There's always someone higher than us

I will start with a little story about a lion - the king of a jungle. Once a lion was walking in the forest and he came across a monkey.

He asked the monkey, “Monkey, who is the king of the jungle?”

The monkey said, “You are sir.”

“That’s right - and you never forget it!” Then he continued, and came across the snake.

“Snake! Who is the king of the jungle?!”

“You are sir.”

“That’s right - and you never forget it!”

Then he came across the elephant, “Elephant, who is the king of the jungle?” - and the elephant just walked by.

The lion got upset. “Elephant, who is the king of the jungle?!”

Elephant just ignored him. And then third time when he asked, the lion got so angry that he actually bit the elephant, and the elephant got angry himself, and took him with his trunk and smashed him several times and threw him against the trunk of a tree.

Then the lion said, “Wait, wait! You don't have to get so angry with me just because you don't know the right answer.”

 
Moral of the story: There is always someone higher than us.

God and a Scientist

God was sitting in heaven one day when a scientist said to Him, "God, we don't need you anymore. Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing - in other words, we can now do what you did in the beginning."

"Oh, is that so? Explain..." replies God. "Well," says the scientist, "we can take dirt and form it into the likeness of you and breathe life into it, thus creating man."

"Well, that's very interesting... show Me."

So the scientist bends down to the earth and starts to mold the soil into the shape of a man. "No, no, no..." interrupts God, "Get your own dirt."

Best Words of Vivekananda

"I admire the British perseverance and the American spirit of equality. I want you to make a European society, with India’s religion. But mark you, if you give up that Spirituality, leaving it aside to go after the materialising civilisation of the West, the result will be that in three generations you will be an extinct race; because the backbone of the nation will be broken, the foundation upon which the national edifice has been built will be undermined, and the result will be annihilation all round."

- Swami Vivekananda

Reaching Divine Mother

“Little children play with dolls in the outer room just as they like, without any care of fear or restraint; but as soon as their mother comes in, they throw aside their dolls and run to her crying, "Mamma, mamma." You too, are now playing in this material world, infatuated with the dolls of wealth, honor, fame, etc., If however, you once see your Divine Mother, you will not afterwards find pleasure in all these. Throwing them all aside, you will run to her. So long as the child remains engrossed with its toys, the mother looks after her cooking and other household duties. But when the child no longer relishes the toys, it throws them aside and yells for its mother. Then the mother takes the rice-pot down from the hearth, runs in haste, and takes the child in her arms.” 

– Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

My First Actual Shayari

I just found my very first shayari that I wrote while digging through my old buzzes. This one I wrote when I was in my previous company and some nasty things happened to me there. This was written by me on Sep 1st 2010

Khandhon ko zimedari ki bhoj ne jhukhaya
Process tho khudh company ne sikhaya
Lessons Learned likh likh ke hatheli par pada E5, E6, HAL ka chala, 
Wiki ne tho poora.. poora career jala dala.

FYI..  Lessons learned is something we used to write whenever we did any mistake or learned  any new things. It was a good practiced enforced by my manager. E5, E6 and HAL were the applications that we used to work on. Wiki was the place where we used to post those lessons learned, where others (team members) could comment on that.

Possible Career by Rasi

Aries: Government job, Police, Military Service, Fire Service, Sports, Engineering industry, Iron factory, boiler plant, brick chamber, pottery work, mining, surgeon, arm manufacturing, cooking, agriculture, trade union leader

Taurus: Jewelry business, cattle shed, money lending, commission agent, financial institutions, handicrafts, fancy articles, scented materials, five star hotels, flower merchants, fruit juice shop, drama, cinema, music, poet, story writer, singer, treasury.

Gemini: Information and broad casting, space dept., education dept. P & T, Telephone, book publishing , mathematics dept, accountants, auditors, law and order councilor, ambassador.

Cancer: Export and Import, shipping, transport dept., agriculture, grocery shop, medical shop, milk booth, vegetable shop, pearl merchant, hotel business, distillery, mineral water selling.

Leo: Government Job, Politics, Administrator, Social Services, Charitable institutions, Engineering Industry

Virgo: Auditing, Accounting, Business, Teacher, writer, retail shops

Libra: Jewelry shop, fancy shop, handicrafts, perfume shop, cloth merchant, money lending, commission agents, bank, Life insurance , law dept., hotel business, bar and Restaurant, Dancing Hall, Beauty parlor, Music, Dance , Cinema

Scorpio: Iron Industries, Engineering Industry, Mining, Agriculture, Electricity Dept, Metal industry, Instrument Manufacturing, precision development organization, raw materials, priest, astrology, mantra and tantra, occult practices

Sagittarius: Forest dept, saw mills, wood merchant, bank, law dept, temple, financial institutions, education dept, ordnance depot, military training dept, social service, charitable institutions.

Capricorn: Hotels, food products, manure and pesticide selling, oil merchant, mining, dealing with spare parts and old articles, hardware shop, leather business, building work, Granite stone and sand business, porters, coolies, drivers, shoe polishing, shoe makers.

Aquarius: Psychology, Astrology, Philosophy, Religion, Teaching, Research and Development, Consultancy, Administration, Oil and Natural Gas Companies, Air Service, Space Dept., Defence service, Fire Service, Jail Dept., Bomb manufacturing, tourist guide, central excise dept, butcher shop. 

Pieces: Education Dept, Religious Institutions, Medicine, Financial institution, Law Dept, External Affairs, Bank, Navy, shipping, temple worker, priest

Graha Drishti

All Planets aspect the 7th house from them. In addition the outer planets, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have special aspects.

· Jupiter aspects the 5th and 9th houses from him, in addition to the 7th house.
· Mars aspects the 4th and 8th houses from him, in addition to the 7th house.
· Saturn aspects the 3rd and 10th houses from him, in addition to the 7th house.

The Other Side to Drona & Ekalavya's Story

Most of us would have heard about Ekalvya’s story. It’s about how a low caste boy with his utmost dedication, sincerity and devotion towards his master and archery makes himself a best archer and how an narrow minded guru Dronacharya just to keep up his word that Arjuna would be the best archer in the world, mercilessly asks for Ekalavya’s thumb as guru dakshina thereby destroying Ekalavya’s life entirely. Although Ekalavya is still renowned to be a great student and is even taken as example for being an ideal student, a student who obeyed the words of his master without any hesitation, Drona is more seen as an evil and narrow minded guru.

Throughout my childhood I was under a similar impression that Drona was an evil man to do such a sinful act. We’re told the story in such a way that we instantly start hating Drona, start pitying and respecting Ekalavya.

As I learned more about Drona I came to know that he was not as bad as he is being portrayed to be. Infact he was a very good person. A highly learned and a brave Brahmin. This led me to think why did he do such a sinful act by asking a thumb of Ekalavya. First and foremost he is a Brahmin and most often Brahmins are kind hearted and not people who fight for their name and glory. This is totally against what Drona did, cutting a thumb of a person is in no way kind heartedness and the story says that Drona promised Arjuna to make him the best archer now when Arjuna saw a person who was better than him he reported it to Drona and Drona after seeing that Ekalavya can be a big competition to Arjuna asks him his thumb finger as guru dakshina there by disabling him for archery forever.

So were people like Bheeshma, Vidur and Krishna wrong in calling Drona a great Brahmin. No shastra or Vedas justify disabling a person just to keep up ones promise amd after reading about Drona I’m pretty sure that he wouldn’t have gone against it. So to understand why Drona did it I had to go back and understand what happned that prompted Drona to do such a sinful act.

The story goes by saying that, “one day the pandava princesses go roaming in the forest along with their pet dog and Dronacharya.  The dog runs ahead of them and reaches Ekalavyas hut. On seeing Ekalavya the dog starts barking at him. Ekalavya was  practicing archery at that time and the barking dog irritates him and distracts his concentration. Ekalavya gets agitated by this and fires arrows after arrows at the dogs mouth thereby making the dogs mouth immovable and critically injuring the dog. Ekalavya rejoices and starts practicing again. The dog crying in pain goes back to the pandavas. Pandavas on seeing their dog critically injured become agitated but Arjuna who has an eye for precision starts thinking who could have so carefully placed arrow in a dogs mouth thereby stopping it from barking. Drona also see this and all of them go in search of the person who did this to their dog. They all reach Ekalavyas hut and Ekalavya on seeing his master Drona pays respects and on asking says that he is the one who shot arrows at the dog because it was disturbing him from practicing. Drona after listening thinks for a while and says that he appreciates the boys dedication and sincerity towards him and archery and then asks for Ekalavyas thumb as guru dakshina.

So what did Drona think  that made him do such a terrible thing ? Surely it wouldn't be for the word that he gave to Arjuna. Any teacher would be having only to see his student excel and a good teacher never shows partiality. We can say that Drona was a good teacher because he taught Arjuna more than what he taught Ashwathama ( his own son ) because he knew Arjuna was a better student than Ashwathama. So there should have been something highly justifiable for Drona to take such a decision. What could that be ?

Thinking about this I came to a conclusion that archery (Dhanur Vidya)  is no small thing. Dhanur veda says a highly skilled bowman standing in the middle of a town can alone save the town from 10,000 enemies. Hence it gave great power in the hands of the practitioner. But as the saying goes "with great powers comes great responsibilities". So a teacher before teaching anyone something powerful should also judge if the student is responsible enough to handle those powers. Just dedication and sincerity is not enough to judge a student, his capability also needs to be assessed. 


Drona came to know that although Ekalavya was highly dedicated and sincere he was not capable enough to handle the power that came with mastering dhanur vidya (archery). A person who lost his calm just because of a barking dog and hurt it so badly surely cannot be a person who will be able to control his anger in adverse situations. He would not hesitate using his powers on anything and would even go ahead and destroy everything if he gets out of control. Drona understood that the power was not in the right hands and that he has to do something to stop Ekalavya. And the only way to stop him was to stop him from practicing archery and without a thumb a person cannot do archery and hence asks for it as guru dakshina. I have no idea what destruction Ekalavya would have bought if Dronacharya hadn't stopped him at the right time. Although it made Dronacharya a bad man he did take the blame silently to the benefit of the society. Another gesture of a noble man.

We humans always have this tendency of finding fault with a good person portray him bad and showcase a bad person with utmost respect.

Realization

Finally I have realized one important thing in my life today. 

“All of my life's worst problems started as a solution to my existing problems”

How to be Happy

All of us want to be happy. In fact we work so hard, toil ourselves only to lead a better, happier and a meaningful life. Better life because it promises more happiness and leading a meaningful life gives us a sense of achievement which in turn makes us happy.

Happiness is defined as a mental state of well-being, characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.

When everything is going on in our life as we wish it to happen we're happy. But life is seldom like that. It’s full of surprises. These surprises and sudden turn of events is what makes most of sad or unhappy but looking at it positively this is what makes a life "Lively".

Different people attribute happiness to different things, but mostly it is seen that most of us attribute our happiness to their careers, family & friends. Simply speaking, a person is happy when he has a good job, a caring family and a bunch of good friends. On pushing a little deeper we find that most of them are happy with their present family and friends but are not satisfied with their jobs and come out saying that a better job than the present will make them happier and will allow them to live their life. Ironically most of us have it but still we are not happy. Many of us have a very good job at hand but still we're not satisfied with what we have and are on a constant look out for something more challenging and more rewarding thinking that a better prospect will make our life happier. Research shows that a career influences on 3% of life's happiness which is very negligible compared to the rest. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying one doesn't need a good career, but constantly feeling that a better one would makes us better is an unending quest.

A newer job makes us happy but that happiness doesn't last longer and it’s not very long before you start feeling the same what you had for your previous job. Most of us don't make it explicit because we don't want to be stamped as 'Job Jumpers', but somewhere deep down that lava is bubbling.

Same happens with newer friends, a new friend brings in lot of new things and you start feeling good but going on even he/she becomes boring as you have now known that person. So what is it that makes us happy? New things are definitely not what make us happy, but still we're on a constant pursuit of happiness behind newer things.

The reason for this is all of us inherently have something called 'Happiness Baseline'. This baseline varies from individual to individual. The higher the baseline the longer he stays happy. That is why you see few people happy most of the times. A new job triggers this happiness baseline and as we go above our happiness baseline we feel overjoyed. We want this to continue but it doesn't as it is just a temporary effect and it slowly starts coming down. This entire happiness series can be seen as a triangle wave series in physics going up when a change happens and when things are constant it slowly starts coming down. The fall is steep when you are surrounded with a negative situation. When the fall cuts your happiness baseline and continues downwards is what I call the 'Depression State'. A mild depression state is ok because everyone gets into it at one point or the other but this doesn't stay long because the same above principle works to get you back to the normal happiness state. But if the fall continues without going upward one falls into a state which I call a 'Deep Depression State' and this can be pretty harmful and care must be taken to avoid it at all cause. Motivation by the right person at the right time can get a person back from the 'Deep Depression State'.

So does that mean we can never be happier than what we are? Well, I didn’t say that. All we have to do is change our perspective. Don’t attribute your happiness to things that are constantly changing, instead focus on things that don’t change often.

Here are few tips which you might find useful in your pursuit for happiness:

1.          Smile: Smile often; although this might sound simple, it’s not that easy. But smiling can really work wonders. There’s nothing that discourages your enemy than your constant smiling face. Smile when you are sad and you will find that you are not sadder as before.

2.          Forgive: Learn to forgive, I don’t mean it just for namesake, when you do it do it heart fully. But before you want do it, if you feel like saying that act of him/her has hurt you deeply tell it and then also tell him that you forgive him/her for that act. Trust me, you’ll feel more relaxed after wards.

3.        Talk it out: If you have any problem with anyone better speak to that person and get it sorted out. This works most of the time. If it doesn’t at least you won’t feel it that you didn’t give it a try from your end.

4.         Talk to your family regularly: Honestly, this helps a lot. You will discover that there are many wise people in your family than you ever knew.

5.         Be optimistic: No matter what bad happens to you, never leave the hope that good will not happen to you.

Remember that you need to bend during the tough times to blossom during the good times.

Reason for Recession in America

Lighter Side

My previous manager was a good man giving his employees good amount of freedom at work, understanding them and mainly not yelling at them. One could always see him smile and that made everyone around him feel good. He would come down to a person and talk to him/her in a very polite manner and get things done. No doubt most of the employees liked him.

I usually used to work in the second shifts hence always used to stay late in the office. One day I was surprised to see lights on in my manager’s cabin. I looked at the clock it was 9 P.M. I thought there must be really something important going on or else he wouldn’t be staying this late. As I was thinking all these I saw a ping in my instant messenger. It was my manager. He said, “Sridhar, have you got Rs. 4000/-  with you now, I need it urgently as there will be no banks open till now I can’t go and withdraw the money.” I thought he must be in real great need or else he wouldn’t be asking me like this. I said, I don’t have that much money with me now. He asked do you have it in your bank account. I replied, yes. He then asked me do you have an internet banking account. I said yes I do have it but I have never used it before. He said no problem, can you owe me 4000 rupees.  Thinking that he is real grave need I said yes. Then he said, ok I’ll come down to your place and we’ll transfer it to my account. He also said that he will make sure that he will return me the money by tomorrow evening. I said that’s fine with me. And then he walked up to me and did the transfer himself teaching me along the way on how to do internet fund transfer. He walked away saying thanks to me and I was feeling very happy for being able to help a person in crisis and that person being my manager made me feel even more proud. Also, he being a nice guy helping him made me feel very good.

Three days passed and I didn’t hear back anything from my manager. Again the same situation repeated. This time again he was in office late night and he pinged me asking for more money. I said I only have Rs.3000/- with me He asked me to transfer it to him. I did it without any hesitation. Two days went by again and because of a political turmoil in the city I was working from home. I again got a ping from my manager requesting for money. This time I said I cannot give more than 1000/-. He said he is deep crisis and that any amount would help him. I did the transfer again but this time I was not happy. I started doubting this persons intentions now.

Month passed away and I received my salary. The very next day after my salary being credited I get a call from my manager when I’m in office asking for money. This time I’m a bit protective and started telling him that I got problems of my own. But he was not letting go of it. He swore that he would return my entire amount by the end of this week This time he was not asking for any amount, instead he was demanding Rs.5000/-. Atlast unwillingly I had to transfer it to him.

Months passed and I used to hear nothing from him regarding my money. Pressure started increasing for me at home. But I being me was hesitant to ask him. Slowly I started knowing that I was not alone most of my colleagues had fallen into the trap of my manager.

I started asking him for money but he kept saying some cock and bull story and postponing it. Fortunately one day he called me inside his cabin and returned me an amount of Rs.8000/-  and that he would be returning the remaining amount by the weekend. I was happy to get the amount  because I had lost all hopes of recovering that amount.

Suddenly one day I came to know that he was fired from the company and that he has left the city. I could see my hard earned Rs.5000/- vanishing after him.

Few weeks later I get a call from his dearest friend one of my colleague who owes me another Rs.1000/- and speaks everything with me except for the money that he owes me saying that Madhava is in banglore and might be flying to USA for a short trip.

Then there is a long silence, I don’t hear about anyone from anywhere. Suddenly I start hearing that America is again into recession and that it has lost huge money. I could only suspect one great mind behind it. If you are smart enough you should have by now known the reason why America is into recession again J

Tukhradiya

jab bhi woh gum mein tha usne mera sahara liya tha
jab bhi woh dard mein tha mere khande pe woh rotha tha

uski gum bhari kahaniyan sun kar ratein kaate hai maine
unhi raaton mein usey zindagi jeena sikhayee hai maine

khushiyan jab aayee un gum ke dino ko woh bhool gaya
gum ke saath saath usney mujhe bhi tukhradiya

Yeh Dil Tu Kyon Dhadakta Hai

jab bhi is dil ne usko chaha hai
har baar maine ne use samjhaya hai

door rehne ki koshish karta hoon bahut
phir bhi dil usi ki taraf kheenca chala jata hai

jab bhi woh gum mein rehti hai
dil mera kyon rota hai

woh humesha mujhe tukhrati hai
phir bhi yeh dil usi keliye tadap tha hai

har baar aisa kyon hota hain
yeh dil tu  kyon dhadakta hain


Written after getting Inspired from Javed Akhtar's shayari in Zindagi Mile Na Dobara :-)

Dandruff & Himalaya Herbal Shampoo

After watching lots of advertisements on Himalaya Herbal Shampoo I thought of giving it a try. Although I’m not a chronic patient of dandruff, I do have few of them scattered around my hair. Once in a month using something like All Clear or Head & Shoulders is enough to keep them under control. The name “Himalaya” sounded nice and being an advocator of using Indian products I thought of using it.

After using it I was not satisfied as I saw my dandruff coming up within 3 days of my shower. Initially I didn’t bother about it, thought its because I need to get adjusted for herbal things as I have been using harmful chemicals till now. But slowly I developed into a chronic patient of dandruff, scratching my head every now and them, embarrassing myself everywhere. I thought of doing a small experiment to make sure that the problem was with the Himalaya Shampoo. I changed the shampoo and saw my dandruff go. Used Himalaya and there it was, the small tiny white particles falling from hair like snow. I got mad on Himalaya and a wild thought stuck my brain. I was thinking of suing Himalaya for wrong advertisement and fooling the innocent and ignorant consumers like me and profiting out of them.

However, before suing I just wanted to read the instructions written in the back of the container to make sure that I followed the instructions correctly and that I didn’t mess up anything. I was doing this because usually I end up losing and putting a sad face before everyone whenever I challenge anyone. So I thought its better to read the instructions carefully and then go for it.

Here is what it was written on the back of the container:

Directions for use: Apply to wet hair. Lather. Leave for 1-2 minutes and rinse. Repeat if necessary. Safe for daily use. For best results, follow up with the Himalaya Herbals Protein Container.

I was happy cos I have done the same thing that was instructed. I was sure of winning this case. I started imagining the directors of Himalaya coming to my house and bribing me to withdraw the case, media people interviewing me. I was feeling like a hero. After a nice half an hour of fairy land trip I finally came back to senses and thought of reading what was written further down just to make sure that I haven’t left any stone unturned.

Below was list of ingredients and the following:

Ayurvedic Proprietary Medicine. Safe to use on artificially colored or premed hair. Hypoallergenic. No harmful Chemicals. No animal testing. Avoid contact with eyes. For external use only.

After reading this all my dreams disappeared, I kept the shampoo in the shelf and walking out said to my mother, “Mom, I’m not suing the Himalayas, they have the instructions clearly written”.

Mom & My Marriage Proposal

One day my mom came down to me and said; look it’s time that we start looking out a match for you so that you can get settled in your life. It’s your life and you have to decide how you want it to be.

But mom I said, “I have just started my career, I don’t' want to get married now. Let me get myself a good position, earn few money, buy myself a car and then I will go for it.

All this will happen along the way, she said becoming a little bit serious, “Marriage is not going to hamper your growth it will only make you more responsible. As I said it’s your life and you have to decide. So what do you say, I'm going for it even if you say "no".

OK mom as you say, do I have an option?

She smiled a bit, good boy she said and continued “What type of girl you want, let me know your preference so that we can search a similar girl. As I said it’s your life and you have decide for it, at the end it’s you both who are going to live together so she must match your taste, now tell me. I got happy, felt although I don't have a freedom to choose when to get married at least I got freedom to choose my kind of a girl, I started thinking for a while, suddenly mom interrupted and said "what are you thinking, what's in there so much to think, for each and everything you start thinking deeply, now tell me quick I’m waiting. So not wanting to irritate my mother any more I started...

She must be beautiful, caring, understanding, empathetic, smart, intelligent & knowledgeable. Good said my mom. This is what everyone wants mom; I would need few qualities more

Mom: Like?

Me: she should know what P=NP problem is, don’t even consider her if she asks what is it ?

Must be good at more than one language

Mom: like what HIndi, english...??

Me: No... No those are prerequisites; I'm talking about languages like java, python, php likewise

Must be a Linux enthusiast

Doesn't matter if she doesn’t like to play but a person who will listen to me eagerly on how I entered a terrorist camp all alone, killed 160 most dangerous terrorist and rescued all hostages alive in a counter strike game

One who praises me on how I build beautiful cities and administer them in Sims city or better if she builds them along with me?

I could see my mom's face change but she was silent, it was like she was thinking what this guy is talking about

but I kept going, she must have a active twitter and facebook account, doesn't matter if she don't have followers but her post and people whom she is following should be wonderful. Good if she is blogger and has a website of her own.

Should have won the four in a row game at least once “as I have won it two times" I giggled

I could see my mother’s expression change a lot, it was like she wanted to say something but didn't know what to say, but I went on,

Her favorite channels should be animal planet, NGC, discovery, pursuit of happyness, few good men should be in her favorite move list

Should not be a fan of Sharukh Khan or Hritik Roshan... bollywood and tollywood movies should not interest her much

That should do it... if I remember anything else I will let you know I said and stopped.

Mom was silent for a while, and then she said. You are not recruiting anyone for a job. We need a girl who can take care of our home and raise a family, not another animal who sits entire day before that box without knowing what’s going on at home.

Be reasonable and stop making fun of it. I said I was not joking, I'm serious and that I want such a girl.

Then you are not going to get one she interrupted furiously. I said, “but mom this is what I want....”

Stop joking everywhere seedu she said

I went silent telling to myself that was no joke.

After a bit of silence, I said ok.. Keeping the prerequisites constant i don’t' want a working girl. Good if she is a teacher rest you can ignore. I couldn't believe I just said that

Mom didn’t agree for this as well, she works or not it’s her choice we should not bother her. Also if she earns its good we get extra income if she doesn't want we don’t' want her to go. You cannot put such conditions on any one.

By this time my dad who was listening to all the conversation came down and said what he has to briefly but effectively as he always does:

He said “Real men don’t love the most beautiful & intelligent girl in the world, they love the girl who can make their world the most beautiful and make them intelligent. “

I was awestruck for few moments by that statement.

I said to mom, "Get any girl of your choice mom"

My mom was so happy; she smiled and said that's my boy..... As I keep saying it’s your life and you have to decide what you want.

Hearing that again I giggled and said to myself "yeah mom... it’s just that you’re the driver of it"

Note: Please all of you reading this don't come to me asking are you going to get married, no its not, this is just a creation out of my imagination. Just felt this is what happens in many indian families hence this article:-)

Trust is capable of transforming life

A man just got married and was returning home with his wife. They were crossing a lake in a boat when suddenly a great storm arose. The man was a warrior, but the woman became very much afraid because it seemed almost hopeless — THE BOAT WAS SMALL AND THE STORM WAS REALLY HUGE, AND ANY MOMENT THEY WERE GOING TO BE DROWNED. But the man sat silently, calm and quiet, as if nothing was happening.

The woman was trembling and she said, “Are you not afraid? This may be our last moment of life! IT DOESN’T SEEM THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO REACH THE OTHER SHORE. Only some miracle can save us, otherwise death is certain. Are you not afraid? Are you mad or something? Are you a stone or something?”

THE MAN LAUGHED AND TOOK THE SWORD OUT OF ITS SHEATH. The woman was even more puzzled — what he is doing? Then he brought the naked sword close to the woman’s neck — so close that just a small gap was there, it was almost touching her neck.

He said, “ARE YOU AFRAID?”

She started to giggle and laugh and said, “WHY SHOULD I BE AFRAID? If the sword is in your hands, why should I be afraid? I know you love me.”

He put the sword back and said, “This is my answer. I know God loves me, and the sword is in His hands, and the storm is in His hands — so WHATSOEVER IS GOING TO HAPPEN IS GOING TO BE GOOD. If we survive, good; if we don’t survive, good — because EVERYTHING IS IN HIS HANDS, AND HE CANNOT DO ANYTHING WRONG.”

This is the trust one needs to imbibe. SUCH TREMENDOUS TRUST IS CAPABLE OF TRANSFORMING YOUR WHOLE LIFE! And ONLY such tremendous trust is capable of transforming your life — less than that won’t do.

Life lessons from a glass of water!!!!

A chemistry professor decided to teach his students a different lesson one day. Holding a glass of water in his hand, he asked the students, “How much do you think this glass of water weighs?” “500 grams!” came a voice from the back. “600,” said another student. “I don’t really know!” said the professor, holding the glass up to make sure everyone could see it. “And unless we weigh it, we won’t know.” With the glass still in his outstretched hand, the professor continued, “What will happen if I hold it like this for a few minutes?”

“Nothing!” came the reply. “Right, and if I hold it for an hour like this, what might happen?” “Your hand will begin to hurt,” said a student. “Indeed. And what would happen if I held the glass in my hand like this for 24 hours?”

“You would be in tremendous pain,” said one student. “Your hand will probably go numb,” said another. “Your arm will be paralysed and we’ll need to rush you to the hospital!” said a student on the last bench.

“True,” said the professor. “But notice that through all this, the weight of the glass did not change. What then causes the pain?”

The class went quiet. The students seemed puzzled.“What should I do to avoid the pain?” asked the professor. “Put the glass down!” said a student.

“Well said!” exclaimed the professor. “And that’s a lesson I want you to remember. The problems and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. But think about it a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralysed – incapable of doing anything. It’s important to remember to let go of your problems. Remember to put the glass down!”

We may not have been in that classroom that day, but it’s a lesson we would all do well to remember. Put the glass down! Always. It’s not just problems and worries. Sometimes, we feel hurt and betrayed by a friend. And we carry that grudge through our lives. It grows and causes us anguish and pain. Learning to forgive – and forget – is not just good for the other people, it’s great for you. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in jail and when he was finally freed, you can understand how angry and vengeful he must have felt. But guess what? When he became President, he invited his jailers to be present at the inauguration – in the VIP seats! If he could forgive after 27 years of suffering, surely we can too.

It is the same with our fears too. A failure or an incident in early childhood becomes a deeply entrenched fear over time. Fear of public speaking, fear of Maths, fear of rejection. You name it, and chances are, we have it. Someone gave us that glass to hold when we were little kids – ‘you are clumsy, you are no good, you can’t do it’ - and we have faithfully held on to it all our lives. ‘I can’t’ - becomes a thought that stays in our mind and grows – leading us to complete paralysis. Time to put the glass down!

The story goes that there was a hardworking man who lived a contented life with his wife and children. Every evening when he returned from work, he’d follow a ritual. Outside the door to his house were three nails. On the first one, he’d put his hat. On the second he’d hang his coat. And on the third nail, he’d unwrap an imaginary turban from his head and ‘put’ it there. A friend happened to see this and enquired what he was putting on the third nail every day.

“Those are my problems, my worries and my anger,” said the man. “I have lots of that at work, but when I come home, I remember to take it off – and leave them outside. I don’t take them home with me.” Maybe you should learn to do that too. Starting today. Put the glass down. And see the difference!

Courtesy: Life lessons from a glass of water

Why Are We Like This ?

We don't want to be disturbed while we're working or when we're tensed, but we don't bother if we're disturbing others when we're happy.
Why are we like this ?

We never plant a tree or never water a planted tree, if allowed we'll be more than happy to pluck or cut down a planted tree, however we all run for a tree shade during hot summer or heavy rain.
Why are we like this ?

We never stop immediately after the signal goes red, but we expect the same to be done
by others or else we get angry and frustrated.
Why are we like this ?

We feel so proud of ourselves when we delibertly cheat others and mock at other person's
ignorance, but even if we get cheated even unknowingly, we are unable to bear it.
Why are we like this ?

We never stand or follow a queue system, but when we're at the counter and someone else
dashes us, we become uncontrollably wild.
Why are we like this ?

We want to be listened no matter what we're saying, but if the other person expects the
same we say we have no time to spare.
Why are we like this ?

We're so busy in our lives that We have no time to help others, but when we're in need we want the entire world to come running to help us.
Why are we like this ?

We're never bothered about another person's suffering or pain, but we want others to listen to our misery attentively.
Why are we like this ?