18 Reflections (1 to 9)
Source : Essae Chandran Institue, Essae Research Group - www.essae.com/eci
Forwarded by : Rajesh - rajesh790@hotmail.com
· A thankful reflection on the goodness of the giver
· A deep sense of our own unworthiness and
· A recollection of the uncertainty of our long possessing them
The first will make us grateful, the second humble and the third moderate.
- Hannahmore
Mother Earth and the Universe offers us blessings abound. We either crave for happiness or fear unhappiness. Life is nothing but a chain of continuous events and experiences. Life is known as 'Anubhava dhara' (stream of experiences) and is an expression of our experiences. Living in the present is the source of happiness. Living in the past is like living in the dead moments, living in the future is like living in the womb of the time that is still unborn and living in the present is the bliss.
We have a tendency to regret over the past, be anxious about the future or feel excited about the present. Regrets, anxieties and excitements are the robbers of happiness. We miss the bliss of the present by postponing happiness or scratching the past wounds.
There are many who are less intelligent and more fortunate and also more intelligent and less fortunate than us. True joy comes out of awakening of the fact that we are mortals; there is nothing that we own. We are custodian for a short span during our sojourn on this planet. We are nothing but instruments in the hands of the Omnipotent and a pencil in the hands of the Omniscient.
The above statement of Hannahmore is a beautiful tip for being grateful, humble and moderate.
- Ghali
Unity in purpose is a necessary ingredient for success. Unity by compulsion is not only unhealthy but unworkable. Diversity is the law of nature. Mind-Set and paradigms of different people are different. It is the law of creation.
Any act against law of nature is bound to be a failure. Diversity in thinking is the very essence of human creation. Persons are born with different qualities (vasanas). Most of the practices (either good or bad) are man-made. Hence, there is nothing to be called as right or wrong though our perceptions call tell us right or wrong.
Water wets. Fire burns. Stone is hard. Ice is cold. We don't complain or fight against. We accept. We not only accept but also have learnt the art of harnessing the best. We produce electricity from water, cook tasty food using fire. We break stone and use it for various purpose. We have learnt to use ice in many ways to satisfy our tastebuds.
As the law of nature explained above, so are the people with their very nature. We have learnt to accept things as they are. We are not only unwilling to accept people as they are, but except them as we want. The whole human drama is a conflict arising out of this fundamental paradigm.
Few simple, known but unacknowledged facts rob us of our happiness. We postpone our happiness with the attitude of exception. Expectations are not bad as long as they are not the cause of disappointment. Disappointment is the child of expception. Expectation makes our mind to swing between the past and the future, either reinforcing the past experiences or forecasting the future events. Expectation reduce our happiness.
Acceptance of the fact that different people are bound to behave in different ways is the key to happiness. Can we accept the fact that the diversity is the law of creation and the unity is the law of success. There is no conflict between law of creation and law of nature as long as we accept that we should learn the art of finding unity in diversity.
- Aristotle
The seed of Indian freedom was sowrn in the waiting room in the platform of MARITZBURG, the capital of Natal in South Africa by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The author of the Indian freedom may not be M.K.Gandhi, but the inspector who threw him out without any justice. Perhaps it was a trivial matter to the inspector. The seed was swon in the mind of M.K.Gandhi about the freedom of India in MARTIZBURG of South Africa.
The seed of conflict that prompted the Mahabharatha was not the issue of sharing the kingdom. The reason sprang from a remark by Draupadi about Duryodana when he was visiting the palace build by Pandavas. Duryodana could not distinguish between reflection and the reality in the mansion. On seeing this, Draupadi laughingly remarked that it was but natural for the son of the blind to be unable to distinguish between reflection and reality. The seed of Mahabharatha was was sown in the mind of Duryodana at that time. The rest is history.
The reason for divorces between husband and wife, reason for breaking business partnership among partners, breaking of relationship between closest of friends and the out break of war between nations are said to arise out of trifles.
The source of any river is very small and insignificant but it ramifies into a great river as it flows through various parts of the land until it reaches the ocean. So is the nature of the mind. A powerful instrument, it some times perceives trifles and having not understood their nature keeps adding flesh, bone and blood to this trifles and give the shape of monster which ultimately annihilates the very mind that conceived; instead of giving them up.
Often times, we observe events in our personal and professional life where enmity and adversity are created not from big mistakes but from trifles. How do we become conscious of trifles? The nature of the mind is to accept negative things like the nature of disease is infectious. A healthy mind rejects the trifles, which are not worth even nothing. The sick mind acknowledges, entertains, fosters and suffers from the grip of trifles, ultimately becoming the victim. In order to ensure that we are not vanquished by the trivialities in life, it is necessary to develop a healthy mind that looks at life from a large perspective.
Gandhiji is said to have transformed ordinary people into extraordinary people. Mr. Sanjeeva Reddy, former President of India, at the time of laid down the office as President, remarked that he felt transformed when he met Gandhiji. The measure of a man is what he makes others to feel in his company. So feel great in the company of some; and some feel humiliated and insignificant in the company of others. The ability to stir up men's mind arises not due to intellectual acumen alone but emanates from the heart which bleeds for the welfare of those around them. Great masters demonstrated the fact that the company of such great people influenced the minds of millions. Every person is potential. Every ordinary person is capable of transforming himself into an extraordinary person. A person who can conceive a Banyan tree from the seed is the one who can transform the ordinary into extraordinary.
Gandhiji could dream of a free India - a dream captivating enough to capture the imagination of those whom he lead from the front. Millions willingly laid down their lives as a sacred mission to free India from the shackles of slavery. It was only a dream but a passion born out of conviction. Gandhiji, by his own admission was an ordinary person but the seed in him could blossom because of his conviction and commitment.
People get extraordinary strength when they are fed with a great and noble dream and goal. The transformation can take place in ordinary person when he sets target at an extraordinary goal. The altar of such goals make the seed to grown into a great tree. John. F. Kennedy gave the world his dream of a man on the moon, and inspiration that drove everyone to work for and produce extraordinary results from ordinary men merely because the dream was very powerful and to get what they deserved. For Nelson Mandela, the fire for freedom was so intense that even going to prison for decades seemed a price worth paying for.
In the corporate world, Konosuke Matsushita could inspire his employee to share his dream of serving society by making quality products at affordable price. The effort that is required to transform ordinary people into extraordinary people is a great goal which is not self-centered but carries the tag of a noble cause. Great minds have purpose; others wishes.
There is nothing that is permanent. Change alone is permanent. There is no permanent success or permanent failure. Everything is temporary. Failure is a state of feeling as much as success.
There are many in this world who could not transform great thoughts into action. Napolean Banaparte observed "much of the talent in this world is lost for want for courage". Fear of failure and the hope of success exist in all. This is the law of life. Nobody is an exception. People who are dominated by failure-syndrome cannot translate their thoughts into action. We find many people who are intelligent but not successful. We also find that all those who are successful are not intelligent. The missing link between great thoughts and their success is the courage and conviction.
Three qualities (gunas) govern a person in different proportion at different moments of time in life. They are Satwa, Rajas and Tamas. The synergy between the thought, word and action is the quality of a sattwic person whereas the tamasik person does things without taking into account the consequences of action. Rajasik person thinks and acts, perhaps, at a faster rate than Sattwic but with less qualitative result. Every individual possesses all these three gunas and the difference is only in the degree.
Failure reinforcement and failure forecasting are proportional to fear of failure and the hope of success. Although all of us have both the qualities, those who are obsessed with the hope of success and sweat their way through, ends as winners. Success or failure is not the destination, but only the journey. Person who transcends all the three qualities takes success and failure as two sides of the same coin. Neither success get into his head nor failure into his heart. The reward is in the journey of life. Success and failure are inseparable entities in the game of life.
Expression of our life is an external manifestation of the reflection of our mind. Mind is the doer. Life is nothing but an expression of our experiences. We are able to perceive the outside world by sense organs whereas the inside world is not gifted with any perceivable tool. There is a relationship between action, acting and actor. Dance, dancing and dancer are different. Dancing is the action. The performer of the dance is the Dancer - the doer (actor) and dancing is acting. Although distinct in their identity, they are inseparable. One without the other two cannot exist.
According to Bhagavad Geeta the body is the field (Kshetra - temple) and one who resides in the body is the knower of the field (Kshetragna - deity)
To preserve our mortal being, we need to eat and refrain from being consumed by the urge to live to eat. One way of doing so would be to ensure that we use this body as a tool and do not abuse by satisfying the needs of the monster (tongue). It is said by our great Rishis that a person who eats once a day is a Yogi (man of enlightenment), twice a day is a bhogi (man of enjoyment) and thrice a day is a Rogi (man of disease). By fasting periodically and eating moderately, we can ensure that we do not abuse the body.
The nature of the mind is to vacillate. It is impossible to keep the mind without any thought. The more the vacillation, more noisy is our mind. In order to make the mind more healthy, we have to mediate where the process of thoughtlessness is aimed. The source of bliss is the zone of thoughtlessness; a mind that is devoid of thought. Meditation helps to clean (tune) the mind as fasting clean the body. Positive thinking creates positive vibration and the converse is true.
Ego is the reflection of our inability to understand the limitation of our ability. When the intellect is confined to its limits, the dominance of ego grows. The more we learn, the great we discover the extent of our ignorance. The art is so vast and the life is so short. Consciousness of the vastness of our non-understanding makes us humble.
We must have enough wisdom to know what we do not know, which is rather difficult but essential. Once we develop a mind-set of acknowledging our limitation of the knowledge, we become humbler. Ego manifests its dominance only when it operates at a very high degree of ignorance. If we can surrender this ego by acknowledging the fact of our limited knowledge, then we find bliss within.
If one develops the art of cleaning the body by fasting, mind by meditating and ego by surrendering, one sees himself in everyone and everyone in himself.
The word 'religion' is derived from its Latin root - re - back and ligare - to bind. Religion means that which binds one back to the origin or fountainhead.
Religion takes us back to the very source from where we have come to this planet. Like the wave in the ocean this is born from the ocean, arises above the ocean and dies into the ocean, so do we from the pure consciousness. The only true religion is that which unites all by pristine and unconditional love- the religion of love. All the great religions speak the same truth but in different language. That which divides people by different religion is not religion, but fanaticism.
Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Geeta classifies people into four categories by vocation. Although we all do different jobs, we belong to the same caste - the cast of humanity; like different players of a team in soccer playing different roles during the match but aiming at the same goal post. As george Bernard Shaw said, there is only one religion, though there are a hundred version of it.
God defined is God defiled. God is Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Ominscient. It is said that everything in this world is nothing but the manifestation of divinity. Though language is a mod of communicating our feeling and expressions, it is indeed a sad commentary that it divides people, whereas it is supposed to unite.
Although water is called differently in different languages, water remains water, so also a rose is a rose even when called different. We are moved many times by music, though we do not understand the language. As music touches the chord of the heart, the language of love and compassion touches the heart of all, regardless of language, caste and creed.
Although the origin of rivers are different, their destination is the same - the ocean. Though we come from different lands, speak different languages, do different world and belong to different faiths, we are not apart from but a part of the Omnipresent.
- Alvin Toffler
Learning is a continuous process and journey without destination. We learn many things that are either not worth learning or useful for something and becomes irrelevant subsequently. The key to success is the ability to unlearn those lessons learnt earlier which amounts to liability.
The process of unlearning is much more difficult than learning. As a child begins to learn from the world around him, he develops inhibitions during the process of growth. If the process of learning is imparted in an imperfect manner, we perfect the imperfection. John. F. Kennedy observed "A child mis-educated is a child lost".
The skill, dexterity and ability to unlearn the learnt lessons that are irrelevant to cope with the speed of change is the key to success. The wise use the past as a lesson for the text o the future; others consider it a burden. The attitude of not being able to "let go" is the greatest stumbling block in our life.
It is possible for us to reflect upon the relevance of the knowledge we posses, weed out (unlearn) those aspects of knowledge which are barriers; and relearn new knowledge that will act as enablers? Our possessiveness towards possessions and longingness towards belonging is the barrier to unlearn the unnecessary and relearn the relevant.
The alchemy of success depend on our ability to learn, unlearn and relearn. To keep pace with the changing realities requires require an open-mind towards new perspective. The driving line between the victor and the vanquished depends on the ability to adopt and adapt to meet the challenges of the changing times by learning those we must; unlearning those that we should and relearning those that are essential.
We have only two options - either evolve or become extinct. The choice is clear.
- Shakespeare (in Hamlet)
The pain is the part and parcel of human life. Lord Buddha realized that there is misery in this world. There is cause for the misery. It is possible to eliminate misery and there is a way/path to get over misery. The pain and the gain are the two sides of the same coin. There is pain and pleasure in every act that leads to gain and glory.
A Samaritan found a cocoon of the emperor moth to watch it emerge and transform into a beautiful butterfly. One day, a small opening appeared and the moth struggled for several hours, but could not force its body beyond a point. Mistaking that something is wrong., the man snipped the remaining bit of the cocoon by scissors and the moth emerged esaily, its body large and swollen, wings small and shriveled. Instead of flying freely with wings spread in natural beauty, the moth was dragging with swollen body and shriveling wings. The construction of the cocoon and struggles necessary to pass through the tiny opening are natural way of forcing fluid from the body into the wings. The merciful snip of the Samaritan was cruel in reality. The struggle is exactly what was needed for the moth to transform itself into a beautiful butterfly.
Men of great achievements, sages, seers and saints did accept the reality that it required to be ruthless and cruel in order to ensure happiness and harmony in the society. We find from the scriptures that even incarnations of God like Lord Rama, Krishna, Jesus, Prophet Muhammad and Buddha had to bear the cruelty inflicted on them to establish Dharma, propagate truth and enlighten society. Nothing great was achieved without travelling in the painful path of life. Lord Rama had to go to forest; Krishna had to suffer like an ordinary man; Buddha, though born in the royal family had to go through in search of truth for many years before he attained Nirvana and Jesus was crucified.
Taste buds of the tongue demand many things that are harmful for the health, but those that are not satisfying the taste buds are good for health. It is necessary to be cruel to the taste buds to be kind to the body. Doctors do give painful injections though their intention is healthy body.
Ruthlessness is one of the essential qualities of an effective leader. Some leaders were cruel in order to ensure that the future generation is prosperous. No society which did not demand discipline that was seemingly cruel and inhuman but proved to be healthy in the long run. The older generation in many countries had to go through very painful phase of life in order to build their nations from ashes. Many had to sacrifice life to defend the sovereignty of the country. The cursory study of those nations which were backward and are affluent today, reveal that the leaders who were seemingly cruel were kind for the generations yet to be born. The distinction lies in the intention of the person who administers the bitter pill for better health.
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