Saved from folly, vanity and vice

Posted on December 10, 2007

Saved from folly, vanity and vice
10 Dec, 2007, 0301 hrs IST,K VIJAYARAGHAVAN, TNN

A very striking and brilliant piece is this portion from Poems of Thomson (as reproduced in Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography): “Save me from folly, vanity and vice”. Of these three afflictions, folly is to be dreaded most because this often is the source of most problems.

Even vanity and vice as also other distressing characteristics are often chastened, if not eliminated, through hard rubs of life and exposures. But folly and also obstinacy, which often goes with this, rarely are visited by refinements. The Bible aptly notes (Proverbs: 26,11), “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly”.

No doubt, idiocy or folly, when it monopolises a person’s thinking or actions, can hardly be eliminated. However, fortunately in most persons, this malignancy constitutes only a small portion of their personality and character, which otherwise are marked by clarity, wisdom and common sense. The tragedy, nevertheless is that this small portion often serves to suppress the noble and evolved virtues within.

For a seeker, therefore, it is necessary to observe and analyse those manifestations, suggestive of this folly — misplaced priorities, feeling complacent in a fool’s paradise, romantic fantasies running amuck, building castles in the air, day dreaming, scheming and uncontrolled forays into wishful thinking.

Harmful and undesirable though such aberrations could be, these could also finally prove to be manifestations of an abiding creativity and power within. When channelled well, these could finally serve to make and shape the seeker, instead of damaging him.

This process is verily the practical application of the injunction to set for oneself a vision in life, through becoming passionately involved in meaningful avenues, depending on one’s truest interests and capabilities. These could also include particular physical activities or exercises, which would further contribute to his intellectual pursuits.

Only an idle mind is a devil’s workshop, whereas the soul that yearns for vibrant activity, in the spirit of the prayer, mrityorma amritam gamaya, (in Bruhadaranyaka Upanishad) learns instinctively to eliminate the tendencies to folly, vanity and vice for replacement with, what Thomson himself terms as, “knowledge, conscious peace and virtue pure”.

The thrill of breaking rules!

Posted on December 10, 2007

The thrill of breaking rules!
6 Dec, 2007, 0119 hrs IST,Pramahamsa Sri Nithyananda, TNN
This is a true incident. A young man was addicted to smoking cigarettes. He asked for my help. “Master, please help me to quit smoking. I don’t know how I became addicted. Please help me.”

I asked him, “How did you start smoking?”

“Master, I never wanted to smoke. In fact, I hated that smell,” he said.

“One day, I was talking to my friend on the street. My friend was smoking a cigarette. My father saw this from a distance. He thought I was smoking. When I went home, he started yelling and shouting at me. He did not listen to me. Then I decided, how does it matter if I smoke now? I have already been punished for it. I then started to smoke.”

We all get a thrill, a feeling of adventure, satisfaction in doing what we are not allowed to do. When we are asked not to do something, we feel a strong urge to do it; we feel provoked to do it. We feel a kind of joy and satisfaction in doing it. This is the basic tendency of every human being.

When there is a strict rule, we always try to work around it, go beyond it. How many of us drive fast until we see a cop? We say no to our parents to prove that we are now grownups. We think that we become adults only when we say no. Adults have the power and authority to veto anything by saying no. By saying no, we assume that we also have become adults.

We feel that as long as we say yes we are only children. We feel that we are not mature. When we say no, we think, we assume, that we have become adults. We think that we have become mature. This is the basic tendency of every human being. We feel that we have matured into adulthood, become men or women, simply by saying no to our parents.

In western countries, that is why there are so many rebellious groups, gangs, and other problems. These people develop a deep satisfaction in and taste for saying no. Saying no is almost like an addiction. When we say no, we try to prove that we are someone special. We feel by saying no we become someone different.

Breaking rules will not make you an adult. To be an adult you need an understanding of what you do and why. Only then, even if you break a rule, will you do it without guilt.

There’s no success without failure

Posted on November 23, 2007

There’s no success without failure
21 Nov, 2007, 0029 hrs IST,Vithal C Nadkarni, TNN

As a successful venture capitalist, Peter Morgan Kash has raised zillions of dollars and started up dozens of successful biopharma companies. He has also lectured on entrepreneurship at the Wharton School of Business and Japan’s Nihon University.

One of the earliest lessons he learnt was that there is no success without failure. He started working on Wall Street at the age of 21 and by 30 made a sizeable fortune. “But in no time, I lost virtually all of it,” he writes in his book, Make Your Own Luck: Success Tactics You Won’t Learn in Business School. “What made the loss particularly difficult was that my setback was due entirely to my own poor judgement. No one had squandered my success except me.”

As it turned out, this period became one of the richest and most educational times of the New York businessman’s life. He went on to have several successes. “But I do believe that I would never have had them, if I had not failed so spectacularly early on,” he told this writer recently, during a first-ever visit to India. “In our culture, people tend to think of failure as a static condition or a termination point at which a person’s inability to achieve their goals, aims and desires becomes apparent. This is often viewed as a more or less permanent condition. That, however, is a completely erroneous understanding of failure.”

After studying the lives of dozens of successful entrepreneurs, Kash found that all people who succeed go through periods of their lives when all their efforts seem to fail. Yet what separated the real businessmen from the boys was not failure per se, but how they responded to difficult times.” Remember that a negative multiplied by a negative can be a positive,” he says. “Today I realise that life is a wave pattern — there are ups and downs, good times and bad.

Life doesn’t stop at any one point on the wave. Success and failure are just two words we use to describe different points on the wave. Wherever you may find yourself on the wave, know that this is temporary,” he explains, echoing the great Buddhist doctrine of anitya .

But as a doer, he also has antidotes: first, listen to your heart, on what you truly want and then never give up. Listen also to your critics, although you must not measure yourself by their take. Learn to pay the price of success. Finally, have faith in yourself and the web of life. Even a negative from someone can lead to a positive outcome.

Two amazing children

Posted on November 22, 2007

Two amazing children

CD Verma for The Hindustan Times

They were two youngsters, a brother and a sister. The boy aged 12 and the girl aged 15, were in school uniform. They were carrying heavy school satchels.

They behaved like children of respectable parents. Like us, they too were waiting for the bus. A state bus, bound for Chandigarh, arrived. The bus ploughed through the crowd, scattered the passengers helter-skelter and came to a screeching halt.

The commuters charged at the bus and scampered into it. In the flurry and scurry the two children patiently waited for their turn. They were the last to board. The youngsters occupied the seat in front of me. The girl handed over a 50-rupee note to me to pass it on to the conductor via other passengers, for two tickets to Ashram, New Delhi.

The note was handed over by commuters to the conductor, who in the same way dispatched the tickets and the balance amount back to the children. The gir1counted the balance returned by the conductor, looked at the value of the ticket, and counted the balance again.

Discovering that the conductor had returned Rs 1.50 in excess, she directed the younger brother to return the excess amount to the conductor The boy got up from his seat, slowly waded through the crowd of passengers, reached the conductor and returned it. The conductor nodded his head in appreciation.

All this while I watched the two in admiration. And so did the crowd. However, after some time the girl again started counting the money. On recalculation, she found that the conductor had in fact paid Rs 2.50 and not Rs 1.50 in excess.

She once again asked her brother to go to the conductor. The boy returned another rupee to the conductor. Their exemplary conduct caused a big whisper of approbation among the commuters who marveled at the conscientious youngsters. Spontaneously, I caressed their heads.

The kids responded with “Thank you.” Then they got down at Ashram, leaving us philosophising about the moral ‘sanskars’ the children might have imbibed from their parents.

Interesting Story

Posted on November 20, 2007

Interesting Story
from CITEHR – contributed by Ashwini K

Hope you will enjoy and be blessed with this story.

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted. As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father
had purchased the car.

Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat Disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man’s name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, “With all your money you give me a Bible? and stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father’s house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father’s important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse, Matt 7:11, “And if ye, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly father which is in heaven, give to those who ask Him?” As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer’s name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words…PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God’s blessings because they are not packaged as we expected? I trust you enjoyed this. Pass it on to others. Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for…

IF YOUR GIFT IS NOT PACKED THE WAY YOU WANT IT, IT’S BECAUSE IT IS BETTER PACKED THAT WAY! ALWAYS APPRECIATE LITTLE THINGS; THEY USUALLY LEAD YOU TO ATTACHMENTS!

WINNERS VERSUS LOSERS

Posted on November 20, 2007

WINNERS VERSUS LOSERS from CITEHR – contribution by Vennila Natarajan

The Winner is always part of the answer;

The Loser is always part of the problem.

*********

The Winner always has a program;

The Loser always has an excuse.

*********

The Winner says, “Let me do it for you”;

The Loser says, “That is not my job.”

*********

The Winner sees an answer for every problem;

The Loser sees a problem for every answer.

*********

The Winner says, ” It may be difficult but it is possible”;

The Loser says, “It may be possible but i t is too difficult.”

*********

When a Winner makes a mistake, he says, “I was wrong”;

When a Loser makes a mistake, he says, “It wasn’t my fault.”

*********

A Winner makes commitments;

A Loser makes promises.

*********

Winners have dreams;

Losers have schemes.

*********

Winners say, ” I must do something”;

Losers say, “Something must be done.”

*********

Winners are a part of the team;

Losers are apart from the team.

*********

Winners see the gain;

Losers see the pain.

*********

Winners see possibilities;

Losers see problems.

*********

Winners believe in win-win;

Losers believe for them to win someone has to lose.

*********

Winners see the potential;

Losers see the past.

*********

Winners are like a thermostat;

Losers are like thermometers.

*********

Winners choose what they say;

Losers say what they choose.

*********

Winners use hard arguments but soft words;

Losers use soft arguments but hard words.

*********

Winners stand firm on values but compromise on petty things;

Losers stand firm on petty things but compromise on values.

*********

Winners follow the philosophy of empathy: “Don’t do to others what you would not want them to do to you”;

Losers follow the philosophy, ” Do it to others before they do it to you .”

*********

Winners make it happen;

Losers let it happen.

*********

Winners plan and prepare to win.

The key word is preparation.

You are what you think!

Posted on November 20, 2007

You are what you think!
15 Nov, 2007, 0000 hrs IST,PARAMAHAMSA SRI NITHYANANDA for The Economic Times

We become what we think. Yad bhaavam tat bhavati, is what our scriptures say. Whatever we think and feel again and again is what we become. What we think we verbalise, what we verbalise we visualise and what we visualise happens.
Wisconsin University carried out an interesting research.

There are societies and cultures in our world where the language spoken is very refined and without negativities. For instance, if you notice, people from the Lucknow area, whether Hindu or Muslim, would use the respectful term for ‘you’, even to their children. Politeness and etiquette are bred into them.

On such communities Wisconsin University carried out research and found that people in such communities rarely suffered from depression and such similar ailments. They found that if the words people use are refined and without negativity, mind is not adversely affected. They do not get stressed, they do not get worried and they do not get depressed. They lead a relatively happier life.

Worry is nothing but the constant inner chatter within us, the constant negative inner chatter. I am asked again and gain, ‘To what extent are we responsible for our thoughts?’

If we are not responsible for our thoughts, who else can then be responsible for them? Our thoughts arise from within us, not from or through someone else! Is it possible for someone to come between us and our minds? Certainly not!

Brahma havit brahmaiva bhavati, say our scriptures. He who focuses on the Brahman, the Ultimate, becomes the Brahman, the Ultimate himself. What we focus our mind on, what we think, what we feel is what we become. There is no doubt about this.

How can we stop worrying? How can we streamline our thoughts without negativity? This is what everyone wants to know.

The solution is simple. You need to be aware of what you think. Constantly be aware of what your thoughts are and straighten them out. You need not stop doing anything you are engaged in to do this.

You can be driving, you can be in conversation, you can be cooking and still you are thinking. Constantly thoughts arise. Most of the time, you do not even watch your thoughts. You let your thoughts guide you into fantasies.

For a change, watch your thoughts. As soon as there is a negative thought, change it into a more positive thought. You may say it is too simple. Yes, it is that simple.