises in the mother’s hand were the price that his mother paid for his graduation and academic excellence and probably his future. After finishing the cleaning of his mother’s hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.
That night, the mother and son talked for a very long time. Next morning, the youth went to the Director’s office. The Director noticed the tear in the youth’s eye and asked: “Can you tell me what you did and learnt yesterday in your house?”The youth answered, “I cleaned my mother’s hands and also finished washing all the remaining clothes.” The Director asked, “please tell me what you felt.” The youth said, “Now I know what she is in my life. Now I know how to work together with my mother.  Only now do I realise how difficult and tough it is to get something done.  Finally, I have learned the importance and value of family relationship.” The Director said, “I want to recruit a person that can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the suffering of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life to be my manager. You are appointed.”
This is just another story which I happened to read last month. Don’t know if the situation is real or fabricated. However, the moral is worth meditating upon. The difference between the young man without the cloth washer behind and with the cloth washer aside is great; the environments both might create around them are very critical to the continuance of the establishments concerned. Stories won’t help; only real experience matters. Eating meals thankfully remembering the Universe, which produced the food, the Nature that grew it, the men who cropped it, the woman who cooked it and all the contributing factors that caused it, is the best known process to extract the maximum energy from the minimum food we consume, according to Indian saints. The theory is the same with regard to the environment that feeds us financially too; being thankful to everything and everybody makes anyone best of the lot.

Herbs for Cure

This is one of the finest stories that I have ever reached. As the story goes, ‘once upon a time in China, a girl named Li-Li got married and went to live with her husband and mother-in-law. In a very short time, Li-Li found that she couldn’t get along with her mother-in- law at all; she was angered by many of her habits. Li-Li and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting. All the anger and unhappiness in the house was causing Li-Li’s poor husband great distress.
Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law’s bad temper and dictatorship any longer, and she went to see her father’s good friend, Mr. Huang, who was herbs merchant. She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all. Huang agreed to help her and gave her some herbs and said, “I’ve given you some rare herbs that will slowly build up poison in her body. Every other day prepare some delicious meal and put a little of these herbs in her serving. But, in order to make sure that nobody suspects you, as she dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly towards her. Don’t argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen.” She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother- in-law.
With difficulty, she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother. As six months passed by, the whole household changed dramatically. Li-Li had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found that she almost never got mad or upset because her mother-in-law now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with. The mother-in-law’s attitude to her also had changed. She had begun to love Li-Li as own daughter. She even had begun telling her friends and relatives that Li-Li was the best daughter-in-law one could ever find. Li-Li’s husband was very happy to see what was happening.
One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked for his help again. She said, “Dear uncle, please help me to keep off the poison from killing my mother-in-law. She’s changed into such a nice woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die because of the poison I gave her.” Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. “Li-Li, there’s nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the love which you gave to her.”
Huang medicine applies not only in mother-in-law disasters but also in all relationships that have cuts and bruises. The moral of the story is not just ‘others might change at will’ but that all hurts in relationships bleed only if there are poison hives within our own selves.

Sangham Saranam Gachami

The Theravada way to pay homage to the Buddha is: clasp the palms and kneel (optional) and recite the following: ‘Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma Sambuddhassa’ (Homage to Him, the Exalted One, the Holy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One). The second step is chant the ‘The Three Refuges: Buddham Saranam Gacchami (to the Buddha [Enlightened] I go for refuge), Dhammam Saranam Gacchami (to the Dhamma [teachings] I go for refuge) and Sangham Saranam Gacchami (to the Sangha [Monks] I go for refuge).
The third Refuge tells us how important is being together, in ones’ pilgrimage to salvation. The new millennium opened with streaks of spiritual awakening all around. We found people crowding around charismatic retreat centres, holistic healing techniques and holistic living courses. Within hardly a decade, we witness a slow down there. Psychedelic experiences could not continue long. A deep analysis is not necessary to find out the reasons for this shift. The four obvious reasons are, sadhaks could not be taken into continued experiences, masters and organizations could not live what they taught, money and luxury began deciding things and finally the processes could not withstand the challenges of reasoning.
The result was a linear rise in the number of laymen choosing to be alone, preferring to end up with their due destiny rather than adjusting to the spiritual fast food services offered. This definitely is more dangerous than the old. Somehow, Ashrams that permit sadhaks to be what they are have begun flourishing fast in India, setting a new trend. The style is not new; Indian saints underline the Buddhist saying, ‘thousand monks, thousand religions’. These Scriptures further say ‘You are your own master; you make your own future’.
However, association of likeminded people is always a vital requirement. A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going to church. After a few weeks, the vicar decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The vicar found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his vicar’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.
The vicar made himself at home but said nothing. After some minutes, the vicar carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone and then he sat back in his chair, still silent. As the one lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The vicar glanced at his watch and slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it. As the vicar reached the door to leave, his host said with tears running down his cheek, ‘Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon’. Without a word spoken, the man understood how dangerous it is to remain alone.

The Balance Theory

The man yelled, “God, speak to me. Why all these miseries to me alone?” Thunder and lightning rolled across the sky; a voice was heard from above. “Look, everything should be in perfect balance.  After every 10 deer, there should be a lion; look at your own country, India, my most precious creation. It has sparkling streams and serene mountains; rich forests and fertile beds, people have enough spiritual awareness……..I have created enough politicians too, everything should be in balance.”
This simply is something more than a piece of joke. It projects a great philosophy that unless in duality, the universe is impossible. The word ‘south’ makes no sense if there is no ‘north’; so are ‘day’ and ‘night’, ‘man and ‘woman’. How can we portrait our pictures if there is only light, no shade? Perfect balancing is seen everywhere in this universe and this diversity is the very beauty of Nature. Everything is in its’ right place and time. It is not the universe but our attitude to the appropriateness of the Universe that is to change. A world with only saints in it cannot virtually exist. This is why accepting everything turns to be important in our life. Acceptance but does not mean ‘inviting everything into life’.
Hear the story of a young woman who told her mother how hard is life for her. The mother took her to the kitchen and she filled three pots with water and placed each on high fire. In the first pot she put a few carrots, in the second pot she put some eggs and in the third she put ground coffee beans. In about 15 minutes she turned off the burners. Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what you see.”
“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots, they were soft. The mother then broke the eggs, they were hard. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its’ rich aroma. The daughter then asked, “What does it mean, ma?”
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity but varying attitudes have made them different. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but turned out softened and weak. The egg had been fragile but turned out with its’ inside hardened. The ground coffee beans could change the water. “Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?”

The Acid Test

Confucius (BC 551- 479) is regarded as one of the greatest teachers and philosophers in Chinese history. In his later years, he travelled with his students to various states spreading his teachings, but was not very well received everywhere.
Once Confucius and his students ran out of food and all of the students fell ill. One of the students complained, “So, it is possible for a righteous person to become destitute!”
Confucius replied, “A righteous person can guard his morality and virtue even when he is destitute; whereas a wicked person will resort to all sorts of vices when he is destitute.”
Confucius was pointing at the standard of being human. When values are put to the acid test of practical life, most of us miserably lose. We know the right action but are mostly tuned to remoulding values to fit the physical need of the situation. This malpractice is seen with most spiritual leaders of all times. That could be why there are so many interpretations to all Scriptures. Verses are the easiest to bend. I have not seen a verse that asks for as many interpretations as possible. We provide even a heinous criminal with a supporting Scriptural Verse to defend himself.
Going away from the madding crowd and sitting alone under a tree is easy, he has no much worldly temptations to face; his values are not that threatened too. The situation of a householder but is different; his values are always under test. That is why a householder is said to be thrice blessed. It could be from a heap of commitments that he rises to remember the Highest and cares to chant a Praise.
I remember a touching remark of Socrates the Great. Just before obliging to the court verdict he said, “When I was 70 years old, I was brought to trial for worshipping strange gods. My accusers said that I taught young men to think dangerous thoughts. I was found guilty of these ‘crimes’ and was sentenced to death. Although my friends had a plan to help me escape from prison, I refused. After spending my life searching for the meaning of right and wrong, I felt it was wrong to run away from the government’s verdict. I told my friends, ‘No greater good can happen to a man than to discuss virtue every day, and an unexamined life is not worth living.” Yes, the secret of greatness and success in life definitely is our attitude to the values we share, how small and irrelevant it be.

Excellence…

A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, “Do you need two statues of the same idol?” “No,” said the sculptor without looking up, “We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage.” The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. “Where is the damage?” he asked. “There is a scratch on the nose of the idol.” said the sculptor, still busy with his work. “Where are you going to install the idol?”
The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. “If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?” the gentleman asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, “I will know it.”
I don’t know what the German could learn from the sculptor, but it is doubtless that we generally miss this craze for perfection. This is seen in our daily schedules; we eat what we could easily procure, we work just for a salary or intended profit, we pray just for practice sake, we wish just own prosperity only, we learn just what we need for the time being…. Unless we decide to charge ourselves for excellence, how can we expect others to do that?
I have heard the story of a prematurely born handicapped girl. First she got infantile paralysis; she recovered but with twisted left leg and foot. By the time she was 12 she had recovered from scarlet fever, whooping cough, chickenpox and measles too. In the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, remember that she became the first American woman to win three Gold Medals in track and field, during a single Olympics. She is Wilma Glodean Rudolph. This powerful sprinter emerged as “The Tornado,” the fastest woman on earth.  Her success is not just the outcome of her strong intention only; she is said to have worked hard to reach perfection in each step of her practice. She worked for nothing less than excellence. The sculptor wanted the idol not just as perfect as he could create it but as perfect as it could be created. The more we prove our excellence in thought and deed the more we integrate with the Universe, which is power infinite.

‘Plucking up a crop to help it grow’

A short tempered man in the Song Dynasty in China was very anxious to grow his rice crop quickly. He thought about this day and night; but the crop grew much slower than he expected. One day, he plucked up his entire crop a few inches. Even though he was very tired after doing this for a whole day, he felt very happy since the crop did ‘grow’ higher. His son heard about this and went to see the crop. Unfortunately the leaves of the crop had begun to wither. Then on, the proverb ‘plucking up a crop to help it grow’ is said to have been in use. This proverb says that we have to let things go in its natural course.
In a world in which time and space are crushed shorter and shorter, we also keep plucking crops to help it grow and there begins the fall of humanity. Each child born is assigned a future….doctor, engineer, scientist, priest…so goes. The stream is carefully chosen from the list of categories the society has gracefully set, and the child is compelled to suppress those hidden talents within, that could have made him/her a genius. Instead of letting the inherent aptitudes to blossom through the given environment and thus nourishing own individuality, we choose to play with personality the way society wants it to be. Neither we have the ‘infinite patience’ that nature demands nor do we have any regard for the growing child.
We so cruelly spoil the generation, letting their inner self continue with terrible clash between child-adult-parent attitudes and more important of all, detaining them from the very purpose he/she is born to serve. Who among us will trust the Universe, which by all measures keep each of us right in the centre of it? Who among us will experience the truth that the whole Universe is there, just for you?
I remember the story of a loving Dad and son. The son sent an email to his father:  ‘Dear Dad, Berlin is wonderful, people are nice and I really like it here, but Dad, I am bit ashamed to arrive at my college on my Gold Mercedes, when all my Teachers travel by train. Your loving son’. The same day he got the reply mail, ‘Loving son, Twenty Million Dollars transferred to your account, please stop embarrassing us, go and get yourself a train too. Your Dad’. New Age parents living with ‘uncommon senses’ unknowingly keep plucking up their children to help them grow. It may take some time for them to see their dreams tumbling down one by one….. Why not we realise this a little early?

The Best Spear and Shield

An armorer used to claim that he makes the best spears and shields. “My shields are so strong; they cannot be penetrated by any weapon, and spears are so sharp; they can pierce any shield,” he would claim. A man passing by looked at him and asked, “What happens then if your spear is thrown at your shield?” The armorer became speechless. Thus the man could make the armorer reflect on his own folly. Socrates the great once said, “When I was very young, I started going to the sculpture studio with my father. He taught me how to make stone sculptures by asking me to copy some of his carvings. Sometimes my father would tell me to use a different angle with the chisel. I liked his help, but I always asked ‘Why?’ Many years later, my father remarked that it wasn’t the sculpting aptitudes that made me a famous thinker, but it is the fact that I always asked questions.”
People do not generally ask creative questions, they allow others think for them. During the times of the great Confucius, there lived a learned and humble man. The Duke awarded him the honour of ‘Wen’ and he came to be known Kung Wen Zi. A student of Confucius, who did not think him to be worthy of such a great honour asked Confucius, “Why was he given the title of ‘Wen’?”. The great master replied, “He was humble and not afraid to ask questions.”
The attitude of reluctance to produce questions has come to be the honoured trade mark of the present day religionists too. That is why matter and eternity still live together in them. Real quests sprout from questions and never from answers. If Vasco-De-Gama had not asked questions, if Edison had not asked questions, if Einstein had not asked questions….we cannot imagine what the present world would have been. Asking questions and finding answers change the world fast for the better; doubting everything and living in curiosity but ruin the world. Generating necessary enthusiasm could be the best support we give others.

Hidden Factor

Albert Einstein’s wife often suggested that he dress more professionally when he headed off to work. “Why should I?” he would invariably argue. “Everyone knows me there.” When the time came for Einstein to attend his first major conference, she begged him to dress up a bit. “Why should I?” said Einstein. “No one knows me there!”
This attitude of finding unique logical excuses everywhere and for everything is an inherent trait of the entire humanity and not limited to a few spearheads. This is why there are arguments among people, courts and jails across nations. The worst thing is that none of us realise that our explanations and excuses are not our own.
A Zen student said to his teacher, “Master, I have an ungovernable temper. Help me get rid of it.” “You have something very strange,” said the teacher. “Show it to me.”“Right now I cannot show it to you.” “Why not?” “It arises suddenly.” “Then it cannot be your own true nature,” said the teacher, “if it were, you would be able to show it to me at any time. Why are you allowing something that is not yours to trouble your life?”
Let us not go deep into this ‘hidden factor’ behind the show. It might perhaps tell us that it is this ‘factor’ that controls over 90% of our system. We cannot control the beating of our heart, we cannot control the digestive organs, we cannot also ‘will’ something to forget….most miserable is our state at sleep; virtually we have no conscious control over it.
Human life, in other words, is like a machine controlled by remote stimulations. The main difference with that of a saint is that he is more automatic; that is, he lives like a conscious machine which needs less outside interference or allows none of that. Everything in his life is absolutely under his conscious and wilful control (managed by inner self). He is aware of every breath, he is aware of each silly movement he makes, he is aware of each word he utters, he is aware of each thought that passes by, he is aware of his purpose every moment, he is aware of the Energy that contains everything…. In other words, he is in control of everything in his life. The more one turns aware the more the Universe hand over control of his/her self, thus transforming him/her to a complete human being who might appear to us, a spirit unstained.

Making the Universe Smaller

A student once asked a teacher, “What is love?” The teacher said, “In order to answer your question, go to the wheat field and return with the biggest bunch of wheat. But there is a rule: you can go through them only once and cannot turn back to pick any.” The student went to the field where he saw a big bunch, but he did not pick it thinking there are bigger ones ahead. Later, when he searched through more than half of the wheat field, he realised that bunches in that place are not as big as the previous one he saw; he realised that he has missed the biggest one, and he regretted. The teacher told him, “This is love…. You keep searching for a better one, but later you realise that you have missed the best.”
The word ‘love’ is not undefined; but the problem is that there are too many definitions. We generally take it for the best of passions or the first of emotions. At the best analysis of it, an enlightened person sorts out ‘love’ to be the driving energy of the universe. This is why God is interpreted as a grand sum of love. Love is the most powerful energy in the whole universe. It contains everything; nothing stands against it.
 A mighty King was marching home after being victorious in a gruesome battle. While the king was crossing a forest, he saw a hermitage, which he decided to visit. The king moved towards the hermitage, dressed in his royal finery, accompanied by his ministers and attendants. The sage was sitting under a tree and scattering bajra seeds all around. Hundreds of birds of different kinds were eating those seeds and the sound of their twittering filled the air. The sage did not respond to the king’s repeated greetings. “Guruji, I said Pranam!” at last he said in an angry voice. The sage looked up and said, “Stop shouting, you are scaring the birds.” That made the king even more furious. “Do you know who I am?” he shouted. The sage said calmly, “Yes, I do. You are the one who kills for the love of power. One day another King shall kill you in the same way. The love of power shall bring about your downfall.” The king shouted with rage, “Your impertinence is intolerable. I shall behead you just now!”
He drew out his sword and raised it to strike the sage. In an instant, hundreds of birds flew up and attacked the king. They poked their beaks into his face, his eyes and his arms and all over. The king moved his arms up and around to ward off the birds. But the birds wouldn’t leave him. The sage said, “Leave him! Leave him! Come to me my dears!” All at once, the birds flew down and sat meekly at the feet of the sage. The sage said, “All I ever gave these birds is love. Oh King! realise the power of love.”
True it is, the more we show love, the smaller the universe becomes, because we contain all that we love.

Sowing Every Day

This story is about a beautiful, expensively dressed lady who complained to her psychiatrist that she felt as if her whole life was empty; it had no meaning. The lady finally went to a counselor thinking that he might sort out her problems. The counselor called over the old lady who cleaned the office floors. The counselor then said to the rich lady, “I’m going to ask Mary here to tell you how she found happiness. All I want you to do is listen to her.”
The old lady put down her broom and sat on a chair and told her story:”Well, my husband died of malaria and three months later my only son was killed in an accident. I had nobody… I had nothing left. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I never smiled at anyone, I even thought of taking my own life. Then one evening a little kitten followed me home from work. Somehow I felt sorry for that kitten. It was cold outside, so I decided to let the kitten in. I got it some milk, and the kitten licked the plate clean. Then it purred and rubbed against my leg and for the first time in months, I smiled. Then I stopped to think, if helping a little kitten could make me smile, may be doing something for people could make me happy. So the next day I baked some biscuits and took them to a neighbour who was sick in bed.
Every day I tried to do something nice for someone. It made me so happy to see them happy. Today, I don’t know of anybody who sleeps and eats better than I do. I’ve found happiness, by giving it to others.”
The rich lady, who was patiently listening Mary began to weep. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
She had everything that money could buy, but she had lost the things which money cannot buy. Millions of religionists and spiritual workers all over the world are still complaining that they do not reach happiness. The one question they need to ask themselves is just ‘how many could I make happy this very day?’ The rule engraved on stone says, ‘You reap what you sow’, which means that unless you sow happiness, you are never to reach it.

The Greatest of Miracles

We all love miracles; but what in the whole world could be the greatest of miracles? Indian Epics say that it is the phenomenon of death. We all know that death is inevitable; none of the comforts and pleasures we enjoyed on earth can be taken along with us when we pass from this world to the next. And yet man is occupied day and night thinking of how to accumulate wealth in whatever ways and means and he works hard to amass and hoard it as much as he can. What else could be a greater paradox in this world?
According to a story, a man began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him. One day an angel appeared and informed the man that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathered his largest suitcase and filled it with pure gold bars and placed it beside his bed.  He died and showed up at the gates of heaven with his precious collection. St Peter, at the gates, seeing the suitcase, said, “Hold on, you cannot bring that in here!” The man explained that he had permission and asked him to verify his story with the Lord. Sure enough, St Peter checked it out, came back and said, “You’re right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I’m supposed to check its contents before letting it through.” St Peter opened the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man had found too precious to leave behind and exclaimed, “You brought pavement?” To the astonishment of the man, he found that all the streets of the heavenly city were paved with pure gold.
Real or imaginary be the stories on death, they all point to the one truth that heavenly joy is not the physical pleasure we are accustomed to here on earth and we have to be a little more cautious about what we are chasing after here.  We mistakenly think that what makes us successful and rich is the amount of cash and transitory wealth we have in hand and bank.  But our greatest wealth is the good that we wish and do for others. This will bring us true happiness and heavenly joy even on this earth.

Investing Values

Warren Edward Buffett is one of the most successful investors in the world. He is currently the third wealthiest person in the world as of 2010. Buffett is noted for his adherence to the value investing philosophy and for his personal frugality. Buffett is also a notable philanthropist, having pledged to give away 85 percent of his fortune to charity. In his boy hood, for a while he worked in his grandfather’s grocery store too. While still in high school, he carried out several successful money-making ideas: delivering newspapers, selling cocoa-cola, golf balls and stamps, and detailing cars among them. Filing his first income tax return in 1944, Buffett took a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle and watch on his paper route. In 1945, Buffett and a friend spent $25 to purchase a used pin ball machine, which they placed in the local barber shop. Within months, they owned several machines in different barber shops.
On a trip to New York, at the age of ten he made a point to visit the New York Stock Exchange. And about this same time he purchased shares of Cities Service for himself and his sister. By the time he finished college, Buffett had accumulated more than $90,000 in savings.
Warren Buffet once said, “I knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute.”  He still lives in the same small three bedroom house in mid-town Omaha that he bought after his marriage 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house compound still hasn’t a protection wall or even a fence. He drives his own car everywhere and moves without security people around him. He never travels by private jet, though he owns the world’s biggest private jet company. He writes to his CEO’s only once in a year, instead of calling them at regular intervals.  The two rules he has given the CEO s are 1) Do not lose any of your shareholder’s money; 2) Do not forget Rule No. 1. He said that he does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is making pop corns and watching TV. Most interestingly he does not carry a cell phone. He has no computer on his desk.
Once Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, scheduled a meeting with him for half an hour. He thought that there could be nothing in common between them. The meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill gates returned a devotee of Warren Buffet. Read his six advices for the new generation:
• Money does not create the man but it is the man who created money.
• Live your life as simple as you are.
• Don’t do what others say, just listen to them, but do what you feel good.
• Don’t go for brand name; just wear those things in which you feel comfortable.
• Don’t waste your money on unnecessary things.
• After all it is your life, then why gives chance to others to rule your life.”

A Bag of philosophy

Philosophy is not taught to all but it is interesting that each human being becomes ‘the best philosopher’ at the hour of death. There is a popular story from the life of Alexander the Great. He was on his way back to home after an expedition. He fell ill and knew that death is drawing close. He called his Generals and said, “I will depart from this world soon. But I have three wishes……” He continued to his Generals, “My first desire is that my physicians alone should carry my coffin. Secondly, the path to my grave should be strewn with gold, silver and precious stones. My third and last wish is that my hands should be kept dangling out of the coffin.” One of the Generals asked him why he has such strange wishes.  Alexander took a deep breath and said, “I would like the world to know that no doctor can really save anybody from death; strewing gold, silver and stones on the way is to tell the world that nothing I earned can be taken by me on death. Let people realise that it is sheer waste of time to chase wealth.  And about my third wish, I want people to know that I came empty handed and empty handed I go out of this world.”
It was when he found himself in trouble that he realised the truth on life. There could not be many, who haven’t realised the worthlessness of living a life composed of greed and pleasure, at least once in their life. Still why don’t we live a noble life of sharing? It is right here that we experience the strong hold of concepts imprinted within. We are conditioned to believe that only material wealth counts or our only purpose is making life more and more luxurious. We have great difficulty to believe that we are part of the whole Universe and our duty is to serve the purpose we are endorsed with. When we struggle for individual gains, it becomes like all body organs demanding for separate mouths to eat. It is natural in a world where religions exist, indebted to man’s fear of death. Who on earth will redefine joy and revisit the ever present God care? It only will end up philosophers on deathbed; it only will encourage people to experience the God care every moment, for the very simple reason that we are His own creation.

Budget for a Journey into the Unknown!

Sometime ago, I received an email with the statistics of the great exodus of the Israelites from the oppressive rule of the Egyptian Pharaohs, led by Moses. The first thing that surprised me was the enormous daily requirement of the people in flight, about which I too had never thought of. Moses and the people drifted through the desert, but what was Moses going to do with the people who followed him then? The number of people on the run was between two and three millions… and they had to be fed.
The email I got stated: ‘According to the Quartermaster General in the Army, it is reported that Moses would have to have had 1500 tons of food each day. To transport that much food each day, two freight trains, each at least a mile long, would have been required!  Remember, they were out in the desert, so they would have needed firewood for the cooking. This would have taken 4000 tons of wood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long, just for one day. Imagine they were forty years in transit. And oh, yes! They would have needed water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would have taken 11,000,000 gallons each day and required a tanker train, 1800 miles long, just to bring water!
And then another thing! They had to get across the Red Sea at night. Now, if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would have required 35 days and nights getting through. So there had to be a space in the Red Sea, 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5000 abreast to get over in one night.
Then, there is another problem… each time the Israelites pitched camp at the end of the day, an area two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles… think of that!  So much space for camping! Do you think Moses had figured all this out before he left Egypt? I think not!  You see, Moses believed in God. God took care of all these details for him!’
The estimate could be somewhat exaggerated. But it highlights the fact that God knows what we need and He provides us everything appropriately. But in our ordinary life situations, we consciously suspect His capacity to do that. There is oxygen in the atmosphere, which is more than enough to support dozens of earths. God gave us water and the life on earth is never going to use it all up! Same with all what the nature provides for the sustenance of life. Still, when it comes to individual matters, we think of a God who has hardly enough stock for our family and our prayers turn to be relentless begging for mercy and partiality. Prayers turn requests and pleadings the moment our trust in Him is limited.

An Obituary

‘Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
– Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
– Why the early bird gets the worm;
– Life isn’t always fair;
– and Maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I’m A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone.

Beware of Stories

Socrates announced to the general public that he was going to tell an interesting story.  People who heard this announcement came eagerly to listen to his story.
He began, “There was a merchant who had a lot of merchandise to sell. He decided to go into another city so that he could get some extra profit from the business. So he packed his goods and took it on his shoulders and left. He had to climb a big mountain to reach the other city. While he was walking, he found another man with a donkey, also heading to the same city to which he was going. They walked together and talked to each other and became friends. Then the merchant asked the other man to rent his donkey to hold his merchandise till they reach the city. The man agreed for a certain amount of money.”
At this point Socrates found that more people were gathering around him to listen to the story; some came even forgetting their duties. People, who used to come, listen and leave within a few minutes, also forgot their business and stayed back. Then he continued his story:
“The merchant placed his merchandise upon the donkey and they started out in the morning. As the day progressed, it became very hard for them to climb the mountain. They became very tired. As soon as the sun came on top of their head they decided to take rest.”
Socrates found that the people gathered around him eagerly listened to his story. He continued:
“Under the shade of that donkey there was space for only one person. The owner of the donkey told the other man that the shade of the donkey solely belonged to him as he was the owner of the donkey. But the merchant wanted to sit and take rest so he disagreed with the argument of the owner of the donkey saying that right now he has hired the donkey so the shade of the donkey solely belonged to him. But the owner said that he let out only the donkey, not the shade. But the merchant said that when he hired the donkey, the shade also became his. Both the men fell into a fierce argument for the shade of the donkey. Both argued that it belonged to them legally.”
By this time there were a large number of people around Socrates. He climbed down from the stone on which he was standing and walked away. People followed him requesting to complete the story. He paid no attention to them and continued walking. People were following him and requesting him to complete the story all the more. They pressed him hard for the end of the story, so he stopped walking and turned around and said. “I talked to you about great and serious things like life and after life. But you never paid any attention. But when I started telling about an imaginative story of a donkey and its shade you are very eager to listen and want to know the end of the story. You are paying more attention to silly things and ignoring the important things in life. It is better for you to look for important things of life; do not run after silly things like stories. Do some important things everyday and pursue it.”
Through the hundreds of stories, Indian Thoughts has published, what we intend is revisiting those profound concepts of happy and successful life. Unless one agrees to go into the core and drink the moral extract of these stories, the entire effort will turn just a silly entertainment.

The Mariner’s Day

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. “Your son is here,” she said to the old man. Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man’s limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.
The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man’s hand and offering him words of love and strength.  The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night. Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse.
While she did what she had to do, he waited. Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.
“Who was that man?” he asked.
The nurse was startled, “He was your father,” she answered.
“No, he wasn’t,” the Marine replied. “I never saw him before in my life.”
“Then why didn’t you say something when I took you to him?”
“I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn’t here. When I realised that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed .I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey. His Son was killed in Iraq, and I was sent to inform him. What was this Gentleman’s Name?”
The Nurse with tears in her eyes answered, “Mr. William Grey!”
This is a good story that shows how accepting what that comes by turns to be the Nature’s style of manifesting individual intentions and needs.

Diamond Dream

As usual, the watch man took position in front of the jewellery for the night’s duty.  The city was slowly slipping into silence. The watch man kept observing the whole area looking out for any shop lifters who could turn up at any time. Nothing happened and the night began dissolving into another new dawn.
As the morning began to dawn in, the watch man decided to relax; he sat on the chair near the main gate and almost immediately fell asleep. To his astonishment  he  dreamt  that  two  thieves  were  trying  to  enter the jewellery through  the backside. He looked at them in awe and checked his watch to see what time it was. It was half past twelve in the night and the calendar showed the date as 16th December 2002. Almost immediately, he woke up from his slumber, but he could not forget that it will be the next night at 12.30 AM that the thieves appeared to be breaking into the jewellery compound.
The  watchman  decided  to  verify  his dream and so very carefully hid himself  near  the  wall  at the backside, right in time, when he had dreamt the thieves  would  be  breaking in. Sharp at 12.30 AM just as he had dreamt, two thieves jumped over the wall. The watchman immediately pounced over them and the startled thieves jumped right back over the wall and fled. The following day, all the staff at the jewellery heard what had happened early in the morning.
The manager called in the watchman and honoured him with due rewards and special appreciations, as the owner of the jewellery had directed. The manager said, “Thank you for your great service; the Boss has appreciated it very much. But I’m sorry, he also has ordered your dismissal. He says that he paid watchmen not for sleeping and dreaming.”
Many times, similar unfortunate twists happen in our life, whenever we skid off from the purpose we are supposed to serve. It is very important for any, to continue in the very awareness of ‘why he/she is here on earth’ at any moment of time.

The Old Man, Who Moved the Mountain

Here is a story that shows the quality and nature of determination, anyone requires for the successful manifestation of their intentions. Some people take determination to be demonstrated through logically acceptable approaches, investing everything on individual potentials. Those who believe that creation is a happening and what all they need to do is just expressing their determination, wins; because it is always the Nature that creates. Human role in creation is clearly defined as ‘right tools’.
The story is about an old man who lived in between two high mountains. On either sides of both the mountains lay big cities. The old man and his whole family had to walk many hours around the mountain to get to the market to sell vegetables and buy groceries, even though by crow fly measure the cities were very near to them. The old man gathered all the villagers living around him and discussed the matter; they finally decided to flatten the mountains. “Let us do everything we could so that there are direct routes to the cities.” The old man said. His wife, however, was not confident of the old man and she said, “You are not strong enough even to move a small basket of soil.” But he didn’t care. The villagers started dumping the soil and stones in the sea a few miles away. The old man had his three sons also working to move the mountain. A wise man living in the next village heard the story of the villagers and got amused.
He came to the village and saw them removing soil and small boulders. “How can you be so foolish?” asked the wise man to the old man. He continued, “You haven’t so far moved a cart load.” The Gods of the mountains also were hearing the wise man. They took a deep sigh believing that this wise man might discourage them. “My sons produce grandsons, grandsons grow and they also produce sons; while the village grows like that, the mountains do not grow at all. Then why should we stop moving the mountain?” The old man asked.
The mountain Gods listening in secret were shocked. They were sure that the villagers are determined enough to destroy them. That night the mountains decided to save themselves by moving northwards into the forest. The next morning, when the villagers woke up, they could see their village, just in between two big cities, separated by nothing but small pieces of land on either side.

Don’t We All?

A man came and sat on the curb in front of a bus stop, where a driver was washing his car; he but looked like detained for lack of money to ride the bus. After a few minutes, he spoke. “That’s a very pretty car.” He was ragged but he had an air of dignity around him. His scraggly blond beard kept more than his face warm. The driver thought, ‘I hope he doesn’t ask me for any money.’ He didn’t. The driver said, “Thanks,” and continued wiping off his car.
He sat there quietly as he worked. The expected plea for money never came in. As the silence between them widened, something inside the driver said, ‘ask him if he needs any help.’ The driver was sure that he would say ‘yes.’ The driver asked him, “Do you need any help?” He answered in three simple but profound words that the driver shall never forget. “Don’t we all?” He asked.
The driver expected nothing but an outstretched grimy hand. He but spoke the three words that shook the driver. We often look at others with an understanding that ‘we have something special’ that others really yearn for or at least we are some way perfect. Who can ever forget the three words that the unknown stranger spoke. Who among us are not in need of support?

Big John

One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus and drove off along the route. It was his duty to collect the charges and manage all passengers. Things went generally well for the first few stops. At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got in – six feet eight, built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, “Big John doesn’t pay!” and sat down at the back.
The driver was five feet three, thin and basically meek… Naturally, he didn’t argue with Big John, but he wasn’t happy about it. The next day also the same thing happened – Big John got in, said “Big John doesn’t pay!” and sat down…..and the next day…..and the one after that…. and so forth; it continued every day. This irritated the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way Big John was taking advantage of his size.
Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building program, karate, judo and all that good stuff.  By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong. So on the next Monday, when Big John got on the bus and said, “Big John doesn’t pay!” the driver stood up, glared back and screamed, “And why not?”  With a surprised look on his face, Big John replied, “Big John has a Bus pass.”
With a smile on our face, we end up reading such humorous stories. In real life, when similar blunders happen to people we know, we might celebrate the situation, simply laughing out for long. But, have we ever looked into our own attitudes to problems? How many times have we tried to solve a problem without first ascertaining that what we try to solve is worth a problem? If we decide to know the problem before we try to solve it…..I assure you that we save half of the vital energy; because it is the head that consumes 80% of the body energy and it is for thinking that the head spends the most. The physical benefits of ‘right awareness’ also are not too small to be ignored.

Beginning With Self

I have heard the story of a boy, playing on the beach. As a man walked along, he noticed that the boy, sitting idly on the beach, is throwing star fishes back to the sea. They had been washed up on the beach. He said to him, “I was wondering what you are doing.”“I’m throwing these starfishes back. You see it is low tide right now. If I don’t throw them back into the sea, they’ll die up here from lack of oxygen.”“I understand,” the man replied, “but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can’t possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many. And don’t you realise this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can’t you see that you can’t possibly make a difference?”The boy smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea, he replied, “Made a difference to that one!”
This small story seemed to be quite enlightening to me. Many people do not try anything just because they feel that their attempts are irrelevant. Their dreams hang around explosive changes that happen in a flicker of a second all over the universe. (They, however, do not have a forgone example to share with). People want everybody to think and be like them…but never think of the crisis that could possibly happen if everybody think, work and become exactly as they had wanted. It is fine if we educate the new generation to create small differences first, which will appear big in the life of the experiencer.

The Worst Day in Life

Life as I have understood is a compromise. Instead of trusting ourselves and using our talents, entrusting everything unto God is foolishness; it is clear escapism. We need to do that what is appropriate at any moment and we are to be responsible for the moments we live. That is why ‘common sense’ is awarded to us. A saint wilfully jumping down from a tower is subject to physical laws and he might damn himself. No God is likely to overrule the laws He has set, unless on certain inexplicable conditions. Read the experience of a very generous gentleman.
A guy was sitting inside a bar, just looking at his drink. He stayed like that for an hour or so. A truck driver, inside the bar, saw him and felt sorry for him. He went to his table, took the glass and drank it. The guy started crying. The truck driver said,” Come on Man, I was just joking.  Here I will buy you another drink. I just can’t see a man crying.” “No it is not just that……today is the worst day in my life,” said the guy. First I over slept and was late to an important meeting. My boss, outrageous, just fired me. When I came out, I saw my car was stolen. The police said that they could not do anything. I hired a cab and returned home.  When the cab returned, I understood that I had forgotten my wallet in it. Above all, I arrived home only to find that my wife was with the gardener. I left home and came to this bar only to end up my life. It was then you showed up and drank my poison!”

The Extra Degree

A You Tube presentation says that at 211 degree Fahrenheit, water turns hot. At 212 degree water boils and with boiling water, comes out steam. It says that steam can power a locomotive. It continues saying that it is just one extra degree that makes all the difference. It asks us to think of an extra degree effort in all areas of life, be it business, study or whatever. It also reminds us that the difference between an Olympic Gold Medal and no medal is too small and even less than a ‘one degree effort’. In running races, we know that a one by one hundred fraction of a second is enough to make this difference. The East remains adamant to changes, while the West is anxious to accept into life, whatever is effective.
In the comments column of the show, a wrestler has written, “I’m a wrestler and I saw this video a couple of days ago. This has motivated me and I watch this on my iphone before every match and it gets me pumped up.”
A caring Mom wrote, “I’m dedicating this video to my son who is working hard to get his college degree.” I remember the parable of a boats man, out in the sea, which one of my teachers once told me. The experience of the boats man moving over the seas is the same for long…. the same sea, the same sky and the same horizon. But everything changes the moment he sees the mark of any land in the horizon. The whole difference happens in the very second he see the land. Most of us are away from success by just a wink of an eye. Good, at least if we are aware of it.

A Strange School Magic

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. Mrs. Thompson noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant. At the school, where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child’s past records and when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.  Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, ‘Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. His third grade teacher wrote, ‘His mother’s death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn’t show much interest, and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren’t taken. Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote, ‘Teddy is withdrawn and doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class.’
Christmas was fast approaching. Her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright papers, while Teddy’s present was clumsily packed in a grocery bag. When she opened the packet, she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing. But she stifled the children’s laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on.
Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class.  A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life. Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that he would soon graduate from college with the highest of honours. Then four more years passed and yet another letter came saying that he got his bachelor’s degree. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. This time his name was a little longer. The letter was signed by Dr. Theodore F. StoddardMD.

Growing Big

Is greatness proportional to our stress on values? Just a study on a few sample individuals invariably affirms that. I do not mean the big people among us, who lives in our brains but those great people, who lives in our hearts. For sure, most of the leaders during the Indian Independence Struggle were of such a kind. Lal Bhadur Sasthri was one among them, for sure.
At a time when dowry decided marriages, Sasthri agreed to it at a stake of one anna (6 paise = 6/100 of a Rupee) and a few Khadi (locally woven) cloths. He was an Indian Independence fighter, detained in Jail for many years. Twice he was released on personal requests and he was found to have returned voluntarily, the moment his assignment was over. While he was in Jail, Lala Lajpat Rai’s ‘Servants of the Society’ used to support his family with 50 rupees every month. His wife spent Rs. 40 and saved Rs. 10. Knowing this, he wrote to Lala Lajpat Rai, expressing his thanks and requesting him to pass only Rs. 40 each month.
He had great concern for the poor and hungry Indians all over. Once he called all the family members and explained, `I just want to see if my family can sacrifice one meal every day, my larger family (the nation) can definitely stay hungry at least once a week.’
He was the next choice for Prime Minister, when Jawaharlal Nehru passed away in office. We not only forget values but also its’ importance too, all in our struggle to become big.

Wikipedia Philosophy

We are yet to realise that big things have small beginnings. Many times we do small things befitting a big ending; what we forget is to add necessary trust into the custom mix. Without a dream, proper intention and enough trust….nothing happens; this is the law of the Universe. Jimmy Wales started Wikipedia in 2001. He had a noble cause to talk about. The idea of an online encyclopaedia was attractive and hundreds of volunteers joined him to build the largest encyclopaedia in human history. Wikipedia isn’t a commercial website. It’s a community creation, entirely written and funded by people all over the world. Today more than 340 million people use Wikipedia every month – almost a third of the Internet-connected world. The dream of Jimmy Wales is to improve it every day.
One person writes something, somebody improves it a little, and it keeps getting better, over time. Imagine how much we can achieve, once we decide to work with consistency and determination. Wikipedia is about human power of doing extraordinary things. It’s proof of our collective potential to change the world. Note that Wikipedia is free of any charges and is the most authentic description of anything and everything. Wikipedia has now become the best knowledge spreading agency in the world. The Wikipedia Foundation is a non-profit organisation Jimmy Wales created in 2003, to operate, grow, nurture and protect Wikipedia. For ten million US dollars a year and with a staff of fewer than 35 people, it runs the fifth most-read website in the entire world. Surprising! More surprising is the truth that you are still waiting for somebody to come and begin the dream project for you….
There will be two dates on your tombstone and all your friends will read them; but all that is going to matter is the dash between them. Make your life worthwhile for others.

Bullet with Your Name on It

Seasons come and go; we keep on exchanging greetings, gifts, regards and wishes…..never knowing that we are to heal the causes we have created;  never knowing that the time we miss is valuable; never knowing that the bullet with our name on it is already hid close by.
For Henry Ziegland, ending a long relationship with his girlfriend was nothing so hurting. He chose to avoid his long held sweet relationship in 1983. It was too much for the girl friend, who could not outrun this shock. She simply took her own life and responded. Her distressed brother ran to Henry’s house, to take revenge upon him. No sooner than he saw Henry out in the garden, he aimed at him and pressed the trigger of his revolver. Fortunately, the bullet passed grazing Henry’s face and got embedded itself on a tree trunk nearby.
Almost twenty years later, in 1913, Henry decided to uproot this particular tree in his garden, using dynamite. The explosion propelled the bullet from the tree, straight into Henry’s head – killing him on the spot.
Nature knows better lines of protection too….just on your name. On 5th December 1660, a ship sank in the straights of Dover – the only survivor was noted to be Hugh Williams. On 5th December 1767, another ship sank in the same waters – 127 lost their lives, the only survivor was noted to be Hugh Williams. On 8th August 1820, a picnic boat capsized on the Thames – there was one survivor – Hugh Williams. On 10th July 1940, a British trawler was destroyed by a German mine – only two men survived, one man and his nephew – they were both called Hugh Williams.
There are many situations in life which neither science nor philosophy explains amicably. These all are occasions that remind us that Nature has a distinct style of operation and we invariably need to face the bullet with our name on it. Good, if are aware of the causes we keep creating every moment. A cause has an effect; the rule is the same in the spirit world and the matter world. That is why sinners are doomed to hell and saints get into the heaven. The way Nature help us to face the effect is inexplicably mysterious. Rather than going into the anatomy of this mystery, it is easy and feasible to live without creating causes that inversely affects our fate.

Wild Smiles

This is the story of an award winning chef, who was short listed for an elite job in Switzerland.  A quick family visit but changed everything. As the hero, N Krishnan himself says, “I saw a very old man, literally eating his own human waste out of hunger. I went to the nearby hotel and asked them what was available. They had idli (small cake made from a mixture of cooked rice), which I bought and gave to the old man. Believe me, I had never seen a person eating so fast, ever. As he ate the food, his eyes were filled with tears. Those were the tears of happiness.”
N Krishnan from Madurai, Tamil Nadu was selected for CNN hero’s award in 2010, which was presented to him at Los Angeles. In appreciation to his service, the former US president Jimmy carter sent him a personal message.  He is still not hung by the weight of awards and plaques of appreciation that have been showered on him and his ‘Akshaya Trust’.
Krishnan founded his nonprofit Akshaya Trust in 2003. Every day, he wakes up at 4 A.M, cooks a simple hot meal and then, along with his team, loads it in a red Maruthi van (donated by a family friend)and travels about 200 kilo meters (120 miles) each day, feeding the homeless and mentally-disabled in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. He serves breakfast, lunch and dinner to 400 indigent and elderly people in Madurai. He carries a comb, scissors and razor and is trained in eight haircut styles that, along with a fresh shave, provide extra dignity to those he serves. The Akshaya van stops whenever it spots someone in need. It could be on the top of a road or Rail Bridge, bus stops, busy market, traffic crossing or the railway junction. But the team feeds only the mentally ill destitute. “Only if there are leftovers, we distribute it among beggars or other able-bodied poor,” says Krishnan. “I don’t feed beggars. They can look after themselves. The mentally ill won’t ask anyone for food or money,” says the 30 years old Sri. N Krishnan. Krishnan also performs the funerals of unclaimed bodies in Madurai.
Not a single mentally challenged person thanks Krishnan, nobody pays back by kind or cash and nobody even smile or acknowledge him. Still Krishnan carries on in a world where most of us get offended if someone doesn’t say a thank you. Software giants like Infosys and TCS were so impressed with his work that they donated three acres of land to him in Madurai. Krishnan hopes to build a home for his wards there. The wild smiles of our mentally challenged brothren in Madurai keeps Krishnan happy.

The Most Beautiful Heart

The story goes on saying that one day a young man proclaimed that he has the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. There was not a mark or a flaw in his heart and all the people agreed to it. The young man was proudly boasting over the qualities of his heart, until an old man appeared in front of him and said, “Your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The young man and the crowd around him looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly … but was full of scars. It had deep groves, cuts and stitch marks all over. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing. The people thought … ‘how could he say his heart is more beautiful?’
The young man looked at the old man’s heart and laughed.“ You must be joking,” he said. “Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking … but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar on my heart represents a person to whom I have given my love….. I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to others … and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart … but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away … and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges … giving love is taking chance. So now do you see what true beauty is?”
A generation with good looking hearts and minds is taking shape. It has even become part of personality development to cause as many cuts and gouges to other hearts. Where even religious institutions keep on grinding and polishing their own hearts, how could there be individuals thinking otherwise?
« Previous Page